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
Viewed: 11
First Time Views: 7

Tales of Jackson: We Are Not Alone

 I recently talked a bit about going home and not finding Jacksonville, or even Jackson, I remember. I was standing out in front of what we called "the old High School," the Newton-Bateman building where people in my town went to school up until about 1983. I never went there. We had the "new" High School out north of town. That structure survives in Jackson with the old, haunted High School and the new school. 

I also wrote a bit about Charmed. The one thing the new Charmed series established was that the "Power of Three" was repeated over and over in the Warren Witch Family line. That included the witches Macy, Mel, and Maggie, as well as Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and later Paige. History repeats itself. Another structure I grabbed for Jackson.

So excuse me if this post feels a little schizophrenic. It was really two posts that never really gelled on their own, and I figured out they needed each other. So, let me start with the original post, and for that, we need to talk about Iggwilv.

Iggwilv, Tasha, and Jackson

It is no surprise that I adore Iggwilv, Tasha, Hura, Zyblina, or whatever she is calling herself this week. I have known for a while now that she was going to make an appearance in Jackson in some role. Not Iggwilv from Greyhawk, but my "Shard" of her, reflected in Jackson's mirror. BUT I wanted her to be important, but not so important that she would overshadow my playtest characters (and thus your characters). So I have been sitting on a few ideas for a bit, and none of them felt right to me.  In fact, my first idea came up around my birthday, but it also didn't gel the way I liked. It DID, however, give me the tragic coven of witches that protected Jackson before Larina and her friends. 

So instead, Lena, Alyssa, and Keeley were born. And...Lena and Keeley died trying to protect Jackson, and Alyssa lost her mind.

But they were not the first coven of witches, nor were they the last. I mean I knew this, but I did not have names for them yet. 

Though maybe I did.

I am working on something else right now: my next Witches of Appendix N post and reading some L. Sprague de Camp, and thinking about what sorts of witches actually came from these books. I am not ready to present my thesis on that just yet, but it got me thinking about Iggwilv again and how she was never supposed to be a main or face character. Maybe my Iggwilv shard in Jackson is the same way. She is there, but working in the shadows. Not evil, per se, but certainly amoral. 

Then it hit me. Lena and Keeley are dead because it was Iggwilv who sent them to their deaths.

Natasha Wilcox

My "Iggwilv shard" is Natasha Wilcox. Professor of Classics at MacAlister College and one of the few people who intellectually challenges Larina. She is one of those nightmare professors who knows everything about her subject and dares you to bullshit your way through it. She is intelligent, shrewd, driven, and knows exactly what she wants. She is also a witch. 

Back in 1983, she was the "adult in the room" when Lena, Alyssa, and Keeley were in school. She was a professor at Mac, but came to the High School to teach Latin. Alyssa was her star pupil. Equally as brilliant in both academics and magic. Natasha saw a little of herself in Alyssa and sought to train her to become even better. But that training wasn't enough. Alyssa learned she was brilliant but never learned to fear the things Jackson bred. 

Natasha Wilcox caused Lena and Keeley's deaths because she had not taught Alyssa the limits of her powers. Her hubris and three lives were destroyed.

I figured out then that Kiera "Keri" Moreau told Natasha that if she ever set foot in Jackson Public High again, she would kill her. A bit of a strong reaction? Maybe, but it tracks with two things. Who these characters are/were in my AD&D games AND what they were before in Jackson.

Natasha Wilcox, Kiera Moreau, and Sylvia Velasco were members of the coven that protected Jackson in the 1950s.

Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)

In the mid-1950s, Jackson Public High School had three girls who were the best of friends. Mundane circumstances threw them together, but it was their magic that united them. Natasha Wilcox's family had survived World War II and had come to America fleeing Nazi oppression when Natasha was only a baby. Likewise, Sylvia's family had fled Spain and had come to Jackson via Mexico. Kiera Moreau was the half-nymph daughter of a sea god, but her human guise was that of the daughter of a wealthy family who had made millions in import and export deals (easy to do when you can control the seas); sadly, even in enlightened Jackson, with its abolitionist history and place on the Underground Railroad, her skin color was an issue with many other residents. All three girls were social outcasts within the very tight, insular cliques of Jackson Public High School. So they formed their own group. 

