Swords & Stitchery - Old Time Sewing & Table Top Rpg Blog: Old School Sword & Sorcery Adventures

Showing posts with label Old School Sword & Sorcery Adventures. Show all posts

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Rats In The Back Alleys - Using 1991 Tales of Lankhmar (LNR2) By Anthony Pryor & The Hyperborea rpg For Sword & Sorcery Urban Crawling or Adventuring.

"Hire on, in 'A Cask of Trouble,' to guard a wine-tasting from the vengeful Vintner's Guild. Dare, if you will, 'The Red God's Curse,' in which little is as it seems. Aid the wizards Sheelba of the Eyeless Face and Ningauble of the Seven Eyes at an era's end, 'When Walks the Wyrm.' Undertake an expedition of inquiry for the Lankhmar Society of Sages to 'The Land of the Pale Ones.' Learn if the Thieves' Guild really has a hand in 'The House of Mazes.'"

Photo stolen from Wayne's books here.

"Beware strange priests and darkest alleys, lest you meet 'A New God.' Finally, no anthology of Lankhmar would be complete without a trip to its maze-like sewers, wherein rages 'War in Lankhmar Below' (a follow-up to the adventure 'Return of the Rats,' from CA2, Swords of Deceit)."

Wayback in 1991 Tales of Lankhmar (LNR2) By Anthony Pryor came out it was 64 pages and went by the product designation TSR 9329 or ISBN 1560761350. What Tales of Lankhmar (LNR2) did back in '91 was to create a 64-page LANKHMAR adventure anthology which contains seven original adventures for a party of four to eight characters, levels 3 to 10. And what's good about LNR2 is the fact that a lot of the TSR Lankhmar adventure modules were centered around urban Sword & Sorcery adventuring. This makes the Lankhmar adventures perfect fodder for the Hyperborea rpg. And this is especially true of LNR2 which is a perfect follow up to the Hyperborea rpg adventure 'The Rats in The Walls and Other Perils'. Why?! Well let's take a quick look at the back cover explaination; "Rats in the Walls and Other Perils" also includes two more short adventures: Chainsaw’s “The Brazen Bull”, and “The Lamia’s Heart”, by Jeffrey P. Talanian. (An early draft of the latter was published in the AFS fanzine.) Edited by David Prata, all three adventures are set in the dismal City-State of Khromarium and is designed for from four to six characters of 1st or 2nd level. " So not only do we have a starting adventure module set within the Hyperborean capital of the City State of Khormarium but in Tales of Lankhmar we have a perfect follow up the 'Rats in The Walls'.

"Rats in the Walls and Other Perils"puts the PC's footloose and fancy free in the big city. But what does one follow it up with?! Why the whims of two weird wizards of the DM's design. And the adventures continue. With a bit of work there's the fact that we give the City State of Khormarium a real face and character about it.
We've used the City State of Khormarium as a jump off point a hundred times. And it makes an excellent urban landscape for the adventurers to kick up thier heels.

Hyperborea is a world with vast, vast, oceans and hardly anyone talks about it. The Hyperborean campaign setting makes an excellent Sword & Sorcery pirate campaign & this can easily be contrasted with an urban crawl twist. 1991 Tales of Lankhmar (LNR2) By Anthony Pryor is an excellent counterpoint adventure anthology that gets the PC's deep into the heart of a city grinding conspiracy. And much more. And I think it's the much more that get's over looked within 1991 Tales of Lankhmar (LNR2) By Anthony Pryor.
There's enough mini adventures here where the players are going to be more then busy for a few months. The DM is going to need to keep an eye on the PC's levels and the distribution of treasure.

Thursday, August 10, 2023

The Medusae Mechanism Artifact for Your Old School Campaigns

'What is it we seek oh master?' the sniveling voice of Ashton the mutant shook within the remains of the wizard's tower.

'Come you wretch & be quick about it I have no wish to meet up with that pair of Martian scum this night' Shatock The Mad a wizard of no small power was poking around the ruins of what was once one of the wizard's guild fortresses that was along the Neo Calonian border.
'Bring the torch here you fool I think I have found what I seek' the words were spat out as much as said by the black wizard. He hovered over a particular pile of garbage and offal.

