Dark humor. 26 sec clip.
The Savage Lands 3 – a novel of dark fantasy
Recently reformatted and revised. Only $4.99 on Smashwords.
About this series: When the gods bicker, the world of Grond trembles. More and more, the barriers of this world are shaken, affecting reality, time and space. In this cosmic battlefield, gods will seek to walk the earth, while their rivals will seek to prevent it. Throughout the ages, this great war will persist. Only the greatest heroes of this world, and those drawn from other worlds, can hope to bring order out of chaos.
About this title: From humble origins rise the greatest heroes. Sir Hoppe, cursed to live among criminals, yearning above all else to become a knight. Herri, Brun, Cerny, escaping their poor village for adventure, taking a path that will lead to the emergence of the Red Lady. Here are their beginnings, trials and tribulations. Soon, the evil of the Savage Lands will shatter their lives! Rating: HIGH controversy.
(An excerpt.)
“First, Hop, you must gain their trust.” Old Krem said, his voice coming across as a ragged whisper in the fading light. “You’ve seen me walking about as if I had a limp on me. It disarms the marks. It makes them lean toward giving me sympathy. And these old, torn clothes I wear, they draw pity out as well. One look at me, and they’ll think, now there is the poorest bastard the sun ever warmed the back of. The first impression, Hop, is the most important. It will set the stage for what comes after.”
Hoppe had heard those same words before, many a time. Krem tended to repeat his dirty lessons when it was nearing time for him to act, as if they reinforced his mind for the violence he was near to committing. The fifteen year-old Hoppe, or simply Hop for short, knew better than to speak when Krem was in this agitated state. The old man nearly pulled his ear off the last time.
“What happens, boy, once you have their trust?”
The two were hidden behind a thicket, set close to the road leading to Kirwick. From their spot, they could see down the road a ways. They were keeping their eyes open for any travelers in a hurry to reach the city before nightfall.
“I asked a question, boy. You’d best answer me, or I’ll make you my woman again tonight! What happens when you have their trust?”
“Strike fast and deep.” Hop replied.
“Good, good.” Krem nodded, his head barely seen in the rising shadows. “There, can you smell him? It is a man, alone, walking at a brisk pace. Either he carries little in his purse or he has bound it up so his coins won’t shake.”
Despite the horror nearing to happen, it always intrigued Hop that his mentor could be so accurate. Risking a blow across the face, he asked “Only one man, Krem? How do you know this?”
“The sound carries across the road. I can hear the man’s breaths, his strides that are fast and the rustle of his clothes. You must learn to decipher the clues if you are to get good at this. Keep your silence now. He is close.”
Hop wondered if Krem had a second set of ears that he used in these situations. When the young man saw the old bastard round the thicket and step onto the road, he sat as still and as quiet as a stone.
“Who goes there?” A new voice called out.
“It is only I, good sir.” Krem replied in a croak. Undoubtedly, the old man was out there limping already. “I’m a pilgrim come to the great house of worship in Kirwick, but I’ve twisted my ankle on these infernal wagon ruts. I do hope to make the main gate before it has shut for the night.”
“You will never make it at your pace.”
“I beg of thee, good sir. Will you lend an arm to a fellow in need? I can make it to the gate with your help.”
“I have no time for you.” The man replied brusquely.
Hop had heard this before as well. Most travelers were wary of coming across strangers on the open road, even crusty old bastards such as Krem. He could imagine the old man now, keeping quiet and letting the mark pass him by. In a moment, Krem’s voice would sound desperate, as he called after the mark…
“Lend me your arm, good sir, and I will be sure to put your name into my prayers, once I stand before the altar of God.”
That was another notable skill of Krem’s. The old man only had a few seconds to gauge his mark and deliver his fishing lure, and he always knew the right thing to say to get the mark to pause. Some marks waited for Krem to catch up to them, but most would walk back grumbling as they reached out to pull the old man along with them.
Hop listened very closely. This next part came and went rapidly. Sometimes he could hear Krem’s dagger striking the victim, but tonight’s mark was one of the louder ones. The unsuspecting man had probably just raised his arm over Krem’s shoulders, leaving his front open. The young man heard the man’s gasp as the blade cut into him, and the staggering coughs that followed. Krem was always precise in his killing; he struck through the ribs and into the lungs, preventing his prey from sucking in enough air to cry out an alarm.
