Revisiting The Free OSR Post Apocalyptic Comic Book Resource Atomic War! As Alternative Old School Campaigns Part I

Need an old school campaign setting that has that Fallout feel but takes a completely different course of events. A sand box setting where 'The Bomb' has created the perfect Fifties science fiction movie parameters for mutants, mutation, and all of the venues of Americana old school mayhem? We've got you covered with Ace comics from the Forties & Fifties. Ace according to Wiki was; "Ace Magazines^[1] was a comic-book and pulp-magazine publishing company headed by Aaron A. Wyn and his wife Rose Wyn. The Wyns had been publishing pulp fiction under the Periodical House and A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers names since 1928, and published comics between 1940 and the end of 1956"
They published a really weird atomic bomb exploitation comic book called Atomic War!.

Atomic War! was published between (#1 Nov 1952 - #4 April 1953) - under Ace Periodicals / Junior Books imprint and it would scare the hell out of kids with post apocalyptic nightmares for years to come. Which means perfect fodder for your old school campaigns! 

Last year I did a series of posts about a free series of post apocalyptic comic books from the Fifties and today I was speaking with a friend if I had done anything with those books or the ideas I put down in the blog about them? Well the answer to that was of course no but lately I've been on a post apocalyptic streak of gaming again fading back into the backdrop of the OSR again.

Atomic War series was from 1951 through 1953, this series featured some damn striking cover artwork with the tagline " Only A Strong America Can Prevent  Atomic War " under the melting gaze of a A bomb mushroom cloud set under a melting New York City. This issue lives up to the cover in the first story with the horrors of  Sneak Attack detailing a surprise attack on New York and the use of strategic nuclear weapons to overcome the Communist forces

GRAB ISSUE ONE RIGHT HERE

There is a solid narrative story line of events in issue one with Berlin Powder Keg following closely or happens along side  to the events depicted in Sneak Attack. Operation Haystack dovetails into the events of this issue and then builds upon the next story called Counter Attack.  The next issue continues the Atomic warfare action with Operation Vengeance. The Icebox Invasion is what happens when the Russians attack Alaska. The whole thing isn't pretty and they're is plenty of room for dungeon master customization. The spy From Coney Island details a Communist spy on the fringes of society. While Mission Demolition depicts events in Europe. This issue features plenty of retro technology action.

You Can Download Issue Two Right Over HERE The retro future vibe of these comics is so strong that it hurts in places but these comics are from a different time period so there is very little BS politically correct stuff in these pages. If your offended remember this is 1952.  Issue Number three gets into some hard turf with Commando Cracker Jack where the events of the fall of London has happened and a crack team of soldiers is dealing with the events in Europe. There is some very cool retro tech in this story and there's a ton of background detail that can help to fill in an old school post apocalyptic campaign with little issue. Log of the Snorkel Pack depicts an America reeling under an attack from Russia and the ruins of New York. This is a prime place to let loose your old school mutants and adventurers from an alternative time track or Earth. This story depicts some alternative versions of battles up and down the East cost.
The Invaders features some very interesting material from another area of the Atomic battle front. This is a very limited nuclear war in some regards. Almost a mix of World War II and the echoes from the Korean war as it sets the stage for the next battle called Slash By The Iron Greyhounds. This story features warfare  on the battle fields of Europe  and some great all tank warfare as well as the usual mix themes that build upon themselves.

 You Can Download Issue Three Right Here



Issue Number four features a solid continuation of the Atomic war story line. The Artic Assault features some Fallout style jet planes and some weird bases too. The story is bloody and very violently grim stuff. Old Timers Die Hard continues the war as things move to the tropics. Operation Satellite depicts the stalemate around the globe at this point and the fact that the West's scientists haven't been able to develop a new super science weapon to break the back of the enemy. Here we've got a Russian style underground missile base worthy of a James Bond movie villain. A great location to set a dungeon wasteland crawl. Peril of Ploesti has submarines and weird war action in the middle of the series.


 GRAB ISSUE Four Right Here

 Using Atomic War! As An OSR Campaign Outline




There are three reasons why comic books like Atomic War are easy to use and are continually sought out by dungeon masters. Atomic War outlines events of its conflicts, battles, atomic war weirdness throughout its four issue run. This makes setting adventures around, during, and after those events quite easy.  The battles of Atomic War are on a smaller scale then the missile launching nightmares that we've come to see in entertainment, history, and Hollywood. This is a comic book reality and as such not subject to the bounds of logic or reason. This is a mix of the Korean conflict era & the twisted brand of Ace Magazines atomic age weirdness.



So what does all this have to do with the Lamentations book Lusus Naturae?Well,  plenty  actually.
Lusus Naturae is one of the better horror gaming aids I’ve ever seen and it depicts the violent weird nature of parasites, mutation, loss of control over personal space, having secrets wrested from you in the face of the cosmic. The very nature of what is happening in the setting of the Atomic War comics  almost seems to plug into the background of pseudo cosmic mythos of the
Lusus Naturae book. This is a world ripe for the gods, beings, and horrors of Lusus Naturae to make an appearance.

