Free Old School Pulp Download 'The Martian Circe' By Ramon F Jones From the Summer 1947 issue of Planet Stories magazine For Your Old School Martian Campaign

 

You can download the novella here. 

Mars has been my imagination's home since I was a kid & many a night was spent working my way through piles of my uncle's ancient Pulp magazine collection. And that brings up 'The Martian Circe' By Ramon F Jones  From the Summer 1947 issue of Planet Stories magazine. 'The Martian Circe' echoes through with the Pulpy voice of Ramon F. Jones & his Mars is an almost settled colonial world on the edge of the solar system; 

 'Who was this sweet-voiced singer weaving a spell of dreams and drugs that drove men mad and threatened to smash the System? SBI Captain Roal Hartford dared the death of the Thousand Minds to learn her dreadful secret!' 

So we've entered the world of Captain Roal Hartford agent of  the Solar Bureau of Investigation. And his is the world of the Martian underworld & therefore the  perfect foil for adventurers & scoundrals. But who was Ramon F. Jones?! According to his wiki entry; "Raymond Fisher Jones (November 15, 1915, Salt Lake City, Utah - January 24, 1994, Sandy, Salt Lake County, Utah) was an American science fiction author. He is best known for his 1952 novel, This Island Earth, which was adapted into the 1955 film This Island Earth and for the short story "The Children's Room", which was adapted for television as Episode Two of the ABC network show Tales of Tomorrow, first aired on February 29, 1952.'

'Jones' career was at its peak during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. His stories were published mainly in magazines such as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, and Galaxy. His short story Noise Level is known as one of his best works. His short story "The Alien Machine", first published in the June, 1949 Thrilling Wonder Stories, was later expanded into the novel This Island Earth, along with two other short stories, "The Shroud of Secrecy", and "The Greater Conflict", known as The Peace Engineers Trilogy, featuring the character Cal Meacham. Jones also wrote the story upon which the episode "The Children's Room" was based for the television program Tales of Tomorrow in 1952. " 

'The Martian Circe' concerns a phantom tavern 'the Starhouse' the venue for The Queen of the Silver Stars'  that has been drifting around the Martian cityscapes & taking out the souls & sanity of solar system miners. Harmeena is a gas like agent of the Martian Harm plant that causes those who inhail its gases to save vs poison or suffer horrifying visions as per a Fear spell.  And 'Starhouse' operates out of one of the Martian Capital cities  Heliopolis. Heliopolis is the center of the wizened and withered Martians of Mr. R Jones tale. The Jones Martians as I've taken to calling them are +3 to their Constitution, +1 on Intelligence, -2 on Charisma, & +1 on Wisdom as they are an ancient race of Mars. And they barely tolerate humanity on their end of Mars. And the Jones Martians  lead deeply into the mystery of the phantom singer Alayna The Queen of the Silver Stars. 
And this makes it perfect as a folio for an Infinite Mars campaign which is a combination of Stars Without Number and Worlds Without Number combined with Warriors of the Red Planet. 

Humanity produces a subtle radiation that is harmful to the Jones Martians & the Martians are planning on using Harmeena as one of the weapons of conquest. Any human who has exposure to the drug for more then two months becomes open to Martian telepathic mind control. And this is the secret of Starhouse, the tavern is an illusion that can be projected onto any human mind anywhere on Mars. And this is all due to the Thousand Minds. The Thousand Minds is the secret & highly advanced psionic ruling  body on Mars of the Jones Martians. The Thousand Minds can see through & control every Jones Martian on Mars. The Thousand Minds are the real masters of the Jones Martians & for the moment only use the 'Starhouse' to distribute Harmeena among every facet of human society including rich humans & gamblers who are looking for the seedier side of Mars. 
The situation in Heliopolis & the other Jones Martian human cities is a ticking time bomb and only he destruction of the Thousand Minds will save humanity. They are located in a series of Jones Martian  burrows outside of Heliopolis bout five miles or so from the city. 
The Martian capital cities  of  Heliopolis is actually an old Welysan city state that was taken over by the Jones Martians. The Jones Martians themselves are products left behind by the Welysan super science prototypes  in the wake of the failed Earth invasion of the early 19th century. Jones Martians gain +1 on Intelligence & can automatically transition into the psychic discplines of Stars Without Number. They gain -2 on all physical attributes. Jones Martians are a subrace of the Martian humanoid races artificially created more then 10,000 years ago by the Welysans as a genetic test bed for the impending Earth invasion. The genetic cloning templates were abandoned and left in the ruins of the city states various underground labs.
Humanity resurrected these genetic clones and has used them as workers, scientists, etc. Now Mars itself is on the verge of rebellion and this gives opportunities for adventure. 

