Hannibal the Cannibal

In Grr's Voice: I made it myself!

Hannibal the Cannibal, the star attraction of the books Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising (all by Thomas Harris). He’s also the star of the movies of the same name portrayed in the first three by Anthony Hopkins. Then portrayed by Gaspard Ulliel in Hannibal Rising and I thought he did a very good job in that position. And, now there’s a television series out based on Hannibal starting Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal. He’s also doing a fantastic job so far as I’m concerned, and from what little I’ve watched of the television show.

Anyway, if you’ve lived under a rock for the last 33 years, Doctor Hannibal Lecter is a brilliant psychiatrist (though in the movies, show, and books he acts much more like a psychologist, a therapist). Who has a cultured taste for rare delicacies, namely those delicacies are his fellow human beings, thus the nickname Hannibal the Cannibal. Makes sense now, doesn’t it?

So, Doctor Lecter eats people, he murders them in interesting ways, and he does so without getting over excited. It was stated somewhere in The Silence of the Lambs that during an attack on a nurse at a mental facility he was kept at that his heart rate never went above eighty beats per minute. If that’s not the definition of cold calculated killer, I don’t know what is.

That and the attack on the nurse was random, a just because he could thing. There was no calculation to it. No time to think about it. It was a spur of the moment attack. And, he bit her ear off.

I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t bite a person’s ear off without my heart rate going over eighty beats per minute. I don’t think my resting heart rate even goes below eighty beats per minute. That’s probably not a good thing. Just saying.

Now, incorporating Hannibal Lecter into my game would be copyright infringement, and would bring a big fat lawsuit down on my head that I don’t want to deal with.

Ghoul--Dead and Hungry
wizards.com

Ghoul, Necromancer
by Butterfrog

With that being said, I would make him a ghoul necromancer. A ghoul is a relatively intelligent undead creature that was cannibalistic in life (or bitten by another ghoul) that continues to feast on the flesh of humanoids after death. And, necromancer is a wizard that specializes in the necromantic school of magic. (I’m sure somewhere in one of the books there’s even a Necromancer prestige (or core) class.) I would also heighten the intelligence from the ghoul’s typical level by fifteen or so points to give it Lecter’s mental superiority. I’d do the same with his charisma, giving it Lecter’s charm.

And, that would be interesting to see; a suave, debonair ghoul with blood dripping out of the corners of its mouth.

I might have to create a creature like that in the near future.

Ryan

3-15-14/3-16-14

Stephen King

First off, if there is a god of literature somewhere out in the cosmos his name is Stephen King, if that’s any indication of what I think of the man. Lol.

Yes, Stephen King is one of my top three favorite writers, and without a doubt he is the best, stylistically speaking, of the three. The stories he weaves with his web of words are above and beyond anything I’ve ever seen. I can only hope to be nearly as good as he is.

And, now, to get my nose out of his crack, I should try and find something new to say about the man.

He’s one of the most prolific authors of our time, publishing at least one book a year every year since Carrie was published in 1974. 1974 was the same year Dungeons and Dragons was first introduced to the world, and both D&D and Carrie are now forty years old. Well… technically, Carrie won’t hit the big four-o until April 5^th. Exactly one month away from the time of this writing.

At one point I had hoped and prayed that my writing career would mirror Stephen King’s. I had hoped to be published the year I turned 24 (King’s age when Carrie sold), and I’ve hoped to be published every year since then. I’ve not really done a lot of work in that direction though. I mean, I’ve got six novels written (first draft at least), but I’ve only got one to the point where I considered it finished. And, I stopped trying to sell that one some time ago.

That’s really my problem too. The reason that I haven’t succeeded thus far is because I haven’t tried. (That’s usually a good reason for not succeeding.) But, in all seriousness I gave it a half hearted attempt what feels like ages ago, and I’ve talked a big game since then. How I’m going to do this, and I’m going to do that, but I’ve put no effort behind it.

