Happy Gary Gygax Day & Tom Moldvey's B4 The Lost City - A Bit of Sword & Sorcery Commentary

So for Gygax Day I picked an old Tom Moldvay favorite mine B4 The Lost City. B4 is a Pulpy classic and has all of the elements that a 

" Lost in the desert! The only hope for survival lies in a ruined city rising out of the sands. Food, water, and wealth await heroic adventures inside and ancient pyramid ruled by a strange race of masked beings."

It's been a long while since I've talked about Tom Moldvey's B4 The Lost City. And because of it's publication history according to the D&D wiki entry;"The Lost City was written by Tom Moldvay and illustrated by Jim Holloway. It was published by TSR in 1982 as a 32-page book with an outer folder; the first printing was 3-hole punched.[1]

Dragon magazine revisited the setting with "Mystara: Return to the Lost City" in issue #315.

The module was the inspiration for a 3rd edition D&D adventure, "Masque of Dreams," which was printed in Dungeon #142. The adventure was written by B. Matthew Conklin and illustrated by Michael William Kaluta."

The basic adventure plot of B4 The Lost City sounds like something out of a classic Pulp magazine;"At the beginning of the adventure, the characters become lost in a desert sandstorm and stumble upon the entrance to a pyramid. The pyramid and the underground city beneath it are located on the site of the ancient ruined city of Cynidicea and inhabited by the descendants of the city's people. These Cynidiceans, now regressed to a subterranean species, are addicted to narcotics and spend most of their time in drug-induced reveries, wandering around in costumes and masks."  What makes B4 excellent for Sword & Sorcery old school campaigning is the module's adaptablity. B4 can be used for everything from a jungle/desert lost world style adventure into a full on lost world adventure. Lately I've been rereading some of Gary Gygax's wisdom when it came to adventure design and campaign implantation from the pages of 
Best of Dragon Magazine, Vol 1. And some of the ideas one of the father's of the grand game put forth still ring true.. 

The wisdom of city placement, dungeon and treasure placement even Mr.Gygax's advise on dungeon design have a certain air of not only wisdom. But more importantly wisdom. 
And for a module like B4 this is exceedingly important. My own opinion is that if we take the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide and use it with B4 then we've got a solid and winning combination for a even a mini campaign. Why?

Because of the fact that we've tons and tons of random tables as well as dungeon dressing to bring the huge areas to life. And we even have treasure placement and more all at our finger tips. 

B4 is a perfect module to begin to customize using the AD&D DMG. There are massive rooms, areas and more that can be made into mini dungeons, areas for new Cynidiceans types and even new monsters. All of this done with the care and attention to detail that Gary Gygax brought to his  own home games! 

OSR Sword & Sorcery Commentary On MM#7 Dread Swamp of the Banshee By Alan Chamberlain, Mark Taormino, & Joe Pearce From Dark Wizard Games

 Alright let's pick this one up right from this blog entry here.  If we were to go back to the Hyperborea rpg for a moment then let's assume that the third edition adventure the Trapper's Lament has been completed. Now what?! Some of the player's PC's may have died but the rest will have gone up several levels. So it's time for me to unveil MM#7 Dread Swamp of the Banshee by Alan Chamberlain, Mark Taormino, & Joe Pearce

The basic adventure plot is fairly straight forward; "Downstream from the village of Silt is a great marsh created by a massive flood long ago. Many treasures were lost and now lay buried in the ruins of these cursed and water soaked lands. There are rumors that smugglers and criminals hide their felonious activities and great wealth here, but there is more to fear in the mist than the designs of men. Something sinister lurks in the darkness of the bogs. Find your courage, sharpen your blade, and trust no one and you may just survive the Dread Swamp of the Banshee."
This can easily be folded into either the Hyperborea rpg or the Castles & Crusades rpg system as is. There doesn't have to be a massive reason why 'The Banshee' is killing folks. It could simply be that she has awakened after the events of the 'Green Death' and is hungry. 

Between the undead infested swamps, the gators, and the rest of MM#7 this is a great module to set within the Lizard Men Swamps of Hyperborea. I love the maps & cartography of Alan Chamberlain within MM#7 Dread Swamp of the Banshee. Again this is a great module to circle back into Levi Combs 'An Occurance At Owl Creek'. Levi Combs An Occurrence at Howling Crater quite nicely. The mutant hill billies could easily be changed up into mutant peasants. 

This triad of adventures allows something a bit different for even the most jaded of OSR or old school players whist keeping the Sword & Sorcery vibe going quite nicely. This is happening while the DM is moving the campaign along at a rapid pace keeping the players entertained, and keeping them coming back to the table top. 

MM#7 Dread Swamp of the Banshee By Alan Chamberlain, Mark Taormino, & Joe Pearce From Dark Wizard Games Is Available Here