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Monday, February 12, 2024

Monstrous Mondays: Dragon, Wood

 On Saturday, February 10th we ushered in the Chinese Year of the Dragon.  Since this is 2024, it is the Year of the Wood Dragon.

Reflecting on my last This Old Dragon, I have always tried to balance how powerful dragons need to be in an old-school game.   I want to keep dragons powerful but not so powerful that they make 1st edition Tiamat and Bahamut look weak. 

It is a balancing act. I also want to consider how much more powerful they get as they age. 

Wood Dragon, by GrumpyBeere
Dragon, Wood

Huge Dragon

Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Neutral [Chaotic Neutral]
Movement: 120' (40') [12"]
  Fly: 180' (60') [18"]
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 7d8+28** (66 hp) (6HD to 8HD)
  Huge: 7d12+28** (74 hp)
THAC0: 8 (+11)
Attacks: 2 claws, 1 bite, + special
Damage: 1d6+3x2, 2d8+3
Special: Breath weapons (Choking Cloud), camouflage, dragon fear, low-light vision (120’), magic use, shape change
Save: Monster 7
Morale: 10 (10)
Treasure Hoard Class: Special

Habitat: Temperate Forests
Probability Asleep: 25% 
Probability of Speech: 90%
Breath Weapon: Choking Cloud
Spells: First: 3, Second: 3, Third: 1

Wood dragons appear similar to green dragons in general form but lack wings. They can still fly due to their innate magic. Their coloration is usually some sort of brown that looks like polished wood, accented with bits of green and yellow. This gives them a natural camouflage ability (75% hide outdoors) in their preferred environment, temperate forests.

These dragons can attack with a claw-and-claw-and-bite routine in dragon form. In human form, they can wield a weapon. In either form, they can use magic as a magic-user of the 6th level. 

Their breath weapon is a cloud of choking smoke. It requires a save vs. breath weapon or take damage equal to the dragon's current hit points. Save results in half-damage. The area of effect is 50 ft by 50 ft in front of the dragon, which has reduced vision to all but the dragon. Attacks are at -2 for the next round following the breath weapon attack.

Wood dragons are lively, dynamic creatures. They can be quite friendly, but their moods switch easily and quickly. Many pursue some artistic or academic endeavor that takes all of their time and focus. It is in this pursuit they are most likely to engage with others.  Like all dragons, they hoard their treasures, which are always related to their interests. So, instead of gold and jewels, it will be art, paintings, or books. 

Wood Dragon encounters both Green and Orange dragons in their home environments and finds both sorts unpleasant and distasteful.

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

D&DGII The Black Forest Mythos: The Mother Goddesses Herde Oberin, Mutter Natur and Großmutter

Herde Oberin
Three more Goddesses today for my Black Forest Mythos. All are "mother" Goddesses and have quite a lot of control. Herde Oberin is the wife of Unser Vater and represents the home and hearth. She has aspects of Juno/Hera and Frigg as well as Hestia. Mutter Natur, or "Mother Nature" is the anthropomorphized Nature.  The last is Großmutter or "Grandmother", who is Gaia in the Greek myths. She is the mother of the Gods but is also the mother of many of the other creatures in these myths, including the Álfar.  

I am undecided whether Großmutter and Mutter Natur are not aspects of the same goddess. Often times you see gods and goddesses getting reduced as the pantheons age.  BUT also you see gods and goddesses splitting off.  In this case, I am keeping them separate for now but keeping in mind they might in fact be the same being.  Mutter Natur could be an aspect of Großmutter that is in an easier-to-understand concept for these people.

Herde Oberin

Herde Oberin is the wife of Unser Vater and one of the trinity of Goddesses which includes Liebhaberin the Maiden and Helga the Crone.  She represents the Mother aspect of the trinity and is the protector of the home and hearth and the family.  She is responsible for all things that happen within the home.  Unser Vater may be the chieftain of the gods, but in the home, her word is law. Spells and prayers to protect a home or children always invoke her name.

She combines aspects of Frigg/Frigga, Hera/Juno, and Hestia. She is not a jealous sort as is Hera/Juno because she is the regal queen who knows how to get what she wants/needs through her own power. 

HERDE OBERIN (Queen of the Gods)
Greater Goddess

ARMOR CLASS: 1
MOVE: 12" 
HIT POINTS: 350
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3d8
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Magic
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Commanding Presence
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 75%

SIZE: M (5' 6")
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Good
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: All (mostly Good)
SYMBOL: Distaff
PLANE: Himmel

CLERIC/DRUID: 20th level Cleric
FIGHTER: Nil
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Nil
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: Nil
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nile
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 15 I:20 W: 23 D: 20 C: 20 CH:25

Herde Oberin is the Queen of the Gods, wife to Unser Vater, and mother to many of the younger gods. She is the rule of the home and hearth where her word is law. She provides order and calmness to the gods and their dealings. She is the peacemaker between the gods, but they all fear her wrath. 

She prefers not to attack anyone, god or mortal, but when threatened, she can. She can cast any cleric spell at the 20th level of ability. She also wields a distaff that she can use to strike anyone for 3d7 hp of damage. Within her home on Himmel she also has a Commanding Presence. She can speak and any mortal who hears her will obey. Gods and other divine beings are allowed a saving throw. Undead, constructs and other creatures normally immune to the effects of mind-affecting magic are destroyed when she uses her commanding voice.  Likewise, she can use any Power Word spell once per day.

Herde Oberin is part of a Trinity of Goddess who see the well-being of mortals from birth to death. Liebhaberin the Maiden sees life begin, Herde Oberin the Mother sees life grow and flourish, and Helga the Crone sees life end and takes the souls beyond.  In this manner, they interact with the Fata Norne.

