Reviews: I'm Going to Hell!

 It's October, and my thoughts turn to scary things. And honestly, what could be scarier than a trip to Hell? There are a lot of great adventures to take your characters through. I can't review them all, but here are a few.

I DO still want to do my "A Barbarian in Hell" adventure sometime. These will help me out. 

So come with me. Let's go to Hell!

666: The Number of the Beast

PDF, 20 Pages, DMsGuild. $6.66

This one is fun. It's 20 pages long, and it takes its inspiration from both Dante's Inferno and Heavy Metal music. Sounds like my kind of mix, to be honest! This one also takes cues from a few different video games. This works if you imagine that your characters are already dead and in Hell and not traveling there as a "Soujurn in Hell."

This PDF sets up seven "boss battles" for characters in Hell. It can be used as described or as a supplement to an ongoing campaign in Hell, which is what I am using it for.

This is obviously for D&D 5e via the DMsGuild.

Nine Hells Adult Coloring Book

PDF, 48 Pages. B&W art (by design). $6.95 PDF / $8.98 Print

This is overtly a coloring book, but it is also a great resource for the Pathfinder version of Hell and stat blocks for the rulers of each level. Again this could be in the form of a "boss battle" or as a resource. Buy it for the coloring book, but stay for the backgrounds, lore, and stat-blocks.

The art from Jacob E. Blackmon is excellent as well, and there are some pieces here that would be a lot of fun to color. Now, where did my kids leave their crayons?

 

Emirikol's Guide to Devils

PDF, 246 Pages. Color art. $15.00

From Sean McGovern, of The Power Score RPG blog.  So right away I knew this was going to be a well-researched product. Sean has been one of the best at deep lore D&D research in the blogging scene for years. He is meticulous and encompassing on any topic he tackles.

This is a massive volume at 246 pages and covers the Hells and its inhabitants. It takes D&D lore from as far back 1st/2nd Edition (I noticed that details from "Politics of Hell" are not really included though, but everything else is) and tries to bring them all together. It leans heavily into the 5th edition versions of Hells (naturally), and the book is presented like many of the newer 5e books, with notes from Emirikol the Chaotic and Natasha the Dark. 

The information makes for a great read, and there are some details I really enjoy. I like how the author explains the shift from Demon to Devil to Fiend for Succubi. There are plenty of stat blocks, which is good if you don't have all the devils and Archdevils. And there are plenty of new devils and backgrounds on playing characters associated with devils and the Hells.

The art is a mixed bag, as with any DMsGuild product, and I am not 100% on board with all the lore choices made here.  But there is enough text and information here to keep me busy. Plus any choice I don't like I can simply say "well, Emirikol got it wrong" or even "This was from Natasha when she was younger and not yet Iggwilv."

In any case, it is good to have multiple points of view on something as complex as the Nine Hells.

I do wish there was a printer-friendly version. This would be nice in my big red binder of devil information.

Dalor's Guide to Devils & Demons

PDF, 127 pages, Color art. PDF $19.99 / Print $34.99

Now this one was a bit of a pleasant surprise to me.  It is for 5e so I was expecting something akin to the DMsGuild products I had been reviewing. But this one reminds me of the best of the OSR in terms of look and feel, with solid 5e design and layout. Really the best of both worlds. The vibe I get from it is like the old Mayfair Demons series.

This book gives you a ton of new demons and devils and plenty of background and lore for them. There is even a fiendish language and alphabet. I am a little surprised this one doesn't have more sales because it is just a treasure trove of great stuff.

There are new demon lords, new arch-devils, cults and contracts, and even a new class. A little bit of everything really. 

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See you in Hell!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 10, Room 4

 Across the Ghoul Plain, the party gets deeper into this nightmare level.  Here they encounter a river of blood. The river runs slowly, but constantly.

The river taps into the horrors of the Abyss, and the Vampire Queen tapped into this evil in another attempt to increase her own power. This river is a side effect.

The blood is poison. Drinking it will require a save vs. poison of taking 4d12 hp points of damage or save for half.

The party will need to find a way to cross it. It is 10' wide. There are materials laying around where the party could construct a raft.  There is a point about 1000 feet down where they can cross. They can also teleport, fly, or dimensional door across. 

