Vigilante City 5e - Part II - Classes Part 2

And today let’s look at the rest of the (non-powered) classes. 

• 
  Mentor (Stick, Alfred Pennyworth) – I’m in love with class and requested back when Eric and Josh were writing the original Vigilante City. They can boost many ally rolls based on their Wisdom modifier. Trainers are skill monkeys, Tutor are also, but more intelligence based, and Weapons Masters show you where and how to hit something hard. 
• Mutant Hunter (Elsa Bloodstone,  Caveboy) – Thematically this one seems more villainous than vigilante. Because of the name my mind goes to the Purifiers or Friends of Humanity in Marvel. That being said this is just vigilante that hunts things that aren’t human. In their own way the Winchester brothers fit this role (though they obviously go for supernatural targets). They get the ability to sense Mutants and other MegaHumans. As they level they get bonuses against these targets. The Annihilator is an aggressive subclass, while the Shadow Sly sticks to the dark corners to get things done.
• The Protégé (Robin, Bucky) – Whatever you do, don’t call them sidekicks. These vigilantes gain the ability to provide hero support and gain benefits for being with their mentor. They are also acrobatic masters. Protégés that have the Rallyist subclass are team cheerleaders that can rally the troops and serve as symbols. Warrior Wards on the other hand are charming combatants.
• Sharpshooter (Deadshot, Best Tiger) – Archers can’t have all the ranged fun. Sharpshooter’s are long range experts that provide great support to vigilante teams. Like the Archer they can add double their proficiency bonus to their ranged Modern weapon attacks. They also get trick shots. Bombardiers are the biggest loose cannons of the mix, being grenade experts. Gunslingers are dual pistol-wielding cool cats. Finally Snipers are experts at making their shots count. 
• Street Preacher (Azrael) – Sometimes vigilantes need God (or one of them) to take back the
  
  streets. The good aligned holy men, women, and enbies. They are immune to Madness and have divine aura. Crusaders are combat Street Preachers, Evangelists spread the good work via divine oration, and Spiritual Healers are specialized in channeling their divine power for optimal healing. 
• True Vigilante (Clown Hunter, Moon Knight) – These vigilantes fight fire with fire, using chaos and anarchy to fight anarchy and chaos. They are always ready to fight crime and flip off authority. Castigators smite their foes and a Nemesis is a True Vigilante that focuses on facing a certain type of foe.
• Tunnel Shadow (Catwoman, Black Cat) – These vigilantes are your stereotypical roguish types. They are stealthy and have sneak attack. Underworld Fences know how to acquire and sell stolen goods. Underworld Guides are experts at navigating sewers. 
• VC Mercenary (Paladin, Deathstroke) – These battle-hardened mercs are elite operators. Like Mutant Hunters, and Nemesis True Vigilantes, they know how to hunt and take down targets. Shadowmark Agents are black-ops types that are straight out of the Iron Age of comics while Guns for Hire specialize in destroying their targets.

Like I said yesterday, if the only classes for the games were these, you’d have more than you need. But no, not counting MegaHuman classes (which will be discussed tomorrow or Friday) there are 17 non-powered classes!

Vigilante City 5e - Part II - Classes Part 1

 Today class is in session… err I mean we’re talking about the Vigilante City classes.  As I mentioned yesterday, there are 17 non-powered classes.  I figured I’d talk about each briefly (including subclasses and such). I’ll probably break it down further and talk about the first 9 today and the other 8 tomorrow.

