The OSR Legacy Of S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth By Gary Gygax & The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth (1976)

 There are the rare of the absolute rare of the collectables & tonight I came across Lost Caverns of Tsojconth (1976) – The Original Edition of AD&D Module S4 on Wayne's Books blog. This is the original tourament module from WinterCon V, a gaming convention sponsored by the Metro Detroit Gamers (MDG) in 1976. According to the S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth By Gary Gygax wiki entry there are balantantly obvious differences between the '76 convention module & the expanded version. 

The original convention module took full advantage of the tourament style of the convention presentation. According to the wiki entry's publication history the '76 version was critical in the formation the Greyhawk campaign as we know it today; "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is a revised and expanded version of The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth, a tournament adventure that Gygax wrote for WinterCon V, a gaming convention sponsored by the Metro Detroit Gamers (MDG) in 1976.^[4] It is based in part on one of Rob Kuntz's dungeon levels, as Kuntz helped Gygax revise the tournament version.^[5] This original version consisted of eight loose sheets, an outer folder, and a zip-locked bag; only several hundred copies were printed.^[4] In the May 1980 issue of Dragon, Gygax said "Rob Kuntz has the reworked Lost Caverns module which must be finalized" and that "We want to get it into print as soon as possible."^[6] Lawrence Schick later suggested that "there's evidence that Gary considered Tsojcanth part of a longer Greyhawk campaign, placing the adventure between T1–T4 The Temple of Elemental Evil and WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. (By this reckoning, The Village of Hommlet, The Temple of Elemental Evil, and Tsojcanth are thus the "lost" WG1 through WG3 modules.) So, Tsojcanth was published in the S series because it got completed out of order, but was too good to delay." The interesting part of this is how deeply the Pulp genre is embedded within the DNA of both the tourament & the revised module of S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth By Gary Gygax. The expanded version has been a part of so many gamers lives. 

Wht makes S4 so memoriable is the way the Wilderness is as much of an NPC unto itself as the rest of the adventure plot. We can see this within the adventure plot & the way the Pulpy Sword & Sorcery wilderness play with the PC's; "The introduction, with instructions that the Dungeon Master read it aloud to the players, outlines that there is a treasure in the Yatil Mountains south of the Greyhawk realm of Perrenland. The player characters must investigate rumors of a lost treasure that scores of adventurers have perished attempting to find.^[2] The treasure is a remnant of the wealth amassed by the archmage Iggwilv,^[2] former ruler of Perrenland, prior to her presumed death at the hands of the demon Graz'zt, whom she had "imprisoned and forced into servitude."^[3]: 2 The players must first traverse a wilderness area with 20 numbered encounters before arriving at the caverns. The encounters have names such as "Border Patrol" (encounter 1) and "Hill Giants" (encounter 10). After the wilderness are two lettered encounters: the "Gnome Vale", which includes a map for their lair, and "The Craggy Dells", where humans and orcs are capturing hippogriffs to sell."  Here the adventure plot & thencounters fit together like an action adventure film to move the PC's from one deadly encounter to another. And S4 is so very much wrapped up with Gygax's "official" version of Greyhawk especially some of the major NPC's ; "Next, the player characters reach the caverns. They consist of the "Lesser Caverns" with 22 encounters, and the "Greater Caverns" with 20 encounters, each with its own map. The lesser caverns include encounters such as "Stinking Cave" (encounter 5) which contains four trolls and "Underground Lake" (encounter 14). The greater caverns include encounters such as "Uneven-Floored Cavern" (encounter 5) where the player characters face an umber hulk and "Canyon of Centaurs" (encounter 9). The 20th and final encounter is titled "The Inner Sphere". Here, a "woman sleeps on an alabaster slab." She is "armored from toe to neck in gold chased plate mail."^[3]: 29 The woman is actually Drelnza, a fighter/vampire and the daughter of Iggwilv. After defeating Drelnza, the players are rewarded with treasure, and the adventure ends." 
Lost Caverns of Tsojconth (1976) reveals several rather obvious & interesting things about this classic module: 

