Killing Gods, Part 1

The other day, in the comments on my Whimsy Addendum, I decried a trend I've seen in a lot of adventure material recently, which is: players encountering (and fighting with) "gods." Part of my annoyance has been with regard to overuse of the scenario (welp, here's another adventure where the main antagonist is a fallen deity...) and part of it has stemmed from the execution: how such encounters are portrayed and used in these adventures. 

And the good Prince of Nothing took umbrage and issued me a challenge, writing:

I think if you could manage to distill the right approach to portraying S&S style deities in DnD, complete with a few examples, you'd be doing the OSR a huge favor.

Wait...what? This is on me?

Set aside from the moment any notion of me doing the OSR "favors" (ridiculous to think they'd take any advice from me, even if I wanted to give it!)...what the hell qualifies me as the authority and resource for this particular subject? I'm just a blogger that runs his mouth...er, keypad...a bit too much with long-winded meanderings. 

On the other hand, I have fought a god or two.

*sigh* Challenge accepted. 

I'd like to first start out with a discussion of the inspiration behind this particular idea, this claim that it is O So Very Sword & Sorcery for grungy, pulp heroes to be going toe-to-toe with gods and godlings. So let's crack out our fantasy literature and take a look. Never mind that these are stories, not games...we understand that these stories are the impetus and foundational pieces for Dungeons & Dragons play. And it's always useful to have a firm handle on one's source material.

First up, everyone's favorite barbarian: Conan. One gets the impression that the gods of Howard's Hyborian age are fairly mortal (much like the Norse gods)...if Conan stuck Crom with 3' of  good, Hyrkanian steel, he'd probably die. However, we never encounter Crom in Howard's stories, perhaps because Crom is an actual deity. Conan kills some godlike frost giants, an ancient "god in a bowl" (appears to be a naga, much like the one in module N1), and an alien time-traveller that resembles a small elephant. These aren't gods: they're monsters. In the bluntest of D&D terms, they are meant to be slain and looted. 

Elric gets prepared to
throw down with the
god of lizards.

Next up, we'll look at Moorcock's albino sorcerer, Elric. He fights all sorts of gods. The "Burning God." Balo the Jester of Chaos. In the end, he is responsible for the death of ALL the chaos lords (gods) including his own patron, Arioch. Except that, actually, he's not doing the killing. It's his Most-Powerful-Artifact-Weapon-In-The-Multiverse (Stormbringer) that is doing the actual soul-sucking, not Elric. In the final battle he does a one-shot spell that summons a multitude of Stormbringers (Stormbringer has siblings), and they fly around killing all the gods. Stormbringer, as an artifact, was forged to slay gods (and to "keep in check" higher powers). It's a plot point of the books. Do your D&D characters carry such an artifact weapon? 

Okay, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. Haven't read as much of them as I'd have liked, but I can't remember them KILLING any gods. Running afoul of them, getting mixed up with them, fleeing their wrath or being cursed by them...sure, all that. But mortal combat (i.e. the hit point draining kind)? No, I don't think so.

Karl Wagner's Kane...well, I've only had the chance to read Bloodstone, and it's been a while. If memory serves, Kane "kills" a super computer masquerading as a deity. Machines break...they are mundane/mortal, not supernatural. Maybe. I get a little depressed thinking about Wagner; he died so young (age 48, alcoholism). 

I don't remember any hero versus god action in Clark Ashton Smith, but I probably haven't read enough of him. I have C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry ordered from Amazon, so apologies if she kills a bunch of godlings and I failed to mention it...haven't yet had the chance to read her stories.

H.P. Lovecraft isn't really an S&S writer, but there's no denying his writing's had an impact on D&D and many OSR offerings. Lots of extreme, alien gods walking amongst men in HPL's stuff. But people don't fight them. They get killed and eaten by them, or possessed, or driven insane. It's not really mano-a-mano. Well, except for a certain Norwegian sailor, who's ship-to-kaiju combat was absolutely NOT stolen by Disney for the climactic battle in The Little Mermaid against the giant octopoid entity. Nope, no way...that scene is straight out of Hans Christian Andersen. Regardless, it's one exception to a multitude of non-combats.

How about non-S&S literature...say, Tolkien's Sauron and all his knockoffs (Donaldson's "Lord Foul," whatever the hell Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan use, etc.). They're "gods" right? And the good guys fight and defeat them?