• Archer (Hawkeye, Green Arrow) – You know this had to be one. These cats are pretty dope. They combine ranged shenanigans with parkour. They gain double proficiency bonus when using bows and crossbows (which is ridiculously awesome). They can do all sorts of trick shots. Subclasses included Close Quarters Shooter and Reach Slayer (think sniper with a bow). Being converted from OSR, the level 3 ability for Close Quarters doesn’t make sense.  Since I’m part of the extended Bloat Games crew I’m going to make an errata document.  This is one of my favorite classes because I’ve always been a big fan of archer heroes. 
• Athlete (Wildcat, Demolition Man)– This is another classic vigilante archetype. These individuals are blessed with great physical talent. They move faster and hit harder than the average cat. The two subclasses are Powerhouse Athlete and Superstar Athlete. The Powerhouse dominates physical activities and the Superstar mixes athleticism with natural charisma. 
• Crime Fighter (Batman, Night Thrasher) – Honorable combatants that feel no one is above the law. Their subsclasses are Master Investigator and Pulverizing Crime Fighter. The first is a master of investigation while the second delivers extra brutal blows to law breaking scum.
• 
  Dark Avenger (Punisher, Red Hood) – These vigilantes want to make criminals suffer and do not care about the law. They are brutal and can smite their foes. Their subclasses include Psy-Avenger (which unlocks minor Psion abilities) and Umbra stalker (which are totally at home in the dark).
• Gadgeteer (Donatello, Blue Beetle)– These vigilantes are brilliant and can whip up a variety of wonderful toys to help them in their crusade. They can create and upgrade their equipment. Their subclasses are the offensive Onslaught Bringer and the defensive Reinforcing Engineer. I really like the upgrades this class gets to their gear.
• Genius (Mister Terrific, Valeria Richards) – This brilliant individuals can negate abilities by outsmarting foes and are protected by their intellect. The are extremely skillful as well. In classic comics I feel like most genius characters would also be Gadgeteers. I get why there are different classes though. The two subclasses are Genius Teacher which can impart their knowledge on to others (in the form of bonuses) and the Human Computer which are totally aware of the surroundings and eventually know everything (or at least gain proficiency in all skills). 
• Hardboiled Detective (The Question, Misty Knight) – These neo-noir heroes gather information with two-fisted investigation. They have a useful ability called insightful knowledge (which has its own special chart). They also make connections on the street. Their subclasses are the Sherlock and the Tracker.  The Sherlock relies on Intelligence instead of just Wisdom. The Tracker does what its name says.
• Knight Nurse (Night Nurse, Dr. Mid-Nite) – If you’re going to get into a fight, you want a good healer. Knight Nurses feel that role well. Combat Medic and Med Student are the subclasses. Combat Medics are rough and tumble and can hold their own in a fight. Med Students can outsmart foes and perform medical miracles. 
• Martial Artist (Bronze Tiger, Electra) – You knew this classic archetype was going to be included. These vigilantes have trained their minds and bodies to be the ultimate weapons. Their subclasses are The Mountain and Street Ninja. The Mountain is indomitable and can weather any blow. Street Ninjas are stealthy combatants that rely on cunning.

Honestly if these were only classes I’d say the game has plenty, but these are just half of the classes (and don’t take the MegaHuman classes into account). Tomorrow I’ll discuss the other classes. 

Vigilante City 5e - Part I - Overview

 Vigilante City got the 5e treatment and it’s pretty damn spectacular. There are two books: Core Rules and Villain’s Guide. The core book is around 285 pages. While it says Core Rulesyou’ll still need a Player’s Handbook or the Basic Rules to run it. While it can be used with either version of 5e, most Bloat Games 5e stuff is made with D&D 2024 in mind. The art is primarily Runehammer’s work (like the original) with a few Christopher Torres and Phil Stone pieces here and there.

Most characters in Vigilante City are Humans and MegaHumans. At your GM’s discretion you can also include non-human species.  There are 16 modern backrounds included. A majority of the book focuses on classes. There are 17 non-powered classes and 8 powered MegaHuman classes. Like the SURVIVE THIS!! version of the game, the basic classes are very well balanced. The MegaHuman classes can bend and break things though, so GM’s beware. The game was designed with Batman in mind, rather that Justice League and Superman. That being said some of the MegaHuman classes can get wild. That’s why despite the fact the authors state this is a vigilante game, not a superhero game I consider it a superhero game.

The regular classes each have multiple subclasses. The MegaHuman classes work a little different though. There are 11 subclasses that can be taken by any MegaHuman. The SURVIVE THIS!! version of the game had something similar with the powered characters.

We’re then presented with 9 or 10 pages of new equipment. You get all the weapons and armor you could need. There’s also an extended section on utility belts and gadgets for them. A few new rules are included. There’s an ignited condition that objects and characters can have that just makes sense to me. Magic comes from dark dimensions (ala Doctor Strange) so there are madness and Void rules. There are new first aid rules as well an ability called Outsmart that lets you negate attacks. This is another transplant from SURVIVE THIS!! that I’m a big fan of. We also get some simple radiation rules and a few new skills. Vigilante Points (V Points) are another new rules addition for the game. It’s essentially a reputation system. Definitely makes sense in a vigilante themed game. There’s an extended rules session for team tactics. Groups can choose to take a particular formation which grants bonuses. There are also combo actions which let you do things like the fastball special.  

