#RPGaDay2025 Day 26 Nemesis

 One of my favorite characters in Superman has always been Lex Luthor.

Why? Because Lex never thinks he’s evil. In his mind, he’s the only one doing the right thing. Humanity can’t trust an alien god with their future, no matter how many kittens he rescues from trees. Lex isn’t mustache-twirling evil, he’s rational. Cold. Calculating. Absolutely convinced that he is the smartest man in the room and that everyone else is either too blind, too stupid, or too naïve to see the danger.

That, to me, is the perfect nemesis.

In my games, I’ve had plenty of recurring villains, necromancers, devils, cultists with too many teeth, but only a few that have earned that capital-N “Nemesis” title.

Magnus is one. He’s my classic evil necromancer, complete with black robes, pale skin, and an ego that can barely fit into the dungeon. But I’ll be honest, sometimes he feels like a cartoon villain. Fun to bring out for a good dramatic monologue, but not quite the existential threat I want.

Yoln was a better one. He was the nemesis in my AD&D 1st ed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer games. His evil had a face, a voice, a reason. Players hated him, but they also understood him. That’s good villainy.

Dracula? Always a favorite. But he’s more of a force of nature than a true nemesis. The devil you invite in by accident.  The Refrigerator? Fun, but he is a misanthropic one-trick pony.

But lately… I’ve been circling something deeper. A presence that’s shown up in many of my games, even when I didn’t know it yet.

At first, it was just a phrase, The Whispering God. A vague mythos thread to tie things together. But somewhere between running a Buffy session and catching a train in downtown Chicago, I realized something. Magnus has heard those whispers. So has Yoln. And maybe, just maybe, they were never the real threat.

They were echoes. Shadows.

The true nemesis is something I’ve started calling The One Who Remains.

He’s not a person, not really. “He” is just a convenient pronoun. “It” would be more accurate. “They,” maybe. Or “We,” if I’m being honest.

Here’s what I know:

• He was once a human, or something like it.
• He helped end the Age of Old Ones, maybe in the Wasted Lands’ Dreaming Age, maybe earlier.
• He did something, some ritual or betrayal, that shattered his being across time and space.

Now he is trying to pull himself back together.

Like gravity pulling dust into stars, his scattered thoughts, identities, and echoes are coalescing. Slowly at first. Then faster. Always faster. And when he is whole again?

It will be too late to stop him.

Some worlds feel his influence only faintly, a name in a forgotten grimoire, a face glimpsed in a nightmare. Others bear him like a scar. In some, he is barely more than a drive or a hunger. In others, he takes on form: a warlock, a high priest, a masked prophet. In some campaigns, he’s just a whisper. In others, he’s a storm.

And in my multiverse?

He’s everywhere.

He’s the shadow behind the coven. The Patron no one names. The face in the mirror when the moonlight is hitting it wrong,  or maybe just right.

He is the Nemesis not of a single hero, or of the world, but of all the cosmos. Of memory. Of meaning.

He is the end that waits, and the beginning that never should have been.

And the worst part?

He’s almost here.

I can’t wait for you to meet him.

Questions

What. Envious. Genre.  What Genre am I envious of? Well none really. Though I do like hearing people talk about their superhero games. I can't ever keep one going for long.

 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

Witches of Appendix N: Robert E. Howard, Part 3: Kull, Kane and "Accidental Feminism"

 Today I conclude this "mini-series" on the pivotal works of Robert E. Howard, one of the most influential authors in Appendix N, shaping the Dungeons & Dragons experience. 

I have already covered Conan in Part 1, and his horror stories in Part 2. Today I am going to talk two of his other characters, King Kull of Atlantis and Solomon Kane.

Kull of Atlantis: Silence Where a Witch (or even Women) Might Be

Kull’s stories are dreamlike, almost mythic, often more about philosophy than plot. Women of any kind are scarce, and witches are entirely absent. When sorcery intrudes, it comes from male figures: Thulsa Doom, the snake-men, necromancers, shadowy priests.

Is Kull even interested in women? Howard never shows him with lovers, nor does he pit him against the temptations or sorceries of an enchantress. Kull broods on law, on identity, on the shifting unreality of his throne, but not on witches, or even women for that matter. Their absence says much: the philosopher-king is concerned with metaphysical threats, not the seductions or mysteries that witches (and sorcerers) often embody in Howard’s other tales. 

Kull's most significant interaction with a woman comes from one of his earliest tales. A girl in his village is being burned at the stake for taking a lover from the wrong tribe. Kull, not seeing the justice in this, uses his own flint dagger to give her a merciful, quick death. For which he is hunted. 

Speaking of flint daggers. Kull is supposed to be taking place around 100,000 BCE. So really pre-history, but it feels more like 100 BCE in terms of "technology." Granted it is "lost age" the same sort you see working in Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age. Credit where it is due, Howard does do a great job of making it feel like Kull predates Conan by centuries. 

If Kull, and Conan, are covered well by Wasted Lands and other Fantasy RPGs, then Kane is dipping right into horror.

Solomon Kane: A Puritan Without Witches

If Kull’s Atlantean dreamtime excludes witches entirely, Solomon Kane’s early modern setting seems tailor-made for them. The 16th and 17th centuries were rife with witch trials and burnings, and Kane is a zealous Puritan avenger. You’d expect him to clash with witches by the dozen. But he never does.

