Weird Revisited: Four-Color Fantasy Adventure Seeds

This follow up to this post first appeared in 2016. These aren't actual stories from comics (though some are close), but pastiches of the sort of thing that does show up.

1. A madman seeks a golden disk to bring life to colossal automaton, an ancient weapon of war, that lies half-buried in a remote desert.

2. A city under seige! Legend holds a magic gem will restore to life the mummy of the cities demigod founder. His body lies in a crypt in deep within the city's catacombs.

3. The jungle-choked ruins of an ancient city surround a vast, walled garden, an earthly paradise, inhabited by beautiful, golden-skinned youths. The brutish beast-folk that dwell in the ruins will let no stranger enter the garden, nor any of the garden's inhabitants leave.

4. An arboreal village of elfs is harassed by pale, giant bat riding goblins from a cave  high on a nearby mountainside, who raid the village for victims for their cook-pots.

5. A PC has a rare trait that fits a prophecy--a prophecy predicting the downfall of a tyrannical ruler, who means to ensure it does not come to pass.

6. A lake of lurid, swirling mists where time becomes strange. At it's center is an island with a castle where an immortal witch queen dwells with her eternally youthful handmaidens. No one comes to the witch's castle without being summoned.

7. A playing piece from the game of the gods falls to earth, perhaps accidentally or at the whim of a capricious godling. This touches off a race to acquire the piece with the rat-men minions of one sorceror contesting with the shadow demons of a cambion child--and the PCs caught in the middle.

Broken Compass What If?

CMON, the current owners of Broken Compass, have been slowly releasing the books in the second Broken Compass Kickstarter in pdf to drivethru. (When and if there will ever be a physical book reprint is unclear. There have been conflicting reports.) The latest of these is What If? It's a book of 14 "mini settings" adding to the pulp, pirates, and Verne style Voyages extraordinaires setting books already available. I've been anxious to get my hands on this book for some time as I knew it had rules adaptations for some genres I was interested in.

So, what's it got?

• Cosmic Horror for Lovecraftian stuff. It's got new rules for Madness. This one is a bit of an odd fit for BC as it's a game of cinematic action heroes, but they make a few suggestions to up the lethality.
• Space Opera is particularly geared toward a Star Warsian setting, giving rules for Energy (the Force) and succumbing to Darkness--and also for beam weapons that haven't appeared in any setting before.
• Gods and Men for Hercules and Xena style adventures. It would also work for things like the Clash of the Titans remake, and probably the Harryhausen Greek myth films or even Sword & Sandals movies. It has rules for Mythological Adventurers (demigods, exiled gods and the like).
• Good Boys, an animal adventures (typically pets) setting. It includes Animal Tags (which could be some use in creating nonhuman alien tags for a Space Opera game, now that I think about it)
• Fantasy Quest for D&Dish fantasy. It has the rudimentary magic system and rules for fantasy races. I'd choose it over D&D to play something like the Dungeons & Dragons movie! :D
• High School for stuff "kids on bikes" fare or stuff like The Faculty or a number of CW shows.
• Last on Earth, a post-apocalyptic setting. It has "Danger Clock" rules for impending doom.
• Black Light is a classic cyberpunk setting. It has rules for Grafts (cyberware).
• Toon City is for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Cool World type games, though you could probably ditch that angle and just use the rules for a toons game. In addition to toon characters it also gives rules for "stuffed" characters, so you come do Muppet movies, too.
• Urban Legends does X-Files or Warehouse 13 sort of stuff. It could probably also be used to set up a GvsE thing, too. There are rules for playing Supernatural entities.
• Leaving Wonderland has a narrower premise, I think, than the others. It's about trying to escape a weird, fantastical world like Alice in Wonderland or Labyrinth. There are rules for creating a random Wonderland.
• High Noon is an Old West setting. It's got Quick-draw Duel rules.

There are also guidelines for hacking the Broken Compass system, and a couple of adventure set ups.

While not all of these settings are things I see myself playing, all of them give rules that I could see myself kitbashing to make up other stuff. As such, this is a really useful book for BC fans. One caveat: in order for these settings to stay "mini" they reference material presented in the other, full setting books. If this is the only BC expansion you buy, you aren't going to be able to use it's contents to the fullest.

Sword & Sandals Mystara

The Known World of Mystara is a Hyborian Age-esque fantasyland of often thinly disguised real world cultures from a variety of historical eras, but the general vibe seems Medieval to early modern. I think it would be interesting reimagine Mystara as a more ancient world inspired, Sword & Sorcery setting, though will not greater adherence to a single era. Here's how it could breakdown:

Emirate of Ylaruam: This desert region has always been oddly placed, but depending on what latitude you think it's at, it might be weird for it to be a hot desert. Maybe it's a cold desert like the Tarim Basin or the Taklamakan. You could ditch the faux Arab culture for something more Central Asian, and give it's central religion a more Eastern flavor.

Empire of Thyatis: Less Byzantium and more Rome, though I would probably move it more in a Hellenistic direction. What the Empire of Alexander might have been like if it had been able to hang together better after his death.

Grand Duchy of Karameikos: This would stll be a breakaway, former province (though not a "Grand Duchy"). There wouldn't be true, Medieval feudalism here, but something more like the Roman latifundia.

Kingdom of Ierendi: This kingdom ruled by adventurers is kind of a pure fantasy trope, but I would give its material culture a Minoan spin.

Minrothad Guilds: A plutocratic thalassocracy more like Phoenicia or Carthage. The Guilds would be collegia.

Principality of Glantri: Well, still a magocracy, but maybe more like the Estruscans?

Republic of Darokin: Keep the plutocratic republic, but cast it less as Venice and more as Republican Rome with a of the "center of caravan routes" feel like Samarkand or Palmyra. A bit of Persian influence wouldn't be misplaced as Darokin does border Sind, which is sort of Mystara's India.

