Castles & Cruasades Codex Germania - The Witch & the Aftermath - Session One Report Two

 Someone or something killed one of our party's shieldmaidens and it was ugly. We picked up our session from September 24 on the blog.  We found Helga flash frozen on the side of a hill just outside of the largest village in the area. We're on the tip of Germany and we've fought off some sorta of Trow near a smattering of forested area. 
The ground here seems almost cursed and we're coming to believe it might be a dragon in the area whose cursed the land like an ancient hate of old. 

We feel this events might be connected to the witch from last session. Local chieftens are being manipulated by the dragon and it's hench monsters. The angle warlords are being put at one another's throats as food stock for the Winter is disappearing. We've located at least two tunnels coming from the Von Horst castle deep into the wilderness. This has all of the hallmarks of inhuman raiders but not a single sign of a wyrm or dragon?! 

We also ran into a local druid whose extremely concerned about the dragon that's been seen in the area. We've broken out the smallter weapons and not the dragon slaying weapons yet. The party is looking for Kobolds or other servants of a dragon. The tunnels below the castle are humid, warm, and damp making the party very nervous. We've come upon seven tombs from the time of the Roman empire and there's definitely been signs of dragon worship in the past as there's paleolithic artwork depicting dragons and humanoid sacrifice in the past. We want to penetrate deeper into the dungeons and tunnels below the castle. 

Castles & Cruasades Codex Germania - The Witch & the Aftermath - Session One Report

 So I got a chance to sit in on a game of Castles & Crusades being running my buddy Paul. His C&C centers on a mythological Europe centered around 'The Codex Germania'.  Magick is real and only recently has Rome withdrawn from England. And only recently have the Angles & the Saxons have taken over. We were mercenaries working for the royals. We were stuck on a small ship bobbing in the sea making the crossing over to England. into 
And that's when we ran into a nasty witch who wanted to pack our adventurers into coffins. Our archer waited for a clean shot and then took the shot against vile caster. We saw him taken out with three arrows buried in his chest. 

This is was only the beginning when we met at the shore with two escorts to the lord's castle. We were armed and itching for an ambush. It didn't come. We moved on to the escort too the castle & events went easily from there. And our party was introduced to the Von Hurst family. An Angle warlord who brought over his 'pet' dragon Iron Claw. Our adventurers think it's the other way around. That it's actually the dragon manipulating the warlord whose trying to destabilize the surrounding local barons. 

We need to scout the area and find out what's going on. 

Shadows of Saltmarsh Amazing Adventures! Rpg Session Report #5 - Confronting Evil

   So tonight's session picks right up from last game session here on the blog.  We began by having our party let the Deep One hybrids let go & had the other half of the adventurers go upstairs in the house to free the captives! 

We got upstairs & almost immediately got into trouble with finding two giant spiders that dropped onto the party. Then it was a tangling fight in the hallway then up the stairs to free another sea elf that was being held. Afterward the party found that the house wasn't as unoccupied as it seemed. They found two secret rooms and the laboratory of the Alchemist. 
They also found the Alchemist's corpse & they examined the room. Things were going good for the party until the corpse moved! The Alchemist isn't dead you see but a lich! 
The party lost two members who were  hit by spells. Then it was gun fire and confusion! The party bolted! They left the haunted mansion so damn fast! 
Yes running is an option folks! They have no idea if thier team mates are alive or dead!
The party regrouped on the beach and needs another plan of attack! They have no idea what type of undead the Alchemist is. So thier going into the house by the use of the smuggler's caves coming up. I've gotten so damn tired of the players who have played this adventure calling it a Scooby Doo romp. Not this time folks. 
The Alchemist is a criminal mastermind and quite dangerous! He's also out for blood after using a speak to the dead spell on the corpses of the party members. 

The smuggler's caverns are now guarded by Deep One hybrid thugs. They've got four warriors covering the cavern & secret enterances. 
Then the party saw the rest of the Deep Ones exitting the sea. Things are getting dicey. They managed to get the two sea elven prisoners out! 
And they found a chest of weird greenish gold artifacts that seem to have been buried by the Deep Ones! We ended here. 

Shadows of Saltmarsh Amazing Adventures! Rpg Session Report #4

 Tonight's game sees the player's PC's finding the lizardmen tribesmen in dire straits because of the smugglers. This puts the PC's square in the middle of the Saltmarsh situation. This picks right up from the last week's game session. 

The situation is very dire because of the rise in the number of Deep One warriors who have been harrying the lizardmen's people. They were imported into New York City as workers for the harvesting of some of the underwater crops that are used in high end resturant food. They have also been employed for many of the high risk underwater & ship's repair  around the city's docks. These lizardmen have been managed from Plum Island's government facility. 
Deep One tribesmen and warriors have been raiding not only the docks but some of the local non humans. Waverider in last week's game got some of the lowdown. 
We've started exploring the house from the bottom sea caves up through the house itself. We've been exploring the upper part of the house when last week we heard noise from upstairs on the second floor. 
We the  heard noise from upstairs and ran straight into two pirate captains! They had short swords drawn and there was a fight in the stairs as well as the hallway. 

We retreated as guns came out our archer Red Arrow was able to disarm them. A close look showed that these two were Deep One hybrids! Now we had two captives and proceeded to question them about what they were smuggling. They have captives upstairs and if we didn't let them go they'd be murdered! We ended here! 

