Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland rpg - 'The Carcosa Slaughter Tour ' Now With More Cha'alt

 Awesome Rick looked around at the strange neon coloured humanoids around his feet. 'Do we know who any of these guys are?!' 'Nope but the wasteland around here is really weird!',  Lisa 10,000 a H.E.A.T.H.E.R. android wiped the ichor from her perfect face. 'Weird in what way Lisa?! We have vanquished literally dozens of muties for Lord Randy!' 
'Can it Rick!' Skater Dave The Dwarfling was picking off several particularly good good cybernetic limbs from some of the blue tribe of mutants. 'Is that really necessary?!' St. Stallone the cyborg knight spat out the words. 'Yes!' Skater Dave said with resigned calm. 'We might want to sell these somplace'. Tam The Elf was scouting ahead but was having a hard time dealing with the tangle of mutie corpses. The stink was pretty bad but the thing that leered out at him from the pile of bodies. 
, Skuzz the mutant with his mohawk of many colours was on the job of looting the bodies, 'Dude did you ever get the feeling you were being watched?! 
Somplace across the multiverse a laugh track played under several of Skuzz's jokes... And billions of eyes watched. 




There's gonzo and then there's Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland rpg. The last time we spoke we had Mojo doing a 'pay per view special' on interdimensional cable. Its been over ten days since the last blog entry on this mini campaign. 





MoJo isn't gonna sit back on his demonic spider hunches. Instead the bastard is going to arrange some nastiness for the PC's. And once again Venger's Cha'alt has the perfect angle to get the PC's motivated! A meteor streaking its way on a collison with Carcosa/Cha'alt. Yes we're taking Venger's 'Saving Cha'alt' as mini campaign adventure center piece. Mojo has used black foul sorcery to take a meteor from orbit & aim it at the exoplanet on a collison course.  Yeah we're talking about using Venger's adventure here  but as a 'pay for view' event! The planet destruction time is counting down on a live commerical & you can call in to reserve your slot today! 






































What no one knows is that the meteor isn't a meteor at all but actually the foul begotten spawn of the Outer Gods. The PC's are going to be in for a bad time as every odd coloured cultist is going to be trying to stop them from stopping the glorious event! And this is where the Mojoverse comes in! Mojo provides it all twenty four hours a day & seven days a week! And now you'll be on your way to being his biggest stars forever & ever! The Great Old Ones need their entertainment & you will provide it! 
You can have every cultist armed with Carcosa hardware & weapons to slaughter the PC's. And this isn't gonna stop. The party is gonna find itself in some dire straites unless they can get help and we'll go over who & what is gonna help our neon clad foo erm adventurers next time. 

The Fey of the Nightshift & B3 'Palace of the Silver Princess' By Jean Wells More OSR Campaign Commentary

 "Almost overnight the tiny kingdom fell into ruin. Now only ruins and rumors remain, and what legends there are tell of a fabulous treasure still buried somewhere within the Palace of the Silver Princess."


 Let's hit em high & low at the same time today! The OSR is reeling a bit because of our use of both B3's Palace of the Silver Princess modules! That's right both modules  the one by Jean Wells & the rewrite by Tom Moldvay!  So this is gonna pick up right from this morning's blog post here

Now with the land of 'The Princess Argenta ' washing against the reality of Earth. Things are going to go from bad to worse for our heroes.  If we go back into the Jean Wells version of this module then its pretty much open season on our PC heroes especially if we're using the Nightshift Veterans of the Supernatural Wars By Jason Vey & Timothy Brannan. Hersey! I heard this early this morning. Well, yes & yes! In a way. Way back in July of 2010 on the Otherside blog Timothy Brannan suggested in his blog post,' Returning to the Palace of the Silver Princess' the following;"I think I'll take a suggestion from Wizards and run this as "Return to the Palace of the Silver Princess".  The events of the "green" cover happened many years ago, but something went wrong that lead to the events of "orange" cover.  The Eye of Arik wasn't destroyed properly and soon the entire area became cursed.  Ellis the Strong (The Silver Warrior) became the the cause in the minds of the locals.  While the evil energies pouring out of the fragmented eye caused mutations in all living things in the castle.  Plants became vampire roses and archer bushes, the staff became Ubues (gotta explain them somehow), Aliegha, Catharandamus and the dwarves Boron and Xyzom were adventurers that came here previously and are now coming under the affects of the Eye.  Catharandamus is going insane, thinking he can summon Arik, Aliegh is turning into a wolf (or bear or a bear-wolf crossbred-thingy) and the dwarves are slowly becoming orcs.  I do plan on using Candella and Duchess, as randomish NPCs, but they had just gotten there and have not started to mutate yet. I just liked that picture of the two of them being caught by surprise. " I love that picture too Tim. 
Something is going very wrong indeed & its time for the Nightshift to come into play. Because the curse is spreading across the Earth & the realms of Fey or Fairy are reacting as well! Sure there are some excellent OSR resources for Fairy but there's two that spring to mind are the free  
Ford's Faeries: A Bestiary Inspired by Henry Justice Ford
























