Scare Me (2020)

Plot 

While on their way to a music festival a group of college kids stop at a campgrounds for the night. While their they engage in a scary story contest. Unfortunately for them, the scares aren’t limited to the tales of fright. 

Review

Within the first five minutes of this film you have bondage, bare breasted witches, and eye removal and that does an excellent job of setting expectations for this horror anthology. The primary cast is made up of your standard horror vict... um, protagonists. You have the good guy, the stoner, the asshole, etc. Of the cast of characters, writer/producer Thomas Fisco’s Cooper was a great combination of helpful and menacing. I was also a big fan of Donnie, played by Mark Justice. He played an asshole character, but unlike most characters of that type, saw growth in the film. Finally, I always have a soft spot for stoner/comic relief characters and Brandon McClenahan’s Roger was perfect in that role. 

The scary storytelling contest was a fresh way to frame the shorts and gave it a nice grown-up Are You Afraid of the Dark vibe. Of the various shorts, I think Eternal Hunger was one of my favorites. I just really wasn’t expecting the really gross twist in this captive bondage story. Millennial Massacre was fantastic too, but I don’t want to go into that one too much due to spoilers. That being said, every story was entertaining and there were different threads connecting them, which was nice touch. 

This last point is neither here nor there, but I was glad to see director Drew Marvick in the film (as well as a poster for his slasher, Pool Party Massacre).

If you’re a horror fan and looking for something new to watch, definitely check Scare Me out. As of the time of this review, it’s available on Amazon Prime.

Gaming Material 

Like most of my reviews, I like to include some sort of tabletop rpg gaming content. This time, I have more goodies for my free horror game, Slashers & Survivors. Also, these stats don’t necessarily represent things in the film, just drew inspiration from.

Inhabited

HP: 13

Evade: 12

Armor Points: 0

Bonus: +2 to Attack, +1 to Damage

Attack: By Weapon

Special Traits: Fear Takes Hold (CM + WIS vs DC 15, target becomes Inhabited NPC on Failure)

Joe Exotic (5e)

Like many folks I’ve recently watched the white trash trainkwreck known at Tiger King. It’s ridiculous and I love it. Someone shared the following stat block on the GaryCon Facebook page and wanted to share it.

Honestly, if I ever get to run a 5Evo. Carbide City game, I’m going to include Joe Exotic. Also if you’re looking for another. crazy trashy documentary, check out The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia.

Bats (1999)

Plot: 

A bat expert and a local sheriff must team up to save a small Texas town from a group of killer mutant bats. 

Review:

Bats is a campy creature feature from the late 90’s. The characters aren’t the best developed, but the actors portray them in a fun and campy way. Lou Diamond Phillips is fantastic as the small town sheriff in over his head and Leon Robinson is great as comic relief character, Jimmy. A lot of the acting is over-the-top B stuff, but it works because this is a creature flick. Speaking of creatures, the bat effects aren’t the greatest, but there are some great close-up shots (like the one below). This movie isn’t good, but if you want a goofy creature feature, check it out. Plus what other movie do you know that features the protagonist waist deep in bat shit?

Gaming Material: 

Bat, Mutant

HP: 5

Evade: 12/15 (while flying)

Armor Points: 0

Bonus: +3 to Attack, +0 to Damage

Attack: Bite (1d4 Damage)

Special Traits: Flight, Disadvantage on all rolls when in temperatures of 40 degrees or lower

Succubus Sunday

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Succubus Sunday

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Where’s My Toe?

Someone turned one of the disturbing kids stories from a volume of the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark series into an extremely creepy animated short. Check it out!

Tubi Top 5 - Cults

Do you want to start a cult with me? If not, then check out my favorite favorite cult flicks on Tubi.

Number 5

Number 4

Number 3

Number 2

Number 1

Previous Lists:

Zombie Flicks

Creature Features

Werewolves

Ash Wednesday - The Necronomicon for Slashers & Survivors

Continuing my idea to adapt Evil Dead content to my new Slashers & Survivors game, I've decided we need stats for the Necronomicon. This version is an amalgam of the tome based on all of the films (including the 2013 sequel), Ash vs Evil Dead, Jason Goes To Hell, the Evil Dead video games, and the comics. In addition, the game doesn’t currently have spellcasting rules, so I’ve added them below. Also a few of there are creatures that don’t have stats yet. Those will be coming. 

