'The White Ship Has Come' Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Session Report #1

"Out of the South it was that the White Ship used to come when the moon was full and high in the heavens. Out of the South it would glide very smoothly and silently over the sea. And whether the sea was rough or calm, and whether the wind was friendly or adverse, it would always glide smoothly and silently, its sails distant and its long strange tiers of oars moving rhythmically. One night I espied upon the deck a man, bearded and robed, and he seemed to beckon me to embark for far unknown shores. Many times afterward I saw him under the full moon, and never did he beckon me."
The White Ship  (1919) 
by H. P. Lovecraft

Last night in DM Steve's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, the tables were turned on me. Instead of DMing as is usually the case this time we generated PC's. It  was time for me to jump behind the other side of the screen. We were doing second level PC's for a one shot Con game that DM Steve had cooked up. 



"My name is Zar Artha Con (Hyperborean warlock 2nd level )  & it is only recently that I have awakened from my slumber. From beneath where  must not be recalled. Alone & with armor as well as weapons at my side my feet find myself on this shore. I'm a young man from a very ancient peoples. The spirits are mine to call but my father's people trained me in the martial ways. There are several man ape villages around here but the sand runs with the waves. There are man ape fishermen around here they look at me queerly & now I hear the ship's bell in the distance. Why are the men scattering?! Oh the White Ship has come for me again & it is time to join the others."

DM Steve is once again using HP Lovecraft's The White Ship that was written up back in 2011 on the Retro blog. We boarded the White Ship & it pulled away from the shore with uncanny speed floating along a cloud of mist. Zar Artha Con stowed his gear below but not his weapons as the blind captain indicated. The bottom ocean dropped out from below the ship & we were sailing on a sea of stars for about four days game time nothing happened. The small god to whom I had a pact with spoke to my PC in dreams. My PC had not introduced himself to the party but the PC's introduced themselves to him. 

Rick Steve's brother is playing Rel Runeham An Amazon Cleric

Greg is taking a contracted Ixian necromancer Shen La the Mysterious 

Greg's wife - A Kimmerian thief named Bru Ta Chrain whose the disgraced royal from a tribe way up North 

Rick's wife Darlene is playing a Viking Beserker named Cra'sh Crush'er 

Rick's brother Darin is playing an Atlantean thief named Trout 

Ram is playing a Keltic Calpthract named Sir Kay whose out to see the world & he's very bright, talktive, outgoing, etc. 
We're all 2nd level & things are getting dicey. The waves of nothingness were choppy & the sent of rotting meat stained the air of the ship. The fifth day however things got very dangerous indeed! A tentacled  horror attacked the ship  & the ship's crew had a devil of a time! 
 

So it was battle & boarding axes to repel this Lovecraftian thing! There were no twenties rolled folks & combat bogged down as we were fighting this horror much to the delight of DM Steve. We had to end here because all of us had to work in the morning. But it went well for a spur of the moment game of AS&SH.. 

More To Come Next Week 

'Playing Out In The Rocks' Cepheus Engine Rpg DM Workshop & Session Report Four - The Wreck of the Ages

 Several cargo modules from the wreck last week look strangely familiar to the players in the session  today. The wreck is over a 175 years old and yet perfectly preserved. 

Silent Running film fans will know these cargo containers. 

This game campaign session  picks up right where last session left off. The wreck in question is a pulsed fission propulsion craft from someplace else with ANSA markings on it. There were also life signs aboard... 
 


 Dark Conspiracy rpg is one of those games that haunts my players  from time to time. So this means that bringing DC into my Cepheus Engine rpg campaigns is something that's gonna be happening. The players pressed me on the fact that this wreck that followed in her hyperspace wake & is there a hyperspacial drive aboard? This drive is incredibly valuable to both the players & major corporations.. And the answer was no! This both confused & pissed off players. The second stage of the craft is partially wrecked. The players have decided to send in a probot from Hostile the Hostile rpg setting  to investigate. 

