Quoth the Raven #32 Reaction Thread

[Mistmaster]

Thanks foryour feedback

COLLODI: LAND OF PUPPETS AND FABLES

Confession time: Even thought I have a copy of the book in my household, I have not read the original story of Pinocchio. I have, however, watched the Disney movie (the 1940 original, not that live-action claptrap) within the last year, so I guess it all evens out. I say that just in case I comment on something that stinks and it turns out Mistmaster pulled it from the original book, that's egg on my face. (May the ghost of Walt Disney forgive me!)

Anyway, on to the actual review...

First off, there's way too many living puppets running around this place. First there's Mileno and Maligno. Then twelve more are added in? Why exactly? Having one good former puppet (Mileno) duking it out against a currently bad puppet (Maligno) is a perfectly good set up for conflicts. Adding in multiple “brothers” and “sisters” just seems to muddy the waters needlessly. As I always say in these reviews - the more you make of something, the less unique it becomes!

Moving on, I would normally be annoyed by all the animals turning into men and back into animals again that can be found in the Famed and Infamous section, but there's a lot of that going on in the original stories as well. And it serves as good way to highlight the lurid, dream-like tone of the land.

The darklord is a mixed bag, however. I really dig that the temporal ruler of the domain is just a puppet of the true master of the domain. I see what you did there, Mistmaster! But making the coachman's role more prominent sidelines the the tragedy of Mileno, and Maligno. I think having their contest over the love of their father should have been more closely tied to the domain's creation.

It would have made for a more interesting dynamic if in this timeline Gepetto was already dead, and Mileno was now an adult. That way you can have Maligno resent all the accolades and perks that his good twin gets as a result of his status as a full member of the community while the puppet can never be fully accepted in normal society. (That may be infringing upon Peter Pan's territory, but I believe the ghost of J.M. Barrie would let it slide just this once.) Taking the concept one step further, you could even explore the idea of Mileno's growing resentment towards Maligno because the marrionette never has to suffer the indignity of growing old and frail!

Overall, there's a lot of neat concepts here, even if not all of them work for me.

This was the first domain I ever rewritten, and I have expanded it a lot in this version, inserting a lot of characters who are indeed from the original book. About the marionettes, I multiplied them because I wanted to give Maligno a prominent role, but I did not want to make him the darklord. So I made him a sort of Magneto for kids and marionettes. And he needed an army.

THE GOBLINWOOD: LAND OF THE GOBLINS AND OTHER FORSAKEN PEOPLE

I said in a previous review that having a homeland for goblins and other monstrous humanoids set in Ravenloft would be a good idea and Mistmaster does an excellent job of fleshing out just such a realm here. Even if you don't subscribe to his World of Ravenloft approach, this domain can be lifted whole cloth and inserted into the Core as is (I'm looking at you, Shadow Rift). Plus, if you have someone that wants to play one of these fantasy races you can use it as a ready made background without having to make them an Outworlder.

The article dragged in the middle, however, due to all the various pantheons being recited ad nausem. I get that MM wanted to highlight each group's unique set of deities, but I think one run through with each tribe's equivalent god or goddess would have been more concise.

For some reason the darklord, Shingrak, didn't really grab me. I have to admit having a bonafide (get it?) dracolich in the setting is a neat idea. But, something about his background reminded me of the “and then he killed them all...” trope that I saw way too much of in VRGtRL, which is a mark against it in my eyes.

I wrote the domain exactly thanks to your review to expand that sidebar in the Tepest article. Dragons are rare, almost absent in Ravenloft and I have decided to have Shingarak to be one of the reasons why. He extingushed red dragons in the Core, and they were his family. So he is a genocidal power hungry kinslayer. I have to point out that normally Shingarak is not a Dracolich, but a living dragon in kobold size.

[Tonitrus]

Beneath the Heels of the Dancing Goddess

I just write my thoughts down as I have them, so I suppose I should use bullets to make this vaguely readable:

• Solid intro, piques curiosity while also making it clear exactly what we're getting into and what we're talking about, which is usually a prerequisite for me to be able to read setting fiction. I particularly enjoy the tradition/transition rhyming, for lack of a better term. As someone who's never been particularly interested in Sri Raji, this nevertheless grabs my fickle and fleeting attention right away.

