OSR Commentary - Player Expectation Verse Choice In OSR & Old School Games

So over the years I've learned a bit of balance when it comes to using Arduin or any old school material. The dungeon master is part set designer, part referee, guide when it comes to the worlds of our imagination. Dave Hargrave used these ideals in his home campaign with gusto but not abandoned. Over the years of reading about & talking to the various players in Mr. Hargrave's home campaigns.


The published material didn't mirror the writer/designer. In other words the dungeon master Dave Hargrave was very careful what & who he put into his games. The needs of the campaign are dictated by the players & where they're taking the campaign setting. This is even true for my home campaign using an OSR system or two.
Campaign & game balance are very different things, Arduin's material seem like its not balanced & beyond a certain extent its not. But the world of Arduin itself? Well there's an internal world setting consistency to it. Too much of it & you get the dull hum drum efforts of 'Wizbros' efforts over the last 10 or 15 years.
Get too much game balance in your systems & the spark of the material is gone in a puff of game design.


Just a stack of books without players!

The players are the deciders of the direction of the campaign world not the author & often times they come to the table with expectations that the dungeon master may not be aware of. This comes with the ideas & exceptions that the DM has to bring by communications with the players. While this may seem like common sense its often seems in my experience that the players & dungeon masters can be at odds. In the Arduin fan group on G+ I'll get Dave Hargrave's home games weren't as wild & crazy as Arduin reputation is among some of his fans. Yes this is true but players coming to the table crave excitement, adventure, & just more then a wee bit of the crazy.


Knowing where & when to apply 'the crazy' is a bit of a fine art unto itself. The fact is that keeping it in the game is fine as long as it applies to the adventure. Gamma World often did this in spades & when correctly done in an original Dungeons & Dragons game it works light years into making the game a lean & mean science fantasy machine.

I love plane & dimension jumping, playing with the fires of Sword & Sorcery, & generally having a solid adventure either in an unexpected dungeon or an adventure location. My current game uses events of real world history mixed in with a plethora of science fantasy elements. The players weren't expecting it but have been rolling with it much to my happiness but it was their choice.
Choice & communication among players seems to be the best of both worlds in both old school & OSR play.


This may often be the result but the players will thank you for it. The poor, dead, dumb bastard!

Dungeons & Dragons, HP Lovecraft, Cats, Time, Mist, & Arduin Adventures

So I'm recounting my own introduction into the other side of playing in Arduin lately. Dave Hargrave's Arduin Grimoire series back in the early Nineties wasn't something you mentioned in the company of certain dungeon masters. The 'other three little brown books' as they were know at my local hang out had a more then slightly sleazy reputation & there was more then a little outright hatred. This was especially true among those who took a more traditional second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms approach.




We on the other hand stuck with both original Dungeons & Dragons,a smattering of B/X Dungeons & Dragons, & Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. All of it was on the cheap back then because no one really cared. The harmonized dungeons, cookie cutter world settings, & super tons of modules had pretty much rendered the 'do it yourself''  aesthetic of early Dungeons & Dragons null & void back then.  Oh sure there were a few die hard dungeon masters who took me under their wing & made sure I knew how to do things the right way. Our group had long since moved its game base by then from West Hartford Connecticut. The problem during this time is that my other 'three little brown books'

 were burnt  toast at this time long torched up in an apartment fire in my flat in Boston. This meant that I had to beg, borrow, or steal a set!? Well fortunately a friend of mine lent me his whist we were playing. Eventually, I bought my own set which I kept for many years but a  ex friend of mine made off with those. Everything was about to change for the better with a box of books on the side of the road. I'm not exactly sure where the box turned up but on one of my many trips out to play at our dungeon master's house I spotted & grabbed a box of paperback's. There was the usual collections of Edgar Allan Poe, a few Conan pastiches, a ton of Lovecraft, Gordon R. Dickson, & Lord Dunsany.
The King of Elf Land's Daughter was/is one of my all time favorites & there's more then a few nasty surprises that a dungeon master could lift for his or her campaign.


