OSR Campaign Expansion With 'Castles & Crusades: Brimstone & The Borderhounds RPG Quick Start' & The Book of Powers

For most folks they would be satisfied with simply telling you about a The Castles & Crusades: Brimstone & The Borderhounds RPG Quick Start  yesterday. Brimstone is a bounty hunter in Hell & he his cohorts go gunning for the souls of the damned on Earth. There's a really solid comicbook series that was done on the character of Brimstone.   I compared the concepts to the old Brimstone television show from '98 through '99.  Yes I realize that  Castles & Crusades: Brimstone & The Borderhounds RPG Quick Start  has absolutely nothing to do with the Brimstone television show except for the damned souls bounty hunting aspect.
Then Brim the wrestler whose inside ring persona Brimstone all of this is based contacted me yesterday via email. He's a super nice guy. But this got me thinking long & hard about Castles & Crusades especially some of the notions about demi gods in these games. After speaking at length with Jason Vey about this. I began to read through The Book of Powers for the Amazing Adventures! rpg.  Now what the Hell does any of this have to do with Dungeons & Dragons?! A lot actually, Amazing Adventures is a game of Pulp era adventure that starts in the 1600's buts right up to the 1950's.  Yes,  this includes the Golden age of 1930's Pulps. This gives a whole range of worlds & eras that Brimstone & co. can appear in.



If we dig deeper into Brimstone's origins then it becomes apparent that there's a lot more adventure fodder below the surface then meets the eye;

"Born and raised in Hell, Brimstone is the son of a Janitor of Demonic Forces and a Saxon Warrior Queen. As a child Brimstone knew that he was destined for great things but never seemed to find his niche. He and his Father were abandoned by his mother at the tender age of 20 minutes. Growing up for Brim was hard, being a half-demon/half-human son of a Janitor, Brim had to learn to defend himself from the most vile creatures that reside in the darkest and most evil place in Hell, high school. From High School, Brim went on to join his father in the custodial arts. One day while moving a dumpster from a Infernal Transfer Station (ITS), Brim found a lowly "weeper" (Usually a human soul that cries all the time and proclaims "Why me! I don't deserve this". 9 out of 10 times they deserve it). In a rare moment of tenderness, Brim hid the Weeper and released him past the first gate and let him run into the barren wastelands in search of redemption and salvation away from Hell. Brim let him get at least 100 yards before sniping him through the a calf with his trusty crossbow. He did think twice about sending the Oolog Monster in to rip the rest apart and eat the remains, he sent it anyway. He was bored. A passing Centurion noticed Brimstone's aptitude for dealing with Weepers and offered him a position as a Border Patrol Errant, keeping the population in Hell and preventing souls from getting into the Wastelands. His father did not approve and a large rift formed in their relationship, especially since his father had now become the head honcho of all Hell and began taking his job way too seriously.

In spite of Dad, Brim took to his job like a Hell prawn to a lava pool. In the first month alone, Brim tripled the his quota and even informed on a few of his fellow Errants that were smuggling weepers out into the wastelands and even back into our reality. Praised by his superior, the corporate demon-ass kissing pencil neck geeks, and loathed by his coworkers for basically screwing up the soul curve, Brimstone began making a name for himself in the Border community. Soon Brim shifted into the retrieval department, Autonomous tactical units mandated to retrieve "weepers" that have escaped into the deep wastelands. These units also go by the more common designation, Borderhounds. He was given a small budget and staff and gets to sit around some of the outer borders in his truck looking out for Weepers and other squatters and drinking beer. One day, he caught two Weepers ( A guy and a girl ) trying to get to a transit station. After Brim caught up with them, the girl quickly turned on her male friend and aided Brim in the capture. It seemed she never really wanted to leave and actually was more at home in Hell than she ever was in Delaware, her name was DANIELLE. Brim liked her immediately. They got married and before you know it, they had a couple of kids, DOOM BRINGING YOUNGLING LAMENTOR OF ALL NETHER WORLDS a.k.a. DYLAN and SAMANTHA ( After Danielle's Aunt ). Life seemed to settle down and become routine after a couple centuries.

