Revisiting The Free OSR Post Apocalyptic Comic Book Resource Atomic War! As Alternative Old School Campaigns Part I

Need an old school campaign setting that has that Fallout feel but takes a completely different course of events. A sand box setting where 'The Bomb' has created the perfect Fifties science fiction movie parameters for mutants, mutation, and all of the venues of Americana old school mayhem? We've got you covered with Ace comics from the Forties & Fifties. Ace according to Wiki was; "Ace Magazines^[1] was a comic-book and pulp-magazine publishing company headed by Aaron A. Wyn and his wife Rose Wyn. The Wyns had been publishing pulp fiction under the Periodical House and A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers names since 1928, and published comics between 1940 and the end of 1956"
They published a really weird atomic bomb exploitation comic book called Atomic War!.

Atomic War! was published between (#1 Nov 1952 - #4 April 1953) - under Ace Periodicals / Junior Books imprint and it would scare the hell out of kids with post apocalyptic nightmares for years to come. Which means perfect fodder for your old school campaigns! 

Last year I did a series of posts about a free series of post apocalyptic comic books from the Fifties and today I was speaking with a friend if I had done anything with those books or the ideas I put down in the blog about them? Well the answer to that was of course no but lately I've been on a post apocalyptic streak of gaming again fading back into the backdrop of the OSR again.

Atomic War series was from 1951 through 1953, this series featured some damn striking cover artwork with the tagline " Only A Strong America Can Prevent  Atomic War " under the melting gaze of a A bomb mushroom cloud set under a melting New York City. This issue lives up to the cover in the first story with the horrors of  Sneak Attack detailing a surprise attack on New York and the use of strategic nuclear weapons to overcome the Communist forces

GRAB ISSUE ONE RIGHT HERE

There is a solid narrative story line of events in issue one with Berlin Powder Keg following closely or happens along side  to the events depicted in Sneak Attack. Operation Haystack dovetails into the events of this issue and then builds upon the next story called Counter Attack.  The next issue continues the Atomic warfare action with Operation Vengeance. The Icebox Invasion is what happens when the Russians attack Alaska. The whole thing isn't pretty and they're is plenty of room for dungeon master customization. The spy From Coney Island details a Communist spy on the fringes of society. While Mission Demolition depicts events in Europe. This issue features plenty of retro technology action.

You Can Download Issue Two Right Over HERE The retro future vibe of these comics is so strong that it hurts in places but these comics are from a different time period so there is very little BS politically correct stuff in these pages. If your offended remember this is 1952.  Issue Number three gets into some hard turf with Commando Cracker Jack where the events of the fall of London has happened and a crack team of soldiers is dealing with the events in Europe. There is some very cool retro tech in this story and there's a ton of background detail that can help to fill in an old school post apocalyptic campaign with little issue. Log of the Snorkel Pack depicts an America reeling under an attack from Russia and the ruins of New York. This is a prime place to let loose your old school mutants and adventurers from an alternative time track or Earth. This story depicts some alternative versions of battles up and down the East cost.
The Invaders features some very interesting material from another area of the Atomic battle front. This is a very limited nuclear war in some regards. Almost a mix of World War II and the echoes from the Korean war as it sets the stage for the next battle called Slash By The Iron Greyhounds. This story features warfare  on the battle fields of Europe  and some great all tank warfare as well as the usual mix themes that build upon themselves.

 You Can Download Issue Three Right Here



Issue Number four features a solid continuation of the Atomic war story line. The Artic Assault features some Fallout style jet planes and some weird bases too. The story is bloody and very violently grim stuff. Old Timers Die Hard continues the war as things move to the tropics. Operation Satellite depicts the stalemate around the globe at this point and the fact that the West's scientists haven't been able to develop a new super science weapon to break the back of the enemy. Here we've got a Russian style underground missile base worthy of a James Bond movie villain. A great location to set a dungeon wasteland crawl. Peril of Ploesti has submarines and weird war action in the middle of the series.


