Friday, October 17, 2025

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Chill

The depth of my love for Chill knows no bounds.  

I am continuing to focus my Fantasy Fridays on Urban Fantasy and Horror. These will be more about accenting and supplementing your games with horror, and less on these games being a “D&D Replacement.”

And for me, no game sits more firmly in that sweet spot of horror and urban fantasy than Chill.

Chill was my first RPG after D&D, and it has stayed with me ever since. I still remember flipping through the Pacesetter box and realizing this game wasn’t about dungeons or dragons, it was about the dark places just outside your door. It’s a game about the things you whisper about, the shadows you hope never notice you, and the brave (or foolish) people who stand up to fight them.

The Core of Chill

Across its three editions, the spirit of the game has remained intact. The secret society of SAVE, the Societas Argenti Viae Eternitata, provides players with an immediate reason to join the fight against the supernatural. The Unknown itself is the real adversary, a collection of folklore and fear that resists easy definition. Unlike Call of Cthulhu, Chill does not end with despair. Unlike World of Darkness, it does not try to make the monsters alluring. Most importantly, it doesn’t require the “epic heroics” of D&D or Pathfinder. The Unknown is terrifying and often lethal, but it can be fought.

The tone of play always reminded me more of Kolchak: The Night Stalker than Lovecraft. Later, when shows like X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Supernatural came along, they felt like they could have been written as Chill campaigns. It is a game about mysteries and folklore, about investigating hauntings and cryptids, and about facing the terrors that slip into our world when no one else will. The monsters are not just stat blocks to be defeated; they are creatures that feel like they have stepped out of legend and into your story. More importantly, each monster was special. Even when it was just a "monster of the week" it still meant something. From vampires and Wendigos to Elizabeth Bathory herself, the creatures of Chill are more than just stat blocks. They feel like they crawled out of real-world legends and onto your gaming table. 

Chill 2nd Edition
What You Can Do With Chill

Chill is wonderfully adaptable. I have used it to run Buffy-style adventures before there was a Buffy RPG, Kolchak investigations, and even material that began in Ghosts of Albion. It thrives in the modern day, but it also works in Victorian gaslight, or the occult revival of the 1970s with its bell-bottoms and Ouija boards. The mechanics are approachable and lean toward story, so it is a natural fit for short Halloween one-shots as well as longer campaigns.

One of the joys of Chill for me has been bringing recurring characters into it. I have created versions of many of my characters for many systems, but Chill has always felt like one of the most natural homes for them. Characters in Chill are ordinary people thrust into extraordinary danger, and that is exactly the kind of story I have always enjoyed doing.

Why Chill Stands Out

What makes Chill endure is the way it carves out its own place among horror RPGs. Call of Cthulhu leans into inevitability and madness. World of Darkness often leans into seduction and corruption. Dungeons & Dragons calls for epic heroics and high fantasy. Chill stands apart. It is a game about people who could be your neighbors, co-workers, or friends, suddenly forced to confront the shadows that lurk behind familiar walls. Victories are rare, but when they come, they feel earned. That balance of fear and fight is what keeps me coming back. 

It gives you ordinary people with extraordinary courage, standing in the dark with nothing but a flashlight, some folklore, and the hope they can survive until dawn.

Chill is available in both the 2nd Edition and 3rd Edition rules.  The mechanical differences are minor. Chill 3rd Edition is a bit better organized and presented. 

Chil 1st, 2nd and 3rd Editions

The Early-Middle Years Campaign

If Little Fears is a childhood belief made into rules, then Chill feels like the story of what happens when those childhood terrors never really go away. It is a game for the middle years of life, when you are old enough to understand that monsters should not be real, yet still young enough to feel the raw shock when you discover they are.

In this sense, Chill is the perfect start to a “middle chapter” of a larger horror Lifespan Campaign. Dark Places & Demogorgons can cover the later childhood and early teen years. Monsterhearts or Buffy can cover the chaos of all the teenage years, but Chill is where the players step into early adulthood. Bills need paying, jobs need doing, but there are still nights when something crawls out of the dark, and it is up to you to stop it. Adulthood in Chill is defined not by power or responsibility, but by resilience.