I made a huge mistake showing that box to our dungeon master or did I? Richard was a clever bastard who lived down in New Town who lived around the corner from  a used book store. Within the two week period that we had our last game & got our experience points he had gotten a copy of every book in that box. This included Gordon R. Dickson's fix up time travel novel Time Storm. Its a weird time travel novel that has a man waking up from a mist filled landscape where time storms have taken away half of the human population.

Suddenly our parties were facing down mist filled valleys, strange dungeons with abandoned machinery, Deodanth clans hunting Elven glades, & Trelves hell bent on extermination of our party! All of this would later on come to bite Richard in the behind when I took him into Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition as a Lovecraftian cat! The party's PC's passed through a certain bank of fog like mist. But this was no ordinary mist no this was a mist from a certain valley in Arduin. The exploration of Underborea became a lot more challenging. Or was it?
Lombard School c1700 Cats being instructed In the art of mouse-catching by an owl.

The party could suddenly go where & when they wanted to! Their eyes were sharper & their claws keen for closing in on the wizard's trail. The fact was I took most of my ques from HP Lovecraft's Dunsanian Dreamland novels & stories for this little excursion.
"It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire. For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle's lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten."

• H. P. Lovecraft, "The Cats of Ulthar".
  
  

Things got a little dicey though when the party ran into one of the Cat generals from Ulthar on their way back to the mist curtain though. They barely escaped being taken back to HPL's Dreamlands for questioning. But some clever talking & mutual respect got them back into human form!



Théophile Steinlen's Summer: Cat on a Balustrade was the inspiration for the wildly dangerous NPC cat general who watches over the tunnels from AS&SH's Hyperborea. He & his pack are still watching those tunnels & occasionally my players still talk about their encounters down there!

Allan Dean Foster, Arduin, The OSR, & Temporal Campaign Adventuring

So I've been rereading the Arduin books & getting into the back end of some campaign ideas when the latest BS in the OSR reared its head. Man, these things seem to come up every three seconds & so I headed back down memory lane a bit to Nineteen Eighty Nine. Its been a bit of a bumpy ride all of the way back there.



Advanced Dungeons & Dragons second edition  was in full swing along with its prepackaged campaign settings. If you like second edition AD&D's campaign worlds  then more power too you but for those of us into campaign building this wasn't the way. There were dust ups & such in letter columns in Dragon magazine, & various other hobby fanzines of the time. For me I felt like a fish out of water then. Sure I had Gamma World, Traveller, & a bunch of other classic TSR books to fall back on. But three things changed this funk the first was I discovered Clark Ashton Smith, the second was the movie House II, & then Allan Dean Foster's To The Vanishing Point fell into my lap. I was literally taking a bus from my home town to the gaming store down in War & Pieces in West Hartford,Ct. in the back seat of the empty bus was this book.
Its a very Eighties science fantasy book even back then & seems to have aged itself right into the same turf as the net flix  show Stranger Things. The book has a light weight cosmology similar to Poul Anderson's chaos vs law material worked in with a bit of Dante's Hell on Chaos/Entropy's side.

"It was just a boring drive through the Nevada desert.  The Sonderberg family doesn’t know it yet, but this isn’t going to be any ordinary road trip. After they pick up up a beautiful unassuming young hitchhiker named Mouse, a quiet drive down Interstate 40 becomes a trip into an alternate reality -- a wild, careening ride down the exit ramp to Hell. It turns out the family has just given a ride to an alien who has the fate of the universe resting on her shoulders, who must find and heal the dying cosmic Spinner who controls the very fabric of reality.

Now the Sonderberg family must fight evil alongside their new alien friend Mouse, a transdimensional alien, in a desperate attempt to save the world they love. Suddenly attacked by a demonic gas station attendant, axe-wielding rats and fire-breathing cops, the Sondberg family must become warriors in a now-mystical motor home and battle pangalactic diners, weird worlds, impossible voids, and brain-bending realms of madness.  The fate of the world rests on the success of Mouse's mission." 
To The Vanishing Point's plot from here

So what does this have to do with the classic Arduin Grimoire ? Well down at War & Pieces someone had an original Dungeons & Dragons game going on in full swing with bits & pieces of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons interspersed with Arduin. The premise of that game was this book?! The owner of the book had left it on the earlier bus. The lesson learned was simple. Just because the latest thing is out in the wilds of the rpg market doesn't mean that it has an effect on an on going campaign. The peer pressure of the market has no effect on what happens at the table. For the record, I gave the gentleman back his copy of Allen Dean Foster's book & grabbed my copy over at Walden Books.
We fought hard against the forces of the 'Twenty One Hells' during that campaign. I learned a great deal of respect for juggling technology, gonzoness, & what really constitutes a 'monster'.

