Vampire Under Glass

Our 5e Land of Azurth game continued this past Sunday with the wizard turned manticore, Mortzengersturm, giving the party a tour of his palace—really a series of caverns carved into the crystalline Geegaw Mountain. What Mortzengersturm has devoted his energies to is impressive, if a bit disturbing. He’s made a lot of hippogriffs (an “impossible animal” he keeps telling the PCs, since griffins like to eat horses) and other stuff like a horsefly (exactly what you think) and an ant-lion (that too). He’s also managed to “civilize” a goblinic slime pit to make proper goblin servants (blue, as a consequence).

Some of the party are a bit angered by slavery, even of goblins, but they’ve got a job to do. They need to capture some of the light from his wild magic crystal (“The Whim-Wham Stone,” he calls it) to repair the laterna magica they found a week or so ago.

Mortzengersturm without his cigarettes and magic hands

With the tour over, Mortzengersturm agrees to help, but instead springs a trapdoor. Nimble and suspicious Shae the Ranger evades it, but the rest are caught. She fights the manticore alone while the party tries to find a way out of a sheer, crystal-walled pit. It seems being a manticore has given the former wizard a powerful hunger for human flesh, and he wants the party on the menu. Then he throws a cloudkill at them! A well placed arrow spoils his concentration and ends the spell, but takes several tries before anyone gets out of the pit.

Ultimately, Mortzengersturm is taken down by force of numbers—about the time some of his loyal hippogriffs show up. Wounded and low on spells, the party retreats to a handy, hard to notice passage, too small for a hippogriff or Mortzengersturm. They’re too glad to be out of danger to question that.

After a little bit of healing, they decide to explore the rest of the tunnel. They find it leads out to an opening in the cliff face on the side of the mountain, about 40 ft. below the plateau where their flying swan boats (and only means of escape) are. They backtrack in the tunnel and take a passage to the left. There they find a velvet curtain and hear odd sounds beyond. A peek inside reveals a woman that they soon discover is a vampire when she drains Kairon the Warlock to unconsciousness.

Driving her back with lucky rolls and a bardic ability (shocking!), they manage to retreat into the sunlight. Climbing looks like a better option, now. Erkose climbs up and sneaks past the hippogriffs to retrieve one boat. Not wanting to press their luck, they all cram into that one and take off for Rivertown. Luckly, Waylon the Frogling had snagged the Whim-Wham Stone in their escape, so mission accomplished but no extra treasure.

Wednesday Comics: Cursed Pirate Girl

Cursed Pirate Girl written and illustrated by Jeremy Bastian starts in Port Elizabeth, Jamaica, in 1728 but quickly moves to the Omerta Sea, which is something like a marine Wonderland, where all manner of fantastical and eccentric people and creatures are encountered. The heroine apparent heroine is the titular Cursed Pirate Girl, who appears to be a plucky orphan living in a beachside shanty, but is actually (or additionally) the lost daughter of an infamous pirate captain. The only problem is figuring out which one. And so, the quest begins.

Bastain's whimsical and sometimes grotesque art is old school illustration in style and reminiscent of 18th century political cartoons, complete with period appropriate and hand-lettered word balloons. He often decorates the borders with banners and all sort of business.

Like Alice, Cursed Pirate Girl never seems particularly in peril, but there's a lot of fun in seeing the cheeky attitude with which she faces (and overcomes) all sorts of strange threats.

Strange Stars Without Number: Ibglibdishpan

Here's the ibglibdishpan presented in the general format that I'm using in the Strange Stars OSR gamebook:

Physical Characteristics: Biologic humanoid with little sexual dimorphism. Tall with gracile build. Skulls are somewhat ovoid vertically, though this appearance is accentuated by a shield-shaped "mask" of osteoderm.
Psychological Characteristics: Restrained in emotional responses and lacking in empathy in comparison to other humanoids. Viewed by others as pedantic and over-precise. Most are adverse to violence. They consider discussion of gender or sex as rude.
Names: Names of the ibglibdishpan are composed on two, monosyllabic elements that end in a vowel, n, ng, m, l, r, sh or more rarely b. Among themselves they employ numerical family designation that is placed before the personal name, but they rarely use these when dealing day to day with other cultures, except in formal situations. Examples: Chun Ri, Gan Yul, Ro Nar, Ang Tu, Tan Em, Ib Kan, Li Pan.
Backgrounds: Adventurer, Astrogator's Mate, Researcher, Scholar
Classes: Expert is the most likely class for an ibglibdishpan. Warriors would be rare and Psychics nonexistent.
Attributes: Intelligence of at least 14. Charisma and Strength no higher than 10.
Special Abilities:
Humanoid Computer: Ibglibdishpan gain an additional +1 to Skill checks based on Intelligence. They also have the power of Hypercognition; Once per session, the PC can ask the GM for a useful conclusion regarding a topic, and the GM will tell them what he or she considers the most useful fact the character could have concluded from analysis of the available data.

