Trapped In a Gray Town

I haven't posted about it in a while, but our campaign in Nimble continues.  

Since that last post, the party tracked the faerie kidnappers to the place where they had their ramshackle warmachine. The party defeated it (with fire, naturally) but then was confronted by the buff goblin leader who dressed like a masked wrestler, Grimbor the Battle-Brawler. He was willing to trade words instead of blows and told them that he had sold the faerie on.

They head back up the road to pick up the trail. When they travel into an area where the color appears leeched out of everything, they meet a halfling youth beside the road who is supposed to summon passing adventurers (if any) for help.

The go to the town of Baron Hill and spend the night in the less-than-quaint Dead Crow Inn. Still trying to pick up the faerie's trail, they here about a Necromancer (supposedly deceased), and go to have words with his last henchman who is now a hermit on the edge of town.

That guy, Grygor Dilvesh, lives in a cave by the river. A cave, as the party discovers, that he has filled with booby traps. Grygor isn't there, but Frea twice gets acid gas in the face trying to disarm a trap, and she and g'Mbalisto have a close escape form a spike-filled pit. Pan investigates the creepy scarecrow of a child, which turns out to be part of a fire trap.

They do get a bit of treasure out of it, but don't find a faerie or a Necromancer and the town is still gray.

Leaving, they awkwardly run into Grygor, the caves' owner.

This adventure is an adaptation of one written for 4e. I'm a bit unsure of the Nimble approach to traps in regard to mechanics, but I was able to wing it well enough.

Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1986 (week 1)

My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of October 3, 1985. 

Crisis on Infinite Earths #10: It turns out Brainiac is not so dead as Psimon thought. As the Titan foe prepares to kill a startled Luthor, Brainiac blasts away Psimon's brain-in-a-glass from behind. On various Earths, the tide begins to turn against their villain army, though, as the heroes start fighting back sometimes brutally. The Spectre appears, though, and puts an end to this conflict. He tells both sides that the Anti-Monitor still lives and is at the dawn of time preparing to wipe out the matter universes entirely. The Spectre and the toughest heroes of all the Earths (including Superboy of the now-destroyed Earth-Prime) journey back in time thanks to the running powers of Kid Flash and Jay Garrick to battle him directly, while the villains are tasked with traveling in time to the past of Oa and stopping Krona from opening up a conduit. The villains fail, and the heroes can't seem to hurt the Anti-Monitor, but the Spectre, channeling the power several of Earth's mystic masters, closes the conduit and engages the Anti-Monitor in combat. An explosion is unleashes and it looks as if everything might have been destroyed!

Running in every page of this issue, we have Harbinger's narration of the Monitor's records, which is sort of a proto-History of the DC Universe. Here we get some updates on places beyond Earth and other eras. We find out Starman (Prince Gavyn) and Immortal Man were both Crisis casualties. 

DC Comics Presents #89: ARozakis/Klein and Saviuk/Villagrain have Tigorr, Harpis, and the Changralynian bard, Oho-Besh, of the Omega Men vacationing on the planet Kuraq, only to discover a city of stone in replicate of Metropolis on Earth is being built there by a being who appears to be a brain-addled Superman. It turns out it isn't Superman, but a deep-cut creature from a 1954 comic, who sacrifices himself to save the Omega Men, acting like Superman, at least. Superman only shows up at the end to give some exposition.

Fury of Firestorm #43: Conway and Kayanan/Machlan have Typhoon awaken from the coma he's been in since last time he fought Firestorm, then confront his ex-wife and abduct his children, apparently with the intention of heading to Pittsburgh for a confrontation with Firestorm. Meanwhile, Ronnie tries out form college football since he thinks he's too short to play college basketball and makes the team. Also, Smoak's lawsuit against Firestorm moves forward.