Characters are rarely specialists or superheroes; they are people in over their heads who choose to fight back anyway. That resilience is what makes victories against the Unknown so satisfying. Chill is about holding on to courage, even when everything around you insists you should not. 

A starting Chill character is a fragile thing, but it is assumed they have what it takes to survive. 

Larina Macalister, nee Nichols, for Chill

So we have been moving through the years. In this, I am opting for the Chill 2nd Edition timeline, circa 1992. Larina is 22 years old. She has been living in Scotland for a couple of years now. She was an exchange student from the University of Chicago to St. Andrews University. She graduated with a degree in library sciences and early medieval history. She is currently a GA at St. Andrews. While here, she met, fell in love with, and married Eric Macalister. An Irish ex-pat living in Scotland. She later learns he is on the run because he is a former IRA sharphooter. I had watched Patriot Games when I came up with all of this in the late 1990s. In fact, this setup is all based on a WitchCraftRPG game I played with her. At the time, I worked out conversions in Excel for Chill, WitchCraft, and AD&D. These Chill stats are some of the oldest I have shared.

Larina for Chill over the ages

While I am basing all this background on Chill 2nd Ed, I am going to present her newer Chill 3rd Edition stats below. 

This Larina is fresh out of her undergrad days and working on her MA. She married, but life is not all marital bliss (she will be divorced and back in America by the time she is 25). She works with her friend Prof. Scot Elders and his wife, and her best friend Heather.  At some point, Larina learns that Elders worked for S.A.V.E. She is brought in, but she isn't trusted since her training in "The Art" has been haphazard and largely self-taught since she was 13. 

S.A.V.E. wants to evaluate her, but they had their own troubles in the early 1990s. 

Larina Macalister
22 years old, American citizen (married to an Irish citizen) living in Scotland on a student visa.

Larina Macalister, nee Nichols for Chill 2nd Edition
Larina in 1992.

Attributes

Agility AGL: 60
Strength STR: 50  (Injury: __)
Stamina STA: 55

Focus FOC: 80
Personality PSY: 70
Willpower WRP: 75   (Trauma: __)

Dexterity DEX:  60
Perception PCN: 80
Reflexes REF: 70

Sensing the Unknown STU: 40

Skills (Specializations)

Movement 30
Prowess 25
Close Quarters Combat 25

Research 40, Academics (E+30), Occult (E+30)
Communication Empathy (E+30), Deception (B+15)
Interview 38 Academic (E+30), Counselor (B+15)

Fieldcraft 30
Investigation 40 Relics (B+15)
Ranged Weapons 35

The Art

Communicative (PSY)
  Attunement: Follow the Strings
  - Telepathic Empathy (B)

Incorporeal
  Attunement: Eyes of the Dead

Kinetic (DEX)
  Attunement: Schematic
  - Hidden Hand (E)

Protective (FOC)
  Attunement: Disrupt
  - Blessing (B)
  - Line of Defense (B)

Sensing
  Attunement: Third Eye
  - Clairvoyant (B)

Edges and Drawbacks

Attractive 1, Highly Attuned 1, Pet (cat) 2
Hunted (Shadow Girl) -2, Marked -1, Reluctant to Harm -2

Drive To understand The Art and The Unknown

History

1975: Visited by ghosts and other spirits (gains Incorporeal ART)
1983: Develops Kinetic and Sensing Arts
1989: Travels to Scotland
1990: Recruited by S.A.V.E., same year married Eric Macalister
1991: Begins MA program at St. Andrews.

--

New to 3rd Edition are Focus and Reflexes. Also, Luck is now gone.

Her stats are pretty high for a starting character, but not high if you consider the Lifespan Campaign. She was seeing ghosts at 5 or 6, had control of various Arts by age 13. Because of this, she is largely self-taught. Her magical aptitude is a mile wide, but only inches deep at this point. 

