Games Plus Fall 2026 Auction Haul

 Went to the Games Plus Auction this past week. I was not expecting to pick up much, which naturally means I bought a lot.

Some of that belongs to my oldest kid. He grabbed the Dune games, the magnetic tiles, the cookbook (natch), and the monster books. I am going to give Savage Worlds another try. 

I picked up Dark Age Vampire for us both, he has been wanting to try it out more.

But the real surprise in the lot was the game Fledge Witch. 

Described as a non-combative, cozy Japanese RPG, it is about creating apprentice witches who try to impress their teacher, an older witch. Already, I am thinking of Elown, Ainsling, and the rest of my West Haven coven with Larina as the teacher. 

I ended up with what can only be described as the "deluxe set," possibly a Kickstarter exclusive. ETA: It looks like this is the $80 version. 

It came in s very sturdy box, with dice, a nice-looking rulebook, a notebook to put spells in, a collapsible dice tray, and some signed art.

It is on DriveThruRPG for the PDFs, but that is about how much I got if for at the auction. So yeah, it was a steal. I did grab some character sheets. I printed two pages per page in landscape, and they fit into the box. I can have multiple apprentices and multiple teacher witches.

Though, knowing the group I have here on Sundays, they will decide the best way to impress their teacher is by sabotaging the other students. 

Still, it looks like it could be fun!

October Movie Challenge: The Stuff (1985)

It tastes great.

It has no calories.

Everyone loves it.

It is also alive.

This is an odd one. It's an obvious dig on 80s consumerism. Its commentary is spot on really. I can't fault it for that. Not quite as good as "Robocop," but still good. But is it good horror?

The Stuff (1985)

Larry Cohen’s 1985 horror-comedy, The Stuff, concerns a new dessert that has become the talk of the nation. It is irresistible. No calories, great taste, and everyone is fond of it. There is only one catch: it is alive.

We start the film with some workers who come across an odd white matter oozing from the ground. One of them, being a man of reason in the face of an unknown substance, decides to put it in his mouth. Because that is what you do. 

Before you know it, the material is on shelves across the country under the name "The Stuff." As a kind of miracle confection, it is putting ice cream makers out of work, leaving other food companies in a tizzy. Instead of looking into what their rival is up to, they put money in the pocket of David "Mo" Rutherford a former FBI agent, now an industrial spy, to see how the product is made.

Mo gets to the bottom of it. The Stuff is not something you should be eating. In fact, it is eating us.

Cohen has written and directed a film that is as much a conspiracy thriller and body horror as it is a sci-fi monster piece. It is an unapologetic satire of the way we in America will consume anything if it is well packaged and marketed. Roger Ebert saw the ambition in it, though he felt the satire had more impact than the scares. It was even reviewed in White Dwarf #77. 

You could not ask for a better fit than Michael Moriarty for this role. His Mo Rutherford is an odd one, with a certain relaxed strangeness about him. When he tells you he goes by Mo because he is always after "Mo'" whenever someone hands him cash, that is explanation enough. Contrast this with his turn in Dark Tower. 

 "No one is as dumb as I appear to be." - David "Mo" Rutherford

He is no hero set on saving the world. He is an employee of competing interests who stumbles into an apocalypse because he was paid to check out a dessert. In fact, he is kind of a jerk. 

He ends up with Nicole, an ad exec, and a boy named Jason. Jason has seen The Stuff moving in the fridge and knows there is trouble. But then again, his family is very partial to it and has been putting away large amounts of late, acting rather peculiar. Jason can tell people are being changed by it, but the adults will have none of it. They never do in these films. Par for the course in the 1980s really.

As for the Stuff itself, think of it as an alien take on marshmallow creme or yogurt. It has a mind of its own, will crawl up a wall, and pour from its container to finish off its host. Some of the effects are fine; at times, it looks like shaving cream forced through a hole in the plaster. I mean, what can you expect?

The body-horror is where the movie excels. You watch as The Stuff pours out of people who split open, leaving nothing but an empty shell. It does not merely have control over you; it replaces you.

The Stuff is somewhere between "The Blob" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," with catchy television commercials playing continuously in the background.  In a way those are the best joke in the film. Cohen knew he did not need the monster in pursuit if he could get advertising that made you want to put it in your mouth. There is a marketing department for the monster, one with a colorful logo to put on The Stuff. You will see celebrity endorsements, health claims, product placement, and some rather catchy commercials. Competitors are even at work trying to ape its success. It is all extraordinarily 1985. 

