The Darkest Side of Law - The Cult of the Bull Headed Devil God For Your Old School Campaigns

 Leviticus 18:21: “And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of they God: I am the LORD.”

If there's one dark lord of Law its got to be Moloch. This is one 'god' whose been there right in front of the original Dungeons & Dragons crowd going all of the way back to the beginning of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. He's been a devil going back to the beginning of the Monster Manual II preview in Dragon magazine issue #75. His Advanced Dungeons & Dragons stats are nasty; "MOLOCH (Arch-devil) FREQUENCY: Unique (Very rare) NO. APPEARING: 1 ARMOR CLASS: -3 MOVE: 12 HIT DICE: 126 hit points % IN LAIR: 95% TREASURE TYPE: I, R, S, T, X NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 8-11/8-11/4-16 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below MAGIC RESISTANCE: 70% INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil SIZE: L (14½" tall) PSIONIC ABILITY: 226 Attack/Defense Modes: All/all
Moloch is a Grand Duke, Viceroy of Baalzebul, and the lord of the Sixth Plane of the hells. He is as strong as a hill giant, and he attacks by grabbing and crushing or piercing a victim with his huge hands and taloned fingers, followed by the bite of his shark-toothed maw. Moloch carries, and at times may choose to employ, a six-tailed whip made of an unknown, pliable metal. This device delivers either 1, 2, or 4 points of damage per tail striking, depending on the number of charges he expends. The damage from this whip is electrical in nature, and so is greatly feared by less powerful devils.

Once per turn or melee round, as applicable, Moloch can, at will, use the following spell-like powers: affect normal fires, animate dead, beguile, burning hands (16 points of damage), detect invisibility, detect magic, fire charm, fly, geas, illusion, know alignment, polymorph self, produce fire, produce flame, pyrotechnics, raise dead, read languages, read magic, suggestion, teleport (no error), wall of fire, and (fulfill another"s limited) wish. Once per day Moloch is able to create a flame strike, use a symbol of stunning, and pronounce an unholy word. When Moloch chooses, he may breathe upon an individual, or up to 9 persons within 30". Those who fail a saving throw vs. breath weapon will be affected by fear such that they will drop their weapons and flee. Moloch can summon 1-3 horned devils (with an 80% chance of success).Great enmity exists between Moloch and Geryon. If it were not for Baalzebul, there would be open warfare between the two, much to Moloch's detriment and Mephistopheles's delight.
Description: Moloch is a great, square bodied creature with red-orange skin. He has short, thick arms and legs, and huge, square hands and feet. His feet and head are horned. His head is huge with slanting eyes and a gaping mouth."
Moeloch has been there since the beginning & clearly one of the most dangerous arch devils possibly to have active cults in a campaign. Why is this 'god' of Law so reviled?! Well according to the 'All Things Interesting' site article 'Meet Moloch' ;"Moloch’s name derives from the Hebrew word mlk, which usually stands for melek, or “king.” As this is vocalized as molek in the Masoretic text — the authoritative text for Rabbinic Judaism — the pronunciation has become its traditional name.

The Masoretic text dates to the Middle Ages but references to a Molock appear in Ancient Greek translations of old Judaic texts as well. The distinction dates back to the Second Temple period between 516 B.C. and 70 C.E. — when the Second Temple of Jerusalem stood prior to its destruction by the Romans.

Moloch’s anthropomorphized bull figure was typically pictured in Rabbinic Judaic texts as a bronze statue internally heated by a fire. It was inside this construct that priests or parents placed their children to be consumed by fire as a sacrificial offering." " 

So basically the part of adventurers on the front cover of 'The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook' are breaking into & stealing from  a temple of Moeloch. And personally I don't see a problem with this. The arch devil most likely would hold power in arid lands in need of rain, & other favorable conditions. But his price for such conditions is beyond steep. 

Such cults of Law would be almost unknown in many worlds. But his agents would be more then able to spread his gospel to impoverished lands. 
But there's more going below the surface then simply child sacrifice. Not that its not enough of a black deed beyond the pale of sanity. 

Moloch's agents often offer he offered knowledge of the multiverse, the stars, & other weather related phenomena along with favorable conditions for farming, animal herding, etc. in exchange for his worshiper's souls. But this isn't enough. There has to be the dark deed of child sacrifice as well. Why!? Because Moloch represents the dark side of Law the ever consuming arrow. And with such sacrifices there's also the accumulation of wealth as the god's greed knows no bounds. 

Moloch is reviled even among other devils & yet his cult still exists. Even in modern horror game settings the god's agents & clerics sew the seeds of murder & forbidden knowledge. Moloch offers knowledge of the multiverse through his lesser devil servants in exchange for more & more murderous deeds. Time & again there have been covens that have been uncovered by heroes who have thwarted the murderous intent of Moloch's cults. 

An eyeless eidolon awakened by thieves. 

Moloch in the modern age is a murderous god whose perfectly suited to the bloody handed 21 century offering promises of wealth, stability, fruitfulness, money, & dark knowledge in exchange for the old dangerous practices. His status & even smaller idols exist on the antiques black market some even dating back to the time of Atlantis. Where even those ancient priests & magi of the arcane condemned the bull headed devil god's dark magick practices of the darkest evil. 

