The Return of Comic Book Creatures

Infrequently, your humble host provides examples of monsters from comic books now in the public domain.  (The previous posts are here, here, and here.)  Just in time for your Halloween edification, here are ten additional comic book creatures.

Captain Science #4; 1951, Youthful Magazines;
Art by Joe Orlando & Wally Wood

Great Klameth

Captain Science learns from a robot brain that “danger lies in the east [and] once more, men are being roused in fanatical fury by a promise of power.”  The person responsible is a ‘yellow peril’ villain with the wonderful (yet unlikely) name of Doctor Khartoum.  “His purpose,” the robot brain exclaims, “to take over the world!”  To this end, the insidious doctor “has set up headquarters in the ruins of the ancient temple of Klameth in the forgotten city of Btuh, deep in the Gobi Desert.”  The ancient priests evidently “found a way to bring SOMETHING  from another DIMENSION” via an altar/portal.  This extra-dimensional something is Klameth.  Like the ancient priests, Doctor Khartoum sacrifices young, nubile maidens to Klameth.  Captain Science and friends see this by means of “the viewing screen.”  The robot brain declares, “You must journey back into time and stop this danger before Doctor Khartoum has a chance to use it!”  Accordingly, the robot brain tells Captain Science how to make a time machine. The robot brain additionally states, “You must also learn the language of the Ancients, have dress like theirs, and a weapon to destroy this evil!”  Captain Science dutifully follows these instructions and, after traveling thousands of years back in time, “blasts the monster tentacle with hy-sonic rays, withering it . . .”  The hy-sonic (also spelled hi-sonic) rays “are also from another dimension” and are thus able to harm Klameth.  In an explosive incident, Captain Science makes use of a “tube,” the rays of which cause the temple to collapse and seal “the entrance off for good!”  After “rescuing the girls who were to be sacrificed,” Captain Science returns to the present just in time to witness Doctor Khartoum attempt to summon Klameth.  “Suddenly,” we are told, “there is a cataclysmic explosion and Klameth disappears forever and with him Dr. Khartoum.”  Captain Science explains that the robot brain had him “fix it so that whoever called Klameth forth again would be disposed of by hi-sonic rays.

Captain Science’s jaunt into the past was predicated on Doctor Khartoum’s successful summoning of Klameth.  (He saw it on the viewing screen.)  The reader may well wonder why the hy-sonic rays did not take effect at that time.  The reader should be assured that this is SCIENCE and if the reader had a robot brain, said brain could explain the details effusively.

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Tales from the Tomb #1; 1962,
Dell Publishing Co.; Art by Frank Springer

Mister Green

Speaking of extra-dimensional horrors, our next creature lives “within” a hooked rug.  For the comfort of Harry Felt, one of her boarders, kindly, old Mrs. Wittly places the rug “right by the bed, so’s you won’t have to put your bare feet on the floor.”  In reality, whatever comes into contact with the rug disappears with a loud snap.  When Harry accidentally drops a book on the rug, Mrs. Wittly assumes he has fallen into Mr. Green’s clutches.  Realizing this is not the case, Mrs. Wittly states:

Oh dear!  Mr. Green must have missed!  Well . . . so much the worse for you, Harry – Now Mr. Green will have to come out after you!  It makes Mr. Green quite peevish to have to come out after a body . . . He’s quite clumsy out of the rug . . . not nearly so efficient!  It’s always so . . . messy this way.  I’m sorry, Harry, Mr. Green must be fed!

We also learn that “Mr. Green needs one a night” and that he “can’t stay out too long!”   When out, Mr. Green seems nearly blind.

Once Mr. Green has fed, the rug can be touched with impunity.  Fresh stains are the only indicator that Mr. Green has dined.  The relationship between Mrs. Wittly and Mr. Green is curious.  She treats him like a pet, but it’s not as though they can ever interact.

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Amazing Man #26 (Meteor Martin feature); 1942, Centaur Publishing; Art by Basil Wolverton

Insect Monster of Gorikon

Square-jawed space hero, Meteor Martin, “was attacked by Martian warships while on moon patrol duty.”  A curious property of the “Martians’ blast ray disrupts atoms in such a way that all objects the ray strikes are turned into a negative condition,” causing such objects to transition to “a negative world – an invisible world inside our native universe!”  Said universe is occupied by Gorikon, an air-filled “galaxy of tiny planets.”  Unfortunately, Meteor and his companions find themselves in an insect’s trap – essentially a pond of quicksand.  Of course, if there’s an insect’s trap, there must be a responsible insect.  In this case, the insect is the size of an elephant.  Despite the injunction voiced in the illustration provided, the insect does indeed “get Rana!”  The insect rushes off “to toss Rana into a fiery pit . . .”  Armed only with a club, Meteor pursues.  Can Meteor prevail against the monster?  Will Rana be saved from blazing doom?  What will happen to the other fellows in the insect’s trap?  Sadly, we shall never know since the adventures of Meteor Martin did not continue past this installment.

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Weird Comics #6 (Blast Bennett feature);
1940, Fox Feature Syndicate; Art by Don Rico

The Unknown Horror

While walking in his garden, Lex, beloved ruler of New-America, is “bitten by the deadliest of all snakes – the winged snake!”  (“The winged snake!,” a physician exclaims, “Great thunder – not that!”)  We learn that, “Far off in the unexplored planet of Kolzo, there is a monster whose blood will cure Lex – but that monster is ‘The Unknown Horror!’”  So, contrary to the notion of “unknown,” there is an awareness that the horror (1) exists, (2) resides on Kolzo, and (3) has blood with curative properties.  Blast Bennett – last seen on Planet Alpo – is recruited to obtain some of The Unknown Horror’s blood.  (Although Lex is “mortally wounded,” he can apparently resist death while Blast goes on a “long trip . . . into unchartered [sic] space.”)  Blast and his youthful sidekick, Red, come across “a planet that isn’t on any of our maps!”  Blast jumps to the conclusion that “it must be Kolzo!”  After landing, Blast and Red soon encounter a monster “blowing smoke and fire from its nostrils!”  Somehow, they realize this monster is The Unknown Horror.  The monster easily resists one shot from Blast’s “explosion gun,” but eventually succumbs to two shots that Blast fires from behind.

A normal person sent to retrieve a blood sample would likely carry a container intended for such a sample.  Yet Blast Bennett is not a normal person; he “scoops up . . . blood in his glove” where it remains for the duration of the “long trip” back.  Rather than a nickname, perhaps “Blast” is a pejorative (as in “Blast, Bennett . . . What were you thinking!?”).