Hex #5: Texeira/Garzon is back on art as we pick up where last issue left off. Hex and Stiletta manage get the better of the Conglomerate goons and steal their flier. Meanwhile, Borsten is still making trips to the past to try to try to harvest technological secrets to give him the upper hand over the Conglomerate, but the process is taking its toll on his health. While he's recovering from his latest trip, a bit of industrial espionage by a Conglomerate agents inform them that Hex is loose in 21st Century. Given Hex's anti-Conglomerate actions, the group wrongly assumes he's working for Borsten. They send an armored hitman with a chainsaw weapon named Chain Gowan after him.

Gowan catches up with Hex soon enough, and his armor and weapons make him impossible to shake, until their fight takes them to an old junkyard where Stiletta shows Hex how to use the giant magnet and compactor to take care of the assassin. Unfortunately, the two find themselves surrounded by a gang. 

Justice League of America #246: Conway and McDonnell/Wray take the JLA out of Detroit, as old man Heywood evicts them. It makes sense in a story context, but I feel like it happened because the Detroit location just wasn't being a source of stories (or at least not stories that provided what JLA readers were looking for) in the way Conway had hoped when he put them there to begin with. The team winds up in New York City and we follow various members as they look for work or places to live. J'onn tries for a job on the police force but seems to land himself a PI job. Steel becomes a personal trainer but perhaps has a shot at the movies. Zatanna returns to her apartment she was subletting to a friend. The friend's absence seems a bit ominous. We'll see if they pays off later. 

MASK #2: My brother or I had this issue when we were kids. Chen's art remains pleasing, while Fleisher's script is, well, up to the task of a kid's cartoon tie in. Following last issue, Matt Trakker and friends are still looking for Scott and T-Bob who have been kidnapped with only some Egyptian symbols left behind as a clue. When some Egyptologists have disappeared exploring a newly discovered tomb, Trakker goes to investigate. Soon, they are battling mummies and jackal headed Anubis who shave magical powers and are trying to get ahold of antiquities. Of course, it's Mayhem and the VENOM guys in disguise. There's an all-out battle at the pyramids with new vehicles called in and the powers of the masks employed in all their toyetic glory. I would say VENOM's plan makes no sense and is overly elaborate, but that's beside the point.

In passing, we see a TV broadcast about how nuclear weapons are obsolete thanks to the new orbital missile defense system.

Outsiders #3: Gorbachev's American comic portrayal, like a think the view of him in the American consciousness, is positive, but in '85 when he had just come to power, we get stories like this where he is just the "leader of the enemy power." The shadowy Bad Samaritan offers to help Gorbachev with his country's economic woes, and Gorbachev accepts. In disguise, the Bad Samaritan steals the printing plates for Markovian money, which the U.S. has helpfully been handling for Markovia. The Force of July is on the case for the U.S. government, but Brion feels like the Outsiders should be too, which of course, leads to the two groups fighting each other, allowing the Bad Samaritan to escape. 

In between these events, Black Lightning visits his ex, Lynn, who is involved with the recent F.A.M.I.N.E. record for humanitarian relief when she gets a visit from Edward Bentama, head of the EurAfrican Nations Council. The import of this subplot, I'm sure will become clear.

We also get the finale of the Looker solo outing by Barr and Lightle. Looker easily defeats the Untouchable gang once she figures out other intangible objects can touch them.

Vigilante #25: Kupperberg and Smith/Maygar have the Vigilante going after cops who are revealed to have tortured an innocent man to get him to confess. From the moment the event hints the news, Chase is angry about the cops' behavior, but the Vigilante is essentially supportive of them until he finds out the victim was innocent. Then he hunts the cops down and kills them, though appears to be severely wounded himself. Meanwhile, Marcia's psychiatrist has figured out Chase was the Vigilante. Trinidad Santiago is still in hiding, but both the Electrocutioner and the Vigilante are still after him.

Wednesday Comics: DC, December 1985 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on September 26, 1985.

