Showing posts with label Ephemera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ephemera. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 October 2024

THE SELV


Hwæt! This tale begins in those earliest days when the Elves first awoke, when the world was not, and all things were beautiful. And the elves, whose fascinations were infinite, came to gather around those things most worthy of their admiration - the glimmer of the newborn stars, the newly shifting arms of clear, unfurling nebulae, the song of the cosmic breath as it passed over the flowering expanse, the glittering gemstones that scattered the twilight meadows and the mysteries of those magical processes by which creation unfolded before them. And through these gatherings, the first communities came to be and all was fair, equal and just, for all were lords and ladies of their own commonwealths of universal wonderment and splendour.

That is, save for One, HE, who was above others and whose name, now unspoken, once meant 'Most Beauteous of Creation'. HE became as a great king, HE who was the fairest of these beings, without blemish, without trace of weakness of limb or mind, vitality or song and whose grace and glory were unmatched. HE, who had come to master all of these elven fascinations, came to gather around HIM many fellow elves who basked in HIS perfection and supplicated themselves to HIS will. In turn, HE was their champion. For it was HE who slew those unknown horrors that slobbered and clawed their way from the world before. And as HE stood, victorious in battle, over their manyfold dead, HE was among the first created to feel disgust - dread. Yet further pained, HE pondered; do putrid beings foretell of what was to become of MY new world?


From then on, HE sought ways to preserve the purity and perfection of the starry, flowering realm. For it was HE who was the first to entreat the gods and HE sang of an end to the unfolding creation - that peaceful perfection abounded, and that beauty could be preserved, should but Creation cease. These songs went into the starry void without answer, nor echo. And so, HE looked with disdain at the first dawn of the neonate sun, and to HIM, the arrival of the unpocked moon was a blot on the glimmering meadows of the sky. And soon fear and malice formed in his ageless heart. So, with the wilting of the first flower and as fresh maladies first sapped the limbs of elves - with the appearance of beasts, bristling and chitinous, teeming in the roiling mud and the apes that gibbered in swelling trees - HE knew what fate HE must pursue. Such creations, both tangible and intangible, would serve only to corrupt HIS beauteous visage and pockmark HIS perfect earthly realm. And so, claiming HIS beauty as HIS right to command Elvenkind, HE proclaimed this curse to freshly afeared elves; 

“Woe unto the Creator’s creation! Woe unto the scabrous beasts that mar its face! Once pure, now befouled with crawling, hideous life - scarred and made unclean by prankish entropy! My realm shall be untainted and unmarred! Therefore, I, who am more splendid than the Sun, nobler than the Moon, fairer than the fairest star, shall be the hand to hold back the loom of Creation and by my will shall the march of time be stayed, and beauty live eternal!”

And upon swearing this terrible oath, HIS followers leapt straightway to HIS side and took the selfsame vow together, striking down any who refused. And red with spilt elven blood shone their drawn swords in the glare of the weeping, child sun. Quickly, then, they did away, down into the heart of the world. Down HE led HIS followers, deep within, and under the earth where reality remains strange, and where time itself might be kept at bay. There, in the abyss, HE wove HIS own realm, one preserved from Creation, touched only by the decay of his own heart and shaped by HIS deranged will and unspooled mind. So it was, and as strange aeons ebbed and flowed, HE and HIS followers basked in their endless spiralling beautification. There, in the deepest of all places, they preened and warped themselves beyond elvenkind, seeking to surpass the beauty that, in elder days, they had once found sacred. For they are now the Selv, starry and strange - scintillating, stelliferous entities of an eerie, alien fairness - cold, cruel and desirous.


So, it would remain, but unfurling creation could not be hidden from forever. Save for the Creator, the weird ways of the deep earth know few masters, and so, after untold Ages, the underworld's groping tendrils - its dungeons and dark places - have begun to pierce the Selv's uncanny garden-realm. Now, up through the earth; by secret fae-paths, forgotten ways and hidden elven-doors, do the Selv slink furtively to the subterranean fringes of our mortal world. Ancient folk emerging into an Age of dearth and misrule - knowing only deep magic, and the lore of the earliest dawns, the Selv know little of our myth-removed Age. Truly, their imperious sneers survey all Creation with disgust and curiosity - for you should consider yourself accursed the Selv know you not. For the keen fascination of their elven forebears beats still in the Selv’s wicked hearts, yet their study is born of self-superiority and is filled with malice and revulsion. 

And those first men to behold the Selv, to be held tranfixt upon their cruel and sickly-beauteous, shimmering forms and meet with terror their gaze, glowing with the light of underworld stars. With piercing eyes that burn darkly with contempt that wrinkles not their statue faces. 

For the Selv, mortal men are as insects before a collector’s pin, as boils before a studying surgeon or yet, with greater terror - impure clay before a master sculptor.  For many warped men, uncanny and statue-faced, with the light of the heavens springing from their mindless eyes, do lope and lunge and tear and toil at a world they now reckon as odious and unworthy. No creature, high or low, shall escape their desire - for even bats of strange angles that carry the glimmer of stars, do flutter on gossamer wings from the constellation-lit caves of the Selv.

