New OSR Monster Faction - The Dungeon Jugglers of Yuhzri

"Captain Cronus what are they doing? "
"I have no idea Warboy "
'But the pattern seems so dark, & yet there's so many colours there' 
'So many pretty colours'

The dungeon jugglers of Yuhzri are a troupe of performance artist/dungeon monsters made up of various  Yzel,brain lashers,  & blind morlocks   who come to various alien dungeons & other worldly ruins. They come for the tortured magical energies that dead adventurers leave behind. Psicon telepathic blades & instruments are juggled & thrown enabling bits & flakes of weird psychic radiation to be placed in intricate patterns of runes & seemingly random glyph work.  
These are woven into black  magical constructs & pieces of artwork on the floors of dungeons. The reason is unknown but many black wizards bask in these works of art. 

Those poor fools who catch a performance of the dungeon jugglers of Yuhzri must save vs spells or be compelled to become a part of the violent actions of the troupe. They will be blissfully aware of the trans psychic energies around them even as their body takes damage from the scalpels, knives, & blades of the troupe. Their blood, tissues,etc. will become a part of the finished work of art. 

These works pulse & change with the weird outlaying energies of the blackest of leylines always running across places of violence & depravity. These artworks focus the psychic energies of adventurers actions to Someplace Else. Those who stand & look at them are often drawn into dark emotional places. These viewers must save vs spells or be totally absorbed by the weird musics, tones, and patterns that only they can see. Hours, days, months, etc will pass for the viewer & they will stand transfixed for 1d8 months caught in 'the outsider space & time' that the pattern work creates. It is said that some of these pieces of performance artwork & patterns are completely outside known local space time  that Morlocks, & Brainlashers use them as a form of entertainment across the planes.




The Dungeon Jugglers of Yuhzri often work in a wide variety of venues including the most dangerous of cross planar zones. These places often have 'special pattern performance pieces' that the Dungeon Jugglers of Yuhzri pass on to other alien & outsider races as 'gifts' pity the poor foolish adventurers that come across these pieces. Their effects can be disastrous. Those who encounter these special patterns must save vs wands or devices to not  suffer their

1d6 Random Special Performance
 Artwork Pattern Pieces By The Dungeon Jugglers of Yuhzri
Encounter Table 

1. The pattern begins to weaken the bonds of self for the target & their existence comes apart in a strangely colorful display as their existence is transformed as a random polymorph spell. 
2. Part of the viewer's mind is replaced with a Great Race of Yith's mind is a split pattern existence of artwork & insanity. 
3. The poor fool is left at the end of time holding one of the great eggs of Yor. 
4. Several judges of the dead stand observing the naked form of the viewer. They will begin to close in to feed upon the feast of the soul 
5. The poor fool has become a part of one of the operas of 'He Who Will Not Be Named But Has Other Names'.
6. The songs of Azathuth form around & in the head of the viewer.
   
   

'Art copyright 2017 Garrisonjames. Used by permission..' 
The Dungeon Jugglers of Yuhzri @ copyright & trade mark Dark Corner Productions 2017

Free Sword And Planet Download ~ Planet Of Peril By Otis Albert Kline For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaign

Down load it right over
Here! 

I was going over my 1963 copy of Planet of Peril by Otis Adelbert Kline and doing a cross compare with Edgar Rice Burroughs Atmor(Venus) books. Mr. Kline was a rather interesting fellow and preceeded his famous friend to Venus a couple of years earlier. Kline while known as a literary agent of Robert Howard was in fact a pulp writer in his own right. 
 According to wiki: 

Otis Adelbert Kline (1891–1946) born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, was an adventure novelist and literary agent during the pulp era. Much of his work first appeared in the magazineWeird Tales. Kline was an amateur orientalist and a student of Arabic, like his friend and sometime collaborator, E. Hoffmann Price.

 

You can read more about him right over
HERE 
Kline wrote a number of Venus based novels that appeared as a seriel in Weird Tales. His venus was a rough and ready planet of sword and Lovecraftian weirdness. A place were his soul switching protagonists rubbed elbows with his Martain heroes as well. There were six tales of his that appeared in both Argosy and Weird tales. The Mars novels and Venus books respectively.
According to Wiki :

Kline's novels normally received serial publication in magazines before their release in book form. The Mars novels appeared in Argosy, and Port of Peril in Weird Tales (as Buccaneers of Venus).

Venus series[edit]

1. Planet of Peril (1929)
2. The Prince of Peril (1930)
3. The Port of Peril (1932)

Mars series[edit]

1. The Swordsman of Mars (1933)

The Outlaws of Mars (1933)

The thing about Kline's writing is that there is strange sort of sardonic quality to his fetid Venus. As if there's some hidden menace lurk over the hero's shoulder and that the planet is far older then the inhabitants guess. The other fact about Kline is that his characters are all a part of his greater shared universe. The first of his books Planet Of Peril is the one for download. All though his Venus shares many similarities with his friend Edgar Rice Burrough's Venus books and they could take place on the same planet there is a bit of a distinctive feel to Kline's books. They have a very  sword and sorcery vibe to them even though there aren't any sorcery in them at all. They have a lot going on in them with battles, kidnapping, lost races, encounters, weird creatures and more. 