October Horror Movie Challenge: Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Tonight is an "Attack of Opportunity" Pluto now has a Godzilla channel and I love it.  I have seen this one many times, but since tonight is "Mother Nature Strikes Back" I thought it would be a great choice.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Also known as Godzilla vs the Smog Monster this movie is what you get when the writers of Godzilla start to worry about pollution. Now Godzilla has always been social commentary, but this one seems a bet heavy-handed, and the monster...well Hedorah is just silly.  Still, I had good memories of this one as a kid and the battles for the most part hold up.

The teens in this one seem like some nihilist hippies. Thinking the world will end due to pollution (we will burn ourselves up first!) and deciding to have one last party on Mt. Fuji. Plus we get a rare spotting of Godzilla's ability to telepathically communicate with children. 

No, it is not good, even by cheesy late 1960s, early 1970s Toho standards. But it is still fun.

I still can't get that "Save the Earth" song out of my head from the English dubbed version. I watched the subbed version and it has the equally ear-wormy original version, "Return the Sun."

Mother Nature Strikes Back: All of the Godzilla movies are this at some level.  After all The Blue Öyster Cult sang "History shows again and again, How nature points out the folly of men." in their song "Godzilla." This movie turns that message up. Hedorah is like a polluted titan rising up to attack those who harmed its mother Gaia. Honestly, when reading over the list of themes this is the movie I thought of for today. So this works out well.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
Viewed: 4
First Time Views: 2

D&DGII The Black Forest Mythos: Unser Vater

Kicking off the first of my posts about the gods of the Black Forest Mythos. For more details on this project and the background on who these gods are, please see the links section below.

Unser Vater

Unser Vater ("Our Father") is the chieftain of the gods. He is the father figure in both a spiritual and literal sense. He is the sky god and it is possible that this syncretic Norse-Roman god has a bit of other gods in his mix, including various Celtic and maybe even Christian beliefs. But make no mistake here this is a Pagan god.

This figure, like the Jupiter and Thor he is syncretized from, is the god of the sky, storms, especially lighting, and he is the one who defeated the Hüne (giants/titans) in the battle of the gods. 

He is temperamental and reacts more often than acts.

UNSER VATER (Father of the Gods)
Greater God

ARMOR CLASS: -2
MOVE: 12"/24"
HIT POINTS: 400
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 6-72 (6d12) (Thunderbolt)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 80% (see below)

SIZE: M (6')
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: All (mostly Good)
SYMBOL: Lightning bolt on a grey sky
PLANE: ??????

CLERIC/DRUID: 14th level druid
FIGHTER: 25th level fighter
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 10th level Illusionist 
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: 10th level Bard
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 25 I:16 W: 18 D: 20 C: 22 CH:25

Unser Vater, "Our Father," is the chieftain of the gods. He rules because he is strong and powerful.  He keeps Der Hüne at bay and protects those who pay him homage. He tries to be good and just, but he has a temper that can rage out of control.  He can usually be calmed by his wife, Herde Oberin.

This god appears as a tall, muscular man in his late middle age. He has grey-white hair and blue-grey eyes. He has a quick laugh and an even quicker temper. His appearance is that of a former warrior turned father figure.

He attacks with his thunderbolts, which he can hurl twice per round. He knows many of the secrets of magic and can also cast spells as a 14th-level druid and a 10th-level illusionist. No weapon or spell hurled through the air can harm or touch him. He is surrounded by a whirlwind that acts as a 15HD air elemental. He can summon up to 6 (1d4+2) additional 10HD air elementals at will. 

Unser Vater makes few demands on his worshipers other than to honor his name and remember that even in peace, war is always nearby. His followers are most often warriors, farmers in need of the rain he provides, and sailors. Heads of the household, male or female, invoke his name as their authority over others. Rangers and any who hunt giants are also his followers. They invoke his name on their hunts, and there is a 5% chance (10% if on his holy days/times) that he will offer a boon of +1 to hit until the next sundown. 

Sphere of Control: Storms, Rulership
Animal: Eagle
Rainment: (Head) Bare (Body) Simple white garments
Color(s): White, Grey, Red
Holy Days: Red Sunsets, Thursdays
Sacrifices: After storms, goat
Place of Worship: Any elevated area

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Notes

I obviously need to flesh this guy out some more. BUT I want to do that as part of some actual play. The original Deities & Demigods had the advantage of working with myths that were (in many cases) thousands of years old. My myths are less than two years old but build on some solid and even old, ideas.

