Exploiting The Hollow World Setting & OSR Games

"THE KNOWN WORLD: IT ISN'T FLAT, BUT IT IS HOLLOW. 

Within the sphere of the Know World is another world, the Hollow World. There your characters will meet ancient Nithians, long disappeared from the surface world and thought extinct: Blacklore Elves, living in a magical valley and served by automatons-devices that take care of everything, from serving their food to trimming their grass: Azcans, terrifying, war-mongering natives whose taste for battle extends even into their favorite game-the loosers always die- and many more. Monsters abound as well, from dinosaurs to aurochs. "




I love abusing The Hollow World box set by Aaron Allston, Karen S. Boomgarden, &  Bruce Heard. It is such a fun setting to drop PC's into & best of all its adaptable to both Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as well as BECMI Dungeons & Dragons . But can this wonderful setting be attached & used for other old school & OSR D&D style settings.

Different caverns & tunnels of the Hollow World have planar gateways into other D&D settings even though many of these are monitored & very dangerous. There's also the 'spell of preservation' issues along  lots of other weird bits & pieces.  Plus one has to deal with the Council of Intrusion ( the council is a party of immortals whose job is to eject any demons, devils, aliens, or cosmic entities from Mystara) if you were going to do a large scale otherworldly invasions you might be in trouble. But smaller parties,lone travelers, adventurers, etc. are not even going to be noticed. This got me thinking about Trey Causey's Dreams From the Sorcerer's Skull blog post 'Atomic Age riff on Operation Unfathomable'. What happens when some modern day adventurers blunder into 'The Hollow World' from a Fifties Atomic Age Operation Unfathomable? The Immortals are not going to bat an eye for one.

illustration by Nik Poliwko

The spell of preservation is going to cause all kinds of havoc with said adventurers. But let's take this further shall we.. If the door swings both ways then, what happens when Hollow World adventurers are exposed to the wilds of such a setting? Jason Sholtis's setting already has a science fantasy flavor about it & the Blacklore Elves might not be that shocked. But the races from the Hollow World? Well that's another matter entirely.  The Azcans who make it back to their lands inside the Hollow World after experiencing Sholtis's science fantasy fueled nightmare vision will prepare for war!

Let's not even mention  the Nithians or the Milenians both of whom have experience with the entire spectrum of occult techo science fantasy magicks & artifacts. What's really gonna be shocking is the array of inhuman & other worldly entities that rule the Operation Unfathomable setting itself.  But let's take the planar gate way bit even further & use Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The Hollow World lines up with Underborea & we have several serpent men scientists or ophidian adventurers visit. This isn't going to be a major issue as the serpent men already have a foot hold within Mystara. Well that's not a problem because of the Vaults of Pandius B4 Lost City Sourcebook. Adventurers from Hyperborea are going to feel right at home with the prehistoric beasts & lost nations of The Hollow World.



The kings & queens of Hyperborea would see the Hollow World as an incredible resource to be exploited & also a possible location for trade. Maybe conquest but I doubt it because of the military resources of  the Nithians or the Milenians could be a nightmare to deal with. But I can also see the setting being a perfect opportunity for some brave & very foolhardy adventurers from Lamentations of the Flame Princess stumbling right into the Hollow World & then dying. This is especially true of England Upturn’d campaign adventure By Barry Blatt & its use of the English civil war. This is very desperate England & a party of adventurers could make some dangerously inane diplomatic decisions. 

By the same token but a completely different side of the coin an adventuring party from  Albion from Lion & Dragon might have a very different experience. They've got experience with many kingdoms & lost lands. Albion is going to play it very cagey & learn as much as they can about the lands, religions, cultures, etc. before they set up trade or commit to a military objective. Albion is in the grip of its own civil war & can ill afford to deal with a planar war.

Finally there's the fact that with the Amazing Adventures fifth edition book winding down in less then forty hours I'd be remiss to mention that the Hollow World could easily be plugged into Jason Vey's baby. The Hollow World has a lot to offer AA! & could open up an entire can of worms for adventurers. I don't want to think of the ramifications of this meeting because its beyond the scope of this blog. But with the kickstarter winding down this classic setting seems primed for another look by AA! Rpg fans.

Moving back into the Hollow World for a moment the 

HWA1 Nightwail (Basic) adventure could be used to rope in otherworldly adventurers into the setting. Because its a relatively mundane adventure. NWA1 could be adapted for any of these settings & systems. 

Deeper Cuts into DDA2: "Legions of Thyatis" (1990), by John Nephew,

"REVOLT OF THE GLADIATORS!