Mental Breakdown: Ibglibdishpan mental structure always has a chance of a cognitive glitch or breakdown. Any time an ibgliddishpan has to make an Intelligence related skill check of difficult of 11 or 13, fails an Intelligence related check of any difficulty, or uses the Hypercognition ability, a save vs. Mental Effects must be made. On a failed roll, a  negative effect occurs. The following table offers some examples:
1 Catatonic state, repeating the last statement made for d100 minutes. Hypercognition ability (if unused) is not available the rest of the session.
2 Screams for d100 seconds, then returns to previous activity as if nothing happened. Intelligence-related skill checks are at -1 for 24 hours.
3 Develops a severe phobia which lasts for 2d12 weeks. Every week, the character may make another Mental Effects save. 3 successful saves in a row means the phobia abates early.
4 Develops a reaction akin to Stendhal Syndrome (dizziness, confusion, possible fainting) for d4/2 hours. -2 to Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom for the duration.
5 Suffers a seizure lasting 1d4 min. -1 to all rolls until a period of rest of at least 8 hours.
6 Lose 1-2 points of intelligence for 2d10 days. Every 2 days, another Mental Effects save can be attempted. 3 successes means the return of the lost points early. Each failure adds an extra day.

Go to the Ants

Ant-Man opened this weekend and likely Marvel has another hit a hero, despite the wisdom repeated in even mostly positive review that the whole concept is ridiculously. Because you know, science fantasy Norse Gods speaking Renfair is gritty realism.

What a guy who shrinks and talks to ant is fantasy in a way super-soldiers, and capitalists in powered armor may not be. It's a a child-like fantasy; one where everyday items become hazards and improvised weapons. A running bath tube creates a tidal wave; a flying ant becomes a steed. It's ridiculous only in the way that Alice in Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz is ridiculous. Ant-Man is just a hero it's hard to grittify credibly. It's stuff too much fun.

if you like the Marvel films, you will like Ant-Man. Marvel Entertainment has their formula (for both better and worse) down to a science. The beats are similar and the humor is there. The review talking points (Perhaps passed out by the production company. They've done it before.) highlight how comedic it is, but I don't think it's really any more comedic than say Iron Man III. It certainly isn't a superhero comedy like The Green Hornet.  Likewise, reviewers will say it's different from the other Marvel films because it isn't about "saving the world"--which ignores Pym and Lang saying that's exactly what they're out to accomplish.

So ignore all that stuff and just enjoy. For the Marvel Comics fan, you get a hint of Hank Pym's Cold War secret hero career. You get to see the Wasp's finest hour. You get a glimpse of the Microverse--excuse me, Quantum Realm. A decade ago, it would have been hard to imagine any of that on the big screen.

The best stuff is the shrinking stuff, though. The special effects look really good and there are a couple of nice set-piece battles between shrunken combatants. The ants have character, too, even if the mix of species is a strange one for the film's location.

It's not perfect. There are some nonsensical bits in the script, that may have come from different versions being stitched together. Is Lang a recidivist criminal cat burglar or a mechanical engineer that burgled a dishonest company just once for revenge? Is Darren Cross made crazy by Pym particle exposure as everybody keeps saying even though we haven't seen him have any particular exposure until late in the film? And there is other stuff.

Fridge Logic, for the most part. These things won't bother you when you're watching one inch tall guys hurl toy trains at each other--and that's really for the best.

Azurthite Bestiary: Bad Seeds

Bad Seeds are made by evil magicians and the like out to undermind Good Azulina and the rightful order of the Land of Azurth. They are made from combination of a Green Man root, a moonless night, and an unwholesome ritual whose full details are regrettably quite easy to find in magical tomes. Depending on certain details of the rite and the place of planting, different types of Bad Seed are cultivated. 