OSR Review & Commentary On First Edition Fantasy: Dungeon Hazards By Philip Reed For OSRIC & Your Old School Campaign

 " Ronin Arts steps back in time to an age of excessive violence, deep dungeons, wandering monsters, and late-night gaming excitement! DUNGEON HAZARDS, the latest release in Ronin Art’s FIRST EDITION FANTASY series, features almost 100 slimes, molds, fogs, environmental, terrain and other hazards for use with OSRIC or any other first edition-style game system. Perfect for use with mid-level and high-level campaigns. Throw these new hazards into your next adventure and watch as your players try to save their characters' lives! Great fun for game referees everywhere! This product uses the OSRIC System (Oldschool System Reference and Index CompilationTM)"

Going all the way back into my campaign notes from 2006 I came across a curious campaign note for First Edition Fantasy: Dungeon Hazards By Philip Reed For OSRIC. First Edition Fantasy: Dungeon Hazards is a delightlfully deadly little tome clocking in at thirty five pages of dungeon dressings & hazards for OSRIC & other retroclones going all of the way back to the early days of the OSR. This book reminds me of the resourefulness & creativity in the early days of OSRIC. It contans an incredible array of dungeon hazards for your mega or smaller dungeon. There are slimes & oozes, traps, deadfalls, & worse. But its the sheer weirdness of these hazards that holds my interest for example:"Crystal, Harmonic These beautiful but fragile crystals are often found near underground sources of magic; they are especially prevalent near the lands of the dark elves. Harmonic crystals are very sensitive to noise and any loud noises (yelling, battle, even elevated talking or running) produce enough sonic energy to cause the crystals to shatter. The referee can decide whether or not the sounds in the area are loud enough to cause the crystals to shatter." And the book covers all kinds of not well known hazards to cause havoc to an adventuring party. These dungeon hazards are meant for OSRIC but could easily be added to your favorite retroclone.

Because of the way that First Edition Fantasy: Dungeon Hazards are set up this set of dungeon hazardous set dressing could easily be added into a Science Fantasy game or post apocalyptic retroclone as well" 
"Pool, Boiling Various factors, including steam vents, geothermal heat, or magic can heat natural pools of water to a slow, rolling boil. Any character or creature walking through one of these boiling pools suffers 1d6 points of damage each round – if the character or creature is submerged in one of these pools the damage is increased to 10d6 points of damage each round. A boiling pool adversely affects any carried potions, canteens, or foodstuffs – there is a 5% chance such items will be completely worthless after submersion in a boiling pool. Most boiling pools are, obviously, shrouded in a thick cloud of steam that may affect visibility, increasing the risk of stumbling into the water."
The layout & material within First Edition Fantasy: Dungeon Hazards is solidly done. Easily used & interesting in the classic TSR or Gygaxian dungeon ecological niche. Philip Reed  does a nice job with this older title from the haycon days of OSRIC & this is a book that I can see returning to again & again. 

Campaign Commentary - Gods, Monsters, Demons & More With An OSR Twist

Today has not been a good day & apparently I'm supposed to be upset about it. I'm not at all. Instead over the weekend I was stuck doing repair work & trying to make the best of it. So instead I was doing reading, research, & reaching into the stacks here at Casa De Fabiaschi. Mostly I'm doing this for my Godbound rpg setting that I've been working on. I stumbled upon two very good OSR blogs for good for different reasons. Bob Something's blog The Ametuer Dungeoneers has a ton of great OSR & Godbound resources. The second blog  that I've looked at was Tales From the Thief of Whispers & man there are some excellent adventure ideas, monster conversions, etc. Really killer stuff on a whole other level of OSR goodness. In the meantime I've been looking through & flipping through my copy Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition's Deities & Demigods.



I'd recommend buying a copy from Drivethrurpg but that copy doesn't have the Lovecraftian Mythos & Elric pantheons in it. There are several patheons that I'm looking forward to using in this upcoming game campaign. One of the things I started thinking about is how the Elric patheon is put together in the book especially Arioch. Arioch is everything about the Meliborean's decidence & excess rolled into one rather nasty diety from the Moorcock's Multiverse Wikia; "Arioch, Lord of the Seven Darks, Knight of the Swords, Lord of the Higher Hell, et cetera, is one of the most powerful Dukes of Hell.

Arioch is the patron of Melniboné and has a personal relationship with Elric, who was the first emperor to summon him to the plane of Earth in a long time. He is sophisticated and highly intelligent, though possibly insane, and he usually (but certainly not always) appears in as an amazingly beautiful youth, usually with blonde hair.

Arioch is one of the three Sword Rulers along with Xiombarg and Mabelode.

Lord Jagged, a Denizen of the End of Time, once took the form of Arioch to manipulate Elric. It is implied that Jagged and Arioch may be one and the same."

Jeff Dee artwork used without permission 

 He's the appitimy of a parasite god feeding on the souls, society, past & future of the Melnibonéan race. He's one of the god damn Sword Rulers whose earned every idota of the Choatic evil alignment. There's a very good thread called Copying over AD&D Creatures for Godbound. 
Now I spent a good chunk of my weekend going over White Wolf games Exalted Rpg first & second edition. Jesus what a hot mess of a couple of table top rpg  systems they were. Let me grab the Rpg.net review qoute here (even though I can't stand the site, it does summerize my feelings about both editions of Exalted); "Basically, Exalted is a good game well-presented, with a number of minor-ish flaws which could be fixed, and a serious omission in the shape of the antagonists chapter. It’s crunchy and high fantasy and as such won’t interest you if you’re not interested in either of those things, but it does what it tries to do quite well."

