Tentacles & THOT Control at the Table Top - THOT Audit & Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise By Venger Satanis

 "You got into hot water down on Beeblebrox Prime. Escaping into the nearest spaceport, you spotted a cargo freighter being loaded up with hover-pallets. Slipping into the command center, you got the freighter off the ground without much trouble… until several surface-to-air missiles devastated your shields and damaged the hyperdrive. Low on fuel, weapon systems at 23%, and in a decaying orbit around Beeblebrox Prime, you don’t have a lot of options." 

The events of  THOT Audit could be used to set up the second part of  Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise. Why?! Because the Federation is behind the the offworlder high-tech facility called Elysium which is both faction & adventure goal.

The Federation from the Alpha Blue rpg is on it's last legs and has essentially sent a bribe to the Outer Rim interstellar government. The reason is simple and direct that is to have access to the Lovecraftian resources of Cha'alt. The player's PC's who come into the situation by hijacking the cargo freighter. This bribe is in the form of Blue Sky; "The only reason you haven’t been atomized must be the valuable cargo in your ship’s hold. After a quick scan, you realize the ship’s carrying thirtyfive medda kronks of Blue Sky. That’s a street value of approximately twenty-thousand credits." 

And the events of THOT Audit set up everything else to come. Forget the porn aspect of the adventure and see the bigger picture. Because the Federation let's the PC's swipe the cargo freighter. And are the perfect idio erm foils for the Feds if things go sideways. 

 The second the PC's land on the space port of the city of A'agrybah, they're going to be slapped in irons. So I hope all of the tail they got aboard the cargo freighter was worth it. The PC's could do some shady moves and create a fake registry number for the cargo freighter and then begin going about business in  the city of A'agrybah.  Because Cha'alt itself where the planet, the factions, the Federation, are all trying to exploit the PC's. Cha'alt itself has been undergoing some significant changes where the S'rulyan Vault has been uncovered. More on this later on But back to the PC's! 
And said PC's are going to be wrangled into the events of THOT Police. This is coming up. 

If the PC's decide to stay on Cha'alt all of the better because then they can slide into the events of THOT Police. And then have one foot or tentacle in the goings on Cha'alt itself. They could even be wrangled into taking the  the ship’s carrying thirtyfive medda kronks of Blue Sky to the Outer Rim station themselves. And this leads into the party getting arrested! 

Where does this lead?! Tune in next time! 

The Grass Isn't Always Greener - Sunday Morning Prayer Breakfast & Beat Down! Play Report! Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland Rpg & Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise

 Our get together on a Sunday morning finds our group of gamer's PC in the grip of alien sentient mutant plants! The gang of player's PC's are on Cha'alt & in the middle of one of the worst neighborhoods on the planet after a night of partying! The players are hired as bouncers to clean out any left over partiers! Except things are not as they seem for our crew of Eighties inspired cybernetic & energetic degenerates!  The bands have gone and the partiers are no where to be found!?! 

 


That's when the adventurers come face to face with 'The We'eedz'! 'The We'eedz are an invasive alien mutant plant species that loves to infect, eat, and prune humanity and other alien species throughout the galaxy. This heinous species arose after the events of Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise in the day glow radioactive blood  of the Great Old Ones! 

'The We'eedz' wanted to 'neogiate' with the PC's all of the while trying to flank them. Our Heather Britney Bang Bang 3rd level  wasn't having none of this BS & dropped a plasma grenade into the mix.Things went from bad to worse as the weedz then blasted the party with a psionic head bang for 2d6 points of damage. Foo Man the Wonder Wizard of  Waz  5th level Starspawn  wasn't amused and had put up a magic mind shield.  Things went from bad to worse as the weedz took out The Pink Collector Brutacorn 6th level Sarah's PC growing through out the PC's body. Ronald Rogun Cyberskin level 4 got off a lucky grenade toss and cleared the storm drains & the sewer with another plasma grenade. Tiger Tie Night Stalker 5th cut a path for the party through the wee'edz. 
'The Stack' cosmic barbarian & scholar of beat downs snorted a heavy duty bit of cosmic dust and praised lord Randy began to chant in the name of the cosmic gods! The rest of the party joined in! He was praying for a miracle and he got it! Lord Coke Cosmic Smiter of Justice 7th level brought the pain as lightning & thunder rained around the neighborhood frying the wee'eedz around the party. Lord Randy be praised! If the party wants to get off of Cha'alt they gotta keep working it! Because on Cha'alt this is where the pain starts! 