Well, no. At least in Lord of the Rings, Sauron is never confronted directly, and he's not killed so much as "dispersed" by the Ring's destruction. But perhaps he could have been, when he was mortal. Morgoth was wounded by Feanor with a mortal weapon, after all (elf weapons in Tolkien aren't, strictly speaking, "magical" but, rather, gear of exceptional craft). If he could wound Satan with nothing more than courage and a well-made blade what could the elf lord have done with a typical D&D magic weapon...something invested with supernatural power by a wizard?

Pullman's His Dark Materials (in which a couple kids kill old man God) hardly bears mentioning; not really the same genre. Neither is Piers Anthony's "Immortal Incarnate" series. Dragonlance I'll discuss when I talk about god-fighting in gaming proper. Probably I'm leaving out some (or a lot) of stuff, but I just don't read much fantasy anymore. And, anyway, one would think that "Awesome Confrontations Between Man and Godlike Being" would kind of stand out in Ye Old Memory. I used to read a lot of fantasy, and there ain't much popping up there.

SO...from whence this desire (in D&D) to fight/kill gods?

Just what are these "gods" in fantasy literature? I mean there's GOD, of course (omnipotent, omniscient, unknowable, and unavailable...more a force/influence than a being). Then there are 'the gods,' like the Greek/Norse pantheons (or Babylonian...currently reading Ship of Ishtar)...entities that are uber-powerful, live in a different realm, but have feelings/needs/thoughts that are recognizable by humans. There are supernatural entities from other dimensions/planets (Cthulhu, strange "intelligences," etc.). And then there are mortal beings of immense power that are worshipped as gods, but don't necessarily grant any special favors or divine influence...they simply inspire awe/reverence in lesser mortals (though the same could be said...on a grander scale...of ALL the various "god types" listed).

Different fantasy writers have tackled divinities in different ways (duh, JB) but, perhaps surprisingly, I feel a lot of authors take the approach of their being but one GOD (in the monotheist sense), perhaps with various demons and pretenders, but those certainly aren't necessary (Poul Anderson's Three Hearts, Three Lions is S&S and doesn't require any such entities). Certainly Tolkien is all Christian analogue with fallen angels and whatnot, but Howard's, too, stuff has a mostly Christian (i.e. monotheistic) vibe to it. Even his Conan stuff...while I joked before that Crom was probably mortal enough for Conan to slay, the fact is Crom never actually appears (and neither does Set or Mitra, etc.), nor do those gods grant any sort of "divine powers" to their devotees. Either they are false gods (as would be the typical monotheistic point of view) and their priests simply sorcerers, magicians, and charlatans OR they are just names/aspects of the One True God who (generally) stays out of mortal affairs, allowing folks to exercise free will.

And it makes sense that these writers would take this tack: American pulp writers of the early 20th century were, of course, individuals steeped in Western (generally monotheistic) cultures. They're just writing a fantastical version of the world they grew up in, some with reverence though plenty without.

[writers that leave out questions of divinity from their fantasy work at all...like Vance and Zelazny...I chalk up in the same monotheistic category...the lack of a demiurge points to/emphasizes its existence. Regardless, no one is fighting gods in those books]

There ARE outliers, however, and three of them have had an immense impact on the Dungeons & Dragons game: Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, and Howard P. Lovecraft. Leiber's world of Nehwon is filled with gods of the "pantheon" variety; so is Moorcock's Young Kingdoms (although antihero Elric is always searching for a Grand Designer behind it all). HPL, of course, gives us all his crazy-ass Star Children from the far reaches of space. Of these three authors, I'd judge Leiber and Moorcock to have had the greatest impact on the game as far as "cosmology" is concerned. That being said, I think in all three authors' cases a major takeaway from their stories is: the gods are NOT to be futzed around with.

You don't fight them. You're not going to kill them. You certainly don't loot their bodies.

All of which runs quite counter to D&D's credo.

But I'll be talking about that in my follow-up post, which will be specifically focused on god-fighting in D&D.

: )

Turning the Page

Upon a second (or third) re-reading, I'm not really happy with yesterday's post on class. It's just not very constructive (IMO) to spend a bunch of time writing (close to 3000 words!) only to come to the conclusion, "yeah different people like a different number of classes." Judging from the comments (both on the post and elsewhere) that seems to be the main takeaway.