HE lives still! Brooding against an ugly reality, in the impossible depths of the living earth within his shrinking realm, scheming. HIS goals are many; to learn of the created world and the lengths of its completion, its nature, and the nature of its inhabitants and how they may be best made beautiful or excised as a gardener might snails. Whispered voices, in deep tombs, hiss in slender tones of a great ‘War of Disgust’ against reality, when the Selv have found some means to bleach back Creation and start afresh. And yet, a needling thought, spry against the vastness of his ancient memory does pain HIM, quietly - are the Selv, his children, those ancient abominations that he did HE slay at the dawn of all things?


The Selv
Stats as Elves, (though something more special may be in order) adjust HD depending on the age of the particular Selv (HE would have the stats of something from Deities and Demigods). Selv differ from Elves in the following regards:
In combat, they always target the ugliest thing first, who they will usually attempt to slay. 
They speak to Elven PC’s before all others. 
They will attempt to capture and study those they do not exterminate.
They glow a cold white light and their weird and stunning beauty means the Selv always surprise their opponents. They are as swift and light footed and can almost always cover a great distance before being spotted. 
They inhale and exhale but once a day, they do not blink, nor sleep. They are sustained by very little, often eating a single petal per day. 

The Beautified:
The uncanny and ethereal workhorses of the Selv. The Beautified can use the stats of any creature, save that they gain +1 to ALL rolls and are unable to use any mental, spell-casting or force of personality unless instructed by a Selv to do so. 
Any creature can be beautified by the Selv using a ritualised version of a modified Polymorph Other spell. This usually takes place after an intense and unpleasant period of examination. The Beautified are always under the thrall of the Selv as a race.   

Some notes on the Selv as a faction:
The Selv are a faction designed to be able to be placed into any deep corner of any underground dungeon or adventure site. Their Selv-ways may even connect several distant dungeons across your campaign map.
Lacking the numbers to wage direct war on reality the Selv do begrudgingly seek non-Selv allies, promising beauty, exquisite gems and deep lore in exchange for favours or artefacts of great power that may aid them in the destruction of reality.
Their hierarchy is organised by most to least fair though these miniscule differences are not noticeable to non-Selv. The Beautified are essentially lobotomised works of uncanny valley art and are the lowest rung of Selv society. 
The Selv hate disease and are easily disgusted to the point of violence.  
For naming conventions take typical Tolkienesque elven names and ‘extend’ them by duplicating vowels and or consonants in weird ways. 


Myself and an elite cadre of skellington appreciators and OSR bloggers coalesced in the spirit of this spooky season to gift each other content. This was organised by Empedocles of Elemental Reductions. And glad I was to accept the call to write archaic, ape-tolkienesque nonsense in very long and unwieldy sentences! OK, my actual prompts were:
The Fall of a Great King
Beauty Rotten from the Inside
The Curse of Being Forgotten
And the format was: Faction. So, I attempted to do all three. I hope you are pleased, anonymous friend!

I am also submitting this to the RPG Blog Carnival, hosted by the great Tim Brannon of The Other Side blog - the theme HORROR AND FANTASY.



Wednesday, 24 July 2024

The Onomasticon Quernorum

Or; On the Names of the Quernfolk

A Wennish penny pamphlet pithily titled 'an unbelievable account of the atrocious apparitional attack on a sleeping and sickly Miss Dyedred by the headless bear demon 'Old Bossbelow' and her noble defense by Mistress Sharpday, Miss Arena Palatine, Jonwith Middlestone, Harque the Younger, Master Winwalloe and the Magic-User Lakelie'  

Above is the Onomasticon Quernorum; On the Names of the Quernfolk. Contained within are over 900 names and they are presented without any expository information. 

Recently, I have had names on the brain. In my post morpheme+word+epithet, (which has proved quite popular) I shared the eponymous formula for making an interesting name. This specific method works well for individuals but what if I need a great many names to build out a specific culture? 

I have previously written how understanding of the cultures of your setting can be impressed on, and implied to, players via the personal trinkets and pocket loot of NPCs that belong to those cultures. I used my personal setting of The Querns to explore this idea and did some implied world-building by detailing several cultures in this way. In this post, I have given names to the owners of those pockets. With the names themselves and the contents of their pockets, the reader should have a good feeling for these cultures already. Implication builds interesting settings that engage the imagination.

In the Onomasticon Quernorum I have given names to six, mostly distinct, cultures. In addition to this list I had a whole spiel written explaining my thought processes and inspiration for each of the culture's naming styles. I cut it all down and it still wasn't 'working' so I have slung it in a doc you can find here. I also recommend this post by Empedocles the Wizard of Elemental Reductions for some more lucid and interesting commentary on their naming process.

But, what do you do? What are your thoughts on creating names for RPG characters? Please let me know in the comments as I really enjoy this stuff.

Another Wennish penny pamphlet titled 'The Mightily True Report of Sergeant Bov Pangweather's victory over the hulking Aldish Birch-Crone known as Jennie Snatchelflynda and her dread-familiar who some call Black Froggebighter'. 

This post was written for Words! Linguistics, Etymology and Onomatology for July's RPG Blog Carnival

Sunday, 26 May 2024

Name Generator: Morpheme+Word+Epithet

Who are these fellas and what are their names? Groupe de sorciers by Lucas Roussel


Millions of names!


