What is the Curse of Lemora?

Public discussion of the mysterious Curse of Lemora adventure module.

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Halaster Blackcloak
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What is the Curse of Lemora?

Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

Recently, I decided to go ahead and develop an adventure called The Curse of Lemora, based on a movie called Lemora, A Child's Tale of the Supernatural. It's perhaps my favorite movie of all time - an obscure, low-budget 70's movie that few people around me seem to remember.

For almost 30 years, the only available copies of the movie were poorly made VHS tapes that were almost unwatchable and even those were as rare as hen's teeth. Entire scenes were literally faded out t the point where the scenes were impossible to see.

Synapse Films (Bahamut bless their souls!) released a digitally re-mastered version in Oct. 2004, mastered off a nearly pristine original negative. Words fail me when trying to describe what a great job they did.

Anyway, watching it on crystal-clear, perfect, high-quality DVD inspired me. The film has everything you could want in a creepy, mysterious AD&D adventure...insidious villains, a damsel in distress, new types of monsters, a curse, a mystery, a kidnapping, a seduction, haunted and mysterious locations, and so on.

Anyone interested in the film can do a Google search for "Lemora + vampire" or "Lemora + Synapse" and find plenty of info along with tons of reviews.

Back to the adventure...

I was inspired to use the characters and certain aspects of it in creating an AD&D adventure. Not just a re-telling of the story, but an expansion on it. I decided that aside from the fun of writing it (my own reward), it's such an obscure film that few if any players will know what's going on if a DM springs this on them. Of all the D&D gamers I know, not a single one so far has seen this movie.

It won't be very difficult to get the setting and tone down...I've seen the movie 100 times at least. :shock:

The summary of the movie is that a vampire woman named Lemora kidnaps a gangster whose daughter has been adopted by a local church. Lemora sends the child a letter telling her that her father is on his death bed and wants to see her, telling her to sneak away and tell no one, otherwise she won't be taken to see him.

The girl makes a scary and suspenseful journey to the town of Astaroth, where Lemora lives. She discovers that there are a group of people living in the salt marshes around Astaroth who are deformed, monstrous, and savage. Slowly, she comes to realize that Lemora is not as benevolent as she seems at first, and tries to flee, trying to escape the monsters in the woods and the vampire cult working for Lemora.

It's a lot better than it sounds with my super-brief review, but I think it'll make a damned good adventure module. There are enough plot elements and sub-plots that it can easily be expanded into an AD&D adventure.

So that's the story of Lemora and the Curse of Lemora adventure. I decided to call it the Curse of Lemora because the film does deal with what we could call a curse, on several levels, and also one of the alternate (overseas) titles was The Legendary Curse of Lemora. So I figured it'd be a tribute. :wink:

Well, if anyone has questions or suggestions, ideas, or whatever...feel free to post them here!
:)
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LeSong
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Movies

Post by LeSong »

Well,

You know me and movies :roll: I tried to order the flick, however Synapse is twitching on the buy it now abilities :cry:

Anyway several of my AD&D campaigns were all ran out of swamps, to include my main world, which was a prehistorical swamp :twisted:

I'll watch the movie and see how I can help.
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Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

LeSong, DVD Empire has it for $14.56 and DVD Pacific has it for just $11.48. Both in stock, though DVD Pacific is running low. If you get it, LMK. I want to send you a copy of the old version on VHS so you can see what fans have had to settle for, for decades. You'll see why we all lost our minds when we got the Synapse DVD! :wink: :D
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Post by LeSong »

Already ordered it through Amazon; it has shipped.

I'm hoping to receive it this week
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Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

You're in for a real treat. The movie gives me the sensation of "peeping in on" a child's nightmare. Bizarre, atmospheric, and totally creepy. I hope you enjoy it. Oh, my name appears in the credits. :wink:
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LeSong
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Cool

Post by LeSong »

I received the movie yesterday and my wife and I stayed up and watched it last night.

wow :shock:

And this movie didn't do well on its release? I thought it was a complex and excellent plot...definitely a unique look at things that fit the genre without being typical...and this is bad? Of course not!!!


the lighting and staging were excellent and the make-up :shock: Awesome.

As for an adventure module, I would lean towards the party coming to retrieve the girl and walk into hell on earth and a full blown special forces mission. I'm curious to hear your thoughts? There is enough material for a large module, for sure.

As for the credits, I saw no Mr. Blackcloak and have not attempted to find your alias for the this world. Give me a hint on character or job?


Thanks for the recommendation and Synapse is phenomenal. Reproducing a movie from that period is hard enough with a good taping, much less with what they had to work with!!!
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Post by Halaster Blackcloak »

LeSong wrote:
And this movie didn't do well on its release? I thought it was a complex and excellent plot...definitely a unique look at things that fit the genre without being typical...and this is bad? Of course not!!!
Apparently it had limited exposure during its original release. In other words, not a very wide release. I don't recall it even showing in a theater in Chicago at the time, though it may have made it to the drive-ins. Shame, because it really is a great movie. Did you listen to the commentary track? Awesome commentary, and it contains a lot of interesting info about the movie and where the director/writer got his inspiration. Lovecraft was one major influence.
the lighting and staging were excellent and the make-up Shocked Awesome.
Indeed! What's amazing is that for the first time since it was in theaters, you can actually see certain scenes! :shock:

The part where the girl is eating that raw, red meat up in the bedroom at Lemora's mansion and she looks out the window and sees the vampires dragging the little boy out to the shed? That was literally impossible to see in any VHS release up until Synapse did the DVD. It was so dark and murky that it looked like a black screen with sound. I'd forgotten exactly what the scene showed, after all these years, until Synapse's DVD revealed it.
As for an adventure module, I would lean towards the party coming to retrieve the girl and walk into hell on earth and a full blown special forces mission. I'm curious to hear your thoughts? There is enough material for a large module, for sure.
That's what I was thinking. I figured it'd start out with a missing girl and a mystery, and the PCs eventually have to figure out the history of Astaroth and then travel there and locate the girl. However, I was also thinking in more complex terms, ie Lila trusts Lemora and does not consider herself a captive, and Lemora manipulates the PCs to get them to wipe out the mutated vampires, etc. Just a total mind-twisting type mystery.
As for the credits, I saw no Mr. Blackcloak and have not attempted to find your alias for the this world. Give me a hint on character or job?
If you look in the booklet that came with it, I was one of the people who were given special thanks on the back of the booklet where it says:

"Synapse Films would also like to thank these following individuals..." etc.

I don't generally broadcast my real name online, but suffice it to say I was one of them, and given credits because I helped promote the DVD. :)

Being my favorite movie of all time (right up there with Phantasm), it was a thrill to see my name on the credits. My family was tickled pink. :)
Thanks for the recommendation and Synapse is phenomenal. Reproducing a movie from that period is hard enough with a good taping, much less with what they had to work with!!!
You're very welcome. :wink:

Don May at Synapse told me that he spent $30,000 to remaster the transfer and make it nearly perfect. :shock: They delayed a high-definition version because they're waiting to see which wins the war...HD-DVD or Blue-Ray. But he said that the HD version is like looking out your frontroom window, it's so clean and detailed.

I figured that by the time it gets released in HD, I'll be able to afford one of those huge 52" plasma screens (or perhaps LCD), and watch it in HD. I'd kill just to be able to see what that looks like! :shock:
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Post by Rhuvein »

Intriguing idea and the movie does sound very interesting. And, as it was condemned by the Catholic Film Society, then for sure I'll have to see it. :D
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By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes: - William Shakespeare
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