Not especially helpful (though it was fun to reminisce about my old AD&D campaigns).

Why did I start blogging about classes anyway? Oh, yeah...superhero games. Well, it sure as shit doesn't help that cause: I'm definitely NOT going to be writing up 40 (or even 20) different supers archetypes...hell, I'm hard-pressed to even think of 7 to 10. Okay, maybe not "hard-pressed," but...as I said, not a helpful exercise. More meandering mental masturbation.

Let's turn the page, shall we?

Here's a mental palette cleanser (apropos of nothing): has anyone considered...or attempted...to run a Scooby-Doo style mystery game using the Call of Cthulhu rules? I think it would be pretty darn easy to do with very little modification. Stuff that initially jumps out at me are things like being able to regain sanity by eating Scooby Snax and eliminating actual death from the game (probably eliminate "hit points" altogether and just use the Sanity pool for both mental wellbeing and physical endurance...tired/injured characters are more likely to faint, breakdown, or run scared). If I have the time later,  I might type up a one-sheet rules mod for download (it would be for use with 5th edition CoC, since that's the only version I own at the moment). I dig on old Lovecraft stories, but I've never thought they made great grist for an RPG (I prefer my horror investigations to look more like BTS). A Scooby-style Cthulhu game (similar to the Mystery Incorporated series) sounds more fun.

Eat hot lead, star spawn!

[I'm not knocking or mocking standard CoC play, just by the way...I know plenty of people dig sitting around scaring themselves in shadowy rooms with mood-induced play. These days, though, I'm often thinking of games my kids would like and my youngest gets scared just watching Goosebumps. Bringing a little "wa-hoo" to the table provides more player agency than Cthulhu's tentacles usually allow]

All right...palette cleansed?

I don't often write about other designers and one guy I've completely failed to mention over my years of blogging is a dude by the name of Aaron Allston (1960-2014), mainly because I didn't associate his name with any particular product (good or bad, I'm just not one of those people that follow particular designers any more than I follow particular artists or writers when selecting comic books for purchase). A couple-three months back I picked up a PDF of Allston's Strike Force based on a number of positive reviews I'd read. Although Strike Force is written specifically for Champions (a game I don't play) several people touted the book as having good advice applicable to ANY supers game. As my particular supers game of choice (Heroes Unlimited) is a little light on "good advice," I figured the PDF couldn't be a terrible investment.

[and it's not]

Skip forward to a couple-four weeks ago when I was getting back to finishing up a couple writing projects in the hope of (maybe, finally) publishing a "for money" book (my last was in 2013!). Anyway, one of these...a B/X supplement first started back in Paraguay (I think)...would really like to have an example "setting" to go with it. And me being the lazy guy that I am, I thought I might file off the serial numbers of the original B/X setting: Karameikos. Imagine my surprise and amazement when I dusted off my very old copy of GAZ1 and found Allston's name on the cover! The guy was writing for BECMI?! I thought he was a Champions writer!

Oh, my.

Turns out, I'm an idiot. Not only did Allston pen several of the old Gazeteers (especially some I loved, like Thyatis/Alphatia), he is credited with putting together both the Rules Cyclopedia and the Wrath of Immortals "re-write" of Mentzer's Immortal rules...two volumes that I made great use of back in the early 2000s ('round about the time I chucked 3E to the curb). Wow. I feel pretty darn stupid for not paying more attention to a guy who was responsible for a large chunk of my (adult) gaming life. Ugh...I should know this stuff!

Notice: Allston's name
is NOT on the cover.

But I digress...as I was reading through my old Gazeteers and waxing nostalgic (ah, Glantri...how I love and hate thee at the same time...) I started doing a deep dive into Karameikos. And I found myself thinking there're the makings for a fairly good campaign setting here. Not as written, mind you: it's far too sanitized and cloying in only the way BECMI can be (even 2nd Edition wasn't this wholesome and "family friendly"). But there's the skeleton of something here that could be easily re-purposed to MY purposes...B/X purposes, baby!

