How To Be A Better Monster

 

Art by Gustave Doré

The second edition of Monsters! Monsters! is now available.  Technically, the second edition was available forty-one years ago.  The subject of this post is the second, second edition which – in a more prosaic numbering scheme – would be the third edition.  According to the introduction, this version of Monsters! Monsters! (hereinafter M!M! ) stemmed from Ken St. Andre's desire “to get Toughest Dungeon in the World back into print...”  Since that adventure was intended for trolls, St. Andre believed it should be reprinted for M!M! rather than as a Tunnels & Trolls product.  Of course, the most recent version of M!M! was four decades old.  As such, the new Toughest Dungeon should include a set of M!M! mini-rules.  Instead, the development of those mini-rules blossomed into a full-fledged product.

Given that M!M! is compatible with Tunnels & Trolls (hereinafter T&T ), the rules are very similar.  The differences, however, are interesting.  In T&T, the default system for determining primary attribute values is to roll 3d6 for for each attribute in order.  In M!M!, players assign rolled values to attributes as they see fit.  Because attribute modifiers for monsters are more extreme than the usual T&T player character kindred, assigning attribute values can be especially effective.

Primary attributes are not described, but Charisma can cause “regular humanoid kindred” to react in different ways depending upon the symbol associated with a monster's Charisma on the “Monster Character Modifier Table” on pages 20 and 21.

☠ = terror (Example monsters include Balrukh, Dragon, and Obsidian Spider)

！ = some fear (Example monsters include Yeti, Dire Wolf, and Mummy)

?  = indicates surprise or disgust (Example monsters include Living Skeleton, Harpy, and Giant-Slug)

🖤 = awe or liking (Example monsters include Griffin and Unicorn)

There are five kindred for use in a “Fast Start” game of M!M! :  Flesh Trolls, Dhesiri (Lizardmen), Uruks (Orcs), Hrogrs (Ogres), and Gremlins.  Attributes are modified by fixed amounts.  For instance, Lizardmen have +10 Strength (STR), +10 Constitution (CON), +4 Dexterity (DEX), +4 Luck (LK), –3 IQ, and –5 Charisma (CHR).  For M!M! games that aren't “Fast Start,” there are 49 monsters listed on the “Monster Character Modifier Table.”  Attribute modifiers on the table are expressed in multiples.  The modifiers for Lizardmen are STR × 1.75, CON × 1.75, DEX × 1, CHR × .75 , IQ × .75, LK × 1, and Wizardry (WIZ) × 1.  So, +4 DEX, +4 LK in “Fast Start,” translates as no modifier in the table.  Furthermore, the Lizardmen modifiers are different from those in the Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls (dT&T ) Peters-McAllister Chart.  According to that chart, Lizard People have LK × .75, WIZ × .75, and CHR × 1.25.  The rules do not explain these inconsistencies.  This is just one example.

Each kindred in M!M! as a special ability not necessarily reflected in dT&T .  Lizardmen have an amount of armored skin based on their level; Gremlins reduce by 25% the Luck of non-Gremlins within ten feet.

Monsters can enter “Beast Mode” at will.  Although this is described as “berserk,” Beast Mode is handled differently than Berserk Combat in dT&T.  In Beast Mode, player characters “no longer use their normal stats but instead use their converted MR and attack twice every combat round.”  MR is Mankind Rating (or Monster Rating) and, “A Humanoid's CON = Mankind Rating...”  This phrase suggests that non-humanoid MR is derived differently, but this is not addressed in the rules.  Beast Mode 'costs' four points of MR for the first round and the cost doubles every round thereafter.  Beast Mode lasts until MR is depleted (which causes unconsciousness) or no friend or enemy is present within twenty feet.

Once character generation and combat is explained, the remainder of the rules fall under a section called “How To Be A Better Monster,” including such things as saving rolls and adventure points.  An optional rule called Chaos Factor is also included.  Chaos Factor equals a monster's level and “represents the forces in... nature that spread misfortune, bad luck, and ill omens throughout the land.”  Once per turn, a monster can add or subtract its Chaos Factor to or from any one roll.  Monsters can learn spellcasting, but in so doing they lose their Chaos Factor.  Monsters who are not spellcasters really have no need of the Wizardry attribute.  Perhaps, instead of a monster's level, Chaos Factor could equal Wizardry.

Speaking of spells, M!M! offers five pages of spells.  Some monsters inherently know certain spells; most Sphinxes know the Divine Disapproval spell and Gorgons know the Medusa spell.  Unfortunately, these spells are not described in M!M!  It is unrealistic to expect M!M! to include all the dT&T spells, but it should at least include all of the spells it references.  After all, the introduction says dT&T “really isn't necessary for you to get into this RPG.”

The original M!M! described fifty-two monsters.  One could use a deck of cards to randomly select a monster.  As indicated above, the new version of M!M! describes forty-nine monsters.  Why not include three additional monster kindred and asign a card to each?  There are various possibilities.  The description for Stingaree begins with, “Often confused with the common manticore...“  However, manticores are not among the 49 described kindred.  Strangely, manticores are included on an encounter table for the adventure included with M!M!  Another encounter table has a Deathfrog:  “Large, the size of a rhinocerous [sic], green, warty, with a long prehensile tongue that strikes with the force of a whip, sharp teeth that can bite through iron, and powerful hind legs.”  Some monsters from dT&T that could easily have been part of M!M! include Redcaps, Keeraptora (winged humanoids), and Ghouls.

The (A)D&D Adventure That Michael Moorcock Wrote (Spoilers)

Map by Paul Ruiz

Published from 1983 to 1985, Imagine was TSR's official organ in the UK.  Issue #22 was a Michael Moorcock Special Feature including:  an interview with him, a short story by him (“1st UK magazine publication”), an AD&D adventure by him, and a three page publication history of the Eternal Champion by someone other than him.  In the interview, Moorcock tells us what he thinks about people who partake in role-playing games:

...I know a lot of people who are actively involved.  It's certainly very popular.  If you look back to the 20s and 30s, the people then were enjoying the popular magazines, they contained the same types of fantasies but they weren't so formalized.  It's also linked to the times we live in.  Large numbers of people feel disenfranchised, and if people haven't got any effect, or feel that they haven't got any effect in the real world, they go into religion – or perhaps role-playing games.  Both are substitutes for the person who feels that he has no effect on anything.

Perhaps writing Sword & Sorcery stories about an albino also counts as a substitute.

Anyway, the eight page adventure is written by Michael Moorcock and Michael Brunton.  So, it's a collaboration.  How much did Moorcock contribute?  In the interview, when Moorcock is asked if he will write for role-playing games, he replies, “I'll write the odd scenario, such as the outline I did for IMAGINE.”  So, Moorcock's contribution was limited to an outline.  The credits at the end of the adventure attribute “Inspiration” to Moorcock and “Perspiration” to Brunton.  Using the Edison criteria, I suppose Moorcock was responsible for ten percent of the adventure.

In the Table of Contents, the “mini-module” is called “The Iron Galleon.”  When the adventure is presented on page 25, it has the title “Earl Aubec and The Iron Galleon.”  The scenario turns out to be a “one-on-one adventure” where the player assumes the role of a Moorcock creation, Earl Aubec of Malador, previously appearing in a 1964 short story.  In AD&D terms, Aubec is a twelfth level fighter with a +3 two-handed sword.  Actually, there is provision for a second player character – Jhary-a-Conel, an incarnation of the Eternal Sidekick.  Jhary is a seventh level fighter who “can use magic items and scrolls as though a magic-user.”  He also has a flying cat, Whiskers, that “should be treated as a magic user's familiar.”  In the absence of a second player, Jhary can be used as a non-player character.

