Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog: March 2014

Monday, March 31, 2014

Review And Commentary On The Dawn Of The Apes Trailer As Influence On Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns & Beyond

Well the new Dawn of The Planet Apes has landed and it looks pretty bad ass. I have a feeling that we're going to be seeing a lot more mutant apes in your post apocalyptic campaigns.
The trailer looks excellent and the movie's advertising campaign is in full effect. Will the film live up to the hype.
Here's the basic plot : The apes and humans appear to be at each other's throat after the viral outbreak of the first movie. A few years have passe but this movie has it's ties deeply story wise with the Rise Of Apes fist film.

This movie looks like it picks up right on the heels of the last film and what was established in that one. We continue with the trials and tribulations of Caesar and the emerging evolved ape nation.
These films seem to loosely follow the 1960's and 70's apes films but they're also charting their own territory.
These movies seem more 'realistic' and heavy on the story line of conflict between ape and mankind. The original films always seemed to have a flair for an alternative Earth that you the viewer just stepped into with backgrounds just waiting to be explored. These films almost seem to be a world that is twelve seconds from our own world.Everything here is growing organically. I wouldn't mind exploring these films as campaigns making rules up for PC generation. Yet I don't have too.

Apes have always been lurking in the lists of mutant animals and encounters ever since the first edition Metamorphosis Alpha by James Ward. Gamma World allowed us to play such creatures.

Many of the post apocalyptic old school games can easily adapt to either of the ape movie styles. Either the nineteen sixties classic Planet of The Apes or the newer Rise material. From Mutant Future to its predecessor in spirit Gamma World either of the games has the means to meta game many of the ideas we've seen in both Rise and Dawn.
Mutant Future and Labyrinth Lord certainly has had write ups of many of the main species of apes and it's not a huge stretch to see them with used within games.
AD&D certain had stats for a number of simian antagonists that can be used as monsters or bench marks for PC generation.
My friend Bill from Green Skeleton Gaming guild even had War Chimps for planet Algol and many of the other classic & retroclone games.
Available right over HERE Dawn of the Planet of the Apes TV Spot

What will the world of Caesar look like three hundred years in the future of Dawn of The Apes world? I'm not entirely sure but it's a very interesting looking film. I absolutely love the classic Planet Of The Apes films but that's a whole other blog post. There is far too much material. Does the movie look fantastic? Yes.. But is this film that I would want to play an adventure or two in? Absolutely but an extended campaign might just drive me bananas.

The Further Reaches of Simian Exploration

We've seen many of the classic motifs of explorers from the past traveling into the world of the post apocalyptic future of the classic Ape films. But what about trying something different for your PC's? In this case the PC's come across a post apocalyptic ape world. Could the species of apes from Dawn of the Apes be a completely different world? A strange alternative timeline or perhaps another variation on the PC's home world where things have taken a very dark course? What would the PC's reaction be?
What happens if they go back to their own home world only to find out that the events of Dawn are occurring just as they get back to their own world? Is time a cycle after all and they've simply traveled along their own time track?
Could a Stars Without Numbers game become a fix up job of such a world. Instead of merely trying to explore strange new worlds. Could the PC's prevent the genocide of two species? Would they want to? What if saving the humans damages the time line of their own world and they're actually the cause of such an extinction?
Could the PC's come face to face with Simian explorers from another time track who are just as perplexed about the PCs? The mind boggles with gaming possibilities.

Good science fiction films make the audience speculate and while they're not going to replace the 1960's classic Planet Of The Apes. This set of movies is certainly
shaping up to be something entertaining and different. At least they're not leaving the audience swinging from the trees.

I'll be getting my coat and don't forget to try the fish folks. Be sure to tip your waitress and roll some dice.

Free Classic Science Fiction Download - The Avon Science Fiction Reader Issue 001

Don't let the 'good girl' art fool you this is a great little download that reprints some classic science fiction by some of the great authors of the pulp era.

Grab Your Copy

HERE

Here have we some classic science fiction with the Avon Science Fiction Reader, this is the sister publication to the Avon Fantasy Reader. They were later merged into the Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy.
According to Wiki: Avon Fantasy Reader was a digest size magazine (sometimes classed as a series of anthologies) which reprinted science fiction and fantasy literature by now well-known authors. It was edited by Donald A. Wollheim and published by Avon. The magazine had one spin off, Avon Science Fiction Reader, with which it merged on its cancellation to become Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader."Avon strived to bring readers little known stories by then little recognized writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, C. L. Moore, A. Merritt, Murray Leinster and William Hope Hodgson. Avon Fantasy Reader was published from 1946 to 1952 and had 18 issues in full."

