(spoiler, what I have read is great and worth every penny!)
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
New Spells for the Deathwitch and Mara Witch Tradition
(spoiler, what I have read is great and worth every penny!)
Friday, June 12, 2009
Ghosts of Albion at GenCon Indy

My games have been accepted for GenCon Indy and I will soon give you all dates and times for the Ghosts of Albion games I will be running. I am running "Blight" and "Obsession". I ran Blight at GenCon last year to a couple of small crowds and it went great. So if you played it last year, then this the same adventure. Obsession is one I ran at a mini-Unisystem con I did in Chicago a couple of years ago. I ran that for one group.
Blight is good if you love Irish myth. Obsession is a bit more adult in themes.
More details when I have them myself.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
The Dark Druid
Originally posted here in 2010.
The Dark Druid: The Director's Cut
A bit of history. Back in 2002 Eden was getting ready to release their newest game, The Buffy the Vampire Slayer game. As you may know, I had already been playing a Willow/Tara focused WitchCraft game for about a year, so I was pretty excited by this. Well I got asked by Eden to write the first Buffy adventure that would appear in "Games Unplugged" along with an interview with C.J. Carella talking about the game.
I took an idea I had been working on for my other game (tentatively called "All Soul's Night") and thus the Dark Druid was born.
I had been reading a ton of Irish myths then. Among those were the stories of Fionn MacCumhaill ("Finn MacCool") and his foster mothers Bodhmal and Liath. It occurred to me that Liath and Bodhmal were lovers, and to tie it more directly to my work in Buffy, they were reincarnated later on into the form of Willow and Tara. Since that time anytime I read a story about Fionn MacCumhaill I can't help but read Bodhmal and Liath as lovers.
The original featured, rather prominently, Willow and Tara, as to be expected. I had to make some changes to make it playable for others and to make it an "intro" or season opener type episode. The plot dealt with an enemy from the Cast's past as a portent to greater evil in the future. It was designed to be a opening episode of the season, but one that may or may not be directly related to the seasonal arc. We were going to use this i n part of the great "Djinn" story, but that never happened.
Fast forward a few years and I was finishing up work on Ghosts of Albion and another adventure that sprang from "All Soul's Night" called "Blight" (which I have played at Gen Con before). I felt it was time to bring back the Dark Druid and restore it to the mythology that I had created in my games. Now you can have it too. So it became a Prequel or an Episode 0 for my huge Willow & Tara series, The Dragon and the Phoenix. This adventure and the Dragon adventures were designed to feature Willow and Tara. My players were extremely pissed off at Tara being killed, so this was our way of getting our own way.
I updated it not only to fit better with my world-myths, and with some of the work I did on Ghosts of Albion and the adventure Blight. In fact you can run Blight and The Dark Druid as co-adventures, separated by time.
The story is rather direct and linear. This was partly due to the nature of the story and what is was supposed to do (introduce new players to the game) and part of just me writing for the Buffy game for the first time. I have opted not to change that here, despite nearly 10 years of Cinematic Unisystem adventure writing since then. It is supposed to be a quick, fun little adventure dealing with past lives.
The episode was well received and even has a bit on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffyverse_role-playing_games#Adventures
It was the first. The start of a series of adventures that led me personally down a crazy path. It's hard to gauge the effect it has had, it was so fundamental. From this point my writing increased maybe a 100 or 500 fold. Hard to say really.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The Dragon and the Phoenix: The Dark Druid
The Dark Druid: The Director's Cut
A bit of history. Back in 2002 Eden was getting ready to release their newest game, The Buffy the Vampire Slayer game. As you know, I had already been playing a Willow/Tara focused WitchCraft game for about a year, so I was pretty excited by this. Well I got asked by Eden to write the first Buffy adventure that would appear in "Games Unplugged" along with an interview with C.J. Carella talking about the game.
I took an idea I had been working on for my other game (tentatively called "All Soul's Night") and thus the Dark Druid was born.
The original featured, rather prominently, Willow and Tara, as to be expected. I had to make some changes to make it playable for others and to make it an "intro" or season opener type episode. The plot dealt with an enemy from the Cast's past as a portent to greater evil in the future. It was designed to be a opening episode of the season, but one that may or may not be directly related to the seasonal arc. We were going to use this i n part of the great "Djinn" story, but that never happened.
Fast forward a few years and I was finishing up work on Ghosts of Albion and another adventure that sprang from "All Soul's Night" called "Blight" (which I have played at Gen Con before). I felt it was time to bring back the Dark Druid and restore it to the mythology that I had created in my games. Now you can have it too.
I updated it not only to fit better with my world-myths, and with some of the work I did on Ghosts of Albion and the adventure Blight. In fact you can run Blight and The Dark Druid as co-adventures, separated by time.
The story is rather direct and linear. This was partly due to the nature of the story and what is was supposed to do (introduce new players to the game) and part of just me writing for the Buffy game for the first time. I have opted not to change that here, despite nearly 8 years of Cinematic Unisystem adventure writing since then. It is supposed to be a quick, fun little adventure dealing with past lives.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Thingizzard, the Witch of the Fens
For 2nd ed she is depicted as a 12 HD hag. For 3rd Ed she is a CR 12 green hag wizard.