Or alternatively this could well be a world primed for the appearance of adventurers who might loot, exploit, and deal with the horrors that this world presents. The world setting of Atomic War might an alternative universe from the average post apocalyptic universe. A place where the horrors of mutation and mutants are just getting started. This is a place where the usual forces of Gamma World and Mutant Future cryptic alliances  are just about emerging into a a very different set of Shadow Years.
There is a ton of archaic retro tech just in the background of these issue waiting to be brought to the fore. The final issue's "Arctic Assault" from Atomic War! #4 has it just under the surface begging to be used. Soviet era snow going tanks with skies. 

So continuing the weird atomic age theme, the old Gamma World War blog brought this gem of a collection of artwork from the Pageant Magazine 1951 issue.  This was the same era that Atomic War! hit the shelves and its perfect for the events depicted in the four issue run of Atomic War!. Welcome to any city USA where the events have spiraled out of control and the whole thing runs like a continuation of the Korean war on steroids. The timeline in Atomic War! follows through pretty well making the chaos of the shadow years easily doable.


Print these out and use them as hand outs for your mutant adventurers and your ready to go. If I haven't mentioned this all of the material sited here is public domain and easily ported over for any number of old school gaming systems.
This illustration is perfect for depicting the ruins of a wasteland city and there are plenty of opportunities to drop in your favorite mutant monster or weird wasteland Fifties outlaw gangs right into there. You can almost smell the fallout.


I love the guys in the gas masks and Hazmat suits, they make perfect zombie or mutant forces fodder. The rubble choked stairs are a nice touch. So why I'm I not taking this seriously? Because this is a comic book era reality and the reality is so much worse. This is the same era that spawned Atomic monster movies and this material is ripe to use. As we'll see next installment there's plenty of material left to mine from the wastelands. I can almost see this issue of  Pageant Magazine 1951   blowing on the imaginary fallout laden wind on a newsstand in any city USA.

So what I'm planning on doing with all of this campaign potential laden material? This is going to become an Alternative wasteland 789 a world that might have been in the process of rebuilding or going to hell as wasteland campaign takes shape. See you next time on the time trails! 

14th-Century Illuminations for Dante’s Divine Comedy As Monster Fodder For Your Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Campaigns & Old School Adventures

I haven't returned to Lamentations of the Flame for awhile but I came across this"14th-Century Illuminations for Dante’s Divine Comedy" which according to the website were " dated to between 1444 and 1450, the illuminations vary in style due to the fact that two separate artists worked on them, with the first two sections of Inferno and Purgatorio being drawn by the lesser known Priamo della Quercia (active 1426-1467), while the Paradiso section was illustrated by Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia (ca. 1403-1482) who contributed 61 illuminations in all. The work has belonged to Alfonso V, king of Aragon, Naples, and Sicily (1396 – 1458) and his great grandson Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria (1488 – 1550), who donated the manuscript to the convent of San Miguel in Valencia in 1538. It was later bought in 1901 by Henry Yates Thompson, a collector of illuminated manuscripts, and was donated to the British Museum in 1941." I saw these many years back in a book in a library down in Hartford Ct. They remain as strange & slightly odd when I saw them way back when.


These illustrations reminded me of some of the monsters from No Salvation For Witches for the  Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg system. It reminds me that the demons and devils of Dante are alien at worst and entirely dangerous at best to the unforgiving lives of PC's.  More over the tone and weirdness of the artwork is right within line of the thought process behind this adventure. The random demonic  generators at the back of No Salvation are perfectly pitched to create countless dark demonic foul things.


PC's messing with the LoFP summoning spell might be in for far more dangerous hi jinks then they intended for and this artwork from the period bares this out. The scenes are horrifying, dark and simply weird; making these perfect fodder and inspiration for an old school game. Penis and breast monsters are nothing new apparently and this bares thinking about for using these as source material for your next Lamentations game.


Many of the scenes are laced with a sense of the weird and plug right into that LoFP charm, certainly some of them bring to mind the horrors of the Lusus Naturae book and have a certain cosmic horror to them. Mankind isn't the central point in these, his immortal soul is simply another commodity to be exploited by the demons, monsters, and horrors of Hell. Even the powers of 'good' are dangerous and more then a bit unsettling.



These might also be of use to anyone running a Dark Albion game that needs some weird inspiration for demons and powers of chaos as well as dark sources for the powers of good in the games setting. These certainly fit my view of some of the dark and dangerous elements for both of these pseudo historic OSR  horror games. I could even see taking these and warping them into contemporaries of the horrors of the Teratic Tome

Free OSR Comic Resource Download - Strange Worlds Issue #2 For Your Old School Campaigns

I've been a huge fan of pre and post code comic books, Strange Worlds from Ace Periodicals has been my ace in the hole for old school gaming for years. The series which ran for twenty two issues sort of. According to wiki: The first comic-book series to be titled Strange Worlds ran 15 issues published in two sequences by Avon Comics. Issues #1-10 ran cover-dated November 1950 to November 1952. No issues #11-17 were released, and the series began publication again with #18, having taken over the numbering of the defunct Avon comic Eerie. This second sequence ran through issue #22 (Oct./Nov. 1954 - Sept./Oct. 1955). One ongoing feature in the otherwise anthological title was "Kenton of the Star Patrol".