The book looks gorgeous and packs a lot of content for your vigilante/superhero games. As a big fan of 5e supers content this is right up my alley (which is hopefully not Crime Alley). In the next few days I’ll go more into the classes and also discuss the Villain’s Guide.

October Horror Challenge - Clayface (2026)

 

 Synopsis

Matt Hagen is an up and coming actor from Gotham who's life is destroyed when he sleeps with the wrong woman. When an experimental treatment seems like a miracle cure, Matt's trauma soon proves that it's actually a curse.

Review

I didn't know I need a DC body horror/psychological thriller, but I'm glad James Watkins (with writing from Mike Flanagan and Hosssein Amini) gave us one. The greatest strength of this film are the performances of Tom Rhys Harries and Naomi Ackie. I don't know that I've really seen either in anything else, but I'm looking forward to seeing more of their performances.

Tom Rhys Harries plans Matt Hagan. He's a vulnerable, handsome, and charismatic lead. Hagan is a truly likable lead. Yeah, his downfall might have been because of a moment of pride, but he's a good man that didn't deserve what happened to him. The characters trauma and fall are truly heartbreaking. His obsession with getting his life back is understandable. Even as the bodies start piling up, honestly you don't really judge him for what he does. Of course evil leads to more evils, so by the end Hagan has a broken his psyche.

Naomi Ackie's Dr Caitlyn Corr is the other big standout. Her nano-treatment is the catalyst for Hagen's transformation into Clayface. She's a dedicated scientist that created a treatment to change the world for the better. She's persuaded by Matt's tragic story and decides to help him. While comments are made about her bluntness, she's a charming character and her relationship with Matt grows. 

There are some nice nods to the great DC universe in the film. The two that really stuck out to me are in-universe movies. The first is One Bad Day and the second is No Man's Land. Both are iconic Batman stories. Coast City also appears, appearing to be the Hollywood of DC. 

As far as horror goes, in general this doesn't do too many new things. We've seen some twisted transformations in the past and this doesn't really tread new ground. There's some nice ick though. in particular the air place scene is pretty jarring. I know I downplayed the body horror, but this is the most frightening version of Clayface I've seen. The character's flesh is malleable clay right? Not in this movie. It's (nano-cell infused and cloned) flesh. Finally, the director definitely has visuals that homage the French classic Les Yeux Sans Visage.

I thoroughly enjoyed Clayface. I genuinely cared about the characters, the visuals were great, and the movie is a great stand alone tale.

In Your Game

These stats are for Matt as he appears in the film and not later on when he's a hulking villain.

Matt Hagan aka Clayface

Medium Humanoid, Chaotic Neutral

Armor Class 14             Initiative +2 (12)

Hit Points:  75 (10d8+30)

Speed 30 ft.

                    MOD SAVE                                     MOD SAVE  

STR  16        +3     +3                        INT 12          +1    +1

DEX  16       +3      +3                       WIS 12         +1    +1

CON  16       +3      +3                       CHA 18        +4    +7   

Skills Deception +7, Intimidation +7, Performance +7, Perception +4, Stealth +6

Vulnerabilities Lightning

Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage.

Immunities Poison, Poisoned

Senses Passive Perception +4

Language: English

CR 4 (XP 1,100; PB +3)

Traits

Regeneration. Clayface regains 5 Hit Points at the start of each of his turns. If Clayface takes Lightning damage, this trait doesn't function on Clayface's next turn. Clayface dies only he starts his turn with 0 Hit Points and doesn't regenerate. 

Actions

Multiattack. Clayface can make two Slash attacks. 

Slash. Melee Attack Roll: +7, reach 10 ft. Hit: 8 (2d4+3) Slashing damage.

Unsettling Visage (Recharge 6). Wisdom Saving Throw: DC 12, each creature in a 15-foot Emanation originating from Clayface that can see him. 

Failure: The target has the Frightened condition and repeats the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. After 1 minute, it succeeds automatically.

Bonus Actions

Shape-Shift. Clayface shape-shifts into a Medium or Small Humanoid, or returns to his true form. His game statistics other than his size, are the same in each form. Any equipment he is wearing or carrying is transformed with him.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026

Viewed: 24
First Time Views: 15

Witch - Wrath & Wickedness Kickstarter

I wanted to give a quick shoutout to my friends at Bloat Games and let y'all know they have a new zine on Kickstarter. Witch - Wrath & Wickedness is a new monster zine featuring vile witches of various levels you can use in your 5e/5.5 D&D games. The project was written by Josh Palmer and if it's anything like Josh's previous 5e monster zines, it's going to be a great tool for any game.