Animal: Dog or cat
Rainment: (Head) circlet or crown (Body) Simple garments
Color(s): White, 
Holy Days: Summer and Winter Solstices
Sacrifices: A small bit of food and drink left out at night
Place of Worship: The home

Mutter Natur
Mutter Natur

The Goddess of Nature and the Earth. She is the Mother of Ôstara, and she holds the same place in these myths as Demeter/Ceres. Likewise she has a mystery cult dedicated to her as Demeter did with the Eleusinian Mysteries. From the Germanic/Norse people she takes on aspects of Frigg (like Herde Oberin) but also of Woden/Odin do to her mystery cult. As Odin knew many secrets, so too does Mutter Natur. 

Mutter Natur is the goddess that druids would worship. Her mystery cult is comprised of a type of early European Celtic type of Druid adapted from the La Tène culture of Europe.

MUTTER NATUR (Goddess of Earth and Nature)
Greater Goddess

ARMOR CLASS: 1
MOVE: 18" / 24"
HIT POINTS: 300
NO. OF ATTACKS: See below
DAMAGE/ATTACK: See below
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Blight/Bless
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Blight/Bless
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 60%

SIZE: M (6' 1")
ALIGNMENT: Neutral 
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: All (Farmers, Druids, Mystery Cultists)
SYMBOL: A circle
PLANE: Prime Material

CLERIC/DRUID: 25th level Druid
FIGHTER: Nil
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Nil
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: Nil
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 11 I:20 W: 24 D: 25 C: 20 CH:20

Mutter Natur is the Goddess of the Earth, Nature, and all growing things. If Herde Oberin is the Goddess of Domestic life then Mutter Natur is the Goddess of all things wild. She is the daughter of Großmutter and the mother of Ôstara. She waxes and wanes with the seasons. 

She does not attack, but she can summon any weather of her choosing to hinder or even destroy anyone that would cause her harm. This can include spells like Gust of Wind or Lightning Bolt. She can also cast spells as a Druid of the 25th level.  At her choosing, she can also have a continuous Blight or Bless aura about her that extends to 60'.

Mutter Natur has a mystery cult. This cult resembles the practice of Druids and Shamans. Here, great secrets are revealed to the members and only the members.  To divulge these secrets results in a loss of all status and power. Some even say that the Earth itself will open up and swallow anyone before they can reveal these secrets. To date no one knows what these secrets are outside of her cult and none within will risk her wrath.

Animal: All
Rainment: (Head) circlet of flowers in the spring, leaves in the fall (Body) Simple garments
Color(s): Green
Holy Days: Equinoxes
Sacrifices: Animal sacrifice at the Equinoxes. Animals are then eaten by congregants.
Place of Worship: Any open space

Großmutter
Großmutter

While she is called Grandmother, she is more appropriately the mother of the Gods,  Die Hüne, and many of the other creatures in this myth. She is equal to the Greek Gaia and the ancient Tiamat. Her brother/husband/lover Großvater is destroyed by their son Vater Hüne to make the night sky. Großvater is equal to Uranus/Ouranos in Greek and Roman myth and Ymir in Norse.

GROẞMUTTER (Goddess of Creation)
Intermediate Goddess

ARMOR CLASS: NA
MOVE: NA
HIT POINTS: Infinite
NO. OF ATTACKS: NA
DAMAGE/ATTACK: NA
SPECIAL ATTACKS: NA
SPECIAL DEFENSES: NA
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 100%

SIZE: Varies
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: None
SYMBOL: Infinity sign
PLANE: All

CLERIC/DRUID: Nil
FIGHTER: Nil
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Nil
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: Nil
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
S: - I: - W: - D: - C: - CH: - 

Großmutter is the creatrix goddess and has no physical form save for all the Earth people walk on. She can communicate to others via dreams or other sending. It is said she can talk directly to gods, but her voice would destroy any others that hear it.

It is believed that Mutter Natur may be her aspect in an anthropomorphic form, and this is one of the many secrets learned in her secret Mystery cult.

--

Links



RPG Blog Carnival



Monday, August 14, 2023

Monstrous Monday: Leviathan, updated

I thought today's post would be an excellent follow-up to this morning's RPGaDay post and last week's Gargantua post. 

Leviathan
Leviathan, ready to consume a world.

I have been thinking a lot about demons and how I want to use them in my various old-school games, which at the moment are OSE-B/X and NIGHT SHIFT.  So naturally, I was going to get to one of my biggest big bads, Leviathan, since he has a history in my D&D games and my modern supernatural horror games. 

It began really around 1986-1987 when my high school DM and I were gearing up for our world ending campaign we were calling "The War of Dragons" and sometimes just "The Dragon Wars."  For this I did a lot of research, or what I could do in the various books on mythology at our local library, on the end of the world myths. So I read a lot about Ragnarök, Revelations, and other myths. Many had a common theme or thread of a great monster coming to Earth to destroy it only to be stopped by the forces of good. I also thought this was a good thing to do with our game. Tiamat was the obvious choice, so in my youthful hubris, I rejected that. 

Later on, as things in the real world changed (most obviously, I could still get some games in over college breaks), we expanded some ideas.  My "big bad" became more demonic/hellish as I began to "incorporate" (aka steal) ideas from the Hellraiser movies. This is where Leviathan enters into the picture. While up to this point, the big bad was only known as "the Beast of the Apocalypse," Leviathan gave me a name.

Years later, I would revisit the Dragon Wars and make it a bit of history for my WitchCraft/Buffy RPG epic "The Dragon and the Phoenix."  One of my AD&D characters, Raven Ebonflame (named for Raven Swordmistress of Chaos, whose books I had not read yet.) Raven (my Raven) was, for practical purposes, a Vampire Slayer. I would make here one in name for my Buffy RPG and have her final battle with Yoln (the Hand of Leviathan) and Leviathan, the catalyst for this new game. 

It worked wonderfully

While I was more than happy to let Raven and Yoln rest. Leviathan kept coming back to me. Demanding something be done.  I re-introduced him as an Eodemon and later put up some stats for him that I was never 100% happy with.  Today is my day to revisit these.