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Strange Suspense Stories #55; 1961,
Charlton; Art by Bill Molno & Vince Alascia

Winged Snake

Although having the same name, this winged snake is a much larger variety than the New-American type referenced in the above listing.  In fact, rather than a winged snake, this creature seems more like a giant eagle with a snake tail and scaly highlights.  Although it is twice referenced as “the crawling bird,” the monster flies about “in a hot, brilliantly lighted mammoth cavern” within an Andean mountain.  Said cavern is connected by tunnel to an Incan sun temple.  Stuart Baintree, an American archeologist fires a shot at the monster.  Because the winged snake “passed too close to the heat . . . or one of Baintree’s slugs grazed its head . . . the flying horror landed on the cavern floor!”  Baintree checks to see if it’s dead and monster comes to life, taking off with Baintree on it’s back.  An English speaking Incan princess toss a scepter to Baintree, who uses it to bludgeon the the creature to death.  Now that the winged snake is dead, the princess “can leave here at last!”  (Yet, the princess appeared out of the cavern earlier in the story.)

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White Princess of the Jungle #4; 1952, Avon Periodicals; Art by ?

Swamp Beast

Speaking of princesses, Taanda, “white princess of the jungle,” is the enemy of the swamp beast.  Regarding its origin:

     Five million years ago a small particle of matter swooped down from space and fell into the ocean.  There it remained, dormant and harmless - -
     - - - Until a storm lashed the planet in gigantic fury.  This was no ordinary storm - - planet Earth was undergoing physical and chemical changes! - - And the spore began to evolve - - -
     Eons of time passed - - Slowly, Earth’s surface changed - - Oceans grew larger and deeper.  Slowly, the spore developed into an embryonic creature that gulped down whatever swam by - -
     As the years went by it increased in stature - - Finally, it ventured out of the water - - strong enough to devour any jungle beast - - -

The swamp beast is brought to the attention of Taanda after it devours several villagers.  “It is like Karnok, the octopus,” the jungle princess observes, “yet it has the body of a giant slug!”  Thrown spears “fall harmlessly from the hide of the swamp beast.”  Fire doesn't bother it.  Planes are called in to defeat it, but to no avail.  Taanda concludes, “We must try trickery!”  Fortunately, Tanda notices the monster's “red spot.”  She swims underneath the thing and stabs it (presumably in the aforementioned spot) causing it to die.  So, a white jungle princess accomplishes what bullets and bombs could not.  Let that be a lesson to you.

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Weird Thrillers #4; 1952,
Ziff-Davis; Art by George Tuska

Octeel

We learn, “The octeel is part octopus and part electric eel!”  It thrives in the water caverns of Genero, a “small planet in the second universal orbit!”  An “electro-bolt gun” is useless against it because “the bolts of current are merely absorbed by the rubbery flesh of the octeel!”  A “brilliant young scientist” arranges the defeat of the creature by using a cable to connect a “jet spar” to a space ship's generator.  After he “plunges [the makeshift harpoon] deep into the monster's flesh,” electric current from the generator kills the octeel.  The scientist explains:

. . . I guessed right that that the monster's body current was positive!  That bolt of negative current from the ship's generator worked perfectly!  When that harpoon hit it, the circuit was complete!  My freind, we short-circuited the octeel . . .

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Alarming Tales #1; 1957,
Harvey Comics; Art by Jack Kirby

Plant Men

Professor Horace Googer, “tops in bio-chemistry,” developed seeds that “were human in form!”  Googer cultivated these plant men in his “chemical gardens,” likening the process to the legend of Cadmus.  (Kirby would would use the term again in his later work for DC Comics.)  Googer wants to monetize his “boys” and describes their usefulness to a business man:

They never tire!  They like to fight - - They’re powerful and aggressive - - Oh!  One other detail...bullets can’t hurt them, you know! - - You can’t destroy plants with bullets - - and that’s what they are - - plants!

Googer meets an untimely end, having “turned a wrong valve or something during an experiment and blew himself sky-high!”  Twenty plant-man survive the accident and the aforementioned business man decides to “assume full responsibility for them!”  What practical use does he put the Googer’s creation?

The plant men took to competitive athletics like ducks to water! . . . They’re unbeatable in the pro-football leagues! . . .One of them became a contender for heavyweight champion of the world!

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Gorgo #16; 1963, Charlton; Art by Steve Ditko

Chloryllfids

These creatures are also examples of humanoid vegetation, but unlike the plant men, the chloryllfids came into existence as a result of an atomic explosion:

...In the ocean depths where the center of the bomb had detonated in a huge kelp bed, a strange mutation had taken place . . . a living, biped vegetable grew rapidly in the smashed kelp bed, a fetid horror, spawned by radiation from the deadly bomb . . . They grew to huge size then broke free of their roots and stalked the ocean floor!

The chloryllfids are dangerous and voracious.  Upon invading an island, they consume all of the animal life there, including a jaguar.  (You know, one of those south seas jaguars.)  A scientist claims, “I cannot find a way to kill them . . . and I’ve tried everything!”  We learn that, “Each new lethal plant would spread its own seed until millions of the men-killers would be harvested to swarm over the Earth destroying all that man had built in centuries, destroying man himself!”  How can mankind survive such a threat?  Just have giant, prehistoric reptiles eat the chloryllfids.  (I guess the scientist doesn’t consider giant, prehistoric reptiles to be part of “everything.”)

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Forbidden Worlds #3; 1951,
American Comics Group; Art by King Ward

Atomic Creatures

An atomic bomb is also prominent with regard to these beings.  Even given the peculiar circumstances of comic book creatures, these atomic creatures are outstanding in their strangeness.  Their origin – to the extent I can comprehend it – follows.  So, there’s this two-fisted American scientist in charge of an experiment to detonate an atomic bomb “twenty miles up into the stratosphere!”  Commies attack the army base in a desperate attempt to sabotage the experiment.  As a result of the fracas, the high altitude balloon carrying the bomb launches.  Along for the ride are the scientist and his fiancée, who manage to survive in outer space.  The scientist guesses, “we’ve absorbed enough atomic rays from the fissionable material inside the bomb to enable us to withstand the extreme cold and lack of oxygen!”  (Also, the scientist’s voice somehow carries in a vacuum.)  Eventually, “the balloon and its deadly burden settle on a weird subworld...one of the small nameless planets that sometimes enter the solar system from the outer limits of space!”  The subworld is inhabited by spirits (?) who were once human evil-doers.  By exploding the bomb, these spirits believe they will be changed into “mortal beings,” allowing them to invade Earth.  (Still with me?)  The explosion indeed causes the spirits to become mortal but “the creative force of the atomic blast” brings into existence entities “black and brutish - - as primitive as the rock from which they were formed.”  Although having “mute and groping minds,” the atomic creatures are opposed to evil and the confront the one-time spirits.  Once the former spirits are defeated, the scientist opines about the atomic creatures:  “They may not have minds or souls, but they sprang from the basic matter of the universe - - - the very source of life!  That means they’re good - - - ”  After the scientist uses “repeated gestures,” the atomic creatures project a molecular beam that carries the scientist and his fiancée “through space to the Earth’s atmosphere!”  Upon reaching Earth, “an invisible force checks the hurtling flight.”

The fiancée queries, “Do you think we’ll ever be able to explain what we’ve been through…?”

