A More Realistic Middle Earth

Listening to the History of the Germans podcast in episodes about the struggle for power between the Papacy and the Hofenstaufen Holy Roman Emperors, when reading a bit of a MERP supplement started me thinking about righting a post about a grittier, more realistic Middle Earth. Then I discovered I already sort of had written a post like that, back in 2020...

If we take The Silmarillion as Elvish mythology (which it is) promoting a slanted point of view, then most of the doings in Middle Earth are a proxy conflict between two super-powers: Sauron and his minions and the Valar and the Elves. We needn't assume either side is particularly good, In fact, we know the Valar unleashed a devastating weapon of mass destruction against their former allies in Numenor just for getting too cozy with Sauron.

In the modern era, Sauron's forces have been engaged in a protracted occupation of  Eriador. Through the action of the Mordor proxy Angmar, the Western kingdoms of Man were shattered, much of the population fled south, but fanatical bands, the Rangers, structured around the heir to throne of Arnor and Gondor, and supported by the Elves, continued to fight an insurgency against Mordor's Orcish forces and her allies.

Sauron has been a distant and not terribly effective leader for some time. He has been unable to consolidate Angmar's victory over Arnor (a victory that saw Angmar destroyed in the process) and unable to wipe out the remaining Elvish enclaves and human insurgents.

You get the idea. Shorn of much of its epic fantasy trappings, Middle Earth becomes a grittier place, where Men, Orcs, and local Elves, are all dealing with the aftermath of a terrible war wrought by super-powers that they perhaps only have the smallest of stakes in but yet are forced to take most of the risk.

Seems like an interesting place to adventure. It's certainly place where you can get a more interesting mix of adventurers and adventures, perhaps.

Wednesday Comics: DC, February 1984 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics released on the week of Novenber 10, 1983. 

New Teen Titans #39: Acting on information provided by Bethany Snow, the Teen Titans invade an Alaskan base of Brother Blood's cult and find proof he's got members of Congress and other political figures in his pocket. Terra secretly reports the Titans' activities (complete with video from a contact lens camera) to the Terminator and then engages in a very serious training exercise where he's really impressed with her power.  At the next Titans meeting, Kid Flash formally announces that he is leaving the team to focus on college. After goodbyes are said, Robin drops the bombshell (unless you've read Batman #368) that he's giving up his costumed identity too—not because he is retiring, but because he intends to take on a new one to step out of Batman's shadow. He just doesn't know what that will be yet, so he proposes Donna as field leader until he figures it out. With Terra there when all this is happening, the Terminator now knows Robin's and Kid Flash's identities.

Batman #368:  Moench and Newton/Alcala pick up where last month's issue of Detective left off with Bruce and Jason discussing codenames for him. Dick shows up and solves the problem, but announcing his retirement as Robin, bequeathing the identity to Jason. Weirdly, Jason abandons his updated version of the Robin outfit with long pants, for the shorts and elf-shoes look. Later, Batman and Robin go out on their first patrol and discover that Crazy Quilt is out and must be looking for revenge against Robin. Trying to protect his new sidekick, Batman leaves Robin behind to investigate some multi-colored lights. It's a ruse, though, and once Robin is alone, he's attacked by Crazy Quilt, who can't tell this is a new Robin. When Batman realizes he has been tricked, he returns to Robin, only to find him lying motionless, and he assumes the Boy Wonder has been killed.

Arak Son of Thunder #30: Randall's cover seems to be an homage to Conan the Barbarian #100. The Thomases and Randall/Forton pick up where last issue left off. Arak, having lost his will and become a priest of Artemis, is about to kill his friend Satyricus. Suddenly, a literal bolt of lightning out of the blue strikes the grove containing the Temple of Artemis and restores Arak's mind. Maximus, the wizard who intends to use the satyr blood to grant himself immortality sends his soldiers to attack. While Arak fights them, the sorcerer heads for the golden bough because once he touches it with the axe wet with satyr blood, he'll become immortal.

The Amazons try to stop him, but he overcomes them with magic, transforming them into their lioness forms and sending them to kill Arak. Arak is forced to kill all but Dyanna who was too strong to be controlled. She moves to thwart Maximus, jumping onto the golden bough and breaking it--and its magic. Arak then beheads the raging wizard. Dyanna disappears into the forest, the last survivor of her people.

In the Valda backup by the Thomases and Randall/Yeates, Valda is forced to make a deal with Baledor where she most wear the cursed suit of (ahistorical) armor which will control her mind. However, that gives Malagigi and opening, and he causes a rogue wave to destroy Baledor's castle. Still, he is imprisoned, and Valda remains in thrall leading us to the point where they entered Arak's saga.

