OSR Commentary - Going 2d6 Fantasy Dark Ages In Your 2d6 Old School Science Fiction campaigns!

 So I've been considering doing a failed colony world in my Stars Without Numbers rpg game/Cepheus Engine rpg campaigns  & yes, Other Dust is an option. But the players actually know that resource front to back. So I drifted back to Michael Brown's Afterday &  Cepheus Atom. This blog post is going to pick right up from this one here. 

Afterday presents quite a few resources that line up with a limited post apocalyptic world. And its great for Cepheus Engine powered campagins. Cepheus Atom brings the 2d6 gonzo to the table in spades with its mutations, & other post apocalyptic resources. 
The wastelands of our colony world may have access to  entropic  weaponry and so this brings the dangers of those reality warping weapons to the table. It also explains the mutations and mutant monsters. 
Here we're thinking of going full on Cepheus Atom mode, adding in Atomic Age Barbarians, tribes of mutants, etc. 

The wastelands may have magick but I'm not sure about adding a full range of  the Sword of Cepheus fantasy rpg, here. But it might be an option here as a fantasy Dark Ages world existing in the same sector as a failed entropic wasteland world tells volumes. 

I'm thinking of forgoing the Barbaric Rpg route & going on full Sword of Cepheus because the presence of high magick adds a lot more to such a strange twist or two to the campagin mix. Could all of this be added into an Independence Game Space Western campaign?! Think 70's Dallas mixed with Game of Thrones level politic moves coupled with family politics. 

A Post Apocalyptic Cross Dimensional Western Campaign Set Up For the Cepheus Rpg System On Budget

 You wanna hunt vampires in the wastelands of the West?! Don't want to spend an arm & spleeen to get your dimensional rip in the local space time continuum!? We've got you covered in spades pard, so saddle up & let's ride! Don't forget your stake & holy water! 

So the gaunlet's been cast down & things were said on MeWe so let's talk about building a quick & dirty Rifts rpg style horror/occult game campaign from the ground up. The first thing we're need are the Cepheus Engine rpg  , the Sword of Cepheus fantasy rpg, Under Western Skies: 2D6 Adventure on America's Frontier & Cepheus Atom. You are ready to put together a Rifts style occult game to rock on for less then the cost of a Rifts rpg book. Want weird mutations for your aliens, mutants, etc. rock on with  Cepheus Atom.

Want power armor for your PC's to find in the wastelands?! Here this baby straight outta of Cepheus Atom - 2 2500 Powered Armor 14 DM+4 to all Physical throws, DM+1 tohit in melee, power cell charger, accessories as per Combat Armor. And this goes straight across. Want to design your own mecha or ve-hickles?! Well the Cepheus Engine Vehicle Design System From Samardan Press has you covered! 

Want super heroes for this dimension warp or tear in the fabric of space time!? Author Michael Brown has you covered with 2d6 Powers! 

Who wants demons & a horror magic system for the bad guys & NPC's?!  Diabolox from Michael Brown has you covered in that direction as well. 

Finally some excellent maps of the Western United Stats thanks to Wiki commons & you are ready to go with the option to take your game into space without spending any additional hard earned dollars! 

Review & Commentary On Nuclear Sunset:The Southwest & Pacific Northwest (Mutant Future) From Vigilance Press For Your Old School Campaigns

During the endless parade of titles there are several that seem to always get lost in the shuffle. Nuclear Sunset is one such OSR setting title and its a damn shame. This is one of the better post apocalyptic settings for Mutant Future and I happen to know the author on social media. Basically Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest  is the region around the panhandle of Vegas and beyond with a post apocalyptic Western feel. This is a weird western setting with a modern twist. Sure all of the familiar Westerns sites are there but things have changed a bit. Its a mix between Mad Max & Fallout New Vegas with a twist of Hollywood Westerns burned over a campfire stove of weirdness.


