Tales of Jackson, IL: Hot for Teacher

I had something scheduled for today, but got my dates wrong, so today's post will be in one week instead. This one was supposed to be next week's post. 

One of my good friends has been helping me with ideas for this game. He has expertise here since he is a high school football coach and works security at a large suburban high school. Valerie Beaumont is one of his characters that I use as an NPC often. I have been helping him a little with his current Star Trek game, so I figure he can help me with some more teachers for my Jackson, IL game.

Today, two coaches and their friendly rivalry. 

Dr. Kiera "Keri" Moreau

Dr. Kiera Moreau could have gone anywhere. Former Olympian (Montreal, 1976), she retired, returned to school, and got her Ph.D. in Classical Studies. She was on her way to an interview for a job at MacAlister College when she crossed paths with Valerie Beaumont. They knew each other from years before and convinced her to come and teach at Jackson Public School. They also know each other's secrets. Vallerie is immortal, and Kiera is Fae, in particular, a sea nymph, or rather, the daughter of one. She isn't immortal, but she is long-lived. 

She opted to stay. She teaches Latin I and II, and an elective in Classical Mythology. Larina is in her class and is annoyingly excited about it. She is also the girls' swim team coach. 

In truth, Keri really kinda outclasses everyone here. I really like her and want to do more with her, and I know the characters can learn a lot from her. But. She has it all. Beauty. Brains. Strength and power. Why is she slumming it here? She knows something is going on. 

She has seen these patterns repeated throughout history, and this time she has decided that she won't just sit by. Valerie stays away because her connection to others hurts. Keri stays because life without that connection hurts more. This is a point of contention between the two. Val thinks Keri gets too involved, Keri thinks that Val doesn't get involved enough.

And if she can give the cast something to aspire to be? Well then, "fortes fortuna adiuvat." 

Dr. Kiera Moreau
7th Level Psychic (Empath), Half-fey (Sea Nymph)

Base Abilities
Strength: 12 (0)
Agility: 16 (+2) n
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 18 (+3) 
Wits: 18 (+3) n
Persona: 20 (+4) A

Vit: 43 (7d6)
DV: 9
Fate Points: 1d8

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Attack bonus (base): +2
Melee bonus: +0  Ranged bonus: +2

Languages: English, Latin, French, Greek 
Skills: History (Int), Swim (Agl), Occult Knowledge (Int)

Saves: +3 to Persona-based saves

Psychic Abilities
Body Control, Empathy, Hydrokinesis

Fey Abilities
Glamour, Breathe underwater (1 hour), Harmed by cold iron and shadow steel (double normal damage), Long-lived

Hair: Black
Eyes: Gold
Height: 5'10"

Archetype: The Teacher with a mysterious past
Quote: "Fortes fortuna adiuvat." Fortune favors the brave!
Quirks: Arrives at school super early to swim. 
Theme song: "Rio" - Duran Duran

Coach Kurt Zimmerman

Coach Zimmerman here is as much Greg's character as he is mine. Nearly all his background came from Greg.

Kurt Zimmerman, and he was born in Wisconsin in 1950. Went to college for math and was drafted into the Vietnam War in 1969. Did one tour of duty, where he rose to the rank of corporal. Was there at the Fall of Saigon and nearly missed his ride out. He was delirious but was rescued by Valerie Beaumont, whom he only sort of remembers. 

He was awarded medals that he felt he didn't deserve. He used the GI Bill to return to college and ended up at the University of Illinois, where he followed the Illini as a religion. Got his teaching degree in math and a coaching certification. Kurt likes the orderliness of math. Finding proofs and working on problems were his solace while overseas. 

He graduated and took a job teaching honors-level math (a job that Warren Evans wanted) and is the school's sponsor of the National Honor Society. He was raised on the idea that anything worth doing is worth doing correctly. This extends to his coaching and to his Calculus class.

He has a friendly rivalry with Keri over who will have more of their athletes on the Honor Roll. The winner gets to choose where they eat dinner, and the loser has to pay. Though they almost always end up at Sal's Pizza, where Keri orders her pizzas with green olives and extra anchovies. 

Kurt has seen the supernatural and fought it before. But he reasons that he left all that behind in Saigon. Now he is not so sure. He doesn't suspect that Keri or Valerie are anything other than they appear. Though he can't help but think he has seen Valerie somewhere else.