Grab It Right Over HERE

While Avon was a minor comics publisher in relation to such contemporaneous industry leaders as Atlas Comics, DC Comics, and EC Comics, the series featured artwork by such top talents as Wally Wood, who would soon go on to become an industry star at EC; Joe Kubert, later a signature artist of DC's Hawkman and Sgt. Rock; portrait painter Everett Raymond Kinstler and Western-art painter Charles Sultan, early in their careers; and seminal African-American comics artist Alvin C. Hollingsworth a.k.a. Alvin Holly.

Which brings me to issue two of the series; the reason for using this issue is three fold :This issue features both sword and sorcery tales as well crossover points for games with two very distinct characters including Crom & a  giant featured in the tale is a apparently a mutated Hill Giant or a Nephilim  from Old . Crom also features the public domain realm of Ophir which is perfect to nab for your favorite sword and sorcery campaign. The Giant From Beyond has a lot going for it, we've got sword and sorcery action plus lost world giant dinosaurs and more. Personally I think the whole lot could be dovetailed right into Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea.
The second tale the 'Weapon Out Of Time' is one of those weird modern vs sword and sorcery crossover tales with a throw away kingdom and several other factions. But the big draw here is telepathically controlled prehistoric riding tigers! Yeah this is a perfect tale to retro use when you need a throw away kingdom off in some corner of the campaign with a nifty backstory to it. This story has everything one could want for use as a basic adventure for any retrofuture space going salvage game. The adventure location is a space dungeon, you've got clear reasons for the salvage and a weird one shot menace or even the makings of a whole cycle with the introduction of a brand new NPC vile villain race in the form of the Octopus Kings.

'Octopus Kings of the Lost Planet' is the cover story and is fairly pedestrian affair but the Octopus kings themselves are awesome. These things could make a grand appearance in any game! I've used them several times for LoFP and even in AS&SH as an NPC villain race.

Octopus Kings in my Accursed Atlantis Campaign look something like this as a racial class :  -6 Charisma +4 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -3 Constitution, and the ability to cast spells pulling from the black magicians lists. These beings often worship Cthulhu, Leviathan, several alien Petty gods or other patrons. They have dark vision up to 30 feet and keen hearing. Use stats for a giant octopus or larger creature; these things can walk on land and sport an additional 1d4 mutations. They also have a poisonous bite which a victim must save vs poison or take 1d4 points of damage per round as the vicious venom worms its way through the body finally ravaging the heart.

Dara of the Vikings is another public domain character featured in a lost land and I've used her many, many, times as a cross over point NPC perfectly suited to bring modern characters into Accursed Atlantis into the Norsemen' lands. She's a 5th level barbarian and I've dropped the whole victim mentality and she uses a +2 bow and her father's relic magic sword. But according to the PDSH wiki: Dara was a 20th century viking woman who lived in the secluded village of Tine, near a cove of moderate climate, presumably located near Northern Greenland. The village had been settled in 1361 when Druil, the Heroic landed there. Dara was the daughter of Druil, though it is unclear if her people were immortal, or if there had been more than one Druil. Dara and her father were keepers of the Golden Bow of Rolfe the Mighty, which required great strength to use and could penetrate a target 400 yards away. The bow was used to keep another viking clan, led by Cyngar, at bay. Eventually, Ford Robbins and Gene Dorn of the United States found Tine after their plane went down in the North Atlantic. After Cyngar was defeated, they decided to stay with the vikings.

What really interests me is the fact that the public domain location of Tine is weird and I do mean really weird. There's entire time lost village of Vikings caught in the middle of a time warp and no one's noticed? Tine isn't simply a village; its a time lost realm whose half giant kin of Northmen are just waiting to be used. Personally I think that you've got Dara being simply amused by her charges and quietly looking after them before the two little American men get broken and broken very badly. I get the feeling that lurking around the horizon of this realm are some very nasty and dangerous monsters. Tine could be a sorcerous fixed point in time where adventurers might crossover time and again. A lost world waiting to snare adventurers from all kinds of retroclones. A place likely to attract the attention of some of the powers from this book. Lusus-Naturae features some the most dangerous dimensional ravagers and exploiters this side Carcosa.  Another thought I've had is that Dara's world is actually a post apocalyptic fantasy world that has experienced some sort of dimensional devastation. Perhaps the Americans can't leave because they simply won't. There was also some implication that the Vikings were somehow immortal. If this realm loops back on itself through time dying might actually be an option at all. This was something I discussed with friends the other night. Perhaps Golden Bow of Rolfe the Mighty, is +2 bow of strength used for killing monsters and it has some very,very, bad side effects from use. Undeath,mutation, or perhaps even something far worse. I've used time with Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea and it was a hit in those games because of its odd nature.