Prorobot was uncrated & launched  because the players think that an encounter could kill them & their right! The probot dodged several huge pieces of space junk & managed to find the energy source in one of the cargo. What the players didn't expect was the night gaunts clinging to the side the wreck.. They retreated to otherside of the wreck & the PC's managed to kill one of the night gaunts with a lucky head shot with their laser. But the roughneck veteran Charlie Pringle PC  went temporarily insane getting a full view of the faceless entity. 
The probot was equipped with a laser gun & the party  were using a virtual reality head set up straight out of Dark Conspiracy's Dark Tek book. 

Now the PC's want to back off the probot & investigate the wreck so we ended with them magnetically sealing the bot into place & plans to move forward coming up fast. Their Russian agent/marine NPC was there to act as a liaison for navy of TSAO: These Stars Are Ours aboard the Daniel Boone station. But Yuri Novaralov was generated using the free  Kosmos 68 rules.  There is a hidden agenda here and the players are wondering what's going on. 

Allard Electronics has some inside track on this & there's been talk among the executives of Z'ha'dum?! The players didn't catch on to this at the moment but Allard Technologies clamped down hard on the space wreck. 

Review & Commentary On T2000 Fanzine- You're On Your Own No. 1 From Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) For Twilight 2000 original edition

 "The War has raged for years The high-tech ammo is almost gone. High-tech equipment is failing, piece by piece, with no spares to fix it. The front lines are held by a few grim, desperate soldiers.

The US 5th Division holds the line in Poland. Now, a Soviet encirclement has cut it off in a province ruled by ambitious warlords, local militias, and bands of marauding deserters. HQ is 200 klicks to the rear and powerless.
Your last order sets you free...

Good Luck. You're on your own."

And with those words the Rpg Twilight 2000 came into being from Game Designer's Workshop. And life was never the same again. Twilight 2000 was innovative, &a  very stark a product of its time in Ninety Eighty Five. I remember seeing that reveal in Dragon magazine. Wayne's Books has a whole reference section on Twilight 2000 here. They'll be a whole other blog post on memories of Twilight 2000 rpg another time. Needless to say that there's a whole fanatic cult following of the game to this day. And this brings us to the free  T2000 fanzine issue #1  that we discovered very recently. It reminds us of the 'Eternal Soldier' fanzine that Game Designer's Workshop put out. 

This is another fanzine that is more then the sum of its parts, the articles within    T2000 fanzine issue #1 are great. They update what's been happening in the world of T2000 since the war's beginning. We get 'The King's Messengers' by James Ross with James Langham gives us an article on the role that the U.K.'s royal couriers play in the world of T2000; "Able to trace its origins back to 1485, before the Twilight War the Corps of King’s Messengers (or Queen’s Messengers when the Sovereign i s femal e ) w e re diplomatic couriers, many of whom were retired military personnel, who were employed by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to hand carry secret and important messages from London to British Embassies and Consulates around the globe." Its interesting & full of possibilities. 

'The Armory' Rifle round damage & tables by Peter Grining are essential for the T2000 enthusiast. Good stuff for upcoming games & designing adventures. Areas of operations presents Iran & the Third World by Jason Weiser a very well presented article. Again solid articles with lots of adventure potential. Areas of Operations presents Africa by Raellus a gent whose name has been seen in various Twilight 2000 rpg forums over the years. A very well researched article and brimming with lots of potential.  James Langham gives us more U.S. Air Defense Vehicles in the Motorpool section. Twilight War Naval Forces by Matt Wiser gives us a neglected military force in T2000. Again lots of possible ideas circle this one for me. Grab T2000 Fanzine- You're On Your Own No. 1 From Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) right here. 

And there's an advertisement for Tw2000 rpg combined book by Far Future enterprises. 

We've played with this book going back to 2012 or so, this is the preferred version of the game because it contains everything that's needed to really give the Twilight 2000 rpg a go. So why Twilight 2000 important? Because for years now we've used it as a reference & back door into original Traveller rpg as a military alternative Earth add on. No lies here its been in circulation among the crowd of players here for years. 

