The Centre Cannot Hold » Angel

Orpheus

Loki — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:30:54 +0000

Orpheus is a vampire drug, a mystical opiate which is taken in with the blood of those they feed from – the humans typically inject the drug into their bloodstreams before the feeding.

The enchanted drug can be easily tasted on the blood, and its effects on the vampire are very quick, especially if the dose is large. Of course, a dose that large will tend to knock out the human, leaving them in a comatose – and potentially fatal – state.

Smaller doses can be euphoric for both parties, but larger ones induce what can only be described as a vision quest, in which both parties travel through the history of the vampire in question, and choices made along the way determine whether either of them ever wakes up again. This experience of taking the drug has been described as being taken to Hell and left there.

Related Drugs: Black Frost, Calendula, Calynthia Powder and Gill Man DNA.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Delta Green

Loki — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:30:33 +0000

Another fairly natural fit: Buffy’s shadowy government manipulators and those of Delta Green work very well together. After all, both groups fight the monsters in the shadows while struggling not to become more like them, and both groups prefer to operate in secrecy.

Of course, you’ll have to decide who’s right about the mental resilience of the average civilian – in Buffy, people seem able to assimilate the idea that the world is not what they thought it was rather easily, in Delta Green (as in all Call of Cthulhu materials), sanity is all too easily lost. But once that’s worked out, you’re good to go.

If you ever wanted a game based on what Riley did after he left Sunnydale, this is it. Delta Green protects humanity – insofar as humanity will let it – from the predations of the Mythos and its allies. They generally don’t worry too much about more mundane and earth-bound monsters – they worry about extra-terrestrials and other dimensionals, and those members of the human race who think that these creatures can be supped with (in truth, no spoon is long enough).

For the world of Buffy, this presents a change of pace – heavier on both firearms and intrigue, but hey, it can be nice to have an army on your side (or, as the season eight comics illustrate, absolutely Hell to oppose one). The creatures of the Mythos are a level of strangeness beyond what Buffy usually has to deal with, but not impossibly so. The kind of enemies that Angel fights in his own series, particularly in the last three seasons of it, are a good model for this sort of thing.

Either way, you’re taking a hopeless struggle against the ever-encroaching darkness and opening up another front in it – but your players will probably thank you. Probably.



SOURCES:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Delta Green
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Series Angel: The Complete Series Buffy the Vampire Slayer Revised Core Rulebook Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Slayers Handbook Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Monster Smackdown Angel Role Playing Game Corebook	Delta Green Delta Green: Countdown Delta Green: Eyes Only Call of Cthulhu: Horror Roleplaying in the Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft, 6th Edition

Calynthia Powder

Loki — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:30:48 +0000

Calynthia Powder is a bright purple colour. As a powder, it can be mixed into liquids and ingested, such as water or blood.

The drug is presumably magical in nature, and is used to affect the dreams of the person being fed it – usually without their knowledge. The drug makes the user more suggestible, especially when in a dream state, allowing anyone present while the user is dreaming to plant suggestions in their mind – while full control is not possible, it can be used to manipulate the person.

A person under the influence of Calynthia Powder will sleep more deeply, which makes the manipulation easier, as they will not wake when they otherwise would. Repeated doses will upset the sleep cycle of the user, making them sleep longer, dream less and awake less refreshed.

Related Drugs: Black Frost, Calendula, Gill Man DNA and Orpheus.

The Implied Buffyverse

Loki — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:30:22 +0000

There are certain works that many would consider to more crossovers with the Buffyverse, but personally, I think of these three as implicit within it. Each of them has good reasons for being considered canonical in-universe, despite not being officially a part of it:

First appearing in the second season episode “Bad Eggs“, Lyle & Tector Gorch are stated by Giles to have slaughtered an entire Mexican town – and that was before they became vampires. He leaves out that they had help (which just goes to show the vampiro-centric bias of the Watchers, if you ask me) from the rest of “The Wild Bunch”. (I also think that this Mexican town may have some connection to the vampires in “From Dusk Till Dawn“, but that’s just speculation on my part.)

Moving on to the fifth season of Buffy, there’s Dracula. Now, it’s unclear which – if any – Dracula stories are canon in the Buffyverse. Even the original novel itself may not be canon. But what is implied to be canon is the movie “Dracula – The Dark Prince“, in which Rudolf Martin – who played Dracula in Buffy – plays him again.

Finally, there’s the Initiative. Which has been around since the 1940s, and is referred to at least once as a kind of “super soldier project”. Much like a certain other upcoming Whedon project, which also revolves around a super soldier project, and something else also referred to as the Initiative – the Avengers Initiative, that is.

Be sure to check back next week, when I’ll be discussing these connections morely…

Calendula

Loki — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 21:30:03 +0000

Calendula is actually a real substance: it’s a herb derived from the plant of that name. The plant is a small yellow flower that grows across Mediterranean Europe and the Middle East, from the Azores to Iran.

It actually has medicinal effects – it has traditionally been used to treat constipation, abdominal cramps, acne, and in modern eras, radiation dermatitis and tumours. It is also used in cooking.

What lands it on this list is its supposed magical power: it is used by some members of the staff at Wolfram and Hart as a means of cheating psychic scans, by allowing users to hide their true thoughts and feelings.

Related Drugs: Black Frost, Calynthia Powder, Gill Man DNA and Orpheus.

1996 – Jonathan Melvoin dies of a drug overdose

Loki — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 07:23:10 +0000

Jonathan Melvoin was the brother of Susannah and Wendy Melvoin, who were members of Prince’s New Power Generation. He had worked with Prince, and also as a member of the Dickies. At the time of his death, he was touring with the Smashing Pumpkins – Melvoin was a skilled keyboardist.

His death was caused by a heroin overdose, not his first. Melvoin was survived by a wife and child. The Smashing Pumpkins, who had already fired Melvoin for his drug use at the time of his death, were not invited to his funeral.

Referenced in:

Jonathon – Wendy & Lisa
Angel – Sarah McLachlan
The Love We Make – Prince