Movie: The Church

I'm a fan of Italian horror films by directors such as Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, both in and out of the Giallo genre. Recently I watched The Church and, while it certainly isn't for everyone, I found ample inspiration for role-playing. It is, in fact, my primary inspiration for my most recent project in Labyrinth Lord. The entire movie is on YouTube and you can see part one here.

The Church is notable for many graphic death scenes, some clunky Teutonic Night's helmets, the music of Philip Glass, and an attempt to bring Boris Vallejo's Vampire's Kiss to life (literally). If you're interested in early Italian horror (60's and 70's), check out previews of some of the most lauded here. Note: They are not for the faint of heart.

The Church is responsible for inspiring me to write my first old-school module in over a decade.

Monster: Giant Undead Rat

Giant Undead Rat
No. Enc.: 2d4
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120' (40')
Swim: 60' (20')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1, regenerate
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 1d6, disease
Save: F3
Morale:11
Hoard Class: XX
XP: 25

Giant Undead Rats regenerate 1d4 HP each round making them difficult to kill, much like their humanoid relatives.

Labyrinth Lord Spell Spreadsheet

I'm currently working on a 5-10 level module for Labyrinth Lord set in my own world called New Amur. I've sketched out the basics for the adventure, and now am re-visiting Labyrinth Lord basic to reduce the amount of original content I'll need to produce. To achieve this goal and provide resources for the Labyrinth Lord, I typed up a spell list in spreadsheet format. This is a useful tool as I design the module because I can sort, rank, and quantify all spell data by factors such as duration, level, etc. I've made it public, but viewers can not edit. You can, however, cut and paste the data into your own spreadsheet program very easily.


Here is the document in Google Documents format. If you click "File" and "Download As" you can download file.

How Are Level Requirements Established for Modules?

I'm rereading Isle of Dread and working on an adventure which I hope to self-publish as a Labyrinth Lord module. I started with a basic concept, then listed out the themes and goals for the adventure. After that, I creating a hook and started brainstorming new creatures and a map. At this point, I reviewed the monster creation suggestions in LL and wondered if there were similar guidelines for establishing Adventure level suggestions.

It's not that big of a deal. Dungeon Masters have to read through the material carefully anyway, and in so doing create an estimate of health and ability requirements to be successful. It's not something to create flippantly either. This article suggests creating monster encounters that are half the level of the PC party and a final battle that is closer to 2/3. This theory only vaguely addresses traps and other hardships that are far more difficult to quantify.

I wonder if TSR had a formula worked out, or if the authors created their own approximation. Going back to Isle of Dread, for example, Moldvay includes this at page 2:

The party should have a total of 26-34 levels, 30 being best. For example, a party with a 4th level fighter, a 5th level magic-user, a 6th level cleric, a 3rd level thief, a 5th level dwarf, a 4th level elf, and a 3rd level halfling would have a total of 30 levels (4+5+6+3+5+4+3=30). Furthermore, the group should have at least one magic-user or elf, and one cleric in it.

He later suggests reducing the strength and numbers of monsters if the party falls below this number. Did Moldvay have a system for calculating these numbers other than monster level/HD? Does Labyrinth Lord have something to say about this that I've missed? The clear-cut rules for dungeon levels by monster HD begin to break down above ground and with sandbox play. Creatures and NPC's, for example, are often selected for their contribution to the story or mood, rather than their relative ability. The way in which players play also contribute to the difficulty of the adventure. PC's that, for example, are respectful to village elders may face far less difficulty than more bloodthirsty approaches.

Again, this isn't a huge issue, but I'm curious if sandbox-style adventures even need a level suggestion or requirement.

Something Old and ... Something Else Old

I found a package on my doorstep this evening; an eBay OSR package. Opening the box I am reminded that one significant characteristic of old-school gaming is often expense. For $30, far less than the cost of a new 4e, Pathfinder, or Dark Heresy book, I received over ten softcovers. In the photo above, you see the books that got me most excited. These include my second set of B/X in very good condition, my third Companion set in poor condition, my second Master's set in very good condition, and most exciting, my first Immortals set in near mint! I now have the complete BECMI.

Included in the box were a bunch of Star Frontier books and Top Secret (TS). I know very little about TS, other than it was published by TSR in 1980. I hope to research, read, and blog my way through this slightly musty box that smells suspiciously like mom's basement.

What's That Smell?

Good referees will stimulate different senses in the course of an adventure. One might argue that the more senses stimulated, the greater the immersion and memory retention of the game. This is a random and simple way to involve a sense that is often lacking in dungeon crawls; smell.