Shadows of Saltmarsh Amazing Adventures! Rpg Session Report #3

 We pick up with the party fighting smugglers on the beaches of the manor house in U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. Instead we were able to scatter the pirates with some carefully placed gas bombs.And we were able to sieze the Sea Wasp. This session picks right up from last week's session. 

We searched the beach and almost got ambushed by a pack of sea orcs, as well as mergnolls. These guys were part of the Deep Ones forces. 

Our own hero Waverider has been helping his own people the mermen around New York harbor. The Deep Ones have been battling them for centuries now. 
There have been incursions from the Deep Ones also on the Sea Elves terrority from Long Island. 
This goes back to the truce of 1952 which has been set up among the power house underwater humanoid tribes in the area. But something has been stirring up trouble among the tribes. The best guess of our two underwater heroes is that it's the Deep Ones. The village of Saltmarsh has been a haven for smugglers & pirates dating back before the 1700's. There have been rumors of undead horrors that date back to pre 1600's and can be traced back to Plum Island. 

The Plum Island facility has had rumors of lizardmen cryptids and strange monsters seen around the area. The mansion front door was locked and trapped. Nightslayer our night thief opened the locks without a problem. The interior of the house looked abandoned. However there were drag marks on the floor up too a book case. 
There were several bullet holes in the interior furnature of the house. The rooms looked lived in. 
We came face to face with two skeletons within the manor. Two of our party adventurers blasted the skeletons low and high with powers without report. This meant that the neighbors didn't see gun reports or gun play. We found sleeping bags and two ships log books. 
This is when we heard noise from upstairs & this is where we ended! 

Shadows of Saltmarsh Amazing Adventures! Rpg Session Report #2

 Our party was called in because people have been going missing in the Saltmarsh village & neighborhood. All of our investigations centered around the old Alchemist's mansion. This mansion has been abandoned since his operations were busted up ages ago. 

This session report plugs right into our Amazing Adventures meeting right here on the blog.  We rolled in and were told that there had been activity within the mansion. Strange lights and weird creatures have been seen around the mansion. 
Our own Silver Spider has been keeping an eye on the mansion. He's detected cut throats and pirates around the mansion. His own team has been accosted by these ruffians several times. 
Own on Waverider the underwater wonder came face to face with Deep Ones. The waters off of New York City in 1952 was the terrority of the New England mermen. There has been a truce between these two underwater tribal powers. Something has stirred up these two powerhouses in the area.

Saltmarsh back in the 1700's were the abode of pirates and sea terrors. These forces never left according to the locals. And the 'Alchemist' & his brood has controlled the area since the 1700's. 

Now there's talk of strange lizardlike monsters out in the fens and salt swamps around the Saltmarsh neighborhood/village area. We found out that there have been a small series of explosions near the beach. The locals subscribe that it might be explosives left over from the War. 

Some of the locals aren't sure though. There have been lots of ships and other strange sail craft that have been seen around the beaches. 
After investigating the beach area we came across several rowboats and launches from several sail craft. Our party engaged in a small skirmish with a bunch of sea dogs on the beach. No shots were exchanged and fists flew. The sea dogs fled into the rowboats. Next we're going to begin investigating the mansion! 
Amazing Adventures! does a good job of blending the usual Castles & Crusades system to a more modern twist! 

Shadows of Saltmarsh Amazing Adventures! Rpg Session Report #1- Updated!

 

The Green Man a menace to the PC's coming up.


I've just started an Amazing Adventures rpg  by Jason Vey game last night. The PC's ended up crossing over into an alternative world time line of 2100. This blog post picks right up from November 19th blog post. 

The mono skyscrapers of the preserved New York Sky line greeted them. This was after tracking down the cybernetically enhanced courier of Nazi dimensional traveler  from 1952. The world of these Nazi is world where Operation Spark in 1943 succeeded in killing Hitler(or did it). Germany sued for piece in the world courts but continues hostilities with the Allies They turned over the hierarchy & infrastructure of the German high command responsible for the Final Solution  
Israel was founded much earlier in this world & continues to play a part in Western affairs.

This Nazi Germany has been locked in a Cold War with the Allies since the war's 'end' & continues to operate through powered agents, individuals, & teams. Now they've been raiding alternative dimensions & time lines. They've stumbled upon the world of 2100 where the countryside has mostly been abandoned & come across a Great Race of Yith library beneath the ruins of a castle in up state New York. These ruins have recently been unearthed in the upper part of New York state. Authorities have moved in to secure the site. 


What the characters also learned is the criminal mastermind known as 'the Alchemist' has been running a slave trade & human traffic ring in New York city of this alternative 1952.This bastard controls all of the major smuggling & drug traffic from the Salt Marsh neighborhood down on the water fronts. He has ties to the Nazi smuggling agents into New York. Their latest agent came in on the Sea Witch.



Yes I'm running U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmash by Don Trumball with a Troll Lords Amazing Adventures pulp/super hero spin. So I'm dumping the whole Scooby Doo aspect of U1 & turning the Alchemist into a lich/pulp villain of incredibly evil aspect.

OSR Commentary - The Alko Option Arthur Machen Mythological Campaign Madness

 “We lead two lives, and the half of our soul is madness, and half heaven is lit by a black sun. I say I am a man, is the other that hides in me?”

― Arthur Machen, The White People and Other Stories


Part of the problem with the OSR is staying fresh as every adventure idea, old school author, old module, etc. is snapped up & brought into another product, fan pdf, or other media for consumption. There are still there are Appendix N authors who are not well known or as well read at all today. Machen is key to helping me overcoming one of the great controversies of old school Dungeons & Dragons as well as its retroclone systems. No I'm not talking about pointless political bickering that seems all of the rage for marketing OSR products. First a bit of background on Arthur Machen.

