#Dwarf & Ogre Productions

[dunmeshistash]

Hello!

I'm Cyan (or anything you wanna call me) this blog started as just a stash for Dungeon Meshi extras and worldbuilding details but expanded as people asked questions and I did my best to answer! Hope you find it as useful as I do. I try my best to categorize my posts so they're easy to find but sometimes I forget.

If you'd like to share something you compiled yourself feel free to send it to me and I'll reblog it! You can also send a submission if you'd prefer. The main goal is to share Dungeon Meshi information :3

Consider checking the FAQ before sending an ask!

Spoilers are tagged as "Dungeon Meshi Spoilers"

Please support the author by purchasing the manga if available in your region.

TERFs and other bigots aren't welcome

Icon and Banner

Ryoko Kui's Blog

Tag list under the cut

Types of post

For referencing - Canon things and other information you might want to go back to.

Compilation - Posts where I compile lots of canon art/sketches about a specific subject.

Dunmeshi thoughts - My own non canon thoughts. I also use the tag speculation when relevant

Dunmeshi complaint - Tag for more negative subjects/discourse in case you wanna block that. I usually go back and delete the ones that don't seem productive

Asks - Since I post quite a lot of asks I decided to divide them into some tags so they're easier to filter: Lore ask | Character ask | Meta ask | About Cyan

Parties

Laio's Party: Laios Touden | Marcille Donato | Chilchuck Tims | Senshi of Izganda | Izutsumi | Falin Touden

Kabru's Party: Kabru of Utaya, Diamond of Sadena, Mickbell Tomas, Kuro, Rinsha Fana, Holm Kranom

Tansu's Party: Tansu Floke, Yarn Floke, Kiki Floke, Kaka Floke, Namari of Kahka Brud

Shuro's Party: Shuro (Toshiro Nakamoto), Hien, Benichidori, Maizuro, Inutade

Canaries: Mithrun, Pattadol, Lycion, Fleki, Otta, Cithis

Races:

Tallman

Dwarf

Elf

Gnome

Half-Foot

Ogre

Demi humans

Orc

Kobold

Sources (<- check this if you're confused where the extras come from):

Adventurers Bible

Daydream Hour

Monster Tidbits

Bluray

Resources:

Oc reference

Art reference

Cosplay reference

Other tags:

Worldbuilding

Maps

Magic System

Post Canon (Extras about the story after the story)

Clothing (Details about character's clothes and in world fashion)

Dunmeshi Extra (extra comics that aren't in the main story)

Rooms

Modern Clothing

Dunmeshi anime vs manga (comparisons or panels missing from the anime)

Monsters:

Red Dragon

Chimera Falin

Mermaid

Fairies

I'll be updating as I add posts/figure out how to tag stuff

About me: Cyan - Adult - She/He - Brazilian

[forged-in-paper]

The poll results are in :O And some Delvers content

There were a pretty good spread of answers to the poll I put up the other day but there was a clear winner.

I can't necessarily say that I'm surprised because this is the spread I'm used to seeing when such questions are asked. I also kind of wonder what percentage of people that answered this poll are DMs vs. Players and people who prefer OSR games vs. newer heroic fantasy games but that's a whole can of worms that I don't really feel like cracking into at the moment. Let's call this a fun tidbit and keep it in mind as we move forward to what I've spent the last day or two working on and that's Delvers into Darkness, the system I've started working on to be the new home for the 5e setting this blog used to focus on.

While the focus has been on the most foundational elements such as the dice mechanics, I've also been doing some work on getting my old setting content updated and ported into the new system. Looking back on my old work I realize that, because I was pushing content out every one or two days, the quality really suffered. Usually that meant lackluster lore in favor of mechanical soundness, but that's no excuse so I've taken this as a chance to bring that lacking quality up to my current standards and tastes. I'll be presenting three species for your judgement today and I'd love to hear what you think just based on a sight read and vibes. Ignore the mechanical parts of it, that's not relevant to the current conversation.

First up is a basic one, the dwarf. Of all the species I plan on including for players, the dwarf is the most unchanged from how it exists in the wider pantheon of the medieval fantasy zeitgeist.

Dwarves are still dwarves, but for anything so classic as the dwarf I think it necessary to do SOMETHING to put a little spin on them. In my case, that meant making them full elementals. Not exactly groundbreaking, but it gives them a little more character. Dwarves in Vallonde are also EXTREMELY wealth obsessed which gives them a character trait that can be easily leaned into; the dwarf will always want the random non-magical ring because he'll find SOMEWHERE on his kit to display it and then the next thing you know your dwarf is wearing 10k gold worth of jewelry and refuses to stop even though every thief in the kingdom has heard of them by now.

You'll also notice the mention of dark speech which is a concept you'll see mentioned more later. The sentient darkness that infests the setting alters the minds of those that are touched by it, and one of these changes is that many of the monsters created by the darkness speak a universal language called dark speech. Species that are touched by the darkness themselves may have some access to dark speech which presents an interesting opportunity to interact with monsters.

Next up is another familiar concept, but changed to an even greater extent. This time its the half-ogre, also known as a nogre because no, its not an ogre. In vallonde, ogres aren't natural creatures but rather are created when a person commits evil acts and really revels in their deeds, things like murder, cannibalism, and graverobbing. Over time they're changed, but there is always a point of no return where that individual has to make the choice to commit to their path of evil. The nogre represents someone who chose to turn back.

Why is a half-oni called a fauxni? Because the word is funny and I like it, and I don't think that any gaming product should ever take itself 100% seriously.

Last up is one that's conceptually pretty far out there and was created specifically for the setting. These are, and hear me out, ghostly war crime victims that have to possess clothing and suits of armor to interact with the world in any meaningful way.

Again, I want to reiterate that I'm placing all value on the quality of these player options. I want the lore to be interesting, well written, and integrated into the game world, and I want the ways in which the player can use these options to interact with the world to be as interesting as possible because the last thing I want is for the player to be controlling a mannequin with "dwarf" written across the chest, you know what I mean? I want these choices to actually MEAN something and to really shape the play experience.

Anyway, I'll be back later with something new but who knows what that might be at this point. Until then, feel free to let me know what you think about the post, and happy gaming! - Forge

[skxrbrand]

Daemons of Khorne and Sex

For the Daemons of Khorne, the primary purpose of sex is the production offspring. And the primary purpose of those offspring is to either kill for Khorne's glory or to be added as yet another skull to the throne. Particularly strong daemons may seek out partners to fulfill this purpose, as well as a more selfish one: the creation of worthy adversaries. Khorne is picky about skulls and a skull is worth more if it's owner had many kills to their own name. Thusly, it has been known for daemonic and mortal champions to let their spawn run amok before tracking and killing them, ending their reigns of terror in blood.

But half-fiends are rare. Rarer still are those who are half man (though after Khorne married Valkia, they did become more common). Khornate Half-Fiends are typically dammed by Beastwomen, Beastfiends, Chaos Dwarf Centaurs, Ogres, Giants, Dragon Ogres, and Dragons.

Curiously, Khornate daemons have no interest in pairing with one another. They also rarely sire daughters; most Khornate Half-fiends are male.

[ulkaralakbarova]

Young history buff Kevin can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being, they’ve purloined a map charting all of the holes in the fabric of time and are using it to steal treasures from different historical eras. Taking Kevin with them, they variously drop in on Napoleon, Robin Hood and King Agamemnon before the Supreme Being catches up with them. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Kevin: Craig Warnock Randall: David Rappaport Fidgit: Kenny Baker Og: Mike Edmonds Strutter: Malcolm Dixon Vermin: Tiny Ross Wally: Jack Purvis Napoleon: Ian Holm Robin Hood: John Cleese King Agamemnon / Fireman: Sean Connery Vincent: Michael Palin Dame Pansy / Pansy: Shelley Duvall Winston the Ogre: Peter Vaughan Mrs. Ogre: Katherine Helmond Evil Genius: David Warner Supreme Being: Ralph Richardson Supreme Being (voice): Tony Jay Kevin’s Father: David Daker Kevin’s Mother: Sheila Fearn Compere: Jim Broadbent Arm Wrestler: Peter Jonfield Benson: Jerold Wells Beryl: Myrtle Devenish Bull Headed Warrior: Winston Dennis Cartwright: Roger Frost Fireman #2: Andrew MacLachlan Horseflesh: Marcus Powell Lucien: Terence Bayler Neguy: Preston Lockwood Puppeteer: David Leland Refugee #1: Leon Lissek Reginald: John Young Robber Leader: Derrick O’Connor Robber #2: Neil McCarthy Robber #3: Declan Mulholland Robert: Derek Deadman Theatre Manager: Charles McKeown Troll Father: Mark Holmes Baxi Brazilia III: Martin Carroll Film Crew: Producer: Terry Gilliam Writer: Michael Palin Casting: Irene Lamb Executive Producer: Denis O’Brien Production Design: Milly Burns Theme Song Performance: George Harrison Editor: Julian Doyle Original Music Composer: Mike Moran Art Direction: Norman Garwood Director of Photography: Peter Biziou Music: Trevor Jones Costume Designer: James Acheson Associate Producer: Neville C. Thompson Makeup Artist: Elaine Carew Makeup Artist: Maggie Weston Assistant Art Director: Celia Barnett Production Manager: Graham Ford Sound Engineer: John Richards Sound: Allen Hurd Sound: André Jacquemin Sound Director: Philip Chubb Visual Effects: Kent Houston Visual Effects: Paul Whitbread Sound Mixer: Garth Marshall Costumer: Richard Cattermole Assistant Costume Designer: Stephen Miles Costumer: Dorothy Williams Movie Reviews:

[fuzzy-oooze]

ok so:

-I already told you about Erkak, kobold, lived in a flying castle, caused the industrial revolution singlehandedly.

