Sunday, February 23, 2014

Skeleton of a Monstrous Reptile

From the steaming, fetid waters, and wild green growth where the Swamp of Many Eyes meets the Screaming Hyena Jungle, rises the skeleton of a monstrous reptile. The whole affair is a sight to behold. The giant spine of some long extinct, sinuous creature rests where it fell in its death-throes. Beginning at ground level, the spine is supported in midair on the remains of several massive trees that long ago broke the creatures fall. The spine twists upwards, encased by the creature's ribcage, terminating at the top in a giant fanged skull. The swamp has reacted with the characteristic stoicism of vegetable life to this alien intrusion. Thick moss now stains the once white bones, vines cling to every vertebra, and trees have grown through and around its ivory columns. The work of sentience is evident as well, for rickety wooden steps have been affixed to the spine, and travel upwards between the massive curved ribs, winding their way up towards the fanged skull. At various points wooden platforms have been assembled. In these places the bones have been festooned with tattered silk, bells, and animal hides. High up, within the skull, velvet drapes can be glimpsed, and the gleam of fine wooden furniture. This skeleton is the lair of an ogre mage, the Yellow Enchanter, and his three dimwitted apprentices, Ordo, Cadiro and Hax.

The Yellow Enchanter is a strange and melancholy figure. On his massive frame an opulent damask robe of a fine ochre hue always hangs. He is dignified, if masterful, and although slow to anger, shows no mercy when irked. The Yellow Enchanter's great ambition is to find the lost City of the Archivists and, having passed under its equation-inscribed gates, to master its strange secrets. In this endeavor he wishes most for the help of a talented apprentice. If he comes across a magic user, he will test his mettle. Should the candidate fare well, he will make a proposition that it is best not to refuse. (Needless to say, his apprentices will not look kindly on this turn of events.)

The Yellow Enchanter carries with him at all times the staff called the Sibilant Council. Every inch of this 12' tall mahogany staff is covered with grotesque faces. Once per day these faces may pronounce a hissing prophecy, equivalent to an Augury spell. They can also detect lies once per day, pronouncing their verdict along with venomous epithets. Unfortunately, the Sibilant Council has prophesied that the Yellow Enchanter will fail in his endeavor, and, unable to master the secrets of the Archivists, that he is fated to be consumed in their city by black flames of unspeakable heat but no light. The Yellow Enchanter nevertheless persists, since he knows that the staff hates him and tells him many lies.

The Yellow Enchanter HD 6+4 (34) AC5 Mv15 (fly 18) Attk: staff (1d12+6) or by spell. He has the following powers at will: fly, invisibility, darkness. He may cast the following spells once per day as a 9th level wizard: knock, sleep, burning hands, detect magic, detect invisibility, web, wizard lock, dispel magic, phantasmal force, hold person, polymorph self, polymorph other, minor globe of invulnerability, and cone of cold.

The Yellow Enchanter's three apprentices Ordo, Cadiro, and Hax, are decked out in obviously plundered threadbare finery, including furred hats, capes, and tight silk pants. Although they have pretensions to greatness, like most ogres, they are dense, cruel, and spiteful. They know only the most rudimentary magic. Ordo HD 4 +1 (14) MV15 Huge Club 1d6+6. He knows only feather fall. Cadiro HD 4 +1 (15) MV15 Giant Sharpened Bone 1d6+6. He knows only jump. Hax HD 4 +1 (21) MV15 Enormous Axe 1d10+6. He knows only unseen servant.


The Skeleton


If the PC’s stumble upon the skeleton during the daytime, roll (d6) to see who is present:


1. The Yellow Enchanter
2. The Apprentices
3. Everyone
4-6. No one. For every two turns spent exploring the skeleton there is a 1 in 10 cumulative chance that someone will return.


