Zatannurday: yrreM samtsirhC!

Holiday treats from Dean Juliette.

And another from Cedric Poulat,

And a special X-mas pic from Chris Shields.

Merry Christmas!

Return of the Dragonslayers

I got home early from work today and my boys wanted to play some D&D.  Like a good Daddy I agreed.

We continued going through the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, the Lesser Caverns, and they got to the stairs to the Greater Caverns.  I pulled out my 3.0 version of the Book of Vile Darkness to up the "demonic" content a bit.  I figure that caverns are a stopper for the forces of the Abyss, so the boys are bound to run into the worst types of demonic scum.

The original adventure had the Greater Caverns were protected by a gorgimera.  Today it was the largest abyssal chimera ever seen (well by them).

It was a great time today.  Looking forward to the Greater Caverns and the search for Iggwilv's greatest treasure.

What are you getting this year?

To all the good little boys and girls (and to the bad ones too!) what are you getting for Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Yule/Festivus this year?

I am hoping for The Dresden Files RPG in print and maybe some fudge dice to go with it.
I'd also like one of then Kim Harrison books.
But mostly I am hoping for some time to do some gaming with my kids.  That would be best of all.

What are you all hoping for?

First Day of Winter, celebrate with Ice

Since today is the first day of Winter I'd thought I'd celebrate with something for my oldest son. Here is one of his favorite super-heroes, Ice.

I have always liked Ice.  Like Tara I felt she was totally shafted; killed just make a point that was soon forgotten.  I am glad she is back in the comics now.



Ice Wallpaper by ~Ziggyman on deviantART


Cool as Ice by *SebbyWhite on deviantART


Riddle1 Ice by *AmericanNinjaX on deviantART


Cold as Ice by *eisu on deviantART


Ice by *olivernome on deviantART


Ice by ~Dani-V on deviantART


Ice by ~ArtNerdEm on deviantART

Updated pages

I am going to be making some mostly cosmetic changes to the old Other Side here for the new year.
Not changing scope or posts or anything like that.

I am though working on how information is organized and how things look.

So yesterday I started with the Pages.  Those are the links above, just under the banner.

I added a new Mystoerth page which details my *D&D campaign world. There are a lot of internal links to material I have written here and links to outside sources that I also like to use.  If you know of a blog or website that should be linked here, let me know.

I combined the "About Me" and "My Books" page into one About Me page.

My Links Page is still the same, I might add the awards I have gotten though since those are to be linked back to other blogs.

I have added a few new builds to my Willow & Tara page and my Characters page.

Ghosts of Albion still gets it's own page.  As does my OGL declaration.

Let the Adventure Begin

If you are like me then it all started here, with an Unexpected Party.




December 2012 feels like a long way away.

I asked, you repsonded!

Earlier today I asked a simple question. "Using only Mundane means how can you kill a ghost?" here are the responses I got!

 Trey said...

Destroying the item/location it's tethered to?

December 20, 2011 9:58 AM

Great post. I guess I was thinking more of attack the ghost itself. But that is a tried and true way to do it.

 farawayeyes said...

A ghost is already dead. You can't necessarily kill them. Best to just send them on.

December 20, 2011 10:03 AM

I think I was thinking more of the attacking kind of Ghost.  So yours and Trey's would be to figure out why it is here and use that.

 Simon Forster said...

Reciting the ghost's history, up to its death, reminding it that it has lived and died, thus sending it to whatever afterlife awaits it.

December 20, 2011 10:18 AM

Neat idea.  Something that would be perfect for an Occult Poet in Ghosts of Albion to do!

 The Happy Whisk said...

I'm going to agree with Trey. Destroying them by removing whatever is holding them here.

Then maybe they can move on.

I've heard salt before though, but never tried it so I can't tell you if it really works.

December 20, 2011 10:18 AM

Salt has a long standing connection to the supernatural.  It is also simple to get and use.  I am sure there is a connection there.

 seaofstarsrpg said...

If ghosts are ectoplasm and ectoplasm has a physical existence, fire.

If the ghost believes, an exorcism should send it away.

December 20, 2011 10:23 AM

Kill it with fire! Always a good choice.

 keithboyle said...