The Northern Reaches would probably still just be sort of Vikings, I guess, maybe more proto-Vikings like the horned helmet wearing raiders of the Nordic Bronze Age. Ethengar might be more Scythians than Mongols. Haven't given much thought to the demihuman lands or Atraughin. 

Wednesday Comcs: DC, July 1982 (week 1)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of April 8, 1982. 

Arak Son of Thunder #11: Thomas and Colon/Acala continue Arak's encounters with creatures from Greek myth. Khiron leads Arak to the top of Mount Olympus where Arak's face has been carved in the mountainside! Khiron offers to train Arak like he did Heracles. That's got to wait, thought, because they've got to fight a harpy. Then, they encounter the satyr, Satyricus who lured Valda away from Arak in the night. The satyr tells them that soldiers led by Brutius have captured Valda. They raid the soldier's camp, but Valda has already been taken elsewhere, and Khiron gets shot by an archer.

The Viking Prince back-up comes to its conclusion with Prince Jon and his companions reaching the fortress of Krogg the Red. Jon fights his way to the tower where Krogg is holding his sister at swordpoint. Rather, than risk his sister's life, Jon surrenders. To save her brother, Ailsa throws herself out the tower window. Jon throws his sword and kills Krogg. His quest at an end but not in the way he had hoped, Jon sets out to wander the world with his companions.

DC Comics Presents #47: Kupperberg and Swan/DeCarlo bring us a crossover with the Masters of the Universe franchise. This would be when is only a toy line (and possibly one not even on the shelves yet. I'm not sure of the dates.), before the Filmation cartoon. Superman is brought to Eternia to help He-Man and Battle Cat fight off Skeletor and Beastman, who are attempting to take over Castle Grayskull. This is the first appearance of the Prince Adam secret identity, though he's more of a playboy here, more Don Diego de la Vega than Clark Kent. Also, Swan does not draw particularly compelling muscle-bound fantasy warriors.

Fury of Firestorm #2: Conway and Broderick/Rodriquez complete the Black Bison story, and really there's not much to it. After Firestorm lost his trail last issue, Black Bison is loose on the streets of New York, and rides his white stallion to the uptown townhouse of senator Walter Reilly. In the name of avenging his people's stolen sacred heritage, he kidnaps Reilly's daughter Lorraine, and brings her to Central Park to hold her hostage.

Firestorm flies to the rescue, but Black Bison animates the Alice in Wonderland statues to attack him. Luckily for our hero, John Ravenhair's girlfriend Vanessa arrives at the park. She tries to reach the John still with Black Bison. While Bison is distracted by Vanessa, Firestorm snatches the cult talisman off his chest. With the influence of the talisman gone, Black Bison turns back into John Ravenhair. The smitten senator's daughter tries to get a date with Firestorm.

Justice League #204: Conway and Heck/Tanghal continue the attack by Royal Flush Gang. Superman is defeated by the Queen of Spades at a circus; Green Arrow is attacked aboard the JLA satellite by the Ten, while Elongated Man and Black Canary trace a clue to their antagonists to Megaform Industries in California and its president, Derek Reston. We get several lines to the effect of "wow, California's so different!" I wonder what Conway was doing with that? Anyway, Wild Card is revealed as Hector Hammond.

Weird War Tales #113: Kanigher and Carillo have J.A.K.E.-2 dropped to soldiers in the field, and just in time too, because the Japanese have deployed a samurai robot! As the cover completely gives away, J.A.K.E. uses his head to dispatch his foe. 

The next story by Snyder and Cullins purports to describe how a soldier shooting at birds led to the start of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. The final story by Pasko and Silvestri/Mahlstedt has aliens giving the human inhabitants of a post-apocalyptic Ice Age technology, but the humans chaff under what they perceive as unfair restrictions. The aliens just don't want the humans to repeat the mistakes of the past, but the human won't listen. As their resentment explodes in a rebellion against their patrons, we discover the slaughtered aliens were actually the descendants of humans who escaped Earth and went to the stars, returned to help their brothers.

Wonder Woman #293: Levitz/Thomas and Colan (abetted by a cadre of inkers) brings the Adjudicator saga to a close. The women Teen Titans and Wonder Woman take on the final horseman, Death. They are on the verge of defeat, but when Adjudicator sees the people of Earth trying to defend their heroes, he recalls his horseman. At the same time, Wonder Girl, Starfire, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, Black Canary, the Huntress, Power Girl and Phantom Lady vanish from their respective Earths as they are transported to Adjudicator's ship. He still plans to destroy the Earths, but he's going to keep them as specimens. There they discover the truth: the Adjudicator is no cosmic judge of worlds. He was merely given unimportant worlds to play with by his alien Overseers to keep him out of trouble. Just as he is about to blast them all into oblivion, when he is teleported away by his keepers. Zatana returns them all to their proper worlds and times.

Dungeon & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

I went with most of my gaming group to see Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves this past weekend. The short review is: we all enjoyed it and thought it was a lot of fun.

That out of the way, I think the way that is good--and the ways that it isn't--are kind of interesting. Fantasy films, like fantasy lit, generally seem at least in part about transporting us to a different world. The best fantasy films attempt to evoke wonder or horror, the lesser offerings at least seem to want to evoke another place or time. 

The Dungeons and Dragons movie doesn't seem much interested in those things. In fact, it doesn't really act like the typical fantasy movie much at all. It has the tropes, to be sure, but it doesn't try to wring a reaction from the audience with them, nor is it concerned with the typical stylistic elements of fantasy storytelling. There are no grubby streets, or seedy, dimly lit taverns. Monsters aren't really scary. Underground passages in the deadly Underdark seem spacious, clean, and relatively well lit. At best it's a dark ride at a theme park, and the magnificent CGI cityscapes could well be some sort of new addition to the Magic Kingdom. 