Session 0.5

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve made any real posts. Tonight will be the second session of my new D&D 2024 campaign. This is the first ongoing game I’ve been involved with in years. Sadly I can’t remember the character names at the moment and forgot to write them down. I’ll get them tonight. Here is the party:

Female Blue Dragonborn Sorcerer played by Alysha – haughty noble 

Male Wood Elf Druid played by Jacob – sarcastic avenger of nature

Female Aasimar Monk played by Tomi – amnesiac that has moved from temple to temple to learn more about religion

Female Human Warlock played by Terron – pact of the blade warlock looking for power and wealth

We had a session 0.5. Everyone made characters and I ran a quick intro session. I usedEveryone Dies at Turtle Bay from Faster, Purple Worm! Everybody Dies, Vol 1. The party were imprisoned at Grave’s End in the small costal town of Turtle Bay. Each was sentenced to life in prison. I let them decide why they were there. The Warlock had been caught stealing, the druid got in a fight, the sorcerer was framed by her jealous step-mother (who she wants revenge on), and the monk mercy killed a diseased priest.

In a Dirty Dozen-style plot the characters (along with a bugbear prisoner named Benny the Butcher) are recruited for a suicide mission. They must investigate a ghost ship. They are given their equipment, some magical boosting from a local merchant, and a ship. Unfortunately, on their way to investigate the ship they find out how the bay got its name. They are attacked by a dragon turtle and as the ship starts to sink the session ended.

This is going to be a fun game. The party is an interesting mix and I think there will be some great roleplaying opportunities. Originally, I was going to send them to Punjar, the Tarnished Jewel next. However, after talking to the players about their characters’ motivations and plans I’ve changed my mind. Fortunately, last week I found out the second Swordfish Islands book has been released. I immediately ordered it and tonight the characters will find themselves Shipwrecked in the Swordfish Islands.

A Dom DM

If you made a Venn Diagram of folks into kink and tabletop gamers with my friends it'd pretty much one big circle. I think that's why this one cracked me up. 

Living Spells Play-Along Pack

To hype the upcoming D&D 5.5 release, Arcana Unleashed, you can claim the Living Spell Play-Along Pack on D&D Beyond for free.

This previous the following content from the upcoming book:

• Six living spell stat blocks
• The evoker archmage stat block
• The Agent of the Ninth Quill character background
• The Arcane Infiltrator Origin feat
• The Idol of Good Fortunes magic item
• Ninth Quill faction info, including bastion and renown rewards

The first two episodes of the new season of Dungeon Masters are also available online. I haven’t watched them yet, but I loved the previous seasons Ravenloft actual plays.

Victory in Valachan

We only had four players again this week so I let my fellow DM, Terron, run this time. The party was:

• Human Artificer (still not sure what his subclass was) 
• Bugbear Ranger (Hollow Warden)
• Dwarf Barbarian (Path of the Berserker)
• Lupin Druid (Circle of the Moon) 

Since Terron was running I spent my time looking through bulk Magic: The Gathering singles. I did catch what was happening though, so I'll give a short synopsis.

The party find themselves in a jungle realm (Valachan). They encounter a toothy tree that's quite hunger. The druid offers to bring it food if it doesn't try to eat them. The party then saves some townsfolk from hunting phase spiders. After defeating the spiders they hear massive footsteps. A strigori and his summoned t-rex (yes a goddamn t-rex in Ravenloft) fight the party. After defeating the stirge-like humanoid the party convince the t-rex they are friends (which is an option presented in the adventure).

The group had fun and it was entertaining to listen to. This will be the last session at Dungeon Dwellers until the Season of Arcana comes out.

Blood in Borca

  This week’s Season of Horror adventure was Blood in Borca. A few players were out so we combined player groups and I ran the session. The party included

• Human Artificer (not sure what his subclass was) [normally plays in other group]
• Bugbear Ranger (Hollow Warden)
• Dwarf Barbarian (Path of the Berserker)
• Lupin Druid (Circle of the Moon) [same build as the druid in my previous game but different player)

After slaying the illithid vampire in Darkon, the players wake in the domain of Borca. They save a noble from wolves. He hires them to accompany him to a party. The host uses his newly acquired shadow raven powers to incapacitate the party. They wake up in a lab and their new noble patron is ordered to repair a mechanical spider. While this is going on the party are forced to fight a fiery dwarf (an azer). The battle is hard fought and the artificer and barbarian are severely wounded, but survive.

