Succubus Sunday - Silussa

Silussa the Succubus first appeared in Vault of the Drow (though she later appeared or was at least mentioned in a few other publications). She's always encountered with her lover, the drow vampire Belgos.

Sweet Christmas!

I know it's a bit early, but I've been hit with a combination of nostalgia and inspiration. Back in 2007-2008 I ran a regular Mutants and Masterminds (2E) game. One of the adventures we ran was Crisis on Christmas. You can find the 3E update of that adventure here. Well I've talked to my players and two of them are up for us getting together to do a one-shot Christmas reunion adventure (using 3E).

While the name doesn't sound that creative, I'm calling it "Crisis on Christmas! (AGAIN)." The title is a reference to my favorite Christmas song, The ThoughtCriminals - It's Christmas (AGAIN). Still working out the details, but it should be a great time.

And who knows if the spirit hits me I may do some M&M posts next month and call it the 12 Days of Sweet Christmas.

Ash Wednesday - ThanksKilling

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ThanksKilling is a ridiculous holiday themed slasher movie (with two sequels) about a necromantic killer turkey named, Turkie. To get you in the proper mindset, this is how the first flick starts.

At the first Thanksgiving a topless pilgrim is killed with a tomahawk by Turkie, who has the masterful line, "Nice tits, bitch!"

Yeah, it's that kind of classy flick. I thought Turkie would be the perfect Thanksgiving villain for Army of Darkness. Perhaps the necromancy the Native American used to create him came from the Necronomicon.

Name: Turkie

Motivation: Maim! Kill! Repeat!
Critter Type:  Demon 
Attributes: Str 4, Dex 4, Con 5, Int 3, Per 3, Will 5
Ability Scores: Muscle 14, Combat 14, Brains 12

Life Points: 121  Drama Points: 3
Special Abilities:  Appearance - 3, Sequel (Turkie can be killed, but he always comes back)
                                     Maneuvers
Name                    Score     Damage               Notes
Chain Carver         14            30              Slash/Stab, Can go wrong (pg 98)
Dodge                   14            -                Defense action
Peck                     14            6                Slash/Stab

Getting Stoned With Orcs

Current Adventure: Homebrew

Party
Rolen Moonshadow (Remy) - wood elf ranger of the Emerald Enclave
Mojo ar Meisce (David) - human monk
Saarkson (Paul) - tiefling warlock and Zhent agent
Rogar Lighttalon (Adam) - dwarf cleric and member of the Order of the Gauntlet

The party decided to make it's way to Neverwinter to purchase a wagon to transport the green dragon corpse. While on the road they were ambushed by a party of orog's led by a wereboar. The group were raiders of the Broken Tusk tribe (which the party has had previous dealings with).


Rolen used his woodland skills to track the group back to their lair (he also discovered drag marks, as well as giant and 8-legged reptilian foot prints). The tracks led to a cave. They discovered a camouflaged catapult near it (the source of the drag marks). They entered the cave and fought several orogs. Rolen scouted ahead and found that the chieftain and shaman were waiting on him. The group were bottle-necked and after fighting for a bit decided to retreat back into the initial cabin. This lead to a bit of a stalemate.

The party decided to leave the cave and take a short rest in the nearby woods. The orcs didn't pursue, knowing their ettin ally would return soon.

The party didn't do the best job hiding during their rest and the ettin and his pet basilisk quickly noticed them. Rogar commanded the ettin to halt and Saarkson hit it with a fireball. Rolen hit him with two rounds of colossus slayer and the ettin didn't have a chance. Unfortunately for the party Rolen and Rogar met the gaze of the basilisk (and failed both their saving throws).

The night ended with Saarkson and Mojo dragging their stoney companions towards Neverwinter.

This was the first time I was able to use my Dwarven Forge cavern tiles and they look great. I can't wait to pick more up.

