H. P. Lovecraft's The Dunwitch Horror; pulp fiction giveaway

Two months ago I had the pleasure of visiting one of our local flea malls in Sweetwater Tn. I call it a flea mall because this market was as large as many modern shopping centers. The main building is an industrial size warehouse that is, at least, 100 yards long. I was happy to find, among the cheap Asian tools, Nascar banners, Avon, silk screened purses and cell phone booths, a book dealer. I purchased Lin Carter's Year's Best of Fantasy Stories Vol. 2 and Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror which still has the price of $1.75 pasted on the back.

I had a copy of The Loved Dead, a collection of Lovecraft inspired tales, which I attempted to read last year and this was my only previous experience reading Lovecraft. I didn't read half the stories in The Loved Dead before I became bored with the content and posted the book on Paperback Swap. I'm glad to say that the stories collected in my $1.75 edition of The Dunwich Horror have fulfilled the legendary status associated with Mr. Lovecraft's writing.

This edition was published in 1969 and has seven short stories and a forward by August Dereleth. The first tale that really caught my attention was Pickman’s Model. This is the tale of a painter who produces ghoulish images. “Boston never had a greater painter than Richard Upton Pickman… Any magazine-cover hack can splash paint around wildly and call it a nightmare or a Witches’ Sabbath or a portrait of the devil, but only a great painter can make such a thing really scare or ring true.” Lovecraft could have been describing his on writing with this description. I’ve never read many vampire novels, Edgar Allen Poe or Steven King and the tales in The Loved Dead bored me because they were not scary. The seven tales in this edition The Dunwich Horror are, nearly all, creepy if not creepy to the point of horror.

The subsequent tale, The Rats in the Walls, gets high marks for creepiness too. In this story a New England gentleman extensively restores his family estate only to discover that the legends associated with his distant ancestors were true. The ancestral home was built above a pit where prehistoric rituals were practiced and they were not rituals to the God of the Harvest.

A majority of these tales, including The Rats in the Walls, The Hunter of the Dark, The Dunwich Horror and The Thing on the Doorstep, involve Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Each of these provides additional information about the mysteries of the Great Old Ones, the alien horrors central to the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft’s talent is that he does not depend on monsters of violence to provide the horror of his tales. He will provide a familiar historical background and then crack that background wide open to questions of; “How much do we really know about the Salem Witch Trials?” Certainly, the Great Old Ones are monsters with an ever increasing potential for violence but placing these mysteries into 20th. Century New England mixes the familiar with the unknown for maximum creepiness.

So, before this opinion piece becomse an essay, I really enjoyed reading Lovecraft and was happy to find that many of his works are available as Google Books. I can certainly agree that Lovecraft was a major influence on AD&D, as listed in Appendix N of the DMG, since these are tales of mystery, occult magic, monstrous outsiders and, often, investigation of unknown geography.

As I was reading the book many of the pages became detached from the spine but I managed to salvage all the pages. I’m offering this book free to anyone who cares to read it, just leave a comment and e-mail your snail mail address to ccreel at yahoo dot com, I’ll be glad to mail the book to anywhere in the U.S.

Photosynthetic Elves for Encounter Critical

The one thing I have learned about n.p.c. encounter design is; two n.p.c.s are better than one. Since the day my players steamrolled over everything in my first Encounter Critical adventure I always throw in a few spare n.p.c.s for each encounter. If the player characters encounter a mob, perfect because a mob has no determinate size. There is always the chance that the p.c.s will defeat a majority of the opposition and the extra opponents will lose moral and flee.

EC, as most should know by now, is best considered a Science Fantasy, Dystopian or Weird Science Fantasy game. The character system is based on the old standard; 3d6 ability score generation system. The EC abilities are Intellect, Strength, Dexterity, Magic Power (wisdom), Leadership (charisma), Robot Nature, Adaptation (constitution), ESP and Luck. The EC stats have a flavor of scientific realism all their own, but are easily converted to the stats of the traditional fantasy role playing games, without discounting the ESP, Luck or Robot Nature stats which certainly add fun to adventurous situations.

