OSR Commentary On Haven The Free City From Different Worlds Publications For Your Old School Campaigns

So Greg Gorgonmilk posted on social media a reminder about The Free City of Haven which is one of the greatest of old school fantasy cities. And into my cart it went! Boy I'm glad I did! 

" In this first of three volumes in the chronicles of the city of Haven, GMs will find more than enough material for many months of urban adventuring, including:

• Over 100 well-described shops and shopkeepers
• 60 interesting random city street encounters
• 300 personable NPCs for the players to interact with
• 25 scenario outlines to involve the adventurers with the conflicts and desires of the city's denizens

Haven - The Free City can be used with any fantasy role-playing system that accepts the existence of magic and a multi-racial universe, and is designed as an interrelated series with Thieves' Guild, forming the basis for a complete campaign universe. Ample space is provided for the GM to incorporate features, politics, and personalities from his own campaign into the fabric of the city. This package includes:

• An Overview of the city of Haven and the region of the Ten Cities, and explanations of the terminology used in the books;
• 7 booklets describing the 7 boroughs and neighborhoods of the city, with major families, personalities, shops, taverns, and residences, and possible adventures;
• A booklet of random encounters and statistics for all NPCs described in the text;
• 11 detailed neighborhood maps showing the locations of shops and other places of interest described in the text;
• A poster-sized color map of the entire city, showing over 100 noted landmarks.

So if your players are looking for a place to spend the ill-gotten gains from their last expedition, seeking to establish a more permanent base of operations for their favorite adventurers, or are just plain tired of skulking around uncharted dungeon coridors for the twentieth week in a row, bring them to Haven - The Free City, the biggest and best fantasy city ever published!"

 Haven The Free City From Different Worlds Publications Is Available Here 

The Pay What You Want OSR Resource - Five Swords From Harbinger Games For Your Old School Campaigns

 Five Swords From Harbinger Games is one of those supplements that fills a niche as a DM that you wish you have thought to have written. Its a damn useful little product with five magical blades. The title includes their history, powers, bits and pieces, all of the useful bits about the weapons and its all done up in a nice concise and well organized package from Harbinger Games. These are not power or munchkin blades, they have a specific set of powers and magical qualities but not enough to unbalance your old school campaigns

Grab It Right

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Five Swords has a ton of uses from adding in several NPC magical blades and their history to creating brand new artifacts in the form of swords to add just that extra little bit of shine to that treasure hoard.

According to the Drivethrurpg blurb: 

  Five Swords is exactly what it sounds like - writeups of five enchanted swords suitable for use making a treasure hoard more sought after, or to make a villain more feared!.

  Five Swords has writeups for the holy sword Whitestaff, the thief's sword Stardust, and killer's sword Orphanmaker, plus two more.

On the surface this title does exactly what it says on the title but more then that the Five swords adds that little extra edge of magical sword goodness to an adventure but don't make these swords that easy to aquire during game play. Place these swords within dragon hoard, as part of collections belonging to vile villains or give these swords to NPC's who need a magic sword with an impressive set of minor and useful powers. And that's one of the things that separates this from other OSR products. These swords are actually damn useful for game play. They should be the cherry on top of any hoard's gathering of gold, gems, and silver pieces.

Because of the way that 'Five Swords' is written there is a ton of room to modify these items to your heart's content and allowing you as a DM to make and customize these swords as your own. There is a sense that these are magic swords that are meant to see use by your PC's.

That brings up the question of balance,Five Swords definitely has its collective eyes as a product to providing you with set of swords that can easily be modified to fit your needs as a DM. 

The items are very accurately described and are completely plug and play allowing a DM freedom to drop these swords right into an Advanced Labyrinth Lord campaign, OSRIC, AD&D 1st Edition, or even an Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea campaign. The fact is that only one of these swords should appear within a campaign. Seriously these are swords that should only show up once every two years or so of game play. They're well balanced and written items with plenty of DYI editing room so you can sneak these swords right into the middle of your carefully aligned campaign with a ton adventure hooks built right into each item. 

All in all I think that this a download with your time and your attention as a DM. 

1d10 High Level Lovecraftian Treasures Table For Your Old School Campaigns

 

"Immediately upon beholding this amulet we knew that we must possess it; that this treasure alone was our logical pelf from the centuried grave. Even had its outlines been unfamiliar we would have desired it, but as we looked more closely we saw that it was not wholly unfamiliar. Alien it indeed was to all art and literature which sane and balanced readers know, but we recognised it as the thing hinted of in the forbidden Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred; the ghastly soul-symbol of the corpse-eating cult of inaccesible Leng, in Central Asia. All too well did we trace the sinister lineaments described by the old Arab daemonologist; lineaments, he wrote, drawn from some obscure supernatural manifestation of the souls of those who vexed and gnawed at the dead. (“The Hound,” 174) H.P. Lovecraft 

The jade amulet now reposed in a niche in our museum, and sometimes we burned strangely scented candles before it. We read much in Alhazred’s Necronomicon about its properties, and about the relation of ghouls’ souls to the objects it symolised; and were disturbed by what we read."

 

(“The Hound,” 175)

There are some items of treasure that shouldn't be found, items that were left behind on the battlefields of existence that can prove to be far more dangerous to adventurers then they first realize. Here are a few of those items that might prove to far more dangerous then valuable.

