S7 Stains Upon The Green, Adventurer, Conqueror, King Rpg, & the Borderlands Campaign - The Red Tide & Dark Wizard games module number #6 The Moving Maze of the Mad Master!

 

So let's pick up from right back here on the blog. And let's talk about the Red Tide setting for a moment which is for a Labyrinth Lord campaign with a sorta East Asian flavor. And this setting could easily be tied into both  "Stains upon the Green"' & Dark Wizard games module number #6 The Moving Maze of the Mad Master! DW#6 is actually an island encounter with the PC's with mad master's maze infront and red mist at their backs! 

With Red Mist decimating many of the lands & islands surround the mainland. The mad master has taken full advantage of this by stealing into the domains & lands of the Dwarves. And making out with many of thier ancient constructs & constructions. Not only this but the villainous bastard may have in point of fact mastered the highly dangerous copper rings of  "Stains upon the Green". This brings things full circle where the Dwarven nations have lost everything. 

Last blog entry we mentioned X1 The Isle of Dread.  And I said ,'Now imagine for a moment that the Red Mist threatens X1 The Isle of Dread. '

Well imagine it because this ties in with the isle being on the border of the plane of water.The red tide is both a chaos and paraelemental forces of nature. And our mad master has been using his knowledge of the pheneomana and mechanisms to pluck players from across the planes for his maze. And if he's on an island surrounded by the red mist then he's got a captive audience for his maze. 
But there's far more too it then that. The forces of Chaos have no idea what they've unleashed and the Shui from the Red Tide setting are in dire straits. Not only are the humanoids in trouble but they can come under the influence of the red mist itself. Once this happens they are completely lost! Lost to the Chaos influence that the red mist represents.  This corruption goes back to the fact that the forces of Chaos from B2 Keep on the Borderlands By Gary Gygax have no idea of what they've unleashed on the world. 
And this comes down to the mythology not only in Red Tide but also could in point of fact threaten not only this world but Earth or other plane Primes as well!  And only those Dwarves who have come from thier holds and been taught the information in By This Axe: The Cyclopedia of Dwarven Civilization. Some of these Dwarves who are in the Red Tide setting have been broken and represent a huge threat to anyone they run across. 

The mad master represents an external threat to the PC's. But the red tide represents a universal threat to existence. And why complete Dark Wizard games module number #6 The Moving Maze of the Mad Master? Because of the fact that because the mad master took full advantage of the Dwarven magic technology it may have the answers the player's PC's seek to fully stop the red mist or not?! Then there's the fact that if the PC's use the Dwarven gate they might stumble upon the secret that copper gates represent leading them into the backdrop of S4 The Dwarven Glory. 
We'll get into the hows & why's next time and how this module ties into the Borderlands! 

'" Here Be Dragons" A Sword & Sorcery Campaign Using The Castles & Crusades Mythos Series & Dark Wizard Games Maximum Mayhem Dungeons#4 Vault of Dwarven King Session Report#2

“Time and times are but cogwheels, unmatched, grinding on oblivious to one another. Occasionally - oh, very rarely! - the cogs fit; the pieces of the plot snap together momentarily and give men faint glimpses beyond the veil of this everyday blindness we call reality.― Robert E. Howard, Bran Mak Morn: The Last King: A Novel


We're making full use of the the entire whole of  the Bundle: Castles & Crusades Mythos Series -- Print here for our Sword & Sorcery campaign. So last night I got reminded by the players that in the past there have been Dwarven kingdoms deep in the Fairylands and these weren't readily detailed. And then a player mentioned a ancient Dwarven kingdom deep within the past of our older campaigns. So I grabbed my copy of Role Aids Dwarves and began knitting this in with our current Dwarven campaign from last session here. 

I pulled a couple of cities that were mentioned in the 1980's Role Aids Dwarven book as far kingdoms and not well liked among the more 'modern' Dwarves of Fairyland. 

These cities are traditionalists and far closer to the Norse Dwarven mythologies and beliefs. They feel that they are 'superior' to other Dwarven communities because they remain true to the 'Old Dwarven Ways'

And this theme plays into the ideals presented within Maximum Mayhem Dungeons#4 Vault of Dwarven King. Written by Alan Chamberlain & Mark Taormino. The Dwarven kingdoms of the 'Ancient World' have held the line when it comes to protecting mankind long enough within thier view. The attitudes of the goblins are one of 'let the gods' sort the humans & Dwarven kingdoms out. There's a lot more bubbling below the surface of this adventure and we've been dealing with the politics deep in   Autarch's By This Axe: The Cyclopedia of Dwarven Civilization.

This fits within the events depicted within Maximum Mayhem Dungeons#4 Vault of Dwarven King.Without giving too much away many of the events depicted within MMD#4 are going to hit the high marks for certain key points within the Celtic Codex Second edition. Why?! Because the Fey courts are conspiring to bring down the empires of the Dwarves. 

Are the goblins  innocent or are they act in concert within other Fey?! The party in last night's game got deeply involved in the investigative side of things looking at loot, remains, and other evidence left behind by the slaying of the goblin mercenaries in last week's game. 
There's also evidence that the Dwarven nations have had deep trading relations with the local human empires for ores, metals, and other materials. 