Around our equivalent of 1977, Brim was patrolling the outskirts of XZA'KIRATA'KI'NOLA'ZI'XQUI'LO'BAI, a big piece of nothing, when he came across an encampment. There he met two big Mexicans, DAWG and LUSCIOUS (had aspirations of being a male stripper at 6' and 300 pounds), just chilling out and drinking beer. Seemed they had arrived in Hell a couple of months earlier and just walked away from the receiving station and into the wasteland to find a place to get drunk and sleep. In their stay in the wasteland they got really friendly with the place, exploring (for chicken and beer), and got to know the local clans and life-forms. Brim took them on as his sidekicks, he pays them usually in imported Country FriedChicken buckets, Beer and Cd's (usually show tunes... don't ask). Brim and his new found buddies quickly garnered a reputation as being one of Hell's best retrieval squads and were given the unit designation XIBALBA. Brim soon had earned enough credits to get himself and his family a nice plot of Hell in a gated wasteland, usually reserved for Serial Killers and Dictators. For Brim, life is a daily routine. He deals with the weepers of the universe and just longs every day to get home to his wife and kids, sit down in front of the idiot box ( a.k.a. TV ), watch reruns of every Wrestlemania, drink beer, and get some from his wife occasionally. "

But this has very little to do with a world & campaign setting such as Dungeons & Dragons Greyhawk. Oh really?! I hate to bring up the Gord The Rogue books by Gary Gygax  but their perfectly attuned Law vs Chaos plot; "Saga of Old City was the first novel in TSR's Greyhawk Adventures series. It starts in Gord's childhood, and ends with his triumphant return to Greyhawk City as a young man and master thief. He learns his trade in the "beggars' guild", and gets involved in the gang war touched off by the beggars encroaching on the official thieves' guild's territory. He travels and has a variety of swashbuckling adventures, ranging from participating in a war to liberating a young noblewoman held hostage.

Artifact of Evil is a continuation of Saga of Old City. This was the final novel under TSR's Greyhawk Adventures banner that was written by Gygax. An ancient artifact is uncovered, whose power could destroy their world. It is up to Gord and his companions to try to stop this artifact of evil from falling into the wrong hands.

Sea of Death, the first of the series published by New Infinities Productions, Inc., has Gord traveling far afield to the Sea of Dust, on a quest for a "Theorpart", hidden in a lost city. He must face rivals sent by demon lords: the psychopathic dwarf Obmi, who serves Zuggtmoy, and the drow priestess Eclavdra, serving Graz'zt. He meets and falls in love with Leda, a clone of Eclavdra. Leda and Gord part at the end of the book as she returns to the Abyss, impersonating Eclavdra in Graz'zt's service for the sake of higher ideals.

Night Arrant is a collection of nine short stories about Gord's adventures, in his early twenties, in the City of Greyhawk.

City of Hawks is a retelling of the events that occurred in Saga of Old City. Gord's rise from simple beggar to master thief are detailed, as is his search for his true heritage.

Come Endless Darkness continues where Sea of Death left off and has Gord continue his quest to stop Tharizdun and Lord Entropy from taking over the Multiverse.

Dance of Demons is the finale, in which Gord and Gellor enter the Abyss on a mission from the world's most powerful forces of Balance, to retrieve the remaining Theorparts. The goal is nothing less than to free Tharizdun, the long-imprisoned god of ultimate evil and entropy, and to finally destroy him. The novel ends with the complete destruction of Oerth, and the unveiling of a new and better world."
After the Gord novels end he gets involved with the war between Chaos & Law; ""At Moonset Blackcat Comes" is an early tale of Gord and his friend Chert the barbarian, in which Gord accepts a mission for the Catlord.

"Evening Odds" appears as story 14 in Pawn of Chaos: Tales of the Eternal Champion, an anthology of fiction inspired by Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythos. The story takes place some time after the events of Dance of Demons. Gord has apparently been deposed from his position as the new Catlord and is traveling the alternate realities as a Champion of Balance. In the course of the story he upsets a plot by the archfiend Baphomet on modern Earth."

This is the perfect opportunity to involve  Brimstone & The Borderhounds as  Baphomet minions escape Hell & begin ravaging Earth on some alternative plane Prime Earth. The gods call in the PC's as things spiral outta of control. 

I can already hear the players out there gnashing their teeth about how the player''s PC's need an edge. That's where  The Book of Powers for the Amazing Adventures! rpg. comes in & it allows the player's to play their own demi god half angel or demonic PC's. These are not the over powered engines of destruction that we've seen in other systems. Some of this material was inspired by Nuelow Games Awakened PC material on their blogs. I'm going to be incorporating & boiling this stuff down coming up. All of this gets into the back end of the war between Chaos & Order that we've seen played out in Michael Moorcock's novels, stories, etc. again & again. This whole cloth campaign idea was put into the Deities & Demigods Advanced Dungeons & Dragons book. 

In fact if you want to add in another era or wrinkle I highly suggest Mike Stewart's Victorious rpg for a Victorian era 'supers's setting that can handle the PC's abilities with style as well. Great game & I'm a fan of Mike's design & setting. Now let's say that you want a really good twist on the demigod aspect of this style of campaign & something really different?! 