"Arthur Machen (/ˈmækən/; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan (1890; 1894) has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror, with Stephen King describing it as "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language."^[1] He is also well known for his leading role in creating the legend of the Angels of Mons. " Arthur Machen is one of my all time favorites when it comes to dealing with the weird secret societies  & strange occult survivals specifically the realm of a particularly nasty family of fairies. Most have heard of  The Great God Pan which is his apocalyptic novel; "The novella begins with an experiment to allow a woman named Mary to see the supernatural world. This is followed by an account of a series of mysterious happenings and deaths over many years surrounding a woman named Helen Vaughan. At the end, the heroes confront Helen and force her to kill herself. She undergoes a series of supernatural transformations before dying and she is revealed to be the child of Mary and the god Pan. " This was novel is a classic of supernatural literature & horror without a doubt.
But the events that lead up to The Great God Pan can be traced to  The White People & The Three Imposters.  There had to be secret cult that was behind the events of The Great God Pan!? There was & we get a glimpse behind the curtain in the novel The Three Imposters. 



The Three Imposters reads like a Call of Cthulhu adventure & investigation game of grand proportions. Why? Because Arthur Machen is the father of the modern weird tale. HP Lovecraft borrowed many literary techniques & writing twists from Machen.
"His significance was recognized by H. P. Lovecraft, who in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature" named Machen as one of the four "modern masters" of supernatural horror (with Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, and M. R. James)"
The Three Imposters gives a birds eye view of how a cult & secret society can close a noose around a PC's neck easily in their quest for an artifact or item. "The novel comprises several weird tales and culminates in a final denouement of deadly horror, connected with a secret society devoted to debauched pagan rites. The three impostors of the title are members of this society who weave a web of deception in the streets of London—relating the aforementioned weird tales in the process—as they search for a missing Roman coin commemorating an infamous orgy by the Emperor Tiberius and close in on their prey: "the young man with spectacles""

This narrative setting  style also extends into the novel the White People where we get a glimpse into the deadly & dangerous world of these evil fairies;
"A discussion between two men on the nature of evil leads one of them to reveal a mysterious Green Book he possesses. It is a young girl's diary, in which she describes in ingenuous, evocative prose her strange impressions of the countryside in which she lives as well as conversations with her nurse, who initiates her into a secret world of folklore and black magic. Throughout, the girl makes cryptic allusions to such topics as "nymphs", "Dôls", "voolas," "white, green, and scarlet ceremonies", "Aklo letters", the "Xu" and "Chian" languages, "Mao games", and a game called "Troy Town" (the last of which is a reference to actual practices involving labyrinths or labyrinthine dances^[1]). The girl's tale gradually develops a mounting atmosphere of suspense, with suggestions of witchcraft, only to break off abruptly just at the point where a supreme revelation seems imminent. In a return to the frame story, the diary's custodian reveals that the girl's body was later found dead near a seemingly pagan statue in the woods."

All of Machen's works shift around these strange occult & alien Fairy survivors from ancient Pre second Ice Age days. The deadliness of their relics & artifacts is detailed in
"The Red Hand" (1895). ""The Red Hand" (1895) — a short detective/horror story featuring the main characters from The Three Impostors. It focuses on a murder performed with an ancient stone ax. "We see even more of this in the "The Shining Pyramid" (1895);
""The Shining Pyramid" (1895) — short horror story. Strange arrangements of stones appear at the edge of a young man's property. He and a friend attempt to decipher their meaning before it is too late."

Finally Machen's  The Hill of Dreams (written 1895–1897; published 1907) details mostly everything we need to know about the family of fairies;
"The novel recounts the life of a young man, Lucian Taylor, focusing on his dreamy childhood in rural Wales, in a town based on Caerleon. The Hill of Dreams of the title is an old Roman fort where Lucian has strange sensual visions, including ones of the town in the time of Roman Britain. Later, the novel describes Lucian's attempts to make a living as an author in London, enduring poverty and suffering in the pursuit of art and history. Lord Dunsany admired The Hill of Dreams and wrote an introduction to a 1954 reprint of the novel.^[1] In Henry and June, Henry Miller tells Anaïs Nin about The Hill of Dreams.^[2]
According to the Friends of Arthur Machen website, the novel is
almost undoubtedly Machen's most important and moving work. Lucian Taylor, the hero, is damned either through contact with an erotically pagan "other" world or through something degenerate in his own nature, which he thinks of as a "faun". He becomes a writer, and when he moves to London he becomes trapped by the increasing reality of the dark imaginings of this creature within him, which become increasingly real. Machen drew copiously on his own early years in Wales and London, and the book as a whole is an exploration through imagination of a potential fate which he personally avoided. One of the first explorations in fiction of the figure of the doomed artist, who is biographically so much a part of the decadent 1890s."
Any contact with these fairies or their alien works is chaotic & utterly alien. A PC must make a save vs wands or be subject a random temporary insanity. Those who actually crossover into their astral fairy lands maybe subject to actual chaotic mutations or worse! I mentioned a controversy at the beginning of this blog entry & I can say that it has to do with how to deal with dealing with traditional Dungeons & Dragons Elves, Fairies, etc. with Sword & Sorcery elements. Rereading Arthur Machen over the last couple of days I came to the conclusion that these survivals are the key. There are things that the Fairy will not talk about at all & there was a war for the soul of all mankind. The Fairy don't talk about it but humanity was at its center & their allies during it.  "The Voor" were banished to the very edges of the planes but from time to time their world crosses over onto their ancient haunts. To say that there is enmity between the Fairy & the Voor is an understatement. These forces will kill each other on sight & there are frequent wars in the Deep Astrals.    

Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum by Brian Young goes into the Celtic mythological conflicts that are the central piece of such a campaign. The Fairy don't talk about the Voor with their human allies. Druids may speak of such dark things if PC's are really lucky.

 

An Arthur Machen mythological campaign would be perfect for an epic   Mike Stewart Victorious rpg campaign. The age of the Arthur Machen  literature is perfect for a Victorious game campaign where the PC's are the play things of a secret society,a cult of the Voor or their human allies.


Amazing Adventures! Rpg maybe the best option for an Arthur Machen mythological adventures as the Voor infiltrate different levels of society on the fringes of reality. The Amazing Adventures Manual of Monsters actually has a number of creatures that could fit the bill for bringing the PC's into the realm of these malevolent fairies. the Amazing Adventures Manual of Monsters is also a solid option for use as a players guide to fighting these dangerous subtle menaces. Also the psion PC class from Amazing Adventures could be used as a powerhouse to help overcome the insane effects of these Fey monsters.

B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (Basic) By Tom Moldvay, & Jean Wells
might be one of the best modules to get the Arthur Machen treatment. The Palace of adventure might make an excellent Britain Roman Era castle & grounds. The chaos of the ruins could be directly related to a curse of the 'good neighbors'. B3 could be a solid choice because its a basic module & could get PC's into the deep end of things.

B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (Basic) By Tom Moldvay, & Jean Wells could be a proper adventure location within the Deep Astral. Sky Ships could stumble upon the place traveling between worlds & find themselves at the attention of these horrors from beyond. Some of the fairy gods & entities from the CC1 Calidar, Beyond the Skies by Bruce Heard may have the lowdown on certain aspects of these mysterious entities.

With the Invisible College rpg out this whole affair is easy to slide into the background of a game of the modern occult as the Fey make thier return into the world of man through the occult conspiracies presented in the Invisible College. Aklo would be a side or misunderstood inner mystery of one of the game's societies. 
Alko would also be a perfect add on for the Red Room's Wretchedverse games as a lost language or pre Adamic languages of the Beyond. 

OSR Atomic Campaign Commentary - A Most Dangerous NPC Count Zaroff Amazing Adventures Build Part II

 Count Zaroff is a menacing methodical hunter who hunts only the greatest of prey mutant, mutant animal, or human. Zaroff is a master hunter starting with bow & arrow, then moving on to modern firearms, and finally unleashing his pack of mutant hunting dogs to chase down his prey. He is merciless, quick witted, and highly dangerous. And this blog post picks up straight from here. 

Count Zaroff 

Class/Level: Hunter 6/Archer 5 

Alignment: Lawful Evil 

Abilities: Str 13, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 10 Cha 13, 

Prims: Str, Dex, Int

AC:19 

BTH: +5 

Costume: Black outfit, gloves, tunic,boot, hunter's sash all in varying shades of black depending upon area of hunt 

Hit Dice 5d8 

Hit Point: 35 

Class Abilites: Master Archer, Eagle Eye, Unstable Shoot, Master Bowyer,Blinding Speed, Rapid Shot, Dead Eye Shot, 

Fate Points: 8d8

Backgrounds:* High Society, Military, 

Languages/Knowledges: Russian, French, Latin, Classic Literature, Russian & International  Military Forces & Weapons 

Traits: Arrogant, Suspicious, Aggressive  

Gear: Compound Recurve Bow embedded with South American charms, Score of normal hunting arrows, Score of explosive arrows for during military operations (-2 to hit, but explode to deal +2d6 impact damage to a 5' radius; Dex save for half), Hunting Rifle

Count Zaroff hunts only the most dangerous prey regardless of mutant,human,or mutant animal. Zaroff is one of the most obessive hunters on planet Earth. Count Zaroff has a castle abode & retreat on 'Shipwreck island' where he often has his mutant tribal minions set up ships for wreck. The crews & passengers of these wrecks then become his prey for his hunts. Because Zaroff is retired Russian military he has extensive access to arms & armorments. Zaroff  he has an undergound vault & trophy room below his island. Zaroff's island is covered in rough & dangerous mutant animal infested jungle. Because he is independently wealthy & belongs to one of the most influencial families in Russia he not for want of money. Count Zaroff  has vast resources with  a landing strip,motor pool, and facilities for his island. 

Count Zaroff often farms out his services to many communities across the world where mutants & mutant  animals have become a problem. He will hunt these menaces for free with the understanding that his methods nor the hunt can be hindered or questioned. 

OSR Atomic Campaign Commentary - A Most Dangerous NPC Count Zaroff Background Part I

 So as we once fold back into the Siege Engine mode play there's an mini campaign idea that came about because of consolidating campaign ideas. The 1960's Atomic War dimensional plane has been a mini planar branch that our Amazing Adventures PC's sometime found themselves upon. You can read about that mini campaign in part I here & part II here. 
And upon this planar wasteland Earth there's a mighty hunter of human & mutantkind Russian Count Zaroff, & his faithful mutant servant Ivan. World War III is long over and 'Shipwreck island' has become a hazard to shipping routes throughout the South American Coast off of what was once Chile. 