The Savage Lands 2 – a novel of dark fantasy
Recently reformatted and revised. Only $4.99 on Smashwords.
About this series: When the gods bicker, the world of Grond trembles. More and more, the barriers of this world are shaken, affecting reality, time and space. In this cosmic battlefield, gods will seek to walk the earth, while their rivals will seek to prevent it. Throughout the ages, this great war will persist. Only the greatest heroes of this world, and those drawn from other worlds, can hope to bring order out of chaos.
About this title: Dobrynia the Valkyrie, hurled into an ancient and mysterious world, struggles to find her companions, who are trapped in a land of evil magic that shifts its reality without warning. Follow Dobrynia’s daring steps, and those of her friends, as they venture into this hostile land that refuses to give up its dark secrets. The greatest test of all is only beginning. Rating: HIGH controversy.
(An excerpt.)
Sometimes, Eva thought, even the best laid plans went to shit.
“Archers, aim left by twenty degrees.” She called out. “Prepare to fire!”
The world was Loam. The region was an unclaimed pocket of land on the western edge of the continent known as the Great Mother. The enemy on this occasion was a particularly tricky necromancer named Akanah, hiding out in a dank and dark cave. He was a holdout from the armies of the now captured and deposed Queen Toraga, with the ability to draw angry corpses from the very earth he stood on. Already, the Valkyrie Dobrynia and the rest of her small platoon had taken out a bevy of minor sorcerers. Little by little, in a hard fight that was costing them too many lives, Doby’s primary team had cornered the mage.
“Fire left!” Eva commanded.
Eva was short at five-two, formerly an unassuming homemaker who worked lowly part-time jobs on her home planet of Earth. It was mainly because of Doby’s confidence in Eva that she’d been appointed at the head of the two lines of archers. Now, the pretty and auburn-haired Hispanic woman watched as ten arrows were loosened at a short wall of creeping dead men with axes and swords. The arrows felled a few, but most of the combatants kept right on coming.
“Archers B, fall back by ten paces.” Eva called out, retreating swiftly as she spoke. “Archers A, fall back by five! See, I need an update from you!”
The strong and stocky Asian woman, from planet Akina, was instructed to keep an eye on Doby’s main battle group, which consisted of the hard hitters: Dobrynia the Valkyrie, Victor the Lion, Tekkin the Dwarf, and the female barbarian from the Sky People, Garra.
“Tekkin is distracting the mage!” See reported. “He’s keeping the mage from calling forth more corpses. The others are hacking their way through.”
“Archers, reload!” Eva called out, knowing they probably had already. “Aim twenty degrees left again.”
That would keep the missiles from striking any of her friends, who were fighting on the right. With any good luck on their side, Tekkin wouldn’t decide to teleport in harm’s way in the next few seconds.
“The mage is creating another whirlpool!” See warned.
“Son of a bitch!” Eva rumbled. Those whirlpools of magic were summoning the corpses out of the ground. “Archers, fire!”
This wave of arrows was more effective than the last, as they’d displaced enough of the dead bodies that most of the corpses were falling apart. Good, she thought. She would not have to retreat any further.
“Eva, this whirlpool is different!” See yelled.
“What?” The short woman asked, switching her attention to where the main battle was taking place. The center of the magic spiral was the same; a bright white glow that emanated from the necromancer’s hands. The arms of the spiral, however, were going in one direction before, counter-clockwise, but now they were circling in the other. Also, the spiral was shining in a swirl of colors, when it had been a decadent brown and yellow before. “What the hell is he doing?”
“I don’t know!” See answered.
Their four strongest fighters were in the middle of that tumult. Eva could not risk having her archers aim in that direction.
“Eva, Eva, Tekkin has vanished!” See screamed. “He was struck by the whirlpool!”
Sudden panic began flooding through Eva’s petite frame. She worried because the dwarf was the most powerful sorcerer they had on their side. “Are you sure?”
Before the Asian could answer, Eva saw the agile Doby leap out of the way of a large spiral arm, only to get struck by a second, faster one. She too vanished in the blink of an eye.
“Doby!” Victor cried out, watching his lover disappear. “Doby!”
Victor was as bullheaded as could be. Instead of retreating, he made a charge at the necromancer. Having gotten rid of his closest attackers already, Akanah merely spun his arms around, causing the whirlpool to move faster and taking Victor in the same way it had taken the others.