Instead, Kane’s foes are vampires, demons, revenants, and African sorcerers. Women in his stories are usually victims or innocents caught in evil’s path, never witches themselves. Was this deliberate on Howard’s part? Perhaps he didn’t want women as Kane’s outright antagonists, preferring instead to cast him against inhuman horrors or exotic magics.

One exception worth noting is Nakari from The Moon of Skulls. She is cruel, manipulative, and queenly, with many of the trappings of a witch, save for actual sorcery. She does have a coven of sorts, her "Starmaidens" and she knows some Atlantean rituals.  She rules through charisma and cruelty, not spells. And despite her names she is neither demon nor vampire. Kane’s crusade against her feels witch-hunter-like, yet Howard stops short of giving her magic. Again, we see the absence: Kane fights monsters, not witches.

Kane is adventure fiction, but it dips into horror and horror themes more often than not. 

Kull, Conan, and Kane make up an interesting trinity of Howard protagonists. All are cut from the same cloth and each could be a reincarnation of the previous.

Accidental Feminism?

Now, I do want to say upfront that Howard considered himself a feminist. He had some very progressive views for his time, but also some fairly typical ones. People are complicated. 

If Conan’s world has some witches and Kane’s and Kull’s are completely barren of them, what does that say about Howard? His female characters are sometimes villains (Salome, Tascela, Nakari), but they are also commanding presences, equal to or greater than the men who face them. When Howard leaves witches out, women almost vanish. But that absence makes it striking when he does put women at the forefront, because when he does, they are unforgettable.

Think of Bêlit, the Queen of the Black Coast, who is as fierce and ambitious as Conan himself. Or Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, a woman who makes her own choices and follows her own path. Red Sonya of Rogatino and Dark Agnes de Chastillon are not sorceresses at all, but warrior women who seize the agency the world denies them. These characters aren’t “witches” in the pulpy sense, but they are Howard’s women: strong, willful, larger than life, and often overshadowing the men around them. Red Sonya appears in one tale, yet "Red Sonja" has hundreds, including comics, novels, and a new movie out. Bêlit & Valeria have also appeared in plenty of comics together, often sans Conan, to prove they are interesting enough characters in their own right. Even if I am getting a bit of a Betty & Veronica vibe from them sometimes. Though Red Sonja has teamed up with Betty & Veronica in the past.

Bêlit, Red Sonja, (and Conan) and Valeria by Geof Isherwood

That duality shows up outside the stories too. In a famous letter to Harold Preece, Howard rattled off a litany of great women, from Sappho and Aspasia to Joan of Arc, Emma Goldman, and Edna St. Vincent Millay, defending their genius, passion, and rightful place in history. “Women have always been the inspiration for men,” he wrote, “and… there have been countless women whose names have never been blazoned across the stars, but who have inspired men on to glory.”  

Howard’s pulp tales are not feminist manifestos, but they carry a paradox I’d call his “accidental feminism.” In his fiction, women may be cast as temptresses, pirates, or witches, but they are never weak. And in his private words, he saw women as philosophers, poets, and warriors equal to any man. It may be accidental, but it left us with heroines and enchantresses who still burn as brightly on the page today as they did nearly a century ago.

Conclusion

There are more Robert E. Howard tales. Lots more, and many that could be fundamental to what the D&D experience was going to become. But here is where I part ways with the author. I found his sword & sorcery tales to be captivating, his horror stories fascinating, and his heroes equally as wonderful in their own imperfect ways. There is a reason why we all know of Conan and Kane, and to a lesser degree, Kull. Even his forgotten "step-daughter," Red Sonja.

When it comes to witches, Howard doesn't give me enough, though what he does give is wonderful. Salome and Tascela are fantastic characters who I would have loved to see more of, or more to the point, more like them. Too bad that they died in their respective tales; they would have made great antagonists for Bêlit, Red Sonja, and Valeria.

Witchcraft Wednesdays: Unearthing Arcana, 1985

 I am working on a new witch project. Shocking, I know. But this one is largely more of an experiment of sorts. It's a big one—or at least I am making it a big one. I have no idea when it will be released, but I have some plans for it that I'm pretty excited about. I should really refer to it as a project and not a book, I feel this will grow into something akin to my recent The Left Hand Path - The Diabolic & Demonic Witchcraft Traditions project that also spawned The Witch Finder, Monstrous Maleficarum #4 - Lilith & the Lilim, and Myths & Monsters Vol. 3 - Lilith & Lilim; a whole series of related releases. 

As per my usual practice, I always go back to my research notes to ensure that I haven't missed anything or overlooked something that I really wanted to do but didn't fit in with the other books. When it comes to my research notes, I'm a bit of a packrat. I lost materials on failed floppies, dying hard drives, and just plain dumb luck, so I keep multiple copies of everything. Trust me, cheap storage has been the biggest quality of life improvement in my research since I first bought a computer for myself (in 1985) or got a library card (1977). 

As it turns out, 1985 keeps coming up for me. Part of my research involves re-reading, this time with a little more critical scrutiny, the first edition of Unearthed Arcana. I have re-read that, digging through this huge pile of notes and handwritten materials about games I played in 1985 (some of which will be headed into this new project). There are lots of forgotten treasures here. 

Memory is a funny thing.

I am a psychologist by training. My Master's Thesis was on memory, and my Ph.D. dissertation was on information processing systems. Pardon me while I turn introspective for a moment here, but it is jarring to see something you know you did or had some sort of effect on you, and you don't recall it. A lot of these notes are doing that to me now. 

Case in point. 