As the curse spreads the Fey come to implore the PC's to help with it. Now is the primetime to introduce Fey or Fairy PC's into the fray. Ford's Faeries: A Bestiary Inspired by Henry Justice Ford has some excellent Fey monsters that can be converted into PC Fey races for Nightshift. The second resource would be the  Enchanter Class for Labyrinth Lord and OSR From Weird Realm Games. These two resources would add an excellent Fey booster shot to the events of B3. 


As the PC's journey deeper into the dungeons & events of B3'Palace of the Silver Princess' they journeying deeper into the curse itself. The events are part of the mindscape of  The Princess Argenta. The Eye itself is infected by its curse & so may have a new chosen one to deal with these dangerous effect. The additional PC classes & information in 'The Night Companion' are gonna be just the thing to add into such a campaign setting. 

























With the addition of the Fey courts & their modern rulers PC's are going to have walk a very dangerous balance between the modern world & the dreamlands of B3 

The Night Shift & B3 'Palace of the Silver Princess' By Jean Wells & Tom Moldvay OSR Campaign Commentary

Not long ago, the valley was green and animals ran free through golden fields of grain. The Princess Argenta ruled over this peaceful land and the people were secure and happy. Then one day, a warrior riding a white dragon appeared in the skies over the castle, and almost overnight the tiny kingdom fell into ruin. Now only ruins and rumors remain, and what legends there are tell of a fabulous treasure still buried somewhere within the Palace of the Silver Princess."




















There was a long & rather drawn out discussion that I had the other day about using & dealing with dream realms with modern OSR audiences & players. Especially when it came to running classic modules that have been customized for modern B/X style games especially Nightshift Veterans of the Supernatural Wars by Jason Vey & Tim Brannan. The classic module that would be the most use is Jean Wells & Tom Moldvay's B3 Palace of the Silver Princess. Now if you want to know the complete history of this module go here.  Now let's pick it up with someone possibly one of the player characters being the 'chosen one' ala Nightshift's PC classes. They've been plagued by terrible dreams & nightmares. They are drawn back to Argenta a small pocket dimension plane or demi plane. The waking world & the dream realms were never meant to meet. Chaos storms begin to rage across the Earth and they bring with them all kinds of problems including the rise of the supernaturals. 





















B3 Palace of the Silver Princess reminds me of Bronze age 70's & 80's  Marvel comic books Sword & Sorcery. The parts & pieces of both the green Moldvay rework module & Genie Wells original module both have this weird dream & nightmare quality. For a modern B/X based game such as Nightshift Veterans of the Supernatural game. I'd either rework the two original modules into one strange shifting like Gothic Ravenloft like mini campaign setting. Or something akin to Lamentations of the Flame Princess with a modernish twist. 
And one thing comes to mind 'The Chaos  Gods Come To Meatlandia' By 
Wind Lothamer and Ahimsa Kerp.


