OSR Commentary - Bloody Arduin Rpg Monster Ecology of The Doomguard

'Robic The Fierce crawled along the crypt wall and heard the sound of a plate suit of armor and sweat began to roll down his forehead. Robic saw the gem like glowing eye at the corner of the crypt. He didn't see the doomguard next to him until he ducked as the sword hit the wall next to him! How did the doomguard move so fast?! '  

Doomguards are one of my favorite Arduin rpg monsters to use & they can be found just about anywhere. These animated suits of armor are the bane of adventurers everywhere. They can easily take on even experienced adventurers. 

Doomguard are animated by black magicians & evil wizards through the ages. These black magicians often yank the souls out of thier victims out of thier bodies. The animated doomguards are equipped with magical swords & weapons.The doomguard act as guardians of treasures of tombs, crypts, wizard's tower & other adventure locations. 

The Doomguard are animated by a semi evil lifeforce bonded to the damned soul trapped within it. Yet, the doomguard seem to be more constructs then the magical rituals to animate them indicate. 

The doomguard have an eye like gem that are centered within thier helms. These enchanted gems have dark vision, and are able to sense invisible, etc. The doomguard are immune to many spell like effects that they share with undead. 

Get on the wrong side of the doomguard then they will track you to the ends of the Earth. They are able to teleport behind thier victims unerringly. They can easily surprise thier victims.  The doomguard often found in many of the ruins, dungeons, and adventure locations along the border of Arduin. 

The doomguards are some of the most relentless monsters on Arduin able to track thier targets across dungeons and ruins! 

Things Dragonic & Monsterous in OSR & Castles & Crusades rpg Campaigns - Dragons

• " Casiodorus Rex: Did you ever hear of King Gaiseric? Oh no, of course not, you weren't even born. He was my brother, a great King and a valiant man-at-arms. When he ascended the throne, the dragon was unbridled. No one knew where it might strike next. So, he brought forth his broadsword, assembled his best company of fighters and went out to do battle. He was never seen again. But his attack provoked the most terrible reprisals: whole villages incinerated, entire crops burnt, death, famine... horrible. How did you arrogate to yourself the role of 'savior'?
• Galen: I was invited.
• Casiodorus Rex: Not by me! I think you're nothing but a boy... an apprentice!
• [rips the amulet from around Galen's neck]
• Casiodorus Rex: Have you ever considered the consequences of failure?
• Galen: WHAT failure? What are you saying, do you want the dragon back?
• Casiodorus Rex: You came here and toyed with the monster! Who are YOU, to risk our people? Our villages?
• Galen: But your children were dying!
• Casiodorus Rex: Only a few, does that sound cruel? It is better that they should die that others might live. I created the lottery!
• [General murmuring of agreement among the King's court]
• Casiodorus Rex: Me! And from the moment it began, the dragon was tamed! The kingdom has prospered!
• Galen: At what price? You can't make a shameful 'peace' with dragons. You must kill them as I have done."

Dragonslayer 1981 

 So let's talk dragons in the OSR and specifically what makes the dragon such an incredibly good choice for an NPC. Dragons are the fundatmental 'spoke' for the wheel of a campaign if done correctly. These creatures are literally forces of nature and balance within a campaign. And this of course goes hand and hand with Castles & Crusades Mythos Collection.  If you grew up in the Sevenities then you probably saw Smaug in RankinBass's Hobbit '77.  This incarnation of the dragon with the gold and silver coat had that vulnerability of the one weak spot. But it was the interaction of dialogue dialogue between Smaug &  Bilbo Baggins, that tickles my memory. 

And it wasn't the raw power of Smaug & believe me I'm not taking away from the Hobbit films,  An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). Not at all instead we're pulling from what my memory pulls on. 
And then it pulls on "Vermithrax Pejorative" from the '81 film the Dragonslayer. Both of these dragons were central figures and an invasive part of thier worlds respectively. And if we look at the Castles & Crusades Mythos Collection.  then we get a sense that these dragons are creatures that are pivotal monsters  capable of affecting the lives of hundreds of people. So before one takes up the mantle of dragon slayer not everyone is going to be happy with this outcome. Even the most evil of dragons has it's place. 

"Vermithrax Pejorative" is a prime example of a monster and dragon all in one in 1981's Dragonslayer. Sure it has a deal for sacrifices from time to time with the local kingdom. However, she has her own agenda to bring back her own reign & spawn to this kingdom. Even though she has no lines in the film her presence prevades every aspect of life within that kingdom. And the same can be said for the dragons within Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure

And this is even further held in OSR lore with Adventurer,Conqueror, King's Rpg The Heroic Fantasy Handbook. The dragons within this tome are created from the ground up allowing the DM to literally build the fantasy NPC heroic or villain of thier Draconic choice.

