1d6 Random Encounters With Dangerous Occult NPC's Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are dangerous agents, outlaws, and adventurers who can be encountered upon the streets and shores of Atlantandrias' port city of Accursed Atlantis. These beings pursue their own hidden and dangerous agendas often purposely putting themselves in the paths of adventuring parties for an advantage and sometimes  for violent ends.
Each of these beings has a 60% chance of having some minor artifact or magic item upon their person recently acquired and with weird ties to the current adventure in some regard. Often times these NPC's might be in the employ of a wealthy and poltically dangerous patron who will be more then happy to seek revenge upon some group of upstart adventurers.


These types of adventurers can be more then a match for many parties in terms of level and the amount of influence they wield on a local level especially among the various criminal connections that they possess.
1d6 Random Encounters With
Dangerous Occult NPC's Table

1.  Tiberous Theious The Enchanter - This 7th level black occultist & outlaw scavenger is a pinched faced man of middle years. He wields considerable magical power & haunts the wastelands of many worlds in search of treasure from lost mythical cities and peoples whom he sells to his supernatural patrons. He often uses his magical abilities to relieve parties of adventurers of treasure and relics. This man has deep ties with local thieves guilds and outlaw tribes often splitting the profits with them. He is fond of torture,murder and extortion. 
2.  Ruru's The Blind Seer - This mutated being has no eyes and is yet able to see with a radar sense. He is a 7th level assassin & kidnapper who specializes in killing wizards with a +3 enchanted dagger which he keeps in a low slung sash. He loves to slay wizards for the right price for high paying patrons. 
3. Rell The Black Prince - Part demon and man this being is actually a demon who has been bound into human form for several thousand years. He hates adventurers blaming them for his condition and seeks to slay anyone he runs across searching for a relic to send him back to his original nameless chaotic alien Hell. This thing is  prince of the lower astral realms and seeks that which can help him. 
4. Sab'ri The Chaotic - This shape shifting assassin and thief seeks out the basest of crimes; in order to bring her to the perfection of ultimate chaos. She murders and maims all in the name of her ancient Chaos god thing. She is blood thirsty, smart, and very dangerous. 
5.  Gark' Lom - This demonic agent of a lower power is seeking the soul of a pure hero to slay for his master. He is a 7th level fighter and rake of the cold Hell's. He acts as an in between for many demonic powers and makes dangerous bargains for his masters and servants. He uses a dagger of venom and soul taker sword 
6. N'u Dra The Mistress of the Black Void - This ancient wizardress is wielder of dangerous magicks and demonic powers who hunts the souls of her victims across life times and seeks the purist soul she can get. She will murder and slay anyone or anything that gets in her own way. 

Demons, Darkness, & Dark Albion As OSR Tool Kit Of Horror For Your Old School Campaigns

Over the weekend I began to take a look at Dark Albion by Rpg Pundit and some of the magic, and sorcery sections.With it being Halloween on it seemed to be a great time to get into the workings of Chaos on the empire of Albion. Now there's two reason why this is an important point for me as a dungeon master. One is the fact that Albion is an empire in flames burning from within as its being eaten from without by forces that are taking full advantage of the Albionian Civil War. Notice I said Albionion & not the War of the Roses; because while it takes full advantage of the real world history of the War of the Roses this isn't our world. Magick, chaos,cults, dungeons, and all of the full trappings of lower tier adventuring are there and they can tip the wars one way or another. Because of the lower levels of the NPC's, the impact that the PC's can have on the world setting of Dark Albion is immense.


This is a bad time for Albion & after looking at the Dark Albion books in some detail over the weekend I can honestly say that terror stalking the land in the form of Chaos leads me to think that perhaps the Church of  the Unconquered Sun  isn't all that far from the truth. You've got frogmen and their cultists, Elven cults & their followers, and a host of evils just waiting from the shadows to strike! The strip & burn method of handling cults isn't that far from the truth. The country of Albion doesn't have time to dally with the horrors waiting in the hills.