Each name is made of three parts. A made-up morpheme, an English word and an epithet or honorific. The names are drawn from lists I wrote; there are 335 morphemes, 345 words and 311 epithets/honorifics. I use words rather than another set of immediately meaningless morphemes for a few reasons: 

  • Words colour the name, if the name has ‘cruel’ in it, the name instantly gives a hint to the character (but sometimes it just gives an interesting sound) in a very pulpy way that should be embraced.  

  • Words make the name a little quicker to read, the brain picks out the second word; so ‘Zhongcried’ is that much quicker to read and then physically pronounce than a random collection of phonemes like ‘Ibquneche’.

  • Along with epithets, words add a touch more memorability to a name for your players. If you generate something alliterative or with some assonance, all the better!

Of course, not all characters should have a name that fits these conventions, though these  principles can be quite effective. If a name is generated and the 'epithet' is in brackets it is an honorific and should be read before the name, not after. For example 'Ozdog (Master)' should be read as Master Ozdog.


Thanks to Paper Elemental for their clever html generator generator which I used for this post and for the Archons March On blog whose many numerous generators inspired me to give it a go myself. 

Click Generate for your name:

Click for the raw lists






Saturday, 29 July 2023

Experimental Meta-Weather Rules

Weather. I've wanted a weather system that possesses the following qualities: is simple enough to be memorable, allows for the weather to be naturally and randomly changeable AND stay the same for long stretches, to show weather patterns/trends within a season and most importantly allow for the weather to become 'weird' so that the players can experience wild or dramatic weather phenomena (but not too often) and to try to do all this with as little die rolling as possible. With these criteria in mind, I tried to make a weather system that could achieve them. I don't feel entirely satisfied or successful with the result, the system is more complicated than I would like and janky at times. I am sharing for posterity as I think it's kind of interesting and for the RPG Blog Carnival. I'd love suggestions on how to make the idea that little bit more workable while retaining those design goals. There is a summary of the system at the end of this post.

(All shall be explained)

(All shall be explained)

Find the other season lists here

The system works off of seasonal weather lists. They are 2.?D as opposed to hex-flower weather systems that are 6D.  This system is both more and less predictable than hex-flower weather systems. The weathers are arranged on the table from colder and wetter weathers to hotter and dryer ones. In hot/dry seasons like summer, the wet/cold weathers may not be particularly wet or cold and vice versa. Each weather should logically flow into the next, and the most common weathers will be found in the middle of the table. I have not strived for realism. Adjacent to each weather is a type of weird weather phenomena that could reasonably emerge from the mundane weather it is twinned with.


But how does it work? Place a marker on the current weather in your game (I used a matchstick) and, when you are asked to make a weather check, roll a d12. There are a number of possible results. On a result of 1-2 or 11-12 the current weather will remain the same. On a roll of  3, 4, 5 or 6 the weather will move one increment toward the wetter/colder end of the table, moving from a 10 to a 9 for instance. On a roll of 7, 8, 9 or 10, the opposite effect will occur and the current weather will move one step toward the warmer/dryer end of the table, IE from a 7 to an 8. If the weather cannot move up or down, i.e. is at 3 or 10, then the weather remains the same. 

Should the number that matches the current in-game weather be rolled, it indicates a sudden change. Roll the d12 again and change the weather to that result. If the new roll results in either 1, 2, 11 or 12 OR the same number as the current weather, then the weather will become weird. If the weather becomes weird, move the marker on the current weather one column to the right onto its matching weird weather. Once the weather becomes weird, roll weather checks as normal. Rolls of 1, 2, 11 and 12 results continue the weird weather. Weird weather is detailed a little more later in the post. 

But wait! There's more! In real life, over the course of a season there can be several periods of high and low temperature and dry/wet humidity. In order to replicate these kinds of weather trends I have once again gone META or more accurately (I think) extra-diegetic. Real world weather is taken into account when making weather checks using this system. The real-world weather the day of your game is used to modify the results of your in-game weather checks. The wetter, hotter, dryer or colder a day is compared to the average day of the season you are in, the wetter, hotter, dryer or colder your in-game weather will become. If a weather the day of your game is wetter/colder than usual; apply a -1 or -2 to your weather check, if the day is hotter/dryer than usual apply a +1 or +2. These positive/negative modifiers give the feeling of weather patterns. As a reminder, unmodified rolls of 1, 2, 11 or 12 always result in the weather remaining the same, but rolls that are modified into these ranges do not cause the weather to remain the same, simply changing one step in the relevant direction. Optionally, such rolls can cause the weather to change by 2 steps in the relevant direction. If the campaign is happening during the winter but being played in summer, this is fine. You can have hotter/dryer spells and wetter/colder spells relative to whatever season you are in in-game. 


But, what happens on game days where the weather is weird? When you have sessions on during heatwaves, cold snaps, hail, Saharan dust clouds, unexpected snow, eclipses? On such days the the probability of your in-game weather becoming weird increases dramatically. On 'weird' days, (until a weird weather results is procured) weather checks have the following results - on the roll of d12, a 1, 2, 11 and 12 do not result in the weather remaining the same but becoming weird, as does rolling the number that matches the current weather. As above, when making weather weird, move from the current weather to the right, onto the matching weird weather phenomena. On 'weird' days, the chance of the weather becoming wild or weird becomes 5/12. On normal days it is something like 5/144 (but I'm really not sure about the math for this). Once the weather has become weird, make weather checks as normal and is detailed above. 

