GLOGust 2026 Challenge 2: Guest Stars on Frightening Anachronisms

GLOGust

With special thanks to Primeumaton for the challenge.

I combined two of Prime's challenges for this one, asking a selection of friends of the blog to provide their opinions on frightening anachronisms they like to include in their games... 'anachronism', fun word to say, like 'chthonian':

From deus ex parabola:

"I love a good Tube Station
tile floors, flickering cold lights on the ceiling, echoing tunnels
the kids talk a lot about "liminal spaces", and there's something to that
Grubby tiles and narrow staircases..."

From phlox:

"Well, I’m a sucker for portals into the near future where everything sucks because the PCs weren’t there to stop them from getting worse. I suppose that’s a frightening in-game anachronism."

From Eldritch Eternity:

"Geological ones are good.
Violations of how deposition is supposed to go. Younger fossils below older ones.
I saw a tumblr post that had a really good one. "fossils billions of years old at the top layer, and at the bottom, still rotting and bleeding carcasses of not yet extinct animals""

From maxcan7:

"I'm thinking about like tsukumogami. As technology gets more advanced over the 20th and 21st century, tsukumogami become more dangerous
Since tsukumogami develop over 100 years, the acceleration of technology makes them anachronistic
The tsukumogami of today would be the technological cutting edge of the 1920s fighting back against the technology of today
The idea needs more thought but that's what came to mind"

From Mikesmix:

"The printing press is a fun one
I like having newspapers in settings where they don't belong
Just the general idea that history in the setting isn't quite in the right order
People in BC times actually knowing that they are in BC times but not knowing what the years are counting down towards...
Dragons seen in the past are an anachronism. Dragons were once the gods of the world, rendered monstrous and killable once their pantheon was deposed...
Ooo ooo I always love to throw in WWI stuff into fantasy when we get to like planes of warfare
Barbed wire trenches appearing in the Shire"

From Whisperling:

"I once ran a game where spirits were tied to ideas. The noosphere was also timeless, so you could have a demon of television static appearing in ancient egypt.

So, why doesn't that sort of thing happen anymore with technology still yet to be invented? Funny you should ask. Maybe it does happen, and it's just that we don't know it when we see it. But maybe we're at the end of time."

Whisperling also made this relevant post: https://glassziggurat.blogspot.com/2026/08/100-modern-things-itd-be-messed-up-to.html 

From Hawkbeetle:

"Much as it shames me to admit it, all of the real games i’ve run that have lasted more than one session have been of the urban fantasy type, and though i suppose anachronism is sort of the central conceit of a game like that the presence of vampires in seattle isn’t really the kind of thing i think that kind of prompt asks for. It may be overplayed, but I am however very much a fan of anachronism in the sort of space-opera sense.. there’s a bunch of old material I wrote on it, mostly ancient settings I never did anything with… there was a space-mercenary thing I wrote at some point where the starting equipment list had railguns alongside katanas and that imperial japanese frogman bomb-on-a-stick thing… example characters show off the vibes a bit i think...

There was another setting I had from a similar time period (actually a full year earlier) where I contrived a scenario in which there was some sort of bebop-esque mass-incomplete-terraforming of the entire solar system, followed by a million-year dark age that left humanity to diverge into space-opera mutants inside the relictual venusian bio-aerostats and deep-lunar engineered hydrothermal caverns before the moon-people discovered miracle hydrox-fuel generating nanotech and used it to ride the remmanant space elevators with primitive spaceships into solar-system-spanning empire with the bare minimum amount of tech required to build a metal chamber large enough to hold a man exclusively so i could justify spaceships fighting at visual range with manually piloted torpedos because the posthumans rediscovered spaceflight before computers or even like, good telescopes"

From theisticGilthoniel:

"hm hmm
something that I included in my Mazes and Minotaurs campaign is the pre-tomb of the seer Tiresias, where his death, which has not happened yet, is honored.
hmmm
oh, Hannibal Barca.
nothing more frightening than inexplicable war elephants

I feel like in general the unexplained appearance of some famous and catalytic Great Man of History tends to go down well
like, if I'm playing a fantasy game, and I hear that there is some villainous mastermind in the next kingdom over whose taking control, and I go and find out that it is Napoleon Bonaparte, that's somehow more frightening than if it was Snakespell Poisonloins the 10th level wizard
If I'm playing a modern game and the npc in the shady research facility that I'm talking to is actually Lao Tze, there's no coming back from that.

All the players plans and conceptions are unsteadied, and you know that this guy is a big deal who probably has adapted frighteningly well to whatever setting he finds himself in, and you are probably gonna get your ass handed to you"

From gendernihilist (in lieu of a link to her blog, gendernihilist has instead provided a link to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund):

"most frightening anachronistic thing I include: way back beyond, before hominini times, giant bugs crawled...much more than dinosaurs, these prehistoric freaks are frightening 

most frightening anachronistic thing I want to include: the party makes their way into a clearing, or perhaps a floor of a dungeon with an entrance from the floor above to an outer room teeming with some kind of life (fungal, perhaps, some kind of magical greenhouse floor, who knows, clearing maybe works better) and as they make their way towards the center of the clearing/dungeon floor, the life is dying, dying, dead, and corpses of animals and beasts and humanoids litter the innermost places, and there in the center is a rod of radioactive material, perhaps with a hilt to wield it by, that is so severely radioactive that just having it in (non-bag of holding/portable hole/etc, mundane) a backpack or sack or whatever will begin to cause serious radiation sickness for the whole party if they should remove it and take it with them, but of course you just describe it as you would any strange rod in a dungeon, which adventures are wont to pilfer and try to deduce magical effects of and wield, but it would be their doom to do so"

From Louis Garamond:

"Frightening Anachronisms:
Barbed Wire
Amphetamines and Synthetic Opioids
Refined Petroleum Byproducts
...
Maybe that's it? Media Theory that is out of its time?" 

