Alternate Ravenlofts

Friday, Jack Shear brought to my attention an idea Kreg Mosier proposed of a Southern Gothic Ravenloft. Which is a great idea. It also got me to thinking about other settings where Ravenloft could be repurposed:

Planet of Vampires

A commercial cargo-hauler spacecraft responds to a call from the Demeter from a nearby planetoid, and finds an planet shrouded in eerie mists. The Demeter's crew have undergone a frightening transformation into the undead. At the center of all this strangeness is a weirdly earth-like castle and its master.

Inspirations: Planet of Vampires, Alien, and the Star Trek episode "Catspaw."

The Creepy Castle

Teenagers returning from Spring Break have their car break down in an eerie fog somewhere in Appalachia. Going the the forbidding European-style castle for help seems like a good idea...

Inspirations: any number of horror films including Texas Chainsaw Massacre; Scooby Doo, and for more of a tripped out euro-feel, things like Nuda per Satana and Requiem pour un Vampire.

A Sampling of the Hydra Sampler

The Hydra Cooperative is proud to be supporting ConTessa and Gen Con. As part of that port we're in the process of putting together a sampler of Hydra products and upcoming products. Above is our tenative cover and here's the Strange Stars OSR page I put together for the sampler:

Space:1977, or Set Coordinates for Planet Funhouse Dungeon

It occurs to me there's never really been a sci-fi equivalent of D&D. (At least back in the day. Maybe someone's doing it now, and I'm just unaware.) By D&D I mean D&D of OG (Original Greyhawk) Gygaxian mode: a stupid, freewheeling, game of exploration that borrows promiscuously from genre media (of multiple genres) without bothering to particularly try to emulate any of it. Traveller is too interested in emulating specific source material and is more serious; Space Opera is goofy enough, but it still wants to be that sci-fi thing you like (whichever one it is) rather than being not any of those things but wearing their clothes. Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World get the vibe, but their scopes are more limited.

What I'm talking about is something a bit Vancian, definitely picaresque, where exploration for the purpose of profit is the order of the day. The character archetypes are from all over. An adventuring party might look like the ragtag protagonists in Battle Beyond the Stars (except that John Boy guy would be a Jedi in training and the lizard man would be Tars Tarkas) and act like a more disreputable Serenity crew. Only Silver Age comics truly encompass the level of crazy alien worlds ought to embody--given the appropriate figleaf of Gygaxian realism, of course. I figure adventures would often go down like an episode of Lost in Space, except more people would die. And then the Robot would take their stuff.

Wednesday Comics: Storm: The Green Hell (part 3)

My exploration of the long-running euro-comic Storm, continues. Earlier installments can be found here.

Storm: The Green Hell (1980)
(Dutch: De Groene Hel)
Art by Don Lawrence & Script by Dick Matena

Storm rushes in before Toriander can murder anyone else. He kicks the gun from the killer's hand and beats him up. Toriander calls for his cronies to help, but Ugly Brute stops them on the stairs. Storm brings Toriander out and Ugly Brute tosses him down into the lot of them.

Storm only wants one thing from Toriander: Where did the space helmet come from? Toriander gets very afraid. He says he can't tell or they'd kill him!

As if on cue, lightning flashes and thunder sounds. Toriander begins to run down the walkway. A bolt of lightning lands very near him. He runs again, crying out for mercy. He falls down on his knees, pleading with the skies:

Toriander is ash. Storm and the others wonder at the lightning that seems to have targeted him. They soon have bigger problems as blasts of lightning start destroying Carefree City. As the people fall into the grow below, the vines seem to go alive and attack them, while they are pelted by hail and driving rain.

Ember falls. Ugly Brute is impaled on a giant, poison thorn and Storm falls too. The survivors of the collapse are being killed by the swamp itself. Ember finds Storm and the two manage to find shelter in a cavernous interior formed of trees. Suddenly, a net drops on them--they are captured by the green mutants Ember met before!

What's more, they see something surprising over the edge of a nearby cliff:

TO BE CONTINUED

5e Retro Character Record Sheet

A couple of people asked if I was going to release a blank version of the B/X-ish 5e record sheet I'm using for the Mortzengersturm pregens. I hadn't thought about it before, but I seems like a good idea. A proper pdf will arrive at some point, but here's the front and back with the Mortzengersturm elements removed.

More Pregen PC Portraits

Here's more great Jeff Call art for the pregens in my NTRPGcon game of Mortzengersturm, The Mad Manticore of the Prismatic Peak:

First up, ZABRA KABRA, Mistress of the Mystic Arts, Wizard (Enchanter):

And here's MINMAXIMUS THE MIGHTY, Dwarf Fighter (Champion):

Apokolips Now

Yesterday, Evan Elkins requested someone do a hexcrawl of Darkseid's homeworld of Apokolips. Since Apokolips is pretty much a particular vision of hell, it seems like the misery can be safely distilled to a pointcrawl. Here's a quick and dirty rundown:

Overview: Apokolips is whole planet composed of a dirty, hellish industrial complex; it produces the implements of Darkseid's war against New Genesis, but it's main product is misery. The majority of the populace are the Hunger Dogs/Lowlies, normal humans who are the oppressed abject slaves of the Apokolipsian elite.

Locations:
Armagetto: The city-slums surrounding Darkseids palace. Security/military patrols are more common than elsewhere. It's the most "police state" of a planet-wde police state.
Fire Pits: These gigantic opening to the planet's core are fed by trash and refuse from the planet-city.
Happiness Home: Here, Lowlie children are trained and indoctrinated under Granny Goodness to become soldiers in Darkseid's armies.
Necropolis: Subterranean domain of the Dreggs--the undead corpses of the Old Gods acting out their days of glory.
Terrorium: An arena where bloodsports are held.
Tower of Rage: Darkseid's palace/fortress with a big sculpture of his head on top. In addition to the Darkseid himself, his chief torturer Desaad can be found here.
Unholy Sea: Supposedly the "lifeblood of Apokolips, where the souls of the deceased are trapped within its icy waters." The Deep Six likely dwell here.

Non-Unique Adversaries/Encounters:
Aero-Trooper: Solider flying on aero-discs.
Dog Cavalry: Elite troops riding giant mastiffs.
Parademons: Flying, genetically modified troops.