NPFO

I love this piece of art from Hassan Saber and wanted to share.

The Big Book of Monsters - Rappaccini's Daughter

I love monster books, even if they aren't gaming related. A few years back I picked a really cool looking children's book called The Big Book of Monsters at Ollie's Bargain Outlet. It's written by Hal Johnson and illustrated by Tim Sievert. I love the colors used in the book and honestly it was Sievert's artwork that really convinced me to buy it. 

The book gives easy to digest summaries of 25 different creatures from myth, legend, and fiction. Each monster has a handy sidebar that lists: category, base of operations, when, powers, most dastardly deed, and fear factor. Sivert's fun illustrations highlight the creepiness of the monsters and after each description we're given a "Beyond the Book" section that elaborates on topics related to the monster. 

This book is one of those fun books I would have absolutely loved as a kid. I thought it would be fun to periodically stat out some of the monsters presented in different systems. For the first I'm going to go with a new monster to me: Beatrice Rappaccini. 

Appearing in Nathaniel Hawthorne's gothic short story "Rappaccini's Daughter," Beatrice is the daughter of a genius professor of the University of Padua. Raised in a garden filled with poisonous hybrid plants cultivated by her father, she lived an isolated life. She fell in love with the first young man she met. Unfortunately because of her upbringing, her very presence was poisonous. Insects died when they got near her and when she touched her love's wrist, it turned purple with a rash. Despite her condition, Giovanni loved the beautiful Beatrice. Though he never touched her or any of the deadly plants, he soon gained her poisonous aura himself. Giovanni's condition was cured by an antidote created by his friends. Hoping to truly be with his love he gave Beatrice the antidote. Unfortunately she was a creature of poison and immediately died.

Here are Old-School Essential monster stats for Beatrice:

Beatrice Rappaccini

Armor Class 7 [12]

Hit Dice 2* (9hp) 

Attacks 1 x touch (poison)

THAC0 18 [+1]

Movement 120' (40')

Saving Throws D 10 W 11 P 12 B 13 S 14 (4)

Morale 6

Alignment Neutral

XP 25

Number Appearing Unique

Treasure Type E 

• Poisonous Aura: Any creature that comes within 10' takes 1d4 damage.   
• Poison Immunity: Beatrice is immune to all forms of poison and venom (natural or supernatural).
• Poison: Causes death (save vs poison)
• Toxic Essence: Any antidote or effect that cures poison causes death (save vs poison)

Music Monday - Hero Too

Hero Too is a song written and performed by Class 1-A for the U.A. School Festival Arc. It's really cute and the track makes me happy. Like the Marvel Rivals theme, the vocals for this one were done by Chrissy Costanza of Against the Current.

Nothing Like Doing Good To Make You Feel Good!!

The My Hero Academia spinoff, Vigilantes, debuts in April. Set five years before the original, the story focuses on Koichi, a college freshman who wants to use his quick to help people, despite not being a licensed hero. He soon finds himself teaming up with the grizzled Knuckleduster and the street idol, Pop☆Step and acting as a vigilante in the Naruhata ward of Tokyo. The ragtag trio must deal rampant use of Trigger.

The trailer dropped a few days ago and I think it looks fantastic. I'm currently reading the manga and it's a been a fun story. I'm definitely excited to see it animated.

I wanted to do some game stats too, so here is Koichi at at the beginning of his vigilante journey. His quirk, Slide and Glide, allow him to slide over surfaces all long as he has three points of contact. He can slide up vertical surfaces and move quickly. However, if he goes faster than a bike he risks injuring himself or those around him due to lack of training. His hero costume consists of one of his many collectable All-Might hoodies and a medical mask. He is initially known as Mr. Nice Guy by the locals, though he decides to start calling himself The Crawler soon after becoming a student of Knuckleduster.

Code Name: Mr. Nice Guy/ The Crawler

Real Name: Koichi Haimawari

Pronouns: He/Him

Team Affiliation: Naruhata Vigilantes

Medium Humanoid, Neutral Good 

Armor Class: 14 (Dex)

Hit Points: 26 (4d8+8)

Speed: 30 ft.

