Showing posts with label Lilith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lilith. Show all posts

Friday, January 25, 2013

Let's Talk About Sex(y)

Here is a question I am pondering this snowy Friday.

How much sex and/or nudity is "too much" in an RPG?

I know the stock answer is "depends on the person".  Well in this case the person is you.

I recently bought some art for inclusion in a new book.  One piece I got is a full frontal of a woman. It's line art, and not "porn" but certainly more than you would have seen in say the Monster Manual of 1979.

briefly touched on this before.

I have picked up some books recently that featured a fair bit of nudity of some sort another.
In the Teratic Tome it is meant to horrify, in Sisters of Rapture it is meant to be alluring.

For me. I guess I don't really know.
I mean I buy these games to play so the art is great, but are the words with it good?
I am an adult, but my kids also like to play and read my books.  So some books I stick on the higher shelf for now. My oldest does have his own 1st Ed Monster Manual, but he also has access to the internet.
I try to be honest with myself and say yes I like looking at sexy women, but don't want to objectify people either.
Plus why am I squeamish about this and not the violence?  I have spells in The Witch that send out waves of necromatic power to twist, break and slash people for crying out loud.
I do know what I like.

Share your thoughts.
What would you buy?


Thursday, October 20, 2011

October Challenge: Succubus Hell Bent


I like succubi. But you might all know that by now. [1][2] And I love movies of succubi and Lilith.  So this was one I was really looking forward too.  Man, am striking out everywhere.

Succubus: Hell Bent (2007)
So simple story here.  Stupid rich kid with stupid best friend go on spring break to hook up with some girls. The rich kid, Adam (see what they did there?) meets a really hot woman, Lilith, and they go back to his hotel for sex.  She demands to be on top and then claws him up during sex. Then there is the whole gowing eyes deal.  It was kind of like watching a metal video from the 80s.
Anyway stupid rich boy goes back to LA.  And Lilith tracks him down.  She then goes about screwing him and killing all his friends.
We get a Lamas cameo and even Gary Busey makes a brief appearance as Sentinel  the Demon Hunter for Hire (who should get his own movie where he does nothing but talk to his sword).
Stupid kid finally manages to kill Lilith and then goes to jail for her murder.

I really wanted to like this one.  But the the plot is to weak and the editing was done by a blind guy I think.  There is a certain charm about this flick though.  Natalie Sperl is good as Lilith and plays the role with enough creepy-stalkerness and humor to make you root for her instead of stupid kid.  Plus she is easy on the eyes, which is never a bad thing.
The special effects are not too bad really.  I did like Lilith's demonic form.
Though we all know Lilith is a red head.

Here are a couple of links with longer reviews.  Both are good sites.
http://www.succubus.net/wiki/Succubus_Hell_Bent
http://www.1000misspenthours.com/reviews/reviewsn-z/succubushellbent.htm

Still searching for a really good succubus movie.

Tally 20 movies, 18 new.

Game content:  Gary MOTHEREFFING Busey as a demonhunter for hire?  Hell yes!

Trouble is we get so little of him that it is hard to know what any of his stats should be.  He is older, maybe washed up.  Has connections to the church and has a magical sword named Lucille.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Season of the Witch: Episode 2

Episode 2: This Blessed Plot

Summer 2004
Willow & Tara travel to England (courtesy of Cordy) where they discover the secret of the "Journal of Tamara Swift" and their suprising connection to the Protectors of Albion.  They also run into two groups of supernaturals, one wants the Awakening to happen the other does not. Which side should Willow and Tara choose when they still don't know what the Awakening is?

Synopsis
Now unlike “the Dragon and the Phoenix” adventures, these are not as well playtested or developed. My group was breaking up about this time, I was getting a new job and I was moving back to playing some more D&D. The first half of the season, the “Road Stories” portion, was well thought out, but after the girls get back home was when we all started doing different things. You will notice a lack of cover art for many episodes for example.

“This Blessed Plot” is actually the first “proper” episode of Season of the Witch. While “Semi-Charmed Life” sets up the “rules” of the new series, the actual adventure is not part of the full arc. This is something Charmed did often, an aperitif before the main course.

This episode is an homage to “Coming Up Roses”, a Willow & Tara fan fic site that first convinced me that these two characters were worth playing in a game. I then created a WitchCraft RPG game based in that world (not really Whedon’s). While that was fun, it didn’t last. But that game really shaped how I playtested the Buffy RPG and how I wrote the characters. TBP is also a nod to my own playtest group. We had switched over fully to Ghosts of Albion by this point and this was our way of bring the worlds together. There was a desire to keep the girls in England for a while and make that the series. But in the end I wanted to pursue the “Road Stories” idea some more.

The episode begins with the Cast (Willow, Tara and Cordy) “orbing” (teleporting) to England. The book Tara bought, “The Journal of Tamara Swift” contained a letter addressed to Tara telling her to come to the Swift home in Highgate. When they arrive they discover that the Swift mansion is now a museum of witchcraft and magic. There they meet the curator, Millicent Stuart, and discover that Tara looked exactly like Tamara. They also meet a teen-ager, Sennen, who looks like the newest Slayer. Sennen works with Millicent, but “Millie” is not her watcher.

