Free Download Review & Commentary - S9: Ransom of the Riverboat Queen By RC Pinnell For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition

 "With the slavers of the Pomarj defeated, the weary adventurers are left little time to rest when they receive a message from one of the nobles of the land begging them to come to her aid. This adventure is created to be a link between the TSR Slavers and Giants adventure-modules (A1-4 and G1-3), and is designed for characters of levels 5th through 9th, using either pre-existing characters or the pre-generated ones contained within. Part 2, S10: Rescue on the Jotens, is available for download here"


 S9: Ransom of the Riverboat Queen By RC Pinnell is a fifth level thru nineth level adventure. And S9 was written as a stop  gap adventure between the TSR Slavers and Giants adventure-modules (A1-4 and G1-3). And S9 takes the PC's deep into the world of the lesser criminal elements of these prior adventures;"Having defeated the slavers of the Pomarj, the armies of the ruling nobles swept across the land, chasing the lesser outlaws and their minions deep into the wilderness beyond the boundaries of civilization; capturing and executing those that could not get away. And now with the slavers more or less eradicated, the council of high lords can recall their troops, regroup, and turn their attention to the needs and peace of their citizenry But outside of the Slavers’ circle were others, less known and not entirely evil, that only interacted with the slavers for their own profits. Such persons were not part of the official organization. Those unknown to the council of nobles were able to cease their activities and lay-low, hiding in hope that the ire of the ruling authorities would eventually subside. Nalia DuBose, known locally in the criminal world as the Riverboat Queen, is one such person. Neither evil for evil’s sake or good for the sake of others, Nalia is the leader of a large band of river buccaneers that has remained unnoticed by the nobles of the land. As she and her crews rarely use physical force during their raids, and have never knowingly transported abducted persons or slaves, their operation has not attracted the interest of the authorities. Until now." 

What S9: Ransom of the Riverboat Queen By RC Pinnell does it is put the PCs right into the middle of the aftermath of the Slavers & Giants series with the river boat queen herself. In sixteen pages we get the PC's deeply involved in the adventure plot; "To avoid the authorities that might be investigating her little corner of the world, Nalia took half her crew and left the safety of her River Keep, sailing along the coast to her secondary domicile on a small isle; part of the bank islands south of Keoland. There she has remained for a year, waiting for word to be sent from her companion and second in command, informing her that it is safe to return. But being out of touch with her network of eyes and ears, she is unaware of the changes that have taken place in her organization. Nor that her most trusted companion is involved." S9 is excellent for getting the PC's into the underworld of the river piracy adventure background gig. This works well with thieves guilds tied PC's, criminal elements, and even clerics. 

S9 is a solid module to use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition, or OSRIC or even perhaps Castles & Crusades for something different that can bridge the adventure gap. S9 also works as a module that takes advantage of vintage Greyhawk. This being said S9 also works as a possible adventure take up with the Hyperborea Rpg. This goes back to something we had talked about back in 2020 with the Giants series & the second edition AS&SH rpg here. 

S9: Ransom of the Riverboat Queen By RC Pinnell worth the free download?! In my  humble opinion yes it is because it provides a number of options for the players & the DM. One S9 is a great framework to use in the aftermath of the both the Giant Series & Slavers. Two it fills in some of the power gaps that both modules leave. And it gets the PC's deeply involved for the next adventure set up. We'll get into that installment next time. 

S9: Ransom of the Riverboat Queen By RC Pinnell For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition  Is Available Right Here. 

Legacy of the Lizardmen In Our Sword & Sorcery OSR Campaigns - OSR Commentary Using The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Monster Manual

So last night at about four A.M. in the morning I was looking over the incredible trio of the Grand Game ( Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition), again for like the zillionth time. But immediately the Sword & Sorcery inspiration was right there. Looking over the Hyperborea rpg maps the Lizard Man Swamp jumped out at me. 

So let's talk about why for a moment. This adventure location reminds me of the Floridia Everglades in America or the prehistoric desert fens of the Australian Outback. A place of inhuman mystery & a perhaps a non human empire. 
Lizardmen in Advanced Dungeons & Dragon have always been in our games one of the inhuman others. 
These are not stand ins for some other race but literal alien prehistoric remains of the Serpent People who created them as slaves & servants  before them. 