• I don't know if it's common to bold locations like this, but I love it. It makes it easier to skim when I'm looking for things in the middle of a game with a bunch of players asking me questions.

• I read the text as implying that Nicholsi was killed by doppelganger plants and that implication is fantastic. Subtle things like that always get my imagination going.

• Not a criticism, but an idle thought I thought that I should share: I'm not sure the final line of the Last Sacred Cow Dread Possibility is necessary. It's a Dread Possibility, all of it might or might not be true. On the other hand, it does imply that particular parts might not be true.

• I love the idea of material ghosts, which is probably as much due to it being unusual in fiction as to it being a conception of ghosts that was popular (in part) in antiquity.

• Seasons and Weather: I'd like to know approximately when, or at least how long, these seasons are. Are they four months each?

• I initially had a resistance to the idea of the nirguna moon, but quickly fell in love with it. I don't know what it means to have a new moon on a moon you can't see, though (pg. 187). Aren't they all new moons if you can't see the moon?

• Astronomy: In horror, I love it when writers introduce a detail about the world that is completely insane if you think about it, point out that it's weird, and then just move on with no explanation. One of my favorite things to do as a DM is say "This thing is happening. It's impossible, but it's happening." Then keep harping on how weird it is without any hint of an explanation. Astronomy in the Demiplane doesn't make a lot of sense as it is, and this takes it to the next level. Beautiful.

• Love that they have their own term for the Great Upheaval. Most places probably should.

• "They promptly force another reincarnation." (pg. 189) Perfection.

• Maharaja's decrees: Every day of the nirguna moon - isn't that every day?

• The Easy Way Out: I'm confused. This phantom river leads to Saragoss if the crew's karma is poor, fair enough. I'm unclear whether only the pilot's karma counts or not, but that's beside the point. What happens if the crew all has made 0 power checks and successfully navigate toward the target water way? Does nothing happen, or does the phantom-river take them to their intended destination?

• I don't know why but I absolutely love that there's a Boritsi street in Muladi. I think it's because it's one of those things that seems very likely to happen in real life, but seems odd with how segregated the typical presentation of domains is.

• I assume many of the listed NPCs are references to other articles or adventures, but none of them are familiar to me. In many cases I could use these NPCs as-is, but in other cases it feels like I'm missing a great deal of information about them. If I'm correct and they are referenced in other things, a source could be useful. For example, the Moksha Sadak refers the reader to QtR28. If some of these NPCs are from other sources, mentioning those sources would be very helpful.

• In general I'm assuming typos and things will be fixed in the errata, but feel I should point out that on page 226 a thought ends mid-sentence in the middle of the left side of the page ("However, the civil hierarchy"), then continues at the top right of the page ("is entirely different from the social hierarchy")

• I don't love the ermordenungs/vishkanya. A similar concept would be very cool, but having another instance of a thing that is uniquely and distinctively Borcan undermines both domains, in my opinion. Reskinning an ermordenung or even suggesting that DMs use ermordenung stats is perhaps reasonable, but "there are ermordenungs here too" is a mistake, I think.

• pg. 232 mentions that keimi are unaffected by the phases of the moon, which makes perfect sense. However, this just adds to my confusion about what the "new moon of the nirguna moon" is.

• I enjoy the weird politics of the Great University, particularly the competitive rebranding of the different fields.

Fantastic article. Essentially the Sri Rajian Gazeteer, as someone already mentioned.

[IanFordam]

Beneath the Heels of the Dancing Goddess

I just write my thoughts down as I have them, so I suppose I should use bullets to make this vaguely readable:

• Solid intro, piques curiosity while also making it clear exactly what we're getting into and what we're talking about, which is usually a prerequisite for me to be able to read setting fiction. I particularly enjoy the tradition/transition rhyming, for lack of a better term. As someone who's never been particularly interested in Sri Raji, this nevertheless grabs my fickle and fleeting attention right away.