Review & Commentary On The Pay What You Want Adventure - 'Sleeping Giant' written by Joseph Mohr From Old School Role Playing For Cepheus Engine rpg & Old School Traveller rpg

"The travelers are offered a job with a substantial payday, The only problem is that the job is on a burned out radioactive world in the Sonora sector of space, An alien species, long dead and gone, once used robotic walkers to invade the planet Ceqal IV. The Olonsean Empire would like to have artifacts from these walkers. The patron, however, has other ideas."




 Joseph Mohr is an engine every couple of months a new OSR or Cepheus Engine rpg  adventure pops up on Drivethrurpg. And so its been interesting to see "Sleeping Giant" a pay what you want Cepheus Engine Rpg adventure  pop up yesterday. There been quite a bit of experince at the table top when it comes to using  Joseph Mohr Cepheus Engine rpg adventures that we have had over the last two years. Each one comes with a hook, a set up, the meat of the adventure, & then the conclusion for the PC's. And this isn't a bad thing at all. And this set up is highly effective; "Nehael Thriqu, an intelligence officer of the Ilsunsi Directorate, approaches the travelers when they are in star port with a proposition. The Directorate has received intelligence that the Olonsean Empire intends to send an expedition to the world of Ceqal to recover alien artifacts. The Olonsean Empire is an aggressive species of aliens who are always looking for artifacts which can improve their military. It is believed that the planet Ceqal IV may contain such artifacts as it was once the site of an ancient battle. This battle took place long before any of the races which currently inhabit the Sonora sector evolved or moved into this part of the galaxy. Much of the planet is covered in radioactive zones from the orbital bombardment that took place here long ago. A great deal of hazardous wreckage still orbits the world from the battle that took place in space around the system. It is considered dangerous place to visit and no one has after the first explorers visited the world nearly five hundred years ago. Nehael Thriqu offers the travelers CR 200,000 to visit this world and find whatever it is that the Olonseans are looking for before their own expedition arrives. He offers CR 100,000 as a bonus if the travelers can recover the artifacts and bring them to him. Alternatively he will be quite happy if the travelers can just prevent the Olonseans from recovering the artifacts by destroying them. To this end he will supply the travelers with military grade explosive charges (five) which should accomplish the task." One of the things that really shines out about  "Sleeping Giant" is how easy it is to customize & really play with to suit your campaigns.  "Sleeping Giant" has all of the ingrediants of a good solidly done original  Star Trek television episode in an adventure outline form.  "Sleeping Giant" could easily be adapted to a very gritty & lived in Cepheus Engine rpg setting like Zozer Games Hostile rpg setting.  Here's how it would work  with a Hostile style game. The Company patron comes to the PC marines with a purposal to recover relics or weapons from world of Ceqal before  the Olonsean Empire (effectively a group of alien pirates or marauders) recovers them first. Bonuses will be paid & there is propitiation of future missions. 



 And even the writer says it right at the beginning of the adventure; "This adventure involves an alien robotic walker which was once used in combat during an invasion of this world. The walker is basically a large mechanical warrior in which a crew once lived inside. Consider it a walking tank. It was heavily armored and equally heavily armed. There are many components to this device which the Olonseans would benefit from. Should they recover any of these components they will put them to military use and change the balance of power in the region. This adventure is set in the Sonora sector which is detailed in my previous work “The Frontiers of Space.” But it could easily be moved to some other part of the galaxy if needed." 

