New Pumpkin Spice Witch cover

I am having a weird day.

So let's do something fun.  Here is the new cover for my upcoming Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition book.

The "Pumpkin Spice Witch" is by the super talented Silveztra.  I'll be featuring more of her art later this week, but here is a sneak peek.

I can't wait for Halloween!!

Monstrous Mondays: Pumpkin Headed Demon

Working on getting The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition book out to you all very soon and also working on NIGHT SHIFT.   So here is a creature that works well for both.  A demonic spirit summoned into a body of golem or lifeless corpse.  The Pumpkin headed demon.

Pumpkin Headed Demon

A Pumpkin Headed Demon, or Pumpkin Head for short, is a demon that is either summoned by dark forces or finds it way to inhabit a Pumpkin Golem, Scarecrow, or other such construct.  The material the golem was made from  is replaced by a crude flesh but the general shape remains the same.
The Pumpkin Head exists only to kill.  It is not mindless, even if it’s killing spree seems to be.  It is surrounded by an aura of fear that acts as the Cause Fear spell to a 60’ radius.  It attacks with its claws which appear to be made of steel.  Once per day is can breathe fire for 6d6 damage (save vs. Breath Weapon for half).

Pumpkin Headed Demon
(Labyrinth Lord, Pumpkin Spice Editon)
No. End.: 1 (1d4)
Alignment: Chaotic (evil)
Movement: 90’ (30')
Armor Class:  5
Hit Dice: 8d8+8* (44 hp)
Attacks: 2 (claws)
Damage:  1d4/1d4 + fire breath (6d6), fear
Special: Fear aura
Saves As: Fighter 8
Morale: 10
Treasure: None
XP: 2,200
A Pumpkin Head can be turned as “Special”.

Pumpkin Headed Demon
(Blueholme Journeymanne Rules)
AC: 5
HD: 8d8+8
Move: 30
Attacks: 2 claw (1d6-1 x2) + Fire Breath (1/day 6d6)
Alignment: Chaotic
Treasure: None
XP: 1,130

Pumpkin Headed Demon
(Old-School Essentials)
AC 5 [14], HD 8+8 (44hp), Att 2 claw (1d6-1 x2) + Fire Breath (6d6), THAC0 17 [+2], MV 90’ (30’), SV D8 W9 P10 B10 S12 (8), ML 10, AL Chaotic, XP 1,130, NA 1 (1-3), TT None
▶ Breath fire: 1/day, 6d6 damage, save for half.
▶ Demon-possessed Construct: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, disease, and similar effects. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage.

Pumpkin Headed Demon
(Night Shift)
No. Appearing: 1
AC: 5
Move: 40ft.
Hit Dice: 8
Special: 2 attacks (2 claw) + Breath Weapon (Fire)

Edited to add: Now available, Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars. You can get the PDF from DriveThruRPG and both the standard and special edition hardcovers from Elf Lair Games.

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Dead Don't Die (2019)

I caught my first 2019 movie tonight.  The Dead Don't Die. It was a lot of fun.  I have been a Bill Murry fan since I first saw him on SNL and Adam Driver is a completely underrated actor (and also funny as hell).

The truth though, I'd sit through anything to watch Tilda Swinton.  To watch her with a thick Scottish accent and wielding a katana while cutting through zombies?  Yeah, that is worth the price of the rental alone.

There are a ton of people in this movie too. Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, RZA (working for WUps!), Carol Kane, Selena Gomez, Rosie Perez, Tom Waits, and Iggy Pop!  I mean really. This is crazy.

The movie is hilarious, with lots of callbacks to other zombie and B-Horror movies.
The ending left a little to be desired to be honest, but I don't expect a lot from zombie flicks.





Watched: 24
New: 17

October Horror Movie Challenge: Daughters of Darkness (1971)

It's strange. All these years and I have not done one of my favorite movies, Daughters of Darkness.

Some of my earliest opinions on what Elizabeth Bathory acts like as a vampire come from the 1971 movie Les Lèvres Rouges, known here in the States as "Daughters of Darkness" (not to be confused with the movie Vampyres, which also had been called Daughters of Darkness).

Delphine Seyrig really helped form the idea of vampire Bathory as a timeless aristocrat so convinced that what she was doing was right that there is no sign of psychosis at all. She was a royal and therefore all others exist to serve her.  Now I will contend, just based on the reports as we know them, that Bathory was not a lesbian but rather a sexual sadist that happened to have targeted young girls.