 GRAB ISSUE Four Right Here

 Using Atomic War! As An OSR Campaign Outline




There are three reasons why comic books like Atomic War are easy to use and are continually sought out by dungeon masters. Atomic War outlines events of its conflicts, battles, atomic war weirdness throughout its four issue run. This makes setting adventures around, during, and after those events quite easy.  The battles of Atomic War are on a smaller scale then the missile launching nightmares that we've come to see in entertainment, history, and Hollywood. This is a comic book reality and as such not subject to the bounds of logic or reason. This is a mix of the Korean conflict era & the twisted brand of Ace Magazines atomic age weirdness.



So what does all this have to do with the Lamentations book Lusus Naturae?Well,  plenty  actually.
Lusus Naturae is one of the better horror gaming aids I’ve ever seen and it depicts the violent weird nature of parasites, mutation, loss of control over personal space, having secrets wrested from you in the face of the cosmic. The very nature of what is happening in the setting of the Atomic War comics  almost seems to plug into the background of pseudo cosmic mythos of the
Lusus Naturae book. This is a world ripe for the gods, beings, and horrors of Lusus Naturae to make an appearance.

Or alternatively this could well be a world primed for the appearance of adventurers who might loot, exploit, and deal with the horrors that this world presents. The world setting of Atomic War might an alternative universe from the average post apocalyptic universe. A place where the horrors of mutation and mutants are just getting started. This is a place where the usual forces of Gamma World and Mutant Future cryptic alliances  are just about emerging into a a very different set of Shadow Years.
There is a ton of archaic retro tech just in the background of these issue waiting to be brought to the fore. The final issue's "Arctic Assault" from Atomic War! #4 has it just under the surface begging to be used. Soviet era snow going tanks with skies. 

So continuing the weird atomic age theme, the old Gamma World War blog brought this gem of a collection of artwork from the Pageant Magazine 1951 issue.  This was the same era that Atomic War! hit the shelves and its perfect for the events depicted in the four issue run of Atomic War!. Welcome to any city USA where the events have spiraled out of control and the whole thing runs like a continuation of the Korean war on steroids. The timeline in Atomic War! follows through pretty well making the chaos of the shadow years easily doable.


Print these out and use them as hand outs for your mutant adventurers and your ready to go. If I haven't mentioned this all of the material sited here is public domain and easily ported over for any number of old school gaming systems.
This illustration is perfect for depicting the ruins of a wasteland city and there are plenty of opportunities to drop in your favorite mutant monster or weird wasteland Fifties outlaw gangs right into there. You can almost smell the fallout.


I love the guys in the gas masks and Hazmat suits, they make perfect zombie or mutant forces fodder. The rubble choked stairs are a nice touch. So why I'm I not taking this seriously? Because this is a comic book era reality and the reality is so much worse. This is the same era that spawned Atomic monster movies and this material is ripe to use. As we'll see next installment there's plenty of material left to mine from the wastelands. I can almost see this issue of  Pageant Magazine 1951   blowing on the imaginary fallout laden wind on a newsstand in any city USA.

So what I'm planning on doing with all of this campaign potential laden material? This is going to become an Alternative wasteland 789 a world that might have been in the process of rebuilding or going to hell as wasteland campaign takes shape. See you next time on the time trails! 

Free OSR Comic Resource Download - Strange Worlds Issue #2 For Your Old School Campaigns

I've been a huge fan of pre and post code comic books, Strange Worlds from Ace Periodicals has been my ace in the hole for old school gaming for years. The series which ran for twenty two issues sort of. According to wiki: The first comic-book series to be titled Strange Worlds ran 15 issues published in two sequences by Avon Comics. Issues #1-10 ran cover-dated November 1950 to November 1952. No issues #11-17 were released, and the series began publication again with #18, having taken over the numbering of the defunct Avon comic Eerie. This second sequence ran through issue #22 (Oct./Nov. 1954 - Sept./Oct. 1955). One ongoing feature in the otherwise anthological title was "Kenton of the Star Patrol".

Grab It Right Over HERE

While Avon was a minor comics publisher in relation to such contemporaneous industry leaders as Atlas Comics, DC Comics, and EC Comics, the series featured artwork by such top talents as Wally Wood, who would soon go on to become an industry star at EC; Joe Kubert, later a signature artist of DC's Hawkman and Sgt. Rock; portrait painter Everett Raymond Kinstler and Western-art painter Charles Sultan, early in their careers; and seminal African-American comics artist Alvin C. Hollingsworth a.k.a. Alvin Holly.

