Hot Off the Presses... Crime Editor Strikes Again!!!

Here's another Public Domain villain that will make an appearance in my upcoming 5E Supers zine series.

Crime Editor

Real Name: Unknown

First Appearance: Black Hood Comics #10 (1944)

Armor Class: 11 (Dexterity)

HP:  50  (9d8+9)

Speed: 30

Attributes: Str 10 (+0), Dexterity 12 (+1), Con 12 (+1), Int 17 (+3), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 12 (+1)

Saving Throws: Int +5

Skills: Deception +4, History +6, Investigation +6, Insight +5 Stealth +4

Sense: passive Perception 12

Languages: English, Latin

Challenge: 2 (450 XP)

Traits 

Cunning Action: On each of his turns, the Crime Editor can use a bonus action to take the Dash, Engage, or Hide action.

Actions

Multiattack: The Crime Editor can make two attacks with his pistol or knife.

Command Minion: One subservient ally within 60 ft. immediately takes an action. 

Knife: Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft, one target. Hit: 4 (1d4+1) piercing damage.

Pistol: Ranged Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, range 50/150 ft., one target, Hit: 9 (2d6+1) piercing damage. (15 round clip)

Background

Not much is known about the genius known as the Crime Editor. It is believed that before turning to crime, he was a journalist at a major newspaper. He quit the paper after constantly being out scooped by a country boy scout turned reporter. He established his own newspaper, The Daily Crime Record. 

The Daily Crime Record (Wondrous item, uncommon)

This villainous publication is used to gloat over the local police, spread gossip and rumors about supers, and even includes instructions on how to commit crimes. A character can take a short rest to thoroughly read the paper and it's "How To Commit Crimes" section. At the completion of the rest, the reader gains a one time bonus of +1d4 to the skill associated with article. If they do not use this bonus before they take a long rest it is lost. Once a character gains this bonus, they can never gain the bonus from that issue again.  

Helms of the Multiverse

Helms of the Multiverse is a collection of helmets and other protective headgear from across the planes. While the zine is definitely made for rpgs, it has no game stats included. The zine introduces 27 new helms and 5 helm randomizer charts. This zine is very art focused, which is nice. There is an introduction by the individual donning the helm on the cover. There are helms suitable for all sorts of games. For example, Artifact- 001 was found on a starship and DP-I and DP-II are definitely not the Daft Punk helmets. Most helmets are your classic fantasy helms. There are some other genres represented too.  My favorite helm in the book is The Hunter, a red motorcycle helmet worn by a bounty hunter (or group of bounty hunters) that was covered in tally marks that corresponded to successful bounties. 

This is a fun zine. While it may not have direct game utility, it is full of flavor and the stories of the helms are great inspiration for adventures and npcs. Contact the author here if you'd like a copy of your own.

Music Monday - Ra Ra Rasputin

I've not watched The King's Man, but considering how much I enjoyed the first two movies, I'm definitely interested. Check out this fun dance video highlighting the film's villain, Rasputin and featuing Boney M.'s classic disco hit.

Jokerized Zombies

I have no desire to play State of Survival, a zombie mobile game, but I thought this trailer for their (very random) DC crossover with Joker was cool.

I'm going to stat out these "Jokerized" zombies using a hybrid Vigilante City/Zombies! stat block. 

Jokerized Zombie 
Armor Class: 15
Hit Dice/Points: 6 
Move: 15
Actions: 2

Attack: Claw (1d6) or Bite (1d6-1) 

Special: Zombie, Tear attack (1d6+1+ 1d4 damage on damaged foes turn from bleeding) - counts as two actions 

Bonuses: +5 to attacks, +2 to damage, Athletics: Basic +5 

Morale: 10 

Terror: 12 

HDE: 8

Method of Termination: Damage to the brain, severing the head, burning the body

• Zombie - Immunity to Poisons, Diseases, Toxins, Fear, Mind Probing, Mind Control, Pain, Surprise Attack damage, and Critical hits. Anyone bit or scratched by a Jokerized zombie must make a Poison save or they will become infected. If infected they are at -2 on all attack and skill rolls, lose 1/2 their movement, and lose 1 HP a minute until they die, at which point they become a zombie with these this special abilities. If used in STZ2E use the Infection saving throw instead. 
• Maniacal Laugh - One per round combatants within 50 ft of a laughing Jokerized zombie must make a save vs. Fear. If failed the person must use their turn to move away from the zombie. If pass, there are no game affects, though the character is still thoroughly creeped out.