 

Yes, I do think that there's plenty of stuff in there worth saving but its gonna take a clever dungeon master time & a bit of effort. But let me go on record as saying that I think that the Exalted were a bunch of complete & utter bastards who should have been hunted down to a man & woman. You may have noticed a copy of Scion in there from White Wolf Games as well & its also a terrible hot mess. Fortunely, someone else also saw this & went to do a ton of work on the game for me. But,but what about Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea surely your not giving up on one of your favorite games. Not at all, notice I mentioned  the Melnibonéan race earlier. Well Clark Ashton Smith figures into this.. As Arioch as to the Melniboneans so too do we see the cycle of the Great Old Ones in Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborean cycle. These gods permetated every strata of the Hyperborean society, religion, and all their works;

• Coming of the White Worm, The (1941)
• Door to Saturn, The (1932)
• House of Haon-Dor, The (1989)
• Ice-Demon, The (1933)
• Lament for Vixeela (1953)
• Muse of Hyperborea, The (1929)
• Seven Geases, The (1934)
• Tale of Satampra Zeiros, The (1931)
• Testament of Athammaus, The (1932)
• Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles, The (1958)
• Ubbo-Sathla (1933)
• Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The (1932)
• White Sybil, The (1932)

And this brings me to the OSR  Humble Bundle which is currently being offered on thier website. At first there doesn't seem to be anything in common with what we've been talking about but that's where your dead wrong.

Crypt of the Science Wizard,Creeping Cold & many of the AS&SH adventures are exactly the sort of  ending of cycles of life & creation that I've been talking about. Each of these marks a point in the history of their campaign setting where divinity & heroism is needed so that destruction & evil don't take the human or near human race down. Not only can the modules & adventure offerings from Troll Lord Games & North Wind Adventures be converted over to Godbound. But they can be used to punch the players in the face with the fact that all races & seasons have their time including gods. Actually especially gods! 

Commentary On An OSR Combination of B10 Night's Dark Terror, & I6 Ravenloft As Fodder For Old School Campaigns

So I was talking with a friend of mine whose home for the Easter holiday today. He's a dungeon master of some experience & with an old school background. He was talking about using B10 Night's Dark Terror as the fodder for the lands surrounding the AD&D 1st edition classic I6 Ravenloft. This gives the over all campaign the look and feel of a wild Hammer style pseudo Russian or old world country without giving up the classic D&D Gothic feel. There are several reasons why this could work and work very well; one of which is because "Night's Dark Terror was designed specifically for campaigns transitioning from the D&D Basic Set to the D&D Expert Set. The player characters (PCs) journey from a farmstead into uncharted wilderness, where they encounter new hazards and contend with a secret society"



Apparently John got so fed up with his players knowing everything there is about the Ravenloft box set that he went back to the original source material where "PC's travel by river and over mountains, from the Grand Duchy of Karameikos to the chaotic lands. The characters encounter a town under siege by goblins, a ruined city, and a lost valley" . This means that the PC's are traveling through the fringes of the  lands of Count Strahd von Zarovich without arousing too much suspicions of the royal notice of the Count. "The module begins in a beleaguered farmstead. The PCs then explore more than 20,000 square miles (52,000 km²) of wilderness, with eighteen locations, including a number of mini-dungeons, a ruined city, a riverside village, a frontier town, and a lost valley, with the minions of the Iron Ring waiting for the PCs at every step." So is the Iron Ring one of the power blocks behind the mundane rise of  Strahd's rise to power. This could be hinted at the the gypsy camp on the Barovia borderlands. PC's are likely to encounter zombies, wolves, ghouls, ghosts, and other creatures. This helps to set the stage for the Gothic horror of  I6 & the tragic tale of love, lust, lost and more.

The combination of the two modules adds gravitas to the backstory of Strahd as well. "The master of nearby Castle Ravenloft, Count Strahd von Zarovich, tyrannically rules the country, and a prologue explains that the residents must barricade their doors each night to avoid attacks by Strahd and his minions. The Burgomaster's mansion is the focus of these attacks, and, for reasons that are not initially explained, Strahd is after the Burgomaster's adopted daughter, Ireena Kolyana." Its almost as if the countryside takes on the characteristics of the infamous vampire when the two modules are combined. Therefore the sum is now greater then the individual parts.


The DM gets the best of all possible worlds with this approach. Several mini dungeons & devilishly delightful mini wilderness encounters along with a mini dungeon crawl at lower levels that set's everything in the heat of the moment. There a little bit of everything before the main set up for the final show down with Strahd. 

 All in all this sounds like on paper a great way of having the best of all worlds by using this sort of old school hybrid approach. A bit of a Gothic guided wilderness crawl with lots of subtle changes that don't change the combination of awesomeness that is these two old school classics. 

Using places of Mystery & Magick along with 1d10 Random Ancient Places Of Magic And Mystery Encounter Table For Your Old School Campaigns

   There are places of ancient power that the flow of time and power moves around as water seemingly flows around a rock in a fast running stream. Places were the flow of magic and mystery call to adventurers,out laws and thieves.These ancient relics of a bygone age hold power and wizards seek to tap into the web of the occult that reach across the timeless void and dimensions. Here then are a small selection of wasteland locations that will snare your adventurers in webs of mystery danger and the deep end of magic. 

