Wednesday Comics: 8HOUSE

8HOUSE is a science fantasy anthology series from Image, where each arc can be read alone, but also apparently forms a part of a bigger universe. So far, we've had Arclight, Kiem, and Yorris. The first two chapters were written by Brandom Graham of the Prophet revamp, while the third is written by Helen Maier.

So far, I've read the Arclight issues, both drawn by Marian Churchland, They tell the story of queen on a alien, desert world who's trapped in a root-like body while an alien masquerades as her. She's served by one androgynous knight (the titular Arclight) while the other knights unknowingly serve the pretender. Blood forms the basis of the magic wielded by the knight's and others, and their are border creatures that are made of it--the living border's of the "Blood Lands."

In other words, it shows the sort of inventiveness that characterizes Graham's other work. If the other chapters are as good, 8HOUSE is going to be quite an epic.

Your Pain is Their Pleasure

Here's another excerpt from Strange Stars OSR: an Algosian as written up by Robert Parker.

ALGOSIAN
No. Appearing: 1-3
Hit Dice: 2
AC: 6
Saving Throw: 14+
Attack Bonus: +2
Damage: 1d8+1 monoblade or 1d8 stun baton, 1d6 + special (Via Dolorosa Agonizer)
Skill Bonus: +2
Move: 30'
Morale: 9
Algosians are humanoid torture cultists in the Zuran Expanse. They are thought to be the bioroid creations and former servitors of the Faceless Ones, an ancient sadist cabal. The Algosians learned a lot from their masters and now apply that knowledge to those that fall into their hands.

Algosians rely on kidnappings to get most of their victims. To this end, they operate clubs or brothels in some spaceports, though their involvement is usually secret.

In combat, Algosians relish the use of their Via Dolorosa, devices inherited from the Faceless Ones and passed through the generations. Each is unique in design particulars, but all are wand-like devices that deliver a concentrated burst of microwaves to exposed or lightly covered (normal clothing) skin, causing excruciating pain. A hit with the Via Dolorosa does 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and calls for a Physical Effects save to avoid being utterly incapacitated by pain for 1d4 rounds.

Algosians are resistant to pain (Savings Throw 9 vs pain-related effects) and their natural recovery of hit points is at twice the normal rate, though medical care or Biopsionics effect them the same as baseline humanoids..

MOTU Minis Maximized

Dark Horse has release a collection of the Masters of the Universe mini-comics that came packaged with the toys. This compact, but weighty tome (nearly 2.5 inches thick) not only contains the comics from the original toyline (1982-1987), but also comics for the follow-up He-Man toyline, the She-Ra line, and the recent comics from the Masters of the Universe Classic toys--plus a bunch of extras.

As I've mentioned before, my favorites are the original series written by Donald Glut and drawn by Alfredo Alcala that present a pulpier, less superheroic version than the ones DC would follow them up with, or particularly the ones after the cartoon became popular. Still, all of them have good bits--plenty of things stealable for a game. Like these time demons:

The Azurth Dictionary

The beyond the blog, my periodically updated Dictionary of the Land of Azurth is the definite guide to the setting. Here's the latest version, updated to cover things like the Whim-Wham Stone, the Aldwode and the peculiar people of Swells Head.

Wednesday Comics: Back to the Spire

The Spire #3-4 (September and October 2015); Written by Simon Spurrier, Art by Jeff Stokely

It's been a while since I reviewed The Spire, but you can read the about the previous issues here. Now the Tithebound, various tribes of nonhuman "skews", arrive at the Spire to pledge their allegiance once again. The Medusi (the people of our heroine, Shå) break protocol by escaping that they be allowed to take the fugitive Soulbreaker with them. That's complicated by the fact nobody knows what the Soulbreaker looks like.

Meanwhile, Shå is trying to catch a serial killer who's stalking the Spire--and seems to be able to get into locked rooms and disappear swiftly. A dagger with an unusual symbol is left at one of the crime scenes.

We also find out that Shå's past is a bit mysterious. She awakened in Spire with a note telling her what she was and that she needed to hide or be killed. She also has been an adult in the city for a long time. For over 30 years, in fact.

A cloaked and masked figure attacks the head of the medusi contingent. Shå arrives too late to stop it, but soon enough to be mistaken for the Soulbreaker by the other medusi.

After a brief skirmish, the mistake is rectified. The medusi tell her they're about to be sent on a mission--a suicide mission--by the Baroness and they ask her to intercede.

Shå has her own problems with the royals. The Baroness publicly chastises her for not catching the murderer yet. She's also in the doghouse with the Baroness' sister-- Shå's girlfriend--because she found out Shå never told her age.

The whole Spire has got bigger problems. The Zaorim are massing for war.