I am bringing back the Shadow Girl, who, she had forgotten, from Little Fears. Maybe this creature is Larina's Never Was? And something happened in either DP&D or Monsterhearts that has caused her to decide she can use her Art to harm anyone. She hurt someone and has not gotten over it. 

Herein lies the most significant issue surrounding the Lifespan Campaign: moving characters and their abilities/powers from one game to the next. It can be done, but it is a challenge. Or, more to the point, a challenge to do it and not break some of the fundamental tenets of the game. Larina above should almost be a threat to S.A.V.E., not a consultant. Part of this balance also influences the narrative structure. What is real for that game world? You have to strip all that out and build your own world where the games fit.

Final Thoughts

Chill is not just another horror RPG for me. It was my first real step beyond D&D, my second RPG ever, and the one that showed me roleplaying games could be more than fantasy adventures. They could be mysteries, ghost stories, and urban legends made real.

Whether I’m reading the battered Pacesetter books, the sleek Mayfair volumes, or the modern 3rd edition, the heart of Chill never changes: ordinary people, extraordinary courage, and the eternal struggle against the Unknown.

For all the years and all the editions, that is why Chill remains one of my all-time favorites.

Links

Thursday, October 16, 2025

October Horror Movie Challenge: Gods of the Deep (2023)

Gods of the Deep (2023)
Tonight's move was another attack of opportunity. My wife doesn't like horror films. She has been wanting to watch some more with me this week and so we picked this one. She does like deep-sea movies, and she likes Lovecraft. So hey, maybe this one will be good. 

No. No it was not.

Gods of the Deep (2023)

I am going to give them this. They tried. Lovecraft is notoriously difficult to get right on screen. But this one is just bad.

Long story short...The Pickman Corporation sends a crew to the deep ocean. Horror ensues. 

I mean the acting is all over the place, the sets...well, I swear there was a screen door on the submarine. Maybe it was there as a joke. 

The creature was neat looking, but the sub-par CGI kinda ruined it. And really, why are the characters not freaking out more? 

Honestly, now I just want to find a good Kaiju movie to wash out the bad taste from this one.

Occult D&D and NIGHT SHIFT/Thirteen Parsecs

Again, this is good NIGHT SHIFT and Thirteen Parsecs crossover. 

The tech is from 13P, and the setup is pure NIGHT SHIFT. It is a haunted house, except the house is the ocean floor and the ghost is a 100 foot tall abomination from beyond the stars.

Replace the ocean with space and you have my Black Star game.


October Horror Movie Marathon 2025


October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
Viewed: 19
First Time Views: 17

In a Galaxy Where No One Has Gone Before...

 Ok, so lots of people have done this before.

Our weekly AD&D Forgotten Realms game was canceled again because we wanted to make starships!

My oldest is really into the Fantasy Flight Games/EDGE Star Wars RPG. I do admit it is rather fun. He was reading over his books while working on ships while I was busy working some Kneadatite "Green Stuff" into areas of my USS Mercy kitbash.

We were talking about starships and I put the Mercy down for a bit to dry. The next step is taking a Dremel to it to smooth out the green stuff and repaint. So we decided to build some Star Trek ships for Star Wars.

Star Trek and Star Wars

I am 100% sure people will have a lot of opinions here on what we got "wrong" and that is great! These are our interpretations, but if you have suggestions, post them below. Plus, when it comes to ships like the USS Mercy and USS Protector *I* am really the only authority here.


USS Mercy

I have talked about the USS Mercy NCC 3001, many times here. I am still trying to figure how big this ship should be. The in-universe idea was to upgrade the existing Oberth-class spaceframe with newer designed nacelles (Ambassador-class prototypes) and a larger Daedalus-class "saucer" section, called "the hospital" section here. There is some disagreement on how large an Oberth is, other than "small." 

Based on what I can figure out, I am going to say, for now, the USS Mercy and the other Asclepius-class Emergency Medical Response ships are 360 meters. About the same size as the Constitution-class Enterprise-A or roughly half the size of the Mystic-class USS Protector.

