Dimesional Travel Using Classic Arduin rpg & Dragon Magazine For OSR Campaigns

 Last night's zombie game sessions got my copy of the three Arduin rpg books back in my hands again. The nexus gates of Arduin brought back this quote from the classic Retro Rpg blog; "“These ‘gates’ provide a supernatural exchange where all possibilities meld and merge, allowing anything to happen. Opening into temporal, spatial, and dimensional locations, the gates lead to places in dreams, uncharted jungle worlds, or steams of time not yet seen…”  From What Is The Nexus? an Arduin World Of Khaas web supplement by Emperor’s Choice Games & Miniatures

This puts one back into the mindset of Gamma Terra and the classic crossover of Gamma World & Dungeons & Dragons back in the Eighties. When player's PC's gated in & out of many of the classic old school campaign settings. This was especially true of Gamma World. Where a campaign of AD&D or D&D players PC's might begin on Greyhawk & then gate into Gamma Terra. Dragon magazine issue #108 has the classic Mutant Manual II.  

And this goes back into some of the dungeon design issues that we've covered long before on this blog especially back in November of last year here.  Gamma Terra's pocket populations of mutants could guard far more then what the PC's are expecting. Vaults, ruins, etc. could actually be controls for a Nexus gate system that leads to other points of the multiverse. In other words these gates might have been added into by dimensional alien empires have discovered these ancient gate systems in eons past. 

The Good, The Bad, & The Assassins - Commentary On Using the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book Winds of Chance (Arduin Grimoire volume 8) from Emperor's Choice For Dungeon & Adventure Design With

  The 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book Winds of Chance (Arduin Grimoire volume 8) from Emperor's Choice is an odd supplement in a way because it concentrates on some of the seedier sides of Dave Hargrave's Arduin rpg setting. 

This blog entry is gonna pick right up from here. The 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book Winds of Chance aside from having a kick ass cover of the Ripley. Has an extensive deep dive into Arduin's underworld with the infamous Black Lotus Society, Thieves & Assassins Guilds, because this is some of the backbone of the criminial elements within the campaign setting. And we are talking both high end murder and asssasination here. There's very little sugar coating when it comes across  because all of this crime filters down into the street gangs of Arduin. 

Now I've said it before but let me say it again, Dave Hargrave has with  the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book created an Arduin campaign setting centric tool box. And the rest of his Arduin books expand upon & enhance this tool kit & modular rpg nature of his creation. Crime on Arduin is serious business. Because the gangs & criminal organizations of  of Arduin are  very dangerous. These gangs move across vast arrays of the multiverse through high end renagade wizards who are in the guilds employ. 
This is made clear within the Arduin books time & again. Because the thieves & asssasins guilds were clearly on the path to expanding their terrorities. And they were more then willing to do this through agents, thieves, and assasssins. This goes back into the the highest ranks of the royals a subject  also covered in Winds of Change.  

Back when my uncle was runnning Arduin there was a very nasty war between Greyhawk's thieves guilds & Arduin with the Assassins guilds on both sides picking up very lucritive contracts on both sides. This would lead into our facing down the slavers from A1 -4 Scourge of the Slave Lords by Gary Gygax but at the time we didn't know it?! 

Winds of Change does its job very well taking the three major Arduin Grimoire Trilogy books & expanding once again the scope & breath of Dave Hargrave's vision. 

'Where The Monsters Dwell' - Commentary On Using the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book from Emperor's Choice For Mega Monster & Demon Creation For Your Old School Campaigns

 The other day I was thumbing through Vaults of the Weaver the Dave Hargrave's module collection & these modules have within them details about the Cult of Cthulhu on Arduin. These cults operate underground. 

Emperor's Choice does some excellent reprints of Dave Hargrave's old school materials 

These cults operate with their own twisted nightmare agendas  & they operate with impunity on Arduin. These secret cults have operated for thousands of years & they deal with  dungeon monster NPC's. Cults such as the mythos maintain these various dungeons across Arduin. And when  a godbound has appeared these cults go into overdrive. Godbound make excellent sacrifices to the mythos parasite gods. 

And what does any of this have to do with  Cha'alt?! Let's put this on point, the black pyramid calls these cults to itself on Cha'alt from across dimensions. The dungeons of Cha'alt have been created in the massive wars that once ravaged the sands of the planet. Cha'alt marks time until the great Old Ones become far more active. Could the black pyramid have its own unearthly agenda? Absolutely it could!

The black pyramids have their own agendas & perhaps the godbound are seen as nothing more then spiritual batteries. Spiritual batteries that could awaken the Great Old Ones before the stars come right!?! There are gigantic monsters that stalk across the wastelands of Arduin but are these horrors under the control of the gods of Chaos. These gods of Chaos & Lovecraftian horror often smuggle these monsters to a wide variety of worlds including Greyhawk. Crossing over from Arduin to Greyhawk is as simple as finding a portal in a dungeon on Arduin & stepping into Greyhawk. This is something that Hargrave makes really clear within the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book & a subject that carried over unto his section on his own version of the multiverse. 

The breeding point for these horrors?! The black pyramids & their dungeons on Cha'alt! This profane location & planet is the perfect breeding point for monsters & demons beyond the ken of men! 