Fall Out has become a real hazard as it sweeps across the globe periodically wiping out entire communties and regions as it sweeps down from the Earth's atmosphere. The world of mankind has been reduced back to the technological level of the 1920's & 1930's. Mutation has made the wilds of Earth all at much more dangerous. 

And 'Shipwreck island' is a small dot owned by the Russian Cossiack oligarch Count Zaroff. Zaroff survived World War III with the rank of general and claimed the island with it's chateau & underground fallout shelter. 'Shipwreck Island' has a reputation of death, it's impentrible jungles holding only the deadliest of beasts, mutant animals, & worse. 
Count Zaroff hunts only the deadliest mutants & humans across his island & beyond pitting his prowess, abilities, and equipment against the best this world has to offer. Zaroff only keeps the most expressive parts of his prey the head. 
Zaroff is incredibly dangerous having a vast array of weaponry of Korean War & World War II era in prime condition in a motor pool  as well as mini airport on his island. Because Zaroff employs his own tribe of mutant henchmen everything is ready to move at a moment's notice. Count Zaroff has retired to his island but keeps his ear to the pavement for any 'exceptional prey' human or mutant. 

Count Zaroff may become an NPC ally or enemy for the players as he hunts mutant menaces for wasteland  communities for the thrill of it. 

Count Zaroff & co. are anti heroes & complete heels mysteriously helping a wasteland community only to disappear back to 'Shipwreck island' in time for a banquet fit for a king or at the very least a count. Count Zaroff is taken from a 1932 American pre-Code horror film 'The Most Dangerous Game' , directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Joel McCrea, Fay Wray and Leslie Banks.
Next time we'll get deep into building Count Zaroff in Amazing Adventures. 

OSR Commentary On C2 ""The Ghost Tower of Inverness" (1980), by Allen Hammack With A Bit of Clark Ashton Smith For Your Old School Campaigns Updated

 

"A shadow from the past, the Ghost Tower of Inverness has loomed ever larger in the mind of the great Seer of Urnst. Now he has convinced the Duke that an expedition should be organized to go to the ancient keep and recover its greatest treasure - the fabled Soul Gem. This module was originally written for the Official ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Game Tournament at Wintercon VIII, held in Detroit in November of 1979. It is the second in TSR's COMPETITION SERIES - modules that were used in official tournaments. This module contains a challenging setting, a scoring system and characters specially prepared for this adventure. It may thus be used for competition among players (or groups of players) or as a non-scored adventure. Also included within are background information, referee's maps and notes, encounter descriptions for players, and a background scenario linked to the WORLD OF GREYHAWK Fantasy World Setting."

Nineteen Seventy Nine seems to have been  a banner year for modules & one that I love to refer back to is the ultimate in 'fun house dungeons'. Yes I'm talking about the infamous C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness competition module.  ""The Ghost Tower of Inverness" (1980), by Allen Hammack, was the second adventure in the competition (C-) series. It was published in 1980." I'm not sure what it is about this module but I've got a very large soft spot for it. 

This module has direct & deep connections to the campaign world of Greyhawk; 

"The backstory to C2 has some fairly important implications for the history and development of Greyhawk, due to the age of Castle Inverness:

Know you that in the elder days before the Invoked Devestation and the Rain of Colorless Fire, when the ancient peaks of the Abbor-Alz still thrust skyward sharp and majestic and the Flan tribesmen were but newcomers to the land, there existed between the Bright Desert and the mouth of the river Selintan a great fortress called Inverness . . .  Know you also that here was said to dwell the great wizard Galap-Dreidel at the height of his power and glory, and that he did lift the Castle Inverness from the very foundation of rock upon which it rested. [citation]" 

This information comes straight from the Greyhawk on line page & it has many connections across the board to  the Flanaess. But that's never stopped me from taking full advantage to draw in the ghost tower deeper into whatever campaign world  I'm currently running.  For me the tower is one which has many different aspects across the planes so there's a Ghost Tower on Mystara . The classic Modules and Adventures in Mystara article by Bouv  from the Vaults of Pandius site has some ideas on the towers placement. 

 For me it comes back to Clark Ashton Smith & Jack Vance's wizards. These are beings whose very works can define reality of their respective worlds. Now most folks would think that I'd reference the excellent  Xiccarph cycle of Clark Ashton Smith. No instead I want to focus on CAS's "The Dark Eidolon" . The tale of course  chronicles the life and death of the dread sorcerer Namirrha. Namirrha is the complete opposite of the wizard who constructed the ghost tower. But their are striking similarities. Both of these high level wizards are busy rearing edifices that defy their local time & space continuum's technological level & the mere laws of physics. The Nerd Redfined site has a very good overview & break down of Namirrha.
But this begs the question if there are such towers across the multiverse could they lay in wait for unwary heroes? Surely there are no such weird towers in say classic comic books?! Well actually the DC universe has one of its own that has rooms that look like they were designed by M.C. Escher. I'm speaking of course of DC's own sorcerer supreme Dr. Fate & his tower. 

Artwork used without permission but not as a trade mark or copyright challenge.