fep • Love Was Treason in That Future War • essay by Donald A. Wollheim
3 • The War of the Sexes • (1933) • novelette by Edmond Hamilton
25 • Green Glory • (1935) • shortstory by Frank Belknap Long
34 • The Immeasurable Horror • (1931) • shortstory by Clark Ashton Smith
45 • The Morrison Monument • (1935) • novelette by Murray Leinster
65 • The Incubator Man • (1928) • shortstory by Wallace West
71 • The Dark Side of Antri • [John Hanson] • (1931) • novelette by Sewell Peaslee Wright
88 • Blind Flight • (1942) • shortstory by Donald A. Wollheim
95 • Rhythm of the Spheres • (1934) • shortstory by A. Merritt
105 • Madness of the Dust • (1930) • shortstory by R. F. Starzl
116 • The Cosmic Express • (1930) • shortstory by Jack Williamson

Marvel Star Wars/Carcosa Rpg Mash Up Using The OD&D rules - Actual Play Game Session

I got a call on Sunday afternoon from my friend Peter and he wanted to know if I was available for a little old school action. They wanted something different.
Some friends of ours were visiting with him and the rest of our players. So I ended up with nine players . Allen and Nancy Scotte were old friends. Players of mine from way back but we drifted apart. Jobs, kids, new state, and more of the usual real life yaddah, yaddah.
But now I had to come up with a convention set style adventure.

Sunday was one of those days where I go into the old comic book stacks. I was going through my comic collection including some of my old Marvel's Star Wars Comics and near by was my copy of Carcosa!
That was it!

There's something to be said for Marvel's Star Wars comics which were the fodder for many a West End Games session.
And now they were going to be fodder for tonight's descent into Hell game.

There's something about Marvel Star War comics. Maybe it was the fact that they were always a constant between the Empire Strikes Back And the Return of the Jedi movies.

They've obviously been turned to Bantha fodder because the Expanded Universe was canceled. Whatever that means.
For those of us using them as material for old school games?
Not much at all.

With a bit of slight of hand the plot went something like this:
The PC's were prisoners on a crippled ultra black list Star Destroyer. This was a prison ship on it's way back to Tartan Base. A facility for the disposal of all rebel scum and undesirable elements to the Empire and the New Order. On board were a group of renegade Jedi Knights only recently found. These survivors were on their way to be questioned, processed, and executed.

Express Elevator to Hell
Smoke, fire, warning lights, and flames as well as the occasional explosion is what you awaken to!
It gets worse because it always get's worse.

Something's wrong! Warning lights flashing, escape pods have been jettisoned and the PC's are aboard a crashing ship.

Did I forget to mention the ghuls aboard the vessel? The hungry flesh eating ghuls who are craving humanoid flesh?
There were forty of the bastards that were on the PC's case. Using improvised weapons, a bit of luck (using one of the other PC's as bate) and a bottle neck passage the PC's forced the things to battle them one at a time. The rest of the PC's managed to locate their light sabers in the armory.
Oh did I happen to mention that the Star Destoyer is crashing?

Next Stop Carcosa (maybe).

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Another Free Sword and Science Fantasy Fiction Download- The Yellow Men Of Mars By Edgar Rice Burroughs

Grab it For Free
HERE
Tag line :
Blurb: "Never had John Carter faced more danger than in the polar hothouse city of the yellow men of Mars."

From the Science Fiction novella published August 1941 issue of Amazing Stories magazine.

I've always loved this particular novella. There are a ton of ideas here to use for a sword and planet game set on Mars. Ancient and decadent cultures, Apts, weird technology,damsel's in distress.
Lots and lots of ideas for mega dungeons. You see this particular novella was part of a cycle that later became Llana of Gathol.
The plot according to wiki:

The stories in this collection revolve around John Carter's granddaughter Llana of Gathol, who plays the "damsel in distress" role played by Dejah Thoris and Thuvia in earlier entries of the Barsoom series.Basically this is Mars 'the Grand Tour' with lots of action, exciting set pieces, and plot points of really interesting locals that seem to flash by in an instant during the book. There's lots of potential here for a DM. I've taken this particular book in measured doses to get into the background setting material. Even though there is ton of stuff written about this book it's sometimes best to read the material yourself to get the maximum benefit.

In the cycle of Barsoomian pulptastic terror we've got the following :

"The Ancient Dead", originally "The City of Mummies"
"The Black Pirates of Barsoom", originally "Black Pirates of Barsoom"
"Escape on Mars", originally "Yellow Men of Mars"
"Invisible Men of Mars"
There are a ton of old school conventions in this Barsoom novel. From dungeon crawling, to backroom Martian politics, to the monsters, etc.
The Plot : "John Carter is captured by the inhabitants of Horz, one of the supposedly "dead" cities of Mars. Together with Pan Dan Chee, his captor, who has also been sentenced to death for bringing Carter into Horz, he is sent down to the pits under the city. To the astonishment of the two men, they discover the remnants of a maritime race which had existed hundreds of thousands of years before men and women gorgeously apparelled, maintained in suspended animation, unaware that the five beautiful seas of Mars on which they used to sail are now dried up, that indeed, their whole way of life has long since disappeared from the face of the dying planet. It is many moons and many countries before Pan Dan Chee and Carter are able to bring Llana safely home to Gathol.

