OSR Nexus The Infinite City - Actual Play Report - Ghouls In The City

 "Welcome to Nexus, the Infinite City. The city where all realities meet. A place where Ancient Babylon is just down the street, and the next off ramp leads to the lost cities of Mars. Rub shoulders with alien gangbangers. Party it up with the creatures of the night. Fight alongside Aztec cyberpunks and Roman centurions. Rumble with street mages. Lock down trade deals with avaricious dinosaurs. Unravel the mysteries of the metaverse. And make it to the club in time to check out the latest shriekrap bands."

So DM Steve has had an on going Nexus The Infinite City game going on using Worlds Without End rpg system. The idea of an infinite city spawl tucked in with rifte Babylon & alien artitecture is one that he's been doing now since Stars Without Numbers Revised hit the OSR scene. The idea here is that humans have been turning themselves into Elves through a transhuman process. The 'real forces of the Fey' are vastly upset by this! They consider this an abomination. And last night we crossed paths with another OSR powerhouse. But we ran away! 

Now across the dimensional threshold 'The Eld' of The Misty Isle of the Eld fame are taking on the newly created Elves as slaves & Eld technological fodder. Ahh but not all is well for the newly created Elves. Some of their lot are subcombing to a horrid plague that turns the new elves into ravingly hungry ghouls!   The Eld simply burn the newly formed ghouls & its another cost of doing business to them. There's more going on here then meets the eye. 


Dave Sutherland Ghoul from the AD&D 
Monster Manual 

The occult technologies that are being used by the humans maybe to blame. No one knows where it came from. Simply that it was found in an abandoned temple in some forgotten side street & it was overrun with you guessed it ghouls. The Elves are immune to the paralysing touch of the ghouls but the local humans including the medlies are not. Our group of adventurers has been hired to check out this temple. But I'm not convinced. There's something more going on here?! So around the street we start checking. Yes there's lots of minor undead around the place. The usual zombies, the occasional ghost, etc. Somerthing about this neighborhood doesn't smell right to us players. I'm playing a cleric of Hel in this game. Needless to say that my PC isn't amused by the humans trying to escape their fate of death. Something is beyond not right with this situation. And we need to talk with the 'Fey' coming up next game. But I've a feeling I know whose behind the undead aspect & that's OD&D or B/X's version of the demon lord Orcus. 

Matters Metal, Cosmic, & Demonic - Divinity, Higher Dimensional Entities, & The Old School Campaign

I've got a real problem with owing anyone any favors or debts. This goes back a very long way too my childhood & beyond. So today when I had the chance come up I backed Rafael Chandler's Metallic Tome kickstarter.  When my pay check came up today  I back this kickstarter quick..
Why?!


I got my fifty coming up fast & Rafael Chandler is a really nice guy but I wanna support my friends efforts. But there's a selfish reason for backing this kickstarter. I've already got plans for this setting coming up. Years ago I'd ask for a review copy of a particular OSR rpg or I'd get sent one. These days not anymore. Today I buy what I like or want. Not need for actual play. There in lay the two middle grounds of play. 'Like' & 'need' are vastly different things.. I'm I really excited about the  'Metallic Tome' yes because I know the author's mind set. On one of the social media platforms Mr.Chandler said there's a shared background universe to his gaming works. makes it clear that there's monsters among the Chandlerverse's planes 'The Teratic Tome' that are truly end campaign horrors. 

"This enchiridion of entities should only be used by DMs inclined towards malfeasance, sadism, and base wrongdoing.

Torn from the pages of the Books of Pandemonium, these horrific fiends -- including the grotesquely talented Curhadac, the sadistic Eremite, and the death-singing Acronical -- will test the mettle of any adventuring party."

But are they really?! The more I've read of  'The Teratic Tome' the more I'm convinced that these 'monsters' while are monsters are actually just other NPC planar travelers among the larger scope of an incredibly dangerous multiverse. This book is filled with the minor minions & major players in this. What can we take away that I'm trying to make myself feel better for pledging or that's an author's fictional universe agenda at work here? Well, let's start with the fact that I believe the latter without giving the former any mental fodder. But who or what is watching at a distance?!
One set of gods of chaos opposes another & in this case Cha'alt speaks volumes into & unto itself.
Alien entities so alien that they are for all intents & purposes gods inimical to mankind. 

