Commentary On A Mash Up Campaign Idead With AD&D's Adventure T1 The Village of Hommlet & The DCC Hubris Setting by Mike (wrathofzombie) Evans

"Legend states that Hubris was created from the fetid corpse of a long-dead god. Hubris is a land of terrible creatures, grand inequality, strange and cruel gods, dangerous magic, opulent nobility, destitute commoners, people that have become corrupted and turned to savage beasts, constant wars, and worse. " Hubris has been sitting on my hard drive for over a month or so, I've done some reading, picking through, & more. Then Jeffs game blog did a review & it got my gears spinning on how would I actually use the setting with with something like say AD&D first edition? Is it even possible? In a word, yes its very possible in fact. But this is all a thought exercise in my twisted head.

I've been in crisis management mode over here with work & its kept me hopping all day long. But I was strolling through G+ and noticed that Mike (wrathofzombie) Evans was pitch hitting his Hubris setting for the Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg.  He's got good reason to be proud of the setting, its a really weird & twisted setting as well as creation. What's it all about? Well let's look back at the Kickstarter video for some answers. Hubris is available right here.

So I was thinking of mixing and matching bits and pieces of Hubris, DCC, AD&D 1st edition & the AD&D Temple of Elemental Evil. So where does all of this madness begin? Well in a little place called Hommlet. I stumbled across this little thread on the DCC forums way back from 2012. I was mostly looking for some information on combining DCC & the Adventurer, Conqueror, King system but that's another blog post. This bit is what really got my wheels spinning, "AD&D has Temple of Elemental Evil start out with adventurers looking for wealth coming to check out what's going on in the hills around this "village" ...in my DCC adaptation, the village will be sending its own out into the hills because nobody else cares about their village or it's well being, not even the Viscount of Verbobonc, and he is having a friggin castle built there!" I would have my PC's start straight out from the village, down on their luck adventurers who stumble upon the evil of the temple.

To give the wizards a fighting chance I'd borrow heavily from Bill 4935's suggestion,"
I like to try having my cake and eating it too. So if I run a campaign, I'll let human wizards access "Hedge Magic" (cantrips and some Level 1 spells) without mercurial effects or needing a patron, but anything more powerful risks the touch of Chaos.

...Plus that gives me time to devise a story-appropriate introduction to higher power and infernal/dimensional pacts, when the magic-user reaches Level 3 and wants a 2nd level spell."

So what does this have to do with Hubris? Well given some of the darkness, evil, and mayhem happening from the temple I'd have a few dimensional doors opening upon the setting of Hubris to give that retro vibe that DCC is always talking about. The Temple's of Elemental Evil is such a sink hole for chaos and depravity that the powerful magics of the place are a perfect excuse to blend the two. But the village of Hommlet provides a very dangerous proving ground for PC's.

As for a mixed party of Hubris & AD&D PC's I can see Advanced Dungeons & Dragons actually providing the structure and mixed systems that this style of mash up campaign almost demands it. The factions of Hommlet almost but not quite mirror many of the weird attitudes of Hubris in a very twisted way. The dungeons below the ruined moathhouse could be used as a funnel of epic proportions & many an adventurer has started & ended his or her career there.
So what does Hommlet have offer Hubris? Besides a stable base of operations between two evils of epic status?


The evil of the elemental cult could well be operating on Hubris almost but not quite completely unnoticed. Simply one more cult in the wastes of the world where almost everyone is trying to deal in and cheat death. The village itself is ripe with cultists and there's lots of history going on in the village  to cross back & forth. The whole thing is going to rely on how the dungeon master wants to approach mashing up a balls to the walls setting like Hubris & The Village of Hommlet.  The village is detailed but not too detailed so there's room to add or subtract as needed. Then there's the lurking evil of the moathouse only a mile or so down the road. Would the wheel lock weapons of Hubris make that much of a difference? I think not.  I think that the village itself might provide a valuable group of NPC allies for any Hubris or AD&D party of adventurers in the future.


We'll tackle the Temple of Elemental Evil & Hubris tomorrow if anyone's interested? Let me know and keep those dice rolling. There is more coming up!