'Clear that bit there sniveling slave' with the command Aston cleared a particularly scummy pile of debris. He was confronted by the white skin & dead blue eyes of a young woman. The eyes rolled forward & regarded Ashton with pure hatred & malice born of centuries of suffering.
'What is this master? Will she turn me to stone?'
'No wretched coward that would have happened by now. Grab her by the wires, snakes, what passes for hair.'
'Set her on yonder table'
'As I live & breath a Medusae Mechanism, you have no idea how many centuries I have been looking for one such as you my dear.' Shatock The Mad spoke the words without any touch of irony.
'Now Ashton we must find out her name?!' The look of hatred seemed grow on the mechanism's face by degrees.

A legendary class of relic the head of the medusae automaton is unknown but there has been speculation that they once belonged to a twisted type of pleasure mechanism of the so called 'Ancient Ones'. These heads have been found all over the 'Old Solar System'. They are often mistaken for the heads of the mythological and quite deadly medusa species which is one of the reasons why these artifacts are often intact and operational.
Each head is actually a quite lethal and accurate weapons system of super science with 1d20 charges when found. The head of medusae mechanism will sense through an almost supernatural quality when its owner wishes it to activate. The mouth will open, the eyes will come to life, & its interior oral cavity will fill with deadly laser energy. A bolt capable of doing 1d6 +3 points of damage will shoot out towards the target with a radius of thirty feet. The mechanism will briefly come to life for the split second it takes to eject its lethal ammo into its target. The mechanism is capable of firing three shots in rapid succession within a round. Creatures not normally capable of being affected by normal weapons will be hit & damage by the laser energy of the medusae mechanism head.

There are further benefits to owning a mechanism head for each individual Medusae may still possess its living brain unit. The Medusae mechanism often served as personal secretaries & pleasure units to twisted black wizards of the wastelands of 'Old Earth'. They were privy to all kinds of black magick secrets & sometimes 1d6 black magick spells. A 'read technology' spell will unlock most of the simple secrets of these dangerous automatons. Because of their association with wizards of the most horrid stripe it is assumed that purges against these relics of super science and their masters were carried out.

In addition to the simple super science qualities that the Medusae Mechanism have, with the relic's proper name a magician or super scientist can unlock another strange quality of the artifacts. The mechanism may know the location of 1d10 caches of super science relics that their masters secreted away. With the application of their true names these mechanisms are compelled without trickery to give the locations of any such caches that they are privy too. These were some very sophisticated pieces of super science and they have lived for thousands of years in unliving torment and torture in a world that has literally passed them by. Those seeking the true names of these mechanisms will have a difficult task ahead of them. A quest to no less then five construct consultants and alchemists costing as much as 9,000 gold pieces must be undertaking to unlock such a true name. In addition there may be 1d30 additional secrets that the owner must ask about. These mechanisms are notoriously difficult to get to devulge any of their secrets even with the true names available. Each head is worth to a qualified wizard at least 800,000 gold pieces.

1d6 Random True Names Table

For The Medusae Mechanism Artifact

Glenda Provonich A lady of noble birth that's what she's programmed to believe.
Patrica Barvrov - A wizardress of no small measure this lady was once a master of the black arts. She does not believe that she is a mechanism.
Sarah Eronvich - Sarah is a lady of the circus and once existed as a side show attraction. She is woman of means that believes in marriage and family.
Gradus The Concubine - She is a being that knows what she is and where she came from.
Brousrina Sherouvich - A black wizard that knows many Lovecraftian entities on a first name basis and uses her knowledge as a bargain chip with her owners.
Peterina The Brave - This black wizardress is one of five witches that once served a very dangerous cunning man in the heat of the night. She knows many secrets of black magick.