 So let's pick it up with the fact that last night my hands were clasped in one of our all time favorite monster books from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. The vaulted Monster Manual. And one of the illustrations that keeps seemingly that was moving people in our respective circles was David Trampier's Lizardman illustration. 

DAT's lizard man is three things. One it's completely humanoid in shape. It looks incredibly dangerous & cool. And three it's using weapons of it's people's possible manufacture. Back in the Eighties my uncle who was our DM created his lizardmen to be a race of inhuman pyramid & zigurrat builders. They had almost beaver dam like villages that were both above & below the swamp water. There were different sets of lizardmen who were adapted to different environs in his version of Greyhawk. 
This was or is similar to how our lizardmen are going to be on our version of Hyperborea. Beings that have been artificially adapted and now are found in just about every environ within our campaign. 
They fight along side humans, join adventurers, move among human circles but they are not human at all. They value gold which is seen as a nest adornment, meat which they use to survive & as food, & generally get along with humanity. They go where humans can't or won't they thrive where humanity doesn't. And their a race unto themselves. 

The fact is that within our various campaign that we play often there was one or two lizardmen higherlings or even a lizardman cache of bounty hunters. These bounty hunters were often of the desert variety. And they never stopped when it came to tracking us with a vengence. This is a tradition that I will be upholding coming up. 
The empire of the Lizardmen arose from the ashes of the Hyperboreans & they built upon the waning of those ancient peoples after the Green Death.

And those lands are guarded by another favorite of our that our players absolutely hate & that's the Hydras of ancient mythology. The Serpent Men were the first to breed these terrors but it's the Lizardmen who continue to use & guide the Hydra to guard their lands & sacred egg clutches. 

 

OSR Thoughts on YOG·SOTHOTH (the key and guardian of the gate) From Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition's Dieties & Demigod By Robert J. Kuntz & James M. Ward

 "Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread."

The Dunwich Horror  By H.P. Lovecraft 


The other night we DM's got together for a beer & to discuss another leg of our upcoming campaign. And Kuntz & Ward's Dieties & Demigods especially the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition's version of YOG·SOTHOTH (the key and guardian of the gate) avitar. This blog entry picks right up from here. 

Hyperborea has it's own version of the children of YOG·SOTHOTH. We went back and looked at the old AD&D classic version. That version of the Outer God is nasty; "Greater god ARMOR CLASS: -2 MOVE: 18" HIT POINTS: 400 NO. OF ATTACKS: 12 DAMAGE/AnACK: 1-8 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to charm MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50% SIZE: L ( 50' diameter) ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: Chaotic evil SYMBOL: Y rune PLANE: Astral Plane CLERIC/DRUID: Nil FIGHTER: As 16+ HD monster MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 15th level magic-user THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil MONK/BARD: Nil PSIONIC ABILITY: S:25(+7,+14) 1:25 W:23 D:20 C:25 CH:-7" 

Classic Erol Otis artwork of a child of Yog Shoggoth
  from Dieties & Demigods Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 

The description of the Greater God Yog Shoggoth is mind bending; "Yog-Sothoth exists on the astral plane. He has the ability to enter the universe at any point in space and any point in time. His astral shape appear  as a congeries of iridescent globes like giant soap bubbles. When he takes shape on the Prime Material Plane he is partly material and partly astral and appears as a gigantic mass of feelers, legs, and stalked organs. In this shape he will mate with human beings, producing the Spawn of YogSothoth (see "The Dunwich Horror", by H. P. Lovecraft). He is highly intelligent and extremely chaotic and unpredictable. He can gate in and out of time and space any of the Spawn or subject races of the Old Ones, one per melee round. Yog-Sothoth is not subject to the laws of space and time and can, for example, appear at vorious parts of the universe simultaneously" 

According to various sources including the  The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana Yog Shoggoth is one of the main Greater Gods of the Mythos. Which means that he has diminion over the Lovecraftian entities & greater races then at first it appears. It also means that it ( the greater god) could theoritically be encountered anywhere. Talk about a random encounter. 

