Further OSR Commentary With Lamentations of the Flame Princess & CM2: "Death's Ride" (1984) by Garry Spiegle

"A strange black cloud hangs over the Norworld barony of Two Lake Vale, which is cut off from the rest of the world. As the player characters move to investigate, they encounter armies of the living dead and other vile creatures besieging the last pockets of human resistance."


 Tonight we're fufilling an email request for using CM2 Death's Ride with LoFP. And yes this would also work as a Lion & Dragon rpg full on mini campaign as well. 
So lately things at the table top level have been interesting for quite a while. Its been awhile since the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg rules have been cracked at the table top level. And earlier today there was the Swords & Sorcery commentary of CM3 Death Rides but its history is interesting;  " CM2 Death's Ride (ISBN 978--88038-117-8) is a 1984 adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.Its associated code is CM2.The module was designed by Garry Spiegle, with cover and interior art by Jeff Easley" This module is like snap shot of Eighty four D&D. And really not that much of a D&D Companion set adventure. But everything in CM3 Death's Ride feels like a Hammer Horror or Gothic horror movie gone wrong. 

Because this is a Companion set module & we get a very detailed overview of the Barony of Twolakes Vale. Could this module be used as a full on Lamentations mini campaign?! Why do you ask?! There are two reasons for this. Hordes of undead & the presence of lots of dark magick in the form of the death stone. One of the things that dark magick brings in Lamentations is lots of adventure complications. But match lock & wheel lock guns are going to make a huge difference?! Are you kidding the PC's will be lucky to escape with their lives.  The Random Estoretic Creature Generator could be used to add some very dangerous characteristics to the undead. And along with that Gregorius21778: Almanac of Animated Cadavers. 

But wait CM3 Death's Rider is a very high level BECMI adventure, & while this is very true you've also basically got negative material plane artifact  intruding upon the vale of reality here. There are three powerful forces of evil in the form  an evil sorcerer, a powerful priest, and a mighty dragon. Each of these by themselves could be a whole campaign's worth of adventure. Together these are a very dangerous combination. But could the presence of the death stone have far more reaching complications?! Imagine if combination of corpses were pulled together because of the presence of the Death stone?! What happens if you can get rid of the NPC villains but the death stone doesn't go back or get destroyed so easily?! 

Perhaps the demon generators from No salvation from Witches could be used to a bit of infernal machinations to the affairs of CM2.. And this may be in fact why the PC's decide to rule   the Barony of Twolakes Vale to keep the horrors from the rest of the world. Perhaps something really nasty escapes the confines of the death stone. 

What happens after the events of CM2 Death's Ride?! The barony has been outted as the haven for evil & black magick. The PC's may have to remain to protect the barony's inhabitants from both the 'Church's inquistors & the dark forces. Couple CM2 with LoFP's Better Then Any Man  and suddenly the presence of the priest, the sorcerer, & even the dragon make a twisted sort of sense. 

And these are just some ideas for using CM2 Death's Ride as the basis for a mini LoFP or a Matchlocks & Wheelocks campaign jump point. 

OSR Sword & Sorcery Commentary - CM2: "Death's Ride" (1984), by Garry Spiegle

"A King's Commission leads to danger!

All communication with the barony of Twolakes Vale has ceased. King Ericall, worried about the security of his border and angered at the loss of tax revenues, has commissioned you, a delegation of powerful adventurers, to investigate. This is not a petty problem to by solved by the armies of local nobility. Indeed, the king's forces are desperately needed elsewhere. Twolakes Vale is, after all, only a small barony on the far frontier of Ericall's domain.

"And yet? The cloud is there, its nature and cause unknown. None have returned for the barony for weeks. Furthermore, the cloud is spreading, and vague reports of unrest and mysterious disappearances are starting to trickle in from nearby baronies.

Can you discover the secret of Two Lakes Vale?"

 So over the past couple of days the module CM2 Death's Ride has come up again at the table top level because of the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg Bundle of Holding &  campaign from a couple of years ago. A bit of background & history on CM2: "Death's Ride" (1984), by Garry Spiegle, the module was the second Companion-level adventure for Basic D&D  & was released in 1984

 CM2 is  one of those modules that has several things going on at once & its one that over the years has graced my table several times. Looking over the module again, we can't honestly say that we'd run it as is in Hyperborea at this time.  Now you'd need a setting that's Sword & Sorcery but has the necromatic backstory too it. That's the easy part I'd set  CM2 Death's Ride within Clark Ashton Smith's  Zothique as a possible back story for the wizard's nercomatic heritage. 


DM Steve's version of Zothique based on Rodney Mathews fantastic artwork.
Used without permission no breech of trademark or copyright is intended.

But with CM2 Death's Ride needs to be set within a world that can support both the Sword & Sorcery elements & the High Fantasy elements without loosing the Companion-level adventure elements  for Basic D&D. Fortunately we've got all of those elements within the Wilderlands of High Fantasy setting! 

What about the Sphere of Death?! This strange overlap plane of entroptic energies & source of undeath?! Now I've said before that Frank Mentzer doesn't get half of the credit he deserves. And when it comes to BECMI this is most certainly the case. Are these planes or sphere?! Why not both?! We've got the death leech an alien creature that certainly seems right in line with the negative energy plane. Hmm The death leech seems like its straight out of Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg. Hell if you want to Flame Princess the module further add in the Random Estoretic Creature Generator to add some off the wall spice to critters in CM2 as needed. 

Alright so let's say that we want to keep the sphere of  Death & Entropy using it as the shadow of the negative plane along with immortals & the like.But let's keep the OSR vibe going. A strong possibility for CM2  is using the Dark Dungeon Retroclone by Bucky The Black Ball. 

The Twolakes Vale is a Northern land locked barbarian kingdom state within the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. We've got all of the information about the state & we could theoratically use AS&SH system as the engine to drive this. The necromatic elements including the sphere of death are intact. And we've got a setting that not only can support a dragon but the Sword & Sorcery PC classes from AS&SH. 
And then there's the fact that PC's could take over the Twolakes Vale as their own kingdom in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. All of the required stats are within the module.