Happy Gary Gygax Day & The High Road To The Astral Plane With The Free Adventure ZA6: Journey to the Astral Plane by Joseph Mohr

Today would have been Gary Gygax's eightieth birthday today & we're supposed to celebrate his life. Gary Gygax was a lot of things designer, writer, & to a certain extent he was a Renaissance man. There was a lot of water under the bridge with the history of Dungeons & Dragons. For some folks those events yesterday even if it was forty plus years ago. But someplace along the line I stopped caring about all of the drama. Yes this includes the OSR's branch of garage band marketing.



I began to admire the sheer force of will & 'American know how' that went into the creation of the game I love. Being in a home based business for thirty plus years I know all of the trials & tribulations this can cause families. But the kind of success that original Dungeons & Dragons caused well that's another level all together. So I admire the man whose hard work & know how co created a phenomenon is one thing. But getting to know something of the man behind the game I came to like that guy as well. I've gotten to know that gentleman through the people who loved him, were his friends,co workers,etc. 
GenCon is happening right now but I've never had any desire to go again to that event. Instead every year I lament the fact that I've missed another GaryCon. But with an elderly parent whose condition is stable but a part of life adjustments have to be made. Many of you dear readers  are going through the exact same thing or worse.I'm so very sorry for those who are dealing with these situations. These are but after all merely amusements & games. That's all they ever really have been,really.  But the men who created these games in the form of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson have been huge influences on my life. Not only the games themselves but the men behind them. Gary Gygax was a family man & a risk taker that's the best I can strive for in this life. Family has to come first.



 Real life causes us to make compromises & adjustments as it always has. So this weekend instead of booking a plane for GenCon I'm getting together with friends to celebrate the life of Gary Gygax. Toss back some beer, throw some dice, & fight on!
Meanwhile this weekend I'm introducing another classic planar element into the campaign mix. I'm going through the Monster Manual & the Fiend Folio picking out some classic Astral planar monsters. The other wonderful little wrinkle for this is using bits & pieces of the mythology of Gods,Demi Gods, & Heroes for this little bit of tomfoolery



Now why is all of this going on?! Because I'm planning on introducing adventure elements of the free Dragon Foot. org  adventure ZA6: Journey to the Astral Plane by Joseph Mohr to my home campaign the plot goes like this;

" The crown of the queen of Zanzia has been stolen! The culprit has escaped into the astral plane. Heroes are needed to chase down this villain and recover this priceless artifact. Only brave and powerful adventurers of at least 10th to 15th level could possibly successful in this adventure."

This isn't lower tier PC stuff at all. This is right up there in levels but its high time that the Astral Plane play a part in the otherworldly background of my home game. Its like this I've never needed Spell Jammer because I've had the Astral.



A Journey To The Astral Plane has all of the basics carved out within the module for planar travel. The encounters are interesting but many of the adventure elements could have far reaching consequences for a campaign if a DM isn't careful. This is a high level adventure but that means that the DM has to trickle down the events, adventure elements, etc. carefully in their own home games. But there's some good material here to use & adapt.

Wish me luck as things are about to get messy & weird for my players as the otherworldly Astral makes its way into the game! Happy Gary Gygax day!