Dread Knights and Dead Lovers

Our Land of Azurth game continued last night, but I haven't written about the previous session, so this covers both. The party only had one more shard of the mirror to collect. A mirror that would free the soul of Nocturose, but if that was for good or ill they didn't know for sure.

The last shard was on an altar amid standing stones on an island within a stinking bog. A poisonous, stinking bog. If all that wasn't bad enough, it had a guardian, a spirit naga. She wasn't much of a match for the whole party, though, but Shade was poisoned by inhaling too much swamp gas.

With all the shards in hand, they returned to the tower. The door was locked, and when Erekose tried to force it, he was blasted by intense cold. Luckily, he's resistant to the elements so it was a minor inconvenience. Within the crumbling tower, they saw a mirror in need of repair and an empty thrown. The ghostly Nocturose asked them to repair the mirror to free her so that she could be reunited with her love, the Dark Queen Morthalia.

The characters surprisingly quickly given a number of potential warning signs, agreed to give it a try. As they did, Nocturose revealed she had left one thing out: there were Dread Knights who guarded the mirror. The wraiths materialized out of shadow and were all "have at thee!"

The fight was on! It was two against five, but the party beyond Erekose had a hard time hitting them. Waylon went down and Erekose was close, but Dagmar's healing kept them in the fight, and she managed to blind one of the knights. Eventually, the party prevailed.

The party repaired the mirror, and Nocturose's spirit appeared within to thank them before fading away to return to her body. The party tried to make a pitch for her convincing Morthalia to join the fight against the Wizard, but it's unclear she got the message.

When they returned to report their success, they found a crowd including their old friend, Commodore Cog, the steam-powered ship captain. The reunion was spoiled when he revealed the monarchs leading the rebellion--Viola, Desira, and Bellona--had somehow been turned to stone.

This adventure was a modified version of Kobold Press' Shadows of the Dusk Queen.

Further Thoughts on Magic

Thinking about my Monday post further (and reading more examples of magic in McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire), I feel like the part that perhaps the most central element to number of these magic systems I like is that they demonstrate Frazer's concept of sympathetic magic.

Raderle can create a powerful illusion of large lake, by digging a fist-sized hole and pouring water into it. Arthur in The Revolutions can snap a chair leg by snapping the stem of a wine glass. These are both examples of similarity, or like producing like.

The other common employed aspect of sympathetic magic is contagion. It shows up quite a bit in The Revolutions, but I don't think I quoted an example. It's where an item that was once physically connected to someone or something else still has a magical connection to that thing. This is being able to cast a spell on someone because you have a lock of their hair or the like.

Similarity shows up some in D&D spell material components, but I think more of these are sort of jokey correspondences instead.  These things are fine and could even be flavorful for bigger spells or more complicated rituals, I think more spells that used a perhaps caster-specific but reasonable application of similarity and contagion. 

Wednesday Comics: DC, September 1984 (week 1)

My mission: to 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 June 7, 1984. 

Vigilante #10: Great cover this issue by Ross Andru. Feeling guilt and anger over the death of J.J., Adrian retreats from the people around him into grim avenger mode. After pushing Terry away, he begins to go after the mob, leaning on various members to get information on J.J.'s killer. Meanwhile, the Controller puts his plan into motion, first roping the mob leaders into his scheme then distracting the police with fake alarm signals.

Atari Force #9: Christopher teleports back home surprising Professor Venture who has a lot of questions. After the security forces barge in to apprehend him, he 'ports to the O'Rourke's residence. Both of these interactions provide a frame for Conway and García-López/Smith to recap everything that's happened in the series so far as well as the original Atari Force's first encounter with the Dark Destroyer. It all looks great and maybe this recap was needed for new readers, but it still feels like the story isn't really going anywhere fast.

