Black, Blue, & Tentacled- Godbound/Cha'alt Pick Up Game Session Report 4/5

 If your gonna have gods & in a Godbound/Cha'alt campaign well its gonna be over the top folks! And your going to have out & out mayhem for the players. Now most folks would think utterly evil & dangerous dragon springs to mind then its gonna Tiamat from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Monster Manual. And they would be right up to a point. 




Now any real old schooler who knows his Judge's Guild's Inferno module  knows that Tiamat unofficially has her caves & her hoard within Hell as its proper. Her hoards are safe & her cult is flourishing out in California in my Godbound campaign.Growing by leaps & bounds. Why?! Because Dante's Infero is not a religious commentary but a political one. And one based in history not religion. 1980 Judges Guild module Inferno. Written by Geoffrey O. Dale, is unto itself a whole blog entry. Which while it has been covered on this blog deserves another look see in the near future.  What my ears heard last night was that America does have any dragons. Any really good solid dragons of mythology like Europe has. 

What if the players were not only wrong but it could cost em their PC's. The Cha'alt wave in my campaign went around Earth. Not out a huge swath of the modern technology & the US has been forced to rely on any Cha'alt technologies they can get a hold of. But recently the West Coast military has been hearing rumbles from its East Coast breathern about the Snallygasters! This god like American dragon has been attacking, destroying, & absolutely descimating supply convoys across the East Coast of the United States in New England. Now unlike the Pathfinder version available here. This is a Snallygaster Lord or Lady. These abominations are a combination of dragon, bird, & aboleth birthed in the Abyssial underworld of Cha'alt. 

Snallygaster artwork provided by the expert hand of Thrilllander thanks to the "Lumberwoods, Unnatural History Museum." Link to http://www.lumberwoods.org/ 

They have all of the abilities of a standard  snallygaster but with the abilities of an Abeloth but in addition the Dragon word from Godbound. And they are absolutely nasty pieces of work understand Aklo & serveral other languages unnaturally. These things are engines of destruction & primal chaos. The profiles for snallygasters can vary depending upon the seven to eight chaos mutations that they are sporting. Actual dragons hate snallygasters considering them abominations & repellent. These things are vermin to be exterminated on sight. The gods will designate these horrors priority number one to exterminate. 
Why?! Because these things are summoned by Midnight Elves, & Serpentmen to act as engines of destruction! The dragon king in my campaign now knows about two  snallygaster Lords & Ladies who were summoned over from Cha'alt on the night roads. The dragon itself is tied up with matters of state and this goes right back to Adventurer,Conqueror,King's Heroic Fantasy Handbook guide lines. 

When it comes to down to dragons & gods there's always mythology in the mix. Dragons are essential ingrediants to the whip around part of a campaign. Dragons are the movers, shakers, & destroyers of a campaign. They exist to take on the gods & shake the heavens. They are the takers of gold, the hoarders of legacy, & the changers of reality. Dragons are never to be underestimated. Ever. But when it comes to the  Snallygaster Lords & Ladies the vagueness is on purpose. These things are gonna be a surprise to the players. 
They were generated partially using Castle Old Skull's Dragons book & a large heaping of Lovecraft! 

The second ingrediant that I'm throwing into the mix is  Adventurer,Conqueror,King's Lairs & Encounters book.  So I'm designing them with ACK's in mind and a fiendish twist on the guidelines for the Snallygaster Lords & Ladies. These things are utterly things of chaos that can give a godbound real anxiety.

Black & Blue in Arizona - Godbound/Cha'alt Pick Up Game Session Report Zero

 Isiri Arachnid Warrior from Reaper are a stand in for
 a Midnight Elven Drider available here. 

'Ancient enemies ask for help as one of their holdings is attacked & ransacked by alien unknown forces! The PC's must struggle to unravel the mystery of this horror!'



Dark Elf Queen on Throne by Reaper available here.
The Midnight elf queen whose holdings are in trouble.
Why isn't she taking care of this herself is unknown.