Dragons are never one note creatures, thier deaths should and must have far reaching consquences across a campaign.Dragons are creatures of legend & mythology. They should never be treated as simply another set of experience points. And this goes back further even with Mayfair Games Roleaids Dragons which was one of the first AD&D products that gave us a defined ecology for the lands and lairs surrounding dragons. And yes there were 'The Dragon' magazine articles that had sprinklings of draconic lore. For me this one gave some great depth to the dragon as monster & creature. 

My main points are that dragons are deadly NPC's and monstes all in one. They should be treated with incredible respect by DM's before being unleashed into a campaign. And the ecology of the dragons are far reaching with incredible consquences for the peoples, the lands, and more of a campaign. 

OSR & Monster Ecology Commentary - Werebears & Goddesses For Your Old School Campaigns

 

The ubicquitous David Trampier Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Manual artwork. 

I've been looking into one of my favorite Dungeons & Dragons monsters today - The werebear! Yeah that's right I've been a fan of these guys since I was a kid. These lycanthropes go all the wayback to the foundation of original Dungeons & Dragons. They run all of the way through into Pathfinder today; 

"The werebear first appeared in the original Dungeons & Dragons "white box" set (1974).^[1]

The werebear appeared in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the original Monster Manual (1977).^[2] The werebear appeared as a player character race in Dragon #24 (April 1979). The werebear appeared as a character class in White Dwarf #17, by Lewis Pulsipher.^[3]

The werebear appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977,^[4] 1981, 1983). The werebear appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991).^[5] The werebear appeared as a player character class in Night Howlers (1992).

The werebear appeared in the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989),^[6] and was reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993).^[7]

The lycanthrope appeared as a creature template in the third edition Monster Manual (2000),^[8] and in the 3.5 revised Monster Manual (2003), with the werebear as a sample creature. The werebear appeared as a player character race in Dragon #313 (November 2003)."

Now while most folks would talk about the werebear's origins being closely associated with Native American mythology & we'll get to those in another blog entry! Instead I want to talk about the European  &  the Greco Roman legends of Callisto or Kallisto (/kəˈlɪstoʊ/; Ancient Greek: Καλλιστώ [kallistɔ̌ː]); "As a follower of Artemis, Callisto, who Hesiod said^[1] was the daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia,^[2] took a vow to remain a virgin, as did all the nymphs of Artemis. But to have sex with her, Zeus disguised himself as Artemis (Diana) herself, in order to lure her into his embrace. Callisto was then turned into a bear, as Hesiod described:

...but afterwards, when she was already with child, was seen bathing and so discovered. Upon this, the goddess was enraged and changed her into a beast. Thus she became a bear and gave birth to a son called Arcas.

Either Artemis "slew Kallisto with a shot of her silver bow,"^[3] perhaps urged by the wrath of Juno (Hera)^[4] or later Arcas, the eponym of Arcadia, nearly killed his bear-mother, when she had wandered into the forbidden precinct of Zeus. In every case, Zeus placed them both in the sky as the constellations Ursa Major, called Arktos (αρκτος), the "Bear", by Greeks, and Ursa Minor.

Diana and Callisto by Rubens, c. 1635

According to Ovid,^[5] it was Jupiter (Zeus) who took the form of Diana (Artemis) so that he might evade his wife Juno’s detection, forcing himself upon Callisto while she was separated from Diana and the other nymphs.^[6] Callisto's subsequent pregnancy was discovered several months later while she was bathing with Diana and her fellow nymphs. Diana became enraged when she saw that Callisto was pregnant and expelled her from the group. Callisto later gave birth to Arcas. Juno then took the opportunity to avenge her wounded pride and transformed the nymph into a bear. Sixteen years later Callisto, still a bear, encountered her son Arcas hunting in the forest. Just as Arcas was about to kill his own mother with his javelin, Jupiter averted the tragedy by placing mother and son amongst the stars as Ursa Major and Minor, respectively. Juno, enraged that her attempt at revenge had been frustrated, appealed to Tethys that the two might never meet her waters, thus providing a poetic explanation for their circumpolar positions in ancient times."