The Black Pyramid smacks of the 'cosmic indifferentism' of the same lines of the monsters of the  'The Teratic Tome'. Two sides of the same forces warring over the resources of our population; "Though cosmicism appears deeply pessimistic, H.P. Lovecraft thought of himself as neither a pessimist nor an optimist but rather a "scientific" or "cosmic" indifferentist,^[15] a theme expressed in his fiction. In Lovecraft's work, human beings are often subject to powerful beings and other cosmic forces, but these forces are not so much malevolent as they are indifferent toward humanity.^[16] This indifference is an important theme in cosmicism. The noted Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi asserts that "Lovecraft constantly engaged in (more or less) genial debates on religion with several colleagues, notably the pious writer and teacher Maurice W. Moe. Lovecraft was a strong and antireligious atheist; he considered religion not merely false but dangerous to social and political progress."^[17] As such, Lovecraft's cosmicism is not religious at all, but rather a version of his mechanistic materialism. Lovecraft thus embraced a philosophy of cosmic indifferentism. He believed in a meaningless, mechanical, and uncaring universe that human beings, with their naturally limited faculties, could never fully understand." 
This is the same passion of design that we see in G1-3 Against The Giants by Gary Gygax . No I'm not comparing either authors with Gary Gygax's module tour de force. Instead I'm pointing out the fact that forces beyond the ken of mankind are in control of the lives, existence, & even the reality of their victims & targets. All the while indifferent to the suffering  among the humans that they cause.

The giants are the willing pawns of powerful forces beyond the ken of men that goes back thousands of years. This makes the point even with 'cosmicism' at its center is the fact that  heroes are needed even more. The weight of history cries out to the blood of player's PC's focus's on the map of their world setting. The  'Metallic Tome' smacks of the violence & horrors in a huge metal rock & roll world of horrors.

Is the world setting of the 'Metallic Tome' subject to similar horrors as   'The Teratic Tome'? In a word I believe so because all of these creations are part & parcel of the mind of the writer. So has this world of metal horror been the future of a world not unlike Cha'alt in way? A far more twisted fantasy version of a fantasy module classic such as B4 The Lost City by Tom Moldvay?

 

All planar Prime quantum echoes of higher dimensional alien entities completely indifferent to the insects called humanity. Meanwhile minions scatter, caper, & dance to the alien tunes of their masters while these things war with each other? The mind boggles at the possibility as the cosmic indifference of affairs allows them to go on with their alien agenda.



The 'metal PC's' of Thrash Dwarves, Black Paladins, Death Rangers, Glam Wizards, and Doom Thieves of  the 'Metallic Tome' are the sort of player characters who are perfectly suited to take on alien monsters of Cha'alt. Could the PC's actually not only take back portions of Cha'alt but win for themselves vast wasteland domains?! The gods & monsters warring among themselves puts vast group of victi erm  humans at risk. I'm taking many of my 'P''s & 'Q''s from classic sources such as "Supplement IV" Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes by James M. Ward & Robert Kuntz. 

 But what's really happening is that I'm digging out my copy of Eldritch Wizardry. Why?! Because a version of the Rod of Orcus has been floating around my campaign settings for awhile now. Its time that I got serious about this particular artifact and that brings me back to  'The Teratic Tome'. 


Several of the undead horrors in that book are absolutely primed to be used by a servant of the foul demon lord of the Undead. Is there a connection between Cha'alt black pyramid & the demon  lord of the undead? Absolutely there is but what this is has yet to be revealed to the players! 

More Commentary On The Many Facets Of The Demon Prince Orcus In Original Dungeons & Dragons As Well As My Old School Campaigns

  Tonight I busted out my copy of Eldritch Wizardry not because I was feeling nostalgic about psionics but because I wanted to stare into the face of one of demon lords of the Abyss. Lately, Demongorgon has been getting a ton of press because of the Netflix show 'Stranger Things'. But pound for pound I've used the demon prince of the undead more times then I can count. Eldritch Wizardry is pretty special to me because this was the book that my adopted uncle gave me before my folks & I returned to Connecticut from New York State. Its also that same copy that would get me expelled the first time from the Christian high school I was attending about eight years later. Why? Not because of the powerful occult Original Dungeons & Dragons items inside or the demon lords. Nope it was the naked chick on the cover. 