Grab Nuclear Sunset
The Southwest Here
Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest gives the DM a whole bunch of weirdness to play with from factions such as  The Marshalls  who are the law bringers of the wastelands and on the wane to their nemesis Hell's Heart a biker gang on steroids. Add into the mix The Cartel who are wasteland corporate types we've seen a million Eighties and Nineties VHS post apocalyptic films and you can slot in the 88th the former remains of a military platoon and base. Then there's a boat load of ruins and locations that can be dropped into your campaigns. All of this for two dollars and it can easily be used with your favorite OSR game because the whole affair is stat free so you can adapt it as you like. This setting came out in 2011 & its a great example of what can be done with a post apocalyptic region adventure setting. Right so now flash forward to 2016 and we get  Nuclear Sunset: Pacific Northwest along with a  ton more content. Thanks to one of my background patrons I was able to legally get a copy and take a quick look at four A.M. this morning.



 Grab Nuclear Sunset
The Pacific Northwest Here

The Pacific Northwest supplement presents a very different region for a post apocalyptic campaign with similar conceits but vastly different factions and adventure goals. Its a mix of rural woodland adventure mixed in with mutant frogs,tons of factions, and a setting that is as deadly as it is weird. Pacific Northwest adds expanded territories, brand new adventure locations, a ton of factions, and a boat load of new adventure opportunities for post apocalyptic adventurers for Mutant Future or any OSR rpg system including Labyrinth Lord and other retroclone systems. 

Weird factions such as the Samurai Legion, the the Silicon Syndicate, and even more create an established order and setting dynamic within the bounds of the regions here your party are strangers in an even stranger mutated land. Basically adventure and NPC elements are already in play regardless of the PC's presence. This surrounds some very rich ruins and death lands adventure wasteland locations. This is going to keep the pace of adventures moving and keep the players on their toes.
Another aspect of this product is that there are lots & lots of mutant monsters with adventure hooks peppered throughout. This is a campaign setting with an  over time campaign expansion element worked in meaning that adventurers over the long campaign haul can make a real difference for long term play. This also gives the Nuclear Sunset setting an extra in on the wasteland domain level of play something that other OSR products might want to get in on.  This means that there are real campaign gains and benefits for PC's and this gives players a real time stake in play within the setting.  Is it worth it? The books are very well done and generic enough to fit into and slip into the back door of most post apocalpytic old school campaigns.


  Grab Legacy of Ruin Here

Still need more setting and information the Nuclear Sunset setting? Vigilance Press put out a novel set within the same setting called Legacy Of Ruin. The plot is like something out of a Nineties late night movie;"Naomi Oliviera lives in a world shaped by the cruelty of the past. Radiation-warped creatures haunt the sun-blasted wastes that once sheltered the promise of a better tomorrow. She lives day to day by scavenging technology from the ruins of the world that was, until her brother is kidnapped and she finds herself thrust into events much larger than her own personal survival. Naomi must challenge her own limitations and discover how far she is able to go for the one person she's willing to die for.

From an arena of death to a city of murderous machines, Naomi's adventure takes her across the Pacific Northwest on a tour of the post-apocalyptic nightmare. She won't be alone on her trek, but trust is a hard currency to come by in this place and she will spend it sparingly. Through the maze of shifting loyalties and conflicting motives she discovers her foe is no ordinary kidnapper.

For someone has awakened with knowledge born before the great war, a man with a legacy that could reshape the world. His quest could unleash death the likes of which haven't been seen since the bombs fell, since the world was transformed into a living hell. His mission is not simply to awaken an ancient technology.

He seeks to reclaim a legacy of ruin."

1d6 Dangerous Random Weird Western Encounters Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are times when out in the badlands and wastes of the trails that worlds intersect with each other; dimensional intersections, gate ways to ancient Hells, and all manner of other worldly hi jinks can cross the paths of adventurers, outlaws, cowpokes and ordinary folks out on the trails. Here are six weird encounters of dangerous aspect to confound and terrorize your players
1d6 Dangerous Random Weird Western Encounters Table