Action Comics #574: In the first story, Boldman and Schaffenberger/Hunt present one of those Silver Age style stories, but this one has more of a bite than is typical for that genre. Rad Zonon, a native of the world of Ostok in the same star system as Krypton comes to Earth to get Superman to compete against him in a reenactment of the Olympic-style games the Kryptonians and Ostokians used to compete in. Ultimately, Zonon is the victor, but Jimmy, having noticed Superman act strangely around the Ostokian, thinks something is fishy, and figures out there's a surge of energy in the last contest that could mean Zonon cheated. Superman reveals that Ostok is a dead world, devastated by radiation from the destruction of Krypton. Only Zonon survived of his people because he was traveling to Krypton to compete at the time. To be in shape to compete with Superman, the much older Ostokian was forced to fortify his body with energy, but in doing so, he killed himself. Superman knew what Zonon was doing, but also knew what victory meant to him. The last panel is Zonon, dead beneath his victory flag on his dead world.

The second story by Greenberger/Kesel and Bender/Hunt brings back Mr. Mxyzptlk. The imp comes to Earth to celebrate the birth of his son. Not only does he force the festivities, but he keeps making the day repeat. Jimmy tries to trick him into saying his name but fails. Clark reminds him that if tomorrow never comes, his son will never get any older. Realizing his mistake, Mxyzptlk agrees to say his name backwards to go home, but he can't make himself say it voluntarily, so Superman has to "trick" him.

Detective Comics #557: Moench and Colan/Smith follow-up up on the events of last issue. The Crisis related storms continue while Batman waits fretfully at the hospital the injured Catwoman now convinced that he loves her after all. When she awakens, she contradicts him, supporting Nocturna's theory. Bullock fills Gordon in that they are after Night Slayer, not Nocturna or Catwoman. Night Slayer moves in to kill Nocturna at the observatory, first confronting Robin who has appointed himself her guard.

In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and Moore/Patterson, Lars captures Onyx and nearly gets Green Arrow. He takes the key to the container holding the Book of Ages from her, then leaves her in a deathtrap on the monastery's bell. Green Arrow shows up to rescue her. They go after Lars, but he opens the container before they can stop him. In A Raiders of the Ark-esque turn, he's reduced to a skeleton by the energy from within in.

 

All-Star Squadron #52: Another Crisis crossover. It turns out Captain Marvel rushing at the All-Stars angrily at the end of last issue was a red herring. He was actually aiming for the shadow demons behind them. The group is on Earth-S, but they don't know how they got there. Green Lantern's ring is running out of juice, so he and Captain Marvel go to China to find the twin of the meteor that got carved into the lantern on Earth-Two to recharge it. Meanwhile, Liberty Belle has a dream about Firebrand in the Old West with a black Green Lantern, which is something that is (unbeknownst to her) actually going on. Or did go on. Time travel! 

Captain Marvel introduces the All-Stars to Shazam who is able to send them home via the Rock of Eternity, though presumably for continuity reasons, Cap isn't able to see the Rock yet.

The second story is a solo Hawkman with art by Dellinges, imitating and adapting a Golden Age yarn (All-Star Comics #13) drawn by Kubert. Hawkman gets a Planetary Romance sort of adventure on Saturn 

DC Challenge #2: Wein and Patton take over this issue. First, they briefly recap where Evanier/Colan left things, then move into their own story. Batman stops the bomb from going off at Wayne Manor by cutting lines at the power plant with a batarang, but the mysterious pointed-eared, red man disappears. He does leave a numerical clue, though. Meanwhile, Superman discovers it was Mongul who walloped him on the moon and manages to defeat the villain. Elsewhere, Congo Bill and Bwana Beast have to deal with escaped zoo animals and a manticore released by an earthquake who battles the jinn we saw in the first issue. Jonah Hex takes a blue stone tablet from some robbers and is transported to 1985. He winds up being forced into a car by some crime film lookalike thugs where the red-skinned, pointed ear guy is driving. While Hex scuffles with the thugs, the driver disappears, leaving the car careening toward danger.