O lovely demon, half-divine!
Hemlock and hydromel and gall,
Honey and aconite and wine
Mingle to make that mouth of thine—

Thy mouth I love: but most of all
It is thy tears that I desire—
Thy tears, like fountain-drops that fall
In gardens red, Satanical;

Or like the tears of mist and fire,
Wept by the moon, that wizards use
To secret runes when they require
Some silver philter, sweet and dire.

The Tears of Lilith (1917)
by Clark Ashton Smith

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Yellow Raider's Sails on The Horizon - Some Thoughts on A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords (1e) Network And The Hyperborea rpg

Today on Twitter I brought up the fact that back in the Eighties we used the Slavers of A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords (1e) network and organization raiding places like Gamma Terra, Greyhawk, and a multitude of worlds. And we even had them show up on the Warden a time or two for particularly choice mutant slaves for wizards.

Our latest thread of thought after getting together with some of my friends yesterday is that the Slavers are perfect for showing up on Hyperborea. And up to thier old tricks! If you look at A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity tagline it's perfect for Sword & Sorcery adventure;"A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity: It is time to put a stop to the marauders! For years the coastal towns have been burned and looted by the forces of evil. You and your fellow adventurers have been recruited to root out and destroy the source of these raids—as hundreds of good men and women have been taken by the slavers and have never been seen or heard from again!"
And this goes back into something I've been saying for years about Hyperborea as a whole. The whole setting is perfect for coast raid and pirate campaigns.

And this goes right back into what we were talking yesterday on the blog. And that is that piracy and sea faring is the back bone of the Hyperborea rpg. And this goes back to the fact that there's a very thin line between pirate and sailor or raider when there's a cutless at your neck.
Hyperborea is rife with hidden ports and places where slaves can be moved or sold.
Not to mention the fact that there's a ready market for choice slaves across a multitude of worlds. If you look at 'the nine' and the part they played in the evolution of the Slavers organization from the D&D fans wiki entry here; "The Slave Lords evolved out of a similar organization known as "The Nine," which was founded by Stalman Klim, sometime between 569 and 573 CY. Klim, a human priest of the Earth Dragon from the hidden Pomarj town of Suderham, had left Suderham in 569 CY to explore the Flanaess, where he gathered a number of allies, including drow and members of the Scarlet Brotherhood.

"In 574 CY, Klim and his allies returned to Suderham, where they slew its last king, Roderic and took control of the town. By 576, the organization had become known as the Slave Lords, though its ruling council was still known as the Nine. Known members of the Nine from 576-580 include:

Stalman Klim (also known as Mordrammo)
Eanwulf (Also known as Feelta), a human pirate lord
Edralve, an exiled drow priestess of Lolth from Erelhei-Cinlu
Lamonsten the Lazy, an illusionist from Dyvers
Nerelas, a human assassin
Slippery Ketta, a human rogue
Ajakstu, a human wizard
Brother Milerjoi, a human monk of the Scarlet Brotherhood
Brother Kerin, a human monk of the Scarlet Brotherhood, Milerjoi's assistant"

Then we get a very clear line of sucession and the power behind and beyond the Slavers. And it not only possible but probable that they would be operating across worlds with thier villany. And what does this have to do with LNR1 Wonders of Lankhmar?! Quite a bit as you and your party cross paths with more then a few encounters thar can be woven into an urban crossover with the Slavers or thier minions easily!

Sunday, July 9, 2023

Rats in The Walls - Using 1990 LNR1 Wonders of Lankhmar by Dale "Slade" Henson, & The Hyperborea rpg For Sword & Sorcery Urban Crawling or Adventuring Part II

"...Within these pages are dozens of short adventures perfect for an afternoon's or evening's enjoyment. Your characters may be hired to protect the Overlord from assassination. They might choose to take positions as caravan guards on a dangerous passage through a crocodile-infested swamp. Or, perhaps they'd prefer a quiet night on the town. (They might well prefer it; the question is, can they find it?)..."

