Lion & Dragon Rpg Redux - Some Thoughts on The Lion & Dragon Rpg As Campaign Fodder

"Lion & Dragon is a Medieval Authentic OSR game. Until now, you only thought you were playing "medieval fantasy"!

With Lion & Dragon, the rules of the original tabletop RPG have been adapted to create a more historically authentic medieval experience, to reflect the grittier and yet more mythic world of a magical medieval Europe.L&D includes new rules governing social class and materials on culture to help a GM craft a world that feels closer to the world of the 100-years war or the War of the Roses. It has a grittier and more dangerous feel to reflect the cheapness of life at the time. Also included are sections on medieval economics, law & justice, and chapters with monsters and magical items based on authentic medieval legends. Finally, a completely revamped magic system is based on actual grimoire-magic as the medieval magicians really envisioned it."
 
Last night out came my copy of Lion & Dragon by Rpg Pundit which is a complete table top rpg unto itself. The game takes place within a dark fantasy Europe of the War of the Roses & its really more of a neo OSR game. While it takes the spirit of Dungeons & Dragons Lion & Dragon is more of its own beast even though its modular OSR  system as its publisher has stated; "Publisher’s note : Lion & Dragon is a complete OSR game in itself. However, even if you prefer to stick with traditional fantasy RPGs featuring dwarves, elves, spellcasters, and the like, L&D can still provide a lot of options that will help you give much flavor to a more usual campain world. For example, the sections on alchemy, herbal medicines, poisons, or law & justice, could be imported in any other fantasy game."

Now I'm not the only one whose noticed this modular approach to the design of Lion & Dragon. A great unboxing video was done by Kenny Johnson & pay attention to the bit about the retro clone Swords & Wizardry.

At this point Lion & Dragon is criminally underappreciated & after speaking with one of my players & DM Steve we all feel that its a shame. Both DM Steve & I used Lion & Dragon along with its OSR original  companion setting Dark Albion to flesh out rival  Cymirol bards for both of our campaigns. Steve got into using the seventeen maps that came with Dark Albion to flesh out parts of his Rose War campaign. I used Lion & Dragon to flesh out some of the herbalism, occult, and other PC areas of my player's bard along with familial history etc. all through actual  play. Questwise put out a similar review of the Lion & Dragon rpg that made this same observation.

The Lion & Dragon rpg  vs Dark Albion can summed up easily. Dark Albion works well with the Lion & Dragon rpg but Dark Albion is an OSR setting book through & through with tons of research. I have both books but its not necessary. Lion & Dragon is its own rpg that's designed to stand on its own.
This brings me to what I'm using Lion & Dragon for & that's as an OSR  campaign resource. At the center for this rpg is the main reason that I got it & that's the War of the Roses; "The Wars of the Roses were a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster, associated with a red rose, and the House of York, whose symbol was a white rose. Eventually, the wars eliminated the male lines of both families. The conflict lasted through many sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, but there was related fighting before and after this period between the parties. The power struggle ignited around social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years' War, unfolding the structural problems of feudalism, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI which revived interest in Richard of York's claim to the throne. Historians disagree on which of these factors to identify as the main reason for the wars"

The War of the Roses is legendary as well as historical. This is the actual history that inspired the Game of Thrones books & TV show. To me its so much more interesting then the pop culture creations.  There were royal personages that were erased from history in the blink of an eye. Families scattered to the four winds & the threat of chaos lurking at the edges of England during the events of history. Those all have their fantasy equivalent in both Dark Albion & Lion & Dragon. In my campaigns those adventure elements  appear in the most unexpected places.


Framed print, "Plucking the Red and White Roses in the Old Temple Gardens" after the original 1910 fresco painting by Henry Albert Payne (British, 1868-1940) based upon a scene in Shakespeare's Henry VI, the original in the Palace of Westminster and a later similar painting by Payne in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, this print marked "copyright 1912 in London & Washington by "The Fine Art Publishing Co., Ltd. London", sight: 20.25"h, 21"w, overall: 27"h, 27.5"w, 9.25lbs.