Between the machinations of wars were fought largely by the landed aristocracy and armies of feudal retainers, with some foreign mercenaries. "Support for each house largely depended upon dynastic factors, such as blood relationships, marriages within the nobility, and the grants or confiscations of feudal titles and lands." This is the stew that PC's are going to find themselves in & it would take a very clever NPC patron to navigate such waters and perhaps real world history has already provided. Your going to need a good head of the occult, the landed aristocracy, battle tactics, warfare, and a near genius.Meet "John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occult philosopher,^[5] and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. He was also an advocate of England's imperial expansion." who although born in the wrong time period would have felt at home in the darkness, blood, and court intrigues of a Dark Albion campaign.


"
Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on the geometry of Euclid at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties. Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and a respected astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery.
Simultaneously with these efforts, Dee immersed himself in the worlds of magic, astrology and Hermetic philosophy. He devoted much time and effort in the last thirty years or so of his life to attempting to commune with angels in order to learn the universal language of creation and bring about the pre-apocalyptic unity of mankind. A student of the Renaissance Neo-Platonism of Marsilio Ficino, Dee did not draw distinctions between his mathematical research and his investigations into Hermetic magic, angel summoning and divination. Instead he considered all of his activities to constitute different facets of the same quest: the search for a transcendent understanding of the divine forms which underlie the visible world, which Dee called "pure verities"."
Dee would make a perfect patron for a shadowy war and spy campaign where magick & chaos are going to play a central role. For the movers and shakers of behind the shadows of the Rose War there would need to be another piece of the puzzle for Chaos. Enter the "Stolas, also written Stolos, is a demon that is illustrated in the Dictionnaire Infernal published in 1863 and described by Collin de Plancy and the Pseudomonarchia daemonum of Johann Wier 1583.
In demonology , Stolas is a Great Prince of Hell , he ordered twenty - six legions of demons (twenty according to other authors), and teaches astronomy and knowledge of toxic plants, herbs and precious stones.
It is depicted as an owl crowned with long legs, like a crow, or as a man."
These demons make excellent patrons for a Dark Albion Cult of Chaos campaign or adventures. The author goes into several real world resources that could be used to flesh out even more details about these horrors.   
If you like research then there's some great resources there.

In my various old school campaigns players know better then to screw with owl headed demons. There actually is a historical evidence that fleshes these creatures of chaos out far better. According to The Devil and his Works: the Owl in Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516) from Medievalists.net ;
"The art of the early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch should be understood as part of the theological framework of the Renaissance (14th-16th centuries) and earlier Christian art. In Christian symbolism the owl stands for the devil and his works, and this article investigates the possibly of this interpretation for several works of Bosch. The owl makes a regular appearance on the Dutchman’s paintings and many in the Christian society of Bosch’s day were familiar with the religious implications of its presence. This bird of the night and darkness is a key to understanding Bosch’s thinking and the message of his paintings, which were largely produced for a religious setting, e.g. as altar paintings. Bosch painted in a society where the devil was seen as a real and present danger to any person. This article concludes that from the perspective of Christian symbolism and medieval Theology, the owl should not be taken as a traditional symbol of wisdom, but as representative of the devil and his schemes."
A perfect addition and adversary for your Dark Albion games and a great vile villainous foil for your party of adventurers and foes of Chaos.
They can even be used as an unexpected encounter for a mid tier group of Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventurers for an unexpected twist!

Becareful the next time you crawl into that dungeon ruin in Albion there might be an owl headed horror waiting down there for with his coven of cultists for you!

The Rite of 'F'rau' ri- to Ra' Of Atlantandria & The Relics of The Haunted Shores For Your Old School Campaigns

Wizards who are members of certain fraternal orders in the wastelands of Atlantandria know of ancient pathways to the sea marshes and hidden coves. Those who see men carrying their own coffins & death shrouds by night know better then to disturb them. They are 'F'rau' ri- to Ra (translated from high Atlantean as 'Those Who Return'). Wizards whose power & magick grow far too strong for the mortal world. They make what is known as the Rite Of The Long Trek Into The Sea.



