Kickstart Your Weekend: Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall

This week I would like to draw your attention to a new Old school Kickstarter.

Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall is set in the same Duchy as the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/665143704/guidebook-to-the-duchy-of-valnwall

This project will detail the Duchy of Valnwall and the surrounding areas.
The book has already been funded and the first stretch goal reached.
It is the stretch goals that are really the interesting features of this book.

Each stretch goal will include an adventure or content by some of the best in the OSR.
Check these names out.

Stretch Goal #1: ($1250)  MET
A mini-adventure by James M. Spahn of Barrel Rider Games.

Stretch Goal #2: ($1,500)
A mini-adventure by Jason Paul McCartan of Infinibadger Press and OSRToday.

Stretch Goal #3: ($1,750)
A mini-adventure by Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor.

Stretch Goal #4: ($2,000)
A mini-adventure by Joe Johnston of Taskboy Games.

Stretch Goal #5: ($2,250)
A mini-adventure by Tim Brannan of The Other Side Blog.

Stretch Goal #6: ($2,500)
A mini-adventure by author Paul "greyarea" Go.

Stretch Goal #7: ($2,750)
A mini-adventure by cartographer Matt Jackson.

Stretch Goal #8: ($3,000)
A mini-adventure by Jeff Sparks of Faster Monkey Games.

Stretch Goal #9: ($3,250)
A mini-adventure by Erik Tenkar of Tenkar's Tavern.

Stretch Goal #10: ($3,500)
A mini-adventure by Pete Spahn of Small Niche Games.

Not a bad crowd to be included with!

I promise I have something special planned for this, but only if the stretch goal is made.

A to Z of Vampires: Upierczi

Heading to the final letters now. So lets go to Poland and meet a vampire that fascinated me when I was younger, the Upierczi.  Also known as Upierczica, Upierci, and Upir.

This vampire was interesting because it had a barb under it's tongue to puncture the victims neck instead of fangs.  The use the barb to cut their victims and then curl their tongues to suck up the blood.

Active day or night they can be found out of their graves from noon to midnight.  They must feed on a human before retiring for the night.  During the day they look human, but when they are sleeping they appear dead. Often they sleep with their eyes open so they will know if they are being visited.

In human form they are physically one of the strongest vampires, having strength roughly equal to a Fire Giant (Str 22).  They are also the vampire that most easily passes for human. They can eat and drink; though they must regurgitate it all later.  After feeding they are even capable of sexual intercourse.

 Upierczi can be detected by the drought they cause. Plants near them will wither and die.  Small ponds will dry up and it will not rain in the areas they are in.  If you can find a stream of running water then they can be killed with that.

Upierczi
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 10d8+5** (50 hp)
No. of Attacks: bite
Damage: 1d4+1/1d4+1 or by weapon + blood drain (2 Points Con)
Special:  Con drain, charming voice, immune to sleep, charm and hold spells. Slashing weapons have no effect. +1 or better to hit.
Movement: 40’
No. Appearing: 1
Saves As: F10
Morale: 10
Treasure: as per vampire
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

The Upierczi drains blood from his victims via a sharp barb under his tongue.  He uses his charming voice (same as the Charm Person spell) to lure victims into his embrace. He can drain 2 points worth of Constitution with this attack.  The upierczi must feed on 10 points of con at least once per week.
People killed in this fashion rise up as a 6HD Upierczi under the control of the one that killed them.

The upierczi is a very strong and tough vampire.  Piercing and slashing weapons have little effect on it. Swords, daggers, arrows, spears all will only do 1 hp point of damage per attack, and that is only if they are magical.   Bashing weapons and blunt weapons such as maces and staves do normal damage.  Swords specifically designed to kill vampires will do their normal damage.

In combat this vampire is very fast, gaining two claw attacks per round.  It can also opt for a weapon and also get in two attacks vs the same opponent per round.  The upierczi favors small light weapons it can conceal on it's person.

The upierczi is not repulsed by garlic, salt or anything natural.  They cannot enter into a home unless invited, but they can use their charm voice to get that.  They are however repelled by holy symbols and take 1d8 hp of damage from holy water.  They are turned as Vampires by clerics.

The only true way to destroy an upierczi is drag it out of it's resting area before noon. Nail it to the ground with an iron spike through it's head and then set the body on fire.  The body will burn quickly and then explode with all the upierczi's flesh becoming squirming maggots.  These must be burned as well.

Like the Moroi, Upierczi consider themselves lords of vampire kind.

PWWO: A Red & Pleasant Land + Victorian Games

Notice: I am not taking down this post because I feel it is more important to leave it up, but also update everyone on what is happeing now as February 11, 2019. Please see this newer post first. http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2019/02/i-am-going-to-talk-about-zak-today-and.html

The print version with ribbon.
I don't think there are many of these left.

Time for another edition of Plays Well With Others!