The tower of Fate appeared in More Fun Comics #58 (August, 1940) & has served as the focal point for some of the most important events in the DC comic book universe. The Ghost tower has  served in some of the most important PC's deaths over the years. Countless parties have ventured into its depths & yet few have survived its tricks & traps. The fact that its a competition module makes this all of the sweeter. Could it be that the real reason that the ghost tower hasn't been brought to heel like so many other dungeons is the fact that it serves another function? Could C2 tower actually be a playing board between the gods & various high level wizards? We know that the tower itself is from another age. But is this because its halls serve as the battle ground for the amusement of the gods & their opponents. If this is a fun house dungeon then for whom is it fun for? 

The  answer lies within its history & connections to some of the greatest disasters of Greyhawk's history.  Now of course the gods & wizards amuse themselves at the perils of mortals within the tower.


William Blake  Jacob's Ladder

I've seen C2 described as a 'killer dungeon' numerous times but I think that its part of its form & function. The adventure is described for PC's of levels five through seven. Confession time I've used it with much higher level PC 's & its just as lethal.
Is there a malevolent intelligence behind the the tower? Well yes in my campaigns the ghost tower has been run by any number of dimensional travelers who have served the tower. The form & function has been the same. The tower moves from place to place & kills off adventurers according to its ancient function that was created so many thousands of years ago. The magicks of the tower are as potent as the day it was created. I've used the ghost tower with lots of OSR retrclone systems especially Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, Labyrinth Lord, AD&D first edition & my upcoming Amazing Adventures!/ Demi god campaign.


Because the legends of the ghost tower are so tied in with Greyhawk over the years, I've used this adventure to get PC's to Greyhawk if they've survived. The campaign world is so iconic that its not hard to get players into the Greyhawk mind set. I've also gathered PC's from across a wide range of TSR campaign classic settings such as Mystara, Blackmoor, Greyhawk & points beyond.
This really speaks to the adaptiveness of C2 ""The Ghost Tower of Inverness". There are lots of detractors out in the OSR for this module but still love it. Having this location in an old school or OSR campaign setting is guaranteed to spark interest & perhaps a lot of caution. 

What about using it with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg?! There are several options & all of them are very dangerous for PC's. The ghost tower isn't simply a Greyhawk   phenomenon but instead an inter planar one. Perhaps the tower's maker was an apprentice of  Namirrha. Then there could be a tower on the very edge of Hyperborea  not unlike structure found in the AS&SH adventure 'The Sea Wolf's Daughter' 
If the original  C2 ""The Ghost Tower of Inverness" appeared as an amusement & center of learning for the Hyperboreans before the Green Death. Then it might appear from time to time along the coastlands near  Brigand's Bay. This results in the tower fading into legend by the time it next appears again. 

Templar Knight Mayhem - Tegel Manor Session Report Five Inside The Monastery

Tonight's Tegel Manor session was interesting to say the least as the PC's found themselves in the middle of an inter dimensional raid. They ran into a patrol of Aldebaran raiders & found themselves back to back with the bastards. Some dirty tricks & a bit of psionics allowed them to get past the patrol & get the better of them. That's when things got interesting they managed to save the monastery of some Templar monks/knights.  These knights are psionic & had cleaned out their former monastery as a part of a major adventure arch that involved Frog God Games Black Monastery once upon a time a few years ago.



The monks took in the PC's after the defeat of the raiders & told the PC's about their guarding one of the Eternity Crystals. They also found the crypt of  Sir Briane aka the Silver Knight whose descendant was the champion of the monastery until he was murdered in battle defending his brothers. The psion crystal matrix was destroyed during the raid and the knights are awaiting appearance of a new champion (more on him coming up). 


The PC's found thousands of protective spells in the Alko language  carved into the foundations of the monastery. These descended deep into the crypts & around the parameter of the foundations of chapel of the monastery which originally was a converted Roman temple. 


Can the Templars hold out as the sky fills with the flying saucers of the  Aldebarans raiders with the PC's as they await the arrival of the Templar Knight's new champion? Can they resist the temptation to ignore the raiders that are ravaging the countryside? The  Aldebarans raiders came straight outta of  Light City Foes: Stardust From  Halls of the Nephilim.




And what secrets does Tegel Manor hold in the wake of the legacy of  the Eternity Crystals? Tonight one of the PC's saw the burning psionic eyes of some renegade psion who works with  the  Aldebarans raiders! Even as this is going on the ghosts of the Templar knights don't rest easy in their crypts! Something evil beyond all experience stirs out in the battle fields & hungers for the souls of the adventurers. Something from TSR  the Fiend Folio is coming for the party next week!

The Aldebaran's Raid - Tegel Manor Session Report Four & More OSR Mayhem!

Switching it up with the Victorious Rpg by Mike Stewart & Amazing Adventures! by Jason Vey , when last left our heroes my version had plane jumped into its new destination. An alien jungle world and things were getting very interesting at the old colony cities on this new plane. Last week the player's PC's heard blaster fire coming from the nearby cities and fires raging. That's when they came upon the  Aldebarans raiders armed to their teeth with their own floating battle ship high in the clouds.



The  Aldebarans  are from
Fantastic Worlds #6 (Standard Comics, Novemeber, 1952).
These aliens are in the  public domain

The  Aldebarans  are the worst aspects of goblinoids teamed with a highly motivated religious imperative combined with bits of a mercenary army AC 9 [10]   HD 1+1 Attacks Raygun (1d6+1, medium range) Move 12.  These raiders are tearing across the countryside for parties unknown looking for an artifact one of six Eternity Crystals. The colonists have no idea where these things are. The  Aldebarans are some of the worst scum of the universe & very much a menace from the coldest depths of Hell. They have no idea that Tegel Manor just dimensionally gated into the middle of their raid.