 Using Kline's Venus As Fodder For Your Sword and Sorcery Campaign

Kline's Venus is the fetid hot house planet of the old pulps with a pirate twist and heavier then air ships moving through them. These are ancient declining cultures with the best of them far behind their societies. These are places of adventure, sword play, and occasionally weird technology in the offering.
 I've used Kline's Venus numerous times as a pocket universe planet where adventurers have had to go to retrieve ingredients for one spell or another. A place where ancient ruins rub shoulders with Deep One style fishmen of incredible violence and insane horror. Let's be honest here though the name Edgar Rice Burroughs carries far more fame with it then Kline's and I've combined their Venuses into one pulptastic hot house planet filled with Lovecraftian ruins, ancient treasures, and horrors beyond the pale of mankind just waiting to be sprung on players. Edgar Rice Burroughs Magazine even had a very well done article on Kline's Venus that addressed these concerns.
Right over
HERE

For many of the retroclone game systems out there Kline's Venus might be just the sort of place for an expedition and not an extended campaign. I have found that players enjoy Venus as a diversion rather then an extended world for a campaign. The exotic nature of the planet and its tribes makes it very different experience then say a Barsoomian Mars or a Lunar excursion.

Keep the relic technology from games like Carcosa, Astonishing Swordsmen of Hyperborea, and Arduin very, very rare. The atmosphere of Venus will play marry havoc with delicate instruments. For AS&SH bards are a nice way of getting from one world to another. They're reliability is questionable at best however. 

For a game like Stars Without Number this version of Venus might simply be yet another pocket universe pulp location. Given the nature of psychics in SWN this might be just the place for a quick mission or diversion. Psychics are going to be in for a bit of a shock when the nature of Venusian psychic powers reveal themselves. Many of the native population display some form of psychic power themselves.

 This planet could display some very valuable biological specimens as well for genetic engineering possibilities.

Buccaneers of Venus was serialized in Weird Tales with some really odd and striking covers.

 You can see more of Kline's books and cover art right over at the Edgar Rice Burroughs Magazine page HERE

 Burroughs and Kline 

 I remember first hearing the name Otis Adelbert Kline.back in the early 80's in a used book shop and the conversation with a friend about how he was a friend and rival of Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is true that they were friends but not rivals at all.

Once again according toWiki: 

Kline is best known for an apocryphal literary feud with fellow author Edgar Rice Burroughs, in which he supposedly raised the latter's ire by producing close imitations (Planet of Peril(1929) and two sequels) of Burroughs's Martian novels, though set on Venus; Burroughs, the story goes, then retaliated by writing his own Venus novels, whereupon Kline responded with an even more direct intrusion on Burroughs's territory by boldly setting two novels on Mars. Kline's jungle adventure stories, reminiscent of Burroughs's Tarzan tales, have also been cited as evidence of the conflict.[1] While the two authors did write the works in question, the theory that they did so in contention with each other is supported only circumstantially, by the resemblance and publication dates of the works themselves. The feud theory was originally set forth in a fan press article, "The Kline-Burroughs War," by Donald A. Wollheim (Science Fiction News, November, 1936), and afterward given wider circulation by Sam Moskowitz in his book Explorers of the Infinite. Richard A. Lupoff debunked the case in his book Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure. Among the evidence cited by Lupoff discounting the feud: (1) no comment from either writer acknowledging the feud is documented, and (2) family members of the two authors have no recollection of ever hearing them mention it. In response to Lupoff's investigations Moskowitz identified his original source as Wollheim's article, while Wollheim stated, when questioned on the source of his own information: "I made it up!"

Kline's Mars is only now being recognized for its classic nature as well. I'll cover this in another post at some point in the future. 

1d5 Trans Cosmic Treasures of the Void For Your Old School Campaigns

"To shake off the maddening and wearying limitations of time and space and natural law—to be linked with the vast outside—to come close to the nighted and abysmal secrets of the infinite and the ultimate—surely such a thing was worth the risk of one’s life, soul, and sanity!"
HP Lovecraft The Whisperer in Darkness September 1930



The treasures & relics of the vastness of space are not something that the greedy trans cosmic space ways readily give up within the realm of the nine planets. These places are guarded by horrors drawn to the scent of occult power & the promise of the flesh of our planes. Relics & bits of ancient civilizations & rare occult artifacts of power still lie in the remote vastness of space & our own solar system. 