James Mishler did a solid take on the Demi God race as a PC class for Labyrinth Lord but there's no reason not to use it to make out some real  jerks & criminals of the underworld. Add in the The Book of Powers for the Amazing Adventures! rpg & your gonna have a unique & highly dangerous NPC. 



A very different & terrifying war of Chaos & Order calls perhaps its time that I answer it. The campaign setting is coming together quickly & dangerously. 

Review & Commentary on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - I13 Adventure Pack I For Your Old School Campaigns

"I13: Adventure Pack I (1987), by Scott Bennie, Anne Brown, Deborah Christian, Jennell Jaquays, Harold Johnson, Anne Gray McCready, Steve Perrin, Warren Spector, Rick Swan, Ray Winninger, and Allen Varney is the thirteenth intermediate-level adventure for the AD&D line. it was released in May 1987. "

Eighty seven was a bumper year for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, & I13: Adventure Pack I isn't a product that gets a lot of airtime in old school circles. That's fine because its about time that this adventure anthology gets its due.  I13: Adventure Pack I is a classic adventure anthology in the sense that it presents actual useable side quests that a DM can insert into their OSR or old school games. And it does it with style. Why?! Because this is an intermediate title in the 'I' line of adventures. These are specifically tailored adventures for mid level & middle of the road adventurers & these adventures follow specific categories that enable a DM to tailor the material to their home campaigns.

And if you don't think that I13: Adventure Pack I (1987) is a classic then think again the reviews over the years have borne this out; "In his review for Adventure Pack I for White Dwarf No. 92, Graeme Davis said, "I'm confused over why this product is called I13 rather than REF5; it certainly has more in common with the two Books of Lairs than with any of the Desert of Desolation adventures".^[2] Of the adventures, he said that "some are thinly-disguised monster bashes, whilst others rely on thought and subtlety. Some look like Book of Lairs ideas which grew in the writing, and some are not so easily classified."^[2]Davis concluded by noting that the adventures were designed to be used at any point in a game, and were generally long enough for a single evening of play. He added that the styles of the scenarios were so varied that they might not all suit a group's play style, but said, "However, even so I13 is worth a look if you play a lot of AD&D and like to have fill-in adventures handy."

Yeah your gonna see that word 'handy' a lot and it shows because this is the same style of review that Ken Rolston also gave  I13: Adventure Pack I ; "Ken Rolston briefly reviewed Adventure Pack I for Dragon magazine No. 129 (January 1988).^[4] Rolston called it "a good collection of short, stand-alone AD&Dgame adventures by a number of established and promising designers".^[4] He felt the plots, tones, and flavors of the adventures were particularly original and offbeat. His favorites were "Steaks" by Allen Varney ("a compact, charming, nicely staged gaming vignette with a clever central plot device") and "Terror in Skytumble Tor" by Paul Jaquays ("a sharp little adventure with clever plot devices and vivid NPCs in a derelict sky castle that is ponderously tumbling end-over-end toward the earth").^[4] Rolston felt that while reading long modules could be rather dull, these short adventures were a good length. He considered them long enough to present an idea, but short enough to read straight through without getting bored, and "the varied tones — some light and clever, some earnest and heroic — make for a more pleasant reading experience".^[4] He concluded that "the adventures here are comfortably conventional in their AD&D game feel, and can easily be slipped into a typical house campaign""

But is I13: Adventure Pack I  still useful today in the world of old school & OSR campaigns?! Yes it is for a number of reasons. First of all it works with OSRIC & easily translates over to Labyrinth Lord Advanced without any  issues.


So what's in I13: Adventure Pack I ? The fact is that the whole package reeks of old school AD&D within the middle period of the Eighties;" Adventure Pack I is a collection of eight scenarios and three mini-scenarios, including a mystery at a magical circus (written by Warren Spector), a war between assassins (written by Steve Perrin), and a mission to the spinning sky castle of a dying storm giant (written by Paul Jaquays).^[1] The adventures average 8-10 pages in length, and are intended for character levels 4-10.^[2]

The individual scenarios are titled "Blood and Laurels", "The Circus of Gandolfo", "The House of Long Knives", "The Lauros Road Bandits", "Reign of Triumph", "Scavenger Hunt", "Sharla's Zoo", "Steaks", "Terror in Skytumble Tor", "To Kill A Kraken" and "The Weird Woods of Baron Orchid"" 


Its the flexibility & sheer variety of adventures & slices of old school encounters that make I13: Adventure Pack I such a classic. Any of the retroclones or even the B/X  Dungeons & Dragons systems can benefit from this module anthology. I13: Adventure Pack I is a class act all of the way around & should be in any dungeon master's tool box. 