A half-page section, The World of the Young Kingdoms, is intended to be read by both the DM and player.  While the section briefly describes Moorcock's setting, mostly it reveals Aubec's history.  We learn:

At Kaneloon he fought and defeated creatures from his own imagination.  In rising above the darkness of his own mind Aubec won the right to go beyond the world's boundary and carve new lands from the Chaos-stuff that existed beyond.  Here too, he first encounters Myshella, the Dark Lady, and refuses the 'rights' that she offers him....

This is an impressive accomplishment for someone with a Wisdom of 9.  There is also a section of Dungeon Master's Notes.  The section begins with six paragraphs of background information.  There is also a sub-section about alignment in Moorcock's setting; mainly, “the classifications of 'Good' and 'Evil' have no real relevance.”  (Perhaps the adventure should have been presented in terms of BECMI rules instead of AD&D.)  Also, some Dungeon Master advice is presented regarding one-on-one play:

In a one player module it is always possible to 'kill off' the one and only character with ease.  The DM must resist the temptation to see the adventure as a personal confrontation, and his or her duty in that confrontation as 'getting' the player.  This doesn't mean that the player character should be given an easy ride, but the DM should remember that the character is supposed to be a hero and win through.... most of the time.

The adventure presents a couple of house rules:

Yielding to tradition, the scenario begins in a tavern.  While enjoying a repast, time seems to stand still except for Aubec and his cat.  “From the shadows” appears Myshella, the Sorceress of Kaneloon.  Aubec's nameless cats purrs, so we know the sorceress intends no harm towards Aubec.  (“Aubec's cat is not a familiar, but it is sensitive to danger.  The DM should make a point of mentioning (subtly) what the cat's reaction is to the various characters and situations in this module.”)  She reveals the premise of the adventure.  There's an Iron Galleon which “sails not only the seas of the Young Kingdoms, but the waters of other worlds as well.”  Somewhere, the Captain of the Iron Galleon acquired the Horn of Fate, “a treasure of incomparable power” capable of “bringing about the ruin of everything.”  Myshella wants Aubec to obtain the Horn and deliver it to her so she can send it “out of Aubec's world...”  Myshella provides some money so that Aubec can hire a ship to travel to a given location.  If Aubec does so, “Within five days [he] will meet the Iron Galleon.”  Myshella departs and time resumes.

“If Aubec decides not to obey Myshella's instructions” within two days, he is attacked by hirelings of an old enemy.  Such attacks will continue daily until Aubec (literally and figuratively) gets on board.  Before encountering the Iron Galleon, “The DM should use at least one” preceding encounter.  One such encounter is attack upon the ship by an ildriss (air grue).  The other possible encounter is an attack by “a Pan Tang slave raider looking for fresh victims.”  Regardless of which preceding encounters are employed, eventually the Iron Galleon collides with the ship Aubec is on and destroys it.  Aubec is supposed “to grab the anchor chain of the Iron Galleon as it passes, and climb up it to 'safety'.”

The captain of the Iron Galleon is Dyvim Ka'aand, “a Melnibonéan outcast, doomed to wander the seas between the worlds...”  In true Melnibonéan fashion,  “He maintains a pretense of bored, tolerant amusement towards the world, beneath which he is haughty, noble, sophisticated, and amoral.”  Dyvim Ka'aand is not given a character class; however...

Dyvim is the equivalent of a 12th level spell caster when casting his memorised spells.  Unlike normal magic users or illusionists, Dyvim does not have to 'memorise' other spells.  His spell grimoires and tomes contain details of spells that are functionally identical to all the magic user and illusionist spells of 6th level and below.  After studying these spells for a period of (4d4 ⨯ spell level) minutes, Dyvim Ka'aand is able to cast them.  There is also a 17% chance that Dyvim Ka'aand will be able to cast any spell from memory.  In this case, there is a 5% chance he will do so incorrectly and the casting will prove to be a waste of time.  However, there is a limit to Dyvim Ka'aand's spell casting capability.  He cannot cast more than 35 levels of spell in a single day – for example he can cast up to 2 ⨯ 1st, 1 ⨯ 2nd, 4 ⨯ 4th, and 3 ⨯ 5th levels.

The Iron Galleon is mapped out and each numbered location is described like a proper dungeon.  One location is the hold, containing “the Iron Galleon's collection of trinkets” from a plethora of worlds.  Such trinkets include:  “lengths of ship's timbers; oil barrels (for the lamps); mold-covered grain sacks; chests full of tea, raw cotton, white marble, pottery, and black powder (which is so damp as to be useless); wine amphorae; five life preservers marked HMS Graf Spee and perched on top of one heap is a what appears to be a giant, misshapen arrow – a Phoenix AIM 54A air-to-air missile, which is armed and ready for firing.”  (Elsewhere on the vessel is “the ejector seat from a Mig-31 Foxhound.”)  There are a few locations with 'monsters' (e.g., stirges and rust rats) but, mainly, the Iron Galleon serves as a venue for interacting with non-player characters.  Aside from Dyvim, other intelligent denizens of the ship include:

          Jeroaz :  A Dwarven jester with a +1 slapstick that causes extra damage because it “is tainted with unclean Chaos-stuff.”  (6th level assassin)
          Master Smiles :  “He is simply a dissolute sybarite who actively enjoys the life of contemplative cruelty and barbarity that he indulges in aboard the Iron Galleon.”  (5th level fighter)
          Kateriona van Hjeok :  Last survivor of a group of pirates who assaulted the Iron Galleon.  She has an “eye patch and steel prosthetic hand.”  (7th level fighter)
          Miriame :  A refugee from a slave galley, “Dyvim has amused himself by feeding her a powerful hallucinogenic drug which makes her totally compliant to his will – the withdrawal symptoms are extremely painful.” (non-classed)
          Windlos of Heuliss :  A “flying man” trapped on board the Iron Galleon.  (non-classed, but 7+1 Hit Dice)

The Horn of Fate – appearing to be a drinking horn – is in Dyvim's study.  Dyvim knows the Horn is special, but evidently does not realize its true nature.  What Aubec does to get the Horn is up to the player.  Aubec can attempt to recruit non-player characters as allies against Dyvim.  “Aubec need only obtain a positive reaction (DMG p63) to apparently enlist the aid of any of the NPCs.”  Aubec's cat is useful in determining which non-player characters are trustworthy.  Aubec and his allies can make use of “a small wooden sailing boat” on the Iron Galleon.  There is also a way to destroy to Iron Galleon.  If Aubec gets away without killing Dyvim, the Melnibonéan will send an invisible stalker against Aubec.  If Aubec does not repair to Kaneloon with alacrity, the DM may have Aubec attacked by his old enemy's hirelings “as an extra incentive to Kaneloon and safety with minimal delay.”

The Volturnus Trilogy (part I) (spoilers)

 

Venus (Source: NASA/JPL/USGS)

The introductory adventure module included with the Star Frontiers boxed set was Crash on Volturnus, having a designation of “SF 0.”  The adventure continued with two additional modules – Volturnus, Planet of Mystery (SF 1) and Starspawn of Volturnus (SF 2) – sold separately.  All three modules are credited to Mark Acres and Tom Moldvay.