SO, I conceived of a possible post (or series of posts) about how I'd like to revisit and reimagine the Grand Duchy of Karameikos for my own amusement. Even went so far as to starting a draft post which, per blogger, was around the 18th...of January. Since then I've had birthdays and illnesses and snow days and a whole lot of busy-busy going on. But I'm ready now, baby...ready to get back to it. That's my plan for the upcoming few days as I try to shake the dust from this "class" dust-up off my train.

Well, right after I finish my Call of Scoobthulu write-up.
; )

Hunting Witches

This is Tim Brannan's fault.

I love the concept of the witch hunter, of witch hunting, in general. Not in the "red scare" sense of the phrase, nor even the historical Inquisition-mananged mass murder of people-who-don't-think-and-worship-like-us. No, I'm talking about fantasy witch-hunting: the idea that there are dark and sinister supernatural forces out there and some heroic folks have been chosen for the gig of hunting said forces.

Nostalgia of the Nineties

As a premise for an RPG, this isn't a terribly original idea...more than a couple of Pelgrane Press's GUMSHOE games fall into this category, as does Beyond the Supernatural, InSpectres, and (to a lesser degree) Call of Cthulhu. The Mutant Chronicles certainly had a large dose of SciFi flavored witch hunting to it. Heck, there was even a game called Witch Hunters that was published a few years back, though I'd break out the old White Wolf Hunters Hunted supplement (for 1E VtM) long before I'd ever put down money for such a book/system.

[The Hunters Hunted is a truly under appreciated gem of a supplement/mini-game that I should blog about some time.  I realize it led to its own game line eventually ("Hunters Reckoning," I think?) but I got a lot of mileage off that original, slim volume. Very cool and one of the best Vampire products]

And, for more medieval-style games, there are plenty of witch hunters to be found in the Warhammer universe...I'm not sure if the latest version of WHFRP has them, but the first couple editions (through Hogshead) had witch hunters as an advanced career path, and you could play an entire warband of witch hunters in the Mordheim game.

But for old school D&D...the pre-2E editions...the idea of the witch hunter is a bit of a tough sell. After all, old school D&D isn't about hunting anything. Anything besides treasure, that is.

After reading Tim's post this morning, I (momentarily) considered an idea for a new B/X supplement...a campaign setting featuring a world where most of the "fantasy" elements were all (to some degree) aspects or side effects of supernatural evil. Evil of an inhuman, alien nature, filtered in  from other dimensions, through rifts made wide by human sorcerers who were willing to bargain away their souls...hell, their very world...for a taste of power. In such a setting, player characters would have a chance to be real heroes, not just "scurrilous rogues," as they fight against the dark forces threatening their planet. "Orcs" would simply be bestial, mutated humans. "Goblins" would be hellish imps, the lowest demons serving dark masters. All monsters in the B/X game could be re-skinned as devils and demons and twisted pawns of alien intelligences.

But it's a world closer to WHFRP's Enemy Within campaign than Palladium's Wormwood. This campaign setting hasn't yet been overrun, nor even is it on the verge of Armageddon...but without the aid of witch-hunting PCs, it could move to that DEFCON stage. This is a world that calls for hunters to root out the bad juju.

In such a setting, witch-hunters would take the place of the cleric class, as what type of divinely intervening deity would allow the world of Its worshippers to be so mistreated? Undead would certainly play a lesser role in such a campaign, and alternative forms of healing would be needed (perhaps fighters would be able to apply "field dressings" to wounded companions after combat, healing a certain number of HPs based on level). Such a game could be fun, though in a bleak way featuring corruption and cultists and whatnot; maybe something for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Maybe.

Then I took a long nap.

And when I woke up and got my brain to running again, I realized "hey, wait a sec...this has nut-all to do with finding treasure." And that's when the wheels came off the concept. Because the LAZY way of handling such a thing would be to say, hey, it's just B/X with some different house rules...you're still looking to loot the chaotic monsters and evil cultists lairs (in order to earn XP, in order to level up). Because witch hunters need phat loot, too.

Um, no. We are not going to be playing characters interested in making a buck while Rome burns down around their ears.

And since on second (post-nap) pass, I see the concept would need a lot of substantial retooling of the B/X system in order to work to my standards, this is a project that'll have to be shelved for the time being. I'm already in the midst of a retooling/writing project, and I want to get that one knocked out. Too bad, though...I've already got a couple ideas for titles to such a project. And I've got some notes stashed away (somewhere) about retooling Realms of Chaos concepts for B/X that could probably be put to good use on such a project. Yeah, it would be an interesting setting to play/run in...