Flash #330: Cavalieri joins Bates on scripting. After visiting Fiona in rather over-the-top psychiatric hospital (she's in 4-point restraints in a padded room) and teaching a lesson to a crooked employee planning to sell her story to the tabloids for money, the Flash agrees to look into the disappearance of the kid, Angelo Torres, for the police department. Grodd lures the Flash into another dimension, where the amplified mind-power of Angelo Torres and the the powers Grodd has given the Vultures gang members lead to the Flash's super-speed being slowly siphoned away so he's vulnerable. Infantino's stylization of the environment of the alternate dimension is the most interesting part of the issue.

G.I. Combat #262: The Mercenaries again get the cover. The story by Kanigher/Vicatan, continues and this trip to Cambodia is easily the most fantastic adventure we've seen yet. A room full of cobras is mundane compared to the river monster and yeti that turn out before this thing is done. As we most Mercenaries yarns, they wind up doing good (mostly) and also wind up not getting paid what they thought.

The first Haunted Tank story has the brass deciding to add a fifth crewman to the tank, and they choose Sgt. Craig's son. Craig tries to ride him hard to get him to request a transfer, but the kid sticks with it and wins his place after the two of them help a trapped Maquis leader escape the Nazis. In the second story, Rick is haunted by death of a young man he shot in a hunting accident before the war. The past becomes present, when he finds the older brother of that man also in the vicinity and stalking him for revenge. The two have to team up to escape a shack surrounded by Germans, but the other man still promises vengeance.

In the last story by Kasdan/Cruz an ammo truck driver with a lifelong fear of explosives wins a pyrrhic victory over fear when he gives his life ramming his truck into a German tank.

Nathaniel Dusk #1: MacGregor and Colan present a straightforward detective story. The art is interesting, because it looks as if it wasn't inked, but just colored from Colan's tight pencils. Anyway, it's January 31, 1934. P. I. Nathaniel Dusk has been working a divorce case, and as he heads to his office from a newsstand, two thugs (Gugenheim and Pichano) are watching him from a car. After delivering news of her husband's adultery to his client, Mrs. Grant Morrison (!), he goes out for drinks with his girlfriend Joyce and the thugs follow. Gugenheim goes into the bar, but Dusk had apparently already spotted the tail and confronts him. They fight, but Gugenheim's ferocity surprises Dusk, and the thug gets aways. After spending the rest of the evening with Joyce at her place, Dusk returns to his office to find the thugs waiting. Gugenheim calls "Blondie" telling him to "go to work." The thugs then take Dusk at gunpoint to the top of a building and after all scuffle, knock him over the edge.

Omega Men #11: Slifer and Smith/DeCarlo have Primus and the others bring Harpis to Raggashoon where she used to be employed as a sex worker so her form boss, Mama Madame, can use psychodrama to cure her nervous breakdown. Surprisingly, that seems to work. Before then though, we get to see the origins of Harpis and Demona, and to some degree the Omega Men as a team. Harpis' and Demona's backstory what with forced physical transformation via Blackfire's experimentation, and sexual assault by her troops is pretty dark, but she gets a happy ending (sort of) by being reunited with her lost love who didn't die but just became a cyborg.

Star Trek #1: Barr and Sutton/Villagran bring the maroon uniform era of the Star Trek films to comics. This is the third American comics series for Star Trek, following Gold Key's and Marvel's. It comes between Star Trek II (1982) and III (June 1984). Klingon cruisers surprise and destroy USS Gallant in the Neutral Zone, leading to the death of all the crew, including Captain Bearclaw and Science Officer Bryce.

Kirk (again in command of Enterprise) and his old crew (minus the deceased Spock) are sent to the Neutral Zone. The ship also carries new crew members including Ensigns Bearclaw and Bryce, each of whom blames the other's father for their father's death. At the Neutral Zone, after an engagement with the Klingons, they discover how the cruisers are able to appear and disappear--the Klingon's have found a way to stabilize a wormhole. And at the other end is a Klingon space station.

There's also a subplot with a Klingon Ensign, Konom, who seems uncomfortable with his people's actions and surreptitiously helps Enterprise. All in all, it's a very Trekian story, compared to what we've seen in comics before.

Superman #392: Bates/Maggin and Swan/Hunt bring this storyline to a weird conclusion. Not because Srakka's (the ameboid parasite controlling Vartox) plot to use Lana to draw Superman into a fight where he can become Srakka's new host fails, but because Vartox's spirit? essence? in the body of Lana's stalker is part of saving the day, and Lana declares both Vartox and stalker guy her heroes. She's going to get the stalker guy a job at the TV station! Now, I misinterpreted his actions last issue, so looking back he isn't as malevolent figure as I thought. But he's still a guy she pushed off a balcony (accidentally) and he kept coming! And he's a guy with a Lana manikin in a room in his apartment he talks to as if she's real! Doesn't seem wise to be encouraging him, I don't think.

