OSR Commentary On TWO BRAND NEW FIRST EDITION modules Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #10: Fantastic Quest of the Whimsical One and Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #11: Lost Tomb of the Mummy Lich

 Congratulations on my buddy Mark Taormino for snagging  legendary AD&D artist Erol Otus for his latest kickstarter TWO BRAND NEW FIRST EDITION modules Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #10: Fantastic Quest of the Whimsical One and Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #11: Lost Tomb of the Mummy Lich! 
Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #10: Fantastic Quest of the Whimsical One is for PC's levels 3-6 which means that it's going to be both challenging and deadly; "
Deep inside a hidden mountain exists a peaceful, magical world of underground caverns filled with colorful oozing slimes, living plants, and a vast array of enchanted creatures. This subterranean paradise was recently corrupted by a mysterious evil creature named Discordia, who appeared from a crack in the depths of the realm, turning the land and its inhabitants into horrible abominations. One lone survivor, an eccentric outcast wyrm named Huffenpuff, managed to escape to the upper level. In a chance encounter with your stalwart group, he explained that his world needs your help. You must retrieve three powerful artifacts; and, if successful, he will gain the courage and power needed to aid you in the final battle against the wicked one. Together, you and this unlikely hero will restore peace and save his mysterious land by undertaking the Fantastic Quest of the Whimsical One!"

It sounds like the first edition Fantastic Quest of the Whimsical One module would be perfect for a fairy tail style Castles & Crusades or AD&D first edition campaign with a Fey bent to it. The whimsy and horror of it oozes from the pours of the module. Personally I'd place this module deep within the confines of a Castles & Crusades Greyhawk. It has the feel of an adventure that James Ward or Gary Gygax would do. 

Yes Virgina there is a log floom  ride in MMD#10 art by Jacob Blackmon

The second module Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #11: Lost Tomb of the Mummy Lich has my interest. This module has a bit of everything of the classic Dark Wizard modules and that's deep adventure plot, diobolical tricks & traps, and deadly dungeons. All of this is reflected in the  Lost Tomb of the Mummy Lich's adventure plot; "A recent earthquake has unearthed the hidden tomb of the long-forgotten Pharaoh Ankhen-Hotep. Deep inside the ruins, a dark cult has taken over the site, worshipping the mummy. With his new followers, the lich has awakened from sleep and is now raising an undead army to march on the living, seeking to use his evil magic to dominate the region. A fearless band of heroes is needed to infiltrate the dungeon, navigate the deadly traps and monsters, thwart the cult's wicked plans, and destroy the undead Pharaoh before his dark reign begins anew. Fortune and glory await the brave souls who can survive and escape from the Lost Tomb of the Mummy Lich!"

 The  Lost Tomb of the Mummy Lich's adventure has a bit of everything for the DM on the move. You've got an uncovered dungeon, an underground cult, powerful monsters, and a baked in NPC vile villain. MM#11 is perfect adventure to add into the world of the Hyperborea rpg. Take  the  Lost Tomb of the Mummy Lich & add it into the Dimond Desert. The Diamond Desert is perfect as a blank slate for the DM to add in the Tomb of the Lich King as both history and kingdom. Add in the cult and things get very 'Sword of Conan' like very quickly. 
The Lich king had a giant kingdom in the ancient history of Hyperborea. This means that the Tomb of the Lich King can act as a touch stone for both this dungeon and other massive mega dungeon locations. At the center of it is the lich king himself who could act as a massive NPC villain just waiting to burst into the lives the PC's! 
You can support  Mark Taormino's Kickstarter right here. 

OSR Commentary On Shadow of the Necromancer 1E By Mark Taormino From Dark Wizard Games Used For A Classic Hyperborea rpg Set Up.

 "Fear stalks through the darkness of night in the form of the walking dead! They attack innocent travelers and merchant caravans in the moonlight! Animated skeletons have also been seen digging up the recently dead and carrying them into the nearby ruins of an old abandoned keep!"

"Rumor spreads fast from lip to ear amongst the locals, whispering that a sinister hooded figure has been seen directing the undead and is taking up res"idence in that foul dungeon! " 

So we've been looking for some 1st level adventure  options to get our Hyperborea rpg campaign off the ground. While there are several adventures that we've been speaking about for a Hyperborea rpg campaign such as Cellars of Ancarvan which will probably be the follow up to Shadow of the Necromancer. So why 'Shadow of the Necromancer'? Several reasons, reason one is the fact that Hyperborea is chock full of Hyperborean ruins all over the landscape. Reason two 'The Shadow of the Necromancer' is a very straight forward adventure. And three  Mark Taormino does a great job of outlining his NPC's motives. 

'Shadow of the Necromancer' brings the player's PC's right into the action & the adventure could easily be placed right outside of the capital of Khromarium.The necromancer sets up shop and begins to weasel his way into the surrounding landscape like an undead necromatic cockroach. This is one bad customer bringing the wades of undead to the surrounding countryside.  