Reading through this issue I was confronted by the realities of another retrofuture game I recently ran using the Lamentations of the Flame Princess system and another public domain comic book resource. You can find out all about that right over HERE
There are few ways in which this particular issue can be used for multiple retroclone platforms; Strange Worlds features both a mix of science fantasy as well as sword & sorcery. You sure got your ten cents worth back then.  The retrofuture technology of Strange Worlds is perfectly handled by Mutant Future or even some of the material in Carcosa.  Basically because of the nature of DYI post apocalyptic gaming the more successful worlds are created from the ground up and then peppered with the dungeon master's take on the PA setting as they like it. Overtime PA settings are likely to grow and change as the play style and needs of the players evolve with the setting. This issue of Strange Worlds allows exactly that for Dungeon Masters to work with as they see fit.

Free Comic Book OSR Resource & DYI Post Apocalyptic OSR Gaming For Long Term Campaigning Involving The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg

The post apocalyptic wastelands are a dangerous and deadly place rife with all kinds of challenges. The Lamentations of the Flame Princess is a perfect choice to get your PA game off the ground and here's why.


When I take a look at long term campaigning over the years one thing becomes very obvious to me. The campaign world that a DM creates themselves are the ones that last over the long haul. Because a DM and the players invest into the world & setting  themselves over the long haul. This is the complete opposite of new school games where the characters are all. Post apocalyptic rpg games are the perfect venue of this sort of gaming. The science fantasy setting is central to the game and the PC's are completely disposable.    Worlds and settings matter and when the clock chimes & it all ends. That's when the campaign usual begins, & after running countless post apocalyptic game adventures and rpgs a few things come home to me. The end of the world is fun, the struggle for survive comes at terrible prices & gonzo adventure always sells the game setting. Thus we come to Lamentations of the Flame Princess whose system is perfect for dipping right into the wastes and horrors of the post apocalyptic. Wastelands filled with mutants are ripe for exploitation by the powers that be in Lusus Naturae. I've been going over my notes for my LoFP game involving Lusus Naturae and the atomic war comics from the 1950's. Believe it or not there's a connection between the two styles of entertainment. LoFP is a brutal,violent, and f@#$ up game and precode comics are no different. They didn't sugar coat their violence and insanity. Several of the OSR  games that I DM offer similar styles of play but very different approaches to the material. But out of the OSR material LoFP offers some great grim dark options for the post apocalyptic set up.

So why use this sort of system, because the skill system is perfect for a post apocalyptic world. There are several elements that Clint Krause goes into in this video.

Now about the mutations, abilities,etc. well there is a 'pay what you'd like' option that works quite well in the form of the Metamorphica or you could use the mutation tables from Carcosa. The real contender for this style of game is probably Mutant Future with a healthy heaping of Realms of Crawling Chaos.

Realms of Crawling Chaos has several systems that can handle everything from arcane Lovecraftian alien technologies and a decent psionic system for the Lovecraft races detailed in the book. This dovetails straight into the alien horrors detailed in  Lusus Naturae. There's also the fact that there are numerous free OD&D style resources for retro future style tech right over HERE.

This brings me to Atomic Age Combat #3, an issue with all of the right elements of space style atomic warfare, weird pseudo Jonny Quest style retro-future technologies and the perfect amount of retro-future tech that is ripe for plunder for jump off point for a campaign. This has that pseudo weird pulp vibe that chimes perfectly with the grim dark possibilities of LoFP. But why added in that system? Because it makes a certain amount of sense with the weird science fictional and science fantasy of many of the LoFP adventure source books. Try and imagine an alternative nineteen fifty nine right after the atomic balloon goes up and the entities of Lusus Naturae come calling! 


Grab it right over HERE

Or advance the plot ahead by a hundred or two hundred years when the Old Ones come back and you've got a mix of Lovecraftian races, mutants, LoFP freebooters,outlaws,etc.
But I can hear you asking but lately you've been covering DCC and Crawling Under A Broken Moon why not simply use that in place of Lamentations of the Flame Princess or one of the other retro-clone systems. Well its actually one of scale and timing, LoFP while attacking and going over the same ground as DCC does it from a completely different approach. According to Jeff's Gameblog LoFP is '
Assuming you aren't weirded out by the artwork then LotFP shines as pretty much the tightest version of D&D ever.'  You can read more about that right over Here 
DCC is also meant as an OSR expansionist retroclone system that pulls from the Appendix 'N' pool. It does adventures very well, the PC's are not heroes and the level system generated from the funnel character creation scales completely up from other retroclones like LoFP. A first level DCC character is about an LoFP second or third level PC. LoFP is a level intensive system that emulates and corrects many of the issues of  Basic D&D. The retrofuture technology of Atomic Age Combat is perfectly handled by Mutant Future or even some of the material in Carcosa. 
Basically because of the nature of DYI post apocalyptic gaming the more successful worlds are created from the ground up and then peppered with the dungeon master's take on the PA setting as they like it. Overtime PA settings are likely to grow and change as the play style and needs of the players evolve with the setting. This is something that is often seen in early editions of Gamma World and its predecessor Metamorphosis Alpha. This is esepecially true of MA whose entire system is built around the Star Ship Warden and its environs. Lamentations of The Flame Princess builds and grows its material through each of its adventures in turn allowing a DM to pick and chose the meta world as the play suits. This is one of the more successful stratagems for continuing play over the long term and one of the ways in which DM can keep having players coming back to their tables over the long haul and long term.
Rafael Chandler, and  all art by Gennifer Bone in Lusus Naturae gives the book a hands on created feel and allows the relationships that the monsters have with each other to bleed directly into a campaign. DM's should and need to take note of these and exploit them to the fullest. These sorts of relationships can even be seen in Rafeal's other projects as well. Such as the ViewScream Second edition and other upcoming projects. Gennifer Bone's art continues to impress me and she even has a Patreon, site set up. Give her work a look and become a patron of the arts with her.
In closing there is a balance between the care and feeding of a setting and the uses of a post apocalyptic setting in old school games and OSR games as well.
Next time DCC and the OSR post apocalyptic wastelands where mutants make an impact. Sometimes in a crater!