In the past I've used many elements from both Lion & Dragon & Dark Albion. I'm dusting off some of those to use once again. As DM Steve reminded me on Sunday,"No adventure element is ever completely done if the player's feel its unresolved". The Lion & Dragon rpg stands on its own merits & system. You don't need anything else to use it for table top play. That being said I'm going to be using it coming up OSR game play.

Lion & Dragon is available right here. 

Lion & Dragon Rpg Redux - Some Thoughts on The Lion & Dragon Rpg As Campaign Fodder

"Lion & Dragon is a Medieval Authentic OSR game. Until now, you only thought you were playing "medieval fantasy"!

With Lion & Dragon, the rules of the original tabletop RPG have been adapted to create a more historically authentic medieval experience, to reflect the grittier and yet more mythic world of a magical medieval Europe.L&D includes new rules governing social class and materials on culture to help a GM craft a world that feels closer to the world of the 100-years war or the War of the Roses. It has a grittier and more dangerous feel to reflect the cheapness of life at the time. Also included are sections on medieval economics, law & justice, and chapters with monsters and magical items based on authentic medieval legends. Finally, a completely revamped magic system is based on actual grimoire-magic as the medieval magicians really envisioned it."
 
Last night out came my copy of Lion & Dragon by Rpg Pundit which is a complete table top rpg unto itself. The game takes place within a dark fantasy Europe of the War of the Roses & its really more of a neo OSR game. While it takes the spirit of Dungeons & Dragons Lion & Dragon is more of its own beast even though its modular OSR  system as its publisher has stated; "Publisher’s note : Lion & Dragon is a complete OSR game in itself. However, even if you prefer to stick with traditional fantasy RPGs featuring dwarves, elves, spellcasters, and the like, L&D can still provide a lot of options that will help you give much flavor to a more usual campain world. For example, the sections on alchemy, herbal medicines, poisons, or law & justice, could be imported in any other fantasy game."

Now I'm not the only one whose noticed this modular approach to the design of Lion & Dragon. A great unboxing video was done by Kenny Johnson & pay attention to the bit about the retro clone Swords & Wizardry.

At this point Lion & Dragon is criminally underappreciated & after speaking with one of my players & DM Steve we all feel that its a shame. Both DM Steve & I used Lion & Dragon along with its OSR original  companion setting Dark Albion to flesh out rival  Cymirol bards for both of our campaigns. Steve got into using the seventeen maps that came with Dark Albion to flesh out parts of his Rose War campaign. I used Lion & Dragon to flesh out some of the herbalism, occult, and other PC areas of my player's bard along with familial history etc. all through actual  play. Questwise put out a similar review of the Lion & Dragon rpg that made this same observation.

The Lion & Dragon rpg  vs Dark Albion can summed up easily. Dark Albion works well with the Lion & Dragon rpg but Dark Albion is an OSR setting book through & through with tons of research. I have both books but its not necessary. Lion & Dragon is its own rpg that's designed to stand on its own.
This brings me to what I'm using Lion & Dragon for & that's as an OSR  campaign resource. At the center for this rpg is the main reason that I got it & that's the War of the Roses; "The Wars of the Roses were a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster, associated with a red rose, and the House of York, whose symbol was a white rose. Eventually, the wars eliminated the male lines of both families. The conflict lasted through many sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, but there was related fighting before and after this period between the parties. The power struggle ignited around social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years' War, unfolding the structural problems of feudalism, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI which revived interest in Richard of York's claim to the throne. Historians disagree on which of these factors to identify as the main reason for the wars"

The War of the Roses is legendary as well as historical. This is the actual history that inspired the Game of Thrones books & TV show. To me its so much more interesting then the pop culture creations.  There were royal personages that were erased from history in the blink of an eye. Families scattered to the four winds & the threat of chaos lurking at the edges of England during the events of history. Those all have their fantasy equivalent in both Dark Albion & Lion & Dragon. In my campaigns those adventure elements  appear in the most unexpected places.