Succubus Sunday

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Christmas in Gotham

One of my favorite TikTok personalities, ThePandaRedd, just posted a holiday skit he did over on his YouTube page. Most of his Batfamily skits are funny. This one isn’t, but it’s still great.

Squirrel Girl Saturday - Christmas Spectacular

Marry Christmas to all of you fine folks that celebrate it and Happy Holidays to those of you that dont. 

Enjoy this festive Squirrel Girl cosplay by Galacticat.

The Stennard Courrier Volume 1

The Stennard Courrier Volume 1 is the latest release by Breaker Press and details the town of Stennard. Stennard is connected to the publisher's previous, such as Wide-Eyed Terror, Tome of Debasement, and Rabid Dogs. You don't have to have them to enjoy the book, but they do add to it. The zine says its designed for 4-8 1st level characters or 12-16 0-level characters. Honestly, because it's a location and not an adventure, it can be used for whatever. 

The zine details the town, laws (with punishments), culture and background, views on magic, and background. There are 10 locations detailed as well as the folks that dwell there. The npc featured are presented in a useful fashion. We're given stats and a headshot. Additionally, each character is presented with a background. Their personality traits, motivations, friendships and affiliations, suspicions and enmities, possessions, and family. My favorite characters are the gay dwarven gents that own the tavern and the gent that owns the lampoil house  Finally the zine has a name generator for residents and several charts of goods and services you can purchase in the town.

As with Wide-Eyed Terror, The Stennard Courier Volume 1 can be used in pretty much any DCC game. I will definitely be using it in my next game. You just can't go wrong with Breaker Press. Get your copy here.

My Toothpick...

 Here's the first preview of the Critical Role series.

Also take a second to check out the opening sequence.

I know Critical Role has it's haters, but personally I'm pretty excited. The series debuts January 28th (a week earlier than expected) on Amazon.

The Jingler

It's been more than a year (maybe two) since The Lone Bards have released anything. I've worked on a few projects for other folks since then, but haven't put out any of my own content. I want that to change. I've decided to work on a new zine. It might take a while to complete, but I'm excited. This will be one I print and put together myself, in old school zine fashion. The focus is going to be 5e supers content. I'm not going to come up with a supers system for 5e, the idea is that you can use the content in your regular game or with one of the pre-existing 5e takes on supers (such as Carbide City, which I highly recommend). The zine will feature equipment, npc's (villains, heroes, and others), plot hooks (and maybe short adventures), and optional rules ideas. Much like I did with Light City, I want to use some of the great (and not so great) content from the public domain for this one. Here's an example of a villain you could add to your games.

The Jingler

Real Name: Edward Fearing 

First Appearance: Top-Notch Comics #26 (April 1942) 

Armor Class: 13 (lightly armored costume, dexterity)

HP:  55 (10d8+10)

Speed: 30

Attributes: Str 10 (+0), Dexterity 14 (+2), Con 12 (+1), Int 15 (+2), Wis 13 (+1), Cha 9 (-1)

Saving Throws: Int +5

Skills: Deception +2, Perform +2, Stealth +5

Sense: passive Perception 11

Languages: English

Challenge: 2 (450 XP)

Traits 

Cunning Action: On each of his turns, the Jingler can use a bonus action to take the Dash, Engage, or Hide action.

Actions

Multiattack: The Jingler can make two attacks with his pistol or knife.

Atrocious Poetry: The Jingler recites a bit of poetry. Each creature within 60 ft must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw, or take 5 (2d4) psychic damage and have disadvantage on all actions their next turn. Only creatures that can hear and understand Jingler can be affected by this ability.

Knife: Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack. +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft, one target. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) piercing damage.

Pistol: Ranged Weapon Attack. +5 to hit, range 50/150 ft., one target, Hit: 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage. (15 round clip)

Background

Edward Fearing dreamt of being a world renowned poet. Unfortunately for Edward, his poetry was simply the worst. Eventually he found himself starving, having been rejected by every publisher in the city. When an incident involving the accidental murder of a man over food led to one of his poems being published, Edward realized that if he wanted the world to know his work he must kill! He began to call himself the Jingler and started murdering literary critics and publishers in the city. In each circumstance he would compose a poem about the murder, using his victim's blood as ink. 