Challenge: 1 (200 XP)

Str 14 (+2) Dex 18 (+4) Con 14 (+2) Int 12 (+1) Wis 14 (+2) Cha 12 (+1)

Saving Throws: Dex +6, Wis +4

Skills: Acrobatics +6, Investigation +3, Parapsychology +3, Perception +4

Senses: passive Perception 14

Languages: Japanese

Unique Traits

Blurry: The Crawler doesn't provoke opportunity attacks from movement.

Nimble Striker: The Crawler can use his Dexterity instead of Strength on unarmed strikes.

Slide and Glide: As long as the Crawler has at least three limbs in contact with a surface his movement increases to 120 ft. He can move backwards and up vertical surfaces while using slide and glide. However, if he doesn't have three limbs in contact while moving up a vertical surface he falls prone.

Untrained: If the Crawler moves more than 60 ft. in a round he must make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check DC 15. If he fails this safe he crashes into something, taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet more than 60 feet he moved and becomes prone.

Actions

Mutliattack: The Crawler can make two unarmed attacks.

Unarmed: Melee Weapon Attack. +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 bludgeoning damage.

She's A Real Stunner

It's been a while since I've statted up an obscure comic villain, so here's 5e stats for a Spidey villain from the 90's Clone Saga era. She was brought back for a story in 2013 and is still technically around and kicking in 2025.

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Angelina Brancale was an overweight video clerk who suffered from depression. She was recruited by Carolyn Trainer (Doctor Octopus II) to work for the original Doctor Octopus. Angelina immediately fell for Doc Ock and allowed herself to test his virtual reality tech.  This tech allowed her to create a new body that she could cause to materialize and send her consciousness to. Because of the unstable nature of the program this body would sometimes dematerialize at inopportune moments or when exposed to too much force.

Her new form, donned Stunner, was a 7 ft amazon beauty with super strength and durability. She served Ock faithfully and sought to resurrect her love when he was killed by the Spider-clone, Kaine. In the aftermath of that incident her physical body went into a coma.

When she woke from the coma, she learned that her love was dead and believed he'd been killed by Spider-Man. Unknown to her, Otto, was actually inhabiting Peter Parker's body at the time and was Spider-Man. Spider-Man created a virtual version of Otto to make her think he was still alive. Unfortunately this Otto told her that while he will always care for her, he found a new love.

-------------------

Angelina is a Commoner (basic 5e) or Average Citizen (Carbide City), though I'd increase her Int a bit. The stats below are for her Stunner form.

Code Name: Stunner

Real Name: Angelina Brancale

Pronouns: She/Her

Team Affiliation: -

Medium Construct, Chaotic Neutral 

Armor Class: 14 (Dex)

Hit Points: 73 (7d8+42)

Speed: 30 ft.

Challenge: 2 (450 XP)

Str 22 (+6) Dex 18 (+4) Con 22 (+6) Int 12 (+1) Wis 10 (+0) Cha 16 (+3)

Saving Throws: Str +8

Skills: Athletics +8, Intimidation +5

Damage Immunities: poison, psychic

Condition Immunities: blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned

Senses: passive Perception 10

Languages: English

Unique Traits

Dematerialize: When Stunner is reduced to 0 hit points, she dematerializes. Angelina must wait 24 hours until she can recreate her.

Unstable Tech: When Stunner takes damage from a Critical Hit she must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 14) or dematerialize.

Actions

Mutliattack: Stunner can make two slam attacks.

Slam: Melee Weapon Attack. +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+6) bludgeoning damage.

Music Monday - Peg Leg Silly-Billy

This collaboration between Patty Gurdy and Alestorm's Christopher Bowes is some nautical fun. Listening to it reminded me of how much I want to run Secret of the Black Crag 

WWE vs The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

This Marvel vs WWE artwork by Norberto Gaeten is fantastic. You can tell the artist is a real wrestling fan. Mystique transforming into Cody’s hated gimmick Stardust is perfect.

Fuccubus Friday - Dreamqueen

Dreamqueen is the child of Dr. Strange's foe Nightmare and a succubus that he forced himself on. She inherited her mother's mystic powers and memories upon death. She is the rule of a realm called Liveworld, where can can manipulate reality itself. On earth she can alter the perception of others. She is immortal (also having superhuman durability), has Cosmic Awareness, and practices dream magic. 

Her first comic book appearance saw her taking on Alpha Flight.