Kurt Zimmerman
6th Level Veteran, Human

Base Abilities
Strength: 16 (+2) A
Agility: 15 (+1) n
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) n
Wits: 14 (+1) 
Persona: 12 (+0) 

Vit: 38 (6d8)
DV: 8
Fate Points: 1d8

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Attack bonus (base): +3
Melee bonus: +2  Ranged bonus: +1

Languages: English, Latin, Spanish
Skills: Math (Int), Running (Agl)

Saves: +2 to all saves

Veteran Abilities
Melee combat, Ranged combat, Increased damage, Combat expertise, Improved defense, Supernatural attacks, Tracking

Hair: Brown, usually cut close to his scalp
Eyes: Green/Blue
Height: 5'11"

Archetype: The Coach
Quote: "Hello, class, my name is Coach Zimmerman. No, you can't call me Coach Z. Yes, I was in Vietnam. No, I will not tell you if I killed anyone."
Quirks: Flies a crop-duster plane over the summers and fall. Says he nevers takes late homework, but always does. Hates the sound of chalk on a chalkboard, one of the only teachers who has a whiteboard.
Theme song: "Fortunate Son"  - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Coach Zimmerman is one of those guys who could have come back bitter from the war, but instead threw himself into his chosen vocation. He could have gone on and maybe even gotten his Ph.D. in math, but he wanted to teach so he could be a positive influence. He is kinda based on my high school calc teacher who was also a coach. 

As of now, Kurt is the only Veteran in the group. I kept the Veteran class out of the players' hands because I couldn't justify it. I suppose if someone had come to me and said that their character was a hunter, then maybe. I mean, I knew kids like that in high school, so it's not that odd. But these players grew up in the suburbs. That never dawned on them.

He gets a bit flustered around women, especially Keri, but she makes conversation easy, and they have a lot of common ground. 

Their Quarterly wager is well known throughout the school, just as it is also known that they will end up at Sal's Pizzeria. The only thing more certain is the constant shouting match between the waitress, Denise, and the owner, Sal.

Kurt and Keri's date, while Denise wants to be anywhere else.

"I swear, why do I bother writing this down? You two order the same stupid thing each time: a large pizza, green olives and extra anchovies, and two Budweisers. Gross." - Denise. 

I think I'll have to detail Sal's Pizzeria along with some other locations.

Tales from Jackson, IL: Witchy (Wednesday) Woman, Sylvia Velasco

No game for me this past weekend. My wife was sick, so I had dinner prep all on my own (we usually work together on the big game-day meals), but even then, I think it came out looking good.

Ham, homemade Mac & Cheese, caramelized sweet corn.

It also gave me some time to work on adventures, monsters, and an NPC. 

"Hey, maybe if we get lucky, someone will drop a house on her." - Valerie Beaumont on Sylvia.

Getting ready for this coming weekend's game, and I thought I'd introduce the campaign's resident evil witch. She is not going to be a big bad or anything like that, and I might have to go after the theosophist. If there had been a witch PC in the group, that theat character would have been the target. But this character is a background threat. Like a yard with a loud dog. Sure, they look dangerous and are noisy, but as long as you don't try to get into their yard, you can ignore them.

While deciding on my witch of choice, and I have so many to choose from, one became obvious to me right away. Sylvia Velasco. Though you all know her better as Skylla. 

Sylvia Velasco

Sylvia Velasco is one of the few adults the cast of characters will interact with who are not teachers or parents. She runs an occult bookstore, El Espejo Oscuro ("The Dark Mirror"), and claims to be from Spain. While her shop never seems to have customers (and most people are afraid of the place), she dresses immaculately and drives a brand-new (1985) Ferrari 308 GTS (red, of course).

Everything about Sylvia screams style, class, elegance, and danger.

Her accent is exotic without being off-putting. She is attractive without being threatening. She is older than the characters without coming off like a stereotypical evil witch.

Trouble is, of course, she *IS* the stereotypical evil witch.

My original plan was to have her go after any witch characters in the cast to prey on their power.  But we don't have a PC witch. I might set her after the psychic and/or theosophist. I want to establish her as evil and a real witch, making her a threat (but not THE threat). Later, she is going to the target of the local mob in my "Satanic Panic" adventure. She and her shop will also serve as a resource for PCs and NPCs alike.

Sylvia Velasco
6th Level Witch, Human

*Background: Sorcerous

Base Abilities
Strength: 9 (0) 
Agility: 11 (0) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 12 (0) N
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 17 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 28

**Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +1 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Spell Attack: +3
Saves: +3 to Spells and Magical effects (Witch) +2 to Intelligence saves (Sorcerous background).

Witch Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (2): Innate Magic: Arcane Dart, Beguile Person

Witch Spells
First Level: Arcane Dart, Glamour, Gout of Flame
Second Level: Beguile Person, Magic Lock, Paralyze Person
Third Level: Dark Lightning, Dispel Magic

Heroic Touchstones
2nd Level: First Level Spell: Mystic Senses

Archetype: The "Evil" Witch
Quote: "I'll never make you do anything you don't want, and I will never lie to you." All of which is technically true.
Quirks: Looks AMAZING. Never so much as one perfect silver hair is out of place.
Theme song: "Abracadabra" - Steve Miller Band

Ok, a couple of things here.