So due to the pandemic we've been on hiatus from our Cha'alt/Godbound rpg campaign sessions for months now. Needless to say that myself & my friends haven't been amused at all. So a bit of background on this game campaign. There are any number of spider goddess related legends in the mythologies & religions of the American Indianian nations. These midnight elves armies have absolutely nothing to do with those! In fact these are an invasive demonic species of humanoids! They've secured Flagstaff Arizona for a few months now but something worse has taken over.
 Now to really flesh out the feel of the Midnight Elves from Cha'alt I've gone back into my campaign notes & faded back into Adventurer,Conqueror,King's Lairs & Encounters book.  So I'm designing them with ACK's in mind.

These Midnight Elves of Cha'alt are not the usual Drow of Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition but instead a fade back to their Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual II origins. These are unpredictable & evil demonic creatures of legend. Are the Midnight Elves Drow?! Not really these are dark elves that worship Atlach-Nacha in my games. 

Drider by MatesLaurentiu on DeviantArt is pretty much in keeping with my idea of
the Midnight Elves of my campaign. 

The PC's at the moment are working with & for the dragon king whose lair is within the Grand Canyon. There's a certain decorum between the party & their employer. Several things have cropped up that are troubling the party of Godbound. But what does this have to do with the Cha'alt wave that recently over taken the Earth some months back.. There are lots of questions in this campaign & its going to require lots of exploration.
So why I'm I using Adventurer, Conqueror,King rpg as my basis & not Castles & Crusades?! These are two very different game systems in a sense. Castles & Crusades is the better choice because of its placement on domain style games. This is a game campaign of vast  swaths of a modernish alternative Earth that's been traded back & forth between godlike & highly evil powers.



At this point I'm considering an all out war between the traditional Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Drow & the Midnight Elves of Cha'alt. This is going to depend upon where & what the PC's do from here!
Time to bust out the Q1 Queen of the Spiders Super Module & go from there but I've got plans within plans from here.

OSR Cosmic Destruction Sunday With More Commentary For Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaign Set Up

We're unleashing OSR cosmic destruction with mid tier wizards, alien cities, & the ruins of Boston & N'Yark today!

 

The blighted sun has arisen on Thundarr's world & last night I got a chance to take a look at season two episode fifteen City of Evil. Why is this episode that important to kitchen sink campaign? Well because first of all it happens almost in my backyard in & around the ruins of Boston Massachusetts in Thundarr's world. It also happens to feature Sarott, a lower tier trash wizard who demonstrates that not all wizards have to have war machines & citadels to become fantastic threats.

Thundarr and company put the hurt on Sarott, he's basically stopped cold & hurled into a portion of the ruins that seem to pepper this version of Boston. The gauntlet in the meantime returns to Gorn the leader of Reporta; a note about Gorn he knows the secrets of the gauntlet & I have a feeling that in the past a wizard owned the relic perhaps even controlling Logan Airport ruins.
Sarott stumbles onto the miniaturized 'City of Thieves' an alien city that survived the apocalypse with Logan's Run levels of Eighties technology. I say alien because nothing about this city matches the remains of cars, planes, buildings,etc. My guess is that when the two worlds merged things were stable for a bit say about ten years or so. Everyone is getting along & many of the day to day world's technology levels went up. A faster then light drive system is employed, genetic engineering becomes more common place & everything appears alright. Then the ugly head of technological magic rears it head & suddenly you've got factions, terrorism, industrial applications of primal chaos, & paranoia as the first of the wizards begins to appear. Magick in Thundarr's world warps both mind & body. Given this fact you can see the lines in the sand as the first wizards begin to appear as the heads of terrorist organizations, factions of armies, alien warlords as allies, and finally the runaway planet. Want a good example of a wizard who survived the Great Cataclysm? Mindok The Mind Menace is a good example of a wizard whose survived the events of the apocalyptic events. Why mention this? Because the City Of Thieves is a bunch of alien mercenaries straight out of the gate who have survived for generations in their miniaturized state.


Want to know why the United States military was working feverishly before that planet hurled between the Earth and the moon? Take a look at the techology level of the City of Thieves! This is straight up Mutant Future/ Gamma World's Ancient's alien technology! The shifty 1970's technology of the underdwellers of Apes Victorious might be a good stand in for these bastards. I mean these folks are straight up evil cutting a deal with Sarrott.