Blackhawks #272: Evanier and Speigle again devote a bit of time to the Blackhawk's providing answers to "why do the German's do what they do?" which I guess could be an important line of inquiry, but none of the Blackhawks (or presumably Evanier) have anything enlightening to say. Thankfully, this stuff is short-lived, and we instead turn to the barmaid Helga (who Blackhawk met in issue 267) who has fallen for some propaganda and got herself trained and conditioned to be Domino II with a mission to kill Blackhawk. She fails, and Blackhawk manages to break her conditioning enough to take her into custody so that she hopefully can be rehabilitated. 

In the backup story with art by Ken Steacy, Hendrickson meets an enlisted airman whose job it is to paint pinup girls on the noses of planes at an airbase when tasked with a prisoner transport. Hendrickson thinks this is a frivolous custom and the painter should be fighting, but he changes his mind when the soldier's painting rescues the two of them from the escaped prisoner.

DC Comics Presents #73: Bates and Infantino/Hunt bring some continuity into this team-up, because the Flash's legal woes are very much on his mind and Superman's. The Flash is drawn into the other-dimensional world of Norkk, and Superman (after receiving Flash's distress call) follows. There he discovers that the Flash appears to have gone rogue, terrorizing the people and destroying their city. Things aren't as they appear, of course, and it's all the work of the Phantom Zone criminals exerting telepathic influence.  Our heroes working together are able to prevail.

Fury of Firestorm #27: Conway and Kayanan/Rodriquez finish up this Silver Deer and Black Bison storyline. Silver Deer plans to make Congress to pass a law granting Indian tribes their hereditary lands back, then make them commit suicide afterwards so they can't repeal it. We get her origin by way of explanation for this scheme. It involves an Indian Reservation in North Carolina featuring a log cabin on what looks like the plains, where wolverines are apparently common. Anyway, she saw her brother and father die due to the prejudice of Whites and now she wants revenge. There's this Congressional costume party in town that she crashes to enact her plan. Firestorm and Flamebird show up to defeat her, which ultimately, they do, freeing Black Bison from her control. Silver Dear appears to have died, but they don't find the body, suggesting Conway wanted to keep the option of her coming back (but she doesn't).

Justice League of America #230: Conway and Kupperberg/Marcos continue the War of the Worlds, and things are looking grim for Earth and its defenders. The JLA satellite has been ruptured, threatening the lives of the Leaguers on board, and Earth's leaders are deciding when to deploy nukes with a Martian armada surrounding their world. All isn't lost, though! The Hawks appear out of warp for an ambush and Martian Manhunter sneaks aboard the Martian command ship to challenge the Marshal to a one-on-on combat. J'onn ultimately wins but would have been felled by treachery if not for the timely intervention of Firestorm.

The letter column promises a two-parter by Busiek and Kupperberg that will explain where the League's heavy-hitters were during this arc, but also it teases a whole new Justice League in the upcoming annual.

Wonder Woman #319: We're back with the Mishkin and Heck/Maygar storyline. Sofia finally sits down and begins to spill what she knows about Steve Trevor to Diana--except it turns out that isn't the real Diana. The imposter goes on to steal nuclear codes and frame Diana for the crime, while the real Diana is fighting a robotic distraction as Wonder Woman. In the end, the villain is revealed to be Dr. Cyber, who we last saw almost 3 years ago in issue 287.

The Huntress backup by Cavalieri concludes but with artwork this time by Woch which just doesn't have the same pizzazz. Huntress defeats Nightingale in one-on-one combat and reveals the ninja to actually be a man, an actor named Seiji Kato. She also exposes Seraphin's artifact fraud: the samurai statue head all this was about is a forgery.

Magic Systems I Like: The Riddle-Master series

I wrote a post almost a year ago related to portrayals of magic in fiction I'd like to see magic in fantasy rpgs be more like. In reading Patricia McKillip's excellent Riddle-Master series, I've come across more examples that are perhaps even more adaptable to fantasy adventure rpgs than some of the ones I mentioned previously.