According to our discussions there are very few if anyplaces within the planes where you could theoritically get away from this version of YOG·SOTHOTH (the key and guardian of the gate) From Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition's Dieties & Demigod By Robert J. Kuntz & James M. Ward! 
Digging in deeper according to the H.P. Lovecraft wiki all of those irdescient globes have names & perhaps meaning; "He is composed of iridescent globes (HPL: "The Horror in the Museum", AWD: "The Lurker at the Threshold") of which there are thirteen (EXP: Hay Necronomicon):

1. Gomory
2. Zagan
3. Sytry
4. Eligor
5. Durson
6. Vual
7. Scor
8. Algor
9. Sefon
10. Partas
11. Gamor
12. Umbra
13. Anaboth

Deeper that one peers into the madness & occult insanity  of YOG·SOTHOTH the more one sees why dark wizards would entreat with such an entity. Please bare in mind that all of this is fiction created by a writer from Providence, Rhode Island. 

OSR Thoughts on Shub-Niggurath From Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition's Dieties & Demigod By Robert J. Kuntz & James M. Ward

 This blog post picks right up from the other day & what does does 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons  Dieties & Demigods have to do with it?! Well a bit of everything. 


"This fountain of uncleanliness is a huge pool of gray matter, 100 feet across, in the caverns beneath Mount Voormithadreth. It is constantly bubbling and putting forth mouths, limbs, pseudopods and whole creatures. 1-100 small monsters are created from the pool each round, and they go crowling, flopping, or flying away into the caverns above. Some fall bock into the pool, which then grows mouths and devours them." 
Kuntz & Ward's Dieties & Demigods Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition 

So over the last couple of weeks there's been several pieces of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition material that has sparked our DM's & player's imaginations. Tonight's the Kuntz & Ward's Dieties & Demigods Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition tonight for the upcoming Hyperborea rpg campaign. This avitar of Shub-Niggurath is incredibly dangerous & could be the source of any Lovecraftian monsters in thier area of Hyperborea especially around the Mount Voormithadreth. 
"SHUB·NIGGURATH (black goat of the woods with a thousand young) Lesser god ARMOR CLASS: 4 MOVE: None HIT POINTS: 400 NO. OF An Attacks : DAMAGE/AnACK: See below SPECIAL ATTACKS: Monster creation SPECIAL DEFENSES: + 2 or better weapon to hit MAGIC RESISTANCE: 95% SIZE: L (100' in diameter) ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: Chaotic evil SYMBOL: Black goat PLANE: Prime Material Plane CLERIC/DRUID: Nil FIGHTER: As 16+ HD monster MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Nil THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil MONK/BARD: Nil PSIONIC ABILITY: I S:24(+6, +12) 1:25 W:20 D: 19 C:25 CH:--4"

This version of Shub Niggurth is the source all many of the horrors of Hyperborea (or at least in our home campaign it might be) & this is answered in the second part of the entry; 

"This fountain of uncleanliness is a huge pool of gray matter, 100 feet across, in the caverns beneath Mount Voormithadreth. It is constantly bubbling and putting forth mouths, limbs, pseudopods and whole creatures. 1-100 small monsters are created from the pool each round, and they go crowling, flopping, or flying away into the caverns above. Some fall bock into the pool, which then grows mouths and devours them. ShubNiggurath is intelligent and telepathically sensitive. When it senses the approach of enemies (range 1,000') it will begin creating monsters to defend itself, one per melee round. These will be random according to the following table (d6): 1. Byakhee; 2. Deep One; 3. Great Race; 4. Mi-Go; 5. Primordial One; 6. Shoggoth.
 If any enemy is so foolish as to approach to within 30' of the being, the pool will lash out with a huge powerful tentacle; if it hits, it will pull the unfortunate victim into the pool, where he or she will immediately become part of the evil swirling protoplasm. Any creature struck has a percentage chance of not being pulled into the pool equal to his or her strength. Shub-Niggurath strikes only once per turn in this way and can simultaneously create monsters. Though its body is trapped deep in the caverns, Shub-Niggurath travels the Prime Material Plane in astral form, using its psionic powers to do evil and aid its worshipers" Let's pick this up from the H.P. Lovecraft wiki's Shub Niggurath entry on the diety's cults; "Of all the mythos deities, Shub-Niggurath is probably the most extensively worshipped. Her worshippers include the Hyperboreans, the Muvians, T'yog of K'naa, and the people of Sarnath, as well as any number of druidic and barbaric cults. She is also worshipped by the non-human species of the mythos, such as the "Fungi from Yuggoth" (the Mi-Go) and the Nug-Soth of Yaddith. (EXP: The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana)" 