We had PC's battling wizards raiding WWII battle fields, trolls taking on Dwarven fortresses, the destruction of Fairy mounds, & the end of timelines eaten bare by Chaos itself.



We  explored various dungeon locations & past shadows of the temporal war. We recovered artifacts, killed a few wizards, & generally got on with the idea of our PC's being heroes. Allan Dean Fosters novel remains on my shelf & gets read from time to time.

The idea of an artifact having a life of its own & its essence being the anchor of a god's soul came directly from this Arduin campaign. The movie House II used this in spades within its plot's adventure location. 
The Lion & Dragon rpg takes this occult idea & tosses it in a different direction. Now Rpg Pundit & I have had discussions via email about the fact that he personally separates gonzo rpging & historical campaigns. For me this idea didn't gell & the reason is because of the fact that Lamentations of the Flame Princess's adventures often used real world historical events as their background. But Arduin used the alternative Earth's, planes, etc. as part of their setting material. So early on I got the idea of learning & using history as a dungeon master to my advantage.


The lessons I learned early in this hobby have stayed with me & I'm very thankful for the early kick in the pants that Dave Hargrave gave me. The truth is that today I often mix & match both OSR & old school resources.
Next time Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, Clark Ashton Smith, & Cats.

Beer, Fritz Leiber, Arduin, & An OSR Campaign Set Up

Its Memorial Day here in the States again & I got together with friends at a local watering hole to discuss OSR stuff. Swap some beer & shoot the breeze about International Dave Hargrave day, classic original Dungeons & Dragons, OSR games, & everyone's current campaigns.
So we began to talk about WWI & some of the history leading up to it including the international  brush fire conflicts that lead up to the war to end all wars. The idea came up of battle fields whose violence was so bloody & bad that they transcend the local time space continuum & pull soldiers in from other time periods & eras.


This smattering of ordinary soldiers becomes the adventuring party whose bonds of friendship & brotherhood form the basis for the center hub of such a  campaign. This isn't a new idea & The Big Time by Fritz Leiber  takes some of the ideas about a central temporal war & uses the concept of the 'Change War'. Within the "The Change War" temporal fronts change & move as time lines change & die. "Their method of battle involves changing the outcomes of events throughout history (temporal war)." Yet we hear about it but never see it. Lieber is of course Appendix N front & center alumni because his various creations including his two Sword & Sorcery creations with their adventures in the city of Lankhmar. But for me  Lieber is so much more then a simple Sword & Sorcery writer with his Science Fiction with its various alternative worlds being great fodder for a dungeon master's old school campaigns. You can read 'Big Time' on line -

"The Big Time as serialized in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1958, parts one and two, at the Internet Archive"

I don't really want to get hung up too much on Fritz Leiber too much because I've got a lot of ground to cover here. Liber's Change Wars are only another front in the bigger war between Law & Chaos, yup that's right I said it. This was something we'd see much more of in Three Hearts and Three Lions in 1961's  fantasy novel by American writer Poul Anderson.

Michael Moorcock would 'borrow' certain concepts for this along with American writer Roger Zelazny. Gary Gygax just danced in with Gord & his crew of dungeon miscreants.
Dave Hargrave plugged into this with his dungeon locations that weren't bound by time or space. These dungeons were created to cancers on timelines & their appearances were the death wail for a world. The appearance of a dungeon on a world isn't cause for celebration but call to arms for adventurers, outlaws, & soldiers in a war they barely understand.  This is something I've done time & again faster then you can say Hargravian Hell spiral.