Review & Commentary On The Free OSR Resource DFF33 Stele of the Silver Thane By Greg Daley For AD&D 1st Edition or Your Old School Campaigns

"An ambitious sorcerer schemes to hold sway over a fragmented Eastern Marchlands. 

An ambitious sorcerer schemes to hold sway over a fragmented eastern marchlands. An adventure for 1st or 2nd level characters.

Alright I just ran across  DFF33 Stele of the Silver Thane By Greg Daley over on Dragon's Foot, I had a feeling that new AD&D first edition module was out but the nice part about this module is that its geared for a first level party of adventurers in a marshland setting.
GRAB IT RIGHT HERE

The nice part of this module is that its been put together for first level characters with a scheming sorcerer and his ambitions are grand. The PC's are going to find themselves in way over their heads and this module features a bit of everything some wilderness, a bit of dungeon crawling, and lots of opportunity to plug this module right within their own campaign worlds. Reading through this adventure I was reminded of my review of Quagmire! 
There's plenty of opportunity to plug in and DYI Stele of the Silver Thane into your own campaigns, it contains everything you need to run it including random encounter tables, background, and more all in fifty six pages of old school goodness. The nice thing is the ecology and Gygaxian ideas are peppered throughout and the marshlands are pretty nicely fleshed out enabling a drop and go to be done into the back end of your own old school campaigns. 


Stele of the Silver Thane By Greg Daley creates a sustainable atmosphere for adventuring in and can be added to or subtracted from with adventure elements as needed even though there is a viable plot structure and ideas within the adventure's bounds. This is an adventure with clear cut goals and solid backing for its monsters. This gives the DM all of the reasons he needs to expand on the ideas presented within Stele of the Silver Thane. This is part of the reason why I can actually see using Stele of the Silver Thane as a part of an Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea module where the adventure elements help to set up and expand upon vile villains motives. Parts of this adventure reminded me of Robert Howard's Cthulhu Mythos cycle of stories and that alone made me want to adapt it for a retroclone style system.  



The artwork and maps are nicely done and can be used to flesh out some of the sword and sorcery aspects that give the DM quite a bit of latitude to work with. There are several swamplands within Russia and Romania that could be used if the DM wants to adapt this module for a Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure or as a part of a Dark Albion campaign. There's more then enough to keep things very interesting and I personally think that this is a well worth downloading adventure for old school gaming.

Some OSR Halloween Thoughts On 'Castles & Crusades: Brimstone & The Borderhounds RPG Quick Start' By Jason Vey

"Hell is an unkind place. A sprawling megalopolis of twisted streets and ramshackle buildings piled one on top of the other, clawing their way to height’s unseen where the Lords of Hell rule. Here the harvested souls of evil labor as slaves, doomed to eternal torment. Bound to a world of suffering, always yearning for a world beyond their own. Those wicked, and who are able, seek to flee this city of the damned and do so with whatever tool they can: greed, violence, avarice. Fleeing Hell is the only goal.

But to do so, these souls must pass the Borderhounds. They are Bounty Hunters set on the edge of forever who hunt down wayward souls and throw them in, or out, of Hell. Led by grim faced Brimstone, these Borderhounds are the bane of the damned.

Now you can join the Borderhounds!!

Brimstone and the Borderhounds is a complete, standalone Role Playing Game using the tried and tested Siege Engine, crafted by veteran game designer Jason Vey. Fight devils, demons and more in your hunt to capture Hell’s wayward souls!"

Way back in 2016, The Castles & Crusades: Brimstone & The Borderhounds RPG Quick Start  was kickstarted then it didn't go anywhere.But there's a lot here to unpack & some really interesting ideas for a Castles & Crusades game. Yes I said Castles & Crusades. Forget the metal dude on the cover, forget the whole concept except to 'bounty hunt souls for Hell'. 



Forget the 'edge lord' stuff for a moment & then focus on a 1950's over the top Golden age horror comics & then let's look at a very obscure '98 through '99 television show called Brimstone now let's take a quick look at the plot according to the wiki entry; "In 1983, Ezekiel "Zeke" Stone (Peter Horton) was a New York City Police detective whose wife, Rosalyn, was raped. He tracked down and arrested the offender, Gilbert Jax, who was cleared of the charges. Furious, Stone then murdered Jax. Two months later, Stone was killed and went to Hell for murdering Jax. Later in the show it was revealed that it was not the killing itself that condemned Stone to Hell, but the fact he took pleasure in it. Stone died the most decorated cop in NYC history.