They had no idea they were part of a legacy that stretched backward and forward in time. 

No one knew they were magical. Natasha and Sylvia, with their magic, and Kiera, with her psychic abilities and half-sea nymph powers, protected their school and home. But more than that, they were friends. Kiera bought Sylvia that pink cardigan sweater, and Natasha said it looked great on her. 

They fought monsters. Had boyfriends. Though Natasha was always too serious about her work for any romance, Sylvia still managed to have boyfriends and girlfriends in 1955. They all went to MacAlister together. They thought they would be doing this when they were old and gray.

And then things began to fall apart. Natasha was studying magic for magic's sake and no longer stopping the monsters. Kiera fought the monsters, but could not do it on her own. Sylvia began selling off little bits of her soul for more and more power until her hair had gone completely white from Soul Burn. They only grew further and further apart.

Then in 1979, teachers Kiera and Natasha saw Alyssa, Lena, and Keeley coming up through the school and recognized them right away. "They are us." And they began to disagree right away on how to deal with these new students. Natasha sees witches. Kiera sees young women. Sylvia sees an omen. Their disagreements were at first minor, but gained in intensity as the years went on. Kiera thought Natasha was being too cavalier with their lives. Natasha thought Kiera was being too soft. Sylvia wanted to know what magics these new girls knew.

Then, in 1983, Lena and Keeley were killed. Alyssa had been committed to the state hospital.

Natasha didn't see herself as responsible. She taught Alyssa everything she believed Alyssa needed to know. Alyssa was exceptionally gifted, perhaps the most talented student Natasha had ever encountered. But Alyssa overestimated her abilities, failed to account for some variable, and the spell or ritual went catastrophically wrong.

For Natasha, this was a problem of magical theory and practice. Something went wrong. She needs to understand what happened so she can prevent it from happening again.

For Kiera, two girls are dead, and a third has lost her mind. 

To Kiera, this is a tragedy. To Natasha, it is a puzzle. Neither recognizes the girl they used to call "sister."

"If you set foot in this school again, I will kill you," Kiera told Natasha. Her heart was broken, but the threat was real, and Natasha knew Kiera could carry it out.

There is another important distinction here. Natasha, Kiera, and Sylvia went to the Old School. So did Lena, Alyssa, and Keeley nearly thirty years later. Larina, Stephanie, and Faye attend the New School, north of town. They never walked those same halls or sat in those same classrooms. Their connection to those earlier witches isn't the building itself, but the photographs they left behind. Three girls smiling at the camera, unaware of what awaited them. Larina looks at those pictures and recognizes something that has nothing to do with the school they attended. There is no magical presence of either coven in 1986. That building sits near the heart of the town, with its haunted halls and broken bell. 

It is less about the buildings they attended and more about the roles these young women found themselves playing.

And the yearbook photographs are the only evidence of something the monsters haven't managed to destroy: the memory of ordinary happiness.

"They were all happy. Like us. And then they weren't."

What does this mean to the current generation?

We Are Not Alone

This gets me back to Jacksonville.

I was driving around taking some pictures of buildings. I wanted to drive out to the "new" High School (now 40+ years old) and take some pictures. I saw a group of kids walking downtown, laughing and generally just being kids. I mused, "Maybe they are the new witches?" I was not far from where the bookstore I based Paula's on used to be. I thought about Larina riding her bike every Saturday in 1985-86 to head to the Square for Paula's. For an odd moment, the past, present, and future of Jacksonville and Jackson all overlapped. I thought about Larina, Stephanie, and Faye. I thought about Lena, Alyssa, and Keeley before them, and all the witches who had come before them and those who would come after.

This all hit in a few minutes. I was amused by these kids. Then, in typical 50+-year-old fashion, I thought, "They better get out of the road; that's not safe."

In Jackson, one of the themes is "this has all happened before." The monsters keep coming to the Bad Land. There are protectors, there are fighters, and there are those who have the power and still do nothing about it. 

