Retooling N3 'Destiny of Kings' By Stephen Bourne For An OSR Sword & Sorcery Campaign

 "The kingdom of Dunador is in trouble. Since the king, Halfred of Dunthrane, was killed in a hunting accident, the land has hovered on the brink of civil war. Crown Prince Edmund, at 18 only half-trained and quite unprepared to assume the throne, has yet to be crowned. Currently he is on a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Nevron in the province of Andevar. While the uncrowned king is far from home, anarchy reigns in Dunador"

When it comes to Sword & Sorcery one of the least picked modules would be N3 'Destiny of Kings' By Stephen Bourne. And is one of those modules that takes a certain class of players to deal with the political backbone & intrigue that makes up its inner adventure structure. The module's history goes something like this  N3: "Destiny of Kings" (1986), by Stephen Bourne, is the third adventure in the novice series for AD&D. 

Last blog entry on N2 'The Forest Oracle' by Carl Smith has the Downs & its pretty easy to back up the kingdom Dunador as the owners of the volcanic farm land kingdom that we talked about last time. The basic plot goes something like this; 
"Hollend, the King's Sage, calls out to the PCs in the hopes that they can untangle the deceitful webs before it is too late"
The Amazon review of Kent David Kelly goes into some of the stumbling blocks of N3; "If you have extremely skilled players, here's the best way to throw their young heroes (levels 1-4) onto the world stage! The king of Dunthrane has died, and with the sole heir far away, the entire kingdom erupts into chaos as age-old, suppressed plots come to the surface. Hollend, the King's Sage, calls out to the PCs in the hopes that they can untangle the deceitful webs before it is too late; but, as soon as they arrive, they're slammed with a political whirlwind of intrigue that they're never forget! An extremely difficult adventure, but all the more rewarding for it" 
What works for using N3 for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg is the almost Arthurian aspects of the module.  N3 'Destiny of Kings' can add the Celtic  weirdness of mythology & legends. 

N3 'Destiny of King' has a series of political intrigue encounters has enough punch to keep things rolling. The whole affair reminds me of a mix of ancient Norse & early medieval English history but seen through the lens of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. 
But is there something boiling below the surface of N3?! Such as supernatural or Lovecraftian elements controlling the royal linage of the kingdoms of Dunador. 

This means that for the run of the module the PC's could be manipulated by forces that they are only vaguely aware of. The insanity of the line of kings isn't evident of the module until the middle of the module. There could well be several Hyperborean post Green Death vaults under the kingdom. This one point could be used to expand the fortunes of the kingdom later on after the political events are stabilized. 

N3 'Destiny of Kings' By Stephen Bourne has some real potential to be used as a Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg base of operations once events of the module ends.