1. Lair of the Three Apprentices

This platform is covered by a tarp composed of rotting silk. Beneath this covering, suspended from the ribs, are an odd assemblage of gew-gaws: the rotting head of a massive bear, a weather beaten metal helm, a string of brightly painted beads, a feathered cloak, the prow of a small ship complete with a wooden maiden. Three piles of mangy furs serve as the bedding for the apprentices. A flat iron chest serves to store their “treasures”. It is unlocked, but a massive 150 lb rock sits on top of it. The chest contains a large piece of quartz (10 lbs; 15 gp value), many pieces of gaudy but worthless costume jewelry, a pouch with diverse coins (72 cp, 23 sp, 14 gp), a delicate bronze medallion inlaid with a sun in lapis lazuli (100 gp), and a finely crafted rapier with a ram's head handle (75 gp).

2.  Cooking pit

This platform houses a fire pit. Strung up from the ribs are many cooking implements: a large metal cauldron, several knives including a butcher knife so massive that an ordinary human cannot lift it. Strips of meat hang everywhere and freshly picked mushrooms are spread on a linen sheet. Large barrels contain various nauseating substances—sheep's heads, eels, rancid fleshy fruit, etc.—that are pickling in brine. 

3.  Hookah Den

The floor is strewn with mildewed pillows that look as though they were once fine. A brazier on a tripod sits to one side of the platform. The center of the platform is taken up by a massive brass contraption, from which extend several long pipes. Along the side opposite the brazier is what looks to be a coffin (human), now housing 10 large bundles of strong smelling tobacco. Underneath the tobacco is a queerly crafted, long, silver smoking pipe that can be disassembled into parts. It is engraved with swirling smoke (200gp).

4.  Empty Platform (Trap)

This platform is empty. From it stairs wind upwards to their final destination at the skull. The area in front of the steps going up is trapped. As soon as someone steps within it, the vines that wind around the bones will spring to life, and attempt to bind those within. If successful, they will hold the intruders until the Yellow Enchanter returns. They will not pursue intruders far from the platform. Vines (x30) HD1 AC7 Grab On a successful to hit roll, the vines will begin to bind their target who suffers a cumulative -2 penalty. At -6 he is trussed like a turkey and cannot move unless he receives external aid.

5.   Tree of Manta Bats

This massive tree is home to 8 Manta Bats  Although they fear the ogre's owing to their massive size, they will attack any normal sized individuals imprisoned in area 4, or anyone who passes by the tree on the steps from area 4 to area 6. It is possible to approach area 6 from the ground directly by scaling this tree, which, after the first 15 feet is not difficult to climb. But anyone climbing the tree will be vulnerable and subject to attack by the Manta Bats that roost in the upper branches. Manta Bats HD2 AC7 Bite 1d6 MV18.

6.   Lair of the Yellow Enchanter

This platform is lodged between the massive jawbones of the skeleton. From the top jaw, vicious fangs curl down. The upper jawbone provides a natural roof. This platform is more seriously furnished than the others. A massive bed with a polished brass frame, and a black velvet canopy, occupies one corner. A fine, if heavily weathered, massive black lacquered armoire sits to one side, its front decorated with a forest scene in gold leaf. Inside a large mirror hangs (30 lbs, 50gp), as well a number of massive silk robes. Next to it stands a set of drawers containing odd spell components and magical accoutrements, including a small eye preserved in a hunk of hardened amber (20gp), and a ball of smoky quartz in which red lights flicker (100gp). Rolls of parchment, along with a brush for painting, hang from several wooden posts that have been driven into the platform. Two are blank, one is underway, and three stand finished (they are scrolls: protection from good, sleep, and minor globe of invulnerability). Underneath the bed, an ordinary sized chest contains three potions: pink, swirling effervescent substance (1x gaseous form), three gray tablets in an intricately carved wooden box (3x clairvoyance), luminous white liquid in a vial (2x giant control), and a carved amulet in the shape of a bull's head. This is the Amulet of the White Labyrinth. Once per day it will transport one victim (save vs. spell) to a marble labyrinth for 1 hour, where he will be stalked by three white minotaurs. The lid of the chest is marked by criss-crossing deep cuts as though it was hacked with an axe or sword. In reality these lacerations are runes that will flow from the chest onto the skin of someone touching the chest without the password ("False Prophecy") doing 4d6 damage. The chest also has a 9th level wizard lock on it. 

Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Swamp of Many Eyes


The Swamp of Many Eyes is fed by overflow from the tainted Yex River, which issues from the dubious waters of Lake Wooling. From the swamp's stagnant ponds and still waters, this taint produces unwholesome growths of swaying red grass, frilled fungus, and black fleshy plants. To the north, the river is brackish with an infusion of seawater. These mixed waters feed a dense and forbidding mangrove forest, its twisting bowers and dark recesses home to the beastmen, bastard sibling and sworn enemy of man. To the northwest, the swamp touches on the Screaming Hyena Jungle. Here the vine choked marble ruins of ancient Ghinor can be glimpsed protruding now and again from their watery graves. The swamp's more exotic flora and fauna have migrated there from the Jungle's teeming thickets and emerald pools in the past. To the southwest, the swamp runs in a narrow spur far south. Here the terrain is forlorn with blackened trees rising straight from murky waters. Among black stagnant pools, and desolate rocky outcroppings, a few dilapidated structures still stand. They are remnants of a disastrous attempt to drain the southern spur near the village of Loktole. Here the outcast and the lost--pariahs and lepers, cutthroats and cultists--find perilous refuge from the constraints of lawful community.


The origin of the swamp's name is a matter of some dispute. Respectable scholars trace the name to the ocular moth, a species peculiar to the Swamp of Many Eyes, the pattern on whose folded wings peer from the darkness like a single glowing eye. The moth is highly poisonous to eat, but otherwise harmless. Those with more experience of the swamp like to tell an older tale: that somewhere in its stinking fens and dank mangrove forests dwells its namesake and spiritual father, the Beast of a Many Eyes, an ancient horror nourished by the sight of suffering and despair.





Swamp of Many Eyes Encounters (d20):

(1) Barge Tree: A lush glen of massive barge trees floats here. The leaves can be fashioned into sturdy boats. From the tree depend luscious melons. The glen is home to a dozen mischievous Gill Monkeys who will abscond with possessions and pelt PCs with fruit. 1 in 6 of the ripest melons are infested with Ikshada, a predatory worm. Ikshada HP1 AC7 Dam 1+poison (save or go blind within 24 hours). Gill Monkey HD1 AC5 Dam Bite 1d3.

(2) 1d6 Giant Mosquitoes HD2 (10) AC6 Fly12 Attk 1 blood drain (1d6 + on a successful hit damage is automatic in subsequent rounds + save vs. poison or contract malaria within 1 week.)





(3) Beastman Shaman:  A fetish adorned figure collects herbs for his witchery. He has the head of a lion and is covered in weeping eyes. He is accompanied by two charmed wolves. Beastman Shaman HD3 (14) AC8 Mv12 Attk: Bite 1d8 or by spell Darkness, Cause Light Wounds, Phantasmal Force. Once per day he may also cause everyone within a 100' radius to save vs. spells or fall to their knees sobbing for 1d4 rounds in soul crushing sorrow. Wolves HD2 (11) (7) AC6 Bite 1d6 Mv15.


(4) Dubious HorticulturalistDr. Lazlo Maines, a dubious horticulturalist, traveling with his thuggish assistant Romilo. They are transporting a live assassin vine in a tightly sealed case. Maines knows the locations of the Red Lotus Caves and the White Hive, but will not share information absent suitable enticement. Lazlo Maines HD2 (12) AC 9 Move 12 Atk knife (1d4+poison) or by assassin vine. Romilo HD1 (8) AC 5 Attk Sword 1d8. Assassin Vine HD5 (30) AC6 Attk 3 vines (1d6) Mv 1.