Which brings me to issue two of the series; the reason for using this issue is three fold :This issue features both sword and sorcery tales as well crossover points for games with two very distinct characters including Crom & a  giant featured in the tale is a apparently a mutated Hill Giant or a Nephilim  from Old . Crom also features the public domain realm of Ophir which is perfect to nab for your favorite sword and sorcery campaign. The Giant From Beyond has a lot going for it, we've got sword and sorcery action plus lost world giant dinosaurs and more. Personally I think the whole lot could be dovetailed right into Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea.
The second tale the 'Weapon Out Of Time' is one of those weird modern vs sword and sorcery crossover tales with a throw away kingdom and several other factions. But the big draw here is telepathically controlled prehistoric riding tigers! Yeah this is a perfect tale to retro use when you need a throw away kingdom off in some corner of the campaign with a nifty backstory to it. This story has everything one could want for use as a basic adventure for any retrofuture space going salvage game. The adventure location is a space dungeon, you've got clear reasons for the salvage and a weird one shot menace or even the makings of a whole cycle with the introduction of a brand new NPC vile villain race in the form of the Octopus Kings.

'Octopus Kings of the Lost Planet' is the cover story and is fairly pedestrian affair but the Octopus kings themselves are awesome. These things could make a grand appearance in any game! I've used them several times for LoFP and even in AS&SH as an NPC villain race.

Octopus Kings in my Accursed Atlantis Campaign look something like this as a racial class :  -6 Charisma +4 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -3 Constitution, and the ability to cast spells pulling from the black magicians lists. These beings often worship Cthulhu, Leviathan, several alien Petty gods or other patrons. They have dark vision up to 30 feet and keen hearing. Use stats for a giant octopus or larger creature; these things can walk on land and sport an additional 1d4 mutations. They also have a poisonous bite which a victim must save vs poison or take 1d4 points of damage per round as the vicious venom worms its way through the body finally ravaging the heart.

Dara of the Vikings is another public domain character featured in a lost land and I've used her many, many, times as a cross over point NPC perfectly suited to bring modern characters into Accursed Atlantis into the Norsemen' lands. She's a 5th level barbarian and I've dropped the whole victim mentality and she uses a +2 bow and her father's relic magic sword. But according to the PDSH wiki: Dara was a 20th century viking woman who lived in the secluded village of Tine, near a cove of moderate climate, presumably located near Northern Greenland. The village had been settled in 1361 when Druil, the Heroic landed there. Dara was the daughter of Druil, though it is unclear if her people were immortal, or if there had been more than one Druil. Dara and her father were keepers of the Golden Bow of Rolfe the Mighty, which required great strength to use and could penetrate a target 400 yards away. The bow was used to keep another viking clan, led by Cyngar, at bay. Eventually, Ford Robbins and Gene Dorn of the United States found Tine after their plane went down in the North Atlantic. After Cyngar was defeated, they decided to stay with the vikings.

What really interests me is the fact that the public domain location of Tine is weird and I do mean really weird. There's entire time lost village of Vikings caught in the middle of a time warp and no one's noticed? Tine isn't simply a village; its a time lost realm whose half giant kin of Northmen are just waiting to be used. Personally I think that you've got Dara being simply amused by her charges and quietly looking after them before the two little American men get broken and broken very badly. I get the feeling that lurking around the horizon of this realm are some very nasty and dangerous monsters. Tine could be a sorcerous fixed point in time where adventurers might crossover time and again. A lost world waiting to snare adventurers from all kinds of retroclones. A place likely to attract the attention of some of the powers from this book. Lusus-Naturae features some the most dangerous dimensional ravagers and exploiters this side Carcosa.  Another thought I've had is that Dara's world is actually a post apocalyptic fantasy world that has experienced some sort of dimensional devastation. Perhaps the Americans can't leave because they simply won't. There was also some implication that the Vikings were somehow immortal. If this realm loops back on itself through time dying might actually be an option at all. This was something I discussed with friends the other night. Perhaps Golden Bow of Rolfe the Mighty, is +2 bow of strength used for killing monsters and it has some very,very, bad side effects from use. Undeath,mutation, or perhaps even something far worse. I've used time with Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea and it was a hit in those games because of its odd nature.