"Orcus was first presented in the Eldritch Wizardry supplement in 1976, by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume, for the original (white box) Dungeons & Dragons game.^[3] Although the book states that there are several such demon Princes, only Orcus and Demogorgon are detailed, "two of the greatest of these exceptional demon lords". Game statistics for Orcus appear on page 27, while a description of Orcus appears on page 35 with an accompanying illustration, and a description for his Wand of Orcus appears on page 42 under the section for artifacts."


At the time I received my copy of Eldritch Wizardry  I was reading a ton of Marvel Seventies Dr.Strange. The demon lord slotted itself forever more in my mind as one more demon lord that Doc could encounter but because he was prince of the undead he couldn't be banished from the mortal plane.I got the feeling that his cult was expansive & very dangerous as his titles suggest as  the Prince of the Undead & Prince of Undeath. 


"In 1977, Orcus (Prince of the Undead) was included in the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual by Gary Gygax. First edition AD&D game statistics and a description for Orcus appeared in pages 17–18 under the "demon" section, with an illustration of Orcus by David C. Sutherland III on page 17 and an illustration of the Wand of Orcus on page 18.^[5] The Wand of Orcus was detailed on page 162 of the 1979 Dungeon Masters Guide, also by Gygax, in the section on treasure (artifacts and relics)."
Then in '77 we got a fully fleshed out Orcus in the Monster Manual & his rod was fully detailed in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide. His corpse fat bloated continence glows like some infernal chess master over the myriad of planes across the multiverse. Each & every skeleton, ghost, etc. in the dungeon or backwater village adds a bit more power to the bastard. He can't get enough & its never going to be enough for him. So he adds his necromancers & death masters as his cult grows just a bit more. To me it always felt like there wasn't a corner of the planes of existence where Orcus didn't have just a little bit of influence. His rod really gives the clue on how & where his cult spreads, it annihilates anyone it touches. This is the perfect creed & philosophy of his cult of nihilists, the final corpse bloated peace of the grave for everything. Only its not the end because you'll be animated as a skeleton or wight or some other undead. 

But it was when I had read Clark Ashton Smith's Empire of the Necromancers that Orcus came into focus;
"Unbroken before them, through fields devoid of trees and grass, and across the channels of dried-up rivers, there ran the great highway by which travelers had gone formerly betweea Cincor and Tinarath. Here they met no living thing; but soon they came to the skeletons of a horse and its rider, lying full in the road, and wearing still the sumptuous harness and raiment which they had worn in the flesh. And Mmatmuor aad Sodosma paused before the piteous bones, on which no shred of corruption remained; and they smiled evilly at each other.
'The steed shall be yours,' said Mmatmuor, 'since you are a little the elder of us two, and are thus entitled to precedence; and the rider shall serve us both and be the first to acknowledge fealty to us in Cincor.'
Then, in the ashy sand by the wayside, they drew a threefold circle; and standing together at its center, they performed the abominable rites that compel the dead to arise from tranquil nothingness and obey henceforward, in all things, the dark will of the necromancer. Afterward they sprinkled a pinch of magic powder on the nostril-holes of the man and the horse; and the white bones, creaking mournfully, rose up from where they had lain and stood in readiness to serve their masters.
So, as had been agreed between them, Sodosma mounted the skeleton steed and took up the jeweled reins, and rode in an evil mockery of Death on his pale horse; while Mmatmuor trudged on beside him, leaning lightly on an ebon staff; and the skeleton of the man, with its rich raiment flapping loosely, followed behind the two like a servitor."
It doesn't matter your station or social standing the power of undeath & necromancy makes a mockery out of the afterlife. Todd Lockwood's Orcus from 1981's Dragon takes all of the grayness of the demon prince's realm & brings it into sharp focus. There's a certain mocking black magick something about this piece that has the same effect on me as the Ray Harryhausen skeleton fights. You can almost see the movements of the skeletons bringing the poor sacrifice before the bloated demon prince. 


Because the Todd Lockwood's piece of artwork came out in 1981 its forever associated in my mind with the 1966 film Planet of Vampires. It was the same year I got this piece of artwork in Dragon & had that Italian horror flick burnt into my young mind at 3:00 A.M.!