How does weather stop being weird? Whenever the weather changes - moves up or down as a result of 3-6 or 7-10. Usually, the weather moves diagonally, up or down, to the mundane weather column. Many weird weathers will have lasting after-effects - such as flooding and wildfires.

I think that's everything. Here are the example seasonal weather tables. I haven't come up with mechanical effects for the different weathers as I am not sure of the viability of this system yet. I have rolled up a month's worth of summer weather using real-world weather data. I assumed one game session a week, rolling for three in-game days of weather per session. As you can see there are three different trends in this 30 period, a warm beginning followed by hot and humid weather in the middle of the month and then a dramatic week of thunderstorms. The bold days are when the weather changed as a result of a reroll and the Lightning Storm phenomena came about as the result of the influence of real world weird weather. 

Summer:

Here are some additional thoughts and optional rules:

  • Seasonal weather tables can easily be turned into regional weather tables. Weather might be worse in the mountains, very different in a coastal deserts and rather peculiar in the worm-wastes.  
  • It may be worth having a 'weather-master' or 'forecaster' player who is responsible for the tracking and rolling for the weather, just as you might have a mapper and caller. This would help to reduce your mental load. Some players enjoy such rolls and are all are motivated by a 100xp reward for doing them. It would also encourage the players to learn the weather system and become more experienced at forecasting like their characters would. 
  • Mundanity is often necessary in fantasy role-playing games. Nothing seems as weird or special if the everyday baseline is already so foreign and removed from the player's lived experience. This applies to weather. Instead of a sun, having a neon-pink, glowing ball of tendrils might sound cool, but unless you mention it a tedious amount your players will forget about it. If the sun turns into something abominable for a week, that's cool and memorable. As a player, one of my best and most evocative memories of weather was when the party got lost in heavy rain in the middle of the night without any shelter. 
  • Being very experimental, I would consider a weather phase during combat. Just as some rules have phases for magic, missiles, movement and melee there could be a phase for weather. This phase would see combatants deal with the weather and allow for the weather to act on and in the scene. For example; repeatedly prompting saves against heat exhaustion, seeing snow devils move around the combat map, see if a rain shower starts, how high the flood waters rise or where the lightning strikes. There are many options for weather to take more of an active and present role in combat encounters and the game as a whole.
  • When to roll weather checks? That is up to you. Some roll them once per day, others integrate it into their wilderness encounter rolls/checks. I would have weather checks made at regularly times of the day - dawn, midday and dusk and once per day during downtime.
  • The 'meta' aspect need not be limited to how hot/dry or wet/cold a day was. It can be linked to anything; windiness, amount of bugs you saw, how well you are feeling, how cloudy the day was. Having it solely based on comparative temperature/humidity limits excludes game-masters who live in equatorial countries. 
  • These weather lists make for good rumour and spell fodder.

Summary:

Weather check:
  • Roll a d12, considering the real-world weather, if hotter/dryer than usual add +1 or +2 to the result, if colder/wetter than usual -1 or -2 to the result. 
  • Unmodified results of 1, 2, 11 or 12 result in the weather remaining the same. If modified into these ranges, treat the result as below;
  • If the roll results in 6 or less the current weather decreases by 1 step. 
  • If the roll results in 7 or more the current weather increases by 1 step.
  • If the weather cannot move up or down, then it will remain the same.  
  • If the roll results in a roll matching the current weather, roll the d12 again: 
    • If 1, 2, 11 or 12 the weather stays the same.
    • If the roll matches the current weather a second time then that weather becomes weird, moving to the right onto the adjacent weather on weird weather column. 
    • If the d12 results in any other number, the current weather changes to the weather that matches that number.
  • Once 'weird', the weather remains weird until a weather check moves the weather up or down the table. At which point the weather moves diagonally left, up or down, onto the mundane weather column. 
If the current real-world weather is unusual:
  • Roll a weather check as normal. Results of 1, 2, 11 or 12 do not result in the weather remaining the same but becoming instantly weird. Likewise, rolling the number of the current weather causes it to become instantly weird.
  • Once the weather has become weird, make all subsequent weather checks as is detailed above, even if the weather in the real world remains unusual. 

Sunday, 19 March 2023

The Failed Careers of Tetragrammatown - or - Failed Careers as Worldbuilding

Failed Careers are great. PC's get a random failed career at character creation along with the items someone of that career would have possessed. It doesn't need to be said that they are wonderful mediums for implied world-building that immediately involve and inform players in and about the world.  

When making failed career tables, I try to keep two things in mind. First, I try to make the careers so specific that a player can immediately grasp the concept - take ownership of, or define the career themselves. The world, however weird should be understandable and implied only, if a concept is too weird, prepscriptive or requires too much meta-knowledge to understand it shouldn't be available as a failed career for your players. Secondly, the weapon and item need to be interesting. It's ok to play fast and loose with the definition of 'weapon' and 'item' - especially if it's something a player wouldn't pick for their character off of an equipment list or something that isn't even on a equipment list. Interesting can mean strangely useful, something that produces new or odd situations - something that can be used for more than its intended purpose or even provides a narrative, character or adventure hook. You can fit a lot of flavour into the [name], [weapon], [item] format.  

While demographically unsound, failed career tables can make for useful encounter tables. I like an exploding d4 to determine numbers of an encountered career. 

