A Redneck Scary Movie

 This is dumb, but I laughed a bit. 

Succubus Sunday

 Cyberpunk Succubi courtesy of Hexwork.

Squirrel Girl Saturday

 This unbeatable Squirrel Girl cosplay features the gorgeous BelleChere.

Hogwarts School Of Magic The Gathering

 The next Magic: The Gathering set is Strixhaven. What is Strixhaven? It's a wizard college and feels like Harry Potter meets MTG (in the vein of Ravnica). Check out this trailer to learn about the colleges.

Fjord vs Nott

I try to save music videos for Mondays, but this Critical Role rap battle just went live and I really wanted to share. 

House of Dogs Issue One

 House of Dogs is the "Mongrel Journal" of Theory and Practice for Role-Playing Games and is a unique piece of rpg content. Weird Realms sent a copy to me with my copy of Inferno Road: Plague Edition. Instead of presenting a lot of new crunchy content, this one is full of reviews and thought pieces about rpgs (as well as some interesting artwork).

The first of these treatise is on the Tomb of Horrors. Written by Adam Thornton this one discusses the various versions of the adventure and equates them to music albums. There's a lot of thought and humor in this one. 

David Shugars gives us an article about Gardens of Ynn. While I've never heard of this OSR point-crawl before, I really want to pick it up now. The article is a discussion of hexcrawls and point crawls and how Ynn is a fantastic wilderness adventure resource.

David Wilke gives his thoughts on Wonder & Wickedness by Lost Pages. That tome presents a new no-level magic system in the vein of Eldritch Cock and Vaginas are Magic!. While I've not read W&W yet, after this piece, I want to check it out. It makes magic unique and dangerous. 

Luke Gearing has a brief reflection on Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play 1st Edition.

Shugars has a second piece with a discussion of the Whitehack. He primarily focuses the game's innovation that he thinks is the most impressive, the auction. He briefly explains the mechanic and then gives some examples.

Peter Webb discusses an infamous trap from James Raggi's Fuck for Satan. Not a whole lot to this one, but if you've read the adventure, he's talking about Eye of Many Eyes.

The volume ends with the Tomb of Whores by Adam Thornton. You read that correct. This is a frat guy take on Tomb of Horror ran by by the author. You might get a giggle out of it, but was for me.

I liked House of Dogs. Sadly, I think it only had one issue. While looking around the web, I can't find much on it. That's a shame, because I liked this. I'm actually thinking about talking to some of my other blogger and publisher friends and maybe creating a zine that does something similar. 

Inferno Road Plague Edition

Created by Wayne Snyder and Doug Kovacs, Inferno Road is a wild ride. Ran at conventions like GenCon, this game is DCC meets Mad Max in Hell. Players are grubs, damned creatures that serve Hellish princes and seek to gather and consume souls. They do this by forever running the titular Inferno Road. As you collect souls you upgrade your form. You do this until your group stops playing. Much like the torments of Hell, the Infernal Road is eternal.

I previously mentioned this being ran at conventions. As written, the rules show this. Some of the evolved creature types have abilities that focus on fucking around with other tables. That being said this can be a useful book for other DCC games too. The upgrades in particular are a fun way to customize mutants and demons. Also the vehicle generation could be helpful in Umerica.

The Plague Edition (pictured below) also comes with a few double-sided posters. These feature art, new stuff to find and encounter, and placemat for a spinner (used in upgrading). This edition also contains wonderful gorgeous and awful (in the good way) art from Doug Kovacs and Wayne Snyder. 

You can order your copy from the same cool shop I grabbed mine, Weird Realms. 

Music Monday - Choose Your Own Avenger

Released in 2018 by Hand'Solo Records Choose Your Own Avenger is a double-sided 7" with two different Avenger themed posse tracks. Honestly I love both, but I think the Ultimate Version is my favorite because it has my dude Sulfur, who straight reps Asgard. You can order the record here. You can listen to both tracks below.