From Locheil:

"oh aye, hee
hmm
i like giving otherworldly creatures inexplicable industrial capacity / machinery beyond mortal ken"

From Priestess of Spiders:

"Idk I haven't proofread it so it's probably a bit goofy but here ya go. Inspired partially by Mormon Bigfoot and that book Them And Us which claims neanderthals were actually cannibalistic superpredators lol. Pictures included if you want illustrations, image #1 is from One Million Years B.C. image #2 is from Them And Us, image #3 is from Quest for Fire

Wolves with Knives

"And He said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." (Genesis 4:10-12)

"For that bitter murder, the killing of Abel, all-ruling Father, the kindred of Cain crushed with His vengeance; in the feud He rejoiced not, but far away drove him from kindred and kind, that crime to atone for, meter of Justice. Thence ill-favored creatures, Elves and giants, monsters of ocean, came into being, and the giants that longtime grappled with God; He gave them requital." (Beowulf, chapter 2, lines 54-62.)

"And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones." (Enoch I 7:3-6)

"They knapped stones into razor sharp blades but never strung beads or shells onto a leather thong to make a necklace. And of all the pieces of bone that litter their campsites, not one shows evidence of being carved. These contradictions prompted anthropologist John Shea to describe them as “wolves with knives”. What emerges is a paradoxical hominid as merciless as a hyena but caring enough to bury its dead. A creature as ferocious as a tiger, able to bring down a woolly mammoth or rhino, but also capable of constructing 10 metre wide windbreaks. Perhaps the ultimate paradox is a capacity to hunt and eat humans but also to have sex with them." (Them and Us, Chapter VIII.)

- - -

They were born from the second sin, they are the children of murder. They were taught by the Watchers the secret arts of warfare and medicine, but shun art, religion, and even language. They are all that is animalistic and violent that lurks within the hearts and souls of men; beasts without even a shred of sympathy for any but their own kin.

They were human, once, but the Creator's mark has left them more like animals than men. They wear no clothing, and go naked in the wilderness, covered by a thick layer of matted fur which they shed during the warmer months. They are tall, some reaching 8 feet or more, though most remain around 6 and a half feet in height. Their eyes are wide and reflective, with slit pupils like those of serpents. They construct weapons, but even unarmed their teeth are like flint knives and their fists like clubs. Their skin is as tough as cured leather.

For their ancestor's sin, they are cursed to wander the Earth, never to dwell in one place. Even when they have tried to build cities, always they have burned, or fall to plague, or are washed away by flood. The Wolves with Knives gave up their humanity when their father introduced murder into the world, and for this crime they must live as beasts. Over the millennia, most of them have come to enjoy this state of being.

They aren't stupid; they simply are no longer tied to the same rules as mankind, and as a result have a different set of priorities. One does not judge the lion for its poor grasp of philosophy, nor expect the wolf to quote scripture. To them, our preoccupation with art and culture, our squabbling over politics and religion, all of our hopes and dreams and fears, seem like nothing but the most puerile madness. What importance do the fruits of civilization hold to a creature which, since birth, has known only the simple joys of the hunt, the ecstasy of murder? What concern does a creature of flesh have for the spiritual or the divine?

Sometimes they take wives from the children of Adam. Many of them join willingly, rejecting the roles given to them by priests and husbands, choosing instead to laugh and run and dance and spill the blood of beast and man alike. It is not surprising to find a half-dozen or more snarling, naked human women among a pack of Cain's children. The inexperienced will try to "rescue" these creatures, but they are just as much beasts as their husbands, and are likely to slit the throats of their would-be saviors while they sleep before stripping off their unwanted clothing and slipping back out into the night. It must be noted, however, that Daughters of Cain do not seem to take husbands from the children of Adam, or at least not for very long. Men are such fragile things, and without the impetus to protect unborn offspring, they do not last long among the Wolves with Knives.

Stats:

Wolves with Knives
No. Appearing: 5d12
HD: 2d10
AC: as leather
ATK: Knife or Spear, +2 to hit, 1d6 or 1d8 damage
Abilities: Can see by starlight as well as during the day, immune to all but the most extreme cold

Wives of Cain
No. Appearing: 2d6
HD: 1d8
AC: unarmored
ATK: Knife or Spear, +1 to hit, 1d4 or 1d6 damage

Also Antediluvian fantasy because I watched Noah and it was badass"

From purplecthulhu:

"Forgor the exact name and artist, but this is at the SF MOMA
Josie said that this made the fear/foreboding that people had for airplanes as a new technology click for her - the intentional blending between the commercial liner and fighter jet in design
I'll need to think more about this but it's what came immediately to mind"

Hopping On The Naming Bandwagon; Or: Names Across The Planes & Not One But TWO Appendices

Like so: https://sunderedshillings.blogspot.com/2026/08/trying-to-fire-up-bandwagon-names.html

It's funny - not "ha ha" funny, but funny queer - I like people like a dog likes people, just about everyone's got something interesting about them, something to like about them, but I don't like making characters. Worldbuilding and such I enjoy, but not making characters. Perhaps this is what saved me from the terrible fate of "trying to be a writer".

So names I find kind of annoying to come up with. Typically I use www.behindthename.com, search up a word's etymology and/or use google translate to find somewhat-related words to mash together, or just make up some bullshit that sounds good. I'm very bad at coming up with names on the spot, and my boys still make fun of me for coming up with "Tigré LeSharp" like a decade ago.

I didn't like Elden Ring that much, and haven't played their other games, but FromSoft has discovered the Sauce to good fantasy names - Eleum Loyce, Anor Londo, Lost Child of Antiquity, Raya Lucaria, Mohgwyn, etc. 