I am going to start using the Backgrounds introduced in Wasted Lands. Though the backgrounds I am going to use are "Jock," "Band Kid," "Nerd," and other high school archetypes. since Sylvia is the first I am just using the stock "Sorcerous."  Right now, my high school background will only provide a bonus of +1 in either a skill type or a save.

I am also bringing in Corruption, though it is not as dangerous as what Wasted Lands has. In my Jackson game, it is called "Soul Burn." The first sign of soul burn, literally burning away pieces of their soul, is white hair. This helps explain why Sylvia and Faye Thorne both have white hair. Sylvia has done hers on purpose; Faye was subjected to it by her evil aunts. 

As I mentioned previously, I am also experimenting with adding various Heroic Touchstones. But since want this to be a more "realistic" game, or at least on the more realistic side of cinematic, I am going to pretty judicious in adding these. 

Looks like witch-bait to me.

And it can hardly be the 1980s without a great soundtrack!

Night Shift^® is a registered trademark of Elf Lair, LLC.

Mail Call: These Old Dragons

 Quick mail call today.

Couldn't sleep one night so I got online one of the Facebook RPG Buy/Sell/Trade groups.

Long story short, I bought a bunch of Dragons I was missing. 

This works out well for me since I was running out of Dragons for "This Old Dragon."

I don't quite have them all for 2nd Edition yet, or more to the point, between 1995 and 1999, but I have a lot. With some other recent purchases, this should keep me occupied for a while.

I think I might pull these out in order. I have a lot I want to do for the span of 1984-1987 and I want to be sure I cover them.

Monstrous Mondays: Old Annie, the Mauvaisterre Hag

 Everyone in Jackson, IL knows about "Old Annie" though not everyone agrees on what or who she is. The most popular story is that "years ago," Annie was a local woman who lived near the river. She had three (maybe four, maybe two) children. Her husband left her, and she drowned her children. Then, in a fit of grief, she drowned herself. At least that is the most common story. Everyone has a story about seeing her, or someone who has seen her, or heard her wails at night when she is supposedly out looking for her drowned children.

Others include an escaped patient from the Illinois State Hospital who fell into the river and drowned, and now her ghost is trying to find her way out.  Others claim the whole thing is a hoax and point to a 1967 Jackson Gazette story of faternity pranks at MacAlister College where pledges were forced to dress up as Old Annie to scare people.

“Don’t go near Mauvaisterre River, Old Annie will snatch you.”

Everyone has a theory of who Annie was, including a woman named Anne Sullivan from the 1870s.  

The trouble is, everyone is wrong. Not about Old Annie as such, just who she is and what she is. Annie is not the ghost of a guilty mother. Old Annie is really the Mauvaisterre Hag.

The Mauvaisterre Hag

The land that was settled and later became Jackson, IL originally had a different name. When Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet first came through this area in the late 1600s, they went to places of local importance. Like the Dixon and Cahokia Mounds, the bluffs over the Mississippi River are where the Piasa was said to have lived. And north of that was a land that all the locals avoided. A place they called "The Bad Land."  This translated into "Mauvaise Terre" and eventually became "Mauvaisterre".  Today it is the name of the county where Jackson sits, a lake, and a river that runs through the town.

Even then, legends of a hag-like creature haunting the waterways were old.

The Mauvaisterre Hag is a corrupt spirit of the land, a water spirit similar in many ways to a nymph or nixie, but something evil happened, and this balanced nature spirit became twisted and evil. 

If the members of the Peoria tribes had a name for this creature, they never told anyone, least of all the white explorers to their lands.

THE MAUVAISTERRE HAG, "OLD ANNIE" (AD&D 1st Edition)

Frequency: Very rare (Unique ?)
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 5
Move: 9” / 12” in mud, swamp, or shallow water
Hit Dice: 3+3
% in Lair: 60%
Treasure Type: None
No. of Attacks: 2 or 1
Damage/Attack: 1-6/1-6 or by weapon
Special Attacks: Horrific appearance, drown
Special Defenses: Camouflage, surprise, half damage from cold
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: High
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Size: M
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
Level/X.P. Value: IV / 165 + 4 per hit point

Mauvaisterre Hag (NIGHT SHIFT)

No. Appearing: 1
DV: 5
Move: 45 ft. / 60 ft. in mud, swamp, or shallow water
Vitality Dice: 3
Special: 2 claw attacks or by weapon; horrific appearance, drown, camouflage, surprise, half damage from cold
XP Value: 

The Mauvaisterre Hag, also known as "Old Annie," appears as a bent and sodden crone with long trailing hair like river weeds, pale eyes, and skin the color of wet clay. Her garments are formed of rotted cloth, moss, mud, and reeds. She is most often encountered near creeks, riverbanks, marshes, drowned groves, or low ground where the earth has become soft and treacherous. Though related to the sea hag in nature and malignancy, Old Annie is a thing of bad earth and black water rather than salt sea and storm tide.

