Plays Well With Others: Ghosts and the Witch

This is completely self-serving, BUT it is coming from a place of sharing.  I just grabbed +James Mishler's newest product Ghosts -- The Incorporeal Undead.  If you want to get an idea of what you can do with his new book check out his blog at http://jamesmishlergames.blogspot.com/.
In particular The Pesky Poltergeist, The Ghost of the Haunted Keep and the Friendly Ghost.  Check them out if you recognize them!

To make the claim that this book "Plays Well With Others" is actually weak on my part.  Weak because the book is really designed to "Play Well With Everyone".  It is Labyrinth Lord compatible (says so on the cover!) but beyond that it is really compatible with just about anything I can think of.  In particular I was thinking how well this would work with Castles & Crusades, or even one of my favorites Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and D&D5.  His book is written in some sort of Ur-D&D that pretty much works with anything.

So my claims really are not really needed.  But I want to make them anyway.

What I am really excited about is how well it works with my own witch book (that's the self-serving part), but I am excited all the same.

Witches and Ghosts have always had a nice relationship.
Within James' book there is the "Ghost Net" which is mentioned as being created by witches (well and by others too).  According to rules in The Witch a Ghost Net is created as a Talisman.  It can be hung over the threshhold of a doorway to keep ghosts away.  Usually a Protection from Evil or Ghost Ward spell is all that is needed.

From my book here some spells that would work well with James' Ghost book.  Either for or against ghosts.  If you are using James' Hercynian Grimoire #1 then these are Charisma based-spell casters.

Level 1
Ghostly Hands
Ghostly Slashing

Level 2
Death Armor
Ghost Touch

Level 3
Danse Macabre
Ghost Ward
Magic Circle Against Undead

Level 4
Animate Shadows
Dance Macabre
Phantom Lacerations
Spiritual Dagger
Undead Destruction
Undead Enslavement
Withering Touch

Level 5
Death Candle
Death Curse
Wall of Bones
Wave of Mutilation

Level 6
Break the Spirit
Death Blade
Ethereal Banishment

Level 7
Call the Restless Soul*  (in this case it would be an actual Restless Soul)
Death Aura
Etherealness

Level 8
Mystic Barrier
Wail of the Banshee

So what is the intersection of these two books?  Well that is easy! The Bell Witch.

Bell Witch
No. Enc.: 1 (1)
Alignment: Chaotic (Evil)
Movement: N/A
   Fly: 240’ (80’)
Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 3****
Hit Points: 14 hp
Attacks: 1 Touch or TK or Spell
Damage: 1d4 plus Fear
Save: Witch 3
Morale: 12
Intelligence: 14
Hoard Class: NA
XP: 150

The legend of the Bell Witch has been a part of American folklore since the 19th century.

You can read more about the Bell Witch here, http://www.bellwitch.org/ and here http://www.bellwitchcave.com/.

For your game here are the pertinent details.  Katie Batts was an old witch that died on the Bell Farm sometime in the early 1800s.  She haunts the farm and in particular Betsy Bell to gain her revenge on John Bell, whom she believes is responsible for her death.

Katie Batts was a 3rd level witch in life. She had a small dog as her familiar who died when she did.

Treasure: The Bell Witch has no treasure.

Ghost Witch:  The Bell Witch was a witch when she was alive. She can still cast spells as a 3rd level witch.  This is the same as Ghost Magician ability.

Poltergeist: The Bell Witch is a type of powerful Poltergeist.  She can manipulate up to 150 lbs at a time.

Bell Witch Ectoplasm: This ectoplasm will allow the imbiber to use witch witch spells of up to the 2nd level.   The imbiber must make percentile roll against the total number of ounces imbiber has had their entire lifetime. Rolling under this amount results in the loss of 1 life level (or Constitution point).

Review: Ghosts -- The Incorporeal Undead

+James Mishler  has been producing quality material for the "Basic" era games for a number of years.  I have followed him online and have always enjoyed his posts in various forums and on his own blog.
James has been in the business of releasing his own material for a couple of years now and they are always fun.  Well this Halloween he has really, really outdone himself.

I grabbed his and his wife's latest product Ghosts -- The Incorporeal Undead, pretty much without reading the details. It was James. It was Ghosts. How could I loose?  Well let me tell you. I was in for a sweet surprise!  I will be honest here.  Pretty much EVERY other games can deal with ghosts better than D&D used too.  This little book has a lot of work to do.

