Free Mars Resource For Your Old School Science Fantasy Campaign - Barsoom! From Heavy Metal Magazine By Richard A Lupoff

 

  This is not the article's artwork but its a favorite classic Amazing stories cover featuring one of my
favorite Burroughs stories

Grab It Over
HERE

With the Warriors of the Red Planet retroclone due any day now I need a fast way to reintroduce Barsoom to a few jaded old school friends. Some of these folks had never read the Edgar Rice Burroughs classics of Barsoom!  I didn't want to get into a whole lot of hassle but how to give the highlights and put my players in the spirit of the books?
Heavy Metal Magazine had exactly what I needed with this article about Edgar Rice Burroughs and Barsoom. All of the highlights are touched on and there's some excellent old school artwork by Clyde Caldwell in the article as well.
According to the Internet Archive :
Article about author Edgar Rice Burroughs, published in September 1982 issue of Heavy Metal magazine. Illustrated by Clyde Caldwell.
 All of the quick highlights of Barsoom are touched on and the artwork covers most of the major characters, creatures, and Martian races. All in all its not a bad introduction to ERB's Barsoomian adventures and it's a quick read as well. So I thought I'd share with you folks. 
This post is for entertainment and educational  purposes only and no violation of the author nor the artist's trade marks or copy rights is being implied here.
Thank you. 

Review & Commentary on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' For Your Old School Campaigns

 "This is the second in a series of groundbreaking AD&D® accessories. Within these pages are nearly 70 fully developed adventures that can be inserted into any campaign. They are ready-to-play challenges for all levels of characters. DMs need not spend long hours creating diversions for their players—we've done it for you."

"If you have The Book of Lairs, you already know what you'll find herein. These mini-adventures are arranged by terrain type (city, desert, hills, mountains, forest, etc.), with monsters in alphabetical order for easy access. At the back of the book is a combined monsters statistics table, showing all the necessary figures at a glance."

"These are familiar monsters (like the gnome, brownie, and ettin) and not-so-familiar ones (like the bakemono and tengu), from both original AD&D sources and the Oriental Adventures book. Some of these mini-adventures are mere diversions; others can turn into minor campaigns! In any case, DMs and players alike are sure to be pleased with The Book of Lairs II."

So let's pick this up   'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' after this blog entry here?!   'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' was a second release at  in  (1986) & is the fourth AD&D REFerence and the secound of the Lairs books of short adventures. It was published in April 1987. And 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' is a very heavy adventure anthology with some incredibly iconic & mythological monsters of Advanced Dungeons & Dungeons first edition or Advanced Dungeons & Dragon 2nd edition. 

'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)'  takes the adventure anthology outlook & brings in one hit point monsters all of the way up too iron golem. Why because this book takes the adventure anthology of encounters formula and brings it into shape for both editions of the grand game. It does this by using displacer beasts, fungi, beholders, and mind flayers as the encounter fodder for adventure groups. 

This makes 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' a perfect fit for OSR retroclones such as OSRIC or for Gold & Glory. 

Each of the encounters within 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' can be tailored to your old school campaigns circumstances call for. And this makes 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' perfect for bringing into Greyhawk or other old school campaigns. 

'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' adventure encounters can be tailored from gritty to full on high fantasy. And with a bit of effort could be brought into a Sword & Sorcery game such as Hyperborea rpg third edition as one off displaced entities or monsters. Not so with Greyhawk where each & everyone of these encounters feels at home. 

'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' takes the adventure encounter anthology format and brings it up a notch because of its diverse cast of authors. Authors that were quartinated by one of classic TSR's best. According to the Drivethrurpg entry; "Project coordinators Bruce Heard and Karen S. Martin herded twenty different contributors, some TSR staff and some freelancers: Anne Brown, Scott Bennie, Deborah Christian, David Cook, Jane Cooper, Ed Greenwood, Jennell Jaquays, Robin Jenkins, David E. Martin, Karen S. Martin, Anne Gray McCready, Bruce Nesmith, Jeff O'Hare, Steve Perrin, Jon Pickens, Michael Price, Rick Swan, Gary Thomas, William Tracy, and Allen Varney." This showcases some incredible talent across such a sprawling & wide range of areas from classic TSR. So is  'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' a part of the lists of underrated classics?! In my humble opinion?! Yes! 