It is said by those who can read these signs that Annie used to be something more akin to a nymph or a nixie, a water creature of nature and balance, but something happened. Something that changed the land and corrupted it and the spirits that lived there. Some of these spirits have gone to darker, deeper places in the earth, but Old Annie remains. She is ancient beyond reckoning, and her age has done nothing but deepen her malignancy. 

Old Annie attacks with filthy claws, striking twice per round for 1-6 hit points each. She may also wield a crude knife, broken oar, driftwood club, or similar object if it suits the encounter. She prefers ambush, isolation, and terror to open battle.

Special Abilities

Horrific Appearance: Any creature beholding Old Annie for the first time must save vs. paralysis/petrification (Wits based for NIGHT SHIFT). Those failing suffer a -2 penalty on attack rolls against her for 1-4 rounds due to revulsion and dread. If the victim fails the saving throw by 5 or more, they must also flee in panic for 1-3 rounds. This is less potent than the deadly gaze of a true sea hag, but no less hideous in its own fashion. Creatures accustomed to hags, swamp spirits, or similar horrors may receive a +2 bonus to the saving throw at the GM’s discretion.

Drown: If Old Annie successfully strikes the same man-sized or smaller victim with both claws in one round while in shallow water, mud, or slime, she may, on the following round, attempt to drag the victim beneath the surface. The victim must save vs. death magic or be pinned and begin drowning. On subsequent rounds, the victim may attempt to break free with a successful bend bars/lift gates roll or by Old Annie being driven off, slain, or taking 6 or more points of damage in a single round.

Camouflage: When standing motionless in reeds, mud, shallow water, or against a creek bank, Old Annie is 75% likely to be mistaken for driftwood, roots, a patch of reeds, or some other natural feature unless closely examined. She surprises opponents on 1-4 on 1d6 in such terrain.

Half Damage from Cold: As a creature of chill muck and black water, Old Annie suffers only half damage from cold-based attacks, with fractions rounded down.

Old Annie is not a true hag, but a corrupted nature spirit. As such, she does not have access to witch magic or form a covey with other hags. Though she shares no love for hags either and will avoid the Urban Hags of Jackson. 

--

"Mauvaisterre" is a real place name in Central Illinois. The rough translation does mean "bad earth" or "bad land." It is the real name of a creek and a lake, but not a river or county. I also thought it was appropriate for a place I have been calling "a sinkhole of evil."

Night Shift^® is a registered trademark of Elf Lair, LLC.

Mail Call Friday: Kibifig minis

 Rare Mail Call on a Friday since I normally do these on Tuesday. But Tuesday has become the day I report on my weekend game, so this works fine. Plus, what I have today is about my weekend games. 

I love new tech. If there is something I can do now that I couldn't do before, then I am interested. Current 3D printing is in that realm. We have a few 3D printers thanks to my youngest's major in engineering, and I take advantage of them every chance I get.  The new spate of image to 3D print has also caught my imagination. I have been playing around with many of them, they typically have similar offerings; upload a photo, pick a style, choose a size. There is typcially a preview, but I often don't trust those. But one, Kibifig, seemed a little better than the rest. Not so much with price, they are all very similar there, but in terms of features. Given I was working on my NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands games while going through these, I uploaded some images of my witch, Larina. Well I got them in the mail late last night and frankly I am thrilled with the results.

Jackson, IL, Larina and Ash Witch Larina

That picture really doesn't do them justice. These are the 70-mm versions. I am certain that the 90- or 120-mm versions would be much better. In fact, they don't really recommend the 70mm, but I wanted to try it first.

It was pretty simple. Upload the photos and click through. It took about 3 weeks to get here from China, which, honestly, given everything, is pretty fast. 

The minis were packed amazingly well. 

The minis themselves are quite good and made of stronger material than I have seen in the past.

They also compare very nicely to their 2D images.

These are just 2D images. Thankfully, there was enough for the AI to work with, and it filled out the rest. 

The backpack looks good, and so does the Ash Witch's cape. 

They came with plastic disc stands, but they stand pretty well on their own. 

I did a preview of the 120 mm version of Jackson, IL, Larina, and it looks great, really. The AI even gave her Doc Marten's purple boot laces. I might have to get it just for that.

It missed some details, like the Ash Witch's streaks of gray hair and the dirt on her legs. But otherwise these are rather perfect in my mind and I am pleased with them. I mean, even "Spells" is clearly legible on Jackson Larina's schoolbooks, if the pentagram is a bit small. 

So yeah, I am happy with these. 

I threw the cover for my Advanced Witches & Warlocks and this is what it came up with. 