One can almost see parallels to New Coke here. 

The satire is not in the least bit subtle. Cohen is plainly enjoying himself as he takes on the excesses of consumer culture and corporate America. Not only that, he gets the "Where's the Beef" woman, Clara Peller, to ask none other than Abe Vigoda, "Where's the Stuff?"

Then the heroes realize that The Stuff is making its way across the country at a speed no one can contain. Who is left to save America? Paul Sorvino and his private militia, because why not. Sorvino is in fine form as Colonel Malcolm Grommett Spears, a right-wing military type who hears Mo’s tall tale and figures this is the kind of problem he has been waiting for his whole life.

As Cohen transitions from consumer satire to paramilitary action in the final act, things get more and more ridiculous. But they should. This is a film where killer yogurt is in charge of America; restraint would be uncalled for, really.

Released in U.S. theaters in June 1985 alongside a cast featuring Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Danny Aiello, Patrick O’Neal, and a cameo from young Mira Sorvino, I find The Stuff to be better for its ideas than its execution. The story has a way of wandering (a lot); the tone constantly oscillates between broad comedy and real horror, and some of the effects are hit-or-miss. I also can't help but think that the version I am watching (on Tubi) has been hacked up. Or maybe it was really this disjointed. Hard to say.

Yet Cohen makes his point. The true monster is not The Stuff but the system that sees an unknown organism coming up from the ground and wants to know how to put a price on it and whether they can make a commercial for it.

It is the commentary that really saves this movie for me. I also love the idea that in the 1980s the horror comes to you in your home, and sometimes you invite it in.

I actually liked this one more than I expected. Mostly for how weird it is. 

Jackson, IL Connections

This is an easy one to put together.

Something new has taken hold in Jackson. A diet drink, frozen yogurt, or some protein snack is being given away for free at the public high school. It has everyone in town raving about it. Larina won’t touch it, finds the smell off. Faye will have none of it precisely because of the crowd. Stephanie has half of one before she gets a bad feeling about it. Andy puts down three. Val has eaten an entire box.

And then you notice people are not quite themselves.

Make sure the threat seems absurd at first. There is no haunted house or demon here, just an item on the grocery shelf. The characters may find out it is a parasitic ooze or an alchemical experiment, or something that has been under Illinois for eons. And the company behind it might be completely in the dark. Which is frankly worse. 

There is a line at the end of the movie where the execs talk about the new product "The Taste" tested in a "small Illinois town." Kinda writes itself, doesn't it. 

In an Occult D&D campaign, let us say it is an intelligent slime from the caverns below, marketed as a wonder food that cures fatigue and restores your hit points while tasting good. Every portion also allows the thing inside you to grow. In time, it will no longer need you and start wearing your body like a skin suit. Honestly, this might be the better idea. 

The Stuff is gross, funny, and messy, but far too clever in places for a movie about a dessert that kills, and in others not clever enough. It offers a nice 1980s horror lesson: the monster doesn't need to find its way into your home. It can simply wait for you to purchase it.

Ok. Not even halfway through and I am dragging. This was a lot easier 10 years ago. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
Viewed: 18
First Time Views: 10

Mirror Mondays: When the Mirror Becomes a Door

 Back in May, when I put out the first of my Mirror Monday pieces, I was preoccupied with two projects: Advanced Witches & Warlocks and Jackson, IL. I called that first post "Two Books, One Spell," and it was highly appropriate. I still think it is a pretty good description of what I was doing. One book was about what the Witch should look like in AD&D. The other was about what it would actually be like to be a witch, particularly a teenage witch, in 1986.

I made the case then that the two were informing each other. If anything, the case is stronger today.

The fundamental question for each remains unchanged: what does a witch look like through a 1986 lens? With Advanced Witches & Warlocks, I am after the kind of Witch class and occult mechanics that would have been at home with the AD&D books I was running back then. With Jackson, I take Larina, Stephanie, Faye, and company, and consider their type of witchcraft: the old school building is your dungeon, the road out of town is the wilderness, and a curious volume from the library is all the occult knowledge you have.

Those sound like very different questions and lines of inquiry. They are not.