Mail Call! Emperor's Choice Arduin Grimoire Bundle (Arduin Grimoire volumes 1-9!) Unboxing

Hoping that your Thanksgiving preparpation has gone smashingly! I'm very appreciative of having a roof over my head, four squares a day, a job, and a hobby that has given me some amazing friends & opportunities. And this little beauty came today. so excited to have this package! 

Lo do I see the Arduin Grimoire Bundle (Arduin Grimoire volumes 1-9 in my mail box today! Excellent turkey day reading material kids! 



 As soon as Emperor's Choice reared its head, I yanked out a kickstarter pledge and ordered  Arduin Grimoire Bundle (Arduin Grimoire volumes 1-9!) from their new website. Man, I've been waiting for this watching the mail box for some weeks while others have gotten their orders from Emperor's Choice ( good for them may they enjoy bloody, bloody, Arduin!). But looking over opening this beauty she packed really well. Emperor's Choice did an amazing job packing my books nicely! 

And there's the Bloody, Bloody, Arduin goodness right there all Arduin Grimoire volumes 1-9! And since I paid for these out of pocket their all mine for unleashing mayhem on the players PC's coming up! New monsters, magic items, adventure twists, and much more

This has everything that a DM could ever want for running a complete Arduin campaign for years & years to come! The main rule book lone 'The Complete Arduin Grimoire volumes 1-3' is worth the price of admission. But then add to that the rest of the package & things get really interesting. The first three volumes of the Arduin Grimoire really showcase optional material to add to the 'grand game' for the players. Dave Hagrave's additional grimoire volumes add even more depth to the Arduin setting & campaign world. And its this second avenue that I've been vying for now for a long time. 

There's something uniquely dangerous about using the additional grimoires that seems to fly in the face of the traditional classic era of TSR Dungeons & Dragons. The home brewed aspect of Hargrave's creation & his willingness to say to the DM, 'Here just try this and see if it helps or hinders your home campaign'. 

There are so many little details & bits of Arduin weirdness that seem to reveal themselves as you read these grimoires. And thank you Emperor's Choice for the editing of the Grimoires along with the larger type fonts. The truth is that this collection is going to make creating & running adventures much easier for me coming up. 

Commentary On Using the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book from Emperor's Choice For Dungeon & Adventure Creation For Your Old School Campaigns

 So for the past three or four weeks I've been listening to Erik Tanard waffle on about Emperor's Choice's  the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book & other Arduin books. So glad to see Emperor's Choice rise from the ashes & inject some needed old school reprint goodness back into the OSR & the hobby scene. Now I've had this book going back to someplace around 2008 or so. Anyhow everyone talks about the PC options, alternative abilities, Hargrave's brilliance, how he was ahead of his time (he definitely was). But does anyone ever talk about the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book dungeon & mega dungeon resources?! 

On page 384 Hargrave lays out his dungeon design philosophy stating that 60% of his dungeon rooms are empty of monsters & treasure. But these rooms each have some interesting feature or redeeming little tid bit to keep the players interested. Another thing that stressed is making the dungeon your own as the dungeon master. 
On pages 388 through 390 there are the random dungeon encounter charts by dungeon level from 1st  going all of the way up through 12th. And there's some rather nasty little gems of monsters. Finally we get into a page on generating random, fogs, mists, etc. on pages 392. 
And then a section on hirelings. Who are they, how to hire them, rates, etc. Hirelings are some of the most important NPC's for the party to take with em down into the dungeon. 

Dave Hargrave has with  the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book created an Arduin campaign setting centric tool box. And this is solidly done because it creates a workable old school tool box for the DM to dip into as needed. And the more one reads the more one comes away with at least several thoughts on creating adventures on Arduin. Today Arduin is one of those old school gaming wells that I frequently find myself returning to whist other dungeon masters & OSR bloggers seem to burn out. The sheer volume of old school weirdness & wonderfulness keeps the experience of gaming fresh for me. If you don't like something then drop it or move on! Dave Hargrave wasn't an easy character to define but he did gaming on his own terms!
  The 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book has so many resources in it for adventure & dungeon creation that its hard to pick simply one or more areas to read. But I will say this, 'Arduin lives quite nicely in my own & other's  imagination today. 

Dave Hargrave defined his adventures in his own terms & made them live to his players through sheer imagination & DMing. And its this 'try what I'm putting on the table for you & your players' attitude that separates Hargrave from others of his ilk at the time when the three other brown books were written. 

Mr.Hargrave knew his stuff & even though this an alternative set of rule books there was enough different that Arduin has or had its own unique feel. And it was something to see Arduin mentioned in the same breath as Greyhawk. Crossing over from Arduin to Greyhawk is as simple as finding a portal in a dungeon on Arduin & stepping into Greyhawk. This is something that Hargrave makes really clear within the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book & a subject that carried over unto his section on his own version of the multiverse. 

What makes the 'Arduin Grimoire Trilogy' book unique is how its purposely been edited to make it far easier to look up & use Dave Hargrave's contents as an actual tool kit for adventure & dungeon design. The originals still cause many folks issues. But there's more then enough to create the unique 'Bloody, Bloody. Arduin' flavor & uniqueness for both the dungeons & adventures of your own making.