Larina (in my games) sees the yearbook photos of Lena, Alyssa, and Keeley and thinks, "That was us." She looks at the picture of Natasha, Kiera, and Sylvia and wonders what happened to cause these girls to grow into women who can barely stand to be around each other now.

That's what I want to happen in your games. That connection your characters have to the setting's past. Your witches can look at these girls and think, "They were like us." Fighters like Val, Andy, and Ami, or protectors like Rowan, Candy, and Denise. They all have a role to play. Not just as my NPCs but as your NPCs. 

There is no occult registry. No one knows who the past witches and protectors were unless they told someone. There may have been years without one. Lena and Keeley died in May of 1983. Larina didn't arrive in Jackson until July of 1985. That is two years when no one was watching the gate. No wonder the place is a mess. Even Kiera and Valerie, who were still in Jackson, did little.  

I have no real intention of filling up the in-between years with witches, fighters, and protectors. Not here, and certainly not in any published version of Jackson. Those years belong to you. The game masters and players of Jackson. I mean, I might have an idea or two, but nothing solid beyond maybe thinking that the 1990s could use someone.  

I saw (them) in black and white; there ain't no color in memories.

Somewhere in Jackson right now, there might be another group of kids walking downtown, laughing with their friends, completely unaware of the dangers around them. Maybe they are the next witches. Maybe they are the next fighters or protectors. Maybe they are just kids enjoying an afternoon together. I like to think that Natasha, Kiera, and Sylvia were once just like them. So were Lena, Alyssa, and Keeley. So were Larina, Stephanie, and Faye.

Jackson has a long history, and not all of it has been written yet. Some of those adventures are mine. The rest of them are yours.

Or they will be.

October Movie Challenge: Necropolis (1986)

 White-haired, evil Immortal witch? Hell yes! But is the rest of the movie any good? Well...

Necropolis (1986)

It is 1686, and we are in "New Amsterdam" (minor quibble: it was renamed to "New York" in 1866), and we are following a witch (LeeAnne Baker) with long white hair. She sacrifices a young woman who was about to get married. Her husband-to-be and the locals find her, and they kill all the Satanists .

300 years later, Eva is back, only now she rides a motorcycle and wears a leather jacket over her lingerie. She kills all over town, draining the victims of their life-force so she can, and I shit you not, feeds it back to her growing army of undead via one of her six breasts. Gee, to think I was worried about the New Amsterdam goof.

BTW. If you took a drink any time someone calls a woman "baby," you would be dead by the end of the movie. 

Look, the acting is really sub-par, but LeeAnne Baker gives it her all, and honestly I kinda enjoyed her portrayal of evil Eva. The other characters, such as they are, barely rise above caricature. 

Like Eva, William and Dawn are reincarnated from the would-be husband and wife from 1686. Neither actor is very good, and the character of William, the Police Lt. Cervetti, is particularly distasteful. Though the coroner is likely the worst character here in terms of redeemable qualities. Yes, it is even worse than the zombie that screams after its head is ripped off.

There is only one reason to watch this film, and it is to see LeeAnne Baker strut around in high heels and overact her heart out.

Jackson, IL Connections

This movie doesn't bring anything new to the table, but I do like the idea of a witch coming back. In 1686, Jackson, the town, would not exist, but the Mauvaisterre land did. In 1786, there would be French settlers in the area, and in 1886, the village of Jackson is growing. So, given that these things typically pop up in 100-year cycles, I could do something with that. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
Viewed: 9
First Time Views: 6

Witchcraft Wednesday: Coven 13, Issue #1

 It is October! It's Witchcraft Wednesday. I have been spending a lot of time discussing various topics like the Witches of Appendix N, my upcoming Advanced Witches & Warlocks, and my various campaigns of Jackson, Carbon Vale, and Sunny Valley. All of these share a very interesting point of intersection: 1970s occult horror. And 1970s occult horror is detailed rather nicely by the magazine Coven 13.