____________________________________________

If you have any thoughts about the zine or anything, please leave a comment.

Music Monday - Merry FNAF Christmas

Here’s a music video and live recording if JT Music’s Five Nights At Freddy’s Christmas song.

Of course I have relevant game content.

Killer Animatronics (Survive)

Killera Animatronics (Mutant and Dungeon Crawl Classics)

Slasher Zine Kickstarter

Slasher Zine: A Two-Volume Zine for Mork Borg is a project currently on Kickstarter.  The zines are a compilation of content created for the itch.io Slasher Jam held this past October. The content takes slasher depravity and turns it into Mork Borg content. Volume 1 is a 60 page zine that will focus on classes, items, and monsters. Volume 2 is going to be 80 pages and will contain adventures written for the jam. The Kickstarter pays for getting the project printed and paying the folks that submitted articles to the jam. All stretch goal money (and as you can see the project funded, goes to pay the contributors more for their work).

I love Mork Borg and I love slashers. This project is definitely one for me and if you like either of those things, you should check it out. 

Music Monday - Merry Axemas

 Enjoy this Xmas classic from Ice Nine Kills.

And since it was inspired by Silent Night, Deadly Night, enjoy these 5E and Vigilante City stats based on the music video, the film, and it’s first sequel.

Axemas Killer
Santa Billy
Santa Ricky

Succubus Sunday

Source 

Purgatory

Purgatory is a third party supplement for Mork Borg. Within the pages of this zine you'll find tons of great content for the game. Here's what you'll find between the covers:

d100 Encounters 

The name says it all. This feature details 100 different encounters appropriate for the doomed and ravaged lands of Mork Borg. Some are environmental, others roleplaying centered, and some combat. Any relevant stats needed are provided. This section is extremely useful to gm's.

Classes and Skills

Classes are optional in Mork Borg. Personally, I really like them. The classes presented in Purgatory are a bit more powerful and odd, than the original book's. The new classes are: Fallen God, False Saint, Haunted Scapegrace, Pact Conjuror, Quack Doctor, and Unversed Alchemist. These definitely present some unique and interesting gaming oppurtunities. Three new types of skills are presented as well. They are Sacred Skills, Unclean Skills, and Worldly Skills. These are just another optional rule that allow characters to improve.

Karpyl Bridge

This is a new adventure site haunted by the cursed arcane vortex of a fallen wizard.

The Cult of the Knotted Snake

Hidden in a secluded mountain lair, this serpent cult promises food and mystic ascension for those that join. Rules for joining the cult are included, as well as a magic snake and high cultist.

Purgatory

This shouldn't be surprising, given the name of the zine, but Purgatory is a major focus of this week. There is an introduction to the plane as well as rule specific information. Monsters that populate it are described and statted out. There are several pages of hex descriptions to create the terrain. Additionally, the some rulers of Purgatory are described and given stats. The first is Civil Servant Fred. He doesn't have stats, but representing the "grinding processes and bureaucracy" I find him the most frightening. The other four are given more detail. The first is Harahel, a librarian angel cast out of Heaven. The second is Infernis the Fire Dancer, an extremely sarcastic succubus.  The third is Erixat, a cyber horse. The final is Saint Hesper, Patron of Knights.

If you can't tell, this is a very useful supplement to Mork Borg. There is a lot of new content that can be used to flesh out your games and the addition of Purgatory can help you extend games beyond character death. You can get your copy here. 

Corpsewake Cove

Corpsewake Cove is a Morg Borg compatible adventure written and illustrated by Madeleine Ember. While I didn't back the initial Kickstarter for this adventure, it's the one that got me interested in Mork Borg. Why you ask? It's because of bloody pirates! Here's the adventure's tag line:

FIGHT PIRATES, GET REVENGE, and STEAL THEIR FUCKING TREASURE!

I love pirates and nautical things. I think I've made that clear over the years, particularly with my talk of Freeport and Genial Jack. 