Two Books, One Spell, Again

My job on Advanced Witches & Warlocks is to put on my old-school game designer hat. What sets the Witch apart from a Druid or an Illusionist? What are her spells and her limitations? How do you handle covens, pacts, rituals, and familiars? AD&D demands answers, if not always perfectly drawn ones. But *I* need to be able to say how something works or why the witch can’t do it. The distinction between her magic and the Arcane or Divine must be more than just something in my notes.

Jackson allows for some ambiguity, which is often preferable in horror. Larina has no use for the percentage odds of a ritual’s success. There is no spell list on Stephanie’s character sheet when she steps in front of a friend to shield them from danger. And Faye doesn’t care to know which page of the rulebook details what the Blackthorne Hags have done to her soul.

But I do need to know. Or have some idea of it, at any rate.

In that respect, Advanced Witches & Warlocks has been of great service to me in writing Jackson. It compels me to get under the hood of the supernatural. Where is the power coming from? Why can one witch do what another can't? Is it inherited or given? What are the terms of a bargain with something beyond her? Jackson can let the characters wonder about such things while the other project makes me think about what is going on behind the curtain.

Then again, the dynamic is not one way.

What Jackson Has Taught My Witches

This has been a big one. I am not sure I can adequately capture what I have learned over the last few months. 

I have been at this long enough to have written witches for most of my life, longer than some of my readers have been around. Over the years, I have put pen to paper (or, more to the point, fingers to keyboards) for Basic-era games, AD&D, d20, Unisystem, NIGHT SHIFT, and many others in between. In the course of that work, I have produced Witch classes, traditions, spells, and monsters; I have written Witch Queens and more than my share of demons, enough to last a few lifetimes.

Jackson keeps reminding me that witches are people.

It is a painfully obvious statement, but one game design has a habit of making you overlook. It is all too simple to view a Witch as a collection of class abilities: at this level she has this spell, at that one she has those restrictions on her magic items, and so on. When I am crafting an AD&D-compatible class, these details are vital, yet they say little about who she is.

Jackson makes me deal with the questions in a different order.

Who was her teacher? Who can she trust? And when things go horribly wrong, who does she call? What does she make of her own magic? What is her friends' reaction when they are afraid of what she is capable of, or, worse, how does she handle being afraid of it herself?

I have let some of those considerations seep back into Advanced Witches & Warlocks. A coven is no longer just an organization bestowing abilities; I think about what it means for a witch to have a place to belong. Pacts have real consequences rather than simply being a way to "gain power X." And a familiar is a relationship, not a list of bonuses with fur.

Jackson has been adept at getting me to consider why a Witch would act a certain way, not merely if the rules permit it. The reverse is true as well. Putting together the AD&D Witch has made me examine Jackson with a critical eye. Larina, Stephanie and the rest cannot do as they please because "witchcraft" demands it. If anything can happen at any moment, magic ceases to be magical and is little more than an excuse. There is value in limits and costs; they give weight to a choice.

The two projects end up correcting one another.

And so to Land of Confusion.

Welcome to the Land of Confusion

I have mentioned the Land of Confusion adventure before; if somewhat obliquely. The basic idea is exactly the sort of thing that happens when I am left unsupervised with my own characters for too long. With my villain Darren's help, the folks from Jackson have been transplanted into a proper Dungeons & Dragons world.

Yes. As in "Hey, look, A Dungeons & Dragons ride!"

Not some D&D-ified version of Jackson with orcs out by Sal’s Pizza. An actual fantasy world.

In that sense, Land of Confusion is the most straightforward crossover I have done between Jackson and Advanced Witches & Warlocks. I have taken people built to confront supernatural horror in 1986 small-town Illinois and put them where the assumptions of AD&D are fact.

This creates a problem I find absolutely irresistible.

Strip away Jackson Public High School, Paula’s Book Store, Strawberry Fields, the telephones, and the cassette tapes, and what is left of Larina Nichols? Or Stephanie, for that matter? Rowan? Vera? Candy?

The easy answer is to convert their character sheets. I mean, many of these characters began as D&D characters. Give them classes, assign some ability scores, figure out their equipment, and move on. I am doing all of that, naturally. I am a game designer. Stat blocks are one of the ways I amuse myself. But the easy answer is not the interesting one.

What I want to know is what makes the journey through the mirror.