The low down on LNR1 Wonders of Lankhmar by Dale "Slade" Henson, has an interesting history according to the LNR1 wiki entry; "
LNR1 Wonders of Lankhmar was written by Dale "Slade" Henson, with a cover by Fred Fields, and interior illustrations by Ken and Charles Frank and Jeff Easley, and was published by TSR in 1990 as a 96-page book." Now according tot this same wiki entry; " Lawrence Schick, in his 1991 book Heroic Worlds, comments on Wonders of Lankhmar: "There are a few good ideas here, but most of the entries are nothing special, and at two pages each they're all pretty short on detail."
And this is precisely why I'd choose to put LNR1 Wonders of Lankhmar at the table top level. And for the Hyperborea rpg this a great way to get the player's PC's into an urban Sword & Sorcery landscape. This style of Hyperborea rpg game session comes without the deep commitment. And this goes back to last night's blog post.

LNR1 Wonders of Lankhmar goes right down that same rabbit hole with a difference. And that difference is how the PC's would be using the Hyperborean capital of the City State of Khormarium as thier base. Now this is by no means a band add for our party but what enables is the PC's to have some touch stone with both urban surroundings and the howling wilderness that is Hyperborea. And these short adventures found within LNR1 Wonders of Lankhmar go towards a long way of creating a viable mini starting campaign set up. Short easy to run adventures, minimum commitment, and easily committed missions or so it seems. All of these are perfect as hallmarks for continuing the Sword & Sorcery campaign that we spoke about last blog entry.
LNR1 Wonders of Lankhmar by Dale "Slade" Henson, has the shorter Sword & Sorcery adventures that can easily be adapted the world of Hyperborea. And this plugs deeply into the urban landscape of the port cities of Hyperborea and it's city states. These places are going to be the centers of commerance and trade. And thier also rife for meeting places for the notorious and dangerous. So this gives LNR1 a bit of an edge for low levels of Sword & Sorcery play especially the Hyperborea rpg.

Saturday, July 8, 2023

Rats In The Back Alleys - Using 1991 Tales of Lankhmar (LNR2) By Anthony Pryor & The Hyperborea rpg For Sword & Sorcery Urban Crawling or Adventuring.

Photo stolen from Wayne's books here.

Monday, August 22, 2022

Review & Commentary On the Free Tower of the Mammoth Adventure For The Hyperborea rpg

"Enter the Tower of the Mammoth at your peril for only death awaits!"

I created this adventure base on Thulsa's Elephant Tower and Mongoose's Conan D20 game scenario of the same name; the Tower of the Elephant by Greg Lynch. I have combine maps and rooms and obviously added my own. I have stole, borrowed and changed other's text to suit (even TSR's Conan game had a brief mention of the ToE) and with over 200 locations, I have tired to fill with interest stuff, but left some rooms empty or lacking in occupants and treasure which referees can add to enhance their game; much as I have done to these scenarios.

There is places and rooms I would not expect any adventurer/thief/delver to enter. There is too much. Perhaps doing a 'Dungeon Crawl,' would actually accomplish this, but why, for fun (then good job and enjoy, for that is what the game is for). Still the game is an adventure and like any story, realism is part of life. So any thieves entering the Tower only want to hunt what they seek and flee, not waste time with empty rooms.

As mentioned in text in PDF; there is two ways to play this game as a major dungeon crawl or a quick in and out burglary and perhaps a little bit of both for a third option. The last option might balance things; a bit of fun and some serious delving.

So Bookmarked PDF, so looks good, but if folks see any error, please tell...

I have tried to edit text, but I only human (well part human, part fish, naw that a joke, part superhero, aye, okay... Caveman) and there maybe a few errors; probably more, but the basis of sce
Hmm, trying to think of anything else... Ah, this might be too powerful, I not play-tested it and that for you folks, so if it goes wrong, it not my fault, (I tell ya...). So, yes, hmm.