Reading through this issue I was confronted by the realities of another retrofuture game I recently ran using the Lamentations of the Flame Princess system and another public domain comic book resource. You can find out all about that right over HERE
There are few ways in which this particular issue can be used for multiple retroclone platforms; Strange Worlds features both a mix of science fantasy as well as sword & sorcery. You sure got your ten cents worth back then.  The retrofuture technology of Strange Worlds is perfectly handled by Mutant Future or even some of the material in Carcosa.  Basically because of the nature of DYI post apocalyptic gaming the more successful worlds are created from the ground up and then peppered with the dungeon master's take on the PA setting as they like it. Overtime PA settings are likely to grow and change as the play style and needs of the players evolve with the setting. This issue of Strange Worlds allows exactly that for Dungeon Masters to work with as they see fit.

Retro Commentary On The Free OSR Literature Download - Edgar Allen Poe'sPoems (1917) As A Campaign Setting Resource For OD&D and and Other Retroclone Systems

 
For months now I've been quietly wracking my brains for a touch stone campaign setting for an October campaign coming up. Over the last few months I've been drifting between OD&D, Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess as alternative Dungeons & Dragons style systems. Al Aaraaf is one of Edgar Allan Poe's least known pieces of weird poetry "Al Aaraaf". Its a strange piece of work and almost nonsensical in places making it perfect fodder for adventure fodder for old school games.The book that I love to use is my beat up 1917 copy of The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe this book is available as a free download from the Internet Archive. This book contains many of Poe's most famous weird poems but tonight I'm going to concentrate on 'Al Aaraaf' as adventure fodder. This was a very contraverstial poem when it was premeired by its author according to Wiki:
"Al Aaraaf", which Poe claimed to have written before he was 15, was first published as the major poem in "Poe's 1829 collection Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. The book and "Al Aaraaf" in particular received mostly negative reviews for its complexity, obscure references, and odd structure. Some, however, noted the potential in the young poet, including John C. Neal, to whom Poe had shown "Al Aaraaf" prior to publication. Poe would later refer to Neal's response as the first words of encouragement he had received. Nevertheless, the negative response to "Al Aaraaf" may have inspired Poe's later poetic theory that poems should be kept short.
Years later, in 1845, Poe used "Al Aaraaf" to hoax members of the Boston literary circle during a reading. Poe claimed the poem was a new one and his audience was perplexed by it. He later claimed a Boston crowd did not deserve a new poem. He held a strong dislike for New England poets and the New England-based Transcendental movement and hoped by presenting a poem he had written in his youth would prove Bostonians did not know good literature."

So going over my past campaign notes for 'Accursed Atlantis' I was going to utilize 'Al Aaraaf' for a demi plane that is situated between Heaven, Hell, Limbo and the Beyond

The poem contains elements of Orientalism, Metaphysical elements, weird Biblical subtext and some strange fairy tale bits thrown into the background for good measure. According to wiki :
Al Aaraaf" is the longest poem Poe wrote^[1] and was inspired by Tycho Brahe's discovery of a supernova back in 1572 which was visible for about seventeen months.^[2] Poe identified this nova with Al Aaraaf, a star that was the place between paradise and hell. Al-A`raaf (Arabic الأعراف, alternatively transcribed Aʿraf or Al Orf) was a place where people who have been neither markedly good nor markedly bad had to stay until forgiven by God and let into Paradise,^[3] as discussed in Sura 7 of the Qur'an.^[4] As Poe explained to a potential publisher:

Its title is "Al Aaraaf" from the Al Aaraaf of the Arabians, a medium between Heaven and Hell where men suffer no punishment, but yet do not attain that tranquil & even happiness which they suppose to be the characteristics of heavenly enjoyment.^[3]

In the opening section of the poem, God commands Nesace, a name for Beauty's spirit, to convey a message to "other worlds". Nesace rouses the angel Ligeia and tells her to awaken the other thousand seraphs to perform God's work. Two souls, however, fail to respond: the "maiden-angel" Ianthe and her "seraph-lover" Angelo (Michelangelo), who describes his death on earth and the flight of his spirit to Al Aaraaf. Ianthe and Angelo are lovers, and their failure to do as Nesace commanded results in God not allowing them into heaven.
William Heath Robinson did some wonderful illustrations and art pieces for various Poe stories over the years and for me it speaks of a place where the intersection of life and death meet with the places of dream.