Also, because I don't like doing this "meta" stuff (it's like an actor looking into the camera), here's some naming schemes for the people of the planes of the Great Wheel:

The Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus: They get designations and numbers, no I can't come up with anything more creative than that. Puller of the Crucible Lever in Sector A34-K70 No. 4,987, friends get to call them "Pully" or "Eight'n'seven".

Mount Celestia: These guys are named after virtues (Justice, Mercy, Fortitude, etc.) or they've got those weird Puritan names like "Destroy-Wickedness" or "Follow-The-Righteous".

Arcadia: There's nothing interesting about this place, so the people there give themselves fake wuxia-ass names like Flourishing Orchid in the Whirlwind of Regret or Tiger's Shadow Cast Over A Mountain. They're named like the deathlords in Exalted but nice.

The Twin Paradises of Bytopia: Their names have some kind of duality to them, or their names are palindromes, duality is like the only interesting thing about Bytopia, they've got names like VincentnecniV or Felicity-Felix.

Elysium: They're just Greek. Why not. But it's nice Greek meanings like Antares or Philosophia or whatever.

The Beastlands: They've got names like pets have like Spot or Rover or Tibby or they name themselves what animals would name themselves like Lounges-In-Sunbeams or Happily-Wallowing.

The Olympian Glades of Arborea: (One day I will figure out something interesting to do with these lame extra heavens) - fuuuck I already did Greek for Elysium... ok so they've got... plant names? Is that anything? Chloranthy and Cotyledon and Cyme and so on and suchlike.

Ysgard: They've got strong old-timey names with boastful epithets like Hrodnand the Hunter or Invincible Ysolde.

Limbo: They've got non-binary names like Mud or just kludge words that aren't names together like Cupajoe or Onthetable or Wheelnailcloud.

Pandemonium: Random kludges like Limbo but phonemes instead of words - Bvoolakalaka, Fiotria, Zzeem.

The Infinite Abyss: Only demon lords get real names and they're like Lolth and Pazuzu and Demogorgon, lesser demons might get a nickname based on a distinguishing feature like Milkeye or Shitstink, or if they're useful to their lord they might get one based on their purpose like Slaughter or Hostage-Killer.

Carceri: Everyone's a prisoner and a guard here, discipliner and disciplined... they've got a "face name" and a "mask name" and which is which depends on whether they're overtly or covertly part of the plane's power structure - like one guy might be Mr. Forsythe and El Loco Malvado and another might be Stumpfuck and also Her Ladyship the Dean.

The Grey Waste of Hades: Cenobite names. I know I keep leaning on cenobites for these guys - maybe I'll come up with more later. Pinhead. Chatterer. Sawn-off. Gouged.

Gehenna: (One day I will figure out something interesting to do with these lame extra hells) - uhh these guys get fuckin uhhh Hebrew names - Shemamama, Alivut, La'anot, Vile Shlomo.

The Nine Hells of Baator: (I like to imagine Baator as the name of the plane, which the devils have colonized after exterminating the native Baatorians) - they've got Key of Solomon-ass names and titles and they insist you use them all - e.g. Gavoriax, Grand Duke of the Boiling Baths, He Who Transformeth Men Into Serpents, Knower of the Mansions of the Stars, Master of Thirty-Three Legions.

Acheron: The rank-and-file get demeaning names like Maggot or Chirpy, distinguish yourself and work your way up and you earn a name like Captain Siegebreaker or General Butt Naked or Commander Spineripper.

Appendix Z: A list of names I have previously come up with, and am reposting here

The Republic of Beards/Gherriot, Curdle, Thaw, Itaban's Verge, Jornu, The Brayreyt Peninsula, Bakseo, Glower's Fen, Mandle Maar, Abrogance, Gomgastile, Lahasam, Seobex, Illa Vadenar, Talmer Iffre, Lantham, Holy Muss, Pxtou, Caolao, Secodorem, Mawuz Brin, Gattaband, Shinshir, Begor, Ichepu, THE HOWITZAR (Kaiser of kabooms), Finigal, the scrutch, the Old Stone Soul, Tumeld-Maer, kythe, the Confederacy of Humps, Ixaret, Hickoryholt, Skarlang, Ostelottz, the Tyrannies of Quelm, Theyis, the Republic-in-Chains, Avino, Etilig, Zelorn, Cathalo, Bick, Manap, Ogal, Mizoolah, Habiru, En-Yen-Yee, Warlumderby, Shiersha, Haxty Gron, Portry, Gurdielark, Pisnong, Bellganver, Umeziya, Harmonious Wallab, the Grace-Eater, Sacred Blue, the Land of Cobb, Godlove the Penitent, Chernabbas, Xenarthra, Aka-Shaan, the Prey Kingdoms, Yhanzeng, Sea-Meets-Sky, Snareybrush, Kalekenny, Phu-Neng, Xos-Gotox, Makoma, Gemakurie, Feallu, Thin Parkin, Rosha, Dismund, Fewmish, Fenwall, Kemüt, Dyrnu, Wagata, Oztarak, the Reach of Rot, Rhudreem, Ardenlaor, Aklay, Zalazeel, Old Grouse Hills, Boncloud, Yigadraz, Quilala Bucho, Shyshmu, Kao-Kha-Kao, Arembolus, Llod Mü, Chuma Sumaki, Amartza, the God-in-the-Keg, Demaerel, Abol, Blissum, Potreze, Vasalerat, Shashagosa, Addegastus, Solatio, Lentibelsinea, Hascell, Robin King Agbisherea, Arkhebalataia, Mossassul, Hamorda-morda, T'Jem, Buchevult, the Hushlands, Lyr Branwen, Scrome Blapherd, Mirramessa, the Stonies, Lindhog, Dumaruga, Sarconensis, Imrane, Ogdala, Scrammatelia, Dire Ulixes, Perfidious Albion, Nectanebos, Nystagmus, Modredus, Sonthonax, Aristide, Orfeo & Heurodis, Deirdriu Anbroin, Maesalynbeth, Indolent Semyon, Free Lance Ypolita, Yrento, Voivode Cyrus, Strong-Thewed Uruk, Loathsome Margot, Siglief, Gaheirn, Dirnemir, Berbiolette, Soldeva, Viraloon, Zecho, Pirralene, Lowch, Metton, Peygon, Ashumarit, Yamulpiiki, Darklord Duplicitous

