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.