1d10 Random High Level Lovecraftian Treasures Table

1. Necklace of weird greenish gold made with weirdly inscribed runes on the piece. They are actually a summoning rite for a 'hunting horror'. As soon as this thing is put on the rite is enacted.The wearer is the sacrifice. The piece is worth 1000 gold pieces but also cursed but certain cults will pay 10000 or more gold pieces for it. 
2. A strange wrought iron chest inscribed with thousands of pieces of mystic writing across its surface. The thing is actually the holding chamber for a 'colour of space' which is ready to burst forth and wreck havoc on anyone caught by it. 
3. A golden plate writ with alien writings and strange glyph symbols  that summons an ancient tentacled horror from beyond time and space. The thing is an aspect of Nyarlathotep and loathes humans and near humans,it lives only to spread mayhem and chaos.
4.  This chest of seeming gold contains an alien fungus colony and wishes only to spread cause chaos as well as summon its immortal,unknowning masters from beyond the stars. Anyone caught by it is infected in 1d6 rounds unless a save vs.death is made. The chest is worth 10,000 gold pieces by itself with incredible silver workings. 
5. A strange ankh cross of weird design wrought with ancient symbols of despair and high magick this thing summons 1d8 dimensional shamblers who will come to carry the user away and tear him apart as sacrifices to their unknowing masters at the four corners of ultra dimensional unreality. 
6. A strange iron wrought box that contains what seems like a haul of 1d100 jewels of beautiful but alien aspect. These things are actually the eggs of a very dangerous nature and 1d100 weird Lovecraftian things will come down from the stars to claim the owner and spread madness. They are seemingly worth a small king's ransom. 
7. A priceless jewel is actually the weird essence of ancient god thing and is looking for a new housing for its immortal essence. The thing will try to possesses any wizard or priest who picks up this beautiful bauble. The target must save vs death or be the housing for this priest who will try to call down his masters to claim this reality as their prize. 
8. This beautiful jade statue's hand is a perfect seeming representation of a person's delicate hand. The thing is actually the sorcerously  held hand of some ancient demon thing from beyond space and time. It will come to claim its ancient hand anyone else present taking them back to its cold damned hell beyond the pale of man themselves. Worth about 8000 gold pieces to the right collector. 
9. A golden statue's bust of some dignified and wise man lost to the ages. In gold alone it is worth a cool 40,000 gold pieces at the base of the neck is group of closely cropped hieroglyphics. These ancient Atlantian spells will summon one of the dangerous elemental demonic spirits of old which will proceed to turn the caster and everyone present to beautiful golden statues themselves. But the 'gold' is actually an elemental plague that will spread with the merest touch of anyone. 
10. This beautiful Jade demonic statue is seemingly worth a cool 4000 gold pieces. Upon its base is a group of closely cropped and nicely done spell symbols of ancient Atlantis. These spells once said aloud will break reality and allow things from far outside in. And even if the dimensional doorways are closed there will still be a nice pinprick in reality allowing some unintentional visits from 'Outside'. 

1d10 Random Weird Encounters Table For Your Old School Campaigns

 You never know who or what your party might run into along the paths of adventure. Here is a list of quick encounters to bring home the weird and deadly along the path to your adventurers and old school heroes.

Some of these encounters may be fragments from the Dreamlands that drip down the paths of reality into your campaign worlds.

1d10 Random Weird Encounters Table 

1. A pack of rabid demon hybrid beings looking to incorporate a new pack member and your adventurer looks like a prime target. Very dangerous and they are only harmed by magical weaponry. 
2. A ghostly princess from another reality who has been separated from her soul and body. She seeks adventurers to free her lands from a most vile villain, herself. She does not remember the powerful magic she has employed to summon her own soul to turn herself into a demi god like figure of power and magic. 
3. A weird figure in an archaic rain coat with a ball of light for a head. This being is an echo and fragment of some lost or forgotten god on a mission. He does not remember what it is but seeks out the PC's for a world shattering mission. 
4. Twenty three identical mini copies of your PC's armed with magical weapons seek to kill your character. They are dangerous and foul little goblin like demonic beings. 
5. An elemental vortex of sand,glass, and debris form itself into perfect copies of anyone it sees, the thing will attack anyone beautiful or attractive.But it has no idea why but it seeks a powerful wizard. 
6. A minor god of time seeks out a murderer with an enchanted stop watch, it sees your PC's shakes his head and  few seconds later disappears only to reappear muttering, 'Not again'. 
7. A flock of birds made of diamonds and rubies flies over head crying out the PC's names. And they suddenly attack the party. Once slain they reveal a set of spells and wards with the PC's name's inscribed upon them. 
8. The PC's encounter a minor prince of Dream and Nightmare who needs their help on a mission of great importance. His own dream fragment is trying to kill him and the PC's must enter his own mind to defeat this menace. 
9. An ancient piece of a magic spell that one of the PC's will cast in the future has taken on the form of an assassin and is now stalking the party to kill them all off so that its tortured existence will never take place. 
10. The PC's encounter a undead prince who seeks one of the PC's for a mission into the realms of the dead claiming that the PC owes him from a previous life.
    