The next room (and final encounter) contains the evil noble (a Priest of Osybus), his two fanatical cultists, and four spies that serve him. This fight was BRUTAL. The cultists started the fight by casting Hold Person on the barbarian and artificer (who failed). Then the Priest used his Soul Blade to constantly paralyze the wildshaped druid. There were many rounds of characters doing nothing but taking critical hits because they were paralyzed. If it wasn’t for the druid, it would have been a TPK. After several rounds, eventually the druid (with help from the ranger and mechanical spider) were able to take out their foes. The fight was frustrating, but ultimately the heroes triumphed. While I was chuckling at first, honestly, I felt bad during this fight. The constant paralyzing effects just made the fight tedious.

Next week will be the final Season of Horror adventure, Victory in Valachan.

Death in Darkon

Earlier tonight I ran the third session of the Season of Horror, Death in Darkon. It was a blood bath (which is fitting because it's vampire-centric). This week Enza has sent the party to the domain of Darkon to stop the second shadow raven. My group this week was made up of the following:

• Bugbear Ranger (Hollow Warden)
• Dwarf Barbarian (Circle of the Moon)
• Drow Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 

They awake in an underground river. The first encounter they face off with an elven vampire familiar, two bandit captains, and four toughs. I was rolling crits like crazy and they had a small party. The drow (played by my kid) was taken out in one round by the familiar. The party was killed and since we had plenty of time I pulled a Groundhog's Day and let them run through it again. I took the four toughs out and still cause a party wipe. I asked them if they wanted to fight the adventure's boss, an illithid vampire, for the Hell of it. While the dwarf went down, they killed the abomination.

Despite the deaths, everyone had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to next week's adventure, Blood in Borca.

Terror in Tepest

Tonight I ran the second session of the Season of Horror at Dungeon Dwellers in Portsmouth, Ohio. After saving townsfolk from the graveyard, the party made a deal with Inza. The witch told them that if they seek out the shadow ravens that caused the graveyard incident, she would send them home.

One of my players wasn't there, but a new players was. My players were:

• Bugbear Ranger (Hollow Warden)
• Dwarf Barbarian (Path of the Berserker)
• Lupin Druid (Circle of the Moon)

The mists led the party to a harvest festival in Tepest. They feasted with townsfolk and were hired to make sure a ritual site was set up properly. When they arrived they found a hobgoblin captain, some bugbears, and signs of a struggle. The hobgoblin claimed a druid let them have this abandoned home. There was a stand off, until the ranger climbed over a wall and caused the ritual effigy to animate into a death's head tree. The druid (who'd misled the humanoids and created the tree using the shadow raven) joined the fight. While the hobgoblin and her crew fought the tree and druid, the party fought flying death's heads. Eventually the humanoids were killed, but their attacks had weakened the party enough to finish off the tree. A shadow raven escaped the tree and was banished. The party grabbed some loot before the mists took them.

The session was fun. Encounters two and three were combined because of the ranger's actions, but it worked. My only disappointment is that I was never able to do the quirky thing the death's heads have. If they reduce a character to 0 HP, the creature is KO'd and the head replaces theirs's permanently. You then get to roll on a random head chart. They change is just cosmetic, but it's wild.

These scenarios are fun. There are three more. Come back next week to hear about Death in Darkon.

Dagger Danger

June 11th is International Day of Play. In honor of that D&D Beyond is offering another free Borderlands Quest for anyone to claim.

Dagger Danger is a short quest the player's find on the job board in the Keep. The characters are tasked with interring a kobold lair and retrieving a heirloom dagger. It's short, but includes a few kinds of encounters, a variety of foes, and some roleplay opportunities. I'll be adding this one to my Heroes of the Borderlands sessions.

If haven't already, you can still claim last year's adventure, Goblin Trouble, for free as well.

18! 18! 18!

Shared this with a few of my regular readers already, but this idea is hilarious, brilliant, and I think I'll use it in my next game. 

