The Spider God in the Other Hemisphere

Our Land of Azurth 5e campaign continued last weekend with the party exploring the left hemisphere of a level of the mind of Gob. Strange encounters were once again the theme of their explorations.

They ran into some snooty mermen who they nevertheless were able to convince to trade one of the pieces of the armor suit the party is seeking for an ever-full jug of waters. Then, they rescued one of the bird-like guardians of the level and a particular sagacious giant slug from torture by a group of sadistic Phanfasms.

Lastly, they came up a run with a hanging, diabolic looking, giant spider statue with a gleaming rod of some sort clutched in its fangs. They debated what to do, but before consensus was reached Waylon, the frogling thief just snatched it. The spider instantly started moving and attack. And it was fearsome.

Without the healing of Dagmar the Cleric, it's likely the whole party would have died, and in fact, Erekose was briefly hovering on deaths door. In the end though, their numbers wore the spider down. For their troubles, they won (ironically) a Rod of Resurrection.

Wednesday Comics: DC, August 1983 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on the newsstand on May 26, 1983.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #10: Moench and Duursema/Mandrake continue the story from last issue with Arion ensorcelled by Icestarr, the very 80s ice sorceress. He goes with her home "at the top of the world," but they are followed by Chian. Arion hears Icestarr's tragic backstory about being tricked into becoming the jailer for a frost giant, but how that job has given her immortality via a gem. Unfortunately, the gem draws energy from the sun and weakens it, causing the world's impending Ice Age.

Chian discovers Arion's just playing Icestarr. He and Chian confront the ice queen and convince her to give up her immortality allow the sun to be restored. In her doing so, the frost giant is released, and Arion's own magic is diminished in defeating it. Still, with the curse broken the ice which threatened Atlantis is pushed back. Not a bad story, but it feels like an easy resolution of what seemed like a major conceit of the series.

World's Finest Comics #294: This one is by Kellogg and Moore/Giacola. What's interesting about it is that it directly deals with the events of Batman and the Outsiders #1 (which means it must take place after BatO #1-3 and a couple of other things). Both heroes are regretting the breach in their friendship, but Batman is still too angry (or too stubborn) to let it go--he's even using Alfred to dodge Superman's calls! It's a nice bit of continuity though to see this team-up book just not being a bubble where events elsewhere don't matter.

The story involves a cult centered around Tonatiuh, an alien trapped on Earth for centuries whose spent his time masquerading as an Aztec sun god. He and is followers tend to dress in ridiculous pan-Native American stereotyped style of a level of flamboyance that would have let them fit in with the 70s rock band Redbone70s rock band Redbone. Well, Tonatiuh is probably more flamboyant with his fringed jacket, one finger mittens, and helmet like a tv set. Anyway, he captures Superman with the intent of draining his power. Batman intervenes (though not after pitching a fit when the media pans him for his first failed attempted to stop the villain in Metropolis) and Tonatiuh chooses to blow himself up.

Action Comics #546: Wolfman and Kane conclude their new Brainiac arc, and it's an action-filled finale. Superman recruits the Justice League and the Teen Titans to help him take on his new old foe. It's taking all of their power to fight his forces to a standstill, but Superman gets the idea to use a sunspot to disrupt Brainiac's computer systems. Since there isn't one suitable, Superman lures Brianiac closer to the sun and creates one himself. Brainiac doesn't see it coming; He's defeated, but he gets away.

One thing I enjoyed about this one was how "in continuity" it is, at least for the Titans. We open on Kid Flash talking to his mentor about whether to stay in the Titans or finish college, and we get Wonder Girl telling Wonder Woman about her engagement. Also, Terra's thoughts hint at her duplicitous nature. It seems like you wouldn't really get these sorts of small details today.

All-Star Squadron #24: Thomas and Ordway/Machlan are 3 issues into their Ultra-Humanite arc, and it feels a bit padded. The Ultra Humanite has his "sub-men" capture Dr. Chuck Grayson, who transplanted a human brain into Robotman's body, in hopes of having him transfer Ultra's brain into Robotman's form. This gets Batman and Robin involved as Robin had been visiting his "cousin several times removed" Chuck at the time. Ultra then almost the carrier Normandie to demonstrate his power, but Green Lantern manages to at least keep it from sinking. Tarantula gets a new costume then meets an angry guy who claims to be from 1983 and says he has come back in time to warn the All-Stars. He calls himself Brainwave, Jr.

