Hard Science Fantasy

Art by Bruce Pennington

Genre titles are really imprecise things, so let me explain what I mean: A setting that looks like fantasy, but is in fact sort of post-technological science fiction. What would make it "hard" as opposed to the usual science fantasy is that it wouldn't resort to what are essentially fantasy concepts like extradimensional entities or psionic powers to do it. The fantastic would come from at least moderately more possible sources like near Clarketech ("any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic") nanotechnology, cybernetics, and bio-engineering.

I haven't really seen this out there in gaming. True, Numenera presents a world utterly drenched in nanotech that can be tapped like magic by the masses, ignorant of it's nature. But Numenera still has psychic powers and extradimensional monsters, though. What I'm envisioning is more like Karl Shroeder's Ventus (where the "spirits" animating the natural world are AI controlled nanotech) or the Arabian Nights-flavored Sirr of Hannu Rajaniemi's The Fractal Prince where spirits in ancient tombs are digital mind emulations and the jinn are made of "wildcode" malicious nanotech.

Beyond nanotech, monsters would be genetically engineered creations of the past or descendants thereof. Or perhaps genuine aliens. Gods would be post-human biologic or AI entities--or often some combination of both. Or figments of human imagination. Or leftover bombs.

Why a more "rigorous" science fiction masquerading as fantasy world than the usual Dying Earths or what not? No real reason other than it seems to me starting with far future science fiction and figuring out how it would be rationalized by a more primitive mindset might yield a fresher take on the standard fantasy tropes.

Warlord Wednesday Delay

Your regularly scheduled Warlord Wednesday is delayed until next week. I misplaced my copy of the nest issue and didn't get a replacement until too late. Instead, here's a tease--the cover of the next issue:

And a bonus 2 page spread from issue #3 by Chad Hardin:

Used Treasures

Amazon Marketplace sellers delivered onto me several used books this week, a few of which I hope will provide some game inspiration:

The Book of the Weird by Barbara Ninde Byfield periodically comes to my awareness, but this recent post by perdustin finally made me quit procrastinating and order it. Head over there and read the post, but suffice it to say, it's just as charmingly pre-D&D as I had hoped. Well worth the time to track down.

Star Barbarian and Lord of Blood by Dave Van Arnam form a science fantasy duology. I haven't heard much about them (I was drawn them by the title of the first and the Steranko cover on the second volume.)

but check out this cover blurb on Star Barbarian:

Centuries before the multiwave-drive ships had come to Morkath of the Caravan Stars--bringing colonists, empires, confederations of plunderers. Finally, the planet was exhausted and left to descend into barbarism. 

Now, savage tribal leaders fought over the blighted lands. Among those warriors was the young hunter Jamnar, who vowed to reclaim Morkath from the demonic powers that gripped it--the dark god Shaphath, the priestesses of Astaphar, the evil priests called Kvununun... 

The mighty Jamnar would have aid in his quest. Prosperon, the interstellar castaway, would lead him to the forbidden temple of Telshasoth. But only if Jamnar himself dared to enter the temple's portals--and therein seize the 3000-year-old secret of a lost civilization--could he hope to save his people and a planet plunged into infamy and terror...

How could I pass that up?

Apollo

Fights As: L15
Movement: 120' (40')
Armor Class: 3
Hit Points: 210
Attacks: 1 (2 with bow)
Damage: as below or by weapon
Save: L18

S: 20   I: 20   W: 18   D: 23   C: 23   CH: 24

Special Abilities: as an Olympian, and see below

Apollo usually appears as a well-formed, beardless youth, with an almost feminine beauty to his features, and curly blonde hair. He tends to wear clothing merely to accentuate his body and seldom takes on any unattractive form.  Apollo takes almost as many lovers both male and female.

Despite his vanity, Apollo isn’t shallow. He’s an aesthete and both artist and patron in the fields of music and poetry. He’s a medical researcher and designer of both diseases and cures. He’s a mystic with an interest in prophecy and overseer of the Oracle at Delphi. Finally, like his sister, he enjoys the hunt and the sport of archery.

Apollo has photo-emitter nanites implanted in his skin so that he can generate light of variable degrees up to flash blinding anyone (4 point penalty to attack rolls and armor class) within 30 feet for 1d4 rounds. He carries a bow with computer aided targeting (+4 tp hit, negates penalties for firing into groups), that actually fires arrow-like micro-missles that do 2d6 damage, but can be programmed to explode (7d6 damage), or to release preloaded toxins or poisons (per bio toxin bomd in Muture Future or poison type).