Necronomicon Ex-Mortis
The Necronomicon (also known as the Book of the Dead and the Naturom Demonto) is a hideous arcane tome bound in human flesh, inked in blood, and penned in Sumerian. It is tied to the ancient dark ones, Shaitan and the Kandarian Demon. It contains spells that will allow the creation of undead and Deadites, as well as summon the Kandarian Demon itself. The spells contained within the tome can be cast by anyone who has the book and speaks the incantations (CM + INT vs Spell DC), whether they be witches or not. Some spells have HP cost. This HP is lost when the spell is cast, whether it is successful or not.

Spells

Animate Skeleton (DC 10): You cause one skeleton within 100' feet to animate. The skeleton is evil and free willed, but will defer to more powerful evil creatures.

Animate Wight (DC 15): This spell works like the Animate Skeleton spell, but the creature must have had 3+ HD in life and will rise as a wight.

Create Deadite Revenant (DC 20): In exchange for their soul, the caster is able to bring a loved one back as a powerful deadite revenant.

Create Similacrum (DC 20): Using a portion of flesh, the caster is able to create a magical clone. The clone looks identical to the source of the flesh though it will be whole. For example, if a similacrum is created from the severed hand of someone, it will look and act like that person, but will have both hands. The similacrum is technically a soulless deadite and deadite will ignore them unless they attempt to harm and hinder the deadite. However, the similacrum is also affected by spells and effects that work against demons and deadites.

Make Corporeal (DC 15): This spell makes the Kandarian Demon take a corporeal form. While it is still extremely dangerous (and possibly more powerful) in this form, it is also mortal when corporeal.

Open A Rift In Time and Space (DC 15): This will cause the book to open a rift that will transport all who enter it into a time and dimension set for by the book or destiny, no one is certain.

Possess Deadite (DC 15): You are able to possess a deadite you can see. You completely control the creature for 2d6 rounds. During this time your body falls limp. You are trapped in the deadite body until the spell ends or the body is destroyed. Note you cannot make the deadite attack itself, but you could cause it do do other harmful acts (such as jumping off a cliff).

Resurrecting The Dead (DC 15 or 20): This spell can bring the dead back in a few ways. The DC 15 version of the spell will heal and reanimate the body, but leave it a souless husk that does the will of the caster. The DC 20 version of the spell can heal flesh, revive a body, and draw the spirit back into it. However, this version of the spell causes the caster to lose 1 permanent HP.

Summon Shaitan (DC 5): This spells allows the incorporeal form of Shaitan, also known as the Abomination, to enter the mortal realm. In order to be made flesh, he must torment 5 souls.

Summon Kandarian Demon (DC 5):  This spell allows the the incorporeal form of the Kandarian Demon to enter the mortal realm.

Ward Book (DC 19): This spell places a strong ward on the book. If anyone other than a servant of the Kandarian Demon or Shaitan touched the tome without reciting the correct words (Klaatu Barada Nikto), it will cause all dead within a mile radius to rise as skeletons and wights.

Other Abilities and Traits

The book can fly and speak (and bite the person holding it dealing 1d6-1 damage). It appears to be indestructible. In addition to being a spell book, it is a guide to demons and contains many funerary rights to help spirits pass on the other side. It grants advantage on information related and banishment rolls against spirits and demons. It contains alchemical formulas including the instructions to make a potion that will allow someone to sleep centuries in an un-aging stasis. Finally it has the ability to become a mask and will transfer the spells onto the wearer's body.

Tubi Top 5 - Werewolves

For this Tubi Top 5 favorites on Tubi we’re going to howl at the moon!

Number 5

Number 4

Number 3

Number 2

Number 1

(Honestly my top three Tubi werewolf movies could be all the Ginger Snaps flicks, but I decided to stick to one per franchise with this list)

Previous Lists:

Zombie Flicks

Creature Features

Plank Face (2016)

Plot

While hiking in the woods with his girlfriend, Max is kidnapped by a group of feral women who are determined to make him one of their own.

