Exhibit Species 667 - The Nihilist For The Sword of Cepheus Rpg & Your Old School 2d6 Campaigns

The Nihilist 



 0kg Outsider, extraplanar flyer, GBJAA0 #App: 1 Treasure: None Athleltics-1, Sorcery-2, Melee Combat-1, Recon-1, Survival-1
Special attack; armor 0; flies 20m/action
Neutral; Morale DM+4 The Nihilist is a dread elemental spirit of the planar Winds, famous for its might and guile. • Immune to non-magical weapons. • Immune to poison and disease. • Knows 3D spells. The Nihilist demon radiates a horrid aura with the radius of 40m. This aura deals 1D damage per round to all surrounding creatures.The demon emits a sickening aura; any creature coming closer than 10m to the demon must throw END 8+ or be sickened: DM-2 to all actions, and only have one Action per round.Any being that sees the demon must throw INT 8+ or be paralyzed with dread. This effect ends when the demon leaves the victim's line of sight, or one round after the demon engages in combat. The demon may possess a target. The target must throw INT 8+ or be possessed and controlled by the demon. The target may attempt another INT 8+ throw once a week to cast off the possession; Dispel Evil exorcises the demon immediately and forces it to leave the victim's body. Note that there are no limits to how many people the entity can possess unlike normal demons.  Whirlwind: may create a whirlwind around itself at will, causing 1D damage to anyone within 2m range

The Nihilist is the skull  remains of a planar spirit or god that was found on NS-482 by scientists & researchers for Project Far Jump. All those connected with Project Far Jump including staff, scientists, expediation personel and others are dead by suicide. The Nihilist essence is contained within the alien skull & has  moved on from the Project Far Jump facilities to parts unknown. It's motives are simple:

• 1. consume all of the psychic energy of a world
• 2. turn the population into it's subjects
• 3. destroy all life
• 4. Lie dormant until discovered by a new species.

The character of The Nihilist is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving The Nihilist, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.

The Nihlist is from the Public Domain Super Heroes site here and should be used with caution as it can quite easily cause TPK's. 

Review & Commentary On Neulow Games's Stardust the Super Wizard (2016) By Fletcher Hanks, & Steve Miller

 "Stardust the Super Wizard is a name spoken in hushed whispers throughout the universe, He uses his vast knowledge of interplanetary science and sorcery to monitor all inhabited worlds, and when he finds beings he considers exceptionally evil or vile, he dispenses the justice he feels they deserve. Once you've incurred the wrath of the Super Wizard, you are done for!"

For many now the Nuelow games universe setting has been one that we've been dipping into for many years. A combination of public domain comic book series & supplement the whole book  is more then the combination of its parts. This formula is one that allows Nuelow to flesh out characters such as Stardust The Super Wizard; "Stardust the Super Wizard from NUELOW Games collects six tales from the Golden Age of Comics by one or its most eccentric and erratic creators, Fletcher Hanks. Although he only worked in comics for a brief time during 1939 to 1941, the over-the-top nature of his work left a permanent mark on the emerging artform--and it makes the stories worth reading even today. The "Stardust the Super Wizard" series is where his bizarre story-telling style was most prominently on display. followed closely by run on the "Fantomah" series (highlights from which are featured in NUELOW's The Three Lives of Fantomah: Mystery Woman of the Jungle." 
Who is Stardust The Super Wizard? According to the Public Domain Super Hero site; "Stardust the Super Wizard lived on a "private star" far out in space. He patrolled the cosmos fighting criminals, racketeers, spies, and terrorists, but comes to Earth after intercepting a radio signal from America."  And Neulow Games 
What really makes Stardust The Super Wizard is the cultclassic comic artwork but who was this renagade comic book artist from the Golden Age of comic books;"Fletcher Hanks, Sr. (December 1, 1889 – January 22, 1976) was a cartoonist from the Golden Age of Comic Books, who wrote and drew stories detailing the adventures of all-powerful, supernatural heroes and their elaborate punishments of transgressors. In addition to his birth name, Hanks worked under a number of pen names, including "Hank Christy," "Charles Netcher," "C. C. Starr," and "Barclay Flagg." Hanks was active in comic books from 1939 to 1941" Here's a great article on the comic book work & fate of Fletcher Hanks.