Succubus Sunday - Dragon Age

I love the Dragon Age series of video games. The first, while flawed, is an outstanding game. The characters and setting are dark and rich. The second is definitely a flawed game, but it is still Dragon Age and I love it. I picked up the third game, Dragon Age Inquisition earlier this week and it's phenomenal.

The succubi of Dragon Age are called Desire Demons. The are spirits that dwell in the Fade and seek to bargain with mortals to experience the living world.

Ash Wednesday - Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness (feat. Zombie Squirrel Girl)

Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness was a crossover that I didn't really want to happen. It sounds cool, but Marvel Zombies, wasn't my favorite story line. I read it and was pleasantly surprised.

Ash had died in his own comic and found himself in Heaven. A zombified version of Marvel's Sentry appeared and started devouring everything. Ash found himself flung into another dimension, Earth 2149. He has some altercations with heroes and villains and gets caught up in the zombie outbreak. Teaming up with others he eventually escapes to another dimension, one populated by Marvel Werewolves!

During the miniseries we are introduced to the Ash of Earth 2149. He manages to take out a few low level metahuman zombies, including Hulkling and Multiple Man.

A really cool fan film was created, though Marvel had it removed from Youtube. However, you can go to the creators' Facebook page and watch it.


I decided to take one of my favorite Marvel characters (my 616 girlfriend Squirrel Girl) and turn her into a Marvel Zombie. Expect more zombies in the future.

Name: Squirrel Girl
Motivation: Eat flesh and have fun
Critter Type:  Undead
Attributes: Str 7, Dex 5, Con 7, Int 3, Per 3, Will 3
Ability Scores: Muscle 14, Combat  14, Brains 14

Life Points: 121  Drama Points: 3
Special Abilities:  Appearance - 6, Control Squirrels, Increased Life Points, Infect (as Deadite pg 161), Wall Climbing

                                     Maneuvers
Name                    Score     Damage               Notes
Bite                         14           14              Slash/Stab, Infects
Dodge                     14            -                Defense action

Grapple                  16            -                pg 90
Knuckle Spikes     14           14              Slash/Stab  

Name: Zombie Squirrel
Motivation: Eat flesh
Critter Type:  Undead
Attributes: Str 1, Dex 5, Con 2, Int 1 (animal), Per 5, Will 1
Ability Scores: Muscle 8 , Combat  13 , Brains 7

Life Points: 22 Drama Points: 1
Special Abilities:  Infect (as Deadite pg 161)
                                     Maneuvers
Name                    Score     Damage               Notes
Bite                         13           4               Slash/Stab
Dodge                     13           -                Defense action

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Kickstarter - Tabletop Props: Covered Wagon

Alright folks, I've found a new kickstarter I like and wanted to share, Tabletop Props: Covered Wagon. 

Here are the details for the wagons:

The Covered Wagon

This heroic scale (30 mm) miniature includes 16 removable pieces.

• The cover comes off to reveal the contents of the wagon.
• The wagon top comes off to become a simple cart.
• 7 removable bags, 2 barrels, 2 lanterns, bucket, and a frying pan.

The wagons look great and you can get them in one of four variations. Personally I'm thinking about getting three. I definitely want a gypsy and a standard. I don't know if I want to get a battle-worn for my third or get a second of one of the others.The creator will also include two to-scale horses or cows to complete the visual experience.

The stretch goals are nice little additions too. So far a dead tree has been unlocked. The next is a campfire, and the final is tent (with more removable pieces). 

If you like to use minis in your game, check this kickstarter out.

Succubus Sunday - Catherine

Catherine was a puzzle game released on the PS3 and Xbox360 in 2011. The story is about a slacker named Vincent and his struggles with the decision to get his shit together with his long-time girlfriend Katherine and his infatuation with a woman he meets in a bar, the young Catherine. The game takes place in the bar Vincent and his friends drink, Vincent's apartment, and a nightmare realm. 

Spoiler, which you've probably already figured out based on the kind of post this is, but Catherine is a succubus.

Puff, Puff, Ash?

