#wolfen and warlocks

[triscribeaucollection]

JLU plays W&W

“You can’t be serious.”

“Sure I can,” Clark grinned. “Come on, we’ve all been meaning to spend time with each other off the clock, so why not schedule a game night? At least once a month.”

“That part I understand,” Bruce rumbled, perched in the monitor station’s chair and not bothering to look over his shoulder. “But a roleplaying game?”

“I thought you of all people might enjoy that.”

“Hn.”

“At least look over the game itself before you come to a decision, alright? Most of the pre-made campaigns feature mysteries for players to investigate, and the rules are pretty quick to pick up. I had to explain tabletop RPGs to J’onn and Diana, but they’re both interested, and Wally said yes even before I finished speaking...”

His grin grew wider as Bruce let out a small, almost unnoticeable sigh. “What’s it called.”

“Wolfen and Warlocks,” Clark told him, and blinked when his friend’s fingers paused on the keyboard. “It’s based on this book series called Stories From Sarant - I picked the box up off the shelf because I remembered reading the first one when I was in middle school-”

“Wolfen’s Rage,” Bruce said softly, and then it became Clark’s turn to pause. “I’m familiar.”

Despite giving him a moment, the other man didn’t add anything else. Feeling a little more cautious, Clark went on, “Well, I still need to check with John and Shayera, but so far I’m thinking next Thursday? We can use our usual meeting room here, or get one of the smaller rec halls, or I could host at my apartment in Metropolis.”

His friend grunted, hands once more tapping across the station controls. “Watchtower would be better in case there’s an emergency. And then you wouldn’t have to cater.”

“True.” Clark let his head tip to one side, half wishing (not for the first time) that his x-ray vision would let him see the thoughts inside people’s heads, and not just their physical brain tissue. “Well, in that case, I’ll get you the introductory player’s guide to look over beforehand. I figured we could all roll up some characters together, maybe play a sample encounter to get a feel for things before we schedule a full campaign run.”

Another grunt. Slightly lighter, though, which he took to mean yes, fine, now go away and let me work.

“Alright, then. See you later, Bruce.”

---

Thursday rolled around, and Clark fully expected to need to engage in more careful cajoling to bring all six of his oldest teammates into the recreation room he’d reserved for the afternoon. Instead, he got to feel pleasantly surprised, walking through the door with J’onn to find Bruce, Diana, John and Shayera all present, Wally zipping in on his heels with an armful of snacks. 

“What?” The speedster asked, when a few eyebrows were raised in his direction. “You can’t have a game session without junk food!”

Clark started setting things up with a small smile, listening as the others teased and bickered with one another. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time all seven of them settled in the same space that wasn’t their private meeting room to discuss League matters - if the game worked out and became a regular thing, he’d have to thank his Pa again for the idea.

“Alright,” he eventually called, sliding paper and freshly sharpened pencils around the table. “You all looked over at least the intro booklet, right? Who wants to start with what they’ve got in mind for a character?”

“Goblin,” Wally immediately said. “I’m gonna call him Bert, but with a ‘y’!”

Clark dutifully wrote down Goblin, Byrt

“I think I’d like to try a minotaur,” Diana went next. “With a background in hand to hand combat.”

Minotaur went a line below Wally’s goblin, even as Clark said, “Remember this is a chance to experiment with being someone other than ourselves, guys.”

“Whoops,” Shayera said in a dry tone. When Clark raised his eyebrows, she shrugged. “I want to play a harpy.”

Wally promptly choked on his mouthful of potato chips, and John snorted. “Let me guess, with a mace and some of those Close Combat moves?”

“The level one inventory options don’t have a mace,” the Thanagarian huffed. “I picked the heavy walking staff, instead.”

“That’s still impact damage-”

“And what did you want to play, Stewart?”

For a brief moment, John looked embarrassed, before doubling down into a stubborn scowl. “Human. With elemental magic.”

Shayera immediately leaned forward, elbow braced on the table and hand tucked below her chin, smirking. “Light magic?”

“Look, the Break of Dawn and Gleaming Prison spells-”

“I have decided to create an anonian character,” J’onn cut in, thankfully before the pair of exes could really get rolling. “One of the Forest type, with an innate paralytic touch ability.”

“And also green scales, if I remember right,” Clark couldn’t help but say, even as he added to the list with a renewed grin: Harpy, Human, Anonian (Dragon-folk)

“I think I’d like to know what you’ve chosen for yourself before you throw any further stones, Clark.” Diana folded her arms with an expectant expression.

“Orc,” he promptly shot back.

“Which kind,” Bruce rumbled from his seat.

Ah. Well. “...meckle orc.”

His friend smirked. “So a farmer, then.”

“What’s your choice,” Clark asked instead of answering, ignoring how some of the others snickered. Bruce’s smirk stayed in place as he produced a short stack of index cards from his utility belt, each covered with scribbled notes. He plucked off the top one and held it out, letting Clark see- “A fairy?”