Appendix S: A list of words & phrases I think would make good names for superheroes and supervillains (finally I have an excuse to post this)

Longshoreman, Skyclad, Skyscraper, Dustbunny, Fancyflight , Threnody, Lil Oozy, Death By Chocolate, Flambeau, Shadeshifter, Deadringer, Death Rattle, Shadowboxer, Purr, Knuckledragger, Snoozefest, Mote, Rocketglare, Junkyard Dog, Serum, Stonewear, Dirge, Incognito, Pigeonhole, Deathspiral, Charlatan, Acidreign, Sonicboom, Lancette, Top-Notch, Second-String, Munchkin, Whipsaw, Foie de Grâce, Steeplechaser, Kowtow, Freemartin, Catbird, Beach Bod, Pointbreaker, Polypro, Synth, Stargazer, Zero Day, Painstake, Man-at-Harms, Brack, Killage (like collage but for murder), Doctor Disorder/Shatterbrain (& The DSM 5), Robuster, Snowbird/Snowdrift, Tonguetwister, Tektite, Dropdead, Crystolero, Levy, Firstblood, Eldritch, Rightside/Brightside, Claviger, Turbo Hydroponic, Warhead, Kugelblitz, Derecho, Sunkissed, Arms' Length, Beefcake, Pursuit, Songstress, Battlehound, Tearjerker, Tocsin, Paramount, Intro/Outro, Blackstrap, Bellweather/Belle Weather, Gobsmack, Mortsafe, Jailbird, Team: The Sunday Best, Calling Card, Crux, Eyewitness, Varmint, Stormsarge, Pixie Cut, Grave Danger, Widdershins, Furrow, Undertow, Tailspin, Knightshade, Alkahest, Bodybag, Top Brass, Sidereal, Soulmate, Acumen, Aureate, Bioterror, Primetime, Team: The Birds of Purgatory, Evergreen, Hullaballoo, Frontrunner, Marathon, Team: Traffickstop, Shakedown, Tryst, Verruca, Nostrum, Lullaby, Flipside, Florid, Brainchild, Fleece, Jaunt, Eyrie, Whopside, Headstone, Candyflip, Pepperpot, Blur, Scofflaw, Iron Lion, Halcyon, Hoax, Darling, Melange, Durance, Killerwatt, Debauch, Silver Platter, Bluegrass, Scram, Rasp, Concertina, Nightspot, Bulkhead, Hirsute, Wickerman, Pratfall, Slapstick, Stucco, Oopsie Daisy, Sandbox, Hobnob, Kindread, Carapacious, Lovetap, Heyday, Smokescreen, Smokeshow, Horrorshow, Cottontail, Tailgate, Pepperbox, Capsize, Umpteenth, Exodus, Mechaniacal , Outbreak, Wallflower, Mother Tongue, Landfall, Cityslicker, Trench Rat, Gym Rat, Tailwind, Blood Diamond, Scoundrel, Dichotomy, Handiwork, Windshear, Hardknock, Hell’s Belle, Globster, Fullbore, Painwheel, Pen Pal, Surefire, Piece of Eight, Rite of Passage, Foxhole, Malinger, Gung Ho, Lopside, Goofball, Bugout, Hellbroth, Beknighted, Potbelly, Dogpile, Nemetom, Periplus, Double Trouble, Doubledip, Smithereen, Basketcase, Pigsty, Hogwild, Lollygag, Eureka, Scattershot, Jitterbug, Strafe, Tantrum, Yesteryear, Showstopper, Limelight, Harvestman, Stinkeye, Cornucopia, Draconian, Incendium, Tornadic, Sonor, Syzygy, Alcazar, Badmash, Barmecide, Bezoar, Chanticleer, Chiliad, Dwaal, Famulu, Gallus, Gnathic, Martlet, Mistigris, Noyade, Oretic, Pinguid, Mother Goose, Eclipse, Gullinbursti, Khamsin, Bygone, Thornback, Backbeat, Bloodsport, Anathema, Firebug, Beeline, Malpractice, Hayseed, Pipsqueak, Bakushinchi, Man of the Hour, Debonair, Staredown, Stainless, Dreadnought, Chickenhawk, Earshot, Polliwog, Bingo, Trellis, Doggerel, Fracas, Topspeed, Headcase, Road Gator, Crowdsourcerer, Guttersnipe, Needlenose, Catspaw, Sellsword, Aplombomb, Tinsel, Lametta, Trample, Wannabe, Crooktalon, Fiasco, Packrat, Akimbo, Stampede, Recurve, Tagalong, Buckaroo, Brawn, Straitlace, Knitwit, Hearsay, Windburn, Scrum, Rotgut, Pharaoh, Damascene, Pronto, Derby, Nervewrack, Kibosh, Maven, Meshuga, Knickknack, Tsuris, Nightwitch, Tankette, Char, Clade, Whizbang, Elan, Crying Wolf, Reticle, Rally, Hardboiled, Masterpiece, Sterling, Featherweight, Sleuth, Blood/Blue Moon, Skein, Heartthrob, Ironbound/Hidebound, Creche, Siege, Wallop, Barebones, Leather Daddy, Crybaby, Veto, Bittersweet, Sea Change, Bazooka, Silhouette, Spectator, Mulligan, Flamingo, Wink/Hoodwink, Pesticide, Royal Flush, Paper Tiger, Cumulus, Anthem, Fleetfoot, Rampant, Lionheart, Scrimshaw, Sniffle, Grizzly, Dryad, Rivet, Vorpal, Corona, Moodswing, Canopic, Chorus, Recluse, Tallow, Pathfinder, Sham, Fluster, Pelt, Impetus, Stowaway, Moot, Pinion, Anthill, Powderkeg, Protege, Rancor, Callithrix, Cicatrix, Marmouset, Decorum, Highborne, Charnel, Rendezvous, Ephemeral, Blunderbuss, Rabbithole, Vagabond, Wilt, Rollick, Black