According to the Player Character Background Report in the first module:

          The Zebulon star system was first investigated 20 years ago by an unmanned exploration probe launched by Truane's Star.  This probe indicated that Volturnus was the only inhabitable planet in the Zebulon system.  It also indicated that great mineral wealth might exist on the planet in the form of molybdenum, tungsten, gold, and other heavy metals.  Truane's Star soon made a legal claim to the ownership of Volturnus, and completed exploration of a star route to the Zebulon system one year ago.
          The first manned expedition to Volturnus from Truane's Star was launched nine months ago.  The four member team of specialists was instructed to set up an outpost, gather data on the possible colonization and mining of Volturnus, and report back.
          After passing into the star system, the starship carrying the specialists was never heard from again...
          Truane's Star has found itself short of personnel and funds due to colonial troubles and associated police action on Cygnus Omicrom IX recently.  They have hired you, a team of unknown adventurers, to mount a relief expedition to Volturnus.  Your mission is to explore Volturnus, gathering as much information as possible about mineral deposits, life on the planet, and other items of interest to future colonists.  You are also to find and rescue the members of the original exploratory mission if possible.
          The government has provided you with a minimal amount of equipment, and transportation to Volturnus aboard the starliner Serena Dawn.  After dropping you on Volturnus, the Serena Dawn will return in three months to transport you (and, with luck, the original exploration team) back to Truane's Star.

Although the player characters would not realistically know this, game statistics for the members of the original expedition are provided.  Intended only for referees, the Star Frontiers™ System Brief for Zebulon indicates that Volturnus is named “after the Greek god of the southwest wind.”  This is interesting in that Earth is not part of the Star Frontiers setting.  Perhaps we are supposed to adopt a belief in Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development.  (Also, one of the locations on Volturnus is Crystal Stonehenge; described as “resembling Stonehenge on Terra...”)

While on the Serena Dawn, weapons and power packs belonging to the player characters are secured in the ship's weapons locker.  Heavy gear has been placed in the cargo hold; player characters are allowed to retain only “non-weapon tool kits.”  Anyway, when the ship enters the Zebulon system, pirates hijack the Serena Dawn.  At least the module refers to the hijackers as pirates.  I assume that pirates are interested in capturing and/or looting vessels; these pirates don't seem to have studied the job description.  They wind up destroying the Serena Dawn and, although they post guards at the cargo bays, they don't actually seem to take anything.

Additionally, I wonder why pirates would establish a base in the Zebulon system which is five light years away from the nearest system with any sort of starship traffic.  The second module establishes that the “pirates” oversee an illicit mining operation on Volturnus.  (It also establishes that the pirates work for the “Star Devil.”)  I can understand destroying the Serena Dawn to keep the mining operation from being discovered, but it isn't piracy.  Dragon #98 (June 1985) has an article which presents an “unofficial” background for Volturnus, providing a plausible explanation for the pirates as well as the identity of the Star Devil.

The player characters don't learn about the hijacking via the alarm system or an intercom announcement.  Instead, they “hear the sound of scuffling outside [their] cabin.”  There are five random encounters which take place in order.  They are random in regard to when they take place.  On each turn, there is a 10% chance of the next sequential encounter occurring.  The fifth encounter is actually an event:  “The ship begins to vibrate badly.”  The is the cue to evacuate the ship.  Meanwhile, the player characters have some amount of agency and move about the area of the ship represented on the Starship Bridge Area Map.  (The bridge, incidentally, is in two separate sections.)  One possible course of action is for the player characters to go to the cargo bays.  Aside from their equipment, player characters can find things like a “Holographic fireworks projector,” “Yazirian punching bags,” “Packets of dehydrated food,” etc.  Some of these items could be of use to enterprising players.  However, why a ship transporting an exploratory expedition would have cargo like “Large machine gears” and “High fashion Human dresses” is not apparent.

Eventually, it is assumed that the player characters will board a lifeboat and venture to Volturnus.  Unfortunately, as indicated in the module's title, the player characters crash on the surface of the planet.  With the lifeboat on fire, “The characters have enough time to remove the survival packs...but no other equipment can be removed.”  On the other side of the Starship Bridge Area Map, there is a colorful planetary map of Volturnus representing an area “about the size of the state of Colorado.”  The lifeboat crashes in a desert in the southwest quadrant of the map.

          A dashed line circles the lifeboat crashsite.  This is the movement limit for CRASH ON VOLTURNUS.  It is important the characters do not pass this line, especially if you plan to play the sequel to CRASH ON VOLTURNUS.  If the characters reach this line, turn immediately to planned encounter 3 (the Ul-Mor).  In addition, if the characters begin to die of thirst or starve, turn immediately to planned encounter 3.

The Ul-Mor resemble octopuses.  In addition to eight limbs (each ending “in five small tentacles useful for grasping and manipulation”)...

          The Ul-Mor also have a ninth limb, a tentacle about 30 centimeters long.  This tentacle is an extension of the spinal cord.  The end contains a hard cartilage point encasing a series of nerve endings.  The Ul-Mor can insert the tip of this tentacle into the fatty tissue surrounding the spinal cord of other creatures, achieving a nerve link which allows them to communicate directly with the creature's mind.  The Ul-Mor use this tentacle so effectively they can achieve a direct mind-link with any being.

Before meeting the Ul-Mor, there are various encounters the player characters can have in the desert, both random and planned.  The five random encounters are:  (1) Burrower Snake, (2) Sand Storm, (3) Funnel Worm, (4) Sand Shark, and (5) Lopers.  Often used by Ul-Mor as mounts, lopers “are two-legged reptiles the size of horses.”  The “Lopers” encounter is what I call a “bear cub” moment.  In D&D module B3, Palace of the Silver Princess, the adventurers can come across a bear cub that “appears to have been abandoned by its mother.”  Player characters can choose to adopt the cub – a type of role-playing opportunity not typically afforded in a dungeon crawl.  In the “Lopers” encounter, the Volturnus castaways find “a dead female loper that has just given birth to two babies.”  Adopting the baby lopers can result in a pay-off when the player characters eventually meet the Ul-Mor – “if the characters have the baby lopers with them, the tallest Ul-Mor will ceremoniously drop his weapons and raise four of his tentacles.”  I suppose this is a good thing.

It behooves the player characters to cultivate the good will of the Ul-Mor; the rest of the module depends upon it.  The Ul-Mor can provide food and water to the player characters only if they agree to join the Ul-Mor tribe.  Assuming they agree, the Ul-Mor will lead the characters to the Place of the True Warriors where the initiation ritual can occur.  Evidently, the safest route to this place is through the Forbidden Caverns.  In the caverns, the characters become separated from the Ul-Mor and must make their way through the science fiction equivalent of a dungeon.  This is the most detailed portion of the module.

The actual initiation (and culmination of the module) is called the Ritual of the Quickdeath wherein the player characters must fight the eponymous quickdeath, “a tiger-sized creature covered with some sort of reflective armor.”  It is “the ultimate land carnivore” and has the capability to “fling a poisonous dart” from its tail.  According to the Alien Creatures Update File, “The Sathar used an advanced form of DNA manipulation to create these hideous beasts from a common type of housecat found throughout the universe.”

Saga of the Starnomads (Part II)

Art by Dave Billman

In this post, we continue our presentation of Tom Molday's historical background of the Starnomads.  We learn that “Mudhuggers have no honor” and that, regarding mudhuggers, “Promises need not be kept...”  Yet,“trade is so important the Starnomads” and “Starnomads make excellent traders.”  It seems incongruous that a people seen as “merciless, treacherous barbarians” can manage to be “excellent traders.”  Additionally, we learn that Starnomad “habitats are entirely self-sufficient.”  So, why should Starnomads sully their superior hands by trading with debased mudhuggers or by raiding disgusting mudhugger settlements?