Free Old School Pulp Download 'Under the Sand-Seas' January 1941 issue of Super Science Stories For Your Old School Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign

"Six hundred miles of devouring red desert lay between them and the nearest city -- and the bust of a long-dead Martian smiled with the knowledge that could get them there!"

It's been a long while since we've looked at 'Under The Sand Seas' by  Oliver E.Saari from the January 1941 issue of Super Science Stories magazine before. But this time we're going to dive in deeper into the nineteen page novellette. 

"Under The Sand Seas' follows the crew of an air plane on a Sciencitific expediation deep into the 'Sand Seas' when their plane crashes into an enourmous magnetic anomly. The plane doesn't survive and begins to take on sand. All around the crew there are tumble weed like Martians. And the magnetic anomaly is in  point of fact actually an ancient Martian crypt opened by telepathy. 
The Sand Sea is incredibly dangerous capable of swallowing a man whole easily without a trace. The weeds are a race of semi intelligent wind evolved beings who are blown about by the fierce winds of the Sand Sea. The only hope is the battery powered five or six man sled the party has w
The Sand Sea itself is the blasted remains of the Ancient Ones one of the first races of Mars ruled by Tarum of the last of the Scientist Kings. Tanrum the Last perfected infinite atomic energy using the element of gold as it's atomic fuel. And that infinite energy was used a Super Science weapon and the result was the Sea of Sand! The weapon caused the  complete destruction of the Ancient Ones civilization. 
And the expediation worries that it might cause destructive issues upon the Earth. 
What are the OSR game applications of Under The Sand Seas' by  Oliver E.Saari? Quite a few actually. The infinite atomic energy weapon systems are very dangerous. And that brings up the defense capabilities of the systems themselves. The fact is that these weapons systems must have been designed to kill some very dangerous monsters or an evil race. And this is where the Hyperborea rpg comes into play. Not only does the Sea of Sand have other artifacts within it but the sea itself must have areas of extreme radiation due to atomic weapons being tested or deployed. Now it be that these infinite atomic energy systems were created by the Ancients to combat the Hyperboreans?! It's possible given the time frame and the fact that the Professor discovered the atomic generation's secrets within Tanrum the Last's crypt. The fact that those secrets were spelled out on the writings on the walls of the crypt. 

You can download 'Under the Sand-Seas' January 1941 issue of Super Science Stories here 

Free Old School Pulp Download 'The Martian Circe' By Ramon F Jones From the Summer 1947 issue of Planet Stories magazine For Your Old School Martian Campaign

You can download the novella here. 

Mars has been my imagination's home since I was a kid & many a night was spent working my way through piles of my uncle's ancient Pulp magazine collection. And that brings up 'The Martian Circe' By Ramon F Jones  From the Summer 1947 issue of Planet Stories magazine. 'The Martian Circe' echoes through with the Pulpy voice of Ramon F. Jones & his Mars is an almost settled colonial world on the edge of the solar system; 

 'Who was this sweet-voiced singer weaving a spell of dreams and drugs that drove men mad and threatened to smash the System? SBI Captain Roal Hartford dared the death of the Thousand Minds to learn her dreadful secret!' 

So we've entered the world of Captain Roal Hartford agent of  the Solar Bureau of Investigation. And his is the world of the Martian underworld & therefore the  perfect foil for adventurers & scoundrals. But who was Ramon F. Jones?! According to his wiki entry; "Raymond Fisher Jones (November 15, 1915, Salt Lake City, Utah - January 24, 1994, Sandy, Salt Lake County, Utah) was an American science fiction author. He is best known for his 1952 novel, This Island Earth, which was adapted into the 1955 film This Island Earth and for the short story "The Children's Room", which was adapted for television as Episode Two of the ABC network show Tales of Tomorrow, first aired on February 29, 1952.'

'Jones' career was at its peak during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. His stories were published mainly in magazines such as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, and Galaxy. His short story Noise Level is known as one of his best works. His short story "The Alien Machine", first published in the June, 1949 Thrilling Wonder Stories, was later expanded into the novel This Island Earth, along with two other short stories, "The Shroud of Secrecy", and "The Greater Conflict", known as The Peace Engineers Trilogy, featuring the character Cal Meacham. Jones also wrote the story upon which the episode "The Children's Room" was based for the television program Tales of Tomorrow in 1952. " 

'The Martian Circe' concerns a phantom tavern 'the Starhouse' the venue for The Queen of the Silver Stars'  that has been drifting around the Martian cityscapes & taking out the souls & sanity of solar system miners. Harmeena is a gas like agent of the Martian Harm plant that causes those who inhail its gases to save vs poison or suffer horrifying visions as per a Fear spell.  And 'Starhouse' operates out of one of the Martian Capital cities  Heliopolis. Heliopolis is the center of the wizened and withered Martians of Mr. R Jones tale. The Jones Martians as I've taken to calling them are +3 to their Constitution, +1 on Intelligence, -2 on Charisma, & +1 on Wisdom as they are an ancient race of Mars. And they barely tolerate humanity on their end of Mars. And the Jones Martians  lead deeply into the mystery of the phantom singer Alayna The Queen of the Silver Stars. 