You might want to read the following which has the collected stories in one place.
There's a text file of the entire book from Project Gutenberg Australia right over
HERE
The ERB magazine site has a fantastic pulp gallery of artwork from this cycle of Edgar Rice Burroughs writings right over HERE
Time and again like so many other DM's I've turned again and again to Edgar Rice Burroughs to fill in some of the gaps of my own post apocalpytic Mars campaign. This particular set of ERB's writing is one of my favorites even though purists have stated that the writer was parodying himself by the time of publication of this book. The book's influence is evident by the number of writers who have paid homage to the book over the years.

Check locally if ERB's classic is within the public domain in your country, region,etc. We take no responsibility for this matter. This post is for entertainment purposes only and is not an attempt to violate the trademark or copyright of the material.

Commentary On The Free OSR Resource - Dragonslayer Pantheon: Order of the Sacred Deep From Chubby Monster Games For Your Old School Science Fantasy Campaign

Grab It Right Over
HERE

Need a different take on a religion for some of your goblins and goblinoid life forms? A bit of a spin on all of the usual material that hashes out religion, gods, and the world around them? We've got just the ticket.A ten page, well thought out campaign addition. This is a system neutral product that can easily slipped into an existing campaign.
The material easily be used and slipped into an old school science fantasy campaign as well to prove something different for your PC's.
The nature of the product allows a DM to add this sort of flavor to many genres including a sword and sorcery campaign like an Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Adding in this style of goblin allows the DM to add in some new pulp wrinkles on the usual tired old goblin traditions. All the while giving the monster more structure and adding a bit of flesh onto the usual tropes of the goblinoid race.
Because of the nature of the product, I can actually see slipping this little monkey wrench into a post apocalyptic game for the added addition of the unexpected.
There are myriad uses for a product like this. Here are some ideas below.
According to the blurb:

The Dragonslayer Pantheon—Issue 1

The Order of the Sacred Deep is a religious organization designed to interact with your player characters in your existing setting. The resource is system neutral. Inside you will find suggestions for how to place the group, and what people know about them. You get a crisp summary of facts about the group's beliefs and organization. This resource provides ways to increase or decrease the threat they pose, sample members of the organization, a list of adventure hooks, and more.
Here's what you get in this resource and how it can be used with your old school science fantasy campaigns. - Page 1- Cover art
Page 2- Contents & credits
Page 3- Placement of the shrines and common knowledge of the order- This material can easily be adapted into a xeno cultural survey for a game like Stars Without Number or X plorers for lots of flavor and an added fictional background.
Page 4- Secrets of the order- There are levels here that allow a DM to customize the ideas and culture of these goblins.
Page 5- Five different levels of difficulty for the order (allows you to choose to have the order a light-hearted lot of bunglers or a super-scary sect of holy assassins)Goblins can be comic relief or used as a faction unto themselves for your campaign that includes creating these goblinoid life forms as a truly nasty bunch for a game of SWN or as vile villains for a game like X plorers. These goblins have some background and ideas here.
Page 6- Five NPC sketches - Here are some solid NPC's to introduce the order into your game.
Page 7- Practices & traits of the order - Even more details on these little bastards that turns them from simple old school monsters into truly adventure hooks.
Page 8- 10 adventure hooks- Even more options for the order. Handy with both an OD&D game or Xplorers.
Page 9- Simple graphic and descriptions of a sample shrine - This comes in very handy for a visual reference for adding more spice to a game and giving players more reference on this old school religion.
Page 10- Ideas to integrate this into your campaign and a link to more background- This is where the game product really shines because of the system agnostic nature of this product the ideas here are interesting, entertaining, and are a good gate way drug into doing more with this campaign resource.
All in all its not a bad little old school resource that really does live up to the system agnostic banner.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Yet More Commentary On the Free OSR Resource From Dragon's Foot - L5A: The Kroten Campaign Guide By Len Lakofka

Grab It Right Over
HERE

You need to download this campaign, now! Serious stop reading this and go grab it. I'll wait right over here.
I've been talking with friends, family, etc. some of whom have gotten back from GaryCon(sigh no I didn't go this year. The sewing machine repair business has kept me home, again). I got together with friends the other night who schooled me in Kroten Campaign Guide and it's old school importance.

What's In the Campaign according to Dragon's foot :
This is the Kroten Campaign Guide for the L5 module, providing information on the town of Kroten and the surrounding area.