“Based off the moth species melanodes anthracitaria,” Bruce somehow said with utter sincerity, even as John coughed to hide his amusement and Wally let out an almost inhuman wheeze. A small square photograph came out of the stack of notes, paperclipped to a card with a simple sketch of a humanoid figure with wings the same shape as the real moth. Black, of course, with silver-grey markings. “His name is Thomarwyn. I’ve done some research on the novels and put together a basic background and family history in line with what the author’s written about her various cultures.”

“Size category, Tiny,” Shayera read from her copy of the intro player’s guide, lips slowly curling up into a wicked smile. “Not going to be able to punch very many bad guys when you’re only two feet tall.”

“No, but I’ll be able to get in and out of places the rest of you won’t.”

And that was when it clicked for Clark. “You’ve made him a detective, haven’t you?”

“Hn.”

On the other side of the table, Wally got enough breath back to say, “Bat-Moth!” And promptly start wheezing with laughter again.

---

(I've been giggling non-stop since coming up with this idea yesterday; first five pages are written and will probably get posted to my AO3 account sometime this week while I work on more. And yes, Wolfen & Warlocks is a real game in beta-testing mode created by yours truly - when I don't have very many people to help me try it out, I figure the next best thing is to toss it to some fictional characters to see what shenanigans they can come up with!)

[triscribe]

Picked up a new sketchbook last week, with tan instead of white pages. Figure I'm gonna fill it up with Sarant stuff, both for my book Wolfen's Rage and the Wolfen & Warlocks game I'm making.

"There are three facts I try to live by: it's not naive to remember that dawn will always break the night, it's not cynical to assume there's always another storm on the horizon, and it is beyond stupid to antagonize a wolfen of any size." -Lillia Crant

And some Lore below, if anyone's interested:

In the earliest inkling of a moment, there existed darkness, and light, and little else besides specks drifting between.

Then-

Three sets of hands reached out, to collect those specks, to shape and weave and ignite them, into something more. Something alive.

Those hands belonged to the Forgotten Ones, known by no other names besides these: the One Who Saw, the One Who Sang, and the One Who Spoke. They possessed no purpose beyond crafting new worlds, as they traveled from one edge of the cosmos to another and back again.

The Forgotten Ones collected their materials, and set about creating a series of realms, each balanced against another. One for life, and one for death. One each for fire, and water; for earth and air; for light and shadow. And last of all, two miniature realms, filled with leftover power that would shield this new world from prying eyes, and alert the Forgotten Ones should anything Else attempt to meddle with their endeavors.

Only one task remained after that...

This new world required Guardians. And so, drawing from the power of those final two realms, the golden and the azure moons, the Forgotten Ones breathed life into a pair of great wolves: Wol and Calu.

The One Who Saw showed these two the scope of their home. The One Who Sang taught them the skills of creation. And the One Who Spoke assigned to them their task: to protect, to guide, and to nurture all who would come after.

Young and full of magic, the wolves accepted their charge, swearing to uphold the balance between realms for all their lifetime. Satisfied, the Forgotten Ones bid them farewell, and left.

[cliff-and-the-kid]

Sarant!verse

Cliffjumper:

Minotaur, size Large (8ft tall)

Level One, 22HP (+2 from Fortitude bonus)

5 steps per Movement

+2 physical damage dealt (Strength bonus)

Natural Ability: Hoof Stomp (1d4 hit-or-miss to knock an adjacent opponent over and deal 3 damage)

Sierra:

Quirren, size Middling (5.5ft tall)

Level One, 20HP

6 steps per Movement (standard 5 +1 from Agility bonus)

+1 Intuition bonus on Rolls for Initiative and Investigation

+1 Charm bonus for Subtlety Abilities and on Rolls for Interaction

Natural Ability: Inherent Spite (always deal 2 extra damage to a selected race category) Selection: Altered Beast

Full character sheets under the cut!

(And if anybody's interested, I think I will offer to make these for other muses upon request - feel free to include any specific preferences for me to work with, or take a risk and leave things entirely up to Storymaster's Choice) >:3

[cliffandthekid-archive]

"...explain it to me again?"

"I'm gonna tell Ratchet you need your ears checked," Sierra mutters, but she does flip back to the front of the little booklet. "Okay. So- there are the five Arriv races, your usual high fantasy types: humans, elves, orcs, dwarves, and goblins. Then we've got the Amkyn, who are this big collection of animal people-"

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my." Cliffjumper grins apologetically when the teenager sighs. "Sorry. Being quiet."

"Thank you. There's also this group called the Elemti, who are made of different elements like fire and water, but they aren't a playable race. And everybody's got their own sets of gods, who can grant blessings to boost your abilities once per day..."

Cliff doesn't really need Sierra to review all the information again, but he likes the way her eyes gradually light up the longer she explains, gestures getting faster and more exaggerated as they go on. Apparently this 'Wolfen and Warlocks' game is based on a book series she really liked as a kid, left behind when she moved into the world of teenage social drama in an effort to be more 'cool'.

But hey, being cool went out the window when she started hanging out with Team Prime. Which means Cliff gets to sit and listen as his kid rambles on about this roleplaying game she recently discovered, Sierra unaware of his soft smile while she debates what abilities to pick out for her new magical badger-person.

(When they get around to his turn, he's totally picking Minotaur for his character.)