Many of these treasures & relics were lost when the wars broke out between our universe & those from beyond who hungered at the gateway for that which they could not have. These treasures often bare the taint of those early wars with strange &  weird  curses of occult & supernatural power. These powers often manifest within 1d6 days & can cause chaos or Lovecraftian mutations of a most dire type. There is a 5% chance that prolonged exposure to these relics can cause a 'living cancer' to manifest within 1d6 months of owning one of these treasures. Powerful super science treatments costing thousands of credits may haul the progress of occult diseases created by the owning of these objects. Only a remove curse or cure light wounds spell may relieve the symptoms of these mutations. But even this does not dissuade relic hunters, pirates, & adventurers from the hunt for these valuables.  Many of these objects also contain valuable information or other weird occult abilities that outweigh the risks to life & sanity.


1d10 Trans Cosmic Treasures of the
Void For Your Old School Campaigns 

1. Jeweled Head of The Mi Go Queen - This valuable treasure is worth a cool 10000 gold pieces or 20,000 credits to any occultist or mad scientist. This is the fossilized head of the 8th cycle queen of the Mi Go queen of Saturn. This head can cast 1d6 1st,2nd, & even 3rd level black magic spells once per day. The head will also telepathically answer any question put it by its owner but it often lies with sanity shattering answers. Writ all across the head are numerous sanity blasting formula & void shattering runes. These are powerful invocations that contain strange fundamental understandings of the planes. There is a 5 % chance that a scientist or wizard may make an occult or mad science break through reading these thing. There is a 1% chance of a random demon appearing when they are read aloud. 
2. Satan's Nose Ring - This strange red & green artifact was found at the heart of a dead star. The thing enables its owner to gain entry into a strange trans planar gateway dimension. The owner may gain forbidden knowledge of other alternative versions of themselves gaining 1 new PC level. But they will begin to be hunted by the hounds of time & a very jealous version of themselves that is actually a soul devouring life form given their abilities & powers. These will not manifest for 1d4 months of game time. The ring is a fist sized ruby of pure clarity worth 100000 gold pieces or 10000 credits but there is also an alien cult that wants it back. 
3. The Globe of Val Droon - This strange globe is made from the concentrated occult energies of the corpse of an 'Outer One' & it allows its owner to make a flawless teleportation 5 times per day. The dead mind of the Outer One interfaces with the owner & violently wracks out the incredible alien mathematics for these teleports. The owner is not aware that a tiny portion of their own mind is added to the undead state of this god thing & eventually it will manifest. There is 20% chance that the owner will gain 1d6 random chaos mutations should an emergency teleportation be needed. The owner will not be aware that they be taking on the minor characteristics in their own personality of the god as well for the Globe is like a drug. A save vs wands must be made every two weeks to avoid these effects. Still the globe is highly prized for it allows its owner to remove any parasites or foreign alien hosts or diseases by surgical teleportation once every week. The god thing only demands a murder for this wonderful ability. The globe is priceless & many will want to posses it. 
4. Eyes of The Witch Lord - This incredible pair of cybernetic alien eyes were lost during the height of the war with the Great Race of Yith. They allow one to see deep into the gathering gloom of time & to once per week alter the destiny of a minor event. The eyes can stare into the soul of a target & allow one to take a bit of the target's life force doing 1d6 points of damage without any visible violence. The target must save vs wands or be shaken to their core as the sanity shattering rend of space & time becomes visible to their minds. The eyes also have 1d4 other hidden powers & the Mi Go will seek the return of these devices for they are a trophy from their throne world. They are worth 10000 gold pieces or 4000 credits for these things are rumored to be cursed because of the murders & 'accidents' associated with them. 
5. Hand of The Hound Thing - This jeweled hand allows its owner to reach into the ether between universes & strum the mad music of the Outer Ones. The owner's life force joins with the spawn of the Outer Ones for 1d6 turns allowing one to do 1d8 points of damage to everyone within a 20 foot radius. The owner's mind joins with the mindless beyond the Pale. They will gain 1d4 trans cosmic & insane  theoretic insights but there is a 10% chance that they may awaken one of the bigger spawn demon things that guard these forbidden places. The owner is also subjected to 1d6 minor temporary insanities using this device. The device is often found encrusted with the remains of its previous owners as it has a tendency to absorb them as a sacrifice to the Outer Ones. The thing is worth a cool 20000 gold pieces to any mad wizard associated with the Outer Gods. Few adventurers are crazy enough to buy this thing but there are collectors who will pay  this thing but its worth 6000 to 10000 credits within the right market. 

Review & Commentary On Lady Satan 1944 By Steve Miller From NUELOW Games

"I'll answer the invitation to death... but not with bullets."

When everyone she loved was killed in a Nazi bombing raid, a young woman surrendered her entire existence to a quest for revenge. Under the name Lady Satan, she first hunted and killed the Nazis wherever she could with conventional weapons... but later, she became a master of black magic. Even after the Nazi monsters were broken and consigned to history, she continued her fight, becoming a hunter of all manner of supernatural monsters."

