Saturday, January 25, 2020

Mail Call & Review & Commentary On 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' By Chainsaw For Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea


"In the far reaches of Hyperborea’s Crab Archipelago lies a small, mountainous island known as Crystal Point. Passing sailors recently have witnessed a crimson glow in Crystal Point’s waters and beams of russet light shining up from its steep cliffs. Too, unusually frequent lightning storms in the area have torn the sky in blinding flashes, shattering the air with their awesome sound. The seedy wharf taverns of Khromarium and elsewhere buzz with these strange tales—some even speculate that Crystal Point may hold the lost treasure of Atlantis! "


I count myself very lucky indeed because I maintain fantastic friendships with some incredible authors of the OSR & old school gaming. Today's Sword & Sorcery mail call comes in from Chainsaw himself the author of Lost Treasures of Atlantis  for the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg. 



Now 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' by Chainsaw  is one of those AS&SH adventures that has many of the hall marks of AS&SH quality adventures. Solid writing & design by the module's author, really nice layout, cartography by Glynn Seal Monkey Blood Design  clocking in at sixty four pages of Sword & Sorcery Hyperborean OSR weirdness. This is a solid module done with care & eye towards really pulling the PC's into the adventure's heart & action.


Check out the quality of the binding & the paper for 'Lost Treasures of Atlantis'.

The module places the PC's within the fully fleshed out  VILLAGE of KREN-FAK & its Esquimaux crab-kin which  indicates that your party of adventurers isn't in Kansas anymore especially the village descriptions;
 "The Esquimaux crab-kin of this village, located a few days from Crystal Point, dye their skin red to resemble their crab-man masters. They also adorn themselves in chitinous titivations. When not raiding Pictish crab-kin villages toward the base of the Crab Archipelago, the locals fish, whale, and oversee slaves in copper mines on the nearby islands. The villagers view travellers suspiciously, but they will tolerate visitors so long as the strangers bring goods to trade, tributes for the crab-men, or important news."
This village is an important start point where the party is going to pick up supplies, rumors, hireling, and perhaps even replacement party members! 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis'  is a fully fleshed out adventure & geared for the far reaches of Hyperborea’s Crab Archipelago.  The whole adventure is for   four to six characters of 6th through 8th level. I want to stress that this is the case! PC's are gonna half to watch their step in  KREN-FAK  with its Esquimaux crab-kin inhabitants.
The ocean voyage to Crystal point is dangerous as it gets;"The voyage to Crystal Point is fraught with peril, island hopping the ocean reaches of the Crab Archipelago. Following the ancient Esquimaux bearing, worthy sea vessels at length will enter the tempestuous zone known as River Okeanos, located betwixt the 18th and 36th parallels. Here the winds flow in opposing belts, looping and crisscrossing at different junctures depending on seasons and other conditions. In Tempest (Year 4, Hare), River Okeanos is plagued by deadly whirlpools. Sea ice forms from Coda (Year 12, Fox) to Genesis (Year 1, Bear), and icebergs are a constant threat7 . Veteran mariners (viz. Amazons, Ixians, Vikings, and Zangeriosans) understand the River Okeanos and use its wuthering airstreams to their advantage. Less realized is the capability of Esquimaux seamen who ply this deadly zone in their umiaks, outfitted with outboard runners"
If your running the  'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis'  don't take the oceans of Hyperborea lightly they can be deadly. The random encounters add an extra element of action & complete danger to the affair.
The colours on the module covers is eye popping & vibrant! The artwork & the  paper of solid quality!


Note that this will be happening to your PC's & don't screw with the crabmen!

Crystal Point itself is a study in Hyperborean dungeon design & deadliness with the PC's coming into the action like something out of a Ray Harryhausen movie. 
'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' switches up the Lovecraftian action on 'eleven' & then breaks off the knob with the PC's encountering ruined temples, random NPC's with ties to other dangerous factions of Crystal Point, and adventure elements surrounding the mystery of the isolated & insane location. I mean this in a good way.

Yes my copy of the 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' 
came with the awesome book marks!

'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis'  is both a sandbox, & location based adventure with lots of weird & some tragic NPC's who are going to cross the PC's path. The adventure material here is solidly strange with PC's running across a temple of  Shub Niggurath & throughout module we see the strange influence & domination  of the AS&SH Crabmen. These beings are strange, alien, unsettling, & very dangerous to the PC's life!

AS&SH art by Mick Fernette
'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis'  is a nasty little dungeon delve & Hyperborean hoe down as Chain Saw amps up the weird to Lovecraftian levels again & again. The adventure  environs here are going to be very memorable & highly dangerous to the party! Around every corner is another shock & surprise I'm not kidding.
I don't wanna spoil the surprises but 'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis'  is gonna take a lot of thinking on the player's end & its gonna take whole lot guts, guile, intelligence, & roll playing to get past some of this adventure's obstacles! I mean this in a good way! The PC's are gonna be in way,way, over their heads very quickly. 




The room descriptions, the magic item artwork, the twists & Lovcraftian turns, all added to by the editing of  David Prata with Chainsaws writing as well as his design make  'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' . All of this module is brought to life with the artistry of  Johnathan Bingham, Mick Fernette, David Hoskins, Diogo Nogueira, Glynn Seal, Del Teigeler, & Mike Tenebrae. Take into all of this & this is another five outta five in my estimation. 


I want to thank Jeffrey Talanian & the whole North Wind Adventures crew for bringing to life  'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' . But I wanna thank Chainsaw himself for sending these modules my way! I've got more to say about Otherworldly Tales adventures coming up so stay tuned!

'The Lost Treasures of Atlantis' By
 Chainsaw Module
 Is Available Right Here 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.