(5) 1d6 Albino Crocodiles HD3 AC5 Bite 1d10 Mv9/12. 



(6) Yellow Musk Creeper: Here grows a massive, green vined plant bearing beautiful yellow flowers. It is tended by five Yellow Musk Zombies, former knights of the Grim Duke. These zombies are dressed in elegant tarnished armor that will be recognizable to anyone from the region. They will seek to parlay, or with enough warning, arrange a scene to entice the PCs close to the Creeper's flowers. (For example, four naked mud caked zombies attack a lone armored knight who calls out for help.) Anyone who comes within 10 feet of the flowers must save vs. spell or be entranced by their delicate fragrance. Those entranced will stop at nothing to walk into plant where in 1 round, tendrils will drill into their head and begin feeding on their brains. The victim permanently loses 1-4 intelligence points per round thereafter. At 2 Intelligence a new yellow flower unfolds, and the victim become Yellow Musk Zombies under the control of the plant. Yellow Musk Creeper HD3 (18) AC7 Attk: pollen spore hypnosis. Yellow Musk Zombies HD2 (24), (20), (18), (14), (10) AC4 (if armored) AC10 (if not) Sword 1d8


(6) Tentacle Horror: Just below the surface of shallow water an alien horror lurks. It will burst forth and attack if it senses anyone passing above it. Tentacle Horror HD7 (31) AC5 Tentacles x 5 1d6. It will attempt to pull people underwater to drown them.

(7) Spore Tree: A massive twisted mangrove tree grows here. It has been infected with a virulent fungus. From thin brown stalks 1d20 baseball sized puce globes hang from violet tendrils. If gently cut free they may be gathered. Any jostling causes them to violently explode spreading their spores over a 10’ radius. 50% chance that d10 additional globes are floating in water. If caught in the radius of the blast, save vs. poison or begin hacking up your lungs 1d4 rounds later. At that point, one is debilitated for 1d6 rounds of violent and uncontrollable coughing, and suffers -2 to constitution permanently.

(8) 2d6 Child Wights: These children were drowned by a hag decades ago. Their grave, and permanent home, is a deep algae covered pool nearby. They feast on the strength of adults, and delight in causing them fear, but can be placated with toys or sweets. HD3 AC5 Claws 1d4 + level drain. 


(9) 1d6 Amphibious Spiders: These amphibious spiders are mottled green and brown. They are great hunters, equally comfortable swimming and hanging from a web. While they have no mercy or sympathy, they intelligent, able to speak a clicking and stilted Ghinorian. Amphibious Spiders HD4 AC4 Bite 1d8 or Web, To see what's stuck in the webs of their nearby lair, roll here.


(10) 1d10 Manta Bats HD2 AC7 Bite d6 Mv18



(11) Swamp Demon: 8' tall, mossy, blooming, fungus infested, wooden man. Although the demon has no head per se, numerous twisted faces peer from knots and whorls in the wood. It seeks blood to feed its strange growth. Swamp Demon HD8 (36) AC0 Fist/Fist 2-16/2-16 + entangle. If both fists land a blow against a single target, then mossy, fungal tendrils surge from the Mound into the mouth and nose of the target, eventually engulfing and absorbing him. During this process helpless and will suffocate in 2d4 rounds unless the Mound is slain or driven off. The Swamp Demon takes only 1/2 damage from nonmagical weapons.


(12) Pixies: These malicious spirits receive a +2 on their surprise roll. If they surprise the group, then they will use their invisibility to follow the party, and employ their spell-like powers to lead them into danger. If they are surprised, then the PCs come upon them struggling to fit an elaborate saddle onto a giant white bee. Pixies HD1/2 (2) (3) (4) AC5 MV5/12 Tiny Bow 1hp + save vs. spells or sleep. Once per day they may use the following powers: invisibility, dancing lights, audible glamor, ESP and confusion. Giant Bee HD3 (12) AC5 Sting 1d6+poison.