Because of Shadow of the Necromancer's  capital of Khromarium association. It would be quite easy to work Rats in the Walls and Other Perils urban adventure association into the  adventure mix. So we have a series of adventures that will take the PC's from first level all the way to fourth quite easily or beyond. 

 Shadow of the Necromancer 1E By Mark Taormino From Dark Wizard Games does an excellent job of fostering a group of 1st level PC's into actual conflict, offers a solid NPC villain, & a good hook into a classic Sword & Sorcery campaign. 
 Shadow of the Necromancer 1E By Mark Taormino From Dark Wizard Games Is Available Right Here

Using Modern OSR Adventure Resources For an Old School Lovecraftian Campaign Twist

Mark Taormino's latest adventure Kickstarter broke earlier this afternoon. He wants to add new artwork & pieces to his existing modules. No this isn't a few coats of paint, some new artwork here & there this is a solid revamp.

So tonight I've been thinking does one use modern OSR game adventures with old school campaigns or campaign designed settings. All of this centers around Mark Taormino's latest Dark Wizard Games Kickstarter which dropped earlier today.




Many of Mark's adventures center around adventures with some pretty wild, weird, gonzo anachronistic adventure set pieces. From space craft,death roller coasters, fun house dungeons with modernistic elements, & many more. You can see exactly the sort of weirdness I'm talking about in Mark's walk through of the Secret Machines of the Star Spawn. So how the hell does a dungeon master cope with some of the modernistic touches in many of the Dark Wizards titles? Surely there can't be a classic old school Sword & Sorcery solution that can not only build upon some of the guiding principals of these modules but actually incorporate them.

If we begin to look into the actual adventure plot for Secret Machines of the Star Spawn several small plot points jump straight out, "Locals have been hearing whispers of strange happenings around the Ancient Volcano. Rumors over the last several years of an unspeakable evil that has risen up inside. An evil that “fell from the stars.” There is something wicked and devilish going on inside. Highwaymen report of strange creatures, mechanical monsters, horrible beasts and “little green men” that are roaming the land. You and your stalwart adventurers have decided to take on the challenge of plundering the mountain for the treasure within!"


Star Spawn uses many of the popular pop culture & sci fi pulp tropes to great advantage within its setting, it throws PC's into the deep end of the adventure pool with sci fi references, traps, tricks, etc galore. The Secret Machines of the Star Spawn exists in a sort of campaign vacuum so that the dungeon master can slot it into their own campaign. That's fine and it works really well but what if there was a back ground campaign setting & a possible drag & drop point for adventurers? Well there is in the third series module Villains of the Undercity, we get the small coastal city of Los Farport. This is a sort of campaign setting parody, homage to several well known  old school & TSR campaign cities. But it manages to create its own flavor of mayhem with its old school style plot;"The locals insist people are being abducted in the night and taken into the bowels of the rumored “Undercity Dungeon” below. A lone survivor managed to escape and give some information before dying in your arms: “Secret door... Tavern of the Wiley Wench... Ugh!” You and your brave team of adventurers have decided to investigate these rumors, plunder the dungeon and destroy the dreaded “Villains of the Undercity!” ...right after you loot his still warm body, of course."  Well what if this world is a throw back to another earlier age.

Taking my cues from a classic science fiction novel by Clifford Simak called the Goblin Reservation. The book is a blend of science fiction and fantasy, it features a ghost, leprechauns, trolls, banshees, a dragon, a cybernetic sabertooth tiger, a Neanderthal, Shakespeare, aliens who get around on wheels, time travel, and stranger things. It was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1969. But this was a bit to close to Tolkein's influence for me. But man do I love that '77 cover artwork! I have this edition lovingly bagged up because I love the artwork so much.

So I began to dig into a few earlier C.L. Moore stories along with Leigh Brackett's novellas. I began to look into the possibility of a small Exo planet out beyond Pluto caught in the Boreas Winds. This world was once a Hyperborean empire out post world populated by near humans with a few twists on the traditional fantasy & Dungeons & Dragons tropes. This means that there is more to this then simply placing an exo world outside the normal bounds of the solar system and populating it with traditional D&D style races and monsters. These races are actually human based hybrids genetically engineered eons ago by dark Hyperborean masters for working under weird conditions. But there are far darker undertones here especially if Clark Ashton Smith & HP Lovecraft's monster  cosmicism is followed. 

It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/h_p_lovecraft.html

"It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests."
HP  Lovecraft

Here adventurers actions aren't irreverent instead they're absolutely necessary for the survival of the communities, kingdoms, and city states existing on the edges of  the solar system. "In Lovecraft's work, human beings are often subject to powerful beings and other cosmic forces, but these forces are not so much malevolent as they are indifferent toward humanity" In other words the world needs the PC's to stand between the threats from outside because there are far more malevolent forces waiting beyond the bubble of reality.  Time and again we see monsters, funny house situations, and more yet we're not seeing the whole picture of  events. Monsters are merely one more pray animal to far more dangerous forces lurking outside of this cheese cloth reality.  This isn't Thundarr the Barbarian so much as its the dungeon or adventure ecology of a Sword & Sorcery world with sort of trappings of high fantasy. But this is not.