Referee Roll 3d8

3: Sawdust

4: Smoke

5: Fresh Hay

6: Fish

7: Tar

8: Rotten Meat

9: Feces

10: Wet Dog

11: Coffee

12: Lemon

13: Cedar Wood

14: Pine Needles

15-17: No Strong Odor

18: Peppermint

19: Body Odor

20: Vinegar

21: Flowers

22: Cinnamon

23: Burning Oil

24: Urine

Shhh! Did You Hear Something?

Referee roll 1d20

1-8: Silence

9: Scream

10: Growl

11: Consistent “plink” of Dripping Water

12: Intermittent Insect Chirping

13: Low Moans

14: Sobbing

15: Laughter

16: Vague Footfalls

17: Children’s Laughter

18: Rattle of Chains

19: Howling Wind

20: Hiss

Monster: Ucheloroso

Ucheloroso
No. Enc.: 1d2
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 180' (60')
Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1 (dive)
Damage: 1d4, poison
Save: F1
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: -
XP: 50

These rare and beautiful flying birds are prized by the Elven Sud Shamans of the Northeast for their feathers. With a wingspan of ten feet and blood-red feathers, the Ucheloroso tend to live in the upper balconies of old-growth forests feeding on insects. Ducts at the base of their beak generate a constant stream of deadly poison. The Ucheloroso are prized by Elves for their feathers and poison ducts, from which warriors extract poison for their arrow tips. As a result, Ucheloroso feathers and poison ducts are highly valued, currently equivalent to one gp per undamaged wing feather and 100 gp for an undamaged poison duct from which 3d10 tips may be dipped. A typical Ucheloroso has twenty prized long wing feathers and two poison ducts.

Ralph Bakshi's Wizards RPG

Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards movie and role-playing game showed up in a post over at Rather Gamey a couple of weeks ago. I bought a copy of the rpg in the mid-nineties after stumbling across it at a local comic book store. It’s written by Edward Bolme and published through Whit Publications. I believe only one edition was published, along with several supplements including one for Montagar, Scortch, game master screen and character sheets. Basic information is listed on rpg.net, but includes no reviews or details other than basic publishing information. Online stores such as Troll and Toad have the information, but no books in stock. However, copies show up on eBay from time to time. Why a game based on a 1977 animated film was released in 1992 isn’t immediately clear, though the post at Rather Gamey is the start of answer.

Love it or hate it, Bakshi’s Wizards is a memorable movie for several reasons. It was an adult cartoon in a day when cartoons were largely for kids only. It blended surreal imagery, intense colors, and jarring sound effects. It was an odd blend of fantasy and technology with a clear message about the bifurcation which is reflected in the game. Finally, it included references to the Nazi Wehrmacht in an epic setting. At this point, nostalgia is unavoidable in looking at the movie.

Setting and Ideology

The game is set after Avatar and Blackwolf’s battle at their mother’s deathbed and before Blackwolf’s destruction. Blackwolf is steadily increasing the size and efficacy of his army as he draws inspiration from various ancient technologies (namely, those from Nazi Germany). A clear theme, both in film and rpg is the bifurcation between technology and magic. Technology is bad, magic is good.

Character Generation

Anyone comfortable with D&D, Palladium, Cyberpunk 2020, or similar stat and skill-based characters will be immediately comfortable with Wizards character creation. Race selection (remember, humans are extinct!) includes a variety of elves, dwarves, gnomes, fairies, and elflings. Primary attributes include strength, intelligence, dexterity, charisma, perception, constitution, size, and will power. Secondary attributes include might, damage bonus, spirit, movement rate, reaction speed, recovery, shock points, hit points, and luck points. In building a character, the player uses character generation points (CGP) to do everything from primary attributes (0-20), to flaws and skills.

Mechanics

Wizards is a d20 stat and skill-based stacking system. Players try to roll under their skill, while the gamemaster applies various modifiers. For example, “climbing” is a “dexterity” based skill. The player combines both numbers and try to roll under the target number, modified by the gamemaster for difficulty (-20 “incredibly” difficulty, -10”rough”, etc). It includes critical failures and successes, which are called blunders and aces respectively. Non-combat “blunders” and “aces” are left open to gamemaster interpretation. Random “blunder” and “ace” tables are posted in the reference pages for both ranged and melee attacks. Opposed rolls follow the same rules as above, except each character calculates, then compares their numerical success (if it is a success). Whoever has the higher value, wins.

Combat

Wizards rpg offers a fairly detailed set of rules and modifications for ranged and close-quarters combat. Tables and modifiers are given for various terrain, armor, aiming, parries, bracing, throws, cover, dodges and many others. Again, if you’re familiar with D&D or Palladium combat, you’re good here.