    
    

New Wasteland 1d10 Random Minor Lovecraftian Finds Table For Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns

Because the energies release by the apocalypse were so devastating and incredible, holes within the fabric of space time attract the attention of the Great Old Ones and their minions. As they pass through the wastelands leaving madness and insanity within their wake. These horrors often leave behind minor bits of relics and artifacts  that leave little doubt of the horror that often follows in their passage.

Here's a list of some of the minor items that can be found by adventurers and relic hunters in the deeper wastelands and death lands.

1d10 Random Minor Lovecraftian Finds Table

1. A small copper skinning knife that is covered by a thick syrupy icor. This cultist's blade is etched with the name of a minor great old one whose got a 5% chance of appearing should its name be pronounced from the blade. Treat as a highly intelligent shoggoth with very dangerous and unpredictable attacks, he will try to carry off the offender to a vast unseen Outer Darkness realm. 
2. A glowing piece of fish like flesh that actually belongs to a high priest of Dagon. The thing will heal any wound it is pressed to but within 1d8 days the 'healed one' will begin to turn into a Deep One and hear the song of Dagon. 
3. A minor map of the Dreamlands of HP Lovecraft, this map will serve to get the owner out of the worst lands of Nightmare and parts of the Underworld. 
4. This is a radioactive gold coin emblazoned with the image of Hasur upon one coin face. The coin is actually a fortune telling device capable of divining the appearance of the next resurrection of one of the Gods. Exposure to this coin for more then 1d10 hours will result in a hazard check and because of the strange alien radiations this thing gives out. .This coin has become a minor item of myth and legend. Its appearance is rumored to signal the reappearance of Hastur or worse. 
5. This partially barbed arrow is actually a deep one hunting device capable of taking down larger prey and it has bits of alien flesh on one end. Any consumption of this meat will result in a horrid mutational check. The arrow is made from what seems like an alien gold like substance. 
6. A small cube containing an alien essence and mind. The two linked together form a dangerous time traveling essence that is looking for a way back to its time period. Fortune smiles upon those who are looking for those who came down when with this criminal. 
7. This strange like cross device when picked up will cause strange 'holy visions' to infect the mind and soul of the PC. These victims may be subjected to possession by a Lovecraftian demonic creature. 
8. A set of bloody surgical tools in a black doctor's bag. The bag actually belongs to a Mi Go surgeon whose traveling across space and time slicing and dicing various specimens.
9. A staff made from a humanoid femur, and spine that is able to call 1d10 alien ghosts from beyond the Pale. These horrors may try to devour the victim 20% of the time. The staff acts as +2 weapon because of its connection to the negative material plane. 
10. A small piece of amber like material that is actually a telepathic lens that has been sinked up with a Star Spawn of Cthulhu who will begin tracking the PC in an effort to destroy the PC. The amber like substance shows images and illusions of distant and forbidden lands. There is a 2% chance of any minor  Lovecraftian god or demon who may be tracking the where about of the lens. 

Free OSR Adventure - The Tavern Of Daednu By The Oliver Brothers For Your Old School Campaigns

Grab It Right Over

HERE 

Everything about the Tavern of Daednu is well done and very interesting. This is a small twenty page module that is big on encounters and if done well could well be a first rate horror style introduction adventure. The module paces itself well and solid.

With a bit of work this module could be adapted into a solid location adventure into your old school campaigns. Everything about this module screams add me into your game. Since this is an AD&D 1st edition module, you can easily add it right in. The plot and NPC's here are very generic but with a few clever twists this module can be a party's introduction into the darkness that lays at the heart of your horror or weird sword and sorcery campaign.

According to the Dragon's foot intro: 

The Tavern of Daednu seems a pleasant place for adventurers to spend the night, but all is not as it seems. A short adventure for character levels 1-3.
According to the adventure the structure for the module is laid right out in the open from the  introduction:  "The Tavern of Daednu is a short

adventure for 3-8 characters of 1st-3rd level. The scenario works best with

characters of low level who are veteran players. They will of course be suspicious." Don't let this fool you as a DM, with a bit of work this module could make a fine introduction adventure for a Lamentations of The Flame Princess game or a even a game of Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The weird adventure elements here are compelling enough to keep PC's interested and busy from the ground up.

The adventure reminds me of Solomon Kane and some of the older Weird Tale influences here and I like the feel that I got from this one reading through it a few times. 

There are two levels to the inn and with a bit of clever slight of hand this adventure location can be used over and over. The writing here is interesting, the plot can be reused a couple of times, and personally I think that  the PC's should escape with their lives with this one. Only to have the place show up again later on in their adventuring careers. This is the sort of adventure location where adventurers should cut their teeth and be thrust into the darkness only to escape knowing that its waiting for them.
Grab this adventure, twist it around, and drop it into your campaign for a sword and sorcery twist on the usual basic AD&D game module.

Free OSR Download - Phonomicon Ex Cultis From Wedge the Halfling Under the Door! For Your Old School Campaigns

"Phonomicon ex Cultis is an aid for any, primarily fantasy, roleplaying game; a glorified random table of 100 gods and cults for your PCs or NPCs to follow."

Grab It Free Right

HERE 

 Religions in OD&D and AD&D 1st edition have been something I've specialized in since I was a kid. Clerics have always fascinated me and this is a solid way of coming up with some very fast and on the fly adversaries and allies for use with your old school game campaign. 