Over the Garden Wall returns

 In case you missed it, last week was the 10th anniversary of Over the Garden Wall. They released this stop-motion short that was pretty cool:

Early Modern Magic

I read some interesting stuff this week on magical belief in the early modern era. Specifically, magic used for protection from weapons, surely a common interest of soldiers of the era and D&D adventures alike.

A Historical Fencer's Primer on Late Medieval and Early Modern Magic

From the German Wikipedia, the concept of "Gefrorner" which meant to be invulnerable to harm.

And finally, a scholarly article: "Invincible blades and invulnerable bodies: weapons magic in early-modern Germany" from the European Review of History.

Wednesday Comics: DC, February 1983 (week 1)

My ongoing mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics that were at newsstands on the week of November 3, 1983. 

Atari Force #2: After how good the first episode was, I suppose it's natural the second might be a bit of a letdown. We're still "getting the band together," so we check in on Pakrat and Babe who pretty much repeat their story beats from last issue. Tempest faces prejudice from his (former) girlfriend and her father due to his mutant powers. Morphea has a chat with Martin Champion, who we find out is viewed as a bit of a kook because he believes there's an evil force behind the strife and conflict in this part of the galaxy (spoiler: he's right). The real spotlight here is on Dart, though. She and Blackjack have taken up with the rebels after their former employer burned them, but she winds up having to go one-on-one against Warbeast, a creature sent by the Dark Destroyer. 

DC Comics Presents #66: Wein and Kubert bring in Etrigan the Demon for his last appearance before Moore gets ahold of him in Swamp Thing. And there's an interesting thing: Etrigan rhymes here. I had always thought that was a Moore invention, as it wasn't an original attribute of the character, but no, Wein does it first. Anyway, Prof. Lang unveils an ancient, wooden statue of a Druid at an event, but it turns out that it isn't a statue but the actual evil druid, Blackbriar Thorn, who was turned to wood for his crimes. He comes to life thanks to astrological conditions, and Superman and the Demon must do battle against his sorcery. He's defeated through cleverness as Superman lifts the group he is standing on, severing his connection with his elemental powerbase, and throws him into space.

Kubert is an unusual choice for the Demon or Superman, but he draws a great wooden druid. What this issue most makes me think about is the real lack of rigorous formula for inclusion in the Who's Who, at least around the edges, as Blackbriar Thorn (1 appearance) gets an entry while Black Eagle (strip headliner with 6 appearances!) did not. I suspect the fact that Wein was editor of Who's Who had something to do with it. 

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld #10: Dark Opal is seeking fragments of various houses gems so he can usurp their magical power. He doesn't have them all yet but next on his list is amethyst. There is an amethyst gem fragment in his domain thanks to Granch, but Opal hasn't found it yet and Amethyst and friends want to retrieve it. Topaz goes to convince his sister to join the rebellion while Amethyst and Princess Emerald face Carnelian.

Blackhawk #267: The death of Blackhawk's doppelganger provides ad opportunity. He hatches a plan (with Churchill's blessing) to let the world believe he has died, then infiltrate Germany pretending to be the doppelganger, Agent Schoener, and kill Hitler. Beyond that, a lot of the issue is given over to exploring the Blackhawks' attitudes toward Germans. They tell us several times that the German people are fundamentally different from other nations, and that Hitler has them utterly in thrall. Blackhawk's assumptions are challenged when he meets and falls for a waitress in a German restaurant. She happens to be a "Helga," having the same first name as Domino. All of this is fine but poorly integrated thematically, I feel like, with the main story, involving Blackhawk's failed assassination attempt and swift escape. Still, I appreciate the depth Evanier and Spiegle are trying to give the title.

Fury of Firestorm #20: Conway and Kayanan/Rodriquez are mostly doing setup this issue. Firehawk (Lorraine Reilly) and Firestorm start their relationship, much to the discomfort of Martin. On the plus side for him, he gets his job back, though maybe it isn't so much of a plus since it's due to the machinations of whatever shady entity his ex-wife is working with. Then, Killer Frost escapes prison, kills a few people and comes for Stein. 

Justice League of America #223: Months back, I said Conway's work on the JLA was underappreciated, and I stand by that, but this arc has been a counter-argument. Conway and Patton/Tanghal bring the Beast Men storyline to an end, and I'm not sorry to see it go. Given the number of heavy-hitters on the JLA, it stretches credulity that Maximus Rex and his cronies get the better of them at every turn, yet they do. Somehow Dr. Lovecraft is aware of Superman's power loss under a red sun and exploits it. Somehow, he knows Firestorm will get a power drain if he tries to use his power against organic material, and he exploits that, too. While the League takes out some of the Beast Men, it is Reena that does battle with Rex, and in the end, it's their continuing mutation into pure animal forms that dooms them, not the League's actions.

