OSR Campaign Commentary - Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea & North Wind Adventures Hyperborea rpg

 So yesterday I was gone most of the day travelling between places and I ran into a friend of mine down in West Hartford at his bookshop. We hadn't seen each other since 2017 at one of the private Cons at a friend's home. There we played in DM Steve's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerer's Hyperborea rpg campaign mini game. Paul runs a small Science Fiction and Fantasy book shop in between botique shops there. What he had for me was a rare copy of the Smith, Clark Ashton (1971). Lin Carter (ed.). Hyperborea. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-02206-8.. The Ballatine edition is excellent for a number of reasons but it really plugs into the Iron age cosmic horror hardcore. And why well the wiki entry on CAS's Hyperborean cycle covers it thus:"The Hyperborean cycle is a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that take place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea. Smith's cycle takes cues from his friends, H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard and their works. Lovecraft wrote to Smith in a letter dated 3 December 1929: "I must not delay in expressing my well-nigh delirious delight at The Tale of Satampra Zeiros [Smith's short story]... [W]hat an atmosphere! I can see & feel & smell the jungle around immemorial Commoriom, which I am sure must lie buried today in glacial ice near Olathoe, in the Land of Lomar!".^[1] Soon afterward, Lovecraft included Smith's Tsathoggua (which originally appeared in "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros") in the story "The Mound", ghostwritten for Zealia Bishop in December 1929. Lovecraft also mentioned Tsathoggua in "The Whisperer in Darkness", which he began on February 24, 1930,^[2] and in "At the Mountains of Madness" a year later, along with the Hyperborean cities of Commoriom and Uzuldaroum. Because Smith in turn borrowed numerous Lovecraftian elements, the cycle itself may be regarded as a branch of the Cthulhu Mythos. In a letter to August Derleth dated 26 July 1944, Smith wrote: "In common with other weird tales writers, I have ... made a few passing references (often under slightly altered names, such as Iog-Sotot for Yog-Sothoth and Kthulhut for Cthulhu) to some of the Lovecraftian deities. My Hyperborean tales, it seems to me, with their primordial, prehuman and sometimes premundane background and figures, are the closest to the Cthulhu Mythos, but most of them are written in a vein of grotesque humor that differentiates them vastly. However, such a tale as "The Coming of the White Worm" might be regarded as a direct contribution to the Mythos.".<sup>[3]"



"The Hyperborean cycle mixes cosmic horror with an Iron Age setting. Adding to the peril is the rapidly approaching ice age, which threatens to wipe out all life on the Hyperborean continent. A host of other deities play important roles in the cycle; foremost is the toad-god Tsathoggua, who dwells in Mount Voormithadreth."
"</sup>Hyperborea is a legendary continent in the Arctic. Before it was overwhelmed by the advancing ice sheets of the Pleistocene age, Hyperborea was a warm and fertile paradise, with lush jungles inhabited by the last remnants of the dinosaurs. A race of yeti-like bipeds, known as the Voormi, once populated Hyperborea, but were wiped out by the pre-human settlers who migrated here from the south. These pre-humans built the first capital of Hyperborea, at Commoriom. Later they moved to Uzuldaroum, when prophesies foretold of Commoriom's doom."

So essentially the continant is completely frozen and still out there the world of Hyperborea. What if adventurers stumble upon the frozen country  as a part of the Hyperborea rpg?! They have no idea of the signifiance of this 'lost and legendary' land.. And while Jeffrey Talanian, has a brand new Hyperborea map kickstarter going on. The fact is that reading through the Hyperborea collection last night actually got my imagination fired up. This map here is from the 1971 Ballintine collection when paperbacks actually carried such maps. Now this campaign idea isn't new Chris Kutalik of the Hill Canton's blog fame proposed such an idea here.  Mind you this blog entry was back in 2011. So I don't think anything was done with it. 