Framed print, "Plucking the Red and White Roses in the Old Temple Gardens" after the original 1910 fresco painting by Henry Albert Payne (British, 1868-1940) based upon a scene in Shakespeare's Henry VI, the original in the Palace of Westminster and a later similar painting by Payne in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, this print marked "copyright 1912 in London & Washington by "The Fine Art Publishing Co., Ltd. London", sight: 20.25"h, 21"w, overall: 27"h, 27.5"w, 9.25lbs.

In the past I've used many elements from both Lion & Dragon & Dark Albion. I'm dusting off some of those to use once again. As DM Steve reminded me on Sunday,"No adventure element is ever completely done if the player's feel its unresolved". The Lion & Dragon rpg stands on its own merits & system. You don't need anything else to use it for table top play. That being said I'm going to be using it coming up OSR game play.

Lion & Dragon is available right here. 

Twelve Rules For Pulp & Gonzo Elements In Old School Campaigns

There's been a bit of a misnomer about my reputation among certain corners of the OSR. I've been called everything from an 'Old School Renegade' to an 'Old School Resurrectionist' to that 'old fool'. Well, perhaps I'm a bit of all of those things & more. The commentary I'm offering seems to be scoffed at in some corners. So what. I'm here for the OSR readers &  subscribers but more over the players as well.

The fact is that sometimes implying gonzo & crazy adventure elements are far better then just dropping giant robots & other pulp elements into an adventure. Now I've been talking about Arduin for the better part of a week. For over a year of near constant weekend & weekly play we'd worked are PC's in the shape that the campaign setting called for.
The dungeon master needs to spin the gonzo elements out where & when they're needed X1 Isle of Dread is a perfect example of master class pacing of the Expert B/X set's elements as both a teaching add for the novice dungeon master & an hard lesson for the players. David Cook &  Tom Moldvay 

take the dungeon master through all of the necessary steps to get the PC's hooked into the action on the isle with an emotional investment in the fate of the whole place. Dave Hargrave did similar in his own home campaigns from what I understand & the fact is that just the right amount of world building comes into play here. Hands off lets the dungeon master have the players build the campaign on their own. 

1.  Expand the horizons of the player's PC's by offering opportunities for growth vs death. This is something that has to do not with leveling up but letting the player think his way out of a trap or dangerous situation. 
2. Plan with pulp adventure elements in mind but don't over think an adventure. If you find yourself scripting the adventure instead of running it then you might be over thinking it. 
3. History & real world elements off set the nature of the fantastic or crazy. Ruined devices or set pieces wouldn't destroy a campaign. 
4. Take things in stride & let the players take the lead even if its into a TPK. Always roll up new characters 
5. Adventurers have always been there before the PC's & their dead always use others before to add depth to the campaign world setting. Plus you can loot the bodies. 
6. Keep the adventure simple at first the players will complicate it as they go on. 
7. Play styles are going to differ so you can expect lots of lapses & even possible set back. Offer only hints & clues with artifacts, devices, and tricks never take a hand. This is the player's game. 
8. Death always lurks around the corner in Pulp games an NPC death is something unexpected and will frighten players.
9. Expand on the setting only as needed. Keep the adventure setting simple & easily designed. 
10. Horror,death, and destruction are going to happen expect them. Court them and use them as tools for the game but not gregariously. 
11. Let the players grow & the PC's level as needed.
12. Take the pulp elements in stride and don't over explain anything let the players fill in the gaps.

Twelve Rules For Adapting Classic Old School Modules for Campaign Play

Sometimes one stumbles into a blog topic, today I was down at my local Half Priced Books with some friends. I walked over to the rpg section which was quite full of treasures from the old school. Watching two twenty something year old guys mooning at a classic  T1 Temple of Elemental Evil by Gary Gygax with Frank Mentzer. They were intimidated by three things the lethality of the module, the size & scale of T1, & the campaign commitment. I sat these guys down & we went over bit by bit how to take on this beast.
They bought the only copy of T1 there after we had talked & gone over the module together.