Magic

Magic in Wizards is fairly unique in that you create your spells and is governed by various factors rather than a set of rules as with technology. Casting spells is also skill-based and can therefore be improved with practice. Listed spells include basic information such as duration, damage, volume of effect, etc. Wizards includes an “evocation” concept, which is, at best vague. “If he [PC] rolls less than or equal to his current spirit points, he expends spirit points. The number of spirit points he has left after evoking are equal to the number he rolled. Also, something happens which will help him in some way.”

Characters

Stats for the major characters from the film are included:

Avatar

Blackwolf

Necron 99 AKA Peace

Elinor

Weehawk

Adventure

An introductory called “Tunnel of Hate” is included in the gamemasters section. Blackwolf’s explorations have uncovered an ancient tunnel, complete with a functioning rail system, leading directly into Elven territory. It is up to the characters to stop Blackwolf and his minons from using this discovery to destroy East Elfland. Note: Wizards also offers a solitaire adventure, which runs from pages 54-65.

The Wizards rpg is an interesting reminder of the days when adult cartoons were shocking, PG-13 hadn’t been invented, and the organic and idealistic peace movement of the seventies hadn’t yet given way to nihilism and hard steel of cyberpunk.



The author has recently published his first fantasy adventure in the best old-school style!  Take a look and click HERE.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_(film)

http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=7368

http://index.rpg.net/display-search.phtml?key=contributor&value=Edward%2BBolme&sort=system

http://www.trollandtoad.com/D&D%20and%20Other%20RPGs/5386-922-5209p1n10.html

Thanks for reading to the end. Trivia bonus: Mark Hamil voiced the elf character, Weehawk.

My Favorite Dragon Magazine Issue

My favorite issue of Dragon magazine has always been #137. From Keith Parkinson’s fantastic cover through a hundred pages of nostalgic ads and varied articles to Snarf Quest at the end, I’ve enjoyed and continue to enjoy this issue from my collection. Published in 1988, I was twelve and playing Mentzer’s Red Box and Palladium’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) when I bought it. Below is a brief outline, in alphabetical rather than ordinal order, of some of the more interesting articles, art, advertisements, and, sometimes inadvertent, humor.

Articles

“The Ecology of Carnivorous Plants” by Gregg Chamberlain discusses carnivorous plants in an AD&D setting. Very few stats and no tables are included in this four page article.

“The Fairest of the Fairs” by Bill Volkart is another article I enjoyed. It describes fairs and festivals. Without being mechanic specific, this article includes descriptions, time of year, and duration for several festivals.

“Into the Age of Mammals” by David Howery was an article I used in several campaigns. It lists stats for Cenozoic era creatures including alticamelus, ambelodon, arsinoitherium, giant bison, glyptodont, and many others. There are also many excellent illustrations by Jim Holloway. This article also includes eleven random encounter tables.

“What’s For Lunch?” by David Howery covers rules for dining out in the wilderness. The article includes several random encounter tables based on geography. This article also includes some stats on the giraffe, hart, okapi, seal, tapir, and walrus.

“Treasures of the Wilds” by David Howery is an interesting article, especially for rangers. It includes rules and tables for hunting animals for monetary gain. I appreciate that it includes, not only fur, but eggs, teeth, tusks, plants, and carcasses.

“Up and Running in the Land of Mutants” by Kim Eastland includes racial information for PC’s wanting to upgrade their characters. It addresses nearly the entire character creation process and features cool artwork by Valerie Valusek.

“Weathering The Storms” by Lisa Cabala provides nineteen tables for creating weather in AD&D campaign. This article does not provide mechanical support and could just as easily come from a science journal.

Advertisements

Amazing Stories was a great anthology magazine that I subscribed to along with Realms of Fantasy and Science Fiction Age. I now wished I had kept my back issues (especially Science Fiction Age).

Battletech by FASA often had several pages of high quality full color advertisements and issue #137 is no different. I went on to play some Battletech, but never came to enjoy it nearly as much as D&D, Palladium, or White Wolf products.

Bullwinkle and Rocky the role-playing game published by TSR. I never played this game, and don’t know anyone who has, but it’s the first full color ad after opening the cover.

Dark Future was post-apocalyptic car combat game by Richard Halliwell. Again, I never played this, but I always wanted to. The $47.99 price tag was a bit steep for my Velcro wallet.

Forgotten Realms City System is the second advertisement. I also never owned this boxed set, but remember seeing a 4e boxed set city edition during my most recent bookstore browsing.