Excellent! Writing setting fiction is tricky stuff, so it's good to know that this piece worked for you.

• I don't know if it's common to bold locations like this, but I love it. It makes it easier to skim when I'm looking for things in the middle of a game with a bunch of players asking me questions.

That's exactly why I started boldfacing important terms in the adventures that I run, and the habit carried over into my articles for Quoth.

• I read the text as implying that Nicholsi was killed by doppelganger plants and that implication is fantastic. Subtle things like that always get my imagination going.

The ambiguity comes straight from Mistipedia's article on Prof. Nicholsi, but I was happy to lean into it.

• Not a criticism, but an idle thought I thought that I should share: I'm not sure the final line of the Last Sacred Cow Dread Possibility is necessary. It's a Dread Possibility, all of it might or might not be true. On the other hand, it does imply that particular parts might not be true.

It is sort of a double Dread Possibility: There might be a dwindling herd of sacred cows in Bahru, and the last sacred cow might be Kamadhenu, the wishing cow. The intention behind the last line is to emphasize that a particular Dungeon Master might use the first possibility without using the second.

• I love the idea of material ghosts, which is probably as much due to it being unusual in fiction as to it being a conception of ghosts that was popular (in part) in antiquity.

Southeast Asian lore includes many material ghosts, so that's what we ran with.

• Seasons and Weather: I'd like to know approximately when, or at least how long, these seasons are. Are they four months each?

In real world India, winter is December to February, summer is March to May, south-west monsoon is June to September, and north-east monsoon is October to November. Apparently I decided that I didn't want to try to explain the two monsoon seasons and combined them, so the Sri Rajian monsoon season would be June to November.

• I initially had a resistance to the idea of the nirguna moon, but quickly fell in love with it. I don't know what it means to have a new moon on a moon you can't see, though (pg. 187). Aren't they all new moons if you can't see the moon?

The new moon isn't defined by the moon's lack of visibility (because it's never visible, as you noted) but as the three days that the white elephant arrives to take away the Chosen of Kali. The rest of the phases are extrapolated from there.

• Astronomy: In horror, I love it when writers introduce a detail about the world that is completely insane if you think about it, point out that it's weird, and then just move on with no explanation. One of my favorite things to do as a DM is say "This thing is happening. It's impossible, but it's happening." Then keep harping on how weird it is without any hint of an explanation. Astronomy in the Demiplane doesn't make a lot of sense as it is, and this takes it to the next level. Beautiful.

• Love that they have their own term for the Great Upheaval. Most places probably should.

I agree!

• "They promptly force another reincarnation." (pg. 189) Perfection.

Thank you.

• Maharaja's decrees: Every day of the nirguna moon - isn't that every day?

Every day of the new nirguna moon. That is, when the white elephant shows up on your doorstep, somebody had better be offered as a sacrifice.

• The Easy Way Out: I'm confused. This phantom river leads to Saragoss if the crew's karma is poor, fair enough. I'm unclear whether only the pilot's karma counts or not, but that's beside the point. What happens if the crew all has made 0 power checks and successfully navigate toward the target water way? Does nothing happen, or does the phantom-river take them to their intended destination?

Yes, in that case the intention is that the vessel reaches its destination. And, yes, we ought to say so!

• I don't know why but I absolutely love that there's a Boritsi street in Muladi. I think it's because it's one of those things that seems very likely to happen in real life, but seems odd with how segregated the typical presentation of domains is.

One of our goals was to provide ties, albeit limited ties, back to the rest of the Land of Mists. The handful of non-Rajian street names seemed like a logical consequence.

• I assume many of the listed NPCs are references to other articles or adventures, but none of them are familiar to me. In many cases I could use these NPCs as-is, but in other cases it feels like I'm missing a great deal of information about them. If I'm correct and they are referenced in other things, a source could be useful. For example, the Moksha Sadak refers the reader to QtR28. If some of these NPCs are from other sources, mentioning those sources would be very helpful.

I did my best to reference original sources for NPCs which others created, but I may have missed some. Please feel free to let me know (either here or via private message, as you prefer) which particular NPCs feel like they're missing information. If they're missing references, I can file errata reports, and if they're custom to this article, I can at least confirm.