Orcus is the demon prince of undeath, so it stands to reason that vampirism (undeath) is under his purview. In my young mind these to connected somehow. I whipped up an adventure in which the planet Aura was simply another plane that Orcus had discarded in the past. This unknown planet was part of some bizarre planar chess game he played with his fellow demon lords. Little did I realize that apparently this was something already built into background of AD&D. 
Of course 1981 is the same year that the Evil Dead films came out & you've got to wonder if there isn't a passage or two about Orcus in the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. Come to think of it perhaps those demons were birthed by Shub-Niggurath (The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young) & Orcus in some obscene acts out in the multiverse some place? This might help explain the random demon generator from the pages of the Best of Dragon magazine. "Orcus was often depicted, accompanied by Succubi and Type V demons. Here's one illustration, created by Jennell Jaquays that depicts a whole host of demons." This piece of artwork from the pages of the Best of  Dragon magazine helped to flesh out many of the demons of his from the Monster Manual over the years. In fact several demonic monstrosities  have been birthed from that corpulent stomach after a friend joked about him being pregnant. 


I don't think that there's been a plane that hasn't been touched by the demonic prince of undeath. His influence continues to spread across the planes & his cult has made it onto Hyperborea. I adapted Orcus's 'origin' by Frank Mentzer as official inner circle cult doctorine & inter game dogma for AS&SH;"

Orcus was one of two demon rulers (along with Demogorgon) described in the Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules set (1986) by Frank Mentzer, in the "DM's Guide to Immortals" booklet on pages 33–34, with accompanying charts on pages 35–36. Orcus and Demogorgon are said to command all the other demons described in the book, although they are but two of the many Eternals of the Sphere of Entropy. Orcus (also called The Goat, Master of the Dead, Lord of Darkness, and The Black Prince) commands all mortals of the Sphere of Entropy, which includes undead monsters, and he also commands a small body of loyal Immortals. The book notes that Demogorgon can even command Orcus, although he requires great and sufficient cause to do so. In this version, Orcus attacks with any convenient weapons, wielding one in each hand.^[11] In Wrath of the Immortals (1992), Orcus's history was fleshed out somewhat; he was said to have been a devil swine (a kind of shape-shifter who changes between the form of a fat human and a wild pig) in the long-ago kingdom of Traldara on the world of Mystara. His hatred for all life was sufficient to draw the attention of the Immortal Thanatos, who sponsored Orcus's own successful bid for Immortality.^[51]:31 The article "The Known World Grimoire" by Bruce A. Heard in Dragon #196 (August 1993) mentions that the orcish Tribe of the Sea Plague has Oruguz (also known as Orcus) as their patron. Oruguz is part of the pantheon of the orcs of the Dark Jungle, and the tribe that serves him is led by devil swine, which enforce the precepts of Oruguz among the tribe. "
Here's ten  modifications I used for my own home campaigns over the years with Orcus

1. The bits of Orcus lore I kept were his demonic epitaphs The Goat, Master of the Dead, Lord of Darkness, and The Black Prince
2.   Orcus commands all mortals of the Sphere Cult of Entropy, which includes undead monsters, and he also commands a small body of loyal demonic Immortals.
3.  The book notes that Demogorgon can even command Orcus, although he requires great and sufficient cause to do so. In this version, Orcus attacks with any convenient weapons, wielding one in each hand.
4.  In Wrath of the Immortals (1992), Orcus's history was fleshed out somewhat; he was said to have been a devil swine (a kind of shape-shifter who changes between the form of a fat human and a wild pig) in the long-ago kingdom of Traldara  His hatred for all life was sufficient to draw the attention of the Gods of Undeath who sponsored Orcus's own successful bid for Immortality.
5. Orcus is one of the big Lovecraftian baddies in my games & he's caused myriad zombie (ghoul) zombie plagues  
6. His influence pops up in the post apocalpytic wastelands as a god from time to time among wasteland nihilists
7. His demons are used all of the time on my version of Hyperborea because of their connection with AS&SH necromancers. 
8. All undead have a bit of Orcus's demonic influence 
9. There are a myriad of planes, dimensions, planets that have fallen to his fat corpulent rotten influence over billions of years. 
10. A demon prince of undeath isn't something to be taken lightly. 