Humanity produces a subtle radiation that is harmful to the Jones Martians & the Martians are planning on using Harmeena as one of the weapons of conquest. Any human who has exposure to the drug for more then two months becomes open to Martian telepathic mind control. And this is the secret of Starhouse, the tavern is an illusion that can be projected onto any human mind anywhere on Mars. And this is all due to the Thousand Minds. The Thousand Minds is the secret & highly advanced psionic ruling  body on Mars of the Jones Martians. The Thousand Minds can see through & control every Jones Martian on Mars. The Thousand Minds are the real masters of the Jones Martians & for the moment only use the 'Starhouse' to distribute Harmeena among every facet of human society including rich humans & gamblers who are looking for the seedier side of Mars. 
The situation in Heliopolis & the other Jones Martian human cities is a ticking time bomb and only he destruction of the Thousand Minds will save humanity. They are located in a series of Jones Martian  burrows outside of Heliopolis bout five miles or so from the city. 

Free Retro Science Fiction Download - The Martian Revenge From August 1930 Issue Of Wonder Stories For Your Old School Science Fantasy Campaign

 

Download It Right

HERE 

Here's a great old fashioned retro science fiction story perfect old school science table top

Science Fiction novelette published in August 1930 issue of Wonder Stories magazine.
From The Marooned On Mars Blog :
A  novelette written by  Henrik Dahl Juve  and illustrated by pioneering SF artist Frank R. Paul, as it was originally published in the August 1930 issue of Wonder Stories magazine.

 "Suddenly the Martians' friendliness vanished and they became merciless killers ..."

 A Momentary Word On Henrik Dahl Juve 

Just a quick word about the pulp sci fi author Henrik Dahl Juve here. Many of the usual pulp science fiction devices that we seem to take for granted in the science fiction pulps at the time made their appearance in this story. From screens, to molecular disruptors, wireless energy transmission, all of the science fiction tropes are at work here. His work makes some great old school adventure settings. Very easy to transform into an afternoon's OSR play. 

 The author is now mostly forgotten but managed to turn out some exciting stuff including this issue of Wonder Stories and three more novelettes as well as anthology of his work. They include the September issue 1932,  the February 1930 issue and much more including the  anthology from 1984 called The silent destroyer: A science fiction anthology by Henrik Dahl Juve (1984). The anthology is long out of print but the stories were interesting, concise, and pretty entertaining for space opera and science fiction.

 His work makes great fodder for any old school space based game. Its breezy, entertaining, very pulptastic old school science fiction and easily translatable into an retroclone format.

Its nice to see a journey man writer and bring him back into the light. Very cool stuff I hope to bring more of Mr. Dahl Juve's stuff to light in the future. 

Free Appendix N Vintage Science Fiction Download - "The Beast-Jewel of Mars" By Leigh Brackett From Spring 1955 issue of Planet Stories Magazine For Your Old School Space Opera

  "The city was strange, fantastic, beautiful. He'd never been there before, yet already he was a fabulous legend ... a dire, hateful legend."

You can download it

right over

HERE

 A great tale from the heyday of 'Planet Stories' and a good solid resource for a vintage Mars campaign. I've used it as part of a 'lost city of the past' on Mars as part of my Post Apocalyptic Stars Without Numbers campaign. So far as I can see it's one of this author's only efforts for the magazine.

 


Planet Stories is one pulp magazine with a rich and checkered past. You can read more right HERE
 According to Wiki : 

Planet Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on other planets, and was initially focused on a young readership. Malcolm Reiss was editor or editor-in-chief for all of its 71 issues. Planet Stories was launched at the same time as Planet Comics, the success of which probably helped to fund the early issues of Planet Stories. Planet did not pay well enough to regularly attract the leading science fiction writers of the day, but did manage to obtain work from well-known names on occasion, including Isaac Asimov and Clifford Simak. In 1952 Planet published Philip K. Dick's first sale, and went on to print four more of his stories over the next three years.

 The reason why I think that the magazine is still important to OSR rpg's is the following from Wiki:

"The two writers most identified with Planet Stories are Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury, both of whom set many of their stories on a romanticized version of Mars that owed much to the depiction of Barsoom in the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Bradbury's work for Planet included an early story in his Martian Chronicles sequence. Brackett's best-known work for the magazine was a series of adventures featuring Eric John Stark, which began in the summer of 1949. Brackett and Bradbury collaborated on one story, "Lorelei of the Red Mist", which appeared in 1946; it was generally well-received, although one letter to the magazine complained that the story's treatment of sex, though mild by modern standards, was too explicit." The artwork also emphasized attractive women, with scantily clad damsels in distress or alien princesses on almost every cover.