• In general I'm assuming typos and things will be fixed in the errata, but feel I should point out that on page 226 a thought ends mid-sentence in the middle of the left side of the page ("However, the civil hierarchy"), then continues at the top right of the page ("is entirely different from the social hierarchy")

An errata report has been filed. Thanks for bringing this up!

• I don't love the ermordenungs/vishkanya. A similar concept would be very cool, but having another instance of a thing that is uniquely and distinctively Borcan undermines both domains, in my opinion. Reskinning an ermordenung or even suggesting that DMs use ermordenung stats is perhaps reasonable, but "there are ermordenungs here too" is a mistake, I think.

Because Speedwagon introduced the vishkanyas to this article, he has offered to respond to this point. However, please know that I appreciate the feedback in this point too!

• pg. 232 mentions that keimi are unaffected by the phases of the moon, which makes perfect sense. However, this just adds to my confusion about what the "new moon of the nirguna moon" is.

Hopefully this makes more sense now, given my explanation above.

• I enjoy the weird politics of the Great University, particularly the competitive rebranding of the different fields.

Yeah, I had fun with that section.

Fantastic article. Essentially the Sri Rajian Gazeteer, as someone already mentioned.

Thank you very much for reading and reviewing, including your suggestions for improvement.

[Strahdsbuddy]

Righteous Rulership by Ian Fordham was my favorite article in this edition. I say that after first being put off by what a caricature Dmitrov seemed to me in the beginning--but then I realized he had been expertly written as a true believer, the most devout follower of a faith that insisted he behave this way; I saw the deeper character portrayed by Sarah Verber would have actually been out of character for Dmitrov. thought I saw her wear the Vassan down a bit during his recovery and investigation of Kirchenheim, but once he got on the scent of the artifact, he was unyielding. One of my favorite exchanges was where he flatly asks "What's empathy?" Unironic and genuinely unfamiliar with the concept thanks to his religion/culture, it felt rather haunting. Are the followers of the Lawgiver wicked, or are they simply not trained to recognize goodness as we understand it? As someone who revels in worldbuilding, the Vaasi idiom of "Ride a day on another man's horse" was something I really appreciated.

I liked the Sri Raji cycle as well and want to digest it a bit more, since the gazetteer-level detail is a nice gift from Fordham, El Akkad, and Roby. This is a domain that need to be "saved" a bit from it's Black Box version, and the additional depth is certainly welcome.

For those who have drawn the Tolkien comparisons in my Darkon's History Explored, just know that I was cognizant of the risk and hope that while I approached it with the same mythic structure as Tolkien's First Age, I was hoping to imitate rather than outright mimic him. Once I got to the arrival of Darcalus, the tone changed so much that I knew it would need to be its own article, so thank you for indulging me to continue next year.

[Tonitrus]

The new moon isn't defined by the moon's lack of visibility (because it's never visible, as you noted) but as the three days that the white elephant arrives to take away the Chosen of Kali. The rest of the phases are extrapolated from there.

While this is a cool concept, I don't think people would refer to things this way. If it hurt to look at it on the new moon, but was soothing at a half moon, caused fear on the full moon, was soothing again on the half moon and back, then people could have a cycle that would make sense for them to comment on or think of as a cycle.

Arijani might call the day the elephant shows up "the new nirguna moon." Perhaps some scholars would also call it that. Most people would not think of it that way, however. It would just be thought of as "elephant day" or something like that. If there's no way to determine the phase of the moon except by seeing when the elephant shows up, then the moon is irrelevant and only the elephant matters. Personally I like the idea of an invisible moon that has phases acknowledged by the entire populace, so my suggestion would be to tie the phases of the moon to a different emotional reaction or strange sensation. That also has the advantage of making the astronomy even weirder.

[Speedwagon]

• I don't love the ermordenungs/vishkanya. A similar concept would be very cool, but having another instance of a thing that is uniquely and distinctively Borcan undermines both domains, in my opinion. Reskinning an ermordenung or even suggesting that DMs use ermordenung stats is perhaps reasonable, but "there are ermordenungs here too" is a mistake, I think.