To which the scientist replies, “I’m not even going to try, honey!”

I doubt even a robot brain could make sense of this.

An Adventure in the Asteroids ("spoilers")

Source: NASA

In previous posts, your humble host has examined various adventure modules.  Some were railroads, some were wonky, but they all conformed to the notion of an adventure – a plot advances and there is an eventual resolution.  The same cannot be said for Martigan Belt, a 1981 publication intended for use with Space Opera.  It is clearly marketed as an adventure; the cover caption is “An Adventure in the Asteroids.”  As such, it is not unfair to evaluate it in terms of the adventure it claims to be.

Martigan Belt describes the Martigan system, especially the colonized world of Martigan III.  There is no indication of how long Martigan III has been colonized, but the total planetary population is 50,000.  It is “a planet basically run by a few corporations,” four of which (perhaps all of them) are:  Xerxes (production of “Civilian and Military weapons, riot control equipment and devices for surveilance [sic]...”), Prometheus (production of “power-plants and petrochemicals”), Icarus (production of “ground and air transportation craft”), and Janus (involved with “mining, chemical extraction processes, and mineralogical exploration”).  Interestingly, outside of the cities and minor population centers, “there are loose nomad clan aggregates of 50-100 'persons' engaged in hunting and trapping.”

The Janus Mining Company has a mining vessel in the asteroid belt.  From this vessel, Janus receives a “coded message” somewhat garbled by static:

– – – – – – UNDER – – – – ACK – – – – ENS – – AIL– – – –THINK–WE– – – – – – P– –
CRY – – – LS– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SABO – – GE – – – – – – – – –
– – – –

(This is the message as displayed in the teaser text.  The message as displayed in the body of the module is missing the 'P'.)  Was the message written rather than vocal?  If an encrypted, vocal message was garbled to any degree, it could not be successfully decrypted.  Also, “CRY” and “GE” would have to be phonetic expressions.  Were the crew of the mining vessel texting while “UNDER – – – – ACK”?  Is there an emoji for that?

Anyway, the companies listed above cooperate in recruiting troubleshooters (i.e., the player characters) so that they may “determine what has happened to the vessel and whether 'sabotage' was involved as the message seems to imply.”  Each character is employed by one or another of the companies and “Each company has secretly instructed its employees to attempt to gain as much as possible for their own company as possible, but to act in this fashion covertly.”  Presumably, this means “as much information for their own company as possible.”

So, there's the mystery of what happened to the mining vessel and there is the potential for conflict among the player characters due to loyalties to their respective employers.  This could be the basis of a viable adventure.  Unfortunately, Martigan Belt fails to provide any further information in this regard.  Seriously, the line that ends with “but to act in this fashion covertly” is the last time the module references any investigation of the circumstances.  On page two, the plot line is just dropped.  Did you think that the module would reveal what happened to the mining vessel?  Attack?  Sabotage?  What's up with the P– –CRY – – – LS?  Just because you paid money for “An Adventure in the Asteroids,” you think you're entitled to an actual adventure in the asteroids?  Ha, ha, ha!  You poor, dumb saps!  If you want to know what happened to the ship, you have to come up with your own answers!

Perhaps we're being too harsh?  Perhaps the author intended Martigan Belt to be something along the lines of a sourcebook, but the publisher packaged it as an adventure?  Nope.  In the Introduction, author Stephen Kingsley refers to it as “this adventure/scenario.”  Also from the Introduction:

...I might have forgotten or glossed over some things. For any such omission I do apologize.

Well, Kingsley, you forgot to include a complete adventure.  Apology accepted.  (Martigan Belt and one other Space Opera product seem to be Kingsley's only published RPG credits.)

Technically, since the adventure is absent, there can't be any spoilers; hence, the title to this post has spoilers in quotation marks.  Martigan Belt is like reading a murder mystery that stops before any suspects are introduced.  If the adventure is abandoned on page two, what appears on the other pages?  Actually, page two is the first page after the Table of Contacts and a map of the Procyon subsector.  This means less than a page is devoted to the pur-ported adventure.

One page is devoted to an unnecessary schematic of the Martigan system.  More than a page is taken up by details of the system's planets – such as the surface gravity of Martigan V (2.3745 G).  There's also a table of the “distance between planets of the Martigan system,” as though the planets were fixed in space and not in orbit about a sun.  For Martigan III, there's one page each for a survey evaluation form, a contacts service form, and an essentially useless military intelligence report.  There's a one page map of the capital city of Martigan III.  One page has a schematic of the vessel Janus allows the player characters to use.

Art by Gene Day

Almost five pages contain descriptions of the more interesting specimens of Martigan III's flora and fauna.  Many Gene Day illustrations are provided.  We have “An Adventure in the Asteroids” where nearly 25% of the page count is devoted to planetary encounters.  Among the plants there are Springpoints (“Large version of a 'venus flytrap' type of plant”) and Mindfuzz:

In Fall (Autumn season), the Mindfuzz releases pollen.  The pollen is an halucenogen [sic] (similar to LSD)...Killing the plant at this stage is too late as the pollen has already been released in the area.

So, Fall means Autumn season?  Good to know.  Animals described include the Davod (“A mollusc ambusher” which “has ten 'arms' of 10-20m in length”) and the Skanser (an arboreal animal that “will only attack when under the influence of Mindfuzz pollen”).  Separate from the planetary flora/fauna descriptions is the Slorte, “a previously unknown silicate lifeform inhabiting the asteroid belt of the Martigan system.”  The Slorte moves via “pseudopodia extenso-contraction” with the “Highest observed velocity [at] 36kph/22.36mph.”  Presumably, this observation occurred sometime after they were “previously unknown.”  The Slorte uses “'radio' to convey emotions such as hunger, etc., 'radio' also serves as 'radar' for sight.”

There are four “exceptional human NPCs,” each of which is described in a full-page character sheet.  There's nothing preventing the use of these characters as pre-gen player characters, but they are provided to round out they party in the event the players are not “able to assemble a complete team with all necessary types of specialists.”  Shoehorning exceptional NPCs into the party is an excellent way to let your players know you hate them.

Also provided is a modified table for mining asteroids.  New possible results include PK crystals (0.30%), an alien artifact (0.05%), and “dureum” (0.15%).

Dureum is a form of allotropic silver. It is an extremely dense silvery-gray metal. Due to its rarity and high value, the most common use of dureum is in the plating of archaic melee weapons for specialized use.

The most common use of a rare, valuable metal (5,000 credits per gram) is plating for archaic weapons.  OK.

An interesting concept the module presents is the “Arena of Justice.”  Laws on Martigan III are limited to those dealing “with theft and subsequent resale of stolen goods, killing a sentient being, and using force to impose one's will on another sentient being.”  Personal differences can be settled by duelling in the arena.  In fact, “Voluntary participation in the Arena of Justice is actively encouraged to allow dissatisfied citizens an outlet for their aggressions.”  Such volunteers receive a payment of one hundred credits.  Convicted criminals are sentenced to a “number of involuntary participations.”  Such penal participations are fought to the “first critical wound” but, presumably, death could easily result.  Arena combats have a live audience and “such combats are broadcast planetwide via telecommunications networks.”