Many of the businesses,NPC's, etc. are coming straight outta Citybook I: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker From  Flying Buffalo so we've got a mix of anarchism Nineteen century & Middle Ages technologies, personalities,etc.  This is something that dungeon master do all of the time. And my players come to expect it outta me on a regular basis.


 The  Aldebarans  came straight outta of  Light City Foes: Stardust From 

Halls of the Nephilim.  And this is a nice 'pay what you want' product which is a sort of super hero take line  on Swords & Wizardry.   It features a really powerful & highly dangerous version of  Fletcher Hanks super hero (villain) Star Dust The Super Wizard. 


 The whole plot line from this product is straight outta of the Avengers Infinity War I & II with the plot going something like this;" Nothing will be the same!

Although his intentions were originally just, the intergalactic super wizard known as Stardust has become a galactic conqueror. Worse yet, he's set his sights on the Eternity Crown and Crystals! The heroes of Light City must band together to stop this menace to save Earth... and the reality itself!" Its a plot line we've seen numerous time across a million or so comic books & Dungeons & Dragons modules. So I'm going to incorporate it into my own home game campaign. But will the PC's survive the onslaught?! Tune in next week for more incredible updates! 

OSR Campaign Expansion With 'Castles & Crusades: Brimstone & The Borderhounds RPG Quick Start' & The Book of Powers

For most folks they would be satisfied with simply telling you about a The Castles & Crusades: Brimstone & The Borderhounds RPG Quick Start  yesterday. Brimstone is a bounty hunter in Hell & he his cohorts go gunning for the souls of the damned on Earth. There's a really solid comicbook series that was done on the character of Brimstone.   I compared the concepts to the old Brimstone television show from '98 through '99.  Yes I realize that  Castles & Crusades: Brimstone & The Borderhounds RPG Quick Start  has absolutely nothing to do with the Brimstone television show except for the damned souls bounty hunting aspect.
Then Brim the wrestler whose inside ring persona Brimstone all of this is based contacted me yesterday via email. He's a super nice guy. But this got me thinking long & hard about Castles & Crusades especially some of the notions about demi gods in these games. After speaking at length with Jason Vey about this. I began to read through The Book of Powers for the Amazing Adventures! rpg.  Now what the Hell does any of this have to do with Dungeons & Dragons?! A lot actually, Amazing Adventures is a game of Pulp era adventure that starts in the 1600's buts right up to the 1950's.  Yes,  this includes the Golden age of 1930's Pulps. This gives a whole range of worlds & eras that Brimstone & co. can appear in.



If we dig deeper into Brimstone's origins then it becomes apparent that there's a lot more adventure fodder below the surface then meets the eye;

"Born and raised in Hell, Brimstone is the son of a Janitor of Demonic Forces and a Saxon Warrior Queen. As a child Brimstone knew that he was destined for great things but never seemed to find his niche. He and his Father were abandoned by his mother at the tender age of 20 minutes. Growing up for Brim was hard, being a half-demon/half-human son of a Janitor, Brim had to learn to defend himself from the most vile creatures that reside in the darkest and most evil place in Hell, high school. From High School, Brim went on to join his father in the custodial arts. One day while moving a dumpster from a Infernal Transfer Station (ITS), Brim found a lowly "weeper" (Usually a human soul that cries all the time and proclaims "Why me! I don't deserve this". 9 out of 10 times they deserve it). In a rare moment of tenderness, Brim hid the Weeper and released him past the first gate and let him run into the barren wastelands in search of redemption and salvation away from Hell. Brim let him get at least 100 yards before sniping him through the a calf with his trusty crossbow. He did think twice about sending the Oolog Monster in to rip the rest apart and eat the remains, he sent it anyway. He was bored. A passing Centurion noticed Brimstone's aptitude for dealing with Weepers and offered him a position as a Border Patrol Errant, keeping the population in Hell and preventing souls from getting into the Wastelands. His father did not approve and a large rift formed in their relationship, especially since his father had now become the head honcho of all Hell and began taking his job way too seriously.

In spite of Dad, Brim took to his job like a Hell prawn to a lava pool. In the first month alone, Brim tripled the his quota and even informed on a few of his fellow Errants that were smuggling weepers out into the wastelands and even back into our reality. Praised by his superior, the corporate demon-ass kissing pencil neck geeks, and loathed by his coworkers for basically screwing up the soul curve, Brimstone began making a name for himself in the Border community. Soon Brim shifted into the retrieval department, Autonomous tactical units mandated to retrieve "weepers" that have escaped into the deep wastelands. These units also go by the more common designation, Borderhounds. He was given a small budget and staff and gets to sit around some of the outer borders in his truck looking out for Weepers and other squatters and drinking beer. One day, he caught two Weepers ( A guy and a girl ) trying to get to a transit station. After Brim caught up with them, the girl quickly turned on her male friend and aided Brim in the capture. It seemed she never really wanted to leave and actually was more at home in Hell than she ever was in Delaware, her name was DANIELLE. Brim liked her immediately. They got married and before you know it, they had a couple of kids, DOOM BRINGING YOUNGLING LAMENTOR OF ALL NETHER WORLDS a.k.a. DYLAN and SAMANTHA ( After Danielle's Aunt ). Life seemed to settle down and become routine after a couple centuries.