When the Reality of Magic Is Common Knowledge

I find there is a certain distinction that is worth noting. In Jackson, magic is kept under wraps. You could say it is not the best-kept secret in some quarters, but for the most part people live their lives with the firm belief that witches and demons and the like are figments of the imagination. Should something odd occur, social mores will see to it that an alternative explanation is found. It is, in every sense of the word, Occult.

This is what gives Jackson its character; the inhabitants are privy to truths the rest of the world is not.

Put those same characters in an AD&D setting and the dynamic changes. Everyone is aware of magic. The fellow at the tavern table next to you could be a bona fide Magic-User. The priest in his temple has the power to heal with a touch. An old woman on the edge of the village might curse you if she is so inclined. There are monsters in the woods, and the local lord would have no qualms about publically putting a price on their heads for any adventurer willing to do the job.

Which raises the question: what is it that makes Larina stand out?

It is a good question, and one that brings to mind Advanced Witches & Warlocks. If my Witch is just another spellcaster she will be indistinguishable in a fantasy world teeming with them. She needs to be different, not more potent, not more knowledgeable, but certainly different. One finds that in the pacts, the rituals, the traditions, and the kind of old magic that does not belong in a Cleric’s church or a Magic-User’s tome.

In Jackson, these things set her apart from the common world. In D&D, they set her apart from her peers.

The witch is the same, only the mirror is different.

Consequently, Land of Confusion is evolving into something of a stress test for both endeavors, rather than simply an opportunity to put fantasy versions of my Jackson NPCs. I have to be able to explain what makes her a Witch in an AD&D context, as well as in Jackson. Or if an ability in Advanced Witches & Warlocks works on paper but is not something Larina would ever put to use, then I need to re-examine it. The rules put the characters to the test and vice versa.

1986 Through the Looking Glass

Somehow this always leads me back to 1986.

There was a reason for choosing that year for both projects. It is an interesting juncture in D&D history and in my own. AD&D was well established yet in flux. Rules were being added. Some of the original designers were out. Locally, we call the post-Unearthed Arcana era AD&D 1.5 (note: Not then, but now). I was busy playing the game and making up characters, devouring any horror or fantasy I could find, taking in the movies and the music and all manner of ideas without any inkling which ones would be with me forty years down the line.

Larina herself is a product of that time. A character made for AD&D in the eighties (July 1986) became the teenage witch of Jackson, Illinois in 1986. Now I am sending that girl back into a D&D world. I could not have planned that in 1986 if I had tried.

Then again, Land of Confusion is not an exercise in determining which Larina is real. I have long since let go of such concerns. The one in AD&D and the one in Jackson are both Larina, shards of the same concept fashioned by different games and even different versions of myself. My characters were always a bit of a psychological experiment.

Placing the Jackson version in a D&D world does not make her the AD&D character.  It doesn't even make her the younger version of that character. That would be too simple. I want to see what happens when the girl from Jackson is forced to be an adventurer. That is where the fun is.

With all these "looking glass" metaphors, I can't help but think I need a character named Alice. Or Brandy. ETA: I figured out who Alice and Brandy are.

The Mirror Opens

Mirror Mondays began with the mirror as a metaphor. On one side was Advanced Witches & Warlocks, on the other Jackson. I could look at the Witch in one and see something of value reflected from the other.

Over the last few months, that has become less metaphorical than I expected.

My work on Jackson has altered how I view the witches in Advanced Witches & Warlocks, while the latter has provided a way to understand the behind-the-scenes workings of Jackson. Answer a question for one project, and I seem to spawn two for the other.

Land of Confusion is where they meet.

What started as a reflection between the fantasy witch and the teenager is now seeing one of them cross over.

The mirror was never just a mirror.

It's more of a door.

October Movie Challenge: Other Worlds

 Ok, this weekend is a complete cheat. Of sorts. I have watched these movies over the last week or so but have not talked about them because I want to get them all together to talk about them today. I saved the only "new" one for tonight and will talk about it last. But the others are all rewatches. 

This mini-theme here is all about people from our world and time going to another place and time of sorts. These movies are the horror versions of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. Though with some, the only horror was having to sit through them all. 

House II: The Second Story (1987)

House was very much within my regular boundaries of movies, and I decided that House II would work as well. In truth, it was my rewatch of this that got me onto this idea. This one really doesn't have much to do with the first House movie, and that is fine. It has some fun lines ("Isn't Madonna the Madonna of the 80s?") and some good ideas. The basic premise is simple enough. Spooky house. Crystal skull (always fun!), and protals to other worlds/dimensions. What is not to love. This one, though, is less "horror" than House I.