You've got two of the most important science fiction and science fantasy writers in one magazine and under one roof writing about their own versions of  Bar errm ' A Romanticized version of Mars' Is it any wonder that it's stories are still beloved by science fiction fans even today

 According to wiki

A derivative anthology, The Best of Planet Stories #1, appeared in 1975 from Ballantine Books, edited by Leigh Brackett, containing seven stories reprinted from between 1942 and 1952.   It was intended to be the first of a series, but no further volumes appeared
Too bad it would have been nice to have gotten my hands on more of these tales. If it seems that many of these Martian tales seem to be deriative of each other starting in the 1920's and working their way all the way through the late 60's. Mars has been and still remains ingrained in the public's imagination. Folks want the planet to be exactly what they always thought it was one the canals were first seen through telescopes at , the dawn of the age of rockets. Heck, ever since HG Well's published War Of The   World.
Stars Without Numbers lends itself easily to a tale such as this and adapting to a group of PC's is quite easy. The city of legend lost in the desert is a trope that has been around since the 'Arabian Nights' and even further back. Believe it or not each and every time I've used it players still fall for it hook, line, and sinker. The old tricks are still some of the best. This tale has some pretty large blank fill in the map areas to it and that makes it pretty desirable for use in adventure and campaign design. This is pretty much a drop in and go Mars tale like so many at the time. That's not a bad thing at all.
 While Paizo can claim 'Planet Stories' as an exclusive. The real 'Planet Stories' ran between 1939 and 1952 with an unforgettable inheritance that has never been equaled only copied to some extent over the decades.
Grab the the tales HERE but just remember who the original trail blazers were. Folks like Isaac Asimov, Clifford Simak,Leigh Brackett,Ray Bradbury, and V. E. Thiessen.
As for me I've got a date on Mars, A Post Apocalyptic hellhole waiting to devour some players!
Happy Adventuring and don't forget your ray gun! 

Free Retro Science Fiction Download Inspiration - The Tree of Life - C. L. Moore For Your Old School Space Opera

 

Download It Right Over

HERE

The interplanetary adventurer Northwest Smith trapped for food by Thag, a 4-dimensional monster, in the ruins of the ancient Martian city of Illar.

  Dark Illar is the perfect desert ruin for trapping your PCs and getting them into a sci fi Gothic adventure. The place is a nasty nightmare location just waiting for PC's to blunder into a hellish encounter.

A Bit Background NorthWest Of Earth 

These are classic  C.L. Moore and their pulp science fiction roots show through. The fact that many of her stories seem to feature Lovecarftian god like aliens is simply icing on the cake. She remains one of my all time favorite writers. North West Smith is the classic anti hero adventurer/space which now seems the classic trope. 

 

According To Wiki : 

By profession, Smith is an outlaw who lives by a variety of criminal means, including smuggling. By nature, he is an anti-hero, ruthless, self-serving, and cynical. Despite this, he has a core of goodness and often does the right thing in spite of himself. Smith is described as a dark haired man with "space bronzed" skin and pale eyes, who wears brown spacer's leathers and carries a raygun at his side like an old west gunfighter. His ship, the Maid, is small and unspectacular but surprisingly fast and agile. His closest ally is the equally amoral Venusian, Yarol.

His stories often involve ancient alien beings who have been worshipped as gods. This theme is similar to the tales of H. P. Lovecraft though, unlike Lovecraft's tales, Moore provides a hero who always manages to win out over hopeless odds. The classic Northwest Smith story is "Shambleau" in which Moore plays with themes of sexuality and addiction in Smith's encounter with a strange female alien.

The story "Quest of the Starstone" is also worth noting because it connects Smith with Moore's other most famous character, Jirel of Joiry.

Moore originally created Smith as a western character and kept the name when she switched to science fiction.^[1] She reportedly liked the absurdity of a character named "Northwest" in space, where compass points are meaningless.