The idea of taking a bunch of adventurers from across a platform of various old school & OSR retroclone system  platforms & throw them together isn't something new. We've done it time & again much to the cynicism & criticism of the local OSR scene. The idea of breaking down the traditional Dungeons & Dragons tropes seems outside of some folks comfort zone.

A soldier from Rhûn in Middle-earth artwork by
Jan Pospíšil

Dungeon are adventure locations whose appearance might mean a call to arms across time & space. We've seen both Marvel & DC use this tactic in their comic books & now block buster movies time & again. This is simply another tactic to get get very different groups of players to the table. Some may play pulp heroes, some adventurers, a few soldiers, but by night's end they'll be veterans of the temporal wars.

Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson were the fathers & innovators of this hobby but where we are today is from the blood, sweat, & tears of those who came afterward as well. Some of them have been forgotten but some of them are still in the trenches today & the OSR continues to roll along. Some will leave & some will stay as for me I'm in for the long haul. The fact is that Hargrave took a quiet & yet dangerous approach. Dangerous because he was willing to take the risk of possible regret & rejection in our hobby. Still his light was kept on by Paul Mosher for years
Meanwhile I quietly drink my beer & crack open my copies of Arduin again & salute Dave Hargrave.



To pull this off I reccommend the first three Arduin books & B/X Dungeons & Dragons along with your favorite retroclone systems. Possibly Amazing Adventurers! rpg & its Companion from Troll Lord Games.

OSR Hargravian Commentary - Happy International Dave Hargrave Day!

So its international Dave Hargrave appreciation day which has very different connotations for me as both a dungeon master & as the son of a Vietnam veteran. Arduin is of course the sometimes controversial cross genre fantasy world of Bloody, Bloody, Arduin.
Bloody, Bloody, Arduin hit me square in the face at about seven years old & was long before Palladium's  Rifts that I discovered that Arduin included everything from  interstellar wars to horror & historical drama as its setting campaign world. Although it was ground in the medieval fantasy tradition of TSR's original  Dungeons & Dragons rpg box. My adopted English uncle in New York from the U.K. a retired RAF pilot along with his kids came back from California with a bunch of original Dungeons & Dragons books & the  three Arduin Grimoire books back in the early Eighties. He also had a smattering of Dragon Tree Press books

You can still get the pdf of the Arduin Trilogy here but I'd wait till it goes on sale.

Things have been a bit well iffy from both Dragon Tree Press  & Emperor's Choice for ordering items. Consider yourselves warned folks.

I received those three books as gifts back in the early Nineties & they were burned up in an apartment fire ages ago. I grabbed the new Emperor's Choice Arduin reprint book the first time I got into the OSR scene.
For the record I took a lot of heat for that purchase over the years from both the old school community & the local branches of the OSR. Screw 'em its been one of the best purchases of my hobby. If you want to know the contents of the Arduin Trilogy Mr.Lizard does a solid break down of the books.
My uncle used the free wheeling style of the world of Arduin to weave together his own worlds & creations where we went toe to toe with all manner of horrors including renegade clans of  Deodanths! Deodanth are a cross breed of  Elves & Vampires here's the concept art from the Arduin Grimore,1977 that hunt their fantasy stock brothers the Elves! If there's one constant about the world of Arduin its that power attracts power!



Deodanth artwork found on twitter!

David Hartlage's blog DM David had a great piece on the Arduin books. And many games were spent battling across the face of Arduin's campaign world setting. Kill Kittens took out two of our number and then a star spider did a total party kill as we quested for the Holy Grail. Out came the Delian Book of the Dead as we'd quest for the souls of our fallen comrades but such was the heady mix of Dave Hargrave's gaming books kids! This was the U.K./California style that I was used to now a days called Gonzo or some such. To us it was pure gaming fun and that's only a part of the Hargravian legacy. Its only now that Dave Hargrave is getting his due.


Today Arduin is one of those old school gaming wells that I frequently find myself returning to whist other dungeon masters & OSR bloggers seem to burn out. The sheer volume of old school weirdness & wonderfulness keeps the experience of gaming fresh for me. If you don't like something then drop it or move on! Dave Hargrave wasn't an easy character to define but he did gaming on his own terms!