In another 1985 flashback, I stumbled on something I am not entirely sure how to quantify. Let me see if you, my loyal readers, have the same reaction that my oldest just had a few seconds ago. Who does this "Masters of the Universe" character remind you of? Not the Sorceress, her younger reflection. 

Red hair. Wrist guards. Magical powers. Wears a lot of purple. Blue eyes. Yeah, that looks like a younger version of my witch Larina. 

Needless to say, I was a bit stunned by this. I had totally forgotten about this episode, "Origin of the Sorceress," until I saw the picture, and then it all came back. I mean, the timing is right. This episode aired on September 23, 1985. I rolled up Larina in July 1986. 

Now, I wasn't a huge fan of Masters of the Universe, but my younger brother was, and I *know* I saw this episode. After seeing this image, I remembered it. I even borrowed the evil wizard Morgoth from this and combined him with the DC evil wizard Modru as a villain in my own games. "Morgru" can still be found in my notes.

There is no way this didn't influence me. Additionally, the Sorceress was the only character on the show, besides Evil-Lyn , that I liked. Yeah, I have a type. 

I didn’t create Larina so much as channel her. Looking back now, it’s like she stepped fully formed out of 1985, the red hair, the bracers, the purple, the attitude. Maybe she’s not of that year, but certainly from it. Keeping in mind that by this point, I had already worn out a copy of "The Wild Heart."

Teela Na or Larina? Lari Na?

Honestly, looking at this image is just so odd for me, jarring even. I feel neuron activation going on, but it's getting lost in the translation of the last four decades, like trying to remember where you got a scar. The evidence is there, but the details are fuzzy.

The episode was written by J. Michael Straczynski, the same as Babylon 5. It's not a great episode, but it was a cartoon for kids and an extended toy commercial at that. I remembered the Sorceress as having more power, but that says a lot more about me than it does about my clarity of memory.

What else was going on in 1985?

Keep in mind I didn't choose this date out of the blue. Ok, a little, but there was a lot going on in 1985 that I consider peak for my AD&D 1st Edition experiences.

Movies & TV

"Legend" hit the big screens with one of the best devil make-up effects to date; Tim Curry's Darkness. Not to mention Meg Mucklebones, who was very much like the Jenny Greenteeth that my mom used to scare all of us with when we were younger. 

"Return to Oz" was not a great movie, but it gave us Fairuza Balk as Dorothy and the recently departed Jean Marsh as Madame Mombi, one of the scariest witches in film. Marsh would later go on to give me, ok, us, Queen Bavmorda in Willow, and Morgaine/Morgan Le Fey in Doctor Who (one of three characters she played in Doctor Who over the decades). Ten years later, Fairuza Balk would enter witch royalty as Nancy Downs in "The Craft" and later open her own pagan-themed online store. With a small stop along the way as Mildred Hubble in "The Worst Witch." 

On TV "The Midnight Hour" ran. Not a great horror movie by any stretch, but damn... Shari Belafonte? Yeah, that was a good reason to tune in. I remember the soundtrack being pretty good. I think I should re-watch it. 

"The Third Eye" was on TV, I sorta remember it, but while I know it filtered into my consciousness, it didn't quite have the same impact as the young Teela Na from Masters of the Universe. 

If 1986 gave me Larina, my enduring witch, then 1985 set the stage. A stage already filled with adventures from Ravenloft, to exploring the multi-versal strangeness of Killian's Towers (that...is for another day) and more. My notes have entries for Healers, Necromancers, and Sun Priests. Now I can also add more notes on Riddle Masters and Star Adepts. It was a time great productivity. 

This project should feel like it could have sat on the shelf alongside Unearthed Arcana and other AD&D books circa 1985-6. I think I owe that to myself. 

Witches of Appendix N: Lin Carter

 In today's Witches of Appendix N, I want to dive into an author I have not read since my early college days. Back in 1987, I stumbled on a rare (for me at the time) treasure, a used bookstore! I began to hunt down all the books I had wanted to read that my home library did not have. I had not yet discovered that my new university library was the most extensive open-shelf library in the state of Illinois. So armed with my handwritten Appendix N list, and some others, I went on my first adventure. 

I found a Thongor book by Lin Carter and another one edited by him, Flashing Swords #4. I paid something like $2 for both. I read the Thongor book and I wasn't exactly impressed. Ok sure it was pulpy fun, but I think after nearly a decade of hype, I expected more. I don't know what happened to that book, but Flashing Swords #4 I kept and still have. It featured an introduction by Carter, which I found more interesting than his prose, as well as stories by Jack Vance, Poul Anderson, Katherine Kurtz, and Michael Moorcock.

The experience soured me on Carter for a long time. Which is too bad, really, because I was always a fan of Lemuria and tales about it. 

I recently decided to revisit Lin Carter and Lemuria (among other places) to see if his worlds feature any witches. I knew he had evil wizards galore, but I could remember any witches per se.

I am not going to focus on all his works; there is too much, and some of it falls outside of the "Appendix N" definition. So, for me, this means no sci-fi and only fantasy published before 1977. With one notable exception. Well...that and the cover above. But that is the only Lin Carter book I still have. 

Thongor and Lemurian Magic

When we turn to Lin Carter’s Thongor of Lemuria novels, we find a world absolutely steeped in magic, though, interestingly, witches themselves are mostly absent.