Honor Among Thieves is a fantasy movie set in the Forgotten Realms, sure, but in a real sense, it isn't a fantasy movie of the usual sort at all. What it is a evocation of what it's like to play a D&D game. The characters (within the bounds of not breaking the fourth wall) get to be as snarky, bumbling, and at times blasé as players at the table. It's like a memorable game session dramatized before you, allowing the D&D-versed viewer to imagine what's going on at the table to create what you see on the screen.

I'd say it's very clever, if I thought that were intentional. Rather, I think it's just the fortuitous consequence of post-Guardians of the Galaxy, action-adventure filmmaking and a script sharp in the sense that it keeps things moving and is filled with as many "easter eggs" as possible. Just lucky, perhaps. Still, no gamer looks askance at a lucky roll.

Other brief thoughts:

• Elves, dwarves, and halflings take a backseat to WOTC IP "ancestries." It wasn't a choice I was expecting.
• To maintain a PG-13 rating, no doubt, things must remain bloodless, which means combat relies a lot on fisticuffs and grappling. I've seen a lot of twitter jokes (well, the same joke multiple times) about "what system would be good for that D&D movie?" but I remarked to my players after the show that Broken Compass might be better at replicating what we saw on screen than D&D.
• There wasn't really a hint of a possible sequel, but that surely won't stop them if it does well enough.

A Tale of Two Paradises

 

It is possible for the determined traveler who has been shown the hidden paths to walk from the Elysian Fields to another planar realm. The primaeval forests and unworked fields of wildflowers give way to pastures, farmland, and finally, quaint villages. There, they will be greeted by the local inhabitants and perhaps invited in for a meal. The traveler has come to the Twin Paradises.

The Paradises represent the rejection of the universal contentment of Elysium as unearned. Also, not for its souls is the selfless dedication required to scale the Heavenly Mountain. Those who come to stay in the Twin Paradises find contentment in industriousness and a life well-lived--or afterlife well lived. 

The denizens of the Paradise reachable from Elysium are small folk like gnomes. They live in villages governed by democratic councils and send representatives to the over-councils that govern the smaller the interactions of the smaller ones. All the citizens work for the common good, and all who contribute partake of the communities' supplies according to their need. The Paradises are not Elysium; the land, though pleasant, is not free from the caprice of nature. The people, though similar in outlook, are individuals and not immune to petty disagreements and misunderstandings. It is overcoming these obstacles that make the pleasantness of life in the Twin Paradises deserved.

At the far edge of the first Paradise, there is a great, mist-filled chasm. One sturdy bridge spans it. On the far side, the land begins to become more rugged and more thickly wooded, though it is still beautiful and bountiful. Here the habitations are more isolated, and the people place a greater value on self-sufficiency. They are more willing to teach a newcomer than to provide what they view as charity. The people still work together on tasks of common need, but they do so as individuals and of their own volition. 

The Holy Mountain is visible from this land on clear days. Even these hardworking folk occasionally take a moment to stare at it from time to time. They are perhaps comforted to know it exists, but they have little desire to see its heights.

Let's Review...

I think I've got another entry in my series on the Outer Planes coming soon, perhaps tomorrow. Here's a review of where we've been so far.

The Planes of Pure Law
The Planes of Chaos
Hell
Carceri

Hades

Arborea

Elysium

Beastlands

Gehenna

The Layers of Heaven (part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)

Limbo

Ysgard

Wednesday Comics: The Adventurers

I remarked to Jason Sholtis a couple of months ago that The Adventurers is probably the most Dungeons & Dragons comic book ever, at least until the works of Tim Sievert. Jason rightly questioned whether that includes D&D licensed comics. I think that, yes, it does in that those licensed comics have all the trappings and IP of D&D, but don't necessarily read like the writers had played D&D. 

Anyway, The Adventurers is a black and white series by Steve Milo, originally published in 1986 by Aircel, then moving to self-publishing under Adventure Publications. In 1989 Adventure Publications was acquired by Malibu. The comic ran through three volumes or "books," and at least two associated series, Warriors and Ninja Elite.

The series has art and story lines are pretty much the epitome of how I, at least, thought of D&D in the 80s.

Tragically, there are no collections of it, but there is a fan page here with a lot of info.

Mythic Exalted: Lookshy

The city-state of Lookshy is pretty easy to get a handle on: it's Sparta-Shogun era Japan to the Realm's Imperial China-Imperial Rome. "Sparta-Shogun era Japan" is a pretty nice combo for a more Sword & Sorcery Exalted, so it's an easy one to work with.

The name I'm not to fond of though. I'd say it's a bad transliteration of Lukshi or Luk Shi, so that's easy enough to fix. Given it's origins as the holding of an old Realm legion, I think its Sparta character should really be pushed in a Republican Rome sort of direction (making the Realm more later Empire or even Byzantium) to take into account their conservative adherence to traditions likely abandoned in the Realm.

Visually, I think I would go with the Japanese influence, but use the look of armor from an earlier era than the more Tokugawa illustrations in things like The Scavenger Lands.

Add a few Roman Legion flourishes and maybe more Greek style helmets for parades and I think it works.

A difficult bit for a lower-powered, Sword & Sorcery take on things are the warstriders. I think they are easy enough to remove, but I don't really believe that's necessary. Mecha type things are not without precedent in four-color Sword and Sorcery, at least: 

I think they get easier to envision if they look like Daimajin above or maybe the Shogun Warriors. Maybe a bit less colorful that those guys.

One interesting tidbit from the initial setting description is the mention of Lookshy (Luk Shi!) Dragon-Blooded intermarrying with a "federation of outcaste bandits" called the Forest Witches. Maybe I missed it, but the Forest Witches don't seem to show up again in Scavenger Sons or 2nd edition material. It's not a major point, but it makes me think of both the "rivers and lakes" of the Jianghu and Fuqua's King Arthur, with the Forest Witches as the Picts. Jianghu Picts, perhaps?