Shoot, I could probably adapt part of my (reworked) Cry Dark Future advancement system to the thing...

No, no, no...one thing at a time! Maybe if someone wants to collaborate with me on such a project so I don't have to do all the writing myself (ugh, I see why Kevin Siembieda is such a fan o the "cut-and-paste"), I could find some time for it.

Maybe.

Top Module #8: Oasis of the White Palm

For all the grief OS folks give Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman, I have got to say that I really don't share in it. First off, while I read the (first six) Dragon Lance novels, I never played (or owned until the last couple years) any of the DL modules. My fellow DM, Jocelyn, did own three or four, but because of the cement of the setting and story-line, we never bothered to actually run any of 'em.

Furthermore, while Ravenloft WAS run in our campaign (again, by Jocelyn) I didn't take part in the adventure that particular session, so I can't tell how it went at all. The one time I tried running Ravenloft myself, we (everyone at the table) got bored with it and gave it up before we even met our first gypsy witch. Truth be told, while I own the module still, I don't remember hardly a thing about it.  I should probably re-read it one of these days.

No...besides the Dragon Lance novels, the main experience I have with the Weiss/Hickman duo is the awesome Desert of Desolation series (I3, I4, and I5).  I've never owned the "super-module" version, but I have two copies of each of the original modules.

What a great set...what a great setting! I've written before that I love blood and sand adventures, and anything vaguely "Sinbad" or Egyptian falls readily into that category as easily as Rome and gladiators, so it's not surprising I'm a fan. However, I came to these modules rather late in my DM'ing career...I actually never had the opportunity to run this for my original gaming group (Jocelyn, Matt, Scott, Jason, etc.).

First off, while I saw I4: Oasis of the White Palm and the grinning djinni on the cover many times at the game shop, it never intrigued me. A giant blue man? Nah. He was smiling for god sakes! If the cover had had a glaring efreet....well, maybe. Secondly, it was only for mid-level adventurers. The PCs in our games were a LOT higher than 8th level. Taken together, the module just wasn't as sexy an option as other choices on the shelf.

Then, of course I finally acquired it and found that it was part 2 in a three-part series...and it took me years before I was able to find a copy of I3: Pharaoh. Completionist that I am, I only ran I4 as a stand-alone for the occasional one-off game (cousins, my brother and his buddy, etc.), not for my regular game group.

Too bad really, because it is fantastic.

Of the three, I find Oasis of the White Palm to be the best and the only one worthy of my Top Ten list of "best modules" (coming in at #8).  Truly, all of 'em are great and they offer real old school AD&D entertainment: plenty of dungeon crawling, monsters and undead, tricks and traps galore.  Yes, there is a very specific plot and some end objectives, but the characters themselves are more of the hoodwinked than heroic variety. And while a party may fail to break the curse that created the "Desert of Desolation," there are still rewards to be had...the fate of the world does NOT rest upon the PCs. Also, the adventures do NOT tell the story of some uber-NPC.  The PCs either help the NPCs in the modules or they don't...but they are the protagonists in this particular adventure.

I3: Pharaoh and I5: Lost Tomb of Martek, the book ends of the series, are mainly dungeon crawls...yes, there is some outdoor travel with a few planned encounters, but for the most part they are just "what happens on the way to the dungeon." Oasis is the real meat and potatoes adventure. 

I4 can be used as a stand-alone adventure readily. I've read other folks' accounts on-line where they spent weeks and weeks of game play in the Oasis because they couldn't "figure out what to do." The fact that you can do so much with the module speaks volumes. The adventure includes two full multi-level dungeons, a city in ruins, and a detailed town (the Oasis of the title) in addition to the desert wilderness setting...really a ton of adventure packed into not very many pages.

The dungeons themselves are nothing but the coolest of non-standard encounters with fiendish, fiendish traps.  The "maze of light" is the kind of thing I was designing in my own adventures, and the Pit of Everfall is just a bowlful of awesome. A pit that leads to Pandemonium? The minions of Set?  A gigantic chasm filled with an ARMY OF UNDEAD and only a single bridge across?  Holy guacamole! 

