Astral & Ethereal Matters - Some Thoughts on Original Dungeons & Dragons 'Eldritch Wizardry' Supplement III

 One of the things that I stumbled across some interesting little appendixes in Original Dungeons & Dragons's Eldritch Wizardry within the Underworld & Wilderness adventures encounter tables. 

It was the Astral & Ethereal Encounters Tables make those planes extremely dangerous for both regular magic users & psionic PC's. Then there's the fact that some player's PC's used their astral or ethereal forms to explore dungeons, wilderness, or other adventure locations. None of these could save a PC from encountering Cockatrice, Basilisk, Medusa, Gorgon, Invisible Stalker, Shedu, Intellect Devourer, Cerebral Parasites ,Thought Eaters, Demon, Lien Psionic Human, Phase Spider, Blink Dog, Human Magic-User, Human Cleric, etc. So what does this really say about the dungeons & ruins?! 
There were or are any number of rulers or kings that are using humans, clerics, wizards, and others to explore those ruins or wilderness locations astrally or ethereally.  And yet for all of the advantages the risks are very dangerous as well. Not only are dungeons & ruins dangerous but gaze of monsters extends far into the other nearby planes. And this doesn't get any easier in outside or wilderness locations. These locations are prime for both other adventurers & rival adventuring parties. 

The astral & ethereal planes are fertile locations for both monsters & adventurers to exploit. There's a feeling of the astral & ethereal working similarly as how they were portrayed in classic 60's & 70's Bronze age Dr.Strange comic books. 

Doctor Strange comic books had far reaching influences on early zero edition Dungeons & Dragons. The feeling in reading through  Eldritch Wizardry is that the astral & ethereal planes are only recently being opened up for adventurers. And this might account for the number of human or near human rivals that can be encountered on those planes. 

As these planes become opened up by magick & psionics. The dangerous natures of the planes becomes obvious the longer that one reads. 
Reading through this collection of  early Dr. Strange comic books is the fact that Doctor Strange relied on his astral form for quite a few bits of magical goodness. And it makes me wonder how often human wizards have relied on these abilities to gain an upper hand over both monsters, rival adventurers,&  even the occasional cult. 

But the dangers reading through are a nightmare with the equivalant of wandering astral or ethereal monsters. There's lots of potential here for the dungeon master to complicate adventuring matters even more. 

The wizard or psionically talented individual is going to be in for a run for their money. They have any number of potentially dangerous monsters to encounter. Their adventuring careers could come to an end before it even begins.

So is there an element of Chaos to these planes?! More then at first might appear. There could be demons or devils that are actively hunting these planes for souls! And according to the encounter tables they are. And there's no way to actively avoid these power house monsters. The adventuring wizard or psionic takes their soul into their very hands. And this begs a question, are the powers of Hell & The Abyss sending out these infernal horrors to hunt these places?! My dungeon masters sense says, 'yes'. 

The astral & ethereal planes are the planes of the human mind & this makes them so very dangerous to the early original Dungeons & Dragons wizards or psionically endowed.  And do these qualities actually actively attract the interest of both Hell & the Abyss?! Again I believe the answer is, 'yes'. 

And why?! Because of the very nature of both the Abyss & Hell. These planes have an ever increasing appetite for souls and the souls of wizards are especially juicy & tasty. So there are lots of demons & devils who actively hunt the astral & ethereal competing for the prey of adventurers along with the monsters of OD&D. 

Hunter II From 'Hunter II: Goblin' from Eerie magazine issue No. 68 (September 1975) Published by Warren Publishing Adapted for The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg

 Hunter II's introduction came for me at least came in 'Hunter II: Goblin' from Eerie magazine issue No. 68 (September 1975) from Warren Publishing. Hunter II isn't Hunter I aka Damian Hunter which we've covered previously on this blog right here.  Hunter II takes up the mantle of Hunter but is actually a young fully human warrior named Karas. Karas faces down a new, artificially bred race of mutants who preyed upon humanity, this time on the behest of evil wizards.