Coven 13

Published by Camelot Publishing Company out of LA and under the editorship of Arthur H. Landis, Coven 13 was an American fantasy and horror magazine that did not have a long run, only 4 issues. In its original incarnation, it was a digest-sized affair, four bimonthly issues in all between September 1969 and March 1970, with a focus on “Witchcraft, Horror, [and] The Supernatural.” William Stout, the staff artist, was responsible for much of the publication's look. For his part, Landis had no qualms about stating he intended for Coven 13 to fill a void left by the likes of Weird Tales or Unknown Worlds, though with a more modern slant on the occult and supernatural. Kinda makes it perfect for what I am doing here really. 

That is not to say the magazine vanished after March 1970. It was picked up by William L. Crawford’s Fantasy Publishing Company, with Gerald W. Page as the new editor. Come early 1971 and issue #5, it was renamed Witchcraft & Sorcery: The Modern Magazine of Weird Tales. Leaving no doubt on which legacy it wanted to embrace. Six further issues were put out in an irregular fashion until 1974, making ten in all across the two names. But the first four from the Coven Daysays are something of a unit unto themselves, and they are what I propose to examine this October.

The tonal shift from Coven 13 to Witchcraft & Sorcery is enough to consider them two different magazines. Coven 13 was more about modern horror and the supernatural. Witchcraft & Sorcery was closer to the pulps of old, with more fantasy. Both titles have their fair share of Appendix N authors, so exploring these two should be interesting.

Coven 13, Issue #1, Sept. 1969

Our first issue dates back to September 1969. Our cover price is 60 cents.

The magazine promises all-new stories of WITCHCRAFT, THE SUPERNATURAL, and HORROR! 

The editorial by Arthur H. Landis pretty much tells what he wants out of this, something akin to Weird Tales. The feel of this magazine is certainly right. He wants to honor the old writers, who he thinks deserve much more credit in the literary landscape than they do (or rather did then, they do now), and invite new authors to contribute stories of the same sort. 

So already I get a solid Appendix N feel out of this magazine. Hard to say what D&D could have become if this had been in the mix. Spoiler, I know what it would have become and I have been writting that material for years.

Up first, we have Odile by Alan Caillou with art by William Stout. Caillou became a prolific script writer and actor. Stout has art everywhere.  The women of the small villiage of Petit Gruet do not like Odile Lautrec, not one bit. She is accused of stealing men and dancing naked under the moon, so she must be a witch. Then the trouble begins and doesn't end even after Odile is dead. Set in 1936 (and told from the perspective of much later on) it is a great modern witch tale.

Joseph Harris's Potlach is next, also illustrated by William Stout. Here, the devil takes up in Country Club. In Markham Town! by Jack G. Levine is a tale of gothic horror in the post-atomic age and how the monsters are still out there. 

The Postman Always... is a quick little tale of the Devil in modern times by Richard P. Flanagan. And followed by a Faustian tale Of Brides & Brimstone by Lenore Betcker and more art by William Stout.

Spell of Desperation by G. Kissinger brings Black and White Magic to the modern age and is a great example of what Coven 13 was really trying to do: mixing magic, modern times, horror, and the gritty feel of the pulps of the 1970s. Though the tale is still rough by 21st-century standards. 

James H. Keaveny's is an odd one out. Let There Be Magick! is not a modern tale, but set on a planet named Camelot. So both fantasy and futuristic. It's a bit of Sword & Planet with magic. It is also explicitly Part 1 of 5. 

With Issue #1 done, I admire the direction Coven 13 was going in. Either it was on the cusp of the prevailing Zeitgeist of the Occult Revival of the 1970s (which I have typically placed at its peak in 1973 with the release of "The Exorcist") or just a little bit before it. Likely before it. 

I think the reason that Coven 13 didn't become more prominant during this time was due to the rise of cheap paperback novels. Something I have detailed before. 

We still have a few more issues to go, so plenty still to talk about.

October Movie Challenge: Phenomena (1985)

Going back to 1985, to another Argento giallo, and another rewatch. Though it has been a little bit since I saw this one. This movie is notable for being one of the earliest roles for actress Jennifer Connley. This is not her first role, but it is one of her breakout ones along with Labyrinth of the same year.