Updated Dragon's Foot OSR Free Adventure - LG1: Terror in the Forest of Gizzick By Claude M. LeBrun For Your Old School Campaigns

 

GRAB IT RIGHT HERE

Good evening kids, your uncle Eric is back with another bit of commentary this time we go back to Dragon's foot for a free adventure download with lots of potential. I'm speaking of LG1: Terror in the Forest of Gizzick By Claude M. LeBrun. This is a free fifteen page AD&D 1st edition style adventure that takes full advantage of its PC levels right out of the gate. There is an element of danger and the adventure involves some humanoid races that don't get much air play these days and this is an adventure that takes the old school investigative style and pumps it up by an order of magnitude;"Many years ago Ronan Haverstack was an apprentice to the count’s personal wizard Jax Narhl. Ronan was an excellent student, working as hard as he could to learn all the tricks of spell casting. Ronan with a large thirst for knowledge would spend hours reading and studying all the tomes and spell books in Jax’s library. Jax kept one tome magically locked in a strongbox and would not allow Ronan to look at it. “I keep that tome locked away to prevent its evil from ever seeing the light of day”, Jax would say. Ronan coveted that book, and eventually figured out how to break the magical seal. Jax caught Ronan removing the book from the strongbox and tried to take it away. A fight ensued which ended in Ronan killing Jax. It wasn’t long before Jax’s murder was discovered and Ronan had to flee the kingdom. To avoid discovery Ronan Haverstack changed his name to Gandilor. Gandilor wandered for several months and eventually found refuge in a fishing village on the southern coast."  Things only get worse from this point and that's where your PC's get involved.The adventure picks up right from here and pulls your party of adventurers into the deep wasters of the plot of LG1: Terror in the Forest .The module places the PC's right into the middle of the action right out of the gate and keeps them there with a series of demanding and solid encounters. Its also an adventure that can be customized as you need to and its perfect for a DYI side quest or campaign opener;"Locate the hobgoblin’s lair in any forest in a non-populated area near a rural community, farmland, or village. Place in this area a few farms and settlements that have been raided by the hobgoblins." Believe it or not for a fifteen page adventure there actually is a subplot to this adventure and it has a ton to do with the background and history of the  Forest of Gizzick. Because of the nature of this adventure I was wishing there was more to it.


There are enough twists and turns to take this adventure in many different directions depending upon the retroclone system that your using at your table. The idea here is that LG1: Terror in the Forest of Gizzick could be used in a Dark Albion setting especially on the outer fringes of the empire of Albion and the like. Or it could be used in the mythic and twisted lonely places of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess retro clone system. There is enough meat on the bones of this adventure to adapt it into the back end of an old school campaign so that it can be used as a jump off point or as a side quest for the PC's. There is enough here to take the adventure down a dark and dangerous path. But is it worth the download?
The short answer is yes but the longer one is where do you as the dungeon master want to place this adventure. There are several dangerous and strong NPC's in this adventure and that could work to a DM's advantage if they wish to write a bit more to suit their own campaign. There are several opportunities for a dungeon master with a bit of a DYI D&D streak to take full advantage of these horrors, opportunities, and NPC's and make them their own.
While it is a fun adventure many of the more understated sword and sorcery elements in LG1: Terror in the Forest of Gizzick  might need to be brought forward for front and center to really move the plot along and get the DM's own campaign elements to take center stage.
All in all this is a great free module with lots of potential for a fully created and staged side quest or this adventure could be used to launch a great side campaign of the DM's own design. For a free module its pretty damn sweet and well constructed.

Old School Anime Ulysses 31 As Inspiration For Your Old School Space Opera

 



This is one of my favorite old school Saturday morning cartoons/anime that I encountered on Nickelodeon back in the early 90's or so. My fiancee whose from the U.K. recently spoke to me at length about this one. Since I've been down with the flu the last day or so my buddy Peter has been keeping me supplied with DVD's and this one was among them. Most of what follows comes from the wiki entry right over
HERE  


Ulysses 31 (宇宙伝説ユリシーズ31 Uchū Densetsu Yurishīzu Sātīwan^?, lit. Space Legend Ulysses 31) (French: Ulysse 31) is a Franco-Japanese animated television series (1981) that updates the Greek mythology of Odysseus (known as "Ulysses" in Latin, hence the name) to the 31st century. The show comprised 26 half-hour episodes and was produced by DIC Audiovisuel in conjunction with anime studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha.^[1] This is also the first show produced by DiC Entertainment, now Cookie Jar Entertainment (2008–2012) and DHX Media (2012–present).