Below is an example failed career list for a city called Tetragrammatown. Read it and you will get a good feel for the setting via failed careers only. 


UPDATE: I've been using this table for one-shot episodic play and slowly over the last year or so this table has expanded along with the setting itself. I think it started as a d66 table, then d68, then d88 and know a full d100. It's been really useful for supporting and expanding the setting and it's feel and has grown to reflect the play that has taken place. It's been a lot of fun. The 


Failed Careers of Tetragrammatown

Roll 1d100 to determine your character's backstory. The format is; [Failed Career/Backstory Name], [Weapon], [Item(s)]

  1. Whipping-Boy, whip, a wooden sign listing the ways you've been a naught boy/girl.
  2. Trench-Brother, sharpened shovel (as axe), permanently muddy military uniform.
  3. Dare-to-Die Duelist, pistol with no bullets, black coat with white 'duel me' painted on it.
  4. Riot Police, tear-gas grenade, plastic see-through shield.
  5. Reluctant Zealot, cat o' nine tails, prescription rage-juice.
  6. Living-Book, tattooing needle, an entire book tattooed onto body.
  7. Satirist/Polemicist, razor sharp wit (0 damage), head and arms locked in a pillory/stocks.
  8. Faerie-Realm Polluter, oil drum full of chemical by-products, map of local fairy rings.
  9. Elf-Hater, elf-basher (as club), 'hate' and 'elfs' tattooed on knuckles.
  10. Puddle-Prophet, lead rod, electric pouring crucible.
  11. Vehicularist, a pike (to prod people out of your way), a slow and primitive iron car.
  12. Amateur Aeronaut, a helmet with a big spike on the top, a heavy wood and canvas gliding-suit.
  13. Natural Philosopher, poisonous bug/plant/element (single use), specialist's tools.
  14. Gruel-Giver, heavy ladle, keg of gruel (20 rations).
  15. Noir Detective, twin knuckle-dusters, chainmail-lined trenchcoat (+2 AC)
  16. Gladiatorial Vampire-Baiter, wooden stake gauntlets, wooden plate armour painted with crucifixes (+3 AC).
  17. Veteran-Brother, beam-rifle in a locked box (no key), a pocketful of medals.
  18. Clerical Assassin (official), crucifix with concealed dagger, mitre hat with pistol stitched inside.
  19. Clerical Assassin (unofficial), poisoned needle, shabby imitation vestments.
  20. Most-Wanted Warlock, pet anaconda, edgy eldritch tattoos.
  21. Ratman Exterminator, rat-poison, vicious tunnel dog.
  22. Puritan-Procuress, spanking-paddle, trunk of spare puritan clothing.
  23. Puritan-Bothering Pacifist Revolutionary, fruity trombone, book of jokes.
  24. Dissolute Paladin, bejewelled knightly longsword, plastic bag full of laughing gas canisters and naughty printing-press pamphlets.
  25. Demon-Fumigator, hand-pump sprayer, holy-water.
  26. Rocket Smuggler, pocket-rocket, fistful of solid rocket-fuel.
  27. Prostitute Gangster, switchblade, fish-net stockings.
  28. Old-Town Rioter, bag of bricks, knitted balaclava.
  29. Wicked Noble, thumbscrew, flamboyant feather hat.
  30. Atomic Fisherman, glowing harpoon, radioactive fish.
  31. One Man Speakeasy, blinding bath-tub gin, backpack distillery.
  32. Involuntary Rocket Tester, molten weathervane, exhaust-blackened parachute.
  33. Paramilitary Goon, percussion cap rifle, camouflage tunic and cap (camouflage gives stealth bonus in matching environment).
  34. Political Congregant, swagger stick, a pamphlet listing the benefits of the new ideology you've invented.
  35. Industrial Congregant, huge and consecrated spanner (as a mildly holy, two-handed club), sackcloth gasmask.
  36. Itinerant Explosives Workman, big shard of shrapnel (as dagger), huge hand-cranked iron bomb that explodes instantly after three cranks.
  37. Agrarian Congregant, ploughshare, emergency ploughshare weaponization kit and manual.
  38. Book-Burner, single-use spray canister of napalm, slightly singed book (rolled randomly).
  39. Creature-Collector, Cattle prod (target saves vs paralysis or becomes slowed and loses 1pt of hp), vicious and toothsome creature in a small cage strapped to your back.
  40. Penal Legionary, metal-pipe arquebus with 2 shots, black and white striped fatigues.
  41. Quadruple Agent, garotte, d4+1 fake identity papers
  42. Scientific Congregant, two vials of unstable chemicals, badly repaired spectacles.
  43. Latest Technology Inquisitor, electric cattle prod (target saves Vs paralysis or becomes slowed and loses 1pt of hp), EZ-lite bonfire with portable stake.
  44. Authoritarian Thug, heavy hobnail jackboots for stamping, an imposing black uniform.
  45. Industrialiser, single-use glue gun, furnace-powered engine (to glue onto something).
  46. Morality Play Thespian, false metal god marionette (as flail), black renaissance theatrical costume and morph-suit.
  47. Satellite-Botherer, laser pointer, tinfoil hat.
  48. Indentured Window-Washer, 100-foot pole, bucket of caustic soaps.
  49. Self-Abusing Flagellant (get it?), stinging-nettle cat o’ nine tails, medieval smut.