While in England Willow & Tara are contacted by Anya who tells them that her employer wants meet them. They are surprised that Anya knew that they were coming. I have a great seen were Anya and Cordy meet for the very first time. They don’t actually care for each other. Long story short, Anya is separated from Xander and working for Lilith’s human corporate empire. They meet Lilith (played by Angie Everhart) and Lilith informs them that they are central to the Awakening and she wants to make sure that they do nothing. She does not want the status quo to change. The Awakening could mean the end of humanity and she is rather fond of humans. She promises to make it worth their while and has Anya wipe out their student loan debt. Anya walks them out and tells them they can trust Lilith, after all they trusted the Mormo and those are her children. Upon leaving “L’Enterprises” the girls are intercepted by a van (Anya is knocked out), thrown in and driven off. They can’t use magic in this van at all, even Cordy can’t orb out. When they stop they are greeted by a woman, Morgan (played by Mia Sara), who claims she is the leader of a group known as “The Witches Committee”. She wants to make sure that the Awakening happens and that Willow and Tara are firmly on her side when it does. Morgan tells the girls that they can trust her.

The girls are found by Lilith’s agents and begin to attack the Witches’ Committee members. A magical “turf war” breaks out with Willow, Tara and Cordy in the middle. Millicent shows up and stops the fighting, we discover she is current Protector of Albion. Both sides agree to leave Willow and Tara alone, but they will be watching them.

Millicent tells the girls they are going to need to discover what the Awakening is on their own; not even Tamara figured it out. Millicent does reveal that the Veil is getting weaker. The Veil is what keeps non-magical people from learning about the magical world. As long as it is in place then any magical occurrence will always have a non-magical answer that people will believe. The Veil was not constructed by William & Tamara, but in the 1880’s they helped make it stronger. The last time it was threatened like this was the late 1970’s, but something happened then and the magic that was supposed to be used to fix it never got used. Millicent tells them that their destinies, the Veil and the Awakening are all intertwined and only they can see it all through.

The girls Orb back to the states (“Air Cordy”), once there Tara’s cell phone rings. It is Dawn, she tells her she has been trying to reach Tara for days. Tara’s father has died and she needs to go home to Alabama.

Notes:
Ok setting up the big plots here. Like I said, no big bad, but I do have some lesser antagonists. I wanted to keep the players guessing on which group was really an ally and which one was not. In the end it would depend on what the Cast decided to do.

I make the William/Tamara and Willow/Tara connection more explicit here. Yes. They are reincarnations of the other. Now a couple of people felt it was a little squicky that Willow had been a man in a previous life and the brother no less. I get that really, but I also wanted to go with the idea that as Anamchara they would go through many lives in many different guises to experience love in a number of ways, including platonic sibling love. I won’t spoil the books for you all, but William and Tamara don’t have the best of luck with paramours. My idea is they gave that up and went back to what works in their next lives.

Millicent had been “the Guardian” in Coming Up Roses. Here she becomes “The Protector”. She ran a museum of witchcraft, which I decided was the old Swift mansion. Millicent and Sennen are detailed here, http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/01/sennen-saranta-living-in-love-of-common.html

The Witches Committee look like a bad Rosicrucian rip off, but in my WitchCraft Games, they are Wicce that want to protect all the Gifted in the world. It is just some have decided that the best way to do that is to control all the mundanes. They want the veil to drop and magic to be out again. This way they are poised to be humanities “protectors” from the evils of the magical world. Lilith wants the status quo to remain, but she certainly has plans in place to take advantage of any situation. There are two other factions that need to be introduced and all of them are watching Willow and Tara.

The Veil is a glamour that keeps us from seeing the effects of magic in the world. But it has been weakening for years (thus the proliferation of all the TV shows about the supernatural!). It’s going to fall. The question is what will happen when it does.

Next up, a strange sort of homecoming…

Friday, October 8, 2010

The Dragon and the Phoenix: Episode 7

Episode 7: The Road to Hell


Tara: My whole life has been ‘Tara, don’t use your magic.’ ‘Tara, hide your powers.’ ‘Tara you will scare people or hurt an innocent.’ But you are not innocent are you? You tried to hurt and then kill Willow. So maybe it is time I showed everyone just how powerful I am.
- Willow and Tara: The Dragon and the Phoenix, Episode 7 "The Road to Hell"



March 15, 2003. 
Saturday

Buffy must make a pact with demons to fight Leviathan. Anya is ordered to kill the Cast. The Knights of Elohim are back, this time with a Tainted Fallen with them, but not before stopping off in LA to fight Faith. A group of demons, the Mormolycia (Mormo), go to the Slayer for aid in fighting him before he ignites the Hellmouth with his Taint. Yoln has discovered the final piece of Pillager. Cast discovers that he is nothing but pure will now, his body having decayed completely away by the mad god’s Taint. D’Hoffryn orders Anya to kill the Cast to prove her loyalty to him. When she doesn’t he strips her of her power and curses Xander. Tara defeats a newly resurected Warren, but she and Willow have a big fight.
The Cast learns that Faith is dying.
Story Arc elements: The Yoln arc is moved up, the Knights are killed finally, Buffy makes a pact with a dangerous group of demons, Anya rejoins the Cast, the Bronze is destroyed, Andrew dies a horrible death screaming and crying like the little b!tch he is. Buffy’s disconnection to others is more pronounced when the Mormo demons seem to have more in common with her and even call her “sister” when they call everyone else “monkeys”. Willow begins to take more of a backseat role as the group’s magic powerhouse. Tony Foster is introduced. Giles discovers the truth about Slayers and the Watchers council.
Game design elements: Taint rules for Cinematic games, new group of demons, more on Fallen Angels, rules for curses.
Soundtrack: Chris Rea “Road to Hell”


Notes and Comments:
This one is huge. The biggest adventure to date actually takes place, game time, in the shortest amount of time. We have Warren coming back, summoned by Andrew. Warren kills Andrew and takes his skin. And believe me fewer things were more enjoyable to write than Andrew dying like a little stuck pig. Warren-in-Andrew's skin now works on getting the Knights of Elohim back into town. They have brought one of their own who is now Tainted; think of the Hulk with greasy black wings. The Knights want the Slayer, but Warren wants Willow. At the same time someone or something (Yoln) has been killing all the supernatural creatures in town looking for the last half of his sword (which Warren has). There is a scene in the begining when the cast goest to the Wharf Bar because they hear the Hellions are back. They are, or were, but when they get there they are all dead including two of the Knights.