Unboxing Of My Physical Copy of Lusus Naturae For The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg System

Just in time for tonight's game is my copy of the Lusus Naturae hardback by Rafael Chandler, best known  for the Teratic Tome and the wonderful artist Gennifer Bone.
This  hardback kicks the Pdf's ass, the art is lust, the paper is clear and crisp, the artwork kicks so much ass, this book is decated to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg system and features some of the most nasty and dangerous pieces of work to come out of the OSR in a very long time. Each monster is an adventure unto themselves and they're all related into each other as a part of the back story of the LoFP's Chandlerverse. Which means that they can be a part of or not a greater part of your LoFP whole campaign universe. On with the unboxing! The envelop was packed very nicely and there was a fair amount of packing by the author.

 Everything was undamaged and ready for examination; the book was still sealed in plastic, always a plus. 

 The picture doesn't do Gennifer Bone's nasty and dangerous wrap around art cover.

The artwork is far crisper and cleaner on the book, it looks very handsome in contrast to the pdf which doesn't bring home the way it 'pops' right out at you. Every bit of slime and scum is visible just waiting for the DM to throw the menace at the players.

The thickness and quality of the book is excellent and I really love the care that went into this. I've already had my players squirming once they found out that it's been in my hands.

The layout is clean, the font easy on the eyes, the quality is superior to many other rpg books except for my LoFP books. The size is  perfect for my other LoFP books so for me this is and has been an outstanding purchase.

Here's a side by side comparison with my Lamentations of the Flame Princess rules book. I can't begin to tell you all how satified I'm with the purchase. If you'd like to get your own copy of this beauty please contact Rafael Chandler  to see if there are any other copies available  through him.

People you  should pick up the hardcover even over the pdf. The art just pops and Gennifer Bone's  artwork is glorious.  Between the monsters, the random appendixes for monster generation and everything else this is a glorious book for the OSR in all of its slime covered loveliness.  Grab this and let the monstrous inhabitants from Lusus Naturae  start chewing, infecting, and warping your PC's today! 

Another Free OSR Post Apocalyptic Comic Book Resource As Alternative Old School Campaigns Part II

Grab The Whole Run
 Right HERE For Free 

Atom Age Combat was a short series of comic books produced back in the 1950's that occupied that special little niche that war comics have always tried to juggle. Be appealing enough that your audience would want to read em and exploit the hell out of the horrific subject matter to keep them coming back for more. If you want to know more about St.John Publications, they're worth looking into. But I'm going to concentrate on the old school role playing aspects of the comics. Now with the retro future vibe of Fallout 4 in full swing and post apocalyptic fever gripping the pop culture imagination I thought I would settle down with a free post and pre apocalyptic resource namely the tender mercies of Atom Age Combat issues 1-6. Coming out in 1952, there are few things to keep in mind with Atom Age Combat : 