That idea sure had some legs in my mind especially given the cross pollenization of Lovecraft & Smith using story and adventure elements. 
Such a frozen continent under the control of the inhuman  voormis might require some really interesting back & forth with clerics or headsmen of the god Tsathoggua. There is a ton of potential for adventure in such a frozen wasteland  continent. According to the CAS's mythos: " "Hyperborea was supposed to have corresponded roughly with modern Greenland, which had formerly been joined as a peninsula to the main continent" — in Miocene times ("Ubbo-Sathla", Clark Ashton Smith)"
This frozen wasteland could be the homelands of the once proud and decident Hyperborean races of the Hyperborea rpg. Only the ill regarded Voormis may know the answers. But what does this mean to the other ancient Hyperboreans still within their dungeon vaults?  

 The first thing to do is to read through the cycles of Clark Ashton Smith's stories to get an understanding of the place of Hyperborea within the CAS setting itself. And this cycle goes like this according to the Eldritch Dark site: 

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

And this brings up the perhaps since the Hyperboreans fled to the Hyperborean continant that there might be far more at stake then they realize. What happens if the doom that came to the frozen land isn't done?! There's a lot of unanswered questions that CAS's Hyperborea cycle brings to the table top. Even though I know that Michael Moorcock wasn't happy with CAS there are certainly Pulp pivot points between the mythologies of Elric and the doomlands of Hyperborea. 

Commentary On The Hydra Cooperative's Chris Kutalik, & Robert Parker's Misty Isles of the Eld & Fever-Dreaming Marlinko In Your Old School Campaigns

I haven't done anything in a very long time with the Hydra Cooperative's OSR material (umm guys if you could you might wanna update your website) & that's a damn shame. Again this is on me & I've been doing a lot of thinking on Chris Kutalik, & Robert Parker's Misty Isles of the Eld. While this is not a new book there are lots of interesting ideas inbetween the covers.  Chris Kutalik & Robert Parker really pull out the stops here as a part of the Hill Canton's OSR setting. But taken on its own Misty Isles of the Eld brings to the table some very interesing & dangerous soft Science Fantasy ideals of their own.



And I've been thinking about the Eld in context to gods of mythology. What if the Eld were hunting gods for use as a power source of occult energies. I had this dream last night about a god of some minor patheon running through a field & suddenly the Jack Kirby like  vehicles of the Eld hunting the poor divine  bastard down. They pin him with several techno occult artifacts & the vatmen come to put a small weird device on his forehead. A royal Eld floats over the scene & decantantly looks on as the mists of the Misty Isle enclose the scene. The hunting party is plane shifted back to the isle. God hunting is the essence of decedance of the Eld. An expression of the superiority of Eld & their optimoized society view. Their cults of spies & slaves are always on the look out for dieties to snatch. The gods that they harvest become nothing more then power sources of occult energies. Copper tops that are drained dry. 

Now because Misty Isles of the Eld is a planar point crawl I can see the Eld basically opening where & when their master's occult mechanisms need to. The Eld have a god that's their prisoner in one of their prisons & this goes back to a major plot point in  Fever-Dreaming Marlinko. 



So would The Hill Cantons be a good addition to a Godbound rpg campaign setting along with its  labyrinth lord rpg underpinnings?! Yes I believe so & the reason why is the comic book mythological styles of Luka Rejec's artwork in Misty Isles of the Eld. The godbound adventurer's might be called in to undo some of the bio sorcery  creations & abominations that they love to use.
I'm really looking into  Fever-Dreaming Marlinko for more setting material because the acid trip that is the Hill Cantons speaks deeply to the acid dream of Slavic mythology.  I love the factions within in the Hill Cantons setting & how they interact verus the point crawl.


Fever-Dreaming Marlinko is one of the best urban supplements ever written. There's lot of potential here to bring the weird Slavic Dungeons & Dragons campaign elements into your own old school or OSR campaign. The amount of mythological material is scary when combined with the sand box elements of the Hill Cantons. This expands the focus for the dungeon master's vision for his players. Overall I think that these books are sources that I'm going to put on the back burner but come back to once the campagin get's going.. For the moment keep it weird folks. 

