Running B10 'Night's Dark Terror' By Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, and Phil Gallagher. With Castles & Crusades For a Mini Campaign

 "Barely one day's march from Kelven, the uncharted tracts of the Dymrak forest conceal horrors enough to freeze the blood of civilized folk. Those who have ventured there tell how death comes quick to the unwary - for the woods at night are far worse than any dungeon."

"But you are adventurers, veterans of many battles, and the call of the will is strong. Will you answer the call, or are you afraid of the dark terrors of the night?" 

We were discussing how to follow up a killer line up adventure compilition like B1-9 and the classic B10 Night's Dark Terrror is an immediate follow up especially for a campaign set on Mystara using Castles & Crusades. According to B10's Wiki entry; "Night's Dark Terror is an adventure imodule for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game written by British game designers Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, and Phil Gallagher. Published in Nineteen Eight Five. "  This blog entry follows up closely on last night's here.  The PC's are exploring Mystara having survived to reach 3rd or 4th level going from the Grand Duchy of Karameikos into the more chaotic lands. This adventure takes place after dealing with the machinations of the Caves of Chaos from B2 Keep on the Borderlands shorter version in B1-9. B10 centers itself on the Wilderness. And it has a very unique take on Slavic style lands of  the Grand Duchy of Karameikos into the more chaotic lands. According to the B10 Wiki entry; "The PCs explore more than 20,000 square miles (52,000 km²) of wilderness, with eighteen locations, including multiple smaller dungeons, a riverside village, and a frontier town". Making B10 Night's Dark Terror truly a wilderness mini campaign. 

What makes B10 outstanding is the fact that it not only bridges the hump between Basic and Expert. Night's Dark Terror also serves as a gate way into designing better related Wilderness adventures. And I've got to agree with the rpg game  critic Ken Rolston..Ken Rolston's concerns are valid; "Ken Rolston reviewed D&D module B10 Night's Dark Terror in brief for Dragon magazine No. 124 (August 1987).^[3] Rolston called Night's Dark Terror "the best-illustrated and best-designed module I've ever seen—and the adventure and campaign material is every bit as remarkable as the graphic presentation."  And what makes B10 such a great module is the jackhammer like aspect to it's encounters and the fact that the modules makes such a great ripper of an adventure. This makes the module perfect for Castles and Crusades.  Powerful encounters, solid interactions, and a rip roaring adventure plot make B10 Night's Dark Terror an excellent follow up to B1-9 'Insearch of Adventure'! have some extra PC's ready to go! 

Running B1-9 In Search of Adventure '87 With Castles & Crusades For a Mini Campaign

 "Threshold. The northernmost town in the Duchy?and your last stop before your adventures begin. Threshold, the gateway to mysterious castles, lost temples, deadly caves and caverns. You have heard the stories and legends now you wish to see for yourself."

This product provides a complete campaign adventure that will take beginning characters from 1st all the way to 3rd level and possibly beyond, drawn from the first nine modules of the B-series adventures."

So I've been thinking about running a Mystara game using Castles & Crusades for a mini campaign for a group of fifth edition  players who have never experienced the classic BECMI adventure setting before. According to B1-9 Insearch For Adventure wiki entry; "In Search of Adventure is an abridged compilation adventure module published by TSR, Inc. in 1987. In Search of Adventure was edited by Jeff Grubb and Jon Pickens, and was published by TSR in 1987 as a 160-page book.^[2] The module's cover art is by Keith Parkinson. with an adventure  compolition that ties modules B1–B9 include: B1 In Search of the Unknown, B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, B4 The Lost City, B5 Horror on the Hill, B6 The Veiled Society, B7 Rahasia, B8 Journey to the Rock, and B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond into one package." 
How does B1-9 do this? Well the adventure elements " In Search of Adventure can be strung together in one of three new overarching plots using an adventure flow chart, depending on where the players head off from their starting point in the town of Threshold." 
The key is the town of Threshold and the Vaults of Pandius website in very handy; "Vaults of Pandius has a nice collection of maps that folks have created with some nice additions that situate published adventure locations. (B1-9 Karameikos is a good one.)"

Because Castles & Crusades is geared around lower tier PC's levels 1-3, the real hook is going to be converting the monsters and treasures over to C&C. This however is quite easy given The Castles & Crusades Monster and Treasures has this covered. 

So why use B1-9 Insearch of Adventure as an introduction to Mystara? Especially given that it is in point of fact a compiliation?! The critic Ken Rolston summed the module up quite nicely; "Ken Rolston briefly reviewed B1–9 In Search of Adventure for Dragon magazine No. 128, commenting that it collects the "choice bits" from the previous modules.^[1] He noted the "good, old-fashioned dungeons by world-class designers like Gary Gygax, Doug Niles, and Tom Moldvay".^[1] Rolston also described two of the compilation's "exceptionally fine adventures": Rahasia, which he called "a classic low-level FRPG scenario by Tracy Hickman of Dragonlance saga and Ravenloft fame", and David "Zeb" Cook's The Veiled Society, which he called "a rare example of a political and diplomatic adventure in an urban setting for low-level D&D game characters".^[1] Rolston concluded the review by saying, "Aside from the intrinsic value of these adventures, they are perfect for introducing new players to FRPGs through the simple, well-presented D&D Basic game system."  And it's this compilitation format that allows the DM to get the maximum out of these modules. And even Lawrence Schick, hit's  these high points within his book  Heroic Worlds; "Lawrence Schick, in his 1991 book Heroic Worlds, stated that In Search of Adventure compiles the best parts of the B-series of modules, and is "Quite a good deal"" 
Karameikos itself is an excellent fantasy city and works quite well with Castles & Crusades. Will this work out into a solid on going mini campaign? Only time will tell?! 