1. There are very few if any real fantastic elements in these comics leaving plenty of room for DYI add ons. 
2. These comics are mostly bypassed by the super hero crowd because of the subject matter and they make perfect alternative history and time line fodder for your old school campaigns. 
3. The retro future vibe of these comics is so strong that it hurts in places but these comics are from a different time period so there is very little BS politically correct stuff in these pages. If your offended remember this is 1952. 
4. Each issue has at least three or four stories in them, and one of those is going to have some piece of retro technology ala Jonny Quest worth stealing. These books are public domain, you can use them as you see fit and no one is going to bat an eye. 
5. These stories are so loose that they could easily be combined with other 1950's pre code comic book resources to pad out some of the adventure elements as necessary. And radiation, and other horrific elements weren't as well understood so the elements of atomic warfare, etc. are all in comic book science fact along the lines of Gamma World and Marvel science fantasy. 
6. Enemies, characters, NPC's drawn from these comics are two dimensional on purpose. Think of the Chinese forces in Fallout three here. 
7. These comic's world settings make excellent adventure locations for AD&D style parties, super heroes, etc. to visit. Add in your favorite mutant monsters after 'thousands of years when Earth is reborn' and your ready to rock. 
8. When we are talking about alternative Earth's and weird radiation as well as the cosmic rays of strange E.C. comics variety these titles can easily benefit from having PC's visiting them having a radiation check or mutation check at least ever 1d6 weeks for some of the more remote areas and once every 1d4 days for those areas closer to the urban areas. 
9. Because of the almost too mundane aspects of Atom Age Combat and other titles in 'war comics'lines; DM's often bypass these gems. These are just the kind of timelines that slime covered horrors from beyond  love to muck with these petri dishes of mutation and horror just waiting to happen.  My most recent excursion into this darkly interesting pond has  some of the denizens from  Lamentations of the Flame Princess's The Lusus Naturae venturing in. This is because of the split nature of the Lamentation's game itself, on the one hand we've got weird and twisted writing of Raphel Chandler  & the tendril and tentacled artwork of Genifer Bone. All marking the gonzo take no prisoners nature of products of the LoFP line with sister in titles like Carcosa, The Monolith Beyond Space & Time, and lots of others. Making way for LoFP covering both the gonzo market and the pseudo historical line all in one shot. That's because of the shot gun approach of some of the titles and I hope that Mr. Raggi doesn't explain it. Because if we look into the background of  other LoFP titles there's very well done gonzo running throughout. And DM's don't need to over think this stuff. They can write in material as they see fit. Something other rpg manufacturers should think about stop over explaining every little bit of 'your' world or setting. Let us do that for our own campaigns. 
10. Don't over think these titles when using them, they're meant to be canvas's and settings where you as the DM and players can add your thumb prints, and paints so to speak. Always remember the Bradbury or Barker rule. The more mundane the setting, the more that the fantastic or weird should exist right along with the 'normal'. 
    
    
    Now I spoke at length yesterday about using these titles for a number of older editions of Gamma World 1st and 2nd edition, Metamorphosis Alpha 1st edition, and many other post apocalyptic games. Pound for pound Atom Age Combat makes excellent  campaign filler rather then full on full adventure fodder. It's excellent for creating historical back events, adding in weird retro equipment, and filling out the details of your alternative Earth or historical campaign setting. Most of this material is pre or post Korean war, very much in keeping with the Fallout vibe here.  
    
    
    Now with the mutant time travelers/dimension hoppers yesterday from Denny O'Neil (writing as Sergius O'Shaugnessy) and Pat Boyette's Children of Doom. You can start to see the adventure possibilities of  adding in your own twisted DM elements to adventures.  The gonzo aspect is still there but you get a real sense of danger when the back drop is WWIII. When running these types of adventures DM should sort of get a sense of the Twilight Zone or Outer Limits. Besides the usual sources, take a look at the writings of  Rick Worland. He's one of my favorite sci fi writers from the era of classic television too.  Don't forget that DYIing the post apocalpytic wasteland doesn't have to be hard. Skirmisher Publishing puts out the Wisdom From The Wasteland line of very inexpensive products that can easily be adapted as the DM sees fit. 

I don't want to go into too much of the hows and whys and hows I'm going to be pacing the twisted and odd nature of the elements of Atomic Age Combat, LoFP, and the horrors of The Lusus Naturae. At least until after it happens to the PC's in tonight's game. 

Free OSR Post Apocalyptic Comic Book Resource As Alternative Old School Campaigns

With the release of the trailer for Fallout four  video in the last couple of days there's been post apocalyptic fever in the air.  Couple this with the film Mad Max Fury Road's success at the box office and it a perfect storm of OSR  post apocalyptic madness. Trey over at the Sorcerer's Skull blog has been plugging into this vibe already with a host of comic book and graphic novel resources. But I can hear you saying its at least another week till payday and I need a fix for this retro future weirdness right now. No worries I've got you covered with a boat load of public domain pre and post apocalyptic resources courtesy of the Internet archive. 
Grab It For Free Right Over
HERE
This is a rather tasty download with all eight issues of Atomic Attack in the mix plus a couple of extras like Captain Marvel Adventures Issue 66, Charlton Premier #2 Children of Doom (and the most phallic rocket ship in comic book history),If an a bomb fell (makes a great player hand out that the PC's find letting them know right away what their in for), Planet of the Apes Power record (more inspirational reading & listening), The H bomb and You ( always a good one to stick into that bunker or fallout shelter with skeletons).

For years I've been pulling from these comic books for Metamorphosis Alpha 1st edition, Gamma World 1st & 2nd edition, and most recently the Mutant Future or my own DYI Advanced D&D 1st edition home brew. And there are a wide variety of uses and reasons for this. Number one is the easy of use with things like the original Planet of the Apes films that have the 'BOMB' as the center point for their backdrop. Couple this with all of the alternative WW III Earth's from Star Trek and you can see that this is an easy campaign  side slip. These are not very politically correct and its easy to see that players that are history buffs are going to be in for a shock when they realize just how twisted some of these retro future alternative Earth's and time lines are. 

