Spes Magna Games

In the competition for most done-to-death horror movie genre, the battle between zombie survival and found footage has probably been won by found footage, much to the detriment of movie making. My hypothesis is that movies are like books in terms of quality. Most books aren’t all that bad, but they’re not very good either. Many books, a week or so after I’ve read them, I’ve pretty much forgotten them. Same too with movies, especially, it seems, horror movies.

Thus, Feral, starring Scout Taylor-Compton and Lew Temple, along with several others who mostly serve as a combination of plot point and monster food. There’s nothing original in Feral. Zombie virus? Check. Grizzled cabin-dweller with a dark secret that’s revealed as a prologue? Check. Stuck-up girlfriend? Check. Spurned ex-boyfriend with a chip on his shoulder? Check. Zombies that growl and pose before attacking? Check. Hackneyed moral dilemma explored via characters screaming at each other? Check. Unsurprising surprise ending? Check.

Et cetera, et cetera.

Taylor-Compton almost delivers a strong performance, but the script holds her back. So too with Temple. The earlier parts of the film work better than the climax and ending. Taylor-Compton’s Alice manages to be determined and strong, and Temple’s Talbot comes across as haunted and regretful. Then the script degenerates into “Do it!” “I won’t do it!” repetition while the zombies alternate between lightning quick stealth and plodding stomach growls.

Feral is a mess, and a minimally entertaining one at that.

Zombie, Feral
Medium undead, unaligned

Armor Class 12
Hit Points 22 (3d8+9)
Speed 30 ft.

Ability Scores STR 16 (+3), DEX 14 (+2), CON 17 (+3), INT 7 (-2), WIS 10 (+0), CHA 9 (-1)

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing
Skills Athletics +5, Perception +2, Stealth +4
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages understands the languages it knew in life but can’t speak
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Aggressive. As a bonus action, the feral zombie can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see.

Critically Hit. The feral zombie’s damage resistance does not apply to critical hits.

Daylight Torpor. The feral zombie gains a level of exhaustion when it starts its turn in sunlight.

Keen Sight. The feral zombie has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Pounce. If the feral zombie moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits with a claws attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the feral zombie can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.

Actions

Multiattack. The feral zombie can make up two attacks, using its claws and bite one time each.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (2d4+3) slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or become infected. The target gains a level of exhaustion and can’t regain hit points. Its hit point maximum decreases by 5 (1d10) for every hour that elapses. Each hour, the target must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or gain another level of exhaustion. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0 or it reaches 6 levels of exhaustion. The infection can be removed by a lesser restoration spell or other magic.

A humanoid that dies while infected rises 4 (1d8) hours later as a feral zombie, unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed. The new feral zombie is not under the control of the feral zombie that created it.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature that is prone, grappled by the feral zombie, incapacitated, or restrained. Hit: 7 (1d6+3) piercing damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 13) and restrained until the grapple ends.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters, movies

Well, I’ve still not gotten much writing done. Pretend I’ve listed all of the excuses here instead of this sentence. That said, my attention deficit slipped into attention surplus long enough for me to complete about thirteen pages of Commandos & Cultists, a sort of The Cthulhu Hack, The Black Hack, and WWII: Operation WhiteBox mash-up. (I’ve mentioned this once before in another post.)

Once of the aspects of The Black Hack (TBH) that I’ve read (and cribbed for my own work) several times relates to how measurements of time are abstract. The basic unit of time is the moment. In general, moments are fleeting, lasting no more than a few seconds. In another words, a moment in TBH corresponds to a melee round in D&D.

As I was working on Commandos, I had a minor epiphany. Since TBH treats time as relative, not all moments are as momentary as other moments. When appropriate to the story played out in a game session, a moment might be six seconds long (a modern D&D melee round), a minute long (an AD&D melee round), ten minutes long (an AD&D turn), et cetera. But, in the final wash, if the GM can measure every PC’s individual actions with an identical unit of absolute time, then that unit of time can be treated as a single moment.

For example, a team of commandos wants to spread a bit of chaos and fear in the enemy ranks. The commandos plan out a campaign of nocturnal harrassment that lasts for three nights. The GM decides to treat each night as a single unit of time during which each commando can accomplish three tasks. For each commando, two of these tasks are moving into and back out the enemy lines. The third task might be stealing food, sabotaging a vehicle, absconding with classified documents, disrupting communications, et cetera.