But we all know what class she should be.
I want to try out her out using my Basic Witch class, but I also think I really need to also stat her out as one of +Jonathan Becker 's The Complete B/X Adventurer Witches (his blog IS B/X Blackrazor afterall) and Sage of Greyhawk, +Joseph Bloch's Adventures Dark & Deep Darker Paths Witch class.
All will do a good job in representing this sort of witch.
According to the 2nd Edition "Return to White Plume Mountain" she is:
Thingizzard
AC -2 (natural hide and Dex bonus); Mv 12, swim 12; HD 12; hp 80; THACO 9 (3 with Wave and Str bonus); #AT 3/2 (Wave); Dmg ld10+9; MR 25%; SZ M (5’ tall); ML fanatic (17); Str 18/00, Dex 17, Con 19, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 12; AL NE; XP 7,000.
Special Abilities: full movement rate through quicksand and swamp; brew any potion.
Spell-like Abilities (at 12th level): l/day-animate dead, call lightning, control weather, curse, dream, forcecage, mind blank, polymorph other, polymorph self, veil, vision.
Special Equipment: five potions of extra-healing, potion of gaseous form, potion of super-heroism.
These stats also assume she has Wave.
I think for the sake of building and good comparison, I am going to make her a 13th level witch in all cases. Also in each case I am going to swap what her highest ability should be. So for my witch it will be Charisma. Wisdom for the Darker Paths Witch. Intelligence and Wisdom are the primes for the Complete B/X Adventurer Witch, but I think I'll give her the higher Intelligence here to balance it out.
Of course in the original, she is a hag. So in these versions I will keep that by keeping her really high physical stats.
Thingizzard, the Witch of the Fens
Basic Era Witch
13th Level Hag (Faerie) Tradition
Strength 18
Dexterity 17
Constitution 19
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 12
Charisma 15
hp: 63
THAC0: 16
Death Ray: 9
Magic Wands: 10
Paralysis, Turn to Stone: 9
Dragon Breath: 12
Rods, Staffs, Spells: 11
Occult Powers
Familiar: Toad
Brew Potions
Lesser: Speak with Animals/Plants
Minor: Fey Shape
Spells
Cantrips: (4) Alarm Ward, False Glamour, Mote of Light, Object Reading
First: (4+2) Blight Growth, Burning Hands, Detect Invisible, Endure Elements, Hold Winds, Sour Stomach
Second: (4+1) Discord, Evil Eye, Fever, Nausea, Scare
Third: (3) Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Toad Mind
Forth: (3) Confusion, Polymorph, Vomit
Fifth: (2) Animate Dead, Dream
Sixth: (2) Control Weather, True Seeing
Seventh: (1) Greater Arcane Eye
Darker Paths 2: The Witch by +Joseph Bloch
13th Level Witch
Strength 18
Dexterity 17
Constitution 19
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 15
Charisma 12
hp: 72
THAC0: 12
Paralysis, Poison, Death: 5
Petrification, Polymorph: 8
Rod, Staff, Wand: 9
Breath Weapon: 11
Spell: 10
Powers
Familiar: Toad
Brew Poisons
Bell, Book and Candle
Create Magic Items
Spells
First: (5) Charm Person, Predict Weather, Taunt, Witch Shot, Wither
Second: (5) Blight Field, Change Self, Charm Monster, Misfortune, Precipitation
Third: (4) Bestow Curse, Control Winds, Fear, Insect Swarm
Forth: (4) Jealousy, Polymorph Self, Prophecy, Sleep
Fifth: (4) Breath Poison, Control Weather, Polymorph Other, Season of the Witch
Sixth: (3) Blink, Cackle, Magic Cauldron
Seventh*: (3) Call Lightning, Death Curse, Great Rite
*Ok, she should not get seventh level spells due to her wisdom, but hey, my character.
The Complete B/X Adventurer by +Jonathan Becker
13th Level Witch
Strength 18
Dexterity 17
Constitution 19
Intelligence 15
Wisdom 14
Charisma 12
hp: 65
THAC0:
Paralysis, Poison, Death: 5
Petrification, Polymorph: 8
Rod, Staff, Wand: 9
Breath Weapon: 11
Spell: 10
Powers
Familiar: Toad
Brew Poisons and magical Potions
Bind Wounds
Book of Shadows
Spells
First: Hex, Light, Resist Elements, Speak with Animals
Second: Dreams, Fog, Locate Object
Third: Call Animals, Hoodoo, Object Reading, Quagmire
Forth: Mind Jab, Polymorph Others, Polymorph Self, Tarantella
Fifth: Control Weather, Greater Hoodoo, Insect Plague, Visions
I am hard pressed to say which witch I like better for her. All three have something essentially "Thingizzard" about her. Each witch has some spells that are particularly nice for her.
I will have to come back to this and see about doing 5e version once Tales from the Yawning Portal is released next month.
Bonus Question: How do you pronounce her name? I am partial to "Thing-iz-zard" myself, but "Thin Gizzard" also has a nice swampy feel to it.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Friday Night Videos: Haunted House
I love horror of course but this dream was quite the horror story.