To make this work in Zozer Games Hostile rpg setting I'm breaking one of the conceits of this setting. Namely that there are no humanoid alien races within it. The Talon Sector & the Earth Empire that we've been using as the basis of our Hostile games does have humanoid races within it. Its a big galaxy folks and besides this something that the Aliens comic books from Dark Horse also played with. That's another blog entry.  "Sleeping Giant"  has random encounters, the robotic wreckage, and even the possibility of more relics.. There's a bit of problem solving & all together this works very well.  "Sleeping Giant"  is actually a nice campaign set up adventure for some experienced rpgers in the Cepheus Engine rpg. 
Could  "Sleeping Giant"   work for original Traveller rpg?! In a word very effectively because it hits the right buttons for original Traveller. You've got a solid mission, a post apocalytic alien world, a rival enemy hell bent on those same relics. Yes it works nicely.. 

Cha'alt Three Kickstarter 'Dancing in the Streets' or Saving Cha'alt - Cha'alt/Godbound Campaign Update

 So there hasn't been a lot of movement on the Cha'alt/Godbound campaign front for a few weeks now. Mostly because of scheduling & Covid related player issues. Then a barrage of emais came in from players, 'Have you seen Venger's new Cha'alt kickstarter?' or 'Did you know about what's happening to Cha'alt?' 
Cha'alt has been a major NPC player in my campaigns ever since the first book came out last year & now DM Greg emailed me the following; " The first adventure is titled Six Hours To Save Cha'alt.  It's about a meteor on a collision course with the planet.  Only the PCs can avert disaster.  They have to venture inside a sleeping spawn of an Old One in order to find the tech that can save Cha'alt."  'We can do this!'


When the Cha'alt wave hit the multiverse there was a ripple effect causing chaos of all kinds & alerting the gods. And this has been on going campaign to kill lots of the cults crossing over into Earth from Cha'alt. 

This gets into the idea of several bands of Swords & Wizardry light  PC's mixing it up with Ruins of Arduin rpg NPC parties & this includes deodanth bounty hunter blood parties out to end several party members. Ruins of Arduin is this sixty five page OSR book that ports over much of the Arduin awesomeness over to Swords & Wizardry. You can still get it for free right here.  The Deodanths are in the employ of a crime lord from Cha'alt 

The Deodanths would like nothing more then to eat the heart of a godbound or two but their real target is a renegade  Mystara immortal whose been helping the PC's from the side lines. Its highly unlikely they will achieve this goal. But the guidelines from The Vaults of Panduis Guide to the Immortals available right here. 

Let's face facts here the Mystara Immortals are the busy bodies of the multiverse & stick their noses into everything. Their entire ethos is opposed to everything Cha'alt stands for. So its game on between the rivals. When & where this game campaign will pick up again is still anyone's guess because of Covid at the moment but we'll keep you posted. 

'Playing Out In The Rocks' Cepheus Engine Rpg DM Workshop & Session Report Three

 This session report picks right up where last session  left off. 


Some healing was done via Aesculaptor Mark III unit ( medical/cyber unit via classic Traveller Cepheus Engine rules )  & her synethic operator. The synethic cyber medi surgeon was quite kind & engaging but a bit too percise for the players. Basically this was an excuse to re equip & upstock on personl items lost during the PC's last mission. 

The cyber medi surgeon sythetic seemed quite familiar to the PC's in a way & they were wondering if their in good hands?! The doctor unit seem quite proud of his medical knowledge & went about doing complete rework ups on the PC's. Cybernetic limbs were attached, bits & pieces were healed, and the operations went well. The New England bouys are being sent to the Daniel Boon space station for a run through by Allard Technologies aboard the USS George Washington a medi ship. 



Done via phone last night the PC's are getting themselves into a salvage mission aboard a wreck at the edges of the solar system. The bouys are worried about their bonuses & company shares at the moment. And there was talk among the players about possible connections to the Memori empire & space pirates traps. But overall the whole thing came off without a hitch until they made it to Danial Boon station. There they were greeted by Trader Ka Zee & Her Type R Subsidized Merchant starship("Fat Trader").  The Ka Zee's ship is a legendary A.I. ship & that Allard Technologies has leg up on many of the established corporations within my Hostile rpg campaigns. 

Allard Technologies rents out a portion of the Daniel Boon space station for research & corporate purposes. The whole station is under the control of several other corporate entities using it to study the psionic storm. On board the station the PC's met with the Russian spacer whose lap top kicked off everything. 