Hunter II: Goblin' from Eerie magazine issue No. 68 (September 1975) takes place much further down the time line of the Hunter timeline & universe. Karas. aka Hunter II has taken up the Manhunter mantle at the behest of his patron the wizard Mandronana. The Earth is ending due to a natural slow down & breakdown of time, Karas.get's an unexpected hand from the last of the Eterminator mutant & undesirable cybernetic hunter robots. Exterminator II literally has hundreds of years experience & passes this onto the young hunter. 
Hunter II is a high end level four hunter but a lower level 3rd  or 4th level ranger. He has mutants as his enemy.  Hunter II lacks experience of his predacessor. Hunter II also lacks the racial mutant advantages that the first Hunter had in spades. Hunter II does make up for this with sheer will power & determination! Hunter II is proficiaent with many different types of primative weapons. This also includes bows & arrows, knives, and some relic weapons such as a laser pistol. 
Hunter II Aka Karas 

No. Encountered: 1 (unique NPC)

Alignment: Neutral 

Size: M

Movement: 40 (swim 40)
Dexterity: 16
Armour Class: 15
Hit Dice: 3
Attack Rate: 1/1 or weapon 
Damage: 1d6/1d6/weapon (+2 combat staff) 

Specials: 60 foot Darkvision from helmet, Iron Will ( immune to fear based attacks), Nerves of Iron, 

Saving Throw: 16
Morale: 9
Experience Points: 50
Treasure Class: I

Hunter II has been known to use a laser pistol Damage 1d6, Range 40 feet, 15 Ammo on loan from his wizard master Mandrogna. Hunter II could potentially be a pawn of a magical artifact or super science gizmo to planarly transport himself to Hyperborea. Hunter II has in point of fact been a pawn of the Crystal of Ages. So Hunter II could find himself at the mercy of the Crystal of the Ages or its master finally entering into the circuit. 

Hunter I Published by Warren Publishing Adapted for The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg

"In a dystopic future, following a nightmarish war between the human race and a race of radiation-spawned mutants, human/mutant hybrid Demian Hunter stalks the remaining mutants left on Earth, determined to eradicate every last one of them...no matter what the cost to himself--or to the world. " 

Damian Hunter was created in Eerie #52 (November 1973), the character is a tortured half breed mutant warrior roving the land in a personal war against the Saurian mutants. Hunter is a lone warrior on a one man war against his own kind; " Hunter has been on a mission for many years now & his personal war against mutant kind  has led to journies to other worlds. Hunter is a 7th level ranger with saurian mutants being his prime enemy. He seeks the mutant General Ophal and a small group of his surviving men, after they've savaged Hunter's family. The mutant is a consimate warrior & proficient with many forms of primative & futuristic weaponry. 

Hunter I 

No. Encountered: 1 (unique NPC)
Alignment: Lawful neutral 
Size: M
Movement: 40 (swim 40)
Dexterity: 17
Armour Class: 6
Hit Dice: 4
Attack Rate: 1/1 or weapon 
Damage: 1d6/1d6/weapon (+2 combat staff) 

Specials: 60 foot Darkvision, +2 on all hand to hand attacks due to mutant biology, Iron Will ( immune to fear based attacks), Nerves of Iron, 

Saving Throw: 17
Morale: 9
Experience Points: 50
Treasure Class: I

Damian Hunter occasionally uses a laser pistol Damage 1d6, Range 40 feet, 15 Ammo\. Damian Hunter on occasion get's little love from many of the human or mutant settlements. He continues his personal war regardless of the cost to himself. He is not at all above helping the occasional innocent. And has from time to time been the pawn of both wizards & higher cosmic powers. 

Damian Hunter could easily make his way to Hyperborea through the ageist of some mystical or super science artifact such as dread Crystal of Ages. Hunter himself could easily be in pursue of a gang of mutants warriors or a warlord who is working for a dark wizard. 