To quote Ryk Spoor's blog article; "The Arduin books told GMs and players that they should not believe in limits. That of course magic and technology could play in the same game – Welcome to Skull Tower gave rules for firearms, while The Runes of Doom had rules for advanced energy weapons! – that no species or type of character should be forbidden to enter the realms of adventure. Dave Hargrave painted Arduin as one of the most complex, amazing worlds ever created, with innumerable species coexisting in a world that had a massive history and mysteries hiding around every corner."
For me this is the essence of Dave Hargrave's work & contribution to the old school gaming community. He was taken far too young! Had Dave Hargrave lived he would have been a major force in the OSR as his ideas & philosophy have not only come to pass but become part of the OSR mainstream.

An insectoid Phraint in the big city / an Elf on the windy wharf. Dave Hargrave's imagination knew little bounds & DM's should not find themselves hemmed in by the constraints of imagination or rules.

For me the world of Arduin is alive and well, sitting on my shelf waiting to be used on new & unsuspecting players & their PC's! I hope the Dream weaver & Paul Mosher who recently passed are sitting having a game right now. So shake some dice, come down to the street of Darkness, & watch out for those most dangerous Arduin horrors! Happy international Dave Hargrave day!


Everyone on the street sees the pickpocket attempt

(Roland Brown, The Arduin Grimoire IV: The Lost Grimoire by Dave Hargrave, Dragon Tree Press, 1984)

The Updated & Expanded Ecology Of Dave Hargrave's Star Spider For Your Old School Campaigns

The following notes & expansions are on the extra dimensional & Outer Darkness menace known as the Star Spider.

The auditorium filled with spectators & senators from across Pan American Empire,Marcus Orearlus  of extraterrestrial studies department  of the college Alchemists and Elementalists looked the crowd over & waited till they were seated.
"Welcome friends,senators,  alumni, & respected laymen tonight we are going to speak about one of the most dangerous & least understood members of the family of Outer Darkness monsters. We are not even sure if the dreaded Star Spider is even alive in the conventional sense as we know life'.  "This is not a new enemy but a very old one that we face! The Space Spider has stalked us through the ages! We must beware its tendrils and its eye that burns with the light that never warms. I myself have heard the howling, sucking, roar of this stalker from between the dark of the stars. Observe the stellar scope for a three vi broad cast of the Ultra probe incident from 20 March 1996 Earth 43* & then the "Tony Cellini incident" from 877 days after the Earth's Moon left orbit.

"I refer you now Ladies and Brothers to World Space Commission Medical Department form regarding the status of one Captain Tony Cellini and the reports that are attached.  May the Gods themselves have mercy on his soul."
"From that incident and my own research I have made  several assessments. The  Space Spider makes its lairs within the wrecks of space craft. It uses the wreckage as both lair and for its own procreation. These space craft become entangled a web of hyper dimensional energy for these monsters act as anchor in the local space time continuum.
These uncaring predators are gluttons feeding on as many victims as they can. They roast all of the life essence and vitality from their victims.
They have the characteristics of both "dimensional shamblers"  and the dread Hounds of Tindalos."

" These beings use combination of psychic lure and assault to force their victims within range of their tentacles. The monsters mouth  orifice is like a blast furnace stripping a man to a burnt shell in seconds and absorbing the soul. The creature is a glutton feeding on as many souls as it can stuff into maul.
The creature is capable of moving across time and space within moments. It departure signaled within the span of moments by a light show of swirling lights and a rushing of wind, light, and psychic insanity.
This wind is accompanied by fog generated but both the creature itself and its body being suspended between our reality and else where. Some have sworn the Outer Darkness and others have said lower dimensional spaces."
" These monsters exist in timeless dimensional limbo where the passage of time means very little and yet they can lay dormant for thousands of years. The beasts move along atesseract of foamy dark lower realities. They often have several lairs along inter dimensional axis routes.
If you refer to page 42 of my report we shall exam the tendril strength of these creatures which is just as capable as a small "space kraken."  The most terrifying power of these beasts is of course the so called Psychic Death Kiss.  These monsters once encountered can track prey that has escaped them years or months later. They act as sort of "paranormal murderers" stalking those who have escaped their grasp. Sometimes upwards of ten years or more eventually the creatures will come for their prey."
"They're presence is denoted by a howling  roar and a soul sucking wind that is generated by the mouth of these monsters. Indeed their inner gullet is like an atomic blast furnace. "
Please pay no attention to the Magus high guard who have entered the meeting around you."
 Marcus Orearlus paused and sipped his water for a moment collecting his thoughts and paid special attention to Gelbrus Cronos the Elemental guild master in the front.
" As I have said I have had personal experience with these monsters. The doomed Argos mission encountered a lair of these beasts in late August three cycles ago when we were exploring the Pyrius sector.  Only myself and my late wife survived the encounter. The guild master himself authorized the expedition but I digress."
 "This is not the only species of the Space Spider that mankind has encountered. The Gods themselves have cursed mankind going back thousands of years and only recently has this species brought to light."

