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Maybe this will cancel out yesterday’s post.
Tastes like chicken probably.
But They’re Too Cute to Eat @StarTrek #StarTrek
A Modest Proposal @StarTrek #StarTrek
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Here’s one solution to the problem.
You should probably shave them first.
The Choice . . . . @StarTrek @pepsi #StarTrek
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Star Trek: The choice of a new generation.
The next one, I guess.
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The Day That Will Live in Infamy #PearlHarborDay
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All gave some. Some gave all.
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The Strange and Terrifying Creatures of Native American Folklore @MythsExplained #MythologyMonday #MythologyMonandæg #folklore
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Last week, I discussed the Shishi, pointing out how Americans get exposed only to western mythology. That’s not exactly true. We get only western European mythology. Nothing’s more west than America itself, and there are untapped storylines from pre-USA civilization right here on our continent, all of which are great for movies, RPGs, etc. Here’s a video from last week on native American folklore.
Of course, it just has to start with the wendigo, but that one has its own video on the same channel.
Characters like the deer woman are most fascinating to me. Much like the night hag from folklore and the 1st Edition D&D Monster Manual, the character’s threat arises as a reaction to bad behavior on the part of her target. In the context of a role-playing game, that’s the kind of story that writes itself. The PC behaves badly in a particular way, and the DM sends the appropriate monster to exact punishment. If the PC’s sin calls a creature far beyond their power level, that’s on them. (I know. Modern gamers don’t like to “lose D&D,” so you may have to power her down so there are no real consequences. *sigh*)
Keep looking for more.
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The Latest COVID-19 Variant #scotland
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Sundays now are lazy days for me. I either post something silly or other people’s work. Usually both. Today, it’s science. I don’t normally discuss serious matters on this blog, but this warrants it.
There’s no hope for any of us.
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Cats from 1st Edition AD&D Oriental Adventures #DnD #RPG #ADnD #Caturday
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Recently, I discussed the introduction of eastern folklore and mythology to the MCU, and specifically discussed the shishi in Shang-Chi. This inspired me to crack open my new PDF of 1st Edition AD&D‘s (“1e“) Oriental Adventures, which I’d never read before. So far, I’m impressed, though I’ve just scratched the surface. Three new races, 10 new classes (10!), a bunch of new spells, and 31 new monsters. I find myself wondering whether the typical 1e player considered this book bloat, but I digress. Today is Caturday, so here are the cats that appear in Oriental Adventures.
Hengeyokai (p. 12)
One of the PC races, the hengeyokai (I’m assuming that’s also plural) are shape changers. Though not lycanthropes, they have the same three forms: animal, human, and a hybrid of the two. One type of hengeyokai is a cat, which must be chaotic (of course), and while naturally dexterous, has a penalty to wisdom (exactly what you’d expect).
Generals of the Animal Kings: Tiger King (p. 120, Level X)
Oriental Adventures states that
The oriental mind has organized the world into a unified whole. One particularly strong belief is that of the Celestial Emperor, a powerful being who heads the Celestial Bureaucracy, a type of government of the spirits. Like the bureaucrats of the real world, these spirit officials can be corrupt, disobedient, just, or incompetent.
Oriental Adventures, page 116
Yes, I know. The “oriental mind.” *sigh* Anyway, one part of the bureaucracy are the generals of the animal kings, and the most powerful (by XP) type of general is the Tiger General, who suppresses rebellions or doles out punishment. He appears as a giant, anthropomorphic tiger wielding magic, scaring the hell out of characters with his appearance, and regenerating 5 hps/round. The best part, however, is that he wields a +5 vorpal sword (+8 to hit, 3 attacks/round). There could be more than one of them, and each one is always accompanied by 100 tigers. Good luck with that.
Shirokinukatsukami (p. 128, Level IX)
This one’s weird. Okay, it’s all weird, but this is really weird. The shirokinukatsukami has “the body of a horse, the face of a lion, the trunk and tusks of an elephant, the tail of a cow [intimidating!], and the feet of a tiger.” As far as I’m concerned, that’s enough to count as a cat. It’s a shame this book doesn’t provide a picture. Good luck visualizing that.
It can have up to 5 physical attacks per round, casts a lot of spells, regenerates, +3 or better weapon to hit. . . it’s a bad ass, which explains why there can be no more than four in existence at any point in time. This is also explained by how difficult it must be to build something like that. Fortunately, its lawful good, so your PCs should be okay even if it shows up.
Neither of the monsters appear on the random encounter table. They aren’t the kind of monster you’d want to randomly drop on a party. They deserve planning.
That’s it. Oriental Adventures has a ton of new material, but not a lot of cats.
Booooo!!!!!!!!!.
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Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, who neither contributed to nor endorsed the contents of this post. (Okay, jackasses?)
How Bikes Work @veritasium #physics
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More physics for you.
I’ve never ridden a unicycle but have always wanted to. It just wasn’t a priority.
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A Timeless Classic @TheGornCaptain #StarTrek
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Everything’s better with the Gorn captain.
Star Trek >> every other IP.
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Returning to My AD&D Database #ADnD #DnD #RPG
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My brain had to take a vacation for a couple weeks, but I’ve finally returned to my 1st Edition AD&D (“1e“) database. Having recently discussed the shishi, it was a nice coincidence that I finished Fiend Folio‘s oriental dragons last night. There were a couple of things that bothered me in the technical writing (e.g., is their lack of infravision a mistake?), but there was a creative choice that bugged me as well.
In my conversation with Tanya last Friday, she pointed out how eastern culture has far more good-aligned dragons than the western world. This was my understanding as well. Then why are all but one of the oriental dragons neutral along the moral axis? I get why Sobek, the crocodile-headed Egyptian god of the Nile, was made evil in most (every?) editions of D&D. He looked evil, and they needed a balance between good and evil gods for that pantheon. His evil fulfilled a narrative role, and there was plenty of material presented to accommodate some wiggle room. Besides, DMs are free to change it. No harm done.
That doesn’t seem to apply to neutrality, though. Sure, if the Fiend Folio had gone into depth as to the role their neutrality took, then there may be a narrative value to that change. Instead, it appears that they were made neutral simply because none of the chromatics or metallics were neutral. If you’re introducing a different culture into your game, it makes far more sense to remain loyal to it, at least until you’ve got a certain minimal level of material. That is, to start, it’s better to give DMs something authentic/faithful so that they have the right feel for that material before you or they make it their own. As with the Egyptian pantheon, oriental dragons should have been a balance of good and evil, and if one of them was made neutral, it wouldn’t have struck me the wrong way.
Note: I’ve never opened the 1e Oriental Adventures, though I recently bought the PDF from the DMs Guild. I say this to point out that I have no idea how an expansion of those cultures played out in the D&D world beyond what’s in the Fiend Folio and 1e Deities and Demigods.
My conclusion is that I’m going to have to do some personal research and, depending on what’s in the 1e Oriental Adventures, may modify these dragons. I definitely like oriental dragons and intend to use them.
No subdual for you!
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Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, who neither contributed to nor endorsed the contents of this post. (Okay, jackasses?)
Play What You Want 