This manual is the first in a three book set:
L5A: The Kroten Campaign Guide (this file)
L5B: The Kroten Adventures
L5C: The Kroten Campaign CompanionThis guide concerns the first five adventure's within this world.

This manual details five adventures set in and around

Kroten:  Crypt Adventure

 Fane of Syrul  Fane of Pyremius  Castle Kroten

 Hell

Note that the Hell adventure is a follow-on to the Castle

Kroten adventure, and takes place in the Nine Hells, as

the name indicates.

You need to see this one hundred and fifty six page tour de force. Seriously this is that good of a campaign that echoes back to the hey day of the hobby. I seriously enjoyed reading this campaign guide of Len's. It contains everything and I do mean everything your going to need to play in his corner of this campaign world. Peoples,locations, cultures, adventure hooks, etc.
The author fleshes out quite a bit but leaves lots of room for the DM to customize the setting and make it his own. The pdf is well edited, nicely thought out, and balanced.
The towns, countryside, etc. all make an excellent basis to launch the PC's into adventures. This is an excellent place to call home, if you want 'home' to have some adventure potential right in your back yard.
It's all there and it's all free did I mention that it's old school? Seriously this is a really well done campaign guide. It's got everything you need to drop this right into an existing campaign as an entire region. This campaign guide throws the PC's into the deep end of the campaign setting lock, stock, and two smoking treasure chests.
There's even an encounters table by district at the end of the campaign guide.
All in all you get a complete world snap shot in one package. Everything you need to start right into the world is given as a free download.
Much of this material is easily incorporated into OSRIC or any other retroclone that uses an Advanced mechanic. There are a number of retroclones that this material can easily be used with.
Who Is Lenard Lakofka?
I'm going to rely on Wiki here because I didn't realize who the author was. I started out as a kid war gamer and one of the games I cut my teeth on was Diplomacy back in the 70's.

While living in Chicago in the 1960s, Len Lakofka became involved in wargames, including Avalon Hill's Diplomacy.^[2] His increasing interest in Diplomacy led him to join the International Federation of Wargamers, and through the IFW met its vice-president, game designer Gary Gygax. In 1968, Gary Gygax convinced the IFW to organize a one-day convention called Gen Con at the Horticultural Hall in Lake Geneva WI. Lakofka was by this time president of the IFW,^[3] and travelled to Lake Geneva to help set up, run events and clean up. At the end of the day, before taking down his sand table and locking up the Hall, Gygax introduced a new set of miniatures rules to Lakofka and a few others.^[2] Those rules would subsequently be published as Chainmail, a precursor to D&D.^[4]

Back in Chicago in 1969, Lakofka wrote the first issue^[5] of his own "Dippy 'zine"—a fanzine devoted to Diplomacy—titled Liaisons Dangereuses.^[2] He would eventually publish 81 issues over the next 8 years.^[6] In 1969, he also was the organizer of Gen Con II.^[1]

In 1972, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson began to co-develop a new role-playing game, which eventually led to the formation of Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) and the release of the first boxed sets of Dungeons & Dragons. Lakofka was frequently a playtester as the rules were developed,^[1] and advised Gygax on rules he felt were unbalanced.^[7] Shortly after D&D was published in 1975, articles about D&D began to appear in his Dippy 'zine Liaisons Dangereuses.^[8] Although the names of both Lakofka and Gygax appeared in the articles' bylines, all of the articles were written by Lakofka alone—he added Gygax's name in order to preserve Gygax's copyright on D&D.^[2]Some of these articles were almost immediately republished in the new magazine The Dragon.^[2] Lakofka started playing D&D in Chicago, using a player character named Leomund. He also created a D&D campaign world called Lendore Isle.

Although Lakofka was not a member of the TSR staff, as the rules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) were being developed, Gygax passed Lakofka copies of the manuscripts for both the Players Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide. Lakofka edited the manuscripts, and also contributed material to both books.^[7] After the rule books for AD&D were published, he created additional spells, magic items and monsters, which were subsequently published in Dragon.^[1] He also wrote several more articles about AD&D inDragon, and continued to help organize and run Diplomacy and AD&D events at Gen Con, which was now owned by TSR, Inc.

At the first official AD&D tournament, held in January 1979 at Winter Fantasy, Lakofka was the second-place finisher.^[9] Later the same year, Brian Blume of TSR approached Lakofka at a convention in Seattle about writing AD&D adventures, and for $10,500, Lakofka agreed to write three modules. Dragon editor Tim Kask also approached Lakofka about becoming a regular columnist, and in October 1979, Lakofka's monthly feature, Leomund's Tiny Hut, appeared in Issue #30.