A bit of background on the company that put out Atomic Attack, Youthful comics were an interesting company according to Wiki:
  "Youthful (also known as Youthful Magazines) was an American comic book publisher that operated from 1949–1954. The company was owned by attorney Bill Friedman^[1] and his wife Sophie, with Bill holding the title of Publisher. Comics editor Sol Cohen (possibly with help from financier Harry Donenfeld) helped launch Youthful.The company specialized in non-superhero titles, instead focusing on horror, Western, humor, and romance comics. Notable titles published by Youthful included the Western titles Gunsmoke, Indian Fighter, and Redskin (later known as Famous Western Badmen); the science fiction/horror series Captain Science (later known as Fantastic, Beware, and Chilling Tales), and the humor title Jackpot. Altogether, the company only published ten distinct titles, with many series changing their name and continuing the numbering of the previous title.

Doug Wildey (yes of Johhny Quest fame!) was the company's lead cartoonist, with work published in virtually all their titles. Other notable creators associated with Youthful included Bill Fraccio, Harry Harrison, Pat Masulli, Don Perlin, Wally Wood, Graham Ingels, Ed Goldfarb, Henry Kiefer, and Manny Stallman.

Youthful's first title was Gunsmoke, which debuted Apr./May 1949 and ran until 1952. Youthful acquired the Pix-Paradetitle Youthful Hearts in 1952, continuing its numbering under the new title Daring Confessions until 1953. The Youthful titles Attack and Beware were acquired by Trojan Magazines in 1952, which continued their numbering. Youthful, in turn, renamed the titles Atomic Attack and Chilling Tales, respectively, also continuing the numbering. The company was mostly finished by 1953, with only Jackpot continuing until 1954 (its final issue cover-dated May)." 

When we are reading these comic books we are not talking about our world at all here. These places offer a myriad of atomic wastelands where a DM can stick any number of weird mutant horrors or strange life forms. They also offer a ton of ideas for weird weapon systems, artifacts, relics, etc.  and are a perfect place to stick your old school retro tech sci fi devices.  They also offer a nice change up for a science fantasy or fantasy party of adventurers to visit. They make excellent worlds to park your space craft from Star Ships and Spacemen second edition in orbit as well. Alien enough to have the weirdness factor or as living museums to really bring home the strangeness of the event. 

Now with all of that Children of Doom from Charlton comics  takes a very special note  for this download.  It has a special place in my heart, and this issue was one of my favorites, Dick Giordano the editor must have seen something very special in this dark fable of the post apocalytpic wasted future. Denny O'Neil (writing as Sergius O'Shaugnessy) and Pat Boyette's Children of Doom is a tale of alternative history, post apocalyptic time travel, and cautionary tale all rolled into one..
It also has some very compelling characters that make excellent NPC's. My most recent excursion into this darkly interesting tale had some of the denizens from Lamentations of the Flame Princess's The Lusus Naturae. Some of the oozing implied dimensional jumping hi jinks inferred from the writing of Raphel Chandler  & the weirdly twisted artwork of Genifer Bone for the characters  in this book make this a marriage made in hell. The world and time line of Children of Doom is just the sort of place that these horrors would be interested in. 

Given the incredibly weird yet tragic Outer Limits vibe of the story PC's who got involved were immediately compelled to try and save this world as one of the vile villains of Lusus Naturae is busy twisting the timelines and histories to their black heart's content. I let the players read this tale and its instant righteous anger and quick involvement on the player's part. Now given the great black and white artwork, science fictional elements of the tale and the characterizations of cast of characters this is really a no brainer to get the PC's involved. One thing that Lusus Naturae got right is the interweaving of its monster's into each other's lives and their weird as well as twisted dysfunctional interactions. A bit that I've played with while using Children of Doom from Charlton's story line for this.

You can read more of Children of Doom over at the  Diversions of the Groovy Kind blog  if you don't want to wait for the free download. I don't want to get into too much of the on going story line of what's happening with the cast of The Lusus Naturae book. Because I've got to DM this game tomorrow night and my players read this blog! 

Commentary on Mystra Of The Moon, Warlords Of The Outer Worlds, & Lusus Naturae by Rafael Chandler & The Artwork of Gennifer Bone for The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Rpg System & Your Old School Campaigns

   Lusus Naturae is not work safe, adult themed graphic horror driven gore fest of a monster fest fueled by the terrifyingly terrific artwork of Gennifer Bone and the brutal prose of 

Rafael Chandler. Its not for the children or the timid of heart and its for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg system.