Cults Of The Demon Lord Orcus For Sword & Sorery & Modern Old School Campagins

Orcus the name conjures up images of the roiling chaos  of the Abyss's demon lord  of the undead. His power has been growing across the dimensions & now its taking hold in its ancient bases of power.
Within certain esoteric grimoires the secret teachings of the demon lord are revealed. The pen & the promise are given to certain upper strata pf society citizens in modern cities where the name of the demon lord are unknown to the average person. The promise of the right of rulership of the mace & the pleasures of the flesh give way to the hard lessons of immortality of undeath. The initiate passes from one ring to the other in the esoteric descent into the the depravities of the secret societies & cults of Orcus.


The anti clerics of the demon lord of the undeath pass themselves off in polite society easily with the pin of the mace visible to those in the know. Often times coming from both the lowest layer to the heights of ruler ship these ladies & gentlemen are raised in the chaotic teachings of the lord through his witches groves that dot Europe even in the midst of the busiest of cities.
Skulls Power belonging to former priests & wise women are coveted items of power among these pupils of darkness. These skulls have the abilities of a spell book of an anti cleric of 6th or better & they have a 'speak with the dead' ability available once per week.
These skulls are often secreted in very difficult places to reach symbolizing the ascent of power for cultists wishing to gain the power associated with the state of undeath.



Those who join with a temple of the demon god Orcus are forever marked by chaos in no small way but often these can be subtle 'tells' of the power. Once progress is made into the ranks then the far more devious mutations will result in 1d8 years

1d6 Random Chaos Tells of Orcus Table 

1. An aura of uneasy surrounds the acolyte  -1 on Charisma based rolls. There's an aura of unreality about this person. Small animals & children will fear & try to flee him or her. 
2. Power of The Ancients - This person seems like they crackle with the vitality & weirdness of undeath. They are vitally energized in a hyper & almost desperate way about them but it gives them an edge in combat +1 to all initiative based rolls.  The person is paranoid & those around him feel it within them. 
3. Digits of death - There is something not quite right about the person's skin and it takes on a bit of unhealthy aspect. They look normal in every respect but their hands look like those of a corpse. They are unnatural & strange to the touch. 
4. Irises of The Wyrd - Every once in a while if this person becomes excited or angry they're eyes brim with the unnatural power of the demon lord. During this periods for 1d4 rounds those in their presence react as if they were subject to occult power as per the fear spell. 
5. The person cries blue tears which cause any plants they touch to wither & grow brittle instantly. This happens when others laugh or joke 
6. The person's pinky is a wrinkled mass of a stump resembling the face of an old man. The thing is twisted & knotted into the shape similar to a ram's horn but is fully functional 

In large urban areas the 'brides of Orcus' operate out of bordellos & less then upper crust establishments these chaotic networks of prostitutes, thieves, & assassins operate as spy network & nest of clans. These cults  that deal in the coin of information & destroying the lives of pillars of society in scandal & murder. They operate in grand & spectacular fashion to cause the most chaos in society they can as sacrifices to their lord & master. These organizations often use sin & other means of the flesh to entice new members into their ranks. They also specialize in kidnapping, extortion, slavery & true thieves guild activities while using chaotic acts of violence to further their ends. These groups are known to use minor cells as scapegoats for Lawful authorities
The Children of Orcus are some of the most dangerous & chaotic of the cults of Orcus. These beings often operate as cells offering a bastard form of immortality in which certain Dark Forces rites are used to turn the initiate into a free willed & intelligent wraith. These beings travel from one city to another citing victims or families for extortion, terror, & murder. All of these acts are done in the demon lord's name.

Commentary On The Many Facets Of The Demon Prince Orcus In Original Dungeons & Dragons As Well As My Old School Campaigns

  Tonight I busted out my copy of Eldritch Wizardry not because I was feeling nostalgic about psionics but because I wanted to stare into the face of one of demon lords of the Abyss. Lately, Demongorgon has been getting a ton of press because of the Netflix show 'Stranger Things'. But pound for pound I've used the demon prince of the undead more times then I can count. Eldritch Wizardry is pretty special to me because this was the book that my adopted uncle gave me before my folks & I returned to Connecticut from New York State. Its also that same copy that would get me expelled the first time from the Christian high school I was attending about eight years later. Why? Not because of the powerful occult Original Dungeons & Dragons items inside or the demon lords. Nope it was the naked chick on the cover.