These guidelines & not hard & fast rules folks. Born out of common sense & forged over the years from dealing with three generations of players here. Dungeons & Dragons is over forty years old & sometimes common sense is short supply.

1. There are no sacred cows at the table, the module doesn't matter what the title is or whatever is yours & you as the dungeon master need to read & adapt it to suit the needs of the table. 
2. Reread, reread  the module. Don't memorize it, instead take fast, quick notes, about. Form your own opinions about it. Trust your gut instincts & modify it as necessary for the players. 
3. Have fun with the adventure as the dungeon master. Read, chuckle, put it aside, & don't be intimidated by it. 
4. Your needs & not the publisher's or writer's. This means that you have total control over what is done with this product at your table. Total control and no one can over ride the players or your control. Adapt, destroy, and alter as necessary. 
5. Change, gut, use, these three apply to monsters, treasure, events, etc. to fit the campaign or one shot event. 
6. Take your time running the adventure. Stretch the game sessions out to the players needs but not your own. Let the play find its own level. Stop worrying you've got this.
7. Tournament play means exactly what it implies and the above guidelines allow you to modify as necessary,
8. "But this isn't how Gary or  XYZ ran or did this?!" , the play of the adventure may alter the adventure that the authors or designers never saw. Go with it. 
9. Your allowed to make mistakes & learn from them. 
10. Classic adventures are classic for a reason. Its alright to run them as is if that's your preference as a dungeon master. 
11. Expect PC death frequently & roll with it. The players will be thankful for it. It builds better players & campaigns. 
12. Classic modules are merely guidelines themselves & you & your players are the makers of the products of your imagination. You own this now take it in the direction that you want & need.
    
    
    Next time more Arduin, OSR weirdness, & more Sword & Sorcery horror coming up.

Twelve Quick Rules for Using Old School Appendix N or Pulp Novel Resources For Adventure Design

Long ago in the mists of time there were very few published worlds & dungeon masters were forces to rely on their imaginations. The works of classic authors were often the target from H.G.Wells, JulesVerne, & the long plethora of Pulp era writers. These  fields are still fertile& even more so because players don't read the works they claim to. Often when mining a book or novella for ideas there are several guide lines I follow for campaign & world development: 

1. Start with the interesting bits that appeal to you as if you were a player. What is going to grab the players attention? 
2. The devil is in the details & there no rules for changing them or ustulizing them as needed. The fact is that twisting details of a novel or story to fit your campaign is the norm. The dungeon master has only one audience to please or kill as the whim of the game dictates 
3. Keeps the notes fast & loose so that you can change on the fly if necessary. 
4. Dungeon & adventure locations should be mined to the fullest and melded as needed by the adventure. 
5. Stock these locations as you would any other dungeon. Use common sense or don't depending upon the situation.
6. Think outside of the usual conventions for interesting adventure locations including classic literature ie Frankenstein's Castle or the like 
7. Never let others dictate your whims as a reader of fantasy or fiction, if 'so & so' doesn't like XYZ author then all of the better because they're not going to recognize novel or elements as needed. 
8. Steal but alter as necessary and often adventure locations can change or morph as ideas take you when your writing your adventures. 
9. Know which buttons to push & which not to. Get to know your players & use common sense as a dungeon master. 
10. Do what's comfortable but don't be afraid to push classic old school products or OSR material in a direction that the author didn't expect or intend. 
11. Pick & choose your favorite authors but mix it up a little so that you can keep the players guessing if their literate. 
12. Keep the material simple or complex as the playing audience can handle the adventure material. This comes under the 'get to know' your players heading.
    
    

Commentary On Slaves of Tsathoggua From Kort'thalis Publishing For Crimson Dragon Slayer & Your Old School Campaigns

So recently I provided a bit of advertising for Venger Satanis's Trilogy of Awesome kickstarter, well today I received my review copy of Slaves of Tsathoggua From Kort'thalis Publishing & it wasn't at all what I was expecting!? First of all before the set up and plot work for this adventure you need to understand that, "this is the first adventure creates specifically for Crimson Dragon Slayer, edition 1.11.  However, it's compatible with the original Crimson Dragon Slayer RPG and relatively easy to convert to any other fantasy RPG."