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

Theosophists have guessed at the awesome grandeur of the cosmic cycle wherein our world and human race form transient incidents. They have hinted at strange survivals in terms which would freeze the blood if not masked by a bland optimism. But it is not from them that there came the single glimpse of forbidden aeons which chills me when I think of it and maddens me when I dream of it. That glimpse, like all dread glimpses of truth, flashed out from an accidental piecing together of separated things—in this case an old newspaper item and the notes of a dead professor. I hope that no one else will accomplish this piecing out; certainly, if I live, I shall never knowingly supply a link in so hideous a chain. I think that the professor, too, intended to keep silent regarding the part he knew, and that he would have destroyed his notes had not sudden death seized him." 
HP Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu

This means that Elves, Dwarves, etc. are merely magically charged 'happy meals' waiting for any number of Lovecraftian entities to come and feed on them. These beings are more then merely alien to mankind their a set of prey animal waiting to be snatched away by alien and extra terrestrial races of incredible power.


We see snatches of this in Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories especially in Xeethra by  Clark Ashton Smith
"Subtle and manifold are the nets of the Demon, who followeth his chosen from birth to death and from death to death, throughout many lives.
—The Testaments of Carnamagos"
The players should never be made to be suitable for an adventure or module. The module or adventure should be modified out to the players needs as necessary. Here the changes to the modules or adventures are subtle from the standard D&D or OSR modules here its all in the background or side story elements to convey that something is more then slightly 'off'' adventure motifs. 
In the end its not about just killing monsters and taking their stuff, its also about staving off the darkness for a bit longer and having your PC be the larger then life heroes they were meant to be. 


If You Wish To Support Mark Taormino's latest Dark Wizard Games Kickstarter Go Here

Commentary On Maximum Mayhem Dungeons: Monsters of Mayhem #1 & More Maximum Mayhem Dungeons Titles For Your Old School Campaigns

So I've been running around like a mad man trying to play catch up with work & the stack of old school reading, writing, etc here at Casa De Fabiaschi. Its been an interesting three weeks to say the least. But I wanted to do some commentary on Mark Taomino's Maximum Mayhem Dungeons titles.  Here's the first thing about these adventures and supplements  they work with OSRIC or adapted to 1st Ed AD&D, 5e, DCC, Pathfinder, D20, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry.

So Mark Taormino's latest Kickstarter effort funded. He sent me a copy of  The Vault of the Dwarven King PDF two days ago more on that in a second. Vault is a solid adventure &  fun house dungeon romp on steroids spun through with some heavy duty dungeon crawling cred. While it looks really fun and it is, this is a really deadly dungeon romp. This is one of those adventures that as a DM you pull out for a mid tier campaign fest. Deadly, nasty, and one of those that folks around the table will be talking for years to come.


Mark's  Monsters of Mayhem #1 funded the other night & I didn't really have the time to dedicate to speaking about it. As a DM you really can't have too many monsters & its when you get into horrors like the
FLUORESCENT OOZE; "These things are particularly awful and get attack players when they least expect it, leaving their dead bodies glowing a bright green, orange or yellow color. Artwork by William C. Pfaff"

"PROJECT FUNDED! Special thanks to my 174 Kickstarter backers that pledged $7,323 towards my Monsters of Mayhem #1 product! Also thanks to my friends who helped support and promote my works! Thanks for your awesome enthusiasm, love and dedication to my projects! Not only do we get to make something amazing and fun for you to play with your friends and family, but you are also helping to be job creators for all the artisans that work on my games."

What this basically means is that another two kick ass OSR titles have entered the fray & this in my estimation is a good thing. Mr. Taomino's material is usually pretty high quality gonzo retro old school adventures with some really good oversight on his crew's part. A lot of his stuff is pretty damn useful at the table. Because sometimes you need a monster in the dungeon for tonight. You don't have time to go searching through the more then three thousand monster books in your study. So you grab Monsters of Mayhem#1 come across the LURKING GREEDLING!  "This thing resides in the darkness of caverns and dungeons. They are rumored to be some kind of hideous magical beast but scholars are still unclear of their origin. They just know one thing: stay the Hell away from it or die! Artwork by Brian McCranie!"


Look I'm a jaded son of a gun of a dungeon master, I've used tons of weird & strange monsters but its using these horrors in the right place & time that's critical. These monsters are easy to place in a dungeon or ruin setting, easy to adapt to a wide variety of settings, & their ones that players are going to complain erm remember for years to come. Take for example the LAGOON CREEPER a direct homage to one of my favorite Universal monsters the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

"LAGOON CREEPER: These thing live in murky swamps and bogs. Rising out of the water and darkness to prey on their unsuspecting victims pulling them into the deep. Artwork by Brian McCranie!"

