Swords & Sorcery Commentary On B1 'In Search of the Unknown' By Mike Carr For Your Old School Campaigns

 "Many years ago two wealthy adventurers, Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown, built a hidden complex known as the Caverns of Quasqueton. From this base, they conducted their affairs away from the prying eyes of civilization. While of questionable ethical standing, the two drove back a barbarian invasion and gained the support of locals. Eventually, they gathered their own army and went on an expedition against said enemies, where they met their demise."

B1 'In Search of the Unknown' By Mike Carr remains a favorite module of mine & I've lost count as too the number of times that I've DM'ed this classic module. The module if run correctly reminds me of one of the isolated locations that surround Robert E. Howard's classic Conan story 'Red Nails'. How so?! The lands surrounding the Caverns of Quasqueton could in point of fact be the temperate version of the desert ruins the lands of Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown. 
If we begin looking at the monsters that inhabit the fortress of Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown we get a plethora of B/X favorites including  orcs, troglodytes, and giant rats. Nothing too unusual about those. But where are  the Caverns of Quasqueton?! If we were using the classic world of Greyhawk then I'd say in a hidden valley not too far from the capital of Greyhawk. 
However since our own group has been sliding into the Hyperborea rpg then I would say that it would be not more then a hundred or so miles from the Hyperborean capital of Khromarium. And I believe that the lands of Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown remained lost today. Who were the barbarians that tried to sack Hyperborea's kings before the Green Death took them down?! I believe it would have been a slave revolt of half caste slaves who had taken up the life of raiders. 
Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown weren't the most dangerous or the bravest of the Hyperborean generals. They were however brutal,very cagey, & possibly some of the most evil. They probably employed forbidden magicks & brutal military tactics to put down the slave rebellion turned raider army. 
The Hyperborean royals rewarded the lands & treasures  too  Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown. These two cagey adventurers had known about the ruins of Quasqueton. See Quasqueton had belonged to an older race & there was a time space gate built there by the Great Race of Yith. 

Great Race of Yith By King of Rats on Deviant Art here. 

In our old AS&SH game campaign the time & space gate went to Old Mars. But since I'm going to run this for a new group of players, well it remains unknown. Why have the dungeons & ruins of Quasqueton remained?! Well according to my old notes the ruins & dungeons have remained because of a weakened time field surrounding the lands of Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown. These semi techno magical fields actually attract monsters from the surrounding lands. But there's far more too the caverns of Quasqueton then meets the eye. We'll get into what it in a future blog entry.