Phenomena (1985)

This movie has it all: a serial killer and a Swiss boarding school, Donald Pleasence and some heavy metal, psychic insects, and even a chimp with a straight razor. And yet one would be hard-pressed to call that a full description of what is on screen. It is bonkers. I kinda love it.

We begin with the murder of a young girl. By the way, what is it with Argento and scissors? Anyway, as it turns out, her murder isn't the important piece, well at least at first. What is important are the bugs. 

The story soon follows Jennifer Corvino (Connley), the teen daughter of a well-known American actor. He has put her in the Richard Wagner Academy for Girls (yup, that is the name), an exclusive institution in the Swiss countryside. The locals have a way of calling the region "Swiss Transylvania," which might have given her father pause before he left her there.

Jennifer is prone to sleepwalking. On one such nocturnal wandering, she comes across the murder of a young woman and makes her way to forensic entomologist Professor John McGregor (Donald Pleasence). McGregor examines the insects on a corpse to tell the police where and when a death occurred. He is also the owner of Inga, a very smart chimpanzee who acts as his aide and nurse.

Jennifer realizes she has a peculiar rapport with insects; they do not go after her. She can sense them, talk to them, maybe even put them to work. McGregor figures this talent could be put to use in tracking down the man responsible for the deaths of young women in the vicinity of the school. Because of course that is what you do.

Like I said. Completely insane.

Again, this is like four movies. A serial killer, psychic girl, bugs, and whatever the hell is supposed to be up with that chimp. Not to mention the Swiss Transylvania thing, the headmistress who missed the casting call for a Nazi She-wolf of the SS movie,  and the asylum next door to the school. Most directors would have whittled that list down to two or three concepts. Not Argento.

Connelly is good and is showing some of the promise that will feature in her future roles. Hard to believe she is only 14-15 here. I mean, yes, she looks young, but she has solid acting skills. Her character is scared of the goings on around her but at the same time drawn to the insects; she has no desire to be cured of it, only to make sense of it.  Of course, the adults in her life are of little assistance. The school thinks her unstable, her peers make fun of her, and a doctor wants to write it off as mental illness. Then there is McGregor. He wants to use her as the bug-whisperer. It is the sort of role Pleasence excelled at in the 1970s and 1980s. Brilliant, eccentric, and likely clued in to something the rest of the cast can only guess at.  His and Connely's interaction is one of the best things in the movie.  A movie of just these two exploring her psychic ability would have been good.

The soundtrack is an odd mix of songs from Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Andi Sex Gang, and the like with Goblin and Claudio Simonetti. To have heavy metal intrude on a scene of Gothic suspense can be jarring, but it puts an identity on the film. At times it is brilliant; at others one gets the impression someone has put on the wrong record. I can't deny the soundtrack, on its own, is great. 

In the final act, Phenomena lets go of any pretense of restraint.  Typical for the time and typical for Argento really. We are treated to a decaying house with a secret basement, a pool of decomposing bodies and maggots, a murderous mutant child and some violent turns of events. There is even a chimpanzee of unexpected utility. In the last twenty minutes, Jennifer endures an extraordinary ordeal. By the time she is done, caked in filth, blood and bugs, she has stopped running from what she is capable of. For me, that is what makes the film. 

She starts out as the kind of odd girl everyone wants to dismiss or put in her place, but she is not so easily put down because the source of her strangeness is real and potent.

Is this one of Argento’s finest? Not likely. It is erratic and too given to substituting one bizarre notion for logic. But it is fun, often gorgeous and horrific to look at in equal measure.

I watched the longer Italian cut. That is the one I recommend over the shorter "Creepers" version. Though it does remind me I really need to learn Italian. 

Jackson, IL Connections

Jennifer Corvino is right at home in NIGHT SHIFT. As a psychic who channels her gifts through insects, she can quiet a dangerous bug or get an impression from those congregating on a corpse, and in time turn them into a threat. That ought to be frightening to all concerned.

So, take an adventure where a student at a private academy claims to have seen a murder in her sleep. The adults don’t believe her, but a forensic entomologist notes the swarm outside her window is arranging itself into a map. The insects are telling her where the dead are buried. A bit heavy-handed? Yeah, but I lack Argento's style.