They carve out their own coffins which they carry  upon their backs to return to the Primal Chaos seas that churn endlessly just outside of the reality of Atlantandrias' Port City. These wizardly orders wish to return their own power to the unreality of the ever changing  Hells of Primal Chaos. They're own shadow wars with various undead monsters, ghoul cults keeps their arcane knowledge & deadly spells from the hands of these foul things & from mere mortals.  They wander into the final god eye's sun set to become one with the ever changing seas of power.



Few make it for a plethora of demons wait in the shoals, shallows, wrecks, & hidden rocks that line the shores of the Fr'ta. Vrocks, Dimensional Shamblers, and a thousand nameless horrors call these unreality seas home and hunting grounds. Many wizards prepare their own 'Lirau' (small books of powerful forbidden spells) that they wear around their neck for their last rite. Many bands of mutants and other worshipers of foul god things try to way lay or scavenge these ancient occultists. They are often killed  by paladins and knights of Urizen who guard these hidden pathways as the 'Rite Of The Long Trek Into The Sea' is carried out. Few if any possessions remain after the the bodies of the wizard returns to the chaos that spawned its power. But some treasures are carried by the currents of chaos and seas.


Special sister hoods comb the shores of Atlantandrias port city's  shores for such treasures to be sold in their market stalls but beware for many of these objects carry both the heavy chaotic energies of the Primal Sea and the foulness of the owner at times. Special Amazon sisters,  inquisitors, and knights deal with such foulness in their own ways. But the price they charge for such services is high but worth it. They also deal with the demons and foul nameless things that find their ways to the shores of  Atlantandria from time to time including putting down the ancient ghosts of wizards who escape their fate in the ever changing seas of unreality.
1d10 Random Magical Treasures
Table From the Shores of
Atlantandria

1.  Wand of fear and frost - 1d8 random charges 800 silver pieces and the naming of your first born.
2. Wand of oak and steel able to store 1d4 spells within it 10,000 silver pieces 
3. Ring of Fire Balls with a wizard's finger still attached might be cursed? 9,000 silver pieces. 
4. Green glass orb with a demon's eye within able to seek out a dimensional or planar doorway with 300 yards of it. Once a day the thing might curse. It is recharged with the tears of the innocent. 900 silver pieces
5.  Staff of Three demons - Three bound demons are held within this staff and fight constantly but will cast minor illusions, a wall of darkness and a dispel magic once per day but they whisper foul secrets at night. 8,000 silver pieces and a small donation to the orphans fund. 
6. Ball of Technology - A mechanical ball with 1d10 weird appendages that will repair any minor relic placed by it each new moon. The thing must have the fuel of lamp oil three times per week and must be sung a song once per night for proper function. 10,000 silver pieces and a minor task for the order. 
7. Shroud of T'rsu - This shroud enables a speak with the dead spell once per new moon rise as long as some blood is fed to it. The thing will also speak in whispers to it owner when danger is near by. 8,000 silver pieces and a minor favor. 
8. Ring of The Weird - This ring enables the wearer to perceive the supernatural world of near by dimensions within a 60 foot radius. 9000 gold pieces because of its creator. Highly collectable. 
9. Glass of The Magi - This item allows the owner to call forth a minor spirit of the air once per day. The owner can see into any nearby spirit limbos or prisons in the near Astral. 8000 silver pieces and a minor favor to the order. 
10. A Gall Stone of The Magus - This stomach stone enables the owner to cast 1d6 3rd level spells but the owner will have phantom pains and be at a -1 on all actions as long as the stone is held in their hands. 4000 silver pieces. 

Ruins & Relics of The Fallen City State of Oghug-ugolo For Your Old School Campaigns

Among the desert wastelands of the hills of Oghug-ugolo are the resting places of the ape princes of Maboalogog.The Maboalogog were White ape royalty & warriors of renowned who ruled the ape kind of Accursed Atlantis both sorcerous power & forbidden knowledge of ancient god things. This of course was thousands of years ago. They made war upon the near by human city state of Alatu. But the city state of Oghug-ugolo's big break came when a space craft's faster then light time distillation drive malfunctioned & it crashed into the local foot hills. The white apes clans sent their gorilla warriors to claim the wreck before the humans even knew what had dimensionally fazed into the landscape.