-Borros was a half-drow necromancer and a coward. over the course of campaign he grew increasingly spiteful of his teammates for mocking him over said cowardice except for one, who then got eaten by an ice monster. him and his fellows settled on a volcanic island which they industrialized into a massive factory complex using ogres as workers. eventually they accidently broke into a mind flayer colony underground and entered all-out war against then, which seemed doomed to fail. all the others fled but he, unwilling to let the one thing that he’s managed to accomplish, stayed back to lead his workers into battle and swore to kill his former friends for their hypocrisy. after a campaign, he and the mind flayers entered a truce and joined forces, which allowed for Borros to get his revenge and become the leader of the new most powerful faction on the planet; The Coalition.

-Leadmin Bronzely was a dwarf hillbilly with terrible luck who was experimenting in bio-alchemy. after his friend got vaporized by a wizard, rebuilt as a brain-in-a-jar piloting a robot, and then immediately kidnapped by a demon, he decided that clearly the gods just hated him personally. after this, he dove down into the depths of the earth to fish up the Book Of Vile Darkness and traveled to a fallen dwarf hold which he turned into his fortress, products of his demon experiments stalking the halls as he embraced undeath and became a mummy lord on a quest to slay the gods, adding the flesh and bones of his fallen foes to himself to make himself bigger and scarier. eventually he used his great magic to lift his hold into the skies and turned it into the Nomad Moon Sheol.

-Ted The Necromancer is, at his core, just Some Guy who won’t give up. his homeworld got eaten by a cosmic horror so he fled to a nearby planet; The Sadlands, a place of darkness, undeath, and walking cartoon villains. he rallied up a army of goblins and managed to slay a vampire dicator and instill a democracy in it’s stead, only for a demonic horde to come by and destroy his new republic. he didn’t give up after that either though, and he became a boogyman to the boogymen, stalking the mutate rainforest they sprung up around them engaging in guerilla warfare against the demoniac menace. the campaign didn’t quite end, just kinda cut off, and so I imagine he’s still down there, fighting for justice for all and revenge for his fallen citizens.

I often associated my DnD characters with songs, the big one's being:

-Erkak, who got Biggering

-Borros, who got My Lullaby

-Leadmin Bronzely, who got When Your Evil

-and Ted The Necromancer, who got I'M GONNA WIN

...

I don't have many "good" characters. I am fully willing to explain each of them in greater detail.

Ooo based!!! I do thé same thing here :D Except I usually make playlist for them (varying lengths)

Chit’al is either Oh Ana or Kung Fu Fighting (I don’t really know any songs that match him super well unfortunately)

Fí is Changeling Child

Hesta is It’s Not A Fashion Statement It’s A Deathwish

Freedom is Fish In A Birdcage

Eclipse is Never Love An Anchor

I could go on lmao

ALSO YES PLEASE WXPLAIN YOUR CHARACTERS MORE I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT THEM

[kali-writes-meta]

I Just Watched That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Episode 16 and Boy is My Nose Sore 🥊

(I'm told Tensuru is the correct shortening of the title, is that right? Calling it "this story" has gotten old.)

Our little village has become a well-organized town. The first story arc looked like an allegory for Japan's postwar occupation and reconstruction. Is Tensuru going to continue the metaphor through Japan's growing international influence in the middle of the 20th Century? If so, how subtle are they going to be?

About as subtle as a baseball bat. The metaphors in this episode are so much more on the nose my face hurt just watching it.

With many of the social reforms that had hampered Japan before the war sorted out, the country was about to experience the most rapid expansion of economic growth, prosperity, literacy, and infrastructure and real estate development the world had ever seen up to that point; but that wasn't obvious at first. The country was still getting back on it's feet, and America was determined to turn Japan into a trading partner whose economy was too inextricably linked with America's economy for them to afford to go to war with us again. American business trainers poured into Japan to serve as "expert consultants", including many who couldn't find work back home for various reasons. Factories were coming back online, but most of the goods they were capable of producing were of low quality compared to their international counterparts. That meant it was time to change the game, to innovate and produce things no one else had ever thought of, like the portable transistor radio which took the world by storm in the late 1950s.

Rimuru Town is having a quiet day when the Dwarf King Dragul shows up with his army. He's got a present for Rimuru, Vasta the now-disgraced bureuacrat/researcher whose harassment drove Master Kaijin and his brothers to Rimuru. Dragul has decided he personally has no more use for Vasta after the trouble the dwarf has caused. He tells Rimuru to use Vasta as he will and orders Vasta to redeem himself by improving the town's productivity.

🥊Pow! On the nose.

Kaijin: My King... That would allow Vasta's knowledge to leave the Dwarves!

Dragul: Says the man who left the Dwarves himself? That is what this alliance is for. Make this land you have chosen to inhabit a leader in new and unique skills!

🥊Pow! On the nose.

This time period was also the beginning of the Cold War. Exhausted from two world wars, the remaining great powers resorted to using subterfuge, coercion, and the manipulation of puppet states to attack each other without officially declaring war, making a real mess of world affairs in the process.

Clayman is the Demon Lord who sent the Orc army to Jura Forest in an attempt to create a puppet state there, and he is not happy that Rimuru and his friends have thwarted that plan.

🥊Pow! On the nose.

He shows the video of Rimuru defeating the Orc Demon Lord to a Generic Fantasy Protagonist - Female who is eager to investigate "this toy", as she calls Rimuru. The assembled Demon Lords agree that with Valdora AWOL the forest is up for grabs, and that GFP-F has first dibs.

Rimuru senses a disturbance in the force. It takes the form of a pink comet that hits the outskirts of town and reveals the GFP-F, who introduces herself as the Demon Lord Milim Nava, come to check out the town. She chats with Rimuru, who gets definite "too powerful to mess with" vibes coming off her.

And then his security team shows up to mess with her.

Ranga snatches Rimuru out of the way while the Kijin (evolved Ogres) try their best to kill her. They succeed in annoying her. It's an impressive fight but I'm paying attention to Milim, what she says, how she acts, what she's wearing, and.... Oh. My. Stars.

No. Uh-uh.

No way.

That can't be -- that isn't the mid-century "Ugly American" trope rendered in bubblegum-pink kawaii?!

And yet, there it is, big as life and twice as cute. Never in a million years did I expect to see that.

During the mid-century Cold War, America went from being a large backwater country to being the greatest power on Earth. Bluntly, we were psychologically unprepared and didn't handle the change well. The way we treated other people changed, and this resulted in the appearance of the "Ugly American" stereotype.

In the early-middle 20th Century the word "ugly" was used to describe behavior as well as appearance. If you were boorish, crass, mean, or bullying, you were "ugly" no matter how you looked. The Ugly American is tactless, boorish, bored, crass, gluttonous, immature, and immodest, a grown-up enfants terrible too powerful to spank or ignore. But most of all, the Ugly American is pure, unstoppable aggression.

It's a stereotype we still see today, but with a twist. In the 21st Century there's a defensive edge to the Ugly American's aggression that wasn't there originally. In my childhood the Ugly American exhibited pure hubris, a blind, overwhelming pride that couldn't comprehend that any power (short of the USSR) existed that could hurt it. Nothing could make it fall -- until it finally fell in Saigon on April 30, 1975, in full color and live in our living rooms.

But Milim as she is now is the Ugly American who hasn't seen the precipice yet. She's crass, immature, aggressive, bored, and insanely powerful. She wears a red, white, and blue animal-fang necklace, a red and white striped stocking, black bikini panties to signify immodesty, double ponytails and the mother of all cowlicks to signify immaturity, and most notably a cut-down version of a black leather biking jacket, the signature garb of the mid-century American bad boy, the domestic version of the Ugly American.

🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊 That's INSANELY on the nose!

(Yes, normally I would be complaining about the sexism, but immodesty is one of the defining characteristics of the Ugly American trope. Male or female, the Ugly American is going to be scantily clad in the eyes of the locals. A male Milim would be wearing far less. It's not a flaw, it's a feature.)

That also clarifies something else. Earlier I speculated that "Demon Lord" referred to a high State official or a State. Here it clearly means not just a State but a Superpower. And if THAT'S the case one of the goals of the current story arc will be to see Rimuru turn into a minor Demon Lord just as Japan emerged from the mid-century as an economic superpower.

Meanwhile back at the fight, the Kijin are down and about to be dead. Rimuru steps in, and inspired by Milim's childishness, distracts her with honey to end the battle. Like many spirits/metaphors, the Ugly American has more than one aspect. While the malevolent aspect leans toward "frat boy on vacation", there's a benevolent aspect which is more "well-intentioned cluelessness". Rimuru is clearly trying to keep Milim in a benevolent state.

Milim asks Rimuru what are his plans in a conversation that's WAY too on the nose. Replace "Demon Lord" with "superpower" in this conversation and try not to cringe:

Hey... Don't you ever think of becoming a Demon Lord (Superpower)?"

"Why should I put myself through that kind of hassle?"

"Huh? But you'd be a Demon Lord (Superpower)! Aren't they awesome? Doesn't everyone want to be one?"

"Hell no."

"Huh?!"

"Does something good happen when you become a Demon Lord (Superpower)?"

"Strong opponents come from all over to fight you! It's fun!"

🥊🥊🥊 Ow, ow, ow!

"I get plenty of that already. Not interested."

"What?! Then what do you even enjoy in life?"

"All kinds of things. I've got a lot to do. It's crazy. Is there anything fun about being a Demon Lord (Superpower) besides fighting?"

"Well, no... But you get to boss Majin and Humans (lesser countries) around!"

"Doesn't that just mean you're bored?"

*gasp*

"Ah. She's definitely bored."

🥊🥊🥊🥊 Ow, my poor nose! But, stripped of ideology, that sums up the Cold War with a brutal efficiency.

