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. 

'New Members & Mecha on Cha'alt ' Session report # 2 S3 'Expedition to The Barrier Peaks ' With The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 

Let's pick this up right where we last left off, our heroes were dealing with the feral elves & veggie pygmies. The party were trespassing on their hunting ground & the elves wanted to know why! So with a bit parley the party explained they were there for the Warden science vessel for exploration. For the trade of an enchanted knife the elves would act as a guide into the interior of the vessel. They were very sorry about the bullettes making short work of the party's 'enchanted' armor. The elves veggie pygmy allies were indifferent about the PC's. 
They didn't want the PC's messing with the Warden's 'magic' and wanted assurances that none of their tribal ancestors still aboard the vessel would be harmed. They were more then happy to guide the party aboard the great bird of creation with the caveat that one of the warriors would join the party! Larn the hunter  a young warrior volunteered to join the party. Jason came over that night and agreed to join the players. So he's taking up Larn a veggie pygmy hunter & his hunting dog 'At'. 

Now here's where things get interesting! Our party of adventurers rather then handling the Warden science vessel now retreats with Larn back to their headquarters in  New York City. On smoke break the players come up with a 'cunning plan'  to consult with Dr. Caligari. Dr. Caligari in our games is vile immortal  black magician whose cabinet can open gateways to other worlds. The party saved Caligari from a pack of black eyed children but that's a blog entry for another time. Caligari owes the party. 
Larn is not happy at all with Caligari but goes along out of curiosity. Caligari opens a portal to Cha'alt and the party dons desert survival robes. Larn & his dog 'At' are using a mold water recovery  suit made by the party's mad scientist Dr. Mary 'Melvin the Magnificent'. The less said about her the better. The party meets with Jacob the Druid. Jacob scouted ahead to  the city of A'agrybah to set up a meeting with Omar 'The Fried Desert Worm & Used Mech' dealer. Omar has five kids to feed & he's sure he can strike a deal with the party. Jacob & his Elven ranger Hank along with the party's Elven scout Ellie Rider have come to  the city of A'agrybah ahead of the party. What are they after?!  Jacob The Druid has taken Larn under his wing. 



A fully pimped out   RAP036C Tavshar Battler Archon From Alternative Armies 
Omar however doesn't want money folks! He's got something else in mind! A 'favor'  from the party involving the offworlder high-tech facility called Elysium

The party doesn't trust 'Omar' who gave them the personal armor with no strings attached (which means that there's strings attached) & a full kit. But now things are getting interesting. The party has decide to re equip while their in the city of A'agrybah. They're staying in Omar's home at the moment and already the scout has sighted some cyclopean mutant warriors scoping them out.  But I'm just starting to dig the knife in.

So did the players screw me up by not going into the Warden?! Yes they did but going back to Cha'alt means all kinds of mayhem coming up! And what about back on that other alternative Earth in Rapture of the Deep?! Well that's coming up on Wednesday! Stay tuned! 

 

'Dude, you wrecked my mech!' Session report #1 S3 'Expedition to The Barrier Peaks ' With The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 

So while one party of adventurers is dealing with the Rapture of the Deep adventure on another Earth. Our starwort heroes are moving to get to the "Warden" science vessel from Gary Gygax's S3 'Expedition to the Barrier Peaks' using Troll Lords Amazing Adventures. Things didn't go as planned for the players. 

RAP036C Tavshar Battler Archon From Alternative Armies 

Once upon a time there was a group of heroes who had made a raid on a black market auction in New York City & found a mecha shell. For many months in DM Steves campaigns they made raids on Cha'alt, to various nefarious villains lairs, etc. all in the pursuit to assemble this mech. They were quite proud of it! That is until they made a raid into the jungles of South America where a pair of bulettes came along & ruined their day! The mecha was trashed & everything was going South. Well it gets better! That night while getting close to the wreck of the science vessel "Warden" a pack of ravenous hungry rust monsters descended on the adventurers and finished the delicate electronic controls of the mecha. 

Where are these monsters coming from?! The players are asking themselves?! From the bowels of the Warden science vessel of course! The robots are pushing off the alien monsters into the jungles of South America. And the PC's are trying to recover some of the high technological artifacts.

As daylight happened the players dealt with one less resource. But they are determined! We've got an Elven ranger & a scout in the party who have been helping the PC's for months now. 
This was after the party's luchador almost bought it from the minotaur from B2 Keep on the Borderlands. He's spent several game sessions out of commission while the party's cleric prayed for a miracle.  
Meanwhile back in the jungle the party were confronted by feral tribal Elves & veggie pygmies who wanted their heads. After some negotiation & parley between the adventurers along with the Elves. The party was permitted to pass. 

Expedition To The Deep Session Report #1 - The Free Gamma World Adventure GW5 'Rapture From the Deep' & S3 'Expedition to The Barrier Peaks ' With The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

"A terrible menace from the sea is threatening villages all along the coast. Whole shoreline communities have been disappearing without a trace.
The remaining area inhabitants have banded together and sent for a group of experienced heroes to help. They want to know what could be causing these horrible events, and more importantly, what can be done to put a stop to them. Is it some new terrifying monster from the depths? Or is there something more sinister at work?