The lost continent of Lemuria is filled with sorcerers, necromancers, and cults devoted to dark gods. We have cities like Zaar, ruled by black magicians; the Priests of Yamath, calling upon the Dark Gods with forbidden rites; and the ancient Dragon Kings, reptilian overlords who wield both sorcery and advanced science. There are even the evil druids of Lemuria. Black Druids who try to emulate the Dragon Kings, Yellow Druids, the magician-priests who worship Yamath, and the Red Druids, magician-priests of the God, Slidith.

What’s striking, however, is that named witches or sorceresses are virtually nonexistent in Carter’s original Thongor novels. While plenty of pulp sorcerers fill the landscape, female magic-users are conspicuously rare. The closest we get comes much later, in Thongor and the Witch-Queen of Lemuria by Robert M. Price, written after Carter’s death. My notable exception.

Most of the wizards and other magic-users are evil. One exception is Sharajsha the Great. A mighty wizard of Lemuria and a friend of Thongor. His exploits with Thongor could be where I got the idea for my own "Starsword." 

In short, Lemuria is rich in dark sorcery, but witches, as we think of them, never truly walk its jungles and haunted cities.

Gondwane and Magic

When we move from Lemuria to the last continent of Gondwane, Lin Carter’s World's End series, we enter a far richer landscape for magic and witchcraft. The Thongor books were light on witches, but Gondwane is filled with decadent magicians, ancient traditions, and powerful sorcerers.

In The Enchantress of World's End (1975), we meet Zelmarine, Queen of Red Magic. While Carter never calls her a witch outright, she fully embodies the pulp sorceress archetype: beautiful, dangerous, and wielding real magical power. Zelmarine easily fits the "witch-equivalent" role I’ve seen in many other Appendix N works.

Zelmarine is not just a sorceress; she is also a temptress. So fairly typical of the genre. I do find her interesting in the sense that she is entirely red, skin, hair, eyes, teeth, the lot. She would make for a great witch. But, sadly, that is about all she has to offer us. Like many of Carter's characters, she is not much more than this. 

Gondwane itself teems with magicians, enchanters, and warlocks, far more than Thongor’s Lemuria ever did. Even some that are not 100% evil in nature, our Red Enchantress here. Carter blends elements of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth and Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique with his own brand of pulp world-building, creating a setting where elaborate magical schools and rivalries dominate a decaying world.

It's also worth noting that Carter introduces The Illusionist of Narelon, in The Warrior of World's End (1974), one book earlier. The Illusionist's presence may have contributed to Gygax's inclusion of the Illusionist class in the AD&D Player’s Handbook. At the very least, he reflects the kind of specialist magician that AD&D codifies soon after. Illusion magic was rarely featured in the pulps before this.

The Warrior of World's End (1974) also gave us the Vorpal Blade's use in an Appendix N source, obviously from its previous introduction in  Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. This is not the only thing Carter borrows from Carroll. Some of the names of lands and people seem to come right out of same font of nonsense words as does Jabberwocky. 

The Gondwane books are light and never seem to take themselves very seriously. The characters are less characters and more caricatures. Plus, after a bit, I grew tired of the exceptionally silly names. But hey, kudos to Carter for making his end-of-time world sound alien. 

I *can* see a lot of what is in these books making its way into AD&D and other writings. It could be the recency effect in his reading and writing. 

A good example is Deirdre, the cavalier of "Artifact of Evil," is more or less a grown-up version of Xarda, the "knightrix" of Jemmerdy. Deirdre is likely Gygax's homage to Xarda, either consciously or not. Or maybe both are homages to Red Sonja.

According the experts, Hoi and Jeff at the Appendix N Book Club, Lin Carter was a friend of Gygax's and it is very, very likely there was a lot of cross-pollination between his tales and D&D. 

Conclusion

Revisiting Lin Carter has been a mixed bag, a blend of nostalgia and reevaluation. While I came in search of witches, I found instead a patchwork of pulp sorcery, weird magic, and the unmistakable fingerprints of an author who, despite his flaws, helped shape the genre that shaped my youth. There may not be witches by name in Lemuria or Gondwane, not in the way I hoped, but Carter’s worlds still crackle with the kind of raw, chaotic magic that feels just a few pages away from something I’d drop into a campaign. In the end, it’s not always about what’s printed on the page; sometimes it’s about what might have been, or what could still be, with a little creative license.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Old-School Gaming!

 Yeah, I said I wasn't going to do many more of these, but here we are. Though this week has some real treats and none of them really need my help.

Wandering Blades

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tonyatplusoneexp/wandering-blades?ref=theotherside

Daniel Kwan , of the Asians Represent! podcast and many RPG books, is doing something I have been wanting him to do for a while now: make a Wuxia action RPG. This one also combines that with Japanese Animation action, so yeah, I am looking forward to it. 

Just three weeks left on this one and I am looking forward to seeing it hit more stretch goals.

The Necromancer's Game: A Complete Boxed Set

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/necromancergames/the-necromancers-game?ref=theotherside

I certainly don't *need* this game, but I rather like the looks of it. I am sure it will be fun.

Heroes of Might and Magic TTRPG

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lmpublishing/heroes-of-might-and-magic-ttrpg?ref=theotherside

From Mōdiphiüs and based on Heroes of Might and Magic video games. This one should also be fun. And they have a native Witch class, so you know that has my attention!

OSRIC 3

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/mythmere-games/osric-3?ref=theotherside

Ah. The big one. This game caused quite a stir on the old Open Gaming Foundation lists back in the day. It would go on to be one of the biggest names in the OSR scene.

