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Thanks to the perfect timining offered by the three-eyed serpent's venom, this link ended being top of the page both here and in the FAWTL...
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Fantasy Monster: Three-Eyed Serpent
This is really great! I can certainly see this getting use in my games.
Though it has nothing in common with a snake found in a 1970s scifi novel called "Dreamsnake" by Vonda N.McIntyre, it immediately made me think of it. I bet I read that book a dozen times as a kid. It's about a healer in a post-apocalyptic Earth who uses snakes to heal people, with the dream snake being a genetically modified serpent whose venom induces pleasant hallucinations to ease the minds of the sick and dying. The venom is also addictive and highly sought after, if I recall.
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I could use a few dreamsnake bites right now...
I could use a few dreamsnake bites right now...
Same here.
Ok, still alive, despite my head trying to kill me over the night.
I wonder if it was particularly nasty reaction to the vaccine (J&J), a completely unrelated case of killing weather, or a combination thereof (most likely).
I had such terrible headaches a few times before, even including accompaning chills so it might not be caused by vaccine.
I spent the last four or so hours sitting on the old bed, with pillows set in the way that support the sitting position and kept may head immovable in a single position. You gotta love headaches that get worse when you lie down.
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And yes, "Dreamsnake" was one of the secondary inspirations for the monster. Primary was just seeing a photo of a young, three-eyed snake that was shared on facebook recently.
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When I got the J&J vaccine, I got body aches, chills, and general tiredness, but no headache. I ended up going to bed at 8PM, slept through until my regular alarm sounded at 6AM the next morning, and then felt absolutely fine.
I felt pretty run down for a week after Moderna--but that coincided with pollen drifts two meters deep*, so really I think that's the more likely culprit.
I've also been working on a Moderna/Modena balsamic vinegar joke for over two weeks with ZERO luck. I need to fire my writers...
*Actual depth only estimated
I'm glad you're feeling better, Drejk! I have migraine headaches, though not with the frequency and severity I had with them back in the mid-1990s. Those were some doozies.
I had the Pfizer vaccine and the second shot just gave me a weekend-long feeling of general ickiness. One of my friends from college ended up in the ER with his, though. His lungs filled up with fluid, his body temperature dropped to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, his blood pressure shot up to over 200, and his blood oxygen count dropped to 40%. Healthcare is such a mess here that he actually debated with himself an hour before driving to the emergency room, where they told him if he'd not come in when he did he would likely have died.
His is an extreme reaction, though, and in fact, is the only one that I've heard of that was that severe.
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NERDAWAN (who’s playing a wild magic sorcerer), to his mother: “I grew a feather beard. Then I lost it when I turned into a potted plant. That was before I got transported to the Astral Plane while paralyzed by spider venom.
ME (muttering), also to his mother: “I *swear* I’m not introducing your teenage kid to drugs...
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Happy Star Wars Day to everyone (though we all know it's really May 25th). I blogged a bit about it in the small hours of this morning if anyone wants to kill five minutes of their day.
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That's awesome, Cal! Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for sharing that blog post, Cal!
I Tweeted this earlier today, but I want to share here too:
My fondest movie memory: In the summer of 1977, my very cool cousin (he was in HIGH SCHOOL!) took this 7-year-old sci-fi fan to see a movie "about robots and a wizard rescuing a princess in space. You'll love it!"
And boy did I!
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Yes... huge fan... certainly just a fan. Nothing to worry about at all.
That's more of what I expected...
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Where is he even getting the Monkey Growth Hormone?!
Check his browser history for anything related to GNC retailers in your area. I suspect he's using a line of credit he set up in your name to buy supplements from Gorilla Nutrition Centers.
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Where is he even getting the Monkey Growth Hormone?!Check his browser history for anything related to GNC retailers in your area. I suspect he's using a line of credit he set up in your name to buy supplements from Gorilla Nutrition Centers.
HA!
Well *that’s* becoming canon now... GNC... hilarious!
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One of the nerdawans came in for today's session and, first thing, showed me a list she had written:
TODAY'S GOALS
1. Don't die (don't get eaten)
2. Don't murder innocent people and/or animals
3. Don't kill, get rid of, or be mean to the bard
4. Don't give in to the evil Dungeon Master
She referenced it several times during the afternoon and was very proud to have accomplished those goals by the end of the day.
