OSR Lovecraftian Commentary - Flying Buffalo's Citybook Series & And The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead By Joseph Mohr From Old School Role Playing

" As the adventurers arrive at a sleepy little sea side town not all is as it seems. The town is under attack by pirates. But these are no ordinary pirates. These pirates are undead and their nightmare ship is just off shore waiting for the plunder to be brought aboard. This adventure allows the players to explore the mystery of these undead buccaneers and find out why they still sail the seas."

This blog entry picks right up from here. So DM Paul challenged me to find a beginning OSR adventure with a nautical feel & yet had the backing for an expanded mini Lovecraftian campaign. Enter Josephe Mohr's 'And The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead' a pay what you want OSR adventure for OSRIC . This adventure could easily be set on the outskirts of Saltmarsh's other towns. With Saltmarsh being the larger town  a few years before the events of the 'U' series. This gives the PC's familiarity with the Saltmarsh region & also gives the small town of Seaside a Lovecraftian underbelly. Seaside itself is a party to a Lovecraftan legacy;"Zanzia is a country in my gaming world but you are free to place Sea Side in a suitable location in yours. The town has a secret history which will become apparent soon after the players begin investigating these undead pirates that are plaguing the town. The players will discover, in time, that Sea Side is not so innocent in this affair. The undead do not rest because of things that the townspeople have done." This could easily be reworked into the Cult of Mother Hydra & Father Dagon ala  Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box By Raven God Games.  Why?! Because the pirates were looking at another juicy offer ala the Slavers from  A0- A4 'Against The Slave Lords'.

This easily ties back into the  the Freakshow section of the urban landscape with the lord of the underworld of Freakshow a party to the curse of Seaside. The situation is very unstable & almost dreamlike. And its this instability that allows the DM to play a bit. The waking world & the real world crossover with dreams of vengence. 

These dreams of vengence cross into the real world & the dreams of a cabal with its ties to City Book's Port 'O call in Lamentations of the Flame Princess's 'The Squid, The Old Man, & the Cabal'.  The lodge & the events surrounding it all tie into the Cult of Dagon & undead pirates. But there's more even this going on! 

OSR Lovecraftian Commentary - Flying Buffalo's Citybook Series & The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh Series by Dave J. Browne with Don Turnbull.

 "With 22 businesses and services for seaport cities, mariners of every sort can
find excitement and adventure. Establishments are complete with detailed maps,
fully developed NPC personalities, and over 60 suggested scenarios.  Includes scenarios written by Dave Arneson, Michael Stackpole, Bear Peters, and Charles de Lint."

This blog entry picks right up from this blog entry here. So its been one of those incredibly busy days that we've had here in Connecticut. So its been one of those days where we've had to turn back to the OSR &  old school once again. And in this case it's Steve Crampton's Facebook post that reminded me of an underultiized old school resource. And un thus case its Citybook Port 'o Call. And Citybook Port O'Call goes all of the way back to '84. While the entire Eighties moved at light speed. We slowed the fast forward with a mixing of D&D with a bit of H.P. Lovecraft's Dream cycle by placing Citybook Port 'o Call.  within the Dream realms. Flash forward to June 1st 2021. And we need an OSR  flash mini campaign?!  Now this all goes back to  Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box By Raven God Games. 

If  Citybook Port 'o Call ties in the U1 series of Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh Series by Dave J. Browne with Don Turnbull. Then it stands to reason that the Alchemist is the key to the first part of this. 

Then now would be the perfect time to add in the lord of the underworld  from Citybook Freakshow. The cult of Dagon & the Deep Ones are leaning on the lord of the underworld because of the competition from Alchemist & his smugglers from the Sea Witch. The lord has his assassins knock off the alchemist. And then he's brought back by a Lovecraftian necromancer from the cult again & again to reveal the routes into the harbor. The Deep Ones don't like the competiton. 

The Deep Ones have three things their interested in humanity, breeding, & expanding their operations under the cloak of the Freakshow section of the urban landscape. The alchemist & his crew are a part of a rival outfit. That's namely the Slavers organization from A0- A4 'Against The Slave Lords'. The Deep Ones & the Cult of Dagon are making a move on the port. And the Slavers represent an obstacle. Why?! 
We'll get into that coming up! 

OSR Lovecraftian Commentary - Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing & Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh Series by Dave J. Browne with Don Turnbull.

 So while we've been very busy lately, I've had a chance to catch up on some downtime stuff. Now most folks think somehow that I've, 'abandoned the OSR' or some other such nonsense. Why?! Because well really because we've been expanding & speaking about other game systems & other adventures. Case in point digging through my Call of Cthulhu rpg collection and reworking it for the  Cepheus Engine rpg . And this brings thing around again to the OSR. And in particular Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box By Raven God Games.  
And how to quickly get started on a mini campaign. 