Carlo Rambaldi’s incredible Medusa from Perseus Against the Monsters 1963



" Further research indicates that the victim is both alive and aware the during the entire time they are petrified by the monsters. They are locked in a state of torment and the monsters feed upon their very souls as time passes. The beasts have veritable garden of stone statues that they feed off of. Victims within this state can last ten to twenty years of time." "The medusa is a very stealthy hunter and able to sneak up its prey with its attack. A single glance and the very soul of the victim is frozen along with their flesh. And why the eye? Because it is the window to the soul. Upon our colony of Alphas II we encountered such a beast. "



"The medusa had been dormant for more then ten years within its valley. Cyber centurions working on behalf of the colonists disturbed the sleep of this monsters. We lost half a company to the creature. The results of this encounter are well known. Please see report 23 in your briefing""



"Gelbrus Cronos the Elemental guild was also responsible for this outrage and only then did we learn that these creatures and their larger brethren have visited mankind many times in the past.
There was ruined temple upon the colony world and within its halls were indications that millions of years ago during the Atlantian period of these creatures were summoned to Earth with astonishing regularity. Because of the necro dimensional magic of certain Atlantian sects the fabric of space time was weakened allowing these creatures free access to the  Earth's space time. Most of these spells or psychic keys have been lost in the mists of time. However certain indications also point to activity of these monsters during the so called Twilight years after the Atomic Wars.
Also similar symbols were found within the caverns of Mars. Could ancient Barsoomian psychic rites have paved the way for these monsters there as well? Why even my own beloved wife subcombed to the lusts for the human soul that creatures exhibit. Gelbrus Cronos the Elemental guild is sitting upon such a symbol right now. Notice the lights beginning to dim my friend and that roaring that your hearing right now. I was also aboard the Argos. I escaped it you see but one never really escapes it. The dreams come. My wife knew that. Let me comfort you and tell you all about it in our final  moments together.This meeting is now over"
 The strange lights began to swirl and rushing got very loud indeed and the screaming began.

OSR & Campaign Notes 

The star spider is a high level monster from the Arduin game books of Dave Hargrave & The Arduin  Eternal line that has seen action within several of my campaigns. The star spider has been plaguing mankind for thousand if not millions of years. The creatures appeared to have interaction on planet ten and Barsoom.