How much of a threat are these folks to the world of Thundarr The Barbarian? Well for two thousand years they've been producing their own food, energy, waiting for a wizard or the like to happen across them. I don't think that Sarott is the first wizard to cross their path but I do think he's the first fool to take them seriously enough to unshrink them. He might have wanted to look carefully around the area for carbon outlines of other wizards. In point of fact the gauntlet is used to unshrink the city, change poor Gorn into a mutated minion of Sarott, & handle the vast magical energies of the primal chaos of Thundarr's world. There has got to be a vast underground mega dungeon under Boston that  probably belonged to Sarott's unseen wizard boss. Don't worry all of this was solved in the twenty minutes by Thundarr except for two facts one the City of  Thieves's inhabitants have escaped into the world of Thundarr which could give rise to a whole new crop of wizards (everyone one of those city dwellers knows how to use the technological magical relics of Thundarr's world) & Sarott is still out there!!?
Why was the City of Thieves there in the first place? Well it was probably a spoil of war & far too valuable to destroy or it had been preserved by a wizard before the world of man was cast into ruins.


So what does all of this have to do with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea & Adventurer Conqueror King? Quite a bit! The fact is that given the way that Sarott acts it seems to me he's got a bit of a reputation problem and there are some free optional rules for covering that for ACK's! Download the Supplemental optional reputation rules here  Sarott is the perfect lower tier base wizard to throw into a kitchen sink Thundarr style campaign. He's cagey doesn't have much ability, and he's a bully of the first order. He's the perfect type of jerk to find wandering the halls and dungeons of Operation Unfathomable.



A gallery of production sheets from the show (Attention: two of the pictures show a topless, and a fully naked Ariel) gives the potential for more wizards & creatures to stick into your games. Now given Sarott's demeanor and candor he's an opportunist of the first order. There are possibly hundreds of potential Sarott's wandering the dungeons, fields, & ruins of Hyperborea. The fact is that petty wizards with delusions of grandeur are perfect foils for parties of adventurers and outlaws. I've always had Thundarr's Earth a step away through the borea winds from Hyperborea in my campaigns universe.

Map of HYPERBOREA by Glynn Seal

The Kickstarter for the second edition of Hyperborea is moving along at a juggernaut's pace & given the reception that the incredible looking book has had its no wonder. Now that being said there are still some awesome resources for AS&SH that you can download and plot out your own kitchen sink game. Such as the incredibly useful free maps by Ben Ball. You can grab those right here

This basically means that you can plot out everything you need for ruins, dungeons, & whatnot without ruining or disturbing your own books. Plus you can use it on tablets or other devices as needed and while your there you might want to grab  All Too Familiar by Colin Chapman which has a boat load of familiars for your petty or mid tier wizards.  So what are you going to do if your players are way too familiar with Thundarr The Barbarian's world to use it as a setting and you don't have the time to come up with a setting of your own but you really need a nearby post apocalyptic world for one step beyond the borea winds? Not to worry  The Mutant Future Wiki has us covered! The Mighty Samson comic book from Dell has an excellent N'Yark setting  which the overgrowth-covered ruins of New York where the ruins of Manhat might fit!

This is the perfect venue for your mid tier wizards or even Sarott to show up next. Mutants, aliens, etc. its all been sketched out for you and your players!


Sure its the end for the City of Thieves but what treasures and relics were left behind when it went down? Who out of the alien city will become a wizard or the latest menace to the wasteland?
Only you can decide!

Under The Influence Of A Cracked Moon OSR Sorcery As Commentary For A Post Apocalyptic Campaign

"The year: 1994. From out of space comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction! Man's civilization is cast in ruin!
Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn...
A strange new world rises from the old: a world of savagery, super science, and sorcery. But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice! With his companions Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sunsword against the forces of evil.
He is Thundarr, the Barbarian!"