These two characters, Ligustrum and Indica, male and female elf mutant archers are featured in the Epilogue to Raiders of the Mercenary Coast. (Phasic #2) Their main mutation is the photosynthetic process which has adapted to their elfin biological process making them part humanoid and part plant. Their skin is green and they wear little clothing in order to maximize the photosynthetic process. Ligustrum appears to wear a loin cloth of fresh plant material while Indica wears a midriff of interwoven vines. Ligustrum’s hear looks like little more than leaves on his head. His mates’ hair is a trail of fine flowering vines.

Their mutation helps them blend in to their woodland habitat to virtual invisibility (+10% to invisibility when in woodland environs). This mutation also prevents the necessity that they digest traditional solid foods. These mutants sustain their metabolism with plenty of liquids but never alcohol. They will also consume fruit and other simple foods for pleasure rather than necessity.

The couple also has matching broken heart tattoos. Indica has the left half of the broken heart on her upper right arm and Ligustrum wears the right half of the broken heart on his upper left arm. When they stand side by side the two halves of the broken heart join, spelling the work “love.”

Ligustrum – Male Elf Mutant Archer/ Warrior – Level: 2 Hit Points: 2d8+2d6
Ada/Con: 15 Dex: 16 ESP: 8 Int: 12 Lead/Ch: 12 Magic/Wis: 9 Robot: 5 Luck: 10 Str: 13
Mutation: Photosynthetic Skin – Additional Mutations: Non-magical Potions just perk him up!
Weapons: Compound Bow @1d8+1, Elfin Blade @ 2d4
Armor: Wicker Shield; +23% to defense

Indica – Female Elf Mutant Archer/warrior – Level: 2 HP: 2d8+2d6
Ada/Con: 14 Dex: 15 ESP: 9 Int: 13 Lead/Ch: 11 Magic/Wis: 9 Robot: 5 Luck: 12 Str: 12
Mutation: Photosynthetic Skin – Additional Mutations: Homing Instinct; always knows direction.
Weapons: Compound Bow @1d8+1, Elfin Blade @ 2d4
Armor: Wicker Shield; +23% to defense

Ligustrum and Indica will have 1d6 gold coins /credits and 1d10 coppers each. Roll 2d6 and 2d10 and divide each result by two appointing their fortune evenly. There is a 10% chance that each of them will possess a power weapon; attempt this percentile roll for each n.p.c. There is also a 25% chance they will possess a chro-no-meter. This is an all purpose wrist calculator and communicator.

Rollerball: original edition

"In a corporate controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of it's powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game."



So, this film came out in 1975, I was eight years old, and here I am watching it for the first time thirty-five years later. If that seems unbelievable than you will not believe that I viewed the film via a video cassette player. One of my rpg pals had the tape of Rollerball on his shelves and allowed me to barrow it and I still have my old VCR, just in case I wanna watch that original release of Blade Runner I have hoarded among the rest of my priceless treasures.

If this film had any redeeming qualities they would be, James Caan, John Houseman and, without question, Maud Adams. Watching this film is a history lesson in entertainment. I have to ask, what where these people thinking when they made this movie? I pretty sure they were thinking that Sci-Fi was going to be the next big thing in film and they wanted their slice of the pie. Caan plays a conflicted athlete, honestly none of the guys in the move where believable athletes. But Caan is too soft spoken even for the introspective, question authority type that he supposed to be here.

I find it very difficult to complain too much about any film that includes Maud Adams. Eight years after she appeared in Rollerball she was still hot enough to play Octopussy so who's complaining?



Rollerball does succeed at, what I believe, was the intended goal to make a movie that is “over the top. “ I can’t imagine what a sport which combines gladiatorial combat, roller derby and motorcycles could possibly be except over-th-top! This is another idea which screams to be used in an Encounter Critical adventure and I’m sure the ideas been used in some old Gamma World, D&D or other rpg in someone’s gaming past.