• There are three variations of the space spider and only to two are still viable at this time. The Barsoomian variation is extinct at this time. 
• The Space Spider is capable of moving itself and its lair 1d100 light years in interdimensional space in order to reach its prey. The creature must have left a  "Psychic Death Kiss" upon its victim. Please note that only certain psychic abilities are able to remove let alone detect the kiss. Certain forms of expensive magic, psychic healing  or super science may remove the kiss from a victim. 
• These creatures are related to Dimensional Shamblers of Lovecraftian Mythos. These beings do not get along at all and compete for the same food source. Mankind is so  much cattle to these beings.
• These creatures are feasters of souls but their metabolic processes are so alien and mysterious that it is very hard to be sure of the processes of life and true death even applying to them. There are indications that they are immune to psychic,magical, and any type of detection or are capable of masking such. There are indications that these beings are related or exist in areas controlled by the Outer God Yog Shaggoth. 
• The Medusa variety of the Space Spider is capable of limited shape shifting of mass and tendrils. And due to its nature capable of effecting its victims molecular structure. Resurrection isn't possible by cloning or even divine interaction due to the corruption of the victim's very soul. 
• Each type is capable of tracking its victims across interstellar distances and seems to stalk as well as send telepathic dreams in order to create fear and insanity with the victim. There is speculation of the monsters simply saucing the meat so to speak 
• There are indications of this beast appearing in Cimmerian and Atlantian periods of Earth's history. Times when the proto dimensional fields were at their weakest. After the Atomic Wars there was a similar weakening taken full advantage of by monsters of this type. 
• Though they can be summoned by divine or psychic "magic" rites. These being are immune to 99.9 percent of all magic or psychic control of any type. Once summoned it is best to run away if possible so as not to end up as supper for one of these beings. 
• The eye beam of the star spider sees into several realities at once. Its attacks are directed from outside of the local space time continuum. 
• Certain stellar or cosmic terrestrial cosmic objects seem to draw members of this species. These are often objects of power or artifacts of lost or ancient origin. 
• The tendrils or tentacles of these beings are often used to bleed off the reality bending energies of the monsters. They are laced with 17,000 sets of neo reality sensing nerves. Capable of instantly running through a gamut of realities and planar constants. This appears to be a matter of instinct and not intelligence. 
• The beasts appear to be capable of storing six hundred and sixty six individual trace patterns in order to trace their prey. 
• The creatures have a hunger that knows no bounds and they will feed on as many beings as they can stuff within their proto glandular stomach. The medusa extends this stomach over the statues of its victims drawing as much of the sou as it can. Each day taking a bit at time. 
•  The petrification beam of the Medusa has a range of 60 feet in length and width of 2-3 feet. 

The Space Spider Medusa
Armor Class : 5 (14)

Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: Petrifying gaze
Special : Immune to magic, most psychic abilities, regenerates as troll 

Move:12

HDE/XP:8/800

 These creatures can be summoned by a summon monster spell but can not be controlled by such. They are very dangerous and have a horde class of XII.

"The Medusa" originally appeared in the sword and sandals flick Perseus vs The Medusa. It was designed by the monster maker maestro Carlos Rambaldi himself. The creature later appeared on television as part of the "Sons of Hercules"series The part of Perseus played by  Richard Harrison

Ecology Of The Bloody,Bloody, Arduin Manticore For Your Old School Campaigns

'Child seek not the Manticore nor the gateways & nexuses it comes from. Seek not the planes it frequents nor the places it calls home. Look not into its blue liquid eyes or ask for its terrible wisdom for it is a wilde & dangerous hate of olden times. It is evil incarnate & not to be trusted.'
Pliues The Elder Star Mage



'Good evening ladies & gentlemen welcome to tonight's lecture. Tonight we will be talking about one of the most dangerous creatures to stalk the stars & old Earth. I speak tonight of the Manticore one of the most underscored menaces to come out of the nexuses' The whole curtain parted & the crowd gathered in the auditorium caught its collective breath. Dr.Idrani minister of xeno-biology & ecology waited for the murmur of the crowd to die down as the force field held & the monster beyond was revealed. 'You are all perfectly safe our guest has agreed to be here & is at easy I can assure you all.' The human like head looked out into the crowd with sardonic wit, a hint of a devil may care attitude, & just a wisp of madness at the edges of its blue eyes. It was perfectly in control of its situation & the wings flexed lazily as the lights came up dramatically around it.
'Behold the Arduin manticore Anbruis of the mountain kingdom of the country of Scruisi who has graciously agreed to be here with us tonight. This noble monster's ancestors fought along side the titans & among themselves trace their royal linage all the way back to Tiamat the mother of monsters & dragons. Our guest has the body of a red lion, a noble but alien like head with those piercing blue eyes. There are also three rows of incredible sharklike teeth & of course the tell tale deep trumpeting rumbling like voice.' 'Of course you notice the black wings which are totally unlike a bat's but closer to certain demonic specimens' This is because our guest is a creature of the arcane world & considerably infused with the very raw stuff of magick itself enabling it too not only fly but defy the laws of nature herself.' 'The stinger is a marvel of dark demonic design a thing of horror able to pierce light metals & hurl bolts of cartilage like bone envenomed over distance of 30 or 40 feet.'