 

Music Monday - Get Jinxed Cover

I really love the League of Legends song, Get Jinxed. I could have sworn I posted it before, but I can't find it, so here's a link to the original. Today, I wanted to share this fun cover. 

The Phylactery 3 on Kickstarter

The Phylactery 3 is currently funding on Kickstarter. It's greatly surpassed its goal and still has 16 days left on the site. If you want to get a taste of it, check out the live play with Levi and crew tomorrow night here.

Succubus Sunday

Check out this gorgeous demon shot from Christina Michelle. 

Phylactery 2 - Electric Review?

Need a toolbox of wild content for your D&D game? Of course you do. You can find that in Planet X Games Phylactery zines. I've already reviewed the first, so let's talk about second. Here's what you get in this collection of consent.

• The Skullstaff of Stelos: Much like Skeletor's Havoc Staff, this magical staff is a must have for any lich or evil mage lord.
• Twelve Things For A Magic Mouth Would  Say: random charts are the lifeblood of osr content and is a really random idea that is so much fun
• Strange Things That Live Underground Other Weird Critters: 8 encounters give your Underdark  adventuring that Planet X spice. This is a great sampler of the kinds of things you will see in Glimmering Crypt of the Ioun King.
• Of Longstriders and Giant Killers - Renowned Rangers of the Untamed North: Though no stats are given, this article presents 5 rangers to add to the lore of your game and stats for a magic item associated with each
• Magic Armors and Weapons of Legend: there powerful magic items with history, and associated local lore/plot hooks
• She Rides on the Wing - Baba Yaga, Hag Queen of the North!: My favorite section of the zine, this gives stats for the crone and 5 unique magic items in her collection (including the horrific girdle of wailing children).
• 10 Wayward Oddfellows You Might Might On Any Given Night At Old Man Rumple's: brief description of 10 unique induvial to flesh out your taverns 
• Secrets From The Lich's Crypt - A Whole Buncha Weird Ole Crap In A Dead Wizard's Lab: Honestly the name says it all with this one, six magic items and associated lich lore for them
• More Forbidden Cults ofthe Outer Void: three demon cults, each with a "Fun Demon Cult Fact!"
• Hali Oakenspear, Wandering Cleric of the Luck Goddess: statted out 8th level cleric with a couple of unique items, a great ally for any group of adventurers
• Brood-Hive of The Slime God: a short-themed adventure with six encounters that features a aboleth and its slaves
• Grindhouse Deepcrawl #1: quick and dirty adventure with some grindhouse flair, love the Skullfungus map
• It Came From Spawn Vat X: a horrific wizard creation, the dreaded lobsterilla!
• Here There Be Monsters!: four monsters to bring the pain to your game
• Save vs Disbelief!: fun sketches related to Planet X adventures

As you can see, this the zine is packed with great content for your old school D&D games. Even if you don't play older versions of D&D, there's tons of content to be adapted to other editions and games. Finally, I just wanted to say that I love the homage cover. 

Squirrel Girl Saturday

 I hope your day isn't too nuts. Hehehe... squirrel jokes. Anyway, here's a fantastic cosplay by @cosmic_kitten_cosplay. 

Burger Wars!

Burger Wars! is Yojimbo or A Fistful of Dollars, but set in the post-apocalyptic ruins of Umerica. Unlike many DCC adventures, this is pretty much an open sandbox. Designed for characters of level 3+, characters work with and potentially double and triple cross the factions of Oniontown.

Oniontown is a large ruined city that's home to a few factions:

• Cult of Buddy O'Burger - I've discussed my love for Buddy before. He's the god of customer service, feasting, and cannibalism. His cult was the most powerful faction until they were weakened by the Salt Lich's curse.
• Piggy King and his Piggy Pals - Mascots have power in the magical wasteland of Umerica and Buddy's archrival, Piggy King, sensed weakness in the power structure of Oniontown
• The Salt Lich - The Dead Prince of Preservation hates life and wants it to suffer. His litter mummies roam the streets. The Salt Lich cast a curse on the city preventing Buddy's cult from magically creating food (which cut them off from some of their patron spells)
• 
  Howard (1-5) and the Sleepers - There is a large supply of food and humans in cryosleep located in Industrial Park A. They are watched over by the Howard androids. The two food factions would gain much prestige and power from taking the resources here. Also there is a preserved head with knowledge that would be beneficial to all factions.
  