Another OSR Campaign Idea - Misty Isles of the Eld By Chris Kutalik & Robert Parker From The Hydra Cooperative Vs. Elven Powers of Dark Albion

So I was away a good portion of the day today with my father at the doctors in my home town. There really wasn't much that I could do and I decided to get away from my old school D&D books and the OSR material to help me get some perspective on this new arch for the Warlords of the Outer Worlds campaign. I was thinking about mixing in old school D&D material, a couple of favorite OSR titles, and a bit of science fantasy. Alright more like a lot of science fantasy in this case with the post apocalyptic theme turned up a bit.
For my version of Russia in Warlords, the human race isn't at the top of the food chain of dominance anymore. I kept thinking about the classic Thundarr The Barbarian cartoon from 'Eighty One' all day. In each and every episode we find out that the human race has ceased to be top of the food chain. That aspect I'm keeping with mankind huddled in technologically advanced city states kept working by almost magick relic technologies.

The Fey  races have returned to the wastelands & wilderness; along with the other mythological races and their sinister progenitors. Where the PC's are right now is right in the cross hairs of a metaphorical stand off as to greater powers are in a protracted cold war over the human population. The Eld and Elves of Dark Albion fame have been in a bloody & very dangerous hot/cold  war over the humans as resources. They're literally fighting  over the bodies, and souls of the local humans. Part of the greater problem is the fact that the humans willingly go to the elves because that's what's been done for generations.  The guidelines that have been given in Cults of Chaos make this very easy to fit into a campaign. It also makes them foes for the fickle and very dangerous Eld.

The two Elven powers mine the dreams of the human population, ravage their souls, & feed off their emotions all of the while dealing with them as resources and slaves. Warfare takes the form  of weird poetry readings, magickal story contests, and high hunts where humans are released and two teams of hunters go after and hunt down the prey. All of this is done in the most alien and civilized terms but it is still warfare none the less.


The humans deal with ancient gods, cut deals with other demons and wizards, and try to forget about the high handed ritual combat going on in the Veil & The Beyond around the corner from reality. Sometimes these wars split reality and the locals are caught in the cross fire. Meanwhile adventurers and wastelands pick up the scraps and relics left behind by the combatants. High Elves & fairies try to protect the humans but ultimate are just as alien as the others but the odd half elves or fey touched are produced now and then. These beings are often drawn into the clutches of the elves because magick and chaos sings in their blood. The siren call is often too strong for them. They are taken by cults & often end up on the sacrifice block or worse.



Magick mutation, and chaos leave its wake many mutants,monsters, and horror stories waiting for adventurers to blunder into communities touched by these beings. Entire villages and isolated societies have had generations of contact with the various Elven and Eld power blocks. Many of the traditional Russian gods and priests take a very dim view of these alien interlopers. Shamans and priests of law often bring down purges or hunts to such places with divine assistance. But still the roots of chaos run far too deep to cause any real extinction in such ancient practices.


As for the Eld they find all of this terribly amusing in a cold blooded and calculating way. They're fickle and highly dangerous nature are a match for the Elven powers of Dark Albion. The Chess game of theirs continues apace with no real end in sight for now.


This is simply another wrinkle I'm working on for my Tuesday night game. Dark Albion's Cults of Chaos isn't out quite yet but Misty Isles of the Eld from The Hydra Cooperative is currently available.
This idea occurred to me the other day when I was going over my notes for the Eld Vs the Astral Raiders blog entry I did a couple of days back.