Wait before you leave this blog entry in disgust hear me out. The mess that is B3 both versions can be made whole by the fact that a cabal of  black wizards from Meatlandia is behind the events of the modules. They've been sapping the abilities of the 'chosen one' for years all in the name of occult power.  The chaos storms are only the start of it as things go from bad worse. The Misty Swamp is actually a chaos manifestation of the forces that the cabal is using; "Misty Swamp No one knows exactly what lies behind the veil of ever present mist that hovers over the swamp. Some old timers say that the dwarves who make Anterian Brandy live in the swamp near their secret ingredient, the swamp water. This is speculation, as no one really knows what the secret ingredient of Anterian Brandy is. Others whisper tales of an evil wizard living there in a massive tower of shiny black stone. Sometimes, in the dead of winter, fierce thunderstorms can be heard near the swamp, but no one ever sees any lightning. The only thing people who live near the swamp will agree on is that most magic users and elves had best stay clear of it or they will find that their spells will not function properly. One young magic user tried to catch a rabbit with a web spell near the swamp one day and ended up with dozens of rabbits, all neatly webbed, scattered about her feet. She didn’t really mind having the extra rabbits, but the fact that she couldn’t control her magic scared her (as it does many other spell casters). She was one of the fortunate ones; others have not been so lucky." 
The rise of the supernatural has been because of the two world's unrealities  clashing so fast. Energies are leaking into the Earth's reality. Pusher Gnomes on the corners of major cities, Kaldines terrorizing small towns, and worse.
All of this has to do  Tim Brannan's review of Meatlania; "I thought this was an adventure, but it is actually a mini-setting of Meatlandia and the opposing factions. There are meat mages (you really have to buy this to see them) and various types of bards (three in total). So new classes, new magic (15 pages of meat mage spells), a city, new monsters, new magic items, and just some gonzo-level weirdness. I have to say that it is not for everyone, BUT there is an audience that will absolutely love this. Has a solid Dungeon Crawl Classic meets Lamentations of the Flame Princes meets 80s weird horror. If it were a movie Roger Corman would have been the director or producer and Tom Savini would have starred and consulted on the monster effects. The whole thing is 90 pages long so you are getting a lot. Not sure where I am going to use it, but it really begs to be used somewhere. Retooled just a tiny bit could turn it from gonzo to some serious horror. That is the direction I am likely to go." And playing this mini campaign for serious horror brings it to another level. Add in the fantasy realm of B3 & you've got a mini campaign to bring PC's from level one to four easily. 
The additional PC classes & information in 'The Night Companion' are gonna be just the thing to add into such a campaign setting. 





The real question becomes not only can they save their own reality but the sanity of the 'silver princess' there's a price to be had for fairy tales even if they are nightmares. 







Monday, August 30, 2021

Lord of the Rats Adapted From Godzilla: The Series - Se1 - Ep06 Cat and Mouse For Cepheus Atom & Those Old School 2d6 Science Fantasy Role Playing Campaign

 First encountered during the mutant rat infestation of New York City back in the early '00's. But the mutant rats are a cross bred artifically engineered species that goes back the early 30's. The inner workings of the Thule Society in proto Nazi Germany were looking for a terror weapon. The German scientists used early occult technologies to expose several rat colonies to the weird energies beyond the 'Theshold' of our reality. Generation after generation of rats mutated,bred, & during the early '00's during the height of the hot war faze of the Occult Wars. Several strains of mutant rats were let go into the New York underground. Only the strongest survived. 

The largest variety of mutant rat is the 'Lord of the Rats', a giant, black-furred Kuiju type with multiple sets of eyes.These giants grow to the size of a city bus & are capable of taking on monsters many times their own size. They have a unique ability to burrow quickly, dark vision capable of piercing even the darkest tunnels. Modified teeth capable of chewing through most soft metals easily. They are capable of moving through water. The 'Lord of the Rats' is able to devour food five times its own weight. 
These mutant rats are known to seek out other kuiju to carve out their own terrorities. And these bastard children carry several varieties of deadly disease including the dreaded 'Red Death'. The Lord of the Rats will set up their abodes in abandoned train tunnels, sewers, and buildings. The 'Lord of the Rats' is a deadly predator feeing off of humans if the need arises. But these monsters prefer the taste of Kuiju flesh because of its infusion of radiation. The monsters can easily kill a grown man with one claw swipe. 
'Lord of the Rats' are survivors able to thrive in areas where other Kuiju can not and will not. These are powerful mutants capable of settling into ruins or underground complexes. They are superb hunters capable of taking on other Kuiju at a moment's notice. Lord of the Rats may be accompanied by 1d6 mutant rats of  a particularly nasty bent. These are the 'Lord of the Rats' personal Pretorian guardsmen. 
Lord of the Rats 
#Appearing 1 lord & 2d6 body guard mutant rats 
4/7, Move 20 m, Armor 5,  Claw 3D danmage), Bite (melee, 1 damage and may cause Disease; throw Physical 6+ to resist). Gigantism, Survival 3, Melee2, Combat 2, 
Specials - Gnaw the Spine - The Lord of the Rats can gnaw through canvas, even Kevlar with easy, Aimed Claw Slash - The Lord of the Rats is able to do double normal damage with a carefully aimed strike, Tail Slap From Hell - the Lord of the Rats is able to snap their tails for 2d6 points of damage. This is a last desparate attack enabling the rat to strike for double normal damage. 