The corrupt Thyatian senator, Helenites Osteropolus, his latest scheme smashed by the adventurers and their gladiator allies, hatches a new plot to destroy the influence of the Order of the Sands (even, perhaps, to attack the Emperor himself!). Yet greater dangers lie ahead. If his plot succeeds, it will remove the guardians that protect the city from the creatures that lurk in the caverns and catacombs below. Can the players block his gambit? Will the wheels of justice grind small, or will the greasy palm of political corruption reach out and save the senator once again? YOU decide, in the chaotic swirl of the Thyatian capital's politics."
DDA2: "Legions of Thyatis" (1990), by John Nephew, is an adventure for the Basic D&D game. It was published in August 1990. Taken as a whole this is a module that's like a ticking time bomb with a campaign coupled with DDA1: "Arena of Thyatis" (1990), by John Nephew. These  two books should have been one product in my humble opinion.
But back to the blog entry because what DDA2: "Legions of Thyatis" (1990) represents is a mini campaign waiting to happen. I've used this series of modules with Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Astonshing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, and many more. But for the moment let's concentrate on Mystara.



"The player's PC's have to venture into a labyrinth of catacombs to prevent the senator from eliminating the wards that protect Thyatis City from the monsters in the subterranean realm beneath it." And this is where things get very interesting because DDA2: "Legions of Thyatis" (1990) catches, codifies, & twists the expectations of the setting of The Empire of Thyatis like a rag doll. There are monsters below the empire & all of this ties directly into the history of the empire. According to the Thyatis wiki entry;

"Karameikos is ruled by a Thyatian nobility, but the Empire's territories consist of the western half of the Isle of Dawn, the island realms of Ochalea and the Pearl Islands, and the Thyatian Hinterlands on the southern continent of Davania, in addition to its mainland territories on Brun, which are the smallest of the Empire's territories by geographic size, but the most heavily populated and developed of them. The total land area of the Empire is approximately 800,000 square miles (2,100,000 km²). Because of its political geography, Thyatis can best be described as a thalassocracy.

In its long history, Thyatis has ruled other lands, including Traladara (which became Karameikos), the islands of Ierendi, the southern half of Ylaruam, and the city of Oceansend in Norwold. Thyatian settlers have colonized part of the Savage Coast and also the Heldannic Freeholds, which are ruled by a religious order devoted to the Thyatian-descended Immortal Vanya.

Thyatis has a historic rivalry with the Alphatian Empire, and the two imperial powers devote much of their energy and attention to each other. At the start of the official timeline (AC 1000, or thousand years after the crowning of the first Emperor of Thyatis, in the Thyatian calendar), they are locked in a struggle resembling that of the Cold War, and several published high-level modules have their territorial disputes as a backdrop (notably CM 1, M1, M2, and M5)." This struggle ties directly into the material of the Hollow World itself.


So what happens if the events Wraith of the Immortals box set  never happened?! Well the Wiki entry hints at that much & possibly more saying; "The adventures of the boxed set Wrath of the Immortals takes place within the context of a great war between the two, climaxing in the weakening of Thyatis and the sinking of the continent of Alphatia. Subsequently, Thyatis conquered a few formerly Alphatian territories, suffered setbacks and plague, and by the final official publication that made much mention of Thyatis (Joshuan's Almanac) seemed to be on the road for a gradual recovery. Many campaigns did not use Wrath of the Immortals and the development of their versions of Mystaran countries, particularly Thyatis and Alphatia, may have diverged greatly. In particular those who used earlier published modules, such as CM1 Test of the Warlords or M5 Talons of Night, which involved different conflicts and possible resolutions, could have ended up with very different versions of the Empires than what occurred in the Wrath timeline.

In a review of the adventures Arena of Thyatis and Legions of Thyatis, game designer Ken Rolston called Thyatis "a D&D-game version of ancient Rome", and the city of Thyatis itself an "ancient Roman city", saying: "You have your basic criminal syndicates, debauched and corrupt senators, sinister intrigues, big parties, and lots of hearty Spartacus-style gladiators.""
All of this is wrapped up with a spectacular issue of Threshold magazine #11v2 that addresses this & several other issues tied in with the altering of the Mystara timeline 

The real issue is the strong adventure connections between Arena of Thyatis and Legions of Thyatis, with 'The Milenian Empire' of the Hollow World. What if the same basic criminal syndicates, debauched and corrupt senator's network extends down into the Milenian Empire. Could it actually be that the Merry pirates are working with the this corrupt network & thieves guild in disguise?! Think I'm kidding?! Think again.


In History of the Thyatian People by James Ruhland the secrets are laid bare for all to see. The corruption & horror of the gladiatorial game of the Thyatian people is laid bare. The Merry Pirates line their pockets with the gold of the Milenian Empire while new gladiators are brought into the capital. While above on the surface a minor gladiator revolt revolves around the empire of Thyatis? No this isn't going to end trade at all because the pirates are part of the smugglers of Mystara. That tight network has been ferrying goods, contraband, slaves, etc. for centuries.
What does any of this have to do with Mentzer edition BECMI Dungeons & Dragons? Everything because the Expert set's rules build on wilderness & sea adventures. This raises the stakes a bit if the PC's are going to carry the fight & revolt into and about the Thyatian empire.


Taken as a whole these two modules make an excellent start to a mini campaign that can lead to epic campaign lead ins.  Arena of Thyatis and Legions of Thyatis, are classic BECMI Dungeons & Dragons adventures that expose the dirty underside of the Thyatis empire & remain a favorite of mine. 