So the year is 1979  I'm living in Hudson New York, my family is getting ready to move back to Connecticut. Like many families we survived the Recession of the late Seventies  via tag sales,odd jobs, & any mean necessary. Flea markets were also a must back then & there was a comic book dealer that used to blow through from New York City. One of the comic books he had was 'Lady Satan' & I became obsessed with the character.  So when Steve Miller of Nuelow games offered me the chance to do some reviews of his games I gravitated to the comic book character I was imprinted with. Lady Satan 1944 is a good solid introduction & overview of the Lady Satan character with rules for creating your own version of the character as NPC or PC. The layout is easy on the eyes & not too much is expanded upon so there's room for the dungeon master to make Lady Satan their own. I owned a few Lady Satan comic books back in the 90's but an apartment fire took those. You can go over a bit more of Lady Satan's background on the Public Domain Super Hero's site here. 


That being said Steve goes into a bit more background on the now public domain character;" Lady Satan was one of the legion of superheroes that rushed onto the market during the superhero comic book craze of the early 1940s. She has the distinction of being among the first female superheroes, debuting in 1941, the same year as the more famous Black Cat and Phantom Lady, and premiering the same month as the most famous of comic book heroines, Wonder Woman. But Lady Satan was not destined for the success enjoyed by some of her classmates. After just two stories—published in Dynamic Comics issues 2 and 3, she vanished into the haze of war, without the world even getting to know her real name. (Several years later, publisher Harry A. Chesler would give Lady Satan a second shot at stardom, bringing her back as a sorceress instead of a spy. This second chance didn’t fare much better than the first, and this time she faded away for good.) The first two Lady Satan stories in this book are the two that were published in 1941 and 1942. They are illustrated, and possibly written by, George Tuska, who would would go onto assist in the creation of the first black superhero to headline his own comic book, Luke Cage, Power Man, as well as celebrated runs on World’s Finest Comics and Iron Man. Tuska’s unmistakable hand is evident throughout the stories, even if his style was still developing. Tuska was a staff artist at Chesler’s comic book studio from 1939 to 1941, and most sources credit him with creating the character of Lady Satan. The two other stories are from the second batch of stories featuring the character, after she gained magical powers. Again, Chesler did not credit creators, but the first one (To Catch a Predator) appears to have been penciled by Chesler staffer Bill Madden and inked either by George Tuska or Ralph Mayo. The final tale included here once again looke to have been drawn by George Tuska. The short story that bridges the two versions of Lady Satan and revealing the source of her magic, first appeared in NUELOW Games’s The Werewolf Hunter #1, and is reprinted here in slightly altered form. This story is the first time Lady Satan’s transformation was explained"

NUELOW Games’s does an excellent job of bridging the gap from vengeful assassin to full on sorceress of the black arts. This is done  with a simple & easy to understand bit of D20 Basic magic with some easily converted feats & skills via her transformation into the black arts. All of this ties into the first two comic book story "The Daring Lady Satan" &  The Rebirth of Lady Satan fiction piece. This gives the character a solid grounding as a bad ass NPC for your games. "Lady Satan was ranked sixth in the Huffington Post's list of the 10 Most Bada** Comic Book Heroines" via Lady Satan Public domain Super Hero entry 


Lady Satan  lives up to the moniker & the character is easily converted over to Troll Lord's Amazing Adventures! rpg. There's enough background & fiction that an enterprising dungeon master could easily convert her over an AA!  game campaign. But that's not the only way that this excellent character could be used! There is often a deep & abiding connection between post apocalyptic worlds & supernatural evil. This connection often comes from quasi fictional Biblical or Satanic occult  sources. Often times these encounters happen via dimensional or planar gateways. Imaging a party of pulp or Dungeons & Dragons adventurers encountering Lady Satan in say the Mutant Future Rpg wastelands.



 It would not be outta of the realm of possibility to find ones adventuring party encountering Lady Satan in the post apocalyptic wastelands. If she was on the trail of a supernatural mutant that had been whisked into the late 30's or early 40's via Nazi super science time or dimensional gate technology. Lady Satan & the adventures might find themselves coming face to face with several of Tim Sniderman's Deviant Database I & II  mutant supernatural horror themed mutants.
Lady Satan is also a full on investigator of the supernatural & could be encountered jumping through a time gate only to wind up right within one of Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classic   or Mutant Crawl Classics campaign adventures as well via Nazi or super hero super science!


All together I really enjoyed the Neulow Games Lady Satan 1944 booklet clocking in at thirty six pages there's just enough here to get the juices flowing & serves a solid introduction for the character!!