Moore traced the origin of the character's name to the typing work which she was doing for a living while writing Shambleau and which included a letter addressed to a "Mr. N.W.Smith"

 You can find out more about the first lady of Science Fiction

 

HERE

The North West Stories and collections are the following : 

• "Shambleau" (Weird Tales, November 1933). On Mars, Northwest rescues a strange, beautiful girl from the Lakkdarol mob. They become very close.
• "Black Thirst" (Weird Tales, April 1934). A Minga woman invites Northwest into the forbidden Venusian fortress where she lives. It turns out to be even larger than expected.
• "Scarlet Dream" (Weird Tales, May 1934). An oddly-patterned shawl that Northwest picks up in Lakkdarol gives him unpleasant dreams.
• "Dust of Gods" (Weird Tales, August 1934). Northwest and Yarol take a job searching for the physical remnants of a dead god in northern Mars.
• "Julhi" (Weird Tales, March 1935). Northwest takes a wrong turn in the ruins of Vonng, Venus.
• "The Cold Gray God" (Weird Tales, October 1935). In the polar city of Righa on Mars, Northwest meets a Venusian lady who isn't quite herself.
• "Yvala" (Weird Tales, February 1936). Northwest and Yarol go looking to capture slave-women on one of Jupiter's moons and find out more about themselves.
• "Lost Paradise" (Weird Tales, July 1936). A little old man with a big secret helps Northwest learn more about ancient Lunar history.
• "The Tree of Life" (Weird Tales, October 1936). In the ruins of Illar, Northwest finds out more about the Martian drylanders' past.

Fanzine stories and collaborations[edit]

• "Nymph of Darkness" (Fantasy Magazine fanzine, April 1935; written with Forrest J. Ackerman)
• "Quest of the Starstone" (Weird Tales, November 1937; written with Henry Kuttner)
• "Werewoman" (Leaves fanzine, Winter 1938/39)
• "Song in a Minor Key" (Scienti-Snaps fanzine, February 1940). Northwest meditates on his own past life.

Collections[edit]

Northwest Smith stories appear in the following collections:

• Shambleau and Others (1953): Shambleau, Black Thirst, The Tree of Life, Scarlet Dream (collection also includes Black God’s Kiss, Black God’s Shadow and Jirel Meets Magic, three Jirel of Joiry stories)
• Northwest of Earth (1954): Dust of Gods, Julhi, Lost Paradise, The Cold Gray God, Yvala (collection also includes The Dark Land and Hellsgarde, two Jirel of Joiry stories)
• Scarlet Dream (1981): Black Thirst, Dust of Gods, Julhi, Lost Paradise, Shambleau, The Cold Gray God, The Tree of Life, Yvala, Scarlet Dream, Song in a Minor Key
• Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams (2002): The same stories as Scarlet Dream, together with five stories of Jirel of Joiry.
• Northwest of Earth (2007): All of the Northwest Smith stories, both primary and fanzine/collaborations.

1d6 Random Negative Planar Entities Encounter Table For Your Old School Campaigns

They're names are legion, they are all that remains once Chaos has had its way with men and near men's souls. Sometimes these things find their way back into our reality, a bit of space time flotsam and jetsam that continues to circle the drain of entropy and reality. Often times these horror escape from the Outer Darkness, the Abyss, or other place oozing their way between the cracks of our world. The damned find their way shadowing our world and hungering for the lives that we lead here are all that remains of those who have slipped their bounds and escaped into the world of the living once again. Often times an angel of Death or a bailiff from The Beyond comes to fetch these creatures back to the border lands again. But this can take months, sometimes adventurers and freebooters are the best hope against such entities.

1d6 Random Negative Planar Entities Encounter Table

1. This robed entity only half exists in your world and the smell of sulfur as well as damnation cling to its weirdly seen frame. The thing flashes a bit of a half wind blown face whose eyes are pits into the deepest abyss at the end of the universe and the thing is hungry for your soul. Only silver or a laser sword may harm it. Because of its half real nature this horror can't be turned.  Only destruction assures its hunger will be destroyed.
2. Once the leader of a cult of Chaos this entity knows 1d4  spells of 3rd level but can not remember its name or purpose in existence. Still it serves its ancient demon god masters murmuring their praises even as it pathetically pulls itself along the ground leaving an ectoplasm slime trail of its own digestive juices. 
3. This collection of 1d4 damned souls were gossips who ruined many a man's reputation in life, in death and change their minds have been scrubbed clean by the hellish winds of eternity.  They're non existent tongues murmur with the forbidden gossip of ages long forgotten there is a 20% of them dropping some minor cosmic truth otherwise they are in your business spreading lies about you and your lives. There is a 4% chance that these things may now a spell or two of 2nd level and they love to open with magick missile. 
4. These pathetic and slightly strange injured damned who seem to follow PC's and manifest at the most inopportune times. The half charred corpse thing will shift through realities and stalk PC's, always on the look out for fresh meat and they've somehow latched on to your party and will follow at a 100 yard radius. They also steal small objects such as keys, telekinesis enables them to move small things at a 60 yard radius. They seek to spread their own brand of depression, apathy, and horror in the face of entropy. These horrors have weird hooks for hands. 
5. Weird gas mask like bio mechanical faces mark these damned, far too long bodies and odd black garment glistening skin cloth these beings. They seem as if they're partially awash in a storm that only exists for them only. They their rounded snout like faces are filled with strange sucking lamprey like teeth that tear out horrid chunks of flesh from their prey's bodies and souls. Their touch smells of burnt cinnamon and human waste. These things swim through space to reach their prey. Their claw like hands held in downward mockery of prayers until they reach toward their victims with wet sucking sounds. 
6. These strange beings are clothed in black cloth like flesh resembling modern suits, these being's black glistening slime covered eyes resemble smoked glasses of the finest quality. They are not, instead these things are tall humanoids covered in pock marked flesh with odd alien eyes covering every space of flesh on their bodies. Two too wide mouths flutter with intense hungry sucking sounds as two tendrils wreath around their hands that can sense strong life forces which they will feed. But really their main meat is the moments of joy and happiness in life. They will drain 1d10 years from their victims with each touch. There are some varieties that level drain but these entities are mere rumors in space bars and brothels of spacers, adventurers, and some esoteric outlaws.
   