How superior are Starnomads to mere human mudhuggers?  Moldvay establishes elsewhere in the adventure that – when creating a Starnomad character – “a player rolls 2d10 plus 2d6 for each of the five Basic Ability Scores (instead of just 2d10).”

“Mudhuggers have no honor,” we are told.  However, a Starnomad ship will “formally adopt an individual who gains its hospitality.”  This is not a rare occurrence – “New blood is constantly being added to the Starnomads.”  As such, there must be honor to be found among some mudhuggers.

In last week's post, it was established that, “In the Starnomad mythos, they are building toward an ultimate new species that will have about as much in common with Homo Sapiens as Homo Sapiens have in common with the tree shrews...”  Yet in the sections reproduced below, we learn that, “There are even a few [Starnomad] ships composed entirely of alien races.”

Speaking of alien species, illustrated above is a 'Feline', which seems to be slightly larger than the example human shown.  The Rule Book states, “Felines are a bipedal cat like species of intelligent, space-faring carnivores.”  They are among the “traditional enemies” of the Starnomads, but were previously allied with them.  For nearly every humanoid race listed in The Book of Foes, statistics are provided for an average specimen, a soldier specimen, a hero specimen, and a noteworthy individual.  The noteworthy Feline individual, Grymalkin, has magic powers.  Also, Feline heroes are capable of having magic powers.  This is strange in that the Starnomad Setting Index specifies that “Magic does not work...”

Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

Art by Stephan Peregrine

As previously discussed, Flying Buffalo published the Catalyst Series of “game master aids” – including the CityBook installments.  (“CityBook is Flying Buffalo's trademark name for those Catalyst game booklets which describe businesses, personalities, and scenarios for city-based play.”  [original emphasis] )  The first CityBook was published in 1982.  Larry DiTillio was credited as editor, producer and – for many of the entries – author.  Perhaps better known as a writer and story editor for television, DiTillio was also responsible for a variety of several other role-playing game supplements/adventures.  “Original Concept” was credited to Pat Mueller, an author and editor for Sorcerer's Apprentice.  Mueller also shared “Directed by” credit with Liz Danforth and “Design and Layout by” credit with Steven S. Crompton.  In a humorous vein, another credit was “Typos by Pat Muellre.”

In 'A Brief Note' following the Introduction, it is stated, “The primary purpose of this book is to provide a number of modular pieces of cities, from which you can pick and choose what you want to use.”  Less subdued is the back cover copy:  “For action-packed role-playing, for exciting encounters with peculiar people, for unexpected adventures and unforeseen complications, the establishments and NPCs found in CityBook are right up your alley!”  Somewhere in between is the claim, “your players can now find fun and excitement even in such mundane activity as buying a loaf of bread or having a battered suit of armor repaired.”

Included in CityBook 1 is a two-and-a-half page article – originally published in Sorcerer's Apprentice – having the title “City Building and Citymastering” (incorrectly listed as “City Mastering and Citybuilding” in the Table of Contents).  The writer, Paul O'Connor, also contributed one of the book's entries.  O'Connor was involved with other role-playing game publications and has credits in comic books and those new-fangled computer games.  Anyway, O'Connor offers the following advice:

Try to allow for your players' desires.  Let the characters take a hand in directing the action – never try to force characters into doing something they don't want to, simply because you've got nothing developed for the path they're taking.  Often, a city trip will split off into a completely unexpected direction – usually quite different from the one planned.  If this happens, flow with it!  Try to adjudicate whatever situations arise to the best of your ability.  There's nothing wrong with making up an adventure as you go along...

Also, he offhandedly mentions “a one-armed goblin with three heads juggling squids...”

CityBook 1 has the subtitle Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker – a paraphrased line from a nursery rhyme (which evidently is not as homoerotic as one may have thought).  Among the “25 city-based establishments with over 75 fully-described non-player characters,” there is an entry for a butcher and another for a baker; however, the baker is a woman.  While there is no candlestick maker, there is a candle maker.  This borders upon false advertisement.  I mean they didn't have to use that subtitle; they could have gone with something accurate.  (I suppose a sourcebook of scenarios based on traditional nursery rhymes might be interesting.)  The butcher, baker, and candle maker entries are all by DiTillio.

Cleavsom Rumpchuck operates a butchery with his brothers – Slysum, Chopsum, and Dimsom – as well as his son, Ribeye.  (CityBook NPCs frequently possess 'jocular' names.)  Along with mundane meats, the Rumpchunk brothers offers such unusual fare as “filet of giant lake lizard, shank of dragon (very rare), sirloin snakes, lion loin, giant ant legs, horned owl tripe, marinated snow-bear nose, monkey brains, and anything else the GM can come up with.”  A scenario suggestion has Rumpchuck hiring the adventurers to acquire such game.

Widow Rohls operates a bakeshop with her three daughters:  Poppy, Sesame, and Sweet Nell.  The interesting NPC associated with the bakeshop is “Old Sam.”  (Spoiler Alert!)

Old Sam was once Samar, Master of the Nine Hells, an evil wizard with staggering arcane powers.  An assault by ten rival sorcerers blasted his memory from him and aged him almost thirty years.  He escaped destruction by a desperate teleportation spell, and was found wandering in the City sometime later...

Taken in by the Rohls family, Old Sam does odd jobs and has “a definite talent for icing cakes (the result of years of scribing complex spells).”  One scenario suggestion involves Old Sam regaining his memory.  Another suggestion has him inadvertently working “some eldritch rune into the design” of a cake's icing.  This results in “some strange effect which could have [a] character possessed by some supernatural entity, cause a spell to fire, lay a curse on the viewer, open a gateway to an alternate universe, or any other magical surprise the GM cares to spring.”  Wacky hijinks ensue.

Art by Liz Danforth

The candle maker is Gillian Olfin.  DiTillio tells us, “Gillian loves to swim nude in the moonlight, does not drink, ...is rumored to have numerous lovers in high positions in the City [and] ...is always barefoot.”  Liz Danforth, in her depiction of Gillian (shown above), seems to have based her appearance on Diana Muldaur.  The model for the cat has not been determined as of this writing.

Gillian has sufficient magical ability to manufacture two types of “special” candles.  The Love Candle “incorporates a few drops of blood or sweat from both the proposed 'lover' and the person who wishes to be loved.”  When the “lover” burns the candle, “he or she falls in love with the candle's buyer.”  The effect only lasts for one to six weeks, but the effect can be reinforced with a new candle.  Since “it takes Gillian 2 – 12 days to produce a love candle,” it would be wise to have a few spares available before engaging upon a long term romantic illumination.  The Ghost Detector Candle normally “burns with an ordinary yellow-white flame.”  However, in proximity to “a disembodied spirit or an enchanted corpse, the flame burns a bright blue.”

We also learn that “tallow candles are cheaper [than refined beeswax candles] and will burn a little more brightly, but in an area without adequate ventilation (such as your basic dungeon-type room), they tend to smoke heavily, causing nausea.”

Friendship Is Magic!

© Hasbro Studios

Regular readers have likely noticed a reduction in the frequency of posts.  This is because your humble host has been preparing to take the blog in a bold, exciting direction.  After five years of discussing role-playing games, Thoul's Paradise will henceforth be a brony empowerment blog.  Today's post will act as a transition between these interests, looking at pony role-playing opportunities.

The official My Little Pony role-playing game, Tails of Equestria (Get it?  Tails?), will not be available until later this month.  However, the “pony sheet” offers a glimpse of what we can expect.