 Lady Satan 1944 

Is Available Right Here 

Six Rites & Spells of The Spectral Phoenix For Space Age Sorcery & Your Old School Campaigns

'Carl why are we out here in the middle of the Martian night!?
'Because I saw it out in the dust storm again over by the ruins yesterday.'
'The Spectral Phoenix. That god thing you claim spoke with you.'
'Look colour me skeptical Carl but do know how nuts that sounds?'
Martin didn't have time to react to the knife that found its way into his stomach by Carl's hand.The violence was too quick & strike fast enough to enter the soft tissue of Martin's stomach.
'And now you know why I brought you out here Martin'
'The Phoenix needs a sacrifice to make me his 'holy warrior'.
'Nuts' Martin was able to croak out.
'Oh I know it sounds that way but since you've been having that affair with my wife I figured that turn about was fair play.'
' I'll make this brief since the Phoenix is coming to take you. Before the current set of dimensions existed there were others. Many others as matter of fact. The Spectral Phoenix was an A.I. made up from the sum of various parts of aliens & demons who existed 'before'. But then the Big Bang or whatever you want to call it happened & well the A.I. essence survived the event by hiding out in the darkness between dimensions. Martin don't lose consciousness please its rude.' 

'Ughh'
'Martin you get to be a part of something greater then yourself for a change!'
'I know right fascinating stuff.'
'It continues to feed on the dead essence of gods, demons,alien life forms, adventurers, even capes. Especially capes.'
'But Martin it needs a vessel & your it.'
'I already fed Marian my wife to it this afternoon but its so hungry Martin. Besides your convenient.'
'There was the sound of a billion wasps all rushing into a screen door at once & the phoenix's form was created from sand, stone, & Martin's remains.
'Now we have work to do'. 
Deep & malevolent eyes shone from inside the churning mass of horror, flesh, sand, rot, & insanity. There was awareness, recognition, & infinite hunger of the most dangerous type.

The Spectral Phoenix is a demon A.I. god from before the infinite planes existed & it has waited in the infinite lower viberational extra Outer Darkness. It is a carrion feeder of spirits & gods who have died within its own universe but it continues to look for ways to enter other Prime planes. It needs an anchor & an anchor of special power. Psionic,occult, or super human potential are its favorite hosts. It communicates through dreams with its hosts with offers of occult & telekinetic power. A simple summoning ritual murder spell functions as an invitation for this thing to enter its host. Then it will prey on the inhabitants of the local space time continuum. Because of its unholy power clerics & priests of order & good may drive it off as if they were facing down a lich. Evil priests & clerics must rebuke it as

The Spectral Phoenix 
Symbol: A stylized graffiti broken bird 
Alignment: chaotic 
Movement: 150'(40')
Armor Class: 0 
Hit Points: 80 (16 HD) 
Attacks : 1 claws or special
Damage: 8d6 or special 
Morale: 10 
Hoard Class: XVI + 3000 gp
XP:2,300 

 The spectral phoenix will strike with telekenetic blows doing 1d6 points of damage from material of its body or with a claw strike made up of pure psychic energies doing 8d6 points of damage. The monster also loves to feed upon the fear, hatred, & darker emotions of its prey. The thing can look deep into its prey's eyes & siphon out a small portion of its victim's soul sending the poor fool into a spiral of temporary insanity & horror for 1d6 weeks. The spectral phoenix will allow its victim to escape but the victim will seemingly be under the effects of a fear spell & -3 on all combat related attacks. 
The phoenix will stalk the victim through his or her dreams during the 1d6 week period spying on the victim's life whist sharing bits & pieces of itself through dreams. There is a 10% chance that the victim could also serve as a host to the A.I. allowing the monster spirit to manifest through the poor fool's body. The thing will murder & kill any loved ones it finds all of the while making sure the host is aware of their actions but unable to do a damn thing about it. 
The spectral phoenix loves psychics & psionics & it seeks these out granting them 2 levels of telekinetic power. But there is a price for this 'blessing' by the monster within 1d6 years the poor fool will become the phoenix prey for its unholy life force. These psychic & psionic anchors are the perfect tools to allow it entrance into the local space time.

Its final prey is magic users seeking power through occult means. The spectral phoenix loves to grant one or two levels of occult power allowing its power & occult energies to flow through the wizard, witch, or occult caster. All of the while it corrupts & twists its potential host. Wisdom checks & save vs spells are needed ever three or four weeks to stave off its influence. Of course it has its own school of occult spells geared around its horridly twisted existence. Here then are six of its spells: 
Web of Damnation & The Contained 
Spell level: 2nd Level Cleric/3rd Level Magic User
Range: 30 foot Duration: 1d6 turns
This spell creates a solid web of unholy energy as per a web spell but this one is limited because of the occult manifestation being made up of various damned souls the phoenix has devoured over its unexistence. Those caught within its grasp will be subject to fear & 1d4 points of damaged as their flesh is torn at by the damned that make this thing up. The target will be at -1 for 1d6 turns after the spell ends because of the damned violating their souls through the cage of their own flesh. 