'A Bad Case of Crab Cultists' An Astornishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Actual Play Event & A Free Appendix N Sword and Sorcery Download - Avon Fantasy Reader 14 (1950) For Your Old School Campaigns

The PC's went to get a magic item identified from a recent adventure  in tonight's game at the local temple of Mercury. They quickly became embroiled in a plot of kidnapping, intrigue, & cultists!


Tonight's game was all about Crabmen in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea game. I've moved the crew in tonight's game onto to the Hyperborean mainland.In tonight's game there was  a tight little encounter with a temple of Mercury that's been having their clergy snatched for sacrifice or so it would seem.
The elder priest quickly identified the a wand like item as a piece of half Hyperborean crabmen cultists magic item. The rod of disintegration does 2d4 +3 damage with a range of 30 feet & it usually has 1d10 +2 charges. These items are easy to manufacture for the Hyperborean crabmen who equip their cultist cannon fodder soldiers with these items.  For a god of trade, the afterlife, magick, & thieves the priests in the temple didn't charge the PC's with the identification & there were so few priests that it was a bit unnerving for the players.
The PC's were given beds for the evening & a meal as the priests quickly explained that their numbers were being kidnapped for sacrifice on the altars of the crab men cultists!
The PC's bedded for the night & were awoken by the sound of gun shots coming from down the street. A group of hyperborean knights & the city watch had pinned in some of these crab cultists! Long gun shots were being exchanged with the crab men's rod weapons but the tide of battle was starting to turn on the city watch.
The PC's got into the middle of the fray & helped out the city watch. There were already some cultists prisoners & one of the PC's found out that these cultists had tendril slug things in these priests necks! A lengthy interrogation commenced & so did the deaths of a few priests. The PC's learned that there were twelve more cultists hiding in the sewers for some nefarious purpose. So huge beast had gone through the streets & entered the sewers. There were cobble stones that were knocked out of place & large foot prints in some of the holes. The tracks lead straight to the sewers.


After a quick meeting with the city watch the knights allowed the PC's to venture into the ancient sewer system. The walls were coated with a slick slightly sickly clear slime & the smell of methane was replaced with the smell of sea salt & ocean rime.
The first thing that the PC's encountered was the corpse of what might be a man dressed in archaic armor with his face and part of his head chewed off. He's also missing his hands but he still has his side arm. The sight was too much for our intrepid heroes and we ended there tonight.


So what's going on in the sewers of this minor beach front city state of Hyperborea? Well it all begins with me reading "The Voice of El-Lil" by Robert E. Howard. earlier this afternoon. If you haven't read it then by all means do! Its got a great design & layout for a crab god cult as your going to get. The Avon Fantasy Reader 14  actually has everything your going to need plus more sword & sorcery action then you can shake a sword at.

This issue has a bit of everything but it contains some solid material with "Temptress of the Tower of Torture and Sin" (aka "The Voice of El-Lil") by Robert E. Howard. Other stories in this issue are all top drawer stuff. 