In Jupiter and Callisto by François Boucher, Zeus/Jupiter takes the form of Artemis/Diana (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City)

Besides the fact that Zeus could never keep it in his pants it the means that among the stars are the children of  Ursa Major and Minor who are basically the gods & patrons of lots human tribes, were bear shamans, druids,beserks,etc. This goes a long way to explaining the presence of the continuance of the were bear tradition among humanity. This legend possibly goes back to the creation of humanity during the days of  before the oceans drank Atlantis & before the pre Bibilcal floods.



Lions painted in the Chauvet Cave. This is a replica of the painting from the Brno museum Anthropos. The absence of the mane sometimes leads to these paintings being described as portraits of lionesses. I see bears as well but that's me. All of this goes a long way to explaining the presence of were bears among the various druids covens, shaman's of various tribes, etc. Yes this ties directly in with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea but it also ties in with orginal Dungeons & Dragons. I think original Dungeons & Dragons owes a debt for the werebear to J.R.R. Tolkein's Hobbit in the form of Beorn.



Beorn by JMKilpatrick (jmkilpatrick.deviantart.com)



For the Lord of the Rings crowd there's a long history of were bears in the character of Beorn; The Man named Beorn lived in a wooden house on his pasture-lands between the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood, to the east of the Anduin. His household included an animal retinue (horses, dogs, sheep, and cows, among others); according to Gandalf, Beorn "does not eat them; neither does he hunt or eat wild animals".^[3]. He grew large areas of clover for his bees, who made his famous honey.

Gandalf believed that Beorn was either a descendant of the bears who had lived in the Misty Mountains before the arrival of the giants, or he was a descendant of the men who had lived in the region before the arrival of the dragons or Orcs from the north.

Beorn was of immense size and strength for a man and retained his size and strength in bear-form. He had black hair (in either form) and a thick black beard and broad shoulders (in human form). While not a "giant" outright, Beorn's human form was of such great size that the three and a half foot tall Bilbo judged that he could have easily walked between Beorn's legs without touching his body. Beorn also named the Carrock and created the steps that led from its base to its flat top.

In The Hobbit, Beorn received Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins and 13 Dwarves and aided them in their quest to reclaim their kingdom beneath the Lonely Mountain. He was convinced of their trustworthiness after confirming their tale of encountering the Goblins of the Misty Mountains and Gandalf's slaying of their leader, the Great Goblin. In addition to giving the group much-needed supplies and lodging, Beorn gave them vital information about what path to take while crossing Mirkwood.

Later, hearing of a vast host of Goblins on the move, Beorn arrived at the Lonely Mountain in time to strike the decisive blow in the Battle of Five Armies. In his bear form he slew the Goblin leader, Bolg and his bodyguards. Without direction, the Goblin army scattered and were easy pickings for the other armies of Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Eagles. Beorn often left his home during the narrative of The Hobbit for hours or days at a time, for purposes not completely explained."

So what's all of this bear lycanthrope ecology information what's this have to do with my current OSR fetish? Well if we look at the Godbound rpg angle then we've got the "Proteans are Lunars, perfect shapeshifters with exceptional physical capabilities" who are basically Lunars from the Exalted Rpg that have OSR rules that work. But I've always wanted to get into the heart of why, "Werebears in their humanoid form prefer to wield larger and heavier weapons such as great swords, or great axes."  This gets into the other Greco Roman goddess, "Artio (Dea Artio in the Gallo-Roman religion) was a Celtic bear goddess! "
Own photograph by Sandstein

" A bronze sculpture from the Muri statuette group, found near Bern in Switzerland, shows a large bear facing a woman seated in a chair, with a small tree behind the bear. The woman seems to hold fruit in her lap, perhaps feeding the bear.^[2]. The sculpture has a large rectangular bronze base, which bears the inscription "Deae Artioni / Licinia Sabinilla" ("To the Goddess Artio" or "Artionis", "from Licinia Sabinilla"). If the name is Gaulish but the syntax is Latin, a dative Artioni would give an i-stem nominative *Artionis or an n-stem nominative *Artio. That would perhaps correspond to a Gaulish n-stem nominative *Artiu.

Other inscription to the goddess have been discovered in Daun (CIL 13, 4203), Weilerbach (CIL 13, 4113), Heddernheim (CIL 13, 7375 [4, p 125]), and Stockstadt (CIL 13, 11789).
She's strongly connected with the legends of King Arthur -Her name is derived from the Gaulish word artos, bear (Delamarre 2003 p. 55-56), from Proto-Celtic *arto-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos, bear. A Celtic word may also be the source for the name Arthur."