1d10 Random Ancient Places Of Magic 

And Mystery Encounter Table 

1. An ancient pile of standing stones and henges that are aligned with the comings and goings of damned stars. Anyone tapping into the powers of this place will receive 1d4 random spells and 10% chance of encountering some ancient Lovecratain guardian horror. 
2. A stone obelisk so ancient that the writing has worn from its surface.This black ancient place of mystery is a portal an ancient gate into some hellish dimension. Things lay in wait for any foolish magician, occultist, or other greedy person. There is a small treasure of 50,000 gold pieces secreted someplace on the site and a cult of ghouls guards the place. 
3. The ruins of some ancient downed airship that has been converted into a temple to the Old Ones. Here mutants come to worship, the place sparks with weird occult power and there are numerous artifacts scattered throughout the place. 
4. A pyramid of cut crystal glass blocks lock easily into place. The pyramid is the home to an ancient horror's soul and it will devour anyone's soul who gets close. The place is a draw for those seeking treasures. 
5. A massive underground pit of a ruin that seethes with raw occult power and grants 1d4 spells to those who wish to listen to those who listen to the wisdom from beyond the pale. 
6. A massive copper coloured structure calls to adventurers and is actually the projection of a god's essence trapped in stone. Those accessing this power will be struck by a horrid vision of insanity and power. They receive 1d6 spells but will be stunned for 1d10 hours. 
7. A massive floating castle upon a cloud is actually a beautiful location of some ancient tragic event. The place is time haunted by the ghosts of the ancients and they're relics and artifacts have been left behind. The place grants access to spells from the white and grey schools of magic. Ancient wraiths prowl halls of this place. 
8. A massive downed wreckage of some strange dimensional craft exists in many locations in space time and is guarded by elemental demons. There are ancient alien books and scrolls that will grant 1d8 spells to those spending 1d6 days here. 
9. There is a massive copper door set into the ground that leads to a deep well like dungeon and set of tunnels. These were home to a highly advance race of weird bat creatures and cave demons. There are weird echoing songs that will teach 1d4 spells of the Gray set to those who know the words of power. 
10. An incredible dungeon complex set within the skull of a being of power's head. The place still echoes with the monsters who share the place with the decayed portion of this thing's brain. It will telepathically teach two levels of spells but has a 30% chance of driving the supplicant insane temporarily.

Ancient places of power are rarely used for old school adventures these days in the past we've seen tons of ruins, tumbled down partially destroyed dungeons. But when was the last time that we've seen an temple of ancient astronomy or special stellar alignments used for an old school game. There are several OSR adventures such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess's Tower of the Star Gazer. But I have yet to see an adventure spun around the idea of an Archaeoastronomy location used for summoning demons, Lovecraftian gates & monsters,etc. And yet there are hints throughout old school several modules, most notably S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax  which has this entire theme of weirdness & star spawned  dread throughout. Sure its in Greyhawk but your party knows is in a place of occult power & deadly intent.


Even other reviewers noted the background intentions with S4; "Jim Bambra reviewed the adventure for White Dwarf. He gave it 9/10 overall, with 9/10 for presentation, rules, playability, enjoyment, skill, and complexity. Bambra noted that the module ended a long time off for Gary Gygax, and was "very tough" and that good play was stressed in the introduction. Sub par play quickly ended the story, but the rewards of powerful magic and the satisfaction of completing a difficult task made it worthwhile. He also noted that the adventure came with a 32-page booklet with 30 new monsters and a small amount of new magic. Not all the new creatures are featured in the plot, but they can be used by the DM in other adventures. Also, magical diagrams are given an in-depth treatment, including their creation and effectiveness"
And this sort of air permeates  S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax  effectively pulling in the players & dungeon masters with a classic module. 

1d6 Random Saturday Morning Treasures Table For Your Old School Campaigns

So I got an email request for a random table for a Saturday morning cartoon treasure table for a  kids Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea  game adventure by a long time reader. These are going to be some treasures with a bit of treasures with an over stated series of magical effects & ideas.  The theme going in is going to a classic Harryhausen Sinbad style game with a pirate theme to it.


So I'm going to quickly put this together for a reader with the handle Harry Dent and his sons. The idea here is that these treasures have belonged to some of the weird inhuman creatures that seem to populate Saturday morning cartoons. This means that the effects are going to be weird & very quirky. There is a 60% of these treasures being guarded by pirates or 2nd level warriors obsessed with obtaining these items for their magical power & legendary prowess.


1d6 Random Saturday Morning Treasures Table

1.   1d100 glowing gems that have the ability to temporarily bestow super strength after exposure to the gem's weird power for 5 rounds. The effect lasts 1d20 hours per exposure and there is a 20% chance of random mutation from each exposure unless a save vs wands is made. The gems are worth 50,000 gold pieces to the right collector. 
2. 1d8 potions of healing whose effects also include making the victim's face and demeanor the subject of the effects of a fear spell each time a potion is consumed. The owner's face takes on a hideous continence the potion heals the poor fool. The potions are also a part of the formula for the ancient Philosopher's Stone.
3. A wand of 1d20 random magic spells of 1st and 2nd level whose spells fire off with comedic sound effects and strange fairy lights. The wand once belonged to a gnome magus of incredible power whose tribe was lost to slavers. Worth 70,000 gold to the magus's family.
4.  A book of Druid knowledge that is capable of being used by anyone. This book can be used to heal the land around a ten mile radius & was created by the legendary sky bears for use by their fabled druid priests. Humans using the book can read any sky bear runes & glyph writing. They temporarily gain dark vision within a 10 foot radius while holding the book. Worth 60000 gold pieces to a sky bear collector of relics.
5. A chest of pirate gold capable of changing the owner into a ghostly form. The owner has all of the minor abilities of a ghost and can interact with the newly departed. The gold can be traded with the undead for passage into the Underworld and for certain favors from the lords of the undead. At the bottom of the chest is a map to the skeleton knight's treasures in the underworld but they will require a boon from the owner. There are several thousand gold pieces of the dead.
6.  The golden sword of Ur, this legendary sword once belonged to the pirates of Ur and allows the owner to find the mythical dungeon under the sea that belonged to the pirates. The fishmen of Ur now guard the place and only this +2 sword can act as a key to their legendary undersea abode.The sword is worth a cool 20,000 gold pieces.
   

