Thursday, October 19, 2023

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Ritual (2017)

The Ritual (2017)
 Tonight is Folk Horror. I LOVE Folk Horror. The moodier, the better. 

I have been on a Scandinavian Folk Horror kick for a bit here with movies like Draug (2018)Midsommar (2019)Pathfinder (2007) (though not really horror), and of course, Häxan (1922).  

This one covers a type of film I refer to as "The Walk." This type of movie usually has the protagonists going from point A to B with all the horrors in between. 

In this one, our group of four American adventurers are trekking across Sweden and run into scary stuff.

This one is fun but honestly a little bit predictable. Lots of scary dark, creepy locals, cults that didn't die out like they were supposed to, crazy visions. All the great things about Folk Horror.

Lots of great references to Norse mythology. Though I watched this the same night as the Marvel Loki series and it was quite the contrast. I guess I could have added in the last handful of Ragnarok episodes for a full Norse mythology night.


October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
Viewed: 23
First Time Views: 15

31 Days of Halloween Movie Challenge



#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 10, Room 19

 Moving on clockwise the next tomb belongs to Terk Morgenstjernen, according to his memorial stone, he was a mineral expert.

Room 19

Terk's tomb is heavy and it is soon obvious why, it is lined with lead.

Inside Terk's tomb are lumps of violet-black stone streaked with purple. This is raw, unprocessed Necronium ore. In it's raw form Necronium is dangerous (thus the lead) and will attract undead. In it's processed form as Necronium metal, aka Dwarven Black Silver, it is an effective tool against undead.

If the party takes the necronium with them, it is worth 100,000 gp total. But carrying this much not in a lead chest or magical bag will attract undead. There is a 1 in 6 chance every turn that an undead monster will find the party. This is in addition to any other wandering monster rolls that may occur. 

There are no instructions on how to process this ore. 

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

October Horror Movie Challenge: We Have a Ghost (2023)

We Have a Ghost (2023)
 Today's theme is Clown. Gods, I fucking hate clowns. I really do.

So today I am going really broad with this one and going with "Clowing around" and the movie is "We Have a Ghost" from 2023. It stars David Harbour (from Stranger Things) as "Ernest," a ghost that has been haunting a house in Chicago for 50 years.  The Presleys move in and son Kevin (Jahi Winston) is less than thrilled.  That is until he films Ernest on his cell phone.  The video is discovered by his brother Fulton (Niles Fitch) and father Frank (Anthony Mackie). They upload it to YouTube and go viral.

Now Ernest is the most popular ghost in the world. But since he can't talk it is up to Kevin to find out who he really is.

Also wanting answers is former CIA agent turned horror writer Dr. Leslie Monroe, played by the always fantastic Tig Notaro. I want to praise this cast here. Tig is always great, so my expectations of her are high, and she meets them here. Though she is not as sarcastic here as she is in real life or as when she is playing Denise "Jett" Reno on Star Trek: Discovery. Anthony Mackie is great. I have seen him do action (Marvel) and sci-fi (Altered Carbon), to see him do comedy is really fun. But the stand out is David Harbour as the ghost Ernest/Randy. He has the most physical humor and NO lines. He has to express everything with just his face and he does a great job of it. It is practically mime to be honest. Thus my Clown connection.

The movie itself is not great. BUT it is fun and a good little ghost story.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
Viewed: 22
First Time Views: 14

31 Days of Halloween Movie Challenge


D&DGII The Black Forest Mythos: Clash of the Titans, Die Hüne

Die Hüne
One of the many features this mythology shares with the Greek, Roman, Norse, and many, many other myths across the world is the idea of the Chaoskampf. This is idea that the gods (representing order) are a younger generation to the Titans or Giants that represent chaos. It is through this battle that order is brought to the universe. It is a deeply held idea and can be found in many mythologies in the world. It even makes it way into various D&D-related products.

I am not here to debate such profound insights. I am here to say how this manifests within my syncretized mythos. 