Last night I shut down social media & threw in Thundarr The Barbarian on to the blu ray. The episode in question was Secret of the Black Pearl. Now this episode was in fact very pivtol to the entire run of Thundarr & features one of my all time favorite vile villains Gemini the wizard. Gemini is a real power behind the wasteland in this episode, he's cagey, smart, & one of the true wizards with access to relics but he's also a whiny little bitch. He eventually reappears twice but there are some very interesting things about this episode. Especially how they relate to domain play, relics, & Adventurer, Conqueror, King & Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers.



Gemini has access to a lot of relic weaponry, vehicles and all kinds of old Earth style technology & throughout the series most of the wizards do. There's also something really off about Thundarr's world from the on set. Relics, technologies, magic & weirdness don't match anything in our world at all. That's because its not our world or even Thundarr's world for that matter. At some point in the past of Thundarr's world the United States military was messing around with time space gate technologies and contacted a parallel Earth. Relations between the two worlds were alright for a time but there was a magical pollution between the worlds. Mutation, sorcery, the rise of the wizards, and even the Empire of the Petal Throne like artifact the 'black pearl' are from this other Earth. What is the black pearl? Well its concentrated magical energy that is capable of nullifying any magic it comes in contact with. Personally I think that the Unite States military were messing around with the magic & gate technology of this other world, they brought down the 'runaway planet' upon themselves and the inhabitants of this other world merging the two dimensions into one.



So what does all of this have to do with Adventurer, Conqueror, King & Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea? Quite a bit actually, I think that just like in ACK's your looking at wizards who have ascended levels of cosmic ability and established domains as well as magical relics. They're actually survivors of the holocaust who have been growing in power and mutating for two thousand years. Gemini aka Janus the cyborg wizard  is a prime example of the sort of mutations and outright evil we're talking about. He's got his minions in the form of the groundlings (aka his rat men), a full domain of degenerated humans ala Apes Victorious.   and a wasteland full of mutant tribes, trackless wilderness, NPC henchmen & assorted mutated monsters. 

Yet when it comes to  the power of magick where is it coming from? Well, Thundarr's world is full on full primal chaos. Yes the same primal chaos of the underworld that we see in The Operation Unfathomable campaign setting. Wiki defines it as;"Chaos (Greek χάος, khaos) refers to the formless or void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos in the Greek creation myths, or to the initial "gap" created by the original separation of heaven and earth"

It whispers and suggests things to those who use it & is often used to create technological magic relics. We see a ton of these in Thundarr's cartoons. 

In fact why is the nuclear missiles in Beneath the Planet of the Apes as powerful as they are? Well because they were also messing around with retro 70's alternative dimensional gate way time travel & faster then light technologies. The very presence of these technologies mutates those around it warping both mind and body. Some of the technological  creations of Kamandi's world also seemed to follow these lines.

But another aspect that we see is the return of the old gods of chaos & law but law is far more subtle in a Thundarr kitchen sink approach campaign. As I said yesterday over the past two years I've made careful purchases of OSR products that work well together such as OSRIC, Basic Fantasy, Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, ACK's, AS&SH, Dark Albion, and many others. This was done in order to have a palette of OSR goodness that would work well with original Dungeons & Dragons as well as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. Which beings up the Kickstarter juggernaut that is the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition. 
Thundarr's world always seemed to me to an Old Earth not a step away from the Borea Winds. A place where PC's might start as cavemen & end up as barbarian adventurers.



Hyperborea lends itself to being that campaign alien element that uses the familiar tropes of D&D with a very hard sword & sorcery taste. The fact that some of the Lovecraftian gods transcend the setting is a plus & AS&SH features one of my all time favorites Xathoqqua/Tsathoggua whose worship would fit right in with the wasteland wizards of Thundarr. In fact I've used his religion many times in such campaigns this is one of the strengths of the kicksink approach that I happen to favor. That being said the Mutants and Magic blog has a whole mapped out Xathoqqua/Tsathoggua religion with PC classes that I've used several times.

Tsathoggua by Ruud Dirven

" Tsathoggua (the Sleeper of N'kai, also known as Zhothaqquah) is a supernatural entity in the Cthulhu Mythos shared fictional universe. He is the creation of Clark Ashton Smith and is part of his Hyperborean cycle.

