Using New OSR Resources With Old School Systems - Commentary On The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil From Dark Naga Adventures

Sorry I'm running a bit late with today's blog entry but I wanted to take a moment to talk about using neo OSR adventures with old school systems. I wanted to specifically speak about "The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil"  From  Dark Naga Adventures. 

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  The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil launched and had a very successful kickstarter. The video below was from that kickstarter and nicely lays out some of the themes, ideas, and conceits that we'll be talking about today.

This is an old school sword & sorcery adventure that has its own brand of Lovecraftian evil that really fits well into lots of campaign worlds with little problem; "" The small town of Boldon, and its surrounding villages, are afraid. Dozens of people are missing, some speculate lost to some nefarious purpose. Tales of an evil temple and the horrible things within circulate. The few who know the legends and history of the region are beginning to think the dark times have returned, not seen since the fall of the first age of man. People are beginning to feel the icy fingers of fear closing in. Upon arrival, the party encounters a broken man, a homeless drunkard prone to incessant rambling. This inspires an investigation into the stories of a lost temple. Has it been rediscovered by men seduced by its forgotten evil? The drunkard’s tale leads to others who might help the party discover more before they face The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil." 



So this adventure is done very much in the old school tradition and gives extensive cues to the DM for the set up and maintaining of a blending of dark fantasy & Lovecraftian horror in a compact package that can be dropped into an existing campaign or as a bridge gap for a band of experienced adventurers. But there's more to it then just that. This adventure sets everything up for a dungeon master to introduce Lovecraftian elements into their own AD&D 1st edition campaign easily and with little problem because the stats are already done in an OSR format as well as fifth edition. This makes expansion a snap into AD&D 1st edition style games.


There are several reasons why this style of adventure will appeal to a DM and how it can expanded upon.

1. The focus of The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil is rooted in both dark fantasy and has its goals laid out for a party this makes it easy for the DM to concentrate on the expansion of their own elements of Lovecraftian horror within the campaign. 
2. There is already an extensive evil and foe set up within the adventure its takes a few moments for the DM to back root these into their own home game adventures. This also means that the adventure can easily be used with AD&D 1st edition making the utility of it even better.  
3. The places,events, etc of the Lost Temple are not static and with a bit of adjustment can be used for jumping off an epic campaign. This isn't a quick module of play according to the author the DM can get;"About 18-20 hours. I think we ran it over 4-5 sessions, 4 hours each when we ran it locally. It all comes down to how the DM handles the optional encounters. We took about 2 hours per optional encounter. This isn't a single slot adventure for a Con. I'm not sure I could run it in 4 hours without massive changes" In other words this is a mini campaign that the DM can use to jump start their own adventure campaigns. 
4. 'Evil does not rest' sure the players might have struck down the evil of the Temple but will it evolve and thrive someplace else? This is one of the main interesting points of this campaign there is far more going on below the surface then is simply hinted at this means that it can be used and back rooted into some of the familiar faces and foes of the AD&D 1st edition game books. 
5. The Temple has some great pieces of dark fantasy elements that can be taken and cooked into your own campaigns and used for other games such as OSRIC, Lamentations of the Flame Princess or even Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. It can also be fitted into a Dark Albion game but there might be a bit of rearranging of some of the elements. This isn't hard to do.
6. The cults, the horrors, and situations are not as over the top as some other adult themed adventures but caution should be exercised with some sensitive parts. 
7. Given the history and ideas of this adventure there is plenty of room for expansion as necessary for the DYI D&D dungeon master this means that the cult can be used ANY place or period in your campaign's history. You decide where and when that's going to be. 
8. There is room to bring more or less room to bring in the  sword & sorcery elements as necessary when using this adventure. With AD&D 1st edition this is going to be up to individual DM's as they want or need. The barometer approach isn't going to cause harm to this adventure. 
9. The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil has a classic feel and could  be dropped into many of the classic AD&D 1st edition or D&D classic campaigns with no problem. TSR classic Greyhawk or the Judge's Guild could easily support and foster such an adventure with no world breaking ripples. Again this is a strength of the adventure. I really love the sand box approach to the temple and its surroundings.
10. There is tons of utility that can be had from the The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil. This is this author's humble opinion and as always your mileage may vary at the table top.