While this doesn't seem major it's become a point of contention with the Elven & Dwarven players which is kinda dumb because thier actually a part of the same court. And it was settled by our party leader in very quick sucession reminding the players of thier PC's mission. And then our adventurers ran across the goblin mercenaries camp and things got very interesting! They were captured! 

'" Here Be Dragons" A Sword & Sorcery Campaign Using The Castles & Crusades Mythos Series - Germany Destabilized!

 So I've been back hard at work on the 'Ancient World' Castles & Crusades campaign & it's easy to really discount certain Mythos books. One of these is the Castles & Crusades Codex Germania but this is a mistake on my part. Codex Germania has two very distinct classes that can easily be applied to our campaign world. These are the dragon slayer and the witch which comes straight out of German mythology. 

This is important for two reasons, one the NPC villain is actually a dragon slayer and a bit of fantical one at that. He's Hell bent on slaying a gold dragon whose wife is a major NPC patron of the player's PC's. 
And things are going to go downhill from there. The party has it's hands full with the recent Dwarven fracus we just had unleashed. 
Codex Germania fills in some of the major gaps in the Indo European mythologies of the region within our campaign. This ties into several of the major Dwarven elements of our 'Here Be Dragon' canmpaign events. 

The secondary player's class that we'll be using for an NPC villain is the witch class. And this version of the witch is the one straight from mythology and this is something that we'll be plugging into. This the Germany of both an alternative late Roman empire and one that hits the high notes of mythology. Meaning that this is a period of high instability within our version of Europe. 
And it's this period of conflict that has awakened forces of creation from deep within the Earth detailed within  Maximum Mayhem Dungeons#4 Vault of Dwarven King.
Tieing all of this together is easily done with the dark version of Europe that we find within  the Bundle: Castles & Crusades Mythos Series -- Print here. All of this goes back to the start points that find within Autarch's By This Axe: The Cyclopedia of Dwarven Civilization. A German barbarian empire deep within the throws of conflict awakening the dark forces within the Earth. 

The Dwarves are really the guardians of the future fate of mankind and the custodins of the Gods. How long can we see them continue this role that they've held so long within myth and legend?! 

'" Here Be Dragons" A Sword & Sorcery Campaign Using The Castles & Crusades Mythos Series & Dark Wizard Games Maximum Mayhem Dungeons#4 Vault of Dwarven King Session Report

 

The PC's journeyed deep into the Fairylands after being recruited tonight by the party's wizard. Things got very complicated as the players found out that they'd be working for the Dwarven royals. 

“Time and times are but cogwheels, unmatched, grinding on oblivious to one another. Occasionally - oh, very rarely! - the cogs fit; the pieces of the plot snap together momentarily and give men faint glimpses beyond the veil of this everyday blindness we call reality.― Robert E. Howard, Bran Mak Morn: The Last King: A Novel

So tonight I did a bit of juggling to get our 'Ancient World' Sword & Sorcery campaign setting off the ground using Castles & Crusades with Maximum Mayhem Dungeons#4 Vault of Dwarven King. Written by Alan Chamberlain & Mark Taormino Vault of the Dwarven King works out quite nicely to be fitted into the campaign with PC's at the center of  events; "The Dwarven King of Brundurum has summoned you to his throne room within the Smokey Mountain. Brave souls are needed for a noble quest into the depths of the earth to retrieve the legendary hammer known as Fireheart. But beware – the Goblin King and his evil hordes believe the hammer woke a Lava Titan and they will seek to possess it at all costs. Who is telling the truth? Who is really kin to this ultimate weapon? What secret powers are at play in this tale of suspicion, intrigue and betrayal? Only your stalwart group of adventurers will find out and walk away with more fortune and glory than ever… if you can escape the Vault of the Dwarven King!" We were using the entire whole of  the Bundle: Castles & Crusades Mythos Series -- Print here. 

The Celtic Codex 2nd edition was front & center tonight as the party was called into the courts of the Fey. They were brought before Sir Erick a gold dragon & his wife Bridgette a paladin. These two were acting as envoys to the court of Brundurum. Originally these two NPC's were left by the Romans after leaving England for the empire. The reason the party has been called in is that the Goblin King has broken the peace with the humans, the Dwarves, and the rest of the Fey.
These are going from bad to worse as the goblins have disturbed one of the ancient elemental evil deep below thier kingdoms. For tonight's game too really help fill in the details on our Dwarven nations I used Autarch's By This Axe: The Cyclopedia of Dwarven Civilization.
This fits within the events depicted within Maximum Mayhem Dungeons#4 Vault of Dwarven King. The PC's are all from families which are all survivors from the lands of myth & legend. So while not human royals they are members of ancient royal families. 

The party of adventurers have begun to make the journey to the Dwarven lands and already encountered goblin raiders in tonight's game session. And things got interesting from there as the PC's engaged them but after they were killed off it turns out that a brief examination revealed that the goblins were mercenaries and bandits. Are they related?!  Found out next week.