October Horror Movie Challenge: Lost Boys (1987)

I talked about this one a bit back when I reviewed Near Dark.  I have to admit that this is the movie I first thought of when I saw that Best Soundtrack was a category.

Lost Boys (1987)

Ok. So I did do this one back in 2014. A lot, if not all, of what I said then still hold true. The movie holds well. Yeah there is some fast and loose play with the rules of vampirism here, but honestly it is still a great film.

Let's talk about that soundtrack.

There are so many great hits here. Many are covers, but for some reason it works fine. 

We have Roger Daltrey of the Who singing Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," and for the longest time, I preferred this version. I was on a big Who kick then.

INXS practically made this one of their unofficial albums and I think added to their success of Kick, also out in 1987. Their song  "Good Times" was a cover of a 1960s song. 

The big covers were Echo and the Bunnymen's cover of The Door's "People are Strange," which gave the Doors some newfound fans in my generation (yes, we knew about them before). And the big one, Tim Capello's cover of The Call's "I Still Beleive."  Tim Capello is still out there touring, too, and I guess he is like one of the chillest guys ever. 

The original songs include the "title song" "Lost in the Shadows (The Lost Boys)" by Lou Gramm, and the real title song, "Cry Little Sister (Theme from The Lost Boys)" by Gerard McMann.  

I have a lot of really fond memories of this album that coincide with my freshman year in college.  It is the soundtrack I'd put to write vampire material. Kinda wish I still had some of that stuff. It might not have been (it wasn't, I am sure), but for nostalgia value.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
Viewed: 27
First Time Views: 17

Monstrous Mondays: D&DGII Hautveränderer

The Romans, Norse, and ancient Germanic peoples all had many monsters that haunted their fears and tales. But they all at least one monster in common, and that was the werewolf.

The first recorded werewolves in a recognizable form in myth and legend go back to the Greeks and Romans. One could argue that the go back even further, but Greek and roman are fine for this project. Indeed we get the word "Lycanthrope" from the Romans. In particular from Ovid in his Metamorphoses and his tale of King Lycaon.  The Norse and Germanic people gave us the berserker, or berserkr, meaning "Bear Shirt." These were a class of warriors that could turn into bears or had the ferocity of bears in battle.

Tales of humans turning into animals are as old as humans and animals. Many shamanistic practices are based on this. For today's monster then I am looking for less of a syncretism and more of a synthesis.

In Norse and Germanic myths, the Werewolf is known as the "werwolf" not much difference there. But in Roman myth such creatures were known as "skin changers" or "skin turners."  Translate that back to German and we have today's monster, the Hautveränderer.

HAUTVERÄNDERER
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVE: 24" 
HIT DICE: 7+1 (32 hp)
% IN LAIR: 10%
TREASURE TYPE: B + Special
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 Claws, 1 bite
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d4/1d4/1d6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Bloodlust, Rend (2d8)
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +1 or better weapon to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
SIZE: M (6')
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

Hautveränderer are human fighters, most often Berserkers (qv Monster Manual, p.67), who can assume the form of a large wolf or bear. They do this by using a special skin of the animal they wish to transform into. The hautveränderer's skin must be of an animal they killed and then prepared by a shaman. They don the skin, which must be touching their flesh to transform. 

They attack with two claws and a bite. Any natural 20 roll on their claw attacks will result in a rending attack, 2d8 instead of 1d4. If successful, they can make two rend attacks per round. 

Hautveränderer live for battle and are subject to bloodlust once they have made a successful attack. They must make a saving throw vs. Paralysis, if they succeed, then they continue as before. If they fail, then they succumb to the blood lust and attack everything, friend or foe, until none are alive. They are allowed a new save at the start of their next attack. Success means their lust has ended. While in blood lust, they attack at +2 to hit.

Their magical hide also offers some magical protection, so only +1 or better weapons can pierce it.

If killed, there is a 10% chance that their hide survived the attack enough to be reused. Any character seeking to reuse the hide must seek out a shaman to bind it to its new owner. While killing a hautveränderer is typically a good enough reason to have this skin, some shamans might not look favorably on the one who did the killing if they were from the same clan.

They are not true lycanthropes, so they cannot pass on their curse, nor are they affected by the moon's phases.

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Links

• One Man's God Special: Syncretism Part 3, the Roman-Norse Pantheon
• The Monsters
• My overview and rules for these postings
• Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar
• Alp
• Die Hüne
• Jötunar
• The Gods
• Unser Vater, Father of the Gods
• Sisters of the Dawn, Liebhaberin and Ôstara
• The Mother Goddesses Herde Oberin, Mutter Natur, and Großmutter
• The Divine Twins
• Hüne Vater, Großvater, and Großmutter
• Ides, Demi-Goddess of Protection and War

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

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 10, Room 23

 This tomb belongs to Siln Morgenstjernen. 

This tomb belongs to Siln, who according to her marker was the chief alchemist of the clan. This tomb appears to have been broken into at some point in the past. There is a secret alcove under the sarcophagus but it is empty.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Viking Wolf (2022)

 It's werewolf night! It's always a fun time and tonight's flick was a joint choice with my wife. She loves Viking shows and movies from Norway and Sweden, and we both like werewolves.