In McKillip's setting, there are wizards but they are hidden/in hiding at the beginning of the story. The examples I've given here reflect the things able to be done by talented individuals (explicitly not everyone is capable of learning them) but not by people who either have the highest aptitude or training.

She had left, in front of Rood's horse in the College stable, a small tangle of bright gold thread she had loosened from her cuff. Within the tangle, in her mind, she had placed her name and an image of Rood stepping on it, or his horse, and then riding without thought every curve and twist of thread through the streets of Caithnard until, reaching the end, he would blink free of the spell and find that neither the ship nor the tide had waited for him. 

- Heir of Sea and Fire

Raederle (the "she" above), is also able to use this same technique to trip someone immediately (like in a combat situation by throwing a tangle of thread or similar material in front of them. She also is noted to be able to make a thorn bush into (or perhaps seem to be) a difficult to traverse bramble and to find her way out of a magical forest that confounds visitors and gets them lost.

These abilities seem more like spells of the AD&D sort, though they are perhaps wider in application than many and certainly less flashy than most. Another commonly employed magical ability in the series is "the shout:"

...Rood caught his breath sharply and shouted.

Morgon dropped the crown. He put his face against his knees, his hands over his ears. The wine glass on the desk snapped; the flagon on a tiny table shattered, spilling wine onto the stones. The iron lock on a massive book sprang open; the chamber door slammed shut with a boom.

- The Riddle-Master of Hed

More magical powerful individuals can generate more powerful shouts, even to the point we are told of laying low armies in rare instances. We are told that individuals able to shout are only able to do so at times of intense emotion, so it isn't exactly an "at will" power. Still, fairly D&D spell-like.

It's interesting to me how, in broad strokes, the magic conforms to Isaac Bonewits concept in Authentic Thaumaturgy in that, at base, its most common presentation is psychic phenomena. Characters are able to communicate telepathically and invade the minds of others to read their thoughts or memories. There is also a psychic attack--the mental equivalent of the shout--that came overwhelm the mind of an unguarded person and stun them or knock them unconscious. I suppose this psychic magic is hardly uncommon in literary (at least older lit) and real world belief, but it's very different from the energy-wielding magic of many modern portrayals.

Shape-changing is also common in the series, though a number of practitioners only have one form they are able to assume. Danan of Isig, for instance, is only able to turn into a tree, but that's a usual talent for hiding or resting in overland travel. Others are able to assume multiple forms in a way that would give a lot of rpgs fits due to concerns of game imbalance.

Overall, though, I think D&D magic could be molded more in the direction of this series pretty easily. A lot of it would be in reconsideration of the special effects of spells really. Oh, and for you bard fans, there's a bit of harping magic in the series too.

Wednesday Comics: DC, August 1984 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on May 31, 1984.

Tales of the Legion #314: The indicia of this issue drops the "of Super-Heroes" despite what the cover says. We get two stories this issue, both written by Levitz/Giffen. The first, with art by Shoemaker/Kesel is the most interesting. At his trial, former Science Police officer Ontiir claims he isn't a traitor but actually deep undercover for the SP. He he says proves it, but no one can verify the claim. He escapes from the custody, despite some Legion members being on hand. Later, he is brought before the Dark Circle, who also question his allegiances. Apparently, they had him infiltrate the SP long ago, but he went silent. He claims to be a double agent, still working for them. Meanwhile, the new Invisible Kid tries to help the original one, who is in a depression watching vids of himself being killed by Validus on repeat.

The second story, with art by Tuska and Kesel, is the first part of the origin of the White Witch with a frame of Blok viewing her history tape to learn more about her. We learn that she was born on a planet of clairvoyants but without the gift. After the death of her mother, she travels to the Sorcerer's World.