Throw one of these guys into your dungeons & players are going to start asking tons of questions about where it came from, how did it get there, are there more of these, & is there a campaign invasion? Suddenly you as a dungeon master have a ton of openings for further adventures. "The monsters make the campaign and this is something I've said for years." Don't over think the monsters let the players fill in the gaps and take you on the ride with them. This is where Mark Taormino's stuff shine, he gives the DM just enough for them to run with and modify out his adventures.

You Can Get In On Maximum Mayhem Dungeons: Monsters of Mayhem #1 Here

Monsters, Monsters, & Commentary On Maximum Mayhem Dungeons: Monsters of Mayhem #1 Kickstarter For Your Old School Campaigns

So my buddy +Mark Taormino  is back with a brand new Kickstarter! This time its hoards of monsters in the form of Maximum Mayhem Dungeons: Monsters of Mayhem #1! 
He's got a brand new OSR loving  monster book full of monsters,mayhem, & vile beasties for your old school dungeons!

So there's going to be a boat load of old school monsters to throw at your PC's including:" DEMONIA GIGANTICA, TINY TERROR, DANCING LOON, PANDORA'S WORMS, WALVINORS, KAJADI, SLAYTILLIANS, FANGBATS, WAR TITAN, GRETZEL, FARAWYN, WIZARDS BANE, SHADOWFIEND, VEGGIEPYGLET, BLUE TROLL, NIGHTMARE WARRIOR,  LURKING GREEDLING, BONE SPIDER, BLOOD GOLEM, LAGOON CREEPER, FLOURESCENT OOZE, WIZZLEWIG, HORDE MASTER, PLAGUE BUNNY, ASTRAL DRIFTER, TEMPEST DEMON and FACERIPPERS! "



Plus you will also get the best of our original monsters from our first four adventures! Some of these creatures are: DEATHGUARDS, NEVERDEAD STALKER, VENUS II PLANT, LAVA WORMS, BRAIN STRIDER, CASKET CREEPS, LITTLE GREEN BASTARD, WOOD MORPH, DUNGEON BREAKER, VAMPIRE LICH, LAVA TITAN and more!"

The best part of this monster book is the fact that its geared for old school & OSR style retroclones; "This supplement contains dozens of new creatures written with the usual Maximum Mayhem style humor and wickedness with hit dice ranging from 1 to 14. These all can be played with the OSRIC system or easily adapted to AD&D, D&D 1e to 5e, Pathfinder, D20 System, etc or any fantasy role playing system you may want to use!"
So right now folks are trying to pressurize +Mark Taormino & his crew for a printed book because at the moment I can see why he wants this as a pdf only book but we'll see how that aspect turns out. Here's a sample of the type of evil bastards we're talking about for your home campaigns!
Blue Troll: Very rare and little is understood about them. No one knows how they reproduce or if there is even a female Blue Troll (maybe the term 'blue' has a different meaning until they find those female ones, but for now they are viciously mad and deranged). They have amazing regenerative abilities and can heal most wounds within a few seconds. Cut off parts can be reattached or regrown in hours. They are very intelligent and industrious but only when constructing a good con job to get the players to give up treasures. They will usually appear at times and places of great suffering and despair in order to capitalize on the misery in some way.    

So your probably looking at a great quality monster book with lots of potential mayhem for your old school adventures & dungeons. Given the rewards he's got going we're going to see this come out soon. We're also going to see some of the old favorites from some of the previous adventures:"
FYI the monsters are already written with stats and completed! We also will include all of the best monsters from our previous modules as well. All the monsters will be formatted in the usual style" This means a very easy format to adapt and use for your old school game adventures!

Given +Mark Taormino's  track record with his Kickstarters I've no doubt that this is going to be another highly successful endevour on his part! His adventures are good quality, viciously fun, and with lots of replay potential . I have no doubt that his monsterbook will be anything less and possibly even better with plenty of kick ass horrors to spring on people!

Go Here To Support This
Monster Laden Kickstarter!

Commentary On Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #4: Vault of the Dwarven King Kickstarter For Your Old School Campaigns

I almost had this kickstarter from Mark Taormino & the Maximum Mayhem Dungeons crew slip under my radar. Luckily I happened to catch Mark yesterday on Facebook PM.  I've been on a sort of mythological sword and sorcery bender lately. Fortunately lately Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #4: Vault of the Dwarven King is the perfect adventure module to scratch this itch.



