Discord in Scarlet – Eerie Magazine, Pt. 1

While this adaptation is titled "Voyage of the Space Beagle," it's actually only just one chapter of that book. The story this is taken from is more properly "Discord in Scarlet." They changed the look of the creature for reasons that should be obvious, but it actually looks like this-

Anyway, here's the first of three installments. Click images to see full-size. Oh, one more thing- I learned only recently that the name Grosvenor is pronounced "grove-ner," which is a normal, albeit not very common, surname and not a made up sci-fi name.

Tune in tomorrow for Part Two!

XXVc Graphics 3- Luna

This is a reworking of some art from the XXVc sourcebook Luna. The art in that book was pretty typical of the XXVc line. Some of it, very little, was really pretty terrific (usually the work of one time Legion of Super-Heroes artist James Sherman) and the rest was kinda shoddy stuff, probably because TRS wasn't paying too well.

Anyway, the original art was crap and I hated it, so I took it upon myself to redo it. The one change to the text that I made was to turn Britannica into Celtica. I figured maybe things took a sour turn for the UK at some point and Ireland moved in to take control. That's why the slogan on the flag is in gaelic- "Na Aris" is gaelic for "never again" which, in the original material, is in latin.

The color of the banner may strike some as odd, but I wanted something that said "Luna" and had an atypical look. Also, and I don't expect anyone to understand this, but I wanted it to have a touch of "The King in Yellow" to it.

XXVc Notebook- Needle Gun Plus

XXVCR2 Earth in the 25th Century introduced the darter, weapon of choice for the discerning Cannibal of Tomorrow and perhaps the stupidest weapon in the game. It is certainly insulting, along the lines of giving American Indians "futuristic" tomahawks* that shoot lasers or explode. 

While the idea on the whole is awful, the darts used are still interesting and worth using somewhere else. But where? Join me now as we take a journey into the Future to find out....

The idea that those poisons used in those darts are only found in Buenos Aires and Guyana (?) and are unreproducible with 25th century science is also pretty stupid. It's not like it's Haitian voodoo powder or something.

Here are the different varieties of darts available:

Type A- A strong nerve toxin, which paralyzes the central nervous system, inhibiting all movement for 1d8 hours. Save vs Poison at -2; successful characters are slowed, capable of only half movement.

Type B- A mild soporific; save vs poison or sleep for 1d12 turns.

Type C- An alkaline which causes 1d8 damage on contact, no saving throw applicable.

Type D- A highly toxic substance capable of 1d6 points of damage and inducing convulsions for 1d8 rounds (save at -2 for limited duration of 1d4 rounds). Convulsing characters drop everything in hand and are immobilized, save for seizures.

Would these unbalance the lowly Needle Gun? In a setting that allows for man-portable particle accelerator guns and gamma ray lasers that can deal horrific damage, would a few non-lethal darts (and a lethal one) really throw everything out of whack? Put too much power in one character's hands? I don't think so. 

I would make them hard to come by, though. In my game, not every weapon is available at your friendly, local Ammu-Nation. I would say those darts are normally only available to military and para-military organizations (a local police department, for example) and would have to be acquired on the black market like some of the other death-dealing guns in the game. 

In addition, I'd require the civilian needle gun to be modified to accommodate them, rendering the gun useless for standard needles. Considering the ease in procuring a needle gun, it would be much easier to mod one than to acquire the military version.


*For the record, I have no problem including in a Buck Rogers High Adventure Cliffhangers game, since that kind of malarkey is not uncommon there.

XXVc Update + New Game Art

I was reminded the other night that it's been a while since I posted here. Well, my online XXVc game came to an end (temporary? permanent? can't say fo' sho') because one of my players thought I was running the game just for him, apparently. 

Since then I got invited to an AD&D 2e Dark Sun game and have offered to run XXVc for them whenever the DM wants a break. I also started a one-on-one XXVc game which I'm looking forward to. A face-to-face game can be a jolly good time, in my opinion.

So, I have a couple of things to show today. One is a money card for the Firste (sic) Luna Bank, which I've renamed LunaBanc. No reason to do it- I just needed to scratch an itch. The second is for an idea I had to develop the sadly and sorely underdeveloped Solar Alliance, RAM's puppet organization on Earth.

