Attack of the Soviet Ape-Men!

The story goes like this: Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin wanted to create a super-soldier, a “new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat.” To this end, he tasked the USSR’s preeminent biologist Ilya Ivanov (the man who had pioneered the use of artificial insemination the obtain interspecies hybrids) with making half-man, half-chimpanzee super-warriors.

The truth seems to be that Stalin was never particularly interested in Ivanov’s experiments--that was the biologist’s own mad scientist leanings. Nevertheless, the experiments did take place. First, in 1927, he tried to artificially inseminate female chimps with human sperm. When that didn’t work, he began to plan to cross human females with male chimpanzees. In 1929, with the support of the Society of Material Biologists, Ivanov made plans to inseminate volunteer women in the Soviet human, but his last male ape (an orangutan) died. The wait to obtain new apes slowed things down long enough for the political winds to shift, and his experiments were ended.

This may not have been the first time such mad science antics were tried. According to the Discovery Channel, psychologist/eugenicist/primatology pioneer Robert Yerkes or his team supposedly created a human/chimpanzee hybrid in Florida in the 1920s. The rumor goes the hybrid was later destroyed--or did it did escape into the skunk-ape haunted swamps?

Anyway, I find all of these doings great fodder for pulpish or superhero gaming--and possibly post-apocalyptic gaming, too. Maybe the hidden Gorilla City in darkest Africa is a Marxist-Lenninist worker’s paradise? Or maybe the the far future ape city (the one near what used to be New York) reveres Yerkes as they’re Lawgiver; he did give them language after all?

It Gets Inside Your Head

Here’s a monster found in the world of the City and perhaps elsewhere...

Mind Worms are creatures of unassuming appearance, but insidious natures. They largely resemble plump, 2-3 inch long caterpillars, but have human-level (or greater) intellects. Though there is no clear proof, the statements of mind worms themselves suggest they are of extraterrestrial origin, and perhaps alien criminals or political dissidents of some sort.

All mind worms encountered have been the equivalent of megalomaniacs who desire to acquire power by the domination of others. Mind worms are telepathic and can forcibly read the minds of others for usual information. Ultimately, they use their powers to mentally dominate (similar to the Charm Person/Monster except that the worm actually controls the victim's actions, saving throw at -2, with penalties or bonus for Intelligence), or cause Hold Person (as spell). They can only attempt to dominate one person at a time, but can maintain their domination of multiple victims (perhaps 5) without particular effort.  A previous failure to dominate a victim removes their penalty to save on the mind worm's next attempt.  None of their powers are magical, and cannot be dispelled, but serious distraction to a mind worm will give victims a chance at escaping their control (another save), and forcing a victim to do something extremely alien to their nature may provoke another save at GM discretion.

Mind worms typically pick one choice victim to dominate and stay with that person at all times, perhaps hiding in a pocket or nestling under their collar.  One of the greatest weapons mind worms have is there small size and ability to hide.

It’s a lucky for humanity that the mind worms are rivals, and would rather try to kill other than work together.

No. Enc: 1-2
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: 1
Damage: Mind control, mind reading (see above)
Save: F2
Morale: 8

Inscrutable Yian

The people of Yian are considered a mysterious and alien presence in the City, and the New World in general. Much of this prejudice and fear is borne of misunderstanding. Still, the stereotypes are accurate in one respect--the Yianese are an ancient people with ancient secrets.

The misunderstanding of Yian begins with its name. This empire of the ancient East is not actually called Yian in its own tongue.  Yian is actually the name of the mystical and secluded city only sometimes accessible on this plane, where the dread (and perhaps inhuman) rulers of the country dwell. These are the Ku’en-Yuinn, “the Deathless,” undying sorcerers thought to be lich lords surviving from prehistoric Lemuria.  Most feared of all is the August Personage of the Black Jade Mask, the one whom Westerners call the Emperor of Yian. 

The common folk of Yian are humans like any other who, despite the stereotypes in the West, are not “yellow-skinned.” The high folk of the City of Yian do indeed have skin-tones ranging from lemon to saffron. These folk also tend to be tall, whereas the common Yianese are shorter than most westerners. Also, the high folk of the purest ancient bloodlines often have a slight inhuman, sometimes even bestial, cast to their features.

The common folk of Yian began immigrating to the New World in the last century, looking for economic opportunity and freedom from the yolk of the often oppressive rule of the Deathless lords and the high folk. They have unfortunately met with distrust and oppression from the Ealderdish majority in the New World, too. Despite this, large and thriving “Yiantowns” have grown up in the City, and the metropolises of Hesperia.