I might have to get that one.

This Old Dragon: Issue #85

 I am not completely sure why I have never done this one before now. Was I saving it for something special? I think I was, but I can't recall. What I do know is this: Dragon #85 is the first Dragon I ever bought for myself from Belobrajdic's Bookstores. Sure, I had borrowed a lot of Dragons, and I have even been given some. But this is the first one I bought because of the content. I'll get to that in a bit. 

It is the spring of 1984. I am a Freshman in high school. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is the #1 movie. Newly inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Phil Collins "Against All Odds" is our #1 song and on shelves everywhere, and certainly my game table is This Old Dragon #85.

Ok, the art for this issue is quite striking and it immediately drew me in.  "The Innocent Power" by Susan Collins was one of the best I had seen on Dragon. It is what drew me in, but not what sold me. 

This issue is memory-rich for me. I went over every word and image in this issue. Case in point, the Ral Partha ad on the opposite side of the cover. It features "The Black Prince's Chariot of Fear" pulled by freaking Balrogs! Wait! Can you do that??  Yeah, I had seen many minis before, but this was different. This was me looking at this image in my own bedroom or out on my front porch (where I often worked on "D&D stuff" during the summer). Either way, 40 years later, it is still cool.

Kim Mohan is our Editor-in-Chief here, and he discusses two different electronic dice tools. I always wanted one of those, but could never justify the cost. What I did was program my calculator to be a dice roller. This was before I learned about pseudo-random numbers. The next part of the Editorial covers the "feature" of this issue, and why I bought it; it is all about Clerics. At the time, I played a lot of Clerics as Undead and Vampire hunters, not necessarily as healers. 

The Letters section is known as Out On A Limb at this point. Letters include a guy asking about copyrights on the various published D&D materials. Sure, use as you want, but don't try to resell anything. Some comments on typos. And more.

Ad for Gen Con 17. I am wearing my Gen 52 shirt as I am writing this. 

The Forum covers deeper opinions and reflections. I like the Forum, but this one bugged me at first. Every entry dealt with something from a previous issue so it made it hard to know what was being talked about. As I went on this discussion held more value to me.  Interestingly enough, one of the contributors in Katherine Kerr talking about one of her own articles.

Ad for Grenadier models. I bought one of the Fantasy Lords sets and then proceeded to try to paint them with Testor's paints. Yeah. I did that.

The Cleric Collection is the feature of this issue, and I ate it up.

Kim Mohan is up first with Here's To Your Health. This covers more first aid in AD&D. There is a nice overview of curing magic, including healing vs curing magic. 

Special Skills, Special Thrills from Roger E. Moore expands on an idea introduced by Gary Gygax in his World of Greyhawk setting. This expands, granting Clerics new powers based on their god, as detailed in Deities & Demigods. This includes not just powers but also the taboos they must follow.  There are enough examples here to apply to any god. This all basically became part of the rules in AD&D 2nd Ed and later editions. But back in 1984? This was great stuff, and I locked on to it. My Sun Priest, Necromancer, Healer, and yes, the Witch began here in their earliest forms. 

Nice ad for Powers & Perils. I had no idea before this that there were so many games. Yes, I knew about all the big names, but Powers & Perils was not one of those. The game still has an active presence online.

In our non-Editor entry, Fraser Sherman gives us a good companion piece to Moore's article. In Clerics Must be Deity-Bound he talks about the behavior clerics follow to earn those spells, turning, and even special powers. The example dialog between a Cleric of Thor, Tyr, Diancecht, and Aphrodite, and how each would deal with a couple of dozen guards. Let's ignore the logistics of how or why the four are in the same party and focus on the message. Clerics need to be different than each other. Again, this article is the model from which the later Faiths & Avatars books for the Forgotten Realms and AD&D 2nd edition game would take their ultimate form.

Ad for the Traveller book. Also called the Blue Book in my gaming circles, I think I ordered it that very summer along with Chill.  

Michael Gray is up with PBM: Problems by Mail, a discussion on the various issues currently bothering play-by-mail gamers.

I did not know it at the time, who did really, but the next article would set a tone for yet again, AD&D 2nd Edition and the Forgotten Realms. The Ecology of the Ixitxachitl by Dragon MVP Ed Greenwood. Here I learned about their worship of Demogorgon and even the rare vampire Ixitxachitl. 

Susan Shwatz has our fiction with Valkyrie Settlement. I am sure I read it at some point, but skimming it over, I can't recall much of it.  

What can be considered the first hero of English epics, Beowulf, is up but three different versions from three different authors, Robert Cook, Roger E. Moore, and Kyle Gray in Three Cheers for Beowulf.