"Orcus was first presented in the Eldritch Wizardry supplement in 1976, by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume, for the original (white box) Dungeons & Dragons game.^[3] Although the book states that there are several such demon Princes, only Orcus and Demogorgon are detailed, "two of the greatest of these exceptional demon lords". Game statistics for Orcus appear on page 27, while a description of Orcus appears on page 35 with an accompanying illustration, and a description for his Wand of Orcus appears on page 42 under the section for artifacts."


At the time I received my copy of Eldritch Wizardry  I was reading a ton of Marvel Seventies Dr.Strange. The demon lord slotted itself forever more in my mind as one more demon lord that Doc could encounter but because he was prince of the undead he couldn't be banished from the mortal plane.I got the feeling that his cult was expansive & very dangerous as his titles suggest as  the Prince of the Undead & Prince of Undeath.


"In 1977, Orcus (Prince of the Undead) was included in the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual by Gary Gygax. First edition AD&D game statistics and a description for Orcus appeared in pages 17–18 under the "demon" section, with an illustration of Orcus by David C. Sutherland III on page 17 and an illustration of the Wand of Orcus on page 18.^[5] The Wand of Orcus was detailed on page 162 of the 1979 Dungeon Masters Guide, also by Gygax, in the section on treasure (artifacts and relics)."
Then in '77 we got a fully fleshed out Orcus in the Monster Manual & his rod was fully detailed in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide. His corpse fat bloated continence glows like some infernal chess master over the myriad of planes across the multiverse. Each & every skeleton, ghost, etc. in the dungeon or backwater village adds a bit more power to the bastard. He can't get enough & its never going to be enough for him. So he adds his necromancers & death masters as his cult grows just a bit more. To me it always felt like there wasn't a corner of the planes of existence where Orcus didn't have just a little bit of influence. His rod really gives the clue on how & where his cult spreads, it annihilates anyone it touches. This is the perfect creed & philosophy of his cult of nihilists, the final corpse bloated peace of the grave for everything. Only its not the end because you'll be animated as a skeleton or wight or some other undead. 

But it was when I had read Clark Ashton Smith's Empire of the Necromancers that Orcus came into focus;
"Unbroken before them, through fields devoid of trees and grass, and across the channels of dried-up rivers, there ran the great highway by which travelers had gone formerly betweea Cincor and Tinarath. Here they met no living thing; but soon they came to the skeletons of a horse and its rider, lying full in the road, and wearing still the sumptuous harness and raiment which they had worn in the flesh. And Mmatmuor aad Sodosma paused before the piteous bones, on which no shred of corruption remained; and they smiled evilly at each other.
'The steed shall be yours,' said Mmatmuor, 'since you are a little the elder of us two, and are thus entitled to precedence; and the rider shall serve us both and be the first to acknowledge fealty to us in Cincor.'
Then, in the ashy sand by the wayside, they drew a threefold circle; and standing together at its center, they performed the abominable rites that compel the dead to arise from tranquil nothingness and obey henceforward, in all things, the dark will of the necromancer. Afterward they sprinkled a pinch of magic powder on the nostril-holes of the man and the horse; and the white bones, creaking mournfully, rose up from where they had lain and stood in readiness to serve their masters.
So, as had been agreed between them, Sodosma mounted the skeleton steed and took up the jeweled reins, and rode in an evil mockery of Death on his pale horse; while Mmatmuor trudged on beside him, leaning lightly on an ebon staff; and the skeleton of the man, with its rich raiment flapping loosely, followed behind the two like a servitor."
It doesn't matter your station or social standing the power of undeath & necromancy makes a mockery out of the afterlife. Todd Lockwood's Orcus from 1981's Dragon takes all of the grayness of the demon prince's realm & brings it into sharp focus. There's a certain mocking black magick something about this piece that has the same effect on me as the Ray Harryhausen skeleton fights. You can almost see the movements of the skeletons bringing the poor sacrifice before the bloated demon prince.


Because the Todd Lockwood's piece of artwork came out in 1981 its forever associated in my mind with the 1966 film Planet of Vampires. It was the same year I got this piece of artwork in Dragon & had that Italian horror flick burnt into my young mind at 3:00 A.M.!