The fact that the wandering desert encounters has the equivalent of lance-wielding bedouins riding pegasi and the gigantic vicious purple worms just make the thing all the more crazy-cool. But I absolutely love the intrigue and adventure that can be explored in the Oasis itself...a desert outpost with legends and history that tie directly into the adventure's story.  

This is adventure design at its finest.  I think Weiss and Hickman really reached their peak with I5, regardless of the "cool maps" and plotting of Ravenloft.

I know I haven't mentioned him in awhile, but I would like to note that Alejandro and Company cut their mid-level teeth on the Desert of Desolation series (from Pharaoh to Martek). This was before Alejandro picked up Blackrazor (and a good thing too with the abundant legions of walking dead!), back when Big Al was simply a two-handed sword Weapon Specialist rather than the force of destruction he was to become.  

[I do recall Al and Arioch  finding a copy of the Necronomicon in the Oasis bazaar, but I don't recall the party ever using it (never a good enough reason to risk insanity I suppose). However, it seemed to fit the whole genre...was Set and Elder God? Perhaps. This question was never answered in the campaign]

ANYway, it IS an excellent adventure module and one worthy of praise (in my opinion). I would certainly be willing to run it again, and if one isn't too tied to the original game background, it wouldn't make a bad "jumping off" point for starting an Arabian Nights (or Knights) type of campaign.  If I were to ever convert it to B/X I would probably do just that...starting the players off in the Oasis itself, allowing them to find the Pharaoh's or Martek's tomb only after acquiring the need for the Star Gems...hmm, not a bad idea at all, really.

Ah! The place is set! I must do this!

As soon as I have the free time, of course....

**EDIT: I actually finished this post at 11:38pm after getting home from a Seattle Mariners game. I don't know why these things insist on carrying the timestamp of when I started the post!**

The Holy Grail!!!

So anyway...I was wandering around Greenwood (Seattle neighborhood), sipping coffee and contemplating chorizo and eggs for breakfast, when I stopped into my local game store (as I have done on a weekly basis for the last several years) and low-and-behold I found a first run copy of Deities & Demigods for sale in their used book section!  This is a book for which I've been searching...oh, about 25 years or so.  I've only held it in my hands a couple times, once a little more than a year ago when I found it in the same game shop...unfortunately, THAT copy was in terrible condition with black ink and/or crayon scribbled all over the pages.  I refused to pay $25 for it, but have been kicking myself a bit ever since.

Now, I feel completely vindicated.  For $30 I now possess an excellent copy of a piece of AD&D history...and one with my beloved Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythos lovingly detailed!

What a glorious day!

Seriously, I realize I could have bid for a copy of this on eBay and got it much sooner, but I hate doing that...prices get jacked up all out of whack and you never know what you're getting until it actually arrives.  I prefer to peruse books myself before purchase...plus I'm weirdly anachronistic in my tendencies anyway.  AND I like to support local businesses (no, I don't shop at Wal-Mart either).  

As of today, there's very few items of AD&D merchandise I'm still looking for.  A copy of S4 or N2, both of which I owned once upon a time, perhaps N1, or the Slave Lord series (the latter of which just for its historical value...plus I used to own the mega-module, but that vanished with S4 and N2).  But these are all relatively low priority.  I found Q1 at Half Priced Books three months ago, finally completing my G-Q series after many years (that's one I'd tried to purchase more than once on eBay and Amazon). 

Oh, such lovely memories this book brings back...it makes me want to start up an AD&D campaign, just so I can incorporate the Cthulhu mythos. Wow...does every god in that section have -7 Charisma?  No...just 3 out of 5 greater gods.  Ha!

Mmm...you know what?  There are a couple things I'm still missing that I wouldn't mind getting my hands on.  Not OD&D stuff (hey, I've got the monster book that still has the Balrog's stats!), though the supplements I-III would be valuable for the place in D&D history.  No...the Gazetteers from the BECMI days.  I'm missing three or four of them (particularly the Orcs of Thar) that would be good resources for a B/X campaign.

Wow...so cool.  I don't know what the copyright limits are for text that has been recalled, slashed, and burned (and in a book that's out-of-print to boot), but I'm a naturally cautious dude and so will probably not be posting any specific DDG text, much as I'd like to.  However, rest assured I'll be sharing Stormbringer's info in a later post (at the very least).  

To all you collectors out there: happy hunting!  And good luck!