Sheep, Fluke, Thespian, Scorch, Scoria, Solace, Zeal, Bushwhack, Singsong, Flock, Multitude, Feedback, Skindeep, Greenthumb, Leeway, Stovepipe, Stormchaser, Acme, Crackerjack, Bravura, Intrepid, Puck, Apeshit, Rottreiter, Mothball, Salvo, Cordial, Heist, Angelface, Armiger, Burnout, Auspice, Martyr, Cloudburst, Lookalike, Bootleg, Forerunner, Tumbleweed, Artifex, Skyrocket, Jackpot, Growthspurt, Hazmat, Vorpal, Maximal, Maxim, Fusillade/Salvo, Aviatrix, Phaneron, Sennet, Thane, Hecatomb, Brand, Coyote Ugly, Top Dog, Sleight, Clandestine, Facade, Charade, Armada, Revhead, Burgermeister, Genome/Gegnome, Haste/Hastewaste, Exile, Conatus, Vermiform,, Creature Feature, Lariat, Collision Course/Crash Course, Little Green Monster, Lawbringer, Sacrosanct, Keelhaul, Gamut, Flea Circus, Morning Glory, Crossfade, Steadfast, Ironsight, Hierophant, Shrinking Violet, Tirade, Hegemon, Woebegone, Brazen, Vaunt, Ardent, Lambent, Ambrosia, Leeway, Whodunit, Florentine, Pilgrim, Jumpstart, Witchhunter, Speakeasy, Crocodile Tears, Maid of Dishonour, Leapfrog, Dashing, Flourish, Stockholm (like the syndrome), Worg, Deep Six, Reprise, Veneer, Grimalkin, Dibs, Knight Errant, Spearhead, Slouching Beast/Rough Beast, Grudge, Gab, Agony Aunt, Palate, Kuga (Serbian plague demon), Nectanebos, Miss Demeanour, Vagary, Muckraker, Mudslinger, Wild Goose, Flimflam, Hell’s Heart, Jaws of Defeat, Deathmetal, Avalanche, DEFCON, Exoplasm, King of Beasts, Pottymouth, Mosaic, Justiciar, Furball, Marmorean, Farrago, Swindler, Drench, Incarnadine, Shoutout, Rictus, Warchest, Esquire, Snake Eyes, Epitaph, Foursquare, Sleepyhead, Dark Horse, Torrent, Raze, Donnybrook, Caracole, Raffle, Doggone, Pointblank, Incognito, Liberty Cap, Forthright, Amigurumi, Jumpscare, Yomi, Manslaughter, Trichosis, Hardline, Gild, Pellmell, Imbroglio, Smashcut, Triage, Egress, Milk of Kindness, Gibs, Somnelier, Splashdown, Blitz, Awooga, Kachi-Kachi, Jetset, Regalia, Highroller, Glassjaw, Musclebound, Crazy Fox, Bogey, Whipcrack, Whiptail, Garland, Lockstep, Punchline, Grok, One Hit Wonder, Hotshot, Absentia, Repertoire, Malomagus, Trifecta, Chatterbox, Mr. Right, Ricochet, Eavesdrop, Bloodblister, Onfall, Diving Belle, Gunplay, Alleycat, Chokechain/Stranglehold, Mollycoddle, Wunderwaffe, Hedgemon, Pintsize, Nectar, Peek, Ninth Circle, Den Mother, Columbiad, Nitpick, Lockdown, Bolide, Coldsnap, Keepsake, Aureole, Menagerie, Quagmire, X-Rayzor, Gravitas, Swagger, Freedom Fry, Bushmeat, Chud, Idol, Odalisque, Turtledove (Bird of Purgatory), Gnash, Alias/Alibi, Tokamak, Joyride, Ikijime, Vault, Scathe, Poltergeist, Starlet, Blank, Longshot/Elfshot/Bloodshot, Gamine, Truphane, Bullpup, Vamprey, Auteur, Negentropic, Boiling Frog, Clawful, Sweetheart, Dero, Argent, Mainline, Throng, Greasetrap, Wreckless, Manhandle, Diamond Duchess (baseball theme), Hooplala, Southpaw, Vigilant, Scale Model, Deadbeat, Trencheon, Bunkerbuster, Hawkshaw, Lummox, Desperado, Unsound, Glare, Torcher, Ruckus, Chalk-Full/Monumental, Breakneck, Carrion King, Pittersplatter, Headliner, Chimneysweep, Chiffon, Hitherthither, Heartburn, Ibid, Pyroclasm, Onslaughter, Marshal, Fishstick, Pest Control, Paraswooper, Whitehot/Redhot, Thwart, Azimuth, Epiphany, Lionshare, Starfall, Blowback, Knack, Milestone, Hissyfit, Bloodmoon, Cold Comfort, Dominant Hand, Timetested, Fulltilt, Thaumatonaut, Ramp-Up, Flak, Slalom, Sector, Outroar, Canacapé, Chiasmus, Creosote, Fettle, Chromatose, Coldforge, Caldera, Cavalcade, Stellaqua, Feathercap, Crocquette, Equipoise, Ozymandias' Work (like Frankenstein's Monster), Brine, Ideal, Loot, Gorm, Kern, Invictus, Blitzen, Prise, Miracle Mile, Jolty, Carbon Copy, Smoking Bee, Saurus, Checkmate, pHazard, Halite, Bud, Hoard, Powerhouse, Hike/Hitchhike, Albedo, Angler, Curglaive, Anguiped, Yen, Team: Honey & Vinegar, Team: Bright - “Bright Makes Right”, Team: Valliance, Team: EpitoWe, Junglelaw, Cookiecutter, Sketch, Spiderweb, Cuirass, Ordeal, Sledgeslammer, Big Game, Lotus, Herkyjerky, Sprout, Diable en Boîte, Axial, Curbstomp, Skedaddle, Tearaway, Cabochon, Wick, Boo, Flotsam, Factotum, Songseer, Sortilege, Roughshod, Turnabout, Screed, Blockhead, Gray Mater, Rabid, Crown Jewel, Plenitude, Hat Trick, Patient Zero, Extradition, Gloamveil, Doline, Doldrum, Brumalia, Rout, Deodand, Mortasheen, Defect Prefect, Oubliette, Lament