According to the ad copy:  “Armed with core skills and special abilities, each player ventures into the world of Equestria with their pony peers, forging deeper friendships as they help one another in the whimsical world they create through every action they take.”  It looks like the dice (sold separately, of course) are the standard assortment of polyhedrals.  Interestingly, the recommended age for this game is “3 years and up.”

Other than the forthcoming official RPG, there is the Ponyfinder Campaign Setting from Silver Games, LLC.  Originally, Ponyfinder was intended as a supplement to Paizo's Pathfinder (hence the name).  The latest incarnation – a 168 page PDF – embraces Fifth Edition; however, the Ponyfinder name has been retained.  (I would have gone with Ponyfiver, but I'm not a marketing expert.)

Each pony has a sub-race (which I assume is the same as 'tribe') and a spiritual path (“an important and specific choice that sets ponykind apart from most of the other races”).  The three common sub-races are earth-bound, pegasus, and unicorn.  The less common sub-races include ghost ponies, leather wings, sea horses, and zebras.  Among the spiritual paths, there are:  Antean, chaos hunter, clockwork, doppelganger, gem pony, and sun pony.  However, the most common spiritual path is “unique destiny,” which allows a choice of ability score increase and skill/tool specialty.  'Spiritual path' is something of a misnomer; the term suggests a conscious decision to follow a particular philosophy.  However, the described paths are really accidents of birth.  Clockwork ponies, for instance, are “comprised of gears and springs.”  Instead of 'spiritual path', perhaps 'heritage' would be a better term.  Even so, the reason why 'gem pony' should be a spiritual path while 'ghost pony' is a sub-race is beyond me.  If I'm going to pretend to be a magical pony, I need a logical framework with a rock-solid foundation.  I mean, what am I, an eight year old girl?  (Don't answer that.)

Ponies “stand about four feet tall from hooves to head, and are about four feet long from front to base of the tail.”  All ponies have a “Brand of Destiny.”  We are told, “This symbol is of high importance to the pony, signifying their destiny or talent, and driving them to excel at it.”  This brand can be removed via a 'Denial of Destiny' feat.  Doing this is a “drastic act [that] defies the gods and the natural order and declares that you mean to operate under your will alone.”  So ponies don't automatically have free will, but they can obtain it.

The back cover claims, “Many spells, class specializations, and backgrounds are also usable by non ponies or other settings.”  The accuracy of this statement depends on how few items can constitute 'many'.  Regarding spells, we are told, “Most of these spells are of specific use to ponies, with limited function for other races.”  Among the dozen new spells provided, we are treated to the likes of 'Blast of Harmony' and 'Grazing'.  Two of the five new backgrounds are 'Hybrid' and 'Unbound Hooves'.  As is, some of the class specializations – such as Artifact Tender (Rogue) and Warden of the Night (Paladin) – can be used by non-ponies and are not tied to the setting.  Other specializations are not quite so flexible.  Among these are Tribal Scholar and Mobile Cannon (“Four-legged races face unique challenges when they pursue the way of the gun”).  Two other examples of specializations are Mystic Prancer (Bard) and Vampiric (Sorcerer).  Yes, there are rules for playing vampire ponies; it's a wonderful time to be alive.

Other than ponies, there are seven other playable, quadruped races in Ponyfinder.  Two of these – Flutterponies and Steelhearts – might as well be pony sub-races.  The 'non-pony' races are:  Cloven (“intelligent goats”), Griffons, Phoenix Wolves, Purrsians (“a winged feline race”), and Sun Cats.  All of these races are of 'Medium' size and all have their own feats.

The 'world' of the Ponyfinder setting is Everglow, “nestled in delicate balance between the elemental planes...a world of magic and mystery where the fey are in control and the humanoid races are secondary.”  Ponies and all of the non-humanoid playable races are considered to be fey “for all purposes.”  The 'Places of Note' chapter consists of 24 pages (describing locations like Tramplevania) as well as a one-page map.

Of course, given intelligent ponies, there must be pony gods.  The Ponyfinder gods include:  Blaze (CE), Kara (NE), Moon Princess (LN), Princess Luminace (LG), Sheila the Author (N), Sun Queen (NG), The Night Mare (LE), and – last but not least – Unspoken (CN).  I guess Chaotic Good ponies are out of luck...or maybe they just don't give a pasture patty about gods.

A fulsome history of Everglow is provided in the book with emphasis on the pony empire.  There is a presumption that Ponyfinder games are “set after the decline of the Empire,” but information for running a 'height of the empire' campaign is also provided.  Twenty-four pages are devoted to descriptions of 39 'Notable Persons'.  There are no stat blocks, just paragraphs of information about famous ponies with names like Saxon Violins, Scarlet O'Mare, and Boogie.

Inspiration: The Star Rebellions, 5764 AD

Yes, technically it should be “AD 5764,” assuming we're talking about anno domini ; however, there is no definitive connection between this setting and Earth.  'This setting,' by the way, comes from Freedom in the Galaxy, originally published in 1979 by SPI, then published as an Avalon Hill bookcase game in 1981.  In the game, “a small but valiant band of Rebels struggle to withstand the oppression of an empire bent on total domination.”  In other words, it's a blatant Star Wars knock-off.  Even the title of the game (hereinafter FitG ) is one thin preposition away from the last four words in the introductory scroll of the original film.  Why use a knock-off for inspiration instead of the genuine article?  It is in the differences of the knock-off in which we shall find points of interest.

FitG has three levels of complexity:  'single star system' has a rating of 4  – on Avalon Hill's scale of 1 (easy) to 10 (hard), 'province' (4 - 6 systems) has a rating of 7, and 'galactic' (all 25 systems – 51 planets) has a rating of 10 – “the ultimate in S-F realism.”  The 32-page rule book informs us, “The full Galactic Campaign Game...takes about 20 hours to play.”

Aside from the rule book, the game includes a 12 page 'Galactic Guide' including a backstory for the setting and details that are mostly 'color', but some are ancillary to the rules.  In the age of the Interstellar Concordance, the Interspecies Genetics Project combined Rhone (i.e., human) genetics with genes from other intelligent species.  The resulting hybrids “traveled to the worlds of their respective parent races” where they “tended to breed prodigiously.”  Eventually the hybrids battled against the elder races in the Galactic Extermination Wars.  Civilization collapsed and the survivors, “mostly hybrids and Rhones,” lost the secret of faster-than-light drive.  Eventually, a Rhone population developed faster-than-light transportation again and used this advantage to establish an interstellar empire.  Over several centuries, corruption festered in the Empire.  To thwart the depredations of the Empire, the Galactic Rebellion came into being.  Some of the various races in FitG include:  Yesters (bird people), Kayns (dog people), Piorads (“Space Vikings”), Segundens (“a dark-skin humanoid race”), and Saurians (lizard people).

FitG is a two-player game; one player controls the Empire and the other controls the Rebellion.  The game involves planetary loyalty scores and space combat; however, “Central to the play of Freedom in the Galaxy are the characters.”  Sabotage, Diplomacy, and Free Prisoners are examples of missions that players can assign to characters (or groups of characters).  Missions are resolved by drawing action cards.  Each action card lists events that occur depending upon the 'Environ' that the characters occupy.  Once the event is resolved, a letter code on the card indicates if the mission is successful.

Each character has six attributes:  Combat, Endurance, Intelligence, Leadership, Diplomacy, and Navigation.  Each attribute is rated from zero to six.  Some characters have a special ability.  For instance, Zina Adora (“Princess of Adare”), “Receives one bonus draw on Gather Information mission.”

