October Horror Challenge - Piranha 3D (2010)

 For Day 30 I decided to do an alternate prompt. "Best Gratuitous Nudity" 

Plot

Spring break turns into a total slaughter when ancient flesh-eating fish are let loose at a lakeside resort.

Review

This movie is schlock, but it's funny and has a lot of gratuitous nudity. The movie has a phenomenal cast. My two favorite  members are Richard Dreyfus (which is a nice Jaws call back) and Jerry O'Connell. O'Connell plays an absolute sleezeball and has one of the funniest moments of the flick. He get's his too, in a hilarious way.  If you're cool with low brow humor, this is a fun ride full of blood and boobs. 

Your Game 

These are updates of some stats for SURVIVE THIS!! I did years ago. This one honestly could be used in any of those games, but I think it'd be extra appropriate with Bloody Appalachia and Camp Blood.

Piranha, Prehistoric (Animal) 

Armor Class: 12

Hit Dice: 10 (3 HD)
Move: 5/15 (Swim)
Actions: 1 

Attack: Bite (1d6)
Special: Blood Frenzy, can leap up to 10 feet out of water

Bonuses: +1 to melee attacks, +2 to melee damage

Alignment: Evil

Morale: 10

Madness: 0 (6)
Terror: 9

HDE: 1

The smell of blood will cause a piranha to frenzy, giving it advantage on attack rolls, but giving it a -2 AC penalty.

Movies Watched: 33

New to Me: 19.66

Underworld: The Eagles Crest Review

Underworld: The Eagles Crest is a dungeon adventure book inspired by the OG Legend of Zelda video games like their Overworld monster zines. It is written for Bloat's system neutral video game inspired stats, D&D 5e, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and SURVIVE THIS!!. The adventure was written by Eric Bloat, with art by Phil Stone and cartography by Jeff Jones. It is made up of 18 separate rooms and even includes a classic LoZ style map. The dungeon is a built into the side of a dungeon dungeon and a powerful big bad placed a precious relic in its depths. Eric begins the adventure with stylistic notes, such as discussing resetting characters after a TPK. He also includes a page detailing a LoZ staple, bombs (and gives them stats for the four styles mentioned above). Much like classic D&D adventures the areas include tight minimalist text with the really important parts highlighted. The Eagles Crest ends with a bestiary featuring all the monster stats you need (in the zines four flavors). If you played Legend of Zelda these beasties will fill familiar. They would also fit in just about any standard fantasy setting.

I've not had the chance to run the adventure, but it seems like a really solid release. Thea areas involve variation (and classic OSR random tables). This combined with being compatible with four different systems makes this a fun reusable adventure. If you play elf wizard games, you should pick this one up when it's available to the public. You won't be disappointed. 

100 Days of Halloween: Day 38

 The Dorsett Monster originally appeared in Haunted Thrills #17

The Dorset Monster is an ancient man-sized dragon used by ancient druids to defend the British Isles from invaders, such as the Romans. The creature tends to attack with its claws and fangs, savoring the carnage they cause. However, if pressed the Dorset Monster can also breath a gout of poisonous gas that will sap a man's fortitude. The creature itself is immune to all forms of poison (natural and magical). The creature is intelligent and free-willed, but can be bound with the proper incantation.

The Dorset Monster 

Armor Class: 14

Hit Dice/Points: 6+6
Move: 12
Actions: 2
Attack: Claw (d6)/Bite (d6)

Special: Poisonous Breath (creatures in melee with monster must make Poison save or fall asleep), immune to poison

Bonuses: +5 to Melee attacks, +2 to Melee damage, +5 to spot and listen, +2 to Initiative 

Morale: 8

Madness: - 

Terror: 11
HDE: 5

100 Days of Halloween: Day 35

It doesn't have anything to do with stories inside, but I love the cover of Adventures Into The Unknown #07.

Skeletal Pirate Lord

Armor Class: 14/16
Hit Dice: 6
Move: 12
Actions: 1
Attack: Necrotic Cutlass (1d8) 

Special: Like all skeletons, the skeletal pirate lord takes half damage from piercing and slashing weapons. Also being masters of swordplay, skeletal pirate lords can parry melee attacks, gaining +2 to AC against them.
Bonuses: +4 to Melee attacks
Morale: 10
Terror: 12
HDE: 4

100 Days of Halloween: Day 21

 This mischievous and malicious spirit appears in Journey Into Fear #01.

Tormenting fae are invisible faerie folk that delight in slowly driving individuals mad with misfortune. While not physically powerful, they can cause great chaos and destruction over a long period.

Tormenting Fae

Armor Class: 15
Hit Dice/Points: 2
Move: 12
Actions: 1
Attack: Misfortune (1d6)
Special: Takes double damage from cold iron and half damage from mundane (non cold iron) weapons
Bonuses: +3 to initiative 

Alignment: Evil
Morale: 6
Terror: -
HDE: 2

100 Days of Halloween: Day 13

 The sad story of Bill the Doll can be found in Amazing Ghost Stories 14.