GLOGust 2026 Challenge 5: Some People and Places in the Stolen World

GLOGust

With special thanks to bad doctor for the challenge.

The challenge is "Introduce something to another blogger's setting that fundamentally alters it. They MUST incorporate this change, so get permission first and don't be a pill." and bad doctor has given permission for me to write something for her Stolen World setting. This is that:

Edelfull: A village on a screefull slope at the foot of alarmingly tall and sheer cliffs buffeted by winds that smear anyone who attempts to climb them. They stack stones with great precision and when the landslides come they slide the stones together into drafty homes just so. Grapevines grow throughout the village and when the harvest is ripe wild sheep are driven through them and the people have learned to subsist off the fumes of the trampled grapes. Wild pigs were used once but the damn bastard pigs were too gluttonous to leave the mash to rot and many starved. As they live off fumes their teeth have fallen out and their mouths have grown small and they speak only in whispers and wheezes. As they live off fumes of fermenting grapes they are at all times jolly or weepy or angry and drunkenly foppish. Also they need twine and rope and suchlike to hold their inflated skins together or they will burst and fall to earth flayed. As they can float about through the sky they see many things and can carry messages between people and places.

Leanjeddies: A cavortment of olds with the Hounds of Id sniffing about their cerebellums. Nomadic on all fours but stand up while they're talking to people but sometimes they forget how they're supposed to do that and stand on their heads. Trepanned to the last, so that sometimes when the Hounds get in they can be fooled out. Live off begging to chew off people's fingernails and slurp out the dirt from under their toenails, and off mercenary-killings and brigandage.

Eivilley: Once upon a time there was a giant whose mouth was so big that the Ash-Tongued Curse could not put enough of its children in the giant's mouth to keep it from eating and eating and eating everything that belonged to Angbora. So other servants of Angbora came and cut the giant in half and buried one half under one stone and the other half under another. Some time later the village of Eivilley was formed in the cleft between the stones and with them its founders brought the feet of a statue which although were very large had nothing to do with the giant. They wrap chains around the toes of the statue-feet and wind them through holes in the stones which are as big as hills and they raised them up as high as they can and drop them down again and again as quick as they can and this agitates the worm's that crawl in the jaded deep which belong to no god which come up out of the ground and are seized and eaten up. The people here are deaf and prone to leaping and jigging and for this world they are relatively well-fed and if you bring them metal to weld to their chains which are always rusting they will let you share in the feast of worms.

No-People-No-Name: The people who once lived in this village could not figure out a way to live and so they had one last feast and one last dance and one last orgy and then they disguised themselves as their houses up the eaves and inside the walls and under the hearth. They wept and slept in their disguises and forgot they were people. The houses-that-were-people were alone for a time and without people living in them they began to wonder why it was that people lived in houses at all and not the other way around. The village appears well-kept though abandoned but if you linger the houses will try to make a home in you. The children of the villagers' last night as people were born some time back and now are furniture and they are much more reasonable and often move far away.

Cythylyx: A village in a frondling rainforest where the people dig deep pits and lounge in them as the water fills them up because this is the cheapest way to soothe their savaged throats. There are pitcher plants that grow in the forest wide as barrels, and the villagers cultivate them into varieties like the glassware of a chemistry lab. When the pitcher plants catch a thing the villagers scoop a careful portion of the digestive broth into another, smaller pitcher, and so on in gradations of dilution until they are left with a homeopathic cupful of almost entirely acid. Much more painful to quaff than hunger pangs are to endure, but won't kill you in the end.

GLOGust 2026 Challenge 3: Categorization Is Futile? And Other Such Things

GLOGust

With special thanks to Purplecthulhu for the challenge.

The challenge for this prompt is "futility of categorization", and then "perpetual motion" and "resurrection magic" for the Joesky tax because my response to the challenge is too fluffy & self-indulgent.

It's an immense joy when I come across a new work by one of my favourite mangakas (that is: a writer & illustrator of Japanese comics, for you baka gaijin). Just the other day I found a short manga by Atsushi Kaneko-sensei which was relatable to me.

The manga was about a perfectly ordinary man who believed himself to be the yolk of an egg laid by a great green caterpillar covered in glitter, who is to the universe as a hot dog is to its bun, destined to one day metamorphose and bring the solar system under his rule.

I too am a normal man. I obey the laws of my country, and those of other countries I visit. I pay my taxes in the full amount owed. I have no physical or mental irregularities. But that has nothing to do with what I'm about to talk about.

The futility of categorization... not the way I see it. The issue isn't that categorization is futile, because it isn't, and part of making rules and worlds legible enough to play, the issue is lame categorization - having goblins and hobgoblins and bugbears and thouls and hools and scrags and koalinths and so on being 1 HD-step-up versions of each other or simple aquatic flips of each other or whatever else.