Rip The Secrets
Spell level: 3nd Level Cleric/4th Level Magic User
Range:20 feet
Duration: 1d4 turns

The caster is granted a violent telepathic ability for 1d4 turns & can rip 1d6 secrets from the target's mind. The victim can save vs spells to resist. But the victim has horrific visions as the spell does its evil work within the poor fool's mind. They will be dazed & confused for 1d6 turns after the spell ends as their mind can't cope with the horrors they have seen. 

Bolt of the Phoenix Spell level: 2nd Level Cleric/3rd Level Magic User
Range: 40 foot
Duration: instantaneous
The caster allows the phoenix access to their body to allow the unholy energies of the horror to course through them & toward's its victim. The poor fool hit by this bolt must save vs spells or have their very existence rent between two or more unrealities. They take 1d6 points of soul destroying damage from the experience or can save vs spells for half damage. The caster has allowed the phoenix to taste their souls & there is a 20% chance it will hunger for much more. The caster may be subject to nightmares, sanity shattering visions, & more from the thing.

Eyes Of The Lone Machine

Spell Level: 3rd level Cleric/4th level Magic User
Range: 1d8 light years
Duration: 1d6 turns

The caster's eyes take on the aspects of alien machines granting them dark vision, & the abilities of a crystal ball within 1d8 light years but only for 1d6 turns. The poor fool using this spell must save vs spells or be assaulted with sensory overload as the full weight of horror & emptiness of the planes & the senses of a god overwhelm him or her. The dark side of this spell is that it allows the phoenix entrance into the caster. Secrets maybe learned but the price is very high. 

A Devil Is Arising 
Spell Level: 4th level Cleric/5th level Magic User 
Range: 30 foot radius 
Duration: 1d4 turns 

The caster calls the cold & souless essences of shadow devilkin that existed in the quasi cold Hells that the phoenix has fed upon. The caster is temporarily possessed by these souls & all within a 3o foot radius is subject to a symbol of hopelessness for 1d4 turns. A save vs spells will counter the effects of this spell but there is a 2% chance that 1d2 shadow essences may try to hitch themselves onto one or more members of the party. Needless to say that this spell gains the caster a ticket to damnation under the attention of  the phoenix. 

 Talons of The Darkest Wings

Spell Level : 6th Level Cleric/7th level Magic User 
Range: 40 foot radius 
Duration: 2 turns 

The caster gives a portion of their soul over to the phoenix & allows it temporarily manifest upon their home plane.Those within a forty foot radius of the caster must make a save vs spells or be subject to crippling temporary insanity as their soul is brushed by the horror of the monster god A.I. They take 1d6 points of sub dual damage as telekinetic & telepathic waves of malevolence wash through their souls. This gives the caster for a moment over to god thing allowing it to violate & taste its prey the caster. There is a 2% chance that they maybe subject to a crippling insanity after casting this spell or over casting it.

The spectral phoenix can never be destroyed per say only banished back into the darkness between & under the planes. There are rumors from the eyeless casters within the Abyss that the Hell god soars in those infinite & damned skies. The Faceless Alchemists of Alpha IV are rumored to have several spells & rites that allow one to bask in the chaotic rays of the spectral phoenix to gain more of its damned wisdom & cosmic powers. This is another verse in the legacy of Space Age Sorcery for another day. 

Five Spells Of Space Age Sorcery & Lovecraftian Space Opera

"An alien sorcerer crawls to a lone stone at the edge of the universe & calls upon the power of unrivaled fury!
The space & dimensional ways quake with the stirrings of an ancient power & the ley lines at the ends of the universe buckle under the pure power of cosmic might. He calls upon ancient pacts & demons flow to his side from the darkest of places on the small rock. His form wracks & changes sex several times as reality cracks around the wizard's body. Then his body reassembles itself with the with the arcane cosmic powers  & might! 
Five spells floated in his mind's eye with red horror & spiritual promises. Now his revenge could begin. His mandibles & teeth clicked with the resemblance of a smile. "

The time is ripe for the OSR to remember the occult powers of Space Age Sorcery! The Garrisons of Hereticworks  & I created some awesome spells of cosmic power & potential for your old school games wayback in the mists of time from 2013 as a free pdf. 

But now I find myself once again turning to "Lovecraftian Space Opera" & its time to get back to work on using these twisted creations within my own OSR hybrid games. These spell would be perfect for something like Dungeon Crawl Classics or your own home games. So here are five brand new spells from my own home campaigns completely compatible with Space Age Sorcery! 