“It’s some kind of portal!” Eva shouted. “Garra, move back!”
Unlike Victor, the barbarian woman had the common sense to move away from the threat instead of toward it. What Garra did not expect was for Orissi, another Asian from a world called Beyond, to suddenly break away from their group of minor sorcerers and run toward the whirlpool. It was well known that Orissi loved Victor, despite that he was already hooked up with Doby. Garra was quick enough to snatch the Asian girl, and to avoid the tentacles of the spiral, which were no longer swinging but lashing out. The ice mage Alery cast a small wall of ice, halting the arms temporarily. Garra nearly had the time to get Orissi to safety, except the Asian mage kept trying to get loose and the big barbarian was also holding a two-handed battle weapon. Alery moved in closer, trying to create a second ice wall, but the short delay resulted in those wicked arms coming over to snatch away all three of them.
“No, no!” Eva shouted. The secondary battle group was already running, and so were the other mages. “Archers B, full retreat! Archers A, one last volley! See, get over here!”
The big Asian woman hurried over, with several magic arms coming after her. Thanks to most of the torchbearers running off in panic, See tripped in the dark and fell over. Moving on instinct, Eva jumped on her, a split second before the magic arm took them both.
The primary archers hadn’t seen this, as they were focused and waiting for their orders to fire. When the orders took too long, several looked to where Eva should have been, finding her gone. The archers scattered back, except for two, Oghold, also known as Oggie, and his woman Garadie, both from Loam. Having been through a fair share of portals already, Oggie suspected it would be better if he held on to Garadie when the magic arms came and spirited them away.
Sci-Fi Short Story: Fight Night!
Full title: Fight Night At The Galaxy Games
From my sci-fi collection Variant Worlds 1. Posted as an example for IBM, who is considering writing a story with a related theme. You can purchase the collection on Smashwords.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/24312
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“Control your breathing.” One of my trainers, Zou-Ax, cautioned me. He’d leaned in close to my ear to speak, a hint of the Buti-Quay he had for dinner lingering on his breath. Most people couldn’t stand the smell of the exotic fish, let alone the strange appearance of the purplish and multi-tentacled trainer, but as for me, I’d long ago gotten accustomed to both. “You’ve got to keep your heart rate down.”
Believe me, I was trying. I bounced up and down on my toes for a few seconds, clearing my mind and stretching my neck to either side. Then, I went ahead and did what had gotten me riled up in the first place; I looked out past the boundaries of the fighting ring and tried to take in the immensity of the crowd.
Sure, I’d fought in big matches before, with screaming people jammed up to the rafters, either cheering me or jeering me. But those venues might have held some five to ten thousand people. That was a drop in the ocean compared to the Galaxy Games arena, which held in excess of two hundred thousand beings, nearly all of which weren’t even human. That was before even considering the intergalactic video feed, which might have been broadcasting the event out to a few million planets. This was the Quantum Show, the Mega-Purse for the Universe, and here I was, representing the future of all mankind.
Talk about your high expectations.
I paced the edge of the ring trying to calm myself, trying to keep things in perspective before they overwhelmed me. If I won, my dying planet Earth would be allowed to emigrate and colonize any inhabitable and unpopulated world in the Milky Way Galaxy. If I didn’t win, it would be another one thousand years before we’d get another chance to compete in the Quantum Show. By then, chances were pretty slim that our sun would still be giving off enough heat to insure the survival of humans.
Bromah, my other trainer, was shadowing my steps. “Nevah foh-get! Ju ahr dah besss! Ju are dah nummer won!” As you might have guessed from his horrible accent, he was Freycan. He looked like a giant rooster with sharp teeth. For the first few weeks after he’d been assigned to train me, I couldn’t help having nightmares about him. “Ju have no feer! Ju feel no payne! Ju will be vic-tohry!”
I was the best, I reminded myself. I’d been genetically enhanced to the point where I could crack six inches of solid oak with my bare fists, stomp through reinforced concrete, and even spit out acid through a specialized gland in my throat. (Anything went in the Galaxy Games, as long as the combatants didn’t alter their outward physical forms.) I’d taken on the best warriors Earth had to offer, and I’d beaten them all with decisive and rapid victories to earn that top honor.
“Much bettah!” Bromah read my body language. “Ju stan’ tall! Ju keep dis stayte far dah battle, yas!”
