Adventures In the Borderlands - OSR Commentary on Barrows & Borderlands - Men & Mutants Rpg From Matthew Tapp

' Time is broken & the barriers of physics no longer keep past, present, and future apart. Alternative timelines have crossed over into the Borderlands including the alien & strange ones making adventuring very dangerous!  The stars have fallen & the walls are no longer separating the worlds.'  Let's pick this up from my quickie review on Barrows & Borderlands rpg on  the blog here.

Imagine having your adventurers swarm through alien cities & the alleyways crawling with Lovecraftian horrors. These alien ruins come into the Borderlands of Barrows & Borderlands because I'm going to pick this up from here on the blog. Adventurers cross into the borderlands striding into alien worlds & dangerous dungeons call to them. These places are tucked away in the deeper valleys of the Borderlands seemingly to snag and trap adventurers into your their clutches. The monsters of Warriors of the Red Planet are perfect for this other worldly adventures. 

 Take for example Swords and Super-Science of Xuhlan which would make an awesome hidden kingdom. Why?! Because this supplement for Warriors of the Red Planet has the following:

New character races: Mutant, Robot, Rogue Formian, Rogue Formiankin, Lizard Folk.

Rules for Psychic Combat and Super-Science Research.

Wyrd Stones, mysterious artifacts that let you manipulate the matrix of Matter, Energy, Time and Space.

18 new creatures including Spectral Walkers and Winged Squid.

Seven strange Alien Godlings.

Campaign map with 100 detailed hexes.

The city state of Yankara.

The Vaults of Illumination, a 22 room starting dungeon

This is a perfect Borderland kingdom, because it has all of the alien details that a DM could want plus otherworldly dungeon baked right in. The player's PC's are not simply adventurers here these are invaders in an alien realm. Reality as we know it is washed along the edges of the borderlands. 

PC's are not simply in danger they might eased from existence by a careless wave. And this isn't the only issue. There are lots of hidden and highly dubious alien intelligences and influences out and alive in the Borderlands. Invisible stalkers and trackers, astral fiends, and worse all wanting the PC's souls for lunch.