An innovative and interesting take on creating new and quick religions on the fly for your NPC cults and enemy needs. A very well thought out solution to the old deer caught in the headlights problem of coming up with a cult or group during play with details right then & there.

The premise behind Phonomicon ex Cultis is simple. At its heart, it’s a table of 100 gods, goddesses and powers to provide a pan-system source of small religions as a springboard for use in your roleplaying game. The concept underpinning this was to take the most common phonemes (or word sounds) in the English language and use them as a basis for generating powers that NPCs worship. If words have power, then do sounds have power too? And if similar sounding words can be grouped by similar meaning, do they take on further strength?

Take AIN as an example – you’ll find it in slain, sprain, strain, pain… all words concerning damage and discomfort – and all of a sudden you have AIN, Patron Deity of Injuries. Perhaps the civilised folk known him as Bain, and appeal to him for a quick recovery from wounds; perhaps the barbaric humanoid tribes know him as Tarrainain, and revel in his name as they butcher villages in their path; further still, perhaps the snake-headed Inquisitors of Koth whisper their prayers to Ains’sain as they prepare the torture implements for the next victim.

The ideas for this system are well thought out, for a free system this one is a solid hit for a  DM who needs or wants religions during play for adversaries, enemies, allies and more.  I can see using this system for everything from a Call of Cthulhu style horror game to a D&D style adventure with a slant towards cults and deities. My advice here is to grab this resource yesterday and let fly with the dice to develop some nice setting backdrop details for your PC's.

With a bit of work about 90% of this material could be applied to your favorite old school science fantasy or post apocalyptic campaign with little to no issue at all. I love the way the system here can easily be mated into any old school system.  With science fantasy planet religions,cults, and more this is nice tool to have. This is perfect for a generation ship full of mutants where cults have sprung up  or the post apocalyptic wastes where religions have taken a weird turn. This system makes coming up with cults for the wastelands a snap.

All in all this is a great resource for an old school DM to add into his tool box. For adventure generation this is a solid resource for adding in enemies into the mix for both short and long range adventure NPC's.  By allowing a  random selection of the 100 deities, each with a sound associated with a name, portfolio of influence, types of worshipers, granted powers, symbols, descriptions the DM can pick and choose his favorites for certain regions or territories within a campaign. Duncan Young deserves a ton of credit for this pdf and its a really nice resource for the asking price. Once again my advice is to grab this one while you can and get cracking on creating your own take on that cult you've been wanting to send against your PC's in that up coming at adventure.

Four out of five stars. 

This product is easily applicable to any number of OSR or old school Dungeons & Dragons gaming systems. Phonomicon ex Cultis is dead simple to use the exacution is perfect for adding in colour & cults to your games. 

'The Pay What You'd Like' OSR Adventure Resource FM-1 Baba Smerta From Quasar Dragon Games For Your Old School Campaigns

"As night falls on the marsh and the fog blankets the land, the people of the surrounding villages lock their doors and pray that they will be overlooked by the minions of Baba Smerta. For nearly three generations they have suffered her tortures and humiliations.

When one of her raiding parties takes on the PCs, though, have they bitten off more than they can chew? Will this long reign of terror finally come to an end?"

Grab It Right
HERE

Baba Smerta is an old school ten page module done in the Eastern European style and features ten pages of tricks, traps, and machinations of the old witch Baba Serta. Quasar Dragon games features this " pay what you'd like' title and it is at once engaging and challenging. This adventure is really like something the should have appeared in an early issue of Dragon magazine, a ten page concise adventure module that centers itself on the challenges that surround and center on Baba Smerta & her domains.

 I really liked the direction that authors of this one took things within the bounds of it.

***

An OSR-compatible mini-module for any old school RPG or modern clone, designed for character levels 5-6, "Baba Smerta" is easily adaptable to other levels.

The module is designed for levels five through six for the world';s most popular fantasy rpg ad they mean it. The encounters in this module are unique, concise, deadly, and perfectly suited to the PC's level here. There's certainly a combination feel to this module of old school D&D and Eastern European mythology. The adventure pulls from deep within the old school tradition for the action, trips and traps moves along with the rest of the plot very quick and nicely. The maps are handsome and the locations nicely mapped out in quick detail with just enough details to allow some customization within the bounds of the adventure. This isn't so much of a railroad as a well thought out adventure with plot and a well rounded back story. The fact is that there are portions of the adventure that can kill a party quite easily and this detail should be kept in mind for running a party through the gauntlet of encounters & the Dm's balance of encounters in this one. All in all this isn't a bad little title and features a whole host of ways that this adventure could easily be used for a wide variety of retroclones.
With a bit of work Quasar Dragon Game's FM-1 Baba Smerta could work as a very effective adventure for Castles & Crusades. Its got all of the high marks for a C&C campaign. All of the background is built into it, the background setting is compelling, there's lots of advancement campaign potential, & the adventure itself can be quite deadly.  



FM-1 Baba Smerta could serve as the introductory adventure for a C&C  Codex Slavorum  campaign adventure. The adventure has all of the elements including the mythological overtones that we find inside the C&C codex itself 


 Because of the nature of adventure and its influenced Eastern European or Russian flavor, this adventure would make a nice change of pace for a Gothic style game such as Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg or Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonsque by Jack Shear. This adventure makes excellent uses of its elements, themes, and more to really give a unique and some what unsettling old school adventure. Pick this one up while you and toss the author a few gold pieces. 