Name: USS Mercy NCC 3001
Make: Asclepius Class (Emergency Medical Response)
Hard Points: 3
Encumbrance: 500

Silhouette: 5
Speed: 3
Handling: 1

Armor: 5
Hull Trauma: 80
System Strain: 50

Defense
Fore: 5
Port: 5
Starboard: 5
Aft: 5

Weapons

WeaponFiring ArcDamage   RangeCritSpecial
Phaser Array (2)FA  5     Long 2            Auto fire, Breach 1, Accurate 2
Torpedo Launcher     AF             10Long1Accurate 1, Vicious 2, Breach 2


Tractor BeamFA-Medium     -Tractor 7

Personnel

Captain: CMDR Scot Elders, MD
Crew: 80 officers and enlisted. 200 medical personnel
Passengers: 600 Patients, 900 emergency triage
Launched: February 4, 2295 

Consumables: 5 years

Hyperdrive: ~ 0.7 (Warp 9.0) Cruising speed of Warp 7

Sensor Range: Extreme

I figure that this is a tough ship. It has powerful shields, but also ablative armor and polarized hull plating. This allows it to fly into war zones, drop its shields, and then beam out all the injured. So what it lacks in firepower for a ship of its size in 2295 it makes up for in protective tech. 

This really makes me want to stat it up for other systems like I did for the Protector below. 

USS Protector

The Protector is the first kitbash starship I have shared here, but certainly not my first.

Name: USS Protector, NX 3120
Make: Mystic Class (Heavy Cruiser, Experimental)
Hard Points: 4
Encumbrance: 1,000

Silhouette: 6
Speed: 5
Handling: 2

Armor: 6
Hull Trauma: 80
System Strain: 40

Defense
Fore: 5
Port: 5
Starboard: 5
Aft: 4

Weapons

WeaponFiring ArcDamage   RangeCritSpecial
Phaser ArrayAll (FPSA)  10     Long 3            Auto fire, Breach 2, Accurate 2
Torpedo Launcher     AF             15Long1Accurate 1, Vicious 4, Breach 4
Phase CannonF12    Medium2Breach 5
Tractor BeamFA-Medium     -Tractor 7

Personnel

Captain: ????
XO: ????
Crew: 120
Passengers: 600
Launched: June 13, 2352 600 (SD 31165.86)

Consumables: 5 years

Hyperdrive: ~ 0.5 (Warp 9.1) Experimental Omega Drive (Warp 13)

Sensor Range: Extreme

I don't have a new Captain for the Protector, really. It had been my friend Greg's character Valerie Beaumont during a shake down cruise, but she now commands the USS Mystic. 

Though I think I might have something now after working on this.

USS Challenger-C

I built this model over Christmas break, but I still need to add the final decals and paint it. But I knew it was going to be the Challenger-C. Like the Protector, I had not yet chosen a captain. But it became apparent I had to pay respects to one of my favorite Star Trek series and one of my favorite In Search Of topics. The Captain of the Challenger-C is Bradward Boimler and this means his first officer HAS to be Beckett Mariner, because there is no way she would want to be Captain. I can actually hear her saying "No. Shut up. Being captain is lame. First officers get all the away missions." 

I am not the only one who thought this was a good idea, bluenoser18 on Reddit did mock-ups of Capt. Boimler and Cmdr. Mariner. Both are older, more mature, and ready to lead into the 25th century.

My son did the Enterprise-D, but the Challenger-C would have similar stats.

Name: USS Challenger-C, NCC 71099
Make: Galaxy Class (Heavy Cruiser), updated
Hard Points: 5
Encumbrance: 1,500

Silhouette: 7
Speed: 5
Handling: 2

Armor: 8
Hull Trauma: 100
System Strain: 50

Defense
Fore: 10
Port: 10
Starboard: 10
Aft: 10

Weapons

Weapon Firing Arc Damage    Range Crit Special
Phaser Array All 12      Extreme  3             Breach 4, Accurate 3
Torpedo Launcher      AAF              20 Long 1 Vicious 5, Breach 5
Tractor Beam All - Medium      - Tractor 7

Personnel

Captain: Bradward Boimler (2402, SD 76906.23)
XO: Beckett Mariner
Crew: 150
Passengers: 1,000

Consumables: 5 years

Hyperdrive: ~ 0.5 (Warp 9.98)

Sensor Range: Extreme

--

So yeah, the Star Trek ships can run circles around the Star Wars ones until the Star Wars ship hits hyperspeed, and then they have the advantage. 