Here's part one :

O! nothing earthly save the ray
(Thrown back from flowers) of Beauty's eye,
As in those gardens where the day
Springs from the gems of Circassy –
O! nothing earthly save the thrill
Of melody in woodland rill –
Or (music of the passion-hearted)
Joy's voice so peacefully departed
That like the murmur in the shell,
Its echo dwelleth and will dwell –
Oh, nothing of the dross of ours –
Yet all the beauty – all the flowers
That list our Love, and deck our bowers –
Adorn yon world afar, afar –
The wandering star.

'Twas a sweet time for Nesace – for there
Her world lay lolling on the golden air,
Near four bright suns – a temporary rest –
A garden-spot in desert of the blest.
Away – away – 'mid seas of rays that roll
Empyrean splendor o'er th' unchained soul –
The soul that scarce (the billows are so dense)
Can struggle to its destin'd eminence, –
To distant spheres, from time to time, she rode
And late to ours, the favor'd one of God –
But, now, the ruler of an anchor'd realm,
She throws aside the sceptre – leaves the helm,
And, amid incense and high spiritual hymns,
Laves in quadruple light her angel limbs.

Now happiest, loveliest in yon lovely Earth,
Whence sprang the "Idea of Beauty" into birth,
(Falling in wreaths thro' many a startled star,
Like woman's hair 'mid pearls, until, afar,
It lit on hills Achaian, and there dwelt)
She looked into Infinity – and knelt.
Rich clouds, for canopies, about her curled –
Fit emblems of the model of her world –
Seen but in beauty – not impeding sight
Of other beauty glittering thro' the light –
A wreath that twined each starry form around,
And all the opal'd air in color bound.

All hurriedly she knelt upon a bed
Of flowers: of lilies such as rear'd the head
^[1]On the fair Capo Deucato, and sprang
So eagerly around about to hang
Upon the flying footsteps of – deep pride –
^[2]Of her who lov'd a mortal – and so died.
The Sephalica, budding with young bees,
Upreared its purple stem around her knees:—
^[3]And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnam'd –
Inmate of highest stars, where erst it sham'd
All other loveliness: – its honied dew
(The fabled nectar that the heathen knew)
Deliriously sweet, was dropp'd from Heaven,
And fell on gardens of the unforgiven
In Trebizond – and on a sunny flower
So like its own above that, to this hour,
It still remaineth, torturing the bee
With madness, and unwonted reverie:
In Heaven, and all its environs, the leaf
And blossom of the fairy plant in grief
Disconsolate linger – grief that hangs her head,
Repenting follies that full long have Red,
Heaving her white breast to the balmy air,
Like guilty beauty, chasten'd and more fair:
Nyctanthes too, as sacred as the light
She fears to perfume, perfuming the night:
^[4]And Clytia, pondering between many a sun,
While pettish tears adown her petals run:
And that aspiring flower that sprang on Earth,
And died, ere scarce exalted into birth,
Bursting its odorous heart in spirit to wing
Its way to Heaven, from garden of a king:
^[5]And Valisnerian lotus, thither flown
From struggling with the waters of the Rhone:
^[6]And thy most lovely purple perfume, Zante!
Isola d'oro! – Fior di Levante!
^[7]And the Nelumbo bud that floats for ever
With Indian Cupid down the holy river –
Fair flowers, and fairy! to whose care is given
^[8]To bear the Goddess' song, in odours, up to Heaven:

    "Spirit! that dwellest where,
    In the deep sky,
    The terrible and fair,
    In beauty vie!
    Beyond the line of blue –
    The boundary of the star
    Which turneth at the view
    Of thy barrier and thy bar –
    Of the barrier overgone
    By the comets who were cast
    From their pride and from their throne
    To be drudges till the last –
    To be carriers of fire
    (The red fire of their heart)
    With speed that may not tire
    And with pain that shall not part –
    Who livest – that we know –
    In Eternity – we feel –
    But the shadow of whose brow
    What spirit shall reveal?
    Tho' the beings whom thy Nesace,
    Thy messenger, hath known
    Have dream'd for thy Infinity
    ^[9]A model of their own –
    Thy will is done, O God!
    The star hath ridden high
    Thro' many a tempest, but she rode
    Beneath thy burning eye;
    And here, in thought, to thee –
    In thought that can alone
    Ascend thy empire and so be
    A partner of thy throne –
    ^[10]By winged Fantasy,
    My embassy is given,
    Till secrecy shall knowledge be
    In the environs of Heaven."