OSR Commentary - Using Classic Dungeons & Dragons Adventures For Campaign Construction

The Grand Duchy of Geoff has recently been plagued by a rash of unusually weird and terrible monsters of an unknown sort. This western area, particularly the mountain fastness which separates the Grand Duchy from the Dry Steppes, has long been renowned for the generation of the most fearsome beasts, and it has been shunned accordingly -- save a handful of hardy souls with exceptional abilities. Within the last few months, however, a walled town not far distant from the area, and four small fortresses as well, have been destroyed by mysterious attacks!



Areas of dimensional instability first started to appear in the time of the Ancient Ones with the 'The Amazing Stranger  from Another World Affair'. A space craft appeared in the skies in 1918 to the fanfare of the world at the edges of the outer solar system through a rip in the fabric of time & space. Scientists, physicists,astronomers were able to chart the very bounds of reality. The adventure career of the occupant of that craft is well documented elsewhere & far to much for a single blog entry. Needless to say that this single event catapulted the world's sciences decades forward on all levels including FTL travel,astronomy, physics, even the basic building blocks of what we call reality.


 The second event is 'the mysterious Warden event' in which an interstellar traveler from a far away world crashed into Earth in 1922 in the then Yugoslavian mountains. The disaster devastated local villages, cities, & burnt massive swaths of the countryside. The loss of life totaled in the thousands but then the monsters started to appear. A few at first & then more. Teams of international scientists, explorers, etc. were sent in & none returned. The reports of monsters continued, a few artifacts of incredible technological potential were recovered. During World War II the Nazi conquered, sent in teams, & died by the hundreds.
 

The Americans & Soviets sent in teams as well learning from what they could about the craft.
A few baubles were recovered which propelled the sciences once again this time in medicine & energy production. The biggest break came in the early Fifties after the 'California They' disasters which were indirectly influenced by the mutagen forces released into Earth's atmosphere from the craft. Scientists incorrectly attributed it to the atomic bombs. An engineering bot was recovered after repairs on the crashed craft were being done. A mercenary group managed to smuggle the bot out of the restricted area. The bots data banks took decades to decode by the R.U.R. think tank. This lead to a revolution in robotics, A.I., & the fields of artificial intelligence that is barely understood.  The appearance of the Warden on Earth signaled a barely recognized start of events that spelled the end of Earth. The Hyperborean & Mound wars started a few short decades later. The end was on its way.


Bubbles of dimensional unreality lead to other dimensions & alternative Earths making the whole place one of the most dangerous on Earth. Adventurers, scientists, and dimensional trespassers routinely come through this place. To this day not many have penetrated the secrets of the Warden. It still stands quietly being repaired, worked on & tinkered with by its robotic & monstrous inhabitants.


So what is this above? A brief set of passages based on my 'Old Earth' campaign history's  time line. What I've done is basically taken a classic TSR era module & molded it around the needs of my players & the campaign setting's history.
There's a quick background, some fun fluff, & a way of combining this with any number of retroclone systems.
"S3: "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" (1980), by Gary Gygax, is the third "Special" adventure for AD&D. It was published in February 1980.", is one of the more flexible & completely adaptable but very deadly adventures. I've used it numerous time for weird fiction ala James Raggi IV's Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Rpg Pundit's Dark Albion, Adventurer, Conqueror, King, & even Stars Without Number. The point is that one module can be used to set up & run an entire campaign setting as its touchstone.  Hell,
The Grand Duchy of Geoff could become a pre WWII micro nation that hires the adventurers to penetrate & possibly die among the mysteries of the Warden. Dungeon masters should never ever be intimidated by 'classic' adventures because other gamers have strong opinions about these classics. Your players are the one who matter and its them you are playing with.
May all of your saves happen & you roll twenties. More to come!

Getting A More Lovecraftian Campaign Spin On Leigh Brackett's 'The Citadel of Lost Ships' & The Old Solar System Setting &

So last night with headache on the boil, I closed down the internet & began to really think about some of the background of my fall AS&SH campaign. Part of this was to return to Leigh Brackett's The Citadel of Lost Ships. " Brackett's novelette "Citadel of Lost Ships" was the cover story in the March 1943 issue of Planet Stories"
'The Kraylens are a dying tribe, a scrap of old Venus, but Campbell is determined to help those that had helped him!'

The novella has a sense of the incredibly desperate  as the humans of Leigh Brackett's solar system are incredibly desperate & are more then willing to not only exploit the native races of her solar system but cause them to go extinct in spectacular fashion.

You can download
& read The Citadel of Lost Ships Right Over Here

The novella is a mirror darkly for the Old West & the plight of the American Indian. Leigh Brackett wrote many Westerns in her time & was a pulp powerhouse writer. But I really started thinking about the secure place humanity would have among the solar system. What would happen if the 'older races' came from beyond the stars to reclaim their old home worlds. I've written about Adapting Leigh Brackett's 'The Citadel Of Lost Ships' Novella To The 'Old Venus' Campaign Setting 

This is going to be a bit different because we're going to do a bit of exploiting and adapting of the future of the novella. I've said before reading this novel I kept expecting a shoggoth or two to show up whist I was reading this novel.  So if we start gazing at this novella through a Dungeons & Dragons lens then things start to get very interesting.
Looking deeper into the history of the Venusians there isn't simply one or two tribes of humanoids on Venus there are lots. If we take a stare  into the fetid swamp like world of Venus then we get a look into a world of lizard men tribes, fish men with gills, a world of dinosaurs or dinosaur like life forms,  & one very scared Terra Venusian Coalition government. Why are they so ready to off every last native Venus they can?
Because they'd stumbled upon the hidden Great Race of Yith city archives high in the mountains of the poles of Venus.

