Four-Color Swords & Sorcery: Monsters!

Earl Norem

Big monsters are a hallmark of Bronze Age Four-Color fantasy of the Swords & Sorcery mode. These creatures are often are the antagonist of the "big battle" of the issue, the full manifestation of the menace posed by the main villain--and occasionally the main villain themselves. Less formidable big monsters may be an obstacle to the final confrontation with the villain.

The monsters come in a variety of forms from merely giant to gargantuan natural animals to animate statues/automata of humanoids or animal shape. Tentacled, tendriled, or pseudopod-waving creatures seem to particularly common. I suspect so their threat is made clear in a way that doesn't immediately injure the heroes or result in a Comics Code Approval imperiling amount of blood.

So are multiple heads. Both of these have the added benefit particularly in games of allowing one creature to engage multiple heroic opponents more easily.

These creatures, at least the bigger ones, are seldom defeated by hacking them until they die. In game terms, the simplest to defeat require a "critical hit" or called shot of some sort, often an injury to their eye. Others are dispatched by a trick of some sort: using the environment or their own abilities or natural weaponry against them. Finally, some can only be killed using a special item or weapon, typically obtained earlier in the adventure.

What does this meaning for emulating the genre in gaming? These are my take aways:

• Unique, big monsters need to show up regularly. Maybe not every adventure, but most of them.
• The best way to defeat the creatures should seldom be the most obvious brute force method.
• This means the GM needs to reward creative thinking by the players to handle these encounters.
• If the ways of defeating the monster are particularly limited, the means must be telegraphed to the players and be available to them.

Outgunned

Two Little Mice, the designers of Broken Compass, have a new game on the way called Outgunned, which is billed as "a cinematic action rpg inspired by the classics of the action and heist genre, from Die Hard to True Lies, passing through James Bond, Lethal Weapon, Kingsman, Ocean’s Eleven, Hot Fuzz, and the latest John Wick."

The Kickstarter hasn't launched yet, but the "quickstart" (really more of a preview) is available on drivethru as pay what you want. It's basically the same system as Broken Compass, though has a few new features and refinements. It's a bit less rules lite than BC, though still very much a rules lite game.

Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1982 (week 2)

My goal: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around April 15, 1982.

Batman #349: Conway and Colan/Alcala reveal just what sort of trouble Robin is in, when Dala outs herself and her "brother," a Monk, as vampires. Robin escapes, but not before Dala bites him. Meanwhile, with the threat of Vicki Vale revealing her photo evidence about Batman's real identity, Alfred goes to Boston to hire the Human Target to impersonate Bruce Wayne. To shake for father out of his depression after losing his job, Barbara gets him to partner with Jason Bard in order to investigate the suspicious political situation in Gotham.

Flash #311: Bates is milking this mystery of the identity of Colonel Computron. He's firmly zeroed us in on the suspects, but it's really just a tease in that he isn't giving us any means of choosing who might be the culprit. The alliance Colonel Computron and Boomerang doesn't last long, as Computron traps the Flash and Captain Boomerang on a high-tech boomerang that takes them both into the past. They contend with pirates, but then make it back to the present--but Computron still gets away. 

In the backup, Dr. Fate is trapped in the nihil-verse and his to contend with the Lord of Chaos,  Vandaemeon. He makes it back to Earth, only to find Inza missing from the tomorrow. Meanwhile, Inza is getting close to the silver fox, Vern Copeland. 

G.I. Combat #243: In the first Haunted Tank tale, Kanigher would have us believe that a group of highly disciplined teen soldier would turn on their Oberst when it was revealed that Americans weren't cowardly like he said. Next we get something more plausible, as an O.S.S. operative pretends to be a blind man to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower--and blow it up--so the Germans can't use it as an observation post. He fails. 

Newman and Redondo present a pointed tale of the Pacific Theater, where a Nisei soldier fights bravely for the U.S.--and his parents read his letters about his exploits from a U.S. internment camp. Kashdan/Catan reveal the secret history of a Jewish clairvoyant who tricks Hitler into flubbing the response to D-Day. In the final Haunted Tank story, Jeb briefly loses his nerve worrying about the price of command, but rallies to when the day.

Jonah Hex #62: Hex's caught by the Manchu Emperor, who knows about the assassination plot by the White Lotus and is prepared to torture Hex to find out where she is. Luckily, Mei Ling rescues him and the two escape the palace. Sledge, a sailor, offers them passage back to the states, on the ship Malay Tiger, but when they discover the ship's carrying opium, things get ugly. Meanwhile, the Imperial troops raid the White Lotus stronghold, but Wu Gong Phat escapes and swears revenge against Hex.