Review

Judging by the poster, you’d be forgiven if you assumed Scott Schirmer’s Plank Face was a slasher flick. While there are a few moments of brutality and some tropes of that style of horror film, Plank Face is a slow paced horror drama. Because of the feral nature of a majority of the cast, the movie is light on dialogue. Despite this the cast do an amazing of showing a range of emotion and character development through guttural sounds and physicality. This is especially true of the Bride (Brigid Macaulay) and Bunny Girl (Alyss Winkler) who have no actual dialogue, but have definitive character traits and personalities. Nathan Barrett  also does an outstanding job as Max/Plank face. His role is a nice character study of what happens when a man gives into his more primal instincts. Beyond the casts’ portrayal, the film has beautiful cinematography and a perfect score.

While the movie is a slow burn and definitely not for everyone, I enjoyed it and I think it’s a masterfully crafted movie.

Gaming Material

Even though the movie isn’t a slasher, I think feral humans make great slashers so I’ve started Plank Face for my free roleplaying game, Slashers & Survivors. 

Plank Face

HP: 25

Evade: 15

Armor Points: 1

Bonus: +4 to Attack, +3 to Damage

Attack: Axe (1d8 damage)

Special Traits: Advantage on stealth related rolls
Special Attack: Growl (CM+CON vs DC 15); all foes within 10 feet lose their next action.

Plan Z (2016)

Plot

To save himself from a virus that reanimated the dead, a photographer creates and follows a plan to survive. However, as the pandemic unfolds, he finds that there is more to life than surviving.

Review

This is another horror flick on Tubi recommended by my friend. The film was written, directed, and stars Stuart Brennan. The man does an amazing job of juggling all those hats and making an engaging zombie flick. This really is quite impressive, considering how bloated the genre is. However, Brennan manages to make not only an entertaining, but also a very engaging ghoul flick. There are several time jumps and flashbacks in the movie and they do an excellent job of keeping the film fresh, while also contrasting events and providing exposition for character growth. There aren’t many characters, but they play well off each other and I’ll be honest, some of them surprised me (in a good way).

I did find a few sequences involving music with vocals to be a bit jarring, but they didn’t make me enjoy the film less. They just seemed off to me. That aside, I though this was an amazing zombie film and really nice for anyone looking for something different in the genre. My only regrets is that I didn’t get to watch this in black and white, like my friend did.

Gaming Material

I decided to stat up the zombies for me free slasher rpg, Slashers & Survivors. 

Plan Z Zombies

HP: 10

Evade: 9

Armor Points: 0

Bonus: +2 to Attack, +0 to Damage

Attack: Bite (1d4 Damage)

Special Traits: Bitten foes must makes (CM+CON vs DC 15) or become infected (dying an re-animating in 1d10 minutes).

Slasher.com (2017)

Plot

Despite a recent rash of serial killings involving online dating, a young couple head to the wilderness of MO to spend a weekend in a cabin and get to know each other. Unfortunately they get more than they expected from the locals.

Review

Slasher.com is on Tubi and I watched it because a friend recommended it. While no masterpiece, the movie was a fun low budget slasher flick. Jewel Shepherd (Return of the Living Dead’s Casey) is fantastic as the creepy and sexual Momma Meyers and R.A. Mihailoff (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3’s Leatherface) also does an outstanding job as the equally perverse, but dim witted husband, Jesse. Ben Kaplan shows an interesting range as the lead (and looks good while doing it).

That’s not to say the movie was perfect. Honestly the title and online dating is forgotten for most of the film. It comes in play at the beginning and the end. It just felt odd. I also think that with the movie’s poster might give you the wrong impression of the what the film is. There are a few plot twists. I think the first major one is obvious from a mile away, but I wasn’t expecting another.

If you have an hour and a half and want to check out an indie slasher, this isn’t a bad way to do so. It’s an entertaining cast of characters, plus there are some fun kills and fight scenes. I will say if you have triggers relating to sexual violence, avoid this one.