Tsathoggua/Zhothaqquah is described as an Old One, a godlike being from the pantheon. He was invented in Smith's short story "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros", written in 1929 and published in the November 1931 issue of Weird Tales.^[1] His first appearance in print, however, was in H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Whisperer in Darkness", written in 1930 and published in the August 1931 Weird Tales."

Xathoqqua/Tsathoggua presence in the wasteland or adventure location in question in fiction seems to break the local laws of time & space. There are several monsters in both Marvel comic's Planet of the Apes & other 70's publications that would be perfect avatars or of Xathoqqua/Tsathoggua's kind that fit into the paradigm of Thundarr The Barbarian. The toad god fits easily into other games and Realms of Crawling Chaos has some stats for use with Labyrinth Lord style adventures.  He also appears in Petty Gods which meant that he was easily adaptable as the big bad for a Dark Albion adventure and corresponds to several characteristics for Cults of Chaos for the French Frogmen.

As I said I happen to take the Thundarr kitchen sink approach to my gaming. What does all of this have to do with the technologies, mutants, and horrors of Thundarr don't worry we'll get to that tomorrow.

Savage Super Science & OSR Sorcery As Old School Wasteland Campaign.

I've been reading through Adventurer, Conqueror, King over the last two weeks on and off. The book is really well laid out & do like many of the ideas that the game lays down. There isn't a whole lot of stuff not to like really. I like the level limits because quite frankly I don't have a huge amount of time lately to run on going campaigns where PC's hit twentieth level. This can take years of game play. Because ACK's is dedicated to domain play this isn't that much of a problem. Now what does this have to do with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea? Well one of the gonzo Linus tests I've got is if a system can handle a Thundarr The Barbarian style campaign? This shouldn't be too much of a problem give the laser swords relic in AS&SH but there's more to it then that.


I was poking around the Autarch's website about three or four weeks ago and noticed a nice little download under the Supplemental Rules section called Laserguns & Lightswords Optional Rule by beastman. Not only does this give laser gun relics, light saber style weapons, optional races like Tharks and more it has rules for varying the weapon damage,etc. YOU CAN FIND IT HERE UNDER THE SUPPLEMENTAL RULES SECTION UNDER LASERGUNS & LIGHTSWORDS

Now I'm not taking anything away from the awesome work of Mutant Future & Tim Snider's Thundarr The Barbarian free sourcebook So instead this is more of a bench mark & way of dealing with OSR system values that I enjoy as well as a mental exercise. Sounds like a ton of hard work & effort doesn't it. Over the past two years I've made careful purchases of OSR products that work well together such as OSRIC, Basic Fantasy, Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, ACK's, AS&SH, Dark Albion, and many others. This was done in order to have a palette of OSR goodness that would work well with original Dungeons & Dragons as well as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. Mega dungeon settings like Operation Unfathomable make things very interesting and dicey where DM can mix and match elements of science fantasy and old school as needed.



Now with the newest edition of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea's kickstarter coming on line it does seem like a good time to talk about the post apocalyptic sword & sorcery goodness. Especially when Jeff Talanian reveals the cover for the second edition of AS&SH. The Kickstarter is coming up tomorrow.



Actually another awesome blog has done a ton of the heavy lifting for me already. K-Slacker does a most excellent job of putting all of the the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (AS&SH)  Adventurer, Conqueror, King System (ACKS) ruleset together in an OSR mashup he calls Astonishing ACKS on the Mutants & Magic blog.

I've been following that blog for years and it convince me to buy AS&SH & ACKS. He's done and excellent job of blending the two systems together along with a fair degree of  Fantastic Heroes & Witchery. He's just done a spot on post on the Apes Victorious rpg and a blending of the scientist class.
One of my next purchases is going to be the ACK's Player's Companion but its going to be a long while before I can afford that little luxury. Taking care of a sick parent kinda takes up all of my cash at the moment. Fortunately my father is on the mend. This has been more of a mental exercise then anything else but these are some of the bend marks I use.
The wonderful little piece of artwork below is really what I'm after for my campaigns of savergy and super science.