Can't Stop The Signal Mal
Spell Level: Cleric level 1st/Magic User 2
Range: 240 ft.
Duration: Instantaneous
Caster calls down an explosive combination of transcosmic EMP &  radio waves to disrupt & damage  the electrical systems of anyone or anything  within a twenty foot radius. The target  must save vs spells or take 1d6 points of static & trans electrical damage. Any technological devices caught within the spell must save or stop working as the power supply is shorted out. The caster may create a taunt or insult within the blast of no less then 140 characters heard only by the target. 

Flight Of Spectral Phoenix

Spell level: 2nd Level Cleric/3rd Level Magic User
Range:self 
Duration: 1d6 turns 

The caster calls upon the trans cosmic power of the great fire bird of the planes & two flaming wings appear upon the caster's back. These wings do 1d4 points of damage per turn to anyone caught within them. They allow the caster to hover & fly as a hawk for 1d6 turns. But anyone seeing these wings will be affected as per a fear spell as they recognize the power of the entity providing this spell's power. Each time it is cast the Spectral Phoenix gains more of a toe hold upon the soul of the caster which will eventually have dire ramifications.

Transcosmic Trans Teleportation
Spell Level: Magic User 3rd/Cleric 2nd
Range: 240 ft.
Duration: 1d8 light years

This spell calls down the power of the cosmic planar guardians allowing the cleric or magic user to transmit their atoms across space & time 1d8 light years almost instantly. There is a strange swirling of cosmic energies  effect that manifests around the caster or his target which must make a save vs spells. There is a 1 in 6 chance that a transcosmic demon or gremlin may manifest should this spell be abused by the caster. 

Claws of the Ether Demon 

Spell Level: Magic User 3rd/Cleric 2
 Range: self
 Duration: 1d6 turns 

The wizard or cleric summons in the cold Hell music of the dead universes unto themselves where the Ether Demons play with the dead gods & alien corpses of demons from previous incarnations of the universes.
The power of absolute nihilism manifests around the caster's hands allowing them to gain +3 damage against any technological & or manifestation of Order. The price is 2 points of subdual damage to their hands as the emotional trauma warps their souls. Targets hit by the claws of the ether demons must save vs spells or be affected by crippling & suicidal depression as their actual place in the universe is revealed for 1d6 days after the attack.

Hide of the Space Whale

Spell Level: Magic User 2nd/Cleric 1st
Range: self
Duration: 1d4 days

The caster summons & takes on the semblance of a space whale. The caster's Charisma becomes -4 as they take on all of the abilities & powers of the space leviathans. Their armor class drops by two & they can gain sustenance from the light waves & trans cosmic energies of space itself. Their senses are bombarded with the alien input of the space lanes  as the holy power of the Grand Space Whale sustains them. Space & all its problems will not effect the caster for the spells duration but there is a 2% chance of the caster remaining as half breed space whale when the spell ends.

Death of A God & The Tomb Of Pan Dungeon Session Report '89

I saw a city in a lonely land:
Foursquare, it fronted upon gulfs of fire;
Behind, the night of Erebus hung entire;
And deserts gloomed or glimmered on each hand.
The City of the Titans  (1915) 
by Clark Ashton Smith

There was a quick debate on Twitter about how gods should never be killed in Dungeons & Dragons style games. This reminded me of one of the most dangerous dungeons our party of players encountered back in '89. The Tomb of  Pan was a home brew that my uncle had come up with whist his kids & me were in school learning Greco Roman mythology. 

The Clash of the Titans film was still on everyone's mind in '89

My uncle had picked up on a bit from Greek mythology & the closest I could come was this quote from the Stack Exchange Mythology  & Folklore beta ; 

"Then the voice said aloud to him, When you are arrived at Palodes, take care to make it known that the great God Pan is dead.

Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874." 

We were to try & figure out what had killed him & the we were right in the middle of the events of Ragnarok during that time.  We were use Charon to get into Tartarus to find the tomb. Most of the adventure was sew up whole cloth from Deities & Demi Gods & The Manual of the Planes. 


We ported into the deathly quiet of the plane & began searching for the tomb. Our druid wasn't really sure what happened to her patron. It began with the shadow demons on the first level of the tomb after we investigated the wax seal & had made the offering to the gods. Tartus usual suspects were after us Demodands, Achaierai, Shadow demons, Mephits, & Vargouille. They all came at us & we died by the score as I remember. My wizards were cut down left & right but we had a pact with the gods. The tomb was fiendish, clever, & very dangerous.
Vrubel pan painting. 

The tomb was empty.
Fighting through the final rooms we entered the garden level of the tomb & found Zeus waiting for us & we didn't even wait around. We'd had some dealings with the father of the gods before & his wraith was nothing to fool with. Apparently he had resurrected the god & this was nothing for even the affairs of demi gods & heroes. 