So why I'm I all excited about this module? Because Mark Taormin & Alan Chamberlain have delivered very successful Kickstarters before but this one is  written and ready to go to the Testing, InDesign, Artwork and Layout Phase once this project is funded! The plot sounds one part Lord of the Rings & two parts action movie with the  Maximum Mayhem Dungeons label spin on it. 
These are desperate times when the Dwarven king  summons brave fools erm souls to the Smokey Mountains on a quest most vital! "The Dwarven King of Brundurum has summoned you to his throne room within the Smokey Mountain. Brave souls are needed for a noble quest into the depths of the earth to retrieve the legendary hammer known as Fireheart. But beware - the Goblin King and his evil hordes believe the hammer woke a Lava Titan and they will seek to possess it at all costs. Who is telling the truth? Who is really kin to this ultimate weapon? What secret powers are at play in this tale of suspicion, intrigue and betrayal? Only your stalwart group of adventurers will find out and walk away with more fortune and glory than ever... if you can escape the Vault of the Dwarven King!"

The legendary hammer known as Fireheart is exactly the type of weapon that can get adventurers into loads of  trouble especially with the the Goblin King and his evil hordes. I know how these two writers/designers think, there's going to be lots of danger for the party. Vault of the Dwarven King is character levels 4-7 and can be played with the OSRIC system or easily adapted to AD&D, D&D 1e to 5e, Pathfinder, D20 System, Labyrinth Lord, BFRPG, Swords & Wizardry, Warrior & Wizards, etc. which means its going to be a challenge for the players no matter how you slice it. These modules of  Maximum Mayhem Dungeons don't hesitate to TPK even with a veneer of humor and gonzo adventure coated on the top of it.


Often times these modules have Easter Eggs & homages to classic Eighties films, popculture, & more even as they try to kill off your PC's in an awesome or fun fashion. In this case we're seeing a homage to the mine car scenes from Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom.

Everything here screams Eighties action movie hijinks even as the adventures speeds along at break neck pace;"There is a whole mine car system around the blue map dungeon! It will be a real funny roller-coaster type thing the Players can ride! The above artwork is in progress from Bradley McDevitt. The artwork below is a rough, in-progress drawing from Mark Lyons of the Mine Cart boarding area. Oh it looks like the previous riders decided to make their visit a permanent one. The Goblin attendant is wearing a little hat and a vest with a name tag that reads "Sprinkles." He speaks to the Party in Common. "Everyone all aboard, remain seated please and keep your hands and arms inside the mine car at all times..."


Knowing the way that the authors think this module is going to be a mini campaign unto itself. Many of the features of the adventure bare this out.
Four classic blue map dungeons on the inside cover
- Over 30 numbered encounters, DM Background, Players Background, Character Backgrounds, Wandering Monster tables, Rumors table etc.
- Removable covers (softcover books)
- 32 Pages (estimated)
- Two new monsters (Lava Titan and TDB possibly more)
- Boxed and unboxed text
- Saddle-stiched book (softcover books)

This classic format bares out the idea from ye olden days that pre made PC's are going to be included making the idea of being able to convert from one edition or format a real snap.

Here is a sample of the Villains PDF with some encounter information. It may give you some ideas of how to convert:
http://www.maximummayhemdungeons.com/Sample%20PDF/Villains%20of%20the%20Undercity%20Sample%20-%20PDF%20Sample.pdf

There is also the fact that other  Maximum Mayhem Dungeons titles have been added as part of the reward levels but it also means that an enterprising dungeon master could combined into a mega campaign. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to create  a massively weird Maximum Mayhem Dungeons campaign setting worthy of your OSR attention. I've run these titles in the past and they're gonzo fun but brutal as any old school module of the past.


Do I think that Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #4: Vault of the Dwarven King  is worth your attention and money? Yes I actually do because this is going to be a good solid romp through Vault of the Dwarven King!
You can support this
Kickstarer right over here!

Reading Through Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: Villains of the Undercity By Mark Taormino For Your Old School Campaigns

"Danger lurks at every corner of the small coastal city of Las Farporte. The locals insist people are being abducted in the night and taken into into the bowels of the rumored "Undercity Dungeon" below. A lone survivor managed to escape and give some information before dying in your arms: “Secret door... Tavern of the Wiley Wench... The password is... the password is... Ugh!” You and your brave team of adventurers have decided to investigate these rumors, plunder the dungeon and destroy the dreaded "Villains of the Undercity!" Oh but first loot the body, of course. He won't mind... he's dead." This is the set up for Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: Villains of the Undercity By Mark Taormino & its a viciously funny SOB of an adventure. Mark sent me a review copy and I've got to say its even more impressive then it was as a PDF. The paper is crisp, the images good, and the text is clear for these old eyes. The module is very well done & up to mark's usual standards of excellence in old school adventure fun.


