Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas Eve With Full Moon Entertainment 2014

Thursday, October 23, 2014

13 Days of Halloween: The Revenger, A Monster for Cryptworld

Hello Kiddies!

Here is a creature for the excellent Cryptworld RPG from Goblinoid Games. The Revenger is based on the amazing Orville Ketchum from the films Sorority House Massacre II and Hard to Die by Jim Wynorski. (Both movies not for the kiddies!) Think of the Revenger as a mix of deus ex machina and Pain in the Ass for your players. Hope you enjoy!


The Revenger

STR: 5 (75) --- WPR: 5 (75)
DEX: 2 (30) --- PER: 1 (15)
AGL: 2 (30) --- PCN: 4 (60)
STA: 7 (105) --- PWR: NA
ATT: 1/53% --- WND: 18
MV: L 75

Experience: The experience of the Revenger's Target/2 (see below)

Those who deal in the unexplained leave havoc in their wake. From the unholy powers of Elder Gods to the powers hidden in the human mind, even the most controlled usage has side effects. When these energies are released in acts of murder, savagery or possession those that survive may be altered by them. On the surface they remain human, but these altered survivors become mystically bonded to the source of the disturbance (referred to as the Target).

A Revenger is caught between life and death. In the moment of where most would die, the Revenger clung on to the desire to stop the source of their misery, the Target. This belief revives the body and pushes onward with one goal: to destroy or banish the Target. A Revenger who kills the Target outright returns to a normal existence none the wiser. If the Target escapes, the Revenger will either follow the resulting trail or settle down near the scene of the incident. Often, especially if the Revenger is the only survivor, he or she is considered the actual murderer. Years can go by before the Revenger encounters the Target again. But fate always seems to bring them together again.

When the Revenger is encountered he will try to warn others of the Target and what he did. Being bound to the Target, the Revenger can always sense the Target's presence within 1 mile of his present location. If the Target is using some sort of remote sensing or possession, a Revenger will recognize to matter what the disguise. Convincing others of the fact is another matter entirely. Most PCs will believe that he is the killer, as do the local authorities. When the killings start or any unnatural powers used, the Revenger will drop everything else and try to destroy the Target. Often they will get in the way of any efforts to destroy the Target. Anyone caught in the crossfire will be collateral damage.

Revengers are almost impossible to kill with ordinary weapons and are immune to the effects of aging, poisons and suffocation. In pursuit of the Target, they can be stabbed, shot, electrocuted, set on fire, or any number of unpleasant way to be wounded. A Revenger suffers no damage from ordinary weapons. He can be rendered unconscious, but the Revenger always seems to show up again to try and kill the Target. The only way to release a Revenger is to help him destroy the Target. When this is achieved, the abilities of the Revenger fade away. Some of them try to resume normal life. Others fall into the dust, the weight of years finally claiming them.



To see more about the inspiration of the Revenger, check out the Old Hockstatter Place for more details.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

13 Days of Halloween: Vincent Price Trailer Collection

Hello Kiddies!

I was planning something more but today was a really busy day. So I did what any good host would do-I went to YouTube!! Here's a trailer collection of horror movie trailers featuring the legndary Vincent Price!



Monday, October 20, 2014

13 Days of Halloween: Yellow Rhapsody the BluRay Edition

Hello kiddies!

I've reposted this before, but I had some ideas for a rediscovered  copy of the movie. Hope you enjoy!

This is yet more game material written when I was a member of All of the Above, the GURPS APA. Yellow Rhapsody is an adventure seed featuring The King In Yellow. It was written in the systemless style of Steve Hatherley's Tales of Terror. I first saw this format in Pagan Publishing's legendary Call of Cthulhu zine The Unspeakable Oath. Written in 1997, I consider Yellow Rhapsody one the best things I have ever created. The only changes made here are spelling and formatting. Enjoy.


Yellow Rhapsody

A Film by "Alan Smithee"


An excerpt from "Yellow Rhapsody"
Man in the Mask: To what do you hold dear?
Robert:
Life, love, happiness, what all men hold dear.
M in M:
They mean nothing in the Tremors of the dance.
R:
Then why do you dance if you have no pleasure?
M in M:
There is no question in the dance, no why, no how. We dance for the king. That is enough.
R:
Who is the King?
M in M:
The name is all around you.
R:
I see nothing.
M in M:
That is his name.

The packaging is deceptive. It is a video box decorated by colorful computer generated art with the title Tales of the Weird set in garish red. The back has text that promises terrors from these three college films. The only film company mentioned on the cover in "Weird Press Films". The date on the back of the VHS box is 1986.

