Free OSR Module & Review DF5 The Horror of Spider Point AD&D first edition, OSRIC & Your Old School Campaigns

"Being dropped into the middle of a strange and eerie island, your adventurers have to fight for their lives to escape the evil that inhabits this weird island. Full adventure time plan, guides for the use of music,maps, hand outs and detailed information for the DM are included in this special adventure. A perfect introduction into the Ravenloft world or just to add some darkness into your current campaign world."

Sometimes you've got to go where the horror takes you & +
is one download over at the Dragon's foot site that I've been curious about. This is one of those modules that has a life of its own. Its a sort of 'Night of the Living Dead' meets Ravenloft in a dark alley & this is the black sheep of a baby. This is a stop watch adventure meaning that the adventure has a timeline as the PC's are transported to the island shortly before dawn & the beach is a blood bath of gore,bodies, & carnage.  Zombies come outta of the sea to attack the party & then retreat shortly before the sun comes up. So begins the countdown. Its a race of an adventure & the complication is that the PC's are trapped in Ravenloft to boot.



This wonderful piece of , Howard Johnson Pyle artwork isn't in the module seems oddly appropriate 

There Cap'n Goldsack goes, creeping, creeping, creeping, Looking for his reasure down below!: illustration of a pirate ghost. This was originally published in Sharp, William (July 1902). "Cap'n Goldsack". Harper's Magazine.

So the race is on & there's a definite survival horror aspect to this module & its surely inspired by John Carpenter's The Fog an old family favorite of ours. The zombie pirates with their nasty hooks are especially effective when they pull a PC into the depths with them. In fact do yourselves a favor & rewatch The Fog before running this adventure. But for the love of God grab the free Mappack for The Horror At Spider Point.

My only complaint about  Horror of Spider Point by Mark O'Reilly is that there needs to be more treasure in this adventure. Treasure is extremely important for PC's to go up levels with experience in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition & OSRIC as well as the various clones. The zombie pirates here are very well done & I can see expanding upon this module's premise to get the maximum dungeon master value from this adventure.



I can totally see running Horror of Spider Point by Mark O'Reilly with Lamentations of the Flame Princess with absolutely no modification. But can see running this as a pulp adventure with a Castles & Crusades rpg group or as a castaway module with pulp undertones with Amazing Adventures!.  But for a Sword & Sorcery game such as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Horror of Spider Point by Mark O'Reilly has some very different connotations. The ghost pirates & the vile villain behind the action are the perfect boss monster to throw in an AS&SH sea borne campaign. Zombie pirates, mysterious islands, possible lost treasure this is a perfect module for AS&SH. All in all I really enjoyed Horror of Spider Point by Mark O'Reilly  because its nice change up from the usual D&D fare of adventures.