1. 1d8 horned demon warriors out to retrieve the a herd of sky going demonic Stench cows belonging to a minor demon lord. They will see if they can snare an innocent soul or two to take back into the Abyss! 
2. A red dragon on the hunt for a lone traveler or an easy mark for prey; he's on the hunt for a thief who has stolen a piece of artwork from his lair down near the Mexican Texas border. He will offer a small portion of Aztec gold coins for information leading to the capture of this desperado. 
3. A very pissed off dust devil that has been gated into this world from the Elemental plane of Air and wants to go home right now. It will attack anything that comes across it. 
4. A ghost of an Indian brave who is looking for his brothers and sisters; actually this is a spirit fragment enslaved by  nearby lich for luring would be heroes to their doom. '
5. A tribe of 1d6 scavenger ogres warriors and adventurers who fight at third level fighters  and are quite dangerous if crossed they are crossed. They ride mutant horses and use large caliber match lock rifles. 
6. A tribe of 1d6 mutant morlocks on horse back armed with black powder rifles, side arms, and dark glasses on mutant horse back. They are looking for slave stock and trouble, they're also hungry and very dangerous.
   
   
   

1d6 Random Lovecraftian Treasures Table For Your Old School Weird West Campaigns

There are treasures and artifacts that defy conventional explanation, things that are far more precious to certain groups of people than can be rightly explained. Some of these things are merely alien artifacts and pieces that other beings have left behind. Adventurers, outlaws, and madmen are most likely to encounter these life changing artifacts. A random table of these weird treasures should make it far easier to deal with the outward madness and depravity that these objects and their works represent.


Out of the unimaginable blackness beyond the gangrenous glare of that cold flame, out of the tartarean leagues through which that oily river rolled uncanny, unheard, and unsuspected, there flopped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things that no sound eye could ever wholly grasp, or sound brain ever wholly remember. They were not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor vampire bats, nor decomposed human beings; but something I cannot and must not recall. They flopped limply along, half with their webbed feet and half with their membranous wings; and as they reached the throng of celebrants the cowled figures seized and mounted them, and rode off one by one along the reaches of that unlighted river, into pits and galleries of panic where poison springs feed frightful and undiscoverable cataracts.
—H. P. Lovecraft, "The Festival"

1d6 Random Lovecraftian Treasures Table

1. A turquoise encrusted skull of a large dog like humanoid, the skull is cover with weird sygils and runic writing. There are 1d6 black magic spells on the artifact, these spells can be used three times per day or gate in one minor demonic life form. The thing is worth 500 gold pieces easily. 
2. A long silver shod wand that has been formed from the twisted bones of some poor wretch. The wand can detect a dimensional breech or rupture within half a mile or more. The wand is also able to case an identify a mutant or aberration of nature when pointed at them. This artifact grows warm in the hand. The thing can also cast a cure light wounds but anyone healed in this way will be marked. Worth about 700 gold pieces for it. 
3. A ring made from the thigh bones of a Byakhee & allows its owner to cast call on dimensional horror The ring allows one to pass among certain Lovecraftian races as their scent of man is covered and masked for 1d4 hours
4. A claw of some ancient wizard and it has 1d4 spells written on the scales and skin of the artifact. The wizard may take over the mind of the victim, allowing the horrors to enter our world
5. A book bound in human flesh and its found with a cover with 70 gold pieces worth of gold work on the front. The book allows its owner to gaze into the myriad of possibilities and alternative worlds around the owner. Once per day the owner can move across time & space. 
6. A weird gem that contains a lost kingdom from thousands of eons ago, the kingdom is watching and having fun. The place is a strange post apocalyptic landscape and allows its owner to cast 1d6 black magics to access black reservoirs of magick and depravity.

1d8 Random Weird Western Finds Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are things that are found along the trail, bits and pieces from other places that seemingly tell a story or lead into another adventure for our heroes. Some of these items don't belong in our world at all. The stuff of nightmares and things talked about campfires. A few of these items are otherworldly or weird, they can make a man question his sanity. Here then are a few items found on the trails that can bedevil or confound adventurers.