 So this ShubNiggurath avitar is psionic active & I believe the Outer god is actually spread through out planes. And this is also true of our own home version of Hyperborea. 

Review & Commentary On The Free A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2 By Andrew Hamilton For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition & The OSRIC Rpg

 "This volume contains more than 110 brand new spells for the four AD&D spell casting classes. This includes more than 30 spells for clerics, druids, and illusionists -- plus 78 new magic-user spells of all levels. [Yeah, Andrew has a thing for magic-user spells!]

That's enough, right? Right?

Wrong.

This collection includes spells for the Witch NPC class (from Dragon Magazine issue #114), one of Andrew's favorite NPC baddies.

Plus it contains spells for clerics of the Cult of Juiblex. Never heard of this cult? It will be a nasty surprise for your players!

If that isn't enough, look for the spells for Frost Giant and Gnoll shaman! Bad guys need more power to combat those dratted forces of Good! This gives it to them ...

All told, this volume contains more than 150 new spells for use with all the D& D games of the 70's and 80's and their retro-clones." 

A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2 By Andrew Hamilton is a perfect Advanced Dungeons & Dragons free resource for the clerics & wizard PC classes as well as NPC's. And it's the latter is my own use for A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2 is very useful to a dungeon master. Because OSRIC is mix of AD&D first edition Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, & Monster Manual.  A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2 lines up vert well for the magic using PC classes & monsters. Each section of the 150 new spells are bracketted & aligned for PC's, NPC's, & their player character classes. 
There are some nasty surprises within A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2 and these include clerics of the Cult of Juiblex, the Witch,  & Frost Giant and Gnoll shaman entries. This gives the average dungeon master even more fire power for NPC's. And it's the application for high Fantasy & mid point magick  campagins where A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2. And A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2 would fit perfectly into AD&D first edition's Greyhawk or even Bloody, Bloody, Arduin. 

 

A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2 By Andrew Hamilton layout, the fonts, entries, and more are solidly done. Andrew Hamilton does an excellent job with this material & his imagination's fuel is solid. He really loves his spells & his touch on the game design is a love affair of epic proporations with OSRIC's spells. The fact that this whole supplement is free is a long game for & magazine because A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2 By Andrew Hamilton is an excellent tool kit for AD&D first edition & OSRIC.

 A Book of Miscellaneous Spells Volume 2 By Andrew Hamilton For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition & The  OSRIC Rpg Is Availabe Here 

OSR Commentary - Expanding Borders - Greyhawk Adventures & Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Crossovers

" Become part of the oldest continuous fantasy campaign as you explore parts of Oerth never seen before. Learn about Greyhawk's deities, heroes, monsters, arcane items, magical spells, and much, much more. A book for lovers of Greyhawk and players of all fantasy role-playing games."

As a bit of an independant & OSR theorist, as I happen to be a big fan of James M. Ward. Now a recent interview that  James did with the Inapproriate Characters crew got our group thinking about some  Greyhawk & specifically Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Greyhawk Adventures. This was one of the last hard backs that TSR did back in September 1988. You can read a whole history on the book on the Grehawk Wiki here. 

So the importance in Greyhawk Adventures is the fact of how many interesting twist & turns that this book brings into the Greyhawk campaign setting itself. We're talking about the background world setting material & not simply just the rules here. Greyhawk Adventures represents a transition between first & second edition;"As suggested by the note on the cover, the contents of Greyhawk Adventures represent a transitional state between the 1st and 2nd edition AD&D rules (Bambra 1989)." 
And there's more! This Greyhawk campaign  spill over means that these elements effect other campaign worlds that cross into Greyhawk. Not so much by design but unintended campaign side effects. This is something that we see within Greyhawk Adventures pages. And now your saying that your players are lunatics?! Not really because Greyhawk Adventures expands & increases the range of the campaign setting. This means that the plane of Greyhawk's reach also expands. 