Intrigued by the possibility that Rimuru knows another way to have fun, Milim wants to see the village. Rimuru offers her friendship and extracts a promise from Milim not to hurt anyone, which she keeps for the handful of minutes it takes for her to meet the eminently punchable Gabiru. Rimuru introduces her to loud cheers from the crowd, which encourages her to announce that she's staying, and that from now on she and Rimuru are "besties". She's loud, brash, shameless, bored, belligerent, determined to be up in your business, and to drag her business to your doorstep, with no concern for your feelings. There's a host of dreary mid-century literary classics that she distills into one image which produces the same combination of hilarity and cringe as "Rogers: The Musical" from the Hawkeye tv show. It's funny, embarrassing, and impressive all at once.

More to the point, there's some very specific analogies to US-Japan relationships in the mid-century. In the my last post I talked about how during the Occupation the US built military bases all along the Japanese coast. After the Occupation the US evacuated them -- except in Okinawa. Impressed by the wide harbor and large tracts of undeveloped land, Okinawa became the

home base for the US Northern Pacific fleet in the 1950s-1970s. There they perched like a house guest who has long outstayed their welcome, regardless of how Japan felt about the matter.

But it wasn't just Okinawa that made Japan so attractive to the military. During WWII one of the major problems with waging war in the Pacific had been getting supplies, with the supply lines being over twice as long as it was in Europe. Japanese industry was back on it's feet after being flattened in the war. While their products weren't yet good enough to attract much interest abroad, they were literally "good enough for government work". Japanese business became the commercial and industrial suppliers for the US military in the Pacific, drastically shortening the supply lines. Supplies that had taken months to reach the Pacific front during WWII could now be had in days. Those reliable supplies earned Japan accolades as America's new "best friend".

"And thus Demon Lord Milim, being more dangerous than a powder keg, became a part of the Jura Tempest Federation."

🥊 Pow! On the nose.

It wasn't a one-sided relationship. The steady cash flow that US military contracts provided Japanese industry enabled them to upgrade their factories from "back on their feet" to "world class". And without those reliable supplies, the US would have had a much harder time waging war in Korea, and especially in Vietnam.

But having the most powerful and most aggressive military in the world on your doorstep during the Cold War wasn't the easiest relationship. Even mainland America feared nuclear missiles would cross the ocean and destroy the entire country. Japan was a much, much closer target. If either Korea or Vietnam, or their allies China and the USSR, had retaliated against US forces outside of Korea or Vietnam, Japan would have taken it in the neck -- and they knew it. It's a situation mirrored in Rimuru's emergency conference that night.

Goblin King Rigurd: It's about Lady Milim. I never imagined a Demon Lord (Superpower) would take the initiative in coming here.

R: Yeah, but she did promise not to cause any commotion without my permission.

Dwarf: Yes, but.. what's more concerning is what the other Demon Lords (Superpowers) will do.

R: What do you mean?

Dwarf: There are several Demon Lords (Superpowers), and they're always keeping each other in check. Your declaration that Lady Milim is our friend means this village is now under her protection. Under normal circumstances that might be a good thing, but...

Swordmaster: Great Rimuru, you hold the position of supreme ruler. In other words, it will appear to the other Demon Lords (Superpowers) that the Great Forest of Jura has forged an alliance with the Demon Lord Milim.

Benimaru: The Demon Lord Milim will instantly gain more influence, upsetting the balance between the Demon Lords.

Rimuru: I see.

Rigurd: But in reality, there is no way we could stop Lady Milim.

Benimaru: Her strength was on a completely different level. If not for Great Rimuru, we wouldn't be alive now.

🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊 Ouch!

And there's the setup for the second story arc. I don't know how long they plan to continue telling modern Japanese history as an animal fable -- er, make that a "monster fable in an RPG setting" -- but if they continue with the analogy Rimuru Village will see explosive growth and the attendant problems, the development of improved and some entirely new industries, and shenanigans from various superpowers -- er, Demon Lords -- that lead to Rimuru becoming a minor Demon Lord and entering into political/economic relations at that level.

Sounds like fun! See you later.

There really wasn't space here to talk about the differences between the Kindly American trope and the Ugly American trope. If you want me to go into that topic in a separate post, let me know.

[rpgsandbox]

The acclaimed setting of Symbaroum has enticed and fascinated fans of tabletop roleplaying games since the launch of the game in 2016. Now this dark and mysterious world welcomes an even wider audience, with the production of a Player’s Guide, Gamemaster’s Guide and Bestiary adapted for 5E, published under the Open Gaming License. Note that you will need the core 5E rulebooks to fully enjoy Ruins of Symbaroum.

                          Welcome to the world of Symbaroum

The rich and nuanced Symbaroum setting revolves around the Ambrians – a civilization that two decades ago were forced to flee their ancestral soil after a devastating war. Their new and promised land borders on the vast forest of Davokar, covering the remnants of the Empire of Symbaroum which fell into ruin hundreds of years ago. Brimming with natural resources and mythical treasures, the forest calls out to the Ambrians to be explored and plundered, but the road into its depths lays far from open. Not only are the shadows beneath the foliage fraught with danger, monsters and infectious Corruption; there are also the elves of the Iron Pact who have vowed to die to keep anyone from disturbing the ruins of old, warning that the ancient evil of Symbaroum stirs in its sleep.

About ten years ago, Queen Korinthia of the Ambrians finally vanquished Chieftan Haloban and his Jezites.

Now you can join in the adventure! Seek out the barbarian clans to trade or to plunder their treasuries; establish a base of power among princes, guilds, or rebellious refugees in the capital city of Yndaros; survive encounters with trolls, dark-minded beasts, and undead warlords. But always remember the warnings spoken by the wardens of the forest: tread carefully and do not disturb the ruins of old, for the horrors of Davokar are about to awaken!

If you want a more in-depth introduction to the setting, with its dark wilderness, its warring factions and infectious corruption, you are welcome to download On the Nature of Davokar - a report from a lecture at the wine cellar Tuvinels in Yndaros, transcribed and commented by the famous explorer Iasogoi Brigo.

Aside from the base core rules referenced in the 5E OGL, the Ruins of Symbaroum Player’s Guide contains everything you need to create characters and set out to explore the world of Symbaroum. We provide this information in five major sections: an introduction to the setting, new rules for gameplay, new character origins, new character classes and feats, and a set of resources (equipment, spells, etcetera) for making characters and for use during play.

New Rules

To emphasize the dark fantasy nature of the setting, new rules for traveling and rests, social challenges, and magic are introduced. Regarding magic, wielders of mystical powers cannot avoid being affected by the ever-present threat of Corruption — the gathering of darkness to each character’s Shadow which, if left untended, can manifest as terrible physical transformations and even the eventual loss of the character entirely, as Corruption consumes them mentally and physically.

New Origins

Aside from familiar folks such as humans, elves, and dwarves, the Symbaroum game world lets you create PCs and NPCs who are changelings, ogres, goblins, trolls and even a particular form of undead. Also, the more recognizable folks differ quite radically from what you would expect – for instance, in Symbaroum the elves (rather than orcs, trolls, or similar) could be described as the default enemy of adventurers and explorers.

In Ruins of Symbaroum, character Backgrounds are generally tied to Origins. The following Origins and Backgrounds are included in the Player's Guide:

                     Origins: Human (clanfolk), Dwarf, Elf and Troll

Abducted Human - Runaway

Changeling – Broken Home, Mage’s Assistant

Dwarf – Dreams of Doom, Life-Debt, Outcast

Elf – Avenger, Exile, Mediator, Scout

Goblin – Laborer, Convert, Wild

Human – Common Folk, Faithful of Prios, Houses of Nobility, Merchant, Refugee, Scholar of Ordo Magica

Ogre – Learned in Magic, Raised by Common Folk, Sellsword

Troll – Artifact Collector, Journey of Discovery

Undead – Revenant

New Classes

The Ruins of Symbaroum Player’s Guide presents the classes Captain, Hunter, Mystic, Scoundrel and Warrior – each with between four and seven different approaches (called Subclasses in the 5E OGL rules), and all of them with customized features up to the 20th level. The captain class is something special, as its members have the capability to command and train others, to improve the fighting ability of a group as a whole.

      Approaches: Ironsworn, Rune Smith, Weapon Master and Sorcerer

Captain – Merchant Master, Officer, Outlaw, Poet-warrior

Hunter – Bounty Hunter, Iron Sworn, Monster Hunter, Witch Hunter

Mystic – Artifact Crafter, Self-taught, Sorcerer, Theurg, Troll Singer, Witch, Wizard

Scoundrel – Explorer, Former Cultist, Guild Thief, Thug, Treasure Hunter

Warrior – Berserker, Duelist, Knight, Rune Smith, Tattooed Fighter, Weapon Master (plus unlocked: Templar, Wrathguard)

The graphic design of Ruins of Symbaroum borrows elements from the award-winning design of the original Symbaroum game.

Both these spreads are drafts (works-in-progress) from the Ruins of Symbaroum Player's Guide.

                Note: the cover art is a placeholder and will be replaced.

The Ruins of Symbaroum Gamemaster’s Guide provides tools and guidelines for running the game, developing the setting and creating your own adventures. The content may be summarized as follows:

Invoking Symbaroum

Gamemaster’s Rules – on Ability Checks, Combat and Challenge Ratings, Time Within the Game, and Shadow and Corruption.

The Setting – describes three settlements central to the setting: Thistle Hold, the town of explorers and treasure hunters; Yndaros, the capital city of the kingdom of Ambria; and Karvosti, the cliff of the barbarian High Chieftain deep inside the forest of Davokar.

Running Ruins of Symbaroum

Building Game Worlds – guidelines on how to understand and develop the specific game world of Symbaroum.