Subterranean High Strangeness

Frank Frazetta

The old cliche says "truth is stranger than fiction." I don't know if any of the tales here are true, but hey, they're presented as such--and they're certainly strange. Strange in a way that would be great fodder for modern (or modernish) adventures, particularly of the dungeoncrawling sort:

Subterranean Lumberjacks
On December 26, 1945, there was an explosion in the Belva Mine in Fourmile, KY. What was apparently reported much later (1980-81) was that survivors recounted takes of a "door" opening up in a wall of rock and a man dressed like a "lumberjack" or "telephone lineman" emerging to reassure them they would be rescued. He then disappeared the way be came.

Trapped miners in Shipton, Pennsylvania, experienced similar strangeness. Again survivors reported meeting strange men (similarly clad to the Belva lumberjacks, according to some accounts) who told them they would be rescued and gave them a bluish light and showed them some halographic visuals. The miners seem to have been unclear if their benefactors were fully corporeal. I bet.

Mine Monsters
It could be a lot worse. Just read this pretty likely untrue account that appears on a lot of internet paranormal sites:

PENNSYLVANIA, DIXONVILLE - Mine inspector Glenn E. Berger reported in 1944 to his superiors that the Dixonville mine disaster which "killed" 15 men was not the result of a cave-in, but rather an attack by underground creatures capable of manipulating the earth [partial cave-ins], whose domain the miners had apparently penetrated. Most of the dead miners were not injured by falling rocks but showed signs of large claw marks, others were missing, and one survivor spoke of seeing a vicious humanoid creature that was 'not of this world' within an ancient passage that the miners had broke into. The creature somehow created a "cave-in", blocking himself and another inspector [who closed his eyes when he felt the creatures 'hot breath' on his neck] from the main passage until another rescue party began to dig through the collapse, scaring the "creature" away. 

Shaverian Mysteries
The monsters don't confine themselves to miners, apparently. The 1967 issue of the Hollow Earth Bulletin prints portion the so-called "The Messerschmidt Manuscript" that proports to give the account of a French woman, who describes her horrifying kidnapping at 19 by deros (or something similar) from an elevator in a building basement in 1943. She and other women endured months of captivity in the hands of monsters than sound a lot like George Pal's morlocks in physical description until they were rescued by pale men in gray, metallic uniforms who slaughtered the beastmen and gave the former captives clothing and medical attention.

44 Cities
It's not all monsters down there, though. An article in the Summer 1978 issue of Pursuit Magazine puts forward a claim by a Dr. Ron Anjard that he knew personally of 44 underground cities in North America. He learned this from anonymous Native American sources. Maybe these relate to the lost cities of the Grand Canyon? Or some of those giant containing tombs?

Ghita's World

This is a map of the world of Ghita of Alizarr, a Sword & Sorcery character created by Frank Thorne, debuting in Warren's 1984 #7. Thorne had worked on Marvel's Red Sonja, but Ghita is much racier fare. Eventually, Thorne got around to providing a map--and here it is, suitable for game usage:

Oh, and here's the text that accompanied the map to give the "flavor" of the strip:

Warlord Wednesday: The Castle

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Saga Part 5: The Castle"

Warlord (vol. 4) #5 (October 2009) Written by Mike Grell; Penciled by Chad Hardin; Inked by Wayne Faucher

Synopsis: Machiste climbs to a craggy peak and slaps a hungry pteranodon in the jaw with his mace hand so he can raise Jennifer's signal jewel high.

Jennifer's twin jewel begins to glow. She and Tara urge their horses to a gallop, and the army of Shamballah they lead does the same. Jennifer has had a troubling premonition: an image of ravens.

Morgan and McBane go though the portal to Tibet. Morgan is less impressed by the cold than seeing stars again after so long. The two make their way to a Chinese base. They break in an raid the places for all the weapons they can find.

They don't make it back through the portal before the Chinese army catches up. Morgan's convinced that McBane's just a voyeuristic journalist, not a man of action, but McBane saves his life, then sets an explosive trap for the Chinese. The two head back to Skartaris with the weapons.

Meanwhile, Ned "Golden God" Hawkins is showing off his new toys (what appear to be various war robots) he has found. Mariah warns him:

Hawkins isn't having any of it. Kate basically tells Mariah to stay away from her man. She doesn't need to worry.

While they're talking, Shakira has been eavesdropping while snacking on a mouse.

She heads out to warn the others and interrupts a moment between Tinder and Alysha. They're in the village where Tinder had been trying to rouse the townsfolk to action with his oratory, but it's unclear anyone's interest was stirred but Alysha's. Shakira draws their attention toward the fortress, from which an Atlantean war airship is rising!

Hawkins uses the ship to fire a blast of energy. It hits a mountain near the Shamballan army, sending an avalanche down upon them--seemingly burying them all include Tara, Jennifer, and Machiste!