1. The revisions of the Lost Caverns 1976 were to put the original manuscript into the classic module status.
2. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition's tourament style of play was going to be the way forward. Consumer tastes & marketing trends changed the direction of the Grand Game. 
3. S4 had so much in common with the Pulp literature that inspired it. 
4. Even though this convention module was so rough & ready it looks like a Hell of a lot of deadly fun. 
5. There a lot coolness about the convention manuscript map! This thing reeks of old school AD&D to me. 
6. '76 version of Tsojconth just looks absolutely deadly. 
7. Encounters within Tsojconth don't look balanced at all! 
8. Looking over the maps  bring extra characters for this one! 
9. The Gygax classic looks to be the superior product but the original looks like a blast. 
10. This Con 76 version of the classic module is such a part of gaming history.

The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg Hybrid Campaign - The Maple White Land Battle Royale - Session report # 14

Find the perilous Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and you may gain the hidden wealth of the long-dead arch-mage - if you live!

 Pro tip if your running vampires & vampirc cults  in one of the most dangerous modules in the 'super modules' category take full advantage of a fact. Vampiric NPC's are some of the most dangerous foes that PC's can run up against. In tonight's games session which picks up all of the back here.  Protip number two use lots of disposible vampiric spawn for the heroe's fire projector to roast. Then let the real NPC's close in. 

The PC's not only encountered several trolls & nearly got their heads ripped off. But found out the hardway that its not a good idea even if your PC has super powers to mess with the Martians. And encountering the cult of Iggwilv & yes they do have their own evil clerics & wizards. Who happen to working with said Martians. But they also quickly learned that the cult of Graz'zt, has an entire village within Maple White Land. Yes its guarded by cannibal apes, mind controlled dinosaurs, & vampiric villagers. But the real surprise during tonight's run through was the fact that the daughters of Drelnza are not only aware of the PC's. But for all of the grief they want them very dead. 

The highlight of tonight's game was the PC's running away from a giant troll after it snacked on of the party's hirelings.. The thing was massive & back handed one of the PC's into some bushes. Then lined up on DM Steve's paladin wacking him into a tree! Awesome! Sir Tristan did survive after our party's healer Empatra a cleric of Ra put him back together. 

Things got a bit crazier after Brush fire lit up the giant troll drive it back into a trio of giant Martian wheel war machines. The Martians didn't bother going after the party instead they used some cybernetically controlled Allosaurus to hunt down our heroes. 

A few exploding arrows & well timed natural twenty right in one of the beasts eyes took one of the prehistoric bastards out. But two more made the party's life a living Hell. But they managed to stumble onto a backdoor into the dungeon complex. 
Allosaurus miniatures were available for tonight's game thanks to Antediluvian Miniatures preCovid order! 

And thanks to Jason Vey's Book of Powers the party found out the hard way that one of the Allosaurus had laser like vision & a powerful breath acidic breath weapon. But a well time bundle of dynamite took the thing down. The party left for the secret dungeon enterance. 

And that's when the party stumbled onto the night hags of  Drelnza growing a massive Kaiju sized Scrag named Auntie Maw. 

And that's where we ended tonight's game session! We'll hopefully pick it next week! 

The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg Hybrid Campaign - The Maple White Land - DM Work Shop & Session report # 13

 Welcome to Maple White land folks & its battle royal central! A day ago on Sunday the Godzilla vs. King Kong trailer broke. And the G fans around my table top went nuts. What's this mean for our Victorious rpg heroes!?! A lot folks! The original concept for this campaign came from this Dangerville video here. 

A bit of background here, the Martians have got more then a foot hold within Maple White Land & have a been exploiting a power source within lost world for their benefit. There are some very dangerous Kaiju lurking within Maple White Land. The PC's have been battling the cult Daughters of Iggwilv who have a version of the S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth within Maple White Land. When PC's have been maimed or killed we've been recruiting from the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. 