Marvel’s One-Punch Man

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Inspired by Tim's new Tales from the Vault series I've decided to go through my issues and trades and talk about some of the interesting stuff I have. I thought I'd start with one I'd say a lot of folks have never heard of Fight Man #1. I hadn't heard of it until I found a copy in the dollar boxes of my old comic shop.

Fight Man is a one-shot published by Marvel in 1993. It features art and writing from Evan Dorkin, with inking by Pam Eklund, and color by Su McTeigue. You might recognize Dorkin from his Milk and Cheese series.

The titular Fight-Man can fly, and has super strength, invulnerability, energy projection, and super breath. His invulnerability isn't absolute. He does get knocked out at one point, but its because has a building dropped on him, but it doesn't seem to actually hurt him. While this combined with his looks might make you think Superman, he has none of Clark's redeeming social traits. Fight-Man is childish and says things like "I can't hear you" and plugs his ears when having conversations he doesn't want to be a part of. He doesn't take anyone seriously, his actions have lead to the deaths of 15 young sidekicks, and is hated by pretty much everyone in his home of Delta City. While he's vocal and has an "I'll fight anyone" attitude, he's secretly a coward. He begs his wife and her lawyer to not sue him like a crybaby.

In the story Fight-Man is broke and lives with his parents. He has no sponsors or merch and makes a living by selling supervillain memorabilia. To top it off he is being sued by everyone in Delta City, including his ex-wife. Various teams of villains attack him, until it's finally revealed that his arch rival, the Hooded Eye (who's been missing for at least a decade) has hired Fight Man's enemies and eventually the entire city to take him out. After being captured, it is revealed that this Hooded Eye is actually his heavily scarred (and very much alive) first sidekick, Kid Fight-Man. He escapes the trap and takes out the hordes of angry citizens and villains with ease. After the fight ends, the police arrive, but it isn't to arrest the villains that attacked him, it's to arrest Fight-Man for the many times he's endangered minors.

Though published by Marvel in the early 90's this story takes place in it's own continuity. This wasn't Dorkin's original plan though. The hordes of villains coming after Fight-Man were supposed to be D-listers like Stiltman and Shocker. My guess is the editors thought it was two silly for the edgy books of the time. Surprisingly, ten years later Fight- Man would make the transition to the 616, appearing in Agent X issues 10 and 11, written by Dorkin. I've not read the issues but it takes place after Fight-Man gets out of prison.

You might have noticed that this story mirrors Batman: Under the Red Hood. Kid sidekick is killed and returns years later as a villain wearing the guise of the man that killed him. I'm sure this trope has been used before, but I thought this was a fun coincidence.

This book is goofy hero satire in the vein of something like The Tick. The art is comical and the absurdity very entertaining. Fight-Man is such a man baby that it's ridiculous. He thinks he can punch his way through life. However, he's also nominally a hero. For example he can't punch a woman because of the "hero code." He does get around this with the help of a sharpie and cognitive dissonance.

If you run a supers game, you could have a great session involving your players trying to stop Fight-Man (or a Fight-Man-esque character) from causing too much collateral damage, or at least helping citizens caught in the crossfire. If you're running a Carbide City game, the stats for Adam the First Man would be appropriate for Fight-Man.  

The 5e Vigilante City Kickstarter Is Live!

 The 5e Vigilante City for 5e Kickstarter launched earlier today. With this project, Bloat Games is taking the street level vigilante spirit of the SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City and rebuilding it from the ground up for 5e (both the original and 2024/2025 version). Now I know some folks think, 5e doesn't need to be everything, and I agree with that. However, there are a lot of us that really love 5e and a system and are totally down for this. The plethora of 5e supers content I've created shows this. The content is going to be released in two hardcover books, one for players and one for GM's.

Like the original game, classes will be divided into two groups: Human and MegaHuman. The human classes will be Archer, Athlete, Crime Fighter, Dark Avenger, Gadgeteer, Martial Artist, Mercenary, Protégé, and True Vigilante. The MegaHuman classes are Anthropomorph, Borg, Mutant, Mystic, Powered Armor, Psion, Speedster, and Super Soldier. Additional content will include, but won't be limited to, rules for super drugs, background/origins. new weapons/equipment/gadgets. and vehicle combat. GM's will be given tons of advice and tools, including adventure seeds, npcs, hooks, an optional setting.