 Allard Technologies is an old NPC hub of mine & comes from Mercenaries, Spies, & Private Eyes rpg's supplement Stormhaven. On board the station things were a bit tense until everyone got settled in. And then Ka Zee went into her crossing the psionic storm, the loss of her crew, & her finding her way into this time & space continuum. She knows little of the other ship that followed in her hyperspace wake. The Russians & Allard technologies picked her up & brought her into Daniel Boon station. 

The wreck that followed in her wake contains an unknown & highly valuable radioactive compound unknown to the corporations & the Russians. Two Russian corporations are in a locked 'shadow war' with one side helping Allard Technologies because Allard has investiments. And the other a Russian mafia hold over whose desparate to make a name for themselves on the world stage. The lap top contains everything up till this point & possibly more from the Russian agent/spacer who got a hold of all of this. The rivals have been trying to kill him ever since. The Tigers forces are going to be doing point security on this mission. Recently  DM Greg's wife gifted me  Zozer Games Orbital 2100  setting book & Mars Mission. These technologies despite being a hundred & twenty five years old are still in operation within our campaign. This is a war time econmy & reliable means solid technologies

this was after reading a comment by Hostile rpg author Paul Elliot on Drivethrurpg; "In a way my later setting HOSTILE is the Orbital setting, 125 years later ... but with the caveat of hyperspace and anti-gravity" 

Orbital 2100 fits Allard Technologies Eighties inspired future history & why the company is so invested in the happenings of the solar system. This new wreck is an unknown quantity but far too valuable to leave out by the psionic storms. I'm sure that the wreck is perfectly safe... End of Mission briefing report.. 

The Lulu Mail Call - Hostile rpg Campaign Thoughts

 Mail call & some Cepheus Engine Hostile rpg thoughts today & how to really dig into the reality of some campaign choices. 

Today was spent recovering from last night's game cus it went till about five A.M. & then staggering out the mail box what do we  see but a package from Federal Express!? Awesomely this came out far faster then was expected. 
What was ordered was a copy of the following: 

HOSTILE

Hostile Gunlocker

Zaibatsu

HOSTILE Technical Manual

All of the player's PC's are at the moment in medi tanks & receiving cybernetics after getting slashed up by a Yakuza assassination  squad & running into a really nasty creature inside a haunted starship wreck. 
So now its all a matter of getting the time to have the players bring in some new PC's for this week's game coming up.. 

But with work schedules, Covid, & more our home games are gonna have to take an interesting turn or two. DM Steve has some ideas & we're going to be meeting coming up for our two current Cepheus Engine campaigns. So things are happening with this .. Right now coming up there are at least three or four Eighties & Nineties films in our VHS movie club watch rotation. So there's that.. coming to influence some of the adventure choices. Personally right now my own preferences for Sword of Cepheus has been coming through strongly. 

Right now Allard Technologies is the upstart corporate player in our current campaigns & there's some really shady business out among the stars. 

Vampires, Ghouls, Undead Plagues, & More Horrors For Your Old School Campaigns

 "filling up a bag with stakes] How many more of these will I have to make before they're all destroyed? They want my blood. It's their lives or mine. I still get squeamish."

 

Someone behind the scenes today forced my hand when it came to Richard Matheson's 1954 novel "I'm Legend"
"Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of I Am Legend, a 1954 science fiction horror vampire novel that has been adapted for the screen four times, as well as the movie Somewhere In Time for which Matheson wrote the screenplay, based on his novel Bid Time Return. Matheson also wrote 16 television episodes of The Twilight Zone, including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and "Steel"."Why talk about Matheson when you spoke the other day about the 1979 Stephen King's television adaption of Salem's Lot by Tobe Hooper? Because Matheson's work book end's King's Salem Lot television adaptation & his novel. Here the vampirism isn't something to be glorified in but is a supernatural disease of the first magnitude.
"The Last Man on Earth (Italian title: L'Ultimo uomo della Terra) is a 1964 Italian horror/science fiction film based upon Richard Matheson's best-selling novel I Am Legend.", Matheson didn't like the resulting film but for many its one of his best performances & I happen to love Vincent Price in just about anything.

