'Dead Man's Veins' And Riven Gulch A Weird Western Location For Your Old School Games

Dead Man's Veins is a five mile square piece of desert out in the beginning of the  Jornada del Muerto. The area has been seemingly cursed all of the way back to 1680. These trails are said to stretch into other worlds according to the Indians who have lived in the area for thousands of years. In our present day world Dead Man Veins is a part of the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail (Spanish for "The Royal Road of the Interior Land") a 1,600 mile (2560 kilometer) long trade route between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, from 1598 to 1882.

This area has always been associated with weird happenings including a slew of murders, the disappearances of families, UFO encounters, and other strange phenomenon. Many believe that the nearby  Jornada del Muerto volcano system may be partially responsible. Some of the first nuclear tests were conducted in the area. Riven Gulch is smack in the middle of this area and although now a ghost town today has had a checkered history because of the urban legends of the extensive alien ruins under the town going back to the 1860's. The town became abandoned for economic reasons but there are rumors of ghosts still haunting the place to this day.



There are rumors that the dusty trails and former volcanic sands along Dead Man's Veins lead to other worlds and hidden doorways to other dimensions. But in 1856 a series of encounters with blazing lights in the sky had a profound effect on the locals. The encounter caused an almost total desertion of the town by those living in the area and made newspaper accounts all the way back East. Only the native Americans remained in the area having nothing to fear from the powers of Dead Man's Veins. It wasn't until the early part of the 1900's when folks settled back into this part of the desert.



Dead Man's Veins has seen plenty of urban legends and myths of strange lights in the sky, violent weather and more. The place has been suggested by UFO enthusiasts as a possible place where the naturally violent dimensional shifts happen with regularity. In the early half of  Nineteen Hundred a stranger appeared in the resettled town of Riven Gulch claiming to be from another world. After examination by the local doctor the stranger lived about two years but seemed to die of a broken heart. A storm of incredible proportions swept through the area right afterward.
 There have always been reports of ghostly cowboys and encounters with strange tribes of unknown native American tribes in the area. Some attribute this to the number of massacres and incidents of bloodshed during the Westward Expansion. Now the number of missing persons, blood shed, and horror in the area has been on the rise.Local police, Sheriffs and even government officials have had several close calls with extra dimensional things that didn't end well. The locals have tried to keep a lid on these events but the rumors are starting to spread.


Today Dead Man's Veins remains a spot on the map mostly forgotten and neglected except by those who know its dangerous reputation, this has attracted internet tourists, UFO enthusiasts and others. But the dangerous incidents are on the increase and while the locals are happy to take these fools money, they're very, very, worried about some of the 'things' coming down the trails.

What is Dead Man's Veins and The Town of  Riven Gulch?


Dead Man's Veins & the town of Riven Gulch is a five mile square piece of adventure location campaign area that I've used for years under various names. This piece of desert is subject to dimension instability and dimensional anomolies, the height of which reached its cycle in the 1860's around the town. AD&D monsters frequent the area around the town; they can pose a clear and present danger to the residence. Here is a random encounter chart of some of the more common horrors encountered in the area.

1d6 Random Monstrous Encounters Riven Gulch

1. 1d6 Ju Ju zombie cowboys on the trail who are very hungry and your party looks mighty tasty 
2. 1d4 giant mutated scorpions on the hunt for prey 
3. 1d8 3nd level other dimensional bandits on 'horse back' looking for easy marks 
4. A party of 1d6 mutant adventurers sporting 1d4 mutations and energy weapons who have become lost and are seeking some victims 
5. A 7th level black wizard  and his gang of 1d8 skeleton desperado body guards on mutant horse back 
6. Flying saucer crewed by 1d8 1st level Grey warriors looking for slave stock

'TPK In Riven Gulch' AD&D 1st Edition Boot Hill Mash Up Adventure Encounter Actual Play Event

Things did not go as planned for my adventure encounter tonight, you can find all resources for last night's game right over HERE. 

Riven Gulch claimed six victims tonight, the party was warned that this was a survival horror style D&D adventure and the party would have to think their way out the situation. Instead the players thought that blasting their way past the obstacles would help them. It didn't.

