Monster Monday: Ohmadillo

All right!  After enjoying a wonderful Memorial Day among real monsters in the mountains of north Georgia, it looks like I'm going to get another one in under the wire for #MonsterMonday!

Here's another "Chinasaur"...another Underground Elemental Beast...and another from my own childhood collection...the Ohmadillo:

Armor Class  16
Hit Dice  6d8+3 (30 Hit Points)
Speed  25 ft.
Damage Vulnerability  Fire
Challenge  1
XP  200

Actions:

Thunderclap -- Melee Attack +6 // 10 (2d8 + 1) thunder damage
Lightningslap -- Melee Attack +6 // 10 (2d8+1) lightning damage

The Ohmadillo is charged with the element of lightning.  Its beak and antennae constantly emit crackles and sparks, especially after a large meal (typically grubs and worms).  Electronic equipment within 30 feet of a live Ohmadillo has a 20% chance of failing.

Ohmadillos frighten easily and are quick to defend themselves.  Their stubby but strong forelegs attack with the power of thunder and lightning.

Unfortunately, Ohmadillos are confused by modern vehicles and are all too easily killed on the highways when they find themselves stranded on our world.

(It may be clear that I'm working my way through the damage types of 5E for the "elements" of the Beasts.  I doubt I'll include all of them, but thunder and lightning seemed like good ones to include next.  Also, I made this one vulnerable to fire based on the increasing resistance of an electrical current with increasing temperature...if I'm right on that...)

A Monstrous Matter: Plan 9 cemetery to be recognized

Thanks to Armand Vaquer over at Monster Island News for pointing out that the cemetery featured in Plan 9 from Outer Space is set to be honored with a plaque in a ceremony tomorrow.  You may recall that Plan 9 came in at #3 in the Top 5 Alien Invasion Movies That I'd Like to Game.  (I'm kidding, I know you don't recall that.  Point is, I'm a fan, so it's cool to see it get recognized!)

Saturday Evening Cartoon: TIE Fighter

Another extremely well-done animated fan film here.  If the creator isn't an agent of the Empire, she or he is certainly a sympathizer...

5E Microlite

I think I mentioned earlier that I'm working on a little "project."  Said project has me paying more and more attention to Fifth Edition, and I can't help but think about how its rules might be distilled.  I know that there have already been some takes on a Microlite version of 5E, but I didn't find anything yet that was exactly to my liking.  Not that any version could be exactly to my liking (even my own version), as all Microlite games have to make some sacrifices.

At any rate, I took some bits that I've seen, mixed in a few useful but unoriginal ideas, and generated this version that's just a single page (so it's nano!) plus OGL.  I figured I'd post it here in case anyone else can get some use out of it.

Plus, I have that gamer disease where I assume that everyone else is interested in my own personal take on the rules.

Click below to check out NanoNext.  (The text link goes to the doc in Google Drive...which is now updated for grammar, by the way.  I suppose you could also read the tiny little jpeg of the original first page below, but it might be a bit of a chore.)  Any and all feedback is welcome!!

EDIT:  I'm getting some great feedback on this and hope to have a new version up before long.  Thanks for looking!

NanoNext

Monster Monday: Iglana

Here's my second entry for #MonsterMonday...another creature pulled from that iconic set of cheap plastic "dinosaurs" and commonly used in Undergroud Elemental Beastfighting.  The rules below are for 5E (pretty much...I think I covered all of the really important stuff).

(See last week for the first Underground Elemental Beast "card," of the Charchaeopteryx.  Oh...and this week's picture is actually of my own figure that I've had since I was a kid!)

Iglana

The Iglana is a fierce reptile imbued with cold elemental energies.  It is usually found in frozen environments and seeks shelter for hibernation during warm seasons.  It's not unusual for adventurers to encounter a family of 7-10 Iglanas in accessible underground areas.  Iglanas stir easily while hibernating and are quick to return to full capabilities if they sense a threat.

Armor Class  14
Hit Dice  5d8+3 (25 Hit Points)
Speed  30 ft.
Damage Vulnerability  Fire
Challenge  1
XP  200

Actions:

Chill-gore -- Melee Attack +5 // 10 (2d6 + 3) cold damage

Any creature hit by an Iglana attack loses all actions (including reactions and bonus actions) and movement for one round.  (They may still perform an action if an ability is used to grant an additional action for the round.)

Iglanas are really cold!  After hitting the Iglana with a metal weapon, the attacker must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or drop the weapon.  This effect may be mitigated by gloves or other insulation for the hands.

