High Tech Mysticism & High Caliber Adventure OSR Campaign Build Using Raiders! of The Lost Artifacts, Other OSR Titles, & More

Its been a very busy week so far work wise but I managed to catch up with a friend & sat down for a beer last night. We spoke about the recent Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts game. Recently I've wrapped up a round of  Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts using one of Venger Satanis's adventures. But we wanted to get a brand new campaign set up perhaps for Monday nights.

One of the reasons is that CC1 Creature Compendium from  New Big Dragon Games Unlimited  came on as a 'pay what you want' on Drivethrurpg. The physical book has been sitting on my 'must add to games pile' for close to a year or more. Time to add these monsters into a pulp  OSR campaign. If you haven't picked up this book in pdf or as physical book then what are you waiting for. Many of these monsters are perfectly suited for an old school pulp campaign. They're very dangerous & have a completely alien quality to them making them perfect horrors of another dimension. We began tossing around some of the elements that I've used in the recent past including The Beyond - A Modern Dimension of Supernatural Horror & Depravity For Your Old School Campaigns part I 

& part II. 

I'd love include more of Charlton Comics background elements from their horror comics  into this pulpy campaign. Countess Von Bludd might be getting a work out in this pulp campaign as powerful vampire NPC.

Of course I'll be adding in lots of Lovecraftian elements to this old school campaign but its going to depend upon the ins and outs of how and where I want to them to appear. The sheer variety application of cults in a modern game is dangerous & insidious. Taming them in your games can mean the difference between having a solid game experience & something akin to ending in disaster. I've been a part of both types of games over the years.

Scary Tales #1 (Aug. 1975). Art by Joe Staton.


For this I'm going to end up using a wide variety of OSR resources including Lamentations of the Flame Princess & Silent Legions From  Sine Nomine Publishing.  plus Dark Albion & Cults of Chaos for the campaign build. Why? Because they allow one to create their own old school horror adventures, mythologies, & pulpy adventures without answering to anyone. All of this can fall back right into the background of the world of Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts. I've especially been itching to throw in some old school influences as well.


Here the PC's are part of  mercenary groups known as Ug'thorho groups that are after relics & artifacts that partially keep the partial planear realms of the occult, the supernatural, & the Lovecraftian attached to their world. These are worlds just over the dimensional threshold that are found between the cracks of reality hidden from everyday life. These are the places where the mad scientist, the occultist, etc. operate and the relics of the old world operate acting as anchors for the gods, demons, monsters, and horrors. These realms are raided by adventurers, outlaws, etc. who are seeking treasures, artifacts, advanced technologies in an effort to get their faction ahead. The Complete Vivamancer a is perfect character & NPC for this style of pulp campaign.


This is not going to be the world you know. Here in the shadows old gods still stir, the stars may not be right but their time is coming, mankind's future is uncertain & alien things cut deals with world powers, Clark Ashton Smith's story cycles are prophecy & possibly the future history of mankind. H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness is the ancient history of Earth & barbarian kings sandaled feet trod through the pages of history &  once ruled over mankind. This is a world of high adventure and deadly extremes. This is a world in need of heroes. Here Allied mercenaries fight in the wilds of  the Astral Plane against Nazi artifact hunters & soldiers for alien relics that once belonged to beings millions of years in advance of their technology. This is where Warriors of the Red Planet comes in very handy, you can expand the technological levels in Raiders! and bring home some fixes for the scientist class.

Another thing about Warriors of the Red Planet is the super science relics in the game are big business in the Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts settings. What sorts of horrors are deep in the Astral plane? Alien gods or giants from the imagination of Jack Kirby's classic D.C. Forth World comics.
Yeah I think so.



What about old school resources? Well of course I'm going to use the Fiend Folio from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition. Hmm what other resources might there be out in the depths of time to plunder? Hmm Perhaps its time to get back to basics take out an old friend from a far simpler time.