Many of the Gods, monsters, & even the major NPC's can be crossed into other realms. And the reason?! Well that reason goes straight back into; "As suggested by the note on the cover, the contents of Greyhawk Adventures represent a transitional state between the 1st and 2nd edition AD&D rules (Bambra 1989)." Because my friends this crosses over into one of the most popular OSR Sword & Sorcery retroclone systems that's got an upcoming Kickstarter soon. Yes, we're talking about The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg game.  

If  we cross over Hyperborea with Gary Gygax's Oerth then the trasition is easily done with one of North Wind Adventures modules. Each module has numerous addition ruins that are perfect for planar gates. These same gates could host more then a few monsters from Greyhawk Adventures. Because this is exactly how such a hook could involve the PC's crossing over from Greyhawk into Hyperborea. The monsters cause havoc & adventurers follow to destory or subdue these creatures. 
Suddenly there's an incredibe world of Sword & Sorcery ripe for the exploitation by the rulers of Greyhawk. Such cross polenization creates rich opportunities for a DM who wants to exploit erm offer expansion for his player's PC's. 
Hypeborea offers some very unique possibilities for an enterprising crew of adventurers if they know how to twist them towards their avantage. Take for example  Corey R. Walden on The Anthropophagi of Xambaala which if used as a mini campaign up off point allows the DM to draw in the players into a nasty primitive little island of Sword & Sorcery weirdness . One that has all kinds of sinster & dangerous items for the rich of Greyhawk. 

And what about the potential to study incredible new schools of magic?! Greyhawk Adventures adds a ton of new spells & occult options for wizards to take prime advantage of. This means that wizards from Greyhawk making pillgrimages to Hyperborea & vice versa. The flow of magics between worlds could potentially make the Ixians of Hyperborea very nervous indeed. 
And not to mention the reach of the Great Old Ones of Lovecraftian fame. Or the horrors of Elemental Evil religions. Let's start with the fact that on Hyperborea many forgotten & forbidden monsters are ripe to exploit such a gateway for thier own hideous agenda. Fighting such a crossing unto Greyhawk may be a campaign unto itself. 

An In Depth Commentary On The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Manual of the Planes By Jeff Grubb

"...from Arcadia to Pandemonium, from the plane of elemental Fire to the Astral plane, vast new worlds of adventure are now open to players."
The Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Manual of the Planes By Jeff Grubb came out in 1987 & it remains a favorite of mine; 'The original Manual of the Planes was written by Jeff Grubb, with a cover by Jeff Easley and interior illustrations by Stephen Fabianwith Easley, and was published by TSR in 1987 as a 128-page hardcover.^[3] Easley's cover featured an illustration of a creature named in the book as an "ethereal dreadnought", although the book had no description or game statistics for the creature.^[4] This creature was later identified in 2nd edition as an astral dreadnought.'



The year is Nineteen Hundred & Eighty Nine there's one book that I wanted for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. Jeff Grubb's Manual of the Planes was on my 'must get' list of AD&D books. Why?! Because the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Manual of the Planes was/is a dungeon master's book. There lots of crunch here & very little flavor per say for the dungeon master to create & deal with the 'Great Wheel' of the planes of AD&D. This book does exactly what it sets out to do. The wiki entry summarizes quite nicely what the Manual of the plane covers;