That all being said, she is most often represented in movies, like she was here, as a lesbian and one that does not care much at all for men.  Of course, credit goes to Delphine Seyrig and her portrayal of the immortal Countess.  This movie presents Elizabeth along with her companion Ilona (Andrea Rau).  Elizabeth begins to prey on new bride Valerie while sending Ilona out to tempt her new husband Stephan.

There is nothing really subtle here.  Stephan is portrayed as a useless thing that later can only consummate his marriage by beating Valerie.  When he kills Ilona in an accident in the shower he is portrayed as incompetent and something to be discarded.  All the while Elizabeth holds court and seduces Valerie away.  The ending is jarring,  more "Celluloid Closet" style vengeance maybe? Valerie, with Elizabeth's voice, is now off picking up a new couple to continue her immortality with.

There are traces of we will later see in The Hunger here.  The cool, sophisticated, European, woman. She might have some royal blood in her somewhere (pardon the bad metaphor) and she is certainly worldly.  She has companions, maybe male and female, but it is in her female companions she lavishes the most attention on even if I dare say it, the most love.    This is not the rampaging monster of Dracula or even Orlock. Carmilla, Bathory and later Miriam Blaylock are exotic creatures almost unique to themselves.

This is still one of my favorite movies.

It should be no surprise then I want to bring her over to NIGHT SHIFT.

Elizabeth Bathory
Vampire Lady
No. Appearing: 1 (Unique)
AC: 2
Move: 50ft.
Hit Dice: 9
Special: 4 attacks (claw, bite, 2 weapon), vampire abilities
XP Value: 1,400

Ilona
Vampire Spawn
No. Appearing: 1
AC: 6
Move: 30ft.
Hit Dice: 4
Special: 2 attacks (claws, bite),
Cannot mind control. Do not gain “strong and fast” bonuses. Cannot polymorph. Cannot create new vampires.
XP Value: 900

This movie may have fueled more game ideas for me than any other.

Watched: 23
New: 16

Edited to add: Now available, Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars. You can get the PDF from DriveThruRPG and both the standard and special edition hardcovers from Elf Lair Games.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Mark of the Witch (1970)

Enough TV movies for now.  Reading Anita put me in the mood for some movies about witches.  And I never say no to that!

Up first is Mark of the Witch from 1970, but it looks more like the 1960s really.  We don't quite have that 70s vibe here yet. 

This move covers similar ground to Black Sunday; a vengeful witch killed by witch hunters comes back 100s of years later to exact revenge.  Only this time the witch possesses a young college coed.  She proceeds to kill off other college kids for...I am not quite sure why. Maybe because she is EVIL?

Anyway, there are a few nods to actual witch practices and at least they got the hanging, and not burning, right.  The special effects are cheesy and the acting is only slightly better.  But it was a fun little romp.   Anitra Walsh is not bad playing Jill and possessed by the Witch Jill.

Still, there are better films out there. 





Watched: 22
New: 16

Here's to Us: The Hex Girls (and Special Guest) for Night Shift

Going back to some old favorites today and seeing how well I can build them in Night Shift.

A long while back I posted stats for the Hex Girls from Scooby-Doo and they were a huge hit.  It seemed natural to bring them over to my new game.

Night Shift has a remarkably flexible mechanic in the character Background.  While some games like D&D5 and Pathfinder2 also have backgrounds, there are more mechanics involved.  With Night Shift you give your character a background and things that they are likely to know become a given.  The GM can then rule (with a + or -) whether or not that background helps.

So, for example, Luna has the background of "Serious Musician" and I put emphasis on her ability to know music and performers.  If she encounters a puzzle that requires her to read music or even hum a tune then she is going to get a bonus.  Dusk's background is that she is in truth a rich girl that wants to rebel.  So she could say get a plus when it comes to knowing things like how expensive a new Lamborghini is, but a minus when it comes to knowing proper etiquette and protocol in situations.  She would have known these due to her upbringing, but since she rejected it to be a rebel she has forgotten it or ignored it.

All girls (all 4!) are musicians so when it comes to putting on a rock show, they are going to be great.

The Hex Girls are owned by Warner Brothers.