Plot : The plot line of the series, (made by the French Jean Chalopin), describes the struggles of Ulysses and his crew against the divine entities that rule the universe, the ancient gods from Greek mythology. The Gods of Olympus are angered when Ulysses, commander of the giant spaceship, Odyssey, kills the giant Cyclops to save a group of enslaved children, including his son. Zeus sentences Ulysses to travel the universe with his crew frozen until he finds the Kingdom of Hades, at which point his crew will be revived and he will be able to return to Earth. Along the way they encounter numerous other famous figures from Greek mythology who have been given a futuristic twist.

Ulysses (ユリシーズ Yurishīzu^?)

Main character and captain of the Odyssey. He achieved the solar peace before becoming the subject of the Olympian gods' revenge. His weapon of choice is a laser pistol that conceals a blade very similar to the lightsabers in George Lucas' Star Wars, complemented by an energy shield and a belt that allows him to fly. Ulysses is brave, noble, determined, and will stop at nothing to defeat the Gods and the conditions imposed upon himself and his companions.

Telemachus (テレマーク Teremāku^?)

Son of Ulysses and second in command for most of the voyage. Yumi's friend and protector. Very beautiful, as described by Yumi in their first encounter. Courageous, adventurous, and level headed. He is a skilled pilot, and his weapon of choice is a hi-tech, energy-ball shooting slingshot.

Yumi (ユミ Yumi^?)

Thémis in the original French dub (after the name of the ancient Titan). A blue-skinned humanoid alien girl from the white planet, Zotra. She is the younger sister of Numinor and possesses telepathic powers. She is saved from being sacrificed to the Cyclops, along with Telemachus and her older brother, by Ulysses. She also exhibits telekinesis to some extent, as shown in the episodesAt the Heart of the Universe and The Lotus Eaters; in addition, she is immune to fire. Although physically very frail, she is very intelligent and courageous. Zotrians, aside from blue skin, have snow-white hair, pointed ears and slanted eyes with cat-like vertical pupils; they are considered extremely beautiful.

Numinor (ユマイオス Yumaiosu^?)

Noumaïos in the original French dub. A Zotrian teenager and older brother of Yumi. He is saved by Ulysses from being sacrificed to the Cyclops. He is in suspended animation along with the rest of the crew for most of the series. Like his sister, he is considered extremely beautiful. He has a sweet and very gentle personality. He is courageous, as well as trustworthy and loyal. He awakes three times before being finally released from the gods' curse in the final episode of the series: The first time in The Lost Planet, where the Odyssey comes across a white Zotrian moon. Secondly, in Mutiny on Board, where the crew are subjected to possession by an alien essence. The third time is in The Magician in Black, when the entire crew is awakened by a powerful spell by the mysterious Magician in Black. Japan name Yumaiosu is the katakana ortography of English pronunciation of Eumaeus, the pig-guardian of Odysseus in Homer's poem.

Nono (ノノ Nono^?)

Small robotic companion of Telemachus. Fond of eating nuts and nails. He is a trusty friend who was given to Telemachus as a birthday present. He is rather timid, but can be relied upon in a crisis. He is skilled at machinery repair and possesses tremendous physical strength.

Shirka (シルカ Shiruka^?)

The Odyssey's main computer. Speaks with a deep female voice. Japan name Shiruka seems a katakana form of the name Circe.

Zeus (ゼウス Zeusu^?)

The god of gods, Ulysses' persecutor.

Poseidon (ポセイドン Poseidon^?)

God of the Seas, he is enraged by Ulysses' killing of his creature, the Cyclops. He wields a trident, the symbol of his power, and his servants pilot ships that are shaped like a trident.

Hades (アデス Adesu^?)

Ruling god of the Underworld. Ulysses must find his realm to find the way back to Earth.
Using Ulysses 31 For Your Old School Space Opera 

I always have loved this anime and personally I think it would make a fantastic campaign for either X plorers or Stars Without Number. The juxtaposition of anime and mythology got me thinking about running this as a one shot or perhaps as a complete campaign.