The first and second films are "normal" horror films. "Early for Dinner" is an EC Comics-style fable involving a grifter who attempts to con a beautiful gourmet cook. He gets his comeuppance when she makes him the meal for a family of ghouls. "Ultima Chiamata/Last Call" is a bizarre black and white blending of German Expressionistic style and Italian zombie films. Two couples spend a night in a deserted Midwest farm and stumble onto a devilish device that alters their reality.

"Yellow Rhapsody" is the highlight. It is an animated film done in a minimalist, Alex Toth-like style. The plot involves a young man named Robert Chambers who gets a strange book from his grandfather—The King in Yellow. As he reads the play, characters inspired by it begin to haunt him day and night. Helped by the mysterious Man in the Mask and the lovely Cassilda, he pierces the veil and walks the halls of Carcosa. After a surrealistic journey he meets the King, who envelopes him in voluminous cloaks of yellow. The film ends with Robert dancing with Cassilda in the King in Yellow's court. The Man in the Mask looks to the screen and pulls of his mask, revealing nothing but a starry field and a yellow rune where his left eye should be.

Tales of the Weird
has become a cult classic due to the amount of disappearances connected to it. According to the legend that has grown up around it. The legend claims that "Yellow Rhapsody" was animated by a recluse who slit his own throat over the original cells of animation. It is a challenge, they say, to watch the film the whole way through. Something about the colors and the sound has a tendency to lull the viewer asleep or blur his vision. The ones that do claim that the camera plunges in the starry field and the credits begin to roll. An evil looking little boy with milky white eyes grins insanely as the credits begin to blur and break up, becoming unreadable.

Police are starting to take this case seriously. The suicides and disappearances on college campuses are starting to mount. Most of the original print run of the film has been seized and/or destroyed. Weird Press Films cannot be reached for comment.


Possibilities


1. The film itself is not the problem. It is the spirit of the animator that is the cause of the disappearances. The Mythos references were unintentional; he simply liked the King in Yellow. "Alan Smithee" lives within the original print of Yellow Rhapsody. He can perceive anyone who watches the entire film. After each viewing he attempts to take over the watcher. If he succeeds, Smithee drains life force or implants commands to watch the movie again. The disappearances are caused by the eventual destruction Smithee can visit upon a victim by draining them until they turn to dust.

2. The film is actually nested with subliminal messages put in by cultists at Weird Press Films. Throughout the video the Yellow Sign and other Mythos sigils and symbols are present. The other two short films also have references to the Mythos hidden within their narrative. The subliminals are a tool used by the cultists to recruit and identify. The curious ones are drawn to join the cult, while those who investigate the Mythos can by drawn out and eliminated. If innocents are driven to harm, that is not their concern.

3. "Yellow Rhapsody" is a cleverly disguised gate to Carcosa. If a person watches the film in its entirety (up to the grinning child), they become touched by the film. The viewer begins to watch the film over and over again and begins to see more detailed backgrounds. The sky forms into strange runes, the details in the clothes, and the characters' lines not heard before all become apparent. As the viewer becomes more drawn into the animation, the film becomes more nightmarish and surreal. The landscapes beyond the window become strange and alien, their inhabitants staring back. Screams of torture can be heard beneath the etherial music. Hallucinations begin to set in as the victim sees the characters come to life around him.

When sanity finally slips away, the Man in the Mask comes to snatch away the viewer, while Robert and Cassilda hold open the way to the city of Carcosa. The victim becomes one of the dancers whirling away to the dance of the Yellow King. A friend who watches the video might be lucky enough to see an old friend dancing for eternity in wild abandon as the Man in the Mask laughs mockingly.

"Early for Dinner"/"Ultima Chiamata/Last Call" Possibilities

Both of these films can be tainted as well:

"Early for Dinner" was produced by a family of ghouls who have laced the film with both subliminals and subtle magic influencers to draw the avid viewer into cannibalism. The lovely chef is the producer, a strain of ghoul that has a more human appearance but all of the appetite.

"Ultima Chiamata/Last Call" is a dangerous work that was intended as a student film, but it never was presented to class. The young people involved originally intended  to film a simple zombie movie to pass a class. Unfortunately they found assorted pages of the Liber Ivonis picturing several arcane artifacts. A talented propmaker made a working model of one. The film that resulted is the actual results, sent to Weird Press Films after the disappearance of the participants in 1984.