"This module is designed for character levels 1-3 and can be played with the OSRIC(tm) system or easily adapted to AD&D, D&D 1e to 5e, Pathfinder, D20 System, Labyrinth Lord, BFRPG, Swords & Wizardry, Warrior & Wizards, etc or any fantasy role playing system you may want to use it with under the Open Gaming License v1.0a! The module will have a mix of hack & slash and interesting puzzles, traps and characters. I need your help to actually finish it and turn it into a real game book for you and your players to enjoy. It can easily be adapted to most campaign settings as well. If you like this module, look for future ones soon (I have about 10 more planned so far and will make more after that)." 
This looks like so much fun to unleash on my party of fools erm adventurers & he really delivered the goods with this one. The artwork is well done and the layout is top notch and possibly one of the better products I've seen come out of kickstarter besides some Venger Satanis's old school ventures, all of the usual tropes including the detachable map are here.

There are tons of potential with this module & with a bit of modification this module could be made to work any number of retroclones or neo clones including Dungeon Crawl Classics which would fit this one to a tee because it delivers on ; "irreverent characters, diabolical villains, over-the-top monster encounters, outrageous magic, mischievous NPCs, traps, puzzles, and more blood and gore." Here the set up for campaign and urban play is built right into the module with old school nods and Easter Eggs scattered throughout the module.

Take the idea here that the Caves of Chaos have been cleaned out, & the Keep on the Borderlands had been destroyed. A certain group of Slave Lords moved in & a city has been built over the remains of these dungeons of the past. The break down for this module goes something like this:
- 36 page module
- 3 blue dungeon maps (two dungeon levels and one tavern map)
- 8 Pre-Generated Characters

This whole package screams beer & pretzels module with friends over AD&D 1st edition or your favorite retro clone system. The balance here between Maximum Mayhem Dungeons humor, the nastiness of the adventure and the old school weirdness is tight as well as well done. The adventure moves you right into the cross hairs with an attention to plot of adventure that drags the party into the deep end of things right away.



Let's not even get into good old Wendell and his issues being one of the main forces of nastiness in Villains of the Undercity because he's not someone to trifle with at all. He's got a chip on his shoulder & he's going to be taking it out on your PC's!



There is enough details on the campaign setting of  the small coastal city of Los Farport that I can see porting this location over into either DCC or a similar retroclone system or even as a post apocalyptic location especially given The Secret Machines of the Star Spawn adventure or The Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen 

Given the location details of Los Farport these modules could be placed back to back to form a great whole cloth setting. I sure as hell enjoyed reading the module last night and it works on a lot of levels & personally I can't wait to see what's next in the Maximum Mayhem Dungeons bag of tricks!
I give  Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: Villains of the Undercity By Mark Taormino  a five out of five for style, substance, and old school weirdness!

IF YOU WANT TO CHECK OUT VILLAINS OF THE UNDERCITY YOURSELF
THE PDF IS AVAILABLE  HERE

Review Of The OSR Module - Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity By Mark Taormino For your Old School Campaigns

So Mark Taormino  of Maximum Mayhem Dungeon's fame sends me a copy of his adventure Villains of the Undercity. Now I've been quietly off of social media for most of today but I've been waiting to check out the pdf of this adventure for months. Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: Villains of the Undercity is one of those adventures that revels in its gonzoness and doesn't want or ask for an apology for its old school veneer. This is a gonzo adventure with a difference straight out of the gate, this is an adventure keyed for PC levels one  through three with an eye toward Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st edition or OSRIC.



The plot is straight out of too many late night Mountain Dew runs, cheap beer, ten hour D&D sessions;Danger lurks at every corner of the small coastal city of Los Farport. The locals insist people are being abducted in the night and taken into into the bowels of the rumored “Undercity Dungeon” below. A lone survivor managed to escape and give some information before dying in your arms: “Secret door... Tavern of the Wiley Wench... Ugh!” You and your brave team of adventurers have decided to investigate these rumors, plunder the dungeon and destroy the dreaded “Villains of the Undercity!” ...right after you loot his still warm body, of course."
The adventure has recommended levels & after reading through this one last night DM's and players might want to heed the recommendations for ;"This module is designed for 6-8 characters of levels 1 to 3. The party should consist of at least 3 Fighters, 1 Cleric, 1 Magic User, and 1 Thief." While this might seem basic there's a surprising amount of complexity to this adventure. I should also mention that Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity is a complete adventure having everything you need to run this right out of the gate including pre generated PC's which I can truly appreciate. I have players who are sometimes late to the table and this pick up and go aspect is one of the things that appeals to me as a DM.
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"From left to right, Snoot the Bugbear, Grimley the Warrior, Kreshnar the Mage, Lethos the Lizard Man (with his blade El Duche) and Sunghew the Evil Elvish Warrior, a.k.a The Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: Villains of the Undercity" This adventure uses many of the tried and true old school adventure elements to move the action along and the adventure moves at bit of a break neck pace with lots of room descriptions, solidly done cartography and lots of old school gonzo adventure encounters. The setting of Los Farport is a loving homage and send up of  a classic TSR era setting;"The adventure in this module is located in the small
fishing and coastal farming town of Los Farport which is heavily populated with humans, elves, demi-humans, and humanoids. The climate is generally comprised of warm summers and cool winters with the major trade items out of this port town are wine made from the finest grapes and high bounties of delicious fish and crabs for export. The town is a stop for travelers looking for work or passage across the Western Sea.