The Library, Ao-Dweb

What follows is excerpted from the journal publications of the scholar Nura Glismod who was sent by one minster or another of Ascolanth (the writ, in the manner of all standard Imperial bureaucrat text, is unclear on its specific authorities) as part of an "exchange" with the hwaopt at the Library of Ao-Dweb. 

First, I should address the less pleasant aspects of interaction with hwaopt, namely the odor. My associates and I utilized olfaction dampeners to make it bearable, but I found it necessary to burn my clothes afterwards.

What has generally been said about the Library is true: It is undoubtedly the greatest repository of knowledge currently in existence and a center for the most advanced scholarship in the world. It sprawls over numerous subterranean chambers, some of which must be natural, if modified, others some entirely constructed.

The humidity of caves would generally be a barrier to their use as an archive, but the hwaopt have enacted some sort of magical shield (one can feel it when entering the structure) that keeps the air dry. I was told by another visitor (a suspicious voluble An-Woon Thuan of the Mountain of Wizards) that the hwaopt have wards to dampen magics within the Library for fear of eroding their controlled encompassment.

The hwaopt organizational system is arcane. I was told that librarians only those you can passed rigorous examinations in the hwaopt classification of knowledge. The dangers to any would-be browser are more than merely not finding the volume one was looking for. I was told by our guide in what I assume are sober tones for a hwaopt that persons have become lost in the library for days when they wondered off to more esoteric collection areas. Apparently, scent plays some part in the hwaopt system, but the details are closely guarded.

One unusual danger in the Library: the occasional incursion by troglodytes from some neighboring caves. This occurred in a part of the structure why we were there. It is puzzling as to why the hwaopt allow this, when presumably they could prevent it. Instead, they merely close areas of the library to the public until the brutish creatures have moved on.

Perhaps related to this mystery, I happened to observe at a distance an interaction between a troglodyte and a hwaopt while we were being ushered to a different location due to the incursion. The hwaopt seemed in some sort of stupor, perhaps even paralzyed. The troglodyte approached very close with a demeanor of hostility, but the hwaopt remained rooted to the spot with an expression I would call vacant, while acknowledging the difficulty of diving meaning from their alien countenances. What became of the hwaopt, I do not know, and I thought it best not to question our guides on it.

Mythic Exalted: The Immaculate Order

The Immaculate Philosophy in Exalted is an engineered belief system, created by a faction of Sidereals looking to bolster the Dragon-Blooded and cement the coup against the Solars. Whether it was formed from whole cloth or based on existing beliefs we aren't told, at least not in the first book. We are told the Order is monastic (presumably solely), which is unusual for earthly religions, but could be. The description of the Immaculate Philosophy and practice suggest the writers were mostly thinking of Buddhism, perhaps with a bit of Hinduism, but I think some of the more interesting parallels and inspiration can be drawn from Confucianism. 

Immaculate Philosophy acknowledges the existence of the gods and spirits, but that's not it's focus. Proper ritual toward these spirits--which means these rites are respectful and discrete--is appropriate, but the focus is more on self-cultivation and living virtuously. I feel like, again not unlike Confucianism, Immaculate Philosophy would view "Heaven" (or Yushan) and being in harmony with it important, but they would largely disapprove of personalizing it as gods. Yu-Shan would be the sort hand for the proper process of the world.

In a sense, the Immaculate Philosophy is more secular than spiritual. In a world where essence is real and demonstrable, as are the hypostases of the belief, the Elemental Dragons, I feel like the focus on correct behavior, self-improvement, and social ritual, qualifies it as such.

It isn't discussed in the texts, but I feel it's more fun and more realistic if there are perhaps various schools of thought within the Immaculate tradition. We are told it's concerned with stamping out heresy, but that's an odd aspect of it and given the desires of the Sidereals who crafted it, I take that to mean mainly "too much god worship" or the "belief the Solars aren't Anathema." Within the confines of its view of the world, I suspect you have traditions that are more or less mystical or ascetic than others. The equivalents of Pure Land Buddhism or even Prosperity Gospel. Perhaps there's even "left hand path" Immaculate belief that seeks a dangerous shortcut to Dragon status?

Wednesday Comics: DC, June 1982 (week 4)

My goal: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, we review the comics hitting the newsstand on March 25, 1982.

Action Comics #532: Wolfman seems to never to miss a chance to use his creation H.I.V.E. Lois goes undercover, impersonating a H.I.V.E. agent she captured, and finds herself part of a squad assigned to kill Superman with Kryptonite ray-guns. Lois and Superman escapes, but it turns up to all be some sort of elaborate plot by H.I.V.E. which will probably be revealed next issue.

Rozakis and Saviuk are back with the Atom, and the story's still hard to care about. Palmer manages to deactivate the bomb without using his shrinking powers and investigates where it came from, but he gives away his secret identity to two crooks and then appears to have killed them!

All-Star Squadron #10: Thomas and Gonzales/Ordway keep demonstrating how difficult it is for these superheroes that (naively, I think) gave up their super-identities just to enlist and kick the costume habit. Which is a good thing, I guess, because a weird, eye-shaped aircraft is attacking U.S. planes on the West Coast and Hawkman and Starman must intervene. Dr. Mid-Nite on a Pacific outpost also tangles with the Eye. And the Eye pops up again to halt hostilities between the Russians and the Germans. In the end, the Eye is hovering above the White House and a tall man-like form emerges from an energy beam. He announces that he is Akhet, from the 2nd planet Proxima Centauri, here to annex the Earth in the name of the Binary Brotherhood!