Mormo DemonWe also introduced a new race of the demons, the Lilim. One sub-race, the Mormolycia, are a group of warrior demons, normally they all look like stunningly attractive 6ft tall women in green armor. Their true form is so horrifying that other demons fear them. The Mormo make a pact with the Slayer. They will leave each other alone in order to fight the greater threat, the Tainted Fallen and later Leviathan. Stat-wise the Mormo are Slayers. This is on purpose since it is later revealed that the progenitor of the Slayers was Lilith (see: Every Angel is Terrifying). The Mormo keep refering to Buffy as "Sister" and the others as "monkeys". Thier leader H'Cathh was once known to Anya.

The big battle happens at the Bronze. We have Warren in his Andrew suit with Bronze regulars that he has turned into zombies with some tech device. The fallen Angels. The Tainted Fallen (who is crazy) and Yoln who will fight anything not human. On the other side we have the Cast and the Mormo demons. Keeping track of all that combat was a nightmare. In the end the fallen, the tainted fallen and the zombies are killed. Yoln's head it cut off by Buffy but they discover there is nothing under the armor but pure will to live. Yoln gets up gets his sword piece from Warren and leaves. The Mormo keep their word and tell "their sister" that they will be at her side in the final battle. Tara defeats Warren with her "special power" (more on that), but she and Willow have a huge fight. Before that can get heated D'Hoffryn shows up asking Ana why she has not killed the Slayer yet, a job he gave her to do 2-3 episodes back. He strips her of her power and curses Xander to always feel her pain. Game wise this means any damage Anya takes, Xander takes as well. Images from Star Trek I have not gotten out of my head since I was a kid. During the fight the Bronze blows up, well parts of it.

Warren and Tara: this was an interesting problem. We knew he was going to have to come back to deal with the issue of Willow murdering him (we didn’t want to forget that really), but for the balance we wanted Tara to have to defeat him. Our working theory was to have Tara go all uber witch on him and show that you can be powerful but not have to resort to “dark magic” to do it. But I never liked that idea. And we went back and forth on this for a long time. In the end I made an executive choice but a bit of a compromise. Tara was going to show off some power, but only in terms of defense. Bullets melted when coming near her or bounced off and really that is the same spell she used in Episode 5. She did the one thing though that I felt was totally in character and showed that she was more powerful than the others. She forgave him. In that instant Warren lost all his anger and it was replaced by guilt and remorse. I wanted to show that being empowered did not mean having a power-up. Plus there is the other issue at hand, Adam Busch is in reality a nice guy and pretty cool. He hated playing that character and he told Whedon that killing Tara was “the stupidest thing he ever heard of”. So I was willing to cut him a break by not “playing” that character here. Warren, who the cops think is Andrew, goes to jail. Jonathan, who turned himself in at the start of the episode, is released thanks to Tara giving him the phone number of Tatsou from Episode 4. There is a truce between demons and the Slayer thanks to the Mormo (but she still gets to kill vampires). Willow and Tara are still fighting, but it is that silent sort where you are both mad but not talking. Anya and Xander are dealing with their new reality. Giles tells Buffy what he has learned about Slayers (see link above).

The cast then hears that Faith is in the hospital, she had fought Yoln, and she is going to die.

Next up. Dawn goes all Carrie and goes toe to toe with Willow as the magic powerhouse of the cast.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 2

Continuing on with my tribute to the Succubus (or is that obsession?) here is some crunch.

Succubae for Ghosts of Albion (Cinematic Unisystem)

Succubae are demons that seduce men and feed off of their base desires and life force.
She can drain 1 Point of CON each night she visits, but must grapple awake opponents or visit them when sleeping.
The succubus can learn magic, but most often they do not.

Creature Type: Succubus (Demon)
Attributes: Str 3, Dex 5, Con 5, Int 4, Per 3, Will 6
Ability Scores: Muscle 12, Combat 13, Brains 15
Life Points: 45
Drama Points: 2

Powers: Glamour; Constitution Drain (1 CON point per visit); Flight; Insubstantial Form;
Qualities: Attractive 4; Hard to Kill; Innate Magic; Resistance (Fire, Poison; Mind Control); Telepathy; Charming Voice
Drawbacks: Lecherous; Covetous; Inhuman Form

Maneuvers
Name;  Score; Damage; Notes
Bite;  13; 5;  Must grapple first; no defence action
Claw;  13; 8;  Two attacks per Turn
Grapple; 13; —;  Resisted by dodge
Kiss/Embrace; *; 1 CON point; Must Grapple first

Spellcasting 15 Varies By spell
Deflect 15 — Magic defence action; deflects spells 45º

Bat Winged Bimbo (Buffy and Angel, Cinematic Unisystem)
4-Point Quality
(Trying to do my best "Buffy-style" here)
Bat wing bimbos are demons, but don’t hold it against them. Sure they are as evil as their bigger sister the Succubi, but a girl has to make a living too. Like so many that leave their homes and end up in Southern California, the BWB has learned to do some things she never thought she would ever do to earn a buck.
Often times when not looking for a soul to steal, these catty little demons can be found fighting amongst themselves, avoiding over zealous demon hunters, or trying to get a real movie deal because they know they are a star and they hope no one will look into their pasts.