This is going to be an awesome game and you should definitely check it out.

Music Monday - Curtain Call

Curtain Call is the opening theme to My Hero Academia's most recent season. It's the 13th opening theme. The theme is catchy and the video does a great job of contrasting the heroes and villains of the series.  

The Real Reason Batman Has Never Killed The Joker…

I've shared content from The Panda Redd before. He has some insightful posts about (primarily Batman) comics. He also does some really funny skits. I really like this Under The Red Hood inspired one. 

So is the Joker a cryptid? 😜

I've posted quite a bit of Batman related game content through the years. Check out my Gotham City Knights tag if you want to check it out.

Invincible Zombies

Check out this fantastic artwork from Invincible artist Ryan Otley.

I've not created any Invincible stats, but I do have some supers zombies content. 

D&D 5E

• Anti-Living
• Kl'rt the Super Skrull
• Hit-Monkey
• Howard the Duck
• Cyclops Gun

Cinematic Unisystem

• Cyclops
• Wolverine
• Multiple Man
• Howard the Duck
• Squirrel Girl

SURVIVE THIS!!

• Jokerized Zombies
• Colonel America

Dungeon Crawl Classics/Mutant Crawl Classics

• The Hunger Virus
• Howard the Duck
• Squirrel Girl

The Lassos of Fate

I really enjoy ComicPop on YouTube. Their Back Issues series is a lot of fun. It's just friends sitting on a couch talking about graphic novels and comic book storylines. Normally there are three folks on the couch, though sometimes there are four. Two of the individuals are serious comic book fans and the other two are casual ones. I've enjoyed their videos and watched a few Wonder Women-centric ones recently. That inspired by to stat out Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth. To do that I had to give stats for a basic lasso. My rules for them were inspired by a few different versions I've seen online. I also learned that the most recent run of Wonder Woman has changed some of her lore and now the Lasso of Truth is one of three Lassos of Fate. The second lasso is the Lasso of Lies and was wielded by the king of America. The third has yet to be revealed.

Lasso

Martial Ranged Weapon 

Lasso is a unique weapon that does no damage had is ranged (10/30). On a hit a creature (size large or smaller) becomes restrained as long as you hold the lasso. On it's turn, a restrained creature can use its action to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics)check to free itself.  The creature chooses the ability to use.

While a creature is restrained you can use an action to attempt to pull creature closer to you. You make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the creature's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. The creature chooses the ability to use. If the creature fails the check you can pull it towards you (up to a distance equal to your Strength ability modifier X 5).

Doing 5 slashing damage to a lasso frees a creature being restrained by it and destroys the lass.

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The Lasso of Truth

Weapon (lasso), unique, require attunement

This glowing golden lasso is one of the three Lassos of Fate, which was refurbished by Haephestus and wielded Wonder Woman's aunt, Antiope. The wielder has +3 to attack with this weapon. Unlike a normal lasso, it cannot be destroyed by attacking it. 

Empowered by the fires of Hestia, it forces anyone held by or touching it to tell the absolute truth. A creature touching the Lasso that is asked a question must make a DC 20 Charisma saving throw, or answer the question fully and truthfully. If they succeed the saving they may say nothing, but they still cannot lie. A creature that succeeds the saving throw cannot be compelled to answer questions for 24 hours.  

Because they are "made of lies" bound by the Lasso take 14 (4d6) radiant damage at the start of their turns.

If the wilder of the Lasso tells a lying knowingly, they are immediately unattuned to the weapon.

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The Lasso of Lies

Weapon (lasso), unique, require attunement

This otherworldly tether is one of the three Lassos of Fate, which was refurbished by Haephestus and wielded wielded by the secret king of America, the Sovereign. The wielder has +3 to attack with this weapon. Unlike a normal lasso, it cannot be destroyed by attacking it

. 

Empowered by the fires of Hestia, it forces anyone held by or touching it to tell the absolute truth. Any creature restrained by Lasso must make a DC 20 Charisma saving throw or believe anything spoken by the leader, even if goes against their recollections or insight. A creature that succeeds the saving throw cannot be compelled by the Lasso for another 24 hours.  

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There is a third unknown lasso.