Saga of the Swamp Thing #3: "A Town Has Turned to Blood." Pasko and Yeates have the Swamp Thing and Casey arriving via freight-train in Rosewood, Illinois. Swamp Thing becomes involved with a small band of hunters out to rid their town of vampires. They ultimately flood the town to get rid of the vampires--will see how that turns out in Alan Moore's run. Swamp Thing is pretty cold in that the sole survivor of the humans, a teenage boy, asks Swamp Thing to take him with him, but Swampy says, "no, stay and rebuild the town." This town that is under feet of water. Where no one else is left alive.

New Teen Titans #21: Wolfman and Perez introduce Brother Blood. Raven and Starfire save a baseball stadium crowd from terrorists, unaware that they are being monitored by the criminals' secret backer in a satellite base. Meanwhile, Cyborg's ex, Marcy Reynolds, is murdered when she tries to leave the Church of Brother Blood's commune. Trying to get information on the cult, Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Raven infiltrate the cult, and are disturbed by what they see. Their identities are discovered, and the four battle Blood and his minions, but are defeated. Raven's soul-self escapes to warn the other Titans.

This issue also contains a preview of "The Night Force" by Wolfman and Colan/Smith. The mysterious, time-traveling Baron Winter reviews the operatives he soon plans to gather: Jack Gold, a reporter investigating a Pentagon operation called "Project Satan"; Donovan Caine, a professor conducting a parapsychology experiment in the form of a Black Mass; and Vanessa van Helsing, a young psychiatric patient who only Winter seems to be able to calm. But someone else is watching these individuals, as well.

Superman #373: Bates and Swan/Hunt bring back Vartox. He's after a quick hookup with his love interest, Lana Lang, but when she suddenly acquires an aura that will allow her to live on his homeworld, maybe they can get married after all? Vartox assumes this strange turn of events is just his power working unconsciously (okay), but it turns out it's part of a revenge plot by Vartox's first (and supposedly deceased) lover.

In the "Private Life of Clark Kent" backup, Linda Danvers talks Clark into doing a cameo on her soap Secret Hearts as himself. When Clark hears an ambulance nearby being stuck in gridlock, he tries and apparently fails to get Linda to change into Supergirl help. He becomes Superman and does it himself. He confronts Linda about not handling it, but it turns out she was asking him via super-ventriloquism to handle take care of it. Embarrassed that he was not listening to her at the time, Clark apologizes. The drama!

Weird Revisited: Four-Color Fantasy Adventure Seeds

This follow up to this post first appeared in 2016. These aren't actual stories from comics (though some are close), but pastiches of the sort of thing that does show up.

1. A madman seeks a golden disk to bring life to colossal automaton, an ancient weapon of war, that lies half-buried in a remote desert.

2. A city under seige! Legend holds a magic gem will restore to life the mummy of the cities demigod founder. His body lies in a crypt in deep within the city's catacombs.

3. The jungle-choked ruins of an ancient city surround a vast, walled garden, an earthly paradise, inhabited by beautiful, golden-skinned youths. The brutish beast-folk that dwell in the ruins will let no stranger enter the garden, nor any of the garden's inhabitants leave.

4. An arboreal village of elfs is harassed by pale, giant bat riding goblins from a cave  high on a nearby mountainside, who raid the village for victims for their cook-pots.

5. A PC has a rare trait that fits a prophecy--a prophecy predicting the downfall of a tyrannical ruler, who means to ensure it does not come to pass.

6. A lake of lurid, swirling mists where time becomes strange. At it's center is an island with a castle where an immortal witch queen dwells with her eternally youthful handmaidens. No one comes to the witch's castle without being summoned.

7. A playing piece from the game of the gods falls to earth, perhaps accidentally or at the whim of a capricious godling. This touches off a race to acquire the piece with the rat-men minions of one sorceror contesting with the shadow demons of a cambion child--and the PCs caught in the middle.

Broken Compass What If?

CMON, the current owners of Broken Compass, have been slowly releasing the books in the second Broken Compass Kickstarter in pdf to drivethru. (When and if there will ever be a physical book reprint is unclear. There have been conflicting reports.) The latest of these is What If? It's a book of 14 "mini settings" adding to the pulp, pirates, and Verne style Voyages extraordinaires setting books already available. I've been anxious to get my hands on this book for some time as I knew it had rules adaptations for some genres I was interested in.

