The Big Reveal Letdown - Mega Gonzo Campaigning & The OSR - Some OSR Commentary

 Well it looks like tonight's game was cancelled due to freezing & rain mostly from the rain hitting the ground then turning our drive way into a skating ring. Now over the past couple months there have been a huge number of Stormbringer rpg posts. Mostly due to the nostalgia that our rpg group of players has for the game.  Now with that said its been a bit of three or four OSR rpg trick pony to figure out a way of marrying the interest in the  Stormbringer rpg with the OSR.

One of the ways of doing that is by taking Fantastic Heroes & Witchery rpg setting that I worked  which is a game campaign that stretches back all of the way to 2017 or so. And the reason why this OSR rpg system was used is because it works with the following: 

The Adventurer, Conqeuror, King rpg & its supplements the Castles & Crusades line of products  including my Victorious rpg War of the Worlds/Godzilla 1898 campaign. 

And this crosses over into my Castles & Crusades Wilderlands of High Fantasy rpg campaign that's been on going for five years or so. This crossed over with my Vitorious rpg game back & forth repeatedly as a 'fish outta of water' campaign thing. 

And that brought me back to the Godbound/Cha'alt game that's been running in the background since way before the pandemic hit. And this invasion of North America on an alternative Earth was the play ground for my older campaign's high level OD&D  characters. By the way these are the same characters that have been run for some 10 or more plus years. 

All throughout these campaigns there's been the Hundred Years War event that started out as a Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg session one shot then with the release of Dark Albion & then Lion & Dragon morphed into its own setting. And within that campaign was an agent of Chaos that was brought back after the events of Hawk the Slayer as a mercenary pawn of the Devil. We're talking about Voltan here. And we were going to bring Voltan back for our current game as an agent of Chaos. Well now Bill from Green Skeleton Gaming Guild thought he was doing me a favor by featuring a shout out to this blog. And while its appreaciated he also revealed a major campaign plot point. 
The return of Voltan into my current campaign which isn't going to happen now thanks to this blog entry! 

Players especially OSR players read OSR blogs &  often there have been details purposefully left off this blog for games that have had years of play going on. But this isn't the only reason. Another reason is to safe guard the privacy of the players who want nothing to do with social media or the internet at all. 

The other reason why Old School Essentials rpg isn't in the current game roster isn't because there's any personal vendetta against Gavin Norman the owner of the Essentials. Its because years ago Gavin Norman's  'The Complete Vivimancer'  was  actually one of the secret schools of magick in my current on going campaigns. This little detail goes all of the way back 2014 & this school is a part of the corrupted Elven gods of my games. Those Elven gods are behind my version of the Dark Albion setting. 

Now let me bring the reason why Fantastic Heroes & Witchery rpg was my chosen system: 

All of the races that have been on going are within that one book for these campaigns. There's a ton of cross compatibility in what's being run.  Not five kickstarters or eight different systems just four all of these work with the D&D encylopedia. And all of this ties into Mystara which besides Greyhawk is one of four fantasy worlds that ties the background together. 

The other reason is because for a very long time through play sessions various campaign & adventures were used including many classic era TSR modules. Also certain current OSR or OSE titles this includes Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise which is going to be a part of my second campaign arch in 2021. But I'd better get it out there. 

Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise's events take place years after the first part of Venger's campaign; "Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise is a continuation of the Cha'alt campaign setting and dungeon extravaganza". All of which loosely go about events in the back burner of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. 
Now these events, NPC's, etc. are not written into a huge Avengers Infinity Wars style script. Instead these were/are very loosely outlined so they can be swapped out & around. But Voltan was a big NPC reveal that was happening coming up really soon. Now NPC's will have to be rewritten & swapped around. This is why details & whatnot are left off of this blog. 

So how do you compesate when a major campaign plot point is revealed?!: 

1. Don't panic. Let the chips fall where they may & then roll with it. 
2. Regroup & rewrite you outline not script campaign outline keep the details loose enough to keep the players interested. 
3. Never let them see you sweat. The major issues can be resolved as needed. 
4. Don't hold a grudge its a game & as such it can be handled during play sessions. The key to old school gaming is actual play. 
5. The NPC's are your tools so use them to move things along. 
6. Game play is play so enjoy yourself. 
7. Never script always campaign outline. 
8. Change campaign details as needed. 
9. Never get hamstrung by 'official' canon all canon is yours as the DM. 
10. Keep on moving & play!