The Destroyer star ship class from Stars Without Number makes a good solid stand in for the ship from the crew of Ulysses you are looking at a battle ship from Stars Without Number. 
We're possibly looking at least a decaying tech level four interstellar society almost about to collapse under its own weight. This is a very decadent   and dangerous time as the mythological planar powers are reasserting themselves. We might even be seeing a shift between the powers of law(in this case science and technology) and the emergence of chaos. 
 Much of the interstellar backdrop that the crew of show finds themselves in a fun house mirror of actual Greek mythology and the powers of Ulysses world are dark, dangerous, and almost Lovecraftian in nature. They'e  actually how I pictured Nodens and his bunch in my mind. There are a good deal of cults and mystery religions echoing through this series and my bet is that there are much much darker corners of Ulysses's universe that we don't get to see. There are also a number of dangling plot hooks just weighting for a party of adventurers to solve that the crew of this show leaves behind.Pick your Greek mythological poison and add a technological twist for a first adventure or simply use the dangling plot hooks that the show left behind. If the gods were screwing with Ulysses over a minor infraction. Who knows what they might do to worlds that displease them. 
Don't be afraid to take risks with this type of campaign. Speaking to several players today I got a sense that even through this was a kid's show it had a dark streak that folks took too. "His weapon of choice is a laser pistol that conceals a blade very similar to the lightsabers in George Lucas' Star Wars, complemented by an energy shield and a belt that allows him to fly."
 Ulysses's weapons are tech level four and family heirlooms. PC's should only encounter such items after a series of  life threatening events and adventures! Experience should be handed out for such treasures but it doesn't mean that they'd work for any given amount of time. 
There is a metric ton of room to explore the 'Ulysses thirty one' universe and as such the DM is fairly open to explore and feel free to interpret their own version of this old school anime classic. 

Ulysses 31 makes a perfect campaign canvas for Stars Without Number rpg  especially with The Codex of the Black Sun: Sorcery book. You've got all of the factions, powers, & even traces of 'the Roman Greco gods' in this book.





So what the Hell is up with the 'gods' in Ulysses 31? Someplace in humanity's distant past in the universe of the anime we had some falling out with what appear to be these gods. Magick & divine magick is found within the setting but extremely rare. And this sorta of fits the options that are within The Codex of the Black Sun: Sorcery.  Many of the tropes & ideas that are within Ulysses 31 are already available to the DM in Stars Without Number. 

All the Time in The World ~ A Review & Commentary On George Pal's Time Machine DVD For Your Old School Time Travel Campaign

 George Pal's 'The Time Machine' is for me a film that is both timeless & a source of so much inspiration. Its beyond iconic for me as a fan of science fiction or at this point science fantasy. The original blog post was from 2013 & my finance shares my passion for this film. It was her that grabbed me this DVD copy. There's now an extensive bluray that's since come out and its the definitive version. I'll review that coming up but here's the original blog entry from December 1st 2013 with some additional annotations.   

Tempus Fugit, times flies and don't I know it. This past Thanksgiving holiday I was blessed to spend a week with my fiance. She brought me a gift in the form of a copy of one of the my most beloved movies, George Pal's Time Machine. As I write these words she's back in London and I'm sitting here writing about this film.

Here's some basic information on the film from Wiki : 

A 1960 science fiction film based on the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells in which a man from Victorian England constructs a time-travelling machine which he uses to travel to the future. The film stars Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux and Alan Young.

George Pal's  "The Time Machine" came out in 1960 to theaters but I saw it in 1980 on Channel 11 out of New York on the Million Dollar movie over my grand parents house on cable and became fascinated with time travel, H.G. Wells and all things George Pal. It was also the movie that got me to read the paper back that my father had given me back in 1975 when I was five years old.

This a used DVD from Warner Brother that comes with a digitally remastered copy of the Time Machine as well as the Dolby remixed stereo sound, and with the

comes with the 1993 behind the scenes documentary "The Time Machine The Journey Back" which made this package worth the price of admission right there.  This behind the scenes film stars Rod Tailor, Alan Young, Whit Bissell and many others.