Wee'eedz 
Alignment: Chaotic

Movement: 60 foot

Armor Class:14 

Hit Dice: 4

Attacks:  Henious Thorns, Flying Razor Leaves, Aging Field, or Weapon
Damage: Henious Thorns 1d6, Flying Razor Leaves 2d6, Aging Field, or Weapon

Saves Grit, 13, Agility 11, Resolve 14, Death 14 

Special: 

Grow like the Wind - The Wee'eedz grow 2 foot per round as per their movement 
 Sentient - The Wee'eedz have fed on the blood of the Great Old Ones & have an evil disposition & intelligence geared  towards the destruction of humanity. 

Aging Touch The Wee'Eedz can activate a field once per day for five minutes. Anyone that comes in contact with the plant ages five years for every round and must save versus poison or be stunned for 2d4 rounds

Flying Razor Leaves
The Wee'eedz  has 2d6 leaves that can detach and fly up to a mile away. The plant hears and sees everything that the leaves do. If the leaves are slain, it takes one week to regrow each (e.g., if the plant has lost six leaves then it takes six weeks to regrow all of them.The leaves do 2d6 edged damage. 

To The Max 

1-19 The Wee'eedz grows at at incredible rate seeking  the orafices & soft tissues of its victim. Blood, liquids, guts of its victims body fuel the horror as it shreds anything it can get ahold of! It  to absorb its victim within itself. Does an extra 1d4 damage 

20 Feel The Wee'eedz - The evil mutant plant species deals an extra X6 as it attacks seem to land everywhere! 


So the wee'eedz atre not all that original & were inspired by Skirimisher Publishing's 

Mutant Plant Monsters book which has all of the plant weirdness for the Wee'eedz 

OSR Commentary - Actually DMing A Cha'alt Campaign

 

Now the Carocsa & the 'Cha'alt 'After Dark' blog posts generated some controversy on my table top with folks talking about how both settings are extremely dangerous to PC's. They actually very much are! Would I run either Science Fantasy setting as is?! Oh Hell no! In point of fact if I was going to run Cha'alt ( I will coming up but its a scheduling issue at the moment folks) then I would actually start with Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise. Why?! Because Cha'alt needs to be your OSR setting & not Venger Satanis's! Yup, I absolutely said that & Venger will agree with me here. You need to customize your OSR settings & make them your own. 

How?! Add or subtract what you want in the setting. This is one of the absolute strengths of Carocsa as a sand box setting. You have no idea what's around the corner as a player. Want to run Carcosa as 'Masters of the Universe then go for it. Next time as a primitive Lovecraftian horror fest. Sure, why not?! 
Cha'alt is very different in some respects & that's because its 'Brand Venger' setting & universe to some extent. And I believe it was Rpg Pundit who said, 'A little Venger goes a long way.' And while this is true don't let it intimidate you as a player or DM. The thing about it is that Cha'alt needs to be used and the players are going to do a lot of the heavy lifting for the setting through play. And this goes back to something else that needs to be said. Run the setting with whatever OSR rules system you want or the players want. Personally for this combo I'd pick Warriors of the Red Planet rpg & bring a healthy brew of Swords and Super-Science of Xuhlan to boil. These two together could help really make either OSR Sword & Saucer setting shine. 

If you want this campaign setting to actually work? Then Jason Vey's Age of Conan OD&D hack could smooth out the edges of the campaign. Don't write a damn script. Some simple adventure notes, some ideas, a few encounters, & set the game in the city of A'agrybah, let things go from there! 