Being a Bat-Winged Bimbo gives you the following:
- 3 Levels of Attractive. We all know that evil always looks better.
- 3 levels of Hard To Kill. Living in a Hell hole makes you a bit tougher, living in Hell itself turns you into a hard ass bitch.
- Asbestos Soul. BWB gain a +1 Resistance to pain from fire and heat. BWB treat fire damage as regular damage (no extra damage each turn).
- Those cute horns count as a natural weapon, doing 1-2 points of damage per hit. (+1)
- Those sexy wings provide flight at the same movement rate as running. (+1)
- Gossipy. BWB bimbos tend to be a chatty, gossipy lot. Sure 99% of it is about manicures for wing talons and how to snag a good (evil?) demon lord, but some it useful. They get a +2 to their Occultism skill (the Things Man Was Not Meant to Know are fine for women it seems).
But this comes with a fair amount of drawbacks too.
Bat-Wing Bimbos have a host of mental and emotional problems. They are mean spirited (literally), petty, and vindictive not to mention lecherous little harpies. In game terms this equates to Cruel 1, Covetous (Greedy) 1, Covetous (Lecherous) 1.
Those large wings and horns might be totally hot, but you could never take her home to mom (unless of course mom was into that kinky stuff). This is worth Supernatural Form (definitely not human).

Bat Winged Bimbos as Characters
BWB can be a useful part of an otherwise upstanding and moral party of demon hunters. Slayers hate them, but those scrawny little bitches are just jealous. The biggest issue of course is how to hide those wings, horns and tail. Faerie Glamours or other illusion magics will hide their natural form from the mundane, but anyone that can see magic will see through that disguise to what she really looks like.

Bat Winged Bimbos were created to be something like a "lesser Succubus", akin to the old D&D Alu-Demon.  These were obviously inspired by the the same creatures in Macho Women with Guns.
If you go with my alternate take on Slayers from Every Angel is Terrifying then Succubi, Lilim and Slayers are all related.

Witch Girls Adventures
Malcolm Harris, the author of Witch Girls Adventures mentions that there are no demons in the Witch Girls universe, but there are spirits called "Hates".  It is actually kind of a neat concept.  If there are hate spirits then certainly there can be other deadly sins, such as lust spirits.  Alternately there could also be a type of vampire that feeds on emotions rather than blood.  The ones that feed on the more amorous emotions (lust, love) could be called Succubi.  In this sense they are more similar to the WitchCraft RPG Vampyre subtype.

A succubus in WGA should probably be something like Chloe Love from the Eerie Cuties webcomic.

Succubus
Rank: 3
Body: d6 Mind: d6 Senses: d8
Will: d8 Social: d8 Magic: d6
Life Points: 12 Reflex: 9
Resist Magic: 9 Zap Points: 12
Skills: Athletics +2, Basics +2, Dancing +4, Fighting +1, Hear +1, Leader +3, Look +2, Magic Etiquette +2, Mundane Etiquette +3, Mysticism +2, *Mythology +4, Streetwise +3
Abilities: Beautiful, Mysterious
Heritage: Demon / Lust Spirit / Vampire
Spells: Succubi have access to all the Charm type spells in the WGA core.

Cortex
Cortex is a system I have talked about off and on.  It is one I like, just not one I get to play a lot of.
Succubi would work well in Cortex since the characters tend to skew more normal than say Buffy or Ghosts of Albion.  A single Succubi with a good plan should be more than a match for a group of heroes.
For example imagine the havoc a succubus could do to the investigators in a Supernatural game.

Succubus (Base)
Agi d10 Str d6 Vit d10
Ale d12 Int d8 Wil d12

Init d10 + d12
LP 22
Endurance d10 + d12
Resistance d10 + d10

Traits
Allure d10, Amorous d8, Enhanced Communication d6, Enhanced Senses d6, Immunity d12, Inherent Weapon (claws) d2, Sharp Senses d6

Skills Athletics d4/Acrobatics d6, Influence d4, Knowledge d8/Occultism d12, Melee Weapons d4, Perception d6, Unarmed Combat d6

Attacks: The Succubus drains life force from her victims. She either does this while the victm is sleeping, in her embrace, or if she has grappled the victim. Once she has a victim in her embrace she will drain for a number of turns equal to a third the maximum result of the victim’s Vitality Attribute. She will return to the victim two more times, draining the remaining third each time till the victim dies.

Spellcraft & Swordplay
Succubi are set to appear in the upcoming Spellcraft & Swordplay supplement Eldritch Witchery, as soon as I finish writing it.  Among other things, EW will also feature Demons and Devils.  Succubi are the daughters of the Queen of Demons.

Succubus

#App: 1
AL: E
SZ: M
AC: 7
Move: 90' / Fly: 120'
HD: 6 (25)
Attacks: Claw/Claw/Special (2 dagger-2)
Special: Fly 120', Energy Drain (kiss), Darkvision, Dominate, Magic Resistance (fire), Immune to mundane weapons
Treasure: 6
XP: 345

These female demons are not found in great numbers and never working together.  They claim to be the daughters of the Demon Queen, but this is a claim the Demon Queen herself neither supports nor denies.  In any case these demons, while not physically very powerful, are capable of controlling other demons that are far more powerful.  Succbi are charged with the tempting of mortals, a task they relish in.  They appear as unearthly beautiful women (or men if needed), in their true form they stand 6' high and feature small horns, a tail and large bat-like wings growing from their backs.
A Succubus can cause Darkness 5', have Darkvision, can Dominate any one (1) PC and can become Incorporeal at will.  The Succubi lures her victim into acts of passion and drains their life force with a kiss.  This Energy Drain takes 1 life level/hit dice.  She can also use the following spells as a Witch (wizard) of 6th level, Charm Person, Detect Good, Continual Flame, ESP, Clairaudience, Hold Person, and Polymorph Self. Succubi also have Spell Resistance against fire based magic.  If pressed they can attack with two claw attacks (dagger -2), if each attack succeeds then she can also grapple for her energy drain attack/kiss.
A succubus can gate in another demon (expect another succubus) ... details in Eldritch Witchery.