There's a web serial writer who goes by Wildbow whose works I have enjoyed (who has recently been laid low by an escaped American bioweapon). Two of these works are Pact and Pale - urban fantasy stories set in a shared kitchen sink universe reminiscent of World of Darkness. The supernatural beings in these stories can be categorized into a great variety of kinds - fairies, goblins, horrors, echoes, typhlotics, spirits, oddfolk, dolls, incarnates, lost, bogeymen, oni, and so on and so on - and each of these kinds have particular tendencies in appearance, symbolism, abilities, weaknesses, etc., that you can make a game of looking at just about any fantasy/horror picture and fit it into the Pact/Pale-verse. As well, these are not generally mere naturalistic species, but socio-politico-magico-religio-yadda-yadda-yadda groupings.

Consider the case of three sorts of evil outsiders in D&D: demons, devils, and yugoloths. What, really, is the distinction between them? One is chaotic, one is lawful, and one is neutral, and I think one has acid resistance or something, but this is lame - we can do better.

Demons - there are no longer "vrocks" or "type II demons" or what have you. All encountered demons are now randomly-generated Boschian kludge-terrors. Perhaps demons under the same demon lord share an aesthetic and behavioural through-line - e.g. Lolth's demons share arachnid features and a tendency to subterfuge - but overall when dealing with demons you're going in ignorant of what exactly they're capable of.

Devils - classic horned & hooved primary-coloured & richly-adorned sorts. This has roots in heads of cattle as the basis of capital. Big on ranks and titles. Devils, of course, are bound by the letter of their word, but each kind also locks something down as law. Perhaps they always strike true but the damage is variable, or you can fight or hide from them, but never really run. There's always an element of certainty in dealing with devils.

Yugoloths - DiTerlizzi, ooo we love DiTerlizzi, don't we folks, we love the art of Tony DiTerlizzi - but a lot of his guys come out to the same long-faced or animal-headed sameyness. Yugoloths are now cenobite-esque guys. Their thing is that they don't interact with damage the way other monsters do, they're beyond pain and wounds and mutilation and so on. Maybe they regenerate, maybe they just shrug it off and keep coming as a cloud of ground meat patty, maybe they're just untouchable, whatever. But they're tenuous - they come when called, and they need an anchor to stay - an artifact, a ritual, a broken heart, whatever, and disrupting the anchor banishes them (as would typical stuff like turning & spells & so on).

Now you could say "Evil spirits shouldn't be categorizable at all! This is disenchanting!", to which I reply "Thunder fire you". I like all the weird cruft that's built up in D&D over the years, and doing it up like this hits the right intersection of interesting gameplay and worldbuilding for me.

Joesky Tax: The Hearts of Concentric Spheres

Lichdom, that is to say, the acquisition of immortality, is held by wider occulture to be the highest achievement of magic (and by liches to be the first step in serious pursuit of magic). It is an acquisition which becomes harder over time, for the gods of death are dutiful sorts, and each lich who finds a narrow path to eternity has the way closed behind them.

One lich (now known only as the Star-Lich, for tying their biological processes to the movements of the heavens and becoming able to hibernate through eons) once tried to share their sort of immortality, via the creation of a set of artifacts.

The Hearts are intricate orbs of metal about the size of two fists held together. Constellations are etched into the metal. The orbs are made of many overlapping partial spheres, connected to the layer above and below them by clockwork and wire, always in motion with no apparent power source.

Stick a Heart in the torso of a fresh corpse to activate it. Dismemberment and other wounds of the corpse will be corrected by extruded wires, so long as the parts are laid nearby. Afterwards, the corpse will spring to life, good as new.

It's an uncomfortable sort of new life. The resurrected can feel the wires twitching in their flesh at all times, and they can no longer sleep - and fortunately no longer need to. They must be constantly moving, and if they try to lie still will convulse as if electrocuted.

The first time one of those resurrected by a Heart remains in the same place longer than a day (place here being a hex or town or dungeon or suchlike) a hellhound comes for them, invisible and inaudible to anyone but them. The day after it's two hellhounds, then four, and so on and so forth. The clock never goes down - if they return to a place they've already been it continues just as they left it. This continues until they are torn apart and dragged off to a terrible fate.

D6x6 Bearish Belts

Mmm more clothing.

Special thanks to Spwack for the generator generator here: https://meanderingbanter.blogspot.com/2018/10/automatic-list-to-html-translator-v2.html

Click the button below to get a belt of your very own:

 

D6	This belt's buckle
1	is a snarling face of reddened-tarnished silver that blends animal and human features.
2	is a splayed lily-flower with broad petals of semi-precious stone limned with gold.
3	is a nacreous spiral of a button like a snail's shell, only branching fractally with each spin around.
4	is a pair of interlinked hands forged from polished bronze.
5	bears the image of a serpent latched onto its own tail, formed of chips of emerald and malachite.
6	resembles a wheel of blackened metal or obsidian-stone, twisted into place.

D6	This belt's strap
1	consists of slats of horn and heartwood, the rings of each flowing through one another in captivating patterns.
2	is made of overlapping chevrons of shining iron.
3	is composed of the curved and enormous finger-bones of some great ape strung together with corded catgut.
4	is crafted from a strip of disconcertingly alive-seeming hide, with an apparent warmth and heart-beat.
5	is a length of aposematic, scaly reptile-leather.
6	is a braid of golden hair.

D6	This belt is adorned
1	with a sparse skirt of long and colourful feathers.
2	with loops of brocaded blue-and-rose silk.
3	with edges of scarlet glass beads.
4	with hooks from which to hang bottles and suchlike.
5	with an antipodean non-buckle on the backside in the shape of diving-together dolphins.
6	with a ring of quietly-jangling bells.