1. Let adventure & campaign elements be completely alien and let the players find their own level of play. 
2. Add or subtract adventure elements as needed. 
3. Don't go overboard with OSR books let the hexcrawl work its magic especially with Carcosa. 
4. Its OK sometimes to have 2 dimensional NPC's just go with it. 
5. Sorcerers can be incredibly alien NPC & can be very dangerous let the players find this out. 
6. Run what you want with Cha'alt don't be constrained by the opinions of any author or game designer. 
7. Have fun! None of this is supposed to be super serious business let the play happen. 
8. Carcosa is very dangerous and death is frequent warn players to have back up PC's. 
9. House rule the crap outta of your campaign the way you want. 
10. Its only a game. 

Review & Commentary On 'Cha'alt After Dark' By Venger Satanis For The Cha'alt Rpg & Your Old School Science Fantasy Rpg's.

 "Cha'alt is an eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic campaign setting for old and new versions of D&D, retro-clones, and every OSR homage in-between.

Cha'alt After Dark contains a smattering of Game Mastering advice, optional rules relating to sex, and adventures both long and short - with plenty of random tables.  Be mindful that Cha'alt After Dark touches on mature themes. "

Let's be honest here, Cha'alt After Dark by Venger Satanis is a series of supplemental rules, sexual encounter  random tables along with consquences, and lots of Venger Satanis DMing advice. This section is followed by three adventures sequences  Manfestation which charts a crash landing on Cha'alt. Facing down Ja’areth-Syn the priest of the Great Old Ones (an NPC based on the cultlclassic 'Maelstorm The Destruction' film). The entire affair bleeds into the next adventure arch 'So beautiful So Dangous' a homage to the Seventies Sci Fi film ' Heavy Metal'. These adventure with  desert encounters & more strange  interconnected encounters all wtih the random tables that Venger is famous for. These mini adventures can be run upon their own or as a part of an interconnected micro campaign. 


'Cha'alt After Dark' goes into its next cycle of adventure arches with the 'The Girl with the Tentacle Tattoo'. And again with get a few random tables, smatterings of Cha'alt encounters, a micro dungeon & some down & dirty dungeon crawling the Satanis Way. And lots more random encounters. 'Cha'alt After Dark' kinda interconnects with his previous module 'Saving Cha'alt'. Thing is that Venger has gotten much better at the module & adventure writing. Part of the idea here with the random tables & Cha'alt themed ideas is that the module never runs the same way twice. The fact is that 'Cha'alt After Dark' is good value. If your into Cha'alt &  Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise then 'Cha'alt After Dark' is a must have for you! 
Cha'alt After Dark' By
 Venger Satanis For The Cha'alt Rpg 
Right Here. 

Mutation Solution II - Carcosa & Cha'alt World Campaign Session Report III - The Streets of Zothique & Unexpected Guests

 In a lost land, that only dreams have known,
Where flaming suns walk naked and alone;
Among horizons bright as molten brass,
And glowing heavens like furnaces of glass,
It rears with dome and tower manifold,
Rich as a dawn of amarant and gold,
Or gorgeous as the Phoenix, born of fire,
And soaring from an opalescent pyre
Sheer to the zenith. Like some anademe
Of Titan jewels turned to flame and dream
The city crowns the far horizon-light
The City in the Desert  (1922) 
by Clark Ashton Smith




Zothique is by far one of the most fun & most daunting settings to run a campaign. Especially if your players run afoul of a necromancer. There is one god of death in Zul-Bha-Sair & his name is Death personified Mordiggian. The whole thing began in earnest when the players were going into a local village market to get supplies, buy new equipment, & generally get a layout of the place. This was one of numerous villages in the shadow of the ruined city that surrounded the village.  It was two days ride into the larger inhabited city that held the largest populated urban areas. The technology of the place was early Roman empire & there were a few monks scattered about. 
The real draw here was the local alchemist/noble who had quite a small walled estate within the former city ruins. The PC's had demon blood aplenty to sell but it turns out after their trip to Hell to retrieve one of the PC's last session. 