Some interesting characters:

Sidir Ganang (psuedo-anagram of SPI employee Sid Ingang):  “'Sidir Ganang' and the Ganang Gang was one of the most popular stereovision shows shows on Bajukai, and Sidir Ganang posters, dolls, books, movies and grebble-gum cards made him a millionaire.  But his fortune tugged at the greed of some minor Imperial functionary, and Sidir Ganang was blacklisted from the entertainment business, and his fortune was confiscated.  Formerly, Ganang had merely portrayed galactic warriors on stereovision; now he actually became one, fighting against the Empire.”

Ly Mantok:  “An Imperial Sub-Commander is not supposed to have outside business concerns, but this is a rarely enforced policy.  Ly Mantok would no doubt have gotten away with his corrupt dealings, had not ten thousand Mantok Laser Rifles refused to function in the middle of the Battle of Banjukai.  When Mantok was...dismissed, he swore that he would go to someone who would appreciate his abilities.  The Rebels, at the time, were desperate enough to do just that.”

He starts the game with an Explorer spaceship.

Barca (because he's a dog person – get it?):  “Like all Kayns, Barca has a fierce loyalty for his friends and little mercy toward his enemies.  For 40 years, Barca has been the Grand Marshal of the Imperial Army, both on planet and in space.  His remarkable military prowess and ability to handle tactical and strategic combat situations is at the disposal of the Empire, as Barca's loyalties remain fixed to the Imperial throne and whoever sits upon it.”

Thysa Kymbo (more wordplay from the impish wits at SPI):  “Daughter of the current Emperor Coreguya, the princess has spent most of her adult life waiting for her father to die, so that she may ascend to the throne.  Because she has spent most of her life pampered in the Imperial Court, she is unaware that Redjac may have other plans for the throne that do not involve succession.  The princess became the bitter enemy of Zina Adora when she learned that Rayner Derban was more attracted to Zina than herself.”

Her voice was “as alluring as it was Imperial...”


Characters can also have companions.  One such companion is Norrocks (“The Thieves Guild constructed this bodyguard robot to protect its most important members.  Sometimes, through proper bargaining, the Guild can be persuaded to part with one of its defensive robot bodyguards.”).  Another companion is Charsot (“Resembling a little dog, the Charsot, an animal from the planet Midest, can sense thought waves and transmit its own waves of pacification and reason.  It can also sense the future to a limited extent.”).

FitG offers a plethora of creatures with which characters might interact during the course of their missions.  A sampling follows.
Derigion:  “Giant flying lizard with quick movements aided by instinctive precognition.”
Gach:  “Two-headed feline creature with two conflicting personalities.”
Hysnatons:  “Sewer snakes with hypnotic powers.”
Leonus:  “An unheard-of cross-breed a lion-like creature and a reptile, incredibly ferocious and stealthy.”  (Although unheard-of, it has a name.)
Lomrels:  “Large canines used as mounts be the local populace, who alone know the secret to their control.”
Prox:  “Large, crawling carnivorous insect that has huge, rending teeth, but is slow.”
Sandiabs:  “Feisty desert rats get off on watching travelers fall into carefully covered sand pits.  Mean no real harm, though...”
Vorozion:  “Highly evolved, hostile thought being; very impatient.”
Zop:  “Friendly, furry creature that does not attack...However, it senses good vibrations from Rebel characters, and so it gives them ancient family heirloom kept safe in cave for eons...”

Bond Villains (and Others)

Dr Nikola – likely inspiration for Blofeld

Art by Stanley Wood

Don't get me wrong, Ernst Stavro Blofeld is like the big brother I never had, but my favorite Bond villain is Auric Goldfinger – the cinematic version, of course, not the weirdo from the novel.  Yet the book provides some insight into his character.  According to Bond's thoughts, “...Goldfinger was an artist – a scientist in crime as great in his field as Cellini or Einstein in theirs.”  Earlier in the novel, Goldfinger contemplates what will result from his raid on Fort Knox:

And then will come the applause, the applause for the the greatest extra-legal coup of all time.  And Mr Bond, the world will rock with that applause for centuries.

For all his wealth, Goldfinger realizes that he can't take it with him. Ultimately, Goldfinger wants to be remembered; this is his motive.  As he states in the film:

Man has climbed Mount Everest, gone to the bottom of the ocean.  He's fired rockets at the Moon, split the atom, achieved miracles in every field of human endeavor...except crime!

He's cruel; he's crazy; he's a control freak.  Additionally, he has a plan that Bond concedes is “inspired” and “brilliant.”  More than greed, Goldfinger is driven by the desire to win – even if he has to cheat or murder thousands of innocents.  This leads to his downfall.  After the plan fails, a rational person might flee to some exotic corner of the world and live in low-key luxury.  Goldfinger, on the other hand, has to confront Bond, the man who bested him.  Thus, Goldfinger dies.

Also, four words not associated with Blofeld:  Pussy Galore's Flying Circus.

Blofeld, incidentally, is not described in the James Bond 007 role-playing game.  The game was published when ownership of Blofeld and SPECTRE was contested by Kevin McClory.  Therefore the game describes an analogous organization – TAROT (Technological Accession, Revenge, and Organized Terrorism).  Characters in the film series associated with SPECTRE (for example, Tetsuro Osato from You Only Live Twice ) are instead associated with TAROT.  Instead of Blofeld, we have Karl Ferenc Skorpios, who is depicted with a greyhound, not a cat.  We are told, “...Skorpios organized and Built TAROT, supposedly influenced by the old deck his mother handed down to him.”  (Skorpios was born “to gypsy parents who performed in travelling carnival shows.”)  TAROT has several subsections, “Each subsection and its leader are identified by a card from the tarot deck.”  These are:

• Terrorism – The Tower (Leader:  Achmal Al Korba)
• Blackmail – The Hanged Man (Leader:  Giovanni Di Fortelli)
• Assassination – Death (Leader:  Marcel Dupre)
• Kidnapping – Judgment (Leader:  Boris Deminovitch)
• Robbery – Wheel of Fortune (Leader:  Lady Victoria Lynn Richmond)
• Military Action & Operations – The Chariot (Leader:  Major Nicholas Burke)
• Intelligence – The Hierophant (Leader:  Nsei Mbenga)
• Research & Development – The Magician (Leader:  Dr. Isa Nakahara)

The rules provide information regarding 'Personalizing Major Villains'.  Such villains should have the following traits:

• They “consider themselves to be so far beyond the average person that their desires and plans are always more important.”
• They have an “incredible capacity to respect their enemies.”
• They “are connoisseurs and men of exceptional taste.”
• They “prefer the complicated over the simple, especially when it comes to eliminating their adversaries.”

“In a Bond adventure,” the rules state, “the villain will always want to know how much the characters know, will always want to relate to them his life history and explain the full scope of the plan, and will then seek to do away with them in some creative way.”

Chapter 13 of James Bond 007 is titled 'How to Use Non-Player Characters'.  It describes various “caricature types” and provides a method for quickly generating these NPCs.  For a given type – like 'Technicians' – two tables are provided, each requiring a 2D6 roll.  The first table has eleven (i.e., 2 – 12) arrays of characteristic values.  The second has eleven groups of skills (with listed skill levels).  A roll on the first table, combined with a roll on the second, provides 121 distinct characteristic array / skill group combinations.  (Of course, since the probability distribution is not flat, some combinations are more likely than others.)  Just as there are three Player Character ranks (Rookie / Agent / “00”), there are corresponding ranks for opposing NPCs (Hood / Criminal / Mastermind).  A choice of rank may modify the characteristic values and skill levels.  For instance, the default rank for 'Civilians' is Criminal/Agent; a Hood/Rookie Civilian would subtract three from each characteristic and skill while a Mastermind/“00” Civilian would instead add three.