I am a sucker for my own little view of film history thus I wanted to see the original version of Rollerball which was remade in 2002. The original is slowly paced which is often a death sentence for films. I feel that the 1975 version of Rollerball is like Logan’s Run. Both these movies are vaguely entertaining and can provide some good ideas role playing games. But, neither of these films is award winning entertainment.

Encounter Critical Bestiary; Razorback Jack-o-lope

Razorback Jack-o-lope

Numbers: 1-12
% Liar: 50%
Size: 1'- 2’ long
Move: ? (they are quick)
# ATT: Spear with Antlers
Defense: quills, see description
ATT %: spear 70%
Damage: antlers 1-8, 1-6 quills
Hit Points: 6-18 (4d4+2)
Save: 75%
Lurk: 50%
Psi Resist: 65%
Sneak Attack 72%
Intelligence: Intelligent Animal
Edible: 60%
$ Value: special



The Razorback Jack-o-lope is a natural mutation of the native Vanthian Jack-o-lope. The evolution of the predatory Sky Piranhas necessitated the mutation of quills and additional size to this traditionally harmless horned rodent. Their docile nature made the native Jack-o-lope perfect pray for the ever feeding Sky Piranha and initiated the natural mutation of the Jack-o-lope. During decades of attacks by the piranhas, the Jack-o-lope became smarter, quicker and larger. Nature further aided the rodents with the development of quills to add superior protection from the piranhas and any other foes.

The Razorback Jack is uniquely suited to for survival in the wilds of the Might Land. They are now able to attack any opponent with their antlers and possess the natural defense of their quills which will inflict damage on any animal which comes in contact with the Razorback Jack. Each successful attack by the Jack-o-lope will require their opponent to make a successful Dexterity save or suffer an additional 1-6 points of damage from the quills.

When the Jack-o-lope is successfully subdued, killed, their meat is still a popular food stuff among the woodland folk, and dwellers, of Vanth. A healthy, average sized, Razorback Jack will command a cost of 5 copper pieces, or 5/100th of a gold credit. The horns of the Jacks are favored among woodland craftsmen and women. A pair of antlers sell for about as much as the meat.

Another Man's Scientific Realism

A gentleman named J.J. writes a blog titled; More & Bigger Loot, and he occasionally writes about his Encounter Critical ideas. Most recently he has written a random chart to determine the size of the monsters which are encounter in the game. I thought this was a great idea and just had to give him kudos for his creativity. What’s a kudo anyway?

I'm still here & ...

I'm still lurking about the fringes of the blog-o-sphere. I've just been a bit preoccupied with real life lately. My gamer A.D.D. has been in full effect, I have three or four writing projects and haven't completed anything with any degree of expediency. I did come up with the following idea which I'm surprised hasn't been produced before. At least, I have never seen it represented around the internet.
I introduce to you all;

Sponge Bob and the Masters of the Universe!



Encounter Critical made me do it!

Andre Norton’s The Time Traders

Miss. Norton’s novel The Time Traders is another oldie, but, a goody. The Time Traders was first published in 1958 and the tone is typical of that golden age of Sci-Fi Lit. The main character, Ross Murdock, is a juvenile delinquent who is drafted into a top secret government program instead of receiving criminal detention. This program or project involves tracking the secrets of the “Reds” but the chase is through time as well as across the globe. The backdrop of the Cold War does not have the effect, with the immediate relevance, it held sixty years ago but it still serves as a meaningful historical marker and plot point.

The “project” takes the Time Agents to a time on the fringes of civilized history. The agents pose as traders of the era, the Bronze Age of Western Europe, in order to move through the ancient society in freedom. They, the agent -traders, must learn the language and practices of their historical setting to pass as legitimate members of the ancient society. I’m a real sucker for these 1950s era Sci-Fi and Norton has woven an intriguing story with the elements of time travel, history and alien involvement. The pace of the book was quick and I seemed to fly through the one hundred and ninety-one pages. The plot pace reminded me of a Robert E. Howard adventure containing action around every corner or chapter. The Time Traders is one of the Sci-Fi books on the 501 Must Read Books List. The Time Traders is also available as a Google Book, through Project Gutenberg and Paperback Swap dot com.