But this is Zothique & there are demons a plenty so with few coins in their pocket, the alchemist mentions that a guest of his has a small job that will pay quite well. All the party has to do is deliver a load of chemicals & ointments to the temple of Nodens for a royal patron whose got a necromancer bodyguard. And when the party  met the necromancer there was instant dislike between Magus Cru &  the party's barbarian. The Baron D'Amber smoothed things over & gave the party a small amount of gold as a retainer. The could spend it as they wanted on weapons, supplies, etc. in the village market. The party decides to take the job & go shopping. A small begger was selling curios & the party's wizard buys a strange five pointed soap stone star with weird dot markings all over it. He is overcome with visions of a strange stone block city in the desert. 

The party runs straight into a rival set of adventurers & their lead by a wizardress from Glantri! She demands that they stop working for the Duke. For she is the only one capable of taking on the family's tasks! The Wizardress Tr'aci D'Amber is a cousin of the duke & only her group of adventurers have the Amber's best interests at heart. The Wizardress Tr'aci D'Amber & her group of mercenaries are from Mystara straight out of Glantri: Kingdom of Magic. 

The players ran into her during my Hundred Years War campaign & a few Lamentations of the Flame Princess game adventures on Carcosa  as a part of a foreign mercenary company. They hated her then & do so more now! A fight broke out & the party thrashed the rival adventurers. She & her party retreated. The party finished shopping & stopped into a local watering hole. They found through a series of role playing bits a local information broker. They wanted to know why Wizardress Tr'aci D'Amber & her group of mercenaries were nearby. The information broker let drop that she was there to find the tomb of the Zaharan Sorcerer-Queen Semiramis for Stephen D'Amber. 

The party got back to the alchemist's house just in time to see the beasts of burden being loaded up. And this is where we ended on tonight's game. 

Mutation Solution II - Carcosa & Cha'alt World Campaign Session Report I - A Detour Into Zothique & X2 Castle Amber

 He who has trod the shadows of Zothique

And looked upon the coal-red sun oblique,
Henceforth returns to no anterior land,
But haunts a later coast
Where cities crumble in the black sea-sand
And dead gods drink the brine.

He who has known the gardens of Zothique
Were bleed the fruits torn by the simorgh's beak,
Savors no fruit of greener hemispheres:
In arbors uttermost,
In sunset cycles of the sombering years,
He sips an amaranth wine.
Clark Ashton Smith Zothique

This session report update picks up right from yesterday's. The sound you can probably hear from here is me weeping behind the DM's screen. Just last night the players decided to spin me around a bit by taking on PC that was 'retired' back to Hell. We had been to Hell & back. Then Terry my player whose been taking on a Castles & Crusades knight wanted to know if it was alright if he could be a follower of Nodens?  Alright that doesn't sound bad?! Right?! Wrong! The group has decided they want to take a detour into Zothique before venturing onto Cha'alt. This means that their after artifacts, weapons, & equipment  one of our old games parties has left behind at the temple of Nodens on Zothique. 

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

What they don't know is that a gang of chaos muaraders dedicated to Rhan-Tegoth  was intent on stealing those artifacts. What the party doesn't know is that if they start making diplomatic moves towards that temple they are going to attract the eye of a very powerful patron. 

Rodney Matthews 'Who Disturbs The Tyrant'
Used without permission no breech of trademark or copyright is intended.

That particular temple is under the patronage of the arch wizard Stephen Amber  & things are going to go from bad to worse if the party doesn't watch its step. This isn't a forgiving patron of the arts here this is a patron of the dark arts to be sure. 

Stay tuned things are about to get much more interesting! 