1d8 Random Weird Western Finds Table

1. Steamer trunk that contains a family's belongings and a human hand holding a stone knife with tattoos all over the hand. The thing is warm to the touch and seems almost life like. There is a sack of gold coins in the trunk as well, there are twenty two coins. The coins have an odd greenish glow about them. 
2. A child's  doll, the thing is beautifully put together but the eyes of the doll seem to follow you and a peak inside will reveal a small six inch scroll inside of the doll. There is a summoning spell on one side of the scroll and a cure light wounds on the other. There is also an address three miles away from your present location indicating the owner. 
3. A stone tablet with the summon Byakee spell written in Latin on it, the thing is covered in fresh blood and a gang of outlaw/cultists is seeking out the artifact. They'll murder anyone to get it back. 
4. A sack of 12 humanoid skulls wrought with copper and silver wire across the foreheads. Handling these causes the owner to go dizzy and weird. PC's names are written on four of them. 
5. A quartz knife with fresh ichor and bile is buried in a corpse that lays on the side of the trail. The thing is so badly decomposed that your not sure if its even human. There are however several pieces of jewelry on the thing worth a total of 500 gold pieces including a wedding ring, earrings, and a man's bracelet. 
6. A small silver whistle on a silver chain, blowing it produces no sound but it will summon an elemental demon of the air. There are protective sigils on the whistle.  But the demon will try to rip the summoner apart. 
7. A jade box containing eight stone circle carvings with astronomical signs and symbols on them. A presence seems to follow the owner, and just out of the corner of your eye you can see the outline of a presence. A dimensional shambler tracks these objects and seeks to take them and the owner back to dimensional zone. 
8. A three foot long carved tablet depicts an ancient sea monster and the writing is a summon spell for a horrid aspect of Thulu. A local cult wants the thing back and will murder for it.
   
   
   

The New Hateful Eight Movie By Quentin Tarantino As Old West Campaign Inspiration

What do you get with a gang of Old West hooligans right in the middle of an isolated adventure location out in the middle of nowhere squared with bloodshed and violence on their minds? Well you get is the film the Hateful Eight by Quentin Tarantino. We got the extended trailer today and it looks like a nasty piece of work.



So at some point today the new version of the Hateful Eight film trailer surfaced and I've been all over this film like stink on a corpse. There are some great reasons to be excited by this film. An all star cast is one of the first reasons, this is the second Western that features some fantastic images. The plot is straight out of a Sixties pulp Western film. But what does this film have to do Weird West role playing? Everything kids, everything in a nutshell. The Synopsis goes into a bit of the details of the film.

Synopsis:

In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…
Basically you've got a ready made movie to drop your own party of adventurers & desperadoes right into the thick of events and things happening.

What the Hateful Eight signals is the return of the pulp Western to the screens of movie theaters at a time when this genre needs a shot in the arm. This also means that people are going to be moving back into the Western role playing game. One of the simplest and easiest old school TSR to pick up was Boot Hill.



So basically everything you could want in a fast pick up old school Western adventure is loaded right into the front end of this movie. You've got a complete set of vile NPC characters waiting on cash and desecration in the middle of all of it is a great motivator for a mini campaign set against the events of something like this film's plot. This doesn't have to be a very complicated game adventure at all or rather it can be. The events and motives of the NPC's are outlined and then spun into play as the session plays out. Now when it comes to adding in more background to your favorite PC's? Well, AD&D first edition has always been a popular choice or you can go with for background. Or select one of the other fantastic games and retroclones I've outlined in this article HERE  .Now that being said, the Hill Canton's blog has some great resources for fast packing a group of NPC's or adventurers in the Old West very quickly with some killer tables that he had worked out. He also worked up a points system which could easily apply to this style of game. This poster below  for the film reminds me of something completely different though.



Now back to the movie for a second this sort of a film's plot has the potential for another completely off the wall style of adventure. Yes I'm actually thinking of the 1982 film the Thing. Eight people out in the middle of an isolated location caught in a blizzard and now combined it with Gamma World 1st or 2nd edition, you've got another adventure all together.

So already I'm saving my pennies and looking forward to seeing this little charming piece of the old ultra violence. Maybe its the snow and the location, the cast, and fact the Kurt Russell is in this one. But man I'm excited to see what we're in store for.