Nathaniel Dusk II #3: MacGregor and Colan have Dusk escape getting perforated by a tommy gun by jumping from the top of a moving bus onto the face of a street clock. Dusk finds an employee of Amanda's stepfather has a gun that matches the description of the one first used to shoot at Clement, and recalls the assailant was wearing a Malone uniform. Valentine Cooper supposedly confronts the man, and the man winds up shot in the struggle. Later, Dusk figures out that within the fake apple on his cart, Clement has hidden a clue to where the documents in his possession are. It turns out to be a locker at the train station. Dusk retrieves the folder but has another close escape from the tommy gun wielding gangster. It turns out Clement had photos of Amanda's stepfather meeting with gangster Arthur Rothberg. Nothing criminal, but embarrassing and a potential blow to his reputation. Malone denies hiring the gangsters, but that's when the tommy gun guy shows up and says Rothberg sent them. Dusk manages to escape again.

V #11: Bates and Infantino/DeZuniga get the resistance leaders back to California where they leave L.A. for a base at an old ranch in the desert. Unfortunately, there's a traitor among them, and the Visitors under Diana know their whereabouts and are planning an assault. Around the same time, a young Visitor Prince is inbound to get some military experience. Factional conflict among the Visitors leads to his suspended animation pod crashing in the desert where the Resistance finds it. They treat the young Prince well (knowing it would cause an escalation to harm him) and save his life when Lydia foolishly okays an attack on the Resistance base with the Prince there. Willie is captured in the raid, but the others escape. The Prince is outwardly grateful, but his true intentions are unclear.

World's Finest #322: This issue is a fill-in by Zimmerman and Giffen/Kesel. Superman is seriously injured by some sort of ray gun in the hands of the Mob. As the condition could eventually kill him, Batman comes to Metropolis to track down the source. Meanwhile, a woman named Helena arrives in town to try and find her sister, Astrid, who got involved with the mob and has perhaps been killed. Batman meets Helena and decides to help her find her sister.

Helena stumbles upon where the mobsters are using the ray to attack Superman, while elsewhere, Batman encounters Astrid. She tells him the mob's plan but asks him not to reveal to Helena she is still alive. Helena and Batman, working in toward the same end, if not together, foil the mob's scheme and save Superman. Batman, with some reservation, fulfills his end of the bargain with Astrid and tells Helena that her sister is dead.

De Camp's Pusadian Cycle

 

Lately, I've been furthering my exploration of L. Sprague de Camp's fantasy work, with the Novarian stories, but I've also dipped into some of his earlier Pusadian series. It has sort of a similar relationship to the Howard's Hyborian Age stories that de Camp's Krishna novels have to Burroughsian Sword & Planet. That is, it's an attempt to do the same thing more "realistically" or at least in a concerted and methodological sort of way. For instance, de Camp uses current (to the 1950s) understanding of geologic change to inform his design of his landforms, and more rigorously derives his imagined countries and their names from Greek myth (mostly).

Whether any of that is necessary, every reader will have to decide for themselves, but I appreciate the thought behind it, at least. As I've said before, I find de Camp a very Gygaxian writer, though this is perhaps less true of the Pusadian series than the Novarian one. Still, the humor, and the pragmatic, if not venal characters are there. I also appreciate the less "standard fantasy" sort of setting. It's mostly a Bronze Age level of technology, with iron being the bane of magic.

I discovered that a number of the older Pusadian stories published in the pulps are available on the Internet Archive:

"The Eye of Tandyla" (1951)

"The Owl and the Ape" (1951)

"The Stronger Spell" (1953)

"The Hungry Hercynian" (1953)

"Ka the Appalling" (1958)

Let's Do the GRIDSHOCK Again!

Paul Vermeren's game of futuristic, super-powered resistance fighters on the run is back in a new edition! The standalone game GRIDSHOCK ZERO, powered appropriately enough by Free League's Year Zero Engine is being crowdfunded now on Gamefound.

I've talked about my appreciation for GRIDSHOCK before. Paul has a familiar-but-fresh vision not really like anything else out there and he's assembled artists for this version (Simon Roy, Giannis Milonogiannis, and the returning Steven de Waele) to really give a great visual style.