But how the original module didn't have certain things happening?! So we're not using the original module instead we've been drawing from Realms of Horror the super module. There are several reasons for this?! The fact is that using this combination module allows  for a number of Pulp or Penny Dreadful elements has been a blessing. And as Amazon reviewer  big rich puts it; "These modules were designed as stand-alone adventures for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. S1 was the original tournament dungeon used at Origins 1.
S1 Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gygax
S2 White Plume Mountain by Lawrence Schick
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax
S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax
These four were later (weakly) combined into supermodule:
S1-4 Realms of Horror" 

We don't agree at all & using Castles & Crusades 

For various monsters & what not my players have been combing the Victorious Rpg & supplements with a fine toothed comb. So as a DM sometimes you've got to go further afield & in this case its over to Amazing Adventures Manual of Monsters. 

But this also means combing through the Monster Manual II for some of the monster mayhem that's planned tonight. This is a prehistoric Hell that awaits the player's PC's meanwhile Godzilla has been handling the Martians on the East Coast right outside of New York. 
The team is sticking together for tonight & then planning on doing mope up after the big 'G' handles business. 

The party has already encountered mutant apemen that have given them more then a hard time these vicious creatures are cunning, dangerous, & some of them have super powers. They also have carried off & eaten one of the supers three or four games ago. 

The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg Campaign - Bright Lights & Broken City - The Murder of a Begger King Session Report

 This session picked up over the weekend & starts right after this one here. 

While the rest of the party makes its way to Maple White Land via teleportation disks skipping between the Astral plane to Maple White Land. And the New York Barons (Victorian super hero league) handle the Martians. A very different conflict has taken part in the lower part of New York City's tenaments. The Begger King has met his end at the arrow of the Dark  Fletcher! The Dark  Fletcher whose been killed by a bullet from the barrel of a gun belonging to the second in command of the Begger King.  

Now while the Martian war machines stride their way through the city, the begger king's second in command rifles his desk in the grimmy appartment. But all is not as it seems, inspired by this post from The Nine & Thirty Nine Kingdoms blog the second in command is actually an alien doppleganger. The begger king's network of underworld scum is a network connected with New York's resistence movement. The Begger King himself was a vile villain of the deepest dye who used to surgically alter his victims into crippled beggers who would be magically motivated to work for him by a cadre of dark wizard/surgeons. His underworld network was second to none & now he's dead? 

Doppleganger mini available right here through Etsy. 

Now the Begger King himself was another link  in the chain of the inter planar network of the Slavers orgazination. That's right the 'Begger King' was another member & servant of the slave lords from A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords. 

The alleyways are prowled by the vampire cult of 

Daughters of Iggwilv who have spread across the states from their original home in South America. That's right The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is found within the plateau of Maple White Land in this campaign. But its guarded by all kinds of horrid monsters. 

Our paladin & his knight partner have called in a specialist to investigate the missing Dark Fletcher. He hasn't been heard from in 3 weeks now & people frankly are starting to talk in the underworld. Two of the Dark Fletcher's assistants have put out a call among the lower levels of the Faerie. And this call has made its way back to the ears of Terrence a half elven demigod. 

Terrence has been an information broker operating out of Nexus the Infinite City since way back in '96 or so. He has motivation to investigate the disappearance given some of his dealings with the vampiric children of  Daughters of Iggwilv in the past. And dust ups with the Begger King's minions in various campaigns. Let's not mention the Slavers either. 
Various alleys,roof tops,etc. are being monitored by Doppleganger children clones. These things are rather nasty & sport a powerful poisonous bite vs regular Castles & Crusades dopplegangers.  The dopplegangers act as go betweens for the human cultists & their powerful Martian masters.   

Doppleganger child available through Etsy right here. 

Then there's the fact that various Godzilla symbioitic  life forms have appeared in New York City's harbor after one of the Godzilla's battled a small cadre of Martian war machines. Various heroes have had to deal with miniature Ankhegs that have grown due to the strange radiation from Godzilla. Ankheg eggs have fallen off the scales of this zilla. 

Well perhaps or is that they've actually been seeded by the Martians?! The players are still not sure folks but there's more going on.And time will tell. 

Details about the Martian War Machines are from Hunter & Hunters Catalog from the Victorious rpg game  Some of the variant doppleganger's abilities come from Jason Vey's Amazing Adventures's Book of Powers 

The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg Campaign - The Challenger Affair - Session report # 10

 Just in case your wondering what's happened with the PC's in my War of the Worlds Godzilla campaign things moved along at a clip. After getting back to England the party met with & had a devil of a time dealing with Professor Challenger & co. This session picks right up after the last. 