Mutation Solution II - Carcosa & Cha'alt World Campaign Session Report I -Stand Alone After the Fall

 So last night the players & myself got together despite the threat of snow & bad roads. The way things went down not every player of mine was there on a Friday night. So they wanted a one shot gaming session with no holds barred. And they got it! Way back in August I got back into a Carcosa & Cha'alt workshop with some of my dungeon masters. Now for the past several days maybe a week we've been talking non stop about the Stormbringer rpg on this blog & you would swear that the players get jealous about the game.  Now bare in mind that nothing was prepared for this game ahead of time. We were expecting other players. Three of my regulars as a matter of fact. 

So what does this have to do with the Stormbringer rpg?! Quite a bit as we shall see. The players wanted a no hold barred powerful or divine game where the PC's would make a difference. So we started thinking about a PC  hit squad to take down the powers of Cha'alt. The OSR  system had to be flexible & they wanted to really put me in a bind by  get this  running Castles & Crusades Using Adventurer,Conqueror, King rpg as the base. Now being the crazy bastard that erm great dungeon master that I'm I agreed. 
They wanted several of the PC's to be veterans of Steve Miller's Immortal Wars   which has been an on going thing for years now in my campaigns.  Yes this means that Steve Miller's Neulow Games D20 Secrets of the Immortals has been  into the mix for this campaign! The player's wizard  recruited an astral guide hireling to guide them about their planar destinations. A price was agreed upon again this was all role played out. 

As a DM I had no problem with this, then one of the players threw me a real curve ball using the fact that she wanted to play a version of Lady Satan especially the last incarnation from 2004.  

Now the last time Lisa had played her character she retired her back to Hell. And so we were going to role play this out to the hilt! So the PC's had to go to the edge of the Dark Wood surrounding Hell where her crypt is located to recruit her. That entails any random encounters that were rolled up! The players readily agreeded. This isn't just any garden variety Hell either. This is Judges's Guild's Inferno & those random encounter tables can be lethal. This session could be over before it began. 

The next recruit was a hulking knight from the Wilderlands of High Fantasy & that was very interesting. There was a bit of a dust up because of a difference of opion but the whole affair went smoothly. And then since Mark wanted his wife to play an Amazonian  blade dancer we got one of those in the mix as well. 

Now how can you have a paladin in with a semi demonic creature?! Well that's because this isn't a paladin but a knight. There's a huge difference that many forget about. The other two player's PC's were fugitives from Torth. Who had escaped from slavery on Torth & were seeking the player's PC's help. Or is it simply a trap!? 

Then the players proceeded into the Dark Wood of Hell & here's where things got really tricky. Every other incarnation of Lady Satan were waiting for the PC's! And within the Dark Wood a pack of hell hounds was waiting to the party apart! If this wasn't played correctly things could have gone from bad to worse! 

The party's wizard managed several really solid rolls to talk their way outta of the situation & ended up taking on Satan as his patron! And he lost a bit of his soul in the bargain. The party ended up with their version of Lady Satan. But at a high cost. Then just to throw me a curve ball again, they wanted to journey to Cha'alt's city of A'agrybah! That meant that everything in my campaign note books was thrown out of the window. Why?! Because Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise moves everything up in the timeline! 

And then we had to end here because the snow started to get really nasty & the roads iced up. Everyone got home safe & sound after several phone calls, texts, etc. We pick in the big   Cha'alt's city of A'agrybah! 

Using X4 Master of the Desert Nomads By David Cook For Your Old School Science Fantasy Game Campaign

"To arms! To arms! The battle lines are drawn as desert men and inhuman tribes wait poised to strike on the fertile and rich lands of the east. The call has gone out through the civilized lands. The armies have been raised to match the invading foes from the west. Nobles and peasants have joined swords to greet the foes.

But Fate or Chance has decreed another role for a small few. No glorious banners will wave on their march. No squadrons of knights will charge at their word. Instead, they will fight the war through stealth, secrecy, and cunning. The risks they will take are great, but the fates of both armies lie with them.