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #18: This is another "solo adventures" issue with several writers and artists. Thomas writes the prologue and epilogue with art by Hoberg and Trapani and also a Rubberduck story with Houston inks and a ice cream themed gorilla villain. Cuti and Goldberg/Houston do an Alley Kat-Abra story where she fights a gnu genie. Engel and Chan pit Fastback against a solar-powered bear.  Letter column promises the next issue will be a full-length story with the return of Frogzilla, but the last issue for Scott Shaw. It also explains that Shaw "abruptly" deciding he "could not handle a regular monthly title," suggesting without specifically saying so that this issue and the previous one are perhaps a result of that.

Detective Comics #529: Moench and Colon/Giordano introduce a new villain in the form of an all-black clad burglar called the Thief of Night who is stealing high end items for a mysterious, unseen woman he's in love with, and managing to thwart Batman with his agility and his ability to head in shadows.

Meanwhile, Lucius Fox gets word from the board of Wayne Enterprises, that one of their employees, a Ms. N. Knight, has suffered an accident with a laser while working at the Observatory and her medical bills for dermatology treatment of her completely depigmented skin are very high. Fox considers the situation and realizes that Wayne Enterprises might have to give the lady additional compensations. I don't think you have to have read this issue before (though I have) to get suspicious Ms. Knight and the Thief of Night might somehow be related concerns.

Also, Jason pals around with a clown form his old circus and decides to go back to that life.

In the backup by Cavalieri and Cullins/Giacola, Green Arrow Rick helps free Ollie and the rest of the people Ozone glued to the floor and reveals that the man who is after Ozone is his father, a former bioweapons scientist with mental health issues. He warns GA about the botulin toxin cannister. Arrow manages to track down Ozone. Lucky for both of them, the botulin is inactivated by the heat of a nearby furnace, and Ozone is captured.

Green Arrow #4: Barr and von Eeden/Giordano bring the limited to a conclusion. Arrow, Black Canary, and the CIA agent "Jones" head to get the formula from Abby's ship, but they find it has already been commandeered by a flamboyant pirate called Captain Lash, because he swings a mean whip. Our heroes prevail and Lash gives up to mastermind. Green Arrow goes to confront Gerrold Sinclair only to find him near death from a gunshot and the real mastermind--Ollie's old flame Cindy--waiting to kill him and pin her husband's murder on him. She plans to shoot before he can loose an arrow, but Gerrold's last act is to shoot her. Ollie leaves that mess for the cops. Later, he hands over the reins of the company (and Abby's fortune) to the lawyer, Stein, after drinking one last toast in Abby's honor.

The fight with Cap'n Lash here seems an odd Bronze Age flourish to pad the page count, but otherwise this is a satisfying conclusion to an underrated series.  

Jonah Hex #75: Nice Ross Andru cover. We pick up where last issue left off with Hex in an uneasy alliance with Railroad Bill Clinton, the man he was hired to bring in until Graphus, and a heavy handed Pinkerston, got indiscriminate with his shooting. They escape an ambush by the Pinkertons, but some of Bill's gang and some relatives are killed. Hex and Bill part ways because Bill knows Hex isn't going to give up and it's only a matter of time before they are at odds again. The very next scene, Hex is spoiling a train robbery the gang is trying to commit. Bill becomes convinced he has to kill the bounty hunter and sneaks up on his camp at night. Before he can kill Hex, Graphus shows up. Bill shoots Graphus first, and warning Hex who then gets Bill when the bandit won't surrender.

Omega Men #5: From a plot perspective, this is an interesting turn for the series. Primus who has been the leader throughout their other appearances and the voice of reason against the hot-headed and presumably reckless Tigorr is sidelined with injuries following the fight last issue, so Tigorr is in charge now. Things go a lot better than one would expect from that setup. Tigorr's aggressive daring flummoxes the Citadelians. His successes rally those opposed to Citadel rule on numerous worlds. Hundreds of rebels stand up to follow Tigorr's lead. Back on Slagg, Primus and Doc are still convinced it can't last, and perhaps they are right, but it certainly argues that a bit more of Tigorr's approach, tempered by Primus maybe, would certainly have done a lot of good.

Lobo and his weird sidekick appear again briefly, but they take off before we can get a Lobo/Tigorr fight.