“Yas.” I nodded, absently mimicking the trainer’s accent.
Feeling more confident, I strode towards my corner and shadowboxed some of my best combinations.
A concentrated low octave sound wave rolled across the arena, bringing everyone and everything to a dead silence. In expectation, all humans and non-humans in attendance stood up and turned their heads, or what passed for heads, towards the gates leading to the dressing rooms. There, in the focused glow of the spotlights, stood the Galaxy Champion.
Than-Kra-Seyh, the Grinder, they called him. Instantly, the crowd started chanting his name. On Earth, he might have been mistaken for an eight-foot tall sequoia, with his bark-like flesh and his trunk-like appendages that ended in blunt wedges. Not to mention his hideous and gigantic antlers, where he liked to impale his opponents after he crushed the life from them. You heard right. He humiliated the losers even in death.
Yeah, I know. I was fighting him.
Arrogantly, the Grinder lumbered towards the ring with his thorny arms held high, and the crowd ate it up. They started pounding on the arena floor with feet, hooves, tendrils; you name it. Every step the Grinder took forward might have raised the volume by a dozen decibels.
“Remembah, hees farst stryke!” Bromah warned me, carefully eyeing the approaching menace.
Many of the Grinder’s fights had ended before they’d begun, as he had the nasty habit of approaching an unwary opponent and pounding him to death before the first bell had even rung. At first, the rules commission hadn’t known what to make of the debacle. Due to public demand, they’d decided that the move was legal. A warrior should always be ready for combat, they reasoned, and that was that.
I’d like to go back in time and find the jerk-weed who first introduced mixed martial arts to the Galaxy Consortium, and knock the living daylights out of him.
Zou-Ax reached out to massage my shoulders one last time, as my corner kept a close eye on the Grinder playing up to the crowd. Finally, he turned towards the ring, resulting in a nervous exodus by my trainers and a feigned disinterest by me.
With one huge step, the Grinder’s leg went over the top rope. His massive, heavy body swayed into the ring. As soon as he placed his second trunk on the mat, he began grandstanding to the crowd again. I knew this was where several of his opponents had made their fatal mistake.
Deliberately, I turned my back to the Grinder. He seized the opportunity and pounced at me. His huge arm swung down towards my head.
What he hadn’t realized was that my reflexes were lightning fast, measured down to a handful of micro-seconds. I stepped aside just as the blow smashed into the mat, turned and swiveled my hips to achieve maximum torque, and delivered five thousand pounds of pressure from a knuckle sandwich to the side of the Grinder’s thick head.
It wasn’t enough to knock him over, but it was enough to send him reeling and staggering to one side. Not wanting to give away the extent of my power, I’d wisely held back from using my full force.
The Grinder’s bewildered glare told me I’d achieved my goal. I’d shaken him up. Even the crowd’s voice had faltered, but slowly the chant began to lift itself back to its previous roar.
I backed up to my corner, shaking out my wrists and watching out for any more surprise attacks. This allowed Zou-Ax to resume the shoulder massage.
“Good, you’ve put the brute in his place.” The trainer acknowledged. “That’ll keep him wondering what else we’ve got in store for him.”
“Mayhaps we shooda hit dah Grindah with evarah-thing we’s gat.” Bromah wondered.
“No, it’s better this way.” Zou-Ax shook a few of his purple tentacles. “The rules commission would have found fault with our fighter, even though the Grinder keeps getting away with it. Better not to risk a disqualification.”
“Yas, yahr ryte.” Bromah conceded.
As the announcer cautiously stepped forward to declare the two contestants, my trainers stepped into the ring and took their turns menacing my opponent’s trainers. It was all part of the ritual.
I zoned out the announcer and the trainers’ theatrics, using the moment of relative peace to consider my strategies. Foremost among these was: Don’t get squashed like a bug.
Zou-Ax’s tap on my shoulder brought me back to the present. I started jumping up and down again, loosening up my arms, as the trainers left the mat.
Normally, one would want to tap knuckles with their opponent, but in the Galaxy Games, such Earth-born sportsmanlike conduct might have been a costly and even deadly mistake. Instead, I waited near my corner for the opening bell.
It came a few seconds later. Instead of the quick rush the Grinder had employed against some of his more recent opponents-slash-victims, he guardedly took a step towards the center of the ring.