For the price at the time, $3.00, I felt Dragon was a good deal, but when it added some like a mini-adventure like The Twofold Talisman, Adventure Two: The Ebon Stone by Roger Moore, Philip Tatercyznski, Douglas Niles, & Georgia Moore. I always wanted to get Part One, which I eventually got, but I ran this one a few times. There is some silly bits here, the Halfling D.V. for example. Still, it is fun and I might be giving it a little more latitude because I was not expecting to get an adventure in my issue of Dragon.

Speaking of adventures, Modules: What We're Hunting For, covers some guidelines on what sort of things the editors of Dragon are looking for. We are still a little bit away from Dungeon magazine, but I can't help but think this is related to that effort.

Dragonlance is still brand new and has not yet caught the gaming world by storm. But it will. A Stone's Throw Away by Roger E. Moore is the second short story set in the Dragonlance world to appear in Dragon. I won't go as far as to say I was/am a huge Dragonlance fan, but I did enjoy the novels, and I liked reading the adventures, but even then, I knew they were railroady and set to serve the needs of the main characters. One day, I would like to run them, but I would need to significantly rewrite them. 

Oh. Witch Hunt. An ad for this game hits on page 58, and I had to have it. I never found a copy 'til much later, but I still have it. 

Ken Rolston is up with more game reviews. In Advanced Hack-and-Slash, he covers four new games that all have heavy combat focuses. Up first is Warhammer. It looks fun, I wonder if it will catch on?  Rolston likes it and thinks it is a good entry into the mass combat fantasy rules category. REAPER: Fantasy Wargame Rules is next along with a scenario, Attack of the Fungoid Trolls. It was created in 1981 with 2/3rds of the designers of Warhammer. Rolston points out that criticisms of the game are unnecessary since most of the glaring errors and missteps have been corrected by Warhammer, but he has it here as a historical perspective. Next is the celebrated Lost Worlds playbooks from Nova Game Designs and designed by Ace of Aces' Alfred Leonardi. These books fascinated me because I always wanted to see how they worked. No one near me played it, and I never saw it in my local stores. Rolston likes the game and concept, but finds it expensive; each character needs a playbook at $6 per, and replayability is very low. Finally, Cry Havoc is not a Fantasy Wargame, but "a lovely model of what a perfect FRP combat wargame should look like." It is a medieval skirmish game that is easy to learn and play and is "superb in every way."

Providing the counterpoint, Katharine Kerr has her review of Warhammer in Warhammer FRP System Falls Flat. No. She is not a fan. 

We now come to the Ares section. Now I knew nothing about SPI or Ares prior to this, so I thought this was *just* the Sci-fi offering in a normally Fantasy magazine. But it did feel different. The Federation Guide to Luna is a great kick-off by Dale L. Kemper. I learn that it is part of a series detailing the Moon in different sci-fi settings. If this sounds a little like my notion of West Haven, then you would be correct. This is for the FASA Star Trek game.

John M. Maxstadt is up with Gamma Hazards, New Mutants for the GAMMA WORLD Game. These include some fungimals and the humbug. 

Roger E. Moore is more than pulling his weight this issue with some advice for Traveller players.

Lions, Tigers, & Superheroes covers animals for the Champions game by Leonard Carpenter. 

Starquestions is our "sage advice" for Star Frontiers.

Gamer's Guide has our small ads. This includes one of the previously alluded to dice rollers. A module for "the most popular fantasy roleplaying game." And The Game Master program on cassette for the Vic-20 and Timex-Sinclair and compatible with Dungeons & Dragons.

The Convention Calendar is next for what is going on in the Summer of 1984.

Wormy is next with some weirf mutants. Dragon mirth has our comics, including the short-lived Talanalan by Kurt Erichsen.

We wrap it up with Elmore's Snarf Quest.

All in all, a fantastic issue. Though my perception may be colored by nostalgia. You never forget your first...Dragon really. The copy I have here is not my first. That one is long, long gone, but I hold on to this one as if it were some sort of sacred text. Yes, it is technically no different than Dragon #84 or #86, and they do not get the same sort of reverence out of me. 

The Witches of Appendix N: Margaret St. Clair

After the previous Witches of Appendix N did not yield any authentic witches, I decided to move ahead to two entries I already know offer substantial material. The first of these is Margaret St. Clair. I am going to go a bit deeper on this one than I have with other authors.

Margaret St. Clair (1911-1995) is one of only three women writers included in Appendix N, alongside Leigh Brackett and Andre Norton. Despite her relative obscurity, even among dedicated fans, her influence permeates the foundations of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, particularly in dungeon design and the portrayal of the underground as a mythic and ominous otherworld. Notably, she introduced the term "Underearth," which served as a precursor to what would later be known as the "Underdark" and, arguably, the "Shadow Dark."