[triscribe]

Had a similar moment myself last month, running my first campaign with some online friends. In hindsight, our ten minute break at the two hour mark really should've been the stopping point for the day; instead we pushed on, to a point no one was operating at full capacity, and a string of bad rolls/causing unintended consequences caused one of my players to snap.

I didn't blame them, and tried to make that clear in my apology for things not going well. Both the other players messaged me privately to make sure I was okay and wasn't taking it personally. Everybody engaged in a big round of 'this is okay, we're okay, speaking up is fine and good and makes it easier to improve the experience for each of us', before signing off for the night. Next week, we tried again, rewinding to a prior point in the campaign for a re-do that went significantly better.

Communication is a vital part of TTRPG, both in-person and especially when playing through a chat server.

A fellow player just burst into tears into the middle of a very intense D&D session

Instead of resentment and passive aggressiveness, the DM paused the session. We had a two hour talk it out in which everyone communicated their feelings and needs and reassured each other of good intentions. We agreed to develop a framework for better in game communication and calmer roleplay

No more D&D was played for the evening, and everyone was a little rattled, but we all felt heard and are still friends. I left the session thinking that if all D&D groups were like this then the D&D subreddit would have 95% fewer posts

[dartagnantt]

For the Swarm | Swarm templates and other fun rules for unusual swarms

PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here! I release everything for free, so your support makes this possible. I've also started making a new system based off of 5e, 6th Dawn! Become a patron and join the playtest.

So, this month's new theme is 'Collective' so I wondered, what's the most collectivey collective that ever could collect? The answer is ants, but unfortunately, Zoolander build a school for them, so they're way out of my budget.

So instead I looked for other swarms and made things that shouldn't swarm do swarm. And you will note, that the three swarms I chose, in addition to my swarm template I used to make them are three of the four warlock familiars. So where's the pseudodragon? Well, that wasn't the basis upon which I did this, it's just there are only 7 non-beast tiny creatures in the base rules and pseudodragons, will-o-wisps, and homunculi don't make much sense to be in swarms, there's just never enough of them. Also the pixie is just a spellcaster which I deemed too horrifying to even attempt.

Also, do not fear the kobold swarm, they only want hugs… and all your cookies 0_0

And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon. Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.

At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:

The Swarm that Walks Template

Wolfen Ancestry (Pathfinder 2e)

Generic Magic Item Tables

Entropy Domain

I also have four classes, and a splatbook over on DriveThrueRPG to check out:

The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.

The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.

The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.

The Beguiler. A spellcaster dedicated to illusions, enchantments, and general fuckery.

d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!

[rustyvolumedial3-archive]

Tag People You'd Like To Know Better

Favorite Color(s): Blue and Green and any hue in-between Favorite Flavor(s): Orange, Peach, Lemon Favorite Music: pretty much anything by AJR, OneRepublic, Reba McEntire... Favorite Movie(s): Secondhand Lions, the King's Speech, Treasure Planet, Mulan (animated, not the live re-make) Favorite Series: Justice League/Unlimited, NCIS, Hogan's Heroes, Star Wars the Clone Wars, Transformers Prime Last Song: Scotland by The Lumineers Last Series: Ahsoka Last Movie: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Currently Reading: A Writer's Guide to Persistence Currently Watching: The Muppet Show ("Kermit, I thought you were the one person in this place who wasn't crazy." "Me not crazy? I hired the others!") Currently Working On: Designing high level armor/magic items for my Wolfen & Warlocks 'tabletop' roleplaying game

Tagged by Stolen from: @cyberglyphed Tagging... whoever feels like being a sneak today

[begitalarcos]

100+ Years of Horror

This is not a definitive list. These are just the films I believe every Horror fan should see at least once. I’ve excluded any sequels that I didn’t feel needed including. I hope you enjoy.

For @mechamag​

1922 – Nosferatu

1925 – The Phantom of the Opera

1927 – The Cat and the Canary

1931 – Dracula, Frankenstein

1932 – Freaks

1933 – The Invisible Man

1934 – The Black Cat

1935 – The Bride of Frankenstein

1939 – The Cat and the Canary

1941 – The Black Cat, The Wolfman

1942 – Cat People

1945 - Dead of Night

1953 – House of Wax

1954 – Creature from the Black Lagoon

1955 – Night of the Hunter, Les Diaboliques

1956 – Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Bad Seed

1958 – The Blob, Macabre, The Fly

1959 – House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler, The Killer Shrews

1960 – 13 Ghosts , Black Sunday, Eyes without a face, Peeping Tom, Psycho, Village of the Damned

1961 – The Pit and the Pendulum

1962 – What ever happened To Baby Jane?

1963 – The Birds, Black Sabbath, The Haunting

1965 – Repulsion

1966 – Island of Terror

1967 – Wait until Dark

1968 – Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary’s Baby, Spider Baby

1970 – Mark of the Devil, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

1971 – The Cat O’ Nine Tails, Let’s scare Jessica to Death, What’s the matter with Helen? A Bay of Blood, Play Misty for Me

1972 – Ben, Children shouldn’t play with dead things, Deathdream, Don’t torture a Duckling, The last house on the left, Night of the Lepus, What have you done to Solange?