I can already see the what about Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea? Are you going to end the Saturday night game? Hell no! This is an experiment to combine some of the material I've been dying to try with a group of players in my home town. What about the 'Old Solar System' posts you've been doing on this blog for months now? Are you going to combined them? We'll see is my answer both of those campaigns are separate & I really want to branch out a bit using some of the classic resources & OSR materials that I own.

Ten Reasons Why This Works For World Building 

1. Mixing & matching both OSR and classic old school TSR resources often builds the best of both worlds for pulp old school games it gives the wide spread for adventure source material and hooks. 
2. There are a ton of public domain pulp resources on the internet waiting for enterprising dungeon masters to exploit along with comics. 
3. This sort of a campaign can keep players guessing for months. What will the DM do next to the party?
4. Sword & Sorcery or Science fiction can provide the back history of such a campaign world and it doesn't have to take place on our Earth at all. 
5. The dungeon master can set the tone and breath of adventures set within their own home setting as well as level room for PC's to expand into other settings for adventures. 
6. There's lots of pulp material to cater to all kinds of palettes for old school adventures. 
7. The PC's are not limited to simply the ages of pulp from the 20's through 50's, the classic Johnny Quest is pure pulp and a good example of pulp during the 60's. 
8. This sort of campaign can handle anything from horror through adventure allowing the DM to create and cast a wide net. 
9. Classic TSR Dungeons & Dragons or Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventures can be recast into your favorite pulp setting easily. 
10. This sort of campaign is only limited by your players and your imagination.

High Tech Mysticism & High Caliber Adventure OSR Campaign Event - "A Green Jewel They Must Possess" From Venger Satanis's Trinity of Awesome +1 Adventure Anthology.

So Don Rickles passed today, Rest in peace putz. They don't make em like that anymore so in honor my friends had Kelly's Heroes playing in the background. Great WWII flick if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Since I had very little time to get anything ready I faded back to one of my favorite adventures from Venger Satanis & his Kort'thalis Publishing  products. 

In this case I took "A Green Jewel They Must Possess" from his Trinity of Awesome +1 adventure anthology. This is a home system adventure of Venger's a part of his Outer Presence rpg system which at best is a very ministic system highly encouraging PC interaction. Venger isn't really big on rpg crunch but my players are. So with a bit of hand waving & Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts I got the ball rolling.

There were several changes that I made to "A Green Jewel They Must Possess" right from the get go:

I changed the era from the early Eighties to a  1920's world that has been exploiting dimensional hopping technologies & the Germans are in a desperate race to get a hold of every last shred of dimension hopping & alternative world technology. 
The adventure setting was changed to Ricca  one of the most wretched hives of scum and villainy in the Pacific 
The jewel was starting to 'heat up' with occult energy & open doors between worlds.
Professor Fenton was looking to get his hands on the jewel for his German bosses. Things did not go as planned on that front.
So the PC's arrived back on Ricca after disposing of the last adventure's minor treasures. They came back into the harbors of Ricca which are a hot bed of pirate & smuggler activity after hearing the Green Jewel was in city.
One thing about A Green Jewel They Must possess is the weird sleazoids who are trying to deal with it's dark evil. The jewel is a perfect Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts relic because its almost an NPC all on its own with dark agenda just waiting to be sprung on the PC's.


The PC's dealt with the scum that was trying to kill not only them but each other for possession of the jewel. Each of the heroes dealt with the forces of cultists & criminal scum that were trying double cross each other and the PC for the whereabouts of the jewel. There were shots fired, massive amounts of property damage, a fire, etc. but still no pay off yet. All in all it wasn't a bad night with one of the PC's getting himself shot rescuing a prostitute whose a part of one of the myriad of thieves guilds that dot the island nation. These are a part of the spy network of the Claw.