D6	Wearing this belt
1	allows you to shrug off any binding, mundane or magical or miraculous, by temporarily and agonizingly shrinking it about you for 1d6 damage.
2	renders you unable to be moved or knocked off your feet against your will.
3	allows you to make yourself as fat or skinny as you like by loosening it or tightening it.
4	allows you to lift any object you can wrap both your arms around.
5	allows you to draw out from it ammunition for any weapon you bear, as though an infinite bandolier.
6	makes your sexual prowess legendary.

D6	This belt was made
1	by a wizard who hoped it would counter-act the curse placed upon them, which subjected them to constant wardrobe malfunctions.
2	by an oracle, normally a weaver, who wanted to see what outcome a circular creation would lead to.
3	by a girdler in the grips of creative madness.
4	by a lich to cinch in their own disemboweled guts.
5	as the bonds of a demon, and later repurposed after that demon seduced its binders into releasing it.
6	by a dwarven artisan who hoped it lead to their exile being rescinded.

D6	This belt might be found
1	as a tourniquet around the limb of a deserting veteran, no less deadly for their maiming.
2	as the tripwire of a trap.
3	left tied off and behind as an emergency escape attempt from a pit in a dungeon.
4	around the waist of a braggart who stole it off a corpse.
5	tossed aside in an alley in a moment of drunken passion.
6	around the neck of an adventurer whose guilt was too much for them.

Towards the Hoard of a Hundred Horrors: Muscaliets

Plump sunburst-noses, skin like a pig that's been singed bare for butchering, long shanks with broad paws, like you'd stuck the feet of a mole on the legs of a frog, and the teeth - bucked and layered down the throat, able to grind down any animal or vegetable matter as if it'd been tossed into the guts of a machine.

 

They feed on the fire of the earth itself, its hot molten life-blood, and are lambent with their glutted heat. Pushed to the surface away from their favoured fare, by greater predators or tectonic shifts or whatever else, and they become a locust-nightmare, sweeping over the land with gnashing and fire.

They are

Muscaliets

HD: 1/2 HD AC: 14 ATK: 1d4 nibble SAV: 5 MOV: As rabbit, dig as mole INT: As starving beast ML: 5
No. Appearing: 2d12

Body Heat: The radiant heat given off by a muscaliet's body inflicts 1 slot of exhaustion per round that one spends within 10 feet of it. All such exhaustion slots can be cleared by gulping down cool water or somesuch similar method. This effect is not cumulative if you are within 10 feet of multiple muscaliets.

Explosive: Upon death a muscaliet explodes, dealing 2d6 damage to everything within 10 feet (save for half). This effect is cumulative if you are within 10 feet of multiple exploding muscaliets.

Indonesian TTRPG Bandwagon: Orangladangs

Like so: https://afraidofencounters.bearblog.dev/indonesian-ttrpg-blogwagon/

It is said that the people of the forest can speak as we do, but choose not to out of fear that if we knew we would force them to work. This is not a baseless fear.

A long time ago an orangutan's daughter fell sick. The forest she knew had been felled for crop-land, so she could not find the plants that would heal her daughter. She found a human and begged him for help, and the human feigned concern until she brought him to her daughter and then he tied ropes around their necks.

The man, already wealthy, grew rich indeed off the labour of orangutans - once he realized their value as slaves, he placed bounties on their parents, and took their children to work on his plantation. They grew up knowing nothing but bondage and drudgery. The fiery colours of their fur faded to the greenish-white of gravemold. Their flanges sagged, their bellies sagged, even as they walked upright their shoulders sagged and lowered their knuckles to drag through the dirt. All the life that had left the rest of them went into their eyes - bloodshot and frenetic things that began to whip about so quickly as to blur.

One day, the plantation's slaves came across the man's daughter, sleeping in the shade of a mango tree. After a few moments of debate they crushed her head in with a rock for her indolence, and got back to work. The man fell into despair, but the work continued. By that point they had become something other than orangutans.

Through a combination of strength and indefatigable obsession, a single one can do the labour of five men, and needn't stop for rest. Fear and pain can no longer coerce them - only the threat of mutilation which would inhibit their ability to work, and the offer of a potion made of wine and certain foreign drugs. Intoxication by this potion is the closest they can come to rest, to remembering the sweetness of fruit and honey, of the freedom of the canopies - and that it contains alcohol is considered proof of their natural inferiority and iniquity.

That man has been dead for many, many years, but they continue their work. Sometimes they are slaves, and sometimes they are masters, for they are consumed by the crop, the yield, the product, by productivity, and loathe to see a plantation mismanaged. The forest is no longer their home, but it remembers its love for them, and so they come out of the trees at night to kill and put under new management.

They are

Orangladangs

HD: 4 AC: 14 ATK: 1d6 machete or other farm-tool plus Poison, or if unarmed 1d4/1d4 paw plus rend 1d8 if both paw attacks hit the same target SAV: 8 MOV: As ape INT: As brutalized near-human ML: 7, or 11 if currently engaged in labour
No. Appearing: 1d4 in the forest, or 2d4 on a plantation

Poison: They remember the roots and the leaves and the saps and the juices but where once these things were used to heal they are now used to harm. A weapon wielded by an orangladang is slathered with a dose of one of the following poisons (1d4):
1. Hobbling-Crackle: A blueish crust. Save or else roll 1d4 (1 - right arm, 2 - left arm, 3 - left leg, 4 - right leg) - take additional 1d6 damage and affected limb becomes stiff and paralyzed for 1d6 hours as fluids in tissues crystallize.
2. Screaming-Waking-Nightmare: Grey and bubbling. Save or go mad as per Confusion for 1d6 rounds
3. Pecked-And-Stung: Yellow and resinous. Save or else for the next day all encounters with non-mammalian animals have the lowest possible reaction roll.
4. Be-Still-Heart: Blush-pink, slick and dripping. Save or else for the next hour you must test constitution whenever you take a strenuous action (swinging a sword, running, etc.). After three failed constitution tests your heart stops.

Forest's Unforgotten Love: Surprise on a 4-in-6 in the forest.