Cha'alt / Godbound rpg Session Report - Bite of the Crocodile God

 Over the weekend there's been a rash of interest in our  Godbound/Cha'alt campaign that's been on going for the past two years. And to a certain degree there's been movement on a faction that wasn't expected & that's the Greco Roman version of Sebek. This version of the god appeared in Imagine issue#16 back in July of '85. Why do I say Greco Roman?! Because of the fact that ancient city of Alexandria had a thriving worship in many of the Egyptians gods with a Greek & later Roman spin on them. 

In the article 'Ancient Egypt A Brief Survey' By Graeme Davis we are introduced to a rather interesting & rather nasty version of the Egyptian god Sebek with a Neutral Evil dispostion. But wait I thought this game was taking place in Arizona, Nevada, California, etc. According to Mummies.com there was an exposition in California in  1884 and this was the source of one of the past lives of a Godbound cleric within our campaign. The other source?! Imagine magazine issue #16 July Eighty five. And this also relates to the source of some of the cleric's spells which are modified versions of the 'Magic of Ancient Egypt' by Rod Stevenson. 

But wait you've got a copy of Castles & Crusades's  Codex Egyptium?! Simply put this was player preference & she wanted her Godbound to be a bit different from our other Egyptian wizard. So with a bit of Eighty five sly flourish Constaince Keely daughter of Sebek  was born into our campaign. She's in dire opposition to our godbound wizard. Three museums are up for plundering by the forces of Cha'alt to destroy the mummies of three very important scribes who know the secrets of summoning some very ancient gods back to Earth. 
Our cleric of Sebek ate one of the ministers of Cha'alt's main corporations literally. Now its a race to the museum to see if they can save the mummies of these priests. 

The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg Campaign Session Report Nine With Imagine magazine #12 ~ TSR (March, 1984)

Now besides an excellent cover by Rodney Mathews, Imagine magazine #12 ~ TSR (March, 1984)  has quite a bit to recommend it. But we're only concerned about one loose end. Taking care of some of the campaign  ends that over the years have come outta of various Sword & Sorcery games isn't easy. This is especially true if your dealing with experienced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons players playing a game of Victorious rpg with the big G man in it. But we've got an easy solution or two, now subscribers to this blog know that we've been running Castles & Crusades rpg as one of our house systems. Now because of the recent Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium by Brian Young, one of our players is more then a bit familiar with the book.

Now instead of getting frustatrated, pissed off, etc. we turn our attention to an older source. In this case its  Imagine magazine #12 ~ TSR (March, 1984) which has the brief but satisfying adventure called 'The Mound In The Ring' by Graeme Morris . This is a clever little adventure that is easily adaptable to your own home brew campaign. In my case the Egyptian flavors of Castles & Crusades means that this adventure can come center stage. 
In fact that's what the 'Brief Encounters' articles or adventures were meant to do, showcase a brief but extremely useful session encounter that outlines everything that a DM needs to do. From basic adventure plot, random encounter tables, etc. 'The Mound In The Ring' by Graeme Morris  takes the DM through the whole cloth process if the reader looks past the obviousness of simply running the adventure. 
For my purposes this adventure is going to be dragged & dropped into a whole campaign with all of its moving parts & pieces. For me I'm interested in taking several already in play things that are happening from past campaigns & bringing them forward. Yes I'm talking about my Marvel Super Hereoes/Carcosa campaign & my Marvel Conan material here. Sorry but historical accuracy isn't on my agenda. 

Here in this campaign world 'The time between when the oceans drank Atlantis' is a historical fact. The job of sorcerer supreme was recently taken over. The events of   'The Mound In The Ring' by Graeme Morris could easily be moved near the Nubian ruins on the border of Africa or even near present day Alexandria. The undead from 'The Mound In The Ring' by Graeme Morris is going to be an adventure 
encounter coming upare prefect add ins for my on going Victorious rpg  The campaign  application here is rooted in 'The Jewel In Seven Stars' By Bram Stroker.

Margret is actually the possessed by the spirit of Queen Tera whose hired the adventurers after some of the on going events in New York City from last game session.  DM Steve has been on hiatus with on going health issues. We've been left with our neck up in it with Martian war machines running around & now the appearance of various Kaiju. Things are getting very heated in the game sessions moving forward. 

