OSR Commentary On The 'Sword of Kos' Fantasy Campaign Setting & The “At the Shrine of Othrys” 5th edition adventure - Bringing it Back To The OSR

“At the Shrine of Othrys” begins in the rugged foothills surrounding ominous Mount Othrys, located in a desolate wilderness on the Greek mainland and the legendary headquarters of the Titans during their war with the Olympian Gods. Characters have learned about the presence of an ancient shrine that has lain untouched and hidden beneath the hills for a century and, even as cultists respond to a call-to-arms and converge on it, set out to explore it. Lost knowledge, treasure, and a chance to strike a blow against chaos and evil await those brave and canny enough to find and unlock the cyclopean portals that guard it …"

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Today we're gonna take a fifth edition adventure & OSR it back to its mythic ends. We'll be looking at “At the Shrine of Othrys” fifth edition Kickstarter adventure  campaign & dumping it right into the OSR waters. 



Skirmisher Publishing has a solid track record with their Kickstarters & their Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting is  both original & interesting. So when the “At the Shrine of Othrys” Kickstarter campaign came across my desk the wheels began turning. This Greco Roman mythic setting is ripe for running with an OSR set of rules! And in this case Castles & Crusades rpg is perfect to run this setting. The system is close enough to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons so that conversion is a snap. 

With Castles & Crusades combined with the  Sword of Kos setting things can get very interesting  Castles & Crusades Codex Classicum to add a mythic Roman empire to the mix here. This goes a long way towards explaining some of the disturbances  that we've seen in other SoK adventures. 

“At the Shrine of Othrys” the player's PC's are quite literally develving into the realm of the mythic gods. There are some very dangerous areas that these PC's are getting involved with. Death is going to be around the corner especially since C&C has its lethal bits. 
The Sword of Kos setting isn't known for pandering to PC's. There's a ton of monsters capable of ending the lives the characters. Combined with a Rome with its usual machinations of emporers & madmen in the background and events get very interesting. 
This isn't my first brush with the  Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting . Here's how I'd run any adventure set within the mythic realm of Kos. First grab any of the Ray Harryhausen Sword & Sandal films. But  'Jason & The Argonaughts' film from '63 springs to mind when I read through some of 'Sword of Kos' material. 

From here “At the Shrine of Othrys” adventure agenda is going to be come far clearer. Anytime PC's are messing in the affairs of the gods things are going to get complicated.  The second film of Harryhausen that springs to mind is the original 'Clash of the Titans' film. 

There are a few things that spring to mind whist reading through the Sword of Kos setting. The setting rings with struggle, conflict, combat, & the mythic. That being said there are a few things when running or DMing this setting come to mind: 

1. Death is lurks around the mythic & legendary especially around the 'Sword of Kos' setting. 
2. Even heroes can die and its something that the PC's need to be aware of. 
3. The PC's are mythic heroes and as such they have a target on their backs. 
4. Skirmisher Publishing has some solid adventure published for the Sword of Kos setting so there is a solid adventure basis to pull from for a campaign. 
5. Castles & Crusades works to convert fifth edition back into an OSR assembly for rpg play.