Riven Gulch is an old West boom town that sprang up over a mega dungeon, this town has all of the usual Old West locations including the general store, church, saloons, and a very rich bank that takes in all of the money produced by the mega dungeon ruins under the town from the sale of relics.Folks are flocking in from all over to get in on the action. The Wells National Bank has set up shop in town and is handling many of the transactions of this place. People are striking it rich and making out very well. So the bank is a very tempting target, the PC's in tonight's game were hired by a patron to knock over the bank. Things did not go as planned.
The PC's stocked up on weapons and ammo, then instead of taking fast horses concentrated on other goods during the phase to buy equipment. They rode into town, things were quiet, in fact too quiet.
They made a bee line for the Wells bank. There were six desperadoes of the Matock Gang  including :
Shane Matock disgraced former sheriff the leader the gang 6th level fighter 

Doc Orinson Country doctor/Cleric of the Smoking Mirror 5th level 

Crimson Red Man of Mystery and the Occult black wizard 6th level 

Jimmy Crugger 6th level fighter/gun fighter 

Hunk 5th level fighter and brick 

Shane Matock 6th level fighter

The gang rode straight to the bank and went right in, kicking in the doors. Within seconds since there wasn't anyone around or so they figured; they wanted to hit the vault. They didn't see the bank staff glued to the wall by the fungus that had spread throughout the bank until they came to the vault. Then the first thing their leader did was to shoot the fungus. The fungus shot right back at the gang's leader, within mere moment's the player was rolling save vs poison. He failed. His partners came to his rescue and also got infected as well. The two other gang members opened up on the shrooms and also got shot up with spores. The dice were very mean tonight. 

Now the spore mother has six new converts to her ways.She welcomes all comers to the rites and sacraments to her ways. Will another band of brave adventurers and outlaws brave Riven Gulch to find out the fate of this once thriving town? Only time will tell.
But for now there is some very satisfied laughter echoing through the desert canyons and mountains from deep within the Earth.

 

Using The Free OSR Resource - Underworld Lore Issue #2 For Old School Adventure Construction

So my regular crew of players for Dungeon Crawl Classics has had a mix up and this leaves me minus a few players rather then the usual nine. Because of work schedules and whatnot these two gentlemen can't make it. But they still want to play. So this leaves me six very experienced players and little time to construct an adventure, so what I'm I going to do? The clock is ticking and I need a pick up game now!
Well Gorgon Milk's blog for a few resource I can use in this case Underworld Lore Issue #2  which concentrates on dungeon born diseases, gods, and other sundry horrors. 

Grab that right over HERE

In the article Preternatural Pestilences has thirty or so random bits and pieces of nastiness that can be inserted into any adventure as set or dungeon dressing but in my case its going to be the center of tonight's encounter. Now on page thirty eight is a rather nasty version of an infectious fungus which is actually a low level monster.

Crave Fungus is another version of infectious fungal dungeon monster , which is a fungal horror that shoots out spores into those who disturb this menace and the stuff takes them over from the inside out. This is not a new idea I can assure you and goes all the way back to William Hope Hodgeson's Voice in the Night and “Fungus Isle” by Phillip Fisher from the October 27, 1923, issue of Argosy All-Story Weekly, later it was reprinted in “Fungus Isle” was reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries in their October, 1940, issue. There's an entire history and very good cross comparison of these two story right over Here. Now given the passion for fungal sporemen and shroom people in D&D style games I think that these lifeforms might be a part of or product of the shroom people from the Monster Manual two. I'm leaning towards a Boot Hill 2nd/AD&D 1st edition crossover.

 A town known as Riven Gulch has sprung up almost overnight in an alternative Weird West setting. There is a mega dungeon that is been producing some rather valuable relics and other worldly treasures and folks are flocking from all over to get in on the action. The Wells National Bank has set up shop in town and is handling many of the transactions of this place. Folks are striking it rich and making out very well. So the bank is a nice rich tempting target.




What no one in town realizes is that others eyes have been watching the various comings and goings of the explorers, adventurers, and professionals into their underground world. And the cycle of birth, rebirth, and degeneration. Now the PC's have stumbled upon a 'deserted' town and interesting hi jinks waiting to happen.