"A page scan of The Lost World, a 1912 novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Image cropped, captions removed. Characters in the book The Lost World. Professor Summery" Malone (Daily Gazette); Professor G. E. Challenger, .;  Lord John Roxton THE MEMBERS OF THE EXPLORING PARTY. From a photograph by William Ransford, Hampstead."

The professor was not exactly the portrait of goodness & charity to the party. They obtained the map that they needed of Maple White Land. And then were given a bollicking for bothering his party during such a critical time!  The professor totally dominated the party going up one side of them & down the other. 

The man did not want 'his discovery' trashed by upstarts in costumes & buffonry to destroy his party's discovery. One of the players mentioned Reed Richards & that sent the NPC into blustering rage about that 'New York idiot!'. Meanwhile other members of the Challenger party were conferring with the PC's while our wizards raged with Professor Challenger. 

Some of the major monsters & players coming up will be straight out the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual II. 

The second thing to take up with this is the fact that there are a number of newly recruited PC's from the City State of the World Emperor now among the party but there may be a Martian turn coat. The PC's were able to know that there were a few Martian meteors that fell upon Maple White land. Next stop Maple White Land! 

The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg Campaign - 'Loose In City State of the World Emperor ?!' Last Night's Session Report

The players journeyed to the Wilderlands of High Fantasy at the beginning of the session in last night's game. They had their contacts & agents inside the court conduct them. The party's paladin going off to talk with one of the heads of his order. 




 This session picks right up from the last one & things got very heated when the player's PC's in our game got into a heated discussion with the 'Archon'. 'The Archon' is the NPC public face  of the Order of the Golden Dawn. He or is 'it' was at the court of the City State of the World Emperor to do a bit of recruiting for its world. Why do I say 'it'?! Because 'the Archon' is literally an Atlantean helmet of unknown origin that takes over its host body.

 The artifact or thing is part of the inner mysteries of this version of the Order of the Golden Dawn. None of the players are aware of any of the secrets of the 'Archon' but it's personality fits its meaning as first to rule. The artifact has incredible potent mystical & occult powers tied to the astral plane. None of the players like the bastard NPC because they don't trust it. It left them in a lurch several months ago teleporting away. The Golden Dawn is a rather interesting organization that is based on the Pagan Publishing book from back in '96. They are dedicated to saving the Empire at all costs & investigating the mysterious as well as menace of the occult. But there's something off about the organization with such deep roots to the Crown. Since the Martian invasion there have been several heroes that the PC's have run across representing the Dawn that they don't trust. 

Back in the city state some of the other player's PC's had much better luck attracting an Amazon warrior & a wizard who was being chased by the city guard. And the PC's paid off the city guard leading them to go on a recruiting spree in the local jail?! This added in a small gang of four thieves to the party who actually seem rather loyal to our current knight who had a lovely chat with the city guard. 
The player's PC's ran straight into a part of the ' Cult of Drelzna' in the middle of the city state with a rather dangerous vile villain energy wielder. A running battle throughout the city streets ensued! Then in the middle of all of this planar door opened & six rather dangerous supers with Nazi regalia stepped into the middle of the street! They opened on our heroes before the magus guild of the city state stepped in! The last thing that the player's PC heard was the word, "Tsojcanth". 

They had a Hell of a time explaining & bribing erm calming down senior members of the magus guild. But then the party's paladin appeared in the nick of time to smooth things over. And he told the party about the  ' Cult of Drelzna' operating in Maple White Land! The party did a bit more shopping & then made contact with several of their barbarian tribe friends. They heard rumors of an envoy from  Averoigne but the party may or may not meet with her. There was a whisper of Zothique but Maple White Land beckons next week. 

Notes about this week's game: 

1. The name dropping was straight on hooking the players for another game session. 
2. Nazi NPC's  may or may not be a McGuffin but they were put together using the Book of Powers 
3. The City State of the World Emperor isn't even remotely done with the PC's 
4. Maple White Land is being hyped up by the players & I've got plans. 
5. The Golden Dawn has been a source of pain & loathing in the past to the player's PC's. 
6. The Martians haven't forgot the players either. 