Over the years I come to call it my "Very Haunted House".
Of course I had to turn it into adventure. So I am running it for the first time tomorrow!
Here are some musical inspiration for the adventure. No. I am not going to play Ghostbusters or Thriller.
I have mentioned many times about how much I enjoy the music of Eric Burdon and the Animals. "House of the Rising Sun" is top of my list of not just Animals songs, but all songs. I have featured it many times in many adventures.
Back in High School and College Genesis was a big deal. Not the Peter Gabriel version, but the later pop friendly Phil Collins version. "Home By the Sea" is about a house full of ghosts. It maid it's way into "Ghosts of Albion: Blight" and now in my new adventure too.
Growing up in the midwest in the 80s it was not possible to turn on the radio and not hear the Eagles. "Hotel California" is not their best song. It's not even a great song. But it is ubiquitous and it is evocative of Hell. Thus it always stuck with me.
Too Much Joy was the ultimate College band when I was in Grad School. They are fun, they sing about things that college guys like, namely drinking, girls, drugs and girls. "Sort of Haunted House" is not a song about a real haunted house. It's about a breakup, but when I was having this nightmare this was the song that was always on. BTW I am sure the nightmare was stress related due to defending my thesis, breaking up with my crazy ex girl friend, moving up with my new girlfriend. So in a way it fits. Plus like my haunted house this one has a "ghost in every room". One of many great hits of the critically ignored Munity.
I don't have a lot to say about Rockwell. His "Somebody's Watching Me" makes for a crazy paranoid one hit wonder. Notable because Michael Jackson sang backup on the track. But the video is properly creepy and that's a plus.
"Shadows of the Night" by Pat Benatar from her wildly popular Get Nervous album is not about ghosts. But don't tell that to my 12 year old self listening to it while rereading the Cook/Marsh Expert book. Shadows of the night were real shadows, as in the monster that could be turned in AD&D but not in D&D. For years I have always wanted to use this song. So this adventure reintroduces a similar monster, the Memento Mori.
Another song that featured prominently in Ghosts of Albion: Blight is the ethereal voice of Loreena McKennitt. "The Old Ways" features a woman and her evening spent with a ghost, or maybe it was an old druid. Either way a gulf of time separates them. From the haunting The Visit.
Happy Hauntings.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Across The Sea of Years
I have always toyed with the idea of running a game at a con, say like Gen Con where I have multiple days, where it is the same group of characters, or their reincarnations or their children, across time and different systems. My systems of choice would be Unisystem and some flavor of D&D. Likely Basic.
I have done similar ideas in Season of the Witch, where I took in ideas from different games to get a different feel. Generation HEX was conceived as using a different system each game, but that never worked out.
This idea though is two plan a game that takes place in the past, present and maybe future. Each game is seperate unto itself, but builds a bigger story.
One idea I had was a adventure named "Synchronicity" where characters from Ghosts of Albion meet up with their counterparts from Buffy. But that is only one, albeit long, game. Plus the system for Ghosts and Buffy is the same.
Another game I have played before is Blight for Ghosts of Albion. It takes place in 1847 and is an unofficial sequel to my Dark Druid for Buffy (that takes place in an alternate 2001). There is a third adventure in the mix, All Souls Night, which was always designed to go with my Eire game.
I would retool Blight just a bit. But the Dark Druid is designed for new characters, so the big bad introduced is not all that big and bad. It works though if I run them in something like a past life regression.
The other idea I had was an adventure around the rise and fall of Elizabeth Bathory.
D&D for when she was alive and you have to stop her (though to be 100% fair, an adventure like that screams LotFP), Ghosts of Albion when she is prowling the streets of Victorian London, and something else (Call of Cthulhu maybe) for later.
I have also over the years toyed with the idea of Doctor Who, Star Frontiers, and Alternity (yeah I have been thinking about this one for a while) for the future. I think the idea came to me when I wanted to run a hunt Jack the Ripper and I thought back to the old Star Trek episode "A Wolf in the Fold" and to the movie "Time After Time". Jack the Ripper is still an interesting idea. A time traveling serial killer/entity could make a fun opponent.
Lots of ideas really, but nothing has really jelled yet for me. Once I have the right story idea and roll for the characters then the system will be easier to decide on.
Anyone done anything like this before? What did you do and what did you use?
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Game Day and Blight
I had a good group to play Blight and I thought it went really well.
Today is D&D4 and then it is 1 month till Gen Con!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Various reminders
Here are some things I want you all to remind me about later cause they were in my clipboard so they must be important.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_simulacrums
Need some more information on Swords & Wizardry. Anyone have some details I can use?
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/325572-chicago-gameday-32-july-14th-sign-up-play.html
I'd love to have some more people sign up for this. It's the last time I am running Blight.
http://elflairgames.blogspot.com/2012/07/contemplating-kickstarter.html
Jason has a poll up. Give it a look-see.
Next weekend I run Ghosts of Albion: Blight om Saturday and Part two of Keep on the Shadowfell on Sunday.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Tales of Woe
My hard drive died a couple weeks ago. Normally this is a cause for panic, but I didn't because having been doing this for a while I thought I had everything backed up. Well. I didn't.