Why I included it here: The portals to other lands/times/dimesions are absolute Jackson fodder. Plus I have not had a horror RPG where a crystal skull was not some sort of source of evil. I will admit, I own a couple of small ones myself. 

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

This one, and really all the Nightmare movies, deserve their own mini-marathon. I have seen all of them multiple times. But this one is one of my favorites. I have talked about this movie here many times before, but largely because of Jennifer Rubin and her portrayal of Taryn. I really loved the character. So much so that later I would have a character of my own named Taryn with questionable hair choices. She was so important to me that she is no less than Larina's own daughter. 

Why I included it here: In this movie, the kids are being plagued by Freddy, and they learn to fight him by taking on aspects of their Dream Warriors. Taryn becomes a knife-wielding badass who may have imprinted a little too deeply into my psyche. But the connective tissue here is also Will Stanton, who becomes the "Wizard Master" in his dreams. Stupid name, but the idea works for me and what I need.

The Nightmare on Elm Street movies became less and less about horror and more about Freddy's one-liners and gore.

Waxwork (1988)

Outside of my theme boundaries, but only by a little bit. This one has a group of teens stuck in a wax museum where every display is a pocket dimension. The trouble is that each display is an homage to the "eighteen most evil beings" in literature, with the always-great David Warner as the Wax museum owner. It's a fun little flick with Zach Galligan and Deborah Foreman as our two stars, and Patrick Macnee playing... well, Patrick Macnee, but that is fine. 

Why I included it here: Well, the pocket universe idea had a serious impact on how I played Ravenloft 2nd Edition. I would go so far as to say that this is one of the more influential movies on my Ravenloft games outside of Hammer Horror. Which is either cool or sad.  The movie is not great, but it has it's moments. Though I was (and still am) a little indignant about how Dracula was killed. 

Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983)

Is this one horror? It has some horror elements, to be sure, but I am not 100% sure I can call it horror. Anyway, this one was an attack of opportunity a couple of nights ago from American Horrors. It features Richard Hatch and John Saxon, so make of that what you will. 

Why I included it here: Time travel and dimension hopping were reason enough. I'll count it as a "watch" but not a first-time view for this since I am having a hard time justifying it as horror.

The Dungeonmaster (1984)

Ok. So the first shock is I have never seen this one. I think I was avoiding it due to the name. It obviously has Dungeons & Dragons and Tron as its main sources of influence. That is the nice way to say "ripped off shamelessly." Ok, "ripped-off" might be too strong. Borrowed heavily might be better, but still no worse than any other movie from the time with this sized budget.

Also known as Ragewar and Excalibrate, it is ambitious in one respect. The movie is built around seven sequences, each by a different director and writer, though often the same person. Representing seven different worlds/levels/challenges. 

They all focus on Paul Bradford (Jeffrey Byron), his supercomputer "Cal" (X-CalBR8), and his oft-ignored girlfriend Leslie Wing (Gwen Rogers). They get sucked into a fantasy world/computer world by Mestema, played to the hilt by Richard Moll (with hair).  And he really plays it up. 

So Paul and Cal (now in wrist-wear format) must fight through the seven different challenges.   

There is only about 8 minutes per challenge. I would say the challenges are uneven in writing and directing, but the same can be said about the Twilight Zone movie, which is generally pretty good.  

This movie does give us the immortal quote "I reject your reality and I substitute my own." Though I had no idea it was spoken by our hero to Richard Moll cosplaying as Satan in front of a demon puppet named Ratspit. And right before he summons a dragon that looks like Trogdor and WASP shows up...as WASP. 

Metal, gratuitous nudity, dragons, magic, a stop-motion giant monkey, and computers? This is the most early 80s movie ever. We are just missing some ninjas. 

It could have been more interesting, but it just kind of ends. Oh well. Still fun, but only minor horror trappings.

Jackson, IL Connections

Ok. This one is a little different. I have an adventure coming up that these movies are the foundation for. I am not ready to share it yet; I haven't finished it yet let alone played it. But the genesis of this adventure began with a snarky comment followed by "Look, A Dungeons & Dragons ride!"