Things to Notice:

• McBane never answers Morgan's question about what side he was on in the sectarian violence in Belfast.
• Morgan again points out he's been in Skartaris since 1969.

Where it comes from: 
Morgan worries about his enjoyment of combat, and quotes the lines he "read off a barracks wall in Saigon." Both his ambivalence about his love of combat and the lines he quotes first showed up in issue #3 of the original run. See my commentary there. 

The Alien Underground

"In February of 1981, it became horrifyingly clear the ominous occurrences beneath Centralia were not the result of a coal seam fire. On the night of Valentine's Day, a 4 foot wide sinkhole in a backyard disgorged something more than toxic vapors. The next day, the reports of shocked survivors and the physical remains of creatures unknown to science attested to the stunning fact that humankind had experienced it's first verified encounter with extraterrestrials. Instead of coming down from the stars, they had risen from the subterranean depths.

It was the first, but it would not be the last. Very soon the words 'maze', 'breach", and 'irruption' would take on new, more specialized meanings."

- John Kiehl, The Abyss Gazes: A History of the Underground Invasion (1995)

"Despite appearances, the mazes are not located within the lithosphere. All evidence suggests they are engineered spacetime features similar in some respects to wormholes. They interface exclusively with subterranean environments, though these may be naturally occurring or man-made. Areas of interface--or breach--are associated with paranormal phenomena.

The interiors of the mazes are generally supportive of earth-like life. Indeed, they show evidence of longterm utilization and habitation by extraterrestrial organisms. Many are still inhabited by extraterrestrial biologic entities who perhaps (like humans) discovered the mazes through breaches on their worlds. Despite the obvious the intelligence of these entities, attempts at communication have been limited due to their hostility. Many appear to regard the mazes and the material culture of uncountable previous explorers and colonists found therein as their property alone.

The tensions around contact with these entities have only been exacerbated by the actions of looters and thrill-seekers illegally entering the mazes, despite the efforts of world governments..."

- UN Report on Extraterrestrial Subterranean Structures and their Inhabitants (1991)

"Q: By whom was the Dulce installation constructed?

A: There are natural caverns, first off. Big ones. Bigger than Carlsbad, even. These caverns have been connected to the mazes since prehistoric times. The Draco [reptilian humanoids] used the caverns and tunnels for thousands of years. The original caverns included ice caves, sulfur springs, and energy 'hotspots' that the ’aliens’ found perfect for their needs. Later, the U.S. government enlarged the area. According to several senior maintenance workers I talked with, part of it was blasted out by nuclear devices in the sixties. There are sections, like the shuttle tunnels, that were formed by an advanced tunneling machine powered by arcane technology that leaves the tunnel walls completely smooth. The walls in those tubes look like polished black glass.

Q: The 1960s? So you're certain the government's awareness of the mazes and aliens didn't just start in the 80s?

A: Absolutely. Every President since Grover Cleveland has had high level talks with aliens from the mazes. Certain secret societies and occult groups, of course, have also been aware of them for a long time."

Q: Was there ever any talk of delvers at Dulce?

A: Both the 'aliens' and the human agents were very aware of them. The government's official line is that the delvers are a nuisance. That was the attitude you got from the human agents working there. The 'aliens', on the other hand, saw the delvers as much more of an affront. What you see in the media is only part of it. Theere are paramilitary bands--sometimes funded and equipped by so-called 'rogue elements' of various governments. There's basically a covert war going on."

- Transcript from "A Dulce Insider Speaks Out"

Zone Phenomena

Logo by Hereticwerks

blue buzz: A roughly phone booth sized patch of pale blue light, flickering like a dying fluorescent bulb. Within 20 feet or so, a constant buzz like an alarm clock can be heard, though approximately 10% of individuals will hear haunting, indescribable music instead. Anyone entering the area of light experiences a slowing of time to roughly 14% it's normal rate. Leaving the area can be a shock to the system (saving throw), and lead to sudden death with autopsy revealing advanced aging of the heart muscle. Everyone experiences distracting tinnitus for  1-6 hours.

chasing shadow: Too thick and deep black to be natural, the chasing shadow is nevertheless able to lurk unseen in normal darkness. It slides out of hiding when a living thing draws near, and if not stopped, attaches itself to them at their feet like a normal shadow--though does not also flow out in the same direction as the natural one. It slowly begins to crawl up the victims body and if not stopped, will cover a person complete in darkness in 20-30 hours. Over the next 30-45 minutes it will contort and collapse their body until only the flat shadow remains. What happens to the victim is unknown. If caught early, the shadow can be removed but only if the victim is surrounded by bright light and a small laser (like a laser pointer, for example) is used carefully "cut" away from the chasing shadow.