All three aim to give you a similar experience. All three are currently killing it in their respective crowdfunding campaigns. 

I am sure there is something here for you all. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 9, Room 1

 These stairs take the party down to level 9. The temperatures are much cooler now. 

As the stairs descend (at least 200 ft) there are other staircases. Many are broken, but other still look viable. These others usually lead to dead ends, lairs of monsters (use Wandering Monsters), or fall into darkness.

The feeling here should look like a broken and destroyed kingdom of stone.  This is more of the original dwarven mountain and has been less "renovated" by the Vampire Queen.  There are also areas of the original Citadel of Necromancers here too, under the devastation of the mountain.  Dwarven character will be able point out at least four different types of structures here: the original stone of the island, the dwarven mountain, modifications by various wizards and necromancers who lived here, and finally, modifications from the experiments of the Vampire Queen herself.

The Necromantic aura of the upper levels mixes with the demonic ones of the level above and something else that even the most learned magic-user can't quite identify.

Every 6 turns roll for wandering monsters as normal. There is a 25% chance that the monster encountered is a "Shadow" version. It looks like the shadow of the monster. It attacks, but it has no physical form so it can't damage or be damaged. Every 3 turns a "Shadow Wizard" will be spotted. This is a dead wizard or student who does not know they are dead. They go about their business as if it were a normal day for them. They do not damage or interact, but they are creepy.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 8, Room 25

 The exit from Room 24 takes the part to a side entrance of a long grand hallway.

The party's left (a bit of a diagonal) is the main entrance to this hall, not covered in rubble and no long accessible.  To the right is the length of this ancient hall.

This hall is ancient, even by the standard the party is used to seeing. The architecture is dwarven, even the most causal dungeoneer can see that. At the end of this once great hall is a throne of Iron and on sits a figure.

As the party approaches they can see the figure is that of a dwarven skeleton in kingly garb.  When the party reaches the dias the skeleton's eyes begin to glow and it raises a hand.  

It speaks.

"Hail, brave and mighty adventurers. You have come so far and have more to go. But rest here and hear the tragedy of House Ironhammer."

If the party pauses to hear the dwarf king's tale they will find themselves healing of their wounds, even their gear that has been damaged begins to repair.

"Millennia ago, the Vampire Queen, Darlessa the First, sought out House Ironhammer in our mountain demesnes. She commanded that we build for her a temple and tomb out of the living rock of the mountain that was greater or equal to our own. We refused her, not wanting to serve any evil. Three times she came and three times we denied her. First my Grandsire said no. Then she returned and my sire said no. Then she returned again and I told her no. But in that time her powers had grown. She said that if we would build her a stronghold she would take ours!"

"We laughed at her and her rabble of conjures. No army had ever taken House Ironhammer! Not even the giant orcs of the Black Mountains whom all dwarves will speak of with revulsion, but also begrudging respect as an enemy."

"Sadly for my people we did not comprehend what she meant by 'take.'"

"Her conjurers gathered around. And the ensorcelled the mountain. The lifted it up by it's very roots and transported it to the seas where it was dropped onto a volcanic island. The mountain of Ironhammer stuck the Island of Necromancers like a hammer on an anvil. She destroyed their ancient towers and dropped our home into a vortex of magic. A few survivors soon killed by hordes of demons. I was kept alive along with a fraction of my enslaved people to dig out tunnels and new rooms and merge the mountain with the island. Many dwarves and many necromancers died that horrible night."

"It is to you I leave this challenge. Your wounds are healed, your gear is as new, your bellies are full. Seek out this undead tyrant and slay her for good. You have the blessings of House Ironhammer and the combined arcana of the Necromancers she killed that day. Please accept the last gifts of Sharis Val."

On the dias, there are weapons appropriate for every character here. They are all +3 weapons, +4 vs. undead, and demons. 

Any Cleric or Magic-user can make an intelligence roll to know who Sharis Val was. He had been a Shadow Elf smith who had been adopted into a dwarf clan and became one of the greatest artificers and swordsmen the world has seen. His final fate was unknown till now.  

Because there is always that "one guy," if there is a fighter in the group who is REALLY into swords, then allow them a roll as well. Sharis Val is essentially the Miyamoto Musashi of this world. 

These weapons grant 2,500 xp each. 

If instead, the party attacks the skeleton they get nothing. It is a normal skeleton with 1 hp.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 8, Room 21

 Going back to Room 19 and then to the central passageway takes the party up to a room similar to Room 20.

Inside this wet room is what appears to be a gargantuan frog. Its evil eyes though, betray its true origins.

Dæmon, Hydrodæmon

Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 9+36**** (76 hp)
Attacks: 2 fore claws (1d8 x2), 2 hind claws (1d4), 1 bite (1d10)
Special: Spittle, spells, only harmed by silver weapons, immunity to acid and poison, magic resistance (35%), telepathy 100 ft.
THAC0: 11 [+8]
Movement: 30' (10')
  Swim: 240' (80')
Saving Throws: D8 W9 P10 B11 S12 SS 7 (9)
Morale: 10
Alignment: Neutral evil
XP: 3,607 (OSE) 2,300 (S&W) 3,800 (LL)
Number Appearing: 1d3 (1d6)
Treasure Type: I, Y

Hydrodæmon are frog-like daemons that swim the River Styx. They are the only known creatures in existence that can touch the waters of the Styx without suffering any ill effects.