OSR Commentary - Episodic Adventures & Quick Old School Campaign Design

"There is much to worry about in the mutated world of the future, but Baron Jemmas, Warder of Horn, has more on his mind than most. In recent weeks several of the outlying towns of his Barony have been wiped out by a band of mysterious golden marauders."


I've been mediating on Gamma World's Legion of Gold module & wishing that B/X Dungeons & Dragons had followed this adventure's example. Legion of Gold was written in 1981 by Gary Gygax with his son Luke and Paul Reiche III.

"This is the first GAMMA WORLD module to be produced by the Game Wizards at TSR Hobbies, Inc. This module includes the main Legion of Gold adventure, several mini-adventures which lead up to it, background information, suggestions for the referee, a special players' map and numerous referee's maps."
This module does exactly what it says on the post apocalyptic tin. But today we're going to be talking about the anthology location adventure approach of a Legion of Gold formula campaign set up. 

The sand box anthology approach allows the DM & the players for that matter to determine the tone & direction of their own home campaign. Legion of Gold has been my go to Gamma World module because of its short anthology adventure style. It gives the Dungeon Master just enough with a minimalist approach to the post apocalyptic material to get the DM started.
When we start talking about B/X Dungeons & Dragons these mini sessions allow the dungeon master to take a series of miniature adventures & string them together to form an over arching campaign. This approach has been something I've liked & used as old style television episodes in the past. Isolated adventures that form the back bone of an episodic campaign played quickly and with little fuss.

This brings me to the point here of Holmes Dungeons & Dragons with its dungeon of the skull mountain example in the classic rule book. I mentioned this dungeon to a younger friend of mine whose in his twenties & he had no idea that such a dungeon existed. Each room & location within the skull mountain dungeon could be played like a separate television episode forming an over aching epic campaign.

Let's take this approach to the next logical step with the Legion of Gold model then we could have a series of small wilderness adventure encounters which take the PC's from first through fourth levels. A mix of ruins, a mini dungeon, & perhaps an underwater adventures. Then bring in something like Faster Monkey Games Skull Mountain adventure which is based on the classic dungeon for Labyrinth Lord. Faster Monkey Games Skull Mountain was six dollars but all of their adventures & supplements have been free for a year or so.
Then your cooking up an epic campaign with minimalist fuss & you get to have a convention style game with an episodic set up.

I've done a rather long & rambling review of Skull Mountain in the past so I'm not going to retread over old territory.

Skull Mountain is a perfect stand alone location based adventure that can stand quietly off in a campaign world. Its ideally suited for a Sword & Sorcery campaign world such as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Because of the very nature of 'Skull Mountain' it lends itself to the anthology location adventure approach of a Legion of Gold adventure formula campaign. In point of fact Skull Mountain could be used as both the final goal & big evil of such a campaign.
You as the DM don't have to write an over blown  or aching script for such a campaign, the players will fill in the gaps, corners, colour in all of the blank spots so fast it will make your head spin. In the down time between playing sessions the action & pulp adventure style will have their imaginations working overtime. The products of their imaginations will become your old school campaign quickly & with very little effort on your part but keep a note book handy.

Commentary & Review Of Stairway of V'dreen For Crimson Dragon Slayer Or Your Favorite Retroclone System

"Find a place to hide! Luckily, such a place happens to be nearby.
Approximately 50' away from where the adventurers currently stand is a half-buried hunk of metal the size of a small village. Various metallic parts of the thing are halfway sunk into the ground. The large metal structure is tilted slightly downward."
The PC's find a mad scientist Dr. Ebzub in the middle of an   experiment will
open a gateway to "a place the gods have forgotten." the forbidden Stairway of V'dreen


So I've been laid low by a vicious head cold but that's not going to keep me from reviewing The Stairway of V'dreen From  Kort'thalis Publishing. You can think of the  Stairway of V'dreen as a mid level adventure/setting  for Crimson Dragon Slayer rpg & its easily adaptable to any  OSR retroclone rpg system. This adventure is a throw back to those Eighties setting books that we got for many old school system games. The overview from the adventure's Trinity of Awesome Returns Kickstarer best describes the other dimensional setting;"
Each PC will have his own reason for visiting V'dreen - a random table will personalize every character's desire/need.  Reaching the stairway, V'dreen's greatest treasure, will not be easy - alien, mutant dreamland hazards bar the way!
This location will be the most bizarre thing I've come up with yet.  The main Kickstarter picture above gives you an idea of what's in store. But I've got some additional details and a b/w illustration directly below...
Fruiting bodies.  The scent of V'dreen is that of a corpse blooming with strawberry and apricot preserves.  A fragrance that one cannot easily forget.  Pungent jam and jelly intermingling with the sweat of human fornication.
Rumored tales of V'dreen: a magical timepiece is buried in the ground, preventing this place from aging, neither evolving nor decaying.  However, some believe the timepiece to be broken in some way - or perhaps it had always been corrupted - because slavering demons roam free, wizards scry and watch and influence life on V'dreen with their little knobs and levers and buttons... my God, even the tentacles have tentacles!
The stairway leads to an even more distant realm.  It is a personal voyage... the discovery of self-annihilation, where travelers lick savage dreams and ride bareback upon the sparkling-scaled magenta snake-thing with golden eyes coiled at the heart of eternity."