memory flashes: Groups of will-o'-the-wisp-like flashes of light with colorful after-images. They move quickly to swarm around a person, typically for no more than a minute. After the flashes pass, a person so caught will have one or more new memories of things that happened to someone else instead of them. They will also likely notice at some point that one or more of their own memories are missing--always small, discrete things, but perhaps important (like a telephone number of the location of something).

razorfog: Appears as a patch of fog or white smoke (typically 10'x20'), drifting in the breeze (even when the air is still), but is actually more like a cloud of talcum powder in consistency. Anyone caught in a razorfog takes 2 points of damage per round if not armored or wearing protective clothing. Anyone damaged by the fog may become confused (per spell) and will be at -2 to attacks and saves as long as they're engulfed. The damaging effects of razorfog linger 3 rounds after being freed of the fog, only the victim is thoroughly washed.

voidflower: Voidflowers are translucent tubular structures (from a distance they look like wavering heat haze) with funnel mouths like featureless black holes poked in the fabric of the world. They're found in clumps of 5-20 and stand about 2.5 feet tall. Voidflowers are believed to stretched out pricks in spacetime. Anything brought within reach of a voidflower maw will trigger it to snap, swallowing any matter inside. The quantum-thin edge of the maw can pass through solid matter as easy as air, swallowing internal material as easy as that on the outside.

See more of the collaborative The Zones project here.

In the Zone

Over at the Fate SF blog, John introduced a cool community project inspired by the science fiction novel Roadside Picnic and the 1979 film based on it, Stalker. Porky's already got a contribution in, and Hereticwerks has made some cool logos (like the one above).

I had intended to jump in today, but going to Thor: The Dark World ate up my evening. I'm going to get my contribution ready for next week, and I encourage other bloggers (or nonbloggers for that matter) to think about getting in on it.

Night Music

There was discussion on G+ a few days ago about a suitable soundtrack for a game of Night's Black Agents, Kenneth Hite's GUMSHOE combination of spy thriller and supernatural horror. Here are my suggestions (follow the links for a listen):

1. The Gothic Touch
("Convoy Destruct" Atticus Ross)
2. Hunters
("Pinned and Mounted" Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
3.  A Deserted Bahnhof Just After 2 AM
("Under the Midnight Sun" Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
4. Chase
("Container Park" The Chemical Brothers)
5. The Smell of Blood
("Relapsed" Atticus Ross)
6. Crate from Wallachia, Coffin-Sized
("Den of Vice" Atticus Ross)
7. Knives and Stakes
("Special Ops" The Chemical Brothers)
8. In the Dark
("Oraculum" Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
9. Wings in the Night
("Bird of Prey" Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

10. Prague, 20:18 CET

("7 Years Later" Atticus Ross)
11. Assault
("Infiltrator" Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
12. Fight in the Crypt
("Bahnhof Rumble" The Chemical Brothers)

Warlord Wednesday: The Castle's Secret

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Saga Part 4: The Castle's Secret"

Warlord (vol. 4) #4 (September 2009) Written by Mike Grell; Penciled by Joe Prado & Chad Hardin; Inked by Wayne Faucher, Dan Green & Walden Wong

Synopsis: Tinder and Alysha try to convince villagers near the Golden God's citadel to stand and fight, but they're having none of it. Tinder decides he and Alysha have to sneak back into the citadel to get more information that might help Tara and the Shamballan army (who are on the way).

Alysha will need to be dressed less "Earth style" to be inconspicuous. She refuses the standard Skartarian look:

Shakira, of course, takes issue with this opinion. She also tells the two that Morgan, Machiste, and Mariah are captives.

In the citadel, reporter Ewan McBane tells Morgan and Machiste about how he and his group got to this point. Ned Hawkins apparently found something--a gem maybe. Somehow, it led him to the citadel and gave him powers. Kate Archer became his concubine. Alysha ran off and (Ewan believes) probably got killed.

Meanwhile, Alysha is very much alive and now in Skartarian duds. Shakira shows Tinder and Alysha a back entrance to the castle: what appears to be a sewer opening in a cliffside. After a bit of a climb, they find it actually leads into Deimos's old laboratory.

Ned Hawkins, the Golden God, is having a little trouble with his Theran allies. He motivates them by shooting their leader, then promising them Morgan's head on a standard to carry into battle. Mariah reminds him he promised to spare her friends if she translated for him. He suggests she gets translating.

It turns out Deimos wrote his spells in blood in an Atlantean technical manual. Kate realizes that the technical manual has code in binary. They don't need Mariah to translate that part, just Kate's laptop, apparently.