She ceas'd – and buried then her burning cheek
Abash'd, amid the lilies there, to seek
A shelter from the fervor of His eye;
For the stars trembled at the Deity.
She stirr'd not – breath'd not – for a voice was there
How solemnly pervading the calm air!
A sound of silence on the startled ear
Which dreamy poets name "the music of the sphere."
Ours is a world of words: Quiet we call
"Silence" – which is the merest word of all.
All Nature speaks, and ev'n ideal things
Flap shadowy sounds from visionary wings –
But ah! not so when, thus, in realms on high
The eternal voice of God is passing by,
And the red winds are withering in the sky: –

^[11]"What tho 'in worlds which sightless cycles run,
Linked to a little system, and one sun –
Where all my love is folly and the crowd
Still think my terrors but the thunder cloud,
The storm, the earthquake, and the ocean-wrath –
(Ah! will they cross me in my angrier path?)
What tho' in worlds which own a single sun
The sands of Time grow dimmer as they run,
Yet thine is my resplendency, so given
To bear my secrets thro' the upper Heaven!
Leave tenantless thy crystal home, and fly,
With all thy train, athwart the moony sky –
^[12]Apart – like fire-flies in Sicilian night,
And wing to other worlds another light!
Divulge the secrets of thy embassy
To the proud orbs that twinkle – and so be
To ev'ry heart a barrier and a ban
Lest the stars totter in the guilt of man!"

Up rose the maiden in the yellow night,
The single-mooned eve! – on Earth we plight
Our faith to one love – and one moon adore –
The birth-place of young Beauty had no more.
As sprang that yellow star from downy hours
Up rose the maiden from her shrine of flowers,
And bent o'er sheeny mountains and dim plain
^[13]Her way, but left not yet her Therasaean reign.

You can read the poem in its entirety right over here

The thought of Poe's works put me in the mind of A Night On Bald Mountain.

Maybe because of Halloween and October coming on like a bear this year, one week its sunny and lovely next its freezing. This is New England for you but one thing it does do is inspire and I've been blitzing on watching the Phantasm series of films again. The second and third films are sheer wall to wall horror crawls in haunted houses, the planes of the dead, the worlds largest mausoleums, funeral homes, etc. So I started thinking about the fact that a renagade fallen angel of death could play merry havoc with reality if he started using a demi plane to raid various realities and dimensions to collect the souls of the living. No reality could be safe from such an entity. Several monsters from D&D spring to mind here. Free willed Ju Ju zombies, mummies, vampires, and damned souls all come to mind.


I have dreams about this entity's realm howling out in the Black Void of other dimensional space chewing up realms and making one gigantic cemetery of a world. Nothing is safe, this world is all that remains of Old Earth. Each world that "Al Aaraaf" touches is invaded and taken over by the undead and its deadly dark necomatic magicks. Magic items from this realm are especially dangerous. After getting off of the phone with the artist Gennifer Bone one of her pieces of art seems to encompass this fact in spades.

When it comes to this sort of a realm we're looking at a mix of haunted reality overlapping the realms of death and insanity. This is the type of late night three am mix of 80's horror films, deep occult themes, and deadly insanity in equal measure. But it doesn't have to necessarily be entirely serious. The undead here can be completely Evil Dead or Re animator mutated and the monsters have a far more old school Disney aesthetic. Think Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia here.Given the sort of a demi plane invasion and overlaying effect that this place has it can easily bring itself into other realms. No place is really safe at all. Any game setting or realm might be subject to the ghastly attentions of 'Al Aaraaf'. A random encounter chart from 'Al Aaraaf' might look something like this.



