Real Magic in the Dungeon

Magic in D&D (and most rpgs, for that matter) doesn’t bear much resemblance to magic as people practiced (and practice) it in the real world. There’s probably a couple of reasons for this: 1) in the early days of the hobby, there really doesn’t seem to have been much interest in real world models (or at least not as much as fictional ones); 2) real world magic may not seem particular “gameable.”

There have been a few attempts to inject more real world elements over the years: Isaac Bonewits’s Authentic Thaumaturgy, Chaosium’s Liber Ka for Nephilim, and the ritual magic system originally presented in GURPS Voodoo. The internet tells me that 4e has added a ritual magic system to D&D, though I don’t know anything about it. Most of these are icing, additions, or alternatives for more “standard” rpg magic systems.

I wonder if traditional dungeon fantasy sort of games would work with only ritual magic? This would mean most spells would be difficult to cast in the dungeon, much less in combat. Of course, just like in the real world, there would be charms and magical materials (and presumably other magic items) that could be employed. The computer rpg Darklands did this by replacing magic use with alchemy created potions that could be used in combat.

This might be a big change in the game role of the magic-user. I don’t think if this were the way magic worked in the setting that it would mean magic-user’s wouldn’t adventure. The chance to wrest magical secrets and items from dungeons would still get them down there. But of course, game “balance,” etc., etc. Still, if magic were rarer and more “realistic” would having a little magic be as much of an advantage as having a lot is in a standard game world where it’s much more common?

Five Kooky Cults

Here are a few minority religious groups seen at least as bit odd (if not outright dangerous) by the majority of the City's citizens:

The Abattoir Cult: Secret followers of the sinister and bloody-handed Lord of the Cleaver. A liturgical text (anthropodermically bound) honoring this obscure eikone is known to exist in a private collection in New Lludd. His cult tends to crop up in districts devoted to meatpacking or slaughter pens and is associated with the emergence of serial killers.

The Temple of Father Eliah Exalted: This Old Time Religion sect preaches racial and gender equality, chastity--and the godhood of its prophet, Father Eliah Exalted. The Temple owns a number of groceries, gas stations, hotels, and other business. These are ostensibly held by acolytes but seem mainly to enrich the Father. The Temple is politically active and the Father’s support can sway elections. Many are suspicious that Exalted’s powers of oratory and occasional miracles suggest that he is one of the Gifted or perhaps a secret thaumaturgist, but proof has been hard to come by.

Serpent-spotters: An informal collection of people forgotten by society--mostly poor and elderly spinsters and widowers--who are convinced that the monster that appeared in the Eldritch River 30 years ago, and supposedly delivered secret prophecies to City fathers, will return, heralding the apocalypse. On days individually chosen they hold vigil in Eldside Park. They hope to be present at the time of the serpent’s return so it will reward their faith with a ride on his back to a watery Paradise.

The Electrovangelic Church of the Machine Messiah: A worldwide movement dedicated to building the perfect construct to manifest the Messiah and usher in a new age of mechanical spiritual perfection.

The Followers of the Rabbit: Not an organized religion, but instead a collection of superstitions and cautionary urban legends forming a secret liturgy for some folk working along the boardwalk of Lapin Isle. They hope to placate the godling of the island, the dark personification of the rabbit in the moon--the man in the rabbit suit that is not a man.

Random Weird Background Trait Table

Too often, unusual backgrounds mean super-special abilities.  But they don't have to...

The character in question (1d12):

1. Once saved a magical creature from a hunter’s trap and received 3 wishes in gratitude but squandered them long ago, with nothing to show for it.
2. Was the sole survivor of the mysterious disappearance of all the other people and livestock in his or her home village.
3. Owns of a pouch full of seeds which family legend holds are magical. 50% chance they are--but only sprout if planted in a singular (and far away) location.
4. Is the victim of an unusual familial curse that causes sex change under the a particular phase of the moon.
5. Bears a prominent scar, but cannot remember when or where it was acquired.
6. Once had a brief--but torrid--dalliance with a personage of some prominence which he cannot forget, but the former paramour gives no indication that he or she remembers.
7. Has two shadows (slightly offset, so not immediately noticeable) owing (it’s rumored) to a demonic ancestor.
8. Feels a strange longing for the sea and bears a nautilus shaped birthmark.
9. Could pass for a twin for a person of some renown or infamy.
10. Was found as infant in ancient ruins by foster parents.
11. Had a twin that was stillborn but with whom he or she converses at times of stress. 30% chance the never born twin blames the character for his or her death.
12. Occasionally, at night, can catch a glimpse of large dog-like animal that seems to be stalking him or her, but never approaches close enough for clear identifcation, and disappears if approached.

Warlord Wednesday: Cry Plague

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...

"Cry Plague"

Warlord (vol. 1) #73 (September 1983)

Written by Cary Burkett with Jennifer Reinhold; Penciled by Dan Jurgens; Inked by Dan Adkins

Synopsis: When last we left our hero, Morgan was unconscious in the grip of a carnivorous tree, and Scarhart was approaching to kill him! Scarhart raises his axe to strike, but he’s distracted by the attack of flying reptiles.

Morgan awakens and manages to free himself. He decapitates one creature, but notices Scarhart is pinned by another. Before he can run to help, the plant grabs him again. Only one chance:

Scarhart returns the favor by cutting Morgan free. Morgan decides they might as well join forces—even though Scarhart wants to kill the plague unicorn, while Morgan wants to take it back alive so an antidote can be made from its blood.