  So for the last couple of days I've been planning on using the monsters of  Lusus Naturae by Rafael Chandler & the artwork of Gennifer Bone to bring these to life at a table top soon ASAP. But I'd like to take a few moments to look into the back bones of this title for a moment now that I've had this title for a day or so. Now I'm friends with a bunch of folks who share my same passion for 80's gore fueled body horror films, old school rpg campaigns, and now some of the monsters of this title have been swimming through my mind for a day or so. Each monster here is almost the star of his or its own horror film into itself but all of these monster's histories are interwoven and given complex histories as well as relationships. So much so that another fellow blogger has charted out exactly how these horrors interact. Keith Davies has woven the ins and outs of each of these horrors in a handy graph right over HERE

Grab It Right 

HERE

Each of the monsters in Lusus Nature is unique in the fact that they are not only adult themed gore and horror driven characters but like the stars of some brutal 80's metal spatterpunk movie  these things are to be used center stage as the focus for adventures. Your PC's are not only the heroes but the survivors of these films and should they kill them then the PC's will be changed.  And there are a number of horrors that happen to have a science fantasy element to them that made Lusus Naturae such a hit with me. Now given this fact I've been quietly planning my Warlords Of The Outer Worlds campaign for the Fantastic Heroes and Witchery rpg system. I find myself increasingly drawn to the Lamentations of The Flame Princess rpg aesthetic of mythology. Namely that encountering gods, goddesses, or any higher world supernatural entities is a problem.  It effects reality on a base level and adventurers being the flesh puppets that they are sometimes feel the full effects of this.  Gennifer Bone's artwork reflects this in spades.  She has a nice feel for both the gore laden and biomechanical messiness in equal spades.
There's also a Lusus Naturae random monster generator towards end of the book that enables you to generate millions of your own LoFP monsters.  Now given the pulptastic horror movie driven gore fest that is Lusus Naturae. It suddenly hit me, converting between retroclone systems despite product identity is a snap and all of these horrors are open game content and yes I personally checked with Mr.Chandler. This is one of the things that makes Retroclones so exciting, the cross compatibility. An issue that others have spoken of right over HERE.
Which brings me to the Fantastic Heroes and Witchery Rpg system itself one of the most interesting retroclone systems that I've been tinkering with for weeks for a Planet Comics inspired campaign. Planet Comics was run by Fiction House and had a ton of fantastic characters and heroes in its stables. For more then twenty years I've used this title as a resource to pull from. According to Wiki: 

Planet Comics was a science fiction comic book title produced by Fiction House and ran for 73 issues from January 1940 to Winter 1953. Like many of Fiction House's early comics titles, Planet Comics was a spinoff of a pulp magazine, in this case Planet Stories, which featured space operatic tales of muscular, heroic space adventurers who were quick with their "ray pistols" and always running into gorgeous females who needed rescuing from bug-eyed space aliens or fiendish interstellar bad guys.
Now I've been reading and rereading No Salvation For Witches by Mr. Chandler as well. Another  LoFP product and in that particular product a visit from an ancient Greek goddess who conforms more to the mind set of Dario Argento then mythology. Unless of course you look up the various gods and goddess of mythology in witchcraft and demonology lore. They were all demons to one extent or another.
 Which brings me to one particular comic book feature of Planet Comics, Mars God of War. This regular feature figured some poor sad in a science fantasy planet would get possessed by Mars The God of War and then all hell would break loose. There were rules as well, the fool in question had to have an element of evil about them which enabled the god to possess them. Often times this caused those possessed to raise a cult, start a revolution, or cause all out hell for the community or interstellar society. The forces of good often times interstellar adventurers or outlaws would come in and put those possessed to the torch or some other punishment.

  

 According to wiki : Mars, God of War – Named by Miller as "one of the most famous" strips, the adventures of the ancient Roman God causing violent mischief on other planets appeared between issues #15 and #35.^[1][2] They were credited to writer Ross Gallen, and all drawn by Doolin. The embodiment of evil, the spirit of Mars would "single out a man or woman who had evil in them," possess them, and run rampant until "the end of each story [when] good always triumphed.
The heroes of Planet stories often faced down the consequences of these clashes with Mars. And those who dallied with such demonic horrors were forever changed by them. Mars was in Planet Comics the embodiment of evil.  Given the line of science fantasy of products of LoFP  like Carcosa and now Lusus Naturae its quite easy to see where my Warlord of The Outer Worlds campaign is headed.  Mars even had a hand in the creation of one of the leaders of the city states of Mars in my campaign. Mystra of the Moon rules one of the colony city states on the planet Mars but the god tried to murder her right off. According to Wiki :   Mysta of the Moon – In the "Mars" feature in Planet Comics #35, the god discovers "a young boy and girl" taken to the moon by one Dr. Kort, who has "placed all the culture and knowledge known to man into their brains." In the events that follow, Mars possesses the boy's robot, and is ultimately defeated by the girl, although the boy and his robot are killed. The girl was Mysta, a gorgeous female version of Captain Future with a robot sidekick, and she took over from "Mars" in title as well as spirit in issue #36.^[1] Appearing in issues #36-52 and #55-62, after Doolin, the strip was most notably illustrated by Fran Hopper (#37-42, #48-49).

Now you might think that this has nothing to with Lusus Naturae but it has quite a bit to do with it as we shall see.  Captain Volt is a super villain who has been dimensional shifted to a LoFP fantasy world. He's one of my favorite characters and given the author's passion for super heroes and comic books I can totally see more coming from his pen with that character.  More coming up soon.