1889. Might be the First oldest story about a house with rooms that should not be there.
A QUICK 9 minute read
Read it and more here- https://americanliterature.com/author/ambrose-bierce/short-story/the-spook-house
Review (spoilers):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr8ByueHsqw&t=321s
And reading of - https://m.youtube.com/shorts/-sGp6x2JE64
I’m not so sure about this one. Beginning is getting on my nerves. The pompous and/or flippant almost mafia style of speech. I mean George C. Scott is always likable but… the others not ao much.
Then yoy get this goofy heaven dream. The Jesus statue eyes are … not respectful but also not creepy. Just goofy.
I guess it will get better. Maybe they want contrasts so the actual creepy parts are more so. The first priest killing was very intense and scary.
I am 30 minutes into it. Let’s see hiw the rest goes.
UPDATE - oh it gets better! Halfway through now So he sees the dead priest in that cell. What the hell is going on? And
UODATE - the skinny nurse that proclaims “i’m a bitch” after George C. Scott says “very kind of you” is weirdly entertaining.
Crazy man Brad Dourif from Dune and One Flew Over the Cookoo’s nest is oretty good in this. Over the top crazy works.
Ceiling crawl!!!
Quote “ Well, there I was so awfully dead in that electric chair. I didn't like it. Would you? It's upsetting. There was still so much killing to do, and there I was, in the void, without a body. But then along came - well - my friend. You know. One of them. Those others over there. The cruel ones... the Master. He thought my work should continue.”
Oh, the lightning floor to hell was some crazy special effects. Freeaky.
The End.
Btw, Pazuzu is a good demon(?) according to the British History Museum guy. He claims Pazuzu was ugly to scare away the evil demon that would ruin(?) childbirths. Says they used his … icon or token or something in a window… if inrecall correctly.
We are all Legends by Darrel Schweitzer, 1981.
And maybe his Mask of the Sorcerer.
Giant stone telamon.
……vocabulary to use in a campaign game
…..
AMULET - From m-w.com
a small cross made of goat bone was worn in the Middle Ages as an amulet to ward off evil
Some believed that phallic icons served as protective amulets against infertility and evil spirits, thus leading to their incorporation in performances, art, and architecture.— Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Oct. 2026 Additional discoveries include scarabs inscribed with the names of kings and deities, together with amulets for protection, fertility, and strength, reflecting the political and religious structures of the time.— Anne Doran, ARTnews.com, 18 Sep. 2026
El Cid 1961
Charlton Heston.
Medieval Spain. Castles. Knights in armor. Hoods. The costumes seem about half right. Armor is pretty good but might have fake chainmail (it doesn’t flow or hang feom ppl like it should).
Time 2:06:06, the studded leather might have helped influence D&D (as some say it isn’t historical). The fur shouldered cape is much like the Nights Watch in Game of Thrones.
LotR movie influences- Time 2:51:09 and much earlier the siege engines, the masked/veiled faces with dark around their eyes . The middle Eastern vibe of the evil men helping Sauron.
I get the impression that Game of Thrones owes much to this movie. The backstabbing and hinted ince5t stuff. Factions. Maybe all history has such.
El Cid being the ultra noble guy no matter what the others do. Eventually exhiled, then returned to grace, etc. It is like Jon Snow.
Viet war, wow, the snake traps in tunnels, the Rattan plant (wait a minute vines) with mega spikes, elephant grass hiding death large and small… https://www.newsbreak.com/war-history-online-1745274/3958900142501-the-natural-and-hidden-dangers-lurking-in-the-vietnam-jungle-that-targeted-american-soldiers
Here is Rob Robvoski Turner’s https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xubdVMdMkYk
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ADjnuKqS09I&t=1144s
Commenter says -
The evil things that plague the Night Land
(The sky is always dark, black pyramid, cycoplean monstrosities)
The Country When Comes the Great Laughter
The Thing that Turns the Doorways in the Night
The Thing That Nods
The Spinning Tree
The Black Mounds
The Slayers
The Silent Ones
AND they say “Voice in the Night” was basis for Japan movie Matango (mushroom ppl).
Also he is an appendix n guy, who also wrote “House on the Borderland”… that’s how we gor the D&D “Keep on the Borderlands” eh? https://appendixnbookclub.com/tag/william-hope-hodgson/
'Reptile God is a fun one, good GM, i like it. We magically put a group of 3 lizard hybrids to sleep when they tracked us underground. Then we charmed the one survivor of those 3, lizard-hybrid-friend gave us info so we could find our captured friend. Upstairs in the bad Inn.
Nonplussed. What a funny word. Two opposite meanings, what's up with that? Here's what Merriam Webster says: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonplussed
Note: The use of nonplussed to mean "unimpressed" is an Americanism that has become increasingly common in recent decades and now appears frequently in published writing. It apparently arose from confusion over the meaning of nonplussed in ambiguous contexts, and it continues to be widely regarded as an error.
Look at these black tips on claws and horns at 1:20 the “Dragon of Flame 1984”.
And this one IS a black dragon cuz it is in a swamp, from the Basic Rules Cyclopedia:
Reading this now.
How to pronounce Cugel? I went with the same as “Cudgel” that is “kud jul” at first because it seemed appropriate since ppl claim the character is dimwitted.
This site says nobody knows and many fans have their own way… some claim Vance says koo-gul (which would NOT follow 1950 American school pronunciation teachings if my mom is anybody to go by— “koo jul” would be the way via 1959s standards) but seems like others disagree there was ever a comcensus - https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/jackvance/viewtopic.php?p=47180#p47180
One thign I’m not surprised at the “ai” in names likely being pronounced as a long “a” like “ay”.
And this passage in The Green Pearl, spoken by Tatzel, is a strong hint at the pronunciation of "Aillas": "Your name is 'Halis' or 'Ailish' or something of the sort." The first guess shot down my original inclination to pronounce it "Eye-las". In retrospect, it has also called into question my pronunciation of Tschai, Vaidro and (I shudder) Nai the Hever.
Ad&d influences
Pg. 9 pickled homunculus
Pg. 9 “libram”… this site says jack vance made it up and d&d further spread the word https://infiniteprobability.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/libram/
The arch of mist… look at the doorway thing to the left of the gianthead (the green devil head w the shere of annihilation). That misty doorway looks A LOT like the misty doors to boss fights in Dark Souls games. Related or not? The Grognardia site hints at the very end of his article that the misty arch is an unfair deadly thing… interesting.
Oh, I also read that the Jack Vance books influenced the Dark Souls guy. There is a picture with i think the game maker posing with Jack Vance.
Gooflinggoogling , cant find the picture… it was in a youtube i saw recently… i guess it is real. But if found a great website forum discussing Jack Vance h and other good scifi here https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/567903/
Hey look at the Hildebrandt bros art from 1979 of a big devil head on a wall!!!!!!!! Who was first see video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RBDsIFs091Y&t=214s At time 3:33, called GORTA THE WITCH, 1979. Note Tomb of Horros was sold in 1978, so Erol Otus was first to draw or paint it, huh?