I am still determining what their home Plane is in AD&D. The Greeks and Romans had Olympus, and the Germanic and Norse people had Asgard. I am considering these in terms of my Rules for this. I can stick to history, but it must conform to AD&D first, somewhere near Olympus and Gladsheim.  Right now, if you were to ask me what one of his Pagan worshippers would say, well they would just point up to the sky.  I will cheat and look into the Manual of Planes for these answers.  But in a future post. 

 Additions I have made to the classic AD&D D&DG's stat block are to include a "WITCH/WARLOCK" line for class level and the information from the table in the back of the book for other details. I had considered doing some other details from AD&D 2nd Ed and D&D 3rd Ed, but in the end, I dropped those ideas when it became obvious that AD&D 1st Ed style would work best for me. 

These gods will not have Psionic powers. I have nothing against them (I love them, in fact), but the notion does not fit well with them.  This is a case where my Rule #2 overrides Rule #1.

My goal is to have a PDF of all of the gods of this Pantheon ready by the end of the month in D&DG format.

Links

• One Man's God Special: Syncretism Part 3, the Roman-Norse Pantheon
• One Man's God series
• Deities & Demigods II: Part 1, Hecate (stat block construction)
• Monstrous Mondays: D&DGII The Monsters of the Black Forest Mythos
• My overview and rules for these postings

This is another post for my RPG Blog Carnival Horrors, Gods, and Monsters.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 10, Room 3

 Among the many graves there others (marked with 3).  These look like the other graves (marked with 2), but are deeper. They are occupied by a dwarven wight.  There are 12 total. 

These wights are former dwarven warrior elites. They each wield +1 battle axe.

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Golem (1920, 2020)

It is not very often you can find two related movies that are 100 years apart. However, this is something that will become more and more common.  Today's Re-animated movies are the classic The Golem (Der Golem) and 2020's The Golem.

Both movie deal with the old Jewish legend of the Golem as a being made of clay and imbued with the word of Life/God to become a protector to the people. But if the Golem is kept around too long it also brings destruction to all those around it. 

The Golem: How He Came into the World (German: Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam) (1920)

This movie is a classic in every sense of the word. It is slow, black & white and silent, but worth watching. You can easily see some of the design choices that would later go into the Frankenstein movies from Universal Studios. 

In this one, the golem is created to protect the Jewish people of Prague. A warning is given that if the Golem is still animated when the planets enter the house of Uranus the evil spirit of Astaroth will take it over. 

There is a bit where the Rabbi who animated the Golem uses it to impress the Emperor and save all his people when his place collapses. As expected the Golem turns to evil and begins killing people. Well, he kills a knight of the Emperor who has been sleeping with a girl (Miriam) who the Rabbi's apprentice wants. In the end the Golem is "shut down" by a girl who removes the scroll from his chest (not mouth as in the legends).

The Golem (2018, 2020)

This is an English-language Israeli movie set during the Black Death. We see Hannah visiting a healer where we learn it was 7 years ago when her child had died. She sneaks off to listen to the Rabbi preach about the Kaballah (forbidden at the time). Her husband knows, but while not exactly understanding he is supportive. During her sister's wedding men from a nearby village bring in a plague-stricken girl. They blame the Jewish people and their sorceries for the plague. 

Hannah decides to use the book her husband smuggled for her to create a Golem to protect the village from these men.  We are given scenes where the Golem, in the form of her dead son, just beat the living shit out of these men; especially a group that attack Hannah alone and try to hang her.

In this we get the same story where the Golem protects, but after a bit it begins to turn on everyone. Int this case it seems to be connected to Hannah, who can feel it when the Golem-boy gets shot and sends it (unconsciously) to kill the woman she thinks her husband it having an affair with. 

The men leave when the daughter of their leader gets better, but come back to burn the village down after his daughter dies. The Golem wipes them all out and Hannah asks the golem to stop so she can remove the scroll from it's mouth. 

It is a good flick but only horror in the broad sense of the word. Hani Furstenberg as Hannah was rather great, to be honest, and the movie rides on her performances.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
Viewed: 3
First Time Views: 2

Monstrous Mondays: D&DGII The Monsters of the Black Forest Mythos

Welcome to the first Monstrous Monday of October 2023. Monstrous Mondays are always a treat for me in October since I can really do some of my favorite monsters here. This October is special for a number of reasons.  First, we have five Mondays in October this year so that already feels like a bonus monster. Secondly, I am going to do monsters of the "Black Forest Mythos" for my speculative Deities & Demigods II project. And finally this is my first *real* entry for the October RPG Blog Carnival: Horrors, Gods, and Monsters.

