Day 22
Two d2s! "Drink Me" and "Drank Me." Nice.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Monday, October 21, 2024
October Horror Movie Challenge: The Wolf-Man
Making up for lost time (ok, not really) but thought I dip into some classics.
The Wolf Man (1941)
"Even a man who is pure at heart
And says his prayers by night
May become a wolf when the wolf-bane blooms
And the moon is full and bright."
I mean really? Has there been a better quote for a horror movie? I had mentioned in my interview last night that I think I knew the name "Lon Chaney" before I even knew the name of the President. So I think it behooves me to re-watch this one.
This is the story of Lawrence "Larry" Talbot, a man who becomes a were-wolf when the moon is full.
We have had a number of werewolf and wolf-man movies over the years, some of which are really good. But this one is the original, as it were, and it is a really great story. Yeah, maybe it is a bit slow by today's standards, but still very watchable.
The Wolfman (2010)
This newer one, with big name stars like Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving is a remake of the 1941 movie.
It is slick and it is stylish with updated special effects.
And it is nowhere near as good. Though it is better than I remembered.
Featured Monster: Lycanthropes, Werewolves
Werewolf legends predate movies. But there is no doubt that the original 1941 had an impact on the AD&D game. In fact Van Richten Monster Compendium Vol 1 features the "big 3" Vampires, Flesh Golems, and Lycanthropes.
October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 30
First Time Views: 14
GREYHAWK - Special Guest: Timothy Brannan on Gabbin #323; Witches & More!
So I didn't watch a horror movie last. So no post last night, but I did do this instead.
I was a guest on Lord Gosumba's GREYHAWK Livestream to talk about witches, Greyhawk, Mystara, and more. Plus, a special announcement.
Check it out.
I had an absolute blast doing this. Can't wait to get back on.
Review: Children of the Night Vampires
AD&D 2nd Ed was really the golden age of campaign settings. Sure, that gold was only a very thin veneer, maybe even just electroplating. But instead of focusing on that I want to enjoy what was great about that time and that was the depth of products. TSR must have known the writing was on the wall by 1996 because the Children of the Night books, starting in 1996, were an attempt to build bridges across the campaign worlds.
Children of the Night Vampires
1996. By Paul Culotta and Steve Miller with Carol L. Johnson and Jonathan Ariadne Caspian. Cover art by Daniel Home. Interior Illustrations by Jason Burrows. 96 pages.
For this review I am considering the PDF and PoD from DriveThruRPG and my memories of my original print copy.
This book is dedicated to the memory of Nigel D. Findley, who created Rudolph Van Richten. Findley had died of a heart attack at age 35.
This first of the Children of the Night series features 13 unique vampires to challenge PCs. "Challenge" doesn't always mean "fight."
I should point out that this is not the first time we have seen a "Children of the Night" for Ravenloft. The first one was "MC15 - Monstrous Compendium - Appendix II Children of the Night."
The concept is a solid one. Ravenloft breathed new life (heh) into Vampires with the very first adventure, so it makes sense that it would continue to do so and then expand on that. The book starts out by saying that while these are all unique takes on vampires native to Ravenloft's mists, they don't have to stay there, and they can be added to your own campaign world.
Each entry includes a stat-block, description and history, usually with how they became a vampire. There is also a mini adventure/plot hook you can use with the vampire in question.
Among the famous, or about to become famous, vampires include Ravenloft's Jander Sunstar, the eleven vampire introduced in the novel "Vampire of the Mists." Jander is a Chaotic Neutral (which as close to Good as it gets) vampire from the Forgotten Realms. He is just as likely to help the PCs fight vampires as he is to want to be left alone.
Also, here are Lyssa von Zarovich, Strahd's great-niece (or something like that) and one of the members of his family line that was not killed when Barovia was pulled into the Mists. Don't mistake her hate for Strahd as "goodness" she is still quite evil. She will later go on to appear in Curse of Strahd.
We get a desert vampire, Moosha, the Ixitxachitl vampire Myxitizajal, and the vorlog Don Pablo among the others.
The one I liked the most back then, because the concept was novel to me, was Lady Heather Shadowbrooke, the Druid Vampire. She is quite evil and a tragic character, really.
I certainly think this is a great addition to any AD&D 2nd Ed game, Ravenloft or not.
Note about the PoD
The Print on Demand copy I have does show some fuzziness, but all in all it is a very good copy. There are two PDFs you get from DriveThruRPG. Once is quasi OCR and the other is image. Neither seems as clear as the PoD which I find weird.
This PoD is a worthy replacement for my original book from 1996.
Children of the Night vs. Vampires
Children of the Night Vampires is not the first time a collection of various vampire NPC/Antagonists has been done for an RPG. The first one I ever bought was Vampires for the Chill RPG (1st Ed). The 2nd edition version is available on DriveThruRPG.
Both books do the same thing for their respective games, and both do it well. I give a slight nod to the Chill one since it came first. The Ravenloft/AD&D one has 13 vampires vs the Chill's 11 (10 entries), so it has that in it's favor.
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Advent-ure Dice: Day 20
Day 20
Ok. This is new. Not the sparkly purple, but a true black die with moon phases on it. Very cool.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
October Horror Movie Challenge: Body Snatcher's Night
Managed to squeeze in all three of a theme today/tonight. Now, I don't trust who anyone says they are.
You all know the plot. Alien pods rain down. People get caught and duplicated. As fun as these all are, I have seen all three. Though it has been a while.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
This one is a classic in every sense of the word. The pacing is a bit slow, but better than I remembered. Speaking of which I can't actually recall the last time I saw this one. Kevin McCarthy is great in this, and it quite possibly put him on the map in terms of character acting.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
It is rare that a remake does as well as the original. It is even rarer still when that remake can one up or do better. Well 1978's Body Snatchers does exactly that. I mean really is there a more iconic movie moment than Donald Sutherland's Pod person scream at the end? Or maybe when Harry and his dog are combined into one creature? That one always freaked me out.
This one also features the talents of Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy, and Kevin McCarthy(!) in a cameo role saying the same line, "You're next! You're next!" from the first movie. I have to admit, I love it when they do that.
Body Snatchers (1993)
A remake or a sequel? Or a bit of both? Hard to say, I am a bit tired now, and the sleepier I get, the more like a sequel I can see it.
This was the first real big film roles for then rising star Gabrielle Anwar. The scene of her in the bathtub is the iconic one from this movie. Somehow it doesn't quite measure up to Kevin McCarthy's frantic warning or Donald Sutherland's alien scream.
Though this is the movie that my wife and I saw when it first came out that started us using the term "Pod People." As in "You know I have been replaced by a pod person when..."
Featured Monster: Doppelgangers
The idea of Doppelgangers goes way back. So there is no way, no matter how iconic the movie, that I can claim these movies had any influence on the AD&D Monster Manual. I can guess, but can't make the claim with any certainty.
I can, however, claim that the Ravenloft AD&D monster, Doppelganger Plant, was.
Personally, I like having both sorts of doppelgangers in my games. The trickster fae types and the destructive alien pods.
October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 28
First Time Views: 14
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