Frankly,Richard Matheson's 1954 novel "I'm Legend"is really depressing but it makes an impact on its reader that lingers for decades. And The Last Man on Earth grabs the same vibe of isolation & loneliness in the face of a pandemic of epic proportions & it keeps going.
But I need to go back to the source material & my thinking became haunted by a series of games that I ran back in 2011-14 based around the silent classic Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (translated as Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror; or simply Nosferatu)."Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (translated as Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror; or simply Nosferatu) is a 1922 German Expressionist horror film, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok."
The OSR mini campaign  was a hybrid of Last Man on Earth, Nosferatu, & Varney the Vampire.
Count Orlock, & many of the other vampiric royals take full advantage of the Earth entering close to a conjunction with  the Abyss & the negative material plane to summon Orcus. Orcus lord of the undead consumes the modern world of 1964 with a undead plague. This leaves the Earth a  hallow world of the undead. It worked quite well for Mutant Future at the time & kept people coming back to the table.

The cover page from a reprint of the British penny dreadful series Varney the Vampire (1845).


The Bannerworths have already been mentioned in my Pan America New York setting & briefly I've had this idea of this same planar conjunction with the Earth entering a phase of the Abyss & the negative material plane. Perhaps there's a silent side Earth where a vampiric or ghoul plague has already taken place. Perhaps the summoning of Orcus is simply another Elven weapon ala Lion & Dragon retroclone setting.
The first time this was done it resulted in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.


Now my game is set in 1904 but with a possible side time loop that jumps ahead to 1918 when the most famous and lethal outbreak was the 1918 flu pandemic (Spanish flu pandemic) (type A influenza, H1N1 subtype), which lasted from 1918 to 1919. The cause of this? The reappearance of the mace of Orcus on Earth rumored to have surfaced someplace in a war torn WWI  Europe among cultists. The violence of WWI creates the perfect conditions for the undead to thrive. In mythology there has almost always been a mythological connection between elves,ghouls,werewolves, & vampires.
"In ancient Arabian folklore, the ghūl dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places. The ghul is a fiendish type of jinn believed to be sired by Iblis.^[6]

Some state that a ghoul is also a desert-dwelling, shapeshifting demon that can assume the guise of an animal, especially a hyena. It lures unwary people into the desert wastes or abandoned places to slay and devour them. The creature also preys on young children, drinks blood, steals coins, and eats the dead,^[7] then taking the form of the person most recently eaten."

"In the silent film Nosferatu, Count Orlok is a vampire from Transylvania, and is known as "The Bird of Death", who feasts upon the blood of living humans. He is believed to have been created by Belial, the lieutenant demon of Satan."

Its no accident that Elves in Dungeons & Dragon are immune to a ghoul's paralyzing touch. The immunity is a built in defense mechanism to an ancient war that humanity has long forgotten.
The Alp is an off shoot of the Elves of German mythology - "Not to be confused with the similarly named Alp-luachra, the Alp is sometimes likened to a vampire, but its behavior is more akin to that of the incubus. It is distinct from both of these creatures in that it wears a magic hat called a Tarnkappe, from which it draws its powers. The word Alp is the German form of the word that comes into English as elf, both descended from Common Germanic. It is also known by the following names: trud, mar, mart, mahr, schrat, and walrider. Many variations of the creature exist in surrounding European areas, such as the Druden and Schratteli, or Old Hag in English-speaking countries."

This isn't an accident Elves in German mythology are dangerous creatures of Chaos & violence that are not to be trifled with. This accounts for their background in Dark Albion & Lion & Dragon.