Phenomena is a supernatural giallo, a heavy-metal nightmare, an origin story of sorts. It has no business working. Yet it does.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
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Working the NIGHT SHIFT: What Charmed Taught Me About Witches

 October 7, 1998 was the premiere of Charmed on The WB. Just seven months after the premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the show would be most often compared to.  By this point, I had been writing about witches for a decade, but hadn't published anything yet (one more year). But I want to talk about what Charmed taught me about witches, specifically, what Charmed taught me about witches in NIGHT SHIFT.

Charmed (1998 - 2006, 2018-2022)

Charmed was about witches. But this was a different take than other witches on TV. We had Samantha in Bewitched and Sabrina in her own show, which showed that a witch can work well, if comedically, in modern times. Charmed had more to do with the 1996 movie The Craft, including using Love Spit Love's cover of The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?"

The witches of Charmed were not old hags or evil sorceresses. Nor were they suburban housewives dealing with the magical and mundane worlds. They were three estranged sisters who discovered they were not just witches, but a powerful kind of witch known as The Charmed Ones. Their job was to protect innocents from supernatural threats like warlocks, monsters, and, in particular, demons, all while trying to hold down regular jobs, maintain relationships, and find a way to mend the broken pieces of their own pasts. It was a very different, and honestly a more mature take on how to deal with otherworldly weirdness in a normal world than, say, what Buffy was doing on a different day.

The show began with three sisters: Prue (Shannen Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs), and Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano). Later on, when Prue is killed, Rose McGowan joined as a younger half-sister, Paige Matthews. The Halliwells lived in San Francisco in a house owned by their Grandmother, Penny "Grams" (Jennifer Rhodes). When Grams dies, their magic comes back. Their mother, Patty (Finola Hughes), had died years before, fighting a demon.

Charmed was not perfect by any stretch. There were some continuity issues. Some of the episodes were goofy. Some were not great. Some were just an excuse to dress the stars in costumes. But the show had heart. I felt that the first three seasons at least tried to be consistent in their world-building, particularly in their magic. For example, the police detective and love interest to Prue, Andy Trudeau (T.W. King) knows about cults and recognizes witchcraft items like an athame (and pronounces it correctly) among other items. As the show moved on, other new ideas were added, like Whitelighters and other types of sabbats. But Charmed was never supposed to be a documentary on Witchcraft. 

I knew Charmed would work as a game world back in 2012 at Gen Con.

I signed up to play in a Buffy RPG game that was a Buffy-Charmed-Supernatural crossover. I had played a lot of Buffy by then (naturally), but I was looking forward to playing a witch. So I picked Piper. Let me tell you, that was a freaking blast. One of the best times I had playing at Gen Con where I was a player and not the GM.

I had also already done my own crossover prior to that.

So when work began on NIGHT SHIFT, I already knew what I wanted.

Charmed and NIGHT SHIFT

Charmed has been with NIGHT SHIFT from the very start. During playtesting, for instance, I used the Charmed Ones as playtest characters. They served a purpose because they were more than just three people who happened to have magic. Each sister brings her own mix of strengths, weaknesses, and personality to the table, yet in combination they are something else entirely. That is what I was after for NIGHT SHIFT.

From this (and many other ideas) came the concept of Arcane Bonds. Power is not always an isolated thing; it can be drawn from the ties between characters, family, friendship, love, or even shared trauma. The Power of Three is the obvious case in point with Charmed, but I was less interested in replicating that particular mechanic than in the wider principle. I wanted a game where a character’s connections made them stronger, rather than just another spell or level-up. It suited my way of writing witches at the time. You can even see the development of the idea in my previous writings.

The Halliwells were formidable, but their magic was inextricably linked to their family history and obligations. Their enemies were often the result of events predating their birth. Their connection to magic and their ancestors were all part of the equation. To me, that is a far better model than a mere spellcaster with a different repertoire.

In NIGHT SHIFT, the structure is similar. The characters lead ordinary lives until the supernatural intrudes, whether they seek it out or it comes through the front door. One has to deal with both.