  50. Computational Congregant, soldering iron, huge and humming electronic calculator carried on the back.
  51. Hypno-Pressganger, hose with bricks in the feet, a paper spinning black and white spiral on a stick.
  52. Sixteenth-Story Man, clawed gloves, 500 feet of rope
  53. Clerical Congregant, spiked processional cross, aspergillum of holy water.
  54. Out-Of-Town Gangster, a crude weapon wrapped in barbed wire, helmet with your gang's motif.
  55. Expeditionary Brother, long-rifle, wearable waterproof black bivvy-onesie
  56. Radicalised Protester, disposable rocket launcher with 1 HEAT round, placard
  57. Gutter Groveller, sharpened spoon, tattered blanket
  58. Fugitive, pocket pistol, roll a second failed career- gain their items - this is your cover identity or why you are wanted
  59. Puritan Black Ops, silenced caplock pistol, perfectly boring disguise with belt-buckle-balaclava in the back-pocket.
  60. Proxy Doxy, concealable single-use blackpowder SMG, pre-contact licence
  61. Reconstruction Congregant, wrecking bar, hardened cement-stained overalls and shroud, (+2 AC)
  62. Assembly-Line Congregant, a handful of screws and bolts, stimulant pills (roll a second failed career, this was your second job)
  63. Folk Hero, ancient acid-stained longsword, soot-covered white stallion.  
  64. Overworked Peon, roll twice and take both failed careers.
  65. Psalm Singer, you needed no weapon, entire bible memorized.
  66. Gunpowder Cultist, dodgy hand-gonne (crits you on a critical failure), singed robe
  67. Corporate Stooge, long-arm stapler, demotivational poster
  68. Corporate Enforcer, concealable whip-sword belt with factory logo belt-buckle, factory branded sunglasses 
  69. Proto-CEO, a pistol next to a half empty bottle of gin in a desk drawer somewhere, a big cigar
  70. Lone Gunman (for hire), scoped takedown arquebus in a case, keys to a fancy apartment 
  71. Theocratic Commando, your choice of any pre-1830 firearm, your specific faith's paramilitary uniform. 
  72. Warmachine Welder, Blowtorch, d4+1 armour plates.
  73. Chain-Ganger, rusty pickaxe, a convict you remain chained to by the ankle.
  74. Factory 'Hand', a fistful of nuts and bolts you pulled from industrial machinery, d4+1 severed fingers that you keep in a jar (if 5 is rolled you can have a hook hand)
  75. Alleywayman, two flintlock pistols, masked ratman accomplice/occasional steed
  76. Soldier of the Sex Worker's Battalion of Death, any historical pre-1815 personal weapon of your choosing, an imperious black military uniform with silver crucifix
  77. Dragoon Brother, prototype lever-action rifle (breaks irreparably on a roll of 1 damage), cloned horse
  78. Dogmatic Vigilante, a small non-lethal weapon of your choosing, thematic dress-up, roll a second career for your unassuming alter ego.
  79. Motorbike Knight, lance, crude poison/goblin powered motorbike
  80. Deforestation Congregant, crude poison-powered chainsaw, sharpened grappling hook and chain
  81. Cull Girl, your choice of any historical sword type, skimpy bloodstained clothing 
  82. Snake Handling Acolyte, two snakes with woozifying venom (if swung as a weapon will die), vial of anti-venom 
  83. Law Brother, hand-gonne truncheon, insta-pillory kit (flatpack, probably takes 10 minutes to assemble)
  84. Logistics Congregant, multitool, iron dolly 
  85. Snail Farmer, snail hammer, very large snail
  86. Boschian Hell Muralist, large paint encrusted palette knife, rejected proposal sketch of Hell
  87. Goblin Smasher, really big rock, a glass jar of green slurry
  88. Keeper of Cursed Books, attack book on chain (d6 reach weapon, knows only to bite) random book - cursed (flipped information as if from evil alternate dimension)
  89. Tragedian, fencing foil, sad mask with dark and dramatic cape
  90. Exorcist, heavy chain and padlock, demonic voice in the back of your head
  91. 'The Free Press' (hahahaha), crutch, a black eye and a broken leg in cast +1 additional broken limb of your choice.
  92. Polluted River Pirate, acid stained cutlass, NBC resistant coracle
  93. Bunker Buster, d4+1 stinky sticks of sweaty tnt (d6 impact explosive), a crowbar with flint and steel keyring
  94. Conscript Brother, pike, iron puritan hat shaped helmet 
  95. Landlord's Retainer, fancy looking musket (tiny calibre, d4 damage), tabard with landlord's symbol (and/or face) on it
  96. God-playing Scientist - Biologist (or) Engineer, mostly dead human arm (or) haywire automaton arm, reanimated head that babbles madness (or) schizophrenic AI skull.
  97. Slum-Knight, length of pipe with crossguard, corrugated steel armour
  98. Anarchic Bomb-Thrower, 2 grenades, get-away mule robed in a punk caparison.
  99. Weapons Maintenance Congregant, large vat of atramental lubricant, ballistic-weave NBC suit and sackcloth gasmask.  
  100. Underworked Punk, roll two careers, this is your parent's stuff that you’ve borrowed.