Taking a Deeper Slice of DDA1: "Arena of Thyatis" (1990), by John Nephew

"And simply everyone is going to the magnificent Villa Osteroplus, home of the wealthy old senator, Helenites. Raucous fun, exotic food, and even advanced betting on the upcoming Arena games are expected. Even adventurers just in from the outlands may meet the powerful here. So don your festive togas, for in Thyatis City there are important connections to be made and deeds to be done, duels to be fought and fame to be won. 

This module is designed especially for the DM who want to sharpen his interactive skills."
DDA1: "Arena of Thyatis" (1990), by John Nephew is one of those modules that puts the PC's at the far end of Thayatis. For Mystara Thyatis a major player think late & early Roman empire with lots of decadence & dark issues. There is a solid Wiki entry that fills in some of the gaps; "Thyatis (the city) is the capital of the Empire and the largest city on Mystara. It is on the southeastern coast of the continent of Brun, situated between the trade lanes of the Sea of Dread to the south and the Sea of Dawn to the east, alongside a canal ("Vanya's Girdle").

Conceptually, Thyatis is a mixture of different parts of the various historical Roman empires. It is governed by an Emperor and an Imperial Senate as per the classical Roman Empire, but enfranchises a feudal noble class similar to that of the Holy Roman Empire. The Emperor himself is akin to that of the Byzantines (as is the capital city's placement on a major strait). The Imperial Bureaucracy as described in Dawn of the Emperors is clearly inspired by that of the British Empire, as is, at least in name, one branch of the Thyatian Armed Forces, the "Retebius Air Corps" (RAF), which consists of cavalry on flying mounts (Pegasi, Hippogriffs, Griffons, Sphinxs, Rocs, and Dragons).

Karameikos is ruled by a Thyatian nobility, but the Empire's territories consist of the western half of the Isle of Dawn, the island realms of Ochalea and the Pearl Islands, and the Thyatian Hinterlands on the southern continent of Davania, in addition to its mainland territories on Brun, which are the smallest of the Empire's territories by geographic size, but the most heavily populated and developed of them. The total land area of the Empire is approximately 800,000 square miles (2,100,000 km²). Because of its political geography, Thyatis can best be described as a thalassocracy."

What this module does is puts the PC's center stage into the role of gladiators & not unlike Conan they begin to deal with the ranks of that & "Arena of Thyatis" is strongly  tied to Dawn of the Emperors: Thyatis and Alphatia (1989),



This module isn't going to put the PC's center stage instead its going to put the PC's on the edges of the empire with the themes of  "political corruption &  drug abuse taking center stage." There is a Spartacus feel to the adventure. Survival is dependant on being clever & cagey in the backdrop of this corner of the empire. Yesterday's blog post put the PC's square in the middle of the Mystara urban kingdoms. But what happens if you want to bring the action on the outskirts of civilization? The PC's are going to have to navigate NPC's, opportunities, & a refinement of the rake class. Indeed many of the advantages of DDA1: "Arena of Thyatis" (1990), is that it takes full advantage of Mentzer's Dungeons & Dragons Basic. 


 Helenites Osteropolus, a Thyatian senator, is the pig that makes makes life for the PC's utter Hell. DDA1 is worth the price of admission because of the extensive details on the gladiators of Thyatis. They can play an important role in the PC's lives in the days of the campaign yet to come. DDA1: "Arena of Thyatis" (1990) is one of the key modules for Mystara's Hollow World. The ancient caverns beneath the collusium directly tie into the Hollow World itself. In fact in recent years I've had these tunnel systems & ancient lava tubes connect with 'The Milenian Empire' book's setting  by  Anthony Herring from 1992. This gives the material a nice sly but contemporary connection between these two very different empires with common ground.


The NPC's of DDA1: "Arena of Thyatis" (1990) are well thought out & clever to cause the NPC's trouble. This is literally their reason for being & keeping an eye or two on the issues plaguing the PC's is a fantastic idea. 

Back to Basics & Beyond - Dungeons & Dragons Set 1: The Basic Rules the Mentzer Edition & Tom Moldvay's B4 The Lost City

"This box contains all you need to start having FUN:

Programmed adventures for easy learning and HOURS of FUN

The PLAYER'S GUIDE for beginning characters - with simple and expert combat rules, magic spells, and role playing tips" 
So reads the back of one of the most iconic editions of Dungeons & Dragons Set 1: The Basic Rules  the Mentzer Edition. 

Yes I totally keep stealing these photos from Wayne's books. 
He's a friend & you should totally order vintage gaming supplies from him. 

 What is so iconic about Mentzer edition Dungeons & Dragons? Well, besides it being responsible for reorganizing the rules of Dungeons & Dragons Basic as we know it? Well I've always gotten the feeling that Frank Mentzer is one guy who knew his editing. The layout & editing of his edition of Dungeons & Dragons is top notch. But its really the interior line art done by Larry Elmore & Jeff Easley that totally made me buy this edition. I started thinking about first level characters in the Hollow World & Mystara. How do you cope as a first level PC in these settings?! In the Hollow World almost everything is trying to eat you & everyday is like the Jurassic Park films. What kinda impact is that gonna have on PC's coping with the day to day struggle of staying alive. But only the most lucky, stupid, or intelligent are going to live long enough to become adventurers. 