1973 – The Crazies, The Exorcist, The Legend of Hell House, Sisters, The Wicker Man, Don’t look now

1974 – Black Christmas, Deranged, It’s Alive, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Vampyres

1975 – Shivers, Trilogy of Terror, Jaws, Deep Red, The Stepford Wives

1976 – Alice Sweet Alice, Burnt Offerings, Carrie, Eaten Alive, The Omen, Squirm, To the devil a daughter, The town that dreaded sundown, The Tenant

1977 – Audrey Rose, Day of the Animals, Demon Seed, Eraserhead, Exorcist 2: The Heretic, The Hills have Eyes, Rabid, The Sentinel, Shock, Suspiria

1978 – Damien: Omen 2, Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, I Spit on your Grave, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jaws 2, The Legacy, Magic, Martin, Piranha

1979 – Alien, The Amityville Horror, The Brood, Phantasm, Prophecy, Tourist Trap, When a Stranger Calls, Zombi2, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Salem’s Lot

1980 – Alligator, Altered States, The Changeling, City of the Living Dead, Fade to Black, The Fog, Friday the 13th, Hell of the Living Dead, The House on the Edge of the Park, Humanoids form the Deep, Inferno, Maniac, Motel Hell, Prom Night, The Shining

1981 – An American Werewolf in London, The Beyond, The Black Cat, The Burning, Dead and Buried, The Entity, The Evil Dead, Friday the 13th Part 2, The Funhouse, Galaxy of Terror, Halloween 2, Happy Birthday to Me, Hell Night, The House by the Cemetery, The Howling, My Bloody Valentine, Omen 3: The Final Conflict, The Pit, Possession, The Prowler, Wolfen, Scanners, Blow Out, Ghost Story

1982 – Alone in the Dark, Basket Case, The Beast Within, Cat People, Creepshow, Friday the 13th Part 3, Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, Madman, Pieces, Poltergeist, Q: The Winged Serpent, Tenebrae, The Thing, Visiting Hours

1983 – A Blade in the Dark, Christine, Cujo, Curtains, The Deadly Spawn, Eyes of Fire, The House on Sorority Row, The Hunger, Mortuary, Nightmares, Sleepaway Camp, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, Twilight Zone: The Movie

1984 – C.H.U.D., Children of the Corn, The Company of Wolves, Gremlins, Night of the Comet, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Razorback, Silent Night Deadly Night, Firestarter, Starman, Ghostbusters

1985 – Cat’s Eye, Day of the Dead, Demons, Fright Night, Ghoulies, LifeForce, Phenomena, Re-Animator, The Return of the Living Dead, Silver Bullet, The Stuff, Cut and Run, The New Kids

1986 – Aliens, April Fools Day, Chopping Mall, Critters, Deadly Friend, The Fly, From Beyond, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Hitcher, House, Invaders from Mars, Little Shop of Horrors, Maximum Overdrive, Monster Dog, Night of the Creeps, Poltergeist 2: The Other Side, Rawhead Rex, Terrorvision, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Trick or Treat, Troll, Vamp, The Wraith

1987 – Angel Heart, Bad Taste, Creepshow 2, Dolls, Evil Dead 2, The Gate, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2, Hellraiser, The Hidden, House 2: The Second Story, The Outing, The Lost Boys, The Monster Squad, Near Dark, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Opera, Prince of Darkness, Predator, Stage Fright, The Stepfather, Street Trash, The Witches of Eastwick, Lady Beware, Fatal Attraction

1988 – Bad Dreams, The Blob, Child's Play, Dead Heat, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, Fright Night Part 2, Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, The Lair of the White Worm, Maniac Cop, Night of the Demons, Phantasm 2, Pin, Prison, Pumpkinhead, Return of the Living Dead Part 2, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Uninvited, Watchers, Waxwork, They Live

1989 – 976-Evil, The Church, Grim Prairie Tales, The Horror Show, Intruder, Leviathan, Night Life, Pet Sematary, Shocker, Society, Warlock, Dead Calm, The Forgotten One, DeepStar Six

1990 – Braindead, Bride of Re-Animator, Child’s Play 2, The Exorcist 3, Frankenhooker, Graveyard Shift, The Guardian, Hardware, IT, Jacob’s Ladder, Misery, Night of the Living Dead, Nightbreed, Predator 2, The Reflecting Skin, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Tremors, Two Evil Eyes, Arachnophobia

1991 – Body Parts, Cape Fear, The People under the Stairs, The Pit and the Pendulum, Popcorn, Scanners 2: The New Order, The Silence of the Lambs, Sometimes they Come Back

1992 – Army of Darkness, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Candyman, Demonic Toys, Dolly Dearest, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Innocent Blood, Sleepwalkers, Spilt Second, Man Bites Dog

1993 – Body Bags, Carnosaur, Cronos, The Dark Half, Leprechaun, Return of the Living Dead 3, Trauma, Kalifornia, Man’s Best Friend

1994 – Brainscan, Cemetery Man, The Crow, Death Machine, Hellbound, In The Mouth of Madness, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Stand, Wes Cravens New Nightmare, Wolf, Interview with the Vampire