1. "Temptress of the Tower of Torture and Sin" (aka "The Voice of El-Lil") by Robert E. Howard  is the main attraction here with a good solid adventure story that can be adapted for a wide variety of OSR games.
2. "Ylla" (aka "I'll Not Look for Wine") by Ray Bradbury
   is a first contact story with Martians that has some really interesting bits for an old school Mars adventure. " First human contact with Martians turns fatal - for humans."
3. "The Three Eyed Man" (Tubby series)] by Ray Cummings is one of those stories with potential to turn things in an old school adventure in a twisted direction especially for a science fantasy adventure.
4. "The Cave of the Invisible" by James Francis Dwyer  is a very interesting pulp story by one of the masters of the genre that could be used as the basis for an OSR adventure with a pulp twist or two. 
5. "Guard in the Dark" by Allison V. Harding  is about a young boy whose in possession of a set of magical soldiers but he could use the help of some PC's !
6. "The Still Small Voice" by Clive Jackson is a tale of the supernatural with a twist that could be the basis for a very different OSR adventure
7. "The Curse of Yig" by Z. B. Bishop is a classic of the Lovecraft mythos with the potential for a Boot Hill crossing that makes this an easy fit for an old school campaign 
8. "The Yeast Men" by David H. Keller, M.D.  novella is by one of the early masters of science fiction & this novella is a perfect one to steal a few ideas for your favorite OSR system.
9. "The Headless Miller of Kobold's Keep" by Irvin Ashkenazy  is another supernatural classic with a twist to keep things moving. Some of the ideas here are perfect for adapting for an old school adventure
10. "The Shadows" by Henry S. Whitehead  is one of my favorite writers of the other end of the Lovecraft circle,  " R. H. Barlow would later describe Whitehead as a member of "the serious Weird Tales school".^[2] Whitehead's supernatural fiction was partially modelled on the work of Edward Lucas White and William Hope Hodgson.^[2] Whitehead's "The Great Circle" (1932) is a lost-race tale with sword and sorcery elements." This tale is no different. Perfect OSR adventure fodder.
    
    YOU CAN DOWN LOAD  Avon Fantasy Reader 14 (1950) HERE

Free OSR Appendix 'S' Science Fantasy Download - Thrilling Wonder Stories v11n01 (1938 02) For Your Old School Campagin

Appendix S has been my go to science fantasy index of stories, classic pulp era novellas, & perfect fodder for an old solar system campaign. This brings me to Thrilling Wonder Stories, this was one of the Pines magazine line & according to Wiki ;"Pines' magazines included several with "Thrilling" in the title, such as Thrilling Detective and Thrilling Love Stories. These were run by Leo Margulies, who had hired Mort Weisinger (among others) as the workload increased in the early 1930s. Weisinger was already an active science fiction fan, and when Wonder Stories was acquired, Margulies involved him in the editorial work. Margulies' group worked as a team, with Margulies listed as editor-in-chief on the magazines and having final say. However, since Weisinger knew science fiction well, Weisinger was quickly given more leeway, and bibliographers generally list Weisinger as the editor for this period of the magazine's history.^[37] The title was changed to Thrilling Wonder Stories to match the rest of the "Thrilling" line. The first issue appeared in August 1936—four months after the last Gernsback Wonder Stories appeared.^[13][37] Wonder Stories had been monthly until the last few Gernsback issues; Thrilling Wonder was launched on a bimonthly schedule.^[13] In February 1938 Weisinger asked for reader feedback regarding the idea of a companion magazine; the response was positive, and in January 1939 the first issue of Startling Stories appeared, alternating months with Thrilling Wonder"
Pines magazines were a cut above the rest of the pulp lines of the thirties specializing in some really interesting space fantasy which at the time was the sort of adventure based science fiction that we've come to love today. Today we're going to be talking about Thrilling Wonder Stories v11n01 (1938 02) 

With a cover by Howard V.Brown that screams pulptastic adventure.  This issue has all of the space ship action, lost continent weirdness, & extra solar strangeness that I love to throw into my old school sword and planet adventures. 

• We, the Invisible • short story by Frank Belknap Long
• Alchemy of Outer Space • short story by D. L. James
• Life Eternal • [Anton York, Immortal] • novelette by Otto Binder [as by Eando Binder]
• The Changer of History • short story by Alexander Samalman
• Zones of Space • novelette by Max C. Sheridan
• Via Asteroid • [Via • 2] • short story by Otto Binder [as by Gordon A. Giles]
• Dream-Dust from Mars • short story by Manly Wade Wellman
• Giant and Dwarf Stars • essay by Sir James Jeans

We start off this issue with a story by one of the masters of the Lovecraft circle Frank Belknap Long is known for the author of The Hounds of Tindalos. There was a lot more to his mythos output with," the

"The Horror from the Hills", a story serialised in 1931 in Weird Tales and one of Long's best-known works, incorporated almost verbatim a dream H.P. Lovecraft related to him (among other correspondents) in a letter. The short novel was published many years later in separate book form by Arkham House in 1963 - The Horror from the Hills.