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #4: In one respect, Thomas and Shaw/Grothkopf are sort of ahead of their time with this book. The Zoo Crew are quite concerned with becoming famous in a way I don't think we see mainstream supers be until the 90s. Anyway, while Roger Rabbit tries to keep the team focused on establishing themselves and capitalizing on recent successes, Rubber Duck and Yankee Doodle (with Fastback tagging along) head off to the Okey-Dokey Swamp to continue their film-related careers. This film just might be a gentle parody of the then-recent Swamp Thing movie but turns real really quick as discarded monster makeup bonds with a decaying alligator skeleton to create a mud monster it will take the whole Crew to defeat.

Detective Comics #515: Conway is back, so we discover the second-rate villains of a couple of previous issues were trained by the Headmaster in his Academy of Crime in Hollywood, where people learn to organize their crimes and create tactics to succeed. When Batman hears about the Academy, he heads out West in order to learn more about it in his old disguise of Matches Malone. Meanwhile, Dick Grayson is following his ex, Dala, to see what caused her change in attitude towards him. He follows her as Robin to an ancient house located in the middle of nowhere. Curious about what she could be doing there, Robin sneaks inside the house, only to be knocked out by a hooded figure.

In the Batgirl backup by Burkett and Delbo, our heroine has her hands full with Lady Viper, and we get the snake woman's origin which involves a love of snakes and a mystical artifact.

New Adventures of Superboy #30: An experimental device created by Lex Luthor turns Bash Bashford, football star, into the fiery Glowman. Meanwhile, a girl who steals a crystal ball from a carnival fortune teller finds only Superboy's kiss can remove her curse of old age.

In the Dial H for Hero backup by Bridwell/Rozakis and Bender/Giella Vicki as Miss Hourglass saves Chris from a fall. He dials the identity of Mr. Opposite and the two defeat the Disc Jockey.

Tales of the New Teen Titans #1: A popular series demands spinoffs and Wolfman and Perez oblige with this limited series. This issue reveals the origin of Cyborg containing some discussion of racism and the plight of black people in America that is, at best, a bit naive seeming in 2023 and possibly even offensive. Luckily, the worst stereotypes are foisted onto side characters, and Cyborg emerges are a more well-rounded portrayal of a black character than many we've seen previously in comics.

Unknown Soldier #264: Haney and Ayers/Talaoc are back with another high concept Unknown Soldier yarn. The Soldier has to go to Switzerland and climb a perilous mountain called the Needle to retreive information from a crashed Allied plane. Klaus von Stauffen and his Nazi lackeys are on the mountain, too, and it's a race to the top. Turns out the Nazis don't know anything about the plane, their own on a mission to put the corpse of a German climber at the top so Hitler can claim bragging rights for the Reich. The Soldier foils their plan and completes his mission. 

The Kanigher/Spiegle Balloon Buster feature has Savage continue to skirt court martial and maybe even execution by breaking the rules, including firing on his own side to keep them from getting to von Hammer when the German Ace returns the kid he flew to the doctor in Berlin. Spiegle draws great airplanes and aerial action. In the Tomahawk story by Haney/Delbo Tomahawk and his Rangers bust out of jail to save Washington from Lord Shilling's assassination plot. They succeed, and Tomahawk's name is cleared. 

World's Finest Comics #279: In the lead story by Burkett and Buckler/Smith, Bruce Wayne has been captured by General Scarr and his crew, but Scarr thinks Batman has just disguised himself as Wayne. Batman is taken to a cell in their hideout, but soon he escapes and learns that the villains are planning to hijack alien weapons left behind by the Weapon-Master from a couple of issues back. Batman contacts Superman, but the Man of Steel fails to stop the crooks from acquiring the weapons as he gets thrown into a continuum of no time and seems unable to escape. Batman is on his own.

In Cavalieri's and von Eeden's Green Arrow, Queen manages to locate his friend's daughter in the cult compound, but she refuses to leave until the cultists' condemn her independent thinking. They leave (surprisingly) without any violence. Hawkman, in contrast, has to engage in a lot of violence against some Starlin-esque aliens not so ably rendered by Saviuk. He ultimately defeats the pirates, but he and another captive are stranded in their ship.

Bridwell and Newton finish up the retcon to the history of Kid Eternity, making him Captain Marvel Jr.'s brother. The story implies, interestingly, that the wizard Shazam has the role traditionally assigned to St. Peter of acting as the doorman to Heaven. Maybe he just fills in on occasion?

Weird Revisited: Professor Crowe and his Ugly Bird

 This Weird Adventures post first appeared in August of 2010. I recalled it due to this cool post.

Art by Daniel Kopalek

Professor Enoch Crowe and his familiar/partner-in-crime are wanted for the sell of unlicensed alchemicals, and fraud related to such, in the City and smaller municipalities in the Smaragdines and the South. The Professor (this title is an affectation--he holds no known degree) sells dubious nostrums from the back of his truck which he drives on a circuitous route mostly through rural areas, but sometimes visiting poorer neighborhoods of cities.

Crowe will typically have the following “cures” for sale, but will only be specifically hawking one at a time:

• Priapic Vigor - said to increase male sexual performance (allegedly made from extract of satyr musk, and other natural ingredients).
• Hirsutific Unction - said to cure baldness cure (from "essential oils" of de-odorized skunk-ape hide)
• Triodia’s Specific - An unguent (sometimes tonic) to cure venereal disease. (from alchemical purification of a species of lilly that grows in secret Ealerdish grottoes where nymphs are known to bathe).
• Panaceatic Lens Treatment - The patient sits under a head-sized dome of purplish crystal (actually colored glass) which he or she is told will “re-align their mental energies and vital forces to be in greater harmony with the universe.” Mostly, it does nothing, but Crowe can use it to given a suggestion (as per spell) to the patient.

Crowe can also produce some genuine minor magical potions, but only sells these to high-dollar costumers, and may just as like substitute a minor cursed potion, if he thinks he can get away with it, and might lose a sale otherwise.