"In the period before about 1000, the Old High German word alp is attested only in a small number of glosses. It is defined by the Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch as a "nature-god or nature-demon, equated with the Fauns of Classical mythology ... regarded as eerie, ferocious beings ... As the mare he messes around with women".^[1] Accordingly, the German word Alpdruck (literally 'elf-oppression') means 'nightmare'. There is also evidence associating elves with illness, specifically epilepsy.^[2]

In a similar vein, elves are in Middle German most often associated with deceiving or bewildering people "in a phrase that occurs so often it would appear to be proverbial: 'die elben/der alp trieget mich' (the elves/elf is/are deceiving me)".^[3] The same pattern holds in Early Modern German.^[4][5] This deception sometimes shows the seductive side apparent in English and Scandinavian material:^[6] most famously, the early thirteenth-century Heinrich von Morungen's fifth Minnesang begins "Von den elben virt entsehen vil manic man / Sô bin ich von grôzer lieber entsên" ("full many a man is bewitched by elves / thus I too am bewitched by great love").^[7] Elbe was also used in this period to translate words for nymphs.^[8]

In later medieval prayers, Elves appear as a threatening, even demonic, force. Evidence includes Latin prayers found inscribed in lead amulets from southern Scandinavia and Schleswig.^[9] The most famous is the fourteenth-century Münchener Nachtsegen, a prayer to be said at night, which includes the lines:^[10]

alb vnde ł elbelin Ir sult nich beng’ bliben hin albes svestir vn vatir Ir sult uz varen obir dē gatir albes mutir trute vn mar Ir sult uz zu dē virste varē Noc mich dy mare druche Noc mich dy trute zciche Noc mich dy mare rite Noc mich dy mare bescrite Alb mit diner crummen nasen Ich vorbithe dir aneblasen

elf, or also little elf, you shall remain no longer (reading lenger) elf’s sister and father, you shall go out over the gate; elf’s mother, trute and mare, you shall go out to the roof-ridge! Let the mare not oppress me, let the trute not ?pinch me (reading zücke), let the mare not ride me, let the mare not mount me! Elf with your crooked nose, I forbid you to blow on [people]

Correspondingly, in the early modern period, elves are described in north Germany doing the evil bidding of witches; Martin Luther believed his mother to have been afflicted in this way."


Nachtmahr“ (“Night-mare”), by Johann Heinrich Füssli (1802), depicts an Alp sitting on the sleeper's chest, with a mara staring through the background.

I've talked at length about the connections between the Arthurian fairies & the Elves of Dungeons & Dragons who were the  slaves & servants of these powerful Medieval Elves. The bastard grand sons of King Arthur include among their own ranks Melehan, Melou and the Black Knight, Arthur's grandson as well as the Faerie Knight.

"The Faerie Knight was, in the Matter of Britain, a bastard son of Tom a'Lincoln and Caelia, the Faerie Queen. His proper name is never given. He appears in Richard Johnson's romance Tom a' Lincoln.

Tom himself was a bastard of King Arthur with Angelica, daughter of the Earl of London. Therefore, the Faerie Knight was, like Melehan, Melou and the Black Knight, Arthur's grandson.

Being half-faerie, the Faerie Knight inherited some of his mother's magical talents. He met his half-brother, the Black Knight (another bastard of Tom's), and they traveled together on many adventures."

The very ideal of knightly virtue strongly connected with the Earth's destruction might be its only salvation.


I spoken at length of the familial connections of Morgan Le Fey's sons & daughters as well as Arthur's half sister Morgawse both of whom have their own witch cults & covens scattered throughout Europe across history.

Morgan le Fay by Frederick Sandys (1864)

All of these families of royalty have strong witch blood connections & chaos laden connections to the lost half realities of Fairyland. These creatures we call Elves in Lion & Dragon have been hedging their bets across various worlds. We see this time & again in various stages of conflict in history where the Elves are drawn into battles & wars like moths to the flames of history. Dark Albion's Cults of Chaos picks this fact up and runs with it by placing it within a Medieval context.