Tinder and crew run into Ewan who has had a change of heart and is heading back with keys to free Morgan and Machiste. The group does so, but quickly meet resistance from Hawkin's guards. They fight to the laboratory, where Morgan tells the rest to run ahead while he holds the goons off. Machiste and Shakira ignore him and stay behind.

Morgan and friends push a large crystal container over to block the doorway. Unfortunately, it breaks open and frees this guy:

After a bit of a fight, Shakira kills it with a spear. They join the others in the river, and manage to drop a portcullis to keep their pursuers out.

They've got to stop Hawkins before he gathers his forces. Morgan gives Machiste the crystal Jennifer gave him to and sends his friend to the nearest sunlit peak to make contact. Shakira is going back into the citadel in cat form to spy. Morgan and Ewan ride back to the portal to the Himalayas. Morgan plans to go through and get weapons to combat Hawkins's Atlantean tech.

They're going to need them, as Hawkins has finally unlocked the secrets of Deimos's book.

Things to Notice:

• Ewan McBane says its been "almost 40 years" since Morgan got to Skartaris. Given that this issue takes place in 2009 and Morgan arrived in 1969, there's nothing almost about it.
• Morgan is shocked to learn he would be 82 years old in the surface world.
• Morgan opines: "When I die, I want it to come as a complete surprise." Foreshadowing?
• Tinder's hair is colored purple all this issue.

Where it comes from: 
The slowness of time in Skartaris compared to Earth is touched on in this issue. This was something frequently brought up in Grell's run but abandoned by later writers. Strangely, Morgan can't believe it's 2009 as that would make him 82. Morgan had been to the surface world several times over the years, so it seems odd that "2009" is a particularly surprising year.

Weekend Matinee

Hammer of the Gods, despite sharing a title with a Led Zeppelin band biography, does not have a single Led Zeppelin song in it--not even "Immigrant Song." Actually, the Doors might have been more appropriate, as Hammer of the Gods is essentially Viking Apocalypse Now. That's a bit of a spoiler, I suppose, but one that will hopefully make you more likely to check out the film.

It's 871 CE and the Vikings trying to conquer lands in the British Isles have hit a setback with their king mortally wounded. He sends one of his sons Steinar on a quest to seek his exiled older brother Hakan and return with a suitable king for their people. The journey will take him across hostile Saxon territory through the deaths of friends and allies and straight into (heh) the heart of darkness.

The film might could have used some of the more artsy direction of Nicholas Refn's Valhalla Rising--then again, maybe its more straightforward action flick first half makes where it's going more of a pleasant surprise.

Bounty Killer isn't as heavy. In a post-apocalyptic future, bounty killers deliver grim (if it wasn't so humorous) justice to the white collar war criminals that brought the world to its current state. Few bounty killers are more successful than the enigmatic Drifter and celebrated Mary Death.  A conspiracy puts the two at odds and leads to a chase across the devastated wastes to confront the secretive rulers, the Council of Nine. 

Bounty Killer plays out like Cowboy Bebop crossed with Mad Max--with a dose of 80s British comic book gallows humor. For what must be a fairly low budget film, it's got good action sequences and a chase scene out of the Road Warrior. Plus, they had to pay Gary Busey's no-doubt exorbitant fee for his small roll.

It also introduces the concept of the "gun caddy"--a henchman for our time (well, the post-apocalyptic future). Barak Hardley steals the show as the would-be best gun caddy in the world, unobtrusively slipping magazines into empty guns or producing new weapons when needed from a dufflebag.

Of course, there's also Christian Pitre as Mary Death to like about the movie: 

Typhon

Typhon was a doomsday weapon created by the Titans in the depths of Tartarus, a matter worm designed bring system failure to the Cosmos--a final revenge against the usurpation of the Olympians. Typhon was defeated before it could reach full virulence, but only after infecting Echidna and turning her into the mother of monsters.

Typhon appears as a storm of black dust--actually a gigantic storm of rapacious micro- and nanobots. Those caught in the storm may be temporarily blinded on a roll of 1 on a d6. Even those not blinded can become confused per Mutant Future. The Typhon storm inflicts 2 points of damage to any character engulfed, double damage to those without some degree of protection (at least thick clothing or armor). Hiding in a body of water halves damage. Even after leaving the storm, a victim with take damage for 3 rounds. The swarm takes no damage except from fire or area effect energy or cold attacks.