Thundarr redesign by RedHeretic

New OSR Monster - The Caeglilkaka Aka The Soul Drummers of Asmodeus For Your Old School Campaigns

Hell makes pacts with anyone willing to further its cause bring the ticking clock closer to the time of Judgement day so it has been on all planes since the beginning of time. When a world passes into the grip of Chaos then do the drums of Admodeus court begin to sound. The dull beating & throbbing of damnation against the back point of reality. The Caeglilkaka are giant devils of almost giant ghostly appearance. They are the soul drummers who act as Hell's bards to count, collect and  absorb the damned souls on their way to their final rewards.
Adventurers often run into these devils upon planes where the world has passed on and they come to collect the souls of the damned. The Caeglilkaka are also devils who will often make pacts with evil diabolists & cults for kingdoms of the damned or Earthly infernal domains to rule in the ruins of the wastes of former strong holds of Law. They also delight in tormenting those who serve law.

 



Frequency: Uncommon 

No Appearing: 1 or more rarely 1-4 

Armor Class:-3 

Move: 20"
Hit Dice: 10 +40 points 

% in Lair: Nil 

Treasure Type:C

No of Attacks: 2 or 1 weapon

Damage: 7-12 /7-12 or by weapon +6 

Special Attacks: See Below 

Special Defenses: See Below 

Magic Resistance: 75% 

See Below
Dexterity:13
Saving Throw:14
Morale:10

Intelligence: Very High 

Alignment: Chaotic 

Size: 18' tall

Psionic Probability: Nil 

Experience Level: VII /2800 +15 per hit point 

The Caeglilkaka possess the following Infernal based abilities standard to Devil kind

• Immunity to fire and poison.
• Resistance to acid  and cold
• See in Darkness (Su): Some devils can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell.
• Summon (Sp): Some devils share the ability to summon others of their kind (the success chance and type of devils summoned are noted in each monster description).
• Telepathy.

Except when otherwise noted, devils speak Infernal, Angellic, and Draconic.

The Caeglilkaka have the strength and baring of Hill giants with the temperament of a twisted lawyer or scholar combined with a musician. They are often accompanied by bands of minor devil kind or 1d10 parade of the damned baring musical instruments. Bearded or horned devil wranglers often bring up the rear of such groups. The Caeglilkaka keeps a constant rhyme on its drum of the damned for each soul it collects and keeps count of. Each of the drum sticks is a +6 weapon capable of damaging ghosts, spirits, and creatures normally immune to normal weapons.  Both of its hands and feet have wicked claws capable of spitting soft metal or bone with easy. It uses these to rake targets for 7-12 /7-12 points of damage.
 Upon these beings chest is a skull that once per hour is able to cast a symbol of hopelessness and below it is the face of slain minor angel capable of acting as a symbol of insanity.
This being's razor sharp wings are capable of slicing a man in half and work as +3 weapons and once per hour these wings can casting a hypnotic pattern like spell effect. The Caeglilkaka is also able to gate in another of their kind twice per day if a particularly difficult soul to collect is around. They have a stinger concealed in their tails, they have fast acting sleep poison capable of acting just like a sleep spell. They are able to shrug off most spells below third or better levels with a successful save. The Caeglilkaka are often found prowling the Astral & Outer Darkness they often hunt down stray ghosts & the spirits of the newly dead.
At will one of the following powers can be used by the Caeglilkaka  during a melee round: comprehend languages, detect invisibility, detect magic, ESP, invisibility, levitate, polymorph self, and read technology or magic.In addition the Caeglilkaka has a breath weapon of hell fire usable three times per day that is able to be projected in a fifty foot long cone of infernal fire capable of doing 1d8+6 points of damage. Once per week the Caeglilkaka is able to call in a minor avatar of death to escort the damned down to their final reward.


