"Seas of Chaos Nightmares of Evil " Sword & Sorcery OSR Thoughts On "X7: "The War Rafts of Kron" (1984), by Bruce Nesmith, With Michael Moorcock, Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg, & More

 "The lerendi princess, Corinna, has disappeared.

She set sail aboard a ship of the Minrothad Guilds - the guilds whose ships have been pirated and plundered for many weeks. Trade is horribly disrupted as many ships leave, never to be seen again. The guild masters now call for adventurers of great skill and renown. They offer small fortunes to any who can help them discover who is pirating their ships. But most importantly, to any who can rescue the princess."


"Can you and your party of adventurers defeat the dangers that lurk in the dark depths of a terrifying sea? Or will you find a watery grave within the cold confines of a murky sea floor?" 

Eighty four was a pivitol year for Sword & Sorcery fiction & it was a pivotal year for the 'X' adventures for B/X Dungeons & Dragons. X7: "The War Rafts of Kron" (1984), by Bruce Nesmith is one of the more well done but stranger adventures for Dungeons & Dragons. Its history is tied into classic TSR;  "X7: "The War Rafts of Kron" (1984), by Bruce Nesmith, is the seventh adventure in the Expert Series for Basic D&D. It was published in 1984, perhaps toward the middle of the year since it was the second of three "X" adventures that year."  What makes X7 perfect Sword & Sorcery campaign fodder!? Two things one is the fact that this adventure is plugged into underwater adventuring completely & two X7 is perfect to piggy back unto the back of the iconic X1 Isle of Dread. 

X7 gives a solid underwater  background on the seas of dread along with the adventure locations the Triton city of Suthus, the raft city of Kron, and the ruined city of Colhador. There were hints about all of this within , X6: "Quagmire!" (1984), the predacessor module to X7. But X7 draws down far more information about the underwater adventure landscape. This can be put to use with elemental rulers & the planar nature of the elemental plane of Water that holds the seas of Dread. All of this is hinted at within the dying civilization we found in X6: "Quagmire!". 

And if any of this sounds familiar imagine for a moment that Michael Moorcock's Elric mythos King Straasha might in point of fact be one of the royals  from the Elemental plane of water that trapped the island. What if the Kopru were created & weaponized by Pyaray, the Tentacled Whisperer of Impossible Secrets. Imagine for a moment that the Isle of Dread is a huge playing piece in the games between Law & Chaos that's been removed from the planar board. The adventure locations the Triton city of Suthus, the raft city of Kron, and the ruined city of Colhador all bore witness to all of these events. The Fey citizens of these places know the ancient wars & struggle to keep any outsiders from disturbing the ruins. There are still wizards who know of these events from Pyaray. This is true especially of veteran sailors, natives of remote islands, and some aquatic races were the most knowledgeable about kopru. The Kopru themselves often teach outsiders some of their mind controlling ways for terrifying prices. There's a strong connection between Demogorgon & Pyaray via the Kopru race. 

And the connection between Pyaray, the Tentacled Whisperer of Impossible Secrets & the ancient mind wizards the  Aboleths through the Kopru is obvious. An in fact stated within unofficial sources according to the Forgotten Realms Wiki; " As worshipers of Demogorgon, these creatures often had demonic allies.^[5] And being an aquatic race that mentally dominated others and whose civilization had fallen, there were strong ties of kinship between kopru and aboleths.^[13] " 

Where might this whole thing take place?! Possibly on the same Proto Mystara campaign location we've seen here. This proto Mystara location could be the the same battle ground that's been covered with Qelong. But we've seen battles between elemental royalty & the lords of Chaos before in the Michael Moorcock Elric tribute paper back Tales of the White Wolf. 

 X7: "The War Rafts of Kron" (1984), by Bruce Nesmith's inner underwater adventure mechanisms might hold vital ruins & wreckage from the wars between Chaos & Law. Ruins that the tritons & sea elves seen in this adventure may be keen to keep away from the prying eyes of adventurers. These islands might be part of the battle grounds of  fallen patheons of god that we see  in Lamentations of the Flame Princess's Islands of the Unknown by Geoffrey McKinney. 

What does all of this mean?! It means that the wars between Law & Chaos are beyond mere good & evil. It means that that we are both levers & fulcrums in conflicts that we don't understand. And the powers behind the events of "X7: "The War Rafts of Kron" (1984), by Bruce Nesmith, could have far more reaching consquences then even the adventurers understand..