[T]he Great Race ... waxed well-nigh omniscient, and turned to the task of setting up exchanges with the minds of other planets, and of exploring their pasts and futures. It sought likewise to fathom the past years and origin of that black, aeon-dead orb in far space whence its own mental heritage had come – for the mind of the Great Race was older than its bodily form. . . The beings of a dying elder world, wise with the ultimate secrets, had looked ahead for a new world and species wherein they might have long life; and had sent their minds en masse into that future race best adapted to house them – the cone-shaped beings that peopled our earth a billion years ago.

— H. P. Lovecraft, "The Shadow Out of Time"

 Earth wasn't the only place that the Great Race had its nippers into & Venusians had been teaching magic to humanity since the last cycle of the sinking of Atlantis. What is exactly has the Great Race fired up & heading out into its mass mind push at the end of the Shadow Out of Time?
"He discovers that the Yithians on Earth died out eons ago, their civilization destroyed by a rival, utterly alien pre-human race described as "half-polypous" creatures, but the Yithian minds will inhabit new bodies on Earth after humanity is long gone. His tenuously held sanity is challenged when he discovers the proof he seeks—and that not only do remains of the Yithians' past civilization still exist on earth, but also still remaining are those who destroyed them. It is also mentioned that the current appearance of the Yithians is not the original, but one acquired during a previous mass-projection of the minds of their race when disaster beckoned, leaving the original inhabitants to die in the bodies of the Yithians."
So what does this have to do with Brackett's novelette "Citadel of Lost Ships" ? Everything really because one of the 'doomed' Venusian chieftains let's slip some of the coming doom. Men had found resources that had previously used by other older races.

At some far distant point in the future of Old Earth the Hyperboreans returned according to Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea cycle & his Zothique cycles.

Venus fate in the far future is to be terraformed by a planet wide planet ecological life form that we get a solid look at in The Immeasurable Horror by Clark Ashton Smith. 

This is one of the secrets that the  Terra Venusian Coalition government knows about but there are others.

So surely there's no D&D connection with all of this? Actually there is in spades. The far future of this Venus is going to be a teeming world of incredibly dangerous life forms & various tribes of humanoids including various lizardmen, & Atlan Venusians and large swaths of Deep Ones who are devoted to Olhydra Princess of Evil Water Creatures. Babblers haunt the swamp lands & kelpie queens the shallow seas. X6 Quagmire is perfect  some deep swamp land encounters from the Serpent Peninsula for just this sort of a world and its for the  AD&D 1st edition game. X6 would require a bit of adaptation but could work quite nicely to get the feel and weirdness of the setting.


So what sorts of encounters would we expect in this far future  style of 'Old Venus'? I've worked up a few for you to add into your own home games. But don't be afraid to add in more alien elements to this sort of a campaign. We'll get into some of the weirder inhabitants in tomorrow's blog entry.

1d6 Venus Sinister Swamp Encounters Table

1. 1d6 Aquatic swamp ghouls hunting among the shoals and swamp trees; the swamp water perfectly camouflages this hunting pack of undead fiends who prowls along the bottom edges of the water ready to pull down prey and drown them. They attack in pairs of two sometimes waiting for prey to have a moment alone. 
2. A mated pair of bone snappers who are searching for suitable prey for their young in a nearby nest. They use pack tactics and flanking to get the drop on their prey. They work quickly and viciously to break limbs and finish off resistance as quickly as possible . 
3. Three hunting canoes belonging to a war party of pig faced swamp orcs searching for easy prey for their nearby village. They are armed with short bows, poisoned darts, blow guns, and wooden shields in addition to iron wood short swords. There are 1d4 of the mad bastards hopped up on war fungus drugs. 
4. 1d6 giant swamp leeches moving through the water attracted by the movement from a nearby hollow lair. These horrors are twice the normal hit points and very hungry. 
5. Swamp underwater trolls with a nearby lair filled with the remains of three travelers and a small cache of 3000 gold coins worth of gems. They are vicious and very violent monsters who have a fresh hunger for travelers. 
6. Swamp dwelling Eye of The Deep, who is served by three Deep One henchmen armed with poison darts and blow guns. They take sacrifices for their master who in turn worships and serves Cthulhu in the form of a black idol in the middle of a far off corner of the swamp land. There is 30,000 gold piece sacrifice pile of loot that has poisonous swamp serpents that dwell on it.

This  post is not an attempt to violate the copyrights or trademarks of any 
of the films nor properties named in this post. All ideas are for a 
private table top rpg campaign. None of the ideas or opinions expressed 
in this post are meant to violate the trademarks nor copy rights of any 
of the table top rpgs discussed nor are they in away responsible for the
 thoughts or opinions of the author. The writing, ideas, and opinions 
are copyrighted and trade marked to the author and Dark Corner 
productions. This post is for entertainment & educational purposes 
only.

Retro OSR Commentary On UK6 All That Glitters By Jim Bambra For First Edition Advance Dungeons & Dragons

'Can you unravel the map's mysteries and find your way to the promised treasure? Or will your dreams end only in death and an unmarked grave far from home!'
"The dark jungle trees loom above you, and the scent of tropical blooms hangs heavy on the windless air. Overhead, brightly coloured birds wheel and dip through the branches. Swarming mosquitos buzz angrily as you raise a waterskin to your lips.