Copyright Tsr, Deities And Demigods, Dungeons And Dragons

So did we feel cheated? No not at all we had gotten away with a bit of treasure & had learned that the Greco Roman pantheon was heavily involved with the events of Ragnarok. We had barely escaped with our collective lives at the time.  There were losing characters in my uncle's games & then there was  losing characters. That would come much later on! But that's an other blog post for another time. Is there a Christian allegory here? Umm yeah & my uncle used it to bait us & then switched up events in the same campaign. 

Gods devolve into demons over time & eventually fade or assume a different role. They may also become demons such as the Pagan gods were turned into devils & demons by later Christian church sources. Should player's high level PC's be able to kill gods or their avatars? Hmm very rarely & there should be some serious consequences for those actions. As we shall see there are some very nasty consequences & PC's will bare the brunt of them. 

Leigh Brackett's Black Amazon of Mars & Castles & Crusades The Castle Keeper's Guide Commentary

When it comes to Mars I turn to Leigh Brackett with a side of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is going to be a Mars a more then slightly twisted Mars. Mars comes across as sort of Western planetary frontier to be tamed. The inner worlds are the 'new frontier' while the outer worlds out from the meteor belt are older, decadent, & very alien.
If we start using the Castle & Crusades  Castle Keeper's Guide to begin to flesh out the Martian landscape via Brackett & Burroughs something very interesting comes up. Humans are at a distinct disadvantage. 

Everyone talks about 'orcs' being one of the most dangerous races in D&D & its various incarnations. Green Martians make orcs look like Mary Poppins. Both Burroughs & Brackett's Mars is an ecological nightmare. There is never going to be any peace on the planet. Green Martians are highly adaptable, intelligent, & take to technology easily. They are also egg layers & vicious bastards with a code of honor similar to the Samurai of ancient Japan. That's where the similarities end. These are completely alien creatures to humanity.


 Green martian on his thoat.
Extract from an art by James Allen St. John
 from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, McClurg, 1920.

Mars is a world  encourages such grand scale genocide for the sake of species survival & prosperity on the surface of the planet. We see this in Brackett's 'Black Amazon' of Mars has two such species in utter elemental contrast to one another. If we go with the fact that Burroughs yellow Martians exist along side of the 'Shining Ones'. Then perhaps this is a situation similar to what we find in Martin's Game of Thrones. Ancient alien kings of the world of Mars held at bay for the survival of the humanoids but still given reverence out of fear & for their wisdom.


Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars describes hordes & tribes  of Green Martians pillaging their way across the surface of the planet. Could the Yellow Martian peoples have been paying homage to the 'Shining Ones' all this time for keeping these invading hordes at bay.
While Brackett doesn't give any origin for the 'Shining Ones' I would venture to guess that their alien origin is tied with the 'outer worlds' of the solar system. The 'Shining Ones' seem like their straight outta Clark Ashton Smith's Mars as well. These aliens feel like they'd fit right into the ancient war between  The Aihai & the Yombis. These are invasive species of the Mythos whom mars tests with its genocidal ecology. We see this time & again in the world of plants & given particulars of  Vulthoom the plantlike 'Old One' of Mars this is no surprise. 

• Dweller in the Gulf, The (1933)
• Mnemoka (1955) Fragment
• Vaults of Yoh-Vombis, The (1931)
• Vulthoom (1935)
• Seedling of Mars or The Planet Entity
• Mars is a place of   decadence & utter ecological warfare. The fact is that I think that the human colonists of Mars would have completely & utterly under estimated the Green Martians. The Wiki entry for A Princess of Mars describes them; "The Green Martians are 15 feet tall, Burroughs wrote, adding from John Carter's observation of newly hatched children,

  “

  They seemed mostly head, with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, as I afterward learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of limbs which could be used at will either as arms or legs. Their eyes were set at the extreme sides of their heads a trifle above the center and protruded in such a manner that they could be directed either forward or back and also independently of each other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in any direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity of turning the head. The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together, were small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on these young specimens. Their noses were but longitudinal slits in the center of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears. There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very light yellowish-green color....[49]

  ”

  They are nomadic, warlike, and barbaric; do not form families; have discarded concepts of friendship and affection (presumably in the name of survival); and enjoy torture. Their social structure is communal and rigidly hierarchical, with various levels of chiefs. The highest rank is the all-powerful Jeddak, who reaches this position through combat. They are tribal, and war among one another.^[2][44] They are primitive, intellectually backwards, and have no art or written language. Any advanced technology they possess is stolen from the Red Martians. They inhabit the ancient ruined cities of Barsoom."
  So what if the Green Martians exterminated the ancient Martians because the cycle of Vulthoom the plantlike 'Old One' of Mars  got into a complete ecological disaster instead of its usual cycle of death & rebirth? 
  What might happen if there was an event that utterly caused them to go on a planetary wide campaign of destruction? A new invasive species called to Mars perhaps by the Great Old One?
  
  
  
  
  Brackett's 'Black Amazon' of Mars
   Available Right Here