Among the lesser-remembered names in Gary Gygax's Appendix N, Margaret St. Clair stands out as a particular interest of mine. Although she is not discussed with the same reverence as Howard, Tolkien, or Lovecraft, her works have made a significant and enduring impact on Dungeons & Dragons and, at least my, conceptualization on fantasy witches.

I will examine the two works by St. Clair referenced in Appendix N.

The Shadow People (1969)

The Shadow People is distinctly a product of 1969 Berkeley, California, authored by one of the prominent women in science fiction at the time. Today, it would be classified as an urban horror-fantasy novel, though it was then considered part of the "counter-culture."

Set in late-1960s Berkeley, the novel follows a young man whose girlfriend is abducted not by a human, but by the Earth itself. Beneath the surface exists the Underearth, a hidden realm isolated from the ordinary world, where ancient beings have survived on a hallucinogenic grain. These beings, reminiscent of ergot's historical associations, have now developed a preference for human flesh. The protagonist ventures into this subterranean world to rescue her, encountering phenomena that challenge his perception of reality. The narrative unfolds as a continuous psychedelic experience, with the protagonist's journey into and out of the Underearth persistently destabilizing any sense of reality.

Despite its horrors, the Underearth exerts a compelling attraction, drawing individuals in and seldom allowing them to escape. The forces of good achieve only a partial and ambiguous victory, as the surface world has itself devolved into a dystopian surveillance society.

Why It's on Appendix N

The influence on Dungeons & Dragons is both significant and highly specific. The Shadow People introduces the "Underearth," a clear precursor to the Underdark. Its subterranean inhabitants are referred to as "elves," and the narrative also features "orcs" and "ettins." The novel presents an addictive hallucinogenic food called "atter-corn," a corrupted fungal grain that maintains the Underearth's residents in a perpetual dream state, reflecting the folkloric caution against consuming food in the faerie realm. St. Clair even cites Robert Kirk's 17th-century work, The Secret Commonwealth, a treatise on faeries, within the novel.

Readers familiar with early Dungeons & Dragons modules will recognize these parallels. The inhabitants of the Underearth, who exist in a perpetual haze due to hallucinogenic cornmeal, anticipate the Cynideceans of module B4: The Lost City, who experience a similar dreamlike state induced by a comparable substance. The novel's depiction of a prolonged descent into the Underearth appears to have influenced adventures such as D1-2: Descent into the Depths of the Earth. Additionally, the inclusion of an intelligent blade, the "word of Merlin," serves as an early example of sentient swords in Dungeons & Dragons.

The Shadow People contributed to the conceptualization of both the drow and the duergar, as well as to Dungeons & Dragons' enduring fascination with expansive underground labyrinths. Gygax maintained a strong interest in eerie fairy realms, and The Shadow People provided a notably distinctive portrayal of dark elves.

The narrative also evokes Richard Shaver's "I Remember Lemuria" and his depiction of the Deros. Given that St. Clair published in Amazing Stories, she was likely familiar with Shaver's work. There is a discernible lineage from Shaver to St. Clair to Gygax (well, and Shaver directly to Gygax, too).

St. Clair's Underearth closely resembles early European conceptions of fairy mounds as portals to the underworld, where faeries, ancient deities, and the spirits of the dead coexist. This represents a unique synthesis of European paganism as interpreted by later Christian communities, forming the same cultural foundation that inspired notions of Wicca, witches, and witchcraft.

Sign of the Labrys (1963)

This is a book I have sought after for a considerable time, and I was finally able to obtain a copy through inter-library loan.

Set in the aftermath of a global pandemic that has decimated the population, Sign of the Labrys centers on Sam Sewell, a survivor residing in an extensive subterranean shelter complex. Government agents suspect that Sam is living with Despoina, a woman believed to be involved in germ warfare, and they pressure him to locate her. Sam is compelled to descend through multiple levels of the shelter, uncovering a concealed world of witchcraft and secret rituals. This narrative structure evokes not only Campbell's Hero's Journey, but also the descents of Ishtar and Inanna into the underworld, as well as the Wiccan initiation rite.

As Sam progresses through the shelter, women enter and exit the narrative, consistently demonstrating greater awareness than he possesses. St. Clair intentionally subverts the conventional pulp narrative: Sam is not a proactive hero, but rather is portrayed as naive and reliant on others to discern his purpose. The women scientists he encounters, along with Despoina, are the true agents of understanding and resolution. Over time, Sam comes to recognize that his journey parallels a Wiccan initiation ritual.

Beneath the remnants of the old world exists evidence of an even more ancient one: a concealed realm that safeguards the pagan traditions of Wicca, purportedly tracing back to the Minoan mosaic chambers. As Sam searches for Despoina, the high priestess, he gradually rediscovers his own forgotten Wiccan identity, which ultimately becomes vital to humanity's renewal.

Thus, according to the novel, witches are essential for humanity's salvation. This theme is presented with considerable directness.