The Caeglilkaka are often called to the plane Prime for the express purpose of pin pointing a time and place for the Apocalypse to begin. Since they are the lore masters and bards of Hell they are also summoned to learn the secrets of the damned. They are master gossips and collect the stories of the damned. From secret treasure stashes to the last will & testament of forgotten kings these devils have a vast memory of ancient and long forgotten detailed stories of tragic legends and epic ballads ready at a moment's notice.
Call The The Caeglilkaka
Conjuration- Summoning 
Level: 7 wizard or 8nd level cleric   

Casting time: Three hour rite 
Save: none Duration: 1d20 months
Spell Resistance: No    Range: See Text

To call the Caeglilkaka, the caster must have 1d20 acolytes accompanying him for this rite. The caster must have five thousand gold pieces worth of secret governmental or military documents. These must be burned in an inverted circle of summoning while intoning the words of power. A shaft into Hell will open at the caster's feet and a hell mouth will appear after the rite 

the Caeglilkaka will step forward demanding who called them. They will demand a 2000 gold piece magic item and the caster must provide this minor demand or be dragged off to Hell themselves. They are almost always summoned to give advice on the stories of the damned, to tell the time and place for the coming Apocalypse and for advice in matters of the damned such as necromancy.   These are beings not to be trifled with.

Misty Isles of the Eld By Chris Kutalik & Robert Parker From The Hydra Cooperative Vs. The Astral Raiders Campaign Set Up

I had a friend come over last night because it was my birthday, there was beer and tequila involved. But there was also a ton of muddled OSR conversations about Basil Wolverton, HP Lovecraft, Misty Isles of the Eld By Chris Kutalik & Robert Parker, and The Astral Raiders from Ancient Vaults blog.
Let me see if I got this right because there was beer and tequila involved.
This as a part of my Warlords Of the Outer Worlds campaign gambit this would work. "An ancient fragment kingdom from Oz part of the dreams of mankind has broken off and drifted into the skies out around the Outer Worlds where the ancient demons and Lovecraftian gods have been held in check by the forces mankind and mutant alike. But only barely'
But then a new wrinkle has been added as the Eld's forces want an ancient artifact on this fragment of the dreaming of mankind's collective unconsciousness. They're not going to get it though because the Astral Raiders and their beasts from beyond want to lay claim to the artifact and the place. The result is all out war!  The Raiders release one of their astral beasts upon one of the colony worlds."


The PC's are brought in as mercenary commandos to sneak in under the noses of both sides and get that artifact for the humans side. The PC's have a limited amount of time because the fragment is still drifting out of orbit and they've got to avoid the vatmen, the forces of the Eld and watch the various factions of the Astral Raiders including avoiding the princess/wizardress
heading their forces.


So what's happening with this campaign idea? Well here's an example of the sort of play that can be used with Misty Isles of the Eld By Chris Kutalik & Robert Parker From The Hydra Cooperative combined with Adventurer, Conqueror, King. The idea of my Warlords of the Outer Worlds setting is to take domain play into the realms of  Dreams, The Astral, and The Lovecraftian. The Misty Isles is a perfect compliment and vehicle for this sort of OSR style game.

New OSR Monster - The Etulkotuatu Demon Mercenary Generals of Hell For Your Old School Campaigns

Hell is everywhere and has its spies, agents, and workers moving among  mortals across the many scattered plans. There are free agents of Hell who were once  great warriors, generals, tyrants, and the like but have since been twisted into demons of the first order. These beings are the great heroes and mercenaries of the wars of attrition in Hell. They live an existence of war and have been twisted by countless battles until their minds except that  life is without objective meaning, purpose, or any value. These beings emphasizes speed, technology, youth, and violence, and objects of wealth to snare souls in their webs of warfare & battle.



They are often summoned to the Material Plane for the express purpose of leading, creating,composing, and recruiting armies for tyrants and mad men by black magicians. They are pitched faced demons with severe faces twisted by the horrors of war and Hell dressed in the death shrouds of innocent soldiers. Though the Etulkotuatu seem reedy and thin, they're bodies hide a tough as iron set of muscles capable of tearing through bone, flesh, and even light metals with easy. They're bodies are racked with pock marked skin and rangy slightly decaying flesh rimed with brimstone. The Etulkotuatu are often created from the damned  souls of soldiers and generals who died in the Atomic fires from alternative Earth timelines. They often roam the Astral or the Ethereal. They are easily summoned and enjoy raising armies to wreck havoc on neighboring countries for the sheer fun of it.