The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg Campaign - 'City State of the World Emperor Tour?!' Last Night's Session Report

 Its two twenty one A.M. & we're just getting back from our  The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! game using the Victorious rpg system. The party was confronted by Martian agents during tonights game & things got heated to say the least! The cultists were trying to kidnap Prince Sthachac The Pallid Ruler of the Seventh Throne. Whom if you'll recall our party of 'heroes' mangaded free from another cult's lair last session.  During tonight's game things went from bad to worse as they were hunted through the winding streets of New York by small martian scout walkers. Prince Sthachac The Pallid Ruler of the Seventh Throne let loose with the full fury of both demon sword & the magicks of Zothique. 

The party has had it with the scout walkers by this point & lead them down a blind alleyway. Then collapsed a number of load baring walls on them! The party then raided the walkers killing any Martians they came across. That's when they heard the familiar Godzilla roar from New York harbor! The Gman himself was engaged with three Martian mecha & there was a tremendeous blast of energy from Godzilla shattering two of the Martian mecha! 

The party saw the familiar glow of Godzilla atomic breath vs the Martian heat rays! The party combed through the wreckage of the scout walkers  coming across another Martian Crystal Egg. The eggs in question come from H.G. Wells short novella 'The Crystal Egg'. But in our games their  uses come from Heretic Works blog entry on the Crystal Eggs . 

The party had to leave behind at least two of these incredible objects in their travels because of moving from one location to another. The party is now moving on too Arthur Conan Doyle's Maple White Land. Which means going back to one of the Hunter & Hunters armories  with some of their ill gotten gain. The Victorious rpg isn't a game of treasure collecting but Castles & Crusades is. So last night was a bargaining session in the middle of a warzone. Lots of fun opportunities there! 

Maple White Land is home to some really nasty dinosaurs & Kaiju of its own right. So the players have no idea what to expect. There was talk of half of the party going recruit more muscle from Judge's Guild  City State of the World Emperor. This comes from the mouth of our paladin's player who isn't really happy about having to be in combat with prince wielding a demon sword dedicated to Demogoron. 

But the other players were all for it! Much to the uncomfort of the party's paladin whose had to do quite a bit of praying,begging, & getting a right bollocking from his god. He continues to serve without question but the player has been recently learning new modern medicine & herbal techiques from other members of the party. 

The hold out from our paladin's god has been the rather nasty vampiric cult operating in South America that has ties to  the so called ' Cult of Drelzna' that's operating out of a good portion of the area surrounding Maple White Land. They have a  copy of the  the Demonomicon of Iggwilv. But the players don't think its the 'real' one which is leading to all kinds of speculation. 

So now its off to the City State to recruit new PC's, but there's been player speculation that I've got something really nasty planned coming up!!? Serious like  the so called ' Cult of Drelzna' isn't enough of a threat?! And how does the Golden Dawn figure into all of this?! 

The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg Campaign - NPC Work Shop Prince Sthachac The Pallid Ruler of the Seventh Throne

 During last night's Victorious rpg session, there was a pallid figure upon the altar to be sacrificed by the cultists. The party managed to save him before blasting the Martian to kingdom come. So the sacrifice was supposed to be a throw away NPC but now is Prince Sthachac The Pallid Ruler of the Seventh Throne.  He wields the demon sword Cte-molorha. So basically this NPC is a homage (rip off according to one of my players to Elric. Because of the recent Stormbringer rpg campaign  posts on this blog. Those will be coming back shortly) to Michael Moorcock's Elric. Well yes & no actually. Prince Sthachac is a vistor from a far distant Earth, he's pale, tall, thin, & not at all sickly as Elric. Instead Prince Sthachac is the ruler of a Hyperborean colony kingdom in the far distant world of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique cycle. 


