The David 'Zeb' Cook Connection - I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City By David 'Zeb' Cook & More OSR Campaign Madness

Its Monday & I've had Winter storm Abel blow in & its given me some time to think about the following.  Between snow blowing & shoving I've had a bit of time to think about my Cha'alt/Godbound rpg campaign which has been in full swing. Now I've been doing a lot of thinking about megadungeons. In my current campaign Cha'alt planar location dimension warps itself into a modern Las Vegas. The whole space time warp has been expanding its influence around Nevada, Arizona, & California. The first effects of this has been the appearance of the X1 The Isle of Dread off of the coast of California.
How would a mega dungeon or dungeon locations effect the local economies, residents,etc. of this Earth? Well imagine if David Zeb Cook's Dwellers of the Forbidden City materialized just a few miles away from the isle of Dread. "Somewhere in the heart of the steaming jungle lies the answer to the whispered tales - rumors of a magnificent city and foul, horrid rituals! Here a brave party might find riches and wonders - or death! Is your party brave enough to face the terrors of the unknown and find the Forbidden City!?"Down around the docks of  Long Beach there's tales being told of  an island of deformed plants and deadly beasts in the jungle. The whole city is teaming with contraband, new drugs, tales of a new snake cult with horrid rites. There's been cargo stolen from cargo ships coming into port & the adventurers are hired to find out what's happened to the containers. 


Meanwhile strange natives not of Earth have been circulating among the locals looking for the son of one of their chiefs. They tell tales of strange mind controlling plants whose influence make the dead do their bidding. Most of California goes about its daily life but little by little it appears to be slipping into a strange  Sword & Sorcery Dungeons & Dragon world little by little. Strange murderers & raiders have made parts of California unlivable. People are disappearing out on the outer fringes of society & the US government is starting to notice. Artifacts, odd cults, & bizarre murder are becoming all too common. Even though this is California things are starting to get noticed. Reports of odd humanoids that appeared over night in some of the parks, residents yards, & more becoming very common. The Tasloi have become very common in some neighborhoods but who they are or how they got there isn't known. 


Sailors report running into horrid monsters resembling a dead humans with fish like features. There was an incredible wrongness about them near islands that their captains claim had never been there before. Those who go to these islands do not return or return changed.
If the rumors are to be believed the black pyramid of Vegas  has deep connections to a dooms day cult that has sprung up in the valley near Long Beach. The movement  of the tendril has been gaining favor among some Hollywood celebrities.


Some of the  planes & lowlands  near the old neighborhoods near Long Beach have been flooded by the rising waters of the cycles of the sea. Strange but valuable jewelry has wash up on the shore & some folks have made a killing selling the stuff on the internet moving out of the area as a result.
Everything within I1 is geared for a South East Asian style adventure with its own unique Lovecraftian style twist this makes adapting it to the melting pot of California a snap. Having visited Thailand I can honestly say that the Yuan-ti can easily be  traded in for the Serpent men  of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

Meanwhile in the back alleys of Long Beach & some of the resident neighborhoods strange 'demons' prowl the shadows. Assassins & masked cut throats kill anyone they run across  that doesn't fit their otherworldly agenda. The secret society of B6 The Veiled Society by David Zeb Cook  fits this grim & gritty mixture of a world.


The society seems to have spies everywhere here but what their purpose is few can say. They seem to have some unknown goal or agenda all of their own. In another part of the city strange Greek like religious movements preach the words of salvation of a strange squat & bat like god from another world. His pale skinned & tall acolytes, priests, wizards are moving clandestine among the population.


Creatures from the deepest parts of the para elemental planes feed off the rich & deadly pollutants of Long Beaches harbor. All this  whist strange rumors of vampire queens & strange lights just off of the harbors abound. Any ships approaching these lights vanish without a trace.
There are certain islands that supposedly team with strange animal men that sometimes wash up dead in isolate salt marsh tide catch pools & basins. Just outside of Bluff Park (coastal bluffs) the daughters of Iggwilv have begun to gather under the new moons. 

Outside of Los Angles the highways have been the domain of road raiders & bandits. Police & state police find themselves increasingly out gunned. There have been sightings of bands of mercenaries imported in from the Nevada badlands & the Los Vegas time space warp.


Several groups of hippy like religious groups predict the coming of 'the Warden' & the space brothers. The locals are very wary of these 'Refaire Rejects' as they call them. There have been several violent clashes with these groups who are under the control of some other worldly influence.
Odd purple glows on the horizon often accompany the appear of strange apparitions in the sky. These groups talk of the 'blessed trans-version' event.