I didn't lose any of my PDFs save for maybe the most recent ones I bought since May, but I can always go back to DriveThruRPG and re-download those. My current OSR/Old-School books were in the hands of editors, so they were saved.
I did though loose all my documents for my Ghosts of Albion adventures Blight, Obsession, Wilderness and Synchronicity. I have printout of Blight and Obsession, so that isn't too bad. And I lost all my personal emails from 2011-2012.
Figuring it was the circuit board (given the errors I was getting) I worked with a company that specialized in this brand of hard drive (Seagate Barracuda) called PCB Solution.
I worked with Kevin to find a new board for this drive and in truth my hopes were high, even if he felt (and he did tell all this upfront) that my drive might be further gone that I thought it was. Undaunted I picked up their repair kit and got it in a couple of days. It easy easy to do as long as you have no fear of cranking open your computer or drives. I got it in installed and slapped it into a new external drive enclosure and ... nothing.
I worked on a few other tricks I have picked over the years. Back in the day I ran the official usenet alt.sys.pc-clone.gatewat2000 FAQ, so I consider myself a bit smarter than the average bear in this respect. But if there is one thing I have learned, there is always someone smarter. And it will take someone smarter than me to fix this one.
Here is what I have learned (and should known already):
1. It doesn't matter how much you back up. Back up more.
2. Stop buying Seagate drives. Every single one has died on me and took much valued data with it.
So that is what I know.
I do want to publicly thank Kevin at PCB Solution. He really went above and beyond the call of duty to help me.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
EN World Game Day Chicago 32
I'll be running Ghosts of Albion: Blight. I have had requests to run this one, so here it is for what might be the last time. Working on some new adventures.
Here is the blurb for the game:
Ghosts of Albion: Blight
Ireland is dying.
Her Protector has been murdered and you are the primary suspects. Can you clear your name, regain your magic and stop whatever necromancies befoul the land? Time is short, yours and one million lives hang in the balance. Set in 1847 this is an adventure for the Ghosts of Albion RPG.
Game System: Cinematic Unisystem
Rules Edition: Ghosts of Albion
Players: Minimum 5-6, Max 8.
Minimum Age: Teen (13+) (PG for some violence, and problem solving)
Experience Required: None (never played before), some knowledge of "Ghosts of Albion" is helpful.
Materials Provided: Yes, materials are provided for this game. You do not need to bring your own. One d10 is needed.
There is a sign-up thread over at EN World, http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/324478-chicago-gameday-32-event-planning.html
I have an afternoon slot 3:30pm to 8:30pm on Saturday, July 14 at Games Plus in Mount Prospect, IL.
You can read more about Chicago Game Day here, http://gameday.buzzmo.com/faq/
Hope to see you there!
Monday, March 12, 2012
EN World Game Day Chicago
I'll be running Ghosts of Albion: Blight. Seems appropriate given that Game Day this year in March 17.
Here is the blurb for the game:
Ghosts of Albion: Blight
Ireland is dying.
Her Protector has been murdered and you are the primary suspects. Can you clear your name, regain your magic and stop whatever necromancies befoul the land? Time is short, yours and one million lives hang in the balance. Set in 1847 this is an adventure for the Ghosts of Albion RPG.
Game System: Cinematic Unisystem
Rules Edition: Ghosts of Albion
Players: Minimum 5, Max 8.
Minimum Age: Teen (13+) (PG for some violence, and problem solving)
Experience Required: None (never played before), some knowledge of "Ghosts of Albion" is helpful.
Materials Provided: Yes, materials are provided for this game. You do not need to bring your own. One d10 is needed.
There is a sign-up thread over at EN World, http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/319338-chicago-gameday-31-3-17-sign-up-play.html
I have an afternoon slot 3:30pm to 8:30pm on Saturday, March 17 at Games Plus in Mount Prospect, IL.
Hope to see you there.
If you let me know that you found out about this by reading my blog then your character will get a free drama point!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Skylanders Hex for Pathfinder
To celebrate here she is in her Pathfinder Witch version.
You can read the background and see my 4e stats of her here.
I don't have my books with me, so I took some artistic license with how she is presented here. So instead of the floating skull familiar I gave her a bat. I am just going to say it is a skull with wings.
Female Drow Witch 5
CN Medium Humanoid (Elf)
Init -1; Senses Darkvision (120 feet), Low-Light Vision; Perception +7
DEFENSE
AC 9, touch 9, flat-footed 9 (-1 Dex)
hp 23 (5d6)
Fort +1, Ref +0, Will +5
Immune sleep; Resist Elven Immunities; SR 11
Weakness Light Blindness
OFFENSE
Spd 30 ft.