1995 – Castle Freak, Demon Knight, Lord of Illusions, The Mangler, Mosquito, The Prophecy, Species, Village of the Damned, Screamers, Dolores Claiborne

1996 – Bad Moon, The Craft, The Frighteners, From Dusk till Dawn, Jack Frost, Scream, Tremors 2: Aftershocks, Mary Reilly

1997 – An American Werewolf in Paris, Anaconda, Campfire Tales, Cube, The Devils’ Advocate, Event Horizon, I know what you did last Summer, Mimic, The Night Flier, Nightwatch, The Relic, Quicksilver Highway, The Ugly, Wishmaster, Kiss the Girls, Se7en, Perfect Blue

1998 – Blade, Deep Rising, The Faculty, Ringu, Strangeland, Urban Legend, Vampires, Sphere

1999 – Audition, The Blair Witch Project, Deep Blue Sea, The Haunting, House on Haunted Hill, Lake Placid, The Mummy, Ravenous, Sleepy Hollow, Stigmata, Virus, The Sixth Sense, Idle Hands

2000 – American Psycho, Bless the Child, Blood: The Last Vampire, Cherry Falls, Final Destination, Ginger Snaps, Hollow Man, Ju-On, Pitch Black, Python, Versus, What Lies Beneath, The Gift, The Cell, Shadow of the Vampire

2001 – The Attic Expeditions, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Dagon, Jeepers Creepers, Mulholland Drive, The Others, Session 9, Thir13en Ghosts, The Devil’s Backbone, Frailty, From Hell, Hannibal

2002 – 28 Days Later, Blade 2, Bubba Ho-Tep, Cabin Fever, Dog Soldiers, Eight Legged Freaks, Ghost Ship, May, Queen of the Damned, Resident Evil, The Ring, They, The Mothman Prophecies, Red Dragon

2003 – Darkness Falls, Dream Catcher, Final Destination 2, Freddy Vs. Jason, Haute Tension, House of 1000 Corpses, A Tale of Two Sisters, Undead, Underwold, Willard, Wrong Turn

2004 – Alien Vs Predator, Club Dread, Dawn of the Dead, Dead & Breakfast, Exorcist: The Beginning, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, Godsend, Saw, Shaun of the Dead, The Village, Taking Lives, The Forgotten, Enduring Love

2005 – 2001 Maniacs, The Amityville Horror, Constantine, Dark Water, The Descent, The Devils’ Rejects, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Land of the Dead, Wolf Creek, Hard Candy

2006 – Abominable, All the boys love Many Lane, Black Sheep, Fido, Final Destination 3, Hatchet, The Hills have Eyes, Slither, The Woods, The Host, Silent Hill, The Tripper, Wild Country

2007 – 28 Weeks Later, 30 Days of Night, 1408, Grindhouse, I am Legend, The Mist, My Name is Bruce, Nature of the Beast, Paranormal Activity, Primeval, REC, Skinwalkers, Teeth, Trick r’ Treat, An American Crime, Rogue, Funny Games

2008 – Book of Blood, Cloverfield, Deadgirl, Diary of the Dead, Let the right one in, The Midnight Meat Train, Mirrors, Quarantine, The Ruins, Splinter, The Strangers, Eden Lake, Outlander

2009 – Case 39, Grace, The Haunting in Connecticut, Heartless, The House of the Devil, Jennifer’s Body, The Loved Ones, Orphan, Pandorum, Splice, Triangle, Zombieland, Carriers, Dread

2010 – Black Swan, The Crazies, Exorcismus, Frozen, Insidious, The Last Exorcism, Let me in, Primal, Tucker & Dale Vs Evil, The Wolfman, Troll Hunter, Devil

2011 – The Awakening, Don’t be afraid of the Dark, The Innkeepers, Livid, The Thing, The Woman, The Rite

2012 – American Mary, Bait, The Cabin in the Woods, The Devil Inside, The Possession, Prometheus, Sinister, Byzantium, Compliance

2013 – The Conjuring, Evil Dead, Jug Face, Mama, Under the Skin, Only Lovers Left Alive, Warm Bodies, Horns, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Contracted, Stoker

2014 – Annabelle, As Above So Below, The Babadook, Deliver us from Evil, A Girl walk home alone at Night, Life after Beth, Starry Eyes, Tusk, It Follows, Goodnight Mommy, The Voices, Digging up the Marrow, When Animals Dream, Gone Girl ,The Remaining, Late Phases, Cub

2015 – Crimson Peak, Krampus, The Lazarus Effect, Maggie, The Visit, The Witch, Bone Tomahawk, Green Room, Regression, The Devil’s Candy, The Lure

2016 – The Autopsy of Jane Doe, The Belko Experiment, The Boy, The Conjuring 2, Don’t Breathe, The Eyes of my Mother, Split, The Forest, The Love Witch, The Neon Demon, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Raw, Train to Busan, The Void, What We Become, 10 Cloverfield Lane, A Cure for Wellness, The Shallows, Pet, Hounds of Love