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Darwyn Cooke's Batman 75th Anniversary Short

To honor the passing of comic creator Darwyn Cooke one week ago, here's the Batman Beyond short he made for the Dark Knight's 75th Anniversary in 2014:

EDIT:  Tim over at the Other Side has included this very same cartoon in his tribute to Mr. Cooke, along with some great artwork.  Justin at Halls of the Nephilim also posted a nice series of Darwyn's works earlier this week.  They're both worth a click!

Dogwood City Regrets: Apes! (Part 2)

In the first edition of Dogwood City Regrets, I lamented the dearth of apes that I managed to put into my month-long journey through a comic book setting.

It's really a shame.

It's even more of a shame considering that I discovered one simian character that was almost too amazing to exclude.  This is the Six-Gun Gorilla:

And he's pretty much exactly what you think he is.

Turns out he's looking for revenge on the Strawhan Gang, a bunch of Old West bandits who murdered his owner.  As his name implies, he achieves this using a six-gun.  So simple.  So perfect.

6GG, as he lets me call him, ultimately didn't make the cut for Dogwood City due to the fact that I shied away from Western characters that wouldn't have a huge impact on the present.  He also appeared as a feature in the British story paper The Wizard, while I focused on more traditional comic book characters.  However, he's definitely filed away for the day I decide to explore the Weird Western history of Dogwood City.

I suppose I should have been familiar with this ape, as he apparently had a couple of comic book appearances in 2013, including one from BOOM! Studios.  I somehow missed those, or...if I saw them...didn't get the historical significance at the time.  I'd love to know how they are, if any of you have read them.

By all means, check out Six-Gun Gorilla on the PDSH Wiki and especially at the website of geek extraordinaire Jess Nevins, who very kindly scanned and posted the serial.

A different look at the Charchaeopteryx

For #MonsterMonday, I posted the Charchaeopteryx, with one of my goals in taking part being to throw out some monsters that might be used in Underground Elemental Beastfighting.  (One thing that the A to Z Challenge showed me was that having a mini-project really motivated me to post.)  Anyway, to recap, here's the beast, mostly for 5E but hopefully useable in Basic games:

Armor Class  16
Hit Dice  4d10 + 8 (30 Hit Points)
Speed  30 ft., fly 60 ft.
Damage Vulnerability  Water
HDE / Challenge  8 / 2
XP  450

Actions:
Fireblast -- Ranged Attack +6 // 10 (2d6 + 3) fire damage
OR
Bite 'n Hack -- 3 Melee Attacks +5 // 5 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage

After being reduced to 0 hit points or otherwise knocked out, the Charchaeopteryx will collapse into a chaotically sparking flame.  If water is not poured onto the flame, the Charchaeopteryx will fly forth in 1d8 rounds with (1d6)d8 starting hit points.  Natural healing can eventually restore the Charchaeopteryx to full health..

Even when water is poured on the flame, the Charchaeopteryx will smolder and eventually fly forth after 1d8 hours.  Only if water is repeatedly poured on the flame, preventing the monster's return for 24 hours straight, will the Charchaeopteryx die.


So, during some wait time at work...when I should have been getting ahead on stuff that I wasn't waiting on...I thought it'd be fun to put it into a form more fitting of a battling monster.  Here's where I am right now.  I kinda like it!  Probably need a different water icon, though.  And man...I'm liking 5E now that I'm diving into it more, but those stat blocks are still pretty thick!

At any rate, any feedback would be most appreciated!

Monster Monday: Charchaeopteryx

Tim over at The Other Side blog recently posted about returning to a feature he's called Monstrous Mondays (and which seems to be acceptably called Monster Mondays, as well).  The idea is to post about monsters.  On Mondays.  And everyone is encouraged to join the fun.

So, let's have some fun!

I'm going to try to combine a few of my interests in my participation:  (1) My love for the cheap plastic creatures often dubbed "Chinasaurs" that are have a connection to D&D's early years (check out a great writeup by artist Tony DiTerlizzi; or see my first "real" post on this blog, on the Rust Monster); (2) A desire to stat up some new monsters that might be used in Underground Elemental Beastfighting; and (3) A goal to learn more about 5E monsters (and especially how their stats might blend in with OSR-useable stats).

Here's the first entry...

Charchaeopteryx

A volery of Charchaeopteryxes (Charchaeopteryces?) in the wild.  Photograph presumably by Tony DiTerlizzi, and stolen somewhat shamelessly from his website.  Please check out his site so I can feel better about said theft.