So, what's it got?

• Cosmic Horror for Lovecraftian stuff. It's got new rules for Madness. This one is a bit of an odd fit for BC as it's a game of cinematic action heroes, but they make a few suggestions to up the lethality.
• Space Opera is particularly geared toward a Star Warsian setting, giving rules for Energy (the Force) and succumbing to Darkness--and also for beam weapons that haven't appeared in any setting before.
• Gods and Men for Hercules and Xena style adventures. It would also work for things like the Clash of the Titans remake, and probably the Harryhausen Greek myth films or even Sword & Sandals movies. It has rules for Mythological Adventurers (demigods, exiled gods and the like).
• Good Boys, an animal adventures (typically pets) setting. It includes Animal Tags (which could be some use in creating nonhuman alien tags for a Space Opera game, now that I think about it)
• Fantasy Quest for D&Dish fantasy. It has the rudimentary magic system and rules for fantasy races. I'd choose it over D&D to play something like the Dungeons & Dragons movie! :D
• High School for stuff "kids on bikes" fare or stuff like The Faculty or a number of CW shows.
• Last on Earth, a post-apocalyptic setting. It has "Danger Clock" rules for impending doom.
• Black Light is a classic cyberpunk setting. It has rules for Grafts (cyberware).
• Toon City is for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Cool World type games, though you could probably ditch that angle and just use the rules for a toons game. In addition to toon characters it also gives rules for "stuffed" characters, so you come do Muppet movies, too.
• Urban Legends does X-Files or Warehouse 13 sort of stuff. It could probably also be used to set up a GvsE thing, too. There are rules for playing Supernatural entities.
• Leaving Wonderland has a narrower premise, I think, than the others. It's about trying to escape a weird, fantastical world like Alice in Wonderland or Labyrinth. There are rules for creating a random Wonderland.
• High Noon is an Old West setting. It's got Quick-draw Duel rules.

There are also guidelines for hacking the Broken Compass system, and a couple of adventure set ups.

While not all of these settings are things I see myself playing, all of them give rules that I could see myself kitbashing to make up other stuff. As such, this is a really useful book for BC fans. One caveat: in order for these settings to stay "mini" they reference material presented in the other, full setting books. If this is the only BC expansion you buy, you aren't going to be able to use it's contents to the fullest.

Sword & Sandals Mystara

The Known World of Mystara is a Hyborian Age-esque fantasyland of often thinly disguised real world cultures from a variety of historical eras, but the general vibe seems Medieval to early modern. I think it would be interesting reimagine Mystara as a more ancient world inspired, Sword & Sorcery setting, though will not greater adherence to a single era. Here's how it could breakdown:

Emirate of Ylaruam: This desert region has always been oddly placed, but depending on what latitude you think it's at, it might be weird for it to be a hot desert. Maybe it's a cold desert like the Tarim Basin or the Taklamakan. You could ditch the faux Arab culture for something more Central Asian, and give it's central religion a more Eastern flavor.

Empire of Thyatis: Less Byzantium and more Rome, though I would probably move it more in a Hellenistic direction. What the Empire of Alexander might have been like if it had been able to hang together better after his death.

Grand Duchy of Karameikos: This would stll be a breakaway, former province (though not a "Grand Duchy"). There wouldn't be true, Medieval feudalism here, but something more like the Roman latifundia.

Kingdom of Ierendi: This kingdom ruled by adventurers is kind of a pure fantasy trope, but I would give its material culture a Minoan spin.

Minrothad Guilds: A plutocratic thalassocracy more like Phoenicia or Carthage. The Guilds would be collegia.

Principality of Glantri: Well, still a magocracy, but maybe more like the Estruscans?

Republic of Darokin: Keep the plutocratic republic, but cast it less as Venice and more as Republican Rome with a of the "center of caravan routes" feel like Samarkand or Palmyra. A bit of Persian influence wouldn't be misplaced as Darokin does border Sind, which is sort of Mystara's India.

The Northern Reaches would probably still just be sort of Vikings, I guess, maybe more proto-Vikings like the horned helmet wearing raiders of the Nordic Bronze Age. Ethengar might be more Scythians than Mongols. Haven't given much thought to the demihuman lands or Atraughin. 

Wednesday Comcs: DC, July 1982 (week 1)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of April 8, 1982. 