The layout of the adventure is rather simple. Background is given. Four prominent locations are given (one related to each faction above).  There are some random encounters given that can play out between visits to those locations. There are also supplemental plot hooks, subplots, and encounters. Finally, their is information on Jollymeals, which are special rewards given out by Buddy's cult.

You probably won't be surprised to found that I love this adventure. It's a great sandbox and I adore that Buddy O'Burger is an important part of it.

You can get the adventure in print and pdf on the Goodman Games store.

Variant Human: Sean Bean (5e)

 I didn't make this though I wish I did. I think it looks fun and honestly is playable. My friend mentioned giving it a dying attack and I think I'd allow that. 

Fortnite Zero Crisis

 This is full of cameos from this season and Fortnite alum.

Xenomorphs, Sarah Conner, Terminators, Ripley, Kratos, Ryu, and Master Chief all have cool little moments. I was also happy to see the return of Jonesy's friend Peely. Given mention of the Seven, I was really hoping this was a reference to the Big Seven. It wasn't, but if you watch the Battle Pass trailer, there is a DC Comics connection.

Even if you aren't familiar with Fortnite, there are two characters of note included: Lara Croft and Raven. I looked through the Battle Pass and you unlock Rebirth Raven (the default skin). You can also unlock Classic Raven and Rachel Roth (the Titans tv version).

Wrong Turn (2021)

Synopsis

A group of friends ignore the warnings of locals and stray from the marked paths while on the Appalachian Trail. The inadvertently come across a hidden insular mountain community that doesn't take to kind to strangers.

Review

This reboot to the franchise takes a very different turn (pun intended). Instead of inbred cannibal mutants, the villains are a separatist "true American" organization called The Foundation. While I love the hellbillies of the original series,  the new antagonists are interesting. Preconceived notions are a big part of this movie and it feels socially relevant to the American political climate. 

Being a Wrong Turn flick you expect some serious gore. While this one is definitely different from others in many way, it doesn't disappoint in the gore effects. The first death is brutal and they don't get any less so as the movie goes on. The music is atmospheric and honestly perfect for the film. The sets look great and the wilderness is beautiful. 

The main and supporting cast all do a great job. Charlotte Vega is solid as the lead Jen and I was happy to see Matthew Modine in the film as her father. Though he's not a major player, Tim De Zarn (who I know as The Harbinger from The Cabin in the Woods) plays one of the townsfolk, Nate, ,was in some of my favorite scenes.

In Your Game

Foundation Member

Armor Class: 13

Hit Dice/Points: 4 (18 HP)
Move: 12
Actions: 1
Attack: Blade (1d8) or Bow (1d6)

Bonuses: +2 to hit, +3 to stealth rolls, Toughness +1 

Special: Advantage on stealth rolls when in the forests and mountains

Morale: 10

Terror: 8
HDE: 3

Music Monday - Beneath the Black Flag

 Here's a fun rocking shanty inspired by Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag.

Succubus Sunday

 

source

Swords & Saturdays - Pagan Warrior (2019)

 

Synopsis

When his castle is taken by vikings a king and witch summons the Yule demon, Krampus to reclaim it.

Review

I give this movie some credit. Combining Krampus and vikings is a fun idea The castle used for the film is impressive looking. Also, this flick is definitely not like any other Christmas/Yule movie out there. However, other than the plot point that Krampus is only active on Yule, you'd never know this was a Yule flick.

Krampus looks pretty cool. The demon would fit in well at one of the Krampus parades they have Austria. I like the animalistic mask and while he's not phenomenal looking, he looks good considering the budget. He does have obviously human hands though, which looks wrong.