A More Basic Adventure Campaign Arch With The Villainy of B1-9 In Search of Adventure: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos Anthology For Your OId School Campaigns

On the edge of civilization violence & horror has been visited upon the villages of Bohemia.Strange raiders from Hell itself or so it seems have been looting, burning, and rampaging across the countryside! Weird humanoids have been taking out many of the larger villages & bastions of civilization!

B1-9 In Search of Adventure: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos Anthology is one of my treasured mega modules and a perfect set up adventure as an introduction to the Lion & Dragon retroclone rpg. Since the PC's start as zero level characters, they need a mega module to really get them over the hump & onto upper levels for the Thirty Years War's time line with the Lion & Dragon retroclone. Why is In Search of Adventure: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos Anthology adventure perfect for this? 


Because it put's the PC's at ground zero & at the center stage as the Elves stage a big push in Bohemia to take over. They begin acting through cells of witch cults, & a huge population of humanoids who have been manufactured in Fairyland. 

"In Search of Adventure is an abridged compilation adventure module published by TSR, Inc. in 1987, for the Basic Set of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Its product designation was TSR 9190. This 160-page book features cover artwork by Keith Parkinson."
This super module is a mix of many of the most popular module with a lot left on the cutting room floor;"The modules B1-B9 include: B1 In Search of the Unknown, B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, B4 The Lost City, B5 Horror on the Hill, B6 The Veiled Society, B7 Rahasia, B8 Journey to the Rock, and B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond."

These events are happening around the Bohemia Revolt's beginning & the Bohemia is a great stand in for the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Why would the Elves let loose their dogs of war on humanity during this time?
"The death of Emperor Matthias emboldened the rebellious Protestant leaders, who had been on the verge of a settlement. The weaknesses of both Ferdinand (now officially on the throne after the death of Emperor Matthias) and of the Bohemians themselves led to the spread of the war to western Germany. Ferdinand was compelled to call on his nephew, King Philip IV of Spain, for assistance."

"The king-elect then sent two Catholic Councillors (Vilem Slavata of Chlum and Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice) as his representatives to Prague Castle in Prague in May 1618. Ferdinand had wanted them to administer the government in his absence. On 23 May 1618, an assembly of Protestants seized them and threw them (and also secretary Philip Fabricius) out of the palace window, which was some 21 m (69 ft) off the ground. Although injured, they survived. This event, known as the (Second) Defenestration of Prague, started the Bohemian Revolt. Soon afterward, the Bohemian conflict spread through all of the Bohemian Crown, including Bohemia, Silesia, Upper and Lower Lusatia, and Moravia. Moravia was already embroiled in a conflict between Catholics and Protestants. The religious conflict eventually spread across the whole continent of Europe, involving France, Sweden, and a number of other countries."

 Because these events involve  all of Europe,PC are going to be scrambling to play catch up with the hordes raging at the fringes of Europe. The old strongholds of the Elves now in ruins, being used as dungeon locations, & as gateways to Fairyland are going be the targets of adventurers. So are these old school adventures presented perfectly or is there more going in B1-9? Actually there's a very solid thread about this subject on Dragon's Foot.
The PC's are going to have to deal with bands of trolls, ogres, and worse as Fairyland becomes aware of the plot by several of the secret societies of royals who are in actually keepers of the sacred knowledge of the Kings Under The Mountains.

Of course there is an Arthurian tie in with hordes of knights waiting in sleep for Europe's greatest hour of need. Part of the time may involve the PC's questing to awaken various champions of Europe & summon the Kings Under The Mountains.

• "Ječmínek, legendary Moravian king will, according to a prophecy, return to save his country from enemies" and this looks like its it.
• "St. Wenceslas (Václav) of Bohemia (Czech Republic). He sleeps in the Blaník mountain (with a huge army of Czech knights) and will emerge to protect his country at its worst time, riding on his white horse and wielding the legendary hero Bruncvík's sword."
• "Knights of Sitno in Slovak mythology are a legion of knights supposedly sleeping inside the mountain Sitno in Central Slovakia, waiting to be called upon in times when the Slovaks are in danger. It is said that every seven years, the oldest of them climbs up the hill and shouts the question: "Is it time yet?" in every world direction. If nobody answers, he climbs back inside."

All of these events center around the messianic awakening of Arthur and his return to help with the banishing of the Elven darkness from England & Europe's shores. 

B1-9 In Search of Adventure: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos Anthology's is perfect for creating loads of dungeons & ruins stocked with horrors from before the Biblical Flood. The  knights of Europe coming back to rid the darkness and put aside the petty whims of religion is a powerful one. The choice bits of  David "Zeb" Cook's The Veiled Society is perfect for creating assassin's plots in the back waters of Europe.
The real problem is knowing who is really on the PC's side and whose going to be turning on the party as Europe deteriorates under the weight of the advancing humanoid hordes. Lion & Dragon has some very solid rules for handling the assassination bits of some of these modules.



For Clark Ashton Smith's end of things there are several of his stories that spring to mind but one that stands out is End of the Story, The (1930). This tale takes place in in 1787, its the only  Averoigne story to take place outside of the Middle Ages or the early Renaissance. But within it are elements that have much in common with some of the central themes that run through B1-9 In Search of Adventure: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos Anthology. This is anything of a standard love story, and in this The End of the Story   transcends the usual limits of its own mythology. As an NPC the exquisite lady Nycea would be right at home during the events of the Thirty Year War. Another possible Elven royal mover and shaker among the landed and high born royals making war with the lives of their lessers.