I think I’m scared.

I really do.

I think I’m afraid of putting myself out there and finding out that nobody likes it. And, worse, that people will say bad things about it.

I know that’s a damned stupid thing to be afraid of. Everybody has an opinion, and that opinion isn’t always going to agree with what I’m thinking. So, basically, being afraid of hearing other people’s opinions is kind of like not eating because you’re afraid of choking. I saw that on a meme somewhere. Jason David Frank’s facebook page I believe, but where I found it doesn’t matter. I should listen to it. I should stop being afraid of these things and move on with my life. At the rate I’m going I’ll never have the career I want.

So… yeah… That post didn’t go anywhere near where I thought it would go.

As for working Stephen King into my game I have a couple of options. I can use him as an NPC (lol). I could possibly work one of his monsters into an adventure maybe even having it be the primary antagonist (“We all float down here, Georgie. And, when you’re down here, you’ll float too!”). And, then there’s the simplest way to do it. I can use him as an inspiration to move both my life forward and take my Dungeons and Dragons game one or two steps down a much more terrifying flight of stairs.

Ryan

3-5-14

Dreams

Dreams can be many things to many different people. They can be good happy things where everything is perfect. They can be terrible nightmares that hell couldn’t hold a candle too. And, then they can make absolutely no sense at all with the world seeming to be skewed this way and that. Then, you can also look at dreams as ambition; the thing you want to do with your life and the heights you want to rise too. A dream can be something you want.

My dream—at the moment—is to find something to say about dreams that doesn’t sound ridiculous. Lol.

I was talking to Cupcake about it, and we were basically talking about how I could use dreams in the story. She mentioned using mindflayers (psychic mini Cthulhus that eat brains) as antagonists who create perfect dreams for the PCs, with the downside being the PCs could never escape from their dreams when they realized it was a nightmare. The problem with that comes from the OGL. Mindflayers, also called Illithids, are not considered Open Game content. They are part of the Product Identity of Wizards of the Coast Dungeons and Dragons brand. Therefore, if I use them, then publish the adventure (as I plan to do with all of the adventures I write), then I will get a nice fat lawsuit dropped right on my head. And, that would just suck.

So, there won’t be any mindflayers in my game. That doesn’t mean I don’t have equally nasty monsters to take the place of those critters. But, talking about them here would give away the big surprise I’ve got planned for the PCs. (Please note that said surprise has something to do with the campaign as a whole and not just the current adventure.) That should leave them guessing for a while, lol.

Anyway, this surprise beastie has psychic powers far beyond the capabilities of any being the PCs have run into yet, and parts of it have the wicked urge to infiltrate an enemy’s dreams; a sort of psychological warfare, and, yes, they can easily take control of those dreams by tapping into the subconscious and finding the things the subject desires most in life and the things the subject fears the most. Then it would bend those things to get the subject to act the way it desires. If it wants to keep it from resting, it will give the subject the most terrifying nightmares possible. If it wants the subject to be overconfident in their actions, it will give the subject dreams about what it wants most.

Then if the beastie is pissed off at the subject it can put the subject through hell by subjecting it to a dream that it can never escape from. The body would wither and die slowly as the conscious and subconscious minds were tormented, even killed, time and time again so long as their bodies draw breath. Escaping from that sort of nightmare would be a helluva feat, and it would certainly be something entertaining to throw at the PCs. The first obstacle they’d have to overcome would be realizing they’re in a dream. The second would be communicating with one another. The third would be finding a way to break the beasties hold on them. All the while, the beastie would be watching them, knowing their moves before they’re made, and it would be entertained. Maybe it’s something that can’t be beaten.

Who knows?

Not I said the fly.

I guess it’s just going to have to be one of those adventures I write and play with my group to find the answer.

Now I bet Cupcake wishes she hadn’t made that suggestion about mindflayers. Lol.

Ryan

2-25-14