Here are some quickly generated Non-Player Characters:

Major Villain

Privileged Henchman

Beautiful Foil

Fellow Secret Agent

Shady Contact

A Visit to the Treasure Vault (Part II)

Art by Stephan Peregrine

Stephan Peregrine's sole magic item contribution to Flying Buffalo's Treasure Vault (1984) is “The Spirit Boat.”  This item appears as a small carving; the cat-person depicted above is shown wearing it on a thong about his neck.  Supposedly, there are several Spirit Boats, but this Spirit Boat “is said to have been fashioned from a fragment that the god Hrong Hrong struck from the left tusk of the Star Behemoth (the great mystical monster that haunts the abyss between universes).”

The Spirit Boat is able to...

...at the command of its owner, assume the form of a full-sized sea canoe...In its expanded state, the Spirit Boat seems ghostly and transparent but is quite solid to the touch...this vessel can magically move without sail or paddle...It can easily sail (or fly) through the lower, middle, and higher astral planes.  However, it cannot travel to other universes or sail the skies of the material world.  And being a holy object, it will refuse to enter any of the demon-worlds.

More interesting than the magic item are the associated non-player characters.  First, we have Helga..

...a forest-witch and priestess of a coven of goddess-worshippers.  She has a vast knowledge of herbalism and natural medicine.  Her special talents include preparation of antidotes for rare toxins.  Helga owns a small farm and supplements her income by raising cart-ponies and by selling the occasional magic charm.

With regard to fighting prowess, Helga is “good with dagger, poor otherwise.”

One day, while looking for herbs in the woods, Helga came across a “strange cat warrior almost lifeless.”  This is our second non-player character, Prince Rrau, “an unintentional visitor from another universe [where]...His world is one in which cats have evolved into the dominant life form.”  (Prince Rrau received The Spirit Boat as a gift “from the cat-shamans of Smoke Isle.”)  It seems Prince Rrau “was a powerful wizard-warrior” in his home universe before “supernatural invaders...sorcerously blasted [him] out of his world.”  However,
“due to the subtle differences in the dimensional fabric, his magical powers are often ineffective or reduced.”  Of course, if I were a cat-person trying to impress a naïve forest-witch, that's exactly the sort of thing I would say.  “Yeah, I'm a totally awesome wizard-prince in my native universe.  My magic doesn't work here because of...uh...subtle differences in the...uh...dimensional fabric.  Yeah, that's it...dimensional fabric!”

Speaking of things I would say, no explanation is made of how Prince Rrau can communicate with the denizens of Helga's world.  We see in the picture above that he's wielding some kind of blaster gun; maybe he has a universal translator as well.  Regardless, Peregrine's drawing is special; if it was a black velvet painting, I would proudly hang it on my wall.

Anyway, the salient details for Prince Rrau are:

Ht: 5'11".  Wt: 170 lbs.  Age: young middle age.  Fighting prowess: excellent with rapier and similar weapons, otherwise very good all around.  Magic ability: uncertain.

We also learn:

     His weaponless self-defense technique approximates “tiger-style” kung fu (GMs may wish to add damage done by unsheathed claws).
     Sadly, he knows that his people must yearn bitterly for him to return.  This often subdues an innate good humor, but he finds spiritual strength by meditating on the god Hrong Hrong.  The only human Rrau completely trusts is his friend Helga; with other humans he is wary, being an alien in an alien world.

Naturally, Prince Rrau's “main goal is to find a way – through science or sorcery – to return to his world and destroy the enemies of his people.”  For her part, Helga “plans to help Rrau return to his world [and]...To this end she is resolved to advance as far as possible in esoteric magic and science.”

There are three “scenario suggestions” for The Spirit Boat.  Of course, since Prince Rrau owns the item, all of the scenarios involve him and Helga.  (They are “interlocked,” so to speak.)

In the first scenario, The Spirit Boat has been stolen.  Prince Rrau and Helga hire the player characters to recover the item from the “fanatical collector of occult objects” who hired the thief.

The second scenario starts with a “friendly nature-sprite” providing some information to Helga.  A wicked necromancer-king has plans to obtain The Spirit Boat.  (The player characters are supposed to be enemies of this necromancer.)  Rrau suspects that the necromancer has magic that will allow the feline prince to return to his own universe.  So, in a manner that the book does not detail, the “player characters enlist to help balance the odds in the upcoming confrontation with the necromancer and his army of spies and undead shock troops.”

With the third scenario, the player characters overhear Helga and Prince Rrau in a used bookstore.  While doing so, the PCs uncover information regarding the location of a secret library that was once owned by somebody “who may have known how to convert a Spirit Boat into a vessel capable of making the jump from one universe to another.”  On the basis of this scant prospect, the player characters accompany Prince Rrau and Helga because they know “that such a library might contain other information of extreme value.”  (This assumes that the PCs reveal the existence of the secret library to the cat man and the witch.)  Of course, “the road to the library leads through lands beset with plague, bandits, and civil war.”

To me, an obvious scenario would be the arrival of Prince Rrau's supernatural enemies in the campaign world.  They need to retrieve Prince Rrau for some reason; possibly to install him as a puppet ruler in his native realm so as to quell unrest.  The only way to track him is by detecting the Star Behemoth vibrations generated by The Spirit Boat.  The villains consider adding the campaign world to their list of conquests and the player characters get in their way.  Can an anthropomorphic wizard-prince cat, a bored looking forest-witch, and the neighborhood player characters thwart the diabolical depredations of extra-dimensional invaders?  Well, can they?!?

For some reason, I find Prince Rrau and Helga intriguing; maybe it's the gonzo concept.  Maybe it's that somewhere, there's a story – nay, a saga – of Rrau and Helga and their adventures.  Perhaps it exists only in Stephan Peregrine's imagination; perhaps Rrau and Helga were player characters in some long ago campaign; perhaps (Hrong Hrong help us) Rrau and Helga were protagonists in a badly written, never to be published novel.  Whatever the case, I want to know that saga; I want closure.  I suppose it's lost now, like tears...in...rain.

Inspiration: The Fantastic Journey

Long ago, in a magical time called the Seventies, there was a brief television series called The Fantastic Journey.  With only ten episodes, there was insufficient material for re-run syndication; however, that single viewing captivated your humble host's youthful imagination.  Thanks to the Information Age – and YouTube specifically – the shows can be viewed again.

The Fantastic Journey is quite similar to a role-playing campaign.  In fact, the introductory narration for each episode describes the protagonists as “a party of adventurers.”  Each episode, the party encounters a different 'civilization of the week' and the plot would include an allegory in the vein of Star Trek (which is hardly surprising given that D.C. Fontana was one of the story editors).  Yes, The Fantastic Journey is like a campaign; however, it is a campaign with a player retention problem.

The premise of the series is rooted in the Bermuda Triangle, which was something of a fad at the time.  A scientific expedition becomes shipwrecked after encountering an eerie, green cloud in the triangle.  Among other personnel, the expedition includes a 'famous' scientist, the son of said famous scientist, Scott (played by Ike Eisenmann of Witch Mountain fame), and the token minority, Fred (played by Carl Franklin), a recent graduate of medical school.  Because the night sky has no moon or stars (only a “strange glow”), they realize they are experiencing something out-of-the-ordinary.  They decide to hike inland where they see mountains and the television audience sees stock footage of koalas, giraffes, and other animals of disparate biomes.  It seems our protagonists are somewhere beyond normal reality.  Then they meet up with Varian (played by Jared Martin).  Of course, they don't know it's Varian – all they know is that he's some guy in a wig and a loincloth.