The evolved machine intelligences of the Harororotuli studied the minds, souls, & worldly aspects of the Maboalogog and found them to be pliable, wanting, and open to the weird secrets of transient cosmic technological occult knowledge. The secrets that the Harororotuli possessed must be passed on since their partner race & other worldly benefactors had been killed in the crash. Their partner's biological uniqueness was used to fuel the ship as it began to broadcast their message to their new partners.


Within a few decades only a blink of time to the evolved intelligences, the city state of Oghug-ugolo had progressed far beyond the nearby human city state of Alatu. The white ape kings, their armies of Gorilla warriors, the chimpanzee scientists, and even the orangutan philosophers & law givers all heard the song of the  Harororotuli. Finally they began to call upon the forbidden occult knowledge clouds of the Harororotuli mega intelligences. Once again they had made incredible advances in the forbidden sciences, the realms of technologies, biological applications, they did great things & terrible things.


Artwork by John Ogilbycreated by the Welcome Images Trust

Finally the Oghug-ugolo sorcerer kings called down demon god Arioch to claim the souls of the human city state of Alatu. The terrible god being appeared, and destroyed every human dwelling within a thousand miles but the humans of Alatu had also heard the song of Harororotuli. They knew them for what they were & fed forbidden knowledge but adapted themselves to the energies of the demon god. They tunneled far below the surface of the Earth prayed for the day of reckoning when their god king would visit a holy purifying curse of divine power upon them. It came and they were changed beyond words and now dwell under the Earth in vast weird cities, their powers of mind greatly expanded. Arioch claimed the lands of the Oghug-ugolo as well.


The wares of a million worlds are traded here and the seas are alight with the sails from ancient and decedent kingdoms in Atlantandria Port City to the stars but in the foot hills of Oghug-ugolo many settlements of gorilla warriors and others of ape kind are still ruled by clerics of the Harororotuli. They make war on the the mutated humans of Alatu who dwell under the glass sands where the skeletons of ruined cities can still be seen. Ape and human are eternally locked in the dance of the Harororotuli.As Arioch feasts upon the souls of all who come under the demon god's purview.



Meanwhile ape adventurers, human underworld mutates, and even white ape sorcerers all scour the ruins of the fallen city states, settlements, for lost world technology, scraps of the song of Harororotuli and even the occasion weapon of the Oghug-ugolo. Often times mixed parties of mutates, apes, and human adventurers venture into the ruins. Gorilla warriors take special pride in destroying such mixed adventurer types.


Today apes and humans will guide parties into the ruins of the Oghug-ugolo for 80 gold pieces but often leave them for one of the many varieties of demonic horrors of Arioch that still stalk these places.
1d20 Random Relics of Power From
the Fallen City State of The Oghug-ugolo