"The book describes various planes of existence, and what creatures characters might encounter there, covering the astral and ethereal planes, the elemental planes, and the outer planes.^[3] The book also details how to survive in the planes, and how combat and magic differ under each plane's special conditions. The Ethereal Plane, The Inner Planes—including the Plane of Elemental Air, the Plane of Elemental Fire, the Plane of Elemental Earth, and the Plane of Elemental Water, the Para-Elemental Planes (Smoke, Magma, Ooze, and Ice), the Energy Planes (Positive Energy and Negative Energy), and the Quasi-Elemental Planes (Lightning, Radiance, Minerals, Steam, Vacuum, Ash, Dust, and Salt) -- and the Astral Plane. After these planes, the Outer Planes are briefly described, including Nirvana, Arcadia, Seven Heavens, Twin Paradises, Elysium, Happy Hunting Grounds, Olympus, Gladsheim, Limbo, Pandemonium, The Abyss, Tarterus, Hades, Gehenna, The Nine Hells, Acheron, and Concordant Opposition. Manual of the Planes explains how each of the outer planes is related to each of the character alignments. For example, "The Seven Heavens" is the final resting place for characters of Lawful Good alignment."

All of this canon would change right around the time that second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Planescape setting came out.  But the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Manual of the Planes does exactly what it sets out to do which is to be cross compatible with the Monster Manual, the Monster Manual II, & The Fiend Folio.

The difference between the Manual of the Planes & the Planescape setting books is stark because the goals are vastly different. The Planescape line of products is meant to have the dungeon master create adventures & complete campaign within that setting. The Manual of the Planes is a whole cloth kit meant to have the dungeon master create their own adventures & campaign. This same design philosophy is at the  root of one of the problems of the 'OSR' as a whole.A point  where rpg makers & writers seem to think that you need their product to play in their settings. The Manual of the Planes allowed the DM to set adventures among the dangerous residents & the adventure  environments of the planes. There was little to no support for the Manual of the Planes over the years & its only recently that I found out why;  "Manual of the Planes is mainly a location book, describing the various planes, delineating how spells work, and - in the style of the Survival Guides of 1986 - talking about how to survive there. Other than a few monsters, there's very little crunch and there's no support for GMs who want complete adventures instead of encounter tables.
Grubb planned to publish that missing crunch through a new "Plane Speaking" column in Dragon. However, he only ended up writing three entries, for issues #120 (April 1987), #125 (September 1987), and #128 (December 1987). Adventure support came through the OP module series, but only one of those was published, "OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes" (1988)."
While this is all water under the bridge at this point I think that we as players & dungeon masters have to reflect on how & why there are some great ideas that are a part of the Manual of the Planes. Here are ten ways which I use the manual:

1. The Manual of the Planes is perfect for planing an alien invasion of your favorite AD&D or BECMI Dungeons & Dragons campaign. 
2. While the Manual of the Planes is high level the book can be used as a quick & dirty introduction for players to the planes with a random & quite dangerous encounter or two. 
3. The real star of the Manual of The Planes is the environs which showcase & shine the many facets of the book. 
4. Because this book is bare bones there's some real room for the dungeon master to get very creative with how & why they set up their cosmology in their home game's version of the planes. 
5. The Elemental planes are fleshed out & the DM can really go to town to create these as they wish. But beware the encounter tables in the Manual of Planes. 
6. There is a sense of deadliness in the Manual of the Planes that represents a degree of respect that the player's PC's must have for the planes over all. 
7. The DM is not hamstrung by some of the elements of the Planescape second edition AD&D setting. 
8. There's lots of room for campaign intrigue with the planes and it always seems to trickle down to the adventurer's level. 
9. The Manual of the Planes is still relevant today because it can easily work with 90 percent of the OSR products & rule sets on the market. 
10. There are some very cool but dangerously high level environs that can be worked into complete adventures using the AD&D Manual of the Planes 

Drive ins, Diners, Demons, & Cha'alt - Cha'alt/Godbound Campaign Commentary Session Report Part Nine 1/2

 "From Nexus one could travel to an infinite variety of worlds, both high fantasy and super-high-tech, past, present, and future. The city of Nexus itself is mercurial by nature, always shifting and changing as doors to worlds close and new ones open bringing in a portion of their reality to the city itself. There are factions within the city that try to control things, control worlds, &  even the nature of all existence!"


So last night I was talking with a player & friend of mine about bringing in one of his PC's that he retired ages ago. Terrence was a royal half elf that migrated across two friends D&D campaigns until finally finding his own in Nexus the Infinite City. But my Godbound/Cha'alt campaign has been making some of my players notologic.  