(13) Red Leeches: This area of the swamp is infested with fat red leeches. If traveling by boat, the leeches will cling to the exterior of the boat. If wading through the muck, a character is bitten by numerous leeches on a 1-2 out of 6. These bites do 1-2 hp damage, but anyone bit must save vs. disease or contract a horrible infection on the bitten limbs. 


(14) 2d4 Razor Eels HD1 AC5 Slice 1d6 MV15. They can only attack in the water, so PCs in boats will be safe. 


(15) Convicts: Four starving men in ragged clothes, with remnants of iron-manacles. They are convicted pirates, recently having avoided a rendezvous with the gallows in Wolsdag. They will be grateful for food or water, and will attempt to cajole their way into the party. They are full of rumors concerning the port-city. They are untrustworthy and capable of the worst.  Boatswain Dake F2 Ac9 Hp10 Attk sword (d8+1); Shaddrack F1 Ac 9 Hp 6 Attk Chain (d6-1); Prex T1 Ac 9 Hp5 knife (d4); Lutz T1 Ac 9 Hp8 club (d6-1).


(16) Violet Shrieker: A strange fungal cyst, give feet in height, floats on the dank water, like a sickly violet dome. If approached within 10', the dome peels back to reveal fleshy growths that begin to scream. Unless destroyed, it will continue to scream for 5 rounds, even if the PCs move away from it. Violet Shrieker HD3 (13) AC7 MV0 Scream 1hp dam. For each round of screaming check for an additional encounter.    


(17) Cyclops Cobra: These massive snakes have one large eye, set in the crown of their head. The eye has arcane properties, pulsating red when the cobra is angered, and acting at all times as an anti-magic shell. Cyclops Cobra HD5 (23) AC4 MV15 Bite 1d8 + poison (save or die). If extracted intact, although the eye no longer functions, it is worth 500gp to wizard types for alchemical purposes. 





(18) 3d6 Lemures: Their running flesh constantly ripples and flows over their bodies. Faces can be seen to press screaming out, only to be reabsorbed. They are consumed by a mindless hunger to ingest more souls and will attack relentlessly without regard for their own safety. Their source is a nearby weeping willow. Within its twisted roots, there is a strangely carved doorway... Lemures HD1 AC7 Claws 1d3 MV6. They are not affected by mind altering spells, and regenerate 1 hp per round, reconstituting themselves each round if destroyed. They may only be destroyed by holy things; otherwise they may only be contained or delayed.


(19) Green Hag: On a small grassy atoll, a rose garden grows, overgrown and wild. At its center is a bush of the rare ebon rose. Its hips are valued as seasoning by aristocrats, and as material for their Doleful Unguent by necromancers (500 gp). The roses are under the protection of a Green Hag, cursed and exiled to the swamp long ago for her unseemly appetites. She is lonely, but evil, and fiercely protective of her grove. HD2 (10) AC9 Claws 1d6 or spells. Spells: charm person (x2), sleep, obscuring mist, blindness, stinking cloud. She may also pronounce a hex once a day. 

(
(20) Regional Special Encounter: Consult the relevant region below. 

North East

Beastman Hunt: A man flees through the swamp, his body broken and delirious from torture. His band stumbled on a large Beastman encampment while in search of the City of Sunken Temples.  He is being pursued for sport by a Beastman hunting party. He possesses a fragment of a (true) map, but has not been able to decipher its exact location. Lecto Corbin Th3 Hp2 (9 normally) AC8 Unarmed. Band of Beastmen: 6 Braves HD2 (10) (8) (4) (11) AC6 Attk swords or beast attack (1d8) Mv 12 (swim 9)
1 Mutant Brave HD2 (7) AC5 MV12 (Swim 12) He has the head of a rotting fish and is swarmed by flies who feast on his flesh. Anyone who melees with him must save vs. poison each round or lose their action gagging. Captain HD4 (19) AC4 Longspear 1d10 or horns 1d8 MV12. He has the head of a ram and rides on the back of a large crocodile in a wicker saddle dangling with fetishes. Large Croc HD4 (20) AC4 Bite 1d12 MV9/15. 