In the adventure the party must infiltrate a wretched hive of piratical scum and villainy, the titular Corpsewake Cove, and get revenge of the pirate kings. Well revenge is one motivation, the book also presents three alternate backgrounds to tie characters to the adventure. The book makes excellent use of the inside covers, presenting pirate vernacular and a few customize your pirate charts. In the book you'll find a description of the town, a timetable of events, details and stats for the pirate captains, the curse that afflicts them, and a massive bestiary. The pirate captains are all quite interesting. My favorite is the muscled lesbian captain, Cap'n "Sweetie Mae." She loves candy, carnage, and is looking for a good wife to spoil. There are several great monster stats in the book. A Frankenshark (it's exactly what it sounds like) hunts in the harbor. One of the pirate ships even has a figure head than can animate and duke it out. Throw in a manticore, undead creatures, various vermin, and a frothy sludge and you have quite the party.

I've not ran this one yet, but it seems like it would be a blast. There are several ways players can approach it and it seems like it would be full of memorable encounters. If you like Mork Borg and/or pirates, pick this one up. You can get the pdf here. 

Final note, this is a sidebar in the book and makes me like it even more. This is my opinion of folks welcome at my table. 

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Teaser

The new Magic: The Gathering set goes back to a plane that's not been visited in decades, the East Asian-inspired plane of Kamigawa. This time there's a twist. The new card set takes Kamigawa to it's future and is a mishmash of samurai, ninjas, spirits, and cyberpunk. Check out the official teaser.

You can learn more about this new set here.

Kennels of Karnage

Kennels of Karnage is a 3rd party adventure for the doom metal hotness that is Mork Borg.  I have the limited edition cover. The adventure is 21 pages of canine goodness.

The premise of the adventure is simple. The Grand Duke Death of Galgenbeck hires the party to retrieve his stolen hounds (and particularly his most trusted servant, the dog Murder). They have been stolen by a evil fiend known as Gottfried the Hound Master. The group will have to explore a former outpost castle of Galgenbeck and defeat Gottfried and his marauders to rescue murder and the captured hounds. 

The adventure has a keyed map and several locations and encounters. Like all Mork Borg supplements there are several charts that let you customize the adventure, loot, and encounters. Some of the cooler charts include random events. There are also three different artifacts detailed. 

The book also contains a solo adventure set before Kennels of Karnage called Bloodied Memories. The adventure also includes an alteration to The Calendar of Nechrubel. This changes one of the verses and ties it to a mythical hound. Finally we are presented with a new optional class, the hound master.

Kennels of Karnage seems like an interesting adventure. It has some unique foes and challenges, as well as rewards. The optional class and alteration to the calendar is cool. If you run Mork Borg, do yourself a favor and pick this one up here. 

Black Lung Zine

Black Lung was a special zine created to benefit rpg author, Rocky Gardner. This is what you get with Black Lung. 

Cursed Barrow of the Whispering Skulls by Levi Combs

This short osr adventure is the same one found in Phylactery #3. It's a fun and has some great hooks and encounters.

Darkness Within by Jack Cull

While the description might not say so, this is a quick adventure written for Shadowrun. Because I don't know much about the system, I can't tell you how it would play out. I will say it's an interesting lead and sounds fun.

The Dying Light of Sunshot Hollow by Gabriel Rotberg

This is a system neutral underground exploration adventure. There are several charts and new items and monsters described (though again it's system agnostic so no stats). This would be a great resource for things like Out of the Abyss or Glimmering Crypt of the Ioun King.

Ki Sorcerer by Brendan LaSalle

The Ki Sorcerer is a new class for human and non-human DCC characters that presents a different kind of spellcaster. The ki sorcerer feels the flow of magic within themselves and taps into that.

Mutant Maladies by Skeeter Green

This feature presents us with three new afflictions for MCC. Each condition is given an over overview, game effects and a cure.

The Festering Hunger by Ian McGarty

The Festering Hunger is an otherworldly force worshiped by the vile and depraved written for 5e. Manifestations of this evil force are given stats as are its infected servants. Additionally a sample lair with a cultist is detailed.

Buggans Blackwood Pipe by James M. Spahn

This osr magic item is the tool of an evil fey.

The Orc Pyromancer by Jim Wampler

The Orc Pyromancer is a one room osr dungeon that can be dropped into any game or adventure.

Barrow Mimic by Greg Gillespie

This massive mimic (with osr stats) appears to be a simple barrow mind.