New Adventures of Superboy #44: Another cool cover by Kane. Kupperberg and Schaffenberger/Giella aren't as done with Dyna-Mind/Johnny Webber as last issue made it seem. With directions given him by Webber, Superboy is flying around to remote locations trying to recover the loot Dyna-Mind hid. The villain whipped up some powerful guardians including the simulacra (presumably) of Neptune seen on the cover. But Webber's tricking Superboy into thinking he was mentally effected by the red kryptonite. Superboy battling the guardians is just storing up energy that will deliver the loot to Webber. Superboy realizes the setup is suspicious, however, and springs his own trap. Webber's continued criminal nature is revealed and the stolen property recovered.

In the Dial H backup by Bridwell/Rozakis and Bender/Giella, Chris and Vicki have to overcome dialing up the not particularly powerful identities Fuzzball (a Pac-Man ripoff) and Raggedy Doll (pretty much a rag doll) to overcome the minions of the mysterious Master and rescue Nick Stevens. Luckily, one of those minions is Power Pirate who copies their lackluster powers, making him easy to defeat. Nick discovers their secret identities, too.

Setting Ideas I'll Probably Never Run, but Still Think About

I've posted a lot of setting riffs on this blog over the years and others on various social media platforms. Most of these are just ideas. All of them I think would be cool, but some definitely speak to me as something I would want to run more than others.

Here are a few that I have definitely considered running but for various reasons have never got around to and honestly, probably never will.

Talislanta: Planet of Adventure: Using Talislanta's world as a Planetary Romance setting for the players would be crashed space travelers.

Wuxia-fied Fantasy: Not in way of the old OA, more creating a secondary world with a number of wuxia traits. For added fun (or madness!), I'd like to use a fairly heavily modified version of MERPs Middle-Earth as the setting.

Solar Wars: Star Wars set in our Solar System, either pulpy or more hard sci-fi. Actually, it's a toss up between which I'd want to run more: Solar Wars or Solar Trek.

Cold War Planescape: A bit like a combination of Planescape, White Wolf's Mage, and some John Le Carre novel, with an appropriate dosage of William S. Burroughs.

Spelljammer by way of Flash Gordon: Spelljammer that feels a bit more like early sci-fi or Sword & Planet fiction.

Fantasy Anime You Should Watch

I've been watching some fantasy anime of late, revisiting the classic Record of Lodoss War I hadn't seen since the 00s, but also checking out some new stuff. Here are some recommendations:

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (Crunchyroll)

Frieren starts with a basically D&Dish world, but tells the sort of story most epic fantasy media doesn't really deal with: what happens after? The title character is a nigh immortal elven mage who realizes that she didn't know as much about her party members (the leader, Himmel the Hero, in particular) as she would like only after one of them passes on. She agrees to take on a child adopted by another one of her aging comrades as an apprentice and together they set out on a journey to retrace the steps of her original party's journey into the demon-haunted North to find the place where the dead can speak to the living. Along the way she picks up a warrior who is the protege of her old dwarf comrade and they meet other allies and get in adventures big and small on their journey. 

It's a nice combination of slice of life travelogue, magical duels, and character drama, with both humor and poignancy.

Delicious in Dungeon (Netflix)

Everybody knows about this one, I think, but it deserves the hype. A group of adventurers has a deadly encounter with a red dragon, and a few of the survivors plan to go back and save their cleric before she is digested to have her raised. They have no time to buy supplies, so they resort to eating monsters in the dungeon with the help of dungeon-dwelling dwarven chef. 

It's pretty funny, but despite the setup, it has surprisingly deep setting "lore" that is slowly revealed and helps it from being a single joke show.

Ranking of Kings (Crunchyroll)

This is the least D&Dish of the three. I've seen it described as "fairy tale Game of Thrones" which is probably a pretty reasonable descriptor, so far as it goes. In a world where the gods were defeated, a committee of some sort ranks the power of the mortal world's monarchs. The king that is awarded the number one ranking is entitled to a boon from the Divine Treasure Vault, a fabled trove brimming with riches and magical artifacts. Bojji, the main character, is the first born of one of these kings, the giant, Bosse. But Bojji is diminutive, deaf, mute, and weak. When the throne is given to his younger brother due to duplicity and a lack of faith in Bojji, the boy sets out to find a way to become stronger.