I may even get a chance to pitch some adventure scenarios for it, so back it and stay tuned!

Wednesday Comics: DC, December 1985 (week 3)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on September 19, 1985.

Warlord #100: Warlord hits 100 issues and Grell provides the cover. I reviewed it here.

Batman and the Outsiders #27: Barr and Davis have Halo getting a new, short, and very 80s haircut. Meanwhile, Sapphire and Rex are on their honeymoon, and Rex is kidnapped by men who appear to pull his soul or consciousness into a palm-sized sphere. Katana's co-worker Emily Briggs pays her a visit at the Wayne Foundation, but as she's leaving, she's kidnapped by thugs. Batman and the Outsiders think the gangster, Morgan Jones, is responsible, but it turns out not to be the case. The thugs that kidnapped Emily were mind-controlled. Elsewhere, Emily's strange captor with glowing eyes tells her she will be queen of the world.

Blue Devil #19: Mishkin/Cohn and Kupperberg/Maygar give this issue prominently featuring Kid Devil a retro feel with several short stories alternating protagonists between Kid Devil and Blue Devil. The Blue Devil ones call him "Kid Devil's Pal." The joke wears thin pretty quickly, unfortunately. There's a segment with the Trickster manipulating both Captain Cold and Kid Devil in an attempt to one-up his Roguish rival. My favorite is probably the one where Kid Devil and his pen pal Robin realize they both fought the same bicoastal villain who relies on public air travel to get back and forth. The Blue Devil sequences deal with him bouncing around some alternate realities before getting home.

Green Lantern #194: This is another Crisis crossover by Englehart and Staton. Guy is transported to Oa and as he meets with the Guardians, we get his backstory as well as Krona's history. Hal had followed part way, but then he was deposited on Oa, not in the Guardians' sanctum. He heads off to the Guardians' citadel, finding that since Oa itself has absorbed energy he is able to fly, but there are also monsters released by loss of the Power Battery's energy.

Meanwhile, Katma Tui is fighting natural disasters on Earth, but her ring suddenly shuts off. John Stewart is in the 19th Century fighting Shadow Demons with Cyborg, Jonah Hex, Bat Lash and Scalphunter, and his ring shuts off, as well.

Infinity, Inc. #20: The Thomases and McFarlane/Montano/DeZuniga formally introduce the two new heroes they've been telegraphing were on the way for the past few issues, and they both have pretty bad costumes. After the wedding of Green Lantern and the Harlequin, Harbinger appears to take the JSA and Infinity, Inc. to the Monitor's satellite. Rick Tyler, left behind, has already decided to become the new Hourman. He heads to South Carolina (hitchhiking) to check on Beth Chapel, who lost her sight in the daytime but now, like Dr. Mid-Nite, can see in the dark. After she and the new Hourman are attacked by the Anti-Monitor's shadow-demons, she decides to her adopt her own superhero identity, designs a costume and becomes "Dr. Midnight." The Chapel family home is hit by a cannonball, so Dr. Midnight and Hourman are immediately thrown into action.

New Teen Titans #15: Arella tracks Raven to a Louisiana leper colony that has been holding her captive, but both are abducted and the lepers killed by Mother Mayhem and the Church of Blood. 

Meanwhile, the Titans in space arrive at Tamarran, and discover what Captain Karras hasn't been telling them: the royal family expects Kory to wed to end the civil war, and the person she must wed is the heir of Kalapatt, Karras. Apparently, none of them know that Blackfire is on Tamarran fomenting unrest.

Sgt. Rock #407: Two stories this issue with three shorter, humor pieces. In the main story, Kanigher and Catan have Easy get a new kid (a shiny "new penny"), but after the first engagement the kid is shellshocked into near catatonia. The lieutenant (who never sees the kid's face. This is important!) demands Rock take the kid to the MPs and wants him court martialed for cowardice. On the way to find MPs in a warzone, the new penny finds his courage and saves Rock by firing an artillery piece at the cost of his own life. When the lieutenant arrives, he finds not only that he was wrong about the kid, but the kid is his own son, just 16, who lied about his age to enlist.