2017 – IT, Get Out, Mother!, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Ritual, Thelma, Veronica, It comes at Night, Life, Gerald’s Game, Revenge, 1922

2018 – Annihilation, Halloween, Hereditary, Mandy, Mom and Dad, The Nun, Overlord, Possum, A Quiet Place, Suspiria, The House that Jack Built, Bird Box, Apostle, The Meg

2019 – Brightburn, IT Chapter 2, Midsommar, Ready or Not, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Us, I am Mother, Crawl, The Dead Don’t Die, Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile, Glass

[rustyvolumedial3-archive]

The cassette's optics promptly light up. She briefly disappears again, only to jump halfway onto the table and slap down a pile of thin booklets, notepads, and counter sheets, with a clear box on top with several figurines neatly nestled inside. "It is. The best tabletop roleplaying game humans have ever created. I love it. I want to play it. But Volume says he's busy and Rustpaw thinks it's dumb."

There's a request hidden somewhere in those words, if Wild is willing to acknowledge it.

Dial neglects to mention it's also the only tabletop game she's ever played, made by humans or otherwise, because that is a lesser concern compared to finding someone to play with.

"You ever play Wolfen and Warlocks?" Dial's small helm pops up over the edge of the table as she studies Wild intently.

"Wolfen and Warlocks?" Wild hums as she signs one of her numerous pieces of paperwork.

"Can't say that I have. What's it about?" She asks, looking at Dial while moving the completed form to another pile.

[ka-star]

BATIM RPG AU: Basic Character Breakdowns

This post is to help give a basic idea of what the four main characters will be like for this AU.

Being set in a fantasy world, it might help if you have bare bones knowledge on what some terms mean, but just in case I will have links up for some that might not make sense to some. (Or maybe I’m over thinking it and I don’t you guys enough credit. Let me know if links do help or not.)

Note: Some of this information might be subject to change or be added, but for now this is all baseline stuff.

Henry

A seasoned fighter that has taken to the life of a wandering adventurer after serving in the army for the past ten years. Age-wise, Henry is younger in this AU then how he’s normally depicted. He enrolled in the army in his mid twenties so he would be around his mid thirties by now. He also has a few scars; two on his face and many more on the rest of his body.

He’s the tank of the group and acts as the voice of reason. His calm and tactful approach to situations is what helped him while in the army and save many lives in the process. He has a kind heart, which can be both a good or a bad thing for him.

Bendy

An small imp with an unusually big appetite. While he has inky powers that allow him to shape-shift and conjure certain items (like small daggers), he prefers to use cunning and confusing tactics to get what he wants (mainly food). His ink powers are more of a last resort, because using them takes a lot of energy out of him. His appetite is tied to this; the more he uses his powers the more hungry he will get afterwards.

Bendy’s inky powers are unique; there doesn’t seem to be any other creatures with the same powers as him. All he knows about them is they seem to be demonic in nature, as they are weaken by holy empowered items and or spells.

Bendy is also different as he is an imp without an master or ‘boss’ to have to communicate to. In this AU all lesser demons are tied to some form of contract, either with a higher demon or a spellcaster, like a warlock. Bendy has never been part of any contract, as far as he knows. He only remembers existing for about thirty years. Anything before that was just ‘non-existent’, as he puts it.

Bendy would be like the Rogue of the group; he loves to trick, steal, and be sneaky to get his way. Personality-wise he’s greedy and misleading, but does have a hint of a conscience. He’s not evil per say, just being what he is; an imp.

Boris

A Wolfen (not to be confused with a werewolf) who is a Hunter/Ranger type character in this AU, which is odd for his race. He is part of a Wolfen race that is known for their brutality and strength. Unlike his kin, Boris was never strong enough for close range and hand to hand combat, and he never shared the same savage nature. What he lacked in strength he made up for it in his keen sense of smell and hearing, which made to him a top notch tracker. This leads him to learning how to use a longbow instead of his claws as a weapon. Despite this, other Wolfen viewed him as weak for not hunting food in the more ‘traditional’ way. He’s later cast out of his herd and forced to become a ‘lone wolf’.

Boris’ personalty in the AU is that he can be nervous in the face of danger, which is why he prefers tracking and long range attacks, but he’s loyal to those that he trusts, so he becomes close to Henry. Bendy takes a little longer, as the imp still has a tendency to take food that isn’t his, and Boris becomes the butt of his jokes and pranks. Boris is not a fan of this.

Alice

A hybrid of a celestial being and a demonic lord; Alice is literally between two worlds. She’s lived her whole life running from others, either being called blasphemous by holy circles or a mistake by demonic cults. She doesn’t know her parents, but that never really matter much to her. The only thing she’s had to watch out for was herself, the only person she could trust.

Alice is the healer/caster of the group, and her talents are just as unique as Bendy’s inky powers. Being the offspring of an angelic creature and a demon, she pulls her powers from two different sources. Both sources offer the power of healing, but only demonic powers can heal demonic creatures, which become imperative when she meets Henry and the others.

The way Alice cast spells is by singing. Her holy spells are called ‘Hymns’ while her demonic ones are called ‘Dirges’. The Hymns sound angelic and uplifting. The Dirges sound low and somber.