Orcus is the demon prince of undeath, so it stands to reason that vampirism (undeath) is under his purview. In my young mind these to connected somehow. I whipped up an adventure in which the planet Aura was simply another plane that Orcus had discarded in the past. This unknown planet was part of some bizarre planar chess game he played with his fellow demon lords. Little did I realize that apparently this was something already built into background of AD&D. 
Of course 1981 is the same year that the Evil Dead films came out & you've got to wonder if there isn't a passage or two about Orcus in the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. Come to think of it perhaps those demons were birthed by Shub-Niggurath (The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young) & Orcus in some obscene acts out in the multiverse some place? This might help explain the random demon generator from the pages of the Best of Dragon magazine. "Orcus was often depicted, accompanied by Succubi and Type V demons. Here's one illustration, created by Jennell Jaquays that depicts a whole host of demons." This piece of artwork from the pages of the Best of  Dragon magazine helped to flesh out many of the demons of his from the Monster Manual over the years. In fact several demonic monstrosities  have been birthed from that corpulent stomach after a friend joked about him being pregnant.


I don't think that there's been a plane that hasn't been touched by the demonic prince of undeath. His influence continues to spread across the planes & his cult has made it onto Hyperborea. I adapted Orcus's 'origin' by Frank Mentzer as official inner circle cult doctorine & inter game dogma for AS&SH;"

Orcus was one of two demon rulers (along with Demogorgon) described in the Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules set (1986) by Frank Mentzer, in the "DM's Guide to Immortals" booklet on pages 33–34, with accompanying charts on pages 35–36. Orcus and Demogorgon are said to command all the other demons described in the book, although they are but two of the many Eternals of the Sphere of Entropy. Orcus (also called The Goat, Master of the Dead, Lord of Darkness, and The Black Prince) commands all mortals of the Sphere of Entropy, which includes undead monsters, and he also commands a small body of loyal Immortals. The book notes that Demogorgon can even command Orcus, although he requires great and sufficient cause to do so. In this version, Orcus attacks with any convenient weapons, wielding one in each hand.^[11] In Wrath of the Immortals (1992), Orcus's history was fleshed out somewhat; he was said to have been a devil swine (a kind of shape-shifter who changes between the form of a fat human and a wild pig) in the long-ago kingdom of Traldara on the world of Mystara. His hatred for all life was sufficient to draw the attention of the Immortal Thanatos, who sponsored Orcus's own successful bid for Immortality.^[51]:31 The article "The Known World Grimoire" by Bruce A. Heard in Dragon #196 (August 1993) mentions that the orcish Tribe of the Sea Plague has Oruguz (also known as Orcus) as their patron. Oruguz is part of the pantheon of the orcs of the Dark Jungle, and the tribe that serves him is led by devil swine, which enforce the precepts of Oruguz among the tribe. "
Here's ten  modifications I used for my own home campaigns over the years with Orcus

1. The bits of Orcus lore I kept were his demonic epitaphs The Goat, Master of the Dead, Lord of Darkness, and The Black Prince
2.   Orcus commands all mortals of the Sphere Cult of Entropy, which includes undead monsters, and he also commands a small body of loyal demonic Immortals.
3.  The book notes that Demogorgon can even command Orcus, although he requires great and sufficient cause to do so. In this version, Orcus attacks with any convenient weapons, wielding one in each hand.
4.  In Wrath of the Immortals (1992), Orcus's history was fleshed out somewhat; he was said to have been a devil swine (a kind of shape-shifter who changes between the form of a fat human and a wild pig) in the long-ago kingdom of Traldara  His hatred for all life was sufficient to draw the attention of the Gods of Undeath who sponsored Orcus's own successful bid for Immortality.
5. Orcus is one of the big Lovecraftian baddies in my games & he's caused myriad zombie (ghoul) zombie plagues  
6. His influence pops up in the post apocalpytic wastelands as a god from time to time among wasteland nihilists
7. His demons are used all of the time on my version of Hyperborea because of their connection with AS&SH necromancers. 
8. All undead have a bit of Orcus's demonic influence 
9. There are a myriad of planes, dimensions, planets that have fallen to his fat corpulent rotten influence over billions of years. 
10. A demon prince of undeath isn't something to be taken lightly. 

Dave Trampier Orcus