In keeping with TBH‘s action resolution system, each commando’s actions would be resolved with a single die roll, using whichever ability score seems most appropriate. Sneaking behind enemy lines? Dexterity. Disguising oneself as a high-ranking officer and bluffing one’s way behind enemy lines? Charisma. Sloshing through a half mile of rat-infested sewer tunnels? Constitution. It doesn’t matter that each one of those tasks would take longer than a moment when measured with a stopwatch. Game-wise, treating each action as a bit of narration followed by a single die roll suffices to keep the action moving.

So, back to the commando team and their three night campaign of harassment. Each night has the potential to be resolved by as few as three d20 rolls per commando. Should a roll fail (“Ach! Your mustache has fallen off!”), then all of sudden time compresses, and a moment that before might have lasted for a few hours suddenly becomes a series of seconds-long moments in which a commando has to fight for his life.

Tags: The Black Hack, The Cthulhu Hack, WWII: OWB

Check out this pic by MitchGrave on DeviantArt.

The veikindi is voracious undead horror formed when a humanoid creature dies from a wasting disease. The combination of the sufferer’s pain, anger, and remorse becomes twisted into a refusal to pass on to what lies beyond mortal life.

Veikindi
Medium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 39 (6d8+12)
Speed 30 ft.

Ability Scores STR 14 (+2), DEX 15 (+2), CON 14 (+2), INT 6 (-2), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 7 (-2)

Damage Resistances cold
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Skills Athletics +4, Perception +3, Stealth +4
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages the languages it knew in life
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Blood Frenzy. The veikindi has advantage on melee attack rolls against any living creature that doesn’t have all its hit points.

Keen Smell. The veikindi has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Magic Resistance. The veikindi has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Multiattack. The veikindi makes three attacks, only one of which may be an oversized arm attack.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) slashing damage.

Oversized Arm. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d12+2) slashing damage. If the target is a living creature, it must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw against disease or become poisoned until the disease is cured. Every hour that elapses, the target must repeat the saving throw, reducing its hit point maximum by 3 (1d6) on a failure. The disease is cured on a success. The target dies if the disease reduces its hit point maximum to 0. This reduction to the target’s hit point maximum lasts until the disease is cured.

A humanoid slain by the veikindi’s disease rises 24 hours later as a veikindi, unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed. The newly risen veikindi is not under the control of its creator.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters

Back in January 2018, I showed off my exquisitely barbaric miniature for Tupke the Red, my character in my son Christopher’s then-new D&D campaign. Tupke rocked, and Rob of Pennyfew Painting did a fabulous job of bringing her to life, so to speak. The Tupke miniature itself comes from Reaper, specifically this model here.

This coming January, my friend Terry likely takes over the GMing job for our twice-monthly Sunday game, whereat he’ll run one of the classic AD&D modules updated for 5E D&D. This seemed like a good excuse to get Rob to paint me a new miniature. This time, I could not resist the rockabilly charms of Elvis, King of the Bards from Iron Wind Metals. I mean, seriously, who could?

Below are pics of Tupke the Red and Evlis Pressed-Leaf. Click on a pic for the embiggening. If you want a miniature painted by a courteous, gifted, and professional artist, contact Rob at Pennyfew Painting. I’m planning on doing so again relatively soon, perhaps with a request for the goblin Nazztee Badfinger (assuming I can find that unpainted miniature I bought way back when I was stationed in Hawaii).

Tags: Pennyfew Painting

The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. (The Epistle to the Romans 13:12)

Armor of Light
Armor (half plate or plate), very rare (requires attunement by a good-aligned creature)

This armor gleams like a mirror, its metal surfaces polished to a high sheen. While wearing this armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC even if you’re not attuned to the armor. If you’re attuned to the armor, its additional powers become available. The armor has 5 charges for the additional powers, which you can use while wearing the armor. For 1 charge, the armor sheds light for one hour. For 2 charges, this light has the same effect as magic circle affecting fiends and undead, doing so for one hour. For 3 charges, the armor emits a sunburst in a 60-foot radius centered on you. The sunburst damages only fiends, undead, and oozes, but otherwise conforms to the spell of the same name. The armor regains 1 expended charge daily at dawn. If the armor is reduced to 0 charges, roll a d20. On a 1, the armor’s additional powers cease to function until the armor is fully charged.

Tags: 5E D&D, Catholic, magic items