Alice’s personality in this AU is she’s a tough nut to crack; her life of having to run away all the time has brought up a wall around her and she doesn’t trust anyone for long. After meeting Henry and the others, that wall slowly begins to fall down.

[triscribe]

Nentanuk Background

When Absul finally managed to pry his eyes open, he stared blearily at a stone ceiling, dimly lit by unknown light-

Light. The wyverns- Tanu!

---

From Wolfen's Rage, Chapter 7:

"Crant retrieved more of the art pieces, stacks growing around her. They differed in styles and technique, making her think they'd been created at points of time far apart from one another. There were a few of Arriv subjects mixed in with the rest, but those all had scorch marks around their edges, as if someone had started to set them on fire only to change course at the last moment. One in particular was more charred than the rest: another youth, of mixed elvish and human blood if the short, pointed ears were anything to go by. He'd been depicted with a soft smile, bright silver eyes have closed, but anything he might have been wearing or doing was burned away..."

From the (in-progress) Guidebook to Playing Wolfen & Warlocks TTRPG, chapter concerning Gods and Divine Calls:

Immosi The upstarts, the revolutionaries, they who stole sacred power and ascended to a higher state of being. Members of their bloodline are bound to Concepts, to Rules, the cautious balance they've worked out between themselves and their proxies. Divided into the Golden, the Azure, and the Crimson houses...

The Golden  Family of the Eldest Brother 

Absul - Lord of Light and oldest son of Shan (the Fateweaver) Call: Light elemental magic  Domains: Civilization, order, honesty...

Whumptober 2020 Entries:

You're Not Making Any Sense It Was An Accident Blood Trail

(So I'm having fun mentally torturing my friend @yogurtbear242...)

[triscribeaucollection]

Hi! For the writing asks: ✨ and 🌷?

Hi Crystal! Your timing is perfect, and I'm gonna combine these to ramble about my topic of the evening: Justice League Unlimited plays Wolfen and Warlocks

✨ - newest wip / 🌷 - writing achievement you want to brag about

Some of the stone elementals charged forward to throw punches. Others cracked and split the ground, making it harder to approach them by foot. The biggest one, guarding the portal, created a ring of spikes to better protect it.

And Clark’s friends proved exactly why an RPG was the best choice for them to play, rather than a card or board game.

Wally annoyed different targets into following him into range of Diana’s fists. John pinned others in place for Shayera to strike and destroy. Clark and J’onn cast magical shields and restored health points, keeping everyone else moving, and when Bruce’s fairy reached the others to share what he’d learned about the portal’s crystal power source, the seven of them formed up seamlessly to go after it.

Even better, they all clearly had fun doing so.

And *I* had *immense* fun writing this nonsense, okay?

Picking out races, abilities, and stats for each of the seven, figuring out how to balance them against one another through the game encounter, picking the exact worst possible moment for Bruce roll a 1 and almost hit Wally's character instead of the final boss, which he is absolutely never going to live down, that's gonna become the running joke for however many chapters this thing goes:

Flash: "You missed! He was three feet in front of you, how could you miss-!"

Batman: "Shut. Up."

Flash: =D

But of course I've already determined how I'm going to have more fun with it, by bringing in Zatanna to play Storymaster so Clark isn't pulling double duty. And she gets invested, my dudes, full on spooky voice reading the intro blurbs, using magic to make a veil of mist around her spot at the table, bringing the map and character tokens to life for a bit of flair, so on and so forth

There will be other superheroes who get interested. Further interactions in twos and threes as the game spreads through the League. Robin hears about all this and pesters Batman to teach him to play, and between the two of them at home it basically turns into an extra training exercise, Bruce making use of the 'solve a mystery' aspect woven into most pre-made campaigns to teach Tim some more detective skills (this being the DCAU and not comics continuity)

I might even have Alfred insist on hosting one night, just so he gets to lay eyes on Bruce opening up his walls bit with friends- sorry, *cough*, colleagues. Tim will of course get to join in, and does NOT hesitate to grab the "You Missed!" joke and run with it like the little gremlin he deserves to be. Dick and Babs will be beyond delighted when he lets it slip to them as well >:D

And this is like. Full circle, for me. Rather emotional, when I think about it.

Few years back I was writing a scene for a story in a whole other fandom, and decided the kid main character and his best friend needed to be distracted from ongoing misfortune in the form of a new adult friend teaching them to play a D&D knockoff game. I didn't want to use *actual* Dungeons and Dragons, because where's the fun in that, but I felt I needed some actual Thing to use as reference rather than purely winging it. And thus, Wolfen and Warlocks was born.

Now, rather than making things up as I went along for that fic, I've got the Actual Game to reference, or at least all the materials meant for the first edition of it. Not put together or published, yet, but that's only because I'm still beta testing with the help of various friends - including @yogurtbear242, Player The First who gave the best reactions to unexpected developments and was an all around good sport despite not ever having played a tabletop rpg before, in-person or online:

(Everybody salute Bear for being a wonderful crash test dummy)

And now! I get to put the Justice League's founding members through the same shenanigans!!