In 1980, Lakofka submitted three modules to TSR, taken from adventures he had originally created for his home campaign of Lendore Isle: The Secret of Bone Hill, The Assassin's Knot and Deep Dwarven Delve. Gary Gygax was simultaneously creating his World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting, and Lakofka asked if "Lendore Isle" could be incorporated into Gygax's new world. Gygax agreed, and Lakofka chose the largest island in the Spindrift Isles archipelago as the location of his Lendore Isle adventures.

On top of his written contributions, Lakofka continued to be a high-profile player in the D&D world: in 1980, he was listed as the 6th-ranked player in national D&D standings;^[10] and the same year, as a dungeon master, he placed third in the Invitational Dungeon Master's Tournament at Gen Con. (Frank Mentzer was the winner.)^[11]

In 1981, Lakofka's first adventure, L1 The Secret of Bone Hill, was published. Reviews were mixed. In Different Worlds, Anders Swenson complained about the randomness of encounters, and that the monsters and townspeople were unrealistically compressed into too small a geographical area.^[12] However, White Dwarf's Jim Bambra gave it an 8 out 10, and liked the roleplaying situations the module afforded.^[13] James Maliszewski claimed the module was one of his favorites because it created "a very flexible 'sandbox' framework for a low-level campaign".^[7]

In 1983, TSR published Lakofka's second adventure, L2 The Assassin's Knot. Reviews were again mixed. Rick Swan, in The Space Gamer, thought the murder mystery of the plot was "a very pedestrian affair", and the adventure was "just plain dull".^[14] Dave Morris inWhite Dwarf disagreed, calling it "an entertaining murder mystery for AD&D characters" and scoring it 7 out of 10.^[15] In 2004, Erik Mona and James Jacobs ranked The Assassin's Knot as the 29th greatest AD&D adventure ever written.^[16]

The Grey Hawk Connection

Here's where the Grey Hawk connection comes into play.Most of the following was taken from Wik but it pretty well sums up the Greyhawk connection. This was all new to me until a friend sat me down Thursday and explained what the connection was to the Grey Hawk campaign world.
I used the hell out of the Lendore Isles in my own Grey Hawk campaign.
Lakofka wrote a widely read monthly magazine column about D&D, and his home campaign setting of the Lendore Isles was incorporated into Gary Gygax's World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting. TSR commissioned three D&D adventures from Lakofka, but only published two of them before Lakofka's friend Gygax was ousted from TSR in 1985. The third module was not released until 1999, after TSR was taken over by Wizards of the Coast. Lakofka continued to write sequels to the first three adventures, and a fourth module in the series was released on-line by Dragonsfoot.org in 2010, with the fifth module planned for an on-line release in 2011

Lakofka also continued to write more articles in Dragon in addition to his monthly column. When Gygax was creating the World of Greyhawk, Lakofka suggested that based on the migration patterns of various Greyawk races as outlined in the campaign setting, that "his" Lendore Isles would have been mainly settled by Suel. When the twelve gods of the Suel pantheon of gods were simply listed in the 1983 edition of the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting, with no details or powers given, Lakofka took it upon himself to flesh out descriptions of each god.^[17] In 1984, Lakofka published this information as a major five-part series in Dragon.

I used the hell out of the Lendore Isles in my own Grey Hawk campaign and you can find out more about them HERE
A guide to character generation and guidelines for the Lendore Isles reveals some very interesting things in Footprints Issue #5
Available right over HERE

According to the article :

"We played this campaign on most Sundays (about 45 a year) from about 1PM to 9PM and many
nights we played till 11PM so we could watch Doctor Who on public TV. You will note there are no 11th level characters and only one achieved 10th level.

High fatality rates, good gaming, and lots of interesting developments. Sounds about right for some old school fun.
Thanks for some good times Len and happy gaming.
More coming up soon.

Friday, March 28, 2014

David Trampier 1954 - 2014 - A Legacy In Art and Life.

Four days ago one of the most iconic artists of the 1970's role playing era passed from us with a whisper. His impact on the industry was thunder and lightning with artwork that ranged from the illustrations of early editions of AD&D,Modules, Dragon Magazine, and of course Wormy.
I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that he's gone. I think of seeing every single illustration in my head back when I was a kid with his signature "DAT" or "Tramp" under the art piece.
I really bummed out tonight. Like someone has told me that my favorite rock star has just died this evening.

I remember back in 2007 learning about him driving a cab in Carbondale, Illinois and thinking that something really bad must have broke his heart. It drove him away from art and the gaming community. And now he's gone just like that.

Here's the ironic part according to wiki : " A decade later, when Trampier's taxi company went out of business and he discovered he had cancer, he began to entertain the idea of republishing some of his early artwork in book form. He also agreed to end his long isolation from the gaming community by appearing as a special guest at a Carbondale gaming convention scheduled for April 2014. However, he died two weeks before the convention."
So here I'm a bit more broken hearted and another of the flames of the early days of the hobby I love is gone tonight. A legacy of artwork has been left behind and there are going to be hundreds of blog entries poetically grieving and saying good bye. I leave the poetry to better writers. I'm left with a small hole in my heart this evening and lighting a candle to say good bye to an outsider artist who helped to shape so many lives.