The fairy-tale type beginning and the cartoon art style which recalls Shotaro Ishinomori and Osamu Tezuka belie the hidden agendas and moral shades of gray of the story, as well as the level of world-building. The 1st season doesn't end as well as it begins (with some dragging out of the final fight to multiple episodes as you sometimes see in anime, and some abrupt story developments) but I'm still interested in the world and characters and want to see more.

Wednesday Comics: DC, August 1983 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around May 19, 1983.

Batman and the Outsiders #1: Barr and Aparo introduce a new team in an action-packed debut. When Lucius Fox is captured by freedom fighters in the nation of Markovia, Batman seeks the aid of the Justice League to rescue him, but Superman has already promised world leaders the League would stay out of that diplomatic tangle, and the others back him, so Batman resigns. There isn't, however, a scene like the one on the cover in the story.

In Markovia, the king dies leaving his sons Gregor and Brion in charge of the country. Batman and Black Lightning have infiltrated the war-torn land and soon (improbably) encounter other supers: Metamorpho who has come seeking Dr. Jace and a cure for his condition Katana, who's out for revenge, and an amnesiac young woman Batman nicknames Halo. Brion is given powers by Dr. Jace, and becomes Geo-Force, but he's betrayed by his soldiers and shot in cold blood. All the other heroes except Halo are captured. Batman wakes up in a dungeon to find that he and the other heroes and Fox are the captives of Baron Bedlam.

House of Mystery #319: Another intriguing Kaluta cover, depicting Bennett from "I...Vampire." Mishkin and Sutton bring that strip to a close with this issue, leaving G.I. Combat as the only anthology book with a regular lead feature, and perhaps suggesting that this whole title isn't long for this world--which turns out to be correct. Bennett is helpless, trapped in a decaying body because he rashly took the Russian formula, and Mary Queen of Blood seems to have triumphed. She drains Deborah of blood and plans to keep Bennett around long enough to watch the woman rise as her vampiric thrall. Bennett longs for death but can do nothing but watch. Deborah does rise, but she proves too strong for Mary to command. She defeats the Vampire Queen and drags her into the sunlight. It seems Deborah took the serum as well and her freshly dead body rather than one with centuries-decayed organs, it works as intended. She sits with Bennett, professing her love, as he too crumbles to dust as the sun rises.

The second story by Mishkin and Ordway sees an underhanded Hollywood agent get his comeuppance when he orders a sandwich named for a form client of his he drove to his death and then dies from rat poison, courtesy of his ghostly chef.

Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #10: Kupperberg and Infantino/Oksner pick up where last issue left off with Supergirl is still seriously ill thanks to the radiation she absorbed from Reactron. On top of that, she has made an enemy in the vigilante-hating police Lieutenant Peters after her battle with Reactron. Oh, and she's got a date that she refuses to cancel despite the fact she's sick. After her date ends early, she tangles with Matrix-Prime again and is taken captive. She's turned over to Professor Drake, one of the Council members, who has developed a cloning process. He immerses Supergirl in a bath of chemicals that causes foot tall clones of Supergirl to form, all of them under his command. Unfortunately, as the mad scientist informs Supergirl, she will not survive the cloning process.

Green Lantern #167: Cavalieri and Tuska/McLaughlin continue the story from last issue. Hal manages to rally after his defeat by Gallius Zed wielding one of the power rings supposedly without the weakness to yellow. Hal is able to turn the tables in the rematch noting ironically that Zed's greatest fear (not being strong enough to wield the ring) seemed to manifest. As Hal tracks down Eddore to the planet Tront and defeats him too, a pattern emerges: Eddore's greatest fear becomes manifest and sews the seeds of his loss. Hal recalls how this all started with a group of striped outfit loving space pirates called the Free Lancers who had clued Kaylark on to the existence of these rings. Hal heads to Kaylark's planet, D'xe, where she has crowned herself Empress Surrenda.

In the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Klein and Gibbons equoid Lantern Brin returns home to his family and retirement from the Corps. He relates that his failure to repulse an invasion by the Spider Guild (their first appearance) is what led the Guardians to let him go. But the Guardians honor him by selecting a replacement from his own household. Both his sons hope it will be them, but instead the Guardians select Brin's family's robotic nanny, Teacher.