Leviathan
Gargantuan Dragon (Evil, Eodemon)

Frequency: Unique
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil]
Movement: 90' (30') [9"]
  Fly 240' (80') [24"]
  Swim 300' (100') [30"]
Armor Class: -6 [25]
Hit Dice: 25d8+125********* (238 hp)
 Gargantuan: 30d20+125********* (388 hp)
To Hit AC 0: 5 (+14)
Attacks: 5 bites or breath weapons
Damage: 3d8+7 x5 or Breath Weapon
Special: Breath weapons, capsize, digestive acid, swallow whole, dominate and summon water-borne creatures,+3 or better weapon to hit, immunity to fire, electricity, and poison, magic resistance (100%), telepathy 100 ft.
Save: Monster 25
Morale: 12 (NA)
Treasure Hoard Class: None
XP: 31,503 (OSE) 30,500 (LL) 8,600 (S&W, CL 34) 11385 (BF)

Str: 23 (+5) Dex: 18 (+3) Con:  23 (+5) Int: 20 (+4) Wis: 18 (+4) Cha: 18 (+3)

Tiâmat and Leviathan
Tiâmat and Leviathan

This demonic monster appears to have the worst features of hydras, dragons, and sea monsters, all with demonic qualities mixed in. Leviathan often appears to have the body of a giant sea creature with webbed limbs ending in wicked-looking claws. A long tail is used for swimming, and anywhere between five and seven heads (accounts differ). Each head has a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth and appears to be some combination of dragons but no particular dragon (i.e. there is not a "red dragon" head). 

This monster is believed to be the oldest of all the Eodemons.  Leviathan is so ancient that even other demons seem in awe of “his” age and power.  It is assumed that it is a "he," though there is no evidence to suggest either way. Leviathan exists only for one purpose; to feed.  Leviathan is drawn to worlds with strong magic and powerful magic users. Here he spends his time in the deepest parts of the oceans of these worlds, where he begins to feed. After devouring 800,000 levels/hd of magical life, Leviathan will be strong enough to destroy the entire world.  From there, he moves to a new world where he rests before starting the cycle anew.

In physical form, which many believe is only a material projection of Leviathan's true form in the Astral plane, attacks with its five heads. The heads vary in color and shape from encounter to encounter due to the chaos this monster is birthed from.  The heads have the following powers. Charm: The first head's breath weapon is one of charm and domination. All creatures within a 120' long cone (60' wide at the end of the range) are Dominated. Creatures below 6 HD/Level have no save. Creatures from 6 HD/levels to 9 HD /Levels save at -2. A failed save means the affected creatures follow Levithan even to their deaths. Only a Wish or similar magic can reverse this.  Plague: This head belches forth a gout of flying insects that consume as per the Creeping Doom spell.  The cloud is 50' in radius. Leviathan is immune to these attacks. Famine: This cone-shaped breath weapon causes hunger and thirst among any who fail their save. Victims permanently lose 2d8 hp and 2 points of Constitution. Only a Wish can reverse these effects. War: This head belches forth a gout of burning blood that sticks to skin and burns. It does 6d8 hp of damage (save for half) to everyone in the affected area, a line 120' long and 5' wide. Death: The last head always appears to be a rotting, corpse-like head of a dragon. The head's breath weapon is a cloud 60' in radius where victims have to save vs. Death or die.   Two other heads are rumored to appear when Leviathan is at his greatest power, but their powers are unknown, save they can speak in melodious voices.  Regardless of function, each head can bite for 3d8 hp of damage.

Additionally, Leviathan has the following powers. Capsize: Due to his large size, he can capsize any water-based craft on a successful roll to hit. Swallow whole: Any critical hit roll of a natural 20 by a head will result in a swallow whole.  Digestive acid: The acid in Leviath's many stomachs is so strong that once swallowed whole, the victim will take 4d8 hp of damage per round. Dominate and summon water-borne creatures: While in an ocean or sea, Leviathan can summon and control any water-based creature. Intelligent humanoid creatures like sea elves or tritons are allowed a saving throw. Leviathan's hide is so thick that +3 or better weapon to hit. He also has immunity to fire, electricity, and poison, magic resistance (100%), and telepathy 100 ft.  He speaks the languages of demons, devils, and of the primordial gods.  

Leviathan is an Eodemon, the oldest of all demonic beings. Some occult scholars claim he is the first consort to Tiamat but has since left her due to how envious he was of her power.  Despite his appearance, he is not worshiped or honored by dragons. 

Leviathan as a Patron: Powerful Warlocks that share Leviathan's desire for the destruction of magic and the world can become his Exarchs. The Hand of Leviathan and the Voice of Leviathan are his heralds. The Hand appears first to destroy and sacrifice powerful spell casters. The Voice proclaims the return of their lord and opens the gate to allow Leviathan to swallow the world whole. Killing these heralds does not stop the coming of Leviathan, but it does slow him down. When Leviathan destroys a world, these exarchs and his warlocks are destroyed with it.

--

I am pretty happy with this. I might need to tweak the bite damage a bit. 

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#RPGaDay2023 Favourite CONVENTION purchase

 There have been a few to be honest. But my most memorable was the purchase of the Mage Knight Apocalypse Dragon back at Gen Con 2011.


Shown here after I got it home with the Aspect of Tiamat and Orcus.  AoT takes up 3x3 squares, Orcus 4x4. The Apocalypse Dragon takes up 7x7.

This beast was originally going to be Tiamat in my games.  But later on WotC would release their own monstrous Tiamat. 

Tiâmat and Leviathan
Tiâmat and Leviathan

What about that Apocalypse Dragon?  I still want to get my money's worth out of him.  So he has been redubbed as Leviathan.  Fitting, given the history my games have had with him.  I will need to revisit my stats for him, though. 

This gives me a chance to use both dragons.

Gen Con 2011 was also the same year I picked up all of the Mayfair Demons sets for AD&D 2nd Edition. I might need to go back to those and see if they had a Leviathan write-up. Might be fun.

I also should adopt as much as possible from the Mage Knight rules.


RPGaDay2023


Tuesday, August 1, 2023

#RPGaDay2023 FIRST RPG played (this year)

 This one is easy because we played it New Year's Eve and Year's Day. My first game for 2023 was D&D 5e Dragonlance: Shadows of the Dragon Queen.