In all of these movies, people from the 1980s get stuck in another world of horror or fantasy adventure. That is what I have planned.

These were also chosen because of how many of them influenced my actual D&D games back then, as I detailed above. Horror icons, crystal skulls, dreams, portals to other worlds. I think you all can still see some of that in these pages.

Ok. That is enough for one weekend. Work is going come very early and very rudely in the morning. 

But more on this idea tomorrow.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
Viewed: 17
First Time Views: 9

October Movie Challenge: Biohazard (1985)

While this movie really has nothing at all to do with my themes of "local" and "high school horror" it is on the spot for the time period, 1985, and a great (if that word can be used here) example of 80s sci-fi, horror schlock. It has an alien, a psychic, the military, weird tech, and manages to rip off both Alien and E.T., and features Star Trek-connected actress Angelique Pettyjohn. 

Starting this one late since tonight was the Games Plus RPG Auction.

Biohazard (1986)

The movie is fairly notorious. Though not for any good reason, really, the movie is fairly bad. The effects are cheap, the acting is mediocre, and the plot is weak.

So yeah, it's fun.

But it is also exactly the sort of schlock I would have loved back in 1985. 

So we have some scientists working with the government or the Army (not really clear here) and a psychic (Pettyjohn) to transfer matter from "another dimension." Of course, it goes wrong, and an alien creature is brought over instead. Though kudos to the writer-director-producer Fred Olen Ray for predicting the touch-screen display seen before Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

The monster runs through town, killing the locals while being chased. The ending...well. I can't say it was a disappointment. The movie didn't engage me enough to disappoint me, but honestly, I should have seen it coming. No I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it. I hope the SpoilerText works below. Just highlight to read.

Spoiler: Lisa is an alien in disguise. The other creature's commander no less. She even rips off her own breasts to show the alien skin underneath. It's a bit gratuitous. End spoiler.

Rather famously, Ray's 8-year-old son Christopher Ray played the alien creature.

This was also one of Angelique Pettyjohn's last roles.

Jackson, IL Connections

Much like last night, the obvious connection is an alien invasion via some sort of psychic experiment gone wrong. Jackson does not have a military base, and the two colleges are not well funded enough to feature anything like the research shown here. 

Again, I go with Thirteen Parsecs for aliens, NIGHT SHIFT for demons. But that line is really blurred here in this flick. Yeah, it is an alien, but it does act very much like a classical demon. 

For Jackson, I could always say that psychic activity summons some sort of extra-dimensional creature. Hmm, now that sounds fun, let's make it all Morgan's fault!

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
Viewed: 12
First Time Views: 8

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Occult Detective (2026)

 Occult Detective is a newer game to me. In fact, I didn't even know about it until the author posted about it in his #RPGaDAY2026 posts on Bluesky. Sadly, you will not find the game on DriveThruRPG, and I got my copy via Amazon. 

Doing a bit of research on the game before I bought it, I saw it had been in development for while, with some evidence of an early version going back nearly 10 years.  They took their time to get exactly the way they wanted it and I can respect that.

The Occult Detective

by Bob Freeman and Connor Freeman.
2026. Bordermen Games. 352 pages (6" x 9" format).

There are two central themes/ideas baked into this game. The first is that magic, the supernatural, and all that is real but hidden (the Occult part), and the characters play the part of investigators of the occult (the Detective part). It is a very solid premise. But as long-time readers of my blog already know, we have no end to games that do this. What does Occult Detective do that is different?

The feel of the game is very Noir. IT could take place in the 1930s, 1990s, or last week. The timeline is not as important, I think, as the stories it is trying to tell. Stories is a good word for it, too. The game master is called "The Author," and the player characters are "The Protagonists." So already you get the feel that is a detective novel you will try to bring to life. There is some merit to this, but I have been watching a lot of Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. Sure, many of these began as books, but maybe the feel I want is more "The Director" and "The Characters."  Yes, Occult Detective can do this, and that's how I'd play it.

The World Building chapter supports the idea of any sort of world/time. The equipment chapter, though, is more focused on 21st-century items and prices (as expected).

The intended audience for this book/game seems to be people who only have a passing familiarity with role-playing games. But maybe more than a starting interest in the Occult. That is fine. Any game can be someone's first game. I certainly get the feeling that author Bob Freeman has played a few games of his own, so he is familiar with how different games work.

