Witchcraft Documentaries

A few documentaries up on Youtube.


The Witches
This one is narrated by Leonard Nimoy.   There are some factual errors, but nothing major.




Salem Witch Trials
This one is from the History Channel.



This one covers some similar ground in terms of the Salem Witch trails.

Witchcraft and Magic


Professor Wrightson's Early Modern England: Politics, Religion, and Society under the Tudors and Stuarts (HIST 251) from Open Yale Courses.

Just a few I have had playing in the background while working on other things.

Edited to add:  This one was found by +Joseph Bloch.

OSRIC House Rule

Here is something I have been playing around with.

When casting spells with a Somatic component (S) and a casting time of 5 segments or more the caster can use their dexterity surprise modifier to reduce the time it takes to cast the spell.

So 15, 0 segments
16, 1 less segment
17, 2 less segments
18, 2 less segments
19, 3 less segments

Thoughts?

Research Mode: On

Nothing today readers.

I am heavy into research and writing mode right now.
Nothing I have ready for the public just yet.

Zatannurday: Happy Birthday Zee!

Wednesday, May 20th is the official birthday of Zatanna.
(it is also Zatanna creator's Gardner Fox's birthday!)

Since we celebrated Stevie Nicks' birthday last night, lets keep the celebration of magical ladies going with Zatanna today.

Friday Night Videos: Stevie Nicks

Welcome back to Friday Night Videos, where we wish a happy birthday to the White Witch herself, Stevie Nicks!

You don't have to know a lot about me to know that I LOVE Stevie Nicks.   Tuesday May 26 is her birthday and we are going to celebrate here this weekend.

Whether with Fleetwood Mac or on her own no single artist has ever influenced my writing more.  To this day if I am going to write something new about witches I put Stevie and let the words flow.

We first hear of Stevie Nicks in the 1975 self title Fleetwood Mac album. Stevie and then boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham had joined the band bringing Rhianon with them.  Stevie had heard the story of Rhianon from a book, and only later heard of the Welsh Goddess.  She would often introduce the song as "This is a song about an old Welsh witch..."




Stevie went on to record her first solo album.  The enchanting Bella Donna.  While many of us were already in love with her from Rumours and Tusk, this solidified her hold as the Queen of Rock.
"The Edge of Seventeen" came about because Stevie could not understand Tom Petty's wife's thick southern accent.   Either way it gave us one of the enduring Stevie Nicks images, the White Winged Dove.




Fleetwood Mac was at their height when 1982's Mirage was released.  The album had a number of hits but the most Stevie of all the songs was "Gypsy".  Mirage my have been the swan song of the Fleetwood Mac that was, but Stevie never rose higher.




Shortly after the Mirage tour came to an end Stevie threw herself right into the recording of what would become, in my humble opinion, her greatest album to date.  This is the album I had playing on cassette when I wrote the first draft of the witch class. This is the album I listened to on CD when I made my 2nd Ed. Netbook. And this is the album I listened to on MP3 when I wrote The Witch.
The Wild Heart is one of the best albums ever.  My memory of this album is I got it for my 13th birthday just as soon as it was out.




Featuring keyboards by none other than the Purple One himself, Prince, "Stand Back" is not very witchy, but I love it all the same.




"Nightbird" the song that launched a 100 characters. I wanted my witch character to be as awesome as this song and to look like Stevie. It was 1983, but it is still just as true today 32 years later.
This version from "Solid Gold" is still one of my favorites.  In an age when artists were just lip-syncing their own songs  Stevie was singing hers.  She is joined here by her longtime back up singer, best friend and sister-in-law Lori Nicks singing the parts that Stevie over-dubbed on the album.




Stevie has spent years trying to escape the image of the "Witchy Woman" only to embrace it full on in season 3 of "American Horror Story".  The finale for "Coven" was an episode featuring what can only be called a Stevie Nicks video.  The song and the episode was called "The Seven Wonders".  The album was Tango in the Night from 1987. The last Fleetwood Mac album I ever bought on tape.  Yeah. We used to buy tapes.



You can watch the American Horror Story: Coven version below.




There are so many more of course. But that is good for tonight.

Throwing my hat in

I have been pretty busy this week.  Have a few projects I HAVE to get off my plate.