"Within the sphere of the Known World is another world, the Hollow World. There your characters will meet ancient Nithians, long disappeared from the surface world and thought extinct: Blacklore Elves, living in a magical valley and served by automatons --devices that take care of everything, from serving their food to trimming their grass: Azcans, terrifying, war-mongering natives whose taste for battle extends even into their favorite game -- the losers always die -- and many more. Monsters abound as well, from dinosaurs to aurochs."


Take one party of mixed race Mystara & Hollow World adventurers have them deal with some of the adventure threads implied in the Sons of Azca book. Here's the truth The Sons of Azca take slaves for sacrifice. And having a party escape their clutches is the perfect excuse to get the PC's involved in the events of the Hollow World. Now putting a band of Azca slave hunters on their tail is going to get the PC's deeply involved in trying to deal with the Hollow World wilderness. Be sure to use the Hollow World random encounter tables for this.


Another possibility is idea of being captured by the Kingdom of Nithia & used as slaves in that empire. Here's where the PC's might escape & stumble upon B4 Tom Moldvay's The Lost City  within the Nithia desert. Now here's where things can get tricky. The Vaults of Pandius has a free & highly valuable sourcebook for B4 The Lost City. Be sure to download it. Now here's my idea this version of 'The Lost City' isn't the same one sitting out in the deserts of Mystara! 



This city  instead is another of Zargon's beach heads upon Mystara & the place has may of the suggestions about the Cynidiceans in place. Gone are the insane animal headed people & instead is a lost race ruled by Great Old One. There are swaths of sections abandoned & dungeons to be explored but there's a sane race with lots of survivor factions competing with each to deal with the mega dungeon of city & its relics. Half Edgar Rice Burroughs & Robert E. Howard as the player's PC's suddenly have to deal with machinations of the serpent men the real rulers of the Cynidicean's lost city. Their looking for a mysterious relic to free themselves from becoming prey to the serpent men. They've been prey animals for centuries & things are getting more desperate as time goes on.
Is the 'lost city' connected to the one in the deserts of Mystara? You better believe it through a teleportation or planar gateway. They might make a forray into the world above in Mystara. Resupply & head back to do battle with the primeval horrors of the lost city. They might even use some set of rooms as a base to conduct raids & dungeon crawls from.

Hoplite & War Machine - 'The D&D Master Rules Set' (1985), by Frank Mentzer & 'The Milenian Empire' By Anthony Herring

"At last, the cycle is complete. Players and Dungeon Masters alike may experience the wonder of reaching for the ultimate levels of mortal might with the D&D Master Set. 

In the Basic Set you learned to crawl through dungeons and defeat the minions of evil. In the Expert Set you set out on wanderings through the wilderness. In the Companion Set you climbed to the pinnacle of success and founded kingdoms, conquered wild lands, and battled barbarian hordes. Now, in the Master Set, you can soar across the sky and into the pages of legend. 

These books are written for the experienced D&D player. The Master Player's Book expands on the known abilities of characters with new skills and spells. The Dungeon Masters Book features three sections that have become a standard for each rules set: New Procedures, Monsters, and Magical Treasures, all designed with the Master Level characters in mind. 

Now, you are only limited by your imagination. Answer the clarion call to adventure; the lands of legend await!"

Today I'm gonna talk about two books that don't seem to go together at all but fit together like hand & glove. "The D&D Master Rules Set (1985), by Frank Mentzer, is the fourth volume in Mentzer's BECMI rules series. It was published in June 1985", for most folks that's about the extent of this box set. A shrug & a 'meh' then they move on but that's a mistake. The  D&D Master Rules Set (1985), is like the cherry on top. This is the rules set that puts the other side of the battle rules into the war machine system. There's also expanded classes, spell, and weapons to the ultimate levels of mortal D&D characters. Seems fairly straight forward right?  The Millenian Empire of the Hollow World benefits quite a great deal by adding in 'The D&D Master Rules Set' to these Hollow World conquerors.  Yes I said conquerors! "Once a great people in the Known World, the Milenians now administer a mighty Empire in the Hollow World. Loosely inspired by classical Greece, this is a nation of philosophers, oracles, architects, and mighty pikemen in a strange land where Citizens elect their own leaders, and ultimately the Emperor himself.
A society as political as Milenia cannot avoid intrigue, and the land is rife with conspiracies. From the would-be Kings to the lowly slaves, to the dark, grasping servants of chaos. It seems everyone in Milenia belongs to one secret society or another.
But even on the surface, there's plenty of drama: from the legendary Acropolis to the eccentric Academy of the Arcane Corisa, adventure calls you to the Milenian Empire!"