First off this "little" PDF is 64 pages.  I printed it out and it would make a great supplement to my collection of various "Basic Era" books.  Put on a nice cover and it would be right at home next to Labyrinth Lord, The Witch and many, many other books on my shelf.  Let me step back for a moment and comment on this.  James really "gets" Basic D&D.  He knows why people choose it over Advanced or other games.  His rules are very much in the vein of Basic/Expert and BECMI style D&D (More B/X than BECMI) but he also gives people options who like more Advanced-feeling games.

We begin with an overview of what ghosts are. I was pleased to see that this book treats ghosts as all being unique.  A brief description of common powers to all ghosts is also given. Detail is paid to two of these powers, Fear and Level/Life Drain.  In keeping with the Basic roots, the Fear effects table is simple and effective.  If you are playing a horror game then you might want more, but in truth this is plenty.   Level Drain is also discussed and how to regain those levels.
Now for me, I am still more inclined to use Constitution drain instead of level drain.  Thankfully the rules as written here will allow that.

Next we get into people and animals with the Sixth Sense and Sensitives.  No detailed rules here, just a nice simple approach that I really like.  There is also a discussion on Mediums and Séances.  Now THESE are much needed rules.  This helps move ghosts from a monster with X amount XP to something that can be worked into a plot.   We end with some information on ghost-sensitive animals.  I love what he has done with cats and am thinking of using it for all witch familiars.

Next is the meat of the book.  Ghosts Lesser and Greater.  This is the "monster listing" of all the ghost types with their powers, weaknesses and alternate types.  Included are some old favorites like Apparitions, Haunts, Spectres and Wraiths next to new one like Lost Souls and Geists.   Following this is a list and description of all the special abilities (And ectoplasms) of the ghosts.  You can mix and match to make anytype of Ghost you want.   Following this is uses for uncanny ectoplasm.

There is a section on magic items.  Some spells usable by or on or about ghosts.
(*The Spawn Ghost spell is really nice.  If you are playing a witch then the spell level is 5.)

Finally is a Creepy Appendix N. There are a lot great resources on this page for ghosts of every type "inspired by anything from Hanna-Barbera and H.R. Pufnstuf to H.P. Lovecraft and H.R. Giger"!

There is no art. BUT I also want to add that ghosts are either invisible or look like anything. So this is not a downmark for this book.

If you play any old-school game, original or OSR, and you use ghosts, then you need this book.  It isn't revolutionary, but it does feel a much needed gap in the rules and (if for no other reason) it will get game masters and players thinking about ghosts a different way.
Combine this with his Vampires of the Olden Lands for some serious Halloween fun.

October Movie Challenge: Wicked Lake (2008)

I am not sure if I have ever said "everything is better when you add witches."  It certainly sounds like something I might say. Wicked Lake tests that assumption...and I am not sure it got it right.

Ok I knew I was getting into a third or fourth rate "I Spit On Your Grave" here.  But it is no where near as brutal as that movie.  There are four women in this one and two different groups of men.  Really it is confusing mess.
Here is the basic gist.  Women get attacked, the moon rises and they turn the tables on the men and slaughter them all.
The sun comes up and they all swim in the lake naked and have a happy ending.

It amused me in the sense that it was so cheesy and it the formula was so obviously "hey lets add witches and plenty of naked girls to this".  There is almost a sincerity in it.

I wonder what other movies could be improved if the women in the film were in fact witches?
Thelma and Louise? Silence of the Lambs? A League of Their Own?

Well the thought amuses me at least.

Stats
19 Watched / 14 New

Class Struggles: The Witch Hunter

You have to appreciate the fact that Vin Disel is so geeky that not only was his character named Melkor, he was a Witch hunter from the Arcanum book, but now he has a movie more or less based on his character.

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/werent-vin-diesels-d-d-230400569.html

http://screenrant.com/last-witch-hunter-elijah-wood-rose-leslie-interview/

Geek and Sundry has also produced a new Witch Hunter class for D&D 5 that you can get here:
http://geekandsundry.com/vin-diesel-brings-matthew-mercers-new-class-to-life-the-witch-hunter-class-for-dd/

So what exactly is a "With Hunter"?  Well I have been fairly quiet on the whole concept myself.  But before that, let's talk about what has been done first.

I should begin with the Witch Hunter that Vin Disel used and the one that I think of as first anyway, the Witch Hunter from the Arcanum.