Resolution is a d20 vs. target; roll high; 20s and 1s are criticals. But it is not a d20-as-in-D&D game. There are places where the DNA of D&D comes through, but that is true of every game.

Character Creation is fun and pretty easy. I did have to go back and forth just a little. But I kinda expect that with a new game. I do have to say I rather like the character sheets. 

All characters have a Trope, or what amounts to an archetype. Not a class really, but it does let you know how your character will respond in certain situations and might give you a bonus to your rolls in other situations. For example, I gave Larina the Trope of Scholar, which will help her in her research tasks.

After that, you choose your Kith. This is similar to other games' species or even races. Think of it this way: Trope is what you Do; Kith is what you Are. They are Natural (your normal Humans), Preternatural (your magic users), and Supernatural (vampires, ghosts, and the like). There are rules for moving up. A Natural can learn some magic to become a Preternatural or become a werewolf (Supernatural). They are handled well enough and work well for this game. 

All characters get a score in Fire, Air, Earth, Water, and Spirit. Each of these has different applications. For example, a high Spirit score gives a bonus to magick checks and other supernatural abilities, while Earth adds to your health. I have to admit it is my favorite part of the system. 

Everyone starts at Level 1, and you level up after a successful case. Sometimes, for longer cases, you could level up in between. It is essentially a "milestone" style experience, and it works well here. Different Kith get different things at different even levels, and everyone gets something at different odd levels. (Or that might be the other way around; I'll have to check.

There are no long list of spells or psychic effects, but there are some to give you a start. The idea here is that each and every character might do things a little differently. I also like that. 

Characters can also have curiosities. Like a Book of Shadows or a pentagram necklace.

If you are getting a "Dresden Files" vibe from this game so far, you are not wrong. I would say that the world of Occult Detective is a little more rain-swept and both darker and not as dangerous as Harry Dresden's Chicago. For example, the focus is on the "Protagonists," so the world bends around them. That doesn't mean they are "safer"; it is just that the mysteries they are going to solve will be ones that they can potentially solve. Also not saying they *will* solve them, but that they *could* solve them. This isn't Call of Cthulhu. Nor is it the sweeping universe that built up in the Dresden Files or even Antia Blake or Rachel Morgan. This is Harry, Anita, and Rachel in their first three books or so. The world of Occult Detective is dangerous, but it is also one the Protagonists can relate to. 

The strength of this game comes from the notion that many occult traditions are true, even the contradictory ones. Use what you want and ignore the rest. The World Building chapter is the most flexible, but if you squint, you can see the "intended setting." That's fine, really, nothing at all wrong with that. There is enough here to make it your own. 

Which is what I did.

My Jackson Kids

I mentioned last week that one of the takeaways from these playtests was the shocking revelation that Vera "Raven" Rook is a lot of fun. The game I played with her and my family was back in August. We only did one game of this before we came down with a cold. No. I don't blame the game. But Vera really started to become someone fun to have around.

Given the book is filled with various bits of occult symbolism and ideas, I am going to stick with my witches.

The first character took me a little bit, but after that the rest went extremely fast.

Larina Stephanie Nichols

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Trope: Scholar
Tradition: Folk Magic

Earth +1
Air +5
Fire +0
Water +2
Spirit +3

Wellness 12
Defense 12

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Upper Middle Class

Spells (Folk Magic)
Warding, Wild Speech, Scrying

Her Air is higher, reflecting her intellect.

Faye Thorne

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Primary Tradition: Chaos Magick
Trope: Ghost Hunter

Earth +2
Air +2
Fire +1
Water +3
Spirit +3

Wellness: 13
Defense: 13

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Lower Middle Class

Spells (Chaos Magick)
Pyromancy, Dwimmering, Summon (Chaos)

Faye is a Chaos Magician to reflect her upbringing.

Stephanie Wren Vale

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Primary Tradition: Ceremonial Magic
Trope: Investigator

Earth +2
Air +2
Fire +1
Water +4
Spirit +2

Wellness: 13
Defense: 14

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Upper Class

Spells (Ceremonial Magick)
Compel, Magic Circle, Mesmerize

Investigator works really well for the later game Stephanie. She wants to know what is going on. Not to understand it like Larina, but to stop it.

