30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 16: Favorite Monster (Aberration)

Day 16: Favorite Monster (Aberration)

The 3rd edition of the D&D game describes an Aberration as "(a creature that) has a bizarre anatomy, strange abilities, an alien mindset, or any combination of the three."
Given that my favorite are the Mind Flayers or Illithids.
I loved their weird alien looks and quasi-Lovecraftian origins.

Back when 3.0 was just getting going I wanted to resurrect an idea I came up with back in college.  I wanted to run a campaign based around the idea that the Illithids and the Vampires have joined forces to blot out the sun.  Again, based on something I had read in Dragon.  In this world all the humanoids joined forces to defeat this threat.   I still might have to do this one some day.
Eventually I figure that the vampires will betray the illithids, cause that is just the way things happen.

Superbabes Week is here!

I have been going through my collection and wanted to spend some quality time with some of the lesser known, or lesser remembered games.  So this week I want to cover Superbabes: The Femforce RPG.

If you don't know about Superbabes or Femforce, then I hope you find the week enjoyable.
I'll discuss the merits of how much Looks should affect your ability to get hit by a weapon, the pros and cons of level based supers and what exactly is a Bimbo Point!

ETA: In the mean time, here is a character build.

Larina "Nix" Nicohols
Character: Witch Queen
Secret ID / AKA: Larina Nichols
Age: 45   Apparent Age: 30s 
Origin: Supernatural (50cp)
50 CPs

Primary Stats
Muscles: 10 , Max Press: 200
Health: 12  Regen, Combat: - Regen, At rest: 1pp/5rds  HTK/Day: 1d10
Moves: 12  Bonus to hit: - Movement: 4" Hittability: 4 Initiative Bonus: 1
Brains: 19 ("Savant")  Mental Attack Bonus: +2 Mental Hittability: 7
Will: 21  Regen Rate: 1pp/10rds HTK Regen/Day: 1d6+4
Personality: 18  ("Sparkling")
Looks: 16 (Babe)

Secondary Stats
PP: 108
HTK: 60
Fame: 5
Bimbo Points: 1 (Larina is a serious witch thank you very much)
XP: 
Level: 13 ("Junior Heroine")
CPs: 16 more to spend

These are derived, more or less, from the Primary Stats.

Powers
Magic Spells (spells cost twice the CP as powers)
- Blast 5d6 (Scream)

- Big Blast (Lightning Bolt)
- Invisibility
- Illusions
Super Senses: See Magic 20cp
Move Things without Touching Them 200 cp

Gizmos
Broom (obvious) 40 cp of additional flight
20 CPs

Skills
Occultist 50 cp (gained at 1st level)
Language 100 cp
150 CPs

Gizmos

Book of Shadows (obvious) 100 cps

Character Description
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 125 lbs
Hair: Long red hair
Eyes: Blue
Skin: Caucasian
Unique Characteristics: Large triple-moon Goddess tattoo between shoulder blades

Total CPs: 650

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 15: Favorite Monster (Undead)

Day 15: Favorite Monster (Undead)

Again this one should really be no surprise to anyone here.  While I like all types of undead there is only one that is my favorite; Vampires.

A little known fact, my interests in D&D and in horror was originally all about vampires. So before I was "the Witch guy" I was "the Vampire guy".

While the game had some great ideas in the games and books, some of the best material for the game came from Dragon Magazine.  I still have my print copy of Best of Vol. 2 with the Varieties of Vampires and issue 126 with various Silver Age ideas on how to play vampires.

I think that was the one of the things that makes me, despite my age and when I started playing, puts me more in the mind set of the Silver Age gamer.  I liked it when vampires stopped being just monsters and became a fully realized NPC type.  You can see this in how vampires were stated out:
Palace of the Vampire Queen: No name, just stats in her encounter area.
Vault of the Drow: Has a name, Belgos, a picture, and even a girlfriend.
Ravenloft: Strahd gets a name, a writeup even before the adventure starts and motivation.
He got more detail in his one shot than most gods or demons got before this.

In 3e I liked the templates on paper but when it came to stating out a new vamp it was a pain in the ass.

Zatannurday: Cosplay Summer's End 2013

Can Summer really be over? Are we done with cons till Spring? As a young man's thoughts turn to Halloween, here are some of the last of the Zatanna cosplay pictures I have been holding on to.


Zatanna Zatara - II by ~Taeyen on deviantART


Zatanna Zatara cosplay by ~MyattaNyatta on deviantART


zatanna zatara by ~Thecupcakemechanic on deviantART


Let the magic begin by ~MangaGirl232 on deviantART


Zatanna by ~laNane on deviantART

And a special one posted a last week by Justice League Detroit.

Till next year!

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 14: Favorite NPC

Day 14: Favorite NPC

My favorite NPC has to be Omar, the celebrated Dwarf merchant of Crazy Omar's.
I loved the idea of this supposedly crazy dwarf walking around his warehouse/shop wearing silk pajamas, singing in dwarven opera and wearing a fez (before fezs were cool).
Omar though is best in very small doses.  Too much and he becomes a cartoon character or at worst an ex dues machina for my players to get the exact thing they need.
Still though, after all these years he is still fun to play.  I just wish I knew some good Dwarven Opera to sing!

Cryptworld is up on DriveThruRPG!

Cryptworld is up on DriveThruRPG!

Get your copy now!

If you loved Chill like I did then this is the game to get.

Orcus and Vanth

We all know who this guy is:

But who is this?

 

Her name is Vanth and she is another Etruscan chthonic god depicted as a demon and she adorns funerary art.
What is their relationship other than the obvious historical one?

Well I also read a lot of science blogs and this picture of the largest trans-Neptunian objects came up (in a discussion of the Oort cloud.)

Vanth is the moon of Orcus.

I can't even begin to tell you how many ideas came flooding in on that one!

Vanth orbits Orcus in a tight precise circle and they are tidal locked.  Vanth is never far from Orcus then and she always keeps her face toward her master.

Mythological Vanth shares a role similar to that of Charon.  She brings the souls of departed to the underworld. She has a torch to light her way, a key to unlock the gates of the underworld, a scroll with the information on the deceased and a sword. According to myth Vanth appears as woman, much like an Erinyes and described as young and vibrant.

There is a Pathfinder creature called a Vanth, but it lacks some of the charm of this demon.

No I think I prefer Vanth to be a vassal of Orcus. Responsible for bringing him the choicest souls to be corrupted into foul undead.  In truth that picture of Orcus above should be reversed, Vanth (the woman) should be the one presenting the skeleton to her lord.

It could be that this unique Vanth has many of the lesser vanths at her disposal.  Maybe the souls her lord rejects become part of her own army.

I also saw this picture of Stephanie vanRijn that had me thinking of the relationship between Thanatos and Eros. Maybe this what Vanth looks like to humans.

Vanth
Hit Dice: 11+15** (70 hp)
Armor Class: 1 [19]
Attacks: 1 sword (1d10+4)
Special: Flight, Magic resistance (55%), regenerate (3 hp/round),  +2 or better weapons to hit.
Move: 24' / 60'
Save: F12 (Basic) 12 (S&W)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Challenge/XP: 11/3,000

I will have to develop here more later.

Vanth by *ThaliaTook on deviantART

http://amusedgrace.blogspot.com/2013/08/this-is-other-piecei-did-earlier.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanth
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/psychopomp/psychopomp-vanth