North West

Blink Tigers: This pair of Blink Tigers tracked prey from the Screaming Hyena Jungle into the swamp only to lose its scent in the fetid swamp waters. They are hungry and irritable. Blink Tigers HD5+5 (32) (30) AC2 MV15 Attk Claw/Claw/Bite 1d6/1d6/1d10. They blink every round, making it difficult to strike them (hence the low AC). Each round, on a 1-3 they attack from the rear at +4. Their lush pelts are prized by vain aristocrats everywhere. (200gp each)

South East

Zombie Convoy: Twelve mud-caked Zombies swim relentlessly through the mire slowly pulling a small raft on which sits a large ornate chest. They are under the thrall of the necromancer Zalzefer, and are transporting the head of a unicorn preserved in formaldehyde. They will not attack unless disturbed. Zombies HD2 AC8 Attk Fist 1d6 (If in water, they will try to upset boats, and pull people under.) The unicorn's horn is valuable to the right people (300gp).

South West

Chatelaine's Spies: Two strapping barbarian types travel north by canoe. They claim to be fortune seekers from one of the logging villages around lake Wooling who are in the swamp hoping to uncover ancient treasure, or seize plunder from beastmen. They will offer to join the party. If rebuffed they will attempt to exchange information about the swamp. They are spies for the Chatelaine of Storms charged with locating the City of Sunken Temples, and observing the organization of the swamp's beastmen. If they survive, they will report the party's activity, and the Chatelaine is likely thenceforth to take an interest in them. Dolimar F4 Hp20 AC5 Battle Axe 1d8 or Longbow 1d8; Venimir T3 HP10 AC6 Shortsword 1d6 or Shortbow 1d6. Between them they carry 75gp, 10 small gems worth 25gp each, a rough map of the southwest region of the swamp with some interesting destinations marked, and a coded message from the Chatelaine's vizier.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

AFS Magazine: Review


AFS Magazine is a print only zine put together by +Scott Moberly. So far there are four issues. They are attractive and distinctive looking, roughly A4, with a sturdy color cover, and functional spiral binding. Each issue costs $8.95, shipping included, although sometimes Moberly offers deals on purchases of multiple back issues. They can be purchased here. The vibe is sword and sorcery, and the assumed setting is (generally) Hyperborea. This provides a nice aesthetic consistency to the majority of contributions. Each issue contains one or two small dungeons, complete with maps, and one very short piece of classic sword and sorcery fiction. Interspersed throughout is the expected smattering of new classes, house rules, monsters, and random tables. All are enjoyable, but the magazine is clearly getting better with each issue. By issue 3 it's great. Issue 4 is insane.

The highlight of AFS #3 is a stunning adventure, "Kusu's Cove", by Benoist Poire. Poire is a talented map maker who drew the map for the Marmoreal Tomb of Garn Pat'uul in Gygax Magazine 3, and is currently working on the Hobbyshop Dungeon, both with Ernie Gygax. The full color map by Poire is wonderful. Here is an (intentionally imperfect) photo.


The map is complicated and visually stimulating. Just staring at it gave me all kinds of ideas. There are interesting changes of levels, submerged portions, an open layout, and helpful visual representations of the things found in various sites. The adventure that goes with it is fantastic in parts, although it suffers from pedantic presentation and lacks monster stats. The complex of ocean caves is a laboratory built long ago by the Hyperboreans to experiment with still more ancient Lemurian and Atlantean technologies. It has, of course, gone to seed, and is now failing dangerously, in the process corrupting its current primitive inhabitants. At its center are three elemental "cores" that connect to "the primordial depths between the worlds". They are as strange and frightening as Lemurian science should be. While this is the best thing in AFS #3, there is some other good material, including a great cult presented by Tim "Turgenev" Harding ("The Cult of Silence"), and a second complete adventure by Moberly, "Into the Black Kingdoms".