Well if we take 'The Master Rules' set & add it onto 'The Milenian Empire' book by  Anthony Herring from 1992. Then we get a very dangerous empire indeed instead of a stagnate one that seems destined for the scrap pile of inner Mystara history. The military evolutionary stands of 'The Master Rules' expands upon the military options available for 'The Milenian Empire'. Oh indeed I can already hear the 'hurruf' from the old school traditionalist Mystara players.
There's damn good reason why the empire is going to need the sort of help that Frank Mentzer's offering in 'The D&D Master Rules. The empire is surrounded on all sides by enemies & the second the events of 'Immortals Fury' goes down that's going to prime opportunity for military action to begin.

Neither the 'Sons of Azca (HWR1)' nor 'Kingdom of Nithia (HWR2)'  are going to sit on their collective rears. There's going to be a huge land grab & militarily that is going to really shake up the Hollow World. Then there's the fact that many of the immortals of Mystara are gonna be dead. 'The Milenian Empire' has a number of high ranking generals, warriors, etc. who are gonna be fit to take up the quest of immortality that is offered in "The D&D Master Rules Set (1985), by Frank Mentzer. This might well be a back door into Mystara immortality if the DM sees fit.


So why would I be pushing for a more military option for all three of these kingdoms?! Because the one group of cut throats that folks seem to forget could become a very dominate power in the Hollow World. The Merry Pirates who are made up of a quilted pattern of the collected scum of many of the races of the Hollow World & Mystara. Their itching to let loose on these empires to sack them. If your thinking that there isn't a Greyhawk connection here well you'll be very mistaken. The Merry Pirates have ties to The Lordship of the Isles . Their craft quietly slipping between the cracks of the planes shifting over to Greyhawk for a handy resupply & to sell ill gotten goods. Only to have them slip back into the Hollow World. What's one ship or even a fleet to the Council of Intrusion? 

The merry pirates are the barbarians at the gate of the Hollow World. Their fleets represent some of the more advanced peoples of the 'Hollow World' & their waiting with their knives at the throats of the major empires. These empire's scum, prisoners, etc. all have swelled the ranks of the 'Merry Pirates' over the years.

Attack by Pirates By Artist Arnold Böcklin
"The D&D Master Rules Set (1985), by Frank Mentzer, is perfectly suited to show the spoils of war, violence of battle, the cost of blood shed, & futility of the siege in the Hollow World. There are spells, new artifacts, alternative paths to becoming an immortal, etc. many of which were reconned in the Immortals Box set.  But its nice to have those on the table to decide how & when you need your options as dungeon master for your players. 

Blood & Warfare - The Hollow World & The D&D Companion Rules Box Set By Frank Mentzer

"This is the third boxed set of the Dungeons & Dragons game series. The first, the D&D Basic Set, introduced the game and explained the rules for 1st-3rd level characters. In the D&D Expert Set, character levels 4-14 were detailed, along with notes on the fantasy world in which the characters live.

If you started with a 1st character, and have enjoyed the wilderness expansion of Expert level play, then you are ready for this set.

You can also use this set if you'd like to discover what it's like to own a medieval castle. You can rule a land, bring civilization to the wilderness, and cope with all the threats to your territory, while facing monsters and magic of all kinds.

Your adventures will be different than ever before. Lower level characters must keep busy surviving and learning; but when you find the challenges lacking, or treasure too easily found, you may start to wonder?"Is there anything more?"

There certainly is! Games for higher level characters are often different?as new as when the characters first braved the unknown wilderness."
When we get down into the history of this set its all about Wilderness folks but lets get that history outta the way shall we, "The D&D Companion Rules Set (1984), by Frank Mentzer, is the third volume in Mentzer's BECMI rules series. It was published in June 1984." This is the box set that introduced 'the War Machine system' According to the Drivethrurpg entry; "Douglas Niles and Gary Spiegel to create the game's new warfare system. He asked the two for: "a fast, easy-to-run, uncomplicated but expandable, comprehensive but not tedious, all-new state-of-the-art method for handling REALLY large battles, something that newbies could embrace but that old-schoolers could use without squawking".
Easy.
The two delivered one of TSR's best received mass-combat systems, the War Machine. Niles would go on to produce a few other mass combat systems for TSR, while Spiegel would unfortunately fall victim to one of TSR's layoffs of the mid '80s."Something no one seems to take about is the fact that the Hollow World is the perfect place to test out the D&D Companion rules box set by Frank Mentzer. Its perfect  for taking over large swaths of underground world of Mystara.
Its too bad because the War Machine is ideal suited to bringing the conflict, blood shed, & horror of tribal warfare to the Hollow World & the PC's can be at at center of it. 

But the spell of Preservation would prevent 'XYZ' from happening.. Umm the players & dungeon master's play overrides any story element. Besides the inner world is full of undead such as the phantom, haunt, and spirit perfectly suited to give the player's PC's a run for their money. The companion set has some addition power to add into 'The Hollow World' setting such as high level dragons which could be leading that country or kingdom that the player's PC's have heard about. Finally you can actually unleash a black dragon NPC upon a Mystara campaign with some real 'heat'. Want to scare a group of players try taking on a Black Dragon within its own element with lizardmen or bullywug mercenaries.



When it comes to absolute essential information Who’s Who in the Wyrmsteeth part 2 by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold issue #9 is a must.In fact that whole issue is key if your doing anything Hollow World related. 