Viking Wolf (2022)

Originally called "Vikingulven." This one starts out great with a Viking raid on a monastery in Normandy in 1050 AD. The Vikings kill all the priests, and they rescue a wolf pup.

Fast forward to today, where we meet Thale, a 17 year-old girl who just moved to Nybo, Norway with her mom from Sweden. Thale (Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne) is a moody teen; no shock. She doesn't like this town, she doesn't like her mom (the new deputy Liv played by Liv Mjönes), and she really doesn't like her stepdad.

She sneaks out to a party and witnesses two other students get attacked by something. A girl is killed and the boy she is with is mauled. 

Liv, with the help of a local animal expert, identifies the claw and bite marks as a wolf, a really large wolf.  The wolf attacks continue, and while Liv is focused on the killer she completely misses the fact that her oldest daughter is changing. 

They manage to kill the first wolf after it kills many people. Everyone thinks it is over until Thale begins to wolf out. 

 The movie is a touch slow and a bit predictable. I won't spoil the ending, but it was fun. More importantly, it gave me some fun ideas. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
Viewed: 26
First Time Views: 17

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 10, Room 22

 This tomb is a bit different than the others. The plaque on the door claims this is the tomb of Sharis Val, son of Ferner Morgenstjernen.

Inside the tomb is largely unadorned. 

The sarcophagus for Sharis Val is larger than the previous ones. Opening it, the party can see why. Sharis Val is not a Dwarf, but rather a Dark Elf.

In is hand he holds the head of a morningstar.  

If a Chaotic (any Evil) character touches it they must Save vs. Spells or take 6d6 hp electrical damage. Save for half.

If a Neutral character touches it they take 2d6 points of damage, save vs. Spells for half.

If a Lawful (Lawful Good) character touches it an illusion of Sharis Val appears. He is tall dark elf. He has a damaged leg that causes him to lean to one side. It appears to be some sort of birth defect.

He explains to the adventurers who he is. He was born to a Drow matron, but his deformity caused his mother shame. She tried to hide it and instead was merciless to him, making sure that whatever he lacked in physicality he would make up for in intelligence. But it was never enough and he was cast out to die. He was discovered by Ferner Morgenstjernen a high priest of the Forge Father. Ferner took him in and together they discovered the secret of Necromium. 

He will continue and tell them they had just survived the second attack by the Vampire Queen and know she will strike again. To that end they have forged a new weapon of Necromium in the style of their house emblem. If the party is seeing this illusion it means the dwarves did not stop the Vampire Queen, but they now can. Combine the two pieces, if Ferner has finished the shaft, and they will bond to make a weapon capable of destroying the Vampire Queen once and for all.  The illusion fades. There is no other treasure here.

The Black Morningstar is a +3 weapon, +4 vs Undead, and +5 vs Vampires. When near undead it has a black fire aura that does an additional 1d8 to undead and 2d8 to vampires.  When encountering the Vampire Queen herself this aura is increased to 2d12.  Only a cleric of a Lawful (Good) god can wield it for the added aura.

GMs Note: If no member of the party is a Lawful Cleric then decide who is the most worthy to wield it. 

October Horror Movie Challenge: Becky (2020)

 Tonight is not a Summer Camp movie. I actually have one planned for that, but I need to watch them in a particular order.  So tonight is one my wife picked. It takes place in a lake house so that is close, I guess. This one is more survival horror with Becky as a classic Final Girl.

Becky (2020)

Becky (Lulu Wilson, Kestra from Season 1 of Picard) is a 13-year old girl whose mother just died from cancer and she is not dealing with it well.  Her father, Jeff (Joel McHale), plans a weekend at their lake house, but also invites his new girlfriend, Kayla (Amanda Brugel), and her son, Ty (Isaiah Rockcliffe).  

Near the same place, four neo-Nazi escaped prisoners (the leader played by Kevin James) kill their guards and make their way to the lake house. They attack Ty, Kayla, and Jeff. They are looking for a key with a Valknot on it. 

They find out that Becky is still out in the woods and they torture Jeff to get Beck to give them the key. When Jeff tries to run, they kill him.  Becky then stabs Dominick (James) in the eye with it. 

The others go looking for Becky. She runs to her fort and the dude chasing her follows until he sees her dog and freaks out. He tries to make a deal with her for the key, but she recognizes him as the one who killed her other dog. She tosses a coin out to make it sound like she threw the key. He goes to get and she slides down a zip line and stabs him with a broken ruler. 

Becky then proceeds to draw the others out and she kills them as well.

My wife called it Home Alone meets I Spit on Your Grave. Thankfully without having to torture Becky to get there. 

Actually kind of a fun, if violent flick. 

There is a sequel, Wrath of Becky, that looks rather fun too. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
Viewed: 25
First Time Views: 16

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 10, Room 21

 This grand tomb appears to be the tomb of Ferner Morgenstjernen, the clan leader. 

There are seven statues of dwarves around his tomb. Approaching the tomb the seven statues come to life to defend it. If the party keeps going to the tomb they will be attacked.

The six statues on the ground level attack as Bone Golems. The one on the tomb dias attacks as an Amber Golem.

The total treasure here is Type H x7, plus 1,000 gp, 500 pp, and 700 gp in gems.

The tomb has the body of Ferner Morgenstjernen, in his hand is the handle of a morning star treated with necronium.