Hello! I was responsible for the vishkanya inclusion, so I can answer what the rationale was on that front. And the rationale was actually quite simple: I thought it was cool and couldn't help myself . To expand upon that more, it was that I was looking up unique figures of folklore & other interesting tidbits of lore from Indian history & mythology, while also wanting to add something else to the Dark Sisters to diversify them a bit. I stumbled across the vishkanya thanks to Wikipedia (link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishakanya) and found the similarities between them and the concept of the ermordenung (itself seemingly inspired by the gothic tale Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne) striking enough as to make me think of including them. The fact that the vishkanya in real life lore, with their poisonous blood & bodily fluids, predated Nathaniel Hawthorne's work by centuries was even more fascinating to me---doubly so with it being a popular literary figure in Indian storytelling too! Of course, as Jeremy Roby likes to say, "the more of something you have in a game, the less unique it is". I should have heeded those words but I let myself get carried away. That and I saw that vishkanyas were also in Pathfinder so that also gave me motivation to try and find a way to include them. But as you said, more could have been done to differentiate the two. Had I come up with a more defined explanation or even included an adventure hook within the DP presenting the vishkanya, I think that could have helped to address your critique.

Fantastic article. Essentially the Sri Rajian Gazeteer, as someone already mentioned.

Thank you very much for the kind words! We hope that this will inspire more people to run adventures in Sri Raji and not have to worry about filling in all of the details themselves!

[IanFordam]

While this is a cool concept, I don't think people would refer to things this way. If it hurt to look at it on the new moon, but was soothing at a half moon, caused fear on the full moon, was soothing again on the half moon and back, then people could have a cycle that would make sense for them to comment on or think of as a cycle.

Arijani might call the day the elephant shows up "the new nirguna moon." Perhaps some scholars would also call it that. Most people would not think of it that way, however. It would just be thought of as "elephant day" or something like that. If there's no way to determine the phase of the moon except by seeing when the elephant shows up, then the moon is irrelevant and only the elephant matters. Personally I like the idea of an invisible moon that has phases acknowledged by the entire populace, so my suggestion would be to tie the phases of the moon to a different emotional reaction or strange sensation. That also has the advantage of making the astronomy even weirder.

I see what you're saying: The nirguna moon has to demonstrate more moon-like behavior to be seen as a moon. In truth, I was thinking along similar lines while considering my last response. However, I was not able to articulate (even to myself) the thought nearly as well as you just put it. Mind if I steal your idea?

[IanFordam]

The Dark One
by Le Maxul

What's the metaphysical importance of the coffea plant?

There's a reason why Amentia sells chintzy coffee cups as a part of his evil schemes, y'know.

BECAUSE EVIL STAYS UP LATE AND NEEDS CAFFEINE IN THE MORNING.

Or maybe that's just me.

[Tonitrus]

I see what you're saying: The nirguna moon has to demonstrate more moon-like behavior to be seen as a moon. In truth, I was thinking along similar lines while considering my last response. However, I was not able to articulate (even to myself) the thought nearly as well as you just put it. Mind if I steal your idea?

Please do!

[Tonitrus]

Also, depending on the size of the moon in the sky and the density of stars... and assuming it's closer than the stars are... the moon will sometimes be visible in the sky, either by passing over previously observed stars or while in a patch of sky where the stars are sufficiently dense to notice what is essentially a black circle. This would be more noticeable if the constellations were consistent ("The Big Dipper is gone, the moon must be blocking it"), but will be sometimes noticeable even with an entirely random sky. There will be a place with no stars that keeps moving throughout the night, and if the moon moves like ours does, it should be possible to somewhat predict this effect. It would get harder to predict over time due to the way the stars move around, but it might be predictable from observation day-to-day, depending on how fast the stars move around. And how, they move, I guess. I'd assumed from the article that the stars also move with relationship to one another, but it's possible that they maintain their relative positions to one another and just keep scrolling across the sky.

This assumes there are a lot of visible stars, however. If there are few, it would be hard to detect.