Vera Diane Rook 

2nd Level Preternatural (Magician)
Primary Tradition: Mysticism
Trope: Thrill Seeker

Earth +1
Air +4
Fire +0
Water +2
Spirit +4

Wellness: 12
Defense: 12

Immunities: None
Resistances: None
Weaknesses: None

Resources: Upper Middle Class

Spells (Mysticism)
Mesmerize, Mind Reading, Scrying

This is where Vera began to shine for me. She is a "Thrill Seeker" because she likes the idea of these adventures. She also likes to hang out with Faye and annoy Larina and Stephanie. 

Larina (reading): "Hic locus mortuorum est."
Vera: "Is that some Christian thing I don't get because I am Jewish?"
Larina: "No, it's Latin. And I am not Christian either; I'm Wiccan."
Vera: "There is hope for you yet, Nichols."
Laria: "It says, 'This place belongs to the dead.'"
Vera: "Less hopeful now."

Faye, Vera, Stephanie, and Larina investigate.

Links

• Bordermen Games
• Occult Detective RPG on Amazon
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October Movie Challenge: Invaders from Mars (1986, 1953)

While not listed as a horror flick, this one has all of the elements of one.

It features a lot of big names, including Timothy Bottoms, Hunter Carson, and his real-life mother, Karen Black, Laraine Newman (SNL Coneheads), James Karen (playing very close to typecasting), Bud Cort, Eric Pierpoint (Alien Nation), and Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Deep Space Nine).  Directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Lifeforce - catch the cameo of the movie on TV), written Dan O'Bannon (writer of, well, lots of things) and the special effects are by Stan Winston and John Dykstra.

Invaders from Mars (1986)

David and his dad are out watching meteors one night. Later that night, he sees a UFO. The next day his dad is acting all strange, then his mom. And soon there are others in town acting strange and David suspects they have been replaced by aliens. 

They have, of course, or rather they are under some sort of mind control from actual Martians. Look, I enjoy a good Mars tale as much as the next guy, but by 1986 we had sent enough landers to Mars to know there was nothing there. This made a lot more sense in the original 1953 version, or at least there was still some mystery then. Well, they mention this in the movie. The Martians are all living underground.

Anyway, it goes about as you would suspect. Invaders thinking a new mission to Mars is a prelude to an attack send an advance team to take out the rocket. Then it becomes Marines vs Martians. Yup. It's the 1980s.

They discover the aliens, destroy them, and then everyone goes back to normal...or do they? 

The special effects are kind of fun, to be honest. Not scary, but certainly cool looking. 

I do think it is kind of cool that Hunter Carson and Karen Black have so much screen time together. 

Invaders from Mars (1953)

I opted to re-watch the original movie from 1953. It doesn't fit my theme at all, but I did want to watch it to compare. It is listed as a horror film. The plot is basically the same for both movies. The special effects are not up to the 1986 version, but there are 33 years separating them. 

The version I watched on Tubi (my go-to for horror flicks these days) was restored from the original negatives and honestly looks rather great. Though it doesn't help the stock footage of tanks and explosions. Ot keeping the zippers from being seen on the Martians. 

In the 1950s, Alien Invasion movies were usually filled with Cold War-era fears. You get that here in with the remote mind control and invasion themes. Since this is the 50s, the couple sleep in separate beds and the mother wears full make-up to bed. 

The 1986 version is mostly absent of any of the fears normally associated with 80s horror (consumerism, technology, killers), but it does continue a theme that I have been building here. Prior to the 1980s, horror was largely about a place: Transylvania, the old castle, the island, and so on. You had to go to where the horror was. In the 80s, horror more often came to you. So your small town (like this one) was not a safe haven. The monsters came to you. That is, of course, unless the monsters aren't already there.

The 1950s horror movies fear infiltration and invasion of our land and country; 1980s horror makes the infiltration personal. Though it is not the best film to dissect this idea since the 86 version is not very different than the 53 version except in subtle tone. 

Jackson, IL Connections

The obvious connections here are the invaders of the small town destroying the institutions we trust: the cops, the phone, teachers, parents. It doesn't matter if they are aliens or demons.  Again, Thirteen Parsecs for aliens, NIGHT SHIFT for demons.  I suppose, like in the movies, aliens can be communicated with; typically, demons can't. Oh, they can understand you; they just don't care.

This is especially effective when the protagonists are all teens. Old enough to see the problem, not old enough to get anyone to believe them. Sounds like Jackson's mission statement. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
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