The Charchaeopteryx is a feathered, flying reptile that can often be found near volcanic rifts.  It is believed to be an evolutionary link between the phoenix and various reptiles associated with the element of fire.

The stats below can probably be used in 5E or Basic games with little to no change.  If you make all the dice d6's, they might work for White Box games, too.  Eventually, maybe I'll figure out a good way to connect this format back to the GRIND and set up a proper OGL reference.  I did use the handy online Quick Monster CR Calculator to help me out with some guesstimation.

Armor Class  16
Hit Dice  4d10 + 8 (30 Hit Points)
Speed  30 ft., fly 60 ft.
Damage Vulnerability  Water
HDE / Challenge  8 / 2
XP  450

Actions:

Fireblast -- Ranged Attack +6 // 10 (2d6 + 3) fire damage
OR
Bite 'n Hack -- 3 Melee Attacks +5 // 5 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage

After being reduced to 0 hit points or otherwise knocked out, the Charchaeopteryx will collapse into a chaotically sparking flame.  If water is not poured onto the flame, the Charchaeopteryx will fly forth in 1d8 rounds with (1d6)d8 starting hit points.  Natural healing can eventually restore the Charchaeopteryx to full health.

Even when water is poured on the flame, the Charchaeopteryx will smolder and eventually fly forth after 1d8 hours.  Only if water is repeatedly poured on the flame, preventing the monster's return for 24 hours straight, will the Charchaeopteryx die.

Darwyn Cooke, 1962-2016

I've been "out of the loop" for the past few days, and so I just learned of the passing of comic writer and artist Darwyn Cooke.  He was an amazing talent who will truly be missed.  I'm really not a guy who usually mourns the death of those who we know only through their art, but this is a loss that's genuinely sad to me.  If you've never checked out his work, I'd encourage you to do so.  Mr. Cooke has left the world a better place than he found it.

(Snagged this image from Comics Alliance.)

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Batman versus the Terminator

...and not the Terminator he usually faces.

There's a good chance this will be the best Batman v. film I'll see this year...

Dogwood City Regrets: Apes! (Part I)

So, after spending 26 days in Dogwood City, I ended up with a few regrets over themes that I wanted to include, but didn't for one reason or another.  After all, a respectable superhero setting should have some sort of standards, right?  And yet I went the entire month without featuring...for example...a single freaking ape?

I'll aim to correct some of these oversights.  To start, here's a Dr. Mortal tale from Weird Comics #5 that features a candidate for a simian denizen of Dogwood City.  (And yeah, as far as I can tell, that last page really is the end of the story...even if it doesn't quite feel like an ending.  All the more reason for the ape to show up again...!)

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Shazam! - Stamina

I've been on a bit of a Captain Marvel (er...Shazam) kick lately due to a little project I'm working on.  Thematically, he sure works well in cartoons...!

Reflections on the A to Z Challenge

All right, it's time I step up, like so many others have already done, and reflect a bit on the April A to Z Blogging Challenge that recently came to a close.

My first thought is that I'm extremely glad I did it.  It gave me an excuse to spend some time building a comic book setting...rather than just thinking about building a comic book setting, which is what I was more likely to do otherwise.  I was very happy to get some great thoughts from visitors who may have never stumbled upon my blog if it weren't for the challenge.  And perhaps most importantly, I really enjoyed the process of looking through public domain comic book characters and reading the stories themselves.

It never felt like a chore, although real life certainly made my posts a bit later for a few of the letters (and would have almost certainly ensured a non-post day if the challenge weren't in effect).  I looked forward to putting a post up each day, and that feeling was enhanced by the idea that I was building something, so I think I picked a good theme for myself.

Now, about Dogwood City itself.  I started out thinking the ground I'd cover would mostly be non-powered, costumed heroes, with the occasional non-costumed science fiction adventurer.  Batman and the Challengers of the Unknown.  That's the team-up I wanted to work with.  I didn't want to build something that had so many beings of such power that it no longer resembled the real world.

I mentioned during the month that I was surprised to find myself drawn to some of the more magical/mystical characters (arguably starting with Frankenstein and certainly coming into focus with the Heap).  This is probably influenced in part by the fact that the wife and I are reading the Harry Potter books at the moment, and the idea of a magical world mostly hidden from the view of us Muggles is really appealing.  And that's not pure fantasy...sometimes it's science fantasy, like Mermeans fighting sea demons in the image above, or the other ridiculous/awesome adventures of Typhon.  Even the planet-hopping of the Space Rovers fits the bill.

It looks like the team-up I've ended up with is more like Batman and Harry Potter.  And, for now, I like it!