I'm using as a model the Earth Republic of Syfy's tv series Defiance, of which I am a fan. One of the tasks I assigned the SA was to be the bug in Earth's ear about mutants and the first thing that came to mind was propaganda posters. Everyone loves a propaganda poster, so I spent the last couple of days working on one. 

First up is the LunaBanc card. It's supposed to be an aluminum-like metal with a laser-etched holographic "water mark" of an olde tyme image of the Moon. Of course, when i say "laser-etched holograph" I mean whatever the 25th century version of that would be. It's not flashy, it's just a viso-prop.

Click me.

And next is the Solar Alliance's anti-mutant poster that one might find posted up in a North American Regency sprawl. This one has obviously been out in the weather for a while.

Click for the full sized (but not life sized) view.

I'm gonna do more of these, because this one was a ton of fun to do. They'll get better as I go, but I think this one is a pretty nifty first effort. More XXVc-inspired art coming soon!

Fuck Yeah DragonQuest! That Damn Font.

For those of you DragonQuest fans that wanted to use the familiar DQ logo font, I have good news- you no longer have to use that ugly pretender to Thalia, the font used on number of SPI games, including Swords & Sorcery, Barbarian Kings, Arena of Death, and, of course, the DragonQuest line. The fake Thalia (which goes by either Thalia, Thalia Regular or Thalia Normal depending on where you find it) that has been available for the past 10+ years can be kicked to the curb where it belongs. 

I would like to direct your attention to Thaleia, a really nicely done clone of Thalia (the real one) that is available at most of the usual places you can find free fonts. Below is a side by side example of "DragonQuest" using both fonts. For the sake of the comparison, I had to almost double the point size of Thalia just to keep them in the same bracket.

It wasn't necessary for me to show the other numerous flaws in Thalia Normal as they are pretty apparent, even without the comparison. It's a really badly done knockoff- so bad that I've refused to use it, even when I could make corrections in Adobe Illustrator. 

Below that are examples, making use of their respective names, with the ubiquitous Helvetica there as a control. The flaws are punch-in-the-face obvious simply using the font's own name. So much pain, so much pain...

Note that the art department at SPI altered the "s" a bit and the cap "D" is both larger and has a lowered baseline than the example here, which hasn't been tinkered with by me.  

Click image for a closer look

Thaleia available for free here as well as a number of other sites. Use it with gusto!

UPDATE: I discovered after I'd posted this article that there is, indeed, a "lazy s" as part of both the original Thalia and new Thaleia character sets. This mean that my statement above about SPI is now null and void.

Why I Love the Internet

A search for model and one-time girlfriend of H.R. Giger, Li Tobler brought me this-

As always, click to enlarge

B/X Notebook- Let's Go to Hell!

[This was written for TSR's Known World/Mystara setting using the B/X ruleset. It incorporates elements of Wrath of the Immortals, the Known World Gazetteer series, Greyhawk, Fiend Folio and Bard Games' Atlantean Trilogy (specifically The Bestiary.) Mitra/Mithras is the stand-in for Jehova/God and is in most respects, the same deity.]

[[Special thanks to Ettin of Hexen for his assistance in tightening this up.]]

I had this idea that Hell, by whatever name, could be represented by the three alignments of D&D, that those alignments could define, in a way, how each realm would operate. These are separate realms (or planes or dimensions) each with its own character, personified by whoever rules there. Orcus and Demogorgon are most likely familiar to long time D&D players, but Veischax is my own creation, based heavily on medieval ideas of Satan and the angelic host as presented in books like the Dictionnaire Infernal, The Magus, and the Lesser and Greater Keys of Solomon. 

Infernus is the creation of Mithras, who has sole dominion over it, despite what Orcus might think. The other two realms were created under very different circumstances, as you'll see. They belong to no particular god or religion, but only to those that inhabit them.

All three planes of Hell have these things in common- they are inhabited by entities commonly known as demons (and less often as devils) and they are places of punishment for the spirits of the dead (typically human) who have in some way displeased their deity or deities. Each realm can be entered, with varying degrees of difficulty and through various means, by mortals. Whether they can make it out again is up to fate and the DM to decide. 