Arak Son of Thunder #11: Thomas and Colon/Acala continue Arak's encounters with creatures from Greek myth. Khiron leads Arak to the top of Mount Olympus where Arak's face has been carved in the mountainside! Khiron offers to train Arak like he did Heracles. That's got to wait, thought, because they've got to fight a harpy. Then, they encounter the satyr, Satyricus who lured Valda away from Arak in the night. The satyr tells them that soldiers led by Brutius have captured Valda. They raid the soldier's camp, but Valda has already been taken elsewhere, and Khiron gets shot by an archer.

The Viking Prince back-up comes to its conclusion with Prince Jon and his companions reaching the fortress of Krogg the Red. Jon fights his way to the tower where Krogg is holding his sister at swordpoint. Rather, than risk his sister's life, Jon surrenders. To save her brother, Ailsa throws herself out the tower window. Jon throws his sword and kills Krogg. His quest at an end but not in the way he had hoped, Jon sets out to wander the world with his companions.

DC Comics Presents #47: Kupperberg and Swan/DeCarlo bring us a crossover with the Masters of the Universe franchise. This would be when is only a toy line (and possibly one not even on the shelves yet. I'm not sure of the dates.), before the Filmation cartoon. Superman is brought to Eternia to help He-Man and Battle Cat fight off Skeletor and Beastman, who are attempting to take over Castle Grayskull. This is the first appearance of the Prince Adam secret identity, though he's more of a playboy here, more Don Diego de la Vega than Clark Kent. Also, Swan does not draw particularly compelling muscle-bound fantasy warriors.

Fury of Firestorm #2: Conway and Broderick/Rodriquez complete the Black Bison story, and really there's not much to it. After Firestorm lost his trail last issue, Black Bison is loose on the streets of New York, and rides his white stallion to the uptown townhouse of senator Walter Reilly. In the name of avenging his people's stolen sacred heritage, he kidnaps Reilly's daughter Lorraine, and brings her to Central Park to hold her hostage.

Firestorm flies to the rescue, but Black Bison animates the Alice in Wonderland statues to attack him. Luckily for our hero, John Ravenhair's girlfriend Vanessa arrives at the park. She tries to reach the John still with Black Bison. While Bison is distracted by Vanessa, Firestorm snatches the cult talisman off his chest. With the influence of the talisman gone, Black Bison turns back into John Ravenhair. The smitten senator's daughter tries to get a date with Firestorm.

Justice League #204: Conway and Heck/Tanghal continue the attack by Royal Flush Gang. Superman is defeated by the Queen of Spades at a circus; Green Arrow is attacked aboard the JLA satellite by the Ten, while Elongated Man and Black Canary trace a clue to their antagonists to Megaform Industries in California and its president, Derek Reston. We get several lines to the effect of "wow, California's so different!" I wonder what Conway was doing with that? Anyway, Wild Card is revealed as Hector Hammond.

Weird War Tales #113: Kanigher and Carillo have J.A.K.E.-2 dropped to soldiers in the field, and just in time too, because the Japanese have deployed a samurai robot! As the cover completely gives away, J.A.K.E. uses his head to dispatch his foe. 

The next story by Snyder and Cullins purports to describe how a soldier shooting at birds led to the start of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. The final story by Pasko and Silvestri/Mahlstedt has aliens giving the human inhabitants of a post-apocalyptic Ice Age technology, but the humans chaff under what they perceive as unfair restrictions. The aliens just don't want the humans to repeat the mistakes of the past, but the human won't listen. As their resentment explodes in a rebellion against their patrons, we discover the slaughtered aliens were actually the descendants of humans who escaped Earth and went to the stars, returned to help their brothers.

Wonder Woman #293: Levitz/Thomas and Colan (abetted by a cadre of inkers) brings the Adjudicator saga to a close. The women Teen Titans and Wonder Woman take on the final horseman, Death. They are on the verge of defeat, but when Adjudicator sees the people of Earth trying to defend their heroes, he recalls his horseman. At the same time, Wonder Girl, Starfire, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, Black Canary, the Huntress, Power Girl and Phantom Lady vanish from their respective Earths as they are transported to Adjudicator's ship. He still plans to destroy the Earths, but he's going to keep them as specimens. There they discover the truth: the Adjudicator is no cosmic judge of worlds. He was merely given unimportant worlds to play with by his alien Overseers to keep him out of trouble. Just as he is about to blast them all into oblivion, when he is teleported away by his keepers. Zatana returns them all to their proper worlds and times.