Thursday, March 25, 2021

Further OSR Commentary With Lamentations of the Flame Princess & CM2: "Death's Ride" (1984) by Garry Spiegle


"A strange black cloud hangs over the Norworld barony of Two Lake Vale, which is cut off from the rest of the world. As the player characters move to investigate, they encounter armies of the living dead and other vile creatures besieging the last pockets of human resistance."


 Tonight we're fufilling an email request for using CM2 Death's Ride with LoFP. And yes this would also work as a Lion & Dragon rpg full on mini campaign as well. 
So lately things at the table top level have been interesting for quite a while. Its been awhile since the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg rules have been cracked at the table top level. And earlier today there was
the Swords & Sorcery commentary of CM3 Death Rides but its history is interesting;  " CM2 Death's Ride (ISBN 978--88038-117-8) is a 1984 adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.Its associated code is CM2.The module was designed by Garry Spiegle, with cover and interior art by Jeff Easley" This module is like snap shot of Eighty four D&D. And really not that much of a D&D Companion set adventure. But everything in CM3 Death's Ride feels like a Hammer Horror or Gothic horror movie gone wrong. 


Because this is a Companion set module & we get a very detailed overview of the Barony of Twolakes Vale. Could this module be used as a full on Lamentations mini campaign?! Why do you ask?! There are two reasons for this. Hordes of undead & the presence of lots of dark magick in the form of the death stone. One of the things that dark magick brings in Lamentations is lots of adventure complications. But match lock & wheel lock guns are going to make a huge difference?! Are you kidding the PC's will be lucky to escape with their lives.  The Random Estoretic Creature Generator could be used to add some very dangerous characteristics to the undead. And along with that Gregorius21778: Almanac of Animated Cadavers



But wait CM3 Death's Rider is a very high level BECMI adventure, & while this is very true you've also basically got negative material plane artifact  intruding upon the vale of reality here. There are three powerful forces of evil in the form  an evil sorcerer, a powerful priest, and a mighty dragon. Each of these by themselves could be a whole campaign's worth of adventure. Together these are a very dangerous combination. But could the presence of the death stone have far more reaching complications?! Imagine if combination of corpses were pulled together because of the presence of the Death stone?! What happens if you can get rid of the NPC villains but the death stone doesn't go back or get destroyed so easily?! 
Perhaps the demon generators from No salvation from Witches could be used to a bit of infernal machinations to the affairs of CM2.. And this may be in fact why the PC's decide to rule   the Barony of Twolakes Vale to keep the horrors from the rest of the world. Perhaps something really nasty escapes the confines of the death stone. 




















What happens after the events of CM2 Death's Ride?! The barony has been outted as the haven for evil & black magick. The PC's may have to remain to protect the barony's inhabitants from both the 'Church's inquistors & the dark forces. Couple CM2 with LoFP's Better Then Any Man  
and suddenly the presence of the priest, the sorcerer, & even the dragon make a twisted sort of sense. 
































And these are just some ideas for using CM2 Death's Ride as the basis for a mini LoFP or a Matchlocks & Wheelocks campaign jump point. 

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