Adventures and Landscapes – instructions on creating adventures and adventure landscapes where the PCs dictate the course and outcome of the story.

Chronicles – tips on how to design an adventure chronicle (also called campaign or adventure path) set in the world of Symbaroum.

Magical Items and Artifacts – a huge number of mystical artifacts that all come with ready-made adventure hooks, as well as guidelines on how to create mystical artifacts of your own.

Optional Rules

Troupe Play in Symbaroum

Adventures in the Underworld, Yonderworld and Spirit World

Advanced Traps

Pitched Battles

PC-owned estates and domains

Forest expeditions of different types

Ceremonial Magic

And more

           Note: the cover art is a placeholder and will be replaced.

The Ruins of Symbaroum Bestiary is in most respects a reflection of the award-winning Symbaroum Monster Codex, but with stats and rules adapted for 5E – the difference being that it also includes the monsters and adversaries featured in the Symbaroum Core Rulebook.

Hordes of the Eternal Night

Twenty-seven original creatures that haunt, roam and wreak havoc on the world of Symbaroum.

Each creature come with full color art, lore, an adventure Set-up and between one and four variants with different stat blocks

Beasts & Monsters

Approximately sixty creatures presented with shorter descriptions and stat blocks

Sorted into categories, such as Abominations, Predators, Spiders, Undead and Winged Creatures

Adversaries

Approximately seventy types of cultural beings presented with shorter descriptions and stat blocks

Sorted into categories, such as Champions of Prios, Elves, Outcasts, People of Davokar, Townsfolk and Trolls

      The abominations of Davokar come in different shape and sizes...

Do you want to know more and even playtest some of the new mechanics right now? If so you should head over to DriveThruRPG and download the free PDF Ruins of Symbaroum 5E - The Promised Land.

There you will find some of the optional rules, a selection of origins, classes and approaches, along with four readymade player characters and an adventure. Enjoy!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, May 6 2021 8:00 PM BST

Website: [Free League Publishing] [facebook] [twitter] [instagram]

[elfdragon12]

Below the cut are homebrew encounters/one-shots I've run for my nephews and niece:

-A town has been repeatedly beset by skeletons and zombies. The mayor (a male Halfling named Jean Tufor) sees the party and asks them for help. The culprit is a Goblin Shaman (my notes say "5th level spellcaster", I believe I modified the Lizardfolk Shaman to suit my needs for this).

-A tavern owner asks the party to find a missing person. A local apothecary went to the mountains to get ingredients. They've been gone for 2 days and have yet to return. The apothecary has been captured by an imp and the mephits it summoned.

-Encounter: the party is traveling through a dark and dense forest that is silent and stuffy. An observant adventurer will smell the stale air and see the increasing amount of spider webs. They may hear a rustle behind them before turning to see a giant spider on each side. If the party notice the spiders' eggsac, it is surrounded by vine, twig, and needle blights. The tree is a Gulthias tree.

-The party goes to a tavern for a meal and overhear 2 patrons chatting about a tower about 5 miles from the village. Word is that a warlord built it as a stopping point between battles, but now a wizard lives there doing dark magics. A group of adventurers weren't there a few days ago, but haven't returned. However, the perpetual storm above the tower has faded. There are rumors of gold and treasures inside, but the villagers are too scared to go near. Among the 9 levels are ghouls, skeletons, animated armors, and mimics. Level 5 has prison cells (useful NPCs/DMPCs can be stored here), level 6 is a fighting arena, level 7 has monster cells, and level 9 is the spell room. However, when the adventurers get to level 9, the wizard is already dead and a new foe waits. (Here, I have introduced a lich as the BBEG to collect the wizard's most powerful artefacts.)

-The party enters a mid-sized town. At the gate, there's an unusual amount of guards. If there is a spellcaster in the party, the guards will stop the party and bring them to the leader of the guard, a Halfling named Roscoe Hillfoot, and interrogate them. Evil undead have been attacking the town and everyone is tense. The party can prove their innocence by stopping the nightly hordes (or, if they have no spellcaster, chat with some NPCs around town). The horde seem to be coming from the west. When they get past the hordes, they'll find a run-down cottage with a solitary wizard losing their grip on reality. Upon being perceived, the wizard attacks. What is allowing the wizard to summon hordes is the Amulet of the Dead, however, since it's not the real thing, its unstable magic has been messing with the wizard's mind. Among the horde is skeletons, zombies, and even an ogre zombie.

-After saving a mine in a previous adventure (sourced from the Wildemount sourcebook pg 89, "A Hungry Problem"), the mine owner suggests the party visit a local store called Mevis's Wonderous Emporium. The owner, a gnome merchant, is a little strange, but she carries good products. She offers her wares to the party. If they impress her, she decides to ask them for their help. A wealthy landowner stole a Bag of Holding from her and she wants it back. If the party accepts and gets it back for her, she can become a wandering merchant and meet them along their way with new wares. (how sneaky they accomplish this may affect how well she rewards them afterwards).

-While in a wealthy merchant town, there's a tavern owned by the local baron with a job board. One of the job listings is from the local sheriff (I encourage your Kronk impressions for this guy), a gruff and wordy dwarf. He owns a smoker. There are suspicious rumors from the cemetery, in particular, moved headstones and opened mausoleums. Most recently, a man rushed in a claimed he'd been biten by a vampire. The sheriff doesn't currently have the manpower to pursue it and needs extra help. The culprit are Thugs robbing tombs and digging up the ground for gemstones. When apprehended, the Thugs will proclaim "and we would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling adventurers!" (I have been watching Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated.) Also, strangely... There are more skeletons. What else could be happening in this cemetery?

A one/multi-shot I started running for the younger party:

"Night at the Museum"

The party travels to a new city called Wildetide. It's a small city or large town filled with mostly humans, but also with elves and Halflings with a smattering of other races. When the party goes to a local tavern, they'll see a half-elf, Hafier Phiven, glumly drinking at the bar. When he sees the party, he'll perk up and goes to the party.

He's been looking to renovate an old museum that he purchased a while ago. However, there are some mud creatures (mephits) that are getting in the way and he can't get rid of them. He will give the party a reward for clearing the museum of these pests.

Upon investigation, the true problem is that the museum contained two similarly colored dragon eggs... Except one is a chromatic (white) dragon while the other is metallic (silver). The chromatic dragon is trying to turn the museum into its lair and the silver dragon has been hiding from it.

[starkiddreamcasting]

Could you do shrek the musical?

It’s not ogre yet! for the Starkid dreamcast for Shrek the Musical has arrived! Shrek the musical always brings back memories from watching the Netflix recording (I wish most musicals did that) to being in a production in High School where almost everything when wrong (our pink paper-mache dragon cracked it’s head open on opening night) so going down memory lane to create this cast.

1. Dylan Saunders as Shrek 2. Kim Whalen as Princess Fiona 3. James Tolbert as Donkey 4. Robert Manion as Lord Farquaad 5. Jon Matteson as Pinocchio/Magic Mirror 6. Britney Coleman as The Dragon 7. Jaime Lyn Beatty as Blind Mouse/Shoemaker’s Elf/Duloc Performer 8. Jeff Blim as Papa Ogre/Straw 9. Tyler Brunsman as White Rabbit/Skeleton 10. Corey Dorris as Sticks/Bishop 11. Denise Donovan as Queen Lillian/Wicked Witch/Magic Mirror Assistant 12. Mariah Rose Faith as Ensemble 13. Nick Gage as Bricks 14. Angela Giarratana as Teen Fiona 15. AJ Holmes as Pied Piper/Gnome/Skeleton 16. Janaya Mahealani Jones as Mama Bear 17. Nick Lang as Young Shrek/Dwarf 18. Lauren Lopez as Gingy/Sugar Plum Fairy 19. Curt Mega as Ensemble 20. Kendall Nicole as Young Fiona 21. Alex Paul as Blind Mouse/Ugly Duckling 22. Jim Povolo as Papa Bear/Thelonius/Barker 23. Joey Richter as Peter Pan 24. Meredith Stepien as Fairy Godmother/Bluebird/Magic Mirror Assistant 25. Rachael Soglin as Mama Ogre/Humpty Dumpty 26. Joe Walker as King Harold/Big Bad Wolf/Captain of the Guard 27. Tiffany Williams as Baby Bear/Blind Mouse

Standby: Nick Strauss (Shrek)

Swings: Julia Albain, Ali Gordon, Brian Holden, Joe Moses

Understudies: Jeff Blim (Shrek), Tyler Brunsman (Pinocchio), Corey Dorris (Donkey), Nick Gage (Donkey), Lauren Lopez (Princess Fiona, Teen Fiona), Kendall Nicole (Young Shrek), Alex Paul (Princess Fiona), Joey Richter (Pinocchio)

Make sure to leave any show suggestions or any questions on my casting choices so I can explain them.