Depends on the type of ghost being killed... er, dispensed with, I guess. Working from a ghosts-as-electromagnetic-fields perspective:

Death echoes could be dispersed by setting up a counter-noise generator - like the ones in noise-cancelling headphones, but on a room- or house-sized scale. Remember those multiroom speakers that transmitted sound through the house wiring? this would be the lo-fi DIY way of implementing this.

Intelligent/Interactive ghosts would be best handled through negotiation. The trick would be to get them to stay still long enough to have a meaningful chat. So I'm thinking EM Pump combined with Carnacki's electric pantacle with Spirit Box as vocal translator. Then have the conversation - what you want, what they want, how to find agreement, that sort of thing...

Poltergeists as rogue PK in children/teens also fits this model, so ground them via conductive jewelry, cutting their hair shorter, and good old patience as they grow out of this phase should work as well.

You said no supernatural, so I'm going to call the "demonic hauntings" of current TV ghost hunting fashion "anomalous idiopathic EM fields" and recommend Faraday cages around the sensitive spots. It doesn't destroy it, but it does contain it...

December 20, 2011 10:26 AM

Well thought out. So a Spirit Zapper or Spirit Trap in a way.

 keithboyle said...

The lore on salt goes something like this: it's the only rock that's pure enough that we can eat. That purity is incompatible with the "uncleanness" of the spirits, Thus, ghosts can't cross it. Getting shot with it would just be forcing them to not cross themselves and causes dispersal.

Not a huge fan of calling that sort of thinking"mundane only," but salt's about as mundane as you can get.

The Kripke Trinity - salt, iron, burn the bones - works really well as weapons for adventure stories like SPN, though their meaning and uses in traditional ghost stories is quite different...

December 20, 2011 10:36 AM

Cool. I like this approach.  I always figured that it was something that you can bring into your home, salt is something that is like life.

 Woodclaw said...

Given the "no supernatural" rule I think that the main methods are already covered by the previous posts.
Either destroying the links of the ghost to the mundane world (if possible) or destroy its mortal remains might work.
The whole reminds him/her that he/she is already dead is tricky because I'm not sure a ghost is willing to listen.
Keithboyle pretty much covered the scientific/technobabble angle.

Another option is running water. According to the Celtic tradition large bodies of water (especially rivers and lakes) are doors into the afterlife, for this reason a ghost can't cross running water. If someone can force a ghost close enough to a river or a stream the proximity might do the trick.

December 20, 2011 11:12 AM

So if I am facing a ghost, then a fire hose.  I like it!

 tarotgames said...

@Technobabble: EM Pumps and Spirit Boxes are considered legitimate tools for ghost hunters/paranormal investigators, in the same way EVP is. Granted, it's a pretty biased piece of reasoning to go from unexplained phenomenon to explainable and exploitable technology, but truly critical thinking isn't normally a well-used tool in a ghost hunter's bag. It's akin to forgetting what the U in UFO stands for and saying that the odd lights in the sky are aliens here to rule the world...

I threw out the Carnacki reference because, frankly, it's Tim who's asking the question. The real-life analog to what Hodgson described is a Faraday cage - aka the shielding & grounding frame inside the computer that you're using to read these words.

Mongo avoids the [tech] like the plague: even if the terms aren't that familiar, they're not entirely meaningless or made-up if I can help it...

December 20, 2011 12:16 PM

I think I was going with "things I have laying around the house or garage".  Granted that also rules out fire and the fire hose.  I have a garden hose though and a sprinkler that looks like a turtle for my lawn.  I am so screwed.

 JWRouseIII said...

Blow it apart with a leaf blower.

December 20, 2011 12:40 PM

That's only good for guys dress in sheets going "boooooo". ;)

 Laura said...

Using a lot of moxy and deduction, I'd reveal that it's only Old Man Grimley, the owner of the abandoned amusement park, out to scare off the current owners so he can collect his money. He'll call me a meddling kid, but a good day's work is worth it.

December 20, 2011 1:06 PM

Haha!! Scooby Doo for the win!

 Jensan said...

Treat it like a hiccup: scare it away!

December 20, 2011 2:20 PM

Be scarier than the Ghosts.  Of course!  The Doctor Who Offensive.


Thanks all!