Anyone who dies in the swarm rises as a zombie-like vector of Typhon. They develop a random physical mutation as their DNA is overwritten by Typhon. Anyone who takes damage but does not die must make a save vs. Poison or be infected:

Typhon Infection
Save Modifier: -2
Infection Duration: 2 weeks
Affected Stats: INT -1, WIL -1
Damage: 1d4
Further, every week of infection carries a cumulative 20% chance of developing a random physical mutation for the duration of the infection. Those infected hear the whispers of Typhon in their minds, urging them to destruction.

A Weird Adventures Halloween

The comparable holiday to Halloween in the world of the City is Revenant Night at the end of the month of Redfall. It's a night where folklore says the walls between the realms of the dead and the prime material plane thin, allowing spirits who haven't yet moved on to their plane of final reward can slip back into the world of the living. This seldom seems to occur in this modern age, but it can't be ruled out entirely. And there are other strange menaces adventurers might face:

In Motorton, it's the Night of Misrule, where the Dwarf might invite you to the Red Room. Out West, it's a particularly bad time to drive into a ghost town. In the Shambles neighborhood of the City, you can hunt (or be hunted) by a maniacally killer under the influence of the Lord of the Cleaver. Just about anywhere, calliope music might signal the arrival of the Carnival Pandemonium the mysterious Viscount Marzo.

Trick or Treat.

Warlord Wednesday: Shadowland

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Saga Part 3: Shadowland"

Warlord (vol. 4) #3 (August 2009) Written by Mike Grell; Penciled by Chad Hardin; Inked by Wayne Faucher, Dan Green & Walden Wong

Synopsis: Morgan and friends come upon a group of refugees fleeing for a Shamballan fort to seek the protection of the Warlord. One man has Morgan's sword, given to him by a young man matching Tinder's description. Tinder had warned them of the raiders' approach and sent them to seek the Warlord's protection.  Then, he set fire to the fields and stayed behind to cover there escape. The farmer's saw him fall under a raider's arrow.

Morgan realizes Tinder was right and that he should have listened to him. Shakira says there's nothing he can do, but Morgan counters there is: He can finish what he set out to do.

Meanwhile, Alysha Grant is running through the jungle. She comes upon a pool where a unicorn is drinking. Struck by the wonder of the scene, she wades out to touch the creature, but then:

The carnosaur turns it's attentions to Alysha, but she's pulled from harm's way by Tinder. The dinosaur chases the two over a cliff. They might have fallen to their death, but Alysha manages to save them with her climbing axe. Later, after she's bandagaed Tinder's wound and cooked them something to eat, Alysha tells Tinder how she got to Skartaris (essentially relating the events of the first issue). She says everything that's happened is her fault. She set an evil power loose. Tinder believes the united people of Skartaris can defeat it--and he knows a man who can do it.

In the darkness of the Terminator, Morgan, Shakira, and Machiste ambush the returning raiders and use their clothes to disguise themselves to sneak into the Golden God's fortress. There, Mariah is being interrogated by Ned Hawkins, who is now the Golden God. He wants her to share what knowledge she has to help him uncover the secrets of Atlantean magic and technology. Kate is jealous, but Ned reins her in. Ewan, for his part, just documents it all with his camera. He's the only one of the three still in his earth duds.

Ned continues to try to convince Mariah. He tells her there is an inevitability to this: "New worlds were made to conquer." Morgan disagrees:

Ned shoots a blast from his golden armor and knocks Morgan out. His guard's overwhelm Machiste. Mariah quickly agrees to help Ned to save Machiste's life.

As Morgan and Machiste are taken away, Shakira (in cat form) watches from the shadows.

Things to Notice:

• This issue gives us a name for the story arc: "Saga."
• Ned rightly points out that Mariah has been studying Skartaris since before Kate was born. That may well be true, since she's been there since 1977.
• Again, we see a unicorn eaten by a carnosaur.

Where it comes from: 
Alysha's first meeting with Tinder has some parallels to Travis Morgan's first meeting with Tara, only this time it's the woman who's the outsider and the man who is Skartarian. In both cases, they wind up saving each other, ultimately.  The dinosaur in this case looks like a carnatosaurus rather than a deinonychus.

Like last issue, this one continues the theme of the 1992 limited series of Morgan being a fallen hero who abandoned his ideals. While this is touched on in the original series, it's not emphasized nearly to the same degree it has been in the Grell-pinned series since.

Mo' Mummies

For Secret Santicore last year, I wrote a piece on variant draculcas (vampires). I think that most neglected of classic monsters, the mummy, deserves a similar treatment.

MUMMY, BOG
These mummies were naturally created but are instead products of being buried in peat bogs. They aren't wrapped in bandages, their skin in tanned black, and they are more flexible than their fellows due to calcium phosphate in the bones being dissolved by bog acid. They only do 1d8 damage and have one less hit dice, but they can vomit acid for 1d4 damage.