So what I mean by 4 to 8 levelled characters might be one 4th-level, two 8th-levels and one each of the other levels in between. Be cautious and stay hidden (is that going to work?)..." nario is comprehensive and you get the general idea, so nao problemo...
Caveman Hyperborea rpg adventure forums 7/26/22

There are times when one stumbles upon a work of genius and that's extactly what one of my players did coming across Caveman's Tower of the Mammoth adventure that you can download over here. Caveman's Tower of the Mammoth was downloaded last night along with the maps and this is a seventy five page monster of an adventure. The adventure is for 4-8th level PC's and that's no joke. There are some vile tricks, traps, etc. all geared around the Hyerpborea rpg. Caveman does a fanastic job of combining Thulsa's Elephant Tower and Mongoose's Conan D20 game scenario into an animal all of it's own. And Tower of the Mammoth is it's own beastie.
Level by level we get a dungeon unique & dangerous to it's Hyperborean origins. The tower isn't a place to fool around as it pays very close homage to it's Robert. E. Howard's Tower of the Elephant source material. You can almost feel the torches buring in some of the rooms;
"Torches flared murkily on the revels in the Maul, where the thieves of the east held carnival by night. In the Maul they could carouse and roar as they liked, for honest people shunned the quarters, and watchmen, well paid with stained coins, did not interfere with their sport. Along the crooked, unpaved streets with their heaps of refuse and sloppy puddles, drunken roisterers staggered, roaring. Steel glinted in the shadows where wolf preyed on wolf, and from the darkness rose the shrill laughter of women, and the sounds of scufflings and strugglings. Torchlight licked luridly from broken windows and wide-thrown doors, and out of those doors, stale smells of wine and rank sweaty bodies, clamor of drinking-jacks and fists hammered on rough tables, snatches of obscene songs, rushed like a blow in the face."
Robert E. Howard Tower of the Elephant 1933

Caveman set's up the tower and it's evirons with gusto giving the DM more then enough with his maps of the tower & the surroundings. The design work is tight, the descriptions evocative, and the material here is solidly appropriate for the Hyperborea rpg. A lot of work went into combining Tower of the Mammoth, editing it, and putting it out to fellow Hyperborea rpg fans, DM's and players. And it shows in this adventure.

Tower of the Mammoth is a crown jewel of an adventure topping the campaign of a DM whose players have swept through other lesser dungeon & adventure locations. There's swirling feel of Sword & Sorcery mayhem scattered throughout the tower's many levels. And a sense that no way could the player's PC's plump the depths of the tower.

Tower of the Mammoth's maps are well done and give insights into the tower's designs, environs, and purposes. The tribute work here is evident with details given a Hyperborea spin & the author knowing the game in & out with knowledge used to design the inner workings of the tower itself.

The Tower of the Mammoth isn't for the faint of heart at all. This is a place of adventure, PC death, and danger around every turn or corner. I don't say this lightly at all.
But is Tower of the Mammoth worth the download? Certainly it is as it fills a definitive need for adventure within the bounds of Hyperborea itself.

You can download The Tower of the Mammonth Here along with the maps!

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Sword & Sorcery Leads Back to Classic Dragon magazine isssu #54 For Old School Or OSR Lost Ruins & Horrors

Got together with friends today & we started talking about 'Sword & Sorcery' literature especially Jack Vance's Dying Earth & Robert E. Howard's original Conan stories. This in turn lead to a conversation about using ruins as gateway points to adventure. This in turn lead to a classic issue of 'The Dragon'.

Tonight was one of those night that going through the archives led me back to Dragon (Issue 54 - Oct 1981). This issue has one of my articles, 'Ruins: Rotted & risky - but rewarding' by Arn Ashliegh Parker. This article has some execellent commentary on using ruins in remote wilderness locations. And this article brings up one of the classics from Sword & Sorcery literature, the abandoned ancient city.
'Ruins: Rotted & risky - but rewarding' goes deep into advice for designing, maintaining, stocking, and dealing with ruins. Ruins are the outdoor equivelant of the underworld dungeon location. The article fully goes on with the wreckage of buildings, the ruins of shops, and much more with the eye being on the stocking of the ruins, the traps, and maintaining the ruined locations.
And this has me thinking about the idea of the ruined city as both draw & bane of a party of adventurers.