It's Not Easy Being Green: 2 Strange Stars Clades for SWN

Here's another excerpt from the Strange Stars OSR rulebook, currently in the works: two clades without much in common other than their green skins:

SMARAGDINE
Physical Characteristics: Biologic humanoids with skins in various shades of green.
Psychological Characteristics: Smaragdines see themselves as heirs to the technology and sophistication of the Archaic Oikumene and view psi abilities as the way of the future. They are the visionaries of the Alliance, but often viewed as a bit arrogant by its other members.
Names: Smaragdines have a personal and gens name. The personal names are frequently chosen from Old Earth mythology or literature. Smaragdines often retain the gender association of the source name out of respect, but not always. The gens name is a copyrighted reference to a specific registered genetic lineage; it is typically that of one or more of an individual’s parents, but not necessarily. Gens are from similar sources as personal names, but tend to be derived from ancient mythological or literary wizards or monsters. Samples:
Personal Names: Accolon, Belphoebe, Dindraine, Finn, Gloriana, Phaon, Rinaldo, Sedna, Tsais, Thalna.
Gens Names: Euryale, Glatisant, Hydra, Mazirian, Prospero, Simurgh, Typhon.
Backgrounds: Any, though Adventurer, Hacker, Noble, Politician, Researcher, and Soldier are most fitting.
Classes: Any.
Attributes: Standard.
Special:
Psi-Society: Smaragdine society is based on psi-use. All citizens of Smaragdoz have the equivalent of the discipline Mental Link.
High Tech: Smaragdine is tech level 5 society, though much of their technology is not exportable.

VIRID

Physical Characteristics: Biologic sophonts blending plant and animal characteristics. Skins of various shades green (due to presence of symbiotic cyanobacteria) and foliage-like hair. Local groups vary a great deal in height and build. All virid are linked by nanotechnology to the world consciousness of their homeworld, but this obviously does not extend over interplanetary (or greater) distances.

Psychological Characteristics: Virid are gregarious and pleasure-loving. Coming from an idyllic garden world, they are closely attuned to nature, but naive regarding the hazardous of other, less pleasant worlds--and of civilization.

Names: Virids use “translated” plant or nature-themed names with other sophonts. 

Backgrounds: Tribesman, Adventurer.

Classes: Any but Psychic.

Attributes: Most virids have ability scores in the same range as humans, though larger or smaller tribes will vary. 

Special: 

Photosynthetic Symbiotes: Living nanotech supplements virid metabolism and causes faster healing when they are under visible light sources with spectra similar to their native yellow sun. Every day spent in direct sunlight allows them to heal 1 additional hit point, and every day resting in direct sunlight allows a virid to recovery 2 additional hit points. They also lose System Strain at a rate of 2 points a day in the sun. 

Phytoxin Resistance: Virids get a +1 to Physical Effect saving throws against plant-derived toxins.

For more Strange Stars stuff, check out John Till's ongoing A to Z here.

Bone Tomahawk

The Western horror film (or Horror Western) subgenre is a Boot Hill populated enough that you can probably think of a few, but neglected enough that very few of them are particularly good. Bone Tomahawk (now on streaming services) sits comfortably within that small group--and probably among the best of that company.

Briefly, its apparently sometime in the 1890s (though it looks more 1870s-80s) two bushwhacker thieves (Sid Haig at his most Denver Pyle and David Arquette pretty much David Arquette) accidentally enter a secluded canyon where a lot of human bone decoration should tell them they are in a place they shouldn't be.

Eleven days later, Arquette is mark as suspicious by the constabulary of the town of Bright Hope. Sheriff Hunt (Kurt Russell) puts a bullet in his leg to keep him from escaping. The Samantha O'Dwyer (Lili Simmons) either a doctor or a nurse, I'm not sure, is summoned to provide medical assistance, leaving her broken-legged cowboy husband Arthur (Patrick Wilson) convalescing at home.

That night after some strange sounds and the slaughter of the man tending the stables, a prisoner, a deputy, and Mrs. O'Dwyer are missing and presumed kidnapped by Indians. Or not Indians, as a locale Native American informs them; a degenerate, subhuman, cannibal tribe called "troglodytes."

Stalwart Sheriff, hobbled cowboy and worried husband, Walter Brennan-esque "back up" deputy (Richard Jenkins) and dandified former Indian fighter (Matthew Fox) set out to find their townsfolk and bring them home, wholly unprepared for the horrors they will encounter.

People have likened Bone Tomahawk to The Searchers meets The Hills Have Eyes, but it lacks the scope and drama of the former and the visceralness of the latter. All the actors are competent and their characters well-realized and the dialogue is a bit of Tarantino, a bit of Deadwood, and generally good. The only problem is for its running time, the characters aren't given a whole lot interesting to do or talk about. The journey to the Valley of the Hungry Men doesn't really build tension like it could have, and the horror of the troglodytes isn't developed in the same way it was done in a film like The Hills Have Eyes or The Descent. There is violence, certainly, and a bit of gory, but it didn't feel like there was as much of either as the setup called for.

Those criticisms aside, it's a competent film well worth seeing. The nature and proclivities of the troglodytes make me wonder if perhaps the Appalachian crawlers of The Descent are descendants of an eastern branch of the troglodytes?

The troglodyte's eerie communication suggested a number gameable thing to me. It's been proposed than though the Neanderthals lacked full verbal communication as we know it, they might have used singing to convey information and coordinate efforts, as musical ability appears to evolutionarily older. It's certainly a potentially strange and inhuman sort of trait Bone Tomahawk puts to good effect.