Last Thoughts
Regardless of the game Succubi should be given the same attention that one would give a vampire in a horror game; that is treat it like a special NPC and build her as a character. Most demons can be part of the mindless hordes you send after the characters, and in most cases this is the appropriate thing to do.  Succubi though, since they tend to work alone and are very specialized in their hunts, should be built to suit. A succubus designed to go after William Swift in Ghosts of Albion should be different than the one sent after Dean Winchester in Supernatural.

Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 1
Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 3
Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 4

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 1

I'll admit it.  I have a soft spot in my heart for Succubi.   Those little trollops from Hell tempting men with their wild demonic ways.  There are the fangs, the wings and the whole draining your life force and taking your soul to Hell.

What is not to love?

Maybe it was that David Sutherland Succubus from the AD&D Monster Manual.  This was hot stuff back in 1979. She was like a perky little cheerleader for Satan. With wings instead of pom-poms.  I always said if I ever got a tattoo this would be it.  Well, maybe never said that out-loud.

One of the very few movies about a succubus was called, at least when I rented it on VHS many years ago, The Succubus.  I looked for this film forever.  Of course I finally found it again, under it's more common title of The Devil's Nightmare.  She was a blue skinned demon that reminds me of the old AD&D Monster Cards. Though there is this other movie also called "Succubus", http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062032/, but I don't think I ever saw that one.  I wonder why Succubi don't appear in more movies but I can think of a few named succubi that appear in D&D alone and that is not counting the Anime, modern horror books, webcomics, and even their own Wiki and Blog.  Reaper minis have practically made a market on little metal succubi.

I was recently going through the old Mentzer Immortal set for Basic (BECMI) D&D.  One of the very cool things in that book was how they portrayed the Succubus.  They called them "Whispering Demons".  How cool is that.  That really changes their nature in terms of a combat game.  Now they are not out there fighting the characters, but working subtly behind the scenes to get things done.  Sort of like how they re-visioned the Orion Slave Girls in Trek.  I like that idea myself.  Ups their temptress/seductress side and down plays their combat. Even if in the Immortal rules, they are 15 HD compared to the MM's 6 HD. Ok, not exactly the same systems I know.  The succubus has had a few changes over the years and editions.  They were absent from AD&D 2nd Ed for the longest time only to turn up as Tanar'ri.I guess that was an attempt to placate the Religious Right.  In D&D 3.x they were back to their 1st Ed demonic selves really, but some of the 2nd Ed baggage was kept.  In D&D 4 they become devils (more on that in a sec) but they are certainly the same things.  In fact, the only thing really different about them is they are not just content to tempt humans but Arch Devils now too.

I did a review/write-up on the Selfish Succubus from Flames Rising and did a bunch of stat ups for that, not all of which were demons.  In the WitchCraft game (and in the old Vampire game too I think) they are a type of Vampire.  I also have some Succubi I did for a Willow & Tara adventure, but mine were not much different than what appeared in the 1st Ed. AD&D book.  I did play of off my 2nd Ed AD&D Witch book and classified them not as demons, but as Lilim, or the Daughters of Lilith.  Compare this to what they did to them in D&D 4.0, where they are now listed as devils. This one of the changes to the D&D 4 game I actually disliked at first.  I can see the reasons behind it, but it seemed to be a odd change to me.  Demons are about destruction and lust, betrayal and dominance is just another form of that.  What though is nice about the 4E Succubus is she now fills the role of both the 3E Succubus and the 3E "Pleasure Devil" or Brachina, which was something like a fallen angel.  Plus I do like the idea of the Arch Dukes of Hell having their own group of Succubi spies.

Going to the myths is helpful, but confusing.  There are so many creatures that are like the succubus and they are also often confused with vampires, lamias, and Night Hags.  Though that is the thing about RPGs.  In myth there are thousands of monsters with lots of overlap or maybe even different names for the same thing.  So I can have my succubus and my night hag and even though they share similar backgrounds I can keep them separate.  Playing off of the Maiden-Mother-Crone archetypes I can have my Succubi as twisted Maidens (stealing men's vital essence), Lamia (and not the collection of bugs one) as the dark Mother that eats babies, and Night Hags as a Crone who does not impart wisdom, but madness (and a nasty surprise).

I could argue then that Succubi in my games are Lilim, the offspring of Lilith and various devils.  I think I can live with that.  Succubi in my D&D games then at least, are the offspring of Demons and Devils.  Sure.  Desired by all and trusted by none.

How to Use Succubi in your game
Succubi are the perfect foil for a group of adventurers.  Adventurers, especially high-level ones, are everything a Succubi would want.  They have power, fame, and prestige and can influence the world. Since a fair number of adventurers are in it for fame and fortune, or at least ale and wenches, a succubus is like candy.  The beauty of it is that even when some players figure it out, they still might go for it.  It's like the "alien girlfriend" trope in some Anime; "I am so awesome my girlfriend is a Demon!" It's the same reason there are so many catgirls out there.