But how does this apply to our modern OSR adventure parties?! Ancient ruined cities are perfect locations to become the center of attention of a campaign. And with games such as Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg they can be much more! The ruined city itself could be the point of chaos for a campaign. A place where the humanoid races have become the dominant force for a region while inhabiting the ancient works of the ancients. And there's so much potential within the walls of a ruined city. From ancient artifacts secreted in mini dungeons within the city to full on dealing with the factions of war that appear camped within such ruins.

'Ruins: Rotted & risky - but rewarding' also has it's uses in both Lion & Dragon Rpg as well as Sword & Caravan. The ancient routes lead to the ruins of ancient pre Biblical ruined cities that exist in both the physical world & the supernatural one. These ruined cities are far more dangerous then they appear. The Silk Road is literally covered in legends & mythological stories of ruined cities straight out of nightmare.

For Castles & Crusades, 'Ruins: Rotted & risky - but rewarding' offers a good set of guidelines perfect for adding in a ruined cityscape or other ancient set of ruins that could be a deadly trap. The ancient ruined city scape is something straight out of Jack Vance's dying Earth series. And city ruins offer an exciting alternative to the usual dungeons & underworld adventure points.
The monsters cataloged in 'Ruins: Rotted & risky - but rewarding' are all available in the C&C's Monsters & Treasure books. And many of the players of C&C have little experience with early issues of 'The Dragon' giving the DM a bit of an advantage.

Finally I believe The Hyperborea rpg is rife with opportunities where the 'Ruins: Rotted & risky - but rewarding' article is perfect as a lens to get the ruinscapes that the Hyperborea campaign setting is rife with available to PC's. Who knows what lost races, demons, horrors, etc. are lurking around the ruined Hyperborean landscapes. Or what treasures are hidden within the walls of some lost city.

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Mail Call & OSR Review of Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen By Mark Taormino For Your Old School Games

"Death or freedom? The Vampire Queen has challenged a small band of her worst prisoners to escape from her wicked dungeon lair. With all of your original weapons, magic items and possessions, it is up to you to outwit and fight your way through terrible traps, beastly monsters, and all the horrific surprises she has arranged for you! The Module that started it all is sure to delight and challenge the most skilled players!"

So once again I've playing around running my players through Mark Taormino's Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen module. Mark however has been possibly one of the most active underground rpg writers & designers out there. He keeps what he's doing on the low down but over the years since the Hanging coffins module has come out he's been taking the manuscript back revising, sharping up stats, correcting mistakes, etc. And Dark Wizard games sent me an updated & revised physical copy of Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen module.

Now I own the original Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen and just scanning through the booklet of the module reveals quite a few things. First the layout has been improved & the artwork seems a bit crisper. The room descriptions, stats, etc. have all been adjusted to reflect Dark Wizard's re editing of the Hanging Coffins.

The Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen offers a few things as an adventure module. The first of which that comes to my mind is the fact that this module is a capstone or cornerstone of an old school Sword & Sorcery module because of the levels ten to fourteen of the PC's to run through this module! The vampire queen here is no joke able to hold her own in a stand up fight easily.
The Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen works very well as an insert into the Hyperborea rpg as a main antagonist. And her cult actually fits the threat levels described in the Hyperborea rpg book rather easily. If you have the other Dark Wizard modules it becomes rather easy to set up a campaign just using them. We start the party off with Shadow of the Necromancer where one of the vampire queen's minions is terrorizing a local village. Shadow of the Necromancer leads into The Late Trapper's Lament for the Hyperborea rpg.
And right around the Lug Swamp which leads to the village of Silt on Hyperborea. Then we release the Dread Swamp of the Banshee for the party's journey up the level ladder into the lair of The Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen!

This same campaign idea would also work for Castles & Crusades where the DM uses the increasing horrors to deal with a party reaching & surviving to be their best! Survival is key here because many of the Dark Wizard modules are out & out deadly.

Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen By Mark Taormino For Your Old School Games Is Available Right Here

Friday, March 18, 2022

Hyperborea rpg Commentary On I2 Tomb of the Lizard King By Mark Acres For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition

"The southlands of Eor are being despoiled. Merchants will no longer run their caravans on the main highway past the quiet village of Waycombe. The peasants are fleeing their lands, and all are demanding protection from the powerful Count of Eor. The goodly count has sent a troop of his trusted fighters to exterminate the brigands believed responsible for these outrages, but weeks have passed, and still there is no word from this force."