It begins one night for your party far from the fighting. Suddenly you are entrusted with the most dangerous missions of the war. Can you cross the Sind Desert, occupied now by enemy armies, to find the Great Pass? Can you find the one known only as The Master? What will you do if your do find him?"

 'X4 Master of the Desert Nomads' By David Cook is one of my all time favorite B/X Dungeons & Dragons modules. I've taken it numerous times & adapted it for any number of Science Fantasy games. But the release of Venger Satanis's Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise .


Its time to take that Cha'alt goodness back where it belongs into the old school! There are several reasons why  'X4 Master of the Desert Nomads' By David Cook works for a Cha'alt/Carcosa crossover as we can see from the X4;"This scenario opens in a small village on the border of the Republic of Darokin. The party has answered the call to defend the Republic against the recently unified human and humanoid tribes of the vast Sind desert, bordering Darokin to the northeast. Having missed the departure of the main army, they are tasked with seeking out more information on the mysterious figure behind the enemy armies (the titular desert nomads). In the adventure that follows, the adventurers must tackle a series of wilderness encounters, including journeying up a sluggish river to its source, passing through a dismal salt marsh, crossing an inhospitable desert, and searching for a pass through the high and forbidding mountain chain on the far side of the desert. If successful, the adventure ends at an abbey situated on a mountain spur above the alpine meadows, after which the player characters may proceed with the second module in this series, the Temple of Death."
Its not only the desert action but the religious/battle aspect of  'X4 Master of the Desert Nomads' By David Cook but it fits with many of the adventure elements that Venger has outlined in Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise . From the down turns of the religious & technological sci fi factions to the machinations of the Old Ones. The deadliness of encountering a 100 desert nomads all fits in with many of the tones that have been set down within the first Cha'alt book. 

This sort of an adventure path could also  take the adventurers into the deep wastelands of Barrens of Carcosa by Geoffrey McKenny.  Many of the elements of Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise  could add the extra bit of kick for a mini campaign within this game set up. 

Just last night I was researching for today's blog entry by reading through Imagine magazine's Doug Cowie review of X4 & a mini summery on the X4 wiki entry has the highlights;"he felt it featured a "scarcely original plot," the author had "built onto the stereotype with intelligence and imagination".^[2] As an example, Cowie noted that the players are hired, not as an elite force, but as part of the army reserve, consisting of "undesirables and unusables".^[2] According to Cowie, the module features a hazardous wilderness journey and several dungeon-style encounters. He thought that the designer "has done a good job of creating the atmosphere of a land at war" including encounters with patrols and even an enemy army.^[2] Cowie noted that the latter is "the kind of complicated encounter that most designers shy away from but David Cook handles it well."^[2] Another large-scale encounter involves 100 bandits and 40-50 caravan guards and, according to Cowie, Cook provides a "perfectly workable system which allows the whole battle to be fought in a reasonable amount of time."^[2] Cowie called the final encounter area a "classic corridors-and-rooms setting" with a "fine, threatening atmosphere and some good NPCs."^[2] He also praised "a lovely twist in the plot that could put an unwary party into a lot of trouble."^[2] The only drawback, Cowie thought, is that to progress to the end the players need to "make the correct deductions and choose the right courses of action at certain stages," so those who prefer completely free player choice should "look elsewhere."^[2] Calling it a "good module with some particularly noteworthy sections" he concluded his review by noting: "If you can accept the need for some player guidance and prompting, you will find it a worthwhile and enjoyable experience.""  
Its the fact that within  the city of A'agrybah in  Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise the PC's could become a part of the army reserve, consisting of "undesirables and unusables". This plugs events within  'X4 Master of the Desert Nomads' By David Cook easily! This takes the whole affair to another level! 
It point of fact this adventure path could be used with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperboreas's THE BEASTS of KRAGGOTH MANOR for the shattered post apocalyptic yet alien aspect of this campaign. 