Otherwise everything after this isn't going to make a lot of sense, Slaves of Tsathoggua takes the idea of the 'beast in the cave' cliche & turns this into an adventure of weird proportions.
"There's something in that cave... the cave all those villagers are afraid of.  What's inside?  Will the adventurers be able to leave once they enter?  What does this have to do with Tsathoggua?" This adventure clocks in at fifteen pages and is filled with memorable NPC's, lots of weird situations, and a ton of strangeness that connects in deep with the latest incarnation of Crimson Dragon Slayer 1.11

From  Kort'thalis Publishing.

This adventure is a bit different then other Crimson Dragon Slayer affairs, it combines many of the author's usual themes but has something a bit different too it. Basically this adventure can act similar to a DCC funnel taking PC's from inexperienced yobs to fully fleshed and blooded adventurers in one shot. It uses a series of balanced and very dangerous encounters to really get into the psyche and gonzo pulpiness of the PC's who experience it.

Slaves of Tsathoggua could be put between adventures in a campaign to test the mettle of adventurers from from the Crimson Dragon Slayer rpg system and it would do a good job of it. This adventure takes place in the village of  Needham is home to around 300 people. About half of them are farmers, the rest owning various shops like the baker or providing services such as the blacksmith.A short distance from the village is a cave & its hiding a secret of dangerous providence. This is Venger at his  best dishing out old school adventure with a dollop of pulpy gonzo aggression in equal measure. The stakes here are very high and in fact a bit epic for any party exploring the ins and outs of the Caverns. Slaves of Tsathoggua is a mix of Eighties sword & sorcery fantasy that has mated with an episode of the Outer Limits with a bit of Clark Aston Smith  thrown in for good measure but bring some extra PC's.  This adventure might be a great one to run with Dungeon Crawl Classics because everything here is a perfect funnel to throw some PC's through to take them from green horn to experienced in one shot. The fact that this is a Crimson Dragon Slayer adventure makes this a gonzo must  buy. 

Did I happen to mention that  Slaves of Tsathoggua is a perfect gonzo dungeon crawl of psychotropic proportions to link up with  +Venger Satanis' The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence. 
There are few if any naughty bits in Slaves but the material in this adventure has a perfect link up device for the PC's if the DM wants to take advantage of it.
Basically Slaves of Tsathoggua From Kort'thalis Publishing is a great direction to take the Crimson Dragon Slayer game and one that I think is going to be great for future publications. I'm very pleased with Slaves of Tsathoggua From Kort'thalis Publishing and give it a five out of five, for only three dollars this one hits my gonzo pulpy heart of old school goodness. 
GRAB Slaves of Tsathoggua
From Kort'thalis Publishing
HERE 

Gateways, Generals, & Some Real History Resources For The Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Dark Albion, & Your Old School Campaigns

Real history is rife with weird characters incidents of the odd, the macabre, and the down right horrid. All of this is excellent fodder for creating memorable NPC's, incredible adventure locations, and linch pin events for their old school or retroclone campaigns.



First up is Eunus whose exploits are mostly forgotten today but he was known to be a king, magician,general, and finally slave to Rome. According to many outside sources he was;"His name was Eunus – which may be translated, roughly, as “the kindly one” – and although he is practically forgotten now, he was a leader fit to rank alongside Spartacus – or, in truth, above him, for while both men were slaves who masterminded wars against Rome (Spartacus six decades later), Eunus’s rebellion was four or five times as large, and it lasted something like three times as long. He built a state, which Spartacus never tried to do, and all the evidence suggests that he inspired fierce loyalty in ways the Thracian gladiator could not – after all. " He's perfect NPC fodder for a Dark Albion or Lamentations of the Flame Campaign, in fact for Dark Albion does his state persist into the alternative history of that world? 
You can learn more about Eunus right over here.

