Two Freebie Adventures & How To Create A Mini Sword & Sorcery OSR Campaign To Go!

"The adventurers find themselves outside of a set of caves in the Dragon Teeth Mountains. They do not remember how they got here or why they came. But they feel drawn by the psychic energies from within the cave and feel compelled to explore them. This is an AD&D psionics adventure for 4-6 characters of from 7th to 10th level of experience. At least one or two characters from the party should have psionic abilities. Pre-generated characters are provided."
So all morning its been a round robin of being on social media & phone calls because of the convention schedule this year. Baring that I've got some notes on using 

Joseph A. Mohr's ZA5: Flayers of the Mind for an upcoming Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea mini campaign. The set up idea here is pretty simple near the mountains of the Black Wastes in an area known as the Dragon Teeth a star has fallen from the sky. Tribal elders have gathered the best & the bravest for this star has fallen as an ill omen across the land of Hyperborea. The inner circle of the tribal elders know that a star that falls during the Hyperborean Winter means death & destruction because of its other worldly connotations.

This  Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg mini campaign means that the PC's are going to be locked in a life or death struggle with some of the more dangerous adversaries of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. These are not treasure seekers but an upper level PC kill team taking out an other worldly threat.  Joseph A. Mohr's ZA5: Flayers of the Mind is going to set up a complete weird working alien threat for the PC's. Their going to have to deal with this right from the word go. The mountains & valleys  in this area of Hyperborea  have been infected many alien creatures over the centuries since the Green Death.  This includes the dreaded Dökkálfar  who have been roused from Underborea by the crashing of the blazing comet. This is an adventurer hit squad making the mountains safe for their tribes but make no mistake that nothing is ever safe on Hyperborea. 


Since this is the case the PC's are going to have to follow up with Joseph A. Mohr's ZA7: Temple of the Ice Gods;

"Strange lights and sounds have been heard in the skies over the Barbarian Lands north of Zanzia. Long ago the Ancient Dunars settled this continent. It has long been believed that buried somewhere beneath the ice in the arctic wastelands of the Barbarian Lands there might be clues to their existence and why they disappeared so long ago. This adventure is a possible sequel to ZA5: Flayers of the Mind. It is for six to eight characters of 8th to 10th levels of experience."

Why?!  Because it enables the dungeon master to use the AS&SH calendar as the perfect metaphor for the weird & taboo things falling from the skies around Hyperborea. The whole of the universe seems to be against the great waste's tribes. The PC's are called in when their tribal lands are threatened. 

We see this time & again given the this mini campaign's level I strongly suggest two rune graver PC's for the adventurer's hit squad. A further option might be having the PC's be a mercenary unit that's called in by Norse Jarl's when things start going South. Given the nature of the mini campaign this adventure path could be used to have the character's called into Jeffrey P. Talanian's The Sea-Wolf's Daughter especially given the level of play seen in Jospeh Mohr's two adventures. 
"Your party finds itself in the employ of Ragnarr the Sea-Wolf, a jarl of New Vinland and a reaver of old. His daughter, a shield-maiden named Gunnhildr, has been abducted by a brute called Björn Blackbeard. During a desperate search, the Sea-Wolf crossed sails with a former rival, and from the blood-flecked lips of a dying foe, he learnt the location of Blackbeard’s stronghold. Now, deep in the misty fjords of Brigand’s Bay, where cutthroats, pirates, and freebooters thrive, you have been charged with liberating the Sea-Wolf’s daughter."



The reason is the inter tribal issues that the later two adventures raise! Otherworldly threats hint at the alien nature that we see time & again in old school Sword & Sorcery games. These adventures point up the fact that matters cosmic are often far more then they seem in old school campaigns. This adventure path will take PC's into the midst of becoming lined up to become Jarls & archwizards in their own rights!  Jeffrey P. Talanian's The Sea-Wolf's Daughter & many other AS&SH titles are on sale right now! 

ZA5: Flayers of the Mind is available right here for free! 

ZA7: Temple of the Ice Gods is available right here for free!