Hydrodæmon are 10 feet tall and weight about 4,000 pounds. Large flaps of skin under their arms allow them to glide when leaping. The flesh of a hydrodæmon is warty and green. Its eyes are a sickly yellow in color.

Up to five times per day a hydrodæmon can expel a 20-foot long line of sputum that causes those hit to save vs. sleep (as the spell) for 6 rounds. Hydrodaemons can, at will, cast cause fear, darkness, detect magic, and dimension door. Once per day, they can summon an 8 HD water elemental.

They can communicate telepathically but have low intelligence. 

--

This hydrodæmon is awkward on land, and there is not enough room for it to glide.  It has been trapped here since the necromancers controlled this place, and it is pissed off. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 17

 A secret door behind one of the shelves leads to a hidden and sealed room. The room is small, but filled with books and scrolls. One wall is dominated by an ancient painting of Darlessa, the Vampire Queen, when she was a young student learning magic. 

The books detail the history of the Citadel of Necromancers.  Five of them are incredibly ancient and are worth at least 5,000 gp each if they can be brought back to a collector. 

Another 5+1d6 books also have random magic-user spells of First to Fifth level.

• First level: 10+1d8
• Second level: 8+1d6
• Third level: 4+1d6
• Fourth level: 2+1d4
• Fifth level: 1d6

The total value of these treasures is 40,000 GP and worth 25,000 xp. 

The portrait is large and seems to be part of the wall and can't be removed.

Wasted Lands Playtest: Superheroes in the Dreaming Age, Part 4 The Demon's Daughter

Okay, let us scale things down a bit and see what we can do with some mystical characters and some that are not super-powerful. At least not yet.

Another concept that comes up is the Demon Spawn that tries to do good. These characters often appear in comics with magic as a theme and they are a great choice for a Wasted Lands game since there is likely to be a lot more interaction with demons. 

This character could be a lot of different things, and "demon" might even be an alien, say in the case of Karolina Dean from Marvel's Runaways. But my example here will be borrowing heavily from DC's Teen Titan, Raven.

Now there are a lot of ways to do Raven. We have Psychics, Sorcerers, and even Necromancers. But Raven's primary powers come from her empathic abilities and astral projection with some spells. So I am going with Psychic for her here.

The Demon's Daughter

Class: Psychic (Persona Aspect)
Level: 6
Species: Human-Demon
Alignment: Twilight Good
Background: Student

Abilities
Strength: 12 (+0) 
Agility: 13 (+1) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 15 (+1) N
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 17 (+2) A

Fate Points: 10
Defense Value: None 10
Vitality: 30 (d6)
Degeneracy: 
Corruption: Unnatural Parlor

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+0
Melee Bonus: +2 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +3 to Persona based saves

Psychic Powers

Supernatural Attacks, Sixth Sense, Empathy, Psychokinesis (Telekinesis, 2d6+1), Temporal Sense, Shadow Walking, Astral Projection

Superhero (Divine) Archetype: Rebilous Child of older God/Demon

Divine Touchstones
Level 1: Mystical Senses (as Sorcerer spell)
Level 2:  
Level 3: Additional Movement: Fly
Level 4: 
Level 5: First-level Sorcerer
Level 6: 

Spells
1st Level: Protection from Evil

The Divine Touchstones are really what separated the normal people from the heroes and the heroes from the legends. You likely will not use all of these on one character. I'll have some less-super examples coming up.

She has fewer to reflect that she is still just a teen or young adult. This also more likely the speed in which people will want to hand out the Divine Touchstones. 

Please check out and back the Wasted Lands Kickstarter.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 6, Room 21

Entrance to the Grand Temple

The temple is the central focus of this lair and is in the center of this Shadow Elf city.  

In the front of the temple is statue of the Vampire Queen. Close inspection will reveal the statue is of different construction than the rest of the temple (2 in 6 chance for Dwarves, 1 in 6 for all others).

This temple is influenced by Chaos and the necromantic energies that the Citadel of Necromancers were tapping into and why the Vampire Queen came here. The temple is not the source, but it is a focal point.

While in the temple, Undead are treated as one column greater (1 HD more) on the Cleric Turning Undead table. So Skeletons are turned as Zombies, and Zombies as Ghouls.

Positive magic used for healing will heal 1 less point than rolled. The notable exception are the "healing wands" from Level 5.

The aura of evil, chaos, and necromancy is quite palatable and can be felt by all.

The source of the floating light of this level originates from here.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 5, Room 27

Just outside this corridor to the left there is a deformed area where the metal and rock merge. Outside of the metal area, there is a spiral staircase going up.

These stairs look like they are the manufacture of the Necromancers (or more to the point, their slaves) that had lived here.

These stairs ascend to Room 15 on Level 4. 

If the players did not defeat the ghouls in that room they will try to meet the characters half-way. The Ghouls however will not enter level 5, bot even to avoid being killed by the party. They react in fear to anything on level 5.

If the characters use one of the "heat wands" the ghouls will try to run away as fast as they can as if "Turned" by a Cleric. 

--

The strange necrotic energies here are enough to scare away other undead. 

Review: Time Lord the Doctor Who RPG

The year is 1991, and the FASA Doctor Who game is out of print. Equally less likely to see a resurgence is the Doctor Who series. In 1989 Sylvester McCoy, who had signed on as the 7th Doctor in 1987, was featured in the last "Classic" Doctor Who episode, "Survival."  The Doctor's future on BBC Television was in serious doubt.  