Now that I've got the positives out of the way, there's a lot working against this one. The acting isn't great, even for a B flick. The outfits look like homemade Renfest wear. The movie has weird pacing issues, as well. 

Honestly the movie is just really dull, which is unfortunate give the potential of the original title, Vikings vs Krampus. 

In Your Game

The version of Krampus in the movie didn't seem super powerful, but was still deadly to common folk. That's why I think Tim Brannan's version of the creature would be great to use as stats for it.

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If you want to discuss more flicks like this or check out other gaming related goodness you should just the Facebook group I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters. My fellow admin Tim Knight of HeroPress and Tim Brannan of TheOther Side Blog are sharing our creations. Follow the hashtag #IdRatherBeWatchingMonsters to track those posts.

Squirrel Girl Saturday

While it's been at least 5 years since he's made music, I'm still a big fan of Eugene Ahn aka Adam Warrock. He made socially relevant raps using pop culture references. He even did a song for Doreen. Check it out!

Dog Wizards

Do you love arcane mystics?

Unique artwork?

5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons?

Puppers?

If you said yes to any of these, then I have the zine for you. Dog Wizards is "a tiny book of wonderful canine wizards." Created by Bodie H. This small booklet is A6 (about the size of a classic NES instruction manual). There are 11 unique good boys (and girls) stattted out for 5e. I've posted an example (from Bodie's site) below.

I love the art style and the whimsical nature of this release. I will definitely be adding some of these canines to my next game. If you're interested in picking up a copy, you can do so here.

Jericho Cross and Darkwatch Redeemer (Weird Frontiers)

Darkwatch is a forgotten weird west shooter from 2005. It stars Jericho Cross, an outlaw that robbed the wrong train. This caused him to be turned into a vampire and to be recruited by the Darkwatch, an ancient vampire-hunting organization. He is forced to join the organization and hunt the ancient vampire that turned him, Lazarus Malkoth. 

This game was fun and had style in spades. During the game you could choose to be heroic or villainous, which would alter your abilities. Sadly it never got a sequel. I think Jericho and the Darkwatch would be great additions to Weird Frontiers.

Jericho Cross: Init +5; Atk bite +4 melee (1d3+blood drain) or claw +7 melee (dmg 1d7+4) or Darkwatch Redeemer +7 missile (dmg 1d10); AC 18; HD 10d12; MV 30; Act 3d20; SP  un-dead traits, vampire traits (WF pg 759), blood drain (WF pg 759), regeneration 3/round; SV Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +7; WtL

Here are the stats for Jericho's gun... which are OP overall. 

Model                                Caliber      Type                Ammo       Damage    ROF    Load    Reload 

Darkwatch Redeemer     .44             Single                 Special         d10         2         24         1

The extremely powerful (and advanced) pistols are made exclusively by the gunsmiths of the Darkwatch. Like modern pistols, their ammo is found in clips. While it only takes a round to reload one of these guns, the only way to receive such ammo is to be granted it by the organization or take it from the cold corpses of its agents. The guns handles have silver blades that can be used in melee (and deal 1d6 damage).

Music Monday - Be A Man

Decided to share this delightful throwback to 2003. Even if you aren't a wrestling fan, you might recognize Macho Man from his Slim Jim commercials back in the day.

Want to add the character that was his feature role in Spider-Man to your game? Go here and check out my (recently updated) SURVIVE THIS!! Bonesaw stats.

Music Monday - Legends Fall

Check out this epic track based on Assassins Creed Valhalla. That second verse is something else. It gives me chills.

One of Us Review

One of Us is a new third-party zine for Dungeon Crawl Classics and introduces a new setting to the rules. The overall setting is post-apocalyptic dustbowl. Essentially the Bomb (with a capital B) went off in the desert and it released something dark that corrupted the land. This is referred to as The Big Mistake. The players are take the role of carnies indentured to the Madame, a mysterious mystic being bound to a traveling carnival. 

