Adventure Campaign Construction Using X1 Isle of Dread With Dark Albion

'The appearance of the Isle of Dread has been foretold from the mists of legend. A place from the 'other world' whose shores are the realm of monsters. There beasts walk as men & the jungles are full of all types of horrors but there are riches there for the taking!'


Part of the appeal of X1 Isle of Dread is the incredible mutability & inventiveness that this old school module allows. It can be shaped & molded by dungeons masters for their favorite old school D&D systems or retroclones. Given the nature & breath of Dark Albion setting its easy to see this old school adventure module easily being molded into an adventure destination. Part of the conceit of this as X1 being a part of the mythologies & legends of Dark Albion. This easy to see as the number of Celtic legends about mysterious islands & otherworldly Fairy locations.

So I talked about using X1 Isle of Dread for a sword & sorcery campaign but let's shift this in another direction namely toward using Isle of Dread with Dark Albion. There are a number of reasons why this would make an interesting take on the classic Expert Dungeons & Dragons module. Given Dark Albion's Roman style influences under the main body of the rpg book it & its take on the beginnings of the explorations outside the Rose War's Albion. It makes sense then to pull from mythology & real world history to give a different and slightly dangerous spin on X1 and its relationship to the world of Albion.

The PC's might find themselves a portion of a Phoenician captain's log which describes a fragment of a former colony of Atlantis in the form of the village of Tanaroa.  The island itself might be someplace off the coast of South America or Dark Albion's Africa.  This goes right along with Wiki's take on the plot of Isle of Dread;
"The characters somehow find a fragment from a ship's log, describing a mysterious island on which many treasures can be found, and set out to explore it. Typically, the characters will first make landfall near the more or less friendly village of Tanaroa and after possibly dealing with some troublesome factions in the village, set out to explore the interior of the island. In the course of their explorations, they may find a number of other villages of unfamiliar intelligent creatures, numerous hostile monsters and the treasures they guard, and a band of pirates. Many prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs, are prominently featured, especially in the original printing of the adventure. Near the center of the island is a hidden temple inhabited by monstrous, mind-bending creatures known as kopru; the characters may stumble across it or learn that it is a source of problems for the other inhabitants of the isle, and the climax of the adventure typically consists of the characters exploring this temple, battling its inhabitants, and uncovering its secrets."
The resources of X1 The Isle of Dread is going to a top priority of the empire of Albion who are going to be looking to pay for the War of the Roses. Given the powers of the kopru, you are looking at a prime source of mind bending Chaos magick & a perfect source for a cult to make its way back to the shores of Albion. 

Queen Margaret of Anjou was the Lancasters’ most skilled strategist and given her leanings & knowledge of affairs of the world the appearance of the Isle of Dread would strike up an expedition. Given her historical ties with France its easy to see her deep and abiding connections to the demonic frog kings of that land. Perhaps there have been alliances between the frog kings and the ancient empire of the kopru. This means that the PC's might raid a demonic temple on the French/English boarder for forbidden knowledge of the island.

We can further speculate that perhaps the French kings might have a colony within the swampy confines of the Isle of Dread itself ?! Perhaps this could be the driving force to mount an expedition to the other dimensional shores of the island. This expedition could have long term consequences over the centuries as Albion empire makes it way back up the road of economic recovery.  There could be a Mystara/ Dark Albion connection as the adventurers join forces to defeat the horrors of the island. The other dimensional shores of the island of Dread could be store house for all kinds of relics & treasures that empire of Albion would give their eye teeth for.
"The D&D 5th edition Dungeon Master Guide (2014) places the Isle of Dread in the Plane of Water, though it mentions that the island has the ability to appear in the Material Plane." Given the historical occult care that Pundit has put into his creation this makes an Alchemy connection far more dangerous then the standard Dungeons & Dragons material would have us believe. This is where Cults of Chaos is going to come in vary handy as the array of Chaos water based material can help to fill in some of the gaps for campaign play.



Appearance of the Isle of Dread could spark a gold run like atmosphere of adventure as countries rush to put their own flags and claim it as their own. This could lead to the PC's becoming lords of their domains for an all out bloody war upon the shores of the island. Domain level play comes into its own as the PC's try to carve a bloody swath across the sands and factions that make X1 their home.