Mail Call Tuesday: The Twisted Twins

Everyone knows I love horror. I watch more than I can ever review here to be honest and don't always talk about the ones I enjoy.

Case in point I rather love "American Mary." It is so twisted, and really Katharine Isabelle (the star as Mary) is just so great to watch in everything she is in.

But the real stars of the movie are the directors (and occasional actresses) Jen and Sylvia Soska, aka the Soska Sisters, aka the Twisted Twins.

They were having a special on their Etsy webstore before closing it down for a bit and I knew I needed something. 

Well, I got it over the weekend, and I am pretty happy.

I mean really? "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" "Blessed Be!!" "Wanna Join our Coven?"

How could I possibly say no!

Yeah sorry for the glare, but I wanted to get them into frames before I scratched them. 

They would also make great "live-action" stand-ins for my two blood witches Kimbra & Kelleigh.

Now I need to find a place on my game room walls to hang them. Though knowing the Soskas they would want me to hang these with a meat hook!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 21

Going straight takes the characters to a large room with wooden doors.  There is an eerie glow from the inside of the room.

This is a storage chamber for various items needed to keep and feed the monsters here.  All the food is long gone, but there are a few normal weapons here as well as the following magical ones.

A sword +1 / +2 vs Lycanthropes.

A gem of light (casts light 3 times per day) This is causing the glow.

A shield +2

A dagger +1

A mace +1 / +2 vs Undead

Finding these items is worth 1,500 xp total.

This room is a dead end.

Monstrous Mondays: But What About Dragons?

Did quite a bit of work on my Basic Bestiaries last week.  Mostly edits and some large-scale moving around of content. I am close to publishing yet, though I have more art for BB1.

Here is where I am on content.

	aka	Complete	Started
Basic Bestiary I	Witch Monsters	284	339
Basic Bestiary II	Undead	131	378
Basic Bestiary III	Demons	155	240
Basic Bestiary IV	Dragons	12	20

So, nearly 600 monsters are complete, and nearly 1,000 total started in one form or another.

A couple of things. 

Basic Bestiary I has shrunk while Basic Bestiary III has grown. I moved over about 20-25 creatures from I to III since they fit better.

Also, you might notice Basic Bestiary IV, aka Dragons.  I have talked about it, but not much. Mostly because I kept it closer to my chest, but really because so little of it was done.

This project grew out of something my oldest had been working on for a while, a book about dragons we were calling "Here There Be Dragons." It has been an on-again, off-again project for a while (ok 11 years) but I was leaving it in the hands of a then 11-year-old to work on. We resurrected it a while back and I have been slowly converting material from it to my Basic Bestiary format.  But that is not all, I also want to come up with a good monster stat block that will really take advantage of how awesome (in all senses of the word) dragons are.  I experimented with this one, but it is not 100% where I want it to be yet.  

I love the idea of Dragons getting their own book. I mean if I am going to do a book of Undead and Demons then Dragons really should get their own too.

In addition to the stat block, I have other issues to work out. Should Tiamat be in the Demon book or the Dragon book? Right now she is in both. What about one of my favorites, the Piasa Bird? Is it a dragon?

Next year, 2024, is not just the 50th Anniversary of D&D but it is also the Chinese year of the Dragon.  Feels like to me that an Old School monster book about dragons would be perfect.

I just need to get my ass moving on these.

I am also ditching the current covers I have for them and looking for something new. Still figuring out what to use.  I want the same artist for all four and they must feature the creature types covered. Still searching.

BTW if you want some cool dragon content now, Bruce Heard has a bunch up on his blog.

• D&D Class: The Dragon Cultist
• D&D Class: Dragon Slayer
• Dragon Steeds Pt. 1
• Dragon Steeds Pt. 2
• Dragon Steeds Pt. 3

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 20

This room is another semi-circular chamber, like Room #12. The room has a hallway to the left, and the hallway continues straight. 

This room, like Room 12, shows signs of a recent battle. There is a dead orc here with a usable sword, non-magical. He has a pouch of 23 cp that his "killers" missed.  There is a poison dart in his neck.

The orc is lying on top of a trap trigger; this is what killed him. Moving the orc will trigger it again.

Finding the trap and disarming before it fires is worth 50xp. After it fires, it is only worth 0 xp.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 19

 Moving down the hall another 10', there is another cell on the left.

This room was recently sacked by the group in room 18. There are three dead orcs here. If the party searched they will find a potion of healing that was missed. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 18

Taking the left turn you continue down the hallway there is a door to your immediate right (18), and another further down to the left (19). The door to the right is open.  

This is a much larger cell, and inside are 6 Human Fighters (level 3, Chaotic).  They all wear platemail (AC 4) and carry swords (1d8+1).  Their hp are 16, 13, 11, 11, 10, 9.

Fighter #1 (16hp) has a dagger +1 that he will use if combat is going against them.

They have a total of 250 pp, 800 gp, 1,250 ep, 220 sp, and 3,000 cp.  This is the group that has been looting the dungeon ahead of the characters. Adjust their number and hp as needed. 

Kickstart Your Weekend: All About Those Witches!

So new Kickstarters up from the last week or so. All are doing well and certainly don't need my signal boost, but I feel obligated to do so.

MythCraft | A Complete TTRPG Universe and Game System

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/quasigrant/mythcraft-rpg?ref=theotherside

MythCraft aims high. It looks great and the team certainly put a lot of love and care into it.  What I am hearing most about it is the detailed character-building rules and options.  Indeed it looks quite fun to be honest and the game is attractive as hell. They are going all out here.

It *might* just be another Fantasy Heartbreaker, but even if it is, it is still detailed enough to have my attention.  There is a Quick Start here, and I am quite excited for them.

There is a lot, and I mean A LOT of material here and there is no way I can do it justice, but check them out and see for your self. 

Can You Play A Witch? Yes! In fact the witch is one of the four classes (out of 11) that they are featuring here.  You can see her on the cover, upper left. 

All the Witches

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allthewitches/all-the-witches?ref=theotherside

I interviewed the project lead and "head witch" Emmapanada yesterday. Well this one came screaming out the gate and was funded in under 3 hours!  

What else can I add? I love the art and I am really looking forward to seeing this one become a reality.

Can You Play A Witch? Yes! Correction. HELL YES! That's what this game is all about and honestly, I am all here for it.

Shadowdark RPG: Old-School Gaming, Modernized

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadowdarkrpg/shadowdark-rpg-old-school-gaming-modernized?ref=theotherside

The current darling of the Old-School crowd. It is fun, I have had the QuickStart since Gary Con last year and played around with it.  The production values here are top notch, so it is certainly a very attractive set.

It is fun yes and has a lot going for it. I think it lives somewhere in between DCC and OSE. Though I do admit I can't really see what this does for me that OSE can't do.  Still, I know this will be fun for the right groups.

Can You Play A Witch? Yes, but you will need to grab her from the Cursed Scroll #1 zine to add her. 

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Lots of great games out there!