Given the new setting, the zine gives us a new starting occupation chart. These are always fun and I really like this one. Three new carnival themed classes are added to the game. The strong-person is capable of doing INCREDIBLE feats of strength, though this also comes at the risk of permanently losing themselves the the dark impulses of power. The acrobats fly through the air and dodge attacks with the greatest of ease. The final new class is the natural wonder, a "freak" class. These individuals are the pride of the carnival and are noted for their mutations. Mutations are based on the DCC RPG Annual Volume 1, Chapter 9. You can expand these mutations with that chapter or even the mutations from MCC. There's a brief discussion of using other classes from DCC and MCC in the setting (specifically Wizard, Cleric, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling). These classes are given new names, which are cool.

The equipment section presents new weapons and armor. The Madame is presented as a patron. The actual wording of the bargain with the mystic is presented. Invoke patron and patron taint for the mysterious mystic is given. The book ends with four new monsters from the authors and three bonus content monsters from one of my favorite DCC writers, Michael Curtis.

The zine is a lot of fun. It's a really striking setting and the artwork and prose conveys that. I also like that I think it's one that with a little bit of adjusting could be used with many other DCC settings. It easily fits in Weird Frontiers and with a slight tech change Crawling Under A Broken Moon. While there is nothing innately connecting them, I think it would be fun to use with Country Meat-Grinder Classics. The early modern tech level and fact both are very American in setting makes me think they'd fit together nicely. The setting also makes me think of one of my favorite mini realms of Dread in Ravenloft, the Carnival. You could combine this with Macabre (which is in its last 25 hours of funding) to do a DCC take on Ravenloft and the domains of Dread. 

I ordered my copy from Weird Realms and as of post, they still have copies available.

Succubus Sunday - Ginny Di

 This delightful Tiefling Rogue cosplay is a part of Ginny Di's 2021 pin-up calender.

Squirrel Girl Saturday

 This week's Squirrel Girl Saturday features Pandonia. 

Danny Dorito (MCC)

 Sometimes inspiration hits and you just have to go with it.

Doritons

Init +1; Atk +3 melee (1d6 damage); AC 13; HD 3d6, HP 12;  Act 1d20; SP stain; SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +0; AI recog - 

Doritons are a genetically modified race of plantient-like humanoids created by the Ancients (the same responsible for Corn Pox and the Dread Cornthulhu). They are covered in a delicious dust. Unfortunately this dust permanently stains whatever it touches (including skin). The most common breed are Nacho Cheese, but others have been encountered. 

Cool Ranch Doritons have the following SP anyone attacking this creature takes 1d6 cold damage

Spicy Nacho Doritons do 1d6+2 damage with their melee attacks

Music Monday - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers of DOOM

This video has many elements of awesome. First, it's been The Cybertronic Spree, an costumed Transformers-themed band. Then you combine the slappin' theme from Doom reboot with the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers theme. Combine all of these elements and you have geeky mashup of 100%  awesomeness. 

Music Monday - Shotgun Guitar

Check out this awesome 3 string guitar/shotgun combination. While you're at it, check out more of Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band. I recommend Raise a Little Hell, Pot Roast and Kisses, and Poor Until Payday,

This past weekend the Weird Frontiers (formerly known as Dark Trails) core pdf went out to backers. I'll review the weird west DCC offshoot sometime, but for now I'll just give a new special piece of equipment used by the fey-blooded Hellbilly class. 

Three String Guitgun

Single barrel 12 gage             Single Cart.             d14/d10/d7             1             1

Crafting techniques of the guitgun is a closely guarded secret among the hillfolk of Appalachia. They cannont be purchased, only gifted for good deeds done for the community. These weapons can be used as a signature weapon by any Hellbilly (despite shotguns not normally being a signature weapon for the class).  Additionally it provides a +1 bonus on Soulful Balladeer rolls when played.