The obvious choice is of course the Temptress for a darker power.  The Succubi are sent to the game world to collect souls.  Once they have them they go back and give them to their pimp the Arch Duke that employs them.

In my Unisystem games I have used Succubi/Lilim a couple of different ways.  In one adventure she was captured along with a bunch of other supernatural types but had fallen in love with an angel.  In another during the same campaign I used succubi as lures and bait for some humans using their magic to drain mundane humans.

What I like to use the most for is a surprise.  Don't get me wrong, I like the whole bad girl thing they have going, and I am a fan.  But a succubus in a game lacks honest surprise from the players.  Not just a good succubus but something way out of the ordinary.  The Succubus Paladin that WotC was going on about in the 3.x days was cool, and I love to hear more of her story.  In 4e I'd love to build a Succubus Warlock. Infernal of course, with her natural 22 Charisma as her casting stat (that's +10 to start). That would be very awesome and a great NPC foe for the PCs.  3rd Ed had level adjustments, so I'll have to figure out how to build her in 4e or even other systems. I think an awesome character then is in order here.  Not Lilith, too much baggage. But something entirely new, and like Dirty Nellie, someone I can use across a lot of different games.

Here is what I have so far.  A succubus was sent to tempt a powerful wizard.  She went in disguised as a human in order to win him over and steal his soul for her dark master.  Of course, the wizard knew what she was all along and finally revealed that fact to her.  They struck a bargain, she would remain and continue her affections (he was still human after all), and he would teach her magic.  Each thought they would have the upper hand, so they both agreed.  Several years later, the succubus had learned much in the ways of magic, and wizard eventually died.  He attempted to cheat his fate by becoming a lich, but she ultimately won.  With the soul in hand, she returned to her dark master.  But once there she had no desire to be the willing servant anymore, so with the power of the wizard's soul and all the magic she had learned she trapped her former master in a soul cage.  She changed her true name and set up shop in the wizard's former tower.  In a moment of what must have been weakness, she released the wizard's soul to find its own rewards in the afterlife.  Now the succubus remains in the world. She seeks out all sorts of magical knowledge and grows in power.  She has a cadre of apprentices to aid her in magical research and provide her with the life energies she needs.

Still needs a bit more detail and a name.  But this is a good start and flexible enough to use in D&D, Ghosts of Albion, any modern horror game, or even a supers game.

Next time: Crunch

Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 2
Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 3
Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 4

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Going (Up) to Hell? Cosmology


I was reading a very interesting post by Mike Mearls the other day about dropping the structure of the planes in favor of something more local. Read his post here, http://kotgl.blogspot.com/2010/01/kill-planes-abyss.html.

Ok? good.

I think his reasons of course are sound and fit nicely with something I have wanted to do forever. When I first picked up that 1st Ed copy of Deities and Demigods I loved the Planes. It had so many interesting places and so many things to do. I got very attached to the Great Wheel cosmology that I began to evaluate fantasy and later horror on how closely it fit that model. Then I began to get lazy. Not in the sense that would not write, quite the opposite, I would come up with elaborate schemes to make things fit the model or not. Whether it needed to or not. Even in my AD&D Grand Opus Adventure the characters went to Hell to confront the evils that invaded their world there was still the Great Wheel. It worked, then, but now I feel it's limitations. Well along came 3rd Edition and suddenly the planes are mutable, changing and even expected to be different depending on how you look at them; 4E changes this even more.

Mike Mearls mentions in his blog that one of the issues of the planes being "out there" that they lose some of their value. History tells us that demons, devils and other bad things came from under-ground, or beyond that mountain or from across the sea; here there be monsters. Monsters come from "beyond the sky" in Lovecraft related fiction, which is fine for tentacle horrors, but devils at least are concerned with the same things humans are. Devils need to be close. They need to be something the common man, woman and child fears. Not just because they are evil, but because they are nearby.

Mike says move the Abyss to your world, I say move Hell.




Hell in 4e now seems to be a planet floating somewhere in the Astral Sea. This puts it on par with everything else, even Heaven. Now I am not a religious person, but doesn't Hell lose some of what makes it Hell if it just a planet with bad environmental conditions? They describe it as planet some 7,000 miles in diameter with the "layers" lower and lower subterranean continent sized caverns. Like Mearls, I say take all that and shove it inside your world. Drill down a few hundred miles and there is the entry way to Hell. Just like Dante described. What keeps the devils in? Same thing that keeps them there now, gates. Like the roach motel it is, it is easy to get, impossible to get out. Or nearly such. Of course the point between the Underdark and Abyss sharing a nature is sound, I think I can get the same thing with the Nine Hells really. In fact I might even make Lolth more like a devil (she is more devil like than demon like anyway) given her status as former Goddess, cast out and down. Sound familiar? It certainly fits with what Hell is supposed to be better, an underground dungeon for the damned. The Abyss is a maelstrom of evil and chaos, it fits better in the planes.
Of course this is not without issues. First, and the one that concerns multi-versal games the most, is that Hell inside a planet means that for every copy/twin/multiverse that planet is in there is a corresponding Hell. This might be fine really. I don't care for some of the changes made to some of the Arch Dukes in the last few books (3 & 4), but I can write that off as that is just the way things are in that universe. Which is something we all do anyway, I am just making it explicit. Of course the new 4e cosmology also gives us the Shadowfell and the Feywild, which I like, but if they are dark and twisted reflections of our own world then what about the Hell for those worlds? I say that their Hells are ours. That if you drill down in the Shadowfell you end up in the same Hell as if you did it in the Feywild or the campaign world.
Back in the day there was a great series of Dragon articles about the various Arch Dukes and Dukes of Hell. The article began with a bit of fiction about a Paladin (a holy warrior for good) marching on to Hell to defeat evil at the source. This scene works better today than it even did then with Devils now generally evil rather than exclusively "Lawful Evil". And it works better if the Paladin is marching to Hell, not paying a wizard for an Astral Projection spell.