The Dark Albion OSR setting  & Lion & Dragon rpg the were bears are a part of an extinct chaos cult which was a part of the rebellion against the Elven overlords in the setting thousands of years ago. The great axe & sword were part of the symbols of the chaos cult. There are very few indivduals or covens of this mysterious & ancient cult connected with the old gods.

Affairs of Shade & Shadow - Bringing The Shade Back Into Old School & OSR Campaigns

 Once again I turn my attention to Advanced Dungeons & Dragon's planes & other worlds for a bit of fun. Maybe its time to cast a bit of 'Shade' into your game campaign with a bit of a NPC villain role. Sure the plane of Shadows has become 'Shadowfell'. But these bargainers of the direst of pacts have all been almost forgotten.

There are times when bits & pieces of the Jeff Grubbs Advanced Dungeons & Dragons book The Manual of the Planes starts to ooze into my brain like last night. Especially the section on the Negative plane & vile reflection the plane of Shadow. But when we really got a taste of the darkness of the plane of Shadow was in, "Ed Bonny (January 1995). “The Demiplane of Shadow” &  In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #213 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 22–29."

We got plunged into darkness long  before this in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Monster Manual II by Gary Gygax. We got a taste of the plane of Shadows in the form of one of its darkest inhabitants, the Shades. These bastards of the occult have given their souls & bodies to the plane of Shadow in return for power well beyond the kin of normal men.  These are things that should not be & during the Halloween season its perfect time to reintroduce these monsterous NPC's of the plane of Shadow.

"SHADE
FREQUENCY: Very rare (rare)
NO. APPEARING: Typically 1-2
ARMOR CLASS: MOVE: As original creature
HIT DICE: As original class
% IN LAIR: Variable
 TREASURE TYPE: Variable
 NO. OF ATACKS: As original class and level
DAMAGE/ATTACKS: By weapon type
SPECIALATACKS: See below
 SPECIAL DEFENSES:
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Variable
 INTELLIGENCE: Low to genius
ALIGNMENT: Any(except good)
SIZE: As original creature
PSIONICS: As original creature
Attack/Defense Modes: As original creature
 LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: Variable

