Moe Lane's Blog, page 585
March 9, 2022
@HPLHS’s “I can’t personally justify it but it’s worth every penny” CALL OF CTHULHU CLASSIC GAMER PROP SET.
Short version: Chaosium did a Kickstarter last year to reprint some classic Call of Cthulhu RPG supplements from the 1980s. The HPL Historical Society has gone out and done props for all of them: “These props go with the supplements reprinted as part of the Call of Cthulhu Classic set, which includes the original Call of Cthulhu Rulebook, The Cthulhu Companion, Fragments of Fear, The Asylum & Other Tales, Trail of Tsathoggua, and Shadows of Yog-Sothoth.”
The CoC Classic Gamer Prop Set will set you back a cool hundred bucks, and I don’t have the space for the props in question – but the HPLHS is the gold standard when it comes to game props. They just get it. If you’re a CoC gamer, you’ll get your money’s worth out of this deal.
Item Seed: Codex Papilionibus.
Codex Papilionibus
Description: large vellum tome, 68 pages, bound in red calfskin, and clasped. Text is in Latin; calligraphy and illustrations appear northern Italian, circa 15th Century AD. The book is in excellent shape for its age, showing little signs of structural damage. If subjected to scrying spells, it faintly radiates magical energies. Author unknown. Ownership history unknown.
The Codex Papilionibus is in fact a book about butterflies; specifically, the major species found in the Mediterranean region. The text discusses their appearance, favored habitats, diet, suggestions for maintaining a successful breeding colony, and (most importantly) their usefulness in healing and protective alchemy. According to the book, butterflies are excellent raw materials for everything from healing potions to protective charms; about half of the Codex Papilionibus is dedicated to alchemical recipes.
How the Codex Papilionibus affects a campaign depends on the exact nature of magic in it:
In campaigns without magic, the recipes work precisely as advertised. These recipes include five different healing potions, four charms against evil and treachery, an unguent that cures diseases of the blood, one reliable sleep draught, and several other, likewise beneficial, charms. They can be prepared by anyone, as long as the instructions are followed, but are most potent when prepared by somebody with knowledge of actual Western European alchemy. The burning questions: If these rituals work, then why did this book disappear? And why is it back now?In campaigns with magic, the recipes should work, but do not. Those familiar with alchemy will find this subtly maddening; alchemists who are also mages will quickly conclude that some sort of magical interference is in effect here. There is still no history of the book’s prior existence, but magical scans will confirm that it is six centuries old. The burning questions: Who is keeping these rituals from working? And who made the book disappear?Either way, it’s a reasonably interesting mystery, yes? And it’s a perfectly safe mystery, too. After all, who would object to there being more healing magic in the world?
The “…Dammit.” OBI-WAN KENOBI teaser trailer.
Just… dammit. [UPDATE: People kept asking, so lemme clear it up: that’s a ‘this looks cool, dammit’ dammit.]
Between darkness and defeat, hope survives.
— Star Wars (@starwars) March 9, 2022
Watch the new teaser trailer for @ObiWanKenobi, and start streaming the limited series May 25 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/XiJANgWrEz
H/T: @jimgeraghty.
March 8, 2022
Kinda farted around today.
Productivity this week has been vaguely sucking. I assume it’s the combination of the seasonal change, my birthday coming up (they get a little more looming after 50), and me allowing myself to think of things I can maybe now do this year in addition to TINSEL RAIN. Although things aren’t perfect there. Ideally I would like to get GHOSTS ON AN ALIEN WIND out, and maybe finally finish PROJECT SHIVA (I finally realized what the problem was*), but I have to be realistic: I can definitely get the first ready for alpha reading this summer, and maybe even both. But even my blue-sky goals for the Kickstarter involves only being able to self-publish GHOSTS in a timely fashion.
That is not bad, obviously. I know plenty of writers without this many options. But apparently thinking about this stuff doesn’t help productivity much.
Moe Lane
*Not nearly supernatural enough. There’s a giant bleeding hole in the middle of it where the supernatural was, and it’s absolutely obvious to see.
Pour one out for Charles Entenmann.
Damn. I grew up on Entenmann’s chocolate-covered donuts. It’s all I can do not to go right now and see if there’s any in the supermarket. Rest in peace.
(Via @foster_type)
Charles Entenmann, who helped franchise Long Island family bakery, dead at 92 https://t.co/ueGb3a2CJ8 pic.twitter.com/6Jdc4Q4ONe
— New York Post (@nypost) March 9, 2022
Forbidden Opinion: science fiction is bad at predicting the future.
It shouldn’t have to be bad or good, mind you. There’s a reason why an alternative name for the genre is speculative fiction: calling that is a reminder that people are using the genre to think about what the future might hold. And more than likely getting it completely wrong.
Case in point: THE LAWNMOWER MAN. Thirty years old this week! …And boy, but it shows.
Okay, that’s unfair. But apparently that’s also what people thought virtual reality was going to be. One wonders how mockable our science fiction movies will be in 2052…
#commissionearned (and via Fark)
The DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS trailer.
Directed by Sam Raimi, if that wasn’t immediately obvious in the first twenty seconds.
Bear in mind that I am absolutely pumped to see Sam Raimi do this flick. I think that SPIDER-MAN 2 was the best of the Tobey Maguire flicks, and not coincidentally that was the one that allowed Raimi the most freedom to be, well, himself. And DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS simply had to let him work in some horror aesthetic. I mean, ‘Madness’ is in the title. You don’t do that unless you’re ready to bring in the creepy.
Gonna be fun! And trippy. Can’t wait.
Moe Lane
#commissionearned
Tweet of the Day, 100% Correct, A+ edition.
We’ve avoided these. So far.
Good morning, Twitter
— Schadenfreudelish (@aggierican) March 8, 2022pic.twitter.com/KjY0CkLmhN
Via @hungarianfalcon