A while back I picked up +Zak Smith's vampire-themed Alice in Wonderland mashup (though that does not really describe it) A Red & Pleasant Land.  It is well reviewed and you can read my review here: http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2014/12/review-red-pleasant-land.html

What got me at the time is a.) how much I liked it and b.) how much I didn't want to play it under D&D (any version).  I started thinking about Alice, Dracula and this book   I thought that what this book really needs is not a background of fantasy, even the Grimdark of LotFP or DCC, but the prim and proper sensibilities of a more refined time. Victorian England.

Think about it.  I described the country, Voivodja, in AR&PL as Nightmare scape. Not an overt one like say the Hells, but a subtle one, and mostly a chaotic one.  What a better contrast to the streets of fog soaked Victorian London?  After all Voivodja isn't in our world, it's out there somewhere; down a rabbit hole or through the looking glass.  Through a looking glass darkly.  OR if it is, maybe it is an odd mirror.  Page 14 of AR&PL will give you ideas. The difference now is that we are all using the same world. Unless your D&D game is set in Europe of course, then you are ahead.

There are a lot of great choices for games to use this with and each offers something special I think.


Cthuhlu by Gaslight

Cthuhlu by Gaslight is one of the best Victorian era magical games out there. CbG has rules, via Call of Cthuhlu, for dealing with the Dreamlands. This is a good way to get characters from the "real world" to Voivodja.  Now Voivodja could be in our Carpathian Mountains or they could be in the analogue in the Dream lands.  Who knows.
One thing I would suggest is get a good grip on the Sanity rules and how to apply them using AR&PL.  There are things here that could be abused and drive the characters completely insane.  I say use them sparingly; instead focus on the weirdness of it all.  Not the mind bend weirdness typically one associates with the mythos.  Translations of monsters would not be hard.  Though the average CoC/CbG game is more about investigation. There is more doing in AR&PL, even if that doing isn't always combat.  Though they both have that in common.

Ghosts of Albion

I think there are plenty of good reasons to use Ghosts of Albion.  First the there is more expectation that characters will do more in GoA than in CoC.  Again monsters are easy to convert; most are in the Ghosts core book or could be found in any of the Buffy books.  Secondly let's address the elephant in the room.  Zak may not have meant Alice to come off as an ersatz Slayer, but she kind of is.  Or rather the Alice is the trope that the "Buffy" is trying to set up. All I am saying is that thematically they work well together or even as each other.  Alices are not Protectors, but they can be weaker Slayers or Chosen Ones (Army of Darkness) in any case the rules in GoA have it covered.
Alice's would get extra Drama Points (I would say 2 extra at starting).  The leveling up table would be used for every 25 XP gained.  Just allow her to take the appropriate Supernatural Qualities.

The Alice would be a 5-Point Supernatural Quality. I'd have to work out what is in it, likely bonuses to Charisma, Hard to Kill, but some drawbacks too.  Nothing major and nothing more than 5 points.
The more magic-rich world of Ghosts works well for AR&PL too.  And between Ghosts' Supernatural rules, Angel's demon rules and Buffy's vampires you could make every type of vampire in the book and then some.


Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death

This of course might the best fit.  Ravenloft, Masque of the Red Death is set on Earth in the Victorian era.  It uses the same D&D system as AR&PL. Plus a lot of the changes that LotFP made to D&D can also be found in this book. Specialists are called Tradesmen in MotRD.  While the other two can be "easily converted" this one does not have to be converted at all.  You can even use the Alice as is.
Plus a lot of the strangeness in AR&PL can be explained by the power known as The Red Death.  I would opt for the 2nd Edition version pictured here as opposed to the 3.x update from Arthaus/SSS/White Wolf.   In fact going back through my Masque books I think this might be the one I would use for this.
You could travel the Orient Express and end up in A Red & Pleasant Land.

In any of the above cases I am much more excited to run this than under D&D or a clone.

A to Z of Vampires: Tenatz

Let's head back to Eastern Europe and check in with the Tenatz, the vampire of Bosnia and Montenegro.  The tenatz is another corpse that comes back from the dead. In this case it is an evil spirit, though some books claim the spirit of the person can come back to their own body if they are strong willed enough and evil enough.

The tenatz rises from his grave after sunset and will change into a mouse to enter a person's home.  Unlike some species of vampire it does not need permission to enter if it enters in mouse form.  As a mouse it can't be killed.   It will crawl up to a living person and feed on their blood.

The tenatz is one of the weakest vampires, it's attack does not drain any ability and only does blood loss damage.  It's main defense is it's resistance to magic.  Tenatz have ar +2 vs any magical based attack (fire ball, lighting bolt, etc).

In their "human" form their skin is grey, regardless of the color it had been in life, and they have red, goat-like eyes.   This is the form they will be found in when roaming about at night outside or in their graves.  The tenatz must return to their grave before sun rise or be destroyed.

To destroy a tenatz you must find it's coffin and bring it out into the sunlight.  The body must be burned to ash.  The tenatz is powerless in the daylight.

The tenatz is repelled by holy symbols and garlic.  Running water will also kill them.