Still you push on, carefully following the riverbank and the fragment of your map. Those scraps of parchment came from this jungle - of that you are sure, for the carving around which they had been carelessly wrapped were the work of the local natives. Now you have left those peaceful craftsmen far behind and the map has led you to the uncharted territory of the murderous Atem.

Ahead, the river breaks into white water. These must be the rapids marked on the map. Reaching into your pouch, you draw out the fragments of the parchment, and once again you mind drifts ahead to your ultimate goal - the treasures promised at the journey's end. Riches! And hopefully an end to this stifling, humid jungle."If character levels five through seven are where things get interesting then U.K. 6 All that Glitters is where adventure events get downright deadly.
"All That Glitters... is an adventure module published in 1984 by TSR for the first edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. It is set in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and is intended for 5-8 player characters of levels 5-7" I love the wiki entry it doesn't tell you that this is as challenging & deadly an adventure as you can get in the U.K. series. It has a bit of everything and even though its set in Greyhawk its easily dropped into your own home campaigns. The reason is how the adventure plot and set up is. Everything in All that Glitters might as well be called wilderness hex crawl a go go. This adventure takes the wilderness trek & turns it up to eleven & then breaks the knob right off the speaker. It takes the environment of the "Wind Walkers' Passages", which are strange tunnels that pass right through a mountain range called the Hadarna Mountains and then doubles down on the modules setting. "A  map to a treasure of gold leads the player characters through a jungle and wilderness inhabited by fierce tribesmen." This is a heavy duty adventure that in some respects out does Indianna Jones Raiders of The Lost Ark for traps & tricks while leaning heavily on the Fiend Folio.

There are  ton of Fiend Folio (1981) monsters here, including several fire drakes, legions of giant striders, a hellcat, some mephits, a few sandmen, a shadow demon, a skeleton warrior, and some vortices. Because of this fact many Greyhawk fans have placed 'All That Glitters'  into the northern Amedio jungle in Greyhawk, amidst the Hellfurnaces and the Sea of Dust. For my buddy Larry's Greyhawk games that's exactly where this adventure occurred.  For Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea this adventure is going to fall into the shadow of some of the most volcanically & geologically active regions of Hyperborea.
Many of the monsters in All that Glitters are going to be one offs or very rare in Hyperborea & rather unique in the regions of Hyperborea where the adventure action happens. Bring more then one PC. This is a deadly adventure.


This is another one of those adventures that has a significant movie memory attached to it in this case 'Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom' came out the same year as 'All That Glitters'. So in my mind there's a definite connection between the adventure film & the jungle module.

The idea of hidden factions, a conventional "follow-the-treasure-map-adventure", and some of the most dangerous adventure elements this side of the U.K. series adds up to a strong DM lead up with 'All that Glitters'.
Instead of an over arching adventure plot that leads into a mini campaign, 'All That Glitters' is perfect to stand on its own two feet. The party of adventurers is going to have to be on the high side of PC level five or six because  some of the challenges are that dangerous in this module. There's going to be a ton of action so don't be surprised at how and why certain events in this adventure come off. That's not to say that 'All that Glitters' is a bad module far from it in fact. This is an adventure module that get's its plot, adventure elements, encounters, traps & tricks right. Even today it stands up and punches all of the right buttons for players.
Ten Ways of Using  U.K. 6  By  Jim Bambra For Your Old School Campaigns 

1. All that Glitters makes an excellent mid point or campaign ender module because of its pulpy Sword & Sorcery plot. 
2. Many of the factions in this adventure make excellent follow up vile villains later on in a fully function chain adventure campaign where one event follows another. 
3. 'All that Glitters is a perfect module to go up a level or two to face many of the challenges ahead. 
4. All that Glitters uses many of the monsters from the Fiend Folio in dynamic ways central to the plot of the adventure. Pay attention to how the authors and designers are doing this and follow through with the same techniques in your own home adventures and mini campaigns. 
5. Many of the adventure hooks in All That Glitters can be used to follow up other  adventures on their own. There's enough meat here for a mini campaign or two. 
6. Other U.K. adventure plots can be dovetailed into U.K. 6 for an almost but not quite adventure anthology campaign. 
7.  Undercurrents in the plot of 'All That Glitters ' could point to much more dangerous Sword & Sorcery driven plot line within the events surrounding U.K.3 The Gauntlet module's mini campaign. This hooks right into the overarching plot of these adventures. 
8. Are there several Lovecraftian puppet masters behind the scenes and events of 'All that Glitters'? There certainly pieces of this adventure that up point this sort of a scenario. 
9. There is an undercurrent of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness about the jungle setting of  'All That Glitters' this sense of depravity and desperation makes great fodder for the treasure map aspect of this module. 
10. 'All that Glitters' is a module that should be taken & run on its own terms. With the right players this can be one of the best modules written to run in terms of story, pc's, solid game play.

The Raiders of 'Naa-zsh' An NPC Lovecraftian Enemy Faction For Your Old School Campaigns

"Far in the future of Earth something stirs & its claws catch the edges of the world & it hungers. They were spawned from the beginning thing  & while walk as men but they are not men. They serve the Others but they are not men. They are unholy things who use the tools of men but they are of Abhuman flesh & the 'Unbegotten Source'."
Laurence Kreeger
"That Knowledge Which Destroys" 1931 

The 'Naa-zsh' have cut a bloody path across parts of  Hyperborea with technologies that have not been seen in five thousand years!  Deep within the oceans of Hyperborea an army with no name stirs. Awoken from centuries of slumber the 'Naa-zsh' have come from Kephacha a forbidden grey & crypt like land of cold. This  outpost sticking out of the oceans like some bloody finger on the horizon, might be  a cursed perhaps damned remain of Atlantis that found its way from Old Earth. The land of the 'Naa-zah' might have once been an ancient hell meteor that circled Saturn none can say.


