Witch Families

Want to share something I have been working on here and there.  Not all of it is ready for prime time yet.

In my world witchcraft tends to run in families, mostly along the female line, but not exclusively so.  I also have a Tradition of witchcraft known as a Family Tradition.  I thought it might be nice to detail some of the families in my games.

The hardest part about dealing with Family Tradition witches and the rest of world is alignment.  By their nature they tend to be cohesive, large units that work for their own common good.  So it would not be too far out to say they are "Lawful" or even "Good".  But they also tend to disregard laws they feel do not apply to them, so "Chaotic" or even "Evil" would work.  At best they are amoral or have a different set of morality. They are loving to their own members, but can also be cruel and even kill member that don't live up to certain standards.  What I am looking for here is a set of complicated relationships that are not easily defined on an alignment axis.  Groups that can be ally in one moment and an enemy later.

To start I have three major witch families with a fourth as a mystery.

Winters
The Winter family is very, very old. So old in fact that many people believe that the season was named for them. As their name implies their magic comes from the use and application of cold.
In this family only the women can become witches.  Once a girl in the family turns 13 her hair will turn white and this is the sign that she must travel north to train with the ancient Grandmother Winters.  The girls return to the family a year and a day later with the basic knowledge of their family witchcraft.  Once returned they will continue their training with other women in their family.  Each year they all congregate at a location determined by Grandmother Winters, usually one of the larger homes of the family.  The family gathers to begin their celebrations on the Winter Solstice, the height of their power.
The family is common in the northern, colder climes.  They own lots of land, but their homes tend to be more primitive than the local homes. Longhouses are most common. Women are almost exclusively witches, with the occasional priest or even wizard.  Men tend be barbarians, warriors or occasional bard.  They are masters of survival in the cold.   Witches gain the Chill Touch spell for free.
Dark Secrets: The Winters Clan often are associated with darker, colder gods like Chernobog.  Their men are often accused of lycanthropy, mostly as werewolves.
Clan leader: Grandmother Winters
Current PC: Tanith Winters

Mont Blanc
The Mont Blanc family is also very old.  The claim is they came down from a mountain that had been blessed (or cursed) by their gods. The Mont Blanc family on the surface is a rich, philanthropic  family.  They have married into royal families across the lands and many heads of state can claim at least partial relationship to the Mont Blancs.  Not all members have the power of witchcraft, but there is a core family of the "purest blood" that all members are powerful witches, male and female alike.
Theirs in an ancient form of witchcraft passed down through the generations.
What isn't in doubt about the family is that they are rich beyond most kings and queens and likely more powerful.  The current family patriarch is Pierce Mont Blanc, an 80-year-old witch of great power and formidable personality. Though the power is shifting to the young twins Kimbra & Kelleigh.  Their gathering time is Walpurgis Night, the eve of May.
Dark Secrets: The family is the center of dozens of rumors, each darker than the last.  They are believed to worship, even consort with demons.  It is also rumored that they also possess the largest collection of occult books and artifacts in the world.  It is claimed, in more hushed tones, that the family practices selective breeding in their own ranks. Marrying young women off to older men for their fortunes if they have no ability for the craft, or inbreeding those that do show signs to concentrate the power their blood.
Clan leader: Pierce Mont Blanc
Current PCs: Kimbra & Kelleigh, and Katherine Mont Blanc

Caliban
The Caliban family is cursed, so it is said.  They believe to have come from a near human monster that spawned a race of witches known as the Witchbreed.  Unlike the Mont Blancs and the Winters, the Caliban have no lands and no wealth to call they're own.  What they lack in wealth though they make up for in numbers.
While many of the members of the Caliban family can be monsters to look at, each is also well spoken, eloquent and highly intelligent.  They are often accused of being monsters, and some have embraced that role. Some though instead prefer to remain outside of society and away from those that would do them harm.
They appear to be leaderless, but there is a rumor of an ancient hag named Sycorax that rules over them and can call them to her. It is believed they all gather together on Mid-Summer's eve.
Clan leader: Sycorax, mother of Caliban and all his offspring.

There are other, lesser families, in my world as well.
There is a rumor of a fourth large clan, the Gwyddonod, but they were destroyed by the other three.

October Movie Challenge: Weekend Updates

I am SOOOO far behind schedule on this challenge.  But I managed to get some movies in, some I have seen before, but my kids wanted to see them.

Pacific Rim (2013)
Giant mechs vs Kaiju.  What is there not to love?  Caught this on FX even though I have the Blu-Ray. Still though a lot of fun and some good scary moments of giant monsters.
Status: Seen.

