Coffee, Crypts & Things rpg, & 'S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks' By Gary Gygax on a Sunday

"The Grand Duchy of Geoff has recently been plagued by a rash of unusually weird and terrible monsters of an unknown sort. This western area, particularly the mountain fastness which separates the Grand Duchy from the Dry Steppes, has long been renowned for the generation of the most fearsome beasts, and it has been shunned accordingly -- save a handful of hardy souls with exceptional abilities. Within the last few months, however, a walled town not far distant from the area, and four small fortresses as well, have been destroyed by mysterious attacks!"

Today we've had to hit the ground running with our gaming. I've met with a few members of the 'Underground' a group of Connecticut old school gamers. Two of these gents are former players of mine now full fledged dungeon masters in their own right. We talked about the grand game of Arneson & Gyax for a few hours this morning. We were talking about 'Gary Gygax's S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks' today & a very old game campaign I ran with this classic. 

This wonderful artwork from Peter Andrew Jones, 1976 was a major influence on our 2012 Expedition sessions. 
https://70sscifiart.tumblr.com/post/624096925038313472

Instead of the usual way that this module runs I had the hyperdrive malfunctioning on this smaller science vessel member of the 'Warden' fleet or at least that's how this mini campaign ran. We had crossed over into Greyhawk but I was running these sessions back with Crypts & Things first edition. 

 

The hyperdrive malfunctioning on this smaller science vessel member of the 'Warden' fleet created warp gates across multiple realities & planes. The party was a mix of several different types of PC's. Finally killing off many of the horrors that were plaguing the Grand Duchy of Geoff. The PC's cleared the 'Warden' deck by deck room by room only to land on Carcosa. 

This mini campaign also culminated in the sacrificing of our C&T's barbarian warlord in 2012's mini campaign & the former players reminded me that he's still on Carcosa. He had battled mightily against a brain lasher aboard the 'Warden'. He delayed & eventually killed the thing by dropping a cargo container on the thing so the others could escape. But he's still on Carcosa having escaped the Warden. 

Yeah Jeff Dee's recreated artwork from his kickstarter.
 Used without permission.  
So Thoraus The Barbarian is still on Carcosa! But the players informed me after our little game broke up that they continued on Carcosa with the Warden intact! They used the technologies, relics, & artifacts to carve out their own niches on the planet! So there is an intact bastion of technology & stability amid the prehistoric & primal chaos! 

Hazbaz is a 300 plus peopled village on the south side of Carcosa built on the ruins of the Warden. Not sure if I'm gonna be using this location coming up within my own game campaign. But according to the gents they continued the Crypts & Things game with their own second edition of the retroclone Sword & Sorcery game.