 

My working/playing  copy of Nexus The Infinite City so used with the cover worn off.

But now my players are after me to dust off my Nexus campaign notes & the interdimensional city location with incredibly dangerous adventure threads I left hanging from eons ago. Adventure threads that cross over into Venger Satanis's Cha'alt especially. The intergalactic  wasteland desert merges with & crosses over at several points because of Venger's obscure pop culture references.


One of which happens to be a faction of time travelers from Cha'alt past who are out to rewrite the wrongs of the planet's past. These interfering manipulators happen to have embroiled themselves accidentally with Terrence's dealings with the dragon king in my game. Also the party learned about a shipment of 'Red Zorth' ( +2 to all melee damage, add in two extra spells if wizard as the insanity of the cosmos pours into your PC's head.)  an occult & supernatural combat drug was on its way to the Egg of Coot's forces. The drug is a more refined version of xanthium-183. 
But then there's the little matter of a demonic drive in just outside of the Grand Canyon kingdom of the dragon king. This adventure location was created way back in the days of my Nexus The Infinite City campaign. I made this location using a combination of Jeff Grubs's Manual of the Planes & Mayfair Games Demons I as well as Demons II sets.


The drive in is a pristine 1950's drive in with giant screen, beautiful classic movies, and the smells of incredible concession stand food all being served by roller skating waitresses. Its enough to make you weep and the price is only your soul. The drive in screen itself is actually a demonic gateway ready to pour demon soldiers into this  shattered reality! This seals are broken & things are getting very dangerous indeed.


Jeff Grubb's Manual of the Planes was always a favorite to thumb through growing up & other worldly plane adventures were & are my specialty. There wasn't a Planescape in sight when this book came out & man did I get it in the neck growing up for liking this 'dry commentary' on the planes.

I used 'The Manual of The Planes' to flesh out some of the planar weirdness that happening around the black pyramid in last week's game. We've got a cybernetic Voltan gunning for the PC's whist some of Greyhawk's finest have shown up on Earth's door step in two week's game session Greyhawk Comes To Town - Specter of the Gunmen . Will the PC's shut down the drive in? Will Voltan catch up with the PC's? Will Terrence ever get his blades into his demonic rival?!
Greyhawk's finest have made plane fall & will this be the end of our party?! 


Tun in this coming week! Secret demonic fruity assassins are after the party. 

Review & Commentary Lich Lords Adventure Module By Lynn Sellers of Mayfair Games's Role Aids for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons First Edition & Your Old School Campaigns

"After countless millenia, A DARK POWER AWAKENS.

You have been summoned to appear before your king, who was once a great man, but is now held fast in the icy grip of fear. Trembling, he tells of mighty earthquakes to the north that destroyed villages and unearthed the... FORGOTTEN CITY OF THE LICH LORDS

Enter the catacombs of this buried city and find the way to destroy the evil before it brings the onslaught of eternal night. The fate of the living world is in your hands. Defeat the lords of darkness and great reward is yours. Fail and see a world... CRUSHED BY SKELETAL HANDS.

LICH LORDS is a high level quest for 6 to 8 adventurers of Skill Level 12 to 16. Brave every danger in the quest to rid the world of the most awesome of undead.""

1985 ... Lynn Sellers & Frank Frazetta (cover) ... 32 pages + centerfold cardstock map ... MGI 726 ... ISBN 091277133X"

It takes a certain mind set to run Lynn Sellers Lich Lords, as in this is a rather nasty piece of an old school Mayfair Role Aids adventure. Seems straight forward, the high level party of adventurers is hired by the king to destroy the evil undead lich lords. And that's where everything goes completely South. 

The picture was taken from this Etsy seller whose got the module for 30.00 dollars U.S. 
Lich Lords normally goes for forty five on Ebay.

In actuality the party is hired by the king but finds out that the lich lords despise  one another & the party has to decide how to enemy of my enemy is my friend. The problem is that the lich lords are in a weakened state & you can't fool around. By day fifteen their gonna be at full power & deadlier then ever! The downside to this module is the fact that its not a sandbox but a bit of a rail roadie dungeon setting.
There's a lot to like with Mayfair's Lichlords not only are they nasty high level undead for first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons but these guys will give any party of adventurers embolisms.  The maps & cartography are easy on the eyes & the lost city of the lich lords has some potential for even further adventuring.