Thanks for Wormy Mr. Trampier and all that fantastic artwork that fired my imagination and so many others for so many days and evenings. All we can do now is celebrate the life and work.

Excuse me I'm off to read some old Wormy strips and remember. Then maybe go through the AD&D DM's Guide, then the Monster Manual, Titan, and perhaps over the weekend get in a game of Legacy.

'Another Fine Mess In The Haunted Wasteland' - A Gothic - Post Apocalyptic OD&D Game - Actual Play

This is an original cover from the Fiction House's series Ghost comics and thanks to cartoonist Terry Beatty the inspiration for last night's game. You can find more of these fantastic forties good girl covers clean up right over HERE

I was using Jack Shear's Tales of Grotesque and Dungeonsque HERE as well as Trey's Weird Adventures HERE as kit to design a weird pulp inspired Gothic one shot OD&D style game. Fish Wife games also lend a hand in this.
Jack Shears Adventures on Gothic Earth and Tales of The Grotesque and Dungeonsque III : The Final Chapter are perfectly suited for use as Gothic gaming material for early Eighteen Hundreds to Nineteen Thirties Gothic Pulp Campaign Adventures. Easily mixed in with Weird Adventures.
So last night I got together with friends and had seven players. The game was set on a variant of my Ancient And Accursed Terra world. There are a multiplicity of these worlds floating out in the plane prime, many are post apocalyptic hell holes that are each tied in with one another as a string of demi planes of doom all in mirco pocket bubbles. Many touch the negative material plane in one form or another and the lands of the dead under the control of a variety of gods of death.
This also happens to include Orcus whose got an interest in the party. The adventurers have raided a number of his worlds and properties as well as upset his creations a number of times.

Last night's group consisted of the following PC's party after an extended character creation workshop.

Sir Arthur Crompton - Adventurer, fighter, big game hunter and monster killer. Fighter fourth level. From wealthy upper class background in the U.K. whose had some rather unsavory dealings with the Fey.
Ms. Victory Falsroy - Half human and vampire adventuress/ cleric as well as the best selling author of A Young Lady's Primer On Other Worlds. Cleric 4th level
Strayon The Mystic - A warlock of some renown whose got a radio program from 3 A.M. to 5 A. M. on WW5 called Beyond The Shroud. Warlock fifth level
The Fitz Roy Twin - Spiritualists of the Infamous, mercenary warriors of the spirit world and some of the most dangerous ghost hunters. 6th level spiritualists.
The Azur Green warrior - Mysterious mercenary fighter from some Orient but which one is a bit of a mystery. Carries an Oni blade and a very bad attitude. 5th level fighter
The Brimestone Boys - Two Gangsters dedicated to one of the lower powers and out to make a name for themselves on this plane or the abyss. 5th level thieves and toughs.
Sister Anne - Cleric, healer, and gun wielding psychopath with multiple personalities Discipline of Janus and wielder of a pair of blessed Dragoon guns. 4th level cleric and 2 level fighter. Healer of the group.

The PC's met with their patron at his castle. A renowned and incredibly feared necromancer Sir Carl Rupert Sinclair. The host of the incredibly popular radio show 'Speaking With The Dead' and retired acclaimed stage actor. Sir Rupert Sinclair is now investigating most a troubling matter and looking into the latest scandal to come his way (one of many by the way). His lovely daughter has disappeared after having joined a group of adventurers herself. Sir Carl does not think she is on Earth at all. He has reason to believe that she has gone looking for a relic sacred to the Sinclair family.
Sinclair Castle sits on a series of powerful ley lines that allow one to open doors into other worlds and even the realms of the dead. Sinclair thinks that his own daughter may have used such a door way to go looking for the so called Star of Sinclair. An artifact lost to the family going all the way back to the Revolution of Freedom.

More information about the real life inspiration for Sinclair Castle right over HERE

It Opens Doors

The PC's were lead down a series of stairs into the bowels of the castle. Cut stone passages and weird rooms used for summoning, spells, and dire enchantments greeted them.
The adventurers bargained for exclusive story rights, treasure, artifacts, and movie rights. The doors were opened and the adventurers stepped into a strange haunted world filled with ruins. Here's where 100 Things To See In The Devastated City came in handy.

Available right over HERE

The PC were greeted by sights in an alternative haunted New York city from the depths of a Lovecraftian horror show. Some of the sites they saw were the following :

100 Things To See In The Devastated City

Want a little decadent flavor to add to those still settled parts of the post apocalypse metro area? Need a few encounters for the wandering party of adventurers to run into? Just roll the percentile dice and consult the two page chart!