Die Hüne

Die Hüne are the Titans and the Giants of both myths.  Primordial beings of great power that the gods defeated but still trouble them.  In this myth, the Gods fought Die Hüne and brought order out of chaos. These are not just giants and titans. These creatures are the demons of this mythology.  They are beings of primordial chaos. 

In my mind, they combine giant, elemental, and demon. The Gigantes of Greek myth (not AD&D) were more monstrous creatures.  The jötunn of Norse myth likewise were more demonic. As time passes, these titans and jötunn become more human-looking until we have something like the giants of D&D. 

My goal with Die Hüne is to return to those older, more monstrous giants. Given that this mythology is half-Roman, these people will have been familiar with some of the tales of Goliath, the Anakim, and others from Jewish mythology.  So maybe some of those tales entered into their thinking.

For these monsters I can use my write-ups for the Jötunn and my classifications of Die Hüne from previous posts.

Hüne Vater

Hüne Vater is the father of the current generation of the Gods. He killed his father and was, in turn defeated by his own son. He is the leader of Die Hüne. Before his defeat, he cursed the gods and all humankind with death. In Proto-Indo-European myths, he is the Archdemon.  He sits imprisoned in exile. 

This is a complex figure. He combines aspects of both the Roman Saturn and the Norse Surtr. He is the leader of the Primordial Chaos beings. If anything, he represents the future which is death. Surtr plays an important role in the Norse Ragnarök. Saturn/Chronus is often depicted as an old man with a scythe or sickle, an image that gives us both the anthropomorphized Father Time and Death. This why my Hüne Vater curses gods and mankind alike with old age and death. The gods have their apples to protect them. 

He is a destroyer. He killed his own father (Großvater) and impregnates his mother (Großmutter) to bring about the Hüne and the new generation of gods. He would also have aspects of Satan and Angra Mainyu. He is chaos, fire, and destruction. He wants nothing more than to destroy everything.

Die Hüne
HÜNE VATER (Primordial Titan)
Intermediate God

ARMOR CLASS: -7
MOVE: 36"
HIT POINTS: 300
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2d10/2d10 
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Aura of the Inferno
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Blinding Defense
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 75%

SIZE: L (25")
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: Any Evil
SYMBOL: An open flame
PLANE: Hölle

CLERIC/DRUID: 5th level Druid
FIGHTER: 15th level Fighter (Barbarian)
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Nil
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: Nil
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 25 I: 14 W: 15 D: 18 C: 25 CH: 10

Hüne Vater is the father of the Hüne (Titans) and the first generation of Gods. He is chaos incarnate and is the element of fire. He lives only to destroy everything around him. He was defeated by the gods under the leadership of Unser Vater.  He is imprisoned in Hölle where he is guarded by the gods Hüter (Protector of the Dead) and Helga (The Ghost Queen), and a myriad of monsters. 

It is said that Hüne Vater created the sky and the Earth out of his parents, but this was not an intentional act of creation but one that happened due to his own destructive influences. Later Unser Vater would bring order to the universe.

If free from his prison, he can attack with two massive fists. He is surrounded by an aura of flame that can do 2d8 hp of damage to anyone within 60' of him.  Once every three turns, he can also fly into a berserker-like rage and make two additional attacks. 

Hüne Vater is not worshipped in the traditional sense. Berserkers call on him for their murderous rampage. He can be the patron for Chaotic Evil Warlocks. These warlocks are given access to any fire-based druid spell.

Großvater & Großmutter

Großvater and Großmutter are the names given to the quasi-anthropomorphic manifestation of the Father Sky and Mother Earth of the Die Hüne (the Titans/Jötunn).  Großvater was destroyed by his son Vater Hüne to make the night sky. Großmutter never fully recovered from her attack by Vater Hüne and is now still, but not dead. She ceded most of her power to her daughter Mutter Natur.

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RPG Blog Carnival

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 10, Room 18

 Moving left to right in a clockwise fashion, the party enters the first tomb. 