Dragonlance

I was a player in it, not the DM, which was a nice change of pace.

My oldest was running it, and he combined it with bits and pieces of Rise of Tiamat and Horde of the Dragon Queen from the start of D&D 5.

Honestly, he did not care for the adventure as it was written and wanted to tweak it a bit for us.  We did not play many more sessions of this. My "falling out" with D&D 5 had a lot to do with that and his promotion as a pastry chef meant he had less time.  But we did have a great time. I was cleaning up our game room the other day and all of our minis are still in the "current campaign" box.


RPGaDay2023

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Wasted Lands Playtest: War at the Gates of Dawn. Chaoskampf in your Games

Chaoskampf
One of the later additions to Dungeons & Dragons lore was that of the Dawn War. Introduced in 4e and detailed a bit more in The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea book, this war dealt with the war between the Gods and the Primordials at the Dawn of Time. Among other things, it leads to the creation of the Abyss, the devils, and more. It destroyed entire planes and creatures and built the shape of the D&D multiverse.

It is also nowhere near an original idea.

That is not a slight. In fact, it is a feature.

In studies of mythology, this is known as the Chaoskampf or the battle against Chaos. We see this in Greek Mythology as the Gods vs. the Titans. In Norse Mythology, as the Gods vs. the Giants. And in Sumerian Myths such as Marduk vs. Tiamat.  We even see it in Christian myths as God and the Angels vs. Satan and his followers. It features again in Ragnarok and Revelations. 

It is, quite literally, one of the oldest stories in the world.  The roots go back to Proto-Indo-European Gods and myths, but it is likely much, much older than that even. Jung would say it is something buried deep in our collective unconsciousness about imposing order over chaos.

It is also part and parcel of the Wasted Lands experience.

In the Wasted Lands, you play human (or near human) figures fighting back against the forces of chaos. The forces of chaos are the Old Ones, but these creatures and their minions are largely indistinguishable from the Titans, Giants, or even the Primordials of any number of myths and legends.

How does this all tie together? Easy really. 

Let's say you are a D&D fan (doesn't matter the edition) and you would like to play out this Dawn War (something I have done myself to great enjoyment). Why? Well it could be for fun, or for me it was to let the characters gain insight to what is happening in the world of the gods and this all came to them in a dream.  You can use the Wasted Lands RPG to accomplish this.

War at the Gates of Dawn

The War at the Gates of Dawn is my "serial numbers filed off" of the Dawn War. Though there is really no need for that since like I said, there are many of these in all mythologies and since it took place in (or at the beginning of) the Multiverse.

So how do you dothis? Easy.

Step 1: Choose Your Setting

This is the easiest; you are going to go back in time in your own D&D/Pathfinder/d20 game setting. I take the point of view that all the worlds that share similar gods began in one universe and then fractured at this point. 

Step 2: Choose Your Primordials/Titans

When I ran this before my Primordials were Vaprak, who late become Demogorgon, Tharizdûn, and the god that would become Orcus and Dispater. Additionally, I could use my concepts of Die Hüne from my Roma/Norse Pantheon.  But any Titans will do, really. I find Kaiju fit this role rather nicely.

Step 3: Choose your Gods, aka Characters

This will depend on your setting, but if you go with the notion that all Dawn Wars are THE Dawn War and all worlds come from a similar source, then you can go nuts. A place where Pelor, Odin, Isis, the Raven QueenBahamut, Selûne, and Sarenrae all fight side by side. In fact, I would say it is highly appropriate for all the gods of different myths (aka games) to come to this battle. 

I let my players choose the god their character worshipped, was closest to, or had a Pact with. 

Would-be Gods

Step 4: Go Nuts

Now the characters, either as 1st level or higher, need to battle the machinations of the Old One/Titans/Primordials. This makes the Dawn War/War at the Gates of Dawn a much longer conflict.

The Wasted Lands rules are VERY customizable. You can cleve very close to the D&D of your choice in terms of gameplay. The differences in the rules and the tone and tenor of them will give your "War at the Gates of Dawn" a different feel than your typical game, reinforcing how this is a different time.

My son is play-testing Wasted Lands with his D&D 5e group now, and they all claim that the rule differences make them feel like they are playing something "old and brand new" at the same time. The rules aid in the immersion of the game and help them get into their characters better. 

Now, could you get the same effect with, say Basic D&D or some other version of D&D/AD&D? Sure, but what you would be missing are the customizable rules of Wasted Lands and, of course, the Divine Touchstones that really set the characters apart. 

Doing it this way lets you start with the early days of the war and build up to what is really the biggest battle in all of D&D/Greek Myths/Norse myths or the myths of your own world. 

I ran this a while back it worked amazingly well. My oldest is doing it now in his own world where the players take on their favorite gods and have to battle the forces of chaos in the manifestation of The King in Yellow. If the shouts and cries I hear coming from our game room is any indication then it has been an epic success so far.

I think that encapsulates the Wasted Lands well. Simple in execution but epic in scope.  

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

One Man's God Special: Syncretism Part 5, Chariots of the Gods and Alien Gods

One of the great bits of synchronicity of my education back in the late 70s early 80s was my discovery of two very different authors.  The first was Erich von Däniken who had a lot of ideas that appealed to my young self, a self that was fed a steady diet of mythology, astronomy, UFOs, and new-age ideas.  For me, at age 9 to 10, this seemed like great stuff.  It all seemed to fit so well.  Then I discovered the second author, Carl Sagan.  I had seen the various episodes of "In Search Of..." and all the episodes of "Cosmos." So at age 10 there seemed to be a worldview that *could* include both.  I mean, the fringes of science were the fringes, after all. Sagan told me that in black holes, the laws of physics break down.  Maybe there were other places/things/times like this?