1d6 'Al Aaraaf' Random Encounter Chart

1. 1d4 semi demonic ghostly apporations created from the wrecked spirits of departed adventurers. They are looking to feast on the souls of the living. 
2. A pack of 1d8 demonic ghostly highway men on nightmares looking to strip the living of all that they have including their lives. 
3. 1d8 ghost like imps, goblins, and least Lovecraftian horrors rippling about in a miasma cloud of horror looking to rip apart the living and violate their very beings. 
4. A trio of undead zombie drunkards who are actually cunning monsters out to kill anything that they run across. 
5. An inhuman demon veiled warrior woman on the back of something that resembles a locust with a human face looking for human souls for her dark master.  4th level warrior with demonic powers. 
6. A pack of undead zombie motorcycle riders with black powder guns and rifles out for prey and 'fun'. 2nd level fighters.

This realm need not be all darkness and hate, there are spots of ghastly fun and high weirdness. This is just the sort of venue that Judge's Guild's Tegel manor is perfect for. A lone location with its own internal adventure mechanisms and megadungeon location. Adventurers can easily stumble headlong into its horrors and madness. All of it transcending time, space, and sanity. The funhouse aspect of this adventure  makes this a solid fit and there's really very little that the PC's can do to take away from the encounters per say.  More to come. In the meantime try not to get caught in the webs of
"Al Aaraaf"'s clutches.

Free Comic Book OSR Resource & DYI Post Apocalyptic OSR Gaming For Long Term Campaigning Involving The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg

The post apocalyptic wastelands are a dangerous and deadly place rife with all kinds of challenges. The Lamentations of the Flame Princess is a perfect choice to get your PA game off the ground and here's why.


When I take a look at long term campaigning over the years one thing becomes very obvious to me. The campaign world that a DM creates themselves are the ones that last over the long haul. Because a DM and the players invest into the world & setting  themselves over the long haul. This is the complete opposite of new school games where the characters are all. Post apocalyptic rpg games are the perfect venue of this sort of gaming. The science fantasy setting is central to the game and the PC's are completely disposable.    Worlds and settings matter and when the clock chimes & it all ends. That's when the campaign usual begins, & after running countless post apocalyptic game adventures and rpgs a few things come home to me. The end of the world is fun, the struggle for survive comes at terrible prices & gonzo adventure always sells the game setting. Thus we come to Lamentations of the Flame Princess whose system is perfect for dipping right into the wastes and horrors of the post apocalyptic. Wastelands filled with mutants are ripe for exploitation by the powers that be in Lusus Naturae. I've been going over my notes for my LoFP game involving Lusus Naturae and the atomic war comics from the 1950's. Believe it or not there's a connection between the two styles of entertainment. LoFP is a brutal,violent, and f@#$ up game and precode comics are no different. They didn't sugar coat their violence and insanity. Several of the OSR  games that I DM offer similar styles of play but very different approaches to the material. But out of the OSR material LoFP offers some great grim dark options for the post apocalyptic set up.

So why use this sort of system, because the skill system is perfect for a post apocalyptic world. There are several elements that Clint Krause goes into in this video.

Now about the mutations, abilities,etc. well there is a 'pay what you'd like' option that works quite well in the form of the Metamorphica or you could use the mutation tables from Carcosa. The real contender for this style of game is probably Mutant Future with a healthy heaping of Realms of Crawling Chaos.

Realms of Crawling Chaos has several systems that can handle everything from arcane Lovecraftian alien technologies and a decent psionic system for the Lovecraft races detailed in the book. This dovetails straight into the alien horrors detailed in  Lusus Naturae. There's also the fact that there are numerous free OD&D style resources for retro future style tech right over HERE.

This brings me to Atomic Age Combat #3, an issue with all of the right elements of space style atomic warfare, weird pseudo Jonny Quest style retro-future technologies and the perfect amount of retro-future tech that is ripe for plunder for jump off point for a campaign. This has that pseudo weird pulp vibe that chimes perfectly with the grim dark possibilities of LoFP. But why added in that system? Because it makes a certain amount of sense with the weird science fictional and science fantasy of many of the LoFP adventure source books. Try and imagine an alternative nineteen fifty nine right after the atomic balloon goes up and the entities of Lusus Naturae come calling! 