The high folk of Yian seldom immigrate. When they are found outside of their native land, it is almost always a single individual encountered. Yianese criminal societies and occult groups are often run by such expatriates, though of course seldom publicly. There is some truth to the pulp novel image of the sinister and secretive Yianese crime lord, but its regrettable that all Yianese suffer for the actions of an ancient and often wicked few.

Your Character's Old Job

Following up on my earlier post, here are the are some of the background occupations for adventurers I plan on using in my own upcoming Weird Adventures game. These backgrounds suggest the broad, noncombat skills character’s will have. For skill checks, I plan to use a "Target20" sort of mechanic, wherein d20 plus appropriate modifiers must be greater then or equal to “20” to succeed. Using a skill within the purview of the the background will garner an additional +1 in addition to the pertinent ability score bonus on the skill check.

All of this will require a good deal of GM discretion. I will probably allow two background occupations if a player had a real good concept. Bonuses in that context wouldn’t “stack” though, if they happened to have similar skill sets.

It should also be noted that, with a few exceptions, I view any class as able to take any background occupation (though some would be a better "fit" for one or another), though that will modify the nature of that occupation somewhat. A Tough Guy scientist is a “Two-Fist Scientist” while a Magic Man amateur detective becomes a “Occult Detective.”

Anyway, here are a few examples:

Academician [requires Int 12+]

The Ivory Halls of Academia didn’t hold enough excitement for you--or perhaps your hunger for knowledge ran to topics not considered appropriate by those in your department. When you’ve proved your theories, they’ll have to listen.

Skills: Academicians will have a primary field of study, and some knowledge of related fields. They’re probably just well-read in general.

Big Game Hunter
You’ve tracked tigers through Lemurian ruins, and bagged woolly mammoths in the snow-bound wastes of Borea, but some of the biggest, deadliest beasts can be found closer to home...
Skills: A hunter will know the habits and characteristics of animals he follows, and be able to follow their tracks and sign.

Dilettante
There’s only so many hours you can spend at the club or charity events before the ennui becomes unbearable. It’s adventure you crave! That and another glass of single malt.
Skills: Etiquette and savior faire. The dillettante (unlike the socialite) has dabbled in various subjects and has a good chance of having a superficial knowledge about an array of topics.

Gangster
There are guys who are good to have around in the event there is a need to get physical, but guys like that are apt to get other guys sore at them. And when those other type of guys get sore, morticians get busy. Sometimes, guys of the aforementioned first type maybe oughta decide a change of career is in order. You, my friend, are a guy of the first type.
Skills: Gangsters are likely to known the prominent criminals in town, and locales related to criminal activity.

Warlord Wednesday: Return of the Gladiator

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"Return of the Gladiator" and "Hound from Hell"
Warlord (vol. 1) #29 (January 1980)

Written and Pencilled by Mike Grell; Inked by Vince Colletta (first story)

Synopsis: Travis Morgan spots a Theran outpost set ablaze. Entering the fortification, he’s amazed at the amount of slaughter he finds. Suddenly, a woman with dagger jumps at him, knocking him from his horse.

Morgan is only surprised for a moment. He punches the woman, knocking her aside. The woman doesn’t believe his assurances that he means no harm. She's seen the insignia of his shield, and she says that the raiders who attacked her village carried a banner with that same sign.

“So its come down to this,” Morgan says. He remembers when he and the other escaped gladiators raised that banner in the name of freedom. Now, they’ve forgotten the dream, or squandered it.

He picks up his helm and prepares to go. He tells the questioning girl he has unfinished business to attend to.

Morgan tracks the rogue army into difficult terrain. He out-foxes a sentry, and finds that its a former comrade, Daedelus. Gun drawn, he tells the warrior to take him to the camp.

Morgan is surprised by how few of his old band are left. Daedelus tells him times have been hard, but now they have a new leader--whose appearance interrupts there conversation. Morgan recognizes him.

The leader is Ghedron, former soldier of Kiro. He still bears the cursed axe he had been tasked by Machiste, his king, with destroying. Morgan warns him that the curse of the axe won’t allow him to put it down, but Ghedron demonstrates that he can--because he chooses to pick it up again.

He tells Morgan he now leads the Warlord’s former army, and there’s nothing he can do about it. Morgan replies there’s one thing--and challenges Ghedron to one on one combat, gladiator-style.

The two square off in an arena improvised in a volcano’s caldera. Morgan avoids Ghedrons blows, then lands one of this own, only to find Ghedron has cheated by wearing armor. He delivers a savage kick that sprawls Morgan out. Ghedron swings his axe to deliver the coup de grace, but Morgan slices upward with his sword, removing Ghedron’s axe-hand at the wrist.