Melee Unarmed Strike +2 (1d3/20/x2)
Special Attacks Blight (DC 16), Misfortune (DC 16)
Spell-Like Abilities Dancing Lights (1/day), Darkness (1/day), Faerie Fire (1/day)
Witch Spells Known (CL 5, 2 melee touch, 1 ranged touch):
3 (2/day) Bestow Curse (DC 17), Pain Strike (DC 17)
2 (3/day) Scare (DC 16), Death Knell (DC 16), Glide (DC 16)
1 (4/day) Chill Touch (DC 15), Cause Fear (DC 15), Mage Armor (DC 15), Ray of Enfeeblement (DC 15)
0 (at will) Touch of Fatigue (DC 14), Dancing Lights, Daze (DC 14), Bleed (DC 14)
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 9, Con 10, Int 19, Wis 13, Cha 12
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 11
Feats Alertness, Arcane Talent: Daze (3/day), Ectoplasmic Spell
Traits Focused Mind, Scholar of the Great Beyond: Knowledge (History)
Skills Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2, Fly +3, Heal +6, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (Arcana) +12, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +9, Knowledge (History) +11, Perception +7, Sense Motive +4, Spellcraft +12, Stealth +1, Survival +2
Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Drow Sign Language, Elven, Undercommon
SQ +3 to Fly checks, Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su), Empathic Link with Familiar (Su), Poison Use (Ex), Share Spells with Familiar, Speak With Familiar (Ex), Ward +2 (Su)
Other Gear Staff of Necromancy
SPECIAL ABILITIES
+3 to Fly checks You gain the Alertness feat while your familiar is within arm's reach.
Arcane Talent: Daze (3/day) You gain a chosen spell as a spell-like ability, 3/day.
Blight (DC 16) (Su) Curse animals, plants, or land
Dancing Lights (1/day) (Sp) Cast Dancing Lights once per day.
Darkness (1/day) (Sp) Cast Darkness once per day.
Darkvision (120 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su) Your familiar can deliver touch spells for you.
Drow Immunities - Sleep You are immune to Sleep effects.
Ectoplasmic Spell You can cast a spell that has full effect against incorporeal or ethereal creatures.
Elven Immunities +2 save bonus vs Enchantments.
Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Faerie Fire (1/day) (Sp) Cast Faerie Fire once per day.
Focused Mind +2 to Concentration checks
Light Blindness (Ex) Blinded for 1r in bright light, dazzled as long as they remain in it.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Misfortune (1 round(s)) (DC 16) (Su) Target must take the lower of 2d20 for rolls.
Poison Use (Ex) You do not risk poisoning yourself accidentally while poisoning a weapon.
Share Spells with Familiar The wizard may cast a spell with a target of "You" on his familiar (as a touch spell) instead of on himself. A wizard may cast spells on his familiar even if the spells do not normally affect creatures of the familiar's type (magical beast).
Speak With Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Spell Resistance (11) You have Spell Resistance.
Ward +2 (Su) Target receives +2 AC and save bonus until they are hit or fail a saving throw.
Hero Lab® and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC®, and are used under license.
Monday, January 25, 2021
Character Creation Challenge: Chill 3rd Edition
The Game: Chill 3rd Edition
Spend any time here and you know I am very fond of Chill. The first edition from Pacesetter came out of Minnesota. Second Edition from Mayfair was right here in the Chicago burbs. Chill is Midwestern horror. Not East Coast horror with it's ancient houses and older bloodlines. Not West Coast horror with new-wave vampires. Nor is it Southern Gothic, while very enjoyable, is not the same.
No Chill is backwoods horror. Old decrepit house horror. Horror found on darkened roads between small towns. The horror I grew up with.
My campaign for Chill was/is my Spirit of '76 game. It was designed as a Chill mini-campaign over 4 days. It was built up while I was playing a lot of WitchCraft and Buffy. The idea was that supernatural occurrences, once rare, were picking up in intensity and frequency the closer we got to the new Millennium. This would later change to 2012 and then 2018 as real-time overtook these "future" events. You can see some of that in my "Generation HEX" Nightworld in NIGHT SHIFT. Originally this was going to be for Chill 2nd Edition, but even that time got away from me so now it is for 3rd Edition. Thankfully the narrative in the new game follows the one I was creating.
The Character: Megan O'Kelly
"Megan" began as "Stephanie" in an older game back when "Spirit of '76" was "Summer of Love" and taking place in 1968. I wanted to keep Stephanie where she was but I wanted to do the Summer of 1976 instead, so Megan was "born." She is a young grad student at UC-Berkeley. I imagined her with long straight hair and wearing bell-bottoms. Something of a post-hippie 70s girl. She called herself a "Craft worker" or a "cleanser" but never a "witch." Her inspirations come from the Eric Clapton song "Bellbottom Blues" and Eliza Roberts from Animal House. I changed the character because I wanted to bring in an older Stephanie at some point but I never did.
Megan is assigned to SAVE in 1976 to help a small band of operatives investigating the rise of supernatural occurrences in the South West to the Deep South.