Also Trek ships have better shields. We are going to try this out with the FFG/EDGE Star Wars RPG and see how they work. 


Wednesday, October 15, 2025

October Horror Movie Challenge: Nosferatu (2024)

Nosferatu (2024)
 Tonight is a good one. I saw this near when it came out and was going to talk about it then, but I think tonight is a good night for a rewatch. Plus it give Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd a chance for a better movie than last night's.

Nosferatu (2024)

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (2024) isn’t just a remake; it’s a resurrection. Like the vampire at its center, this story keeps returning from the grave every few generations, and somehow, each time it reflects the fears and fascinations of its age. I’ve covered this story before, the eerie, expressionist nightmare of Nosferatu (1922) and Werner Herzog’s hauntingly romantic Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979). Eggers’ version stands confidently beside them, not as a copy or homage, but as a fever dream that feels both ancient and new.

This film bleeds atmosphere. Eggers’ knack for historical texture is on full display here, shadowed streets, candlelit halls, and the creeping weight of superstition pressing in from every frame. You can practically smell the damp wood and grave dust. It’s a gorgeous film to look at, but more importantly, it feels lived in, the way all great Gothic horror should. It feels like it was shot at the same time as the original 1922 version, only you are not watching a film from 1922, you are living in Wisburg viewing the 1890s from the 1920s.

The cast is exceptional across the board. Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd (who is becoming a bit of horror icon) gives us a Count Orlock who is both pitiful and terrifying, a creature shaped by hunger and loneliness as much as evil. He’s not the romantic vampire of modern cinema (like his brother Alexander's character Eric Northman of "True Blood") and is more the plague and death himself, given human form. It’s not surprising that SkarsgÃ¥rd disappears under the makeup; what’s impressive is that he still conveys so much anguish through it.  Watch his eyes. 

Nicholas Hoult as Hutter (or Harker, for the original Stoker version) plays the role with just the right blend of innocence and mounting dread. Lily-Rose Depp brings a fragile, almost ethereal quality to Ellen (Mina), the film’s tragic center, while Aaron Taylor-Johnson (as Harding/Holmwood) and Emma Corrin (as Anna/Lucy) round out the cast with sharp, grounded performances that make the human drama as compelling as the horror.

And of course, Willem Dafoe as Professor Eberhart (Eggers’ Van Helsing figure) is a treat. It’s impossible not to appreciate the meta-textual layer here, Dafoe once played Max Schreck himself in "Shadow of the Vampire (2000)," a film that imagined the making of the original Nosferatu with Schreck as a real vampire. Seeing him now on the other side of that mirror is a delight for longtime fans of the myth.

Where the 1922 version was stark and alien and the 1979 film was slow and melancholy, Eggers’ Nosferatu is feverish, baroque, and tragic. It’s horror as folklore; personal, physical, and cosmic all at once. The tone is closer to The Witch or The Lighthouse than Dracula; it’s about fear of the unknowable and the price of obsession.

I loved it. It’s the rare modern Gothic that understands how to be beautiful and horrible in equal measure. Eggers never mocks the old tropes; he reveres them. He lets the candlelight flicker, the coffin creak, and the silence linger just long enough to make your skin crawl.

NIGHT SHIFT & Occult D&D Ideas

Do I even need to go over how this would work in-game? Pretty much Ravenloft and Vampire the Masquerade were based on the original movie and the associated Dracula myths/stories.

But taking a page from Egger's books use vampires that are not all "good evening" and charm. Some, most even, should be Death on two legs. 

In this movie Orlock was a Solomonar, or a type of evil sorcerer. This puts him more in line with the Dracula of "Powers of Darkness" and "The Satanic Rites of Dracula." So there is a lot of different things you can do with a vampire like this than you typically see with Dracula. 