[osogitz]

Games Workshop Rant

I just wanna put “pen to paper” about this. If you read it, thank you for your time and enjoy the rest of your day. TL;DR is Games-Workshop are up to their bullshit again and i am really getting tired of it. I would like to start by saying I, against everything, I have supported Warhammer and Warhammer 40k for 20 years and over the last six to eight years the company has gotten more predatory and I feel it has lost alot of respect for it’s original customer base and is going out of it’s way to attack them. Before i got into warhammer and for the first eight to ten years of it, Games-Workshop pushed this idea of “we aren’t just a game! We are a hobby.” They would post articles and have guests in White Dwarfe that would show off how to make truly amazing things using their IP as an influence. From Deoderant stick Ork Trucks to making Eldritch themed Ogres using greenstuff paperclips and plasticard. They did everything in their power to foster the hobby for that first thirty-ish years. Now, they are going out of their way to destroy it with this “If it isn’t 95% our product, you aren’t allowed to bring it into our stores or to our events.” I have seen an entire converted orc Dreadnaught, big mek army made out of something like five Ork Trukk Kits, three ork boy kits and alot of greenstuff and plasticard. There was no way it was 95% your product BUT it still looked and felt like it was. That guy clearly had a passion for the IP that i honestly feel, GW simply does NOT have anymore. Just as another example, I know a guy who is making a Guev’asa (I believe is the term) detatchment for his Tau army. Gue’vasa are inducted imperial citizens who bought the whole “greater good” propeganda pamphlet. Usually due to feeling like they have been abandoned by the empire as a whole. His troop transports are all converted Leman Russes and Chimeras with 3D-printed self made side panelling to give them a merged technology feel. According to my local manager and to GW, his army which won’t be 95% GW product, will not be allowed in their stores or at their events... In my opinion not only is this a betrayal of the original customer base GW helped to cultivate but it’s an echo of other predatory and shitty behavior GW has and is still doing. When Warhammer+ was announced, a great many of us were not excited about it. Why? Because we all had a lingering feeling about what was coming. GW in the past has proven that it will attack anyone and everyone they feel is cutting into their pie. They have teams of lawyers that are dedicated into ‘controlling’ their IP. We feared that they would use it as a basis to start “controlling” the fans by strangling them and extorting them. ... Which is exactly what they have done. Content creators (who i would like to remind you, are protected under most circumstances by what are known as fair use laws) are now being extorted. “You will make content for us or we will do everything in our legal power to shut you down.” Emails are being sent out and content is being removed. Sodaz, being the most recent one. (I would not be surprised if some of the people who now work on the Warhammer+ platform got similar emails). How is attacking your customers? Your fans? a good fucking business plan? Who the fuck taught these people this was okay? Cause it isn’t. You want proof? Look at the comic book industry. Instead of writing stories for everyone to enjoy, they politicize and demonize strawmen of their policitcal opponents. They take beloved characters and destroy them. Make the characters betray themselves; what makes them, them. How has it effected the comic book industry? It’s FAILING. It’s dying and it’s losing to the Manga industry because Manga just stays in it’s own lane and does it’s own thing and doesn’t attack it’s customers. Star Wars is no different. Disney is hemorrhaging money thanks to it’s attacks on the fans they inherited from their purchase. Activision-Blizzard has and will probably continue to do the same thing going forward. This is why they are dying. These people are not the kinds of people GW wants to follow. That road leads to enervation and death. Stop attacking your customers. Relearn who your actual customers are. They make a better product because they have passion for something you don’t. You need to either rediscover their passion or let them do their own thing.

[ask-jaghatai-khan]

Warcry Warbands Ranked

I ranked all the Warcry warbands, trying to use some consistent standards. All are ranked on Chaos - how clearly they communicate the core aesthetics of Chaos, Originality - how original their designs are, and Bonus - additional points given based on special traits and other standout features.

Some things to note: 1. I threw this together really quickly. 2. This is entirely the product of my own opinion, and should not be taken as an indictment of your favorite warband.

Read below the cut!

#8 - The Splintered Fang

Chaos – 3/5

Originality – 3/5

Bonus – 1/5

Even the lowest on this list are some of the best models GW’s ever produced, in my opinion. Warcry has been an absolute boon overall. The Splintered Fang, with their sleek gladiatorial design and snake obsession, cut closer to being Dark Elves than normal Chaos worshipers. They do their design well, but it leaves them somewhat trapped between these two worlds. Bonus star for being a multi-racial group, however, in featuring the rare Chaos Elf!

#7 - The Cypher Lords

Chaos – 2/5

Originality – 4/5

Bonus – 2/5

The Cypher Lords stand out by having a very unique design, and for having managed to infiltrate the realm of Hysh. The forces of evil may not be able to breach the borders of Azyr, but managing to sow discord in Teclis and Tyrion’s realm is still pretty impressive. Unfortunately, while their gimmick is very cool, it doesn’t quite scream “Chaos”.

#6 - The Corvus Cabal

Chaos – 3/5

Originality – 4/5

Bonus – 1/5

The Cabal has an incredibly cool design, and that really carries them. Their sleek, stealthy appearance may not be the standard for the ravaging hordes of Chaos, but damn if they still don’t look barbaric, intimidating, and cool overall. These guys shouldn’t even waste their time in the Eightpoints. They don’t fit in with Archaon’s hordes, and would probably have more fun just living up their cultist-barbarian shtick out in the wilds of Ulgu.

#5 - The Untamed Beasts

Chaos – 4/5

Originality – 2/5

Bonus – 2/5

These guys are the golden ideal of the Chaos barbarian. They might not have figured out the whole “metallurgy” thing, but to a warrior they have more daemon-infused testosterone coursing through their veins than most Bestigors. Even the women. Probably especially the women. They may be small fry by the standards of Chaos, and not have the most original designs, but they are absolute exemplars of Chaos’ savage fury. They also have a dog!

#4 - The Spire Tyrants

Chaos – 5/5

Originality – 1/5

Bonus – 2/5

And these guys are the reason the Beasts aren’t one slot higher. The Spire Tyrants may be the preps of the Warcry world, but they are the undisputed standard by which all of Chaos may be judged. Flesh and steel, they are the vanguard, the first step on the Path to Glory and the first and last thing many a thin-blooded soldier of Order will see of Chaos’ power. In the absence of an Azyr warband, they stand as dark paragons. They also get bonus points for being another multi-species group, for bringing one very special Beastman along for the ride!

#3 - The Iron Golem

Chaos – 4/5

Originality – 3/5

Bonus – 2/5

Another example of doing the core concepts of Chaos well, with the added flair of being more original and memorable than some of the other “classic” warbands. The Iron Golem love metal and being as hard and unyielding as metal, and they hold to that standard. There’s not a scrap of anything besides flesh and steel on these guys. They look like absolute tanks, and can tout having both an ogre and a dwarf in their ranks. Now that’s a winning team!

#2 - The Unmade

Chaos – 3/5

Originality – 5/5

Bonus – 1/5

Similar to the lowest spot on this list, the Unmade are put in an awkward place by bridging the aesthetics of the Chaos and Death alliances. However, they get away with this by being among the most terrifying, most memorable, and most jaw-dropping warriors in the Mortal Realms. Seriously, these guys look like fresh hell. Chaos has a tough job of having to fulfill multiple vibes depending on the story in question - brutish barbarians, conniving sorcerers, sympathetic fallen souls, or horrific monstrosities. Often the last slot is the most difficult to manage, due to GW’s hesitancy to lean into the darkest aspects of their universes. The Unmade have no such hesitations. They revel in blood, gore, and horror, and they look amazing doing it.

#1 - The Scions of Flame

Chaos – 4/5

Originality – 3/5

Bonus – 2/5

Ok, so admittedly I’m biased! But the Scions have everything: the brutal, intimidating, grim aesthetic of classic Chaos, coupled with a tried and true gimmick that looks incredible on them. These guys really do look like they’re chosen by the gods. What’s more, while they have all the key features that people know and love from Chaos, the subtleties of their unique culture show through. Not just in their fire obsession, but in the exotic, almost oriental vibe of their armor that hearkens back to before Norsca was the only Chaos nation that anyone paid attention to in the Old World. Beyond even the Spire Tyrants, the Scions look as though they’re ready to burn the world to the ground in the name of the Everchosen and the Dark Gods.

[recentanimenews]

Netflix Reveals Upcoming Slate of Anime Titles for 2021

  Additional reporting by Daryl Harding

  During the Netflix Anime Festival 2020, the streaming company announced 16 anime titles coming to the service. Hosted by Hisanori Yoshida with special guest Rio Uchida, the two walked through the company’s upcoming anime from previously announced series to upcoming features. The announcements below are in alphabetical order. 

  Baki Hanma

  The story of the strongest parent-child fight in history comes to its climax in the 3rd part of the Baki Hanma series, subtitled ‘Son of Orge,’ premiering on Netflix in 2021. Manga creator Keisuke Itagaki drew a special illustration of Baki for the announcement.

  The most dysfunctional father-son relationship of all time reaches its climax when Baki Hanma faces off against the Ogre himself in next year’s season of Keisuke Itagaki’s brutal fight series! pic.twitter.com/Y0mEC8PmS8

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  B the Beginning Succession

  The second season of the popular B the Beginning anime series was announced during the presentation, entitled B the Beginning Succession. Netflix showcased the first images from the series as well as the new staff members.

  They might have solved their last case, but Keith and Koku aren’t finished yet. Here’s your first glimpse at B: The Beginning Succession’s story of detectives and killers in a high-tech world, arriving next year. @ProductionIGinc pic.twitter.com/spcWDOFUh7

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Ichiro Kawasaki takes over from Kazuto Nakazawa as the director of B the Beginning Succession at Production I.G. with Nakazawa returning in a supervisory role and the rest of the staff and cast returning for the second season that is scheduled to stream in 2021.

  Eden

  Netflix released a brand new trailer and visual for the four-episode original series Eden, directed by Yasuhiro Irie with animation production by Qubic Pictures, coming in May 2021.

  Sometimes a family is a human girl, a robot, and another robot. EDEN follows Sarah and her mechanical adoptive parents as she confronts a strange, beautiful world, arriving May 2021. pic.twitter.com/1foOcAT8Eh

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Godzilla: Singular Point

  During the presentation, the first visual and teaser trailer for the upcoming Godzilla: Singular Point anime series from Studio Orange and Bones roared its way through the presentation hall.

  When danger comes up from the depths, only young geniuses Mei, Yun, and their team can face the threat in Godzilla Singular Point! Take a first look at next year’s new series featuring the classic monster. @CG_Orange_eng @TOHO_GODZILLA pic.twitter.com/B7VWyGb3ZZ

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  The series will feature character designs by Kazue Kato (Blue Exorcist) and a new Godzilla design by Ghibli animator Eiji Yamamori. The series is currently scheduled to broadcast in April 2021.