Chariots of the Gods
"Chariot of the Gods"

It is no stretch of the imagination that Carl Sagan and Cosmos utterly changed my life.  I always had wanted to be an astronomer, and Sagan was the model I wanted to follow.  Too bad I get to a point in Calculus where I stop understanding it.  Thankfully it was enough to help me out in statistics.

And I read, with abject horror and then absolute delight, Sagan's masterful takedown of von Däniken (and Velikovsky). He so utterly destroyed everything von Däniken had said and claimed.  The evidence and case were overwhelming for me; Erich von Däniken was a fraud, and Sagan was the true visionary.  At the age of 10, I tossed out, mentally speaking, all the things that were spiritual or pseudoscientific.  I relegated all my "magical thought" to my new obsession, D&D. 

But I never really let the ideas go away. Even Sagan himself entertained the possibility of ancient aliens, but as always, he met it with his famous standard, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

One of those ideas was about ancient aliens visiting Earth and being interpreted as gods or angels. 

Von Däniken was not the only one to have these ideas. There was Zecharia Sitchin, who gave us, among other things, the 12th Planet and Nibiru.  But the biggest one was Immanuel Velikovsky.  There are more, but this is not a post on pseudohistory or pseudoscience.  This is a post about gods.  I'll try to recover from my self-inflicted irony wound here later. 

The Aliens

I would like to reconstruct the "Ancient Alien" idea with some major changes.  First, since this is a One Man's God post, these are not aliens but actual gods. I am going to present them as such. They can be "Alien Gods" to be sure, but these are Gods in the D&D/FRPG sense of the word.

I will do it, though in such a way as to leave enough doubt in the readers' minds. That "doubt" is really just my wiggle room so I can use them as "gods" in my various D&D campaigns or as aliens in my various modern games like NIGHT SHIFT.

I want to build something that feels like it came right out of the occult-infused 70s.  

Given all of this, it should not be a huge surprise that I will be drawing on many of the same research and literature reviews I did for my April A to Z of Conspiracy Theories.  I am going to include and draw on the following posts (many of which were originally written for an earlier version of this very post):

I would take a lot of this material and put them together as a group of gods. I have PLENTY of examples. 

Case in point: The Norse Gods and the Nordics.  Take the "alien race," the Nordics, for example. Called such because, well, they are tall and blond. In my take here, the aliens become the Norse Pantheon, essentially what you see in the Marvel Movies with the Asgardians.  

Case in point 2: The entire plot behind the Stargate movie and TV series.

Mine will not be so neat and certainly not so benevolent as those. 

Also, I want to avoid some well-documented racist tropes inherent in the Ancient Aliens as Gods theories. This can best be summarized as "white people couldn't figure it out, so therefore Aliens!" Even in the 70s, I saw this. 

Union of the Snake

The academic work on this is known as the Ophiolatreia: Rites and Mysteries of Serpent Worship. This covers many religions and practices. But it also plays a little loose with the definition of "Serpent." 

Let's try something simpler. There are 1000s of Gods, and there is no way I am going through all of them to find "interloper" gods or ones that don't quite fit with the rest. But I can start with the same resource I have been using this whole time, the Deities & Demigods.

I will work it this way. I'll take all the Gods in D&DG and find the ones that don't fit, and for the most part, I will focus on the reptilian or snake-like gods. I will add a couple more because they fit well with my ideas. 

The Flock

Given the fixation on snakes and reptiles, there needs to be a good representation of those sorts of gods in this new pantheon.  Also, many of these gods will be "sky" gods. While there are archetypes all gods fall into, I am not going to necessarily follow that here like I did in the Roman-Norse Pantheon.   

While the people here are reasonably "Good" aligned, I can't say the same for the gods.  In fact, I am going to have this pantheon of gods be primarily evil.  Their design here is to enslave humans and make them build these giant temples for whatever reason. Conquest? Food? I'll see as I build them.  The humans here are doing what they can to appease these powerful beings in the only ways they know how given their times and tools at hand. This is what makes the process more "Stargate" and less "Marvel's Thor."

So who are these people? This has to be Bronze Age or long before; the Neolithic sounds better. 5,000 BCE feels right.  This also allows me to use some Proto-Indo-European notions of gods.  Indeed I might even reconstruct my own versions of the PIE Gods, not unlike what I did with the Roman-Norse Pantheon.  OR, and here is an idea, the PIE Gods existed, and these "Alien Gods" were the ones they warred with.  This tracks with the common element in many PIE myths of the Hero/God slaying the Dragon/Serpent.  Could the Dragon/Serpent be these Alien Gods?  This is the Chaoskampf of many myths.

Remember, I am not putting together a Master's Thesis or Ph.D. Dissertation here. I am building something for the D&D, NIGHT SHIFT, and WASTED LANDS RPGs. I get to bend the rules of proper academic research as much as I like.

I will use these ideas to expand my monsters, Ophidians, and Saurians.

The Gods

Here are some gods that look like they fit my criteria of a snake/reptile/non-human god in a pantheon of human gods. Eastern religions, or, more to the point, non-European ones, have far more variety in their gods. Note: I am also going to get into the subject of Good vs. Evil here. Some, like Queztequotal (Aztec) and Shāhmārān (Turkey) are objectively good figures. Others are not.

While I will focus mostly on the myths as presented in the DDG, there are far, far more. I am going to avoid monsters for the most part, but some will sneak in.  Though I will add more gods that I know as appropriate.

American Indian Mythos

  • Snake-Man

Babylonian, Sumerian, and Akkadian Mythos

  • Apsu
  • Aži Dahāka / Dahak
  • Inshushinak
  • Ištaran
  • Nirah
  • Tiamat
  • Tishpak

Celtic Mythos

  • Caoránach
  • Oilliphéist

Central American Mythos

  • Kukulkan / Queztequotal
  • Huhueteotl
  • Tlaloc

Chinese Mythos

  • Ma Yuan

I talk a lot about Ma Yuan and Ma Yüan-shuai in my discussion of the Chinese myths, I think I might keep him "as is" for this.

