Review & Commentary On GMA2: They Devour By Andy Castillo Jr For 1edition, 2nd edition, & OSRIC RPG

 "An ancient evil and its zombie horde attacks the city of Genepa. Hundreds fall and the survivors retreat behind her walls. In their distress, the city council summon the heroes and charges them with a desperate mission to recover the Book of The Unholy. With it, the Temple of Azrael hopes to learn how to disperse the undead which are acting with unusual cohesiveness and cunning. The party must locate the fabled Temple of Corruption and bring the book back to Genepa before the city gates fail and the zombie horde forces its way in. You must hurry! Time is short" 

GMA2: They Devour By Andy Castillo Jr is another of those titles by Celestial Skunk Work that has been on my radar for a long time. Last time I was lurking around thier website I pulled the trigger on the pdf and grabbed GMA2. Boy I'm glad I did. This title picks right up from where GMA1 left off. 
GMA2: They Devour By Andy Castillo Jr puts the PC's right into the center of a plague and an undead horde of zombies on the rampage. The PC's are on a quest for the Book of The Unholy and the party must locate the fabled Temple of Corruption. And are employed by the city council to track this horrid book with all expectancy. Plus the party must deal with the undead's intelligence and unholy cunning. And GMA2: They Devour  is a full on mini campaign with tricks, traps, and really solid encounters. The writing by Andy Castillo Jr. is on point here and the layout is excellent with fonts being very good with all of the goodness we've come to expect from Celestial Skunkworks. 
Events, encounters, and adventure elements move quickly through GMA2 with the stakes being very high. Even though this adventure is for OSRIC it would make an excellent adventure for Castles & Crusades. The material here is solid and engaging and could easily be adapted into Greyhawk with minimal fuss. 

 The necromancer from GMA1 is a highly dangerous NPC and the party could have a rough time of it. While GMA2 could easily be run on it's own. I highly recommend running GMA1 & GMA2 back to back as a linked OSR campaign. The adventure material lends itself to a full blown campaign. 
GMA2: They Devour By Andy Castillo Jr has all of the hallmarks of a great campaign because it combines wilderness, some urban, and lots of dungeon crawling all in one package. The adventure material of GMA2 is easily adapted into Castles & Crusades, OSRIC or even the  Hyperborea Rpg.  For Hyperborea GMA1 & 2 need to be set within thier own Hyperborean realm. This is easier said then done. The campaign material, maps, etc. all come with this fantastic module. The adventure elements are going to shift to AD&D 2nd edition style to a whole cloth Sword & Sorcery module. 

GMA2: They Devour By Andy Castillo Jr has all of the markings of an excellent module because it hits all of the OSR elements with everything in place for a long haul campaign. GMA2 packs a Hell of a lot into one hundred and six pages. 

Review & Commentary On GMA1: Cult of The Rat God By Andy Castillo Jr For 1edition, 2nd edition, & OSRIC RPG

 "Your travels have brought you to the City of Genepa, a thriving port and trade town. While you explore the city and seek adventure, your inquiries lead you to an ancient troll commander’s lair. You also travel through reptile infested swamp in search of an elusive group of slavers that are reputed to be lead by a Wererat bandit and his wife. The Rat King and The Rat Queen. Life is full of surprises." 

"As if that were not enough, a necromancer has stirred the restless undead at the southern edge of the city and the council calls upon your services to try and sort out this problem. The Ratmire and Laborer’s districts are in complete disarray and the Planned Afterlife Cemetery appears to be the source of the Hungry Dead"  

 GMA1: Cult of The Rat God By Andy Castillo Jr  has been on my radar for a long time. Again this is one of those modules that I'll get around too. Well last week I pulled the trigger with a nice Amazon gift card I got for the holidays from one of my players. GMA1 isn't a small  module at ninety nine pages but it's one where there's a ton going on. Andy Castillo's writing here is on point and the plot winds its way with the PC's up to thier armpits in tepid swamp water; "The party's inquiries lead them to a troll and reptile infested swamp, in search of an elusive group of slavers that are reputed to be lead by a wererat bandit and his wife, The Rat King and The Rat Queen.  Meanwhile, a necromancer is busy, secretly plying his trade in or about the Ratmire District and the Planned Afterlife Cemetery.  As undead start to rampage throught sections of the city each night, the council summons the players to investigate the cause of these serious discturbances." As I said GMA1 is expansive and well done. Encounters are quick and the author's writing is on point. The font and layout is also good with the artwork nor the layout laboring the eye. 
  Encounters in GMA1 are solid and challenging while moving the action along. On the whole  GMA1: Cult of The Rat God seems like a well thought out module. What's really unique here in GMA1 is the fact that this module allows the PC's to actually be heroic and solidly moral for a change. There are real stakes here with an undead army that if it get's loose could spell doom for the campaign setting. 
One of the things that makes GMA1 solid for OSR play is how adaptable the module is. And this makes GMA1 perfect for adapting it to Castles and Crusades. The encounters can easily be shifted into an existing campaign such as Greyhawk. 

The action here is fast paced and the author keeps thing moving. There's some decent encounters and the stakes are reasonable high. There could be a world ending threat but it needs to be checked by the adventurers. GMA1 is PC driven and perfect for runnning with Hyperborea rpg or Castles & Crusades or even OSRIC. 

There's a good deal of both urban and wilderness in GMA1 this is a welcome style of module with the PC's able to showcase thier talents in this module. And GMA1:Cult of the Rat God has some very decent adventure locations that can slide right into existing campaigns. And this mades this module very modular for campaign usage. There something profoundly satisfying about reusable adventure locations th at can be used again and again. GMA1: Cult of The Rat God has all of the hallmarks of a great module and be sure to visit the author's website for further details on the module here.