This one’s for all the marbles, I thought to myself. Curling my hands into fists, I began my own advance towards the battle. I took up a boxer’s crouch, ready to defend myself, ready to strike if the opportunity arose.
We started circling each other, trying to size each other up. With every step I took, I felt the fate of all of humanity resting heavily on my shoulders.
Hoping to set the tempo, I leaped forward and made my first move.
Death Angel’s Apocalypse – a horror novel
Recently reformatted and revised. Only $4.99 on Smashwords.
About this series: Like so many others, I have always had a fascination with contemplating The End Of The World. I suppose it started with the Bible book of Revelations, which I first became aware of when I was a boy. At one time I meticulously pored over and examined that frightening book for any clues as to who would be around then and how things would play out. I still don’t have answers; none of us does. What I can do is speculate. The titles in this series are not connected except for their general theme. In my mind, The End Of The World has taken place many, many times already.
About this title: Tough girls have to make tough decisions. In a world left to ruins by the corrupt ruling hierarchy, a world Without Rule Of Law, with new dangers and enemies to face every few city blocks, these tough decisions include life and death. Only the tough survive here, and these bad-ass gang girls from the Stoner Town Harpies Gang are about as tough as it gets. Rating: EXTREME controversy.
This title’s page on Smashwords.
(An excerpt.)
Every story has a beginning. Most stories, they start up from a fixed point, and they roll ahead from there. This story, it’s a lot more complicated. It started undercover, so we didn’t even know about all this shit until it crept up on us, bad enough that we had it coming from all sides. I did my research, ay. You won’t believe most of it, because it is just too out there, too crazy to believe. But they left a paper trail, along with the piles of millions and millions of dead bodies. That’s some occult Illuminati shit right there. You could say that everything started up right after World War II, when the crypto Jews and crypto Nazis in the United States began taking over the government. Then the CIA made that secret deal with Walt Disney. That’s when things really got rolling.
That’s too far back for me. I was only born in ’95, here in Diego Town, So Cal by the U.S. border. My mom is a fourth generation chola gang-banger, who had to raise my brother and me as best she could. Rest In Peace, Topo. That was my brother’s tag. It is Spanish for Gopher, because he was always going underground to hide from the fascist, corporate pigs. He ate it in a drive by a few years ago, while he was standing in the front yard at his homies’ house and drinking beer from a bottle. I never met that man who is supposed to be my father. I guess he was from L.A., from Echo Park Lokos Gang. Who gives a shit about him?
My name is Silvia. You don’t need to know my last name. That’s how they get you on the birth certificates, by spelling your name out in all CAPS and turning you into a fucking corporation. Let’s just leave it at Silvia or Silvie. At the beginning, they called me Angel, because I was quiet and shy when I first started hanging around with the home-girls. You know, ‘pure’ and all that shit like angels are supposed to be. They would have called me Shy Girl, except that tag was already taken. So I was known as Angel at first. When I started blasting fools, I became Angel of Death. Nowadays, my home-girls introduce me as simply Death. You should see the way fools look at me when they hear that I’m called Death. They take one look at my face and my clothes, and their fighting balls shrink away into little raisins. I didn’t always look this way. I didn’t always dress this way. Shit just happened. It is what it is.
Anyway, I guess I should get started on this stupid story, because everybody wants me to leave a record of it, and nobody else has the patience to write it all down. I should have taken notes, because I’m sure I’m going to forget something or get things mixed up out of order somewhere down the line.
Fuck it. Here goes.
My name is Death, and this is how it all began for me.
Variant Worlds 2 – sci-fi story collection
Recently reformatted and revised. Only $4.99 on Smashwords.
About this series: New worlds, Variant Worlds, beckon for you to come and explore them. These worlds are full of fantasy and science fiction. Travel through space, through jungles, through parallel dimensions, into your own backyard and even into your mind. These fantastic worlds begin where your reality ends, and they will take you everywhere. In these collections of short stories, you will see, hear and smell the exotic. You will experience everything, and everything will experience you.
About this title: This science fiction collection features multiple arcs, woven around the central theme of space exploration and the Starship Neptune. Meet the people: the military contractors, the scientists, the common workers, the prisoners and even the sex bots, in a setting where bold moves could reap great benefits, uncover unexpected sensuality or result in dire repercussions. Rating: HIGH controversy.