Self-indulgence *and* self-promotion at it's finest x)

[triscribe]

There is no possible way I'm going to manage to get my second novel finished and printed between now and my town library's Local Authors event in three weeks, but by Sarant I am damn well going to try.

[cliffandthekid-archive]

🌻🌻🌻

"So there are different categories of magic abilities in this game, and some of them are the usual 'cast fireball', or shrink a target, or heal a friendly character. But there are also some ones that are like, borderline magic, but also just bluffing your way into pulling something off."

Sierra pulls out a piece of grid paper and points to a particular column of bullet points. "Like these - the Borrows category. There's a move to re-do your last dice roll, or to copy an ability someone else just did even if you don't have it on your own skill list, but my favorite is called Lend An Ear." She looks up and grins. "Each race gets their own gods to call on for help, but with this? You can call up someone else's god and try talking your way into a boon - and if you roll high enough, they'll not only grant it, but keep watching over you afterwards."

[cliffandthekid-archive]

(🌻)

"They're called burars," Sierra says, intently scribbling in a new notebook, "The badger-people in that Wolfen and Warlocks game I was telling Cliff about. They aren't all that tall, but they're strong, and I'm giving mine a bunch of melee abilities so if anyone tries to mess with her, she can shut them down hard."

[cliff-and-the-kid]

Muse Layers: Sierra

Tagged by @anotherhumanpet

LAYER ONE: THE OUTSIDE

Name: Sierra Renee Sutherland

Species: Human

Age: Sweet 16

Eye Color: Green

Hair style/color: Red, long, usually swept back in an artfully wild ponytail that takes way too long to arrange perfectly

Height/weight: Five foot six inches, and I only share my weight with close friends and medical professionals, thanks

Clothing Style: Fashionably laidback. I like cute clothes, but I don't need to be decked out in the latest thing all the time

LAYER TWO: THE INSIDE

Your fears: being abandoned. Left behind.

Your guilty pleasure: tabletop roleplaying games

Your biggest pet peeve: guys who don't care or bother to consider how I feel about choices they make that involve me

Your ambitions for the future: ...make a home where no one is afraid of being left behind

LAYER THREE: THOUGHTS

Your first thoughts waking up: Five more minutes

What you think about the most: Questions about Cybertron, or things I want to share about Earth

What you think about before bed: Whether or not I've gotten everything done for tomorrow; or, if it's an existential 'curl up under the blankets and stare at the wall for an hour' kind of night, the insanity that my life has turned into since meeting an alien robot

You think your best quality is: My appearance. Everything else I might describe myself with, I personally know someone else who does it better

LAYER FOUR: WHAT'S BETTER?

Single or group dates: Um... single, these days. I trust the boy I'm dating now. The last one, not so much

To be loved or respected: Respected. Someone can love you objectively and still not care a bit about respecting your wants and needs

Beauty or brains: Brains, I have the beauty covered

Dogs or cats: As I own one of each, I can definitely say neither. Star claws at the leather furniture, Stella chews every exposed piece of wood and plastic. There is no winning here, no matter how much I love each of them

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU...

Lie: mmhm. A lot more than I used to, but it's for good reasons

Believe in yourself: That- really depends on context. Probably not

Believe in love: Yeah. It's not as everyday as the romcoms would make you think, but yeah

Want someone: I do, and he knows who he is

LAYER SIX: EVER...

Been on stage: Yes, I used to go to a musical theater summer camp, but that stopped the third year in a row my dad wasn't in town to see our performances

Done drugs: Hard no. I- knew someone who died, from an overdose, when I was little. I don't care how many times a classmate tries to tell me "it's just weed" or whatever, I'm not interested in touching any of that stuff

Changed who you were to fit in: ...yeah, I have. I set things I enjoyed aside to be more like what others expected of me. Gave up games and stories and geeky stuff to be 'popular'. I don't know if I can say I regret that, but I do know I'm happy to be doing the reverse nowadays

LAYER SEVEN: FAVORITES

Favorite color: Purple

Animal: Porcupine

Movie: The Little Mermaid, both versions

Game: Crazy Eights for cards, Sorry for board games, and Wolfen & Warlocks for TTRPGs

LAYER EIGHT: AGE

Day your next birthday will be: Tuesday, which is early enough in the week I think I'll be able to get away with not hosting a big party the following weekend

How old will you be: Seventeen, which my friend Terri said has something to do with a dancing queen? I think?

Age you lost your virginity: Haven't yet

Does age matter: Age matters less than maturity, or the lack thereof

LAYER NINE: IN A PERSON

Best personality: Hidden layers, confident when the situation calls for it but not arrogant the rest of the time, sweet and thoughtful and considerate above all else

Best eye color: Brown

Best hair color: Black

Best thing to do with a partner: Going for a drive, finding somewhere to park and be alone for a while, preferably with a good view but that's not a requirement

LAYER TEN: FINISH THE SENTENCE

I love: being included in something that matters

I feel: giddy every time we hold hands

I hide: how much I want to cry sometimes

I miss: the age when it didn't matter if you wanted to play a knight or a princess or a dragon

I wish: I could stay with my guardian forever