OSR Commentary & Thoughts on Dave Hargrave's Shadowlands (Arduin Grimoire volume 7) For Your OSR & Old School Campaigns

While moving through the piazza tonight I was reexamining a thread from 2012 on Bloody,Bloody, Arduin.  It was Blackbat242's explaination on the Arduin campaign setting itself that caught my eye; "The "setting" was the World of Arduin... a planet with a recorded history several hundred thousand years old (not detailed very fully, more just outlined). Some historical details from millennia earlier showed up in ancient books and so on, others were legends and religious doctrine, and so on.

Arduin also sat at a multi-dimensional nexus, so races from every part of the "multiverse" (yes, that exact word was used early on) found their way to Arduin... and adventurers could travel to all those universes as well.

Oh there were classes like Technos, and so on... so there were tech devices, and so on.


The Ta'Vreen were explicitly stated to be members of a star-faring technological race (from another dimension), temporarily marooned on Arduin... immune to magic and equipped with tech weapons & devices.

Then there were things like the Vampusa... yep, that's right. Medusas that are also vampires!

Flying giant scorpions.

And so on.


Grimoire IV (1984) has a section on "Integration of Arduin rules in other role-playing systems"." 

Re-examining Dave Hargrave's Shadowlands (Arduin Grimoire volume 7) goes deeply into two very dangerous & forbidden areas one is of course 'the Great Wurm Road', the Shadowlands & the dangerous 'demonic magic'. The Arduin Grimoire volume 7 uses the David Hargrave set up of Arduin being campaign setting with the demonic lands just off screen. 

Hargrave has an incredible sense of detail about his setting & addings bits or pieces to it with each volume. The Great Wurm Road is an incredible underworld that runs the gamit of Arduin & in my mind it impacts many of the dungeons of Arduin. Enterances & exits come in & out of these dungeons. Shadowlands (Arduin Grimoire volume 7) is one of my favorite of the Arduin reprint series because it addresses many of the dungeon master's wide spectrum needs for ruins & dungeons.  Dave Hargrave's Shadowlands (Arduin Grimoire volume 7) is one of the volumes that really addresses new spells, new PC optional races, and much more. Even Emperor's Choice's description hits the high points of this; "This tome also presents new Rune Singer and Rune Weaver magiks; details on “Demon Magik” and “Psi-Rogue” characters; new Thief and Courtesan encounter charts, special abilities for “really nasty” characters, more orc alchemy, new herbal concoctions, Arduin Techno weapons and other technological doo-dads,. And of course, a new assortment of monsters, treasures, spells, magik items and potions. "

And this all loops around to Blackbat242's comments because they address the Arduin campaign setting itself as a viable campaign for those old schooler who want to use it. 

 Dave Hargrave's Shadowlands (Arduin Grimoire volume 7) 

Dave Hargrave's Shadowlands (Arduin Grimoire volume 7) Is Available from Emperor's Choice Games Here