Los Farport has always had a notorious salty history but recently more and more folks have been mysteriously disappearing. Fear and suspicion rule the land as more bands of Bugbears and Lizard Men have been settling on the outlying borders of the nearby territories. Right now they are rumored to be working together in a nefarious slave trade operation run by a shadowy
figure known only as the Sinister One. Innocent men,women and children are being captured and taken into slavery into the dreaded “Undercity Dungeon”
hidden below the ground somewhere. The Bugbears and the Lizard Men are constantly at odds in a power struggle over the operation as their bosses Snoot and Lethos (pronounced “lee-thoes”) are the right hand men in the operation and hate each other."
There are shades of the Slaver series mixed in with homages to White Plume Mountain and lots of other old school modules and adventures. Somehow it all works as a complete OSR package adventure unto itself. The encounters are balanced but very nasty & not surprisingly lethal in the old school way. The difference here is that these encounters which run as a thread throughout the adventure form a dangerous low level crawl with lots of twists and turns.


The motivator for all of the action in Villains of the Undercity is Sir Wendell Hobblefoot III, an NPC  force of some considerable villainy and his machinations. There is a lot more going on here then what simply meets the eye. The module always walks the fine line between humor and wily OSR quite nicely with some really nasty and memorable encounters. The author knows his source material and while remaining some what faithful charts his own course.


Mostly everything works with the dungeon underworld locations being the central hub that everything is on in The Villains of the Undercity. The throw back aspect is one of the central themes of the adventure but makes the whole affair come to life. Encounters run the gauntlet from simple 'face the monster and grab the treasure type' to far more puzzle oriented trap style encounters to the dangerous NPC slavers encounters and more. If you go screwing around in this adventure your going to die or even have a party wipe.

There is a ton of combat but players expecting to simply hack and slash their way through this adventure are going to have PC's die left, right, and center. The author has more then a passing flare for the dramatic and knows how to keep the pacing of the adventure interesting. But don't mistake this adventure for the more jokey one shots out there. Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity  lacks some of the more adult humor of Taormino's other adventures. Instead this has the author's sense of the dramatic unleashed and on stage.

Take for example the Broken Casket Room Encounter - This room contains several dozen ancient caskets.
Some are broken open and some are closed. To
your horror, you can hear someone or something
making a “tapping” noise from inside one of the
closed coffins! It is a most wicked looking casket too!
Wooden and painted black with evil faces! A very
old large black metal lock connected to thick black
chains that are wrapped around and sealing the
casket shut. Probably for good reason.
This room was used during the main cemetery years. It
has been abandoned for several years and is used for
holding temporary captures. If the Players understand
Common they will hear a muffled voice yelling for
“Help!” from the casket. If they open the lock which
is trapped Save vs Poison or take 1d4 damage, the
casket will burst open and they will find Ajax McKrax -
a rugged highlander and mercenary fighter in his mid
to late twenties. Ajax doesn’t mess about and could
be described as having poor impulse control. With firey
red hair and a bloody beard to match his personality,
Ajax has a big heart and a badder attitude. He will tell
the Players he was captured in the Tavern of the Wiley
Wench after calling Snoot “one ugly motherfucker”
during a staring contest the two were having over a
bet of 15 silver pieces. Snoot had him locked in this
casket until he would die. He’d traveled to Los Farport
trying to find adventure and has found it in spades.
Ajax is a 3rd Level Human male Fighter (AL: Chaotic
Good, Strength: 17, Dexterity: 16, Constitution: 15,
Intelligence: 12, Wisdom: 11, Charisma: 14) Battle Axe
is his favorite weapon.
For me what makes this module is the balance between humor and straight up old school adventure. That line that gets tossed back and forth, this was a blast to read & for me makes me as a dungeon master really want to run this adventure. I've been watching the development on Villains of the Undercity for months now. Is it perfect? No there are a couple of areas that need tightening up in the writing. A couple of encounters where the party of adventurers might derail bit parts of the overall plot, this is more of an observation then a major thing about The Villains of the Undercity. This is also an adventure in the West Coast tradition of old school role playing. Trying to define this is going to be like nailing jelly to a wall but here it goes. California and the West Coast has had a tradition of gonzo gaming for years going all of the way back to Dave Hargrave's 'Bloody Bloody Arduin.' Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity feeds into that style of gaming. That's one of the strengths of the adventure. This is one really interesting adventure as we shall see.
I can honestly see not only using this adventure but I've got several ideas about running it. The first is running Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity  straight out of the gate using OSRIC or Advanced Dungeons and Dragons first edition and getting an entire campaign going in Los Farport going warts and all. Another option on the table is using the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea for my retroclone of choice for this adventure and that puts a far more sword & sorcery spin on Los Farport. This isn't a bad way to go but there's more.
The second bit is taking this adventure and using it for Dungeon Crawl Classics and that would take a bit more modification. Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity monsters, NPC's, and several adventure elements would have to be modified to fit the DCC system but it would  be well worth it. In fact a far out option might be to use Crawling Under A Broken Moon to cross over the fantasy and post apocalpytic elements of a DCC campaign. You could do a Mutant Future/Labyrinth Lord Advanced bit too just as easily.
The third option that occurred to me is something that hit me part way through reading this adventure, you could easily run this adventure with Alpha Blue or even better yet Crimson Dragon Slayer by Venger Satanis. Before you leave the room hear me out, the stripped down and meaner version CDS is a perfect vehicle to run this adventure in. The setting, encounters, etc. all fit into the world of CDS and this adventure plus the system would easily compliment each other. So needless to say  I want to see far more adventures in Los Farport from the pen of  Mark Taormino.
Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity By Mark Taormino hasn't hit the shelves yet and I was given the opportunity to take a look at the adventure. Boy I'm glad I did. This is going to be a blast to run! Four out of five dice for this one!

