S3 Expediation to the Barrier Peaks, Gamma World 1st or 2nd edition & the Arduin Grimoire By Dave Hargrave

 This blog entry is going to pick up right from our classic Gamma World & Dungeons & Dragons crossover blog entry from here.  But after talking with a bunch of my gaming buddies this morning I began to talk about a very distinctive idea using the Arduin Grimoire triliogy with Gamma World. 

Arduin artwork used without permission 

Screwing around with the classic Bloody,Bloody, Arduin rpg books. There's a few things that come to  mind off the bat. The artwork for the Lost Grimoire leaps out and that's a Phant with an submachine gun talking with his barbarian friend. 

The thought of using the Arduin Grimoire as a Gamma World secret weapon hadn't occurred to me until it was mentioned by DM Peter. DM Peter was one of my friends growing up locally who also played in my uncle's madcap games. And  DM Pete  remembers a couple of orignal Gamma World 1st edition  sesssions in which the Arduin  Grimoires were the secret lore behind my uncle's version of Gamma Terra. 

And this makes a ton of sense because of the mix of material that he threw at us as players. This makes a certain amount of sense because of the fact that the mixing & matching of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons & Gamma World was in The Dungeon Master Guide first edition. 

If we look at the S3 Expediation to the Barrier Peaks as the source for many of the issues that plague our version of Gamma World. Then it becomes clear that this mix has the potential to explain some of the most dangerous of Arduin's monsters. These are not merely monsters but possibly alien  bio weapons that have been unleashed on an unsuspecting world. And it also goes a long way towards also explaining a possible other source on Arduin besides the nexus gates. 

Note that this is by no means taking away from the legacy of Gary Gygax, David Lance Arneson, James M. Ward, or David Hargrave. It's idle speculation my own part using some of the ideas that my friends threw my way.