Thursday, September 29, 2016

Commentary On Inhumanoid Episode Eight Cult of Darkness (aired November 2, 1986) As A Quick Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaign Adventure Point



 
So last night I grabbed my copy of the Inhumanoids VHS tape and threw it into the VCR, fired up the old beast and randomly came into episode #8 Cult of Darkness. Suddenly I was blasted back in time to another era of awesome! Even though the Inhumanoids cartoon followed a very specific timeline, this was one that I've been wanting to rewatch for a long while and the awesome can't be contained within this cartoon!
You've got the Soviets double crossing the Earth Core & branding their new buddy Tank a traitor after having cut a deal with local Granite tribe. Tank meanwhile goes off to kill Metlar himself and complete his mission. But where this episode really ramps up is when investigative reporter Hector Ramirez of Twenty Questions. goes to  expose a local cult of  Brother Druid whose recruiting local San Franciso Bay teens faster then you can say disposable army. Brother druid is inciting the kids into acts of vandalism, running wild in the streets, and general mayhem. All of these kids are being recruited in an abandoned sky scraper and then the final revelation is made when D'Compose bursts through a wall.  There's a mind control gas that's been affecting the kids and of course  Blackthorne Shore is behind the whole scheme.

Herc and Auger are d'composed and its up to Earth Core to save their team mates as well as the zombified teens. There's also a subplot of a chemical formula that will allow D'compose and his zombie minions to survive in sunlight.



There is a lot here to mine for an old school post apocalyptic campaign from the ground up. You've got the Inhumanoids who are essentially post apocalpytic mutant god things recruiting the local flesh slugs(humans) into a scheme of an undead army. You've got a vast array of dungeon locations with the underground cathedral being used as a recruiting point for a wasteland location not to mention
Skellweb, D'Compose's dead city. The zombies here would be close to giant Ju Ju zombies from AD&D and they're free willed almost akin to the Deadites from Army of Darkness. Skellweb, D'Compose's dead city is a whole underground adventure campaign location unto itself. Especially given that you've got these things running around it.




Does the episode make a whole lot of sense? Not in the least but its got some great ideas in it to mine for an old school campaign :

  1. Modern cults straight out of a post apocalyptic wasteland with potential as a cross over point for both Goblinoid Games Labyrinth Lord & Mutant Future. These mutant god things are perfect stand in for demons or other boss monsters. 
  2. These cults & groups are perfect DCC fodder especially Crawling Under A Broken Moon 
  3. The super science relics of the Inhumanoid series are perfect examples of artifacts bolstered by hi tech junk yard finds. They even use a ton of 80's stuff to form Tank's armor. 
  4. There is a quick random encounter with giant bats! 
  5. This episode has some amazing connections between the front organizations & the god things showing how such an organization reaches down into the streets and urban locations of the cartoon. 
  6.  Cult of Darkness presents a good plot to use with any old school post apocalypse game as a quick jump point to get your favorite demon or undead horror to present to your players.


This blog post is not a challenge to the copyright & trademark of the Inhumanoids cartoon holders or Hasbro properties.

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