Grab it right over HERE

Or advance the plot ahead by a hundred or two hundred years when the Old Ones come back and you've got a mix of Lovecraftian races, mutants, LoFP freebooters,outlaws,etc.
But I can hear you asking but lately you've been covering DCC and Crawling Under A Broken Moon why not simply use that in place of Lamentations of the Flame Princess or one of the other retro-clone systems. Well its actually one of scale and timing, LoFP while attacking and going over the same ground as DCC does it from a completely different approach. According to Jeff's Gameblog LoFP is '
Assuming you aren't weirded out by the artwork then LotFP shines as pretty much the tightest version of D&D ever.'  You can read more about that right over Here 
DCC is also meant as an OSR expansionist retroclone system that pulls from the Appendix 'N' pool. It does adventures very well, the PC's are not heroes and the level system generated from the funnel character creation scales completely up from other retroclones like LoFP. A first level DCC character is about an LoFP second or third level PC. LoFP is a level intensive system that emulates and corrects many of the issues of  Basic D&D. The retrofuture technology of Atomic Age Combat is perfectly handled by Mutant Future or even some of the material in Carcosa. 
Basically because of the nature of DYI post apocalyptic gaming the more successful worlds are created from the ground up and then peppered with the dungeon master's take on the PA setting as they like it. Overtime PA settings are likely to grow and change as the play style and needs of the players evolve with the setting. This is something that is often seen in early editions of Gamma World and its predecessor Metamorphosis Alpha. This is esepecially true of MA whose entire system is built around the Star Ship Warden and its environs. Lamentations of The Flame Princess builds and grows its material through each of its adventures in turn allowing a DM to pick and chose the meta world as the play suits. This is one of the more successful stratagems for continuing play over the long term and one of the ways in which DM can keep having players coming back to their tables over the long haul and long term.
Rafael Chandler, and  all art by Gennifer Bone in Lusus Naturae gives the book a hands on created feel and allows the relationships that the monsters have with each other to bleed directly into a campaign. DM's should and need to take note of these and exploit them to the fullest. These sorts of relationships can even be seen in Rafeal's other projects as well. Such as the ViewScream Second edition and other upcoming projects. Gennifer Bone's art continues to impress me and she even has a Patreon, site set up. Give her work a look and become a patron of the arts with her.
In closing there is a balance between the care and feeding of a setting and the uses of a post apocalyptic setting in old school games and OSR games as well.
Next time DCC and the OSR post apocalyptic wastelands where mutants make an impact. Sometimes in a crater!

Unboxing Of My Physical Copy of Lusus Naturae For The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg System

Just in time for tonight's game is my copy of the Lusus Naturae hardback by Rafael Chandler, best known  for the Teratic Tome and the wonderful artist Gennifer Bone.
This  hardback kicks the Pdf's ass, the art is lust, the paper is clear and crisp, the artwork kicks so much ass, this book is decated to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg system and features some of the most nasty and dangerous pieces of work to come out of the OSR in a very long time. Each monster is an adventure unto themselves and they're all related into each other as a part of the back story of the LoFP's Chandlerverse. Which means that they can be a part of or not a greater part of your LoFP whole campaign universe. On with the unboxing! The envelop was packed very nicely and there was a fair amount of packing by the author.

 Everything was undamaged and ready for examination; the book was still sealed in plastic, always a plus. 

 The picture doesn't do Gennifer Bone's nasty and dangerous wrap around art cover.

The artwork is far crisper and cleaner on the book, it looks very handsome in contrast to the pdf which doesn't bring home the way it 'pops' right out at you. Every bit of slime and scum is visible just waiting for the DM to throw the menace at the players.

The thickness and quality of the book is excellent and I really love the care that went into this. I've already had my players squirming once they found out that it's been in my hands.

The layout is clean, the font easy on the eyes, the quality is superior to many other rpg books except for my LoFP books. The size is  perfect for my other LoFP books so for me this is and has been an outstanding purchase.

Here's a side by side comparison with my Lamentations of the Flame Princess rules book. I can't begin to tell you all how satified I'm with the purchase. If you'd like to get your own copy of this beauty please contact Rafael Chandler  to see if there are any other copies available  through him.

People you  should pick up the hardcover even over the pdf. The art just pops and Gennifer Bone's  artwork is glorious.  Between the monsters, the random appendixes for monster generation and everything else this is a glorious book for the OSR in all of its slime covered loveliness.  Grab this and let the monstrous inhabitants from Lusus Naturae  start chewing, infecting, and warping your PC's today!