All the classes in the Arcanum and the Bard Games "Compleat" books before it were all very thin in nature. Some guidelines, some flavor, but a ton of imagination! The class is described as a dual classed hunter/mystic with "highly trained" combat abilities. They read a lot like Rangers to be honest, save with a focus on hunting down spell casting classes. They get training in two weapons (Weapon Proficiencies) and gain two more over the course of their career. They gain the skills of tracking, reading magic, stealth and spell casting.   As spell casters they can't wear armor.
Advancement by level is detailed later in the book (they are on the high end) and they take spells from the Mysticism list, which are similar to Clerics. (Note: I should have covered these Mystics back when I did mystics for my first Class Struggles).
The witch-hunter gets a maximum of 3 attacks per round when they reach level 13 (remember this is 1st-2nd ed-ish). They also gain a +1 to hit every other level.

There are hunter-like kits for 2nd ed. AD&D, but no witch-hunter really.

3rd Edition and the OGL brought out a number of various witch hunter classes.  Many though not till Pathfinder came out.

Super Genius Games had a bunch of books out for OGL/Pathfinder for Witch Hunters. The Genius Guide to the Witch Hunter and With a Bullet Point 9 Witch Hunter Feats.  With these two there is plenty to run your witch hunter in Pathfinder.  Unlike the Arcanum, this one does not use spells but instead has a number of special powers each level.  Both methods are fine with me really.

Not to be outdone there is the Player Paraphernalia #11 The Witch Hunter from The Knotty-Works.  This class also gets good combat ability and some powers, but it also gets spells to 4th level.  This puts it on par with the Ranger.  It has a couple of new feats, but no new spells.  Though you are getting a lot here for a buck and half.
So between these three books there are even more choices.

On the OSR/Retro Clone side we have only one product I know of, PC3 - The OSR Witch Hunter by Jeremy Reaban.  This book has a number of nice features in addition to the class.  The class does not cast spells, nor does it have a lot of special powers. This is by design and owning to the stated literary source. It does have some skills such as read magic and turn undead.  What I think makes this special is the level advancement tables for "First Edition", "Original Edition", "Basic/Expert" and "Cyclopedic Edition".  Nice feature if you ask me.

What Should A Witch-Hunter Do?
One question not always addressed is what exactly does a witch hunter do? That's for the player. The question to ask the GMs is what do Witch Hunters hunt when there are no witches (as a class) in the game?  The Arcanum version tends to focus on all spell casters. The Pathfinder ones tend to focus on the witch class.

Allow me to toss this one back to you all.  Would you or do you use "Witch Hunters"?  If so, who do they hunt? What do they do once they have one?

October Movie Challenge: Demon Hunter (2005)

Continuing the "Hunter" vibe I also picked up Demon Hunter starring Sean Patrick Flannery in the role of the "brooding loner with a chip on his shoulder and a dark past".  The movie is predictable, but it has some nice features.

Billy Drago stars as Asmodeus. Basically he is playing the same character he did on Charmed only now he surrounds himself with more naked women.  Drago chews up scenery as a slimy bad guy like no one else save for maybe Eric Roberts.

Tania Deighton plays his succubus lieutenant.  She has the look, but I can't tell if her fake fangs make it hard for her to talk or if she is just a bad actress. Her succubus looks really cool. The wings were a nice touch.  Yes, she is also featured on the Succubus.net website.

The movie though is predictable, even to the "surprise" ending.  But it has some good moments.

This movie has me curious though.  Here Asmodeus is played as the Demon of Lust as he is depicted in many older texts and not so much as the King of Hell.  I wonder why Gary picked him as the ruler of hell and devils in D&D?  Was it because of him being described as the King of Hell in some books?  Curious. The classic "Politics of Hell" notwithstanding I am curious about his rise over other names like Baalzebul or even Mephistopheles.


Stats
18 Watched / 13 New

October Movie Challenge: Hansel & Gretel (2013, 2015)

The Asylum is not really known for quality productions.  They are known for fun "mock busters".

Hansel & Gretel (2013) was an obvious jab at the bigger budget "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" and Hansel vs. Gretel from this year could be capitalizing on the Vin Disel "Last Witch Hunter".

Both feature brother and sister witch hunting team Hansel and Gretel Grimm and both feature a battle with the witch/demon Lilith.  So really one should expect it is my cup of tea.  But...this is the same group of people that gave us three "Sharknado" movies.

I have to admit I crack up every single time someone says "Hansel and Gretel" with a straight face.

Ok so, these are not great movies, but they are not supposed to be.  The acting is not great, even by those that should be better.  Even the actress for Gretel changed between one movie to the next.

Obviously neither is very scary. But there are some neat ideas for witches and witch hunters here.  Though to be fair Hansel kills more people than the witches do.
It also proves my long held belief that being evil makes you better looking.

Stats
17 Watched / 12 New

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.