Frequency: Uncommon 

No Appearing: 1 or more rarely 1-4 

Armor Class:-3 

Move: 20"
Hit Dice: 10 +30 points 

% in Lair: Nil 

Treasure Type:X 

No of Attacks: 2 or 1 weapon

Damage: 7-12 /7-12 or by weapon +6 

Special Attacks: See Below 

Special Defenses: See Below 

Magic Resistance: 75% 

See Below
Dexterity:15
Saving Throw:12
Morale:10

Intelligence: Very High 

Alignment: Chaotic 

Size: 8' tall

Psionic Probability: Nil 

Experience Level: VII /2700 +14 per hit point 

These creatures bodies are actually warped frames of muscle and rock hard tissue honed by an eternity of constant warfare. They have 1800 strength they use to great advantage with their wicked sickle like talons; they strike for 7 -12 hit points of damage. They often have a personal magical weapon or piece of relic technology that they use in battle. They often use a magical shield as well. They gain a +3 to hit bonus when so armed.
The Etulkotuatu have all of the usual demonic immunities and can use the following powers: dimension door three times per day, become ethereal once per day, magic jar once per day, pass wall four times per day, repulsion once per day, wind walk once per day, word of recall once per day.
At will one of the following powers can be used by the Etulkotuatu during a melee round: comprehend languages, detect invisibility, detect magic, ESP, invisibility, levitate, polymorph self, and read technology or magic.
The Etulkotuatu also has an innate ability to read, know, and use any technologies it comes across. In fact one of the reasons why an Etulkotuatu is summoned to the material plane is often to help identify some piece of relic or forgotten technologies. It has a special knack for weapons of violence and warfare, these abilities can be used four times a day.

Once per month under the light of the stars of the damned when the constellations of stars are right the Etulkotuatu may raise an army of 1d100 zombie like warriors under their control. These beings are filled with a demonic essence of the Etulkotuatu's corruption and act upon even destruction of themselves to carry out the will of their demonic masters. They are in almost all respects the same as Ju Ju zombies.

 Call The Etulkotuatu

Conjuration- Summoning
Level: 7 wizard or 8nd level cleric  

Casting time: Three hour rite 
Save: none
Duration: 1d20 months
Spell Resistance: No    Range: See Text


To summon The Etulkotuatu, a rite of blackest magick must be cast in an abandon fortress or military base. There must be no more or less then fifteen acolytes of darkness and the head wizard or black cleric. The rite is cast on the hidden month of the soldier's damnation a time when soldiers without hope or fear are returning home after losing a battle with murder on their minds. Items of battle, loss, and murder must be gathered from burned villages or homes. These items are arranged in a very special sign or sigil sacred to the the Etulkotuatu and their orders. An offering of no less then two hundred thousand gold pieces in pillaging or artwork must be brought as an offering. These items must be burnt up at the height of the rite and earth shall split as a hell mouth appears along with the  Etulkotuatu called from the depths of Hell or the Underworld.
The hell mouth will open in a fifty foot radius and the acolytes must spread a ring of sacred oils, salts, and soldier's blood lest the hell mouth open further or release a demonic army with the Etulkotuatu leading it to obliterate all within a mile of the rite before the powers of Hell and Heaven call back the mocking damned and their mercenary generals. Once the Etulkotuatu is called the wizard or black cleric has 1d10 rounds to state his case for calling the Etulkotuatu to the mortal plane or be dragged back into the depths of Hell itself never to be heard from again. They are almost always summoned to give advice on battles, lead the armies of a tyrant nation, or to help divine weapons and artifacts of war. These are beings not to be trifled with.
They must be payed with the blood and souls of the innocent in times of war.


These are demonic mercenary  generals who can be used for high level mercenary domain level campaigns of sword, super science and sorcery in old school or retroclone games.