Around our equivalent of 1977, Brim was patrolling the outskirts of XZA'KIRATA'KI'NOLA'ZI'XQUI'LO'BAI, a big piece of nothing, when he came across an encampment. There he met two big Mexicans, DAWG and LUSCIOUS (had aspirations of being a male stripper at 6' and 300 pounds), just chilling out and drinking beer. Seemed they had arrived in Hell a couple of months earlier and just walked away from the receiving station and into the wasteland to find a place to get drunk and sleep. In their stay in the wasteland they got really friendly with the place, exploring (for chicken and beer), and got to know the local clans and life-forms. Brim took them on as his sidekicks, he pays them usually in imported Country FriedChicken buckets, Beer and Cd's (usually show tunes... don't ask). Brim and his new found buddies quickly garnered a reputation as being one of Hell's best retrieval squads and were given the unit designation XIBALBA. Brim soon had earned enough credits to get himself and his family a nice plot of Hell in a gated wasteland, usually reserved for Serial Killers and Dictators. For Brim, life is a daily routine. He deals with the weepers of the universe and just longs every day to get home to his wife and kids, sit down in front of the idiot box ( a.k.a. TV ), watch reruns of every Wrestlemania, drink beer, and get some from his wife occasionally. "

But this has very little to do with a world & campaign setting such as Dungeons & Dragons Greyhawk. Oh really?! I hate to bring up the Gord The Rogue books by Gary Gygax  but their perfectly attuned Law vs Chaos plot; "Saga of Old City was the first novel in TSR's Greyhawk Adventures series. It starts in Gord's childhood, and ends with his triumphant return to Greyhawk City as a young man and master thief. He learns his trade in the "beggars' guild", and gets involved in the gang war touched off by the beggars encroaching on the official thieves' guild's territory. He travels and has a variety of swashbuckling adventures, ranging from participating in a war to liberating a young noblewoman held hostage.

Artifact of Evil is a continuation of Saga of Old City. This was the final novel under TSR's Greyhawk Adventures banner that was written by Gygax. An ancient artifact is uncovered, whose power could destroy their world. It is up to Gord and his companions to try to stop this artifact of evil from falling into the wrong hands.

Sea of Death, the first of the series published by New Infinities Productions, Inc., has Gord traveling far afield to the Sea of Dust, on a quest for a "Theorpart", hidden in a lost city. He must face rivals sent by demon lords: the psychopathic dwarf Obmi, who serves Zuggtmoy, and the drow priestess Eclavdra, serving Graz'zt. He meets and falls in love with Leda, a clone of Eclavdra. Leda and Gord part at the end of the book as she returns to the Abyss, impersonating Eclavdra in Graz'zt's service for the sake of higher ideals.

Night Arrant is a collection of nine short stories about Gord's adventures, in his early twenties, in the City of Greyhawk.

City of Hawks is a retelling of the events that occurred in Saga of Old City. Gord's rise from simple beggar to master thief are detailed, as is his search for his true heritage.

Come Endless Darkness continues where Sea of Death left off and has Gord continue his quest to stop Tharizdun and Lord Entropy from taking over the Multiverse.

Dance of Demons is the finale, in which Gord and Gellor enter the Abyss on a mission from the world's most powerful forces of Balance, to retrieve the remaining Theorparts. The goal is nothing less than to free Tharizdun, the long-imprisoned god of ultimate evil and entropy, and to finally destroy him. The novel ends with the complete destruction of Oerth, and the unveiling of a new and better world."
After the Gord novels end he gets involved with the war between Chaos & Law; ""At Moonset Blackcat Comes" is an early tale of Gord and his friend Chert the barbarian, in which Gord accepts a mission for the Catlord.

"Evening Odds" appears as story 14 in Pawn of Chaos: Tales of the Eternal Champion, an anthology of fiction inspired by Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythos. The story takes place some time after the events of Dance of Demons. Gord has apparently been deposed from his position as the new Catlord and is traveling the alternate realities as a Champion of Balance. In the course of the story he upsets a plot by the archfiend Baphomet on modern Earth."

This is the perfect opportunity to involve  Brimstone & The Borderhounds as  Baphomet minions escape Hell & begin ravaging Earth on some alternative plane Prime Earth. The gods call in the PC's as things spiral outta of control. 

I can already hear the players out there gnashing their teeth about how the player''s PC's need an edge. That's where  The Book of Powers for the Amazing Adventures! rpg. comes in & it allows the player's to play their own demi god half angel or demonic PC's. These are not the over powered engines of destruction that we've seen in other systems. Some of this material was inspired by Nuelow Games Awakened PC material on their blogs. I'm going to be incorporating & boiling this stuff down coming up. All of this gets into the back end of the war between Chaos & Order that we've seen played out in Michael Moorcock's novels, stories, etc. again & again. This whole cloth campaign idea was put into the Deities & Demigods Advanced Dungeons & Dragons book. 

In fact if you want to add in another era or wrinkle I highly suggest Mike Stewart's Victorious rpg for a Victorian era 'supers's setting that can handle the PC's abilities with style as well. Great game & I'm a fan of Mike's design & setting. Now let's say that you want a really good twist on the demigod aspect of this style of campaign & something really different?! 



James Mishler did a solid take on the Demi God race as a PC class for Labyrinth Lord but there's no reason not to use it to make out some real  jerks & criminals of the underworld. Add in the The Book of Powers for the Amazing Adventures! rpg & your gonna have a unique & highly dangerous NPC. 



A very different & terrifying war of Chaos & Order calls perhaps its time that I answer it. The campaign setting is coming together quickly & dangerously.