 Need a real life 'blue beard' of sorts, the sort of an NPC that will have your players talking about them for years to come? Another customer from the pages of history rife with possibilities was;"Conomor the Cursed, and he lived in the darkest of the Dark Ages – in the first half of the 6th century, 150 years or more after the fall of Rome, when much of Brittany was still dotted with dolmens and covered by primeval forest, when warlords squabbled with one another other over patrimonies that were generally less than 40 miles across, and the local peoples were as likely to be pagan as they were Christian. We know almost nothing about him, save that he was probably a Briton, very probably a tyrant, and that his deeds were remembered long enough to give rise to a folkloric tradition of great strength – one that endured for almost 1,500 years. But the folk-tales hint at someone quite extraordinary. In local lore, Conomor not only continued to roam the vast forest of Quénécan,  south of his castle, as a bisclaveret – a werewolf – and served as a spectral ferryman on another Breton river, making off with Christian souls; he was also the model for Bluebeard, the monstrous villain of Charles Perrault’s famous fairy tales."

  You can read more about Conomor the Cursed right Over Here

 Next up is an article on Salvador Dali's  Crucifixion hyper cube which uses some weird mathematics at the core of this modern master piece. Perhaps these same principals might be applied to an artifact or relic of Dark Albion or Lamentations of the Flame Princess. "While it’s difficult to grasp, the idea of multiple dimensions allows scientists to envisage shapes that mathematician Marcus du Sautoy calls “sculptures of the mind”. As he argues in his Radio 3 programme The Secret Mathematician, “It’s not possible to see a 4D cube in our limited 3D universe, but there are different ways to imagine one.”Dalí’s own ‘sculpture of the mind’ brings geometry into the realm of the metaphysical. “There is a meditative intensity to Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus),” says art critic and poet Kelly Grovier. “The painting seems to have cracked the link between the spirituality of Christ's salvation and the materiality of geometric and physical forces. It appears to bridge the divide that many feel separates science from religion.”
  You can read more about
Dali's Hypercube Cross right over here 

Underground secret libraries, strange societies, and preserving hidden knowledge for future generations? Sounds like the latest Hollywood block buster doesn't it. Instead its an account of recent from Syria about one of their hidden libraries. "

Beneath the streets of a suburb of Damascus, rows of shelves hold books that have been rescued from bombed-out buildings. Over the past four years, during the siege of Darayya, volunteers have collected 14,000 books from shell-damaged homes. They are held in a location kept secret amid fears that it would be targeted by government and pro-Assad forces, and visitors have to dodge shells and bullets to reach the underground reading space.

It’s been called Syria’s secret library, and many view it as a vital resource. “In a sense the library gave me back my life,” one regular user, Abdulbaset Alahmar, told the BBC. “I would say that just like the body needs food, the soul needs books.”" This is a perfect fodder  for a hidden library in your war torn old school campaigns where your PC's have to rescue certain forbidden or ancient books or scrolls for future generations of scholars and risk their very lives in the preservation of knowledge.
You can read more about Damascus's hidden libraries right over here

 Surely when the bloodshed and violence of feuds and strange casual violence of history's dust ups is done the settings where these  took place is over? What if these places are merely place holders for door ways into the realms of the dead? These places get more then mention in this article. There's plenty of food for thought and potential fodder for unique adventure locations.

The Bloody Histories and Remaining Relics of 5 Violent Feuds

Could these places where violence has thinned the veil provide crossover points into the lands of dead? Perhaps in your old school campaigns they might making this a perfect point to use for a Lamentations of the Flame Princess Old West adventure campaign.

Need an adventure location for a post apocalyptic dimensional teleporter or dimensional gate right in the middle of New York City as a bridge gap for Carcosa to say your favorite  Mutant Future city or Old Earth setting? Then look no further then the windowless Long Lines building, a sky scraper designed to withstand a nuclear blast and fall out. No admittence and security is very tight to say the least. According to Wiki;"It is often described as one of the most secure buildings in America, and was designed to be self-sufficient and protected from nuclear fallout for up to two weeks after a nuclear blast.^[11] Its style has been generally praised, with the New York Times saying it is a rare building of its type in Manhattan that "makes sense architecturally" and that it "blends into its surroundings more gracefully" than any other skyscraper nearby.^[12]

The building is completely self-sufficient, and contains its own gas and water supplies as well as generation capabilities. Even with no public utility support the building can remain open for two weeks. During the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, it was the only building south of Canal Street that was operational." I've used the Long Lines building numerous times as the location for faction of other worldly alternative Earth travelers with shadowy ties to the US government.