Tuesday, 20 December 2022

D10 Forgotten Comicbook Heroes of the Golden and Late Platinum Age

Not all heroes stand the test of time. Many of the adventurers of the Platinum Age and superheroes of the Golden Age have long since passed from collective memory. In this post I will be recalling ten of those forgotten comic book heroes who debuted during the 1930's and 1940's. 

This blog post is a gift, requested by the admirable, prolific and kind Tamás Kisbali of Eldritch Fields. This post is part of the OSR Discord server's annual Secret Santicorn event. Find other things I had made for this event here and for the Easter derivative; Secret Jackalope here. All art for this post was made using the DALL-E AI, excuse any wonkiness.


1. Captain Frankenstein 
First Appearance: December 1938
Last Appearance: September 1943
Original Publisher: American Argonauts
Created By: Robert Crowell

Revived using his great-grandfather's mad science, the highly-decorated war-hero, Captain Jericho Frankenstein, was transformed into a even more efficient killing-machine. Perfectly revivified and with newfound super-strength and endurance, Captain Frankenstein immediately continued in his unending war against the enemies of the America. Captain Frankenstein, who already possessed near superhuman abilities in life, is now impervious to 'automatic high-caliber chain-lighting guns', capable of punching holes through the steel hulls of tanks and performing great bounds across no-man's land.  

The author, Robert Crowell, a veteran of the Great War and who had seen action during the Meuse–Argonne offensive, was in equal parts cynical and excited by the concept of war and his Captain Frankenstein strips reflected this. The strips were full of gruesome death and destruction for both sides of the grim conflict but Captain Frankenstein excitingly and heroically leapt through it all and caused a great deal of it himself.

Captain Frankenstein fought for America against an unnamed enemy army in an unknown but completely wasted country. The Captain Frankenstein comic-strips saw the reanimated war-machine bound across no-mans land to smash death-rays, save POW's and on occasion, fight a robot or specialist-soldier that had been brought to the front to kill him specifically. After America's entry into the Second World War, Captain Frankenstein's foes were revealed to be the Nazis.  

Although this nazi-smashing super-soldier pre-dates Captain America, Captain Frankenstein was ultimately overshadowed by the more popular war-time hero. Ultimately, Captain America's image was clearer, less weird, more patriotic and optimistic. Captain Frankenstein’s author went on to write less outré, but equally grim, military comics and pulp war novels. 


2. Radioactive Skeleton Woman
First Appearance: Late 1938
Last Appearance: Early 1939
Original Publisher: Tales from Zonderland
Created By: Unknown

Published weekly in Utah based 'Tales from Zonderland' the rather uncreatively named Radioactive Skeleton Woman was considered too weird and macabre for the young audience the magazine was targeted towards and was cancelled after about a year. Very few copies of 'Tales from Zonderland' survive so much of Radioactive Skeleton Woman's weekly adventurers have become lost media. From what is available, it appears Radioactive Skeleton Woman has no dialogue nor alter-ego, she comes and goes without explanation and terrifies highly-deserving goons with her appearance or sickens them with her radioactive powers. While the character of Radioactive Skeleton Woman has been long forgotten, her concept and image remain in the collective memory of a few small old mining towns in Utah. These towns have a local legend of a mine-dwelling cryptid woman whose skeleton glows green. 


3. Kid Kolt
First Appearance: April 1949
Last Appearance: January 1951/ February 1951 (as Guy Gun)
Original Publisher: Great Spirit Publishing
Created By: Flynn Whip

Going by no name other than Kid Kolt, this child hero was known for his expert shooting skills and his unerringly deadly aim. Kid Kolt never carries a gun nor starts a fight... but he always gets ahold of the later and ends the former with precisely planned violence. All of Kid Kolt's villains died in their first encounter with the 'bright young lad' and the child hero's body count was enormous after just a few issues.

Kid Kolt saw good initial popularity, but the financially struggling and ever litigious Colt's Manufacturing Company filed lawsuits against Great Spirit Publishing as they felt Kid Kolt character infringed on their brand. In response, Great Spirit ceased publication of Kid Kolt tales but returned the character the following year as the rebranded 'Guy Gun'. The readership however, had moved onto other characters and Flynn Whip had lost interest in writing the character.   


4. Solar Andromeda 
First Appearance: December 1939
Last Appearance: March 1941
Original Publisher: Kinnock Press
Created By: Walter Kinnock

Utterly cosmic and undefeatable, Solar Andromeda possesses near infinite power and knowledge as a result of his study and subsequent mastery of the 'Seventeen Solar Sciences'. Solar Andromeda uses his limitless powers largely to fight bootleggers, interplanetary racketeers, corrupt space-cops, judges and mad scientists. Solar Andromeda's justice is notoriously biblical in scale and Old Testament in its severity. Among many cruel and zany acts of retribution; Solar Andromeda has blotted out suns, knocked unworthy planets from their orbits, turned the air around his foes to acid and his made his opponent's skeletons leap from their bodies and dance about while their still living owners watched in abject horror. Solar Andromeda was published monthly at Walter Kinnock's own expense until he was arrested for assaulting a woman he was attempting to court.  


5. Twenty-First-Century El Cid - Knight of 2009
First Appearance: January 1939
Last Appearance: November 1942
Original Publisher: Griff James
Created By: Cosmopolis Co.