Egyptian Mythos

  • Apep
  • Flame Snake (monster and enemy of the Gods)
  • Mehen
  • Nehebkau
  • Set (to a degree)
  • Syöjätär (a monster, but that is the closest thing they have)

Greek Mythos

  • Enceladus
  • Gorgons
  • Hydra
  • Ophion
  • Ophiuchus

Indian Mythos

  • Bhenswara
  • Nagas
  • And dozens more

Japanese Mythos

  • Ugajin
  • Yamata no Orochi

Norse Mythos

  • Jormungandr

This could be a pantheon all on its own. Several of these have their own "portfolios."  And there are so many more.

While I am considering this as something to use with NIGHT SHIFT as "Ancient Aliens." In the WASTED LANDS, they could be heroes (still aliens of a sort) that become gods. Though in at least one case, Jormungandr is another name for Yig.

I could revisit these as part of my Deities & Demigods II since this might be my last Syncretism post for a bit while I spend some more time on my Deities & Demigods II ones.

One Man's God Special: Syncretism

Monday, March 20, 2023

Monstrous Mondays: But What About Dragons?

Did quite a bit of work on my Basic Bestiaries last week.  Mostly edits and some large-scale moving around of content. I am close to publishing yet, though I have more art for BB1.

Dragon

Here is where I am on content.

akaCompleteStarted
Basic Bestiary IWitch Monsters284339
Basic Bestiary IIUndead131378
Basic Bestiary IIIDemons155240
Basic Bestiary IVDragons1220

So, nearly 600 monsters are complete, and nearly 1,000 total started in one form or another.

A couple of things. 

Basic Bestiary I has shrunk while Basic Bestiary III has grown. I moved over about 20-25 creatures from I to III since they fit better.

Also, you might notice Basic Bestiary IV, aka Dragons.  I have talked about it, but not much. Mostly because I kept it closer to my chest, but really because so little of it was done.

This project grew out of something my oldest had been working on for a while, a book about dragons we were calling "Here There Be Dragons." It has been an on-again, off-again project for a while (ok 11 years) but I was leaving it in the hands of a then 11-year-old to work on. We resurrected it a while back and I have been slowly converting material from it to my Basic Bestiary format.  But that is not all, I also want to come up with a good monster stat block that will really take advantage of how awesome (in all senses of the word) dragons are.  I experimented with this one, but it is not 100% where I want it to be yet.  

I love the idea of Dragons getting their own book. I mean if I am going to do a book of Undead and Demons then Dragons really should get their own too.

In addition to the stat block, I have other issues to work out. Should Tiamat be in the Demon book or the Dragon book? Right now she is in both. What about one of my favorites, the Piasa Bird? Is it a dragon?

Next year, 2024, is not just the 50th Anniversary of D&D but it is also the Chinese year of the Dragon.  Feels like to me that an Old School monster book about dragons would be perfect.

I just need to get my ass moving on these.

I am also ditching the current covers I have for them and looking for something new. Still figuring out what to use.  I want the same artist for all four and they must feature the creature types covered. Still searching.

BTW if you want some cool dragon content now, Bruce Heard has a bunch up on his blog.


Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Not Yet a Mail Call Tuesday: ReAction D&D Figures

 Well...not exactly a Mail Call Tuesday today. Though it will be sometime in June/July.  But I had to mention these.

ReAction, the company that makes action figures for various properties in the style of the old Kenner Star Wars figures (3.75" scale), has a new series coming out.

Wave 1 of their Dungeons & Dragons line has some very familiar faces.

Wave 1 ReFlection D&D Figures

There is the Sorceress (D&D Moldvay Basic), the Efreeti (DMG), and the Githyanki (Fiend Folio) in the first wave for preorder now.

Damn it. Just when I was in a good place NOT to give WotC any money out of protest for the OGL shenanigans. 

Anyway. As someone who really went hardcore with D&D with the Moldvay Basic (my first proper D&D) and writes so much about witches, I am morally obligated to buy the Sorceress.  I owe it to that 11-year-old I once was. Besides, she is certainly popular.

Sorceress CardSorceress

The other figures also look great.

EfreetiGithyanki

The Efreeti also has another advantage. At 3.75", that translates to 18.75' in D&D 3/4/5 scale.  So I could use it as the Efreeti Pasha. It would have a certain level of "street cred" to use the same figure as the front of the DMG for it.  Everyone in my current gaming groups knows all about 1st Ed AD&D, so to them, pulling this guy would have the same effect as pulling out Tiamat or Orcus.

All three of these figures have also, in one form or another, have had premium statues made of them. The Efreeti and the Githyanki from Wizkids and the Sorceress, in her modern guise of Seoni, from Dynamite. These figures are a lot cheaper.

You should be able to preorder these anywhere.

I am getting mine from Super7, which has better shipping. But I have seen them at Entertainment Earth as well. They will likely be on Amazon soon.  Of course you could order them from your FLGS or FLCS.

These are not the same scale as the new D&D Cartoon figures, but they are close to last year's NECA Skyla and Kelek figures. Come back around in June/July, and we will see.

Monday, March 6, 2023

Monstrous Monday: Malarea, Outcast Duke of Hell

Malarea, Outcast Duke of Hell
I do love a good research project. 

Last week I posted This Old Dragon #91, which listed many outcasts devils for the AD&D 1st Edition game. Among these was Malarea (an obvious play on Malaria, and pronounced Mahl-ah -ree -ah).  Of course, I wanted to learn more about her, but there is precious little about her in the article.  So I started my deep dive.  

This is almost, but not quite, detailed enough for an In Search Of... style post, but it is perfect for a Monstrous Monday.

What Is Known

The Dragon article reveals that she is a former Duke (Duchess) of Hell. She wanted to be counted among the consorts of the Archdukes of Hell, even to the point where she had assaulted an unnamed Duke's consort and would kill all the other consorts to get her way. She is violent and erratic.

At some point after her exile to Avernus, she sought out the courtship of the up-and-coming Bel only to be rejected by him.

