The alcove on the far right in Room 26 opens to a long hall. As the party moves down they hear growling.
In this part of the hall has the heads of various demons fixed to the walls like trophies, which is exactly what they are.
As the party approaches the demons growl and hiss. The party can read a plaque under each one, it has the demon's name and the date it was killed by the Vampire Queen. The characters need to be careful, getting too close and the demon head can bite for 2d6 hp of damage.
Each head is still "alive" but lock in a sort of perpetual death. They can't regenerate their bodies and they can't die.
The demons demand to be released, but they honestly have no idea how that can be accomplished.
A few times in my life are clearly defined as "Before" and "After."
Graduations. Marriage. Kids. But one that has left a significant mark on me (and my wife Natalie) was Before and After hearing "The Lion and the Cobra" by Sinéad O’Connor. Seeing her in concert remains one of the best shows I have ever been to in my life.
I do not believe in any sort of afterlife at all. But I hope she finally found some sort of peace.
The effect her music, especially her first few albums, had on me is quite frankly immeasurable. Not surprisingly, she also inspired some of my favorite RPG moments.
I am not going to say there would have been no "The Dragon and the Phoenix," my epic Buffy RPG campaign without Sinéad's "The Lion and the Cobra," but it and everything that came after it (my work on the Buffy RPG, Ghosts of Albion) would have looked very different.
Back in 1988, listening to "The Lion & the Cobra" (for like the 1000th time likely), I had an idea of a character that loved someone so much that they breached the walls of death and came back to that person. It was a powerful image and something I wanted to do ever since. Eventually, that image from so long ago became a central theme of "The Dragon & the Phoenix." The song was "Troy" (as in Trojans) and the final adventure was named "No Other Troy." Both for the Sinéad O'Connor song and the Yeats poem.
The build-up for this adventure, an interlude, was set to "Drink Before the War," also from "The Lion and the Cobra."
While "The Lion and the Cobra" had a HUGE impact on my life, it was not her only album. Another contributing factor to both my Ravenloft games of the 1990s and "The Dragon and the Phoenix" was "I am Stretched on Your Grave" from her wildly successful "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got."
Another element added to the soundtrack of my early 2000s games was her 1994 album "Universal Mother," with "Fire On Babylon" being the main choice.
Sinéad also appeared on many other albums. One song of hers really help me find the tone I was looking for for my The Dragon and the Phoenix game. It is "Empire" off of Bomb the Bass's album "Clear."
Other Games
Though back in the late 80s / early 90s the Buffy RPG was not even an idea yet. What was an idea were my ideas for a Star Trek TNG game after picking up some FASA Trek material for TNG. Back then the idea of a Ghost Ship and the song was "Jackie" also from "The Lion and the Cobra."
This was, no doubt, inspired by what I was doing back then. A lot of horror role-playing.
Another song, which while by itself did not lead to any RPG ideas, it lead me to Enya which more or less was my soundtrack for writing Ghosts of Albion. The song was "Never Get Old" also from "The Lion and the Cobra."
Other Videos
I can't have a proper tribute without mentioning "Nothing Compares 2 U." I was at a party one night back in college. People were drinking and generally doing what you do at an underage college keg party. The TV was on MTV as background noise. Sinéad came on with "Nothing Compares 2 U" and I swear the whole place ground to a halt so people could watch her. Ok, maybe not to a halt, but it was early enough in the release of the song that not many had seen the video yet. I already had heard the song many times, I bought the album on the day it was released, so I knew it. I think I may have even seen the video. But now everyone else was discovering something I already knew. Just how fantastic she was.
Her critics (and there are so many of them) are all quick to point out that Prince wrote this song. Yes. Yes he did and Prince is amazing. He has written so many songs for so many artists. But when Prince wrote this he was singing about a lover. Sinéad was singing about her abusive mother and how she really just wanted to be loved by her the same way she loved her.
Tell me that doesn't make it hit harder.
Speaking of critics.