Hyborian War: Imperial Conquest in the Age of Conan was a play-by-mail game that I also never played. In fact, I never participated in a play-by-mail game of any kind.

Palladium Books created black and white advertisements featuring Beyond the Supernatural, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, and RECON. I’ve played plenty of TMNT and Rifts, but Robotech is my favorite and most nostalgic Palladium product.

Ral Partha black and white ads dominate my memory of Dragon magazine from my earlier days of gaming. I didn’t get into minis until the late nineties, and then it was through Games Workshop. It wasn’t until 2010 that I started getting minis specifically for my D&D and Labyrinth Lord (LL) games.Top Secret/S.I. also by TSR was a game I never owned or played… until now. Two days ago I bought an old school rpg lot on eBay, finishing my BECMI set (got you finally, Immortal rules!) and getting some Top Secret/S.I. as well.

Venom was another play-by-mail game I never played, but the picture of the vaguely monkey-like demon got under my skin. In this game, players conjured demons to do battle in the ninth dimension.

There was also this:

“Dear Dragon:

Recently my AD&D game character; Waldorf, a 358^th-level magicuser; created the nuclear bomb. Due to this action, all of Greyhawk has been utterly obliterated, except for a 3x4 mile island with a castle called Castle Waldorf.

All creatures from the Monstrer Manuals were destroyed due to large amonts of nuclear fallout. All the deities work in a salt mine under Waldorf’s castle. I would greatly appreciate it if everyone would mail their character sheets to me so that I may tally up Waldorf’s experience. All of the game manuals and modules are now totally false and untrue. Any profit made from TSR’s merchandise from this day onward should be mailed to Waldorf’s castle (in gold pieces of course).”

People were writing in responses to this letter more than a year later.

Art: Priss Asigiri

I'm a fan of the cyberpunk genre and anime, so it's little surprise that I fell in love with Bubblegum Crisis in the late eighties. I had a Japanese friend whose family members mailed VHS tapes of televsied anime programs and I made copies of those copies. The quality was poor and there were no subtitles, but I watched and rewatched them, constantly adjusting the tracking to improve quality. Years later I remember driving an hour to a retailer in order to pay $34.99 per VHS dubbed episode. Years after that, I eBayed the entire series on DVD for less than $20.

Today I tend to watch far less anime, though I maintain a few in my library such as Death Note and Lain. I do, however, continue drawing in an anime style from time to time. I've also attended several Anime Conventions such as Ohayocon in Columbus, Ohio and Katsucon on the East coast. While there, I've purchased a few cells from Ranma 1/2 and Bubblegum Crisis. Inspired by handwritten comments by Japanese artists on the back and margins of my cells, I painted a few anime pieces in that style. Above is an example. It is Priss, the main character from Bubblegum Crisis, emerging from shadow.

Note: Talsorian games also released a Bubblegum Crisis role-playing game which I also own and may include in a future post.

Dreams, Minis, & A New Story

I had to work in Columbus last Wednesday and so missed my weekly Dark Heresy gaming session. I had some down time, along with internet and a netbook and I keep all my gaming documents in the cloud using Google Documents, so I was able to work on a few projects. I spent some time generating Labyrinth Lord (LL) characters and slightly modifying the starter adventure with the Morlock shamans found at the back of the basic ruleset. I enlarged the map and added some spiders making it what I consider a one shot adventure for a third level party. I ran copies of everything and piled them with a freshly printed and bound LL rulebook. I'm now ready to referee my first fantasy game in over five years! I don't have a game date set yet, but I'm excited and a little nervous. My Wednesday night game master said I can run a few games after he finishes our current story arc in Dark Heresy. However, I'm hoping my wife is up for a trial run.

I also blew a few fivers on twenty or so D&D mini commons and the rulebook. I like how they break the rules into simple and advanced and that the simple rules are truly pick and play. As you probably know, the quality of the miniatures vary and the ones I really want (I'm looking at you Beholder) are out of my fiscal range. Although I haven't seen it on eBay yet, I assume the prices will only rise since Wizards of the Coast have discontinued the line for the most part. The starter box I bought was battered and folded deep into a shadowy bookshelf at my local Barnes and Nobel. I really do want some of the rares, though. *sigh*

This week in Dark Heresy was the start of a new adventure. The day I missed was book-keeping and leveling work while "It's a Trap!" played in the background. I already knew that I wanted to spend my experience points on plasma pistol training and bump my Strength stat, so I was able to make up the lost time during the introduction. Very little happened in the game, other than establishing the environment, which so far reminds me of the city scenes from Bladerunner.