She is described as:

... tall, human-like female with huge black wings, which tower 6 feet above her own head when furled; in short, rather like an erinyes. Her eyes are fiery red, her hair long, greasy, and black, her body sleek but powerfully muscled and of a faintly luminescent, "ghostly" white hue. Her hands have long claws, and she has large, vampire-like fangs.

- Dragon Magainze (91), October 1984, p. 24

And...that is largely it to be honest. She has stats in Dragon 91 and a mention in Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants Of The Nine Hells for D&D 3.5.

So let me look into who might have been likely to interact with her.

Connections

Bel

The former Archduke Bel was once her quarry, but he had rebuffed her. This had to have made her even more furious than being rebuffed by any of the other Archdukes. After all, Bel was essentially just an elevated Pit Fiend, and she was an Archdevil. I would imagine that she would do anything to see him defeated or humiliated in some way.

Malagard

These two share similar names and some physical appearances, but they are quite different. I mention her here because, for a bit, I considered making them the same person. The deeper lore of both prevents this, really.

Tiamat

We know that Malarea went out of her way to avoid Tiamat. This was back in the AD&D 1st Ed lore when Tiamat was the ruler of Avernus. It has since been retconned that Zariel was the ruler, and Bel overthrew her.  So maybe, from this point of view, Malarea avoided Zariel. 

Zariel

The former and current ruler of Avernus is the former Angel Zariel. If we follow the 4e and 5e notions that all the Erinyes were former angels, it stands to reason that Malarea was also one. Malarea and Zariel are physically strong, given over to fits of rage and violence, and have similar appearances and backgrounds. Are they the same? Again, I am going to go with no. Both have elements in their backstory that are largely incompatible. Malarea seeks to be counted among the consorts of Hell. Zariel wants to destroy all the devils and rule Hell on her own.

Malarea Today

What would Malarea be up to today? I imagine her status has not changed much. While there have been great upheavals in Hell in the last 40 years, change still moves slowly for the most part. 

Malarea, Outcast Duke of Hell
Malarea, Outcast Duke of Hell

Large Fiend (Diabolic, Baalseraph)

Frequency: Unique
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Chaotic [Lawful Evil]
Movement: 90' (30') [9"]
  Fly: 240' (90') [24"]
Armor Class: -1 [20]
Hit Dice: 21d8****** (116 hp)
 Large: 21d20****** (137 hp)
To Hit AC 0: 6 (+14)
Attacks: 1 weapon or 2 claws, 1 bite, wing buffet
Damage: Weapon +2, 1d4+2 x2, 1d4, 1d12
Special: Baalseraph powers and immunities, magic resistance (70%), regeneration (1 hp/ 2 rounds), spell-like abilities (see below), summoning, +2 or better weapons to hit
Save: Monster 21
Morale: 12 (NA)
Treasure Hoard Class: See Below
XP: 15,250 (OSE) 15,750 (LL)

Str: 17 (+2) Dex: 17 (+2) Con: 13 (+1) Int: 16 (+2) Wis: 14 (+1) Cha: 14 (+1)

From Dragon Magainze (91), October 1984, p. 24-25:

Malarea is a bitter and envious devil. She despises many of the consorts of the Nine Hells and desires (to the point of mania) to join their ranks. If she has to slay them all to claim her rightful place among them, she will do so unhesitatingly, but rude defeats on the occasions of her bold, direct assaults in the past have made her more cautious.

Malarea remains a fiercely combative, fractious devil, given to sudden berserk rages and wild physical attacks. This temperament cost her a consortship or other position in the hierarchy of the hells, and has undoubtedly earned her her present exile. She has learned little, however: if she recognizes an archdevil, duke, or unique greater devil, she will pause to ascertain their situation and intentions before she attacks - but she almost always attacks eventually, except when faced with impossible odds. Lesser devils and intruders are her prey - she will attack any such creatures immediately, swooping at them to bite (1d4 damage) and strike with a lance, spear, or other weapon gained from a previous victim, or bare-handed with her iron-hard claws (1d4+2). Malarea is a strong flyer, and often buffets airborne opponents with her great wings, or rams into them at full speed (1d12 damage).

Malarea can use the following spell-like powers at will, one at a time and once per round:  pyrotechnics, produce flame, wall of fire, detect magic, dispel magic, detect invisibility, hold person, and polymorph self. She can shed fear in a 2' radius at will (save vs. spell to avoid), and can cast a delayed blast fireball (5d6) three times per day. 

Malarea appears as a tall, human-like female with huge black wings (28' wing span), which tower 6 feet above her head when furled; in short, she is like an Erinyes. Her eyes are fiery red, her hair long, greasy, and black, her body sleek but powerfully muscled and of a faintly luminescent, ghostly white hue. Her hands have long claws, and she has large, vampire-like fangs. She

is usually encountered wearing some gaudy trophy of a previous victim - a gleaming necklace or jeweled belt, but she cares nothing for the value of such items and will carelessly discard one for another of gaudier appearance

This was Malarea as of the mid-1980s and 1st Edition AD&D.  We know from the Fiendish Codex II that she was still an outcast as of the mids 2000s and 3rd Edition D&D.  She seems to be too strong willed and angry to have changed her status. 

How desperate is she today? Would she even approach Zariel for her consortship? I can see Malarea considering it but not Zariel. Besides, both devils are far too angry at their own situations.

I think if I were to update her some more (and I have an event coming up in my games that would fit the bill) I might make her the captain of the Erinyes. Her name has Latin roots (sorta) so I might rename her into something with Greek roots. Her name is close enough to Megaera ("the jealous one") for me to work with.  I have done a lot of work with the Erinyes, the Keres, and the Dirae, so I am "in the market" for a leader of this group of devils. Someone other than Glasya. I just need to figure out who Tisiphone and Alecto are. Alecto, in particular, will be a challenge since some of her myths overlap with Nemesis's. 

This works in another way since the Eriyes/Furies were said in Ovid's Metamorphoses to guard the gates to Dis. In D&D geography, this would put them in Avernus. 

Now I just need two more unattached archdevils.