So what do I do about it?  Simple.  I start writing a new campaign setting for White Star.

I am not ready to reveal what it is yet, I just only got started.  But here is what I can say:

- It is called "Children of the Stars"

- It is Earth-humanity based.

- It is very, very 70s in feel and ideas.

I am not replicating any of the rules from White Star and I am going to assume that you can use everything from the core rules and leave it flexible enough to use anything else. 

It is based on a few things I have posted here over the years and I think I have something new, different and fun.  Art is going to be the issue. I have not found any I really like.

I just hope I can get it done before the blush is off of White Star!

PWWO: Wildstar Corvette + OSR SciFi Games

During my brief foray into scifi games in the 80s I had managed to create one thing, the FTL Lucifer.
The Lucifer was a Corvette class spaceship, small, light but deadly.  The historical Corvette was also a class of small war ships just larger than a Frigate. It had a small crew of officers (aka PCs) and enlisted personnel  (hirelings).  It is a perfect vehicle (pardon the pun) for a game.
A good friend of mine drew a picture of a ship for me and it was perfect.  Well....it was perfect because it was what I used and was fond of the drawing.

I lost the drawing years ago, but I kept the Lucifer.
Over the years I expanded on it and wanted to use it in a Star Trek game that never got going.  It was the first in a line of ships all named after devils in various myths.  So there was the Baalzebul, the Fek'lhr and the Kosst Amojan.

Recently I discovered Wildstar Class Corvette/RPG Battle Maps by Wydraz.
It's not perfect, but it is really, really close.   These maps are largely system free, though there is a solid hint of both d20 and Star Trek influences.  That is fine by me.

Since I am unlikely to recover the original drawing of the FTL Lucifer, this is a good substitute.
But this only gives me the basics;

Length: 340'  (104 meters)
Beam: 230' (70 meters)
Height: 80' (25 meters)
Tonnage: 18,000 (16,300 metric tons)
Cargo Capacity: 2,000 tons (1,815 metric tons)

Main Batteries: 2 dual plasma cannons
Crew Cabins: 4 Officers Quarters, 20 double crew cabins
2 Shuttles, 10 Escape Pods.

Nice little ship.

But to use it a game I will need some stats.  Thankfully I have some games I can stat it up in.
Let's see how it Plays Well With Others.

White Star
+James Spahn
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship

ARMOR CLASS: 2 [17]
HIT POINTS: 100
SHIELD STRENGTH 10
Movement 9
TARGETING +1
ATTACK Dual Laser Cannon x2 (4d6)
Range 14
MODIFICATIONS Faster-Than-Light Drive, Proton Missiles (optional)

Cost: 100,000 CR
Crew: 4 Officers, 40 enlisted max.

Starships & Spacemen
+Dan P
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship (CC)

Crew complement: 44
Command Rank: Lt. Commander ("Corvette Captain")
Power Pile Base: 150 energy units (one-half pod)
Teleporter Capacity: 2 at a time
Beam Banks: 2
Ion Torpedoes: 1
Shuttle Ships: 2
Sick Bay Capacity: 6

Stars Without Number
+Kevin Crawford
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship 

Cost: 6.1m
Speed: 1
Armor: 5
HP: 40
Crew Min/Max: 10/40
AC: 6
Power: 50
Free Mass: 20
Hardpoints: 5
Class: Corvette

Fittings: Advanced nav computer, Auto targeting system, Drive 6 upgrade, 10 life boats, ship bay.
Weapons:
Dual plasma cannons (2 hardpoints each), 4d6 each, Power 10
Torpedo launcher (1 hardpoint), 3d8, Power 10
Defenses:  Augmented Plating

Machinations of the Space Princess
+James Desborough and +Satine Phoenix
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship

Crew: 40
Attack: +2
Scale: 6
Hit Points: 5HD (22 hp)
Armour: 1d4
Defence: 6
Speed: Moderate
Weapons: 2 dual plasma cannons, 1 torpedo launcher
Toughness Save: 7
Reflexes Save: 5
Power Save: 8

Customisations: Can't Land, 10 escape pods, medical bay, science suite, shields, shuttle bay.


I like how each game gives a slightly different view of this space ship.
So who is ready to board the Lucifer and do some exploring!