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Bards are never innocent. I'm sure she'll learn that in time.
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Bards are never innocent. I'm sure she'll learn that in time.
I think that’s why she felt the need to specifically call out the bard with her own line—not killing the innocent wasn’t sufficient legal protection. She’s learning fast to parse everything very carefully...
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Egads! Finally a construct worthy of the Popoff estate!
*spoing*
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There is a sort of heavy metal revival going on called The New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal. If you listened to metal in the first half of the 1980s you know most of it was cheesy, over the top, loud, often badly recorded, and just plain fun. The New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal is a movement to recapture the feel and sound of the "old days". Lots of the early heavy metal was based around fantasy themes. It leaves me misty-eyed and wistful for my old muscle car, the kick-ass stereo I had in it, the clothes, the girls...sigh...
Which brings me to this. There is a band called Gygax whose albums are all Dungeons and Dragons themed. They're everything you could hope for in a retro-metal band. Here is a link to their music on Bandcamp.
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I haven't run across the "NWOTHM" term before, but I definitely have been listening to bands in that genre for a few years.
Probably my favorite right now is The Sword.
Most of their material is definitely fantasy and sci-fi themed, including their science fiction concept album Warp Riders, including some great songs that could have come out in the late '70s, like Lawless Lands.
I haven't run across the "NWOTHM" term before, but I definitely have been listening to bands in that genre for a few years.
Probably my favorite right now is The Sword.
Most of their material is definitely fantasy and sci-fi themed, including their science fiction concept album Warp Riders, including some great songs that could have come out in the late '70s, like Lawless Lands.
I saw The Sword a few years back with Gypsyhawk at a club in Little Rock. Bear in mind that I no longer drink and have never taken recreational drugs but the only things I remember from that concert are one of Gypsyhawk's guitarists wearing a vintage Thin Lizzy t-shirt and their cover of "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo". The only thing I remember from The Sword's turn on stage was their cover of ZZ Top's "Cheap Sunglasses". Which is really strange because I actually like them a lot. Oh, and there was a very short, very drunk girl who kept asking if she could hug me and that it was "OK with her boyfriend if she did because she asked him".
The term "New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal" is a take on the the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" which heralded the metal onslaught in the first half of the 80s before MTV began paying attention to the genre and then only playing the videos by the bands with the pretty members. MTV killed heavy metal before grunge got the chance, and by God...sorry, I get carried away with the subject sometimes.
I just finished building a new Spotify playlist of traditional heavy metal, both vintage and new that I call "The House of Blood and Steel". It's 26 hours long at this point and will probably keep growing. If you (or anyone else for that matter) would like a link to it let me know. I'm always happy to share my music and listen to what other folks enjoy.
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Lot of S&S/Fantasy themed doom/stoner stuff around, too, like the super smashing Volt thrower, by Conan, or Spelljammer.
Also, I think they're more indie rock than metal, but D&D terms keep coming up in the Oh Sees' work.
Example: gelatinous cube
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I just finished building a new Spotify playlist of traditional heavy metal, both vintage and new that I call "The House of Blood and Steel". It's 26 hours long at this point and will probably keep growing. If you (or anyone else for that matter) would like a link to it let me know. I'm always happy to share my music and listen to what other folks enjoy.
OOH! Please do share!
In exchange, here are a few of my gaming-related Spotify playlists...
The Ultraviolet Grasslands : Music for psychedelic metal role-playing.
Spirit of '77: Can ya dig it? To be played at MAXIMUM VOLUME!
Sixguns & Sorcery: Music for the Weird West.
I can't wait to dig into those lists! Thanks!
Here's the link to my new one:
Cal's Multi-Dimensional Jukebox presents The House of Blood and Steel
And feel absolutely free to check out any other playlists on my page, too!
Haladir, here's a song that I love that might be a good addition to your Sixguns and Sorcery playlist.
Haladir, here's a song that I love that might be a good addition to your Sixguns and Sorcery playlist.
Very cool song, but that playlist is all instrumentals...
You know, I listened to that and I knew that and I'm a doofus... LOL
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You know, I listened to that and I knew that and I'm a doofus... LOL
That said, it does fir with the Ultraviolet Grasslands list themes...