I didn't like Varian, but at the time my young mind didn't understand the difference between character motivation and plot contrivance.  At first, Varian doesn't say anything and the protagonists assume he's an Arawak Indian.  He slips away from the camp at night and Scott, the kid, follows him.  Varian explains that he is from the year 2230 and he shows Scott his – now inoperable – futuristic craft.  Naturally, when morning comes, Scott's father and the other members of the expedition form two search parties and go looking for Scott.  Varian and Scott are found by Scott's father.  Varian explains that he disguised himself as an Arawak Indian because, when he first arrived in the area, he was captured by English privateers from the 16th century.  He couldn't reveal himself to the expedition until he was certain they weren't affiliated with the privateers.  Of course, when he was certain, he didn't reveal himself but walked off in the middle of the night instead.  So, the other search party gets captured by 16th century privateers because Varian didn't bother to warn people they might get captured by 16th century privateers.  But it's OK because everything works out, right?  No, a guy dies because of the privateers!  Thanks Varian.

The uncaptured protagonists decide to wait until night to rescue the captured protagonists.  Meanwhile, Varian regales everyone with how awesome and New Age-y the 23rd century is.  It turns out than Varian is a musician, but in the 23rd century musicians are healers.  (Yeah, Varian is stepping on Fred's skill set.)  Varian is able to heal people by using the “sonic energizer,” a device that looks like a crystal tuning fork.  Actually, Varian can use the energizer for all kinds of things (i.e., whatever the writers need it to do); essentially, it is a deus ex machina gizmo (although that sounds redundant).  Yet using the energizer for purposes other than healing is “draining,” so there's a reason he doesn't use it at every opportunity.  Varian is also a pacifist; he won't even destroy inanimate objects to cause a distraction in the rescue attempt because “it's wasteful.”  (My RPG analogy breaks down at this point because I can't imagine a player character that wimpy.)  One more thing about Varian before I continue:  In another episode, he's asked to help free an oppressed group of people.  Although he doesn't condone such oppression, he's not willing to do anything about it because it's none of his business.  (He does end up helping, but that's beside the point.)  I still don't like Varian.

The pilot episode ends with Varian and the (surviving) members of the expedition heading east.  Varian relates that the Arawak say there's a place to the east where anyone can find a gateway back to his own time.  (Note that no Arawak characters appear in the show.)  Eventually, we learn that this Bermuda Triangle version of Emerald City is called “Evoland.”  In order to reach Evoland, the party must traverse various “time zones” that are separated by invisible doorways.

After the pilot, the series was retooled.  Originally, the producers intended the protagonists to encounter displaced persons from various eras of history in the time zones, but a decision was made to forgo the historic angle and just concentrate on the science fiction elements.  Also, the expedition members other than Fred and Scott were removed from the cast, leaving Varian as party leader.  With regard to story continuity, it was necessary to explain the absence of the missing cast members .  This leads us to the second episode, “Atlantium.”  (Don't worry, I'm not going to cover every episode.)

So, Atlantium is a city of Atlanteans run by “The Source.”  (Exterior and interior shots of Atlantium were filmed at the recently constructed Bonaventure Hotel.)  “The Source” is a throbbing pile of brain pudding marinating in a bubbling liquid.  It needs to be rejuvenated by a fresh intellect – said intellect being destroyed in the process.  Apparently, the missing cast members “went ahead” of the others and “The Source” sent them back to their original time (because they weren't suitable to replenish him or whatever).  I think the audience was supposed to believe that the characters really did go home yet, even as a child, that sounded fishy to me.  When Fred and Varian become bothersome, “The Source” makes arrangements to eliminate them.  Why would he bother to send the others through time?

At the beginning of the episode, Varian, Fred, and Scott appear through a doorway and find that the others aren't waiting for them.  A guide from Atlantium explains to the trio that the others went to the city; the guide then leads them there.  Arriving at Atlantium, the trio are told that the others have gone to their correct time, but the trio can't immediately follow because whatever powers the time travel needs to “recharge.”  Would Scott's father have left him like that?  Of course not, but Scott needs some reassurance – as does the audience – that his father's departure is legit.  The Atlanteans produce a letter written by Scott's father that satisfies everyone's concerns.  Varian informs Scott that his father really wrote the letter because he can sense the father's aura in it.  (The father could have written it under duress or in a trance state, but whatever.)  Later, Varian's marvellous aura detection ability fails him utterly when a Scott simulacrum fools him.  (The real Scott is being prepared to rejuvenate “The Source.”)  In another episode, Varian says he can also detect “alpha waves.”

Anyway, as hinted at above, “The Source” selects Scott to rejuvenate him.  By the time the episode ends, “The Source” is destroyed and the Atlanteans are free to rule themselves.  However, without “The Source,” the Atlanteans have no more time travel (if they ever had it in the first place).  So our heroes set out to find Evoland via the doorways.  They are joined by Liana (played by Katie Saylor) and Sil-El (uncredited) as regular cast members (although they drop out for the final two episodes).

Liana has an extraterrestrial mother and a father “of Earth.”  Apparently, she was born on her mother's world (which has stronger gravity than Earth) and came to Atlantium at an early age.  She joins the party on their quest for Evoland because she wants to return to her mother's beautiful “City of Spires.”  Aside from her heavy-gravity enhanced physiology, she can cause people (or men at least) to lose consciousness by staring into their eyes.  She could also telepathically exchange information with Sil-El by staring into his eyes (or maybe her eyes).  You see, Sil-El is a cat.  As John Kenneth Muir states, “It was a daring and original move to include a cat as a regular character.”  Nowadays, we have LOLcat memes, but positive feline role models were rare in Seventies' media.  Excellent for reconnaissance, Sil-El became a valued member of the party.

I can has Evoland?

The third episode introduces the final member of the party, Willaway, “a rebel scientist” (played by the inimitable Roddy McDowall).  Rather than the Bermuda Triangle, Willaway was lost in the Devil's Sea (another of Ivan Sanderson's vile vortices).  Actually, Willaway is the villain of the episode.  Instead of trying to find a way back to his own time (1963), Willaway has set himself up as the ruler of a time zone and surrounded himself with servile androids.  With regard to interacting with genuine humans, Willaway states, “Society and I do seem to have our problems.”  Also problematic is the fact that the androids belong to an alien community.  By taking over their androids, Willaway caused the community to flee to the swamps.  By the end of the episode, Willaway is deposed and the aliens occupy their rightful place.  Varian invites Willaway to join the party, introducing an interesting dynamic to the team.  When Willaway asks why, Varian reminds him he's from the future and says, “I know more about you than you do.”  Not to slight the capable performances of Eisenmann and Franklin, it was McDowall who made the series memorable.

What was my point?  Oh yes, The Fantastic Journey as a role-playing campaign.  In the show, party composition could easily change from episode to episode, similar to a campaign with an inconstant player roster.  Aside from a 'new' setting from week to week, there is the big picture to consider.  Do people appear in the time zones through random chance or is there some overarching logic at work?  “Evoland” suggests evolution.  Perhaps people are brought into the time zones for some grand purpose (or to serve penance, such as the case with Marcus Apollonius in the episode “Funhouse”).  Perhaps people are taken to the time zones to be tested and/or to improve themselves.  Perhaps Evoland is not just a location, but a state of being.  One one occasion, a red cloud envelopes and transports the party.  Perhaps there are clouds of different colors working at cross purposes.  In the surreal episode “Riddles,” the party encounters one of the mysterious “riders” that help guide travellers to Evoland.  There must be some organization, some intelligence that sustains the riders.