Frank Belknap Long, date unknown

In the late 1930s, Long turned his hand to science fiction, writing for Astounding Science Fiction. He also contributed horror stories to Unknown, later called Unknown Worlds. Long contributed an episode (along with C.L. Moore, Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft) to the round-robin story "The Challenge from Beyond" (1935)." We the Invisible is a good solid entry into the short story round with potential for old school adventure potential. Alchemy Of Outer Space By D.L. James is the sort of a story that one finds in Thrilling Adventures has several leads that I'd use to flesh out the Hyperboreans in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Did you ever want to know how to treat immortals in sword & planet old school adventures? Otto Binder's Anton York stories have some of the answers and are easy to go through. They are great fodder for trans cosmic entities in your old school games.
"Anton York is a man of tomorrow. He has discovered the secret of voluntary suspended animation and requires no food or air. He can live where he pleases, when he pleases, for as long as he wants. Somewhere in the dim future ages, this man-made God must die"
What happens when a remanent of Atlantis collides with one of the piece of 'Old Earth' via a nineteen twenties style adventurer and his crew? Zones of Space a  novelette by Max C. Sheridan has all of this material and more. Its one of the highlights of this issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories and a perfect piece of fodder for AS&SH meets Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts. Via Asteroid is a  short story by Otto Binder writing as Gordon A. Giles 

and has all of the material for a Clark Ashton Smith style mini campaign setting among the asteroid belt. There's some great stuff here from monsters to micro factions all waiting to be used!

  Manly Wade Wellman delivers a perfect match up story with  Dream Dust from Mars which makes an excellent Warriors of the Red Planet/Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea adventure fodder piece. This one has elements of Leigh Brackett & that Martian underworld that we've come to expect of Old Mars.

 GRAB Thrilling Wonder Stories v11n01 (1938 02) RIGHT HERE 

Free Appendix N Sword and Sorcery Download - Avon Fantasy Reader 05 (1948) For Your Old School Campaigns

So good afternoon its a bit after one here in Connecticut and today I wanted to bring to your attention The Avon Fantasy Reader # 5. They don't get any more important then this one folks. So over the last two years there's been a huge uptick in interest in Swords & Sorcery fiction & science fantasy. There is a ton of stuff here that can be mined here & much of it ties directly in with what I've been doing for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The Avon Fantasy Readers were always a cut above the rest of the run of the mill stuff back in the Forties & Fifties.
"The Avon Fantasy Reader was a magazine (sometimes classed as a series of anthologies) which re-published science fiction and fantasy literature by now well know authors. Avon strived to bring readers little known stories by then little recognized writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, C. L. Moore, A. Merritt, Murray Leinster and William Hope Hodgson. The Avon Fantasy Reader was published from 1946 to 1952 and had 18 issues in full. A short lived sister publication, Avon Science Fiction Reader, had three issues featuring just science fiction."
This issue has it all! Classic material from across the spectrum of  the science fantasy & sword & sorcery authors.

• "Scarlet Dream" (Northwest Smith series) by C. L. Moore
• "Sambo" by William Fryer Harvey
• "Fane of the Black Pharaoh" by Robert Bloch
• "The Random Quantity" by Carl Jacobi
• "The Gold Dress" by Stephen Vincent Benét
• "The Miracle of the Lily" by Clare Winger Harris
• "In the Court of the Dragon" by Robert W. Chambers
• "A Study in Amber" by Frank Owen (as Richard Kent)
• "The Words of Guru" by C. M. Kornbluth (as by Kenneth Falconer)

Now I mentioned Robert Bloch in my Mythos Memory Wrap Up Commentary For Adapting I5 Lost Tomb of Martek Adventure For The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Rpg System & Your Old School Campaigns.Well, here's the Robert Bloch tie in with Fane of the Black Pharoah, this one's got it all & its perfect material for mining for your old school sword & sorcery adventures set against HP Lovecraftian mythos.  Ready for a North West Smith tie in for that Astonishing Swords Men & Sorcerers of Hyperborea/ Warriors of the Red Planet campaign? C.L. Moore's Scarlet Dream makes the grade with great Martian retro future action! Carl Jacobi is a master of the Weird Tale and his work with Arkham House was top drawer stuff.  "The Gold Dress" by Stephen Vincent Benét 

is a first rate ghost story with a twist but there's a lot of adventure potential here. 

Then we dive into  "The Miracle of the Lily" by Clare Winger Harris

this is a very important story which is a part of a science fantasy world of lots of adventure potential but one that gets seldom mentioned in D&D circles?!

Robert W.Chambers doesn't need any introduction on this blog and his 'In the Court of the Dragon' ties directly in with several threads running through my OSR adventures.

Players of mine stay the hell out of that link or you will lose experience points!  Frank Owen is a name that's seldom bandied about today in pulp circles and that's too bad because he was good journeyman pulp writer. 

His work has some potential for old school adventures. There are hidden things in the woods and only the Words of Guru by Cyril M. Kornbluth can reveal them. This tale is a gem and first appeared in Stirring Science Stories in 1941. This same author also revealed a certain doctor's bag that  Rod Serling used  for an episode of his Night Gallery series 'The Little Black Bag' . This dramatization starred Burgess Meredith.   

Scene from Night Gallery episode "The Little Black Bag. "

YOU CAN GRAB
The  Avon Fantasy Reader 05 (1947)
RIGHT  HERE

So that's all for today and keep em rolling folks we've got more to come!