Oh... and if you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend the psychedelic metal RPG campaign setting The Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City.
If you want a taste of what it will be, you can get the free UVG preview edition over at DriveThruRPG.
Sweet! Thanks!
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UVG is written for Old School Renaissance (OSR)-style play, but as an OSR setting, it's loose enough to easily adapt to other systems. The book includes a bare-bones OSR system called "SEACAT" [an acronym for its character ability scores: Strength, Endurance, Agility, Charisma, Aura, and Thought.]
I ran a short campaign in UVG using a "Powered by the Apocalypse" hack of my own devise. I've also seen some actual-play videos/podcasts of UVG games that used all kinds of different systems, including D&D 5E, Old School Essentials, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Mörk Borg, Genesys, Cortex Prime, and Fate.
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Welp. Got my second shot. It was difficult (painful even) but I resisted urge to scream “I’M MELTING I’M MELLLLTTTIIING... what a world what a world...” when he jabbed me.
I’m a good person. Or at least marginal.
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We've all played RPGs long enough to know that in the eyes of many just marginally good is a blessing. So don't sweat it.
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To be clear—what was difficult was not Wicked Witch screaming. The actual shot was nigh painless.
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Let's set the tone for the last Friday of the school year: blasting power metal and wearing light-up glitter tennis shoes.
UVG is written for Old School Renaissance (OSR)-style play, but as an OSR setting, it's loose enough to easily adapt to other systems. The book includes a bare-bones OSR system called "SEACAT" [an acronym for its character ability scores: Strength, Endurance, Agility, Charisma, Aura, and Thought.]
I ran a short campaign in UVG using a "Powered by the Apocalypse" hack of my own devise. I've also seen some actual-play videos/podcasts of UVG games that used all kinds of different systems, including D&D 5E, Old School Essentials, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Mörk Borg, Genesys, Cortex Prime, and Fate.
I remember it from a (positive) review Questing Beast did of it.
I remember it from a (positive) review Questing Beast did of it.UVG is written for Old School Renaissance (OSR)-style play, but as an OSR setting, it's loose enough to easily adapt to other systems. The book includes a bare-bones OSR system called "SEACAT" [an acronym for its character ability scores: Strength, Endurance, Agility, Charisma, Aura, and Thought.]
I ran a short campaign in UVG using a "Powered by the Apocalypse" hack of my own devise. I've also seen some actual-play videos/podcasts of UVG games that used all kinds of different systems, including D&D 5E, Old School Essentials, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Mörk Borg, Genesys, Cortex Prime, and Fate.
I backed the Kickstarter and have a hardcover. It's probably my favorite fantasy setting at the moment.
(Alas, I didn't back it at the "Voidwaker" premium-edition level... that cover is amazing and it will never be reprinted!)
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Let's set the tone for the last Friday of the school year: blasting power metal and wearing light-up glitter tennis shoes.
I'm in! (reaches for Helloween's "Keeper of the Seven Keys Part One" and turns it up to 11).
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I recently put together a power metal playlist on Spotify called "The Epic Epoch". I'm so clever. However, stupid title aside, it's a pretty good playlist!
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Welp. Got my second shot. It was difficult (painful even) but I resisted urge to scream “I’M MELTING I’M MELLLLTTTIIING... what a world what a world...” when he jabbed me.
I’m a good person. Or at least marginal.
My instinct as I got my first shot yesterday was to move my hand in front of my face and say, "I can see the music!"
I refrained as I only do that sort of thing around people who know me. Sometimes even they don't get the joke...
It doesn't click for me, either.
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Welp. Got my second shot. It was difficult (painful even) but I resisted urge to scream “I’M MELTING I’M MELLLLTTTIIING... what a world what a world...” when he jabbed me.
I’m a good person. Or at least marginal.
My instinct as I got my first shot yesterday was to move my hand in front of my face and say, "I can see the music!"
I refrained as I only do that sort of thing around people who know me. Sometimes even they don't get the joke...
Once, a long time ago, I found myself in a psychiatric intake situation where a very nice person was asking me a series of questions. I was not doing well at all, but I am proud I had the wherewithal for the following sequence:
NICE PERSON: Are you currently experiencing any hallucinations?
ME: Assuming you're here, no.
NICE PERSON: *loud inadvertent snort*