Marvel's Human Fly Comic Book Character Adapted for the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg

 The Human Fly was a young twenty something year old man who survived a head on car crash. This unknown man was given any number of reconstructive surgeries which replaced a good portion of his skeleton was stainless steel. He was given only a ten percent chance of walking ever again. But this is the Marvel universe in the Bronze Age of the Seventies.. And through sheer mental determination & will power this unknown man was able to not only able to walk. He was able to develop  incredible strength, unflagging will power,  & he was able to do  incredibly complex arcobatic maneuvers. This man became 'The Human Fly' a stuntman for a wide variety of  charities. But in the Marvel universe of the 70's nothing is ever a simple as it seems. Time & again the Human Fly became embroiled with various Marvel super heroes. Time & again The Human Fly fell afoul of villains trying to rob his events of the monies due charities or of super heroes who had him mixed up with a super villain sharing a similar name. 




The Human Fly was is a stunt man extraordinare who in Astosning Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is a duel classed thief  of 6th & an acrobat of 4th  level. The Human Fly was always running afoul of strange Pulp like circumstances. Even travelling into lost worlds such as the prehistoric  Savage Land & weird underwater grottos.
The Human Fly 

“I’m a stunt-man, not a crime-fighter !”

No. Encountered: 1 (unique NPC)
Alignment: Lawful good 
Size: M
Movement: 40 (swim 40)
Dexterity: 16
Armour Class: 6
Hit Dice: 3
Attack Rate: 1/1 or weapon 
Damage: 1d6/1d6/weapon (+3 cane of the stunt man) 

Specials: 60 foot Darkvision, +2 on all hand to hand attacks due to training, Iron Will Power ( immune to fear based attacks), Nerves of Iron, 
Saving Throw: 16
Morale: 10 
Experience Points: 50
Treasure Class: Q

The Human Fly is back up by a slick combination of a stunt time including his friend Locke who develops all of his one time use equipment. The Human Fly is able to use this special equipment  up to three times per day. Jet boots enable the human fly to fly as per the spell but very clumslly compared with a bird or other flying creature. The fly has used mini bombs 1d6 damage able to be tossed within a twenty foot radius.Special ropes with  built in Mag-clamp electro magnets tha stimulate the spider stick spell. Boots &  gloves with special  suction cups that allow the fly to use the equivelant of a spider climb spell enchantment for the sides of buildings, walls, ceilings, etc. The human fly carries a +3 cane of the stuntman made for him by his techican & buddy Locke. Cane of the stuntman has the following abilities  : 

• Metal Spike - By touching a stud in his baton, the Fly can release a metal spike, essentially turning the baton into a +2  spear.
• Electric Shock - The Human Fly can release a mild electric shock from his baton by pressing one of its studs the equivalent of a chain lightning spell. 
• Bola - By Pressing one of the studs in his baton, the Fly can fire a propellant charge powered bola line. This can be used both to ensnare opponents as well as to create a swing line.
• Globe Light - The head of the Fly's baton can be used as a powerful light source, activated by pressing one of the baton's studs & is the equivlant of a globe of daylight but only lasts 1d6 turns 
• Knockout Gas - The Fly's baton can release knockout gas by pressing one of the studs. Victim must save vs poison or be knocked out for 1d6 hours. 

The Human Fly is known in certain circles of the Marvel universe as force for good for charity. 

The Human Fly generously donates all profits he makes as a stuntman to charity, and genuinely wants to help the unfortunate. He is more than willing to let other heroes deal with the bad guys if innocents are present. Seeing to their safety first before (inevitably) springing into action. He could easily end up on Hyperborea getting involved with other super heroes or mystic menaces such as dark wizards who could see using his audience for his stunts as a sacrifice to some unknown occult horror or Lovecraftian god. The Human Fly will bend Heaven & Earth to save any innocents. His personality  will be a stark contrast to the hard Sword & Sorcery reality of Hyperborea. 

The Human Fly comic book by Marvel ran from 1977 through 1979 based on the stunt work of Rick Rojatt.