But this might just be really pushing the whole cloth adventure aspect of X4 Master of the Desert Nomads making things too complicated. It might be better just to stick with X4 instead. 
This mix of desert adventures might be perfect to really bring home some of the serpent men  action that we hear so much about in many OSR games but rarely do we encounter them? Serpent men are perfect NPC antagonist for PC's to encounter & plug right into many of the elements present in both X4 & Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise. 



Serpentman mini from Moonraker Miniatures 

Classic desert adventures can bring home many of the alien & weird aspects of H.P.Lovecraft's work especially the Nameless City. Would the PC's even survive the experience?! 

X4 Master of the Desert Nomads could make a fine set up to a weird wasteland campaign. 
Really thinking of trotting X4 out for this campaign coming up. But like always there are so many choices. But I certainly don't agree with the owner of the Vintage Tumbler in that its a BS adventure. The artwork below is from there. 

More thoughts coming up. 

Advanced Options in the Wasteland - Undead Princes & the Wastes More Campaign Workshop Commentary

In terms of iconic pieces of artwork they don't come more iconic then this piece of artwork  in the Fiend Folio for me. For hours I just stare at it wondering about circumstances that led to this nasty confrontation between the fighter & the lizard men. 

This piece of artwork screams 'Sorcery & Planet' to me. What I'm really thinking about is monsters or specifically Dungeons & Dragons or Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition monsters that could be put in a 'Sorcery & Planetary' adventure campaign. I was really diving deep into Bill Willingham's artwork from the early Dungeons & Dragons B/X rule books. 

And I've been specifically doing a lot of thinking about undead. Specifically wraiths or the more 3.5 advanced versions of these undead horrors the 'dread wraiths'. Why?! Because what happens to the kings & royals of these various wasteland 'Sword & Planet' settings? These ancient kings & queens are not going to go quietly into the sunsets of their empires & reading through some of the D20 Hypertext bears this out;"The oldest and most malevolent wraiths lurk in the depths of forgotten temples and other forsaken places. They can sense the approach of living creatures, and hunger for them. Despite its size, the dread wraith possesses unearthly quickness, and makes use of its Spring Attack feat and natural reach to strike with deadly effect and melt back into the shadows—or the walls." Truly it seems like there should be tons of undead haunting these various desert landscapes in various old school or  OSR product. Dark Sun made quite the effect of their undead. But I'm thinking of a Mars filled with various classic unead. This brings to mind Frank Frazetta's 1972 Norseman artwork. The print is available through the Frazetta girls site here. The artwork is used without permission. But as inspiration for these undead kings hungering for the life force of the living. 

That brings me to Venger's  Cha'alt:  Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise setting/dungeon book. This monster clocks in at two twenty five & it really brings home the fact that this is a far more advanced book then the normal Cha'alt book. Adventure & campaign events in Cha'alt have moved on as more then eighteen months have passed. Don't let the cover artwork fool you. This is a straight up monster of a campaign book. This book details & fleshes out In this book the city of A'agrybah, and its within this city that adventurers are going to want to start their Cha'alt machinations. The real gem of the Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise the offworlder high-tech facility called Elysium which is both faction & adventure goal. These folks are literally Dune like world ravagers & these folks should not be taken lightly. There's tons of ideas literally dripping at the goo of the pages but its actually indexed & better organized. 

For me Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise  is the advanced options book for Cha'alt & it does what it needs to so well. Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise  really brings into focus the hard core essence of the game system. Buy this book! Could  Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise  be used with many of the Sorcery & Planet options that I was talking about yesterday?! Yes in a very large way! Many of the tables in this book are perfectly aligned in taking the materials talked about in  Tom Moldvay's 'B1 The Lost City'  to the next level! 

New cults, new npc's, & tons of artifacts could be added into the mix from Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise to make  Tom Moldvay's 'B1 The Lost City' another wasteland destination with the fire & fury to make PC's beg for the dawn when they can escape the confines of the ruins! There are whole cloth sections of 'B1 The Lost City' that could hold many of the secrets that PC's will need to take down the factions described on Cha'alt. But are the player's PC's willing to pay the price?!