So basically this is a part setting, part adventure location that echoes with the Eighties horror/sci fi Lovecraftian horror that Venger loves to mix with his rpg systems. The Stairway of V'dreen is a type of adventure that rarely comes along a mix of dark fantasy, comedy, & lovecraftian weirdness all around the usual Venger quality. It clocks in at nineteen pages & reminds me a bit of the Eighties film 'From Beyond'  with a bit of body horror mixed in with an old school style adventure. Because of the very nature of the dark fantasy of the  The Stairway of V'dreen   its really useful for other OSR systems such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess or other OSR systems. This is partially because of the random monster generators & the random magic items that can be created from similar generators. The vary fact of this unpredictable  factor is going to keep those jaded & long time players reaching for their Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guides. I can easily see adding in the The Stairway of V'dreen  to a game of Lamentations of the Flame Princes as adventure location or a game of Labyrinth Lord. The setting technically could be used as a twisted Lovecraftian  domain for Adventurer,Conqueror, King. But I would using this as an adventure location for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The pulpy flavor is very strong in the the The Stairway of V'dreen .


The Stairway of V'dreen is the type of setting that you could potentially drop in a bunch of Mutant Future PC's or any old school adventurers into & not break it at all. There's the usual Venger Satanis sleaze but much of the setting is far more geared toward the dark fantasy/Lovecraftian vibe. Its well written and balanced for a far more experienced group of PC's to come into in my opinion. I really enjoyed thumbing through this one. Can't wait to subject my players to this adventure/setting. Five out of five.
The Stairway of V'dreen  Is Available Right Over HERE

Four Sixties Cult Films As Fodder For Your Old School Sword & Sorcery Campaigns

There are four movies that have influenced me as a kid, these are classics that seldom get mentioned today. Yeah these were shown to me as a kid & they foreshadowed many of the later Eighties sword & sorcery films . First up is the 'Long Ships' from 1964. The Long Ships is a movie starring Sydney Poitier as a Moorish king named Aly Mansuh. Based on the Swedish novel, "The Long Ships" by Frans G. Bengtsson. Released in the United Kingdom, in 1964. Excellent film with a great cast and now mostly forgotten except by some of the real film fans. Yeah there's going to be a bit of a Viking theme here but forgive an old war gaming fan.

Next up is one that I saw in a theater in my home town of Torrington Ct back when the Warner theater ran back to back two dollar films. This film had a plot straight out of a Saturday matinee (which for me it was!) and a superb cast!

Einar and Eric are two Viking half-brothers. The former is a great warrior whilst the other is an ex-slave, but neither knows the true identity of the other. When the throne of Northumbria in Britain becomes free for the taking, the two brothers compete against one another for the prize, but they have very different motives - both involving the princess Morgana,

There lots to mine here for an old school sword & sorcery film especially the torture and death scene of Tony Curtis's character by flesh eating crabs. You've also got to love Einar whose pure lawful evil awesomeness.

Well I was only going to do three but when you've got Kirk Douglas senior then you've got to mention the movie that put him over the top. Yeah I'm speaking of Spartacus which is a Sixties film that has it all.  Arguably the best of the 60's "blood and sandals"  epics.  Some fantastic acting from an all-star cast and hordes of extras for the big scenes. There's tons to grab for a sword & sorcery campaign.
Even though the ending was made up this is the real deal and a classic.

One thing I love about games such as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, you can play 'What if' with it & never have to say a word to those amateur history buffs at the table. Which brings me to my next film. This is classic Sixties Hollywood historical weirdness with Mayans vs American Indians, yes I'm speaking of Yul Brynner's Kings of The Sun.
"In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the United States. They build a home in the new land but come into conflict with a tribe of Native Americans led by their chief, Black Eagle, while both Balam and Black Eagle fall in love the beautiful Mayan princess Ixchel. "
This film is filled with pulpy goodness to mine from & its so relatively unknown today that I'd swear not one of my players had even heard of this one.

So why use these films? Well, with Hyperborea being the far future of Earth its easy to slip in the occasional and isolated city state of Old Earth cultures and not even break a sweat. Plus its easy to have all kinds of weird groups pop up with dangerous factions, strange ways, & never even apologize for the efforts. Each of these films represents a different group of humans who might be separated by miles of mountains, weird weather, etc. But are perfect micro cosm cultures rife for clashing warfare against the alien backdrop of Hyperborea.

'Pay What You Want' OSR Resource - D100 Minor Magical Items From 3 Toadstools For Your Old School School Adventures

Sometimes you need a minor magic item but not something that isn't going to wreck your adventure or campaign. This relic can branch off on their adventure tie ins. These items are not going to change lives but they can twist adventurers around a bit. Three Toad Stools released D100 Magic Items a while back and these are perfect additions into a back part of a treasure horde or another item to slip into the mix. D100 Minor Magic Items From 3 Toadstools is a 'pay what you want' title.


Clocking in at five pages D100 Magic Items has just the right mix of the strange & weird to keep a group of jaded players guessing. These are not your standard items, instead the DM is given a nice cross section of the unusual to play with and add into the back end of their favorite module or old school adventure. The background tables alone are worth the price of admission.
These magic items have all of the weirdness & charm that one might find in some of the lighter pieces of Dragon magazine during the classic era. These hearken back to a time, when classic era TSR was doing some really interesting  but strange magic items.
This means that with a short description & no frills set up there is plenty of room for the DM to add these items where & when they want into their campaign settings & adventures.