Set in the far future of 2009, police captain Jed Johson is about to do final battle with the dreaded gangster and racketeer - Bullet Devilman. Knowing he cannot defeat the heroic Jed in a straight battle Devilman shoots the police captain with a plutonium-tipped dart. The dying police captain, with his final breath, demands his men place him on his police battle-cycle so he can lead them one last time against Devilman's gang. The Captain's motorcycle-bound body led the charge against Bullet Devilman's army of racketeering goons and with his body seemingly immune to their radium rattle-rifles, the cowardly mobsters are soundly defeated by the city's police force - all but the nefarious Bullet Devilman, who escapes. 

In the second issue, while the City of 2009 mourn's the loss of their best police captain, the spirit of Jed is welcomed by his ancestor (none other than Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the original El Cid himself) into 'Valhalla'. El Cid bequeaths Johnson his powers and sends him back to 2009 as the new El Cid - an immortal knight for the 21st century. El Cid of 2009 continued to fight against the criminal empire of Bullet Devilman and other villains until his author, Griff James, drowned during training after being drafted into the US Navy. 


6. The Monkey's Bite
First Appearance: November 1949
Last Appearance: December 1949
Original Publisher: Zing Weekly
Created By: Jim 'The Duck' Langley

After being poisoned by communist agents (for displaying too much 'American beauty') while holidaying with her boyfriend in West Texas, a dying Shelley Adams stumbles across a ruined Aztec shrine to an ancient monkey god. 'Montoko the Monkey-God' saves Shelley and transforms her into his champion; The Monkey's Bite. As The Monkey's Bite, Shelley Adams is an agile, cat-burgling vigilante who occasionally displays mystics powers as and when the story demands. Shelley tries to balance battling communists and criminals with spending time with her boyfriend, the eminently handsome and dreamy Mike, to whom Shelley tries hard to conceal her monkey-like behaviours. 

The Monkey's Bite, was intended to appeal to female readers, but with the heroine dressing and acting like a monkey, Zing Weekly was unsuccessful in this goal and the comic was soon cancelled. 


7. Lady Svengali 
First Appearance: October 1936
Last Appearance: October 1937
Original Publisher: Intriguing Tales Nightly
Created By: Vincent Mellinger

A complete vamp, Lady Svengali is an aristocratic spy with hypnotic powers and the occasional high-tech gadget. Lady Svengali was an extremely early comics anti-heroine - a seductive sleuth who came to match her wits and wiles with gentlemen-thieves, gangsters, foreign agents, cruel aristocrats and mad scientists. She had a small and dedicated fanbase but ultimately her stories were considered too sultry by mainstream audiences and even pornographic by some. Magazine distributors soon began removing copies of Intriguing Tales Nightly from shelves and selling them in brown paper envelopes to those that asked for the publication by name. Lady Svengali is a favourite of many early superhero scholars; experts consider her character an underrated outlier, well ahead of her time. 


8. The Scarlet Smog
First Appearance: January 1938
Last Appearance: December 1939
Original Publisher: Deluxe Publications
Created By: Algy Smith

The Scarlet Smog was a scientist who had invented 'smog pills' - a form of medication that when swallowed (or sometimes even thrown) gifted him vague smog based powers. Rather inaptly, his smog is not scarlet, so his moniker must be based solely on his striking crimson suit, skullcap and goggles. The concept was not picked up by readers and in annoyance, Algy Smith killed off The Scarlett Smog in what became his final issue. 'The Death of The Scarlet Smog' is considered the best story of the run and is full of doom, dread and pathos. 
 

9. The Transistor Twins 
First Appearance: July 1946
Last Appearance: September 1946
Original Publisher: Wisconsin Electronics Monthly
Created By: Terrence Blister

The Transistor Twins were two identical heroes named after the exciting upcoming peice of technology - The Transistor! The twin sisters exhibited a range of scientific powers such as 'television waves' that allow them to see distant locations or 'trans-conductive travel' that allowed them to travel through metal wiring. In their single, unfinished story they saved some local children from bullies and it is implied they come from another world. 
The comic strips were seen as a strange addition to Wisconsin Electronics Monthly, and quickly removed. Readers hadn't even learnt the twin's names or how to tell them apart. 


10. Witch-Buster
First Appearance: May 1933
Last Appearance: October 1938
Original Publisher: Black Cloak Comics
Created By: Howard J. Winters

Witch-Buster busts witches and the crooks they do business with. Don't let this erudite, pipe-smoking fellow's manners deceive you - he is a master of hand-to-hand combat and occult extermination. Witch-Buster possesses a grappling-hook gun, pocket-sized fire bombs and a variety of potions, occult charms and holy symbols. Witch-Buster's origins are mysterious and his identity unknown, maybe he doesn't have one. 

In Witch-Buster's long, pulpy run of stories he fought a host of occult and paranormal foes including werewolves, satanists, voodoo zombies and even some rather bootleg pseudo-lovecraftian entities. Witch-Buster's reputation among his paranormal enemies is so fearsome that on one occasion a demon slew their own conjurer and unsummoned themselves rather than face him. The character of Witch-Buster continued to feature in private short stories until the author's death in the 1960's.  


All Unused Art:

Captain Frankenstein 




El Cid of 2009


The Monkey's Bite 




Radioactive Skeleton Woman 





The Transistor-Twins