Speaking of my next game I'm thinking it's going to be a D&D 2024, I think like D&D Beyond I'm just going to referring to it as 5.5. I have at least two players and am working on recruiting more. The plan is to start the game after Origins. 

This is my current plan for session one start with the adventure Everyone Dies At Turtle Bay from Faster, Purple Worm! Everybody Dies, Vol. 1. These are scenarios based on Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!If you aren't familiar with it, I see it as a mix of Critical Role and Who's Line Is It Anyway?  Each episode is a short session of comedic D&D actual play that always ends in death. Back to Turtle Bay, the characters will start out as prisoners in Turtle Bay. They are conscripted to investigate a ghost ship in the bay (a red herring). If the stop the boat they get their freedom. Unfortunately they find out how Turtle Bay got its name. In the adventure as written, the 1st level characters are killed by Dragon Turtle that lives in the bay. However, just before they creature kills them the session will fade to black and end.

The beginning of the next session the characters will find themselves on a winding road headed to the Keep on the Borderlands. How did they get there? That's up to them. I honestly think it would be funny if they pulled a Jack Sparrow and told a new story every time asked. 

Going back to the goblin trap above. I think I will put a door at the end of the tunnel in D2. The three goblins will be in that room with the dwarf prisoner, Vinx (who will be gagged so she can't spoil the fun).

Grave Awakenings

I’m running the Season of Horror at my FLGS. Characters are third level and players could either make them using rules from Ravenloft: The Horrors Within and the 2024 PHB or they could use premade characters. The premade characters are the party form this season of Dungeon Masters (which just wrapped up and was fantastic).

A majority of the three-hour session was used for character creation. Because of that we didn’t really get to play most of the adventure, Grave Awakenings.  While most sessions this season are 90 minute one shots, Grave Awakenings is designed to be a three hour “Encounters Celebration” event. The event is designed for up to four tables playing the adventure simultaneously. It’s a cool idea, but we only had six players total so this couldn’t happen. 

I won’t spoil the adventure, but the premise is cool. Multiple groups of heroes are drawn into the domain of Sithicus to cleanse a graveyard. There’s a ticking clock mechanic because townsfolk have been buried alive. There’s also the protentional for a character to become a wereraven. 

My group got through one combat and then we had to call it a night. The other group aggroed the graveyard and got pretty far. I spoke with the other DM and decided that instead of continuing with this adventure we are just going to move on to the second adventure Terror in Tepest next week.

D&D with T-E-D

I've not watched the Ted prequel series on Peacock, but apparently they did a D&D episode which featured Brennan Lee Mulligan. As problematic at Seth McFarlane's humor can be, I enjoyed the Ted movies and I'll have to check this episode out. The show has partnered with WotC to talk about what D&D is and a very surface level version of how to play. Want to get someone interested in the game. Show them this video.

Additionally there is some Ted-centric content of D&D Beyond. There are level 3 Ted Pre-Made Characters you can claim on the site.

Deathstalker Compendium

I've not watched the Deathstalker reboot, but browsing through DriveThruRPG I found this. Produced by the ProgCore Fantasy team for Shout! Studios, the Deathstalker D&D 5E Compendium contains stats for 12 npcs/monsters from the new flick, as well as two powerful magic items. The content is created for regular 5e, not D&D 2024.

Have you seen the new Deathstalker?

Satanic Panic

If you want a zine relevant to gaming in the 80's, I highly recommend picking up Satanic Panic from Bloat Games/Bloat Zines. Written and layed out by Mr. Bloat himself, the zine addresses (as the cover says) "why parents in the 1980's lost their fuckin' minds over D&D." The zine is predominantly black and white, though red is used to highlight things and it makes it pop. Christopher Torres and Phil Stone's art is featured throughout the zine. This one is metal and aesthetically pleasing. Although its professionally printed, it has a great punk/metal/DIY vibe.

This one is personal. As he mentions in the zine, Eric's life was made a living hell by ignorant religious folks because of the things he loved as a kid. This is really shown in his scathing takedown of Pat Robertson. I also appreciate Eric discussing the origins of the hysteria and highlights what fueled it. I had no idea that it started in Canada or the full story of person Mazes & Monsters was "based on," Dallas Egbert. Eric's a smart and insightful dude and I appreciated reading his thoughts on things. 