The Bell & Spade

A couple of months ago a fellow blogger shared what I think is a simple, but effective plan for accommodating varying gamer attendance over time. He created a rule that all players had to return to a common Inn by game's end. Of course, to be effective this concept doesn't require an Inn, but, hey, we're talking D&D. This is an elegant solution to various problems I won't itemize here. Instead I will wax thus; adventurers and explorers returning, with regularity if they are lucky, exhausted and filthy, to a run-down building with a weathered sign slapping idly in the wind. Inside, the firelight and flitting shadows hide grime and cast a warm glow on the dirty wooden tables and chairs. Chairs in which only a sober man would hesitate to rest his haunch in the light of day. After a couple of ales, any hesitation or social correctness fades, and the company gradually descend into a restorative slumber, savoring both the safety of the Inn and the stories of recent dangers.

I step back for a minute and think about my own involvement in gaming and habits in life. First, as a gamer and reader I have always oscillated between the tech heavy and high fantasy spectrum (not that there isn't a synthesis of the two, but that is a discussion for another post, namely my review of the Wizards rpg). I see this in my personal life and don't have a good answer. I love hiking and hunting and not having a cell phone beeping in my pocket. At once I also love my computer, iPod, ebooks, and wired-in life. I may wrestle with this bifurcation until death, but that isn't necessarily a depressing thought.

From time to time I stray from one extreme, but this sway can, at times, rock me to sleep. I return from whatever dank caverns have hosted my thoughts to the warmth of a run-down Inn. I order several tankards of local ale, and settle into a creaking chair by the fire. For me, I name this inn "Bell & Spade" for reasons I won't share here. At times when I seek respite from the at times impersonal and frenetic world of Wintermute I'll spend a few days, perhaps weeks even, in the Bell & Spade. I ramble by light of day in the local hills, smoke gentle Hobbit tobacco, and bathe at the Falls of Tarf, only to return at dusk with tired legs and eyes used to seeing long distances.

The Inn may be rough around the corners, leak a bit in heavy rains, smell forever of dog and sawdust and sit far from any city of significant population, but it is a home of sorts beyond definition. That is why I visit. That and the beer isn't as bad as the Dwarfs would have you believe. Swing by sometime and tell me a story.

Appendix V or My Brief History with the Undead

I’ve enjoyed Vampire stories for as long as I can remember. My dad was a librarian, and he often brought home videos and books for my brothers and I to enjoy. His selections ranged from historical pieces, to fantasy, to horror. Ratings were also never a concern for my parents. I remember watching the ’31 Dracula, the Spanish version, Nosferatu, and just about all the classic and not-so-classic cannon since then. This includes Hammer as well as the racier pieces such as Andy Warhol’s Dracula (which I still love) and Polanski’s Fearless Vampire Killers (a longtime favorite).

In the late eighties I fell in love with Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and Rice’s Interview series. I then moved on to other vampire storytellers including Poppy Z Brite, Pat Barker, and Richard Matheson.

I read and played a considerable amount of Vampire the Masquerade (VtM) during the height of my Rice appreciation. I later ran a Vampire the Dark Ages (VtDA) campaign largely set in Italy for nearly two years. It was during this time in my life that I made the artwork above.

My interest in vampires has waned in the past decade, but it’s not undead yet. The vintage Lost Boys poster hanging in my basement attests to that. Below I create a brief Appendix V, being an incomplete, but compelling collation of my more memorable encounters with cinematic bloodsuckers. Please note this is not an exhaustive or even what I consider best of the best, just those that stand out in my memories.

Appendix V

30 Days of Night (2007)

Andy Warhol’s Dracula AKA Blood for Dracula (1974)

Angel (TV series)

Bram Stoker’s Vampire (1992)

Bordello of Blood (1995)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Fright Night (1985)

Horror of Dracula (1958)

The Hunger (1983)

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

John Badham’s Dracula (1979)

John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998)

The Lair of the White Worm

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

Lifeforce (1985)

The Lost Boys (1987)

Nadja (1994)

Queen of the Damned (2002)

Salem’s Lot (1979)

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974)

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Suck (2009)

Underworld (2003)

Vamp (1986)

Vampire Hunter D (1985)

Vampyros Lesbos (1970)

Digital Ogre Issue 4

Here is the final volume of Digital Ogre, the fanzine my friends and I published in 1996. The final issue contains the following:

Repo Man Movie Review
Once Upon A Time Music Review
An Original Special Operations RPG
Science Fiction and Horror Short Stories
A Fantasy/Horror/Sci Fi Crossword Puzzle

The fanzine turned into too much work and the main contributors had different ideas on where it should go, so the project died. RIP Digital Ogre. However, you are currently reading its grandchild.