Wonder Woman #311: Mishkin and Heck continue the gremlin storyline, and we learn some of the history of the alien species. It turns out the bigger aliens from last issue are really just replicas used by the gremlins to throw off suspicion. Anyway, they agree to return Wonder Woman's invisible jet, but Wonder Woman and Trevor manage to make off with the robot plane too before the gremlins' ship returns to the stars. Meanwhile, Circe gets ahold of Major Griggs.

In the Cavalieri and Speigle Huntress backup, Nedra Borrower and Terry Marsh have stirred up public animosity toward the Huntress. It's so bad that the cliffhanger ending sees the Huntress in the grip of an angry mob. We also learn that Marsh is in the employ of Earthworm, and his moves against the Huntress are to get her out of the way to help Earthworm's baby-selling ring.

Vigilante #3: Wolfman and Pollard/Marcos figure having a guest star from the popular New Teen Titans can't hurt. Vigilante is chasing Cyborg and an organized crime figure, Stryker, through a forest with the intent to kill Stryker who was only found guilty of a firearm possession charge due to a "technicality." Cyborg is trying to get the guy to prison alive. There is a lot of back and worth about Vigilante's philosophy and he (multiple times) justifies killing the guy, but when he gets the change, he can't do it. When Stryker kills somebody and takes a hostage, Vigilante kills him. Vigilante's ideas about exactly what the parameters of his mission are seem to be evolving; he certainly is willing to kill, if necessary, but he isn't an executioner. We also get an indication that some shadowy organization trained him, which was something I had wondered about. Chase also mentions that "somehow" he got years of training in months, which lampshades why he's suddenly so formidable, but I wonder if that's ever really addressed?

Kiss of Blood (part 1)

 We had our first session of They Came From Beyond the Grave! last night adapting the Call of Cthulhu adventure, Kiss of Blood.

The cast:

• Tony Kovac - San Francisco cop whose vacation in the Old Country is anything but relaxing. (Jason).
• Jess Barrow - Half of the occult folk-rock duo, Fata Morgana, gifted with second sight. (Andrea)
• Dean Starkey - The other half of Fata Morgana. A guy used to gettin by on his wits.

The three Americans arrived in Karloczig, Wystdovja Vale, (in Slovenia, on the Adriatic) for different reasons. Kovac was going to get a vacation and help local cops out on a case as a favor for a friend. Dean and Jess had been booked to play the local festival around Walpurgis Night. None of them imagined they'd wind up working together to find a missing girl. Well, the players did, the characters, not so much.

While Kovac discovered Inspektor Hochmair wasn't exactly overjoyed to have his help. Jess and Dean met Gustav Homan, the father of the missing girl, Matilda. They also heard that there were a lot of disappearances around the village of Karloczig, but the local Burgomeister doesn't take them seriously. There are legends about the castle Heidenstein up on the hill. It's cursed, it's said.

That night at the festival, Jess sees an eerie, mysterious woman, perhaps watching her, but the woman disappears before she can point her out to Dean.

After a night of attempting to out-drink Hochmair, Kovac is awakened early by a knock on his hotel room door. There's been a body found. Hochmair takes him to the office of the coroner (and doctor) von Kluge. The woman is young and brunette, but she isn't Matilda, but someone from out of town. She has been mutilated, as if by some animal, her throat ravaged and her body partially exsanguinated.

They Came From Beyond the Grave!

This weekend, in the spirit of Halloween, I plan to run a one shot (well, probably two shot before it's over with) of the Onyx Path game They Came From Beyond the Grave! It's part of their series of They Came From games, each made to sort of emulate some cinematic genre from 50s to monster movies, to Italian Sword and Sandals pictures, to (in this case) 60-70s horror films of the Hammer, Amicus, or AIP variety.

All these games use the Storypath system which is basically a descendant of the old White Wolf d10 dice pool system, but lighter and with some mildly narrative mechanics, like Rewrites which players can use to change the results of bad rolls or get a bit of narrative control. One of the things Rewrites can be spent on (though this is an optional rule) are Cinematic Powers which imbue the game world with the elements of the low budget films it's emulating. For instance, there's Dangerous Liaison wherein a player can pay for an awkwardly inserted scene (utterly free of danger!) to romance an NPC.

Players have other, less game-reality bending extras to employ like Tropes, Trademarks, and Quips that lend bonuses in specific situations. In fact, if I have any criticism, it's that the system is perhaps a little overstuffed with options for an otherwise "at the light end of rules medium" game.

Anyway, I plan to run to run Cthulhu Dreadfuls Presents #1 - Kiss of Blood, which is a very Hammer Horror flavored scenario. It seems easy enough to adapt.