"Now John Brunis, Count of Eor, has turned to you for aid. After taking counsel with the High Priest of Eor, he believes that a small party of cunning, bold adventurers may succeed where armed might has failed. You find yourselves faced with many mysteries!"

"Why has robbery suddenly erupted in the peaceful southlands? How could mere brigands be as powerful as the foes described to you by their numerous victims? Is this really mere robbery? Or is there some truth to the rumors, told only in hushed whispers, about the beginnings of a hideous plot being hatched by an ancient, vile, and evil foe of all mankind?"

One of the modules that I've been mulling on running again for the Hyperborea rpg is I2 Tomb of the Lizard King By Mark Arces an adventure for players 5-7 level. Transporting this module from Greyhawk to Hyperborea is going to present some challenges to the DM. First is the fact that it should be run in the mid beginning of Spring on Hyperborea. And secondly it should be run with either a Norse or Keltic bent. And for myself I'd go with a Keltic kingdom not too far from the capital of Hyperborea presenting a real Sword & Sorcery threat to the heart of the campaign setting. Bandits are attacking the roads outside of Swampgate and John Brunis, Count of Eor is responsible for maintaining these roads. So his head is on chopping block of the merchant guilds, traders, slavers, etc. So he's put out a call for adventuring parties.
There will be rival adventuring groups of NPC's until the party is brought into the presence of John Brunis, Count of Eor. And PC's should be offered lands & a minor title to go along with the high stakes of this adventure. Waycombe is a place with a lot of history & danger around it. And its really the key to running this adventure on Hyperborea. Waycombe used to be the seat of the lizardmen empire on Hyperborea. Especially the area around the villages, ruins, etc. all around the ancient lands. The key here for running this is the sleight of hand set up of the module;"Tomb of the Lizard King is a three-part adventure involving a wilderness trek, a battle against brigands, and a foray into the tomb of the Lizard King" The lizard men are forth ring down servant races of the ancient Serpent Men and so Waycombe was really a vassel area.

This vassal area is a part of the old Serpent Men empire that now extends down into Underborea. And so the lizard king himself is actually carrying out the will of his former masters the serpentmen. The cult of the Serpent Men is ancient & old extending back into the capital of Hyperborea and all of the way out to the steppes. This area is where the ancient serpent men had the seat of their empire and because of I2 Tomb of the Lizard King's deep Greyhawk connections I've had several star gates connecting back into the old school classic campaign. Continuing what I said in my review of N1, The reptile cult should be a thinking man's enemy, they play for keeps & fit right into the Robert Howard/Clark Ashton Smith mold.

I2 Tomb of the Lizard King By Mark Acres isn't for the faint of heart players of old school games. And it could well be the follow up to N1 Against the Reptile Cult By Doug Niles. On Hyperborea this is all a part of a grand plan by the Serpent People to restore part of their empire and hold on Hyperborea. The Hyperboreans themselves ages ago threw off the yoke of the serpentmen & their attendant races. This makes I2 Tomb of the Lizard King By Mark Acres a follow up to these events in its own right. Is I2 Tomb of the Lizard King By Mark Acres no it has its own flaws.

Friday, December 24, 2021

Slay Ride - A High Level Holiday Adventure Encounter For The AS&SH Hyperborea Rpg

" At the outer edges of Hyperborea on small isle not more then one mile long the cold seas lap at the shores of a ruined tower. The tower alights with unholy sorcerous light and the baying of hounds can be heard ringing across the sea.
Suddenly the skies fill with the figures of dead gods & strange riders as well as Hell hounds! The clouds ar split by lightning and thunders as the clash of hoof beats sounds across the sky! The Wild Hunt has come to the shores of Hyperborea. Winds, snow, rain, and the clouds themselves part against the hoof beats of the dead gods lead by the horned vistage of the Hunter! "