They're green grey skin & inhuman colorless eyes have no mercy or pity within them only the familiar report of their laser cross bows mark their passion for violence as another man is cut down. The 'Naa-zsh' are on some unholy mission on Hyperborea carrying out the will of an inhuman over mind that dwells else where. They burn whole villages seemingly searching for one or two individuals. There are those black necromancers or wizards who say they are an unholy fusion of  Hyperborean, abhuman flesh, & the tissues of Ubbo-Sathla.


"For Ubbo-Sathla is the source and the end. Before the coming of Zhothaqquah or Yok-Zothoth or Kthulhut from the stars, Ubbo-Sathla dwelt in the steaming fens of the newmade Earth: a mass without head or members, spawning the grey, formless efts of the prime and the grisly prototypes of terrene life . . . And all earthly life, it is told, shall go back at last through the great circle of time to Ubbo-Sathla."
     —The Book of Eibon.
It is said by some that another even older race bore a similar resemblance to the 'Naa-zsh' and that they were from Mhu Thulan.That northern portion of ancient Hyperborea, which was supposed to have corresponded with Modem Greenland, which had formerly been joined as a peninsula to the main continent.These beings were traders in forbidden knowledge  known as "Zeta Reticulans" or "Viinnadorians" but the 'Naa-zsh' only bare the least passing resemblance to these beings. There are few black sages of Carus who insist that its the "Zeta Reticulans" are the ones behind the appearance of the 'Naa-zsh' upon the shores of Hyperborea. The ancient wizard Zon Mezzamalech might be the only one who knew for sure but he is long dead.

The raiders of 'Naa-zsh' arrive in submarines or airships & will survey a target village or settlement for a day or so. They will then attack using a heat ray that does 1d8X2 damage with a radius of 200 yards often set on giant crystal aiming device. Then men, women, & children will be slain using laser cross bows by ground troops. The victims will have  their brains,spines, and organs collected for unknown purposes by the 'Naa-zsh'.
These tactics often seems to put this race at odds with both the Mi Go & the Slaver Things from the Dreamlands. Ghouls of all types hate these beings & will attack them on sight but the ghouls can not explain why. Those of ghoul blood families can even sense when these beings are within a twenty foot radius this ability manifests as a pounding headache. The raiders have been found coming into conflict & even open warfare with certain ghoul clans conducting operations on Hyperborean ruins or lost cities. These sites are considered sacred to the ghouls which is of little concern to the 'Naa-zsh'.

The Raiders of 'Naa-zsh'



No Encountered: 2d6 
Alignment: Chaotic Evil 
Size:M 
Dexterity: 11 
Armor Class: 5 (Bio-mechanical skin armor)
Hit Dice:3 
No Attacks:3/2 (weapon) 
Damage: (per weapon)
Saving Throw: 15
Morale:8 
Treasure type: M(x2)

Specials :
Access to advanced relic Hyperborean technologies - The raiders use electric torches, anti grav belts, mini radium pistols (half ammo capacity & range), force screens & laser cross bows. For slave raids they use  paralysis pistols. They travel in submarines or advanced air ships, it is rumored that they have sky ships capable of traveling between planets and planes 
Immune to sleep, paralysis, fear, because of their advanced alien minds 
Able to cast extra sensory perception  & telepathy thrice per day 
The raiders can also cast hold person or hold monster twice per day. But this spell like ability seems to drain the 'Naa-zsh' of vital energies. They will be at a -1 after using this ability on victims.

It is known that the 'Naa-zsh' worship a horrid form  of Ubbo-Sathla which they ritually sacrifice victims to in abominable rites that are best not spoken about. This is done during the dark months when hundreds of slaves/sacrifices are collected after long months of raiding. They're leaders are said to be the eldest Naa-zsh who have evolved into near perfect intellects. This happens after mediating on the sacred mysteries of Ubbo-Sathla for countless centuries & shedding their mortal flesh. They become disembodied alien brains living on advanced life support equipment while their intelligences ascends to another dimension ruling their people through puppets of flesh.
The Raiders of 'Naa-zsh' have begun to attack shore line communities on Hyperborea & using their air ships to raid the interior of Hyperborea for artifacts, slaves, & apparently a whole alien agenda. This last quality makes them an unknown & dangerous alien factor on the face of Hyperborea.


What are the random Lovecraftian goals of the Raiders of 'Naa-zsh'
This Week Table 

1. We must raid three nearby human settlements for flesh this week to replenish the clone vats for our master's needs. 
2. Human brains! We must have them for our bio drives for our new hive colonies! 
3. The masters have called for more sacrifices for the gods for we must feed the nuclear chaos to expand our base of power for the up coming transition across space & time! 
4. Gold, silver, the host of precious metals must be restocked so that we can forge the alloy of the Outer Gods for newest sky ships. We will need a human sensitive soul for our navigator unit. 
5. The crab men have the crystals we need and so we must get new human stock animals for our cyber warrior units for the upcoming raids! 
6. We need the mind of a powerful wizard to be transformed into the flesh of Ubbo-Sathla  to feed the power of our god's latest workings! To war we must go for the good of the hive!