Fifteen years later, a breakout from Hell occurs, led by a 4000-year-old Canaanite priestess named Ashur Badaktu (Teri Polo). The Devil explains that, over the centuries, a few souls have escaped (and presumably been returned) to Hell, but nothing of this magnitude, which includes 113 souls. Because the Devil is largely powerless on Earth, he makes a deal with Stone: Stone will be returned to Earth to track down these 113 escapees, and if he can return all of them to Hell (before one of them kills him), he will earn a second chance at life on Earth (and thus, possibly, Heaven). The Devil seems to hinder Stone's work almost as much as he helps it, however, divulging some information but withholding crucial facts or giving only cryptic clues to where Stone will find an escapee, apparently delighting in watching him become more irritable with his interference. It was suggested by an angel (in the episode "It's a Helluva Life", played by John Glover in a dual role) that Stone served God's purpose as well as the Devil's in his former life when he killed his wife's rapist"

Could Heaven & Hell be supplementing its ranks with non union players in the cosmic game? Could D&D fantasy adventurers be helping to make a bit of extra coin on the side?! The idea of Brimstone isn't new at all but the idea of adding in other players to chess board sounds interesting. 

Now Amazing Adventures! Rpg is basically the Seige Engine for Pulp role playing but with a bit of Castles & Crusades perhaps Hell is recruiting adventurers to help filled the ranks. This was suggested by DM Carl over the long holiday weekend. This is something I've been toying with for a long while now.  Coming up for Halloween a mixed band of adventurers hunting down the souls of damned sounds like fun.
But I can already hear the howling saying that this isn't Dungeons & Dragons?  No?! Well the war between Chaos & Law has been on going for years. Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer mythology & his lords of Chaos have certainly been implied to be the lords of Hell as their titles suggest.


The balance of the universe can pivot on one single soul of the living, the damned, & the Heavenly. And the lords of Chaos would be quite willing to go to war over them.  Forget Marvel's Ghost Rider here because he's the latest in a long line of Hell's bounty hunters. No think The Golden Age of Horror comics.


Love this cover & perhaps this is what the PC's are staving off.
Painted cover of Strange Stories From Another World, number 5, February 1953, artwork by Norman Saunders. Another World was published by Fawcett from August 1952 to February 1953. Saunders' richly painted cover recalls the pulp magazines of the 1930s and 40s. Think the AD&D Role Aids adventure  'The Keep', different eras are open to the PC's as they solve the problems that others can't. The problems not big enough for the gods & yet too small for normal villagers & modern humans can handle.



This might be a one shot short adventure that's in the planning stages at the moment. I've got a few ideas in the back of my mind for even more coming up. But I'd love to go with a quick and dirty play session for this one. 

OSR Review & Commentary On The Free 1st Level Adventure Frank Schmidt's F1 Zombie Curse

There are very few Ravenloft modules but with Halloween coming up I've been quietly searching around. The Undead are a must just around Halloween & fortunately there are a few lower tier & lower level adventures floating around. Frank Schmidt's F1 Zombie Curse just happens to be one & today was a bank holiday here in the States. So I had a moment of time to check over the  Dragon's foot site once again & here's Frank Schmidt's F1 Zombie Curse .

"As you begin your travels to fame and glory you have discovered the road is actually paved mostly with dirt and boredom. You have heard of the caravan attacks at Feastelburg and have begun to make your way to fame and fortune. As light begins to fade from the sky you have come upon a sign welcoming you to the small lake community of Crystal Shores. What appears to be a smoldering funeral pyre is near the lake’s edge and a small group of children play near the road. Your journey to the caravan raiders is halfway there. A few more days and you will begin your life as adventurers!"
 Frank Schmidt's F1 Zombie Curse  is an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons module that clocks in at twenty three pages & while its not extremely well done. It hits the high notes for being easily customizable & easily adapted to Ravenloft. 


The tone of  Feastelburg is a dark one as the zombie plague ravages to the village. The adventurers are going to have to do some fast figuring as the adventure set pieces are outlined. The cartography could have used a bit more work but the layout is readable. This is a first level adventure & dungeon masters might want to add a bit more to fill out the meet of this adventure. The undead & locations are exactly what it says on the tin.
There's an artifact causing problems & the party could be easily overwhelmed at first level if the players are not careful.

The zombie, as depicted in the original Monster Manual (1977).

Crystal Shores promises some action & it does deliver but DM's are going to have to work a bit to add it into the mists of Ravenloft. Frank Schmidt's F1 Zombie Curse  is a useful adventure  with possibilities for continuation into a small campaign or into the larger mist filled horrors of Ravenloft. And this is exactly the sort of an adventure layout I'm looking for. Could Frank Schmidt's F1 Zombie Curse  be used for other retroclone systems?! Yes & I'm looking directly at Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Frank Schmidt's F1 Zombie Curse  could introduce the PC's to the world of Dark Europe. The shadow of the Black Death looms & a dark supernatural horror has taken on its ominous tone here in Crystal Shore. Undead are the perfect way to add in that element of the occult without wiping out the entire party right off unless they are very unlucky.