In NIGHT SHIFT a vampire with levels of Sorcerer or Witch is truly terrifying creature. 

October Horror Movie Marathon 2025

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
Viewed: 18
First Time Views: 16

Witches of Appendix N: John Bellairs

John Bellairs - The Face in the Frost
There is only one entry for John Bellairs in Gygax's Appendix N; 1969's The Face in the Frost. I decided to read this to see what other titles he had prior to the 1977-1979 publication of AD&D. But I learned a couple of things. First his biggest publication before the AD&D generation age was "The House with a Clock in Its Walls" series for children, which is by all accounts a good book. Secondly, while it is in the Appendix N, it didn't really influence AD&D.  According to The Dragon issue #22. 

As I have not read the book until recently, there is likewise no question of it influencing the game. Nonetheless, THE FACE IN THE FROST could have been a prime mover of the underlying spirit of D&D.

So. With this in hand, I still opted to read this one based on Gary's recommendation. 

This slim novel follows two wizards, Prospero (no relation to Shakespeare’s) and his friend Roger Bacon (the real Roger Bacon), as they stumble into a creeping darkness spreading across their half-real world, a place somewhere between fairy tale and nightmare, where mirrors whisper, shadows move, and even the geometry of time bends. Bellairs’ world feels like a dream the Brothers Grimm might’ve had after reading The Necronomicon.

Prospero and Bacon go all over their world, which is and is not England, in search of an ancient, hard-to-translate book (I kept thinking of the Voynich manuscript, and the wizard who is close to unraveling its secrets.

It's a travling magical adventure that takes place in dream-like, and nightmare-like

That is great, but does it hit my central thesis? In other words, are there witches?

Well. No. There are rumors of witches and a couple of really eccentric wizards. But no proper witches.

If you like the idea of a wizards-only adventure (and who doesn't!) then this is a good choice.

Updates

Ok, I have been doing this for a bit, time to check in on who I have read so far. Well, I have read most, I have talked about all of them yet.

Anderson, Poul. Three Hearts and Three Lions; The High Crusade; The Broken Sword
Bellairs, John. The Face in the Frost
Brackett, Leigh.
Brown, Fredric.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice, Pellucidar series; Mars series; Venus series
Carter, Lin. "World's End" series
de Camp, L. Sprague. Lest Darkness Fall; Fallible Fiend; et al.
de Camp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" series; Carnelian Cube
Derleth, August.
Dunsany, Lord.
Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" series; et al.
Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al.
Howard, R. E. "Conan" series [Part 2] [Part 3]
Lanier, Sterling. Hiero’s Journey
Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" series; et al.
Lovecraft, H. P. (The Dreams in the Witch House)
Merritt, A. Creep, Shadow, Creep; Moon Pool; Dwellers in the Mirage; et al. (Burn, Witch, Burn!)
Moorcock, Michael. Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls; "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)
Norton, Andre. (Witch World)
Offutt, Andrew J., editor. Swords Against Darkness III.
Pratt, Fletcher. Blue Star; et al.
St. Clair, Margaret. The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit; "Ring Trilogy"
Vance, Jack. The Eyes of the Overworld; The Dying Earth; et al.
Weinbaum, Stanley.
Wellman, Manly Wade. (The Desrick on Yandro)
Williamson, Jack.
Zelazny, Roger. Jack of Shadows; "Amber" series; et al.

--

There's still a way to go! I have read many of these in the past. Some, like Lovecraft and Moorcock, I am ready to do now, I just want to reread some stories in particular. Others, like Vance and Zelazny, it has been so long I don't recall everything. 

I put some tales in parentheses because those are ones I want to pay particular attention to. I am sure I am missing some tales, so if you know of one, please let me know!

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Crow (2024)

The Crow (2024)
 There’s a special kind of danger in remaking The Crow. The 1994 original wasn’t just a movie, it was lightning in a bottle: grief, rage, love, and gothic tragedy all wrapped around Brandon Lee’s haunting final performance. It was an urban ghost story that meant something. It was the "Citizen Kane" of the Goth 90s.