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Black Lung is a cool zine that was created for a good cause. Print copies aren't the easiest to find. Levi Combs of Planet X Games picked up a copy for me recently. You can still get the pdf version here. 

Phylactery Issue 3

Planet X Games is back with another issue of their amazing OSR zine, Phylactery! Ed Bickford's tribute to Uncanny X-Men 141 is great. The artwork is a great collection of pieces from Adrian Landeros, Ed Bickford, Ala Fedorova, Chris Carmen, JE Shields, Lawrence Hernandez, and Dan Smith. As per my usual review, I'll give a quick rundown of each feature and thoughts.

My Zine DNA

Levi gives a little background about his history and love of zines. This is a nice little intro and I think it's cool to learn more about a writer I admire.

The Secret History of the Grandfather of Assassins

Great background for to add some assassin oriented history to your game.  Every game needs an assassin's guild right? The article ends with a two unique magic items.

Alternate Death Blow Techniques for High Level Monks 

This feature provides 10 different alternatives to the 13 level quivering palm ability of the 1e monk. These feel like they were taken straight from a Shaw Brothers production.

Gods, The Fallen and the Forsaken

Five new obscure divine patrons are presented. Of these my favorite is Jurak, godling of mongrelmen (one of my favorite races) and outcasts. 

More Secrets From The Lich's Crypt

Need unique nasty items? This article is for you. There are three presented. Like everything Levi rights, they have pretty cool backstories and lore associated with them.

Secret Organizations and Diabolical Cults

Three new cults are presented. Of them, I have to say the Shade-Druids of Usk-Var apppeal to me the most. There's something about a group of vile albino druids that checks all the right boxes. Levi does such a good job with these articles, I sometimes think he might be the head of a secret cabal.                 

Evil Books and Sorcerous Tomes

This librarian loves any new tome related content. Levi gives us three new maniacal magical librams. Of the vile books of darkness, I think the Tableau of the Gibbering Maw is my favorite.

Naga Bob, Veteran Adventurer

A hired sword and thief. He can be a rival, ally, mentor, or part of your party.

Saint Kurnus, The Fallen

Fallen paladins are great villains, especially tragic ones. The tale of Saint Kurnus is a sad one. 

The Grand Heresy of Chernobog 

Your game needs priest-liches driven by hate! These malicious undead spellcasters are described and a example is given.

Cursed Barrow of the Whispering Skulls

This short adventure includes, hooks, rumors, a map, and encounters. I haven't ran it, but it looks like a nice side trek for any game.

Myths and Legends Straight Outta The Grindhouse

Levi introduces us to Kaltraraag, "the Graveyard of Dragons." This legendary locale is said to be saturated with magic, being the final resting place of numerous dragons. 

Here There Be Monsters!

Four new monsters are presented: blight hag, Kyuss polyp, murderous idol, and witchmaw troll. The 

Kyuss polyp is my favorite, though I'm not sure if Kyuss is in the OGL.

The zine ends with some illustrations and an advertisement for King Tut's Rootin' Tootin' Weird West RPG Extravabonanza. Hands down, Levi Combs, is one of the best active rpg content creators. My man has a wonderfully twisted mind and knows how to articulate his thoughts. Order your copy today at Exalted Funeral.

The Halloween Babysitter

Diogo posted pictures of The Halloween Babysitter back in October and it looked so cool, I had to grab a copy from Exalted Funeral for myself. The zine is 21 pages of gorgeous and horrific goodness. The art is phenomenal and was created in a few types of media. The zine opens with a comic that does a great job of explaining the game and setting the mood. 

For one reason or another, the the players (who are all playing children) have been taken to a home with a peculiar babysitter. They most complete or her chores or face horrific punishments. The zine gives character creation rules, stats for antagonists the children will face, background on the babysitter, and a map of the home. The game is deadly, but given that it's for a system called Squishy, that's to be expected. This feels like a partial review, because I am not familiar with Squishy so I can't tell you exactly how this game plays out. It seems that the rules are really simple and easy to pick up and it can't be too complex.

If you like Halloween or horror, I highly recommend this zine, even if you never plan on playing it. It's just a cool collector's piece and beautiful. You can grab your own copy here.

Music Monday - Insane

 Check out this catchy tune from the series Hazbin Hotel.