The hand and axe tumble into the still open part of the volcano. Ghedron, screaming, stumbles back into the volcano himself, just as there is a brief eruption of fire. The demon which had inhabited the weapon is visible for a moment in its death throes.

Daedelus asks Morgan to lead them again, but he declines. He tells them that they must start taking responsibility for their own actions. That’s what freedoms about.

“Hound from Hell”
In Wizard World, Mungo Ironhand has summoned the three-headed dog he wanted, but now he, Mariah, and Machiste are menaced by the creature.

Machiste tells him to send the dog back, but Mungo hasn’t gotten to that chapter in his magic scrolls yet, as doesn't know how. As the dog leaps at Mariah, Machiste must take matters into his own hands. He grapples the beast, riding it around the room until it manages to buck him off.

Machiste’s helpless as the dog leaps. Mungo’s managed to think of a spell that might help. He casts it, and what lands on Machiste is not a three-headed dog, but a three-headed bunny!

The danger over, Mariah and Machiste demand that Mungo send them home. The sorcerer agrees, but “forty’leven” hours later, he still hasn’t managed to cast a spell that will do so. Mungo suggests that Wralf the Wretched, the head wizard around there, might be able to help them--but Wralf’s a “nasty fellow,” and the price may be steep.

The three mount up on diatrymas (horse’s not having evolved yet) and head off to seek Wralf.

Things to Notice:

• The seventies super-heroine, technicolor racoon-eye make-up sported previous amongst Skartarian women appears again
• Ghedron wears more clothes than the usual Skartarian, but does garb himself in purple, the traditional color of comic book villainy.
• forty-'leven?

Where It Comes From:
This story is a sequel to Warlord #7, which showed Ghedron not disposing of the axe as instructed.

The title of this issue's main story likely comes from the 1971 Italian sword and sandals film of the same name.

Diatryma (now called gastornis) was a large, flightless bird living in the Eocene (56-34 million years ago).  It did overlap with eohippus the horse relative (once thought to be a horse ancestor) also mentioned by Mungo in this issue.

Something I'd Like...

art by Chaz Truog

...Is a game set in a retro-future along the lines of Leigh Brackett’s Eric John Stark stories or C.L. Moore’s tales of Northwest Smith.  A setting with a dessicated and dangerous Mars, a fecund and mist-choked Venus, and a colonial Earth trying to exploit the both of them. A setting where outlaws of the spaceways have to contend with the remnants of prehuman civilizations, outré natives, and of course, the Patrol.  The (relatively) grittier worlds of Brackett and Moore were an interesting corrective to the shiny rocket science fantasies of the likes of Captain Future (by Brackett’s husband-to-be, Edmund Hamilton) and the like.

I’m such a fan of that brand of now-outdated pulp sci-fi, that I did my own version, PLANET X, for Zuda Comics. Zuda’s now gone, a victim of reshuffling at DC and its parent Time-Warner, so I can no longer link to it, but briefly: it was a sci-fi/spy-fi story set in an alternate timeline where a habitable solar system saw the Cold War play out on an interplanetary scale in the swinging sixties. Burroughs meets Bond, more or less.

Anyway, I suppose since it doesn’t look like anyone's going to give me a Brackett/Moore-esque game anytime soon, I may have to do my own at some point.

If I ever make it out of the City...

Weird Adventures: A Touch of Class

art by Shipeng Li

After some consideration, and advice from others, I think I’ve decided on the classes for my upcoming Weird Adventures campaign. I’m  to keep the basic classes simple and use occupations/concepts similar to Akratic Wizardry’s backgrounds to “pulp-ify” them.

Here are the classes I have in mind, with the classic D&D classes they'll be based on:

Tough Guy (Fighter): The muscle.  Those who make their living through force of arms.

Man of Faith (Cleric): Miracle-workers--“The Gifted” I’ve mentioned before. Individuals who derive magical like abilities from their faith alone and don’t cast traditional spells.  Unlike the traditional cleric,the Man of Faith is not necessarily part of a church hierarchy.

Magic Man (Magic-User): These are scholars, experts in the magical arts. Some are thaumaturgists, who approach magic as a science, while others use their learning in the furtherance of their religious order--though the way these two groups cast spells is identical. Also included here are the mystics, who are more intuitive than “scientific” spell-casters.

Ace of Agility (Thief): Individuals who stand apart because of their nimbleness and skill. Some are indeed thieves in inclination and vocation, but others are circus acrobats, escape artists, or even film actors adept at physical comedy.

The above are given “male” names but that should in no way be construed to mean their strictly male.  A tough guy can just as easily be a “tough gal.”

Soon, I’ll present the occupations which will put a lot a flesh on the class bones and allow for pulp stand-bys like the private eye, or the two-fisted scientist.