I decided to go through my collection to find some Nazi horrors. Issue 102 of Weird War Tales has one of the most depressing and dark stories from that series. The Creature Commandoes encounter child soldiers empowered by drugs and totally loyal to Hitler. While they can't bring themselves to fight the children (they aren't that kind of monsters), their soldier handler has no qualms. Eventually the children burn out because of the drugs and become lifeless husks.
Böse Kinder: Init +3; Atk +2 punch (1d6); Crit III/1d14; AC 14; HD 2d12; Mov. 20'; Act 1d20; SP burn out, who can who can kill a child?; SV Ref +3; Fort +1; Will -2; AL C
Burn out: On a critical failure the chemical cocktail empowering the Böse Kinder's causes it burn outm reduce it's HP to 0, and leaves a lifeless husk.
Who can kill a child?: When encountering a Böse Kinder intelligent non-chaotic individuals must make a Will save (DC 14) to be able to attack it.
This post combines two of my loves, Ice Nine Kills and Dead By Daylight. I've posted about the band and video game before (including posting SURVIVE THIS!! stats for the killer known as Trickster). Play Dead is an INK track released for Dead By Daylight's 10th anniversary. I'd actually stopped playing the game for a while, but the include of Jason Voorhees into the game brought me back. Finding out there was an INK and DBD just sealed the (infernal) deal.
The track is good and the video is a fantastic tribute to the game (including the killers, Nurse and (one of my favorites) Legion). All of the band members are dressed up in the outfits of the game's survivors and Spencer (the lead singer) is dressed as my fav survivor, Dwight.
The video has some fun cameos and continues the ongoing INK music video story. Also, going to be real, I love the Insane Clown Posse reference in the video.
General Haifisch was a Nazi super-soldier loved by Hitler, himself. He was called a "model soldier" by the Führer. Codnamed Killer Shark due to his special underwater training. A master of hand to hand, he often came in conflict with the Blackhawks.
Killer Shark: Init +4; Atk +d7+5 unarmed (1d6+5); Crit V/1d12; AC 14; HD 6d12+24; HP 53; Mv 30'; Swim 40; Act 1d20+1d14; SQ mighty deeds of action; SV Ref +3; For +7, Will +1; AL C
Drowning her loss in an intergalactic pub crawl for her birthday, Kara Zor-El encounters a young girl seeking revenge for her family's murder. When Krypto is poisoned, she joins the girl in taking down the intergalactic brigand and seeking the antidote.
Review
I'm going to start this review with the negative. Like a lot of movies and tv shows with gritty settings, I found some of the scenes to physically dark to truly appreciate visually. I had similar issues with scenes from the Guardians of the Galaxy flicks. Honestly, that's my only real negative take of the movie. Did I like this one as much as I liked Superman? No, but that doesn't mean it's not a fantastic flick. Superman was a classic superhero story. While based on a great miniseries (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow), this movie felt more like a quest story about someone that's felt loss greatly finding purpose.
Milly Alcock is phenomenal as Supergirl. She plays a character who's lost everything so well. Yet despite what the character has lost, in her heart she still retains her true nature. I really can't wait to see more of her in Gunn's DCU. Eve Ridley also did a wonderful job as Ruthye Marye Knoll, the quest giver of the tale. She's a young, honor-bound woman that reminds Supergirl of who she is and promises she's made. Of course, David Corenswet is absolutely perfect as Clark Kent. While he's not in the movie too much, his wholesome portrayal just makes me heart happy when I see him on screen. Finally we have to talk about Jason Mamoa's portrayal of Lobo. Mamoa was made to play the character. Like Superman, he isn't on the screen too much, but by the gods when he is, he's the Main Man. It's like Giffen's character stepped out from the comic pages. Gunn better fraggin' use him more!
Sexual exploitation of children wasn't something I expected from the plot, but it's there. I could go on about how this is one of the reasons CHUDs on the internet are bashing the movie, but I won't. I'll just share a meme.
I don't want to end this on a bad note. This movie passed the Pun test. There was at least one scene that evoked enough emotion from me to wet eyes. Oh yeah, the soundtrack/score rocked too. I mean any flick that used Modest Mouse rocks in my book.
In Your Game
For game stats I thought I'd write up, Ruthye, the young deuteragonist of the movie.
Ruthye Marye Knoll (Level 1 Warrior): Init +4; Atk +d3+2 Knoll longsword (1d8); Crit I/1d6; AC 13; HD 1d12; HP 24; Mv 30';Act 1d20; SQ mighty deeds of action, threat range (18-20), luck (sword) +2; SV Ref +4; For +1, Will +2; AL L
Gear: Knoll longsword (1d8, increases crit range by 1, nearly indestructible)
This time the first Punch A Nazi Week is a little different. I recently picked up the Holy Roller collection. I've decided to give a short review of the miniseries before statting out the titular Nazi bashing hero.
Holy Roller is a collaboration between some different celebrities. It was written by comedian Andy Samberg (SNL and The Lonely Island), Joe Trohman (Fall Out Boy), and Rick Remender (Deadly Class, Uncanny X-Force). It features art by Roland Boschi. As you might expect from the creative team, the story has a comedic edge. It's one part satire and one part loving tribute to comic books. The humor is off-kilter, but endearing (and delightfully dumb at times).
The story follows Levi Coen, a man who returns home to help his ailing father. He finds that his hometown has been taken over by Neo-Nazis. After being forced to defend himself with his bowling balls, he teams up with his child hood friend to become the Holy Roller, a trick bowl bowling ball wielding vigilante. Levi looks like a muscular Samberg and I couldn't help but hear his voice when I read Levi's lines.
The plot of this one isn't too original, but it works. There are some plot beats borrowed from the first Kingsmen movie, but that's alright. The story has a cinematic vibe and I wouldn't mind seeing a live action or animated adaptation. If you want to see a Jewish vigilante beat the shit out of Neo-Nazis and rich assholes, then check this one out.
Holy Roller in Your Game
Levi is an athlete with gadgets, so I figured I'd stat him using the DCC crimefighter class from Gunzo! True Vigilante #1. For the kind of racist shitsheads Levi smashes with his balls, use these stats.
Holy Roller (Level 4 Crime Fighter): Init +2; Atk +4 bowling bowl (1d8+1) or +5 bowling bowl (1d8+2) [range 20'/40']; Crit III/1d10; AC 15; HD 4d6+8; HP 24; Mv 30'; Act 1d20; SQ disguise self +3, investigation, subterfuge; SV Ref +5; For +4, Will +3; AL L
Gear: Armored costume (+3 to AC, -2 fumble), bowling ball (1d8), exploding bowling ball (1d8+2d8 fire damage to all creatures within 20' radius), EMP bowling ball (1d8 + 3d6 to unprotected electronic devices within 50' radius)
This inhuman take on Superman by Frederik Hornung is interesting and I wanted to share. It has a cool pulp sci-fi vibe that I dig. Going to watch Supergirl tonight. I wonder if any of the aliens will look this wild.
This week’s Season of Horror adventure wasBlood 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.