Commentary On Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity By Mark Taormino For your Old School Campaigns

So I've been quietly keeping up with Mark Taormino's Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity adventure which according to him is going into the home stretch of layout and more; "Worked with Alan Chamberlain yesterday laying out my third module Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: The Villains of the Undercity. It is topping out at about 32 pages. We just need to finish getting the pre-generated characters, new monsters and blue maps done next Saturday."
"From left to right, Snoot the Bugbear, Grimley the Warrior, Kreshnar the Mage, Lethos the Lizard Man (with his blade El Duche) and Sunghew the Evil Elvish Warrior, a.k.a The Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: Villains of the Undercity"

According to everything I've read through the encounters are up to Mark's usual standards of deviltry and wanton chaos of OSR madness; "

A clip from one of the encounters in my Villains of the Undercity module: "...the casket will burst open and they will find Ajax McKrax - a rugged highlander and mercenary fighter in his mid to late twenties. Ajax doesn’t mess about and could be described as having poor impulse control. With firey red hair and a bloody beard to match his personality, Ajax has a big heart and a badder attitude. He will tell the Players he was captured in the Tavern of the Wiley Wench after calling Snoot the Bugbear “one ugly motherfucker” during a staring contest the two were having over a bet of 15 silver pieces. Snoot had him locked in this casket until he would die. He’d traveled to Los Farport trying to find adventure and has found it...""


The tone seems to be as weird and deadly as The Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen which is solidly OSR according to mark on this one ;"Here is the latest piece of artwork for my upcoming Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #3: Villains of the Undercity module. This is for Snoot's Pit Fight and Rock n Roll Arena Encounter! "...When you enter the large circular chamber it is filled with hundreds of monsters fighting and arguing. You see a huge throne chair at the far end of the room. Sitting on the throne chair on one side of the room is Snoot drooling and wearing fancy golden armor. A four member Rock and Roll band is playing on a small stage composed of a bugbear, a troll, a goblin and an orc. They are wearing crazy black and white eye makeup and have huge shoes. Snoot growls. The music stops and all of the cheering monsters shut their pie-holes and listen quietly. He speaks to you in Common. “I challenge your best warrior to fight my best warrior... the Deathmonger! If you win, I will let you pass and continue your foolish quest. If you lose. You’re dead already!” He laughs a hearty laugh which slowly causes all of the other monsters in the room to start belly laughing. You can see Lethos the green lizard man lean over and whisper something to Snoot. Suddenly a snarling, huge naked Bugbear appears in the Pit wearing nothing but huge metal spiked gloves. It looks like he must be a size 13 shoe. The music starts up again...""

If you don't recall the successful Kickstarter last year the basic plot is like something from the golden age of D&D; "
Danger lurks at every corner of the small coastal city of Las Farporte. The locals insist people are being abducted in the night and taken into into the bowels of the rumored "Undercity Dungeon" below. A lone survivor managed to escape and give some information before dying in your arms: “Secret door... Tavern of the Wiley Wench... The password is... the password is... Ugh!” You and your brave team of adventurers have decided to investigate these rumors, plunder the dungeon and destroy the dreaded "Villains of the Undercity!" Oh but first loot the body, of course. He won't mind... he's dead.

This module is designed for character levels 1-3 and can be played with the OSRIC(tm) system or easily adapted to AD&D, D&D 1e to 5e, Pathfinder, D20 System, Labyrinth Lord, BFRPG, Swords & Wizardry, Warrior & Wizards, etc or any fantasy role playing system you may want to use it with under the Open Gaming License v1.0a!"

So its now coming down to the wire and soon we're going to get a brand new module and it looks to be about as kick ass and gonzo as the other Maximum Mayhem Dungeons. The artwork is right up there with The Secret Machines of the Star Spawn adventure and I can't wait to see what Mark has cooking.