The Doctor had seen something of a resurgence in the Sylvester McCoy years leading to Virgin Books (founded by Richard Branson) to continue the story of the Doctor and Ace in the "New Adventures" series. The novels were very popular among Doctor Who fans, even if they took some liberties with the established lore of the show. Though some ideas (like the Time War and Other) would find new life in the 2005 reboot of the series.  But that is for another discussion.

While Virgin saw success with the novels, they found getting into the RPG market a little more difficult. They released Doctor Who Time Lord with the subtitle Create your own adventures in time and space in 1991. The book was in an A5 (148.5 x 210 mm or 5.8 x 8.3 inches) format as a novel. The authors were Ian Marsh and Peter Darvill-Evans. Both of whom had solid RPG and Doctor Who credentials.  The game has been out of print for a while, but the authors had released a copy of it online. You can still find it if you know where to look. I compared it to my print copy, and they were identical save for some updates to include the then-new Eighth Doctor. 

Time Lord

1991. 288 pages, A5. Color covers, black & white interior art and photos.

The presentation for this game is an odd one, since it came from a novel publisher rather than an RPG one. 

PART ONE: DOCTOR WHO: A Legend In Its Own Primetime

This covers the history of the Doctor Who programme from 1963 to 1989. It gives us details on the seven actors to play the Doctor. We are introduced to some concepts in Doctor Who like the TARDIS and the Companions as well. There is also a short story, The Necromancers, that is referred too later in examples. 

PART TWO: Role-Playing: What It Is And How To Do It

This covers the basics of RPGS including a history lesson complete with nods to Dungeons & Dragons. It is not a bad overview really. Designed mostly I think for Doctor Who fans that are not roleplayers already. There is a solitare adventure you can play, Switchback, with the characters Jamie and Tegan as your examples. I am just trying to imagine a situation where these two would be working together. It is more or less like a "Choose your own Adventure" sort of deal. Similar to the one found in the D&D BECMI Basic book, but you won't be carrying Tegan's lifeless body back when you are done.

PART THREE: How To Role-Play A DOCTOR WHO Adventure

This covers the basic rules of Time Lord. The system uses two six-sided dice (like the other DW RPGs) but in this one you take the difference to get your number.  So the results will be 0 to 5, with 5 (6-1) being the best role. You compare an ability to a difficulty set by the Referee. If your Ability score is lower than the difficulty score then you must roll and score higher than the difference.  So if your ability is Strength 3 (average) and the difficulty for a test of strength is a 5 then you need to roll a 2 or better. Difficulty can be adjusted as the Referee needs. There are some examples given in the book and appendix.

The Abilities include Strength, Control, Size, Weight, Move, Knowledge, Determination, and Awareness.  All (save Weight) have special abilities attached to them. The special abilities are all detailed and work like a combination of skills and advantages. 

Combat is covered, though Doctor Who is not a combat-focused game in any iteration, there is some here. It should be noted that in Time Lord, unless you are the Doctor, death is permanent. 

PART FOUR: The Cast of Thousands

This section might be where Time Lord shines above FASA's Doctor Who game. Here we have stats for all Seven of the Doctor's incarnations and all 29 of his companions, from Ace to Zoe. We also get a lot of aliens andvillains (though not sure why Sabalom Glitz is here, he is more of a comic-relief character). The Master and the Monk are two separate figures in this game.

There is some coverage on various vehicles including space and time travel ones. Special attention is given over to the TARDIS as expected. 

There is even a section called "500 Year Diary" (something that just popped up in a recent Doctor Who episode I was watching too!) that briefly covers a few topics.

PART FIVE: The Never-Ending Script

This covers running a game. It also gives good examples of what the various levels of Abilities are. While humans range from 1 to 5, with 3 being average, the scale does go to 10. So for example a "comic book superhero" has Control 7 and a Time Lord like Rassilon has Knowledge 9.

There are plenty of examples of Difficulty modifiers and relative percents. So really there are some really great details here.  There are details and tips on creating your own adventures and a sample adventure The Templar Throne (or Curse of the Cyclops in the PDF) is provided.

APPENDIX 1: CREATING COMPANIONS

There are no character creation rules really in this game. The rule expects you will be playing the parts of one of the Doctors and his various companions. This Appendix though does give you guidelines on how to create your own companions. A sample companion, Alison, is given.

APPENDIX 2: SAFE COMBAT

This covers how to tone down the lethal-ness of combat.

APPENDIX 3: DESIGNER’S NOTES

Now this is pretty interesting. The designers talk about why the made the game the way they did and how to want to appeal to both sorts of fans, Doctor Who and RPG players. 

APPENDIX 4: ADVANCED CHARACTER CREATION

Now this is from the PDF version only. The print version does not have this. This addresses the original criticism that the game did not feature character generation rules. This takes the guidelines found in Appendix 1 and expands them to includes combined a point spread generation and a random number generation. This produces characters that are all roughly of the same sort of spread with some exceptional abilities thrown in. Much like the companions themselves.

Note: There are still no rules here for generating a Time Lord character. Unless that character is a Gallifreyian and a companion of the Doctor, like Susan or Romana. 

Both end with blank character sheets. The book also includes blank sheets for Aliens and Villian NPCs. 

I had grabbed this PDF back in the dawn of the Internet and held on to it for years, not really knowing what I had had. It wasn't until I saw the Virgin book on sale that I finally put it all together.

The Time Lord game is very much a product of the 90s and the Virgin New Adventures here really shine through. Granted that could just be me reading into it all. I had a rather nice collection of those books, and it colored my view of the Seventh Doctor (for the better really). 