 

 According to the Wiki Entry on The Time Machine The Journey Back: 

It was hosted by Rod Taylorand produced and directed by Clyde Lucas. The film was made about the Time Machine prop, not the movie, but during filming, Bob Burns surprised director Clyde Lucas by having Gene Warren, Sr. drop by. Warren, the award winning effects creator for the original movie, consented to an on-air in which he discussed creating the special effects for the film. This led to an with one of Warren's partners, Wah Chang, in Northern California. Chang and Warren shared more details about creating the effects and how the little Time Machine prop was made.

Lucas contacted the original screenwriter, David Duncan, who agreed to write a mini-sequel to George Pal's film. The mini-sequel reunited George (Rod Taylor) with Filby (Alan Young). Lucas first filmed Whit Bissell for the opening, recreating his role as Walter. It would be Bissell's last acting performance.

The film won a Saturn Award and a Telly Award. It was included as a "special feature" on the DVD for George Pal's film The Time Machine, released by Warner Bros. and was featured in Starlog Magazine.

You can find out more right at the series official site

HERE

The packaging is kitsch and garishly coloured as those wonderful 60's movie posters. The book sitting next to the DVD is featured in the documentary on the movie. I haven't seen the movie in over a year and I do confess that there were scenes in it that I had not remember seeing. 

The artifact rings featured in the movie are one of them. Another was 

 The Atomic wars of 1966 places the film in an alternative universe timeline and there is so much of the magic in the movie it really takes me back. The restored version is much crisper to the versions I've seen on VHS over the years. Pal really seems to hit the highlights of the Wells novel but definitely puts his own stamp on the cocepts. All in All I was quite pleased with the menus and the behind the scenes documentary. Its a really lovely package and if you haven't got it I recommend picking it up. 

One thing that I did notice was the attention to detail that Warner Brothers put into this one. You see its almost as if the graphics department 'got it' on this one!

The interior of the DVD features some great artwork as well. 

One part that I didn't remember were the 'Talking Rings'artifacts. These things would make a great inclusion in post apocalyptic campaign or a D&D science fantasy campaign

Using HG Wells Time Machine For Your Old School

Campaigns

Artwork Saunders 1946 

You can download HG Wells The Time Machine 

HERE

 

For me George Pal's Time Machine and HG Wells have always been interwoven. The Morlocks have been a part of my gaming since I first started OD&D back in 1977. The Eloi and Morlock dynamic of technology cannibalism has also smacked of post apocalyptic gaming as well. 

 The film places itself squarely in an alternative universe with the on set of the Atomic Wars of the 1960's. These were a series of protracted wars stemming from a failed economic and political recover after 1945 as it spun into the post war years of the 50's and 60's. 

 There are many retroclone games which use the Morlocks these days. Mutant Future and Labyrinth Lord have profiles on the beasts. 

The Morlocks have always smacked of Lovecraftian degeneration and weirdness. They've appeared in Call of Cthulhu and various Mythos related products as well. I've always felt that the  Timer Machine by Wells was a great sequel to the Nightlands by William Hope Hodgeson. Hodgeson's book has always seemed to be the future of the Morlocks and Eloi. A place where the Great Old Ones have risen and man's evolution has been tainted by the inheritance of the Outer Gods. The doorway was opened by the Morlocks and hell on Earth has resulted as the entire human race becomes one degenerate evolutionary nightmare as madness and mutation run wild.

 The trappings here are almost in the realm of the Gothic novel rather then the science fiction romances of Wells.  A rather useful article called TIME MACHINES GO BOTH WAYS available right HERE.

Many of these ideas were incorporated into a meta campaign using elements from many of the retroclones and Hodgeson's Nightlands. Much of the material also incorporated some of the elements from the Mutant Future Wiki articles on the Eloi.

Here

The Eloi have always bothered me in a way. They almost appear to be the too perfect product. Prepacked, pretty, and generally the perfect stock animal.This indicated genetic or artificial evolution.  When the Mutant Future article on The Morlocks hit it became clear both races did not evolve but were rather made.Read HERE

 So who created them and why is this biological dynamic in play? I've had PC's encounter isolated Eloi & Morlock subterranean domes ala Logan's Run. The PC's were surprised to find them worshiping the Great Old Ones.