Now it doesn't take a genius to see that its pretty easy to take any number of the Frog God Game modules & adventures or Swords & Wizardry's adventures. Strip them down & use them in a modernish campaign setting. It doesn't take a genius DM to take an adventure like 'The Black Spot' by Gary McBride & use it with Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box By Raven God Games; 

"The first mate drew his blade and formed up what was left of the crew. They steeled their courage and waited for whatever nightmare gave birth to the horrid noises below deck to emerge topside. When the creatures finally ventured into the moonlight, the men’s courage broke. They had never seen such otherworldly monstrosities.

The creatures ripped into their faltering ranks and slaughter reigned.

A young but literate sailor named Titus was clever enough to flee…"

The PC's catch up with Titus & things kick off from there! They get drawn into the tightening web of Weird Tales inspired danger & weirdness. 

But if you really want to up the Lovecraftian OSR  factor?! Then my suggestion is to tie back into the U1 series of Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh Series by Dave J. Browne with Don Turnbull. Why?! Because it ties the dealings of the Alchemist into the horrors of Gary McBride's adventures horrors. 

The alchemist isn't a cover but he's been reduced back down to his essential salts by someone or something that rivals him. There's far more going on aboard the 'Sea Ghost' then at first glance. And the Deep Ones have a vested interest in the goings on within that 'haunted house' then at first it seems. These adventures could easily be converted over into the 19th Century & most if not all of the adventures elements can go from here. Cut way back on the magic items ala what's said here & go from there! But we've got more coming up soon. 

The Frightening OSR Fifties - Monsters,Madmen, Mutants & Megadungeons

Tonight's deep dive into the alternative 'OSR Popcultural history' setting with the start of a slew of mutating & muarading monsters starting with Gojira himself. The 'Gojira incident' marks the first time that the world would see the use of the 'oxygen destoryer' invented by Daisuke Serizawa whose ground breaking work is still being felt today.  
The Fifties also brought on several unique challenges with the advent of mutation taking the world on by storm. The advent of Gojira & many of his ilk led the way for incredible strives in the fields of medicine,military applications, & even into space exploration. 

But it was the ground breaking work of Professor Xavier that really lead to the breaking of the X gene which led into the fields of modern gene works & even telepathic devices. Fifty four would also mark the first appearances of the so called 'Magneto' & his brotherhood.  Several minor incidents lead to veiled connections to Xavier but nothing was ever proven. This also marked the appearance of one of several Mr.Hyde's a possible mutant criminal or family of criminals. 

Professor Richards & Wernher von Braun had access to be German Vril drives, the Roswell crash materials, & even several hyperdrives through very unusual circumstances. Von Braun concluded that these drives were very risky & dangerous to his vision of a interstellar humanity. Richards didn't share his opinion & started working on his own system several of YoYo Dyne Propulsion's patients. This caused a bit of a breech in the relationship between Von Braun & Richards. Richards made incredible strides using the 'over thruster' a key  of the hyperdrive &  warp drive technologies respectively. 

The Fifties were the same era when the discovery of the 'hallow earth' areas marked the appearance of several 'lost world' monsters throughout the world.These monsters have terrorized farming communities out in Midwest for decades. 

The sudden appearances of 'lost worlds' throughout the Fifties often saw the increase in 'Mythos terrorism' incidents. These incidents including the 'Cyprus hills' affair marked a turning point when the US military was brought in. This also marked the return of the Gillman species to the world again. The Gillman is a powerful & highly dangerous subspecies of the Lovecraftian Deep Ones. 

The Mythos incidents led to the push back of the alien Abeloth in Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. This led to the so called 'The Castle Romeo nuclear test explosion' which wasn't a test at all but a sealing of the war between mankind & the so called 'Abominations'. 

Alright so this is part of the back part of my Alternative Seventies campaign. I've been quietly working my way through the Fifties. Going from there using the timeline campaign method I learned from my uncle all of those years ago. So how would I go about running this campaign?! Part of my brain wants to use Raiders of the Lost Artifacts by Night Owl Workshop. 

But part of me is really interested in Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing By Raven God Games now bare in mind I grabbed it. Hmm its been interesting to say the least. I'd actually combined Raiders of the Lost Artifacts &  Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing into a hybrid OSR system. 

Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing seems a bit too concise to me in places. The game is great but I like my PC's to have a fighting chance & these are some of the most dangerous mythos monsters out there..  So what megadungeon might I run with this?! Possibly one of my stranger choices might be Operation Unfathomable by Jason Sholtis for this leg of the campaign.