The game is not groundbreaking by any stretch, but it is much better than I originally gave it credit for and would have been great fun in the dry years following the Fox Doctor Who movie. 

Given the use of two d6s instead of grabbing them from your "Monopoly or Risk" games as the book suggests you can borrow some from it's sibling games that also use d6s.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 5, Room 16

Taking the far hallway on the right leads to another corridor with four doors. Each door opens to similar rooms.

Each room is dark with a large vat full of green liquid as the centerpiece.  In two of these, the vats are empty of liquid and there are skeletons at the bottom.  The glass is broken.

In room 16a there is a vat with a Saurian floating inside. If the glass is broken and the liquid drained the saurian will revive in 1d4+1 turns. The saurian (a Warrior) will be enraged and quite insane. It will attack the party right away.

In room 16c the vat has a human male. If this vat is drained the human will revive in 1d6+1 turns, scream incoherently at the party and then promptly die.

--

These are abductees of the Ophidians. They have been here for centuries kept alive and awake for all this time. The Necromancers kept these two to come back to later but never did.  The controls for the life support are damaged, so there is no way to put the victims back.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 14

The tunnel in the back of Room 13 leads down to another cave.  This one features the bones of a great beast embedded in the walls.

The bones are the fossilized remains of some ancient beast. They were part of the walls when the Necromancers got here.  Repeated unsuccessful necromantic magics have left this cave magically charged.

If the party remains more than 3 turns they must make a saving throw vs. Paralysis or take 1d4 hp of damage. The energies are draining the very life from the characters.

The bones are difficult to remove from the walls, the easy ones were removed a long time ago, but if they somehow manage (dealing 24 hp of damage to the bones will break off a chip), then they can be sold to a wizard or necromancer for 50gp each. But while the characters possess these bones, they will not heal any wounds, either by normal or magical means.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 7

The passageway beyond the cave leads to another cave. There is more diffused light here and more of the strange plants.  But that is not all.

Inside this cave are three (3) Carcass Crawlers. They are currently scuttling around and will attack when the party enters.

They have stashed here and there standard treasure type B and an additional 2d6 rubies of 1d6x10 gp value each.

There are two exits on the far side of the cave, one to the right and one to the left.

--

Note about the plants.  These plants were made by the necromancers to feed on the magical energies of these caves and to provide oxygen and food to the various creature here they needed for experiments. Casting a "sunlight" spell or other bright light (Continual Light, but not Light) will cause them to wither and die.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 1

 Level Four seems to be mostly rough-cut stone as if the entrance from Level Three was cut out of an existing cavern system.

When the PCs get to bottom of the very long stairs they find another door. It is locked but can be picked at a -10% to an Open Lock roll.

The door is trapped on the level Four side. So one the character pass through the doors will close, trying to open them will release 1d4+1 poison darts. They "attack" as normal-level human causing 1d4 points of damage. They are coated with poison so a save vs poison is needed. The poison was stronger ages ago so in stead of death it causes violent sickness on a failed save. The character is useless for 1 hour. A cure wounds spell or potion of any sort will cure them.

Notes about level 4. 

These are natural caves that the necromancers and wizards cut into for their magical research. There are gems here as well as monsters. There is a magical glow about the place, but torches are still recommended.  

There are noises coming from everywhere. GMs should roll for random monsters using the tables for a Level 4 dungeon. 

There is a natural sink hole that leads to Level 5 later on in this level.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 30

 This room is right off of the smaller lab (Room 29). This room is large with lots of operating tables in the center and desks and workbenches along the walls. There are large vats along the walls.

When the characters enter this room, zombies begin to crawl out of the vats.  They are covered in thick sticky blood.

Vat Zombies (5). These zombies have 2+1** HD and are faster than normal zombies and can attack at any point in the round. They also have +1 to damage and AC of 4.

These zombies are one of the last creations of the Necromancers. 

The zombies have no treasure, but the remains of the alchemical equipment will get 1000 gp in gold, 3000 gp in silver and 4000 gp in copper. There are also gems (2030 gp) and other equipment (1000 gp) if the characters can haul it out. 

There is a large door on the far wall, it can be open easy enough.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 29

 This room opens up from the hallway to reveal the last creature worked on by the Necromancers. 

It is a Zombie Owlbear (5HD, attacks like an owlbear, but last in initiative like a zombie).

This creature lacks any intelligence including the knowledge or the will to move to another room. It will attack anything this room.

There are three skeletons on the ground. They wear the remains of what could have been wizard robes. The robes have been slashed. The story here is a little obvious, these were the wizards working on this beast and it killed them. 

One of the robes has a wand of magic missiles with 5 charges left. Another has a ring of protection +1, and all have about 45 GP total.

Searching the room will find a lot of lab equipment, some materials for sewing up corpses and surgical gear. There is a stone slab near the door out with the word "Jabrexi" on it in the language of magic.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 4

Moving on down the hallway, you see a light in the cell to your left.

This cell seems empty but there is a light on the inside.  

The light is a wraith that has been trapped here since imprisoned by the Necromancers long ago. It was a human-bugbear hybrid but it was too stupid to be of use to the Necromancers, it was however violent and ill-tempered.  It died and now only its wraith remains. 

It is so consumed with anger that it will attack first before any thoughts of leaving its prison.

Its stats are the same as a wight, but it is ghost-like. It still drains like a wraith and needs magic to hit.