Beetlejuice (1988)
Ok, not really scary but also a lot of fun. Kids loved it.  The start of Tim Burton's rise to stardom.  Great performances by Micheal Keaton and Winona Ryder.
Status: Seen about 167 times and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
I enjoyed the old Planet of the Apes series but did not care for the 2001 reboot.  These two are a better movies. While the CGI is great and convincing there is still a bit of unreality about all of this that sometimes bugs me.  I find myself asking how an ape can use a gun designed for human-sized and shaped hands for example.  Either way great post apoc fun.
Status: New to me.

La Fille de Dracula (1972)
Another attack of opportunity.  Saw it in 2013.  Was testing out a new DVD drive in my Frankencomputer and this was the one I grabbed.

Stats
15 Watched / 10 New

Friday Night Videos: Thomas Dolby

October 14th was Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson's birthday. Known in other circles as Thomas Dolby.

Why should that concern you?  Well Dolby and I go WAY back.
I got his first album "The Golden Age of Wireless" when it first came out. It was the album that introduce America to TMDR's breakout hit "She Blinded Me With Science".  It was something of my "theme song" back in the day.

I also picked up all his albums that followed including the rare European version of "Golden Age" that did not have "SBMWS".

But what strikes me now, 33 years later, is that Dolby was so far ahead of his time.  He had one of the first websites on the internet and one of the first virtual reality websites. He help design the software used in cellphone ringtones and tons of other geeky things.

But how does that relate to gaming?  Well Dolby was also pretty much the first cyber-punk musical artist and one of the first steampunk looking ones.  I have been inspired by many of his songs in may games.

"She Blinded Me With Science" is the theme song to every mad-scientist everywhere.  This is the 12" single version that also appeared on the first recordings of Golden Age of Wireless (there are five versions of that album, I own them all, I won't get into which version of "Radio Silence" is better).  This is the 7-minute long version.  I also feel cheated when I hear the short American-radio edit cut.  Growing up I thought I would become the scientist like Dolby was playing here, but instead I became the psychologist.




Another song from Golden Age, "One of Our Submarines" sounds steam-punky, but is filled with Cold-War agnst. Today it is easy to forget that for a time in the 80s the Russians were going to nuke us while we played D&D in our basements.




The Flat Earth is a totally underrated album in every sense of the word. It is softer, but darker and far more mature.  "Mulu The Rainforest" mixed with some articles I was reading in Dragon and this old horror story I read from India of all places about a small, furry vampire.  Rainforests can be scary ass places.



Also from The Flat Earth, "I Scare Myself".  No reason. I just really like this song and this album.



Aliens Ate My Buick came out when I was in college and endless opportunities were open to me. I really loved this album, but it lacked the punch of Flat Earth.  "Budapest by Blimp" was featured here during my vampire songs marathon back in April.  It's eerie and haunting.  You could almost think of it as a requiem for the Cold War.




The fact that more people don't know about Astronauts & Heretics is criminal.  Actually I get it, it was very experimental even for Dolby. The world wanted Grunge in 1992 not experimental electronica.  We had to wait almost 10 more years for that from Moby.   "I Love You Goodbye" is one of the best songs on the album really. The cajun vibe of the song inspired two different adventures during my long Buffy campaign; The Enemy Within and Under a Cajun Moon.

Review: How to Game Master like a Fxxxing Boss

I try to keep it at least PG-13 around here.

Anyway, I picked up +Venger Satanis' latest book, How to Game Master like a Fucking Boss, not because I think I need help running my games (I have been running games for 35+ years now) but because I Was very, very curious about what he had to say.  Besides,  I am sure there had to be some tips worth reading.  In any case, I am certain it was going to be a fun read.
I also wanted to read this because I was curious about his "O5R" philosophy. I have been doing something similar in my games with my kids, and I wanted to see his views.

To begin VS talks about what Role-Playing and Game-Mastering is.  Ok, I expect this.  He made a point about how he used to run games to where he is now.
• Do I have all my stuff (books, notes, dice, etc.)?
• Do I have a general idea of what’s going to happen?
• Am I ready to crank this bitch up to 11?
I understand this.  I have a game I am running at a convention in 24 hours or so.  Right now the only thing I would add to that list is "Do I have my Pre-gens?"

The book itself is largely divided up into various short essays that talk about what to do in any broadly defined situation.  A lot of it is common sense, but there are few gems in there as well. I like the bits on handling NPCs and especially the NPC villains.  In truth, his "Seinfeld" advice was about the last thing I expected to read here but I enjoyed it.
Other treats include the "Who to Blame" random table. Most of the tables are pretty fun and many are very useful.  I loved the whole section of tables about Cults.
There is a section on the magical language he created for his games that add a nice bit of flavor, but I am wondering if would not have been better in The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence book.