Almost on cue a roar seems to fill the auditorium from someplace deep within the bowels of the monster  Anbruis. The doctor chuckled to himself & began again, 'Our guest tonight is not of the horned variety of manticore which among their own kind denotes a subspecies touched by madness for their service & worship of the forbidden gods & devils. Even among their own kind which has a taste for human flesh these things are considered psychopathic killers & mad stricken monsters. For they not only kill their own prides but any thing or anyone they come across. They can & will track a man for weeks or months just for the sheer pleasure of the hunt & kill.' 

'Our guest tonight is not such a creature at all & devours his prey whole leaving not one trace or scrap behind. He leaves no leaves no clothes, bones, or possessions of the prey for he is not a messy eater.'Our guest tonight is distantly related to the royal satyral, a legendary creature with "the body of a lion, the tail and horns of an antelope, and the face of an old man" who were the royal magical advisors & hunters to the Titans.' Several of the crowd rankled at that remark which the doctor let pass. 'Moving on. Anbruis is an accomplished expert in linguistics, puzzles, & principal applications  higher metaphysical arcane theory. He is able to think 'side ways' comparable to a human mind because of his semi demonic linage. Because of this ancestry he and his kinde are immune to the gaze of the Medusa, the touch of ghouls, & even his own venom.' 'These developments were artificial in nature & given to these noble monsters as part of a program of warfare! These creatures are not merely murders & stalkers of lonely places as the legends would have us believe! They are weapons of murder from a time before time!'

 'So why is Anbruis here among us? Because he wishes to open diplomatic relations between us and his kingdom' 'I will have quiet among you! You have come here tonight for entertainment, and for my findings!' The beast behind the force cage stirs at the words and its eyes dart among the crowd piercing the audience in their seats with its gaze! 'Ask yourselves what would scare a creature of primal chaos in its veins to open relations with us. What scares a monster able to see in the night, smell the colour of your hair, eyes, clothing and able to tear through metal with its claws?'

'Hear me man things & you who have profited from trade with Arduin, something is coming. Though I rule a kingdom with one hundred prides of lampago warriors & two hundred satyral night hunters something has been stalking my kingdoms & killing my mercenary warriors. My advisors tell me it is a power from beyond the old days, my wizard's sight has been obscured, & even my world walkers fear certain doorways. So I'm here now to seek you out, should my kingdom fall yours is next.'

'Speak with your elders & rulers flesh that walks. Tell them of my warning, look deeply into my face things that fought me in the desert sands & have slain my kin. Tell them of the blood on my claws and the horror that is in my heart that has killed my mate whist I slept next to her even as it took my child across from us. Tomorrow I meet with your leaders & I have agreed to this spectacle to satisfy your morbid curiosity of my countenance. This show is over now' The auditorium filled with a billowing darkness that snuffed out lights, caused panic in the crowd, it was followed by screams from various points in the crowd itself.  'There is no reason to panic ladies & gentlemen, everything is under control!' The doctor's voice seemed unsteady but then the lights came back up of their own violation but various lords & ladies were struck down & dead around the auditorium. Never one to led an opportunity go Anbruis had struck with curses & spells against those who had struck against him & his desert nation in the past. He had delivered his warning & departed.
But what of his cryptic warning? Dr.Idrani minister of xeno-biology & ecology quickly smiled nastily as he quickly wiped his piercing liquid blue eyes over his spectacles. Would the flesh things head the warning in time? Only time would tell.



  So what is happening here?! An intelligent Manticore ruler of a small desert kingdom someplace near Ancient & Accursed Terra's version of Persia? In a word? Yes! This was made possible by using the Arduin Eternal Bestiary & Treasures book along with Adventurer, Conqueror, King's Lairs & Encounters pdf  from Autarch  which enabled me to quickly sketch out the desert country of Scruisi. I'll have more details on that when my game starts.

The Arduin Manticore has been taken from the Arduin Eternal Bestiary and Treasures book available right HERE. All ecology & supposition is by me but details on the country of Scruisi has been created from the ACK's Lairs & Encounters book available here