World's Finest Comics #306: In this issue Kraft/Rozakis and Lightle/Janke introduced that great superhero partnership, Swordfish and Barracuda. Man, they are really trying to make new characters happen in this book. While Swordfish reveals their origin to Batman, Superman, and Null, Barracuda stays frozen and in the hands of the Russians all issue. Meanwhile, Void, still stuck in another dimension, forms a partnership with X'ult who wants Barracuda to make her his bride. 

With Superman busy saving lives of people X'ult attacked, Batman, Null and Swordfish sneak on to the Russian ship where Barracuda is held prisoner, but they are outmatched by X'ult. Before the villain can claim his prize, Superman shows up to challenge him.

Action Comics #558: The first story by Rozakis and Schaffenberger feels like a throwback to the sillier stuff of a few years ago. Well, I suppose it hasn't entirely gone away, but it's less common. Absent-minded Professor Potter invents a helmet he hopes may be able to harness Superman's heat-vision to help the world. Unfortunately, when Superman takes the helmet off, he can't shut off his heat-vision. He's got to thwart some criminals with his eyes closed, then use his other super-senses to rebuild the busted helmet under Potter's addled instruction. 

In the second story by Kupperberg and Howard/Jensen, Clark Kent is covering Hoax Night in the small town of Pepperwood, New Jersey. The celebration is complicated when a very real a druid is freed of his centuries-long imprisonment in a tree (how he got in a tree in New Jersey isn't explained) and fights Superman. In the end, Superman wins the today and passes the conflict off as another of the town's hoaxes.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #22:  Cara Sherman-Tereno takes over on pencils with Smith still on inks. After one last sea-based menaced (a lamprey-mouthed sea serpent) Arion and friends disembark at Lysarr, bidding Bloodmoor goodbye, except for Wyynde's brother who decides the pirate life is for him. They have to fight some local ruffians, but the biggest danger is Garn Danuuth who has been released from statue-dom by the greed of Bloodmoor's mate. Garn promises to deal with Arion, but first, Atlantis.

All-Star Squadron #36: Thomas and Buckler/Howell open with the JSA watching newsreel footage of a new superhuman taking out RAF planes over Britian in support of German bombing raids and knocking Shining Knight from his horse. The press dubs him "Super-Nazi" (which angers Superman) but recognize him as Captain Marvel. Our heroes see a comic book at a newsstand and recognize the costume of "Super-Nazi" in it. Hitler orders Hauptmann Wunder to kill Superman just as Superman is flying to Britain to confront this new villain with other heroes close behind. We also see that the Germans have Billy Batson captive. 

Hauptmann Wunder manages to get the best of Superman but chooses to retreat over fighting the entire group of heroes. They are forced to stop pursuing him at the boundaries of continental Europe, lest they fall prey to Thomas' plot contrivance Hitler's Spear of Destiny mind control field.  Later, they encounter two American youth, Mary Batson and Freddy Freeman, who transform into what the All-Star's take for the "Hitler Youth" versions of "Super-Nazi."

Detective Comics #541: Moench and Colan/Smith continue the story that manages to feel like an episode of the 60s TV played more seriously. Batman on the trail of the Penguin who appears to have stolen information about a secret defense project. He figures out Penguin has gone to Antarctica to sell the info to the Soviets. Pursuing him in the batjet, he catches Penguin slogsleding cross the wastes. Penguin shoots him down with an umbrella launched missile, so the chase proceeds on foot. By the time they reach the Russian outpost, Batman is nearly dead while Penguin is pretty much immune to cold. Batman busts up the deal though, only to find Penguin was tricking the Russians and never intended to sell Americans secrets--only to collect money for doing so. Penguin is captured, but the Russians help Batman to leave as a gesture of goodwill.  Back in Gotham, Batman learns that there was never any secret information and that the whole thing was staged by the government as disinformation.

In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and McManus/Trapani, Ollie is attacked in a case of mistaken identity by the Death Dealer, a card-wielding criminal after a "Wallace Hooper." After some investigation Ollie learns that Hooper is now Davy Chase, an all-night deejay but former con man, who testified against the mob and was put in the Witness Relocation Program. But Queen and Hooper are trapped in separate rooms by the Death Dealer, who sets those rooms on fire.