Though Bill the Doll isn't the Ripper in toy form, if you want to include him in your games my puppet stats from the first day of this series would work well. You can find those here.

100 Days of Halloween: Day 1

The Phantom Puppet appears in Beyond #1. A puppet modeled after Jack the Ripper is it possessed by the killer's spirit or is it just a tool of a unhinged puppeteer?

The Puppet

Armor Class: 14

Hit Dice/Points: 4
Move: 12 
Actions: 1
Attack: Blade (1d4)

Bonuses: +2 to attack, +5 to stealth, +2 to damage

Special: Additional +4 to attack and double damage against unaware foe, takes double fire damage

Morale: 10

Terror: 8
HDE: 2

Overworld 3: The Adventure Continues Now On Kickstarter

Just wanted to let folks know the next installment of Bloat Games This-Is-Definitely-Not-Zelda Zine is funding on Kickstarter. Once again, the zine will be released with different rule sets. Every "world" video game zine Eric has released has been fantastic. Check out my reviews for the previous Overworld and the Nightworld zines. 

Once again, the phenomenal Phil Stone comes back to do the art.

You can back Overworld 3 here.

Overworld Review

Overworld is Eric Bloat's loving tribute to Legend of Zelda. Much like Nightworld, the zine was released in three different rules formats: system neutral, D&D 5e, and SURVIVE THIS!!. There is also a second zine that features items from Overworld. However, unlike the Nightworld zine of the same nature, these are just system neutral. 

Like Nightworld, the 5e zine is a bit larger than the others, due to their stat blocks being larger. Each version of the zine features a different monster from the books. Once again, like Nightworld, all of the art is done by the extremely talented Phil Stone. That man is a real workhorse and seems to be a part of everyone's projects these days. In the main Overworld zines Eric gives us 29 monsters. There are three unique boss monsters: Armanamentus the unicorn dragon, Gleeko the three-headed dragon enforcer of the Underworld, and Kandar the Terrible. Obviously Kandar,  a giant pig-man, is Gannon and he is the true boss monster of the zine. The rest of the monsters are an interesting mix of humanoids, aberrations, and undead. 

The system neutral version of Overworld (and Overworld 2) are easy to use. The are general guidelines for adapting it to other systems and as I mentioned in another review, their are some strokes of brilliance here. Hearts for health is just inspired. The 5e and SURVIVE THIS!! versions are solid too. There are a variety of challenge levels spread throughout. The monsters of Overworld could fit easily into SURVIVE THIS!! Fantasy or any standard D&D setting. For a fun twist, use Overworld with Dark Places & Demogorgons and you could have a really fun D&D cartoon tribute campaign. 

There are really fun zines and I'm obviously a big fan. If you love Legend of Zelda too, these are must haves. You can order print copies here and pdfs here.

Nightworld Kickstarter and Review

This morning Bloat Games launched their first retro video game to rpg monster zine, Nightworld. As you might have guessed, Nightworld is a take on Castlevania. Like previous projects in this series, there will be three different versions released: system neutral, D&D 5e, and SURVIVE THIS!!.  For the project you can get one or all versions of the zine in pdf and print. There's also an exclusive bundle with an altered cover (that I personally prefer). That exclusive bundle also has a Nightworld Items and Weapons bonus zine. Eric has gifted me review pdfs for the monster zines and here are my thoughts. I'll give an overview of the zine as a whole and then look at the different versions. 

The system neutral and SURVIVE THIS versions are 56 pages and the 5e is 68 (because 5e stat blocks take up more space).  This time, Josh Palmer, the other half of Bloat Games took care of the writing this time around and all artwork is done by the talented Phil Stone. While the cover is in color, the interiors are black and white. The premise of the book is that Barnabus, the Lord of Vampires, has gathered monsters and allies and created the Conclave of the Apocalypse. What does this group want to do? Well, there is a d10 chart to figure that out. I know Barnabus is a reference to Barnabus Collins from Dark Shadows, but since Dracula is in the public domain, personally I would have stuck with that name. It doesn't take away from the book, and you can call him Dracula in your game if you want. Just saying that's what I would have done. After the introduction of Barnabus and the Conclave of the Apocalypse, there's a quick reference page for all of the enemies in the book. There are 34 different monster entries. Most are generic minions, but there are several unique "boss monsters." The System Neutral and SURVIVE THIS!! versions of Nightworld have descriptions of how to read the stat blocks.

Obviously, Barnabus is the most powerful foe in the book. A really cool (and true to the game) aspect that Josh gave him is that he has two forms. The first vampire lord is more powerful, but just when your players will feel like they've beaten him, he'll come back as a more straight forward and physical fiend. Of the other unique boss monsters are Subranrab (the Alucard analog), Lord of the Bats, Frankie (Frankenstein's Monster), Grim Reaper, Hugh Le Foul (which I assume is Grand Danasty from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse),  Kasmira the Masquerade Queen, Medusa Queen,  and the Mummy Twins. 