MUMMY, GIANT
Humans weren't the only ones to be mummified, or to rise as fearsome undead monsters. Giant mummies have hit dice one better than what ever giant humanoid their size resembles or one better than standard mummy hit dice, whichever is better. They have all the standard mummy abilities, except (in some cases) mummy rot. (Check out Gomdulla above statted here.)

MUMMY, LOVELORN
These mummies got caught in a forbidden romance and were mummified as punishment. When first revived, they look like regular mummies and have all the pertinent abilities, but within 1d4 days, they shed their wraps (and most of their powers) in favor of a brooding, exotic charm. They typically become convinced someone is the reincarnation of a long dead love, and will go about trying to woo the lost lover, killing those that get in the way. They are able to Charm (as per spell).

MUMMY, WELL-PRESERVED
These mummies have several unusual traits--most obvious of which is they are as attractive as the day they died, instead of being desiccated corpses. They don't have the mummy rot or the fearful reaction, but to do possess a charm ability (as per the spell). Typically, some sort of ritual is needed to fully resurrect one (involving some sort of item important to them in life and several blood sacrifices) of these mummies, but until then they are able to exert their will by control of others.

Monster Apocalypse a Go-Go

Zombie apocalypses are all the rage these days with films, books, and even a tv show. But other classic monsters deserve their (proverbial) day in the sun, too:

Vampires: The most obvious non-zombie contender for virtually extinction of the human species. Richard Matheson's I Am Legend and it's various movie adaptations have already ventured into this territory (as has the film Stake Land) --and the comics Planet of Vampires and Vampire Hunter D have already shown on vampire overrun post-apocalypses. Trading bloodsucking for flesh-eating is almost too obvious.

Piscoids: Cast them as Creatures from Black Lagoons, Manphibians, or walking catfish men, fishy humanoids are ready to climb from the depths and overwhelm the surface world. Perhaps a full-fledged takeover is the ultimate goal of the Deep Ones in Shadow Over Innsmouth? Global warming and rising sea levels would no doubt be part of their plan. A piscoid apocalypse might wind up looking more like Waterworld than Walking Dead.

Werewolves: Like vampires and zombies, werewolfism is passed by a bite, making them a reasonable stand-in. I don't know of any media werewolf apocalypses, but Dog Soldiers sort of does the "trapped in an isolated farm house" riff of Night of the Living Dead. Depending on exactly how the werewolves worked, things might be pretty tough for humanity: zombies are slow and dumb, while vampires have to sleep in the day time. Werewolves have neither of those limitations. Of course, their just humans in the day, trying to scourge for survival just like everybody else. Only at night would they join packs of killers to howl at the moon as they hunt through the ruins.

Frankenstein's Monsters: This seems like the biggest stretch given than Frankenstein had only one monster (or maybe two, depending on who you believe). Still, two monsters can overrun the world (unless they're giant, which still movies us out of zombie apocalypse analogous territory). Technology has advanced a lot since Frankenstein's day, though. Wein's and Wrightson's Un-Men in Swamp Thing (and Burroughs' Synthetic Men of Mars, for that matter) point the way: Mass production of monsters. In some ways, this would resemble an alien invasion apocalypse or robot apocalypse more than a zombie one--though perhaps the monsters "consume" humans by dragging them back to their secret factories to use as raw materials for more monsters?

Frankenstein's Mega-Monster

Frankenstein's Monster might might frighten simple villagers, but it takes a truly monstrous monster to present a challenge for a Giant Space Robot. Luckily, advances in technology have allowed mad scientist to play god on a titanic scale.

An everyday Giant Frankenstein's Monster might use zombie stats (bearing in mind they everything is giant in Giant Space Robot). A regular Giant Frankenstein's Monster energized by radiation or lightning, or one that is actually an alien is a more formidible foe and should be statted like a flesh golem.

The Sasquatch Variations

In a post-Harry and the Hendersons and Bigfoot and Wildboy world, your run of the mill Sasquatch may not pack the fearful punch it once did. In keeping with the season, here are a couple of sasquatch-like cryptids with a twist to move 'squatch back from "gentle giant" to "scary."

Batsquatch: First sighted in 1994 in Washington, batsquatch is an ape-like hominid with purple skin and batwings. (In other words, something like a scarier version of the winged monkeys in the Wizard of Oz). Stat these guys like a yeti, but add winged flight like a gargoyle.

Sheepsquatch: From the hills of West Virginia comes a cryptid also known as "the white thing." It's described as a bear-sized beast covered in thick, yellowish-white fur. It doesn't look much like the usual sasquatch with its low set eyes, goat-liked horns, raccoon-like hands, and a hairless tail like an opossum. I would use giant wolverine stats for these beasties (minus the musk).