Megan O'Kelly
SAVE Operative
Attributes (80 pt build)
Agility AGL 50
Strength STR 40
Stamina STA 45
Focus FOC 60
Personality PSY 50
Willpower WRP 55
Dexterity DEX 40
Perception PCN 70
Reflexes REF 55
Sensing the Unknown STU 14
Skills (Specializations)
Movement (T) 50, Long Distance (E)
Prowess (T) 40
Close Quarters Combat 23
Research (T) 60, Academic (E), Occult (B)
Communication (T) 50
Interview 28
Fieldcraft 20
Investigation 35
Ranged Weapons 28
Edges and Drawbacks
Attractive (2), Highly Attuned (1), Naïve (-2)
The Art
Protective School
Disrupt
Sphere of Protection (E), Mental Shield (B)
Sensing School
Clairvoyant (E)
Drive
To Know the Truth
So Megan is a recent UC Berkeley grad. She is a clairvoyant and specializes in seeing ghosts and putting spirits to rest. Her background is psych grad student so her academics are already at Expert (but not yet Master) and she ran track in High School, so she has some athletics, but not a lot. She is still a bit naïve about the world around her but she is not stupid.
Third Edition Chill is really better at PCs learning "The Art" (magic) than previous editions, so I think this version really works out much better than previous incarnations of Megan/Stephanie.
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Character Creation Challenge: Castles & Crusades
The Game: Castles & Crusades
Moreso than Pathfinder or any other retro-clone, Castles & Crusades feels like classic D&D. If you ever played any version of D&D then you can pick up C&C with ease. So much so that I have converted games back forth from C&C to AD&D and back with ease. D&D5 might be the successor to AD&D, but C&C is the spiritual successor.
For whatever reason this happened there is a strong Celtic vibe to many of the C&C books I buy. The Codex Celtarum (1st and 2nd Printings), the Haunted Highlands, and more might give me this impression, but it is one I gladly stick with. So naturally, the character for today has to fit this.
I have written so much over the years on Castles & Crusades it is hard to put anything new here. So check out all my C&C posts.
The Character: Fear Dorich
Fear Dorich is "The Dark Druid" of my campaign worlds. He is a notorious bad guy and evil druid. He wants to become truly immortal and not this half-life he has now.
Long time readers might recognize this guy as the enemy of Fion MacCumhail. I featured him in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer adventure naturally titled "The Dark Druid." Later he made another appearance in the "prequel" adventure "Blight" for Ghosts of Albion. Here he was known as "The Necromancer" so I could make it either part of my Dark Druid Cycle or as part of the official Ghosts of Albion line. Eventually, I wanted to make yet another prequel to all of those set in Celtic Ireland where Fionn and his band of heroes first fight the Dark Druid. I was calling it "All Souls Night" but I never quite got it into the shape I wanted. There have been a couple of good adventures to give me ideas like Robert J. Kuntz's Dark Druids and Night of the Sprits for Castles & Crusades. It was these two adventures along with my two Dark Druid ones that gave me the idea for War of the Witch Queens.
If I ever finish All Souls Night I might redo the Dark Druid Cycle to use Castles & Crusades. Replace Ghosts of Albion with Victorious and Buffy with Amazing Adventures.
Fear DorichFear Dorich
Human 1st level Druid, Neutral (Evil)
STR: 10 (0)
DEX: 11 (0)
CON: 14 (+1) P
INT: 14 (+1) P
WIS: 18 (+3) P
CHA: 11 (0)
AC: 13, Leather Armor
HP: 7 (d8)
BtH: +0
Staff +0, 1d6
Scimitar +0, 1d6
Druidic Language, Nature Lore
Druid Spells
0 (3): Create Water, First Aid, Know Direction
1st (1+1): Entangle, Magic Stones
This is Fear Dorich at the start of his career. He is already showing signs of being evil too.
For this character, I would let him take spells from the Codex Celtarum and also the Black Libram of Naratus.
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Plays Well With Others: Night Shift and Modern Supernatural Games
I am a firm believer that a rising tide lifts all ships, and that other Game Designers are not my competition, but my colleagues. I buy their games, they buy mine. We all benefit and we all enjoy.
Naturally, I also feel that a good gaming experience can be had by looking to see what others are doing and seeing what I can bring into my games when I am running them.
When we were working on NIGHT SHIFT we had a fairly strict "no looking at other games" policy. We really wanted our game to have it's own unique feel and direction. But that was last year, and now NIGHT SHIFT is out and I am pulling out all my other games to see what each one has that can help NIGHT SHIFT and what Night Shift has that can help them.
Old School Roots
Jason and I have worked on a lot of games. Both together and separately for dozens of publishers. But the one thing we both enjoy are old-school games. This doesn't mean we don't like new ones, quite the opposite in fact. But it is the old-school design aesthetic that keeps us coming back and saying "what else can we do with this?" NIGHT SHIFT covers both halves of our RPG hearts.
The mechanics in NIGHT SHIFT (what we call O.G.R.E.S. or Oldschool Generic Roleplaying Engine System) are firmly rooted in the Old School mechanics of the world's first popular RPG system. What does this mean? Well if you have been playing RPGs for any length of time since 1974 then chances are good you can pick up the rules for NIGHT SHIFT very, very quickly.
Also, it means that out of the box, NIGHT SHIFT is roughly compatible with thousands of RPG titles.
Appendix A of the NIGHT SHIFT book covers conversions between NS and the Oldest RPG, it also covers conversions between the O.G.R.E.S. of NIGHT SHIFT and the O.R.C.S of other Elf Lair Games products; namely Spellcraft & Swordplay and Eldritch Witchery.