The Morlocks have also appeared as enemies of the Derro from "I Remember Lemuria" competing for Eloi food stocks and human villages. The PC's were trying to recover artifacts from both races while avoid being killed at the same time.

Many of the buildings, ruins, and land marks are easily adaptable to any number of retroclones and once again remind me of the Last Redoubt from The Night Lands.

George Pal's wonderful film remains an incredible achievement and he always wanted to direct a squeal but died before it could be completed. 'The Time Machine The Journey Back' remains about as close as we're going to get.

Get the DVD if its not already in your collection.

This blog post is dedicated to my fiancee who not only encourages my hobby but continues to inspire me every day. 

Free Mars Resource For Your Old School Science Fantasy Campaign - Barsoom! From Heavy Metal Magazine By Richard A Lupoff

  This is not the article's artwork but its a favorite
classic Amazing stories cover featuring one of my
favorite Burroughs stories

Grab It Over
HERE

With the Warriors of the Red Planet retroclone due any day now I need a fast way to reintroduce Barsoom to a few jaded old school friends. Some of these folks had never read the Edgar Rice Burroughs classics of Barsoom!  I didn't want to get into a whole lot of hassle but how to give the highlights and put my players in the spirit of the books?
Heavy Metal Magazine had exactly what I needed with this article about Edgar Rice Burroughs and Barsoom. All of the highlights are touched on and there's some excellent old school artwork by Clyde Caldwell in the article as well.
According to the Internet Archive :
Article about author Edgar Rice Burroughs, published in September 1982 issue of Heavy Metal magazine. Illustrated by Clyde Caldwell.
 All of the quick highlights of Barsoom are touched on and the artwork covers most of the major characters, creatures, and Martian races. All in all its not a bad introduction to ERB's Barsoomian adventures and it's a quick read as well. So I thought I'd share with you folks. 
This post is for entertainment and educational  purposes only and no violation of the author nor the artist's trade marks or copy rights is being implied here.
Thank you. 

Review & Commentary On The Free Warriors of the Lost Planet pdf By Brett Slocum For Your Old School Campaigns

Basically I was looking around for new Warriors of the Red Planet resources. I stumbled into Brett Slocum's Warriors of the Red Planet Tekumel  campaign resource book  Warriors of the Lost Planet. What is Warriors of the Lost Planet? Well its an  OSR Sword and Planet rules Warriors of the Red Planet to play on Tekumel during The Later Times, the period within a few thousand years of The Time of Darkness.. 

Warriors of the Lost Planet clocks in at thirty two pages of Tekumel planet sword & sorcery style adventure. Those players of the Empire of the Petal Throne rpg will see all of the familiar races & aliens in attendence. The engine here is definitively Warriors of the Red Planet. So we've got a solid engine here that brings in the "Sword and Planet" genre which is  wonderfully brought to life though simple but effective rules for character races, classes and equipment! All of this is done with a Tekumel flurish!  But is this done effectively?



Well yes but your gonna need Warriors of the Red Planet becaus these are Brett Slocum's Warriors of the Red Planet  Rpg  Tekumel  campaign resource book from the ground up. He's got all of the familiar races, notes on playing them, the technologies of the  Tekumel  & their Warriors equvilant. The whole cloth series of events surrounding the 'The Later Times'. And more which is not too bad considering that this whole book is free. Can you run a campaign in the latter times using this book? In a really short answer, yes. The material here is well done & we'll get into the ins & outs of using Warriors of the Lost Planet.
Warriors of the Lost Planet is a resource & campaign book, this book takes you by the hand adding the races, events, etc. all within the confines of thirty two pages. It does it very well highlighting the material without talking down to its audience. This book takes the complexities of Tekumel  campaign & makes it accessible to the average gamer & dungeon master.
Could a Tekumel  campaign be run using Warriors of the Lost Planet & say original Dungeons & Dragons?



Yes but the dungeon master might need acess to The Tekumel Sourcebook which not only provides the dungeon master the back bone of the setting but lots more history, resources, & Tekumel goodness to run a complete campaign.


Warriors of the Lost Planet does a nice job at the The Later Times, the period within a few thousand years of The Time of Darkness while leaving the dungeon master plenty of room to customize & play with their own Tekumel  setting. Five outt a five in my book for a free book. 