Misty Isles of the Eld By Chris Kutalik & Robert Parker From The Hydra Cooperative Vs. The Astral Raiders Campaign Set Up

I had a friend come over last night because it was my birthday, there was beer and tequila involved. But there was also a ton of muddled OSR conversations about Basil Wolverton, HP Lovecraft, Misty Isles of the Eld By Chris Kutalik & Robert Parker, and The Astral Raiders from Ancient Vaults blog.
Let me see if I got this right because there was beer and tequila involved.
This as a part of my Warlords Of the Outer Worlds campaign gambit this would work. "An ancient fragment kingdom from Oz part of the dreams of mankind has broken off and drifted into the skies out around the Outer Worlds where the ancient demons and Lovecraftian gods have been held in check by the forces mankind and mutant alike. But only barely'
But then a new wrinkle has been added as the Eld's forces want an ancient artifact on this fragment of the dreaming of mankind's collective unconsciousness. They're not going to get it though because the Astral Raiders and their beasts from beyond want to lay claim to the artifact and the place. The result is all out war!  The Raiders release one of their astral beasts upon one of the colony worlds."


The PC's are brought in as mercenary commandos to sneak in under the noses of both sides and get that artifact for the humans side. The PC's have a limited amount of time because the fragment is still drifting out of orbit and they've got to avoid the vatmen, the forces of the Eld and watch the various factions of the Astral Raiders including avoiding the princess/wizardress
heading their forces.


So what's happening with this campaign idea? Well here's an example of the sort of play that can be used with Misty Isles of the Eld By Chris Kutalik & Robert Parker From The Hydra Cooperative combined with Adventurer, Conqueror, King. The idea of my Warlords of the Outer Worlds setting is to take domain play into the realms of  Dreams, The Astral, and The Lovecraftian. The Misty Isles is a perfect compliment and vehicle for this sort of OSR style game.

Commentary On The Bundle of Holding -Old School Revival +3 Adventures For Your Old School Campaigns

Want to get your OSR adventure collection up to spec and not spend a fortune for the privilege? The Bundle of Holding Old School Revival +3 is perfect for getting huge chunk of quality OSR adventures, source books, and campaigns. This is a beautiful opportunity to jump in on the OSR action and start up a campaign.
Right now in this bundle, for less than $14 you get these PDFs:

Slumbering Ursine Dunes
Gnomes of Levnec
Strange Stars
Weird Adventures and Strange Trails

A Red & Pleasant Land
Owl Hoot Trail
Fever-Dreaming Marlinko
Beyond the Wall
The Gem Prison of Zardax

You easily  get $14 worth of value out of the combined works of Chris Kutalik, Zzarchov Kowolski, Trey Causey, Zak S, Clinton R. Nixon, Kevin Culp, Robert Parker, John Cocking, and Peter S. Williams.



This is a prime time to get in on the ground floor of a brand new OSR adventure campaign, this bundle contains a fantastic set of titles to spark your imaginations. There's a whole couple of years worth of OSR material here. This set covers everything from science fiction and pulp fantasy with both Strange Stars and Strange Adventure to award winning OSR resources like A Red and Pleasant Land. There are some powerful and award winning authors/designers;Chris Kutalik, Zzarchov Kowolski, Trey Causey, Zak S, Clinton R. Nixon, Kevin Culp, Robert Parker, John Cocking, and Peter S. Williams.


Now I've had a lot of experience with the vast majority of these titles both running and playing them. These are very organic and well worth the expense of fourteen dollars. Many of these titles are perfect fodder for running a whole lot of hex crawling and adventure design. In point of fact they could be used to overlap and create a whole host of OSR goodness. The folks who wrote this material are very,very, good at designing and sketching out adventure sandboxes. I know from experience that once these bundles end lots of folks kick themselves over not getting in on the action.  From a design and adventure stand point this stuff is  killer OSR material! This adventure material covers my own preference which is hex crawling OSR style and its easily adaptable to any number of settings and retroclone systems to run it.



Now as far as designing out your own campaigns and dropping this material into it, that's a snap to add these in as either other dimensional adventure locations, place worlds to visit or as complete setting unto themselves for your old school retroclones. You've got ten days to get in on the action and girt your loins for OSR adventure! Now is the time to get your OSR love on!