1.  Irca's Wand of Human Subjugation - This plain bronze wand can cast a charm spell like effect  on any human or near human three times per day. Worth 600 gold pieces to the right collector.
2. Ircan Milugo - This strange crystal ball style object may detect any dimensional or planar gate within a 50 foot radius of its many orange facets. 900 gold pieces to a wizard or witch.
3. Moglael - This strange puppet like fetish will come to life being held in the hands of a wizard and act as a translator unit and go between for the owner and certain divine or extra planar beings.
4. Mogulli - A strange forbidden metal book that is actually a living piece of the machine soul brain of one of the machine god intelligences of the area. The thing can answer cryptically three questions per day or cast a legend lore spell like ability twice per day. Worth 1600 gold pieces but this thing whispers forbidden secrets to its owner.
5. Sarca - A strange god like intelligence that is actually soul mirror capable of reading the thoughts of its owner and creating life like illusions within a 30 foot radius of its owner. Powered by the owner's soul and heat. Worth 700 gold pieces.
6. Thelaul Ancient crystal wand that can detect any poison or demonic activity within a 90 ft radius of the owner. Worth 600 gold pieces,a good one may sell for 800 gold pieces in the far providences.
7. Urithu - A foot wand capable of destroying 5 feet of inorganic matter per round. The thing is used in certain industrial applications. Worth 900 gold pieces.
8.  Unilothanala An ape crystal skull capable of open other dimensional doors and gates. This one has certain forbidden writing etched into it's surface. The thing can cast magic missile twice per day. Worth 700 gold pieces.
9. Urmorg - This piece of crystal work is capable of opening wizard locks, banishing certain ancient demonic pack animals. The thing is worth 400 gold pieces.
10. Ururo's ring - This robbin red ring is capable of opening any wizard locked chest or object as well as banishing certain types of demons of logic.
11. Welauri 's maps, these crystal map displays are the collected knowledge and wisdom of a city of the ancients of  Accursed Atlantis. Twice per day this map is capable of teleporting 1d6 persons per day without error.
12. Canamilo Hilori - this android is actually a former sex slave android whose been reprogrammed to be an assassin. It hates all organic life forms and will quietly murder anyone  it comes across. It acts as a 5th level assassin and is armed with poison spikes in its hands.
13. Ildrur - A strange wand of wonder which malfunctions and will send a party to another dimension of horrid and forbidden vistas. The thing can only work 1d6 times per day. Worth 100 gold pieces because of its status.
14. Lagoglla- A silver statue of a god thing that can act as a contact other plane three times per day. Worth about 1000 gold pieces.
15. Lorglar's Folly- A demonic toy like statue that is capable of demonically mimicking the owner with an android like projection of magical force. Worth about 800 gold pieces.
16. Caelangingot A metal torc capable of summoning a minor demonic horror three times per day. Worth about a 1000 gold pieces.
17. Candutur - ring of cold steel capable of sending its owner to one of the alien cold hells outside of time and space. The ring is capable of banishing one human sized target to these far and horrid hells outside of time and space. Worth about 9000 gold pieces.
18. Lkaugon's scroll is a piece of bound human flesh capable of summoning a spawn of Cthulhu which will eat the summoner. Worth about 800 pieces of silver. 
19. Mavae's torc is a a magical arm band created to protect the owner in a force field of highly concentrated energy. Worth about 800
20. Ngwethe's statues a pair of Chimpanzee's statues that is actually highly focused magical energy detectors. Capable of detecting any hint of chaos within 80 feet of the owner. Worth 890 gold pieces.

Review & Commentary On The Free Appendix M Of Gothic Literature - Morbid Fantasies By Jack Shear & Co.

Gothic literature is something I was very late to the game getting into in high school or college because it crosses over and back with the weird tale and is even used as a source for sword & sorcery literature. Jack Shear of the Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque blog has released a fifty page chap book and overview of the Gothic literature genre. I have to preference this by saying that this isn't a game but its an extremely useful tour of  Gothic literature writers and their works with Professor Shear's witty commentary and remarks scattered throughout.
 

According to the Heretical Sexts website;" in its pages, scholar Jack Shear covers the history, key themes, and major books in the Gothic movement from its inception through the current day. It's a love letter to this often misunderstood and under-appreciated form of entertainment." And that's exactly what you get a guided tour of the literature and all its trappings in one quick and easy to use. Scattered throughout are the text which is designed by Tenebrous Kate are featured illustrations by Dana Glover, Becky Munich, and Carisa Swenson.
You get all of the conventions, ideas, setting material and more broken down and deconstructed by the writer and then an overview of the literature wit:h recommendations such as :"Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (1764)
Since Walpole's Otranto is widely regarded as the origin of the Gothic novel, start here if possible. Otranto will surprise you; although it does have the expected conventions of specters,
prophecies, and a maniacal villain, the novel is also quite absurd and humorous in places. There's something decidedly Monty Python-esque about a book that begins with a giant helmet falling from the sky to crush a twerpish character we've just met.
It's not surprising that the Surrealists posthumously adopted Walpole as one of their own because of The Castle of Otranto.
Pay attention to: the way Theodore is described early on in the novel, the novel's insistence that Manfred is “naturally humane” despite his evil actions, the fact that heaven's use of power and authority often seems to be as arbitrary as Manfred's abuses
What to read next: Sophia Lee, The Recess; Clara Reeve, The
Old English Baron; Horace Walpole, The Mysterious Mother"