Sure I'm going against the grain of Lamentations but F1 Zombie Curse gets the PC's into the action without completely vaporizing the party that later LoFP adventures have the potential to do. Yes I can entirely see using F1 Zombie Curse  with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Crystal Shores is sparse enough to mold the setting into the Pulpy weirdness of Hyperborea. But I can see using F1 Zombie Curse  with Ravenloft where the zombie sickness is connected with the mists. As Crystal  Shores drifts closer to the domain of dread the undeath state intensifies. The realm of terror claims the region as another horror crazy quilt piece in its ever expanding reign of evil. That is unless the characters can stave off the rise of the undead.


While  F1 Zombie Curse  isn't going to set the OSR world on fire its a good solid introduction into a horror filled OSR or old school campaign. The adventure even states this in its introduction; "Zombie curse is designed to start a new adventuring party on their road to fame and fortune. The party should have already formed itself and begun a journey to some other location and have to deal with this problem initially. When entering Crystal Shores they will notice mostly normal if not sickly villagers. This village can be the location of some of their adventuring gear they will require. While in the village they should be able to speak with the townspeople and discover a lot of them are becoming ill for unknown reasons. A funeral pyre at the outskirts will be explained that two of their kinsmen turned into zombies and attacked the community" I think that that  F1 Zombie Curse  is a great little module to introduce players into the world of OSR horror Dungeons & Dragons or old school Ravenloft. 

1d20 Lovecraftain Space Hazards Random Encounters Table For Your Old School Space Opera