It ends with three sample maps and an afterward.

While I certainly thought of this as a fun read I am not sure I got that much out of it.  Granted I also don't think I am the target audience.  I will certainly use the tables and his magical words are kind of neat.  I think what I really need to do is give this one to my son and have him read it.  He is a longtime player, but has only run a few games.  He certainly has anxiety about running (as well all did the first few times) and I know there are some things in here that would help him out.

I think I will certainly use his cult tables to see what I can come up with.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Alpha Blue

+Venger Satanis is at it again, this time with a sci-fi-ish setting that frankly I am bit excited about.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1575519826/alpha-blue

You can go to the Kickstarter page to read about it.  He has less than a week left.

The premise reminds me of the +Shon Richards' story Pleasure Station Sigma. Which is a good thing in my mind.  And, yes growing up in the 70s and 80s I was a fan of adult feature "The Satisfiers of Alpha Blue".

Actually I could go on about Satisfiers. It has some interesting social commentary and Sharon Mitchell has always been a favorite of mine.

I am hopping this will be more like The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.
It could be fun or it could be completely puerile.  I am willing to gamble to check it out.

Review: Crimson Dragon Slayer

Purple, now Crimson. +Venger Satanis could have had a whole color theme going here.

Continuing with my reviews of the products of Kortthalis Publishing. Today I want to look at Crimson Dragon Slayer.

I had pretty high hopes for this one. I am part of his target audience, I enjoyed the 80s, enjoy a gonzo edge to my games, and I don't mind mixing my genres a bit.  I also don't mind doses of humor in my games.   But....well maybe I just didn't "get it" in this one.

I want to start off with the things I liked. The book is gorgeous and I am happy to see that VS is spending his money on art than say orgies dedicated to Cthulhu.  No idea though he might be doing both.  But the art is great looking in this book.  It is basically three varieties, the "Lovecraftian" art found in earlier products (ex. on p. 23), the sword & sorcery (p. 11) and the humorous (p. 14).  My favorite though is on page 4. The layout is fantastic and the character sheet on page 41 is a gem.  Plus that cover art. Really, really excellent.  If the arrt was a problem for you in his other products then take heart here.  There is nothing here that isn't PG, and dare I even say it, G rated.  Even the scantily clad barbarian and maiden on page 11 are still covered more than a swimsuit issue.

While reading this I am struck with how this is the RPG version of the Heavy Metal story "Den". In the movie a kid from earth is transported to a sci-fi/S&S world where he become a might thewed (and bald) barbarian.  Not a bad idea really, and something I could do more with than say Carcossa. But it is also riff on the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.

The book itself is a bunch of house rules.  Again, this is what was advertised.  Many were hinted at in previous books. Some are good, many I have seen in one form or another elsewhere over the last 35 years.  A couple things jump out at me.
Infernal Elf: I have to admit I rather like this idea and it is something I have been toying with myself since listening to Kim Harrison's Hallows series.  In that book Elves and Demons are ancient enemies, but are a little closer than they would like.  This works right in with that.
Robots: Hmm. No. Not really my thing, but I get why it is here.

The chapter on magic is interesting and something I might adopt.  At this point I am imagining Thule as not some distant planet, but as a mystical island just south of Hyperborea.

There are some magic items, some notes on converting monsters and even a small cavern crawl.

All in all the book is fine, but nothing really extra special. Maybe I was expecting more or something different. I don't know.  I am not quite sure it lived up to my expectations of it.

Ghosts of Albion at ValorCon 2015

I am going to running a game of Ghosts of Albion: Dinosauria! at ValorCon this Saturday at 10:00am.
http://sched.co/4V0h

Here is the blurb from the program.

New Year's Eve, 1853.

You are cordially invited to a special and most unique diner party.  You will be the guests of Richard Owen as he unveils the most exciting scientific discovery of our time.  You will behold Owen's incredible Dinosauria!

Dinosauria is an introductory adventure for the Ghosts of Albion Role-Playing Game.  Take on the role of power mages, ghosts, vampires or humans that hunt the darkness to protect the shores of England in the early Victorian Age.  Ghosts of Albion is powered by the fast and easy to learn Cinematic Unisystem game engine. The same system found in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Army of Darkness.  No knowledge of the game needed.  Game Master provides character sheets, dice and rule book.

So if you are in Chicago come on by and sit in on a game of Ghosts of Albion!