The second story involves pie laced with rat poison being fed to German soldiers, saving two captured G.I.s. The interesting thing here is that it was written, drawn, and colored by Scott Madsen, and so far as I can tell, it's his only comics credit anywhere.

Saga of Swamp Thing #43: Hippie naturalist and sometime drug dealer Chester, happens to pick up one of the tubers that dropped from the Swamp Thing. Examining it, he cuts it into 3 parts. One eventually goes to a woman dying of cancer, who experiences psychedelic visions of her oneness with the Earth and cycles of life, and dies free of pain and at peace. Another is stolen by a bully and dealer who has a bad trip wherein he relives the horrific events of the Swamp Thing's life before he's hit by a car. Chester, hearing these stories, decides the plant must reveal a person's true morality. He considers taking the last bit himself, but them decides against it.

Who's Who #9: We are in "G-H" now. Newer characters Gypsy and Halo show up, courtesy of Patton and Aparo. Harbinger is here by Perez, but her first appearance is wrong. She doesn't even appear in in New Teen Titans (1980) #21. We get the Hawks of two Earths with Hawkgirl (Earth-Two) being drawn by Steve Rude. McFarlane provides the art for Infinity, Inc. antagonists, Helix. With the debut of Hourman II this month, both Rex and Rick Tyler appear here, with art by Murphy Anderson and Denys Cowan, respectively. The newly married Harlequin is here by Nodell/Giordano. There's also the Haunted Tank by regular penciler Sam Glanzman.

Weird Revisited: In Deep Crimson Shadows

This past week, I had a brief vacation in Michigan and picked up a book on Colonial-era French folklore. It had a chapter on Nain Rouge, which reminded me of this Weird Adventures related post from 2011.

Check out the great art above from Chris Hűth for Weird Adventures. This is, of course, the Red Dwarf--the malign genius loci of Motorton in the Steel League.

Since the days when the site of Motorton was a plague-pit for Old Fort Narrows, the area has been the home of the dwarf. He’s a harbinger of calamity; doom in a dapper, red suit.

Rumor says that those unlucky enough to have an audience with the dwarf are brought to a Room with Red Velvet Curtains (sometimes just “The Red Room”). Visitors--survivors--describe the room as located in the basement of a ritzy old hotel, but no one has been able to relocated the building or provide directions to it later.

What comes from a meeting with the dwarf can’t be predicted. Sometimes, he’ll tell his visitor’s future. Other times, he’ll ask them for a favor, or tell them how they can get their heart’s desire. However it starts, it always plays out badly.

It’s worth noting that the infernal criminal organization known as the Hell Syndicate stays out of Motorton.  It’s the dwarf’s city.

Characters may have heard other rumors about the dwarf:

1. He can only be harmed by magical weapons.
2. The tea he sometimes offers visitors can bring strange visions, and cause madness
3. He carries a pocket watch whose hands only move when someone dies--or maybe when someone particular dies.
4. Bones excavated from the old, mass plague graves can be used to ward against him.
5. He’s only dangerous because Motorton’s sick. If the city could be healed, the dwarf would be benevolent.
6. The dwarf is only a midget human sorcerer cashing in on an old legend. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
7. There’s a red leather journal of a young girl, who died in an asylum, that contains, in its ramblings, the Red Dwarf’s true name, and the ritual to bind him to service.
8. The dwarf is always accompanied by the same gang--a black-haired moll in a red dress with a silky voice, and twin bruisers with the same first name.
9. The Red Room is actually the lowest level of Hell. The Dwarf is actually Morningstar in disguise.
10. The Dwarf isn’t a real entity at all, just the physical representation of the death curse of a Native shaman on the Ealderdish invaders. Treating it like a real being only increases its power.