Jonah Hex #86: Jonah and Adrian go out on the town, but Jonah winds up whooping up on some gossips he overhears. Adrian's father does not approve of her dating such a man. Meanwhile, the Gray Ghost makes it back to his cabin and makes his son swear to carry on his mission. The son as the Gray Ghost ambushes Jonah on a rope bridge, dropping him into a river. Jonah manages to stay underwater long enough to escape the Ghost's vigilances. Changing plans, the Ghost kidnaps Adrian from her home and takes her to a slaughterhouse. He leaves a message for Jonah to lure him into a trap. Jonah takes the bait, but ultimately prevails. Still, the Ghost, though wounded, slips away when Jonah is untying Adrian.

While all this is happening, Emmylou is forced by the gang to take part in a robbery. Things go badly and Emmylou's mask is removed and a man is killed.

Sun Devils #2: Conway and Jurgens/Tanghal continue the story from last issue with Rik Sunn and his new friends being picked up by the Centaurians and, after an initial misunderstanding, offering to help that world fight the Sauroid menace. The short-sighted Centaurian bureaucracy rejects their offer, but when the Sauroid fleet makes a surprise attack, Rik and crew steal spacecraft to help out, anyway. They are joined by a Centauri fellow reject, a triad of clones with exuberant eyebrows and colorful makeup that make them look like they stepped off the set of Space: 1999. The groups skilled flying under Rik's leadership takes the Sauroids by surprise. They are aided mysterious and ghostly Myste, who assassinates the Sauroid commander on the flagship.

Super Powers #2: Kirby/Cavalieri and Gonzales/Marcos pick up where last issue left off. It seems like the Apokolips-enhanced villains have the upper hand, but the heroes use brains and teamwork to win the day--except in the case on the Joker where they prevail through the intervention of his therapist! Still, there are further threats ahead.

I head this issue as a kid. It was the first issue of Super Powers I read having missed the first. I wound up getting the rest of the series, though.

A Partial Gazetteer of the Planet Sagar

Sagar is the alien world that astronaut John Blackstar found on the other end of a black hole as revealed in the Filmation animated series Blackstar (1981). Here are a few of the fantastical locales he visited in the series:

CITY OF THE DESERT DWELLERS. A walled city beyond the Gorge of Winds where live an elfin people (perhaps related to the Desert Sprites) who possess the Healing Stone and guard it from the gargoyles who serve the Overlord. [ep 05]

DEMONLANDS. A barren region of jagged, coral-like formations and strange trees with boil-like growths where demons are particularly easy to summon. It is the location of a temple where the Overlord’s ally Taleena is high priestess and last worshipper. [ep 12]

MARAKAND. Floating city of the rapacious Shaldemar, the Zombie Master. The passing of Marakand leads to destruction of cities, but living beings are helplessly drawn up by its beams and Shaldemar uses his Sphere of Souls to transform his captives into soulless automatons, subject to his will. [ep 13]

TAMBORIYON. A lost city of the Ancient Ones, it lies on a jungle-choked island in the middle of a lake beyond the volcanic Flame Mountains. Tamboriyon's slender spires and domes bedecked with precious metals and jewels are now jungled-choked ruins, but the giant aumaton, Sumaro, who is the city's guardian, merely slumbers and may be reawakened by the unwise. [ep 02)

The BraveStarr Bible

 Poking around the Internet Archive yesterday, I discovered the series bible to BraveStarr, the 1987 Space Western from Filmation. The most interesting part to was the illustration. They aren't credited, but some of them have a bit of Moebius vibe.

Others strike a gritty tone that the series and remind me of illustration in pulp magazines.

Even ignoring the text, I feel like there's rpg inspiration to be found in these pages.