The Companion rules complement the ritualized wars that are hinted about in the Hollow World box set & can now be carried out. Finally you get a solid set of rules to handle the dragons of Mystara & still make sense of carving out a kingdom. Somehow I've never seen the Hollow World with empires like the Sons of Azca as particularly stagnate.

The really interesting part of this is that over the years I've used different gateways in dungeons, tunnels, etc. to connect 'my own version' of the Hollow World to different OSR settings. Yes this isn't Mystara anymore but its made for a very dynamic & enjoyable game or two after the failure of the spell of Preservation from events of Wraith of the Immortals. In fact the PC's were recruited by the Immortals to help drive out the various interlopers who came to call on the Hollow World setting.  The Council of Intrusion was responsible but spread very thin by the events of Wraith. 

And here's where the Merry Pirates come in to take full advantage of the chaos happening within the Hollow World. Their not worth the effort to take down by group of high & mighty immortals or are they? See this is where the naval rules of BECMI Dungeons & Dragons come in very handy. The higher level immortals have to come in to put things right & do a reset. Remember I mentioned those dragons? This is exactly when the PC's can expect to see tooth, claw, & breath weapons turned loose. There are always ramifications when it comes fall out from the events of a module. The real question is do the followers of entropy slip in as well?

An Ancient Light In The Dark - The Deadly Legacy of The Valley of the Lighthouse of Ka In The Hollow World, Greyhawk, & Beyond

"Thousands of years ago, the Immortal Ka inspired learned people from the many cultures of the Hollow World to make a dangerous journey to the mountainous area where the Valley of the Lighthouse is found. There they could shed their cultural bias and dedicate their lives to the accumulation of knowledge.

The existence of the Lighthouse is a secret to players, but they may eventually discover its location and inhabitants.

How would you use the Lighthose in a Campaign?

-Havard"



I ran across this thread on the Piazza & let me give you a bit of background on the 'why' of things. I've been doing research combing through forums & going over my Mystara & Greyhawk box sets. Most of this has been an attempt to put together shadow passages between the various dungeons of Mystara & Greyhawk. Not simply T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil by Gary Gygax & Frank Mentzer. 
Are the connections between Mystara & Greyhawk deeper then most players realize?!  I think so & poster Argentmantle goes into a very interesting background for the Lighthouse in his own campaign;
The second example is a bit hairier. The Lighthouse was used as the repository for vast amounts of knowledge... and like the Vatican, its vaults were chock full of things that were best left locked away. The characters were working for a patron who was (unknowingly) under the influence of Thanatos. They were researching a way to remove the Nithian towers. So, over the course of the campaign, they researched bits and pieces of lore. They eventually stored the Regalia of Evil, which allowed the entropic effects to twist the people of the Lighthouse, there. The final showdown took place in the 'catacomb' like storage vaults of the Lighthouse... a merry chase across the land and eventually a final showdown at the Tower of Soth. In the end, the characters had delivered the Regalia of Evil to the Tower of Soth and one of the Burrowers awakened."


That regalia he's talking about is the 'Regalia of Might' or 'Evil' which goes all of the way back to Eldritch Wizardry in 1976. They would be further developed in AD&D second edition's Book of Artifacts.  These are powerful artifacts & are only a sample of the type of items found in the lighthouse.


Poster Argentmantle goes on to further define his own campaign setting use of the lighthouse, the 'regalia', & the lighthouse as campaign adventure setting ; "The Tower of Soth is one of the Burrowers that was trapped by the Spell of Preservation.

I personally used the idea that the architecture was a mixture of Egyptian (i.e. Nithian) and organic style. It was twisted but recognizable. Until the party reached the inner sanctums of the place, it was a normal building with details that were just wrong. Like the room seemed to have a recognizable 'pulse' just out of conscious hearing. Or that a hallway had a capillary effect, organically moving just a bit... enough to feel 'wrong' but not enough to scream about. As they got nearer the 'core' the level of wrong increased until the party was walking through the circulatory system of a large wormy thing. 

The Nithian hieroglyphs were also a neat way to play things up. We used a cheap book that someone got at a used bookstore as the guideline. This way I could make the players have to do some work as well. The outer rooms were filled with hieroglyphs that were recognizable and meaningful, speaking of warnings, ancient hidden things, shadows in the night... but as they moved deeper into the place, they discovered that the hieroglyphs no longer meant anything and were becoming just a collage of twisted images. In the final antechambers, the walls were just adorned gross and twisted imagery.

As they brought the artifacts into the Burrower's tomb, the place began to seethe with life. Like something very old and very terrible was waking up. Unluckily, the players didn't quite get the message until they had brought the Regalia into the 'heart' of the tower. The players thought they would confront a powerful Nithian mummy or Pharoah, maybe even the agent or invested mortal form of Thanatos himself. The problem was they had fully reawakened the thing and it had started to be alive again.