Earth & Alien Sky - Carcosa & Elf Lair Games Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Rpg By Jason Vey & Tomothy Brannan Session Report & Monster Workshop

"We Are the Night Shift...
We alone stand against the vampires, werewolves, and Things that Go Bump in the Night.
We know the things that prowl the shadows, the monsters that feed on the innocent.
We have seen Something Weird.
We control Something Weird
We create Something Weird.
We study Something Weird.
We are the things that Weird Things fear.
We are the Weird.
We are the Night Shift, and we are all that stands between you and the end of all that you know."


What happens when invasive aliens won't stay in their own damn lane of reality?! We're talking about the B/X system Veterans of the Supernatural War & specifically the idea here that Lovecraftian gates are opening across the Earth. The faithful are assaulting the Earth with energy weapons, guns of advanced design & even flying saucers. These invaders wield powers beyond human ken and only you can stand in their way! 


Let's talk about Carcosa for a moment shall we? We've spoken about how Carcosa is a horrid & dangerous place. But why is Carcosa a horrid & dangerous place to Earth?! Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa has always had a reputation but when gateways open & weirdly colour humanoid tribes pour across the Earth only the Nightshift can stand against them. So the campaign might be a combination of  Hammer horror, cosmic terror, & absolute Jack Kirby terror combined in one mini campaign idea. Carcosa is a nasty business all around. The spells are nasty, the sorcerers are mostly evil, & even the technology has a bad reputation. 





























So the stars turn right & now the gates to Carcosa open right around smallest towns strange mists begin to form. In these same towns many feel the call of the saints & old gods, the Divine Warrior answers the call. Entire cities are emptied as strange alien mists retreat back into their planar windows. Cities have entire neighorhoods in major cities are emptied out of people and on Carcosa the blood flows as alien gods except their due. 


































Across the Earth magicians, witches, & covens gather to discuss the situation as packs of werewolves howl at the blood moons that rise across the world. Vampires from acros the globe prepare their armies & hordes. The first battles happen as air ports become choked in mists & the evils of long dead & forgotten civilizations rise out of the Earth. Even as blue & green skinned humanoids blast away Earthmen with weapons of alien design.
This mini campaign would depend on  NIGHT SHIFT The Night Companion kickstarter  which is nearing its last few days. Why?! Because of the fact that there's so much more potential with the expanded PC classes. 
Carcosa itself is absolutely a nightmare & add in the Lovecraftian elements & it becomes a major OSR campaign shift point in my opinion. 

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Crackler Adapted From Godzilla: The Series - Episode 8 "What Dreams May Come" For Cepheus Atom & Those Old School 2d6 Science Fantasy Role Playing Campaign

 The Crackler appeared out of nowhere and drained the energy of a lone building in Manhattan, New York, and destroyed much of it, disappearing soon after. The Kuiju entity is made up of living Theta waves wrapped around a living bio plasmic electrical shell body. The creature was created after the New York Sleep & Dream Institute used experimental technologies that had been mainlined into normal society during the 50's after the 'Occult Wars'. By the Nineties the technologies had been refined or so it was thought. 
The Theta Wave Technologies were based on original Nazi occult tech sleep experiments in an effort to create weapons from the human mind's psychic reservoirs. The result were creatures of pure rage & energy as the subjects accessed the higher energy planes. Though the alien Kuiju like entity was defeated the monster has appeared several more times. 