The system neutral version of the book is pretty basic. Instead of hit points, monsters are given Hearts. Their attacks are presented in a manner like this - Melee: Slam, same a a hammer. These stats are generic enough that you can use the book with any system (hence, system neutral). Not much to say, other than the use of Hearts for health is inspired.

The SURVIVE THIS!! version is the best option for OSR folks. SURVIVE THIS!! is Bloat Games Palladium Multiverse inspired take on classic D&D.  Some of the foes in this book are quite strong (as they should be). For example, Barnabus is one of the most powerful foes I've seen stats for in the system (and I have all of the SURVIVE THIS!! books except SURVIVE THIS!! The Blackest Space). Barnabus and the Conclave of Apocalypse make great foes for pretty much any SURVIVE THIS game. While the boss monsters may be too powerful for the average Dark Places & Demogorgons group, the minions make great monsters to take on your 80's kids. The villains use in We Die Young and What Shadows Hide are pretty obvious. The same could be said for SURVIVE THIS!! Fantasy. If you've ever wanted your Vigilante City heroes to clash with the Lord of Vampires, this zine is a must have. Once again, for any of the SURVIVE THIS games, I'd definitely turn Barnabus into Count Dracula.

The thickest of the zines if the 5e version. If you are curious about challenge ratings, Barnabus and his son are Challenge 15, though because Barnabus has two forms, that's misleading. His first form is 15, his second is 9. This seriously makes him a perfect solo monster. Also, his stats aren't just a rehash of other published vampire stats, which I appreciate. He even differs from classic vampire lords, like Strahd von Zarovich. Barnabus fits perfectly into pretty much any classic 5e campaign. The most obvious choice is to include in him a Ravenloft game. That being said, he and his minions really could be plugged into just about any campaign. Final note about the 5e version, I think this is the one version that I don't mind the main villain being named something other than Dracula. 

I don't have a pdf of the item and weapon book, but based on the list of things included, it should be cool. I mean, seriously, it has stats for "blessed pork chop." I'm sold. The book will contain system neutral, 5e, and SURVIVE THIS!! stats.

If you can't tell, I'm really excited for this project. Castlevania is one of my favorite franchises (even if I'm not the best at it) and this feels like it has more universal appeal than Bloat Games previous video game projects (though I'm not bashing them, because they rock). I highly recommend backing this project. 

Pipeworld - Tabletop RPG Monster Manual Zines

You have one week left to back Pipeworld, the latest Kickstarter by Bloat Games. Pipeworld is like his last Kickstarter, Overworld, but instead of Legend of Zelda, it focuses on Mario Bros. The zine will be presented in system neutral, SURVIVE THIS!!, and 5e formats. You can choose your desired rules system. If Eric keeps this up, we're going to have everything we need for a Smash Bros tabletop setting!

Overworld KS Coming Soon

Overworld is the next Kickstarter by a game designer that creates epic content and is just one of the nicest folks I know, Eric from Bloat Games. Seriously though, I do want to brag on my friend for a second. Eric is a kind soul and has given me some great opportunities to be creative and get my work out there. I can think of several times in the past he's made his games more accessible to folks. I've never really heard him speak negatively about another publisher's work. Eric is just a good dude, that makes great content, and does so without stirring controversy (redacted one-sided nut job incident aside). This is why I love promoting and supporting his work and why I think you should too.

Okay, now that my love letter to Mr. Bloat is done, I'll talk about the project. Overworld is a bestiary zine inspired by The Legend of Zelda! The zine is going to be released in three different formats. There will be a system neutral version, a 5e version, and a version written specifically for Bloat Games take on the OSR, SURVIVE THIS!!. I personally am going to pick up the 5e and SURVIVE THIS!! versions. A little birdie told me there will be a bundle option to get all three, and to be honest, that's the one level I'll most likely back at. I think the use in 5e is obvious. If you're using this book with SURVIVE THIS!! there are several cool ways you can use it. It will provide great classic monsters for Fantasy and Vigilante City. The creatures can be new alien species for SURVIVE THIS!! The Blackest Space. A really fun option for Dark Places & Demogorgons, We Die Young, and What Shadows Hide would be to have the pc's sucked into The Legend of Zelda (or your world's version of it). Think of the fun of your werewolf riot girl or J'town geek questing through Hyrule trying to snag the Master Sword to defeat the bad guys and get back to the real world.

You can go to this link and click "Notify me on launch" to stay up to date with the project.  If you want more Legend of Zelda inspired content from Bloat Games you should consider checking out Eric's Patreon. The image below is a sample of the cool stuff he's doing there.