Four “additional scenario ideas” are provided on the last page.  One of the ideas has a player character being “found guilty in the [accidental] death of a sentient being.”  The character is sentenced to six matches; in each match there is a 15% chance that the opponent will attempt to kill the character.  That's not much of a scenario; just an excuse for a series of combats.  Nonetheless, the Arena of Justice could have been the focus of the module rather than a non-existing adventure among the asteroids.  First, Arena of Justice has a better ring than Martigan Belt.  The popularity of the arena matches suggests advertising and gambling.  There might be fixed bouts.  Off-worlders might be lured to Martigan III, found guilty of trumped-up charges, and sentenced  to involuntary participations for the sake of ratings and advertising revenue.

Comic Book Creatures (The Planet Comics Edition)

Four years ago, your humble host presented two posts (here and here) describing beasts from public domain comic books.  Given the recent post on Adversaries in Space Opera, it's high time for another installment – one exclusive to creatures from science fiction.  To this end, all of the entries in this post are from Planet Comics, a Fiction House publication spanning the years 1940 to 1953.  Each issue contained various features with a roster of essentially interchangeable protagonists.  These heroes were manly men with nicknames like Buzz, Crash, and – for reasons perhaps best left unexplored – Spurt.

Trogolosaurus

Planet Comics #8 (Spurt Hammond feature);
1940, Fiction House, Art by Henry Kiefer

Speaking of Spurt, the adventurer tied the depicted Troglosaurus (also called 'Troglo') to his rocket ship and flew it from its native Venus to Mars.  Such a trip suggests that the creature is especially hardy and rugged; a suggestion corroborated by the fact that “the rays don't even hurt it!”

On Venus, “tamed fighting troglosauri” live in a valley.  Normally docile enough to follow a person around “like a puppy,” they can become furious (perhaps as a result of being flown through outer space unprotected and being struck by rays).

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Blost

Planet Comics #29 (Mars feature);
1944, Fiction House, Art by Joe Doolin

On Pan, “a minor moon of Saturn,” the Blost are nearly extinct.  The Blost pictured is old and decrepit.  One can scarcely imagine how fearsome a youthful, robust Blost would be.

Even this specimen can be riled into violent action by the forceful application of an electric whip.  However, the Blost tend to have a poor opinion of those who would inflict pain upon them and may aggressively display their opinion if given the opportunity.

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Elipticoon

Planet Comics #8 (Buzz Crandall feature);

1940, Fiction House, Art by Gene Fawcette (?)

In a story more reminiscent of a fever dream than a science fiction adventure, Buzz Crandall and Sandra West fly “in the remotest recesses of space and time.”  Somehow, “their space ship crashes through the walls of a crystal sphere...”  Sandra enters the Hall of the Elipticoon and faces “the giant time entity.”  Whatever its physiology may be, it has the “hum of a giant insect.”

The Elipticoon (at least this one) was destroyed when it attempted to consume the disembodied head of a “mad philosopher.”  But can a “giant time entity” ever really be destroyed?  If so, how?

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Mobile Fungus

Planet Comics #23 (Flint Baker feature);

1943, Fiction House, Art by Joe Doolin

On a “sinister little asteroid,” the mobile fungus lurks in a cave.  When visitors duck into the cave in an effort to escape the prevalent flying snakes, the “horrible phosphorescent mass rolls forward over ghastly remains” of its prior victims.

An effective way of deterring this thing is not yet known; even when pelted by rocks, it advances relentlessly.  Still, if you have enough time to throw rocks it, you likely have enough time to flee.

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Kloccial

Planet Comics #13 (Crash Parker feature);

1941, Fiction House, Art by Joe Doolin

The Kloccial, a “fiendish plant,” thrives in the twilight band of the planet Mercury.  It is evidently subterranean and sends tendrils above ground to grapple its prey.  On one occasion, Crash Parker inadvertently landed his rocket ship on top of one.  Of course, with a name like Crash, any landing that doesn't result in immolation is a good landing.

Coping with a Kloccial can be troublesome.  However, if you can manage to sever one of its tendrils, try blasting down the trunk of the tendril with a ray gun.  Acting as a conduit, the tendril carries the destructive energies to the heart of the Kloccial.

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 Vampire Birds

Planet Comics #12 (Crash Parker feature);
1941, Fiction House, Art by P. Rice & A. Cazeneuve

Crash Parker's adventures took him to various exotic locations, not the least of which is Uracius (or maybe Urania?), a “planet forbidden to Earth-men.”  True to his name, Crash wrecked his rocket ship there.  His excuse included the phrases “cosmic storm” and “vortex of the nebular maelstrom.”

In a cavern on that planet, Crash encountered the vampire birds, which possessed “heavy white fur and human-shaped talons!”  Apparently, “human-shaped talons” is supposed to mean “talons formed like human hands.”  Every vampire bird “has a queer crimson spot over the heart.”  It is this spot “through which the fiendish transfusions [of blood] take place.”

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Service Animals from Planetoid R

Planet Comics #61 (Lost World feature);

1949, Fiction House, Art by George Evans

These “fierce creatures” (affectionately called “hairy ones”) function as hunters and guides for “the blind mummy-men” of Planetoid R.  Their ability to burrow underground tunnels makes them particularly effective.

After the Voltamen conquered the Earth, they imported these “strange monsters” in their efforts to annihilate the last vestiges of human resistance.  These animals are very loyal to their mummy-men masters – a good reason not to antagonize the mummy-men.

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Dasta

Planet Comics #23 (Star Pirate feature);

1943, Fiction House, Art by Joe Doolin

Star Pirate (known informally as 'Star') encountered this beast on Zev.  However, we should not assume that the Dasta is native to that planetoid.  The Dasta is described as “three tons of armor-plated brute” and, as is shown, Star exclaimed, “Ten ray-guns wouldn't stop him!”

Star managed to blind the beast with a cloak and leaped atop “the bellowing bulk of a live torpedo.”  Star then felled the Dasta by employing the “bulldogger's twist,” a little trick that Star somehow “learned from an Earthman castaway.”

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Grok

Planet Comics #27 (Star Pirate feature);
1943, Fiction House, Art by George Appel

Years before Heinlein scribed Stranger in a Strange Land, the writers of Planet Comics used the word 'Grok' to name a space creature.  This is another animal that Star Pirate improbably killed without recourse to weapons.

While cruising the space-ways, Star's craft was surrounded by “a queer radiation,” precipitating a “space storm.”  After being “sucked into the swirling center...[of] a twisting space-whirlwind,” Star was adrift for days when hunger prompted him to attack the “bird-beast.”  How Star expected to dine through his space helmet is not explained.