Gaming Material

I kept this write up spoiler free, but here’s a new slasher you can use with my free slasher rpg, Slashers & Survivors. 

Slasher.com Killer

HP: 25

Evade: 17

Armor Points: 0

Bonus: +3 to Attack, +2 to Damage

Attack: By Weapon or Unarmed (1d4+2 Damage)

Special Traits: Advantage on all rolls related to persuasion and deception

MO/Quirk: The killer believes they are a true artist and can be tricked into monologuing about their craft. 

Weakness: The killer is ultimately a regular human. They may be hard to hit, but take damage just like anyone else.

Succubus Sunday

Check out this great Starfinder Succubus by Jacob Blackmon.

Succubus Sunday

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Tubi Top 5 - Creature Features

Here’s another selection of my Top 5 favorites on Tubi. This time I’m going with creature features. Some of these are serious and others are comical. I’m not saying these are the best on the site, but these are definitely my favorites. Also, why I don’t like putting two comedic horror ant flicks I love both of the ones on this list too much to leave them off.

Number 5

Number 4

Number 3

Number 2

Number 1

Previous Lists:

Zombie Flicks

Fallout vs Skyrim

Here’s a fun short video of the Dovakhiin taking on the Vault Dweller.

Ash Wednesday - Deadites (S&S)

While it's (obviously) slasher themed, Slashers & Survivors is designed to handle all sorts of horror settings and tropes. That's why for the foreseeable future, I plan on doing Slasher & Survivor themed Ash Wednesday posts.

Deadite
HP: 25
Evade: 12
Armor Point: 5
Bonus: +4 to Attack, +1 Damage
Attack: Claw/Bite (1d6 damage)
Special Attack: Possession (CM + CHA vs DC 10), Target is possessed by an evil spirit unless they cut away/sever the offending wounded area (taking 1d10 damage).
Special Traits: Beguiling (appear normal, have host's memories), Hover, Regenerate 1 HP a turn
Weakness: Direct sunlight will (at least temporarily) drive the possessing demon from the possessed's body. Immolation, total dismemberment, and live burial can also remove the possessing spirit. Kandarian Dagger ignores Armor Points. In addition, there are spells found within the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis that can bind, control, or even destroy Deadites.

All the Damned Vampires....

Bloat Games has a new release today!

This setting book for Dark Places & Demogorgons is packed with goodness. It takes the game from rural Kentucky the the much more universally known California coast. If you couldn’t tell by the cover, this one is The Lost Boys cranked to eleven! 

The book discusses the history of the area and presents numerous locations (and gives plot hooks for them). There are also several new classes, inspired by California stereotypes and other sources (like Scooby Doo and The Crow).  Many talented artists and writers worked on this one (as well as me). You can pre-order the print version (which ships April/May) and get the pdf now (or within 24 hours) from Bloat Games directly. If you just want the pdf, it can also be snagged at DriveThruRPG here. 

World of Darkness Update

Earlier I shared that Vampire: The Dark Ages was free. It looks like that was just for yesterday, which is a bummer. However... Onyx Path is making another game free each day through the end of the month! The following text was taken from this Forbes article:

Monday: Vampire: The Dark Ages. A prequel to Vampire: The Masquerade set in the medieval era before vampires tried to hide themselves from humans. The intrigues become more complicated and the game can feel like a cross between A Game of Thrones and Interview With The Vampire.

Tuesday: Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Werewolves rage against the dying of the planet in this action horror RPG about birthrights, losing battles and toxic monsters. All the werewolves agree they have to do something to stop their Mother Earth from dying but disagree on what, exactly. Sound familiar?

Wednesday: Mage: The Ascension. A game that puts the power to shape reality in the hands of the players. Reality is literally what you make of it. Classic magical traditions face off against a technocratic conspiracy that will look familiar to fans of films like Dark City and The Matrix.

Thursday: Changeling: The Dreaming. The final of the originally planned World of Darkness games added something unusual to the setting; hope. The characters battle against the banality of growing up and losing hope in a dark world even as evil forces close in to crush dreams.

