Blood, Death, Satan & Metal

Finding the right system: Systemless adventures are nothing new, many statless bestiaries and one-page dungeons exist. They are generally assumed to use some dialect of the OSR Rosetta Stone or simple NuSR game. There are definitely things to take into account, however: you will want a low-powered or dangerous system, with a magic and skill system that is either generic or highly flavored toward Vermis's tone. Having run it several times, here are some suggestions: Session 1: Lamentations of the Flame Princess, heavily houseruled Location: Pauper's Catacombs                         Party: 4 level 6 characters I ran the Pauper's Catacombs as a "side-shot" in my campaign (when too many players are absent for a "real" session), using our regular characters with the rule that characters won't die, but suffer consequences as a result of these semi-canon adventures (i.e. missing limbs instead of death)....

Sorceress are (were) a 4-piece doom act from 2008-2011. They released this album in 2009, went on indefinite hiatus, put out 2 tracks on a split release in 2016, and then in 2023 we got this remastered reissue on King Volume records of Santa Fe. They also host Mizmor, the current band of Sorceress’s A.L.N. which is pretty fucking sick. But this isn’t about them- back to Sorceress! In 2009, doom was following in the footsteps of Electric Wizard and Sleep, and soon to bust open with Bongripper, Weedeater, and others’ classic releases. Sorceress preceded that mini-renaissance and took a more retro approach like The Sword and Witchcraft but with more of a psychedelic influence. To describe it briefly, I would call it a hybrid of Pallbearer and The Sword, loping along at a more measured pace. I’m coming to it after its top-notch remaster (“sumptuous” comes to mind), so I couldn’t tell you how it hit at the time of its first release. But 15 years later, it’s no bygone glory, it holds up. It’...

The most hyped horror movie of the year! I always say that we get ONE good one per year (admittedly I'm talking about pretentious indie "Elevated Horror") and I am, for the most part right. Perhaps I'll make a list someday, who knows? I will talk only momentarily about the hype and how the film does in relation to it: I skipped the hype. I loved the first teaser trailer and when the second one that had more context and talking came out I tuned it out and avoided everything about the movie until it came out. This was the correct choice. Trailers are an art unto themselves and have a duty to do show and imply as much as they can while, crucially, not spoiling the movie, and the later trailers did not fully respect the film in that regard. The movie on its own merits is excellent. Not perfect, but satisfyingly creepy, immersive and dirty feeling. It channels Silence of the Lambs primarily, with Seven and Zodiac (more the actual historical events than the Fincher film) n...

The Horned God are an Albuquerque “cosplay band” who create fuzz-metal. They pay tribute to the long-running fantasy comic Slaine, published for decades in 2000 AD (famous also for Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper). Slaine is a celtic Conan turned up to 11, with all of the badassery and far more magic and violence. The legendary run “The Horned God” with art by the great Simon Bisley gives the album its subject material. This is Volume 1, which the band began recording in 2012 and released in 2018. As of now there are no follow-ups, and it doesn’t look like there will be. Many a saga has begun that was too grandiose to carry to its end, and so too have many stoner metal bands made a Vol. 0 or 1 never to be followed. Do not fret, dear reader, for I will tell you of this lost gem, and why you should worship at its altar of dark druid magic and distorted rock fury. Volume: 1 by The Horned God   The band's look is GWAR-esque, but their sound is not. If anything, they sound like an over-fu...