Arthur Pyle's Arthurian artwork, not actually in D100 Minor Magic Items

These items can add a bit more depth & an unexpected twist to an existing adventure by throwing a player a minor curve ball when they get the 'same old boring' gold pieces, +2 swords,etc. This not only add a bit of the unexpected but a twist in the old treasure horde or pile. Sprinkle these items into the campaign sparingly to give a bit of campaign gravity at just the right time. My advice is to grab this title, D100 Minor Magical Items From 3 Toadstools could be that unusual spin that your party of adventurers has been waiting for. As a 'Pay What You' want title D100 Minor Magic Items are hard to go wrong with.


GRAB D100 Minor Magical Items From 3 Toadstools
Right Over Here

Free Appendix 'N' OSR Resource From Creative Mountain Games - The Book of Wonder (Fantasy Classics) From Creative Mountain Games As Well As Time & The Gods By Lord Dunsany

When it comes to dark fantasy they don't come any more important then the name Lord Dunsany. He was admired by H.P. Lovecraft, mocked by Olivia Manning & still loved by millions. This includes Gary Gygax and many of the other mothers & fathers of OD&D, AD&D, & even the OSR retroclone systems. But how many of us have actually read his works? And which can be used to create old school adventures? Well, thanks to my buddies at Creative Mountain Games wonder no more.

Lord Dunsany's The Book of Wonder? Now is your chance to catch up with this Fantasy Classic in PDF (eBook) format. Inside are such classic short stories as...

• THE BRIDE OF THE MAN-HORSE
• DISTRESSING TALE OF THANGOBRIND THE JEWELLER
• THE HOUSE OF THE SPHINX
• PROBABLE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE LITERARY MEN
• THE INJUDICOUS PRAYERS OF POMBO THE IDOLATER
• THE LOOT OF BOMBASHARNA
• MISS CUBBIDGE AND THE DRAGON OF ROMANCE
• THE QUEST OF THE QUEEN'S TEARS
• THE HOARD OF THE GIBBELINS
• HOW NUTH WOULD HAVE PRACTISED HIS ART UPON THE GNOLES
• HOW ONE CAME, AS WAS FORETOLD, TO THE CITY OF NEVER
• THE CORONATION OF MR. THOMAS SHAP
• CHU-BU AND SHEEMISH
• THE WONDERFUL WINDOW

So why is this important to D&D system games? Well because this is another option to use at the table to take your adventurers into another old school fantasy setting that can use your PC's help. There's a dangerous uneasiness to the works of Dunsany's Book of Wonders. They might simply be passed off as easy & quick fantasy reading, their anything but. These are tales from another time, far more alien, and weird then they first appear. These are the sorts of stories that stay with you long after you've put down the book & moved on to thinking about your next adventure, these literary affairs will bleed into your imagination then onto the paper.


It doesn't take much to assume that just around the corner from HP Lovecraft's Dreamlands or down the astral road from Hyperborea is the worlds of Lord Dunsany. All of these tales have had some incredible influence on game designers, many science fiction, sword & sorcery, & even modern comic book writers from J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin & even Allen Moore plus Neil Gaiman. These are just a few of the legions of names of admirers & fans. 


GRAB THE BOOK OF WONDER RIGHT OVER HERE
 But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that way Time and the Gods, "was issued by the Modern Library in an unauthorized combined edition with The Book of Wonder under the latter's title in 1918."
You can download that as well for free right over here & enjoy one of the classics of fantasy.


I hope you all enjoy these classics of  Fantasy &
that you make all your saves this weekend !


Be sure to check out some of the
other classic OSR titles from Creative Mountain Games!

Review & Commentary On The Free OSR Resource Adveture - Skull Mountain From Faster Monkey Games For Labyrinth Lord & Your Old School AD&D Style Systems

I can't take any credit for finding out that Faster Monkey Games has a lot of its OSR titles & adventures on Drivethrurpg for free now. Kai a blog subscriber & OSR guy in his own right alerted me to this fact. Skull Mountain is one of those OSR adventures that I always meant to check out but never had the time or cash. Now its free & so I decided to take a crack at it. Boy I'm glad I did, written by Jeff Sparks this is a deadly little affair of an adventure. This has a classic D&D style fantasy set up based on a sample dungeon from Holmes Dungeons & Dragons.