 All knowledgeable authorities agree that shades are, or were, normal humans who through arcane magic or dark sciences have traded their souls or spirits for the essence of shadowstuff. While still retaining the shape and abilities of their original species, they havegrown in power by joining with thisshadowstuff. The true native shade is unknown, and no one knows if shades are connected with the shadow (q.v.) or some power or substance from the Plane of Shadow. The method of transmutation from living being to unliving shade life has been lost. Any humanor demihuman, if the formula is rediscovered, can becomea shade. Dwarves, elves, gnomes, half-elves, halflings, humans, and an occasional half-orc, are known to have forsaken goodness for the dark lure of shadowstuff. Becoming a shade does not alter species limitations of ability, class, or level (except as noted hereafter). The stuff of shadow most certainly prolongs the life of shades, for unless they meet with an accident or are killed, they are undying. Disease has no effect on them once they enter shadow, and they may regrow body parts lost in combat (savethe head) in 1-4 weeks. This unnaturalvitalityalso manifests itself in the regeneration of hit points, allowing them to regain them at 1 hit point per turn. Because of changing light on the Prime Material Plane, shades live in the Plane of Shadow whenever possible (where they are rare). They do not leave that plane unless sufficiently motivated, such as by treasure, enforced servitude, revenge, etc. Shades wield great power in shadows, but as shadows diminish, whether from increase in light or darkness, so too wanes the power of these shadow-beings. The exact power of a shade in varying light conditions is detailed below. As original creature and level See below (see below) Light Conditions Bright light; sunlight Average light Twilight Shadowy light Night/dark Complete darkness Ability Scores -2 -1 Normal +2 +I Normal Magic Resistance Standard; saves at -4 5%/level 5%/level 5%/level 5%/level Standard Hit Points -2/die -1 /die Normal +1 /die Normal Normal Special Abilities None None Shadow-walk Shadow-walk; shadow images Shadow-walk None Type Bright light Average Light Twilight Shadowy light Underground torchlight Night/dark Total darkness Occurences Bright sunlight on a clear day Center of continual light spell Light without shadows (as from several sources around the shade) Normal daylight with shade or clouds Center of a light spell Outline of a faerie fire spell Sunset Average indoor light Edges of light and continual light spells Dimly-lit room or forest Normal illumination on Plane of Shadow A room with windows at night A moonless or cloudy night sky Pitch black, overcast night sky Unlit, interior room or cavern A darkness spell Ability Scores: Light affects the ability statistics of the shade. Bonuses will exceed normal species maximums with the exception of strength. Each +I adds 10% to 18 strength, and strength scores over 18/00 are treated as a 19 strength. Penalties lower strength by a full point (an 18/00 strength drops to 17 at -1 and 16 at -2). MagicResistance:Checkthe basicabilityofthe shadeto resist spellsvs. the light conditions. Magic resistance for a shadewill never exceed 60% (a 13th-levelshadefighter intwilightwill havea 60%magicresistance, not 65%). Note that a shade in bright light hasstandard magic resistance and all savesare made at -4 on the die because of the shade'sweakness. Hit Points: Penalties and bonuses are per hit die. No hit die may be less than 1 point. Special Abilities: All shades have the following special spell-like abilties, depending on local light conditions. Shadow-walk-This is the abilityto gather shadows around itself and use them to transport itself to the Plane of Shadow. The transport requires 1 full round. Shadow images - This is the ability to form exact duplicates of itself out of shadow and cause the duplicates to act as if they were living entities. A shade can create 2-5 shadow images and can control their actions as long as they remain within 30 feet of their creator. They may only be dispelled by altering the lighting conditions around the shade. Note that shadow images have no material substance (so they do no damage in their attacks), and that the shade must draw from surrounding shadow to create them. OtherAbilities: All shades may hide in shadows in conditions of twilight, shadowy light, and night/dark. They hide as a thief of the same level. Shades with thieving ability gain 2% per level in shadowy conditions, and 5% per level in night/dark conditions. As mentioned before, becoming a shade does not change the basic characteristics of the individual. Those having psionic abilities may have those powers enhanced, but psionic abilitymay not be gained by becoming a shade. Shades with psionic ability will lose all mastery in the disciplines of invisibility and etherealness but will gain 2 levels in dimension walking when in shadows. Shades with psionic abilities usually gain the ability of shape alteration (10% chance per year as a shade), if they do not already have this power. The psionic strength of gifted shadeswill alter upon attaining shadehood because ability scores will be changed. New power and discipline gained by such a shade will operate only on the Plane of Shadow. Finally, it is nearly impossibletodetect a shade, for its appearance does not differ areatlv from its mortal form. A shade's eves show no white, Light Conditions: A shade's power varies according to the amount of shadow available: They are most vulnerable in cases of total light and total darkness. however, rust a'dark grey or purple iris and pupii. and its skin tone becomes dusky and grey. They prefer garb of grey or black andwill rarely wear brightly-colored clothes. The transformation to shade has some evil in it, for the shade becomes gloomy and brooding. They are generally solitary due to this fact, as they cannot trust other shades, nor can they deal with normal creatures without dominating or exploiting them. "

These are not 'good' creatures in any sense of the word, & should never be available as PC's.  Instead these are mere spilt inky reflections of their former selves. No place is this more evident then in "The Ecology of the Shade."  by Dan Salas from the famous issue of Dragon #126 (TSR, 1987). We get the process, the background, & the ecology of these self serving sorcerous horrors of darkness. 


What we learn is that the 'Shade' is a monster akin to the alien life form of the Shadow of B/X & OD&D. A monster hungry for the lifeforce & soul of humanity with a void that can't be filled by mere food stuffs anymore. Those willing to take the occult steps necessary to become a 'shade' have left their humanity far behind!
"A childhood tale drifted up from memory.
 A shade? Yes. Once a man, but now a creature of darkness. A shade is a person who has traded his soul to gain a permanent connection to the Plane of Shadow. There, the Positive and Negative Material Planes meet in the shadow of the Prime Material Plane. Do you understand what I mean? Carissa nodded, fascinated. She was a scholar as well as a noble, and her interest in the metasciences was drawn out by the mysterious intruder. A shade receives effects from the Positive and Negative Planes:’ he continued. From the Positive, he receives immunity from aging and disease, as well as powers of healing. To the Negative Plane, he loses his soul. His appearance becomes dark as night, and his personality becomes even darker."

From Dragon Magazine "The Ecology of the Shade."  by Dan Salas from the famous issue of Dragon #126 (TSR, 1987).

Shades make the perfect antagonists for player's PC's who have gotten far too used to the various undead of old school & OSR Dragons & Dragons. They 'live' to be the most patient of advesaries for a party & can become some of the most henious of foes dogging parties of adventurers who have seen one too many orc lords,witches, Ravenloft foes  or other vampiric varients. Never ever count the 'Shade' as being gone or destroryed!