The following undead spirits are found anywhere in the three Hells- spectres, wraiths, shadows & wights. These are the spirits of especially evil people that have been "promoted" above the common undead spirit status. They are not, however, part of any demonic hierarchy.

Infernus

Orcus is both the ruler and a prisoner of Infernus. Condemned there by Mithras, Orcus and his minions were the first occupants. As a realm of Punishment (Law,) Infernus also serves as prison for those souls who break the Sacred Laws of Mithras.

In the center of Infernus stands a cyclopean mountain of basalt and iron, and atop that mountain sits a grand palace, where resides Orcus, the Black Prince of Infernus. The mountain itself is rife with twisting tunnels and foul dungeons where Orcus' slaves mete out punishment to the spirits of the damned. The mountain is, in effect, one big, nasty dungeon.

Beyond the mountain is a blasted wasteland of broken earth, acidic lakes, cutting winds, and boiling rain. Sulfurous fire pits are everywhere, spewing flames and belching noxious clouds into the air. 

As Mithras is not a cruel deity, all souls that enter the Infernal Realm may eventually leave there and enter into Paradise- all save for Orcus and his horde, who are damned to see those they are forced to punish gain freedom and go on to the one place they, themselves, may never again enter.

Legions of Orcus

• Gremlin
• Undead Spirit
• Hell Hound
• Nightmare
• Greater Undead
• Nether Demon
• Broo (Lesser Common Demon)
• Ostegos (Death Demon)
• Winged Demon
• Bargda (Greater Common Demon)
• Empusa
• Cataboligne
• Nightshade (all three types freely roam the land, but none are found in the mountain)

Noth

Veischax rules the realm of the dead called Noth- a grey, cold, impossibly vast city with impassably high walls and barred gates wrought from evil iron. It is a city built by the evil of Man, not the labor of demons. What the souls of sinful men have created, left to their own devices, is a strangling bureaucracy that dominates every aspect of existence in Noth. 

The damned spend most of their existence here standing in endless lines, slaving away in mines, and building or repairing sections of the city. It is a realm of crushing tedium, periodically shattered by attacks from Veischax's minions, thus creating a constant, oppressive aura of Fear (Neutral).

Known to some as the Infinite City it is in fact surrounded by a variety of terrain consisting primarily of a cold, trackless desert and the wilderness. Those that manage to escape the city find themselves hunted by beasts of every stripe. Among the demons there exists a hierarchy, with imps in the lowest positions all the way up to the monstrous kalkydri who have claimed certain districts in Noth as their own. It is Veischax the Dethroned Emperor, however, who is the undisputed master.

Occasionally, various demonic factions will come into conflict and openly wage war on each other. Some wars have been endured for decades and some even centuries and the damned are powerless to stop them. A spirit who has been destroyed in Noth simply disperses into nothingness, only to reform later. 

Legions of Veischax

• Red Imp
• Undead Spirit
• Devil Dog
• Alastor
• Grimalkin
• Bat Horin
• Diabolus
• Demon Locust
• Asura (Pit Devil)
• Nephilim
• Kalkydri

Pandemonium 

Demogorgon rules Pandemonium, a terrifying realm of the damned. It is a patchwork landscape, with areas tailored to suit the tastes of each local demonic lord. Beyond the never ending parade of unimaginable horrors, Pandemonium consists of mounds of smoldering filth and piles of flyblown rotting corpses, broken by an occasional area of shocking beauty and serenity, there to remind the damned of what they can no longer have.

While most enduring domains in Pandemonium are ruled by type V and VI demons, it is Demogorgon's lieutenants, those few exalted demons rewarded with names, that hold the most sway beyond their master's immediate influence. None, however come close to the terrifying might of the Grand Master, himself.
Pandemonium is a place where not only the souls of the damned go beyond death, but those of other evil humanoids (orcs, ogres, etc) as well, where they are subject to horrific physical and mental brutality at the hand of demons. It is a realm of Torment (Chaos).

Legions of Demogorgon

• Goblin
• Undead Spirit
• Hobgoblin
• Bugbear (Nightjack)
• Death Knight
• Retriever
• Hag
• Type I-VI Demon
• Exalted Demon Lords

*Archon = angel.