Crowe’s partner or servant, is called by him “Dearest” or perhaps just “Bird,” but is known to everyone else as “Ugly Bird.” Ugly Bird is an harpy of a particular spiteful disposition--and this is in comparison to others of her kind who aren't paragons of compassion. She won’t generally be seen when Crowe is about his business of sales, but she is always watching, and never far from his side.

Prof. Enoch Crowe: MU4, HP12, spells commiserate with his level, and 1d10 real potions in his truck, besides his charlatan’s wears.

Ugly Bird: AC 7 [12], HP 17, 2 talons 1d4 each, Special: flight, unlike often presented, harpies in the world of the City have no “siren’s song” power.

Mythic Exalted: The Gods

 

I wanted to continue the thought process from this post by looking as the gods of the Exalted universe. It's interesting, because the theogony and cosmogony have echoes in Greek myth, but in it's "final form" as interacted with by the players, it has some features of Chinese traditional religion.

The earliest gods or god-like beings are the Primordials who arose in chaos and then created the world from it. Their group name and function recalls the Greek Primordial deities (Gaia even shows up in both groups), but few are well described and there are hints that they are monstrous (like the Mesopotamian primordial deity Tiamat) or aloof and alien (like Lovecraft's Outer Gods, particularly as referenced in the Dreamlands stories) or both. 

The Primordials create the lesser gods to run Creation for them. Chief among these are the Celestials or Celestial Incarnae who are based on the classical planets--the seven moving astronomical objects visible to the naked eye. They are largely just given the modern names for these celestial objects borrowed from Greek myth, which I think is sort of mistake, in that those names have connotations that may mislead as much as illuminate. They don't really have the roles or portfolios of the Olympians, at least.

While Apollo and Artemis are solar and lunar deities, respectively, the Unconquered Sun and Luna resemble more the gods that were the personifications of those Celestial objects, Helios/Sol and Selene/Luna or those sorts of deities in other cultures. Along those lines, I think it's better to think of the Five Maidens not as the goddesses of war, serenity, endings, etc., but as the deities of fortune and destiny related to those areas like the Greek Fates or the Norns of Germanic myth. It's a subtle distinction, but one worth making because it makes the Celestials less gods more personified cosmic forces--but more relatable and understandable ones than there Primordial creators.

They would be at the top of the Celestial Bureaucracy like the gods of Heaven China traditional belief. Beneath them were the various gods that might get more direct worship and serve as the analogs for traditional fantasy rpg deities. 

All of this works pretty much as is, I think. The Celestial Bureaucracy might be viewed as working against a Sword & Sorcery or ancient (European/Near East) feel, but I don't view it as a problem. Incorporating some ancient Chinsese elements is fine with me. The names of the Five Maidens bug me, so I might change those, but do know to what right off hand. Maybe substitute the names of the Olympian Spirits?

GRIDSHOCK'D! (part 2)

This continues my conversation with Paul Vermeren about his 80s-veneered, post-apocalyptic superhero game, GRIDSHOCK 20XX available on drivethru in pdf and in hardcopy from Exalted Funeral. You can read part 1 here.

How much does "retro" play a part in the aesthetic of GRIDSHOCK 20XX? We live in a time where cyberpunk is mostly considered a "retrofuture" genre thanks in large part to design that harkens back to cyperpunk publications of the 80s? How much is it a retrofuture as opposed to an alternate present?

GRIDSHOCK 20XX's apocalypse was a reality-warping event that took place in 1986, and its present day of 20XX is set several decades after that. I'd say it's an alternate present, since one of the conceits of the setting is that the existence of superhumans changed the course of history more significantly than it did in your typical "mainstream" superhero universe. The GRIDSHOCK universe's 1986 looked quite different from ours, with things like clean energy and various forms of super-science gadgetry introduced by heroes (and salvaged from villains) in widespread use. So, GRIDSHOCK 20XX's alternate, post-apocalyptic present includes elements from its alternate, pre-apocalyptic past that could be described as retrofuturistic.

In terms of aesthetics, I alluded earlier to having a more retro vision for GRIDSHOCK 20XX that changed as I and my collaborators worked on it. The original over-the-top, exaggerated 80s feel had been toned down a little by the time I published the zines, but that Trapper Keeper retrofuture aesthetic is not completely gone. The 1980s are viewed by some of the setting's factions and characters as a lost golden age, so there's still a good deal of big hair, shoulder pads, and laser grids in the setting. I think those elements help the setting feel toyetic in a way that I hope encourages players and GMs to think big in terms of what do with it.

In creating something and sending it out into the world, it seems to me there's always a bit of difference between what you liked about it and what others do. Is there some aspect of GRIDSHOCK 20XX you really like that you feel maybe folks haven't latched on to or recognized to the degree you would like?

I think those who have picked up GRIDSHOCK 20XX really like the look of the zines. That's gratifying to hear, because the aesthetics were always a focus for me. While I've had people tell me they think that the setting is awesome or interesting, so far, I haven't heard much about specific elements of it that they particularly enjoyed. 

This is my first foray into writing for tabletop RPGs, so I'd love to know which parts of the zines readers liked most (or maybe didn't like as much) so I can make more of what works well for them. For example, I'd be interested to know if people enjoyed zine 3, Regions, as much as I do. I think it presents a lot of interesting, gameable material in a small package, but did others feel that way? Did they love the landscape format of that booklet or hate it? I'm not sure yet. 

Hopefully you'll get some of that feedback! Last question: Where do you see GRIDSHOCK going (or where would you like to see it go) in the future?

There might be additional GRIDSHOCK 20XX zines, including adventures, adversaries, or new regions to explore. I think games often live or die based on whether they've got some solid adventures ready to go, but I'm not especially skilled at writing them. I've considered working with other creators to make that happen. 

Wednesday Comics: DC, June 1982 (week 3)

My goal: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around March 18, 1982.