The Blu Ray Edition Possibility

In 2009,  magazines started advertising a limited run reissue of Tales of the Weird  from a revived Weird Press Films. Once news came out of a the finding of an urban legend, the print run was soon snatched up. And soon after the cycle began anew as disappearances in college campus begin to slowly rise. and curious collectors drawn into Carcosa. Even more disturbing are reports springing up in various sources that people who disappeared in the late 80s are coming back not having aged at all...

Sunday, October 19, 2014

13 Days of Halloween: Witchfinder (2013)

Hello again! I love finding great short horror films on sites like YouTube and Vimeo. Her's one I heard about a year ago. The Witchfinder is a short sweet slice of 60s/70s British Horror-style fun regarding a Witchfinder who has his work follow him home...





Check out the Witchfinder Facebook page for more info.


Saturday, October 18, 2014

Coming Up: 13 Days of Halloween!



Count Michula rises from his slumber! 13 Days of Halloween will be a mix of short movies, rpg stuff, and whatever cool horror stuff I can think of. I think we'll begin tomorrow. Good night Kiddies!




Friday, August 8, 2014

This Is Spelljammer!

I'm back!

"You want to get nuts? Come on! Let's get nuts!"
Bruce Wayne to Joker, Batman (1989)


Helm

 

 

 

 


Friday, May 16, 2014

[CAH:S3] Marcus Gorillacus, Praetorian of the Apeian Empire

Here is a new character I created for Cartoon Action Hour Season 3. inspired by this miniature from Black Orc Games. And yes it is a Roman Gorilla with a shield and sword. Think of him like one of those Masters of the Universe knock-off toys that were designed to play with the toys the same size. There's a little detail here, just enough to add a little flavor.


100 Kingdoms Praetorian Guard Miniature by Black Orc Games



MARCUS GORILLACUS
Star Power: 3

Qualities:
**Praetorian of the Apeian Empire
*Acts less smart than he really is
*"One day in the Legion…"

Traits:
BODYGUARD 5
MIGHTY PUNCH 7  (Action Feature, Devastating)
DIPLOMACY 3
SWINGING 4 (Situational Bonus: when vines or other lines are available)
GLADIUS 4 (Accessory)
WARRIOR SHIELD AND ARMOR 6 (Fickle, Advantage: Can throw Shield as an attack once per episode)

Upgrades: #1 , #1, #6

Oomph: 4

Marcus Gorillacus is a Praetorian of the Apeian Empire who was sent by the Emperor to explore the new lands that have contacted the Empire. For the first time in his life use without structure of the Legion and is a little confused with his new freedom. Still, Marcus is a powerful ally to those he calls friend and the years of experience have made him a canny opponent. Despite his brutish appearance, Marcus can be quite the diplomat as well.

Notes: BODYGUARD can be used for both offense and defense.
 

Monday, May 5, 2014

Spelljammer Inspiration: Doctor Who: Enlightment (1983)

Here are some classic visuals from Doctor Who. Spelljammer inspiration from the Peter Davison Era episode "Enlightment" (1983)

 

 



 
 
And the classic reveal scene from the end of Episode 1 of Enlightment. An interesting way to start a Spelljammer campaign, eh?
 
 


Thursday, March 13, 2014

Check Out Crawljammer for DCC RPG!



I don't play the DCC Role Playing Game by Goodman Games. I have heard good things about the game, though, and excellent things about the fan material. So when I saw several RPG blogs touting something called Crawljammer,  a fanzine dedicated to fantasy adventures in space, I was interested. I love Spelljammer. So I checked it out.

I went to Tim Callahan's Crawljammer blog and looked it over. Good overview of what's in the zine, inspirational ideas, and some Basil Wolverton art. I was impressed. It looked like a lot of fun. Ordering was easy via Pay Pal with Print, PDF, and Print/PDF Combo options. I picked the PDF option, mainly to give it an initial viewing, plus it looks good on my Nook and my Android tablet.

The first issue gives a cosmology for space travel, basic ship rules, a new class (Lizardman Mercenary) and an adventure. I most definitely will check out future issues of Crawljammer, maybe a print version too. It's a great example of the new age of self publishing we are living in. More space fantasy please.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

This Should Be A TV Series: Casino's Law Commercial (2014)

The Casino's Law commercial aired locally in Georgia during the 2014 Super Bowl (aka the Big Game or the Game or whatever). It runs for two minutes plus and is easily the greatest lawyer commercial of all time. Check it out.