Theta wave dream technologies have been used by S.S. terrorist cells to create other 'Crackler' like monsters. These rare manifestations of electrical cerebral kuiju are capable a great deal of destruction. The downside of such a manifestation of such powerful electro psychic energies is that the manfestations will burn the mind out of the creature's manifestor unless a body throw of +6 is made. 
Cracklers are driven by pure instinct & their incredible hunger for destruction & energy which they must absorb to create their bodies microsecond by microsecond. Cracklers are weapons of war & terror pure & simple. They can & have been used as weapons of mass destruction. 

Cracklers
 # appearing - Unique 

5/10, Move 20m, , Armor 5, Claw (melee 3d damage), Electrical Bite (melee 4D damage),  Survival 1,  Combat 3,  Melee 2 . Gigantism,  Energy Absorbtion, Regeneration As Troll Only When Feeding on Energy, Special Abilities - Immune to Energy Attacks, Absorb The Storm Absorbs 1d6 points of Energy Each Time Its Attacked. 
  • Electricity handling : The Crackler can manipulate electricity over a 30 Meter Range 2D points of damage 
  • Lightning shot : The Crackler can shoot lightning bursts 40M for 2d6 points of damage 
  • Electric balls : The Crackler can fire electric balls from the palms of its hands 20M for 2D damage 
  • Energy Absorption : The Crackler may have the ability to absorb energy always on. But this ability has a nasty twist. The abosorbed energy allows the Crackler  to re-manifest in the same area after it has been 'destroyed'. This ability is only usable 3 times per day. 


Should the dreamer become unplugged from their Crackler the monster will go into a beserker like mode attacking anything that moves around it. The dreamer's mind forms the beast's intellect but on a subconscious level. 



S3 'Expediation to The Barrier Peaks' by Gary Gygax With The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 

So let's pick up where we last left off on this campaign built we've been talking about the Amazing Adventures version of Starship Warden. Ernie Gygax threw his hat into the ring with the following comment; "Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.

The opportunities offered with moving characters to either or both the Empire of the Petal Throne or the Starship Warden. Both have been done with early Greyhawk characters. Jim Ward's own Elf flunky Bombadil is with the Vigilists group in Jim's own game. A crse scroll from a game my father was running for Jim James M. Ward. We have fought EPT creatures in the Dungeon but yet to have a character transfer to the realm.." 
First of all I love Jim Ward's Elven PC Flunky Bombadil, that's awesome right there.  Its gotten me thinking about S3 'Expediation To The Barrier Peaks' by Gary Gygax. The Starship Warden of S3 isn't the same ship as first edition Metamorphis Alpha rpg according to the S3  Drivethrurpg entry; "
"Barrier Peaks" is about a spaceship crashing into the world of Greyhawk. Gygax was very clear is saying that the ship was not the Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha: "The size and the technology in this vehicle should make such speculation quite misplaced, in fact. The downed space ship is far too small, and its science quite different from that of the famed starship Warden." The connection between "Barrier Peaks" and Metamorphosis Alpha is thus more of a thematic one." 
Is this simply a thematic connection or is this simply another space craft that's a part of the Warden's sciencitific expediation fleet?! 
The 'Warden' is actually a biological collection ship. Monster after monster is let go on Greyhawk. The ship is long since abandoned by its occupants.  This brings home the fact that many monsters of AD&D are invasive species from other worlds. The  world of Greyhawk is a part of one of the crossroads of the planes. This module is also one of the possible origins of the mindflayer species. 
This module seems to be an almost homage to Robert Kuntz's famous 'machine level'. The module has many of the same sorts of technologies that we find in Metamorphis Alpha rpg first edition. 
S3 feels like a precursor to Metamorphis Alpha rpg first edition.There's so many points where you can marry the two games through S3. 
With the Starship Warden there's some more options on the table. S3 'Expediation To The Barrier Peaks' by Gary Gygax has no origin point for the 'Warden'.
Could the micro planar technologies that caused  the Human Space Empires collapse also be responsible for the Warden fleet to plunge out of hyperspace. The Empire of the Petal Throne rpg makes it very clear that when M.A.R. Barker's world was cut off from the rest of the planes that many people, alien races, etc. were trapped on Tekumel as well. 
Now its interesting that Ernie states that we fought E.P.T creatures in his dad's dungeon on Greyhawk. This means that not all of the planar gates were cut off from the planes. The door always swings both ways, could E.P.T. PC's find themselves aboard the Starship Warden?! 