[Jeremy16]

THE CHILDREN OF THE CORN

And now that we have arrived at one of the lesser known horror movie franchises, Stephen King's Children of the Corn, I finally see the wisdom in M.T. Kelly's penchant for meticulously reciting the summaries for each movie in the series that he explores. I consider myself to be a horror movie aficia... aficio... fan but have only ever seen the first movie in this octet. (Which is probably a good thing for my sanity.)

There's a lot of elements here that I really like.

First off, there's the in-world excerpts that introduce each new chapter. I don't know if they are taken directly from the story or made up whole cloth by the author, but they do a good job of setting the tone.

In fact, I think M.T. Kelly's writing is getting better with each new article. I was originally opposed to this project because it felt too far afield of traditional Ravenloft, even as a Gothic Earth spin-off. But with each new domain that gets outlined I can see more of the merit in this exercise.

(As an aside, I really feel that the Neo Red Death needs to work up a new name for itself - What about the Crimson Horizon? Or, the Scarlet Sky? The Red Dawn has a nice ring to it... )

I also really appreciated the more in-dept examination of the mechanics of how this domain works, i.e. the child prophets, typical cult activities, and of course, a an explanation on regarding the origins and powers of He Who Walks Behind the Rows.

In fact, I would encourage the author to do the same for future articles. Taking a successful horror franchise and breaking down its component parts to be used in an RPG would make these articles useful for those that don't necessarily want to play in the world they are set in.

For example... let's take a look at the Friday the 13th series. What element does every movie have to have? The killer (Jason), the setting (Camp Crystal Lake), and the victims (usually campers or camp counselors). Outlining various places that can be found in the setting – the abandoned hut, the archery range, the boat dock, etc – and providing quick personality profiles for a handful of stock NPCs - the jock, the stoner, the final girl, etc – could eally make it feel like a more fleshed out place with very little effort.

Overall, I enjoyed this article very much and look forward to where this series is headed next!

[Jeremy16]

EXCERPTS FROM THE REGISTRY OF MONSTERS

Every time I see another set of creatures being presented by the Baron I fear that I won't be able to find anything noteworthy to say about this next batch. But, so far, he always manages to bring something to the table that surprises and delights me.

Here's a quick look at some of my favorites:

Agaricisaurus – This is basically a mushroom dinosaur and sets the stage beautifully for the madness to come...

Anyue – I am a sucker for globe-headed figures (see the pulp hero known as the Moon Man and Mysterio from the Spider-Man comics) and I really like this twisted moon diety, something you don't see very often.

Assassin Cats – These guys look like what you would get if you crossed a cat with a mosquito.

Basabasan – On its face a ghost chicken sounds very silly, but its description is terrifying. I wouldn't want to meet this fellow in a dark barn.

Chleuastos – It's the smile on this one that creeps me out. Talk about an uncanny valley!

The Crawling Trees – I've gotten a kick out of stories about weird, supernatural killer plants ever since I saw Little Little Shop of Horrors when I was a kid. Where's a blessed machete when you need one?

Daotaiyang – This picture does a really good job of conveying exactly how an evil sun diety would appear. I can practically feel the waves of heat and penetrating glare.

Deceiving Mercenary Fraus – Every line of this entry... even the picture... is metal af.

Hermes Trismegistus – I never thought I'd see this guy on the list, but here we are!

Lamdeth Cake – Gives a whole new meaning to “Cake or death?” doesn't it?

Liuchong – Shades of The Color Out of Space!

Lo Draq – Compared to the rest, this guy looks downright cuddly.

Necromalgam – I can't get enough of composite undead creature like tomb motes and zombie clots. And hey, I learned a new word today – agglutination.

Red Lightining – This is a rare good creature thrown into the mix but it looks just as ferocious as all the rest.

The Sac Man – This guy makes for a good bogeyman.

Sakasama No Megami-Sama – Its the description of this one that got me. Ewwww.

Shade – This is a beautiful picture, almost abstract and strangely poignant.

Three Bad Goats – I could see these guys posing as wandering shadow fey tricking people into selling their souls to the devil.