 Twig Bad Seeds have the form of crude stick dolls or effigies. They wait at the side of lonely woodland trails or guard the abodes of witches in haphazard clusters. You must be very cunning and quick to see them move before they strike. There are stores of giant twig seeds that stride through the forest like wicker giants and throw victims in the cages of their chest. 

 Thorn Bad Seeds can stand upright if they wish, but mostly they roll like bramble bush tumbleweeds making rasping noises like the growl of a dog. The spilling of blood greatly excites them. They seem to be able to taste it on the air.

Vine Bad Seeds usually take the form of slithery masses and like to hide in dark places. Other than the susurrus of their movement, they make no other sound. They will often stalk prey, stealing small items and causing confusion before finally striking.

 Bad Seeds are statted like the comparable Blight in the Monster Manual.

Not a Bad Seed, but another plant creature: a Heap as rendered by David Lewis Johnson:

Wednesday Comics: Incredible Shrinking Heroes

Getting ready for Ant-Man this week? Here are a few comics to read to get into the mood for big superhero action in a small scale:

Know nothing about Ant-Man? This collection starts with the original character's first appearance (pre-superhero identity) back in 1962, then takes him through establishing himself as a hero, meeting his wife to be and helping her create a superhero identity, and giving up the ant thing to be a Giant-Man.

The Ant-Man of the film isn't Hank Pym, but Scott Lang. Ant-Man: Scott Lang will get you up to speed on the comic book version of Paul Rudd's character in the movie.

Marvel hasn't cornered the market on shrinking heroes. In fact, DC beat them to it in 1961 with the Atom. (Never mind that Quality's Doll Man had gotten there in 1944.)  Showcase Presents: The Atom vol. 1 chronicles the origin and earliest adventures of Ray Palmer, the Atom.

By the 80s, the shrinking hero just wasn't enough for the jaded fanbase, so Jan Strnad, Pat Roderick, and Gil Kane sent the Atom into a world Burroughsian lost world adventure. This wasn't the first time a hero had gotten to a lost world by shrinking: Ray Cummings had shrank his hero so he could romance the "Girl in the Golden Atom" in 1923, The Incredible Hulk had had a similar romance and adventure in 1971. But Sword of the Atom has guys riding frogs drawn by Gil Kane.

The Moving Pointcrawl

Over at the Hill Cantons blog, Chris has written a lot about the pointcrawl, which abstracts a map to the important points, eliding the empty places/boring stuff a hexcrawl or similar complete mapping would give equal weight. One unusual variation not yet explored is the crawling of moving points.

Admittedly, these would be pretty unusual situations--but unusual situations are the sort of stuff adventures are made from: Exploring a flotilla of ancient airships or the various "worlds" in a titan wizards orrery; Crawling the strange shantytown distributed over the backs of giant, migrating, terrapin. Flitting from tiny world to tiny world in a Little Prince-esque planetary system. Some of these sort of situations might stretch the definition of pointcrawl, admittedly, and to model some of them in any way accurately would require graphing or calculus, and likely both.

Let's take a simple case--something from an adventure I'm working on. Say the wrecks of several ships are trapped in a Sargasso Sea of sorts. The weed is stretchy to a degree, so the wrecks move to a degree with the movement of the ocean, but the never come completely apart.

The assumption (to make it a pointcrawl, rather than just a hexcrawl, where the points of interest move) is that there were pretty much only certain clearer channels a small boat could take through the weed--or maybe certain heavier areas that a person who wasn't too heavy could walk over without sinking in complete.

The map would look something like this:

Note that this map is pretty abstract, despite appearances. The distances or size of the weed patch aren't necessarily to scale with the derelict icons. Length of connecting lines is of course, indicative of relative travel distance. The colors indicate how "stretchy" an area is: blue can move d4, orange d6, and red d8 in feet? yards? tens of feet? Not sure yet. Anyway, whether this drift is closer or farther away would depend on a separate roll of 1d6 where odds equals farther and evens closer. Of course, they can't come any closer than the distance they are away on the map, so any "extra" distance would be a shift to one side or the other.

Zigzags denote a precarious patch, where there would be an increased risk of a sudden thickening (if I'm going with boat travel) or falling in (if I go with walking). Dots will denote an extra wandering monster or unusual event check.

So there are a lot of kinks to work out, but that's the basic idea.