AFS #4 really takes it to the next level. Jeff Talanian, author of Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, contributed "the purloiner", a new subclass of divine thieves that combine clerical spellcasting with standard thief skills, as well as an introductory adventure, "The Lamia's Heart", written ostensibly for a group of 0 level purloiners, although it could clearly be repurposed for any beginning group. In exchange for membership in an upstart Thieve's Guild, the PCs have been hired to steal a topaz called the Lamia's Heart from a fat merchant. Needless to say, everything is not what it seems. Both the adventure and the class have a wonderful sword and sorcery flavor, reminiscent of Leiber and Howard. The issue is chock full of other excellent entries. There's a great monster by Tim "Turgenev" Harding, the Gurondu, intelligent undead-commanding apes with a connection to the negative energy plane. Allan Grohe, Jr. (grodog) has an evocative reimagining of the Ring of Gaxx that first appeared all the way back in Eldritch Wizardry, as well as an unkeyed color dungeon map. There's a second adventure by Moberly, "Theme for a Jackal". The map here is much improved over the ones that appears with his adventures in earlier issues, a sturdy blue and white old-school number. The adventure is very flavorful, full of little quirky magic items, tricks and traps, and jackal men. Generally speaking, Moberly's adventures have a Judge's Guild feel to them that is likely to either attract or repel. Personally, it attracts, and I would use all of them, modulo my own inevitable tinkering. To round it all off is Chris Kutalik's blog entry on pointcrawling (a classic).

So my advice would be to buy the current issue, AFS #4. If you like it, and have the requisite funds, grab issue #3 and then work your way backwards from there. Earlier issues are good too, even if they don't rise quite to this level. But if you're like me, this review will leave you with one outstanding question: What the devil does "AFS" stand for? The website and magazine say nothing about this. So I asked Scott and here's what he said:

As far as your question - the answer may seem a bit odd. Originally I came up with the idea for a new gaming magazine that offered something completely different. No gloss, no crappy new art of elves and dragons, etc. Sort of an anti-establishment bend. AFS stands for 'Anti-Fascist Society" The magazine's original concept was for it to be an eclectic mix of old school gaming articles with some historical articles relating mostly to WW1 and WW2 mixed in. A spotlight on Tito and the Partisans, a spotlight on the hanging of Mussolini, the execution of Reinhard Heydrich etc etc. Nothing to do with current day politics. At the last moment the concept was scrapped for old school gaming and pulp literature but the name remained. Originally the appearance was to be more like an old black & white  punk rock flyer. Not sure if that's anything you want to relate to people - but that's the answer. 

Henceforth, AFS Magazine will always be known to me as the Anti-Fascist Society. Consider me a member.



Monday, February 3, 2014

Demons: For Your Pleasure

Pinterest is an incredible platform for sharing and using images. It allows you to instantly pin an image you find anywhere on the internet to a thematically organized "board". These boards can be shared with others, or kept private. Drawing on these rich stores, you can create visual encounter tables almost effortlessly. Logan Knight has already done this with the outrageous fashions of the aristocrats of Corpathium. You can see it here. (Check out his other boards; they're pretty wicked.)

For a while now, I've been collecting images of demons. I thought about starting a tumblr, but although I love tumblr, I didn't want to either spam by putting up a whole bunch of images at once, or go through the trouble of releasing them in tiny dribs and drabs over a long period of time. So pinterest is the perfect solution. I've now created a pinterest board, Demons, that now has 50 images on it. It will only grow. Here's the link. I present a small sampling of images from it below. You should all sign up. If the OSR gets on pinterest, it's going to be epic.

Michael Hutter
Forest Rogers
Gary Chalk
Stillenacht
Hector Pintoro
Jeff Simpson