  High Rise Invasion

  Netflix will release an anime adaptation of High Rise Invasion, based on the manga series by Takahiro Oba and Tsuina Miura (Ajin), in February 2021. The first two visuals of the series was released as well as the staff and cast. Directed by Masahiro Takata, with animation production by Zero-G.

  As Yuri finds herself in a bizarre world of endless buildings and masked killers, she’ll do whatever it takes to find her brother and escape. Next year, discover the secret of the skyscrapers in action horror series High-Rise Invasion. pic.twitter.com/ShFLIYsKHL

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Yoichi Ueda does the character designs, while Toko Machida works on the series composition, with music from tatsuo and Yoichi Sakai. Haruka Shiraishi, Shiki Aoki, Akira Sekine, Junya Enoki, and Yuichiro Umehara all lend their voices to the anime series.

  Pacific Rim: The Black

  After being announced in 2018, the first animated visuals and images of Pacific Rim: The Black anime series, based on the cult film series from Legendary Pictures, was released. The presentation showed off the opening title sequence of the 2021 series from Polygon Pictures and co-showrunners Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson.

  Long ago, humanity defeated the Kaiju. Now, they’re evacuating Australia. In 2021 join a pair of siblings and their battered, long-abandoned Jaegar as they battle across a continent of danger in Pacific Rim: The Black. @Legendary @POLYGONPICTURES pic.twitter.com/P5ZHZYv9OQ

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

    Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness

  Announced in September, TMS Entertainment and Quebico (the same studio behind Resident Evil: Vendetta) will be producing a brand new original series based on the Resident Evil franchise, featuring Resident Evil main characters Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. 

  When biohazards run wild, only a pair of veteran zombie slayers can get the job done. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness is a new original series set in the canon of @CapcomUSA_’s classic survival horror franchise @RE_Games, coming next year. pic.twitter.com/nuBKVgXuzp

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Rilakkuma's Theme Park Adventure

  A continuation of the Netflix anime series, directed by Masahito Kobayashi with animation production by dwarf studios and San-X Co., Ltd.

  Grab your tickets and get in line for a new series of stop-motion adventures with Rilakkuma and Kaoru! Join Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, Kiiroitori, and Kaoru as they explore an amusement park in its closing hours when Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure arrives next year. pic.twitter.com/qU2qzSl7pH

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Spriggan

  After originally being announced on October 5, Netflix released the first trailer and visual for the newest adaptation of Spriggan. Based on the 1980s to 1990s manga series written by Hiroshi Takashige and drawn by Ryoji Minagawa, the new adaptation will be released on the platform in 2021.

  As the armies of man battle over ancient relics, one organization will do all it can to seal them away. Here’s a first look at 2021’s anime series adaptation of legendary action manga Spriggan in action! @DPInc_official pic.twitter.com/ukTzI0nlMS

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Spriggan is directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi (Kiznaiver), with character designs from Shuhei Handa (Little Witch Academia) and series composition from Hiroshi Seko (Mob Psycho 100), and will be produced at david productions.

  The Way of the House Husband

  Based on the award-winning manga by Kousuke Oono, J.C.Staff will head the production of The Way of the House Husband. The series will be directed by Chiaki Kon, with Kenjiro Tsuda playing the main character Tatsu.

  Japan’s most evil yakuza makes its cutest househusband! Follow Tatsu’s journey from underworld legend to domestic bliss when the anime adaptation of Kousuke Oono’s hit comedy manga The Way of the Househusband premieres in 2021. pic.twitter.com/V7tdVIaYVc

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Thermae Romae Novae

  A new season of the award-winning Thermae Romae series was announced during the presentation, entitled Thermae Romae Novae (novae means new!). A visual for the upcoming series was released. Mari Yamazaki will be drawing new episodes for the series. Production by NAZ.

  When Roman Empire bath designer Lucius ends up in modern Japan, he’ll find the two cultures aren’t so different after all. The anime adaptation of Mari Yamazaki’s bathhouse comedy Thermae Romae Novae hits the screen in 2021! pic.twitter.com/SeS1ZMS83W

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan

  All four episodes of the OVA anime series for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure spin-off Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan will be coming to Netflix in 2021.

  To truly capture the ways of the world, this manga artist will scour the globe for inspiration! All four episodes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure spin-off Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan make their Netflix debut 2021. pic.twitter.com/cONOzo0d3B

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy

  Netflix announced during the live stream that the second chapter of Rooster Teeth's Transformers: War For Cybertron will be coming soon.

  With the Allspark lost and Decepticons trapped on a dying Cybertron, Optimus Prime pushes the Autobots to the limit in the depths of space. EARTHRISE, the second chapter of the Transformers: War for Cybertron trilogy, is coming soon. @RoosterTeeth @Hasbro pic.twitter.com/up6g4Qt3QB

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  TRESE

  New anime series based in Manila, TRESE, was announced. The stream noted that because the series is being created in the Philippines, the creators will have a different perspective of Manila than someone not from the city.

  Aswangs of Manila, beware: Alexandra Trese is coming for you. Enjoy this very first look at TRESE, coming soon on Netflix. ???????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/BpiRc6WhjQ

— Netflix Philippines (@Netflix_PH) October 27, 2020

  Vampire in the Garden

  Vampire in the Garden, a new original anime series from WIT STUDIO, was announced by Netflix. The vampire series, which is being directed by Ryotaro Makihara (The Empire of Corpses), with character designs and animation direction Tetsuya Nishio (Naruto) and art direction from Shunichiro Yoshihara (Attack on Titan), will be out on the platform in 2021.

  Once, vampires and humans lived in harmony. Now, a young girl and a vampire queen will search for that Paradise once again. Here’s your first look at Vampire in the Garden, an original story from @WIT_STUDIO premiering next year. pic.twitter.com/9Z55Cn3ijV

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Yasuke

  Yasuke, headed by MAPPA and directed by LeSean Thomas, released the first character sheets of the Black samurai Yasuke as well as the legendary Oda Nobunaga, both drawn by character designer Takeshi Koike.

  A village in danger, a mysterious child, warring daimyo, and the greatest ronin never known all clash in a Japan of magic and mechs. Learn the story of the first African samurai when LeSean Thomas’s Yasuke, voiced by Lakeith Stanfield, arrives next year. pic.twitter.com/jCabzutMIv

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) October 27, 2020

  Lakeith Stanfield will voice Yasuke, with animation produced at MAPPA and music produced by Flying Lotus. Yasuke is scheduled for 2021 on the platform.

  Netflix also discussed the current state of anime on the platform, saying that over 100 million households in nearly 100 countries around the world watch anime on the platform – which has one of the widest reaches of all streaming services –. In Japan, “almost 1 out of 2” households watch at least five hours of anime on the service every month, equal to at least one season of a 12 episode show.

        Kyle Cardine is an Editor for Crunchyroll. You can find his Twitter here.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[tlaquetzqui]

1. What traditional fantasy races (elf, dwarf, orc, etc) do you have? Have you created any?

Well, the genesis of this story is that people said you can’t do good fantasy in an RPG setting. I’ve read much better fantasy in Forgotten Realms, Warhammer Fantasy, and World of Warcraft tie-ins than in most “original” works (aside from how a lot of fantasy authors are just writing uncredited RPG tie-ins—Witcher is Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, A Song of Ice and Fire is F.A.T.A.L.); so I decided to set a fantasy story in my (homebrew) Pathfinder campaign setting, mostly just to show it can be done. (I think I’m in the clear legally if I don’t use any ‘product identity’ things. Order of the Stick has books, after all.)

So. There are elves, dwarves, and gnomes, plus halflings but my halflings are magically-modified humans, descended from slaves of the witch-empire whose rulers thought a miniature slave would be an amusing novelty. Then I also have goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears (also barghests) as various castes of a mutated elf offshoot, and then orcs and ogres (not ogre mages, I don’t think) are two castes of mutated dwarf. I also have gnolls (which I just call “hyena people”; I don’t know where people hallucinated the idea “gnoll” refers to a hyena dude), catfolk (“cat people”—I hate the word “folk”), and yak people, created by the witch-empire’s mages along with the halflings. There are hybrid races like half-elves and half-orcs, but they’re created by alchemical genetic engineering not naturally, usually by the same people as made the animal-people and halflings (the witch-empire also artificially hybridizes themselves with fiends, elementals, and vampires, to make tieflings, what D&D proper called genasi, and dhampirs). There are also giants, various talking beasts (like wargs) ridden by the nonhuman races—my elves ride talking Homotherium, my dwarves ride talking wolverines the size of black bears—and dragons. (All my dragons are chaotic neutral, since they’re basically intelligent cats.)

There are also bee, ant, and spider people made by one group of weird spirits, and another group made fish people, frog people, lizard people, and snake people; the latter one made kobolds and troglodytes, which are two branches of the same race in my setting, same as goblins and hobgoblins, or orcs and ogres.

The main world of the setting is the home of the gnomes, and the elves and dwarves each came from one of its two moons through magic portals, when rampaging goblins and ogres (respectively) broke down their spiritual protections and allowed their worlds to be overrun by fiends (basically D&D/PF devils, but evenly divided among lawful, neutral, and chaotic). The giants likewise came to the main world from the star-system’s giant planets—stone and fire giants from one, wood and frost from another, and hill giants and cyclopes from a third—because the fire and frost giants, and cyclopes, did what the goblins and ogres did. Humanity only came into being when the other races came from the moons (and planets); the other races aren’t sure exactly why that occurred or where, exactly, humans fit in their cosmology—since they weren’t demonstrably the children of a family of gods, unlike all the other races.