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Dork

In another instance of a creature's name later acquiring a curious meaning, the Dork was a giant reptile from Neptune.  The Toags, a race of reptilian humanoids, kept the “slavering monstrosity” in their dungeon for purposes of entertainment.

It's so huggable!

Planet Comics #24 (Reef Ryan feature);
1943, Fiction House, Art by George Tuska

Botany and Alchemy in Rêve

Art by Rolland Barthélémy

Rêve: the Dream Ouroboros devotes five pages to botany.  “If one might suppose that every plant that grows in our real world also grows in the universe of Rêve,” the rules suggest, “one might also suppose that others do too.”  While Dream Keepers are encouraged to come up with original plants, several examples are provided, categorized into five groups.

Some examples of Rêve herbs include:  Mercurion (“A blackish ivy which...is one of the base herbs used in alchemy”), Moonflower (A rare alpine plant that – when “picked at night and under moonlight” – can be ingested to recover dream points; its potency is based on the lunar phase when harvested), and Murus (“A kind of minuscule thistle with purplish green leaves,” murus is used for healing; not to be confused with false murus, also used for healing).

Among the Fruits & Berries of Rêve, there are:  Clopinette (Having “very little juice...a neutral taste, not sweet, not even bitter, and...a pitifully low nutritive value” – this fruit is “ordinarily snubbed by the locals, and even wild animals.”  Clopinette is usually “left for Journeyers.”), Floom (The Floom fruit has “an acrid, bitter taste, and is even less nutritious than the clopinette.”  However, “a larval parasite...eats the interior of the fruit...leaving behind a brownish excrement, a sort of oily gelatin...[which] is highly nutritious, although it is most disgusting.”), and Lulube (This is a “small round red fruit whose taste is part cherry, part lemon.”).

Descriptions of Edible Mushrooms include a flavor value “from 1 (bland) to 5 (excellent).”  Some edible mushrooms are:  Dream Trumpet (A very rare specimen “shaped like a dark violet conch.”  Flavor = 5), Primoon (A commonly found, “small mushroom with a white foot and flat green tender cap.”  Flavor = 1), and Tricolite (A rarely found “mushroom with a white foot...and large green cap with blue dots.”  Flavor = 4).

Examples of Poisonous Fruits & Mushrooms include:  Thanatary Amanita (With “lightning-quick deadliness,” this is the most toxic mushroom and also one of the most beautiful...), Hecatomb (“A small red pear with a shiny skin, it has a not disagreeable acidulous flavor”), and Peevle (The fruit of the peeve shrub is not especially malignant; it “looks very much like a clopinette, but with a pearly skin”).

The various Venomous Plants of Rêve “produce swelling around the scratches caused by their spikes or contact with their leaves.”  Other “symptoms are feelings of suffocation, dizziness and cold sweats.”  Examples of these plants include:  Aggravile (“A false fern with razor-sharp leaves producing a mortal venom.”), Basilisque (“While this plant looks like it might be a relative of mint or basil, it  has hive-producing leaves.”), and Ossiphage (“Also called a bonesucker, this climbing creeper has triangular, purplish leaves.  Each leaf has three long spikes at each point of the triangle.  Its venom is so fast that the victim often succumbs in a few steps and dies entangled in the vine.”)

Rêve includes 'Principles of Alchemy' as a game aid.  Alchemy is not magical in that it is not a draconic art.  However, “some alchemical preparations may be enchanted in order to increase their potency.”  As presented in the rules:

Alchemy is a science of colors and textures.  It requires only basic equipment:  fire, a cauldron, mortar and pestle, a funnel, parchment for filtering, and a sealable vial.  Its practice revolves around three characteristics:  Intellect, for knowledge of formulæ and their implementation; Sight for identification of colors, and Dexterity for identifying textures.

Alchemical colors, “which correspond to degrees of heat,” can only be identified by using an Alchemist's Lens.  Such a lens is not among the equipment listed above.  While it may be purchased from an alchemist's shop, a lens can be manufactured using basic alchemical processes.

“The seven alchemical textures, more or less fluid, thick, plastic, etc. have been given animal names:  Fox, Goat, Horse, Owl, Rabbit, Serpent, [and] Sheep.”

There are three basic types of alchemical ingredients:  herbs, salts, and gems.  “Most can be readily found in nature,” but all can “be purchased from an alchemist or apothecary.”

Mercurion, satum, and nevropenthe are the three basic alchemical herbs.

The “seven common alchemical salts” are, in order of increasing value:  Candricle, Boralm, Green Obbyssum, Grey Obbyssum, Obadion, Nartha, and Chramaelium.  The first four can be found in nature; for instance, candricle is “a white powder found under the barks of numerous trees.”  The last three common salts require alchemical processing.  For example, “Obadion is a bluish powder obtained from the alchemical extraction of an ore called obadine, a kind of peat.”

Gems are measured in terms of size and purity.  Each grain counts as one unit of size.  Purity is represented on a scale of 1 to 7.  Size × Purity = cost in sols.  (For purposes of comparison, the price of a bastard sword is 30 sols; a saddle horse is 40 sols.)  A jeweler can add value to a gem.  The rules list “twelve gems [that] are the most sought-after.”  Some of these gems are:  Aquafane (deep green), Scarlatine (clear red or orange), and Turnmoon (violet or blue).

The rules describe seven common alchemical formulæ that are “assumed to be known to all characters with at least mastery in Alchemy” (i.e., level zero).  Each formula requires several skill rolls.

As one can only know at the very end whether a given procedure was successful or not, the character is assumed to perform the entire operation continuously and then makes all rolls together at the end.  If any one roll is a failure, the entire operation is ruined.

The described formulæ include basic operations, such as Alchemist's Lens and Alchemical Pulverization, as well as three potions, Strength, Dexterity, and Double Healing.  (A Potion of Double Healing increases the effects of a healing potion.)

Carnivorous Plants

The Ya-Te-Veo, or Carnivorous Plant

The April 28, 1878, edition of The New York World carried a story with the subtitle “The Man-eating tree of Madagascar.”  This was back in the good ol' days when news agencies didn't have any particular reverence for such esoteric concepts as “truth” or “ethics.”  Although the story is fabricated, it still has a few points of interest.  For one, it mentions a theory that “the germs of life not only may have been, but may still be brought to this earth from some other point in space, by means of aerolites, meteoric dust, or some kindred agency.”  More to the purpose of this post, it discusses a strange form of plant life – Crinoida dajeeana – and the Mkodo tribe that worships “the great tree devil.”

In terms of physical description:

          If you can imagine a pineapple eight feet high and thick in proportion resting upon its base and denuded of leaves, you will have a good idea of the tree...  From the apex of the truncated cone (at least two feet across) eight leaves hung sheer to the ground, like doors swung back on their hinges.  These leaves, which were joined to the top of the tree at regular intervals were about eleven to twelve feet long...  They were two feet through their thickest part and three feet wide, tapering to a point...
          The apex of the cone was a white, round, concave figure...  This was not a flower, but a receptacle, and there exuded into it a thin, treacly liquid, honey-sweet and possessed of violent intoxicating and soporific properties.