This isn't simply another OSR dedication adventure, oh no this is a nasty affair out in the middle of a dungeon that has a lot to offer the dungeon master. "When a rock formation on an old volcano looks like a human skull, you're gonna get cult activity. Sure enough, a group of unholy bandits called the Obsidian Heart moved in and robbed the countryside blind for their dark god, until Saint Garth smashed them a century ago. But after some recent earthquakes, the cult is back, kidnapping and sacrificing and pretty much demanding to be hunted down. Why now? Who controls them? Just how deep do the tunnels go inside... SKULL MOUNTAIN?" This takes from the wilderness into a deep end dungeon crawl with all of the trimmings, there are parts of this adventure that will take PC's apart who are not careful with their skills. There is a lot going on here in this dungeon from a cult set up to far more dangerous lying just below this adventure's surface. What your getting is thirty six pages of adventure & dungeon plus more;"36 pages of adventure, 18 detailed maps, a new ritual magic system, and original fantasy art by Andy "ATOM" Taylor and Steve Zieser, "Skull Mountain" is an old-school dungeon crawl for fantasy games like Labyrinth Lord™. Recommended for four to six characters of 4th to 6th level."
There's a brand new LL ritual magic system in this little adventure. This has lots of potential for other OSR style adventures if the DM wants to incorporate it into their own games. The back story is solid, the artwork very well done & the whole affair makes the adventure flow smoothly.
There's artwork by Andy "ATOM" Taylor and Steve Zieser that really fits the material of Skull mountain. Its well done, very evocative of the writing & echoes the old school sentiments found here.



The really nice part of this adventure is that it can easily be slipped into existing campaigns & take up a nice corner of your own campaign world. I really enjoyed the fact that the encounters ran from the simple to the complex giving the players a wide range of old school violence & danger without catering to the low end of the spectrum of play. There's lots of utility for a thirty six page adventure that has a bit of everything from dungeon crawling, intrigue & good old fashioned ultra old school sensibilities at its core.
Do yourselves a huge favor and pick this adventure up and get it on your old school table top for an excellent old school affair! Five out of five!
GRAB SKULL MOUNTAIN RIGHT
HERE FOR FREE

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition: Role Aids Dragons By Cory Glaberson For Your Old School Campaigns

Way back in the mists of the Eighties about Eighty Six on a Thursday afternoon right about two o'clock or so I was running my ass off to escape the daily pounding at the hands of a bully trying to make it to the bookshop in downtown Torrington. What was waiting for me was a prize beyond measure for first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons from Mayfair games Dragons by Cory Glaberson. Dragonlance was on the horizon but not for me at all, the series never resonated but instead Dragonriders of Pern by American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey had a far greater impact. Mayfair games Dragons takes a number of pieces of inspiration from that classic series which began in Sixty Seven.


The blurb from the back of the book via Wayne's Books pretty much gives the tone & feel of the book;""LIKE TINY DAGGERS, particles of ice cut into your face and hands as you dive through the clouds. You feel the muscles along the back of the massive ruby dragon tighten and bunch as it strains to turn for an attack.

A scream of defiance echoes upward from the rapidly growing form of the riderless black dragon below. In moments, the once distant beast looms to fill the sky. Still breathless from the battering sharp turn, you loose two barbed javelins into the dark leather wing, to little effect. Muttering a prayer to an elder god, you couch your bulky lance, as the two great dragons plunge directly toward each other ...
THIS REFERENCE WORK contains the lives, histories and cultures of the dragon races and introduces a new character class: the DRAGONLORDS. Included are three independent, but related adventures for characters to assist the Dragonlords In a war of epic proportions. The adventures are for six to eight characters from sixth to ninth skill level."

These dragons were the ones from the Monster Manual sort of mixed with a whole plethora of other D&D & independent world mythology to add into your games. This was because dragons were children of the gods and therefore heirs to the linage of the legendary and divine. So way before the Draconomicon for 2nd edition came out this book was dealing slices of dragon culture, lineage, magic, culture and more all build around the character class of the Dragon rid ermm Dragon lords. With really awesome cut away pieces of artwork like this one!



All of the usual suspects are there including age charts, spell usage, variations of standard dragons, mutations, sports, & much more. There's lots of information on several of the established dragon's species, from stats to ecology to their 'aging process and molting' and clan information. All of this was completely independent from any of the 'official' material that was coming out of classic era TSR at the time.  Everything was well laid out and columned from the usual Mayfair specifics when it came to their Eighty six era books.


The material here was centered around the dragons & the dragon lords (riders) where they could build villages, etc. around them completely so that campaigns had a PC anchor to hold all of it together in a cohesive whole. This also made the prospect for domain play practical & in some cases welcome. This was a part of making the dragon vital to the well being of the world setting that they were used in. For fans of this sort of a campaign it was very nicely handled. This made the dragon more then a mere loot point & experience tick but a living fire breathing entity capable of driving adventure & play within a campaign.


The adventures within Dragons centers around the ecology and setting of the dragon as a campaign element. They're very well done for what they do which is to put the dragons center stage & create play around them with additional companions, monsters, and more all central to the dragon a player on the stage of the setting. The PC are going to have to deal with all of the material that surrounds them. The experience is weird for PC's used to simply slaying or running away from these intelligent beasts.

And yes I've actually played in, DMed, & ran several mini campaigns from this book. Well that was until Dragonlance created the official world setting of AD&D! Then the suddenly friends and players no longer were interested in the 'old' dragons. Yeah, but there were diehards who continued to play in & use this volume until Dragonlance had moved on. That's another blog post my friends.
I have nothing against Dragonlance or its books, if their your cup of tea then more power to you!



But does Dragons do what it advertises on the tin? In a word yes! Dragons takes the traditional AD&D dragon species & adds an entirely different dimension to these hazards, horrors, monsters, and dynamic part of the AD&D game. The book is now long forgotten by many players & DM's. It goes for about six dollars to ten dollars on Amazon and other outlets. Its one of those books that let my imagination take flight!