Brave & the Bold #187: Boatner and Aparo present a Batman/Metal Men team-up with a continuity deep cut. The Metal Men are being destroyed one by one and Batman tries to protect the remaining ones from harm. He fails at that, but he also discovers they all have lost their memories of a previous member of their group he recalls. Batman asks Doc Magnus about that and learns that the Doctor is responsible for erasing the Metal Men's memories of "Nameless" after their first reconstruction. Magnus rebuilds them and Batman convinces him to give them their memories back.

It turns out Nameless is at the root of the attacks, as is Platinum Man (one of a group of now-destroyed gender-swapped Metal Men). Once their neglect of Nameless is explained as due to Magnus' actions, the vendetta by the snubbed robots halt. Tin and Nameless can resume their relationship and they decide to get "alloyed," but the ceremony comes to a tragic end when a rogue Missile Man attacks them and Nameless sacrifices her existence to save her friends. She dies with the new name Tin had given her: Beautiful.

Legion of Super-Heroes #288: Princess Projectra and Karate Kid are about to be executed by her usurping cousin, but a squad of Legionnaires shows up just in time. Karate Kid and Projectra best her cousin, and Projectra ascends the throne. Meanwhile, the spy squad and Saturn Girl are lost on an icy world after an attempt to infiltrate Khundia--necessitating Saturn Girl returning to her pre-disco outfit. Back at HQ the remaining Legionnaires are trying to figure out what to do.

Green Lantern #153: Wolfman/Mishkin and Cohn and Staton/DeCarlo present the solution to last issues mystery.  Jordan realizes that all beings on M'Brai - the Savages, the Cormm, and the Queln - are part of the same species evolving cyclically: every individual progresses from single-celled organism all the way to Queln and beyond, and then repeats the cycle, without retaining any memory of it. So if the Queln use their devolving ray to get rid of the other factions, their entire race will become extinct. Hal uses a meteor to destroy the satellite and stop the Queln plan. He figures out that the meteor shower is in collision course to the planet, and it could disrupt its entire life cycle. Hal deviates the meteors, succeeding in his mission.

In the backup by Kupperberg and Infantino, Jeryll attempts to stop the invasion on Glirell peacefully as she had been commanded. But when a group of children is killed by the invaders, Glirell's people explode into violence in outrage. Realizing, that this is her burden not her people's, Jeryll stops the suicidal charge of her people and goes on to destroy the invasion fleet. In the aftermath, the Council tells her that she is forgiven, and won't be banished. However, Jyrell bids farewell to her people and leaves voluntarily, feeling she betrayed the peaceful ways of her people. 

House of Mystery #305: The first story by Cavallieri and von Eeden has a derivative artist trapped in a world populated by characters from famous art works after he tries to unleash his potential. "The Rings of Kur-Alet" by Jones and Carillo is tale set in ancient Egypt of time traveling magic rings and a Pharoah and his jealous wife who met their ends using them.

The Jones/Colon "I...Vampire" story takes an odd turn as a cure for cancer is discovered. Also, Vampires across the world begin dying mysteriously with no marks. Bennett tracks into the Egyptian desert. He finds her helpless and dying, where she reveals that the cancer cure has made humans poisonous to vampires! In her weakness she's reverted to the personality he fell in love with, losing her evil. She tells Andrew about the magic rings from the previous story this issue, so they can use them to travel to a time when they are still human and be together. Andrew helps Mary reach the rings, but she betrays him and travels back alone. He travels back in time after her.

Sgt. Rock #365: The main story is another one of those introduce a new character to Easy Company who dies heroically. In this case, it's a kid who makes jigsaw puzzles. It also has the common Sgt. Rock story trait of reviewing how great the recurring members of Easy are.

The other two stories are oddly both science fiction. In the first, by Harris and Mandrake future warriors find out that their ultimate weapon which supposedly allows them to take control of enemy soldiers unleashes their enemies' primitive instincts. In the last story, two operatives who can't get along are united in death on an alien world.

Superman Family #219: Kupperberg and Mortimer have the Master Jailer show up and put the Girl of Steel in quite a predicament. He uses a device to put her in a sort of phantom state so she can observe, but not interact with the world. Playing clever by using a Supergirl robot only backfires on Kara as it leads to the destruction of the device she needs to change back to normal. In the Bridwell/ Schaffenberger Mr. and Mrs. Superman, Supes is perplexed when the Flying Tiger identity he created last issue, starts committing crimes. Lois comes undercover again as his sidekick "Kitty" to ferret our the perpetrator who turns out to be Funny Face.

Jimm Olsen, star reporter for the Metropolis Eagle, is given the assignment to discover Superman's secret identity. In reality, this is all a dream implanted by Brain Storm to trick Olsen into uncovering Supes' ID when he wakes up. In the O'Flynn/Oksner have Lois meeting another Lois Lane, a blonde fan of hers who runs into trouble when a thief attacks her boss. The characterization may not be quite right (though it isn't bad) but the Teri Hatcher Lois Lane of the '90s is a pretty much exact visual representation of Oksner's version of the character in the early 80s, much more so than the Margot Kidder version.

Warlord #58: I detailed the main story in this issue here. In the Kupperberg and Duursema Arion backup, the three beings representing the balance are mocking Arion and his powers seem as nothing to them, but then it turns out Calculha was still around, just waiting for Arion to show humility. He dismisses the three beings and reveals that Arion was born in the stars from cosmic forces. Then, he sends the sorcerer and his pals on their way back home.

Mythic Exalted

Back n 2001, I heard White Wolf was releasing a fantasy game. I was interested when I heard (I don't remember where) that it was going to have a Sword & Sorcery vibe and was inspired by CAS's Zothique and Tanith Lee' Flat Earth series. Still somewhere near the height of my old school Sword & Sorcery mania in those long-ago days, and impressed with the White Wolf products I had, I was bound to check it out as soon as I could make the purchase. 