Utuvaagan – The multitude of eyes really freaks me out on this one. Kindy trippy, too.

Xiqi – You can't beat an old fashioned torso face. Arnim Zola says hi!

Tripsittaka – This creature sounds right at home in Sri Raji. Let's make that crossover happen!

[Baron Von Stanton]

EXCERPTS FROM THE REGISTRY OF MONSTERS

Every time I see another set of creatures being presented by the Baron I fear that I won't be able to find anything noteworthy to say about this next batch. But, so far, he always manages to bring something to the table that surprises and delights me.

Here's a quick look at some of my favorites:

Agaricisaurus – This is basically a mushroom dinosaur and sets the stage beautifully for the madness to come...

I love creating fungus monsters out of principle.

Anyue – I am a sucker for globe-headed figures (see the pulp hero known as the Moon Man and Mysterio from the Spider-Man comics) and I really like this twisted moon diety, something you don't see very often.

I was trying to go for a "man in the moon man" design that wouldn't get confused with McDonald's Mac Tonight. I'll take this as a win

Assassin Cats – These guys look like what you would get if you crossed a cat with a mosquito.

I was inspired by Yoshitaka Amano's design for the Lizard/Iguana/Basilisk enemy from Final Fantasy 1 [https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Li ... sk_FF1.jpg] and made it more cat-like.

Basabasan – On its face a ghost chicken sounds very silly, but its description is terrifying. I wouldn't want to meet this fellow in a dark barn.

Visually, I was inspired by "Mike the Headless Chicken," [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken] while the name was taken from a chicken yokai called the "Basan" [https://yokai.com/basan/]

Chleuastos – It's the smile on this one that creeps me out. Talk about an uncanny valley!

All I'll say is that I have not yet seen either "Smile" movies, but I have read their respective Wikipedia articles and was not terribly impressed[/quote]

The Crawling Trees – I've gotten a kick out of stories about weird, supernatural killer plants ever since I saw Little Little Shop of Horrors when I was a kid. Where's a blessed machete when you need one?

You'll need more than a machete to deal with a Crawling Tree.

Daotaiyang – This picture does a really good job of conveying exactly how an evil sun diety would appear. I can practically feel the waves of heat and penetrating glare.

I wanted to channel that angry sun from the Super Mario Bros franchise, but I think I wound up with the moon from Majora's Mask.

Deceiving Mercenary Fraus – Every line of this entry... even the picture... is metal af.

Visually, I used my own designs for various pumpkin and melon yokai. Fraus' behavior was inspired by "The Laughing Salesman" anime.

Hermes Trismegistus – I never thought I'd see this guy on the list, but here we are!

I grew up looking at the pictures of alchemical illuminations, they helped form my aesthetic sense.

Lamdeth Cake – Gives a whole new meaning to “Cake or death?” doesn't it?

Yes, but you misspelled "or," it's spelled "and"

Liuchong – Shades of The Color Out of Space!

I dunno, more of the plot of a B horror movie, and not enough skunk cabbage, if you ask me.

Lo Draq – Compared to the rest, this guy looks downright cuddly.

Yes, until he crushes you into paste

Necromalgam – I can't get enough of composite undead creature like tomb motes and zombie clots. And hey, I learned a new word today – agglutination.

Storywise, at least, I wanted to move away from the "wizard's creation that ate its maker" trope. And "agglutination" doesn't get enough usage or love.

Red Lightining – This is a rare good creature thrown into the mix but it looks just as ferocious as all the rest.

There are not enough "horror heroes" in fiction.

The Sac Man – This guy makes for a good bogeyman.

So many bogeymen are literally just "a guy with a sack," and none of them, as far as I know, are just a sack. This is my attempt to fix that particular imbalance.

Sakasama No Megami-Sama – Its the description of this one that got me. Ewwww.

I named the Upside Down Goddess' layer-prison "the Flower Palace" in reference to the similarity of writhing tentacles to unfurling flower petals.

Shade – This is a beautiful picture, almost abstract and strangely poignant.

I was inspired to draw this from watching an episode of "Ancient Aliens" that was about "shadow people."