1d10 Lovecraftain Space Hazards Random Encounters

1. A spinning golden pyramid containing the melded essence of 1d4 alien races joined in a spinning vortex of madness and insanity that will do 1d6 points of energy damage to any space craft within a light year. This spinning helix of crazied insanity will try to level drain and merge any crewmen encountered. Has 40 Hit points And an Armor Class of 8. 
2. An avatar of Cthulhu called the Dreaming Nightmare. This creature is a projection of the great old's roaming astral essence. The thing acts a symbol of insanity and will devour anything it comes across. The thing must be avoided at all costs. A powerful cosmic entity may be able to banish it back to the depths of nightmare. 
3. The Vortex of Thom - This vortex of cosmic draining energy is actually the mouth parts of a dimensionally trapped god that wishes to drain any remaining energy it can to free itself from its other worldly prison. It will drain 1d10 points of energy from any source it can per round. Only a burst of proto antimatter will banish this monster back to the depths of dimensional darkness. 
4. The Spheres of Thal - These machines of dust and darkness roam the cosmos for any star ships they can find. These machines are the scattered remains of an AI god now hell bent on claiming the lives of any it comes across. There are 1d8 spheres present. They have an armor class of 6, 12 hit points and attack for 1d4 points of damage per round using particle laser weapons. These things regenerate as per troll. Only stellar matter can burn these alien machines up. 
5. The Colour Out of The Interstellar Gulf - This level draining monstrous cloud is the size of large star destroyer and will suck dry anything present. The monster will then try to possess any remaining crew. The monster is able to travel as a small star ship. A burst of any proto matter may dismiss it back between dead stars. 
6. The Deadworld of Helas -This world moves around the universe filled with astro zombie warriors cursed by the Norse god Hela to wander across the cosmos prying on any ships that it finds. The thing moves across the universe at will claiming more damned for its silent waste filled world. 
7. The Spools of Thrusr'a - These relic weapons of a mad god appear strung between worlds. These monofiliment nightmares are only a molecule thick and able to slice a ship to wreckage in seconds. The things form webs made by alien robotic machines. These weapons do 1d6 points of damage to any ship flying into a star system where they have been deployed. 
8. The Worms of Gr'ura - These giant world destroying worms move slowly constricting worlds of vital essence. The worms of thousands of miles across and each houses 1d20 lesser monsters. The worms are 20 hit points each and can do 1d10 points of damage by expelling a chunk of stellar matter at a star ship. They each have an armor class of six. A nuclear war head at the right spot might damage a worm. There are always 1d4 of these monsters. They are capable of warp flight. 
9. The Eye Balls of Thesvru - These giant interstellar flying eye balls were the eyes of a giant god millions of years old. The gods cut the beast apart and now the eyes roam the universe looking for their other parts. Each 20 hit point eye has an armor class of 6 and can emit a cosmic blast of energy for 1d10 points of damage. Each eye will attack any starship it runs across.  Only a burst of neutrino particles can damage these creatures. Many ancient alien craft had such things on board. 
10. Space Around your vessel ripples and Azathoth appears! What will you do? 
11. The War Ship Of Cirus - This ancient preprogrammed AI Death God roams space hunting down any humanoid races it finds. It will only back down if worship with the sacrifice of the enemy's star ship captain! The ship is armed with xray lasers and particle beam cannons. Within its confines is the trapped mind of a Great Old One. 30 hit points Armor Class 5 Damage 1d8 per round from a mix of particle ray cannons and x ray lasers. Only a cosmic entity of light may have a 20% chance of banishing it back to the wastes of hyperspace 
12. The Monolith of Thel - This blue green twenty foot tall monolith spins through space churning out hard radiation  to any vessels it finds. This uncaring plaything of the gods will bath any vessel in Gamma Radiation and other hard radiations for 1d10 rounds before vanishing back into hyperspace. There is a 20% chance of it reappearing 1d4 rounds later. 
13. Constructors of The Great Race - These fourteen block long grey rectangles once belonged to the Great Race of Yith. They now roam the wastes of hyperspace destroying anything that runs across their path. They will attack with 1d4 point of neutrino energy per round and 1d6 points of laser damage. They will neatly cut up any ship that they run across. These ships will then absorb any wreckage and disappear. They are Armor class 7 and have 30 hit points. 
14. The Swarm of La - This swarm of nanobot nightmares is actually a one light year long cloud. The nano bots will dissemble anything they encounter. All the while they will broadcast praises to the Great Old Ones. These creatures only do one point of damage each. There are billions and billions of them. Anyone eaten by them will live on locked in disembodied hellish existence caught between insanity and horror beyond existence. Only a burst of neutron energy aimed at the central brain cluster has any chance of destroying these things. 
15. The Churning Horrors - These insect like beings are actually the space going remains of a once great alien race now locked forever within the confines of these bio synthetic horrors from beyond space time. Each one is a 10 hit point horror armed with 1d4 energy weapons there are usually 1d20 of these things encountered. They move locust like from world to world. They devour the brains of any being they encounter to add to their insane knowledge. 
16.  The Spinning Robot Nightmares of Trall - These space probe droids have been augmented by merging with the essence of a Great Old One. These monsters now wish only the extinguish of all life as we know it. These 12 hit point beings only wish to end their own existence but they cannot. Their programming will not allow such things to happen. They have an armor class of 5 and attack with mono blades that do 1d6 points per round when they hit. There are usually 1d8 machines encountered. Only a deadly burst of neutron energy to the lead bot will cripple them. 
17. The Trimplenx - This cosmic being is wounded any bleeds chunks of reality altering blood and gore. Each time this giant is encountered bits of him will attack your ship. There are usually 1d4 gore units. Each has 7 hit points and attacks with 1d4 points of damage per round. Should any reach your hull they will eat through within three rounds. After 1d4 rounds this giant diseased god will disappear and there is a 20% chance of him appearing again within the same star system. Only the Hymns of La can banish this slowly dying immortal. 
18. The Mind of Azathoth - An entire light year will be blanketed by the telepathic insanity that will spread across the entire star system. Each being will be possessed to do the most alien and horrid things imaginable. After a night and a day the disembodied mind will move on to spread the insanity else where. 
19. The star system is filled with stellar chucks of Great Old One gore. The entire system swarms with this stuff shunted out from hyperspace. There is a 50% of the stuff being infected with the most lethal monsters imaginable acting as parasites aboard this stuff. The flesh will cause 1d20 mutations to any being that has any contact. After 1d10 days the flesh will dissolve away from the local space time. Any star ship hulls encountering this stuff has a 10% chance of dissolving into soul screaming goo. 
20. A Star Spawn of Cthulhu is encountered off the port bow! 

Free OSR Module & OSR Campaign Commentary On DF19 The Church of the Poisoned Mind By Mik Calow

So over the last day or so I've been doing a lot of thinking once again about Halloween OSR  games. I blame Goblinoid Games for this one. Their coming out with another Pumpkin Spice edition & its officially Halloween season here. Now this book isn't out yet but its kicked up in my mind where DM Steve needs to be in our on again off again Castles & Crusades game. Maybe I need to make him & his players suffer. Sure the Haunted Highlands is fantastic but I don't have access to that set of books.. yet.


Now perhaps I think that I'm going to dust off a 3.5 book by 'gasp' White Wolf games!? Yes I'm dusting off my copy of D20 Ravenloft & its attendant books. And yes I can always add in   the Haunted Highlands as a domain setting later on.  And please don't even begin to start with me how isn't OSR or I'm gonna pull out my copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics's 

 Transylvanian Adventures From  Land Of Phantoms. 
But I'm going to need a solid lead in adventure. 