At the concert to celebrate Bob Dylan's birthday right after the Pope thing, she came on stage and was booed by the crowd. Singer Kris Kristofferson came out, gave her a hug, and told her, "Don't let the bastards get you down." She did her song and fled the stage, where Kristofferson was there to give her a hug. My admiration of him went up several notches after that. In 2009 he recorded an acoustic song, "Sister Sinead."
I'm singing this song for my sister Sinead Concerning the god awful mess that she made She told them her truth just as hard as she could Her message profoundly was misunderstood
There's humans entrusted with guarding our gold And humans in charge of the saving of souls And humans responded all over the world Condemning that bald headed brave little girl
And maybe she's crazy and maybe she ain't But so was Picasso and so were the saints And she's never been partial to shackles or chains She's too old for breaking and too young to tame
It's askin' for trouble to stick out your neck In terms of a target a big silhouette But some candles flicker and some candles fade And some burn as true as my sister Sinead
Ok...maybe a little self-serving here. Ok. A lot. But I spent some time organizing my social media profiles and thought I'd share them all here for ease.
Here is my new Link in Bio from bit.ly.
Oddly, iframes are not working with this one.
As you can see, you can now find me on bsky (BlueSky), Mastodon, and Threads, in addition to all the other places I have been at forever.
Share yours below and connect with others. With social media a vast and unconnected set of sites, it is hard to find out what cool things people are doing now. Or at least keep track of them.
I guess this is one of the reasons why I continue to blog here, it is my corner of the Internet, and I can do what I like, as I like.
The closer alcove on the left back in room 26 appears to be a short alcove with another bas-relief of the Vampire Queen (similar to Level 2, Room 18) this time she is playing the violin.
It is fairly obvious that the violin is of different construction than the rest of the bas-relief.
A thief can use a find traps roll or an elf with a secret door roll to discover this secret door.
Wow. What a month. I have been heads down playtesting The Wasted Lands all month. The Kickstarter was funded and was completed just about 2 hours ago.
All the documents are ready. Now comes the layout and buying the last bits of art. It has been a wild ride, really. I can't wait to get my copies.
Wasted Lands core rules mock-up
Gen Con & AI
Sadly I am not headed to Gen Con this year despite being invited by a couple of publishers I have worked with in the past year. Honestly, prep for the Fall term is kicking my ass and despite the volume of posts here, most have been pre-written days ahead. In addition to my normal course load (ok, it is actually more this year) I am also part of the team that is working on finding ways to prevent students from using AI for plagiarism. I have never felt more akin to Sisyphus in my life, to be honest. But I do what the Gods command. So I have been eyeballs deep in all sorts of AI tools (and brushing up on my Python) since December just to keep up. I have all these cool AI tools to play with, but the goal is to figure out how to keep students from using them OR how they can use them in ethical ways. One thing though is abundantly clear, these tools are not going away.
So, no Gen Con for me this year. Looks like I'll be at Gary Con again in 2024. Not a bad place to be to celebrate 50 years of D&D.
Monster Mash II
I released Monster Mash II to only a little fanfare. I really need to talk about it more. I am rather happy with it and the art is AMAZING!
Looking Ahead to October
Again I'll be hosting the RPG Blog Carnival in October. My theme is "Gods and Monsters." I hope to talk more about Gods, demons, and monsters. It should be a lot of fun.
Since the beginning of the year, I have also been taking Spanish, so I am going to try my hand at watching nothing but Spanish-language horror movies. Part of my "continuous improvement" this year. I have lost 40 lbs, brought my A1C down to normal for six straight months, and will be off my high-blood pressure meds! Not too bad, really.
Sinéad O'Connor
I can't let the day pass without some mention of Sinéad O'Connor. I am planning a tribute post tomorrow. To say she had an impact on my life is a massive understatement.
Ok. Have a course to finish up today and I promised a colleague that I would read over theirs before tomorrow.