Sure *where* it is physically located might mean little to PCs and DMs with access to magical means of travel, but the world should make sense to normal people too. What is there to fear about a creature, evil and immortal or not, if it takes a great amount of magic to get them here.

Gygax was a reader of Dante, Milton and of Ovid. These authors, as much as anything and maybe more so, shaped what we think of when we think of Hell. "Planet Hell" inside the Earth/World then fits very well with all these writers. More than a plane "out there" somewhere. Which does bring up an interesting point. Here is a quote from Milton's "Paradise Lost",

"Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name Of Demogorgon."
— John Milton, Paradise Lost II. 966.

So. Lucifer is cast out of Heaven and down into Hell, he meets up with these demons in some…what, ante-chamber of Hell, a place where Chaos rules with Night. Sounds like the Abyss, but where is that again? I have often wanted to merge Hell and they Abyss into one place where demons are the masses of creatures and devil are the upper-class. If I put Hell inside my world (or the Abyss like Mearls) then do I have room for both? Do I need both? Are they the same thing with different names? Then there are other issues I have avoided because of the aforementioned laziness. Tiamat is described in myth as "chaos" and her body is destroyed to make the firmament of the Earth. But then she gets tossed into Hell? Sure, it fits the outcast god model, but Tiamat is chaos. Lilith is also cast out, but she wants order, her own order, but order all the same; at least that is how I read it. Grazzt looks like a Devil, but is a Demon or maybe he is not. And there is the bit from Milton. So what is a world builder to do? And where is this antechamber of Hell were Demogorgon and Orcus act as the Welcome Wagon for Lucifer and the cast out Angels, now Devils? Hell has the River Styx, where the souls of the dead are ferried across, but now the souls of the dead move through the Shadowfell. This makes me want to break out the WitchCraft RPG seprioths and see if I can't make it all work.


Well here is my stab at it. The Antechamber is of course the Underdark. It is hundreds of miles below the surface of the planet. Here in the deepest pit was where the fallen angels were cast. It is here that they meet the demons. There is a great battle, Orcus (then a dark god) is killed only to come back from the dead, Demogorgon has his head cleaved in half (to regrow as two heads) and Ades…well that was the last anyone heard of him. The devils (as they are now known) take the realm once controlled by demons. Once there though the devils discover that Hell is not the home of the demons, it was only the realm they could control this close to the world. The devils seal the opening to the Abyss, place Tiamat there to guard against demonic entry and the devils themselves descend lower into Hell. Physically the Abyss and Hell (and Tarterus and Pluton and Gehenna) are all the same place locked deep within the Earth in a area were the Prime Material, Shadowfell and Feywild all intersect. The nine layers controlled by the Arch Dukes and Devils is known as Hell. Everything else is simply "The Underworld". The conditions are, well Hellish, it is inside a planet afterall, but great and powerful magics keep the denizens alive, though it warps other magic and prevents them from escaping. The areas known as the Abyss are open and there is much fighting, the area known as Hell is gated. It is supposed to be a prison after all.

At the bottom there is a dark chasm who feeds into the elemental chaos. I like the description of the Abyss in the new Manual of the Planes, it makes it sound like a black hole in the Astral.

It needs some work to be sure. Demons, like Demogorgon, Orcus, Pazuzu and others have more interest in human affairs than the mindless hoards of demons because they are more devil like, and thus, more human like. Older demons such as Dagon are more elemental chaos. Even Tiamat now is more demonic than diabolic. This helps explain the Bloodwar a bit better, explains the similarity between demons and devils and why in popular parlance (in the world) they are often confused. It also helps explain why some seem to switch sides every now and then. Or simply put, devils are the cast out immortals of good that betrayed or otherwise became evil. Demons always were evil.

Of course I could keep the Abyss as is in 4th Ed. There are plenty of good reasons to keep it in the elemental chaos in the Astral. Demons are more elemental, more chaotic obviously and more alien. Of "demon" can just be a term to refer to anything that is evil that is not a devil. If I go that route then "Devils" would refer only to the Fallen and things like Ice Devils, Malebranche and the like are demons, just a different kind. After all, Succubi were demons and now they are devils, so it's not like there isn't precedent.
What does removing the demons and devils from the "outer planes" rob us of in D&D? Well, Planescape to a large degree would need to be rethought. To a lesser extent the nature of Tieflings will need to be changed, though maybe not. Typically to get to those outer planes takes characters of some power, so there is the build up to go to their home turf and fight that is now gone; ie. anyone can find the opening to Hell and stumble in.

OR maybe demons come the "Hells" of the Shadowfell and Feywild.

Of course there is one huge advantage of reshaping the planes. I can shape them in a way to work with either my 4th Ed game or my OSR/Basic game or even something like Ghosts of Albion.

That is the fun thing about fantasy cosmology, it can be a mutable as I need it to be.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Every Angel is Terrifying

Every Angel is Terrifying: The Secret and True Origin of the Slayer and Watchers

Note: This is a repost of something I did on the Eden Buffy boards a while back.  I have been working on collecting all my notes from my three-season run of "Willow & Tara: The Series" for the Buffy/Angel/Ghost of Albion RPG and thought I might share this.  I am not a fan of Buffy anymore for a number of reasons, but I do like this write-up.