Succubus Sunday

Source 

Source

Macabre Volume 1

Macabre is a new series of zines by Wolfe Manzella and Primitive Screwhead Productions. DCC and horror is the name of the game. A unique aspect of Macabre is that it doesn't focus on one type of horror. All varieties are welcome and will be included at some point. This week I received Volume 1 and it's a howling good time. Physically the zine is sturdy. It uses a thick stock cover and paper. The whole thing is black and white and it has artwork by some extremely talented folks, including my friends Diogo Nogeuira, Bradley McDevitt, and Carmin Vance. Like I do with most reviews (especially zine ones), I'll give a little overview and some thoughts on the different sections.

Welcome To  Your Doom

This short piece introduces the macabre setting of Nekrovania. It's a horror setting that embodies the spirit (pun intended) of the zine. In this setting slashers, exorcists, space leaches, and robotic vampires all exist. 

New Horrific Rules

Several new rules are introduces to add dread and doom to your typical DCC game. New rules (and a chart) for permanent injuries is included, as well as settings specific healing rules. The are new options to makes infernal deals and risking catastrophe for another chance. In this setting death corrupts even the best and there are rules for this as well. Some fantastic resurrection rules inspired by Pet Semetary and other horrific sources is also included. Of course you can use some, all, or none of these rules in your game.

The Tarot Deck

Macabre games make use of a tarot deck and the Judge needs to have one. For now I'll use my Zombie Tarot. These decks should be used for drama as well as actual mechanical abilities. All new class presented in Macabre will utilize Tarot decks.

Oh The Horror!

This discusses how you can add horror to games that include classic DCC elements. Just because the characters have fantastic abilities and magical steal, doesn't mean you can't put the fear of death in them. Four useful tips (with minor rule effects) are suggested. I won't spoil it, but the Bonus Tip is my favorite. 

Castle Nekrovania  

This monolith is the center of evil and monsters in Nekrovania. It's definitely inspired by Castlevania and I love that. The rule are physical appearance isn't set in stone. The Judge can and should tailor it to their game. This section includes some world building charts and discusses how to make Nekrovania your own. 

The Deathstalker

Have you ever wanted to play a Belmont? If you've played the Castlevania games (or seen the Netflix series) the answer is obviously yes! The Deathstalker allows you to do that. These brave (suicidal so) heroes know that they will be embraced by death, but they will make sure to kill as many creatures of the night before they do. This is a true love letter to the games. The class has a sub-weapons feature that mimics the power-ups you get in the game. Like future Macabre classes, it also uses a Tarot deck.

Monster of the Week

Who wants boring monsters that are the same? This doesn't really fit the DCC unique monster vibe. This feature is full of random tables that let you break out your funky DCC dice and customize your werewolves, wolfmen, and manwolves. There are 15 different charts, including a new critical hit chart. I can't wait to see the vampire version of this article.

From Beyond

Another conceit of this setting is that each session or campaign should be influenced by ancient evil. However, one should be a Prime Evil that has slithered its way into Castle Nekrovania and influences things overall. We are given an example, the Walpurgis Nachternia. This entity seeks to wrap the world in eternal night and can use an evil hive known as the Notctis to inhabit anything and make it a tool of ultimate darkness. The feature discusses how this Prime Evil affects Castle Nekrovania and the surrounding lands. It also provides locations with adventure hooks. Its servants, the burlap nightmares, are given stats and the Noctis is described a bit more.

Bottoms Up

The final feature gives the recipe for a werewolf themed drink, The Moon Beast. Sounds tasty!

I absolutely LOVE this zine. Y'all know I love horror and DCC. This is the perfect blending of the two. All of the content is entertaining and practical, even if you aren't playing a Nekrovania game. I don't think this one is available to the public yet. I'd keep your eye out on the Goodman Games store though and order a copy as soon as their in stock. 

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Plot

Claire Redfield returns to her home, Raccoon City, to warm her brother of a vast conpsiracy. Once a booming city and formerly the home of pharmaceutical company, Umbrella Corps, the town is dying. While talking with Chris, a mysterious siren goes off and Chris gets a call to investigate a mansion in the nearby mountains. As the residents of the city become flesh eating zombies, the siblings must fight for their lives and deal with a vast conspiracy.