More than anything, Charmed offered me a new perspective on witches as protagonists. They were not types who stood apart from the world and peered in; they had families and jobs and bills like everyone else, along with the attendant problems. The supernatural was there to complicate those realities, not to put them aside. I would come to value that notion highly. The first setting I dealt with all of this was my "Ordinary World," Night World. Here, supernatural types all have to try to get along to maintain the appearance of normality, lest the "mundanes" find out. 

Charmed and Jackson

With Jackson the influence is perhaps deeper, but not as overt.

Larina, Stephanie, and Faye are not Halliwell imitations; their world is darker, the town is not San Francisco, and their magic is of a different sort. But Charmed gave me license to pursue what I already held to be true for a very long time: that witches can be heroes. Not the kind you have to sanitize, but the ones with their rituals, old books, and unsettling family secrets. There is no need for any of that to make them the villain. Stephanie's family comes from old money and not all of that was "clean money." Larina learns she has some demonic blood in her going back generations. And Faye. Poor girl is being raised by hags, and bits of her soul are being bartered out for more magic. But each one is trying to make the world better than it was before. All while dealing with normal things.

It is right at the heart of Jackson. Larina might spend her day concerned over school or whether Stephanie is mad at her, and then face down whatever has emerged from the Bad Land by nightfall. The two coexist. No. More than that. They are inseparable. 

I was also reminded of the role of family history. The Halliwells not only inherit power but also unfinished business. You will find plenty of that in Jackson. Larina’s abilities are bound to things that transpired long before she was here, and so is the town. Faye's Thorne and Voss heritages come with some serious magical debts. There are old crimes, monsters, and promises in its past. Sometimes the young ones have to put right what their grandparents or some long-dead soul left behind.

Places have a way of mattering too, much like the Halliwell manor. A library can be a repository of dangerous knowledge, a house can be more than four walls, and a town’s history will not always lie buried. Those Devil Chairs in the cemeteries have to mean something. Magical Mystery Lane leads somewhere.

Charmed did not put these ideas in my head, but it demonstrated how well they function in a sustained narrative. Witchcraft does not have to be an escape from life. It can be a part of it.

The Second Charmed

The second Charmed series taught me something different.

When the reboot premiered in 2018, it understandably wanted to inherit many of the things people associated with the original show. There were three sisters (Macy, Mel, and Maggie), the Power of Three, Whitelighters, demons, a Book of Shadows, and all the other pieces we immediately recognized as Charmed.

But having the pieces is not the same thing as building the thing.

Too often, I felt the second series wanted the benefits of the original Charmed without doing all the work that had made those ideas matter in the first place. The Halliwells had years of history, relationships, losses, mistakes, and accumulated mythology behind them. You could not simply reproduce the visible parts and expect the same emotional investment.

Interestingly, I thought the newer Charmed worked best when it stopped trying so hard to be the old Charmed and started becoming its own show. When it developed its own mythology, its own relationships, and its own answers to what witches and magic were, it became much more interesting to me.

That lesson has been extremely useful while developing Jackson.

I cannot just take three witches, drop them into a fictionalized Jacksonville, Illinois, and expect Charmed to happen.

Nor would I want it to.

Jackson has to grow out of Jackson. Its witches need their own histories, relationships, families, enemies, mistakes, and reasons for being there. The supernatural world has to emerge from the place's history and character rather than be imported wholesale from elsewhere.

Influence is useful. Inspiration is essential. But imitation is not world-building.

The things I learned from Charmed can help me understand what makes Larina and her friends work. They cannot tell me who Larina and her friends are. They can't tell me who YOUR characters are.

That part has to come from Jackson.

And that is the part I think is useful for anyone building their own game setting. You can absolutely start with the things you love. Take the family dynamics from one show, the occult atmosphere from another, the monster hunting from somewhere else, and the small-town weirdness from something completely different. But eventually those influences have to become yours.

If I can take all these influences and use them to build Larina, Jackson, Carbon Vale, and Sunny Valley into something with its own identity, then you can do the same with your characters and your world.

The goal is not to recreate the thing that inspired you.

The goal is to discover what it inspires you to create.

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