Thorn
AKA Sally McKnight
Witch
Str +0 Dex +0 Con +0 Int +1 Wis +1 Cha +2
XP: 20,100 (Level 4)
Hit Dice: 4d4 Hit Points: 11 AC: 9  Attack Bonus: +0 Check Bonus: +3 (Primary) +2 (Secondary) +0 (Tertiary)
Armor: none
Saves: +3 vs. spells and magical effects
Class Abilities: Arcana 70%, Spellcasting 70%
Other Special Abilities: Enhanced Senses, Empathy

Spells: 1st level charm person, disrupt undead, minor illusion  2nd-level phantasmal image, suggestion

Background: Rock star, eco-goth.
Thorn, in particular, knows a lot about the environment and what humans are doing to damage it.

Gear: Electric guitar,

Luna
AKA Kim Moss
Witch
Str +0 Dex +0 Con +0 Int +1 Wis +1 Cha +2
XP: 19,100 (Level 3)
Hit Dice: 3d4 Hit Points: 9 AC: 9  Attack Bonus: +0 Check Bonus: +3 (Primary) +1 (Secondary) +0 (Tertiary)
Armor: none
Saves: +3 vs. spells and magical effects
Class Abilities: Arcana 65%, Spellcasting 65%
Other Special Abilities: Enhanced Senses

Spells: 1st level charm person, read languages  2nd-level ESP

Background: Serious musician
Luna knows just about everything there is know about rock, pop, blues, and hip hop.

Gear: Keyboards; paper and pens for writing music.

Dusk
AKA Muffy St. James
Witch
Str +0 Dex +1 Con +1 Int +0 Wis +1 Cha +2
XP: 15,000 (Level 3)
Hit Dice: 3d4 Hit Points: 11 AC: 8  Attack Bonus: +0 Check Bonus: +3 (Primary) +1 (Secondary) +0 (Tertiary)
Armor: none
Saves: +3 vs. spells and magical effects
Class Abilities: Arcana 65%, Spellcasting 65%
Other Special Abilities: Psychic Power (Temporal Sense, Psychometry)

Spells: 1st level charm person, read languages  2nd-level ESP

Background: Secret rich girl and rebel
Dusk is a rebel who plays the drums so she can hit things, but in her former life, she was a prep-school girl from a very, very rich family.

Gear: Drum sticks (always has them on her)

And in the grand history of both the Hex Girls and Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, I figure that for one adventure she would get on stage and sing with the Hex Girls.
I will neither confirm or deny that Dusk hooked up with Arejay.

Lzzy
AKA Lzzy Hale of Halestorm
Survivor
Str +0 Dex +1 Con +1 Int +1 Wis +2 Cha +3
XP: 5,010 (Level 3)
Hit Dice: 3d4 Hit Points: 11 AC: 6  Attack Bonus: +0 Check Bonus: +3 (Primary) +1 (Secondary) +0 (Tertiary)
Armor: leather jacket
Saves: +3 vs. Death attacks and area effects.
Class Abilities: Stealth skills, climbing, Danger sense, Sneak Attack, Read Languages (80%)

Background: Rock star
Lzzy is a kick-ass rock star.

Gear: Gibson EDS-1275 Double Neck Electric Guitar

Edited to add: Now available, Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars. You can get the PDF from DriveThruRPG and both the standard and special edition hardcovers from Elf Lair Games.

October Horror Movie Challenge: This House Possessed (1981)

I can't honestly recall if I have ever seen this movie or not.  I am still trying to track down my elusive TV horror movie and I pretty much knew this one was not it.  BUT, it has all the hallmarks of what would have gotten my attention back then, creepy house, weird state of the art technology, and Lisa Eilbacher who I thought was good looking back then (spoiler alert, she was and still is!)
It also featured early 80s TV mainstay Parker Stevenson and Slim Pickens playing...well, the same character he usually played.

The premise is solid. A house doesn't want anyone to live in it but it's beloved Margaret who moved away at age 7.  But before we get to that we get the REAL HORROR of this movie! Singing by Parker Stevenson!!  I give him grief; I like Parker Stevenson, I thought he was a good actor and his shows the Hardy Boys and Probe were a lot of fun.  So he plays a "rock star" who has a nervous breakdown and needs a living nurse, Lisa Eilbacher as  Sheila, to help him.  They find this old house and strange murders begin to happen.

I realized this was not the movie I was looking for very soon, but I was hooked into the story. I know.

I want to say I have seen this to be honest. Like I said it hits all my interests as an 11-year-old, but I watched it without really any sense of recognition.   I was half-tempted to mark it down as "watched" but I am going with "first-time view" on this one.

The search continues.

Watched: 21
New: 15