I was never satisfied with the version of the Watcher's and Slayer's origins given in the show. Plus the demon connection and overt rape metaphor never sat well with me. So I decided it must be part of a propaganda agenda of the demons. Here then, is the true history of the Slayer and the Watchers. This version also makes Buffy more compatible with WitchCraft and Armageddon. It also allows multiple Slayers (or not) without worrying about what happened in the show.  It also addresses (a little) a shortcomings of the show; where are all the angels?

Something to bide me over till I can get something new up.

Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels' hierarchies?
and even if one of them pressed me suddenly against his heart:
I would be consumed in that overwhelming existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we are still just able to endure,
and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Every angel is terrifying.
- Rainer Maria Rilke*

The Council of Watchers of today bares little resemblance to powerful organization it once was, most due to machinations of the Great Beast Belial, but that is getting to the middle of the story first, let’s start at the beginning, which is in this case The Beginning.

Everyone knows of the War in Heaven. Lucifer rebels and the Angels are cast out. There was also a second war, and the Watchers and Slayers start here.

After Lucifer fell Man and Woman were created. Adam and Lilith. Lilith, either by her own designs or that of Lucifer also rebels and goes out to spawn demons with the Djinn. Adam gets a new helpmate, Eve, and they are fruitful and multiply. Seeing the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve populating the Earth God sends Angels down to protect them and watch over them. These Angels are known as the Grigori, or “the Watchers”, and their leaders are Azazel and Samyaza. The Watchers though looked upon the Daughters of Eve and lusted after them. They taught them the secrets of divination, of the moon and of witchcraft. They also took them to their beds and begat upon them progeny known as the Nephilim. They were giants of their age, and most are monstrosities; Goliath may have been one of their number. The Nephilim war with both the demons and with other humans. Humans war with the demons and Nephilim. Demons kill everything in their path. All the while, Lucifer and his fallen angels laugh.

The actions of the Angels angers God who casts them into Abyss and sends a flood to destroy the wickedness of mankind. But before this happens the Watcher Shamsiel (in some versions it is Samyaza) goes to the one human woman who was never corrupted by Original Sin, the one who never ate from the Tree of Knowledge, Lilith. Shamsiel asked Lilith for one thing, an offspring. Someone that can fight the demons and the Nephilim while protecting the humans. Lilith laughed, but consented, after all she was giving birth to countless demons, what was one more. She gave birth though not to a monstrous son, but a perfect daughter. She named her Naamah and sent her to live with Shamsiel. Shamsiel in turn gave her to the human woman he had sleeping with and her husband. He instructed them to take on his role as Watcher, for this child would be the slayer of demons and the other spawn of darkness. Shamsiel went to his final battle never to return.

Naamah, daughter of Lilith, protector of Malkuth, grew strong, though she was never loved by her foster parents. They taught her the same lessons the Watchers had taught them, combat, the secrets of the occult, the arts of war and witchcraft. While the demons recognized her as kin she hung on to her angelic heritage. She fought them and the Watchers stood by her in the fight. Some even say that she stowed away on Noah’s Ark, knowing that that evil would find a way to survive. Some texts even still list her as Noah’s wife or sometimes his daughter. Even later when she died, she died fighting. One of her many daughters took up the fight and she too became known as the Slayer. In those days when the demons ran free over the Earth there were many Slayers and many Watchers. The original Grigori had spanned the Earth, and so had their progeny. It seemed that the battle was going well for humanity. Till Lucifer and his left-hand devil Belial took an interest in the Slayer. They had already begun a propaganda war against her. She was the spawn of demons they said, she was the patroness of whores. Indeed, the powers of the Slayer were related to her gender and even to her sexual maturity, so some of the ignorant believed this and forced the Slayer out. Some even began to feel she brought trouble with her. The pogrom against the Slayer had begun.

Even the Watchers, having spanned globe and taking up their cause with the Pagan faiths, were not immune. Here they meshed their beliefs with their own. They believed that they and their books were what were really holding back the darkness. They created their world headquarters on the mystical islands and listed in their charter the charge given to them by God, rendered in the local tongue.

Óir thug sé ordú da aingil i do thaobh:
tú a chosaint i do shlite go léir:

Iompróidh siad thú lena lámha sula mbuailfí
do chos in aghaidh chloiche.

Satlóidh tú ar an leon is ar an nathair:
gheobhaidh tú de chosa sa leon óg is a dragan.

That was not even the start for Belial and the Watchers. The Great Deceiver Belial tricked Lilith into revealing her offspring’s true nature. Knowing this Belial then worked on the Watchers. “Why should she be in charge?” he whispered in their ears. “Why would men of good faith follow the dictates of a demon-spawned female child?” It took him years, but soon he broke down their resolve, their myths and soon under the guise of “the good for all” he had them change their own histories. Gone was the story of Naamah and her sisters. Gone was the relationship between Watcher and Slayer as one of equals. And most tragic, gone was the link between the Slayer and the Divine. Instead only the demonic remained and Slayer but a tool, oft times a disposable one.

But Lilith had her own revenge. If they were to treat her blood so poorly, then she called back her own power only allowing one girl per generation to be born. She infused her other children, the Vampires, with desire to find this girl and hunt her down. Like brother and sister they were then, equal in their strength and parallel in their purpose. Soon the Slayer only became know as a killer of vampires and the Watchers, feeding on their own lies, degraded and rotted from within.

Thus it remained till the dawn of the 3rd Millennium.