1d6 Deep Badlands Weird Western Encounters Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are horrors in the hills on the trails into the badlands, places where civilization stops and hell begins. Monsters see these places as prime opportunities to grab a meal and adventurer. The wilderness is a weird and dangerous place with all kinds of horrors waiting around the next bend in the trail. Adventurers have to rely on themselves, their skills, tools and weapons to survive both the elements as well as the monsters.




1d6 Deep Badlands Weird Western Encounters Table

1. A stage coach has had a terrible accident, the bodies have already been looted by a local gang of cut throats and most of the valuables have been stolen except for the strong box. The violence of the accident has created 1d4 ghostly horrors who seek revenge against the living for desiccation of the victim's corpses and the theft of their goods. The ghosts will drain anyone they come across to continue to anchor themselves to this plane. 
2. A dust digger has secreted itself in portion of a rock wall and is feeding on passersby and their horses. Skeletons and remains are spit into the cliffs below. The the thing is able to camouflage itself with the soft rock of the cliff side trails. This thing is a mutation of a standard dust digger and may represent a band new species. 
3. A family of Formorian giants of 1d6 has moved into the area and is feeding off of the cattle, stray ranchers (including hands), and travelers. They've amassed quite a trove of treasure and have secreted it in a nearby cave. The locals Indians hate these things with a passion and are recruiting adventurers and gunmen to hunt and kill these mad bastards. 
4. A hang man tree is picking off lone travelers along the trails and everyone is sure bandits are operating in the area. The thing is very dangerous but careful, it strikes with the speed of a murdering fiend but almost seems to pick and choose its targets. 
5. A school of 1d8 land dwelling rock land lampreys has been preying on travelers and lone strangers along the trails. Bodies found are horridly marked and scarred by these attacks, locals think that this area of the trails are haunted. They are looking to hire adventurer and investigators. 
6. A tribe of 1d10 fungus men have taken to robbing, eating, and murdering travelers because they've recently warped into the area from an other dimensional gate. Already over 10 travelers have gone missing, they've mutated into chaotically evil fiends because of their trip. They have become expert camouflage artists and hide right in plain sight. The locals are convinced that a cult of demon worshipers are operating in the area. 

1d8 Bounty Dogs NPC Encounter Table For Your Old School Campaigns

If your PC's cross the wrong people, destroy the wrong properties, or anger the authorities in too many trail or border towns then a reward is going to be put on your PC's heads and these folks don't stop. Down the trails and onto  the rewards come these unusual bounty dogs ready to collect their rewards.


1d8 Bounty Dogs NPC Encounter Table

1. Julian Otega - The gentleman bounty hunter is a rarity, an adventurer and gun hand with an eye on the money and a bring them in alive attitude to hang. He's a 7th level fighter armed with two Colt Single Action Army revolvers.  and a lever action rifle
   He's familiar with both magick and technology, he's not fazed by ether and only the reward matters to him.
2. 'Hanging Jack Catch em' this 4th level thief is a bout as dangerous as they come, he always needs a shave and a bath. His speed with his revolvers  is only matched by the his knives. He loves to kill to match the dead or alive part of a reward. 
3. Steven Lightning Amor - Steven is a 5th level wizard who uses two wands frost and cold. He also has a staff of stunning that does 3d6 +2 temporary points of  subdual damage. His patron is a god of justice.  He specializes in child murders and missing kids cases for personal reasons. He loves to fill his time with common criminals and bail jumpers between his 'special cases'
4. The Black Fox - A 5th level Elven gun hand and tracker who loves to hunt down genocidal maniacs and murders. He is a added by a third level wizard named Fred. 
5. Stubby Johnson - A fat little man of seemingly innocent face, once an actor whose been possessed by the spirit of a 10 level wizard. The man proved surprisingly willful and has become a fifth level wizard in his own right; he has turned into a rather ruthless and dangerous bounty dog using tactics and magick to bring his prey to  justice. The two inhabit his body in a rather uneasy truce of sorts. 
6. Phase Callahan - Phase is a 5th level thief /tracker who uses a variety of disguises and identities to trace her prey across the plains. She uses daggers,derringers, and a canny intelligence to take down her quarry. 
7. Gentleman Jones Dunnahue - Former secret service agent whose exploits make him the center of attention. Jones uses a vast network of contacts and go betweens to spy on the underworld. He's a 6th level fighter who uses a variety of guns and knives to get the job done. He is on a quest for vengeance against the gang who cost him his job. 
8. Piper Truhold - 5th level cleric and priest of the One Way, this seemingly innocent preacher is actually Michelle Piper who has taken her grand father's identity. She travels through the trails looking for his murderers while tending her rural 'flock'. Her cane is actually a +2 mace of disruption and she uses it often to collect the bounties on the way ward and dangerous. The charges she brings in have 'accidents' so she can collect the reward.
   