The story also relates how the Mkodos forced one of their number to the top of the tree where she drank the fluid.  Thereupon...

          The slender, delicate palpi, with the fury of starved serpents, quivered over her head, then, as if instinct with demoniac intelligence, fastened upon her with sudden coils round and round her neck; then...the tendrils, one after another, like great green serpents, with brutal energy and infernal rapidity rose...and wrapped her about in fold after fold, ever tightening, with the cruel swiftness and savage tenacity of anacondas...  And now the great leaves rose slowly and swiftly like the arms of a derrick...and closed about the...victim with the silent force of a hydraulic press and the ruthless purpose of a thumb-screw...  A moment more...from their interstices trickled down the stalk of the tree great streams of viscid, honey-like liquid, mingled horribly with the blood and oozing viscera of the victim.  At the sight of this the savage hordes...yelling madly, bounded forward, crowded to the tree, clasped it, and with cups, leaves, hands, and tongues, got each one enough of the liquor to send him mad and frantic.  Then ensued a grotesque and indescribably hideous orgie...

Of course, because it was published in a newspaper, some people considered it to be a factual account.  I guess we could call this an example of Edgar Allen Poe's Law.

In 1887, Buel's Sea and Land discusses the Yateveo plant (depicted above).  Supposedly, “when excited it violently agitates its long, tentacle-like stems, the edges of which, rasping upon each other, produce a hissing noise...”  Also, the 'stems' are so poisonous “that if the flesh of any animal be punctured by the sharp barbs, a rapidly-eating ulcer immediately forms, for which there is no known antidote, and death speedily ensues.”  Although he devotes a full page to its picture, Buel doubts – but does not completely discredit – the existence of the Yateveo.  I find it interesting that Buel was compelled to mention that – even at the late date of 1887 – some people doubted the reality of the gorilla.  Buel states, “I do not say that the gorilla is a myth, but until stronger evidences of its existence are produced we may expect that there will be doubts of its existence.”  At a point in time when the existence of gorillas could be doubted, I suppose that entertaining the possibility of a tentacle tree was not completely irrational.

If nature has deprived us of man-eating plants, at least we can rely upon fiction to supply us with such entities.  Dragon #53 (September, 1981) contains a article that describes John Wyndham's triffids in D&D terms.  Evidently, Doubleday, publisher of The Day of the Triffids, granted permission for this.  The person responsible for the article is Mark Nuiver, whose known contributions to role-playing games are limited to a few creature write-ups in Dragon.  Here is an edited presentation of the D&D triffid:

Product Review: Proteus Sinking

Thanks to the beneficence of Oakes Spalding (and a meager application of talent on the part of your humble host), I am in possession of Proteus Sinking, the eighth in Geoffrey McKinney's 'Psychedelic Fantasies' line of adventure modules.  The author is Björn Wärmedal; McKinney being the publisher.  This post is my review of the module.

McKinney's stated idiom for the Psychedelic Fantasies products is thus:

Each stand-alone adventure module in the Psychedelic Fantasies line revels in unconstrained imagination. Every monster, every magic power, and every magic spell is a unique and never-before-seen creation of the author. No orcs, fireballs, or +1 swords will be found within. Leave the familiar behind to explore hitherto undreamed of wonders...

This is an admirable objective.  Additionally, McKinney has opted for a 'no frills' presentation.  No artwork is included in the product; the only non-text items are location diagrams.  McKinney may have implemented this policy for cost control reasons or perhaps he does not want to constrain the reader's imagination with defined iconography.  Proteus Sinking consists of ten pages of text (two columns) and one page of diagrams.  Currently, the Psychedelic Fantasies modules are available for $2.95 each (discounted from $3.50), so price should not be an obstacle.  (Actually, Proteus Sinking is offered as “pay what you want” with a 'suggested price' of $2.95.)

I do not think that any spoilers I may divulge are particularly ruinous given the ad copy of the product:

This adventure is set on a crashed starship of gelatinous beings. You do not have to wait until the PCs are high-level to get them into crazy sci-fi weirdness, for this module is for character levels 1-3. Start them off right away with the crazy. Don't let the Globo-Zen, Globo-Disco, and hallucinogenic mushrooms fool you into letting your guard down. This dungeon will kill you.

This indicates – to me at least – a poor man's Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.  I still hold this opinion after studying the product; not that there's anything wrong with being a poor man's Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.  Additionally, the following terms portend a 'gonzo' sensibility and an attempt at humor:  “crazy sci-fi weirdness,” “Globo-Zen,” and “Globo-Disco.”  I don't have a problem with either gonzo or humor, but they are not appropriate for every campaign.  More importantly (for purposes of this review), I don't think that gonzo and humor necessarily equate to 'psychedelic'.

According to my Second College Edition of Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (© 1978), 'psychedelic' means “of or causing extreme changes to the conscious mind, as hallucinations, delusions, intensification of awareness and sensory perception, etc.”  Examples of my conception of 'psychedelic' include Agent Cooper's dream sequences in Twin Peaks and Dave Bowman's journey 'Beyond the Infinite' in 2001: A Space Odyssey.  For something called a Psychedelic Fantasy, Proteus Sinking doesn't bring much 'psychedelic' to the table.  Had this adventure been branded as Quirky Quests or Wacky Escapades instead of Psychedelic Fantasies, I would have approached the product with a different mindset.  As it is, I find myself disappointed.  It's not that I don't like the adventure; if I genuinely disliked it, then the title of this post would have been 'Proteus S(t)inking'.

Let me try to explain my disappointment.  The premise of the adventure is “a crashed starship of gelatinous beings.”  So far, so good; the psychedelic potential is apparent.  We have alien gelatinous beings...except there's no communication barrier.  The crashed starship is positioned at a 30° angle relative to the ground; fortunately, however, artificial gravity is still working in the ship.  Doubly fortunately, the ship's gravity is equivalent to that which the player characters normally experience; so no inconvenience is posed.  Gelatinous beings (or “Globonauts” as they are called) ought to be able to tolerate gravity of various strengths and they shouldn't necessarily require artificial gravity at all.  The floor plans of the three decks consist of straight corridors and angular rooms; they could easily abut any given dungeon geomorph.  Globonauts wouldn't need straight corridors or angular rooms or levels.  I would imagine the interior of a starship used by gelatinous beings to consist of tubes and cavities; the concept of 'floor' would be relative.  According to the module, “The inside of the ship is almost completely metal – steel or harder.”  That's a human notion of what the inside of a starship should be like.  Why should Globonauts be limited to this paradigm?  Why should the ship even be solid?  What about a gelatinous ship for gelatinous beings?  Why not an organic, 'living' ship?  I'm not feeling the “unconstrained imagination.”

Proteus Sinking is not without some clever ideas.  Spalding considers the adventure to be “charming” and “whimsical.”  Read his take on it should you like a counterpoint to my peevish analysis.