It is no great secret that I LOVE games like WitchCraft and Chill. I have talked many times about my love of both games. Chill was my first Horror RPG and WitchCraft might be my favorite game of all time. Jason and I met while working as freelancers for Eden Studios, the company that made WitchCraft. We worked together on Buffy, Angel, and Army of Darkness. I helped him with his All Flesh Must Be Eaten books and he helped me on Ghosts of Albion. A lot of what is in NIGHT SHIFT came out of our conversations of things we wanted to do in those games.
I guess then it is not a shock or surprise that I see NIGHT SHIFT and the spiritual successor, at least on my shelves and table, to games like Buffy and WitchCraft.
Buffy and WitchCraft defined horror monster hunting for the 90s and into the 2000s. NIGHT SHIFT takes this to 2020 and beyond. With NIGHT SHIFT I want to be able to play anything those other games offered me. Sure the playstyle will be different. WitchCraft is more about the machinations of the Supernatural World. The Gifted (WC) for example are all covered by the Witch Class in NIGHT SHIFT. In WitchCraft though there is a HUGE difference between the Wicce and the Rosicrucians. In NIGHT SHIFT those differences would have to be played out by the players in role-playing. NIGHT SHIFT also is more Normies and Weirdos vs. Dangerous Supernatural types. More like Buffy or Ghosts of Albion in that sense.
All Souls Night
Some games, like say Call of Cthulhu, fit their niche so perfectly that I would not want to run a "Mythos" game with NIGHT SHIFT, but I certainly could borrow ideas from CoC for my NIGHT SHIFT games.
In many ways doing a Plays Well With Others and NIGHT SHIFT is a cheat. One of my own design principles for the game was to make it as flexible as I could so it could cover a wide variety of game and play styles. I am happy in my belief that we succeeded in that.
Thursday, July 2, 2020
Kersy, The Witch Queen of Alphatia, Mystara (BECMI)
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Kersy (Vanessa Williams) and her "brother" Koryis (Armand Assante) |
Strength 12
Intelligence 25
Wisdom 18
Dexterity 17
Constitution 19
Charisma 25
Saving Throws (Base)
Death Ray/Poison 2
Magic Wands 2
Paralysis, Polymorph 2
Dragon Breath 4
Rods, Staffs, Spells 3
+5 to all saves via Ring of Protection
+3 for Wisdom
Hit Points: 87
AC: -8
(leather armor +5, Bracers of Protection +3, Cord of Protection +2, Ring of Protection +3, Dex 17 -2)
Base THAC0: 8
(I know, THAC0 was not used in Basic D&D. You know what this means)
Occult Powers
Lesser: Familiar (Familiar Spirit)
Minor: Speak to Animals
Medial: Drawing Down the Moon
Greater: Witch's Blessing
Major: Polymorph Other
Superior: Longevity
Spells
Cantrips (8): Arcane Mark, Clean, Daze, Guiding Star, Mote of Light, Object Reading, Open, Summon Vermin
1st (9+3): Allure, Analgesia, Bar the Way, Bewitch I, Burning Hands, Call Spirits of the Land, Charm Person, Comprehend Languages, Eldritch Fire, Glamour, Mend Minor Wounds, Pace Without Trace
2nd (8+3): Alter Self, Beckon, Bewitch II, Blight of Loneliness, Burning Gaze, Continual Flame, Detect Charm, ESP, Evil Eye, Haunting Mists, Mind Obscure
3rd (8+3): Astral Sense, Bestow Curse, Bewitch III, Calm Animals, Clairsentience, Control Winds, Danger Sense, Expand Senses, Lethe's Curse, Toad Mind, Twisting the Heartstrings III
4th (8+4): Analyze Magic, Ball Lightning, Bewitch IV, Cauldron of Rage, Confusion, Divination, Forest of Deception, Instant Karma, Masque, Polymorph Others, Remove Curse, Threshold
5th (7+4): Adoration, Bewitch V, Break Enchantment, Commune with Nature, Decimate, Enslave, Maelstrom, Nightmare, Sending, Song of Night, Ward of Magic
6th (7+3): Analyze Dweomer, Animate Shadows, Bewitch VI, Bones of Earth, Cackle of the Winter Crone, Cloak of Dreams, Greater Scry, Heroes' Feast, Mislead, Smitten
7th (6+1): Adoring Crowd, Astral Spell, Bewitch VII, Breath of the Goddess, Irresistible Dance, Mass Polymorph, Veneration
8th (6): Adoration (Overwhelming), Bewitch VIII, Demand, Eye of the Storm, Mists of Ecstasy, Storm of Vengeance
- M1 Into the Maelstrom (Kersy)
- The Witch (Eclectic Tradition, levels to 36)
- Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games (spells)
- The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games (spells)
- The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition (spells)
- The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition (spells)
- Kersy, Vaults of Pandius
Friday, July 21, 2017
Adventures with Venger As'Nas Satanis
I like Venger's stuff. It is the right amount of nostalgia, old-school charm, sleaze and high production values and often tongue firmly planted in cheek.