Room 18

These tombs are largely intact. This appears to be the tomb of a dwarven miner.  This tomb bares the name of "Clan Morgenstjernen" and this is the tomb of Stig Morgenstjernen. It says here he was the alchemist of the clan. 

Looking into his sarcophagus, there is no treasure but rather a large stone tablet. On this, carved in dwarven runes are six names of the Morgenstjernen clan. In addition to Stig there is Terk, Gwent, Siln, the clan leader Ferner, and someone listed as his son Sharis Val.

There is also a note that Stig is the one who learned the secrets of Necronium, also called Dwarven Black Silver.  

There is nothing else.

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Green Knight (2021)

The Green Knight (2021)
 Tonight's theme is "Underrated." I went back and thought through some of the underrated horror movies I knew of. The trouble is many of the movies that the mainstream considers "underrated" are already embraced by Horror fans.  For example, "Near Dark" always gets on these sorts of lists, but horror fan have sung the praises of that movie for so long, and so loudly I feel it really isn't an underrated movie. It gets the praise it deserves, at least from my point of view. Note to self, I have not watched "Near Dark" since a forever ago. Need to fix that.

But there is one movie, while not 100% horror, has plenty of horror elements. 2021's The Green Knight.

This is a rewatch for me. I wanted to go back and look for more horror elements, and they were there. 

The story is largely the one of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."  We have seen this on film before as Gawain and the Green Knight (1973) and the better, more memorable one Sword of the Valiant (1984), starring Miles O'Keeffe as Gawain and Sean Connery as The Green Knight.  Watching 1984 movie alongside the 2021 one the horror elements are far more pronounced.  An aside. The character of Gawain was played by Liam Neeson in the 1981 Joun Boorman epic Excalibur.  The character has had some great portrayals.  Dev Patel is a worthy contender to the list of actors as well.

The movie has ghosts, unkillable knights, magic, murders, and an underlying current of Pagan horror that can't be ignored. I enjoyed the movie so much the first time I saw it I bought the RPG for it before I was done.

The movie was produced/leased by A24 who gave us "Ex Machina" (2015), "The Witch" (2016), "Midsommar", "The Lighthouse" (2019), "X" and "Pearl" (2022). So there is a pedigree here as well.

This is an old tale, so no really need to go into detail. The Green Knight challenges the Knights of the Round table. They are two cowardly to try him. Gawain steps up and beheads him. The Knight puts back on his head and says in one year it will be Gawain's turn.

Some added features include Gawain's mother being a witch. Erin Kellyman (from Willow) is here as Winifred who is a ghost in this tale. 

The movie ends differently than others of this tale with the Green Knight claiming Gawain's head afterall.

It was a fun flick.

The RPG is not bad. Some interesting ideas, but not one I see myself playing much.

The Green Knight

The Green Knight

The Green Knight

The Green Knight

The Green Knight

The Green Knight

October Horror Movie Challenge 2023
Viewed: 21
First Time Views: 13

31 Days of Halloween Movie Challenge

Mail Call: Village on the Borderlands

 It's Tuesday, and that means time to see what the postman delivered to me. This week it is a Kickstarter delivery from Mark Taormino and Dark Wizard Games.

Village on the Borderlands

An introductory adventure to his Maximum Mayhem series of over-the-top AD&D 1st Ed/OSRIC adventures. This one is an homage to both the Village of Hommelt and the Keep on the Borderlands.

Village on the Borderlands

Village on the Borderlands

Village on the Borderlands

Village on the Borderlands

Village on the Borderlands



Mark knows how to write a fun adventure and he runs a great Kickstarter too. 

I have run many of his adventures over the years. Sometimes with AD&D, often with D&D 5e and once with Castles & Crusades. But what I really want to do is run them all as a campaign using the Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy rules. 

Maximum Mayhem Campaign

The adventures run from 1st to 14th level, just like OSE-Advanced and I think it would be a lot of fun.

And there is more on the way! Mark is going to bring us the 10th Anniversary of Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen for both 1st Ed and 5e! Really looking forward to it.