This book’s page on Smashwords
(An excerpt from Asteroid QQ37 – Part 1)
There are places that not even god can reach.
Asteroid QQ37 was one of those places. Men with severe prison sentences were taken there to mine, because capital punishment had long since been abolished on the civilized worlds. That’s what they said, anyway, but everyone knew it wasn’t true. The elites running the Federation Of Planets used every excuse they could think of to murder their constituents. The elites killed the masses through the food they consumed, the water they drank and with the radiation they sprayed into the skies. Autism, cancer and other induced maladies were running rampant all over the colonized worlds. The masses were too stupid, as always, to comprehend how they were being systematically weakened, and exterminated.
Lender wasn’t among the stupid ones. Lender figured things out and he was vocal about it. That’s how he got his prison sentence. After appearing in one too many protests and posting one too many links to real evidence online, the elite cleansing program targeted him. A hit squad broke into his home to murder his wife and two children, and to plant incriminating files onto his computer. The operatives branded him a murderer and a conspirator. They made up their ‘official story’ that he was trying to overthrow the government. They invented that he was part of a plot to assassinate the president, who was on her third clone by then after previous successful murder attempts on her life. Nobody knew that, by the way, except for those like Lender that used advanced facial recognition programs to study down to the pores of the president’s face. That bitch had been killed twice and reproduced by the elites, while the public couldn’t be bothered to see that her irises had a synthetic pattern in them. It was obvious to anyone who cared to look.
Len hated religion, as he knew how religious leaders manipulated belief and faith to control the masses. If someone had told him a few years ago that he would one day turn into a religious man, Len would have laughed in their faces. He’d been indoctrinated into Chrislam, of course, like so many others before him, and been taught to bow toward the rising sun of the east every morning. That had only lasted as far as Len’s teenage years, until he discovered that the leaders of the colonized worlds had years before conspired to merge the great religions into one, and that many other diverse religions had existed before the advent of Chrislam.
A new religion, a secret religion, was spreading among the many miners like him whom had lost their hope. Their new god had a name, but the deity’s worshippers kept that name out of their minds as much as they could. The new god had horns and carried a flaming sword in one hand and a book of law in the other. This was a god of vengeance first, of strict holy cleansing and the wiping out of corruption. He would become a god of purity and light only after the cancer of the galactic elite was excised and burned away. In the interim, the god’s flaming sword would swing with fury. The reason Len and others who followed this deity kept their religion out of their brains was because the wardens continually ran mind scans on their prisoners. Too many restricted thoughts would get a miner taken to Interrogation, and that was not a good place for any man to end up. Many times, those men would not come back.
Before the mining sentence, Len had not been a religious man. He hadn’t been a homosexual man either. After getting raped in dark places one time too many by roving bands of desperate men, he had no choice but to adapt to his new circumstances. Len searched out who the political dissidents in the mining colony were, the Truthers like him. He found an Asian man who was nearly as tall as he was, another loner being abused in the same way, and just as strong. He beat that man and raped him, and he made the man watch over Len’s cot as he slept, and to follow him around when he had to go into dark places.
How About Some Logan’s Run?
I hear the Logan’s Run remake is about to go Woke, with filming scheduled to start this year.
The upcoming Logan’s Run is expected to be a gender-swapped remake of the pulp sci-fi classic… Not many details regarding the film are available as it is still in the active development phase. – Midgard Times, April 2023
I’ve read people’s comments, on how bad this movie is, and watched YT videos about how shoddy it is. Fuck those people. This was a great movie back in the day and still beats a lot of the lame, no action, no sex, let’s talk about our feelings all day garbage this generation has for entertainment.
Logan’s Run won a Special Academy Award for its visual effects and six Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film. – from the same article linked above
Here’s the trailer. Check out the links below. The TV series is a little meh. Don’t say I never gave you anything.
The Blaster Schematic, plus other sci-fi weapons from the era
Sword And Sorcery Plots And Villains – fantasy resource
This title is now on Itch at Pay What You Want. Here’s a link and a quick description. More info on the Itch page.
https://raymond-towers.itch.io/sword-sorcery-quick-plots-and-villains
For solo gamers, writers or GMs who want inspiration, or who’d like to add low to medium structure to their conflict-heavy fantasy projects. This supplement contains everything Sword And Sorcery I have read, watched or played over the last few years, breaking things down into two major categories: 169 Plots and Villains, 49 full Campaign outlines and over 100 pages so far!