The adventurers will travel deep beneath the waves!"

So this holiday weekend I had zero prep work & DM Steve rang me,' Do you wanna run a bit of Amazing Adventures?!!. My wife wanted me out of the house. With little written down I pulled out something that I'd been working on & it was notes on running GW5 Rapture of the Deep. The free Gamma World adventure 'Rapture of the Deep'  right over here at Wayne's Books. 

 So today I've just gotten back from running a play session of Troll Lords Amazing Adventures sorta. The Player's PC's journeyed through the brass ring and found themselves in Florida or what was left of it! What the PC's found themselves in the middle of was sea side village under attack by mutant fish men! The party of nine players pulled out the stops and it was epic! They were able to beat back the attackers but only barely. The PC's had ported in from a Pulp oriented Earth year 1989 & speaking to the villagers learned the following; "For the last few months, a series of attacks have been made on coastal towns and villages. Whole communities have been disappearing without a trace. All that was found afterward were deserted buildings and the occasional dead body. The odd thing about the bodies that were found is that they were located in hard to reach or concealed areas as if they were hiding from something. The dead had no apparent wounds and their faces were twisted in terrible grimaces" 

And on smoke break one of the players says, 'Oh Eric's true to form he's using Gamma World instead of the Starship Warden setting'. When the cleric Father Patrick Trusuno asked what happened to cause the apocalypse on this world. The wise man of the village recalled the starship Warden  falling from the sky when he was achild. This goes back to my blog post S3 'Expediation to The Barrier Peaks' by Gary Gygax With The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book here. 

Here everything changed when the Warden fell from the sky in South America. Corporations got their hands on the technological artifacts from the wreckage of the  Warden science collection vessel. And technology evolved rapidly! Antigravity, wireless power transmission, viable hand held energy weapons, etc. from the Warden's wreck. All this  accelerated the global tensions and then entropic weapon war happened! There are cryptic alliances but not quite as well entrenched as in classic Gamma World setting. Its only been a hundred years since the appearance of the science vessel.  The PC's encountered a rust monster near the beach and the tree line which caused them all kinds of pause. 

So we're using a combination of Starship Warden & the Starsiege rules combined with classic Amazing Adventures for this. But I'm just starting to dig the knife in.

S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks By Gary Gygax -OSR Commentary - Weird Tales Judges Guild Wilderlands of High Fantasy - Campaign Set Up II

"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!"

 S3 'Expedition To The Barrier Peaks' By Gary Gygax module events could push both the Wilderlands of High Fantasy & Hyperborea into disaster mode. Let talk about the invasive alien  species that a come down with the 'Warden Science Vessel'. We already know that the Wilderlands of High Fantasy has an established Mind Flayer colony in place. So does this mean that the Warden science vessel was brought down on purpose?! 

Its one of the most dangerous threats to both worlds. Why?! Because of the fact that the Warden space exploration fleet which accompanied the main Warden generation ship became compromised at some point in its journey. This isn't the normal Metamorphis Alpha First edition Warden vessel or even another science vessel in that flee.  But another Warden Science vessel version from another plane completely. 

The problem is the drive system creating & breaking the planar boundaries over & over again.  S3 'Expedition To The Barrier Peaks' By Gary Gygax  plays right into the background of the module Lost Treasures of Atlantis by Chainsaw. 

Could this same subspace  wake also be responsible for some of the weirdness that we've seen in the The Lost Treasures of Atlantis?! Power planes coming on line?! Check. Weird Weather phenomena? Check. Time jumps?! Check & again check! 
 Its very possible that this same wake could have jumped several different realities giving rise to other space & planar craft crashing across multiple realities. This could also help to explain  the crashed space craft  in Lamentations of the Flame Princess World of the Lost by Rafael Chandler. 

When it comes to the Wilderlands of High Fantasy?! There are several options for S3 'Expedition To The Barrier Peaks' By Gary Gygax. Looking at the concentration of the monsters from S3 then we get a sense that the areas presented in Judges Guilds The Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde  would be perfect. A perfect place for a  crash site or three. 

Wide open spaces, lots & lots of wilderness plus the options of minor secondary crashes or use Return to the Barrier Peaks maps by  Dyson Logos to get even more mileage from S3. But there's not enough Moorcock style in this because we really want an alien god feel that we talked about using James Hite's Qelong entities as shock troops in the war between Chaos & Law. What if there were elemental style animal god beings that would be perfect for a Wilderlands of High Fantasy?! Well we've got the 'pay what you want' Vacant Ritual #4  By Red Moon Medicine Show with "Furious Gods:  A Primal Rage-inspired article describing the dinosaur godbeasts of the barbarian territories.. " 

Minor spirits may have taken over the roles left vacant by some of the causalities of the Law Vs Chaos war. This war may be spill over or in fact simply another theater in the future conflict of  Ragnarök. A conflict so vast that no one remembers the reason for the spill over. 
 The Crystal Skull is another piece  in the planar puzzle. 

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.