Review & Commentary on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - I13 Adventure Pack I For Your Old School Campaigns

"I13: Adventure Pack I (1987), by Scott Bennie, Anne Brown, Deborah Christian, Jennell Jaquays, Harold Johnson, Anne Gray McCready, Steve Perrin, Warren Spector, Rick Swan, Ray Winninger, and Allen Varney is the thirteenth intermediate-level adventure for the AD&D line. it was released in May 1987. "

Eighty seven was a bumper year for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, & I13: Adventure Pack I isn't a product that gets a lot of airtime in old school circles. That's fine because its about time that this adventure anthology gets its due.  I13: Adventure Pack I is a classic adventure anthology in the sense that it presents actual useable side quests that a DM can insert into their OSR or old school games. And it does it with style. Why?! Because this is an intermediate title in the 'I' line of adventures. These are specifically tailored adventures for mid level & middle of the road adventurers & these adventures follow specific categories that enable a DM to tailor the material to their home campaigns.

And if you don't think that I13: Adventure Pack I (1987) is a classic then think again the reviews over the years have borne this out; "In his review for Adventure Pack I for White Dwarf No. 92, Graeme Davis said, "I'm confused over why this product is called I13 rather than REF5; it certainly has more in common with the two Books of Lairs than with any of the Desert of Desolation adventures".^[2] Of the adventures, he said that "some are thinly-disguised monster bashes, whilst others rely on thought and subtlety. Some look like Book of Lairs ideas which grew in the writing, and some are not so easily classified."^[2]Davis concluded by noting that the adventures were designed to be used at any point in a game, and were generally long enough for a single evening of play. He added that the styles of the scenarios were so varied that they might not all suit a group's play style, but said, "However, even so I13 is worth a look if you play a lot of AD&D and like to have fill-in adventures handy."

Yeah your gonna see that word 'handy' a lot and it shows because this is the same style of review that Ken Rolston also gave  I13: Adventure Pack I ; "Ken Rolston briefly reviewed Adventure Pack I for Dragon magazine No. 129 (January 1988).^[4] Rolston called it "a good collection of short, stand-alone AD&Dgame adventures by a number of established and promising designers".^[4] He felt the plots, tones, and flavors of the adventures were particularly original and offbeat. His favorites were "Steaks" by Allen Varney ("a compact, charming, nicely staged gaming vignette with a clever central plot device") and "Terror in Skytumble Tor" by Paul Jaquays ("a sharp little adventure with clever plot devices and vivid NPCs in a derelict sky castle that is ponderously tumbling end-over-end toward the earth").^[4] Rolston felt that while reading long modules could be rather dull, these short adventures were a good length. He considered them long enough to present an idea, but short enough to read straight through without getting bored, and "the varied tones — some light and clever, some earnest and heroic — make for a more pleasant reading experience".^[4] He concluded that "the adventures here are comfortably conventional in their AD&D game feel, and can easily be slipped into a typical house campaign""

But is I13: Adventure Pack I  still useful today in the world of old school & OSR campaigns?! Yes it is for a number of reasons. First of all it works with OSRIC & easily translates over to Labyrinth Lord Advanced without any  issues.


So what's in I13: Adventure Pack I ? The fact is that the whole package reeks of old school AD&D within the middle period of the Eighties;" Adventure Pack I is a collection of eight scenarios and three mini-scenarios, including a mystery at a magical circus (written by Warren Spector), a war between assassins (written by Steve Perrin), and a mission to the spinning sky castle of a dying storm giant (written by Paul Jaquays).^[1] The adventures average 8-10 pages in length, and are intended for character levels 4-10.^[2]

The individual scenarios are titled "Blood and Laurels", "The Circus of Gandolfo", "The House of Long Knives", "The Lauros Road Bandits", "Reign of Triumph", "Scavenger Hunt", "Sharla's Zoo", "Steaks", "Terror in Skytumble Tor", "To Kill A Kraken" and "The Weird Woods of Baron Orchid"" 


Its the flexibility & sheer variety of adventures & slices of old school encounters that make I13: Adventure Pack I such a classic. Any of the retroclones or even the B/X  Dungeons & Dragons systems can benefit from this module anthology. I13: Adventure Pack I is a class act all of the way around & should be in any dungeon master's tool box.