I explained the situation, that they were literally inside of the monster that they weren't supposed to be in... they had awakened it fully. And it really should have digested them at this point. The reason the party ended up as worm food was because a Wizard and Priest didn't get along in character... and didn't share the pieces of information that when together gave the missing pieces of the puzzle. I applauded my players for sticking to their roleplaying... shook my head and started polling for information for the next campaign.

I like a building sense of dread and fear and than a climax of heinous evil. Basically, there is a lot of foreboding along the way, corruption, twisting, and than the truly evil stuff kicks in. When dealing with things like the Burrowers or Entropic Immortals or Evil Gods, I believe that these incarnates of evil are palpably so. I think I read too much Lovecraft and CAS for it not to be that way.

Now, onto the Regalia of Evil...
The Regalia of Evil is a trio of Evil (notice the capital E), artifacts. They consist of a crown, orb, and rod. I modified these slightly to appear like a ankh, rod, and double crown of Nithia. The party collected them with the idea of keeping them out of the clutches of Evil minions, but in truth were delivering them to a more powerful, more subtle evil that was working at the Lighthouse. Them strong nature of these things corrupted some of the staff of the Lighthouse who were involved in the running battle through the lower levels. Then the party chased the villain. They made it to the Tower... defeated him on the doorstep then carried the artifacts into the tower. 

I think the Regalia was a 2E thing... I know they were in the AD&D 2E Book of Artifacts and showed up in 3E. They are basically alignment artifacts of extreme potency and more so when combined as a set. I think the combined power was that they could make one of the Burrowers bend to the will of the wielder (if they were evil)... in truth, this was a lie propagated by an Entropic Immortal... it gave the wielder no power of them, just needed the delivery service.  There is supposed to be a Good and Neutral set as well. I just liked the concept and kinda made the powers and abilities of it my own. I'll look and see if I have that stuff in an old binder somewhere. I was making notes on my PC, but not really keeping things saved with each transition to a new computer."
The real question is does Greyhawk also have a lighthouse as well? These entropic aligned Immortals might also be connected with their other planarly counterparts. Are these lighthouses spread across the planes as a sort of storehouse for both knowledge, magic, dangerous artifacts & more? The 'Regalia of Evil' are indicative of the sort of artifacts that we see in Greyhawk lore. These artifacts first appeared in Eldritch Wizardry in 1979 & played a role in several D&D & AD&D products over the years. They are certainly not to be taken lightly & Greyhawk's mythology is peppered with them.  In fact I recalled a recent blog post from  the Greyhawkery blog titled 'Infinity War and Greyhawk' from May fifth of last year. 
It up points the type of world & history shattering effect that artifacts can have on a campaign. So could these lighthouses actually be locations of cooperation between the gods & the Immortals? Certain factions of godly power studying, examining, & planning to foul the plans of the followers of Entropy across the planes?!
The answer might be a resounding yes because they came from a time when the planes were truly threatened in a epic level war against Entropy itself. This means that these lighthouses might be peppered across the planes in various old school & OSR settings. This also means that the 'lighthouses' that have been abandoned for a very long time might be some of the most dangerous dungeons that player's PC's can come across.
This goes right back to the 1979 Original Dungeons & Dragons book 'Eldritch Wizard' many of the artifacts in that book specify a conflict or many battles that these artifacts had seen action in. Not only are these artifacts vital to the historical mythology of Greyhawk & Mystara but to very nature of the planes.


On Friday I spoke with DM Steve whose running a world hopping campaign in which the lighthouses play a major factor & he's using Bloat Games's  SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City rules. He's been watching their latest kickstarter for SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City RPG 2 Book Quickstarter. But its going to be a matter to see if the players survive the latest zombie plague that one of the artifacts from the lighthouse has unleashed on their campaign city.


Like I said the lighthouses are not something to be taken lightly. For my own home game I've been toying with the idea of a Hyperborean god's lighthouse hidden away in Underborea in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. I would use one of the myriad of great published adventures to have the party stumble upon one of these lighthouses in Hyperborea.

The Lighthouse of Ka are some very dangerous adventure locations & should be used carefully within OSR & old school campaigns. Next time the overlapping & over arching places of power for adventurers to stumble upon.

Under The Skull & Cross Bones Connection - The Hollow World Box Set & The Isle of Dread

'Hundreds of miles from the mainland, surrounded by dangerous waters, lies an island known only as the Isle of Dread. Dark jungles and treacherous swamps await those who are brave enough to travel inland in search of the lost plateau, where the ruins of a once mighty civilization hold many treasures - and many secrets! "

For many people the X1 The Isle of Dread By David Cook, &  Tom Moldvay remains the Pulp standard for Expert D&D By Frank Mentzer. According to Frank it would take about two months total to play through as a mini campaign. This has been my experience in the past with the module. But I reread through my original Expert copy & ogling the Tim Truman artwork once again. But it was the pirate illustrations & the overall feel of this TSR classic. My day has been beyond a hectic one & strange thoughts can sometimes creep in at this point. “ Exterminate the Pirates", alternate scenario for D&D module The Isle of Dread, art by Timothy Truman, TSR was something that always seemed on the menu with various players over the years. But why?!
 