This is the type of quality your going to get scatted throughout this chap book and the author knows his material like the back of his hand. He's been teaching Gothic literature and running table top rpg's for a long while and it shows. He knows his business and its no nonsense. Simple, clear cut, and concise Morbid Fantasies is a must in my humble opinion for the newbie or the connoisseur of Gothic literature. Originally released from the Heretical Sexts website for eighteen dollars, Mr.Shear has released it as a free pdf just in time for Halloween.
Watch the Heretical Sexts website for more title and chap books from Jack Shear. Anyone playing any horror old school rpg or retroclone such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Dark Albion, Call Of Cthulhu, Chill, etc. should grab a copy of this book. Five out of five in my humble opinion and very well done. 

Happy Halloween & Thanks Jack Shear for the Treat!

GRAB IT RIGHT HERE

Free O5R Or OSR Post Apocalyptic Resource - Death Race Fury Road From Kort'thalis Publishing For Your Old School Campaigns

Sometimes you need a good set of Mad Max style OSR rules that can handle an interstellar cosmic or OSR wasteland race! Did I mention that Venger Satanis has been working on exactly that and its free? Shall we dive into the deep end race fans?!

So I've been waxing & waning between Sword & Sorcery & my ever wasteland present muse post apocalyptic old school gaming. Then a couple of weeks ago Venger Satanis  emails me about his current project Death Race Fury Road. The set up for this is pure post apocalpytic gold, I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to contribute more to the community based project. But its been birthed onto the world like new born mutant baby. Cue Thundarr The Barbarian theme music here.



Well after reading through this free piece of post apocalyptic sort of madness I'm reminded of something else entirely. The free pdf seems to be more of part setting, part gonzo madness and a good heaping of awesomely ways for PC's to bite the big one."This started as a small community project and grew into a really strange collection of random tables inspired by the Mad Max movies and that Thundarr the Barbarian episode, "Challenge of the Wizards."  The main table is a d100 collection of weird, gonzo, sci-fi, fantasy, post-apocalyptic encounters that death racers may stumble upon during their race."
So what I ended up thinking of is this relic from the Eighties, Thunder Road from Milton Bradley.

Man that brings back memories but not in a bad way at all, I can honestly see using these rules to inject some weirdness into a game between adventures. The PC's become drafted into some of the most insane weirdness that some wizards can draft them into especially a race of comic level strangeness. This might actually work well as a side game for Alpha Blue or Crimson Dragon Slayer. But it would actually work as a nice side support for any OSR game. I can actually see using this as a Mutant Future or Planet Mother F@#$er side support game add on.
So its time to get your race on and bring your best gear down to the track, take your best pit crew, get your driving gloves on, and whatever you do don't let the Mok drive!


Did I happen to mention
that this booklet is free?

What ever you do watch out for these jerks!

Commentary On The Free OSR Campaign setting Narcosa From Neoplastic Press For Your Old School Campaigns

“The junk merchant doesn't sell his product to the consumer, he sells the consumer to his product. He does not improve and simplify his merchandise. He degrades and simplifies the client.” 
― William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch

Neo Plastic has been turning out some fantastic old school stuff for ages but its only recently that I've gotten around to downloading Narocsa. The book is part OSR campaign setting book and part send up of the Seventies drug counterculture that has always been a part of the D&D sub culture forever.
This book is actually a psychedelic fantasy trip down a rabbit hole of high weirdness and was a part of a community effort by some of the great OSR writers and designers out there. Once again I didn't know this setting and material was out there.
Its free and there's a ton of great drug induced madness to infect your old school campaigns. This product actually fills a niche that can be exploited by a DM when they need a pusher NPC or a seller of illicit substances for their campaigns with exploitable backgrounds that can be expanded into full psychedelic trippy adventures. And its done and written very well. 