You can read about
the Long Lines building from here Is there a series of books of forbidden knowledge that shook a real world empire to its foundations and does it have ties in legend to one of the most legendary court magicians of all times? The answer is yes. According to an article by Mike Dash on The Blast From The Past Website;"The sibyl, so the story goes, was a woman named Amalthaea who lurked in a cave on the Phlegræan Fields. She had once been young and beautiful–beautiful enough to attract the attentions of the sun god, Apollo, who offered her one wish in exchange for her virginity. Pointing to a heap of dust, Amalthaea asked for a year of life for each particle in the pile, but (as is usually the way in such old tales) failed to allow for the vindictiveness of the gods. Ovid, in Metamorphoses, has her lament that “like a fool, I did not ask that all those years should come with ageless youth, as well.” Instead, she aged but could not die. Virgil depicts her scribbling the future on oak leaves that lay scattered about the entrance to her cave, and states that the cave itself concealed an entrance to the underworld.

The best-known–and from our perspective the most interesting–of all the tales associated with the sibyl is supposed to date to the reign of Tarquinius Superbus–Tarquin the Proud. He was the last of the mythic kings of Rome, and some historians, at least, concede that he really did live and rule in the sixth century B.C. According to legend, the sibyl traveled to Tarquin’s palace bearing nine books of prophecy that set out the whole of the future of Rome. She offered the set to the king for a price so enormous that he summarily declined–at which the prophetess went away, burned the first three of the books, and returned, offering the remaining six to Tarquin at the same price. Once again, the king refused, though less arrogantly this time, and the sibyl burned three more of the precious volumes. The third time she approached the king, he thought it wise to accede to her demands. Rome purchased the three remaining books of prophecy at the original steep price.

What makes this story of interest to historians as well as folklorists is that there is good evidence that three Greek scrolls, known collectively as the Sibylline Books, really were kept, closely guarded, for hundreds of years after the time of Tarquin the Proud. Secreted in a stone chest in a vault beneath the Temple of Jupiter, the scrolls were brought out at times of crisis and used, not as a detailed guide to the future of Rome, but as a manual that set out the rituals required to avert looming disasters. They served the Republic well until the temple burned down in 83 B.C., and so vital were they thought to be that huge efforts were made to reassemble the lost prophecies by sending envoys to all the great towns of the known world to look for fragments that might have come from the same source. These reassembled prophecies were pressed back into service and not finally destroyed until 405, when they are thought to have been burned by a noted general by the name of Flavius Stilicho." Now this is prime stuff for either a Dark Albion or a Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign. Imagine those books being used for predicting the outcome of the Rose War as the civil war rage across England. Now according to legend John Dee had connections to the Sibylline Books which he had copies of in his special library but like many things this turned out to be mere mythology and occult hyperbole. Perhaps in your old school campaigns this is not the case. You can find a ton of information on John Dee here

A John Dee style court magician is the perfect figure to add into a Dark Albion campaign, his methods, magic, and courtly spy network ties are a nice balance against the players of the Rose War. He's subtle and canny enough to survive in the dangerous and dark intrigues of the events of the Rose war with easy. His possible ties to the Sibylline Books would make this style of magus a force to be reckoned with.

There is lots of information
on  the Sibylline Books here

Finally there is a series of articles on real life historical sex cults that are perfect to add to your old school campaigns for adventure fodder. This article covers the cults of Simon Magus to Antinous & The Adamites plus lots more. This is perfect fodder for LoFP and especially Dark Albion because its by the author of that campaign setting.

Read about 
15 Of The Craziest Sex Cults Of All Time here