 Stardust The Super Wizard would  be considered a cultclassic  cosmic anti hero & he's a reality bender with super science. This cosmic demigod is as bizarre today as he was back when he exploded onto the Golden Age. Stardust alters criminals, bends reality, & causes complete genocide of several gangs. Stardust the Super Wizard (2016) has several super science devices of some really twisted applications for adventures. Because  is a simple OGL d20 Modern product & so easily convert to most OSR systems. Steve Miller doesn't get half the credit that he should as a game designer.  Stardust the Super Wizard  works well as a NPC antagonist for OSR super heroes. There are several super hero systems that I'd use  Stardust the Super Wizard  as a main villain. The original material for  Stardust the Super Wizard  is well done.  Stardust is a perfect candidate for a cult leader or the like because he acts as judge, jury, & executioner. His actions towards his continuum's Earth are bizarre. In some respects Stardust reminds me of DC Comic's Mister Mxyzptlk with his crazy actions & 

I can see playing an epic campaign of bizarre  crazy reality bending adventure &   weirdness. Invading Stardust's base could be climax of a long series of weird adventures with Stardust doing incredibly strange things along the way. 
The thing to remember about Stardust The Super Wizard is the fact that this is a character of absolutes, the punishments ironically  fit the crimes. Things that detract from Stardust the Super Wizard ? Stardust the Super Wizard 's base needs to be improved. The map while usable needs a huge improvement but other then that Stardust the Super Wizard  is completely usable as a villain or antihero of the highest order. I'd say four out of five & I've got a whole lotta of Stardust the Super Wizard  action coming in one of my campaigns so stay tuned. 

Free Comic Book Download - Gallant Comics John Aman Amazing Man Issue One & More

Do yourself a favor and go check out

Grab It Right
HERE

I admit that I'm a public domain super hero junkie, I read though on line scans of old classic comics and the various incarnations of these classics from Dynamite's efforts to Allen Moore's tackling of these classics.
Amazing Man was a product of Centaur Publications and he remains an old favorite.
According to Wiki- 

Amazing-Man (John Aman) is a fictional, American comic book superhero whose adventures were published byCentaur Publications during the 1930s to 1940s in the Golden Age of Comic Books. Historians credit his creation variously to writer-artist Bill Everett^[1] or to Everett together with Centaur art director Lloyd Jacquet.^[2] Amazing-Manfirst appeared in Amazing-Man Comics #5 (Sept. 1939)

John Aman is an orphan from the West, chosen for his "superb physical structure" to be raised by benevolent monks in Tibet for the first 25 years of his life. Each member of The Council of Seven, as the monks are known, trained him to a superhuman degree of physical and mental ability, while also giving him the ability via a chemical solution to disappear into a cloud of green mist, earning him the secondary title of the Green Mist. After receiving his final tests, he is sent into the world to use his skills and abilities to do good. Opposing Aman, as he was often known, is his nemesis the Great Question, a disgruntled member of the Council of Seven.

Read more over HERE



Which brings me to Gallant Comics a really nice partnership of old school talent which is doing a solid run of public domain super heroes in a new and really interesting series. Best of all you can read these comics on line for free and should you like them then buy them!
Issue one of  John Aman Amazing Man # 1, sets the stage by introducing our hero and vile villains along with some other old school classic characters to the Gallant Comics roster.
The art is very well done, the plot zips along at a rapid pace, and we're given a nice over arch to John Aman's world and associates. The characters are larger then life but given a twist of interesting reality to them. I do love the artwork as well. You can read all four issues on line and Gallant has done a really top notch job with these characters. I liked the direction and attention to the character's history as well.
These book are a labor of love and time, with some solid writing backing the comic up. There are a few Lovecraftian nods in the backdrop as well. And some appearance by some of my favorite Golden Age Super Heroes.
All in all this strong issue for a number one and I'm happy to have had the chance to check out some pretty top drawer comic books for free. 

Issue one is action packed, good old fashioned super hero fun, with a ton of really nice artwork, and a pretty interesting story line. My advice is to go check it and the rest of the issues out. If you like the material then buy the comic books and graphic novels. Gallant Comics  is worth your money in my humble opinion.

How Can They Do This? 

Well here's what Gallant Comics had to say about using public domain characters. 

Gallant Comics feature re-imagined versions of classic comic book characters from the Golden Age of Comics such as John Aman the Amazing Man, Dr. Vampire, The Hooded Horseman, The original Blue Beetle, Miss Mask, and many, many more.  In fact EVERY character with a speaking role in any issue of Gallant Comics is based on a character that originally appeared in a comic from the golden age!

How are we able to do this?  Lapsed copyrights.   Comics in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and even into the early 1960s  were published  under different (and in our opinion generally more  fair) copyright laws.   Back then copyrights had to be  properly noted, registered with the US Copyright office, and lasted for 28 years with an optional 28 year renewal available.   So if one followed all the rules and took advantage of the extension then a copyright could last for a total of 56 years after which the work entered the public domain.

In the future I'm going to be doing a bit more with Gallant Comics and a few more reviews of their excellent material in the months to come. Cheers folks!