Tracking the unicorn, Morgan and Scarhart come across the camp of the itinerant Kaash’Ban. The folk and their animal companions agree to help them track the unicorn. If they find it, it will be none too soon, as Morgan starts to show signs of sickness.

Shortly, they get word that the unicorn has been found:

They rush to place only to find the unicorn already being sucked into a bog. Morgan lassoes it, but he’s too weak to pull it out. He appeals to Scarhart for help, but Scarhart has other ideas:

Morgan is about to give in to hopelessness when he realizes that Scarhart hasn’t gotten sick. The Kaash’Ban girl (who has taken an interest in Scarhart) mind-melds with him again to find a clue as to the reason: Scarhart drank from a secluded forest pool that seemed to invigorate him.  He believed it to have healing properties as foretold by the legends of his people.

Our heroes return to Castle Deimos. Jennifer opens a portal back to Scarhart’s world. He and Morgan jump through, then quickly make their way to the pool. Morgan fills flasks with its waters. Suddenly, a reptilian guardian rises from its depths! Morgan doesn’t have the time…

Back in Castle Deimos, the water of the pool indeed cures Jennifer, Morgan, and Shakira.

Scarhart and Shakira take an instant shine to each other and decide to travel with the Kaash’Ban for a bit. Shakira tells Morgan: “Don’t worry, Morgan…our paths will cross again.”

Morgan smiles and replies that he’s certain they will.

Things to Notice:

• Not for the first time, Shakira leaves Morgan for another guy.
• Team Warlord seem awful quick to assume drinking some water in the forest is what kept Scarhart from contracting the plague.
• The Kaash'Ban make a return appearance after last being seen in issue #63.

Notes:
This was my first issue of Warlord.  At the age of 10, I bought it off a spinner rack at a Suwannee Swifty store in Southwest Georgia.  I still have the copy. 

Tales of Sword and Sorcery, Dagar Style

Run through your collections of Conan and Savage Sword of Conan, and even read a little Kull and Warlord?  Well, Dark Horse Archives has got more comic book Swords and Sorcery for you with Dagar the Invincible.

In the early seventies, Gold Key got in on the sword-swinging with Tales of Sword and Sorcery: Dagar the Invincible.  Dagar was the creation of Donald Glut (also author of the early Masters of the Universe mini-comics) and drawn by Jesse Santos.  The Dagar stories don't have quite the flash of Marvel's Conan efforts, but there are the industry standard werewolves, evil sorcerers, and single-horned apes a-plenty.  Check out these covers for hint of the sort of action Dagar gets into:

Undead smashing? Check.



Ape punching? Indeed.



So if that's the sort of stuff you're into (and I think you are) check out the Dagar the Invincible Archives.

Invading Mars

The first thing that strikes any Earthling visiting Mars for the first time is that Mars is old. The seas and lush vegetation of its youth have given way to anemic canals and barren rock and sand. Many of its canal cities are more ancient than Sumer--and even these are young compared to the ruins that dot the dust-choked wastes.

The Great Powers of Earth came to Mars hoping steal knowledge and wealth from the dying world. It was the first planet to be conquered with the arrival of the Age of Space and with good reason. The 1898 invasion that had nearly ended the human race had come from the red planet, after all. When man mastered the psychic technologies of the Invaders, it was only natural to want to strike back.

The Invaders weren’t actually from Mars, of course. That had only been a staging point. But the old canal cities of the true Martians had been waystations for space travelers in the past, and they still held ancient secrets. In the arid wastes there were underground complexes, the abandoned redoubts of ancient Martian civilization, constructed when they burrowed in to survive their world growing inhospitable. These subterranean ruins contain treasures both magical and mundane.

Treasure-hunters, thieves, and spies flock to the colonial cities. The British and French have governmental presences and peacekeeping forces. The Americans are represented by soldiers of fortune and freewheeling traders. The Russians are divided between White Russian spies, dreaming of a czarist resurgence, and Communist agitators, looking to make Mars more Red. German agents of the Nazi Ahnenerbe or the more shadowy Vril Society search out secrets for their mysterious “Aryan” masters in Agartha.

The Martians themselves tolerate these new invaders like all the others over the millennia. The canal and Lowland dwellers are generally solicitous and eager for Earth coin--though there are occasional small scale uprisings, and always there are rumors of murderous cults that wish to purge Mars of alien influences. The grim highlanders, however, seldom recognize colonial authority. They act as bandits and are often organized around fanatical ghazaerai monks.

Post-Apocalypitc Drive-In

Pull in at A Field Guide to Doomsday (remember to let your ticket-dodging friends out of the trunk) and get ready for Devastation at the Drive-In--a free pdf collection of posts by Justin Davis fashioning Mutant Future monsters from shlocky films:

Your Blood Will Chill...When faced with the Cinderkid from The Children (1980).
You'll Feel A Bit Unconformtable...As you learn the horrible truth of the Fangbaby from It's Alive (1974).
You'll Be Confused...By the Bleast from God Monster of Indian Flats (1974).
You'll Be Amused...By the improbability of the Ro-Man from Robot Monster (1953).

Check it out at Justin's site.  Bring your own popcom.