Why It's in Appendix N

Sign of the Labrys likely influenced Dungeons & Dragons through its depiction of underground, multi-level dungeon complexes. The shelter's successive levels, each increasingly strange and perilous, closely parallel the structure of the classic dungeon crawl. Role-playing game enthusiasts will recognize this as a precursor to Castle Greyhawk and its intricate, multi-level design interconnected by secret passages.

Witches and Witchcraft

This aspect is where Sign of the Labrys becomes particularly noteworthy. St. Clair stated that the novel was primarily inspired by Gerald Gardner's books on witchcraft, and her research led to a friendship with Raymond Buckland. St. Clair and her husband were initiated into Wicca three years after the novel's publication, at which point she adopted the Wiccan (craft) name Froniga.

Sign of the Labrys functions almost as an endorsement of Wicca. In the novel, Wicca is depicted not merely as a neopagan religion but as a source of genuine magical abilities. The narrative is replete with traditional pagan elements, such as athames and the use of "Blessed Be" as a greeting, and St. Clair incorporated ceremonial details from Gerald Gardner. Practitioners of Wicca in the novel possess various supernatural abilities, including clairvoyance and invisibility.

What distinguishes this novel for its time is the extent to which it portrays witchcraft as a means of survival. With civilization devastated by plague and the rational, bureaucratic order rendered obsolete, the Wiccans' underground community preserves knowledge, social cohesion, and a path forward. St. Clair's publication of Sign of the Labrys in 1963 predates the formal introduction of Gardnerian Wicca in North America, granting the novel considerable historical significance in the evolution of American Paganism.

Considered together, these two novels illustrate St. Clair's significance to Gygax. In both works, the underground serves as more than a backdrop; it possesses metaphysical significance, being perilous, alluring, transformative, and older than civilization itself. The subterranean realm is associated with secret knowledge, fairy traditions, and witchcraft. In both narratives, as in Campbell's Hero's Journey, the protagonist descends into these realms and emerges fundamentally changed.

Furthermore, the figure of the witch, whether explicitly named in Sign of the Labrys or implied in The Shadow People, occupies a central role in both narratives.

How does this relate to Dungeons & Dragons? The influence is evident in the concept of the dungeon as a series of increasingly strange levels, where deeper exploration leads to a breakdown of reality. Less apparent, but still significant, is the theme that magic—and witchcraft in particular—originates from an ancient, primal stratum of existence largely forgotten by the surface world. This provides a compelling lineage for the D&D witch.

This observation raises an important question: given the significance of Sign of the Labrys within Appendix N, as it is explicitly listed, why does Dungeons & Dragons lack a dedicated witch class?

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One of the things that makes Margaret St. Clair so important here is not just that she writes about witchcraft, but that she grants it authority, and that authority is unmistakably female. In Sign of the Labrys, the women are not standing at the edges of the story waiting to be rescued, explained, or possessed. They are the ones who understand what is really happening. They preserve the rites, hold the knowledge, and carry forward the spiritual framework that survives when the modern world fails. Sam may move through the story as the reader's, but he is not its true center of wisdom. That belongs to the women, and especially to Despoina.

That is no small thing. In a great deal of fantasy and science fiction from the period, power still tends to flow through familiar channels: male adventurers, male scholars, male priests, male rulers. Women may be mysterious, alluring, or dangerous, but they are rarely allowed to be the custodians of the deeper truths of the world. St. Clair breaks from that pattern. Her women are not merely magical in a decorative sense. They are the ones who keep the old knowledge alive. They remember what the surface world has forgotten. They do not just practice ritual; they embody continuity.

This is where the witchcraft in St. Clair becomes more than color or atmosphere. It is not a handful of spooky props scattered across the page. It is a living structure of meaning, memory, and survival. In Sign of the Labrys, witchcraft is what endures when bureaucracy, technology, and the rational systems of the old order have all proven fragile. The world above may imagine itself modern, organized, and superior. However, the hidden, female-centered religious tradition below still knows how to make sense of catastrophe and guide renewal. That is a radical move, and a powerful one.

For a series like Witches of Appendix N, that matters enormously. St. Clair is not simply one of the few women on GygGygax's list; she is one of the few writers on the list who imagines feminine spiritual power as foundational rather than secondary. Her witches are not side characters in someone else's heroic narrative. They are the keepers of the flame while the rest of the world stumbles in the dark. If we want to talk seriously about witches in the imaginative roots of D&D, that is not a minor detail. It is one of the central things worth recovering.

While the multi-tiered "dungeons" and underground ecosystems certainly were vital to the early days of D&D, it feels odd that these were the only things kept from St. Clair's works. There was so much more here that could have also been used. Rather than speculate as to why, I'll just take the material that Gygax etal discarded for my own works.