In a word, yes! The fact is that some poor party of players might find themselves aboard the Starship Warden. Given the crazy situation that the PC's might find themselves in this might not be that far out of their wheelhouse.  But this begs the question. How many other dimensional gateways lead to planes cut off completely from the Human Space Empires?! Are there literally hundreds of derelict space craft hanging in hyperspace with undead crews waiting for some poor adventurers to stumble upon them. Let's talk about the fact that the 'Solar Burn'setting & timeline lines up quite nicely with the Starship Warden timeline. What happens if the powers in charge of Solar Burn mount an expediation to actually find the Warden & stumble upon Greyhawk's Warden instead?! 






































Things can go from bad to worse as the expediation isn't prepared for the horrors waiting for them inside S3's Warden starship. And this might actually be a warm up for what's about to come! 
And this brings home another point, the ancient gatesways used by the Human Space Empire might in point of fact still be operational way at the back of beyond especially in a setting like 'The Wilderlands of High Fantasy' where the wilderness is so vast that just about anything can & does exist in the back end of beyond. 
There may also be various planar versions of the crash site of the Warden such as in the Wilderlands, Greyhawk, Blackmoor, etc. 
The hyperspace shunt of the planar collapse of the Human Space Empire echoed across the multiverse caused many consquences throughout time & space. This is something we see time & again in Science Fantasy & Sword & Sorcery game settings. 

Judges Guild has several adventures that make this sort of a campaign very easy. Classic JG was easy to insert into whatever campaign you need. The Wilderlands 'wilderness' is rife with adventure hooks that can be exploited to fit your home campaign  narrative. 
And this is where classic gaming succeeds on so many levels. Easy to adapt, fully modular, and even easy to fit, these are some of the characteristics of classic gaming supplements. 

Saturday, August 28, 2021

OSR Commentary on Frazetta & Bakshi's 'Fire & Ice' film from 1983 As Inspiration For Your Old School Campaigns

At the end of the ice age, an evil queen and her son are set on conquering the world using magic and warriors. The lone survivor of a crushed village fights back as does the king of Fire Keep."



Few movies are as Sword & Sorcery especially Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea inspiration as Ralph Bakshi's 1983 animation  'Fire & Ice'.We litterally wore the VHS tape of 'Fire & Ice' out as a kid. The plot is straight out of every drug store Sword & Sorcery paperback during the Eighties especially straight from the wiki entry;"From their citadel Icepeak, the evil queen, Juliana and her son, Nekron send forth a wave of glaciers; this forces humanity to retreat south towards the equator. Nekron sends a delegation to Firekeep, the volcano citadel of king Jarol, ostensibly to request the king's surrender. In truth, the ice queen has orchestrated it as a ruse so that her subhuman troops can abduct Jarol's beautiful daughter, princess Teegra. Juliana feels that Nekron should take her as a bride to produce an heir.

Teegra escapes her captors and comes upon a young warrior named Larn, the only survivor of a village destroyed by Nekron's glaciers. The two grow close, but they become separated when Larn is attacked by a monstrous giant squid, and Nekron's subhumans recapture Teegra. She briefly escapes again, but runs into the witch Roleil and her son Otwa, who intend to use her as a bargaining chip for incurring Nekron's favor. However, the subhumans simply kill them and take Teegra to Icepeak. Nekron refuses to marry Teegra, in spite of his mother's plan, but keeps the princess as a hostage.

While looking for Teegra, Larn encounters Darkwolf, a mysterious masked warrior who pursues a personal vendetta against Nekron and Juliana"

































'Fire & Ice' works on several layers as both a pursue film, a Sword & Sorcery film, & as perfectly fuctional Sword & Sorcery inspiration. The film represents the clash of two ordersor ages  in the form the steady conquest of citadel Icepeak forces led by  the evil queen, Juliana and her son, Nekron against the more advanced kingdom of Firekeep. Dark Wolf is definitely a demigod belonging to an earlier 'age of heroes'. Fire and Ice has so much of Frank Frazetta's essence about it because of his involvement with the production according to Wiki;'Because Fire and Ice was the most action-oriented story Bakshi had directed up until that point, rotoscoping was again used, and the realism of the animation and design replicated Frazetta's artwork.[2] Bakshi and Frazetta were heavily involved in the production of the live-action sequences, from casting sessions to the final shoot.[2] The film's crew included background artists James Gurney and Thomas Kinkade, layout artist Peter Chung, and established Bakshi Productions artists Sparey, Steven E. Gordon, Bell and Banks.[2] Chung strongly admired Bakshi and Frazetta's work, and animated his sequences on the film while simultaneously working for The Walt Disney Company."