Lynn Sellers is in top form here bringing the '85 undead pain to the party of adventurers & bring it hard. This is a module that works on the PC levels being twelve to fourteen for a reason. And that reason is the pure lethality of the undead royals. The problem is that the dungeon aspect is very linear. But there's so much to love here, the setting material is gold, the NPC's are completely nasty. And the adventure premise is pure eight five metal. My suggestion is to take the module adventure elements & completely ditch the dungeon crawl aspect. I'm not the only reviewer who felt this way either The Funky Grognard tumbler had this to say in his review of Lich Lords;  "Get rid of the dungeon crawl altogether.  Tear it up!  Toss it! Set it on fire!  Use it to line the bottom of your stupid parakeet’s cage! Focus on the political infighting amongst the Lich Lords and how the PCs either capitalize on their position as outsiders to take down these douchebag dickholes or become expendable pawns in their power games.  I would also opt to utilize an open world environment for this game, allowing the players to decide as to how they want the adventure to progress."

In fact I go just a bit further with Lich Lords & flesh out the undead city more. Keep the adventure's dungeon but use it for other undead NPC's possibly lesser undead nobles or the like. The Lich Lords is classic & classic for a reason & that reason is the whole cloth adventure, NPC's & actual solid use of the adventure material.

By using Lich Lords with the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons  first edition Dungeon Master's Guide its possible to back fill in some of the implied adventure back story & other dungeons that's talked about. Between the random dungeon generator & the random infernal monster generators the whole cloth back story of the 'lost city' could be filled in.


Mayfair games Lich Lords isn't by any means perfect but the quality is very ahead of its time for an Eight five product & it remains an old favorite of mine around the table top. 

The Drawing Battle Lines With Gary Gygax's Greyhawk & Blackmoor - Cha'alt/Godbound Campaign Commentary Session Report Part Eight

Tonight's  Cha'alt/Godbound campaign game was a very interesting dichotomy of old school & OSR elements with the PC's thrown into the deep end of my campaign. They dealt with the town of Low Star Arizona & came across the forces of Murlynd. His forces were rolling in from Greyhawk attracted by the armies of chaos in the form of the Egg of Coot.  The party of Godbound adventurers were drawn to the town by the opening of a planar gateway. 



What the PC's embroiled themselves in the affairs of a town of Greyhawk transplants which is actually the front for the forces of Heironeous making a beach head into Earth's reality. But what really happened is the party found a planar wizard. The planar wizard was based on  Patricia Quinn as Sorceress from  the film Hawk The Slayer. In the cellar of the local tavern there was a night road gateway. A fire wizard & his body guard routine of  the 'Order of the Lords of Mystery'  Abbott & monks were pinned on the other side. Our fire wizard made it through but the player's PC's were small fish in the affairs of the town. 



This Greyhawk is a whole different affair a world of Sword & Sorcery mixed with science fantasy elements. The order is observing the accounts of the Cha'alt wave & the effects of the armies of Chaos. 

The forces of Law representing Greyhawk have been gathering but Cha'alt's Chaos was there to interference in the form of a gang of  Cha'alt death stalkers who had been upgraded by the Egg of Coot. The adventurers hit the death stalkers hard. But what the party didn't understand is that the Egg knows about em.


The PC's are completely unaware of the fact that one of the demon worms of Cha'alt is observing all of the goings on. It has its own agenda & its sending in a team to take down our player's PC's!
The party has a supply of techo magical weapons that are being sent back to the dragon king's city state.



There's a certain magic ring from Cha'alt that has all of the player's in tonight's game. The deserts of Cha'alt teem with mutated bulettes the purple sands have been stained with the blood of the great Old Ones. The bulettes   respond to the wishes of the demon worms.

The bulettes will be sicked on the players when their PC's cross the wasteland to get back to the dragon king's city. Things are not as they appear however. There's a lot going in this campaign.