Adventures and Random Encounters in Man, Myth & Magic (Spoilers)

Book III of the Man, Myth & Magic set is The Adventures Book, containing a 'basic' adventure, an 'advanced' adventure, advice on being a Lore Master, and some random encounter tables.

The basic adventure is a simple 'infiltrate and destroy' mission.  The advanced adventure does not have a title per se, but consists of four 'linked' episodes.  Each episode is divided into game-time periods called segments.  Surviving a segment allows a character a POWER roll and at least some damage recovery. 

To be blunt, the advanced adventure is a railroad; in fact, the Lore Master's advice (four pages under the modest heading 'How to Become the All-Time Greatest Lore Master of the Known Universe') includes a section titled 'Getting Players Back on the Rails'.  In fairness, Brennan states that players – not the Lore Master – should “control the action” and that Lore Masters should not “break their necks to try and make sure players follow a particular pre-determined sequence.”  In other words, players should be allowed to leave the “rails” but the Lore Master should “get his players back on the real track of the adventure without their suspecting anything is amiss; and without their getting restless or bored.”  To assist the Lore Master with accommodating the players' impromptu peregrinations, the book provides a few “standard” maps.  (At the end of this post I provide scans of the “standard cave complex” map and the “standard underground complex” map.)

The first episode (less than two-and-a-half pages of text) is called The Dragon Loose in Rome.  Essentially, players must develop a strategy to defeat a “dragon” that is practically invulnerable to weapons.  In the second episode, Apollo's Temple, Emperor Caligula summons the player characters to his presence.  Because of their success defeating the “dragon,” he assigns the characters a “special task.”  Caligula wants the characters to learn the secret of Apollo's Temple (i.e., Stonehenge).  The reward is great; however, if they fail, the Legions of Rome will seek them out and bring them back to Rome for an “extremely painful” fate.

The party goes to Britain and, en route to Stonehenge, there are three 'Road Encounters'.  Two of these encounters can provide clues regarding the episode's climax.  At Stonehenge, the party confronts a group of evil druids about to engage in human sacrifice.  Once the druids are defeated and the clues deciphered, the party can perform a ceremony that 'activates' some of the stones.  Different stones – distinguishable by color – generate distinct effects when touched.  Some effects are beneficial, such as healing or “granting the single item each [party] member desires most at that present moment.”  Some effects are bad, such as being disintegrated or sent to hell.  One stone summons a “Ban Sheed.”  What is a Ban Sheed?

This fearsome creature appears in the form of a very tall, white robed and dark haired woman, but is, in fact, the sexless representative of an alien race of beings who once inhabited the Celtic Islands during an era of almost unimaginable antiquity.

It is revealed that the Ban Sheed is the basis of the banshee legend.  Anyway, the party can only progress to the next episode by being sent to hell.  The adventure was designed for six characters; since there are five stones, it is reasonable to expect that someone will touch the 'hell' stone.  However, there are psychic abilities that can provide characters with information about possible future events.  Also, the Ban Sheed can tell the party the effects of a given stone.  Alternately, the Ban Sheed can also destroy Caligula, thereby dispensing with the party's motivation.

Assuming the party goes to hell, they are given a scroll by some old guy in robes and informed that “the fate of your planet now rests squarely in your hands!”  The party returns to Stonehenge after being subject to a poem of fifty-six lines.  The old guy's scroll indicates that the party should go to Hibernia and the next episode, The Witches of Lolag Shlige, assumes that they do so.  It just so happens that, in Hibernia, there is a “prediction” that “a party of strangers” will find and rescue the infant nephew of the king.  The party is supposed to discover that the infant was kidnapped by the titular witches and then go to the House of Lolag Shlige to effect a rescue.  The 'house' is presented in the style of a dungeon; there are two levels and a description of the various rooms.  One of the denizens is a “Pollyrotten” which is “a peculiar breed of paranoid parrot...indigenous to Hibernia in prehistoric times.”  The episode ends in a confrontation with the aforementioned witches.  If the party loses, I guess they die.  If the party wins, the witches cast a spell that transports the party to “an eerie, moonlit shore.”  The only way to leave the location is via a boat piloted by a “robed and hooded boatman.”

In the boat, the characters lose consciousness; when they wake, they find themselves in Egypt and thus begins the fourth episode, The Great Pyramid Revealed.  The party finds a scroll that leads them to a fishmonger who informs them that Caligula “has issued a Death Warrant for members of the party.”  (Given that the characters can reincarnate, this doesn't seem like much of a threat.)  The fishmonger also lets the party know that they must go to the Great Pyramid of Giza because of a dream he had.  The interior of the pyramid (for purposes of the adventure) is displayed in the graphic at the beginning of the post.  Compared to the real thing, it is only slightly embellished.  In Location 10, there is “a rare subterranean plant...that feeds directly on energy.”  The plant will cause a character to become “a shattered, unconscious husk of 6 Life Points.”  The plant can be avoided by edging along the sides of the chamber; however, contact with the side walls “leads to a total sex change by the current segment.”  At the end of the episode, the characters find themselves in Hibernia, but ten years have passed since the second episode.  There are actually five more episodes to this adventure, but they were sold separately.

Random encounter tables are provided only for the regions where the adventures take place:  Roman Britain, Roman Italy, Egypt, and Hibernia.  It would have been nice to have tables for other regions, like Greece or Gaul, but I suppose one can't have everything.  For each region, there is a table for the following terrains:  Open Road, Wilderness, Forest, Village, Town/City, and Underground.  (There is no Forest table for Egypt.)  Using a table requires a percentile roll. The Lore Master has a choice of using the indicated encounter or any of the preceding encounters on the table.  For the sake of example, here is the 'Open Road' table for Italy:

With a roll of '44', a party may encounter a foreign traveller, a merchant, a peasant farmer, or a formation of Legion soldiers.  Note that the first encounter requires a minimum roll of '20'; anything less than that means “the Fates have decided your party encounters nothing at that time.”  The table above is rather tame compared to many of the other tables.  Most tables have a '100' listing with a suitably rare encounter.  For instance, the 'Wilderness' table for Italy allows for a 1% chance of encountering “the god Jupiter.”  Brennan uses this result in an example of how to 'present' encounters to players.

You might present him sitting on a rock throne hurling thunderbolts to wipe out the party, but this, surely, lacks a certain subtlety.  He might equally well be presented as a naked youth with amazing powers, who may even aid the party if they are nice to him...

Other '100' results include a talking bulldog, a giant weasel, Caligula in fancy dress, and “Pharaoh's cousin (so he claims).”  Other, more common, encounters include a funeral procession, up to one-hundred village idiots, a bear, a brass golem, bugs, and a sandstorm.  However, Brennan saves the most colorful encounters for his native Hibernia.  Eight Hibernian encounters are explicitly described as “drunk” and only one encounter is listed as “sober.”  Some examples of Hibernian encounters include:  beautiful colleen (with mother hidden in trees), intelligent shamrock, fake Leprechaun, vampire pig farmer*, two-headed calf, and “Drunk Hibernian Lore Master who fell into his own scenario and couldn't find his way out.”