There are five reasons why this film is excellent for Sword & Sorcery inspiration:
  1. Fire & Ice main plot is over but the forces of darkness are not vanquished this is where the PC's come in. Firekeep needs to secure the land and there are still tribes of subhumans out in the wilderness. 
  2. Dark Wolf is not done with prince Lam & he's gonna need help to secure the borders of Firekeep. 
  3. What happened to the other kingdoms that Neckon's forces have overrun someone is going to have to help them recover. 
  4. There are tons of monsters just waiting for adventurers to stumble upon them in abandon cities & ruins across the land. This also means treasure as well and evil artifacts. 
  5. The witch Roleil and her son Otwa, are not the only witches in the kingdom of Firekeep and these evil practiciers of dark magick may be the next evil facing the scatttered nations left in the wake of Neckon's evil. 
While 'Fire & Ice ' is a perfect film as an inspiration for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. There are also several 2d6 Sword & Sorcery rpg's that also could draw perfectly from the world of Arn, Teegra, & Dark Wolf.  Barbaric! by Omer Golan-Joel from Stellagamma Publishing springs to mind coupled with Warpland is perfectly suited to simulate the rotoscoped world of 'Fire & Ice'. 
































Warpland especially captures the rotoscoped weirdness of the clash of elements, ages, and even hints of older inhuman prehistoric weirdness found in 'Fire & Ice'.  The elements that clash in the film also could very well represent the hard realities of the world setting of Warpland. 

OSR Keys & Gates - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 Back in Nineteen Eighty, the Wilderlands of High Fantasy was growing & changing with each & every expansion. Spies of Light Elf is another wilderness expansion for the Wilderlands from Judges Guild. 




















 Spies of Lightelf: Wilderness Book Two By Bryan Hinnen- Wilderlands project, histories, 25 maps, tables, three villages  Fantastic wilderness detail. Spies of Lightelf: Wilderness Book Two fills in a lot of the details on the side of the campaign setting for the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. And surprisingly it does this very well. The question in my mind is there far more going on out in the wilderness of the Wilderlands then anyone suspects. Yesterday we spoke about Portals of Torsh. And the opinion not fact that could there be a definitive connection between the occult technologies of the brass rings of  Castles & Crusades Stains Upon The Green and the portals of JG's portal series?! 


The portal technologies of  the module series Portals of Torsh, Portals of Irontooth, and Portals of Twilight concern a series of planar locations & dungeons which the characters can stumble into or explore. But these portals may lead to ancient locations in dungeons & other ruins that few survive from exploring. Such trips maybe one way. But these portals are reminding me of the microdimensional planar technologies of the Empire of the Petal Throne rpg. 


Given the collapse of the dimensional gates from the Human Empire. Are we actually looking at old gateway technologies that other races stumbled upon and started using?! Anything is possible but the number of campaign setting worlds that might have been cut off by the collapse of the gates of the Human Empire?! 
How many planets continued as local interstellar  governments struggled with keeping up with the local sector demands?! 
Could this partially responsible for the full on cut off situation that we see in original Traveller?! 
Might this same style of hyperspecial gate collapse & hyperspacial shunt  be responsible for some of what has  happened to the Starship Warden?!? 


































The brave starship flies through & hyperspecial gateway which messes with the unreality of the ship. Throughout space & time the events of the the microdimensional planar technologies of the Empire of the Petal Throne rpg echo. These events even blast a number of psychics causing the 'Scream' in Stars Without Number Revised. Star faring empires suddenly caught in the wake of events without their control. 


















Now imagine that one of these worlds cut off from the rest of the interstellar community might be called Blackmoor & that a treacherous interstellar spacer sees an opportunity to land during the chaos. This is merely idle speculation but it begs the question. Does the wilderness hold far more then the adventurers suspect?!