 
 Fortunately I know a little second edition OSR module with all of the requirements for torturing erm getting the players deeply involved. The Church of the Poisoned Mind  By Mik Calow is a free Ravenloft  Dragon's foot adventure    "A Ravenloft adventure for AD&D 2nd Edition.

The party has come across a ruined church situated between a forest and a swamp. A thorough search reveals nothing other than a storm cellar door, which shows signs of recently being uncovered (the rest of the ruins are overgrown with weeds and grasses.) There is, curiously, no graveyard."

 The Church of the Poisoned Mind  By Mik Calow  isn't a fantastic module but it's easily customizable for a dungeon master & that's exactly the sort of a feel that I'm going for here. 

When begin to delve into the background of this module we get a sense of the horror for the ghoul cults involved here. So this is a straight up dungeon crawl with a few things going for it. Its got a weird vibe that runs throughout & can easily be made into a full on Lovecraft fest with no work at all. So Lovecraft & Ravenloft are a win in my book.



Otherworld miniatures ghouls are perfect monsters for 

The Church of the Poisoned Mind  By Mik Calow
The more I'm reading through this module the more I can see using The Church of the Poisoned Mind  By Mik Calow with say Lamentations of the Flame Princess or say Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.  Because The Church of the Poisoned Mind  By Mik Calow is second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons  & I'm using a third edition with a retroclone system there's gonna have to be some modification. Fortunately I've got more then a few tricks up my sleeve that I'll share with you guys coming up.

The Church of the Poisoned Mind  By Mik Calow is a solid middle of the road adventure but its gonna require a bit of work on a dungeon master's part who wants to get the maximum out of the module for their home games & such. But my conclusion is that its worth my time but D20 Ravenloft is gonna require some work on my part. 

Commentary On An OSR Combination of B10 Night's Dark Terror, & I6 Ravenloft As Fodder For Old School Campaigns

So I was talking with a friend of mine whose home for the Easter holiday today. He's a dungeon master of some experience & with an old school background. He was talking about using B10 Night's Dark Terror as the fodder for the lands surrounding the AD&D 1st edition classic I6 Ravenloft. This gives the over all campaign the look and feel of a wild Hammer style pseudo Russian or old world country without giving up the classic D&D Gothic feel. There are several reasons why this could work and work very well; one of which is because "Night's Dark Terror was designed specifically for campaigns transitioning from the D&D Basic Set to the D&D Expert Set. The player characters (PCs) journey from a farmstead into uncharted wilderness, where they encounter new hazards and contend with a secret society"



Apparently John got so fed up with his players knowing everything there is about the Ravenloft box set that he went back to the original source material where "PC's travel by river and over mountains, from the Grand Duchy of Karameikos to the chaotic lands. The characters encounter a town under siege by goblins, a ruined city, and a lost valley" . This means that the PC's are traveling through the fringes of the  lands of Count Strahd von Zarovich without arousing too much suspicions of the royal notice of the Count. "The module begins in a beleaguered farmstead. The PCs then explore more than 20,000 square miles (52,000 km²) of wilderness, with eighteen locations, including a number of mini-dungeons, a ruined city, a riverside village, a frontier town, and a lost valley, with the minions of the Iron Ring waiting for the PCs at every step." So is the Iron Ring one of the power blocks behind the mundane rise of  Strahd's rise to power. This could be hinted at the the gypsy camp on the Barovia borderlands. PC's are likely to encounter zombies, wolves, ghouls, ghosts, and other creatures. This helps to set the stage for the Gothic horror of  I6 & the tragic tale of love, lust, lost and more.

The combination of the two modules adds gravitas to the backstory of Strahd as well. "The master of nearby Castle Ravenloft, Count Strahd von Zarovich, tyrannically rules the country, and a prologue explains that the residents must barricade their doors each night to avoid attacks by Strahd and his minions. The Burgomaster's mansion is the focus of these attacks, and, for reasons that are not initially explained, Strahd is after the Burgomaster's adopted daughter, Ireena Kolyana." Its almost as if the countryside takes on the characteristics of the infamous vampire when the two modules are combined. Therefore the sum is now greater then the individual parts.


The DM gets the best of all possible worlds with this approach. Several mini dungeons & devilishly delightful mini wilderness encounters along with a mini dungeon crawl at lower levels that set's everything in the heat of the moment. There a little bit of everything before the main set up for the final show down with Strahd. 

 All in all this sounds like on paper a great way of having the best of all worlds by using this sort of old school hybrid approach. A bit of a Gothic guided wilderness crawl with lots of subtle changes that don't change the combination of awesomeness that is these two old school classics.