*  We are left to ponder which is vampiric – the farmer or the pigs?  Or both?

Poisons in Man, Myth & Magic

Nearly two pages of the forty-page 'Advanced Rules' of Man, Myth, & Magic are devoted to the topic of poisons; more poisons are described in The Egyptian Trilogy.  Page 29 tells us that “while anyone may buy available poisons only the Wisewoman and Apothecary classes may concoct them.”  The rules go on to say that...

While only Apothecary Classes may concoct, or make poisons, not every Apothecary Class may concoct every type of poison.  To determine which Character Class may make which kind of poison see the specific Character Classes.

However, the character class descriptions fail to include this information.  Instead, these details are to be found in the grimoire in the back of Book II.

In MM&M, poisons have either a full effect or a half effect depending on the poison's potency and the victim's Strength, Endurance, and Courage.

For purposes of this post, there are three ways that poisons may reach a victim:  ingested, topical, and weapon.  In order for poisons applied to weapons to be effective against victims, the roll to hit must exceed the minimum to hit by 30% “and the damage number rolled must be at least 25% higher than that needed to penetrate the victim's armor.”  If these conditions are met, the poison will be 85% effective.  How this correlates to the full effect/half effect model is not explained.

Here are the various poisons described in MM&M.  Thoul's Paradise does not attest to the accuracy of this information; it is presented for purposes of entertainment only.

Curare  (topical/weapon)
Strychnos toxifera is the Western Hemisphere plant from which curare is derived.  For purposes of MM&M (which does not address the New World at all), this poison is made from the vine of the “African” Strychnos toxifera mixed with goat's milk.
Full Effect:  “Causes total paralysis in a matter of seconds with death following in a few moments.”
Half Effect:  Causes partial paralysis within a few minutes that lasts a day.  Also causes “violent illness” which lasts for three days.

Hari Zaranya (ingested)
Better known as arsenic, hari zaranya cannot be concocted by any MM&M class.  A single dose large enough to be lethal is not practical.  So, “For purposes of the game, three doses can be lethal.”
Full Effect:  “Victim begins to perspire and then passes out never to awaken.”
Half Effect:  Victim passes out for up to 48 hours; illness persists for days.

Hemlock (ingested)
Roots of the Conium maculatum are “dried and pulverized into power.”  The powder is mixed with a liquid, then imbibed.
Full Effect:  “Causes victim to become drowsy and dizzy followed in a few moments by a sleep from which he will never awaken.”
Half Effect:  Victim wakes “after 12 to 36 hours with upset stomach, headache, and mild fever.”

Henbane (ingested/weapon)
Portions of the Hyoscyamus niger are made “into a salve like, brownish, foul smelling substance.”  The substance may be applied to a weapon or burned in a fire.  Breathing the smoke will not cause more harm than the listed half-effect.
Full Effect:  “Victim immediately begins to feel drowsy, followed in seconds by a feeling of unreality and timelessness.”  Moments later, the victim will fall into a coma from which he has a 75% chance of surviving.
Half Effect:  The coma-like sleep “will last between 12 and 16 hours” with no chance of fatality.

Jimson Weed (ingested)
Datura stramonium is another Western Hemisphere plant that would not have been available in the MM&M setting.  As such, leaves of the “Mediterranean” Jimson plant are ground into powder and mixed with liquid.
Full Effect:  “Causes victim to have heart attack with 90% chance of being fatal.”
Half Effect:  “Causes victim to have minor heart attack with 35% chance of being fatal.”

Mandrake (ingested)
Extract is derived from the Mandrake plant, producing a clear fluid with a bitter taste.  As such, “it usually must be administered in a heavily flavored drink.”
Full Effect:  A quarter of an hour after exposure, the victim starts to hallucinate.  “This is followed by a high fever and severe stomach cramps” and then death.
Half Effect:  “Causes victim to hallucinate, followed by mild convulsions and vomitting [sic] and high fever.”  Illness can last from one to three days.

Monkshood (ingested)
White or purple flowers from the Aconitum family are used to create a clear, almost tasteless fluid.
Full Effect:  Victim suffers breathing difficulties and a “pounding heart” before entering a coma then dying within an hour. 
Half Effect:  As above, but the victim will pass out with only a 10% chance of entering a coma; victim will wake within eight hours and recover completely within forty-eight hours.

Naja Haje (weapon)
Venom from the Egyptian Cobra is “mixed with a previously prepared ointment made from locust excrement and fish liver oil.”  Strangely, 'Apep Ointment' is listed as a separate poison although it would seem to be the same.
Full Effect:  “Causes victim to perspire blood, with Liver, Kidney and Stomach failure.”  Victim suffers convulsions and death typically ensues within ten minutes.
Half Effect:  “Victim...becomes ill to varying degrees...[and] will remain ill for many weeks.”  There is an unknown “percentage chance of dying in the first two weeks.”

Nightshade (ingested/weapon)
Ripened berries from Nightshade plants are processed into “a slightly pinkish, almost clear fluid.”
Full Effect:  Death within thirty minutes preceded by “dry throat...itching, anger, [and] drowsiness.”
Half Effect:  As above, but instead of death, “a coma that will last a random amount of time and often is accompanied by permanent blindness.”

Nux Vomica (topical/weapon)
Seeds from the Strychnos Nux-vomica must be pulverized then “mixed with pulverized earth worms and water to form a smelly, jelly-like substance.”
Full Effect:  Localized muscle spasms will occur within five minutes, spreading until all muscle control is lost; “finally blindness occurs just prior to death.  The whole process is accompanied by intense pain and skin irritation usually causing loud screaming.”
Half Effect:  Not applicable.  It “is either always fatal” or there is a 5% chance of a victim having “natural immunity.”

Scorpion Venom (weapon)
Venom from scorpions “must be mixed with palm tree oil and simmered until thick.”
Full Effect:  “Victim will have severe irritation and itching around the spot of application.”  Within five minutes, the pain will be so intense that “the victim will cease normal function.”  Death occurs within forty minutes of application, preceded by facial swelling.
Half Effect:  If the victim does not receive treatment within an hour of exposure, victim experiences 'full effect' symptoms.  Even with treatment, there is a 40% chance that the infected area or limb must be removed or amputated to prevent death within a day.

Thornapple  (ingested)
This poison is derived “from the pollen of the Thornapple flower which can only be obtained from bees which have collected pollen from the plants.”  One dose apparently requires about two dozen bees.
Full Effect:  “Victim will become irritable within seconds...followed by insanity, coma and death within minutes.”
Half Effect:  As above, but victim “will recover from coma in two to three days with a 30% chance of being permanently insane.”  The percentage chance of the victim subsequently becoming an RPG blogger is not given.