These plagues of undeath & worse happen regardless of the prayers of men, only adventurers and heroes can make the pivotal sacrifices & movements to turn the tide of history in the favor of future generations.

The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg Hybrid Campaign - The Maple White Land - DM Work Shop & Session report # 13

 Welcome to Maple White land folks & its battle royal central! A day ago on Sunday the Godzilla vs. King Kong trailer broke. And the G fans around my table top went nuts. What's this mean for our Victorious rpg heroes!?! A lot folks! The original concept for this campaign came from this Dangerville video here. 

A bit of background here, the Martians have got more then a foot hold within Maple White Land & have a been exploiting a power source within lost world for their benefit. There are some very dangerous Kaiju lurking within Maple White Land. The PC's have been battling the cult Daughters of Iggwilv who have a version of the S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth within Maple White Land. When PC's have been maimed or killed we've been recruiting from the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. 

But how the original module didn't have certain things happening?! So we're not using the original module instead we've been drawing from Realms of Horror the super module. There are several reasons for this?! The fact is that using this combination module allows  for a number of Pulp or Penny Dreadful elements has been a blessing. And as Amazon reviewer  big rich puts it; "These modules were designed as stand-alone adventures for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. S1 was the original tournament dungeon used at Origins 1.
S1 Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gygax
S2 White Plume Mountain by Lawrence Schick
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax
S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax
These four were later (weakly) combined into supermodule:
S1-4 Realms of Horror" 

We don't agree at all & using Castles & Crusades 

For various monsters & what not my players have been combing the Victorious Rpg & supplements with a fine toothed comb. So as a DM sometimes you've got to go further afield & in this case its over to Amazing Adventures Manual of Monsters. 

But this also means combing through the Monster Manual II for some of the monster mayhem that's planned tonight. This is a prehistoric Hell that awaits the player's PC's meanwhile Godzilla has been handling the Martians on the East Coast right outside of New York. 
The team is sticking together for tonight & then planning on doing mope up after the big 'G' handles business. 

The party has already encountered mutant apemen that have given them more then a hard time these vicious creatures are cunning, dangerous, & some of them have super powers. They also have carried off & eaten one of the supers three or four games ago. 

M.A.R.K. Series of Murder & Combat Droids For Hostile rpg, Cepheus Engine Rpg, & Original Traveller rpg

 
"And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days."
Mark 13:20 King James Bible 




 M.A.R.K. 13's are incredibly psychotic & sadistic cybernetic life forms created during the War of Miracles.. These cybernetic war droids were spontanious spawned from the psychotic thoughts of the A.I. gods during their genisis. The M.A.R.K. series was left behind by the A.I.'s & later picked up by humanity left in their wake. The M.A.R.K. series of war droids were far too valuable not manufacture & used extensively for genocidal missions during the 'War of Miracles' against certain targets & assets. Each M.A.R.K unit has an achilles heel that allows it to be temporily defeated but robomancers say that this is merely so that the cybernetic lifeform can savor its target's suffering. M.A.R.K series cybernetic war droids have two independent drone units that share the M.A.R.K. series A.I. & can act independently of the main unit. The M.A.R.K. series of robotic units are capable of rebuilting & repairing themselves with access to tools & parts. These A.I.'s have a twisted & deadly personality capable of anything to murder & kill the only reason for their existence. 

M.A.R.K. series 
100 Hits 

Move 20m 

Armor: 16 
Combat: 3 

Physical : 2 

Technical:  3 

2 lasers range 3D each (optional configuration for each unit) 

Saw 2D each available as an optional weapons system.

Stun Ray (on a successful hit victim must throw Physical +6 or be paralyzed) 

Can't be fit with an Asimov inhibitor 

M.A.R.K. Hand units 10 Hits Move:20 

Capable of injecting Neurotoxin through needles built into the finger units 

See poison rules in Cepheus Light Rule book 

I ran across this custom figure from this website, is a great variation on the M.A.R.K. 13 & configuration.