This ties into the fact that he's here on this Earth seeking a vampiric cult the so called ' Cult of Drelzna' a vampiric cult that has a copy of a demonic tome of incredibly dangerous proporations that may be able to wake his people from a sorcerious sleep placed upon them. This all ties back into his clashes with the cult within the  Yatil Mountains south of Perrenland. This sounds vaguely familiar;

"In the Yatil Mountains south of Perrenland there is rumored to be a magical hoard of unsurpassed value, a treasure of such fame that scores f adventurers have perished in search of it. Find the perilous Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and you may gain the hidden wealth of the long-dead arch-mage -- if you live! "

The demon sword Cte-molorha is the official key to his kingdom wielded by each king to sit on the seventh throne. The demon sword Cte-molorha is sacred to Demogorgon & capable of holdings its own against the champions of Law.




Our paladin found this out last night after he decided to go up against the prince. And was blasted across the pavement of New York City. 

There's a hatred between the prince & Drelnza, a fighter/vampire and the daughter of Iggwilv that goes way deeper then the players realize. This plot hook can be found here . The prince was a major mercenary  NPC during my Dark Albion Hundred Year War campaign a year ago. He was part of the players working with him to foil a huge plot for ^{local Chaos cultists  summoning back the temple from S4 "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth" to wreck havoc on the countryside of France & Europe itself.  The 'elves' of my campaigns hate this NPC prince with a passion bordering on obession.} 

Prince Sthachac isn't based on Elric instead he's based upon Sixties Marvel's Sub Mariner Prince Namor in attitude & his tactics with his people. He wants the best for them at all costs. He loaths the vampire cult & their reach into his world. 

So to create Prince Sthachac I used D20 Zothique available right here & the rules from Jason Vey's the Amazing Adventures Companion with its rules for Hyperborean characters. 

The whole cloth of the NPC came together with the powers of his demon sword being kept very vague for the moment. Prince Sthachac wants to recover the Demonomicon of Iggwilv for unknown reasons. That little book is at the moment in 'The Victorious Rpg' campaign in Maple White Land. 

Free OSR Download For S4 "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth" For Your Old School Campaigns

So last night I was going through the Vaults of Pandius website for some research into one of my all time favorite modules S4 "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth". Over the Easter holiday a fellow old school dungeon master clued me in on "Original Lost Caverns of Tsojconth - found in Karameikos? by Paleologos" 

article.

The basis of the article is very interesting to me,

"The original version of module S4 "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth" was actually published for OD&D (see "The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth" ('76 Tournament Edition)) and as such, holds a tenuous connection with Mystara. In fact, the first page of the adventure states that "the caverns of Tsojconth are a nexus in probability, where several alternate worlds touch" and so a location on Mystara is quite plausible.

In searching The Piazza, I found a previous thread discussing Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth placement but this only concerned the AD&D version of the module, which added a substantial wilderness portion to the adventure. The earlier version was limited to a description of the lost caverns, only.

I've long been intrigued by an unlabeled cave symbol from the Cook/Marsh map of Karameikos. Could this be a suitable location for the lost caverns of Tsojconth?"
This basically takes one of the finest examples of AD&D sword & sorcery adventure & makes it into a bridge gap into several campaign settings at once. The author also has a sixteen page sourcebook that changes and mixes several classic TSR adventure modules into a unified whole.
This means that the evil of the terrifying Tharizdun as a setting-spanning elder evil of Lovecraftian proportions!
Let me try to explain very quickly why this is an incredibly wily feat of old school DMing. It takes the threat of  Tharizdun and expands it across the planes something that was implied but never delivered upon. Now that's changed. Her evil could spread across many planes of existence including Hyperborea and the module S4 "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth"or at least this version of it could be used to bridge gap your PC's into a multitude of worlds if they survive. The question is will her evil spread? And will your PC's help it to or stop it dead in its tracks?



My thanks to Paleologos for this because S4 "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth" happens to be one of my favorite classic TSR era modules & the Fatal & Friends website has some scans from the  The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth ('76 Tournament Edition) for further history.

If you haven't downloaded the free 16-page document combining the original version with some room descriptions from the latter version, complete with a B1/B2-style rumor table then what are you waiting for?