Tenatz
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Hit Dice: 6d8+3** (30 hp)
No. of Attacks: bite
Damage: 1d4+1 +1d6 blood drain
Special:  +2 saves vs. Magical attacks
Movement: 30’
No. Appearing: 1
Saves As: F5
Morale: 8
Treasure: None
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Tenatz are lone vampires. They cannot make more of their own kind and it is rare to see more than one in an area.
Tenatz are turned as mummies.

Adult Wednesday Addams taken Offline

Anyone that comes here often knows I am a HUGE fan of +melissahunter's Adult Wednesday Addams videos.

These skits deal with the trials of Wednesday as she struggles to be a single gal in LA.

They are clever, well done and Melissa has Wednesday's sardonic wit down pat.  They were a real gem.
Till last week:

http://newmediarockstars.com/2015/04/adult-wednesday-addams-pulled-from-youtube-over-copyright/

http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/adult-wednesday-addams-copyright-claim/?tw=dd

Here is the post from Wednesday Melissa herself:

Hi everyone! Thank you for the outpouring of support and concern about the disappearance of Adult Wednesday Addams from the internet. As many of you have seen, the Tee & Charles Addams Foundation flagged the show and, for now, it is off of YouTube. I am working actively on coming to a resolution and will not let Wednesday be caged in internet purgatory. I appreciate your patience and support while I sort this issue out!

Obviously, this is very upsetting that the videos aren't online. Wednesday means so much to me as I know she does to you. Thank you for all of your enthusiasm. Your support every step of the way has meant the world to me.

****UPDATE: At this point, the Tee & Charles Addams Foundation cannot do anything to change the status of this issue, so sending messages and donations will not remedy the situation. If there is anything that can be done in support of the series, I will let you know. Thank you again for everything!****

Full Heart, Dead Eyes, Can't Lose.

xo Melissa

I hope there is a resolution that everyone can agree with.

A to Z of Vampires: Soucouyant

Let's head to the Caribbean now, in particular Trinidad. Here we find the shape-shifting, vampiric hag,  the Soucouyant.

In game terms the Soucouyant could either be a hag, a fey, a vampire, or something else entirely.  Today I want to look at how she is a vampire since there are some definitely undead characteristics to her.

The Soucouyant by day appears much as she did in life, an ugly, ancient old crone.  By night though she removes her skin (much like a Boo-Hag) and turns into a floating ball of fire.  Here she flies around looking for small cracks in peoples homes. She resumes human shape, albeit skinless. She sucks blood from their arms and legs, leaving behind blue marks.  She then uses this blood for her magic.
In her fireball form, similar to a Will-0-Wisp or Feu Follet, she is powerless to attack save by blood drain.  If attacked she will speed away to her skin, which she keep in a motar.  To identify the Soucouyant the next morning look for the old woman covered in bruises.

In her human form she can cast spells as a witch.  Her true strengths are her magic and her ability to summon lycanthropes, Loogaroo (a type of werewolf).

To prevent her from entering your home you must leave a pile of rice on the ground or at the local crossroads, which she will be compelled to count.  If she is still counting rice when the sun rises she will be destroyed.  Also if her skin can be found fill the insides with salt. She will not be able to don her skin and die when the sun rises.  The skin of a dead Soucouyant is prized by wizards for it's magical effects.

Game Stats
For Pathfinder a Soucouyant is any hag that the vampire template has been applied to.

Basic Era Games

Soucouyant

Armor Class
- Human form:  7 [12]
- Skinless: 9 [10]
- Fireball form: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 9d8+9** (50 hp)
No. of Attacks/Damage
- Human form:  witch spells only
- Skinless: Blood drain 1 Con point
- Fireball form: 1d6 fire damage on touch
Special Qualities: Dark vision 60’, Iron Vulnerability, Summon 1d4 werewolves (loogaroo)
Movement: 40’
No. Appearing: 1
Saves As: Witch 10
Morale: 9
Treasure: 6d6 CP, 0 SP, 2d8 GP, Gems: 50% 1d8, Magic 50% any 1d6, 2 potions
Alignment: Chaotic (evil)

The Soucouyant can cast spells and use occult powers as if she were a witch of 7th level of the Demonic Tradition.
A loogaroo is local type of werewolf. They are solitary and can change to large wolf like creatures on the command of the Soucouyant.
The blood drain of the Soucouyant does 1 of Constitution damage. She can only do this while the victim is asleep.
A throwback to their hag/fey origins the Soucouyant is vulnerable to damage from "cold" iron weapons, taking an extra +2 to all damage.

D6 Dracula

David Baymiller, blogger and owner of The OSR Library, has been doing a lot of posts about the D6 system.

I am planning on doing something with D6 over the summer (been working on it for a bit), but this is too good not to share now.

He has stated up Dracula for the D6 system.

http://theosrlibrary.blogspot.com/2015/04/d6-supernatural-monsters-not-show.html

Have a look.