But it was the random encounters that generated some of the best bits of conflict with the pirates of the harbor. I took my inspiration from Night Owl Workshop's pirates game  Freebooters. If you haven't gotten it I highly recommend it. 
Ricca is known to be one of the last havens for pirates & island scum in the Pacific. It attracts every petty warlord, outlaw, & adventurer who put sail to water. The place is a haven for all kinds of sea dogs & smugglers. 

 1d20 Random Dangerous Seadogs 

& Scum Encounter Table

1. 1d20 cultists belonging to the Great Old Ones who are looking for sacrifices for their heathen gods. They're hopped up on blow powder & will not stop until someone is dead in the name of their god. 
2. Smuggler looking to sell his munitions at half priced because the city's guard is after him. He has 1d6 3rd level fighters from the guard after him. 
3. German sea dogs looking for super science artifacts & relics, willing to pay up to five thousand dollars for real leads. There are several soldiers and advisors waiting in the wings if they need them. 
4. 1d6 gangsters looking for promising illicit cargoes from America and other far flung ports. They're armed with automatic weapons and a bad attitude. 
5. Slave dealers looking to unload 1d6 European and American slaves on the shores here. 
6. Gun smugglers and occultists from Africa looking to sell some museum quality piece for five hundred dollars each. 
7. A strange mercenary is infected with a dangerous tropical disease and looking to infect others with his disease borne demon god 
8. Ancient mummy from the South China sea looking to recruit mercenaries for worth while adventure. 
9. 1d10 pirates looking for a 'good time' and possibly some murder! 
10. A German mad scientist serial killer looking to kill again. 
11. 1d20 sex workers looking for clients very loudly. 
12. 1d4 members of the assassins guild looking to decapitate a high profile target. Then try to blame the PC's.  
13. Ancient demonic forces seek to possess some fool who must carry out the will of the gods. 
14. Lovecrafian ghouls in disguise looking to gain several bodies from the local morgue. 
15. Pirates on an errand for their boss looking for a magic sword that went missing in a local auction. 
16. 1d4 mutant rats from a local island where the rats rule the roost. They will attack anyone they see if they feel threatened. 
17. Escape from these slaves looking for a better life. There are 1d4 law dogs and bounty hunters looking for them 
18. Mutant from another world lost in the backstreets of the city. There is a 20% chance that she'll attack anyone she sees. 
19. A group of 1d20 church of Starry Wisdom missionaries looking to hook up with a party of adventurers so they can turn on them in an instant. 
20. 1d6 zombie assassins in disguise seeking a child prophet to free the people from the horrid monster ruling the government.

High Tech Mysticism & High Caliber Adventure OSR Campaign- Between A Rock & The Claw An Actual Play Event For The Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts Rpg System By Thomas Denmark

So the PC's from last week's game aren't going to let them be keep in the same time space continuum, so they began to brain storm about another possible time machine or gateway to help them defeat the machinations of the German forces man Professor Fenton. The PC's trail of adventure led them to the shores of the Pacific island nation of Ricca, & its sleazy highly dangerous harbors. They were in search of information and possible weird science dimension hopping technology that had been smuggled in. They got far more then they bargained for when they almost were imprisoned in the dungeons of the demonic lich ruler of Ricca, The Claw.


The PC's came face to face with a brotherhood of pirates who wear in the employ of 'The Claw' and about to deliver  a rare gem. The PC's were able to acquire a rare diamond gem relic 'The Blue Fire'  which belonged to another forth level treasure hunter/assassin The Cobra. Rather then face the wraith of the Claw, the pirates fled & their leader the Cobra went to deal with the PC's but they were gone having flown away by that time. The Claw is an occultist of the highest order & a god like figure on the island nation. The party started having bad dreams, mechanical problems in their plane, and almost ended up dying but managed to escape with a few lucky rolls. Meanwhile the Cobra is now on their trail & he's not going to stop until he gains revenge on the adventurers!

Meanwhile the Blue Fire seems to be exerting an unhealthy influence on the party's occultist & there's reason to suspect that The Claw himself is behind this. The party needs a port in a storm and there are several in the party's flight plan but how long can they remain airborne with the 'God of Hate' on their tale and what's the strange ghostly plane that's trailing them now? Only time will tell if the Claw catches up with our heroes but they've heard tales of another treasure!