I think perhaps these pirates might have a bit of a reputation that precedes them. I thumbing through the Piazza as I sometimes do & stumbled upon this thread about rehabbing the 'Merry Pirates' of the Hollow World box set. 
But it was member cab's post that got my creative juices flowing;"cab wrote:No, I wouldn't go down that route, I'd go the other way...

A whole nation of pirates can't survive against the might of empires, at least, not indefinitely. They'll fight just as much amongst themselves as with outsiders, they'll ultimately die out. Which isn't the point of the Hollow World 

Give them a technological edge; renaissance or even better style square rigged vessels, give them speed and maneuverability and an arms advantage and they survive. Not only that, they are the scourge of their part of the Hollow World, a force to be feared, the story to scare children with."

Let's take this at face value & make the 'Merry Pirates' not only scary but downright dangerous. Havard Blackmoor bless his heart got the second part of this adventure element almost into place for me;  "Many Merry Pirates are actually brought into the Hollow World with their memories intact. I could see scenarios where the PCs are captured by Pirates only to have the Captain secretly inquire from them about the state of things back in the old country " What if the 'Merry Pirate' kingdoms are actually using the Hollow Earth as a sort of secret nation base? What if their black wizards are actually using elemental planar gateways to come & go from the Hollow World as they please? I see the 'Merry Pirates' as a bunch of murderous opportunities & cut throats raiding where & when they will.

'The Merry Pirate' nations & floating islands are made up of a mix of Hollow World & Mystara races & mixed members. These groups never have made a unified front but might at some point. But the Sea of Dread was mapped out in X1 & that's where the other Hollow World connection comes in. In the Vaults of Pandius Free Mystara resource Sea of Dread there's an article called Pirate Lords of the Sea of Dread by Colin (LordJuss) Wilson. We get the low down on some of the Sea of Dread's worst of the worst sea scum.. You can download Threshold issue #3 here. 

The  Storm of Korotiku guarantees a fresh supply of fodder for the Merry Pirate nations as many pirates find themselves on the strange shores of the Hollow World. 

What if the Merry Pirates' are not simply raiding the Hollow World? The Island of Dread is now a part of the Elemental Plane of Water & partially exists a higher dimensional or planar location. In Threshold Magazine Issue 4: The Sea of Dread we get Advice for traders in the Sea of Dread by LoZompatore which offers some interesting insight into the forces at work in this legendary oceanic location. I think that the connection between the Pirate Lords of the Sea of Dread & the Merry Pirates goes much deeper. I personally think that they've been taking full advantage of Mystara & the Hollow World's oceanic connection to the Elemental Plane of Water for centuries.


Ocean Encounter: Sea Hydra, by Timothy Truman,
 from D&D module X2: The Isle of Dread, TSR, 1983.

Infact in my own home campaigns I've been using the 'Merry Pirates' to raid the seas of Greyhawk for years. These pirates have spies, diplomatic aids, & ties to the Dullstrand  a region on the eastern coast of the Flanaess. Known for the many colourful smugglers, pirates, and fugitives that use its coast and ports as a refuge from authorities. In other words the perfect location to blend into the background of Oerth.

But the connections don't stop there according to the wiki entry on Dullstrand;

"For players utilising the 1980 or 1983 edition of World of Greyhawk, the Dullstrand is a silent partner of the Iron League, and this setting can be used to explore the theme of righteous rebellion against the corrupt, decadent and cruel rulers of the crumbling Great Kingdom and their minions.^[1]

For players who use later "post-Grehawk Wars" versions of this campaign world, the Dullstrand is affected by the attempted takeover of the entire southern Flanaess by the Scarlet Brotherhood, and can be used as a benchmark of the Brotherhood's overall success or failure of their continental ambitions.

In addition, Dullstrand can be used as the quintessential "lawless town" of noisy taverns and bar fights. Using the Dullstrand as a setting also allows dungeon masters to move their campaign away from a traditional northern European land-based setting to a warmer climate and themes involving ships, piracy, and smuggling, and encounters, both land- and sea-based, with pirates and buccaneers." 

Alright so I've talked about 'The Merry Pirates' as an actual nation level threat but what are the OSR connections. I've used them as enemies in both Lamentations of the Flame Princess & as raiders of absolute horror in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. These lightning raiders appear on the horizon. Attack various nations vessels & then vanish into an elemental  storm. 

The Merry Pirates are going to take full advantage of their upper hand in any campaign setting. Fast ships, lightning raids & tactics, strength in numbers, fast ships, pillaging & plundering, & quick escapes. The Isle of Dread is possibly simply another hide away for them on a string of such planar pirate hide outs.
I've used these pirates in a number of very unexpected encounters including recently in my Amazing Adventures campaign. With the 5th edition Amazing Adventures Kickstarter winding down I might be using them soon then I was expecting. Never mind though let's get back to the Hollow World for a moment. Issue Nine of Theshold magazine fills in a lot of the gaps of the Hollow World including valuable information on The Lighthouse’s Guide to Unknown Cultures: The Floating Continents of the Hollow World. This could lead to some very dangerous encounters with the Merry Pirates & their steel!