So, when I heard that Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd was taking on the role, I went in with cautious optimism. He’s got the presence, the range, and the eyes for it. Unfortunately, this new version doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be, and the result feels like an empty shell with no heartbeat.

The Crow (2024)

Let’s start with what works. Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd is great. He commits fully to the role of Eric, giving the character a raw, wounded energy that almost saves the film from itself. Almost. FKA Twigs (aka Tahliah Debrett Barnett) as Shelly has the kind of haunting charisma you want from a supernatural love story; she’s ethereal, mysterious, and grounded all at once. And Danny Huston, as always, brings gravitas to his role as the antagonist. If he is in something, I am going to pay attention and hope he is the bad guy. He’s one of those actors who can make a line of dialogue sound like prophecy. 

But that’s about where the praise stops. 

The movie’s biggest problem is emotional weight, or the lack of it. In the original, Eric and Shelly’s love was the film’s soul. They were engaged, planning a life together, brutally murdered on the eve of their wedding. Their story hurt because it mattered. Their love was the kind of thing you could feel in the air, something worth crossing death to reclaim.

Here? I just don’t buy it. Their relationship feels more like a concept than a connection. We’re told they love each other, but never shown that, only in the most shallow of ways. Without that, the revenge story loses its heart. The violence feels hollow, the tragedy performative. It’s all mood and no meaning. This is no fault of SkarsgÃ¥rd or FKA Twigs, they sell it the best they can.

Visually, it’s stylish, moody neon, dark rain, that same “urban myth meets grunge music video” aesthetic, but even that feels oddly sterile. The original Crow’s world was grimy, angry, and alive. This one feels manufactured, like a high-end perfume commercial with blood spatter. Eric Draven in the original is a driven force of vengeance, not for the goal or pleasure of killing (quite the opposite in fact), but because of his pain.  Eric is this one feels like he is killing because something was taken from him. The difference is subtle, and knowing that difference tells you why the first one is a classic and the new one forgettable. 

SkarsgÃ¥rd deserves better. He brings shades of sorrow that could have anchored a stronger script, and FKA Twigs radiates the kind of energy that should have made her Shelly unforgettable. But without the emotional architecture, it’s all just noise and ash. 

I wanted to like it. I really did. I wanted to give it a chance. But this version of The Crow misses the point; the resurrection of love, not the celebration of vengeance.


NIGHT SHIFT & Occult D&D Ideas

If you’re playing NIGHT SHIFT, The Crow has always been the archetype for “The Driven,” characters who return from death to right unbearable wrongs. The Driven from The Night Companion is made for this kind of story:

  • Origin: Murdered unjustly, bound to the world by rage and unfinished love.

  • Motivation: Redemption, closure, or vengeance; sometimes all three.

  • Tone: It’s not about being undead; it’s about being unable to rest.

  • Mechanics: In NIGHT SHIFT terms, your “anchor” (the emotional bond that holds you here) is everything. Without that, you’re just another spirit with a weapon.

The original Crow is how you do it right, a Driven character whose power is love corrupted into wrath. The 2024 remake? It’s the opposite, wrath with nothing to redeem it. Still, as game fuel, there’s plenty to mine here: tone, atmosphere, and tragedy. Just make sure your version remembers the heart behind the horror.

Dungeons & Dragons has this in the Revenant. They even made a class for it in 4e. This could work for 5e.

I also created a Revenant class for Old-School Essentials in Monster Mash.


October Horror Movie Marathon 2025

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
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First Time Views: 15


Mail Call: Witch and Stone by Pacesetter Games

 Just in time for Halloween is Pacesetter Games' latest adventure, Witch and Stone.

Witch and Stone

Witch and Stone

This Basic-era (B/X) adventure is designed for 3rd-level characters. I would say 6 characters. 

The premise is simple enough, yet effective; the PCs need to investigate an old wizard's stronghold that a witch has taken up in. 

I have not played it yet. Just got it today, but it looks fun and I plan to slot it into my War of the Witch Queens campaign.