The big peculiarity of my setting is it has no fey; they’re kinda redundant with elves, gnomes, etc.

[nirahsa]

((Another old piece, one that makes me sad that I think I lost the Halloween one I wrote for Trask...which is sad because I loved that one alot(Trask a Geist tried to mingle on halloween and it backfired a bit because he just can’t stop when he’s actually ahead.). But this is an old one when I revisited the idea of a Death Knight character but wanted to do something different with it. Which overall wasn’t bad since Areelan was the straight-man to Trask’s general insanity.))

Areelan shuffled through the woods of Elwynn, the chirping of the nightlife seemed to quiet down at her passing. Which only caused her to sigh as she remembered the times when she used to lay in a tree simply listening to such lovely sounds. The pale night elf simply shook her head to get rid of the image as she reached the run down house that was her home, taking a key from her pocket and unlocking the door she entered.

The inside was rather neat and orderly with an armor rack that stood full of dust covered protective gear. A wicked bloodstained axe rested nearby glowing with blue runes. She turned her head towards her desk and the shelves above that were laden with alchemical ingredients.

So many concoctions and so many failures, every so often she’d think she’d have found a cure for the boiling wracking pain that afflicted any Death Knight that didn’t partake in violence. Only to be proven wrong at inopportune times, it made her feel as if the affliction was ever changing, she’d find one mix of ingredients that’d stifle it for a time, only for repeated doses to be ineffective.

Still it was one of the few hobbies she had left that helped keep her sane in her unlife. Aree took a seat at the desk after setting her broom aside, mind pondering. She’d been hearing a lot of hearsay recently, about Garrosh and his new power trip. One that he seemed to be taking even further to the point of trying to conquer or destroy the world, she couldn’t figure out which.

“It seems even when Monsters step aside to try and fade into obscurity, more are ready to take their place and act with far less restraint,” She stated softly to herself before straightening at the sound of claws scrabbling against brick. She turned her head just in time to see the upside down head of the Geist Trask appear in the cold fireplace.

“Ho ho ho, I’m great father winter, and I’ve come for your gifts!” The geist stated wheezily with a mad chuckle, eliciting an eye roll from Areelan.

“You’re several months early Trask…and I don’t know why I told you that, now you’re going to just do it again later.”

“Hey, if a fat ugly dwarf can be great father winter why not a guy with a bag on his head? I’d be prettier.” Trask remarked as he dropped down landing on his hands and knees before rising and moving closer to the desk.

“Because people do not worry about a dwarf trying to eat them.” She stated dryly.

“Hey, I prefer eating things with more meat on their bones, like Ogres, once you get past the blubber and slow roast..mm mm.” Trask replied in a mocking manner.

“I doubt even you could stomach trying that Trask.”

“Details…so what is on the agenda, another glorious alchemical failure hmm?” The undead asked while placing a clawed hand on Aree’s shoulder. The night elf walked over to her desk taking a seat as the old floorboards creaked, her hands grabbing pen and parchment.

“No, money is short again, sweeping the streets of stormwind just doesn’t give much in the way of coin.”

Trask clasped both of his clawed hands together tilting his head to the side and back slightly, “Ooooh you’re getting a second job! How productive of you, you little death knight you supporting your little geist child like a responsible death dealing adult!”

Aree rolled her eyes before she started writing, “Being responsible would be giving you up for adoption to the light.”

The geist feigned a hurt look pose, “I thought you loved me!” Before he cackled.

“Sometimes I wonder why I let you hang around, but no, I have to seek out mercenary work again.” She put simply.

“What the heck do you spend the money you do make on anyway? Not like you eat, no way you spent all the money you built up last time on alchemical supplies, I’ve been keeping track of that out of boredom.”

“Keep wondering Trask,” Aree replied as her hand glided smoothly over the parchment.

“Either way, what outfit will take you? Didn’t you sort of burn the bridge with that last group you worked with, you know throwing their leader overboard when he tried to get you to execute prisoners in some gruesome manner or another?” Trask tapped a claw against where his chin would be underneath that line bag covering his head. “I still say you should have thrown him off the front of the ship, naval road kill, speed bump!”

Aree rolled her eyes again, choosing to stay silent and let Trask rant hoping it might shut him up eventually. She focused her attention on the parchment while dabbing her quill pen in ink and starting to write. There was one unit she could try, though she was fairly certain she’d be rejected due to her undead nature.

To Commander Forrester of The Silver Dragoons

Ishnu-alah Commander Forrester, I write to you with regards to potentially serving with your unit. I would have filled out one of your applications. However I thought it best to write to you first due to circumstances concerning me as an applicant. I am a death knight, and I would not blame you for turning down any notion of my joining based on that fact alone. I know how our kind are looked upon, with evidence to back up such viewpoints.

I however find myself in need of coin, street sweeping simply doesn’t provide much. Not that I am leaving that line of work entirely, someone has to keep the streets clear. As to why I am interested in your unit as opposed to other mercenary groups, to put it simply I have principles that I wish to uphold and other merc groups have in the past been more interested in coin than caring what the job was. Your group has a distinguished past, I remember seeing your tabards among others taking the fight to the Lich King in his own citadel. Anyone that will stand against a foe like that cares about more than just money.

If you are willing to consider me as a potential recruit, I will do what I can to prove myself.

Though I do have some, extra baggage that I have to deal with, I’d prefer to iterate on that in person rather than through a letter.

Sincrely,

Areelan

 “Baggage!? Did you seriously just put me down as your baggage!?”

“Do you have a better term for yourself?” She asked wryly.

“Your Stalwart Sidekick against the terrors of dirt in the street!” He stated with a high raspy mocking voice.

“You create more trash to clean up.”

“Assisted job security,” He exclaimed more exuberantly before going into a brief hacking fit.

Areelan let out another sigh before rising, folding up the letter carefully before sticking it in an envelope and sealing it, “I need to go mail this, stay here and fantasize.”

“Right, hold down the fort and scare the crap out of any kids that were dared to knock on your door.”

The night elf eye rolled before departing her home, door creaking shut behind her, only to slam shut when Trask grabbed the door handle.

[fashionand-online]

Dear Dan,

I want to tell you some thoughts on a fragment called “The Last Judgment” accredited with Hieronymus Bosch.

The painting was first recorded in 1822 as part of the collection of the Städtliche Gallery in Nuremberg. Later on, it came in possession of the Bavarian State Painting Collection, which also belongs to the Alte Pinakothek.

This fragment painted on oak wood was found 1817 (about 400 years after its production!) in the depot of the Nuremberg Castle in Bavaria. The original must have been huge: the dimensions of the fragment are 60cm x 114cm! It is supposed to be the lower right part of a triptych, if you look at the very bottom left you can see a big amount of dark blue fabric, this is said to belong to a great, standing archangel Michael. In that case, the painting would look as followed: at the top Christ as a judge, underneath him Michael weighing the souls, to his left, the resurrection of the elect, angels leading to heaven, and to his right the saved fragment: the damned, demons dragging them to hell. This structure was quite a typical one for the 15th century (check out below the polyptych of the Last Judgment by Rogier van der Weyden). It wasn’t even known for a long time if Bosch painted it or not –the new consensus is that it’s painted by an anonymous Bosch follower. This fragment displays the immense popularity and relevance of Bosch for the painters of his time.

What I find so exciting about this painting is not only its visual appeal, the content is so overwhelming: it depicts in a way a “hell on earth”, a system of the afterlife on our world, a visualization of dystopia in our future.

We know that Bosch was rather conservative, he belonged to this re-moralist brotherhood in his hometown and nearly never left the village he lived in. Most of his commissioners were catholic royals and his paintings said to depict the horror people would suffer in hell -  a very creative horror though. The goal of his paintings was to depict this hell and create fear inside of the observer and therefore behave more morally correct. Nevertheless today his paintings fulfill some sort of different role, we find them amazing and fantastic, many see them as the pioneering precursors of the surrealist paintings and find similarities between Dali’s and other surrealist paintings and Bosch’s. It makes sense if I was a little Dali boy and would see one of this paintings I would’ve also been heavily inspired!

Even though most of his figures appear nude, the aspect of metamorphosis, collage of elements and transformation is highly linked to fashion design. In a way, I could see modern designs by JW Anderson, Jacquemus, Craig Green, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy and the likes popping up in his paintings. Bosch’s sceneries also remind me of big fetish parties from bird-perspective: people in weird costume next to naked women and men, all in rather experimental, almost painful poses, creeping around, in dream-like landscapes. Several Designers used his paintings as prints and inspiration for their creations, among them also Lee Alexander McQueen in his very last other-worldly collection.

I will describe a few of my favorite figures in this painting. On the left side of the painting, we see about 10 naked people crawling up from holes in the ground. The holes are dark slits, the earth seems to be spitting out people. Among others, we see a pope, two royals and also a priest or pastor, all identifiable by their headgear. The ground is hissing out flames. On center top we can see a green-ish demon, its spine-bones are bunching out strongly, its butt towards the viewer. Two big wings span from its back, a mix of butterfly, moth, and bird, very organic and delicate. It is looking at us, with big black shiny eyes. Kind of a cocky face expression. With its mouse or fox ears, it resembles a bat-demon somewhat. He’s farting on a tortured soul. Not far from it we can see a rather elegant humanoid bird-creature. It has legs and hands of a human and head and tail of a bird, the tail turns into something lizard-y. Its bulky body covered in a long yellow gown, with typical medieval sleeves, wide and long, adorned with white feathers at the hem. With a long metallic rake at hand, it seems to be pulling humans out of the soil. Underneath it, we find two rather funny promenading individuals. The first one is an old guy with a white hood around his face, to both sides of his head grow a few thin filigree feathers. Its facial expression displays annoyance or displeasure. The small body stands on four human feet and is shrouded in a blue cloak with white lace parts. A ridiculously big tail a la peacock-feather-meets-platypus peeks out from the cloak. The other figure has a slightly slimmer body shape. Its white skin is naked. The tail and head are of a mouse (or rat), the snout being very pointy red with extremely long white feelers. Its head is covered in a nun-like white cloth, crowned by a red pointy hat. It seems to have a boob, or an udder hanging from its torso. This weird figure is basically just standing there, quasi-hanging out in hell….