Asgårdsreien [The Wild Hunt of Odin] (1872) by Peter Nicolai Arbo

The PC's will encounter a hellhound just outside of their village or the nearest urban location. The hounds are there to flush evil souls for the Hunt to take to ground. Each Hellhound is accompied by an undead scout handler who counts as a gloom eater zombie.
Hell Hound (Undead Type 13): #E 2d4 (4d4) | AL LE SZ M | MV 40 | DX 11 | AC 4 | HD 5 | #A 1/1 (bite) D 1d6 | SV 14 | ML 9 | XP 300 | TC C | Special: Breathe Fire: Breathe fire thrice per day in a 10-foot-long cone, 5 feet wide at the terminus, causing 3d6 hp damage (avoidance save allowed for ½ damage). See Invisibility: 5-in-6 chance to see invisible opponents
Undead scout & Hell hound Handler
Gloom-Eater Zombie (Undead Type 2): #E 1d6 (4d6) AL CE | SZ M | MV 30 | DX 3 | AC 8 | HD 2 #A 1/1 (pummel or bite) | D 1d8 or 1d3 | SV 16 | ML 12 XP 64 | TC J, K, L, M | Special: Draining Bite: 3-in-6 chance of bite attempt per round. Bite drains victim’s strength by 1d4 points (no saving throw allowed). A victim drained to 1–2 ST is crippled, unable to walk, barely able to crawl (5 MV). A victim reduced to 0 ST has been tainted by the gloom and will become a gloom-eater zombie in 1d4 turns unless cure disease is cast. Strength can be restored at a rate of 1 point per 24 hours of rest. Immunities: Immune to cold, fear, paralysis, and poison. Overbear: Multiple zombies will attempt to overbear victims.

As soon as the handler spots a PC who is likely to make a good target for the hunt then it will blow its enchanted horn & call the wraith of the hunt down on a doomed soul. In actuality the wild hunt is on the prowl of Hyperborea for a daemon prince who has possessed the body of a local duke who is about too plunge this side of Hyperborea into a war! The hunt has come to take the daemon prince back to underborea's cold Hells to answer to answer to Thaumagorga himself. Thaumagorga is angry that the renagade Class VI greater dæmon lord has taken it upon himself to escalate war upon Hyperborea before its appointed time. More over the Wild Hunt is made up of the dead souls of the old gods.

"Wodan's Wild Hunt" (1882) by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine

The wraith of Thaumagorga himself is something to behold as the hunt has taken on its most daemonic & Hellish aspects. The dead gods may remember their ancient incarnations & avitors if a druid, cleric, or bard recalls the ancient Keltic legends. Any of these classes can make an offering to the Wild Hunt & entreat them with offerings. If these offerings are accepted is another story entirely. They may accept it or by pass the PC's.

Kadam The Bold is a 8th level fighter whose been gaining favor with the Hyperborean court winning success after success on the battle field & unbalancing the power struture of the world. The moldering & decaying gods have come for Kadam's soul! This was after a high ranking Ixian black wizard bound the daemon prince to the duke. The wild hunt is taking advantage of the operation to take any evil souls back to the underworld. Should the party help the Wild Hunt they may be 'rewarded'. They will be awarded money, gold or, most often, a leg of a slain animal or human, which is often cursed in a way that makes it impossible to be rid of it. Only a high ranking Druid or Priest can remove the cursed item or treasure.

The party must ask the Wild Hunt for salt which they can not provide while standing in the middle of their path. The Hunt is then bound to take the cursed item back while blessing the party.

Before the hill's high altar bowed,
The trees are Druids, weird and white,
Facing the vision of the light
With ancient lips to silence vowed.

No certain sound the woods aver,
Nor motion save of formless wings—
Filled with phantasmal flutterings,
With thronging gloom and shadow-stir.

Unseen, unheard, amid the dell
Lie all the winds that mantic trees
Have lulled with crystal warlockries
And bound about with Merlin-spell.
Twilight on the Snow (1922)
by Clark Ashton Smith