Note: Some of these random rolls contain notes about mutants. Modify or remove as needed for personal campaign. Many of these listings could also be used for modern slum areas as well.

Care for some samples?

01- A bored young thug bashing in the front of a soda vending machine with a crowbar.

15- A filthy looking man with a scarred face and mutated eye tugs a wagon of junk.

25- A handcuffed mutant is being forcefully led down the street by two men in tattered police uniforms.

30- A man in a dirty brown suit selling packs of cigarettes from the trunk of an old luxury car.

45- A small group of hedonists shooting up drugs while they sit on the steps of an old law office.

50- A trio of adolescent street artists spray paint grafitti on the side of an old building.

60- A young couple and their three kids are cleaning out an old storefront in hopes of starting a business.

75- Five women dressed in hospital scrubs tend to a couple of wounded citizens lying on the sidewalk.

90- Three old men are gathered around a fire built in an old barrel.

100- Two young punks threaten an old woman clutching a purse.

More coming up soon!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Review and Commentary On The Free OSR Resource - '&' Magazine Issue #8 - Urban Adventures

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This is issue # 8 of '&' magazine which is a free old school periodical done by OSR gamers for OSR gamers. The past issues are rock solid full of lots of old school goodness and this issue is no exception. This is a monster of an issue coming in at over 100 pages and maps as well. The coverage here is on urban adventuring and its been a part of the D&D range from the beginning of campaigns going all the way back to the roots of Drgaon magazine.
So what do we get this issue?
Here are the contents :

Map 1: Justice Hall and Prison Tower, by Fingolwyn ................................................................................................................ 2

Featured Artist ................................................................................................................................................................................. 5

& Musings, by Bryan Fazekas ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

D&D: The Next Generation, by Dan Rasaiah............................................................................................................................... 7

Life Swarms with Innocent Monsters, by Michael Corronet ..................................................................................................... 8

The Business of Adventuring, by Nicole Massey...................................................................................................................... 13

The Druid in Dungeons and Towns, by Lenard Lakofka ........................................................................................................ 18

Sleight of Hand with Dice and Cards, by Ian Slater ................................................................................................................. 23

The Great Eastern Woods: A Campaign Setting, by John Fredericks..................................................................................... 28

Make a Mini Castle on the Cheap, by John Fredericks............................................................................................................. 33

The Dancer PC Class, by Nicole Massey .................................................................................................................................... 35

Creature Feature I: Ecology Of the Slange-Yaotl, by Dan Rasaiah ......................................................................................... 39

Creature Feature II: Ecology of the Spore Spitter, by Bryan Fazekas ..................................................................................... 43

Friend or Foe I: Mattias' Company, by Vince Lethal ................................................................................................................ 47

Friend or Foe II: Nikolias Morghul, by Milo.............................................................................................................................. 51

Friend or Foe III: Sin-ShumuTizqar, Derro Savant, by Dan Rasaiah...................................................................................... 52

The Toybox: New Weapons V – Whips and Arrow, by Nicole Massey................................................................................. 54

Spellcaster's Paradise I: Frost Giant Shamans, by Andrew Hamilton.................................................................................... 56

Spellcaster's Paradise II: Cleric/Druid Spells, by Lenard Lakofka .......................................................................................... 63

Spellcaster's Paradise III: Fonreaver's Falcon, by Ian Slater..................................................................................................... 65

Tactical Magic: Fireball!, by Ian Slater ........................................................................................................................................ 74

Emporia & Domiciles: Brandywine House, by Nicole Massey ............................................................................................... 79

One Page Dungeon: Dungeon of Doom, by Michael Woodhead ........................................................................................... 82

Hex Crawls, by Andrew Hamilton ............................................................................................................................................. 84

For Further Reading, by Ron Redmond ..................................................................................................................................... 92

& Magazine on the Net ................................................................................................................................................................. 93

Tread Softly, by Nicole Massey.................................................................................................................................................... 94

Map 2: Temple, Tomb, and Tower, by Fingolwyn.................................................................................................................... 95

This is a stand out issue because I've been working on an urban adventure for an old school game over the last couple of days on the side. This issue stood out as a great issue for doing exactly that.
The maps in this issue hit you right in the face and start things off on the right foot.
The Life Swarms with Innocent Monsters by Michael Coronet is a great overview of using many of old school favorite monsters as elements of D&D city setting pieces, backgrounds and elements of adventures in cities. This approach could also be for near Earth style planets or exo colony setting materials in a science fiction or fantasy game as well.
The other article which came in very hand was The Business of Adventuring

by Nicole Massey. This article gives the idea of using businesses as adventures unto themselves. Its an approach that while not new is certainly worth while. The ideas laid out are well thought out and entertaining. The author basically lays it all out for the DM to really go to town and fill in the deals of adventure locations within city based businesses. A good grounding article on adventure design.