Now with Godzilla on the move in the game things are about to get very interesting indeed. With the recent 'Road to Adventure' Kickstarter on going there's pressure for me to bring in some of those books into this adventure campaign. 
We've already got a paladin based on this piece of artwork from the kickstarter. 

Review & Commentary On Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium By Brian N. Young From Troll Lord Games

"Brian Young has delivered us the sixth in the Mythos Series, bringing to life the world of Ancient Egypt. From a history of that desert land, to the mythologies surrounding its creation and the gods who carved it from the ether, the realms they ruled and the monsters they commanded. More than that, Mr. Young explores the actual geopolitical and cultural world of Ancient Egypt allowing CKs to bring their players to another world, in another time!"

When it comes to the physicality of a game book I've gotten quite picky. So when it came to the arrival of Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium it was mail call of some excitement for me. The packing was up to Troll Lords standards which is great mot of the time. We're not gonna talk about my go around with the USPS or my current war with em when it comes to delivery of game books. 
First thing outta of the gate is the index! Yeah a solid index is a must with these books if your in the heat of play. 

The layout & cartography is quite good & the book really does cover the ancient Egyptian  history, culture,periods, ruins, etc. quite nicely. The author brings his usual flare to the works & that's not a bad thing at all. The artwork is keyed into Codex Egyptium & doesn't look recycled. This book is dialed into both the players & the DM. 

The layout is clear, the writing crisp if somewhat dry but this is Brian Young's style. The author makes extensive use of his material diving in deep to ancient Egypt. He brings this material into focus for using Egypt as center stage for Castle & Crusades adventures. Its here that we get into the history, culture, & background of C&C Egypt. 

The author knows his subject but there are plenty of opportunities for the DM to build on their own imaginations & deep dives into this land of mystery or adventure. The roll of Egypt continues as we dive down into magick, religion, & the mytological core of Egypt. These are all intertwined in a dance of the divine & incredible.The role of the gods is extensive, interesting, & very dangerous! 

Is the Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium worth getting & buying?! From where I'm sitting here at the table top level as a dungeon master (I'm sorry but the term Castle Keeper rankles me as someone whose been in this hobby since OD&D. So the term is dungeon master no matter the game) the answer is yes. There's a lot of care here on Troll Lords to take Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium to the next level. 

The spells, the magick, the extension of the divine is on point for where the DM wants to take an Ancient Egyptian C&C campaign. The use of social rank is going to be key here especially if the DM wants to take a party of adventures deep into an extended campaign. Mr. Young makes extensive use of his history here in the design. 

All of this ties into the mythological & historical take here in  Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium. Why because it all ties back into the cosmology of ancient Egypt and their view of the mundane vs the fantastical. Mr.Young has simplified it to a huge extent because we as dungeon masters don't necessarily have the time to plow through anthropological texts. There are some players & DM's who will & do. Personally for me there isn't time & its one of the reasons why this book is welcomed for me. This also gets into the monsters who are extensively tied into the gods here in this book & that's a good thing. 

Because this Codex plugs into not only its own campaign setting but into Castles & Crusades own house setting of Aihrde. But can it tie into say Greyhawk or classic Mystara?! Or your own home brew campaign?! In a word yes! The designers & writers had enough brains to make extensive use of the too box approach. 

There's a boat load of appendix that allow the DM to dive into Egyptian warfare, social classes, more options, etc. This is all useful from the prospective of the DM who wants to introduce adventure elements into their games from Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium without jumping into the deep end whole hog.

Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium takes its subject quite well & seriously allowing the DM to get to grips with a well though  out & overall campaign book to work with. There's enough here to take your Castles & Crusades game to either the red or black sands lands here. If this the quality & direction that Troll Lords are heading then it looks to be a solid build upon for both OSR & the Castles Crusades fans. 

Love the Egyptian monsters here, there's a pdf of the Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium available here. The physical book is available right here. 

 

Note that this review was also done to show case the flexibility of OSR blogs whose time in some OSR fans & minds has passed. Recently I was  told that only videos would be used for the future of reviews of  OSR books & pdfs. So I personally went all in on the Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium Kickstarter. This book was bought with my own money & this review was done personally by me. There are already several C&C  expansions for Castles & Crusades Codex Egyptium. I will be buying those & sharing my thoughts with you dear readers coming up!