Links

Monday, August 22, 2022

Monstrous Mondays: Monster Manual IV (3.5)

Monster Manual IV (3.5)
While I have a lot of goals I pursue in my various Monstrous Mondays, be it the creation of a new monster, adaptation of a monster from another source, or a review, my goal with the various Monster Manuals is to see if there is growth or even refinement of the monster entries.

This can easily be seen in the AD&D 1st Edition monster books as each, Monster Manual, Fiend Folio, and Monster Manual II, builds on the other adding refinements to the stat block.  The same can be said for the 4th Edition books.

I would like to be able to say the same for the 3rd Edition books. Certainly, we saw improvements from MM1 to MM3, but those were largely due to the change in the rule system; that is 3 to 3.5.  

I am particularly interested in these sorts of changes now that we are on the verge of One D&D from 5e.  One sec, need to sip my Kool-Aid.  Ok.  Better now.

All is well and good, but what does that mean for the 3.5 Edition Monster Manual IV?  Let us find out.

Monster Manual IV (3.5)

For this review, I am only going to consider the PDF from DriveThruRPG. I had owned this in hardcover largely due to the Blue Dragon on the cover (my oldest loves blue dragons) but it was auctioned off when I downsized my 3e collection.

PDF. 226 pages. Full-color cover and interior art.

This book does show some refinements and evolution. There are about 140 some odd monsters with a bit greater detail than previous ones. Often the monsters come with other details like a lair or use as characters. 

Among the monsters here the ones I found most useful were the Avatars of Elemental Evil, the Balhannoth, some new demons, a few new drow types, some more lizard folk (I can't help it, I love those guys), some more orcs, the Spawns of Tiamat is rather fun too, and some new Tuan-ti.

There is not a lot of undead here, only 6 new monsters. 

The biggest feature though is that all monsters are now on a "1 monster per page" layout, or span multiple whole pages like 2nd Ed and 4th Ed.  This increases the value of the PDF in my mind and now I am not that sad I sold off my hard copy.  Yes, today is the first time I have looked at this since then.

In many ways this book is superior to the Monster Manual III, layout just being one of them.

Friday, April 1, 2022

#AtoZChallenge2022: A is for Ancient Aliens

The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories A
The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories: A is for Ancient Aliens 

Let's kick this A to Z challenge off right and dive right into Ancient Aliens.  This will be one of my bookends for this challenge since I plan to use Zecharia Sitchin as my Z entry.

Now while there is a ton I could say about these theories today and the rest of this month, I do want to make it 100% clear that I do not buy into any of these notions.  They are good for RPG material though.

Ancient Aliens is the notion that ancient people were visited by aliens (extraterrestrial advanced lifeforms) and not only did these ancient people regard them as gods they shaped the cultures of these people and even, in some theories, shaped their DNA. 

I want to address the biggest issue with ancient alien ideas.  They are all notoriously racist.  There is an underlying notion that "white people couldn't figure it out, so brown people must have had help from an advanced species."  Which is pure bullshit.  We do have better ideas on how the pyramids were built and why.  We know how the stone heads on Easter Island were transported. We even have better hypotheses on how places like Stonehenge were built. None of these involved magic or alien technology.  Renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass has been particularly critical of these ideas saying they take away from the ingenuity of the Egyptian people.  I agree.

Once you start reading into this (and I even found a couple of questionable documentaries) it opens a whole rat's nest of crazy topics.  I am not going to go into any of these topics in detail. No room here and way off scope. But I am going to link some of the more *interesting* ones and the ones that had the most effect on my work here.

This all makes one think about the movie and TV series "Stargate."  And it was looking into all of this that made me realize how much stuff I can use here.

For NIGHT SHIFT

Most ancient alien/god "theories" are centered around Egypt and the Pyramids.  But many also pull in myths, legends, and stories from ancient Babylon, Sumeria, and the Fertile Crescent.  Others also involve American cultures like the Mayans, Aztecs, and the Toltecs.  While Egypt and the Fertile Crescent certainly had interactions, the Central and South Americans had no contact with them. In fact, that is a central thesis of these theories; "They had no human contact but there are similarities, therefore they must have had divine/extraterrestrial contact."  Ok, technically that is not a theory but more of a poorly worded research position trying to move to a hypothesis.  I am going to suspend my years of doing and teaching research design though for now.  This is for a game, not a grant.  

In NIGHT SHIFT Ancient Aliens DID exist, but they did not give humans high-tech materials or help them build the pyramids.  Humans were slaves and many times they were food.  To quote Dr. Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters II, "And that is the whole problem with aliens, is you just can't trust them. Occasionally you meet a nice one: Starman, E.T. But usually they turn out to be some kind of big lizard!"

The ancient peoples feared them, but I am going to say they mostly tried to fight them.  There were organizations created then to combat this alien invasion and some still exist to this day. 

These ancient aliens were those lizards.  They invaded ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and gave gods like Set, Apep, and Tiamat.  Then they went over to Central America and gave Queztcoatl.   The world of NIGHT SHIFT is absolutely overrun with alien lizards and their genetically modified lizard people.  

The ancient alien theories claim they are "reptoids" and are from stars in the constellation Draco. IT doesn't matter it seems that some of the stars in Draco are only 20 ly away (σ Dra) and others are as far as 7,000 ly away (V571 Dra) and everything in between.  But for NIGHT SHIFT let's pick Thuban (Alpha Draconis) as their homeworld.  It is 303 ly away, so a good distance.  It could explain the gap in time between visiting Ancient Egypt and Meso-America, they had to go back home.

I will get into the details of these lizards and what they can do.  But this is a start.  They have been here since the beginning and are still here now.  Maybe they are connected to the dinosaurs and responsible for all the myths about dragons.  

Who knows. 

I guess we all will soon.

The NIGHT SHIFT RPG is available from the Elf Lair Games website (hardcover) and from DriveThruRPG (PDF).

Be sure to visit all the A to Z blogs this month at the Blogging from A to Z blog.


A to Z of Conspiracy Theories for NIGHT SHIFT