1d6 Weird Western Ruins of Terrifying Aspect Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are adventure locations that call out from the echoes of eternity to lure adventurers into their hideous grasp. Place where the rules of time and space bend to the will of supernatural forces and horrors beyond imagination. These are places where the touch of destiny is merely an echo away and adventurers, fools, and hunters after fortune are drawn into the web of supernatural horror beyond the ken of men. These places act as lures drawing men, mutants, and madmen alike to their doom.
1d6 Weird Western Ruins of  Terrifying Aspect Table

1. Chiaugorodu School House - This is a single room school house from Eighteen hundred or so, the place is semi delapadated but it offers a structure in the wastelands or deserts against the elements.There's always a dust storm or extreme weather around the school house. In another reality, bandits raided this place and slaughtered the occupants. They hid their loot someplace within, the school house was built over a series of ancient underground tunnels and even now a nest of dangerous volts makes its home in the rafters. Below in the tunnels 1d4 coffer corpses await the next series of victims to stumble upon the place. 
2. The Hotel Eldugulkorola is an abandoned hotel that is the home to vicious band of 1d8 mutant cannibals that makes their home in the basement. A statue of an old one has warped the brains of the owners of the place and they can never leave. The power of the statue moves the building throughout space and time randomly appearing across several decades in the same spot. The loot of a hundred tours throughout the ages is also stashed here. 
3. The ruins of St. Orgwentheli - This former church location has been corrupted by the cult of Korothau the butcher a chaos god gory and dangerous aspect. His shadow demons haunt the corners of the church, a treasure of minor artifacts has been placed in the center of the church to draw in fools. This place moves according to the whims of Korothau. Several traps have been placed with the church's confines. 
4. The first bank of Auazgongi - This incredibly formidable structure was once the local cover for the cult of chaos of Valorororcava goddess of murderous silence. There is an alter that was created to honor the violent aspects of this chaos goddess. A hundred skulls have been piled high and a very dangerous demon guards this place. Several piles of minor treasures, relics, and other pieces of gold are scattered in sacred piles waiting to tempt adventurers to their dooms. Jellies and other horrors of a slime nature cover this treasure. 
5. The ruins of Shircal seminary - This was once a mighty clerical training center, the extent of the levels is unknown but many wealthy families donated objects of precious aspect were donated to pay for this site but many have not been cashed in. There are rumors of a hidden treasure in this place. Shadows, horrors, and evil all await the adventurers who brave this place. 
6. Obaulingung's castle - This was an unreal looking building is a custom created wizard's tower but the wizard has long since departed this world. A family of 1d6 fire newt warriors has moved in and they're under the command of a minor lich has taken over some of the undead that live at the lowest levels of the place and has been raiding the nearby country folk. He's amassed a small fortune in jewels, minor artifacts, and a few relic pieces. The rumors of this place lure in the foolish. Many don't return, there is a reward for the safe return of a rancher's daughter. 

1d6 Random Weird Western Encounters Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are times when planes & dimensions can touch in rare cross rift dimensional anomalies, adventurers can run across all kinds of rivals, horrors, and terrors. Here are a few of the many weird things that adventurers might run across while on the trails.