 

Review

A combination and reinterpretation of the video games Resident Evil 1 and 2 this movie is definitely closer to the source movie than the original franchise. This version of Raccoon City could have been a hundred different dying towns in the Rust Belt or greater Midwest. It ever kind of reminded me of my home town. 

I enjoyed the cast. Kaya Scodelario was fantastic as Claire. Hanna John-Kamen's take on Jill was interesting. I like the idea that she might be a little crazy. Tom Hopper's Wesker is definitely an original interpretation of the character, but I liked the down to earth Wesker better than the pretentious one. Donal Logue (who I didn't know was in the movie) was funny as Chief Irons. Neal McDonough plays a perfect bad guy, as usual. I was happily surprised to see Letterkenny's Nathan Dales in the movie. Robbie Amell was beefy eye candy, which lets be honest, that's what Chris is in most of the games.  

Okay, I skipped over one of the leads because I wanted to talk a little bit more. Avan Jogia's Leon S. Kennedy while a vastly different interpretation than previous versions. Yes Leon was introduced as the rookie in RE2, but he was super capable. This Leon is comedic relief. The circumstances that lead him to Raccoon City are silly he's already there and known when things start. This didn't sit well with me as some of the other changes, because Leon is my favorite protagonist in the series and is a total badass. However, when all was said and done, I liked the character in the movie. Avan Jogia did a great job of playing the clueless rookie. The fact he was easy on the eyes, might have helped. 

The effects of the movie were hit and miss. While I do like the slower transformation of the townsfolk into bio-weapons, the zombies looked lame at times. The monster CG didn't look like big budget Hollywood, though it was alright. The exception being the Licker, which I thought looked great. Lisa Trevor is thoroughly creepy and looked cool. There are some really cool shots in the movie.

The last thing I wanted to talk about are the video game Easter eggs. There are a lot. Names are dropped constantly, there's some footage of the beginnings of Umbrella that tie back to the franchise. My favorite throwback though is a line Jill has that references two of the more absurd bosses in the first game.

It's final verdict time. Do I think this was a great horror flick. Sadly I do not. I think it had a lot of great potential and sadly didn't live up to it. That being said I think it's a fun movie and I enjoyed it. I really hope it does well enough to get a sequel. 

In Your Game

Add Lickers to your Zombies! or other ST games.

Licker

Armor Class: 15

Hit Dice: 8
Move: 15
Actions: 2
Attack: Bite (1d6-1) or Claw (1d6) or Tongue (special)
Special: +5 to Toughness, bite spreads zombie virus, 
Bonuses: +5 to Melee attacks, +3 to Damage
Morale: 10
Pack Size: 1
Methods of Termination: Reduction to 0 HP

Anyone hit by the Licker's tongue attack is restrained. While restrained they have Disadvantage on all physical rolls except for trying to escape. It requires a DC 15 Str or Dex check to escape. This can be a straight stat check or skill check if players justify use of the skill. 

Vought International Seven on 7 (December Edition)

 Another episode of Seven on 7 dropped today. As I expected there is some Fox News-esque War on Christmas stuff, though it's not quite what I thought it would be. I'm really enjoying these videos and I hope that they keep being made as long as the show is on the air. 

Music Monday - Rise Up

 It took me a while to warm up to Ahsoka, but she became a great character. Check out this JT Music tribute.

Succubus Sunday

 

Source

Wide-Eyed Terror

Wide-Eyed Terror is a DCC roadside encounter by Breaker Press. Designed for 12-16 0-level characters or 4-6 1st level characters. Taking place at a semi-isolated farmhouse, the adventure can be used with or without the publisher's The Precipice of Corruption adventure, which can be supplemented by their fantastic Tome of Debasement zine. The encounters introduce Nolids and the canid companions, mutilated cultists of Gorrsecck the Lidless. These horrific fiends have set themselves upon a farmhouse. The players will explore the aftermath of their raid, help the survivors, and slay some evil. There are a few buildings to explore in this short adventure/extended encounter. 

I like this publisher's work and their style. The art is good, the books always include interesting pc's, and its' very descriptive. Also, despite being designed to use with a setting/adventure in mind it can be dropped into just about any game. If I ever get around to running my Shudder Mountains game, this will definitely be a part of it. 

You can grab a copy of this zine at the Breaker Press Games webstore.