Using places of Mystery & Magick along with 1d10 Random Ancient Places Of Magic And Mystery Encounter Table For Your Old School Campaigns

   There are places of ancient power that the flow of time and power moves around as water seemingly flows around a rock in a fast running stream. Places were the flow of magic and mystery call to adventurers,out laws and thieves.These ancient relics of a bygone age hold power and wizards seek to tap into the web of the occult that reach across the timeless void and dimensions. Here then are a small selection of wasteland locations that will snare your adventurers in webs of mystery danger and the deep end of magic. 

1d10 Random Ancient Places Of Magic 

And Mystery Encounter Table 

1. An ancient pile of standing stones and henges that are aligned with the comings and goings of damned stars. Anyone tapping into the powers of this place will receive 1d4 random spells and 10% chance of encountering some ancient Lovecratain guardian horror. 
2. A stone obelisk so ancient that the writing has worn from its surface.This black ancient place of mystery is a portal an ancient gate into some hellish dimension. Things lay in wait for any foolish magician, occultist, or other greedy person. There is a small treasure of 50,000 gold pieces secreted someplace on the site and a cult of ghouls guards the place. 
3. The ruins of some ancient downed airship that has been converted into a temple to the Old Ones. Here mutants come to worship, the place sparks with weird occult power and there are numerous artifacts scattered throughout the place. 
4. A pyramid of cut crystal glass blocks lock easily into place. The pyramid is the home to an ancient horror's soul and it will devour anyone's soul who gets close. The place is a draw for those seeking treasures. 
5. A massive underground pit of a ruin that seethes with raw occult power and grants 1d4 spells to those who wish to listen to those who listen to the wisdom from beyond the pale. 
6. A massive copper coloured structure calls to adventurers and is actually the projection of a god's essence trapped in stone. Those accessing this power will be struck by a horrid vision of insanity and power. They receive 1d6 spells but will be stunned for 1d10 hours. 
7. A massive floating castle upon a cloud is actually a beautiful location of some ancient tragic event. The place is time haunted by the ghosts of the ancients and they're relics and artifacts have been left behind. The place grants access to spells from the white and grey schools of magic. Ancient wraiths prowl halls of this place. 
8. A massive downed wreckage of some strange dimensional craft exists in many locations in space time and is guarded by elemental demons. There are ancient alien books and scrolls that will grant 1d8 spells to those spending 1d6 days here. 
9. There is a massive copper door set into the ground that leads to a deep well like dungeon and set of tunnels. These were home to a highly advance race of weird bat creatures and cave demons. There are weird echoing songs that will teach 1d4 spells of the Gray set to those who know the words of power. 
10. An incredible dungeon complex set within the skull of a being of power's head. The place still echoes with the monsters who share the place with the decayed portion of this thing's brain. It will telepathically teach two levels of spells but has a 30% chance of driving the supplicant insane temporarily.

Ancient places of power are rarely used for old school adventures these days in the past we've seen tons of ruins, tumbled down partially destroyed dungeons. But when was the last time that we've seen an temple of ancient astronomy or special stellar alignments used for an old school game. There are several OSR adventures such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess's Tower of the Star Gazer. But I have yet to see an adventure spun around the idea of an Archaeoastronomy location used for summoning demons, Lovecraftian gates & monsters,etc. And yet there are hints throughout old school several modules, most notably S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax  which has this entire theme of weirdness & star spawned  dread throughout. Sure its in Greyhawk but your party knows is in a place of occult power & deadly intent.


Even other reviewers noted the background intentions with S4; "Jim Bambra reviewed the adventure for White Dwarf. He gave it 9/10 overall, with 9/10 for presentation, rules, playability, enjoyment, skill, and complexity. Bambra noted that the module ended a long time off for Gary Gygax, and was "very tough" and that good play was stressed in the introduction. Sub par play quickly ended the story, but the rewards of powerful magic and the satisfaction of completing a difficult task made it worthwhile. He also noted that the adventure came with a 32-page booklet with 30 new monsters and a small amount of new magic. Not all the new creatures are featured in the plot, but they can be used by the DM in other adventures. Also, magical diagrams are given an in-depth treatment, including their creation and effectiveness"
And this sort of air permeates  S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax  effectively pulling in the players & dungeon masters with a classic module.