TSR veteran author and designer Lenard Lakofka gives us The Druid in Dungeons and Towns. the ideas here put the druid into an urban and city environment with surprisingly nicely thought out and solidly entertain ideas in this article. Very easily incorporated into a wide variety of campaign settings as well. This is a whole different take on the AD&D druid with a newer background suited to cities and countryside settings.

Sleight of Hand with Dice and Cards by Ian Slater take a look at the use of cards and dice with PC's of a less then savory reputation as well as the games these types play. Its a well written article and I can see some of these being used in several cantinas, gambling houses, and other weird space based locations as well.

We get a complete campaign setting that fits right into your old school game of choice. The setting is different , interesting, and really looks like a blast to play in. The Great Eastern Woods: A Campaign Setting by John Fredericks is great little slight of hand trick of writing. A fun setting with lots of hooks built into it. The article makes you really want to get this one going as an adventure. It might also be used as drop in location for a dimensional traveling or a plane hopping adventure location. Lots of potential for this one as well.
We're then treated to a new PC class for AD&D first edition or an OSRIC style one. We get the Dancer. The Dancer PC Class by Nicole Massey based on original concepts by Lee Conner. This class is balanced and interesting enough. This class has lots of potential for the right style of player and DM to use. This PC is balanced and I can see lots of uses for this one. Imagine a space traveling Dancer among a party of mercs moving among the stars as entertainers. This is one idea for a space based game that occurred to me while reading this class. Nicely written and well balanced.

We get two nasty and I do mean nasty creature features in this issue. I don't have to tell you that these two could pop up in a post apocalyptic setting or as nasty alien life forms. The ideas and adventure potential are numerous with both Creature Feature I:Ecology of the Slange-Yaotl by Dan Rasaiah and Creature Feature II:

Ecology of the Spore Spitter by Bryan Fazekas. Seriously use these monsters carefully they are super dangerous and very deadly.

Friend or Foe I:

Mattias' Company

by Vince Lethal gives us a very low level group of NPC adventurers with some hidden secrets and twists to them. These guys are great adventure potential for an OSR style adventure encounter. Well thought out and written.

Need a patron for your PC's or a foil to deal with some of your adventurers? Check out

Friend or Foe II: Nikolias Morghul (Old Nick). He's got a seriously interesting potential as foe or friend to be devil your party. Nicely done NPC to throw at your party.

Friend or Foe III:

Sin-ShumuTizqar, Derro Savant is perhaps one of the most interesting NPC's in this issue. You'll have to read this one yourselves to see all of the adventure potential in this one. He's to be used with lots of caution though. He's got some seriously twisted ideas and agenda's for your PC's.

The Toybox:

New Weapons V – Whips and Arrow

by Nicole Massey has lots of well researched weapons and arrows. Very nice stuff AD&D first edition and a welcome set of potential alien weapons and items to throw your PC's way or to arm your NPC's with.

Spellcaster's Paradise I:

Frost Giant Shamans

by Andrew Hamilton have the potential to be an icy pain the arse to your PC's these guys are tough, nasty, and very,very, dangerous. As NPC's you really don't want them on the wrong side of your party. They may be met on the planes and that's the problem. We've even get lots of spells for them as well.

Spellcaster's Paradise II:

Cleric/Druid Spells

by Lenard Lakofka more magic from the pe of Lenard. Here's we've got more magic to help your PC's or really cause problems. More possible magic to arm the planet dwells in your old school science fantasy campaigns.

Spellcaster's Paradise III:

Fonreaver's Falcon

by Ian Slater looks at a set of magic spells that can spy, observe, and measure the weakness of forces within an urban, country, rural, or other environments.This great set of spells also has potential to be used for space exploration and in a Spell Jammer style of setting.

Tactical Magic:

Fireball!

by Ian Slater, the tactical abuses and uses of one of the most misunderstood spells in AD&D. Well done and well thought out.

Emporia & Domiciles: Brandywine House, by Nicole Massey

a healing house with lots of extras and ideas to round out a great adventure potential location as well as one of healing. Nicely done.

One Page Dungeon: Dungeon of Doom

by Michael Woodhead

A 1st Level AD&D 2nd Edition Adventure. A really nicely done one page dungeon adventure that has a ton of material packed into it.

Hex Crawls

by Andrew Hamilton, an article on hex crawling as adventure location. How they work, what to use them for, and where to go with them. A whole long article with samples, ideas, design advice, and lots more about Hex crawls.

For Further Reading

by Ron Redmond gives a solid background of ideas and info on the topic of urban adventures. An end of the magazine article and a round out map to finish this issue off. All in all a nice little free download.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Friday, March 28, 2014

Thursday, March 27, 2014

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