While tongue is planted firmly in cheek in this drug idled setting there's also a whole range of weirdness that can be exploited for your old school games. 

From the Drivethru rpg blurb : 

THESE ARE THE DAYS OF HIGH ADVENTURE!

Will you seek your fortune in Hashishastan? Will you gather the silk of the Mindmoth Caterpillar? Is it your destiny to join the Ecstatic Order of the Five Pleasure Plagues? Should you ingest those Troll Poppies?

Enter the weird world of Narcosa, a land of Shroombies, Drug Trance Mages, Purple Pipeweed, and hallucinogens injected via Stirge needles.

Born of a hashtag, emerging like rainbow-hued smoke from the minds of dozens of creators, Narcosa is a crowdsourced setting book for old-school games.

Narcosa could be used as a one off adventure draw or as a stepping stone for a whole campaign of hobbit weed induced madness.

Using Narcosa For Your Old School
Post Apocalyptic Campaigns
“In the City Market is the Meet Café. Followers of obsolete, unthinkable trades doodling in Etruscan, addicts of drugs not yet synthesized, pushers of souped-up harmine, junk reduced to pure habit offering precarious vegetable serenity, liquids to induce Latah, Tithonian longevity serums, black marketeers of World War III, excusers of telepathic sensitivity, osteopaths of the spirit, investigators of infractions denounced by bland paranoid chess players, servers of fragmentary warrants taken down in hebephrenic shorthand charging unspeakable mutilations of the spirit, bureaucrats of spectral departments, officials of unconstituted police states, a Lesbian dwarf who has perfected operation Bang-utot, the lung erection that strangles a sleeping enemy, sellers of orgone tanks and relaxing machines, brokers of exquisite dreams and memories tested on the sensitized cells of junk sickness and bartered for raw materials of the will, doctors skilled in the treatment of diseases dormant in the black dust of ruined cities, gathering virulence in the white blood of eyeless worms feeling slowly to the surface and the human host, maladies of the ocean floor and the stratosphere, maladies of the laboratory and atomic war... A place where the unknown past and the emergent future meet in a vibrating soundless hum... Larval entities waiting for a Live One...” 
― William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch

Narcosa has a myriad of setting possibilities within an old school post apocalyptic setting campaigns. The elements of Narcosa can exploit the inhabitants  of the wastelands as resources for further markets or perhaps the adventurers from the wastes are seeking out the wares of Narcosa.
Believe it or not there's a ton of things that can be done in a post apocalyptic setting with something like Narcosa. The material here makes for some interesting ideas with perhaps more then a trace of William S. Burroughs ideas & dash of Michael Moorcock.
On the whole Narcosa has its tongue planted firmly in cheek at points but there's more then enough here to get a gang of drug induced murder hobos exploiting their stash of material in the wastes. 

Several of the relics, artifacts, and substances in Narcosa make excellent items as hooks for wasteland adventures by themselves & can add whole aspects to your games as your PC's are confronted with the twisted tri coloured high weirdness of Narcosa itself.
All in all I think that as a community driven tool box Narcosa succeeds on several drug levels of old school goodness that allows one to set the depth and gauge of the use of the elements of this community source book. Tune in, turn on, and allow the OSR weirdness to flow into your campaign.Grab It Right For Free

HERE

Review of Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine issue #15 (DCC) From Shield of Faith Studios For The Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg System

So its been a long while since I've cracked open Dungeon Crawl Classics & Crawling Under A Broken Moon's twisted post apocalyptic weirdness. But Drivethrurpg & Rpgnow are having a massive sale where you can get issues for a dollar a pop & you can get issue #15 at a really good price. So why issue #15? Well because it contains the latter half of the half of the Dinotastic Park semi-hex crawl. Which is sort of a send up of the Jurrasic Park movies and Seventies rubber suited dinosaur films twisted through the DCC lens of Crawling Under A Broken Moon. Don't let the cover fool you this is a very tight and well done issue.