1d6 Random Weird Western Encounters Table

1. Dune stalker recently summoned by a cult of cannibalistic degenerates now seeking victims after they've been cleared out by local Indian braves. The thing will attack anyone it runs across, it returns to its former master's camp every night at sun down. There is a bit of loot left from sacrifice victims that have been left behind. 1d20 dollars and jewels are buried under the camp stone. 
2. One giant scorpion mutated by planar energies is on a rampage, the mutant horror is taking down any one  that it comes across and is a menace to locals. It hides itself in the sands nearby. 
3. 1d4 hook horrors have recently warped into the area they have established themselves in a local ruin in the nearby foot hills and are eating travelers in the area. 
4. Two headed troll and family of four has come down from the mountains searching for food and is using the local game trails as a foot hold into this country. They've attacked a local rancher and massacred his family. Local Indians are aware of the situation and are seeking help with these horrors. 
5. A pack of 1d8 mutated wolves are attacking local cattle and anyone they come across, these horrors sport 1d4 mutations. They are vicious in the extreme. 
6. A grove of Yellow Musk trees has warped into the area's forest or shrub land. A stage couch, and several settlers families have gone missing and become the Yellow Musk zombies serving the horror. They have begun the process of building a minor temple and have attracted a dark shaman to their cause.

Retro Review - Pulp Western - Silverado (Spectros, #1) by Logan Winters For Your Old School Campaigns

Years ago, I had an opportunity to pick up a bit of the Doctor Spectros pulp western occult series. This is a rip roaring pulpy Western adventure that really does prey on all of the tropes of Western pulps.Everything from the bank robberies, to the vile villain owning the town, the damsel in distress, the bank robbery, etc. its all there. But all is not as it seems because this pulp novel has far more in common with Doc Savage then the tales of the high west. This is really a weird western setting book & the character of  Doctor Spectros is a  throwback to the Thirties Western pulps. The books pull on a number of minor occult/mythological tropes drawn from popculture more then any really historical occult traditions.


  The book is a part of a series of Westerns that came out in the early Eighties, the plot is a boiler that throws the reader into the world of the late Eighteen hundreds someplace in the middle of the imaginary West of yesteryear. As a first piece of fiction in a series this book set's the tone and does a good job at what it is. The plot is like a combination of a Marvel 1970's Dr.Strange comic crossed over with a bit of a Western.

For years and time unknown, the master magician Doctor Spectros has pursued the evil conjurer Blackschuster. Somewhere, sometime, Blackschuster and his savage cohort abducted Spectros' only love, the beautiful Kirstina. They keep her in suspended sleep inside a crystal coffin. Now in the Old West, Spectros is closin in. Accompanying Spectros in his rattling medicine wagon are a slim, handsome gunslinger and ladies' man, Ray Featherskill; a mute giant named Montak; and a timeless eastern Moor, Inkada. There is also Spectros' magnificent, silver-maned stallion, Khamsin.But Blackschuster cleverly eludes them, and Spectros is forced to use his ultimate weapon of wizardry: for short periods of time, Spectros is able to physically change himself into Kid Soledad, the King of all Gunfighters! And the showdown is on!"


There's a ton here to use and raid from Doc's helpers/minions to the mutant freaks that are  Blackschuster's right hands. This isn't a fantastic series, its entertainment pure and simple and would easily fit into an AD&D/Boot Hill crossover or even a Deadlands style world with a bit of work.


What Spectros gets right is a fast set of NPC characters who can easily be inserted into a game setting. The war and rivalry between Spectros & Blackschuster creates ripples in both their minions/helpers this effect can and does drag others into their web  of adventure. This is a quick way to drop PC's right into the middle of a magic mini range war/gun battle between both characters forces. The word here is very low keyed and low powered, there's a ton of unresolved elements that a DM could spin into other more exciting encounters and adventures.
The book series is a mix of pop culture alchemy, occultism, a dash of Orientalism, and cooked over an open flame of Dr. Strange comics.
That's exactly the point of mining Dr. Spectros, the potential here for more then the sum of its parts. So its got plenty of elements  but there are far more things that can be done here with the material if you need a fast resource for a pick up Western game.