Current Adventure - The Lost Mines of Phandelver

Party
Rolen Moonshadow (Remy) - wood elf ranger of the Emerald Enclave
Mojo ar Meisce (David) - human monk
Saarkson (Paul) - tiefling warlock and Zhent agent
Rogar Lighttalon (Adam) - dwarf cleric and member of the Order of the Gauntlet

Warning Adventure Spoilers (especially if you're in my group)

The gaming session didn't go as planned. Having just defeated the Venomfang, the party sought refuge in the home of the druid of Thundertree. They celebrated their victory and took a long rest. The next day they decided to purge the rest of the town of undead and other threats. They fought several ash zombies and ash ogre zombies (because I wanted them to fight something with more umph and I have two zombie hulk minis).

I had planned an elaborate encounter using the graveyard scenery I've recently purchased. There were going to be zombies, ghouls, wights, a wraith and some orc envoys (part of the next session). And I didn't use any of them. Well I did keep the half-orc monk, Karsk, and his giant praying mantis. The adventure halted half-way through the night and he had a kung-fu movie battle with Mojo.

The party will still probably encounter the Broken Tusk orcs (and their ettin ally) next session, but things just didn't pan out the way I thought they would.

The party has essentially finished The Lost Mines of Phandelver. I had originally planned to take them into Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but now I think I'm just going to do my own thing.

Next session the party will take some downtime. Rolen wants to hire some alchemists and and armor smiths to work on Venomfang's corpse with him. Having discovered a halfling cookbook, penned by my former character Ollo Tosskettle, Mojo has decided he wants to learn halfing and now to cook. I haven't spoken with Paul or Adam, so I don't know Rogar or Saarkson's plans. I'm sure they will involve their organization ties.

Ash Wednesday - Sam and the Half-Deadite Quality

Evil Dead: Regeneration was a what-if video game released for PC, Playstation 2, and Xbox. Instead of being sucked through the portal back in time at the end of Evil Dead 2, Ash is arrested and placed into Sunny Meadows, an asylum. Of course, things never go well for Ash and the the head of the asylum begins experimenting with the Necronomicon.

The game was a lot of fun. One of my favorite characters is Ash's sidekick Sam, a half-deadite little person voiced by Sam Raimi's brother Ted.  He's a trash-talking ex-criminal that can never be permanently killed.


Name: Sam
Motivation: Help Ash
Critter Type:  Half-Deadite, Half-Human
Attributes: Str 3, Dex 5, Con 5, Int 2, Per 3, Will 2
Ability Scores: Muscle 12, Combat  13, Brains 12

Life Points: 42  Drama Points: 5
Special Abilities: Half-Deadite, Can't Permanently Die, Natural Armor 2, Attractiveness - 6  

                                     Maneuvers
Name              Score    Damage               Notes
Bone                   13          6            Bash
Dodge                 13          -             Defense action
Eldritch Bolt         13          5            Bash, use pistol ranges    

Half-Deadite (8 Point Quality)

Half-Deadites are Dr. Reinheart's attempt to use the Necronomicon to raise someone from the dead without having them possessed by a Kandarian demon. Sam was Reinheart's only successful experiment. However, the world (and multiverse) is full of all sorts of serious wackjobs, so surely someone else has succeeded.

Half-Deadites get the following traits from this quality:

• +3 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, and +1 Will
• Natural Armor 2
• Damage is regenerated at a rate of 1 Life Points per Constitution point every hour.
• Attractiveness -6
• Half-Deadites need only spend 1 Drama Point to use Back From The Dead.
• The Half-Deadite may buy up to ten levels of Hard to Kill

Alright You Primitive Screwheads, Listen Up!

A week after I decide to start doing weekly Evil Dead/Army of Darkness posts it is announced that Starz will be airing a 10 episode series called Ash vs Evil Dead. You can read more about the release here. Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, and Bruce Campbell will be in charge of the series. Bruce will reprise his role as Ash.

This series makes all of the comics and video games released since the original non-canon, but considering the series features time travel, why can't their be an Evil Dead multiverse?