I was a bit disappointed with what I found. Tanith Lee's series was namechecked (and the world was flat), as was other intriguing inspirations like the Old Testament, the Ramayana, and Greek myth, but the world failed to deliver anything close to that flavor to me. Some of that was the anime and video game aspects. Another was how the World of Darkness related-framework was implemented.  None of those things were bad, just different than what I had thought I was going to get. Maybe as Grabowski said: "it's not just Ninja Scroll the RPG, it's also a pulp fantasy revival game that happens to have anime parts," but the pulp fantasy elements seemed pretty low in the mix for me.

Mainly, the world of Creation, just didn't seem very flavorful. One of the original writers was of the opinion that the made-up words/names common to fantasy are silly to modern audiences. I've seen later writers support that view. Whether that was true (and whether it remains true post the success of Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and The Witcher), I was and am a fantasy fan, and it doesn't reflect my preferences.

Over time, I got over my initial disappoint and came to appreciate Exalted's Creation for what it did do well: providing a sort of fantasy supers in a world with a background conceptual complexity not unlike the other "deep settings" of rpg lore: Tekumel and Glorantha. I recognize the little bits of cool worldbuilding that existed side by side with what I had seen as an unevocative initial conception.

But I still sort of wonder what the setting would have looked like had it leaned heavier or Sword & Sorcery and Sword & Sandals and ancient myth instead of fighting anime, the requisites of White Wolf splat book based line-development, and magitech.

So, I think I may spend a few posts thinking about that.

Gnydrion

Tom Kidd

I finally decided (well, at least decided for the time being) on a name for a previously nameless science fantasy setting I've blogged about a few times over the years. The planet will be named Gnydrion (with a silent "g", I think) inspired by Clark Ashton Smith's original name for Zothique, Gyndron.

Here's a selection of a couple of posts in the setting:

Science Fantasy Hexcrawl Inspirations

Two Towns

And the post where I collated more of them can be found here.

GRIDSHOCK'D!

I had a conversation with my friend Paul Vermeren recently about his 80s-veneered, post-apocalyptic superhero game, GRIDSHOCK 20XX available on drivethru in pdf and in hardcopy from Exalted Funeral. Here's the first part of that conversation:

What's the secret origin of GRIDSHOCK 20XX?

GRIDSHOCK 20XX was born from my then-local gaming group's attempt to return to playing Rifts, a game we had loved as teens, 20+ years after we had left it behind. Though we knew there were things about Rifts that were going to be difficult for us to work with, we still had a lot of enthusiasm for the world and our characters, and we wanted to give it another shot as adults. We eventually ended up replacing the Palladium rules with Fate, and then ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying (when we wanted something Fate-like that could handle all the crazy powers and characters). While we enjoyed it for a while, it eventually fizzled out. Despite all the elements in Rifts that didn't work for us anymore, I felt strongly that there was something worth exploring further. 

For me, the genius of Rifts was that it's a post-apocalyptic game which still seems to include every single thing its creator thinks is cool, sort of like Dungeons & Dragons is a hodgepodge of every variety of fantasy. So, I decided I should try to make my own "spiritual successor" to Rifts. I stumbled at first, but it began to take shape once I realized that rather than starting with the real world as the starting point, I could create a post-apocalyptic setting that included all of the elements I wanted if the world was a superhero setting before everything went wrong. Since the superhero genre already contains elements of every other one, I could include whatever I liked.

As I tinkered with what I was calling GRIDSHOCK, it became less of a Rifts tribute and more of its own unique thing - though the influence of Rifts is pretty clear if you look for it. After several years of tinkering, it dawned on me that I could keep on tinkering forever, so I decided (on the spur of the moment) to publish what I had written as a set of small zine-style booklets, using ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying for the system. Lo and behold, GRIDSHOCK 20XX was born.

As currently conceived, is it in your mind more a "post-apocalyptic superhero setting" or "post-apocalyptic kitchen sink setting?" Essentially, is it more like Rifts where anything goes and it can be played in different ways or is it more focused and aimed as supers?

I've occasionally called GRIDSHOCK 20XX a "post-superhero" setting. It's a superhero world that went terribly wrong in 1986 is very important to understanding its present day, 20XX. Many of the player character templates (called Vectors in the setting) riff on established superhero archetypes. In its current booklet incarnation, it uses a superhero RPG system, because ICONS is relatively light but can handle the full array of powers and characters the setting includes. 

The game can played in many different ways, but the default mode of play in GRIDSHOCK 20XX assumes that you're heroic characters standing up to a villainous status quo. That's not usually the case in the traditional superhero genre. 

If you called the world of GRIDSHOCK 20XX a "kitchen sink" or even "gonzo" setting, I'd say that's probably fair. Those terms are often used to describe Rifts, but while Rifts was apparently a cyberpunk-esque world when its apocalypse happened, GRIDSHOCK 20XX was a comic book superhero world. As a result, I've put a good deal of work into unleashing many of the wilder elements of the superhero genre in ways that I think make for an interesting post-apocalyptic, kitchen sink setting where civilization has been radically reshaped, if not destroyed. 

Are there any particular superhero comics you'd point people to for inspiration?

There's a whole page of inspirations (seinen manga, European comics, British comics, movies, video games, toy lines, cartoons, etcetera that were on my mind in addition to American superhero comics) listed on the back inside cover of the fourth zine, Reference.

But to your question, the "Days of Future Past" storyline from Uncanny X-Men #141-142 is the first exposure I had to the idea of a superhero world gone disastrously wrong - though since it does have all those other influences, GRIDSHOCK 20XX is perhaps not quite as grim. It's still something I would recommend. GRIDSHOCK 20XX also has things in common with "deconstructed" superhero comics like Watchmen or Squadron Supreme, and with "alternate future" stories like Earth X, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth, and maybe even "Age of Apocalypse."