A sample Plots and Villains entry:
1. Conan The Barbarian #1 – The Coming Of Conan
Plot: The protagonist is a hired mercenary, in a battle between two opposing tribes. When the d2 leaders of his foes escape, he tracks them into a cave. Inside, the leaders have spoken with a sorcerer in a hidden temple, who wishes to exchange a mighty warrior into another world, so he can bring a lover into this one.
Villains: A number of enemy tribesmen, their d2 leaders, and in the cave, a sorcerer who can bring fierce, flying demons from other dimensions, and also cause men to see visions of the past and future. The sorcerer’s power comes from a large primordial crystal.
A sample campaign.
1. Conan The Barbarian Campaign
(From the movie Conan The Barbarian starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1982.)
imdb description: A young boy, Conan, becomes a slave after his parents are killed and tribe destroyed by a savage warlord and sorcerer, Thulsa Doom. When he grows up he becomes a fearless, invincible fighter. Set free, he plots revenge against Thulsa Doom.
Allies
1. A thief good with the bow.
2. A barbarian of the opposite sex good with a long sword.
3. A mage who knows some magical things, but isn’t so good at others.
4. A timid princess betrayed by her cult, who knows secret passages.
Bestiary
1. A great number of cultists. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands.
2. Two minor bosses, one who carries a broad sword, the other a large mallet.
3. A giant snake.
4. The Big Bad, a sorcerer who can mesmerize others, shoots snakes as arrows, and turns into a giant snake himself, but who is relatively a weak fighter.
Events
Story Arc 1
1. The village of the protagonist is raided, sacked and burned, and his parents murdered.
2. The raiders take the protagonist captive, into the mountains where he is forced to perform hard labor, in time becoming the biggest, strongest dude around.
3. The protagonist takes part in gladiator games, in time becoming the best.
4. When the protagonist is given freedom, his first thought is revenge on his enemies.
5. The protagonist is seduced by a witch, who reveals his great destiny.
Story Arc 2
6. After saving a man from a dangerous fate, the protagonist earns an ally.
7. Traveling to a major trade city, the protagonist attempts to steal wealth from the very cult that murdered his parents.
8. After a heist, the protagonist lives the high life, until city guards capture him.
9. Brought before to the royal court, the king commissions the protagonist to rescue his daughter from a religious cult.
10. The protagonist infiltrates the cult, but is later captured, beaten and left for dead.
Story Arc 3
11. Allies rescue the protagonist, and after a close call, save his life.
12. Protagonist and allies sneak into the cult’s lair to rescue the princess.
13. A primary ally, possibly a love interest, is killed during the raid.
14. Enraged, the major enemies are drawn to the protagonist’s ambush.
15. The protagonist returns to the cult’s lair, battling guards, and finally, the Big Bad.
Non-Retrieval – sci fi novella
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About this series: For the first time in recorded history, humanity has developed the technology to travel among the stars. The unrestricted exploration of space begins, only for our first wave of pioneers to discover abruptly and brutally, that we are not alone in the cosmos. It will be up to the Space Marines not only to counter this new threat from far, far way, but also to prevent these bizarre new enemies, the Roaches, from finding Earth and bringing their unforgiving brand of destruction down on all of us.
About this title: For rookie Spaceman Harold Douglas, the mission sounded simple enough. Take the squad of Space Marines out, discover why the outpost had gone offline, and bring them back home in one piece. That was before the transport suddenly vanished, stranding them all on an alien planet. Now, they are fighting for their lives against the greatest threat humanity has ever seen. Rating: MEDIUM controversy.
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Roaches
Like a plague they descended, dropping into the midst of the unprepared and frightened soldiers as dozens of bouncing, pummeling cannonballs. Plasma fire whines across the battlefield as skittish fingers pump on smoothly gliding triggers, hitting the alien creatures’ hard shells and deflecting the lethal beams in all directions, including back among our own troops. Howls of pain erupt from the mouths of mortally wounded men, only slightly eclipsed by the orders from their commanding officers.