My first Ash Wednesday post will be this week. I have two that I'm working on, one features Ash's sidekick from the game Evil Dead: Regeneration and the other  is about his brief stint in the Marvel Universe (or at least one of them). Haven't decided which will be the inaugural post yet.

Want more goodness for your Army of Darkness games to tide you over? Check out The Other Side Blog's Xena and Gabrielle post. Ash has teamed up with Xena a few times in the comics.

#AdventurersHelpingOut

Jon Brazer Enterprises is running a cool promotion now through November 30th. Half of the  proceeds from sale of their book Book of Beasts: War on Yuletide, will be donated to Foodbank of South Jersey.  Donate food, money, or time to a local foodbank and tell your friends about it on social media with the hashtag #AdventurersHelpingOut,  and as a thank you for your good deeds, they'll send you a pdf copy of War on Yuletide. 

Read more here.

Succubus Sunday - The Offspring

In D&D the children of succubi are fiends known as cambions and alu-fiends (depending on the edition and gender).

New Regular Feature

I like having my themed regular posts. I haven't played Mutants and Masterminds in a long time, so I haven't done any Mastermind Monday posts for a while. I think Friday in Freeport has ran its charted course for now. Succubus Sunday will continue.

What will my new feature be?

Yup, regular posts for the Army of Darkness RPG.

The posts will be using Cinematic Unisystem, so they can be used in your Buffy/Angel/Ghosts of Albion games.

To get you ready I'm linking all of my Cinematic Unisystem post that thematically work well with the Army of Darkness rpg (i.e. those with the right blend of horror, camp, and slapstick).

Re-Animator (Herbert West, the reanimated, severed limbs) - Dr. West has crossed over into the Army of Darkness comics
Black Sheep (Killer Sheep and Weresheep) - campy and gorey movie with killer sheep, seems legit
Santa's Slay (Santa) - Ashley Williams versus evil Santa... this needs to happen
Friday the 13th (Jason Voorhees) - Ash has already fought Jason in the comics
The Cabin in the Woods (Unicorn) - This movie owes a lot to the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness flicks and if you tell me Ash doesn't need to face a unicorn I'll tell you that you're wrong
Bubba Ho-Tep (The King) - I've statted out Bruce's version of the King as a Primitive Screwhead
Tremors/Red Dead Redemption (various) - If you want to send your promised ones to the old west, I've made some handy quicksheets based of of Tremors IV and Red Dead Redemption

Dwarven Forge Caverns

My old friend and adventuring companion Wirty and I went together and backed the Dwarven Forge Cavern's Kickstarter earlier this year. He got three sets and I snagged two. These are the first 3D dungeon tiles either of us have ever purchased and we are both super excited.

He lives two hours south of me, so I won't be able to get my tiles til next weekend. Because he's a good sport he and our friend took some unboxing pictures. I thought I'd share.

Not only is Wirty a handsome devil, he's also an amazing DM.

 

Rath'argh

I decided to bring back on of my favorite characters that I really didn't get to play a lot.
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Rath'argh

Medium humanoid (elf), chaotic neutral

Armor Class 15 (leather)

Hit Points  71 (13d8+13)

Speed 35

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  STR     DEX    CON      INT      WIS    CHA

13 (+1)  20 (+5)  12 (+1)   13(+1)  18 (+4)  15 (+2) 

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Saving Throws: Dex +8, Wis +7
Skills Acrobatics +8, Stealth +8 
Damage Resistance  psychic
Senses darkvision 120 ft.,  passive Perception 17
Languages Common, Elvish, Undercommon 

Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

Fey Ancestry: Rath'argh has advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put him to sleep.

Innate Casting: Rath'argh's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: 

• At Will: dancing lights
• 1/day each: darkness faerie fire, levitate (self only) 

Psychic Strike (Recharges 5-6). Once per turn, before making an attack, Rath'argh may choose to make a psychic strike. If the soulknife attack is successful Rath'argh deals an additional 15 (3d8) psychic damage to This extra damage has no effect on mindless creatures, such as oozes.. 