In tonight's game everything seemed to work out quite smoothly by using the strengths of both retroclone systems.  I powered tonight's game adventure  using a combination of Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts  By Thomas Denmark & Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea as the back bone system. On the whole everything seemed to have a very golden age pulp feel to it and the encountered seemed to really challenge the player's tonight. I'm curious to see what's going to happen if the 'Claw's forces catch up with the PC's! The only complaint I have is that I need a physical copy of Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts, the pdf copy is driving both myself and my players nuts. I'll have to wait a couple of weeks until my next pay day and Lulu's next sale.  My eyes are ready to fall out of my head from reading the pdf.

High Tech Mysticism & High Caliber Adventure OSR Campaign Now Powered By The Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts Rpg System By Thomas Denmark An Actual Play Event

So last night I dusted off an old imprint time traveling/dimension hopping  pulp campaign of mine but this time I powered it using a combination of Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts  By Thomas Denmark 
& Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea as the back bone system. This isn't the first time I've done this but I've reconnected this OSR powered system with my High Tech Mysticism & High Caliber Adventure OSR  campaign setting. Basically this is a 1920's world that has been exploiting dimensional hopping technologies & the Germans are in a desperate race to get a hold of every last shred of it after discovering the occult secrets of relics in WWI. They've been opening dimensional gateways. They've been mutating & trying to create super soldiers to bolster their nation's ranks. The Germans have been using The Beyond for some of their dark occult technologies but they've also have been making in roads onto other worlds


So after a quick twenty minute PC roll up the group of six players had a good array of PC's.
We had decided that these would be the kids of heroes who were stepping into their adventurer parents shoes to help stop the on coming inevitable war. William Bruce played by Allen was the son of The Super American. He was only a 2nd level mercenary & has been trying to live up to his father's image for years. He also had access to his father's " Chronopticon" dimensional hopping time machine. The party would be using that machine to head off the German forces man Professor Fenton. Fenton was after the Grail of Thruisu' a lost relic of an ancient African tribe that promised immortality to the owner along with ancient power. 
The professor's connection had been discovered by Jason Quinn aka the Black Avenger the son of second  The Black Bat.  Jason had inherited his father's 18/00 strength but not his dark sight. So he's been using super science goggles & blackout bombs ala the OD&D darkness spell to compensate.  Of course there's always a Quatermain along for the ride & Sarah Quatermain has inherited grand father's curse along with his adventurous spirit. She's one of the group's Treasure Hunters & also only a first level PC played by Jason's wife Holly.



Shiala Piper had inherited her father's dead white skin, evil purple white eyes, & has gained possession of the Moonstone Amulet along with his fetish cane but she doesn't have the Spookman's experience. As the group's 2nd level occultist she's always in the thick of things. She's backed by Harry Wissop the protege of the Ghost whose also the group's second occultist and scientist. But he's only a first level green kid whose head over heels in love and in deep extra dimensional weirdness. Then there's Crash Cranson whose the group's pilot and another mercenary. The party immediately was stranded in another time period by Fenton after confronting him on his lost Pacific island. Here the party met up with Peggy Allen aka the Woman in Red or as another of the party put it, 'Its Peggy Allen's daughter' 'I've heard of this wannabe'! After which she saved their butts from a mutated dinosaur.


After dealing with a horde of ape men, a few of the harrowing traps of the professor, the party did manage to recover the Grail but Fenton made it away with some lost Hyperborean technology! The party went up a level but they've been banned from using the "Chronopticon" again. But is this the end or only the beginning? The players will have to find a way.


All characters mentioned are public domain but these versions are trade marked and copy righted to the players. Raiders of the Lost Artifacts is copy righted and trade marked to Night Owl Workshop who is in no way responsible for the contents of this blog.