Friday: Wraith: The Oblivion. The darkest of the World of Darkness games pits players against threats both external and internal. The external threats include an oppressive afterlife bureaucracy that forges souls into raw materials for building things in the spirit world. The internal threat is the Shadow, a dark mirror of the character played by other players at the table.

Attack of the Ooze!

Attack of the Ooze is a short (PWYW) pdf by Skull Dixon.

“Attack of the Ooze is a compilation of Monsters I draw as part of my Weekly Monster Drawing on Twitch. This is a series of Ooze monsters and random roll tables that you can add to your game and have a lot of fun with.

I’ve been drawing Dungeon and Dragons inspired monsters every week for three years now and I wanted to mark the occasion. I am putting this up as a “Pay what you want” product that you can download and share. If you use these monsters, please give me a shout out on twitter so I can hear about how much your group loved/hated encountering all of these Oozes.”

The pdf contains several random charts associated with ooze dice, new ways to customize oozes, and a few new ooze creatures. Finally it ends with an extremely annual event, the Cosmic Ooze Storm. The pdf is written with 5e in mind but easy to adapt.

I have some grand plans to do a campaign arc using cultists of Jubilex, this pdf, and taking inspiration from the Age of Worms adventure path.  You should definitely check this pdf and throw some GP Skull’s way.

Tubi Top 5 - Zombie Flicks

I’ve seen several top 10 horror lists and things like that for various streaming services. I haven’t seen anyone talking about Tubi though (which is a free streaming app here in the States). I am going to start making some. Please note, this is my personal opinion. You don’t have to agree.

Number 5

Number 4 

Number 3

Number 2

Number 1

Return to the Dark Ages!

I’m really excited to let y’all know that the Vampire: The Dark Ages 20th Anniversary pdf is currently free! This is a beautiful update and compilation to the great old school World of Darkness game. It’s a great rules system and the game is easy to use to play a modern game too (you just need to change a few skills and make gun stats).

#GetSuper

I have to tip my hat to Alan Bahr of Gallant Knight Games.

“Hey. It's been a pretty scary week, and it's only getting scarier (so it seems.) Finances are getting hit, kids are stuck at home, things are getting pretty intense.

Sometimes a little bit of heroism can lift us up and throw a little light against the darkness. And it seems like we need that.

To that end, Tiny Supers is Pay What You Want on DriveThruRPG for the foreseeable future.

It's an easy ruleset to learn, suitable for 12 and up (and even easy enough for younger, but you know your kids.) It'll give your family something to do together, and help you tell some stories that will make the world a little bit brighter, at least in your corner.

Tiny Supers

#GetSuper”

Call of Cthulhu Coloring Book

Hey folks,

Honestly don’t feel like talking about current events and global pandemics other than to mention I love the response folks in the gaming industry are having. GaryCon may be cancelled, but there is now a virtual version of the con. Several publishers have also made some of their PDFs free. Over the next few days I’m going to share some of those.

I thought I’d start with a PWYW print coloring book from Chaosium. You can read more about it and the contest accompanying it here.

Music Monday - Losing My Life

I really like this song and the video has some great cyberpunk inspiration.

Succubus Sunday

Check out these wonderful succubi by Munrou

New Slasher - Slop

Here's a bonus slasher for Slashers & Survivors based on my friend's movie Slop.

Remember you can download Slashers & Survivors: Slashcan Edition here for free.

Slashers & Survivors - Slashcan Edition

In honor of Friday the 13th, I released my pay-what-you-want stand-alone game, Slashers & Survivors. 

Slashers & Survivors: Slashcan Edition is an ashcan version of the our new slasher rpg. Based on The Blackest of Deaths by Bloat Games, the game allows you to create a nerd, jock, or other slasher staple and see if you can outwit and survive a homicidal maniac or deadly cult. This is not the final version of the game and the pdf will be updated periodically with feedback received. There will be a deluxe version of the game coming to Kickstarter later this year with more content.

I have big plans for the full version. It will include more slashers, a random slasher generator, and much more. Take a look at the pdf, share, and let me know what you think!