Through it all, the balled-up insects roll toward where the concentration of soldiers is at its thickest. Then, displaying an uncanny and unnerving sense of synchronicity, the tumbling balls halt all at once and begin to unfurl. Their trademark clicking commences, a combination of sharp screeches and disconcerting snaps that causes involuntary winces and fuels an instinct of panic in some of the young Marines. This noise, of course, serves to briefly stun the troops, as half a dozen jet-black limbs telescope from the rising monstrous bodies. Their two thick and thorny legs lift them to nearly an equal height as the men. Two pairs of arms simultaneously uncurl and clasp together, as if the creatures were uttering some dark prayer. For a brief moment, a split second, it seems as if nothing is happening, until the first shock waves hit.
Death comes quickly to the innermost circle of gawking and gaping spectators, as invisible beams of intense heat immediately incinerate or explode their bodies. The after-effects of the assaults consume a second row of the tightly grouped soldiers, bursting their hair and clothes into flames, and melting their hard polymer weapons in their grips. A high percentage of the front line infantry, whether through panic or injury, or even simple confusion, is rendered ineffective…
(Partial notes recovered during the aftermath of the War on Betelren Six, Space Corps Outpost 02-27. The author’s identity is not known. The date is Tuesday, January 20, 2060. This is the date of first contact.)
The Savage Lands 1 – medieval dark fantasy novel
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About this title: A land tainted by ancient sorcery, full of corruption and evil that spreads and infects whatever it grasps. What can be done when the very trees watch with sinister eyes, when all is not it seems? A sorcerer will cast his spells, while a scoundrel hunts for treasure and a knight holds his head high with honor. The greatest test of all is here, here in the Savage Lands. Rating: HIGH controversy.
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(An excerpt from the novella A Furry Little Man.)
According to the ancient legends, the Savage Lands had once been good country for men to live in, for agriculture to grow and for livestock to graze on. To the detriment of that entire region, it was told that an army of mages had invaded that country to corrupt it with the blackest forms of magic, a magic that cannot be duplicated or reversed by the less powerful mages of the present time. That vile sorcery has robbed the land of its well being, draining it of its former life and vibrancy. It was said that no sane man would travel willingly across that dead country.
Timehre, a former Knight of the Red Fold, smirked at the recollection. Many times, it had been said about him that he was not a sane man. On this night, he was not alone in that insanity, however. A merchant of modest means had hired Tim, along with three other young fighting men. Their task was simple; to escort the merchant and his small family across a corner of the Savage Lands. Tim hadn’t been told why the merchant was fleeing through the most inhospitable stretch of territory imaginable, but he was less concerned with that and more worried over getting paid. From all that he’d seen of the merchant, that man carried no great amount of coin on his person, unless he had it hidden away in some magic hole Tim could not readily discern.
They traveled in two small wagons, both of them driven by the mercenaries. Two pairs of cows pulled the wagons along. They were strong and healthy cows, admittedly, but the animals further attested to the merchant’s lowly status. Perhaps the man had cheated a wealthier trader, Tim speculated, or made some mistake in accounting that he could not rectify without losing an arm or a leg. The first wagon bed carried the nervous merchant, his fat wife and their two sons, all of them sitting on blankets or carpets to soften their backsides as the wagon rumbled along the rough road. In the second wagon were found all of the family’s belongings, including a single table, a few chairs, a good supply of food and water, and a number of tapestries of unremarkable value. Family heirlooms, perhaps?
The family hardly left the wagon unless they had to relieve themselves in the woods they traveled through. They were asleep now, while Tim and the hired men had built up a fire and boasted of battles and women. They had a barrel of weak ale sitting in the second wagon, which they took turns drinking from during the day. At night, however, they did not drink in order to keep alert. Because the Savage Lands were full of danger, only one man slept at a time, while the rest kept watch around a small campfire. Even the snakes in those lands, it was rumored, could grow legs and climb up the sides of wagons to sink their venom into unsuspecting travelers.
One of his fellows, a scruffy sort with red hair and a red beard, was teasing the former knight. “What will ye do, Tim, if that fat woman ambles over and plops her fat behind on your lap? You’ve seen the lusty way she looks at the lot of us.”
“He’ll pinch her bottom, that’s what he’ll do.” The other man still awake joked. “You know how the story goes. If the woman is too skinny or too fat, you shut your eyes and invent a new woman in your head. The next time Tim is drinking with the men, he’ll tell them all how fair her face was and how large her breasts were. Never you mind that she looks like an overfed sow tonight!”
“Well, she does have very large breasts.” The redheaded man intimated.
Raymond Towers 