Up The Wall: Rath'argh may move along walls and ceilings as a part of his move action. If he does not end is movement in an upright position, he falls prone. 

Actions

Multiattack: Rath'argh's makes to soulknife attacks.

Soulknife.  Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13(2d6+5) psychic damage.

Soulknife.  Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 10/30 ft., one target. Hit: 13(2d6+5) psychic damage.


Rath'argh is a mixed blood drow agent of Bregan D'aerthe. His mother was an elven princess (and cleric of Fanmarel Mestrarin), his father an outcast member of House Baenre of Menzoberranzen. Raised among the drow organization, Rath'argh (whose name means dishonor and coward in the drow dialect of elvish), had few friends. Only his mother and an psion of fallen House Obloudra,whom he refered to as Jahbress (mistress in the drow dialect), cared for him. Unknown to all, his father's outcast status was all a ruse to to get an assassin close to Jarlaxle. Rath'argh's mother found out and sacrificed herself to save the rogue. His father fled into the Underdark.

Being too weak to help his mother, Rath'argh's anger grew until one day it manifested as a blade of psychic energy. He left his home and now travels the Sword Coast, acting as an agent of Jarlaxle and honing his skills. 

Recent activity has brought him to the ravaged city of Neverwinter.

October Horror Movie Challenge - The Aftermath

I survived the 2014 October Horror Movie Challenge. Well a part of me did at least. The final count was 34 movies total, 20 of which were new to me. Here's a compiled (and linked) list with any game crunch I came up with.

1. The Thing (1982)
2. The Thing (2011)
3. Drag Me To Hell (2009)
4. Event Horizon (1997) - Dr. Weir stats for Call of Cthulhu
5. Rec (2007) - Possessed zombie stats for All Flesh Must Be Eaten
6. Cold Prey (2006)
7. Cold Prey II (2008) - Mountain Man stats for Cinematic Unisystem
8. The Keep (1983)
9. White Zombie (1932) - Murder Legrende stats for Lamentations of the Flame Princess
10. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
11. Godzilla (2014)
12. Don't Look Now (1973)
13. Detention (2011)
14. All Cheerleaders Die (2013)
15. Mimic (1997) - Long John stats for Cinematic Unisystem
16. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988) - Elvira stats for Crypt World
17. The Devil's Backbone (2001)
18. I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
19. Wishmaster (1997)
20. Sharknado (2013)
21. Lair of the White Worm (1988) - Dionin Vampire Quality for Cinematic Unisystem
22. Black Sheep (2006) - Killer Sheep and Weresheep stats for Cinematic Unisystem
23. Re-Animator (1985) - Herbert West, Re-Animated, and Re-Animated Hand stats for Cinematic Unisystem
24. Rec 3: Genesis - Revised Possessed Zombie (shambler and fast) stats for All Flesh Must Be Eaten
25. Leprechaun Origins (2014)
26. Dread (2009) 
27. American Mary (2012)
28. Las Brujas de Zurgarramurdi/Witching and Bitching (2013)
29. Blacula (1972)
30. Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009) - Jimmy, Fletch, Lotte, and Sword of Daeldo stats for Cinematic Unisystem
31. The Dunwich Horror (1970)
32. Black Sabbath (1963)
33. 30 Days of Night (2007)
34. Trick'R Treat (2007)

Halloween may be over, but that doesn't mean I'm done with Horror movies. I think I will devote a week to the Army of Darkness Roleplaying Game.

Succubus Sunday - Monster Pin Up Girls Kickstarter

Artist Bobby Timony has a really cool Monster Pin Up Girls Playing Cards & Hardcover Art Book kickstarter that ends in a few days. This is relevant to Succubus Sunday because one of the preview sketches includes a lovely little hottie succubus.

Here are a few other samples from the project.

I've pledged for a deck of cards and the art book. I really like his style. It's very Bruce Timm-esque. Consider pledging, I doubt you'll be disappointed.