Three Bad Goats – I could see these guys posing as wandering shadow fey tricking people into selling their souls to the devil.

The Three Bad Goats were inspired by "The Ram In The Thicket" votive figurines from Ur [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_in_a_Thicket] And technically, they would trick people into selling their souls to either the Green Empress or the Apokryltaros, but, ultimately a situation of semantics.

Utuvaagan – The multitude of eyes really freaks me out on this one. Kindy trippy, too.

This was inspired by one of my favorite YuGiOh monsters, "Worm Drake."

Xiqi – You can't beat an old fashioned torso face. Arnim Zola says hi!

Visually, Xiqi was inspired by the character "King" from the anime "Garo: Vanishing Line." [https://garo.fandom.com/wiki/King] I stuck the nose on him as a personal touch.

Tripsittaka – This creature sounds right at home in Sri Raji. Let's make that crossover happen!

Or possibly one of the more unpleasant denizens of the Wildlands.

[Manofevil]

THE CHILDREN OF THE CORN

And now that we have arrived at one of the lesser known horror movie franchises, Stephen King's Children of the Corn, I finally see the wisdom in M.T. Kelly's penchant for meticulously reciting the summaries for each movie in the series that he explores. I consider myself to be a horror movie aficia... aficio... fan but have only ever seen the first movie in this octet. (Which is probably a good thing for my sanity.)

There's a lot of elements here that I really like.

thank goodn…er…eviln…er…DARKness. I was beginning to think nobody liked it.

First off, there's the in-world excerpts that introduce each new chapter. I don't know if they are taken directly from the story or made up whole cloth by the author, but they do a good job of setting the tone.

In fact, I think M.T. Kelly's writing is getting better with each new article. I was originally opposed to this project because it felt too far afield of traditional Ravenloft, even as a Gothic Earth spin-off. But with each new domain that gets outlined I can see more of the merit in this exercise.

(As an aside, I really feel that the Neo Red Death needs to work up a new name for itself - What about the Crimson Horizon? Or, the Scarlet Sky? The Red Dawn has a nice ring to it... )

It occurs to me to wonder if the Red Death actually speaks to anyone. If it does, then it makes sense for its offshoot to give itself a name. If it does not then I must wonder if it makes sense to consider a name. Good suggestions though.

I also really appreciated the more in-dept examination of the mechanics of how this domain works, i.e. the child prophets, typical cult activities, and of course, a an explanation on regarding the origins and powers of He Who Walks Behind the Rows.

In fact, I would encourage the author to do the same for future articles. Taking a successful horror franchise and breaking down its component parts to be used in an RPG would make these articles useful for those that don't necessarily want to play in the world they are set in.

For example... let's take a look at the Friday the 13th series. What element does every movie have to have? The killer (Jason), the setting (Camp Crystal Lake), and the victims (usually campers or camp counselors). Outlining various places that can be found in the setting – the abandoned hut, the archery range, the boat dock, etc – and providing quick personality profiles for a handful of stock NPCs - the jock, the stoner, the final girl, etc – could eally make it feel like a more fleshed out place with very little effort.

Overall, I enjoyed this article very much and look forward to where this series is headed next!

Thank you for the positive review. I look forward to doing whatever movie franchise, post apocalyptic or horror that catches my eye next. A Stephen King fan I mentioned the project to told me that the entire state of Maine probably belongs to Stephen King characters. Imagine what an undertaking that would be. I did this one because I actually live in Nebraska and was able to apply my knowledge of the state to the article. Places like LA and Chicago are going to be huge. Regardless, I hope I can keep this up.

[Mistmaster]

THE CHILDREN OF THE CORN

And now that we have arrived at one of the lesser known horror movie franchises, Stephen King's Children of the Corn, I finally see the wisdom in M.T. Kelly's penchant for meticulously reciting the summaries for each movie in the series that he explores. I consider myself to be a horror movie aficia... aficio... fan but have only ever seen the first movie in this octet. (Which is probably a good thing for my sanity.)

There's a lot of elements here that I really like.

thank goodness…er…eviln…er…DARKness. I was beginning to think nobody liked it.

I did like it, a lot.