Blue Belt Bigfoot: One of the few hairy hominids known to accessorize, the so-called Blue Belt Bigfoot has only been sighted in California and only on a few of occasions. It's essentially a a regular sasquatch (perhaps with a dog-like face) with a glowing blue belt. Sometimes, they travel in groups. I'd probably treat these guys as bugbears (just because) and give the belt some special power--or maybe not (other than the glowing) just to mess with PCs.

Warlord Wednesday: Expect the Unexpected

Here's another installment of my examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Expect the Unexpected"

Warlord (vol. 4) #2 (July 2009) Written by Mike Grell; Penciled by Joe Prado; Inked by Walden Wong, Jay Leisten, & Joe Prado

Synopsis: Morgan goes to see his daughter Jennifer, the Sorceress Prime of Skartaris. She comments (as usual) that he only comes to see her when he needs something. Morgan admits he does. He tells her about the refugees fleeing a new god: a god that uses bullets.

Jennifer does some scrying:

Deimos. But he's dead (several times over). Morgan decides they need to check this out. Jennifer gives him a couple of magic stones to help him find the Golden God. Tara has to stay to defend Shamballah, but she wants to send 100 soldiers with Morgan. He declines, saying he doesn't want to dig graves along the way. Sometimes, one man can do what a hundred men can't...

Shakira goes along too, of course. Not far into there journey, they realize they're being followed. They lay a trap for their tail, and it turns out to be Tinder. He wants to go with them, Morgan doesn't think this mission is the place for a bard, but Tinder is adamant, and Morgan ultimately gives in.

He asks if Tinder can use a sword. Tinder replies he's good with a bow and a shorter blade. Morgan tosses him his sword and tells him he'd better learn.

Later, when they stop for a meal, Tinder sings the story of the Warlord, telling how Morgan won a queen and allies and bested Deimos. Morgan comments on the exaggeration and myth-making in it. Morgan ends the discussion of the past with sword practice with Tinder--which he wins by cheating.

They notice what they take to be slaver's raiding party passing near, but then Morgan recognizes the man in the cage:

Machiste. These are the men of the Golden God. The raiding party splits up, as some ride ahead to plunder nearby villages.

Morgan readies to attack them. Tinder counters they should warn the villages the men are likely to attack next. Despite the sensible of Tinder's suggestion, Morgan is focused on saving his friend. His belief in lofty goals died when he was forced by Deimos to kill his son. (Or so he believes; we all know Tinder is really his son.) Tinder angrily rides off to look after the people--something that he believes Morgan would have done, once.

Morgan and Shakira ride in and decimate the remaining soldiers. They free Machiste, who tells them Mariah was taken north to meet the Golden God. Machiste doesn't want to sound ungrateful, but he says they should have gone to warn the villages. Morgan says that's what Tinder said.

The three saddle up. Shakira asks where they are going now. Morgan replies: "After the boy."

Things to Notice:

• Jennifer wears the antennaed headband she wore in her first appearance.
• This issue provides a lot of recap on backgrounds of the priniciple characters, presumably for new readers.

Where it comes from: 
The title of this issue comes from the last line of the epigraph that appears in most issues of Warlord (and even some of the crossovers).

Jennifer (in discussing the possibility of Deimos's resurrection) mentions the Mask of Life, which was used to bring the demon priest back the first time in issue #10. It's interesting that she reaches all the way back to his first resurrection instead of mentioning the most recent one in the limited series in 1992.

It's Witchcraft

American Horror Story has returned to FX with its third season. This one is subtitled "Coven." Though it's already showing signs of mixing several horror tropes like in previous seasons, the title gives away it's focus on a group of witches. More precisely, it focuses on a school for witches; it's kind of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, except they have no interest whatsoever in helping those that hate and fear them.

Each of the students has a specific psychic sort of power. No real Bewitched-like all-purpose spellcasting, but some very powerful witches have more than one power. There are sort of traditional ritual magic spells, too. It's unclear how this might integrate with the innate powers, and I imagine it will stay that way. "Fuzzy on the details" is just the kind of show AHS is.

Besides the general witchery, there's (so far) an attempt to re-animate the perfect boyfriend from the remains of a bunch of dismembered fratboys, a swamp-dwelling Stevie Nicks fan with the power of resurrection, and conflict between the immortal historical figures Marie Laveau and Delphine LaLaurie.

While every season has had things that could be stolen for an rpg campaign, this season probably offers the most gameable setting so far. In fact, there's a suggestion of the European colonial witches versus traditions of oppressed peoples that is a bit reminiscent of GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War.