The first alcove on the left hides a secret door. In leads down a small flight of stairs to a room filling with water. The water though, turns to steam nearly as fast.
Rising from the steam is a demonic figure, similar to the small demons from Room 11, but this one is much larger.
Steam Mephit Lord: HD 8; AC 3 [16]; THAC0 11 [+8]; Atk 2 claws (1d8); Move 120' (40') [Fly 240' (80')]; Save D8 W9 P10 B11 S12 (8); Morale 10; AL C; Special: Breathe steam cloud (3d6, save for half), gaseous form.
This creature is twice as large as the mephits encountered earlier. It appears to be "melting," but that seems to be part of its form.
The Mephit Lord is trapped here, like many other creatures, by the Vampire Queen.
I have not been talking much about the various Judges Guild books in a while because of how racist current stewards Bob Bledsaw II and III have been. Really put a sad blemish on what I had always enjoyed as a "local" company.
But that also, unfortunately, did Bob Bledsaw the First and all the other fine authors (like Daniel Hauffe and Jennell Jaquays) a huge disservice. So I want to revisit some of the Judges Guild books of my youth and see how they could play into my current games. In particular, my War of the Witch Queens or my 1979 Campaign.
Since I always look for witches, I will start with Alcastra and The Illhiedrin Book.
I don't have the cover as the top image. The reason is simple, when this post gets shared on social media, whatever image is first is used as a thumbnail, and the cover was suggestive by 1981 standards and likely to get me into Facebook jail by 2023 standards. Shame, really. It is one of the more recognizable covers.
The adventure is a rare example of an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure from Judges Guild (not just a Dungeons & Dragons one) and a low-level adventure at that.
Like many older adventures, much detail is given to Alcastra's tower and its occupants, but only a little on the spell-caster herself. In fact, this is all we really know about her:
This is a pity. Though it is interesting (to me anyway) that her class is "Wizard" and not "Magic-user," as expected.
Why is she naked on the cover? I am going with it is hot where she is at.
Of course, I would instead use her as a witch. Given her general appearance, I am tempted to make her into an Egyptian witch of the Classical Tradition. For this, I will use my syncretized Greco-Egyptian Gods and use my Classical Witch Tradition book. I would swap out some of the Classical Witch spells for some others, likely from my Witch book for Basic-era games though I should also look into some of my other books.
Saves
Breath Attacks: 12
Poison or Death: 9 Petrify or Paralysis: 9
Wands: 10
Spells and Spell-like device: 11
Hit Points: 33
Alignment: Chaotic Good
AC: 3 (Bracers of defense) To hit AC 0: 16
Occult Powers
Familiar: Hawk (+1 to Wisdom and Dexterity checks)
Lesser: Gift of Prophecy
Minor: Drawing Down the Moon
Spells
First: Cause Fear, Charm Person, Read Languages, Sleep
Second: ESP, Hold Person, Invisibility, Spell Missile
Third: Dispel Magic, Scry, Spark of Insight
Fourth: Fate, Polymorph Other, Witch Power
Fifth: Flame Strike, Teleport
Sixth: Anit-Magic Shell, Bones of the Earth
Seventh: Sirocco
Equipment
Bracers of Defence Dagger +2
Staff of Ra. Acts as a Staff of Striking and can cast the following spells: 3/day: Color Spray, Light 1/day: Flame Strike, Fury of the Sun, Sun Blessing
--
A good build to be honest. She also has two apprentices, Mirranscheim (human) and Rhall (half-elf), both 3rd level. The only stats we get for them are their Charisma scores. I am tempted to make Rhall a desert elf. Just to give her a more interesting background. But in my game, desert elves don't have anything to do with humans if they can avoid them. Rhall could be an outcast.
I might detail them since they could accompany the party on this adventure. To make sure their mistress' plan is carried out. Not sure if they run around naked as well. Let's say no.
Mirranscheim and Rhall
The adventure itself is pretty basic. It could be built up by making "The Creature" a bit tougher.