Fuccubus Friday - Spite

Spite is a mystic being (referred to as a succubus by some) that serves Cyttorak and is an ally of the Juggernaut.

A New HeroClix Quest Begins...

My friend, Jodie aka Quest Wise, has started a new YouTube series on his channel and I wanted to give it a spotlight. He was gifted a huge collection of Heroclix that belonged to a local collector. Jodie then became the caretaker of the collection. In receiving the collection, Jodie learned more about his friend that passed on. In the series he's going to talk about learning about rediscovering his love of Heroclix,  looking into the life of the man that collected the Heroclix, and also learning about some of the more obscure superhero lore related to the characters in the game. 

Music Monday - It’s Jeff

I’ve shared a lot of Marvel Rivals stuff recently, but it’s a fun game and I love it. Here’s a video from their official page featuring Jeff (the best boy) singing the theme.

Music Monday - Bekhauf

What do you get when you mix Indian metal band Bloodywood, Japanese Kawaii metal band BABYMETAL, and some kickass animation? You get this awesome music video!

Bedlam City

Bedlam City Basics is a free supers setting by Plain Brown Wrapper Games. This 47 page pdf contains everything you need to include a dark and dirty Iron Age city to your supers game. The pdf is system agnostic, though there is an expanded version I'll talk about below. So what is Bedlam City exactly?  If you want a comparison, it's the Gotham City to your Metropolis. In the pdf you'll find an overview of the city, as well as neighborhoods, important locations, government info, the media, organized crime, and a discussion of the few heroes tied to the city.  It's a cesspool of greed and corruption. The government is inefficient and crime has infiltrated all aspects of life. I used the pdf many years ago when I ran my FreedomOPS M&M 2e game. My players took a liking to the city, especially in contrast to the gleaming metropolis of Freedom City,

Bedlam City is a greatly expanded version of the setting. There is a Savage Worlds version and a Mutants and Masterminds 2e version. They are huge, clocking in at 535 and 555 pages respectively. You can't really ask for more material in a setting, but too be honest, its too much for me. I think Bedlam City Basics is in the sweet spot of setting information for a GM (minus stats), whereas this one contains too much detail. I know I said that Bedlam City is grimy dark ages 90's stuff, but it's ever darker when fleshed out. Miller's Sin City has nothing on Bedlam City. I have the Savage Worlds pdf, and while I have a lot of Savage Worlds stuff, I can't really gage how well the stats are written because it's just not one I grok with. While the pdf contains a lot of content I won't recommend it for one big reason. There is a note at the end of the item's description that says "[THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS AI-GENERATED ARTWORK. BECAUSE WE'RE POOR]." While I can relate to funds being tight, I still can't condone using AI artwork in books. If that's not an issue for you, that's fine, but I don't like supporting products that use it. I don't remember AI being mentioned in the original version I bought, it must have been added in the updated one.

If you want to add some grime to your supers game, I really recommend downloading Bedlam City Basics.

Fuccubus Friday - Cradle of Filth #1

I've not read the Cradle of Filth comic series, but I love this alternate cover featuring their reoccurring succubus character. 

Plants Do All This Shit For Her Lazy Ass

Voiced by BJ Smoove, Frank the Plant is a supporting character in Max's Harley Quinn series (and an episode of it's spinoff Kite Man, Hell Yeah!). He was created by Poison Ivy and is a pretty good businessman. If you want to add an intelligent Venus fly-trap to your game, here you go.

Code Name: -

Real Name: Frank

Pronouns: He/Him

Team Affiliation: Harley's Crew

Medium Plant, Neutral Evil 

Armor Class: 13 (Natural Armor)

Hit Points: 65 (10d8+20)

Speed: 20 ft.

Challenge: 2 (450 XP)

Str 14 (+2) Dex 10 (+0) Con 14 (+2) Int 12 (+1) Wis 12 (+1) Cha 14 (+2)

Saving Throws: Con +4

Skills: Athletics +4, Deception +4, Perception +3

Senses: passive Perception 13

Languages: English

Unique Traits

False Appearance: While remaining motionless, Frank is indistinguishable from a normal plant.

Actions

Mutliattack: Frank can make two tendril and one bite attacks.

Bite: Melee Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage.

Tendril: Melee Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: The target is grappled (escape DC 12). Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained. The plant can't use the same tendril.