Sgt. Rock #379: The main story by Kanigher and Redondo is certainly a departure from the usual. It involves a new private so ambitious he's willing to murder superiors to create the context for his promotion. He makes the mistakes of gunning for Rock and loses his life instead. 

The second story by Harris and Lindsey is less good with a French father moved to spare a Nazi officer who had previously threatened to kill his daughter if he didn't give up a hidden U.S. paratrooper due to the revelation that this Nazi had a daughter too.

Warlord #72:   I reviewed this first, non-Grell penned issue main story here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, Jinal and friends infiltrate the Mulge guardian to get back their captured friends, encountering dangerous plants and fungi, and breaking up a creepy Mulge ritual to cause fungi to grow threw the bodies of sacrificed humans. This is probably the most interesting installment of this series so far.

Legion of Super-Heroes #302: I didn't comment on it last issue, but Levitz and Giffen are now credited as co-plotters. Lightning Lord shows up at Legion HQ, ostensibly out to find his sister, Light Lass, and puts a beating on a number of Legionnaires. Eventually, Lightning Lad steps in to fight his brother, and he and Saturn Girl decisively defeat him. Meanwhile, Ontiir of the Science Police lures Supergirl, Brainiac 5, and several other Legionnaires into trap on Webber's World, where they are blasted unconscious by the Emerald Empress's Eye. Meanwhile, Element Lad and Erin Schvaughn head to Imsk to investigate...well, something.

This is a good issue, but it bugs me a little bit with a conceit common to team books wherein a villain that usual fights the heroes with a team (in this case, Lightning Lord) is powerful enough to be a threat to the whole team of heroes, until that one hero shows up to best them one-on-one. 

Night Force #13: Katina and her son Gowon (who we learn is also Baron Winters' son) agree to help him save Vanessa after he tells them Vanessa is his daughter. His later comments to Merlin suggest this was a lie to get their help. Katina uses her very real inner demons to banish the ghosts, saving Vanessa and Jack. Those two leave the series never to return. Meanwhile, the vengeful ghosts burn Jack Carter with psychic energy in retaliation. Winters is ready to admit defeat and give up his position (whatever than is), but Katina forces him to accompany her through a portal to some mystic ziggurat where they are to journey into memory through some pool. Winters sees them as young mystic students of some sort whose romance was forbidden, so they were separated. Seeing them together again, the forces that wished them separated now declare that they are willing to kill them to do it.

The letter column announces that the next issue will be the last of the series but promises Night Force will return as a series of 4 issue limited series. The first half of that is right, but the limited series won't come to be. It will be 13 years before there is a Night Force volume 2.

Clerics and Druids

A little bit more about a couple of types of spellcasters in the Elden Urd setting Elden Urd setting I have been working on.

Clerics wield the power of the gods, the form of magic brought forth by Aion Demiurgos when he created the Cosmos. How clerics came to possess this power is one of several mysteries contemplated and debated by theologians of their faith. As instruments of the church, they preform rituals, mediate with the spirits, cast out demons, return ghosts and undead to rest, tend the sick and wounded, and always strive to make human kin virtuous of admission to the Higher Heavens where the gods reside.

The also tend to wear distinct headgear as part of their vestments.

Druids are the priests of the titans who remained neutral in the War and did not forsaken the world: primarily Earth Mother and the tripartite Moon. They are also the prophets of the great spirits to human kin. 

Druidic cults mostly found in the wild places and rural hinterlands. Their association with the titans of old put them at odds with the Church of the clerics and their tendency to resist modernizing authorities has made them enemies of the Draconic Empire.

Roaming the Mind of Gob

After a hiatus we returned to the Land of Azurth last Tuesday and picked up where we left off in an adaptation of the Role-Aids adventure Swordthrust. The party was roaming the labyrinth inside the mind (or at least brain) of the giant, crystalline gnome, Gob. They were trying to collect all the pieces of a magical suit of armor.

This time, they avoided some fights with some Rat folk cultists, a dining troll, and a kobold Necromancer:

This, and their previous expressions of solidarity with some goblin revolutionaries made their job of exploring the dungeon easier because it allowed them to backtrack through controlled territory. This was particularly useful then they wanted to move from one "hemisphere" of Gob's brain to the other. 

They didn't negotiate their way around everything, though. They had to kill an irate cockatrice and 3 disagreeable harpies:

Like these guys but more birdy

No armor pieces discovered this session, so the quest continues!