Full Disclaimer: Venger sent me copies of His Flesh Becomes My Key, High-Stakes Q'uay-Q'uar, and Stairway of V'dreen for review. I already had purchased Stairway of V'dreen and I bought Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss a few days ago.
His Flesh Becomes My Key
18 pages, $3.00, PDF
A cool horror/noir murder investigation. While overtly made for The Outer Presence RPG it is mostly crunch free. So it could be used with 1930s Call of Cthulhu, 1970s Chill or even in the 2010s with any game. Frankly I would like to try it with Witch: Fated Souls or even Majus. It is that flexible.
Now putting this right out there, this one is less tongue in check sleaze and more gritty urban horror.
I will not spoil the ending, but it is part of what makes this adventure interesting and good to use with nearly any horror game.
Personally, I think it is great fun and would love to try it out under different systems with different groups just to get a different feel each time. Come to think of it, there is something in the adventure where I COULD run it multiple times, with the same players and characters under different systems.
This adventure is Eldritch Pulp meets the ugly streets of New York or Chicago or San Francisco of modern day. It is has a nice "old school" vibe to it. It is H.P. Lovecraft meets Clive Barker. I hope to see more like this.
High-Stakes Q'uay-Q'uar
18 pages, $5.00, PDF + image file of game
I think most of Venger's adventures revolve around finding a dead body. That's how this Alpha Blue adventure begins. I am inordinately fond of Alpha Blue, so a new adventure is always welcome.
The adventure revolves around the game of Q'uay Q'uar. It is a big deal in this area of space. There was a Doctor Who episode, "The Wedding of River Song" that features something like this with Chess. Now imagine that, only with purple and yellow pieces and none other than David "Space" Pumpkins as your host. Then you have an idea what is happening here.
There is alot going here with a lot of characters. The PCs can compete in the Q'uay Q'uar challenge or they can be observers. There is a smuggling ring to stop (or join up with), a mercenary and a ton of other things to do here.
Included in the adventure is a PDF on how to play Q'uay Q'uar and an image file of a board.
I would be utterly disappointed to hear that Venger does not have his own Q'uay Q'uary game set up to play at home. I did something similar for Ghosts of Albion: Blight with a game of Fidchell. I did make a Fidchell board (well, really a Tafl board).
Like all of Venger's products, this one is heavy on substance and style, and light on crunch. I could see this played under White Star, Starships & Spacemen, or even the new Star Trek game.
I am going to use it in my Star Trek/Cthulhu-mythos mash-up for certain!
Stairway of V'dreen
19 pages, $4.00, PDF
This adventure for Crimson Dragon Slayer (or any OSR/Fantasy game really) starts In media res with the PCs needing to find shelter. Here they meet Doctor Ebzub and his almost completed experiment. What happens next is ... well ... ok the PCs end up in V'dreen. But is V'dreen is left to some questions. It feels like some in-between world where PCs encounter the remnants of gods that were, or could be. V'dreen is a dying world. Not in the Jack Vance sense but in the "it is rotting right before your eyes" sense. The PCs must either save it or euthanize it.
There is a fair bit of meta to this adventure and a lot more that can be added by any group. This is the type of adventure that works best with a group that has been playing together a long time, but maybe the first time with these particular characters. The adventure can be played for bizarre laughs or as deadly serious.
Either way it will be a lot of fun.
Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
14 pages, $3.00, PDF
Have you ever wanted to make your own adventures? Do you want to be like Venger and write them like a fucking boss? Well, this is the book for you then. Overtly the book is focused on people writing their own adventures for the first time, but the advice given is so solid that even old veterans like me kind find it useful. Some of the advice is common sense, but never underestimate the value of stating something plainly. There are no groundbreaking revelations here, no paradigm shifts and no occult insights. And that is perfectly fine by me. Adventure writing is not supposed to be Shakespeare, it's supposed to be Poe. The advice given though is rock solid, and it provides easily repeatable to create fun, entertaining adventures that don't feel like a railroad.
Honestly, I would package this up with his How To Game Master Like a Fucking Boss to give GMs a full toolbox of advice and tricks to help any adventure; whether they wrote it themselves or grab one off the shelf. Venger really should bundle this with the Character book and call it the "Be A Fucking Boss Bundle".
I have a Trek game coming up. I know what I want to do with it, but I am going to run my ideas through this book and give them a test. So far all the advice has panned out well and I believe that this will be a better adventure because of it.
Play Your Character Like A Fucking Boss
13 pages, $3.00, PDF
I picked this up based 100% on my reading of Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss. In fact I did not even own this book when I started this review. This book is great. Plenty of advice on how to play your character to get the most enjoyment out of it. A lot of this I already do and have done for years. In fact, I think playing in horror games made me a better player as well as a GM. I see a lot of that advice here too, but with a different focus.
I stand by my idea of the "Be A Fucking Boss Bundle". Using all this advice will make you a better player and a better GM.
I started this review a couple of days ago, since that time OneBookShelf started their Christmas in July sale. So ALL these titles are on sale now. Grab them, now. Make them yours. Your Players will thank you.