Next is a group of four dwarfs or ogres. These figures are very important because they wear oriental clothing and one of them bears the Turkish coat of arms symbol, the moon, on his turban. This is a typical symbol in medieval Christian painting: the Turkish as representatives of the whole Arabic world and Islamic culture, and furthers representing the bad, the evil enemy and the devil. In the very center of the painting, we can see a monster which looks like an explosion. It has no head, instead two tails at the bottom and top of its body. The colors from its skin and wings are fancifully chosen. This demon is brutally smacking a tortured person against the fire-spitting ground. The demons take charge of the dead, who are evidently being led off to hell!

All creatures and scenes shown on this fragment are illustrating the insanity reigning in the devilish hell, a huge chaos rules the world of the sinners and traitors and nobody is safe! The creatures appear as fusions and metamorphosed mutants, all shapes and forms are mingling, all colors and kinds are melting to creatures which take quite a while for our minds to process! The fashion creations in our current world are not far from this, they are wicked and weird, they are materialistic and abundant, exaggerated and extreme. Imagine if eventually, Bosch was just a visionary fortune teller, he might have had some sort of magical crystal ball streaming him live imagery from London or Paris catwalks and runways, providing him with endless inspiration for these Babylonian sceneries!? Or maybe he was able to peek through a future-curtain directly into the studios of the big fashion houses, he could see the poor tortured souls of the interns being maltreated by eccentrically dressed fashion fanatics! We will never know exactly how Bosch’s creatures were conceptualized, but don’t you believe my fashion-visionary theory to not be too far from reality? 

text & image selection: Federico Protto

image sources:  The Last Judgement (fragment), by Hieronymus Bosch: boschproject.org Polyphonic of the Last Judgment by Rogier van der Weyden: artbible.info First Bosch detail: pinterest.de Other two Bosch details: boschproject.org All runway images: vogue.com

[huelskamp19]

Kampy Takes a Look At: Ghostwatch

Spoilers

               I love horror movies. I love found footage horror movies. The intense sensation the viewer experiences by seeing events unfold as though they were actually in the film, framed by the first person Point of view of filming techniques, is a cinematic trope of which I have yet to tire of. Filmmakers must construct these films with much more care than a typical horror film. It’s difficult to strike a balance of showing too much, ruining the realistic feel of the film, and showing too little, disappointing the audience with an unfulfilling pay off to the cinematic haunted house. Filmmakers must also strike a delicate balance with the protagonists, which act as the audience surrogate; compelling enough to carry the story with clear purpose while being generic enough that the audience can continue to insert themselves into the film. The UK television mockumentary, Ghostwatch succeeds in overcoming both of these difficulties masterfully. While not a perfect film, Ghostwatch makes many choices, which help to both draw the viewer into the drama as though they were truly present for the events in question, creates a compelling cast of characters in which the audience can interact, and creates unsettling atmosphere and subtle scares which never go too far into the absurd. It’s no wonder that the film would inspire many in the UK to believe it was real upon it’s initial airing, but would also go on to inspire a whole slew of found footage style horror films –most notably, The Blair Witch Project.

               The BBC’s Ghostwatch is a 90-minute horror story shot in a documentary style that aired in 1992 as a part of the BBC’s “Screen One” drama series. While the special was clearly indicated to be a work of fiction, it is based on the paranormal case of the Enfield Poltergeist. Heavily investigated and criticized, with evidence both confirming and denying it as a potential hoax, this poltergeist case was in the forefront of every paranormal investigator’s mind as one of the most compelling pieces of supernatural occurrences. Many casual viewers who watched the special were terrified by what they saw, and later angered when they found out it was a work of fiction. Tabloids were outraged by the disturbing imagery and frightened viewers continued to call the network even after the airing. To this day, the special has not aired again on the BBC. However, its rise to cult status and its influence on modern day found footage horror films cannot be understated. Many of the found footage techniques this film utilized are found today in modern horror films, including the dreaded mirror scare (which I hate). This just goes to show the influence this film holds over filmmakers, even 25 years later.

               The special stars professional reporters Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith and Craig Charles as themselves and actress Gillian Bevan as the in studio parapsychologist. Sarah Greene is sent with her camera crew to investigate the potential haunting of a house in Greater London. Through interviews with neighbors, on site happenings, and in studio investigation with calling viewers, it is revealed that the house is haunted by a malevolent spirit the children who live in the house call “Pipes”. In the end, all hell breaks loose and the viewer is left to wonder what will happen next as the special ends with Michael Parkinson reciting the creepy nursery rhyme Pipes was fond of.

               The framing, through a news network investigation, is a boon to the special as it allows the viewers to both feel as though they are participating in the haunted excursion and to have a compelling protagonist to act as the focal point of the film. The audience is viewing the events unfolding from the perspective of the relatively silent cameraman, focusing on Sarah. With Sarah Greene acting as the mouthpiece for the audience while having her own agenda, the viewer becomes invested in not only the happenings of the haunting, but also the wellbeing of an actual character that we have come to know and identify with. Greene plays herself as inquisitive, but somewhat skeptical, much like the average viewer would be. I think this is one of the main reasons viewers were drawn in and compelled to believe the events that took place as truth, as opposed to listening to the disclaimer at the beginning of the show; Greene acts as your average joe, or jane, while investigating. Even though she kindly takes care of the kids that live in the house while their mother observes, she is shown to be skeptical of their claims due to ever nature as a reporter. However, at the same time, she wants to believe them as she herself is a woman who is excited by the prospects of the supernatural. This duality, along with the depth of her performance, makes Green a fascinating character to watch as the chaos around her unfolds.

               The special itself holds an air of skeptical realism, with much of the haunting itself being like real world claims of paranormal activity. Inanimate objects moving, seeing glimpses of something out of the corner of your eye, recordings seemingly changing depending on the viewer, weird sounds at night, and such. Michael Parkinson falls on the opposite side of the spectrum of belief desire. He’s quite sure the whole thing is a hoax but doesn’t want to let on to this fact due to the ratings monster that the special had the potential to be. He surrounds himself with those who want to believe and yet he himself has a hard time doing so. It’s the perfect juxtaposition to Greene. The weird sounds are easily explained away in the studio as natural phenomenon (heating pipes and leaky faucets, for example) and the possessed voices are explained as the girls playing tricks. However, we as the audience and Greene on location, know something isn’t quite right.

               So, all of this is good and whatnot, but how effective are the scares? Well, pretty effective, honestly. Thankfully, as a found footage style special, the subtle scares are as true for the viewer as they are for Greene’s character. The ghost is never seen fully and is often hidden in the background, with fleeting, but unsettling glances. Sometimes the lighting is set up in such a way to trick the viewer into seeing something that isn’t there. Sometime, the actor playing the ghost is wearing clothes to blend in with the background, giving the audience a vague, humanoid outline that seems to appear and disappear at random. Even the mirror bit -which I hate- is present when the specter appears in a reflective surface suddenly, only to disappear when the character turns away. A great example of this thoughtful staging would be early in the film when a video camera catches a glimpse of something at night. The two girls who live in the house are going to sleep in their room and when the lights go out, you can vaguely see a humanoid figure against the curtains alongside the window. A “viewer” calls in about this and when the footage is played back, the shadows of the room’s lighting makes it appears there is something standing in front of the curtain, but there isn’t. Later, the footage is played again and you can clearly see something watching the girls as they sleep. In truth, there were 3 different versions of this scene shot. One had no ghost, one had a transparent ghost, and the third had the curtain set up purposefully to make the shadow fall in such a way that tricks the viewer into seeing something. The average viewer would have been, and was, tricked into thinking that they, perhaps, hadn’t seen anything at all when in reality there was something in the room. This effects staging is prevalent all throughout the film and is so impressive that so far not all the apparition appearances in the film have been recorder, with a new sighting occurring every couple of years.

               Like anything, Ghostwatch isn’t without its faults. Some of the segments, like the interview with the skeptic from the US, are too slow and mess up the pacing of the actual investigation, which is the heart of the film. The actors playing the little girls are a bit distracting with their line delivery being rather forced. Though this may be a result of their ages and inexperience at acting. The last 15 minutes of the film also escalates too quickly and the tone shift is sudden enough to give you a case a whiplash. Finally, the use of the viewer calls to dump exposition at the very end of the film felt like a cop out to explain the haunting, rather than something that developed organically or could be left ambiguous. However, most of these issues are overcome by the strength of the reporter’s performances, the quality of the scares, and the atmosphere the special carefully builds.

               Ghostwatch is a fascinating film with a great sense of atmosphere and intrigue. As a precursor to many of the found footage films we see today, it’s easy to see where many of the influences are drawn from. While the beginning can be a bit slow, the payoffs and scares are well worth it. It succeeds in creating a dramatic, tense atmosphere while ensuring the audience remains a part of the film and remain invested in the protagonist. This is difficult for any film to achieve, much less a found footage film. Ghostwatch, surprisingly, does it wonderfully. It’s especially commendable due to being a early 90’s BBC production, which traditionally have suffered from low budgets and studio interference. Thankfully, neither hindered this piece.

 Rating: 8/10 – Ghostwatch is a well-crafted, albeit slow starting, scare filled ride which not only wants to include the audience in it’s fun, but also develop a strong story and characters to leave as much impact on its viewers and genre as it can.