This zine is a hybrid of Bloat zines. In addition to discussion of the topic, it also includes game stats for a few systems and random tables (because random tables):

• d66 Reasons Your Mom Thinks You Are A Satanist
• Ratt Pobertson (5e and Shadowdark) - a craven goblin liar definitely not inspired by a hate-spewing religious leader mentioned earlier.
• Garzax (Demon) with Cultists (OSE) - demon lord of gluttony and his followers
• d12 Raise Your Horns For Satan (the devil's music)
• d12 Occult Inspired Movies
• d66 Games Like Old School D&D
• Satanic Cult Members and Cult Leader Necromancer (SURVIVE THIS!!) - ready to use cult stats for use with Dark Places & Demogorgons and SURVIVE THIS!! games

You can order Satanic Panic from the Bloat Games shop. Don't worry, the zine is only 13 bucks, despite the listed price.

Gremlins Invade 5e

You have less than 48 hours left to back Bloat Games,
Goblins - Anarchy in the RPG. I've had the privilege of reading the final pdf and it's phenomenal. You can read my review here. The project has expanded since the project launched. Do to feedback, two more goblin zines have been added as add-ons (with an all-in option). 

The first is Space Goblins - Anarchy in Space. While I don't know much about it, I'm guessing it will be great for 5e supers and Spelljammer games. The second additional zine focuses on a type of fey closely related to goblins, gremlins. While the final version of the zine isn't finished, Eric let me look at the manuscript. The zine will have the same format as Goblins - Anarchy in the RPG. 

Josh gives us Gremlin species trait. Being nocturnal, gremlins hate light. Like real world legends, they have an aura that hinders machinery and technology. This is attributed to them being the embodiment of chaos and destruction. Like the film versions of gremlins, each has it's own special condition to multiply and vulnerability. Being chaotic, these are determined with a random chart. Additionally, like the vampires of The Lost Boys, when exposed to sunlight and killed each gremlin goes out in a random way (again determined by a chart).

We're presented with several different gremlin variants (as well as the standard variety). Counting the "common" variety there are 7 different variety of gremlins. There are varied and included bat-winged, undead, and mechanical ones. Being creatures of chaos, they can also mutate and their is an extensive chart with new abilities and features for Happchance Gremlins. Think of these gremlins and the mutated ones from the second film. Finally we get a CN gremlin wizard npc that can be friend or foe. 

I don't think I've ever included gremlins in my game, but after reading this I want to. I like that Josh combined the stories of gremlins from WWII fighter pilots with the film versions. This is a worthy add-on to the campaign and personally I went all-in. Seriously if you haven't backed this project, I highly recommend you do so. And remember you have less than two days left to do so.

Bree-Yark!

Goblins: Anarchy in the RPG is an upcoming Kickstarter from my friends at Bloat Games. It's written for 5e and while I don't see any direct mention of it, it looks like it's done in the current 2024 version. Update: After talking to author, Josh Palmer, I can confirm it was written in the 2024 format. 

Before I get into the content, I want to talk about the design. The background of each page is black with white-bordered pink text boxes. The text itself is either black or white. While I'm sure some may find this jarring, it really makes the zine pop. Along with the name, it gives the book a great punk aesthetic. Most of the art is stock art, but its really good stock art.

Goblins tend to be used as low level fodder for games, which is cool, but they can be so much more. This zine is a toolkit to get you the most goblin bang for your goblin bucks. Most of the books content is unique goblin npc's and different variation and mutant goblins. Additionally, Josh has create species traits in case a player wants to create a goblin PC.

Something I appreciate the NPC's is there's a good mix of alignments represented. My favorite, Golloc Gloomgash is a Robinhood-esque master thief. There's also a goblin cult leader who made me chuckle. He also seems like the kind of villain I'd want to include. There are seven unique goblins to cause chaos in your game. Mixed in with those heroes and villains are fourteen goblin variations. These show how goblins can adapt to any variety of environments and also include a few goblins organizations. There's even a centaur-like goblin! The background of each includes great flavor for your games. There are also a few fun subtables. "Bree-Yark!"isn't the only goblin phrase you're going to want to include. 

I don't know if it was intentional or not, but this book pairs nicely with the latest Starter Set. Even if your players have entered the Caves of Chaos in the past, you can introduce a new experience by incorporating these goblins into the tribes. I think my first D&D 2024 campaign will start with the Keep and that's my plan.

If you love goblins this zine is for you! Even if you don't like them and find them boring, I think this one will change your mind. Don't be a ebbalsmeg and back it when it launches in the next week or so.