First of all you get a complete run down of a mercenary outfit called  the Red Claw Raiders mercenary
company based out of a small settlement a few miles northwest of the dome, called the
Free Trader’s Rest.
The Red Claws basically have the run of the dome in the later half of the ruins of the park; well sort of. Its more like they have interests with every other faction in the park & a semi controling interest. They'd like to acquire more influence, relics, leverage, etc. In other words for a party of adventurers they're perfect NPC exploit material for a party of adventurers. We also get more insight into the other dimensional locations, gateways and more that were eluded to in CUB issue #14.


"The party could travel from any other dimension or alternate game setting via a portal or gate that leads out into the dimensional rift in hex 162. Due to the chaotic nature of the rift, it will be impossible to return the way they came. A convenient ceiling collapse in the rift area will work as a good motivator for the adventurers
to move forward."



There are tons more background material, new factions, monsters, patrons, and more all closely linked with the Dinotastic park adventure campaign location. That's part of the deal here with this hex crawl everything ties right back into it.
You got the" The Robo-Faithful - Based out of their temple located in 152, these robotic folk worship the entity known as the Ultimospark. They want nothing more than to exist in peace and do the will of their god. While they see living beings as inferior they have no desire to force them to convert into superior roboforms
unless they truly wish to ascend to a greater existence. This gift of the Ultimospark they offer freely."  Then there is one of my favorites a mutated variation of the Grey aliens known as; The Bumpkinoids - The mutagenic compounds that caused the original human survivors to devolve into the Once-men have had similar, more rapid, effects upon all of the alien life forms that have entered into the park. Some came to
investigate the strange cosmic emanations and others crashed here due to the manations interfering with their flight controls."

"The Redclaw Raiders - These wasteland invaders have learned how to scavenge with enough success to make more profit than loss of life. They really only care about expanding their operation without angering any of the other factions enough to take up open hostility. Since they are profit driven, they are almost always willing to make a deal, even with enemies"
"The Once-men - On this side of the park, the Once-men are much more numerous and much better organized. They have actively been using guerilla style tactics to keep the Scale Empire’s foothold to a minimum. Led by their psionically talented leaders, known as Wise Eyes, they have fortified some of the western resort areas to give their people safety from both the Saurians and Dinosaurs."  There are tons of hex adventure locations and exploitable places for PC's to easily get in over their heads plus more details on the mutated dinosaurs and setting information.

Plus there are two different PC classes including the Robo Priest - "You are a messenger of the Ultimospark, an energy that bestows holy intelligence on the most pure of forms — machines. Flesh-bags may look in awe at your shiny metal form, but you are a mere conduit for the awesome power of the Ultimospark."
As well as the Cro-Mentalist - A neolithic psionicist of extraordinary lethality but balanced power perfect for adventuring PC who wants a balanced edge in their games.
One thing about this issue of Crawling Under A Broken Moon it takes full advantage of Mind Games from Shield of Faith Studios as a sort of modular add on. This isn't a bad thing at all because its also on sale from Drivethrurpg as a part of their Halloween sale. 



What's really cool is the fact that you get a complete campaign setting in two small fanzine sized publications perfect for dropping into your own version of 'Merica. The setting works and its a nice quality piece of post apocalyptic slight of hand. I really enjoyed the encounters which give a really nice little world to adventure in. Because this a fanzine there's a good amount of quality here & I continue to be impressed with Shield of Faith Studios. So set your sights on Dinotastic Park & bring the kids down they'd love to have your adventurers for lunch or dinner!
Five out of five for the effort, professionalism, and well thought out ideas in this one.
Could this setting be used with other old school post apocalyptic retroclone systems? That's a question I've been pondering for quite a while and the answer I think is yes. With a bit of slight of hand and some other resources this material could easily be adapted into Mutant Future. There are enough pieces of that puzzle already on the OSR market that can make that happen. The funky dice stats are the worst thing but with some time and energy it could happen.

GRAB IT RIGHT HERE