Photo by Michiel Annaert on Unsplash

The Monsters of the Black Forest

A brief recap of what this project is. I speculated on a combined Roman-Norse Pantheon taking root somewhere in the Black Forest region of Germany in the 6th or 7th centuries AD. While there are some similarities between the gods I am working on and their Proto-Indo-European ancestors, I am not trying to recreate the PIE gods.  I am not doing archeology or comparative anthropology here. I am doing game design.

The goals then for this pantheon (and their monsters) are:

1. It is for use in a game first and foremost, and AD&D 1st Edition in particular
2. I want to stick as close to history as I can unless it violates #1 above. 
3. I want to write this as something I would have written in 1985-6.

Why that last rule? I want to capture the feel of what I felt was peak AD&D 1st for me.  And since today I am talking about monsters, I have a fourth rule just for them.

4. Monsters need to reflect the tales and fears people of this age would have had. 

Pretty simple, really. My idea is that the Romans fleeing the fall of Rome would have brought their gods and monsters, from house spirits to more horrible things. Same with the Germanic/Norse people. The monsters need to be scary but also fit the myths (#2) and be something that works in an AD&D game (#1).

Beware the Forest

I live in a huge metropolitan area (Chicago), I grew up in a small town, but it was still a town. My wife grew up in the country. We went to college near a very old forest (Shawnee National Forest), so I understand why people in late Antiquity and the Middle Ages feared the forest. It is where witches, goblins, and, worst of all, the Devil himself lived.  The people who made these myths lived in one largest forests in Europe, the Black Forest of Germany. I really want to lean in on that and capture WHY this is a scary ass place. Their gods are for solace in a changed world, the monsters though are a lot closer at hand.

I don't want this place to be scary. I want it to be terrifying.

Of Gods and Monsters

One of the things I loved about the Deities & Demigods was getting new insights to old monsters. Old in two senses. First, the obvious one, these were monsters from mythology. Secondly, old in the sense that they may have already been part of the Monster Manual and now get a new (or old as it were) version.  The best example of this is the Greek Myths. So many monsters in the Monster Manual (even true still today) came from Greek myths. Using them in context changes them a bit.  This was one of the things I explored in my One Man's God series. 

The same will be true here.  So to start off I want to revisit some monsters I have posted here and talk about how they fit into this new/old/different worldview. 

Aglæca

Ah. Now this one is kind of my poster child for these myths. The Aglæca, as I have built it, is the monster type that Grendel was. Grendel's mother then was an Aglæc-wif. Why poster child? Well back in grade school (pre-1980) I read this book of myths that I would love to find again. It had all the Greek myths, then Norse, and finally, it ended with Beowulf. In my young mind, there was a progression in these tales as time went on. One lead to the other in a mostly unbroken line. That isn't exactly how it happened, but for these myths I am going to assume they did.

Elves

Elves are tricky since they are an established AD&D mainstay. So there are light elves (the PCs) and there are "other" elves. 

• Elf, Álfar
• Elf, Shadow

Hag, Hyrrokkin

These hags are related to the giants/titans/Hüne.

Hüne

The Titans of Roman myth and the primordial Giants of Norse/Germanic myth. I created these just for these myths.

Kobolds

Kobolds are part of Germanic myth and the D&D interpretations have moved a bit away from their mythologic and folklore counterparts. Don't get me wrong, I like D&D Kobolds. I just like my versions as well. 

• Kobold, Drude
• Kobold, Knockers

Sennentuntschi

No reason other than it is a cool monster.

Trolls

Trolls and Ogres will be smooshed into one type of creature called a Troll. They are the offspring of the giants (Norse ideas) and are fairly elemental (Roman ideas) in nature. Though like the trolls and dwarves of Germanic myths, they turn to stone when exposed to sunlight.

• Troll, Cave
• Troll, Earth
• Troll, Jötunn

Others I am considering are: 

• Alraune
• Grýla and the Yule Cat
• Hamingja
• Schreckengeist (because it shares a genesis with this mythology).
• Titania, Queen of Faerie (but in her Germanic guise, maybe even using bits of The Elf King's Daughter for her) 
• Wight, Barrow
• Wolf Witch

This is a good start. I have some new ones for the rest of this month and I think it will be a great project.