'Doing the Michael Moorcock Twist' Using Classic Dungeons & Dragons Edition Free Resources To Create The Elric Mythos Campaigns

 DM Steve has been using some of my ideas from last year's efforts on his own Godbound campaign.  That seems like a lifetime ago living in a post Covid 19 world. But just night I joined in on a jolly little Stormbringer rpg Facebook group that actually seems pretty solid. But now he wants to add in some Michael Moorcock Elric mythos elements from original Dungeons & Dragons Gods, Demigods, & Heroes by Kuntz & Ward. 

The real problem is that while Godbound does have rules on corruption for the foul magics & works of Chaos. It doesn't have the right Stormbringer or Moorcockian flavor. This is where the modular nature of B/X  & original Dungeons & Dragons comes in very handy. 

Enter Jason Vey's The Age of Conan, a 'hack' of  original Dungeons & Dragons. As a free book it comes in very handy. Not only is it a full on Sword & Sorcery set of rules but he's also got the Age of Conan II: Secrets of Acheron a sorcerers' source book just waiting there. It captures the Stormbringer demon ritual magic perfectly. And the Age of Conan III: Secrets of the Black Circle is pefect for getting your OD&D Lovecraftian weirdness on. This is going to easily simulate the dire magics of the doomed  world of Elric. All of the nastiness of chaos is right there and the corruption comes through in spades. 

This is where the mythology of Stormbringer the demonic sword itself comes into play as the wiki entry on Stormbringer explains; "This powerful enchanted black blade is a member of a demon race that takes on the form of a sword, and as such is an agent of Chaos. Stormbringer's edge is capable of cutting through virtually any material not protected by potent sorcery, and it can drink the soul from (and thereby kill) an unprotected human upon delivering any wound, even a scratch. Its most distinctive features are that it has a mind and will of its own, and that it feeds upon the souls of those it kills. Elric loathes the sword but is almost helpless without the strength and vitality it confers on him.^[3]

Stormbringer's hunger for souls is such that it frequently betrays Elric by creating a bloodlust in his mind, turning in his hands and killing friends and lovers. The cursed nature of the sword adds to Elric's guilt and self-loathing, even as he feels pleasure when the stolen lifeforce enters his body.

Stormbringer has a "brother" sword named Mournblade, which was at one time wielded by Elric's cousin and enemy Yyrkoon. It is identical to Stormbringer in most regards. Later stories reveal that there are thousands of identical demons, all taking the form of swords. Three such sibling blades appear in The Revenge of the Rose and many more "brother blades" are seen in the novel Stormbringer, but only Mournblade and Stormbringer are named.

In Elric of Melniboné, Elric and cousin Yyrkoon find the runeblades in a realm of Limbo and commence battle. Elric and Stormbringer disarm Yyrkoon, and Mournblade disappears. Yyrkoon is defeated, and Elric and his cousin return to Imrryr.

In The Weird of the White Wolf, Elric returns to Imrryr after a long journey and confronts Yyrkoon, who usurped the throne in his absence. Yyrkoon has regained Mournblade through unknown means and uses it to attack. Elric and Stormbringer kill Yyrkoon, and no further mention is made of Mournblade until it is later disclosed that it was recovered by the Seers of Nihrain, to be wielded by Elric's cousin, Dyvim Slorm. Imrryr is sacked, though the pillagers' fate is not much better, being pursued by the golden battle barges and the few dragons who were awakened, led by Dyvim Tvar. Only Elric's ship escapes, propelled by the aid of his sorcery.

In Stormbringer, Elric learns that the representatives of Fate, which serve neither Chaos nor Law, recovered Mournblade from the netherworld. They present it to Elric and explain that the runeblades were designed to be wielded by those with Melnibonéan royal blood as a check against the might of the Dead Gods of Chaos. Elric gives Mournblade to his kinsman, Dyvim Slorm, and the two men become embroiled in a confrontation between the gods. Elric summons others of Stormbringer's demonic race (also in the form of swords) to fight against a number of Dukes of Hell, brought to the Young Kingdoms by Jagreen Lern, theocrat of Pan Tang."

The demon weapons are representives of the types of magical weapons that get to place themselves into the 'war of the gods' over the eons.  Both Stormbringer & Mournblade could be considered the 'gods' of these demon blades. They are more then capable of tipping the balance of entire universes. They should always be used with cautions by dungeon masters.. 

A Knight Before The Darkness - H.P. Lovecraft, Appendix N, & The Mutating Underworld In Old School Campaigns

"Then down the wide lane betwixt the two columns a lone figure strode; a tall, slim figure with the young face of an antique Pharaoh, gay with prismatic robes and crowned with a golden pshent that glowed with inherent light. Close up to Carter strode that regal figure; whose proud carriage and swart features had in them the fascination of a dark god or fallen archangel, and around whose eyes there lurked the languid sparkle of capricious humour. It spoke, and in its mellow tones there rippled the wild music of Lethean streams.
"Randolph Carter," said the voice, "you have come to see the Great Ones whom it is unlawful for men to see. Watchers have spoken of this thing, and the Other Gods have grunted as they rolled and tumbled mindlessly to the sound of thin flutes in the black ultimate void where broods the daemon-sultan whose name no lips dare speak aloud.
"When Barzai the Wise climbed Hatheg-Kla to see the Greater Ones dance and howl above the clouds in the moonlight he never returned. The Other Gods were there, and they did what was expected. Zenig of Aphorat sought to reach unknown Kadath in the cold waste, and his skull is now set in a ring on the little finger of one whom I need not name.
"But you, Randolph Carter, have braved all things of earth's dreamland, and burn still with the flame of quest. You came not as one curious, but as one seeking his due, nor have you failed ever in reverence toward the mild gods of earth. Yet have these gods kept you from the marvellous sunset city of your dreams, and wholly through their own small covetousness; for verily, they craved the weird loveliness of that which your fancy had fashioned, and vowed that henceforward no other spot should be their abode.
"They are gone from their castle on unknown Kadath to dwell in your marvellous city. All through its palaces of veined marble they revel by day, and when the sun sets they go out in the perfumed gardens and watch the golden glory on temples and colonnades, arched bridges and silver-basined fountains, and wide streets with blossom-laden urns and ivory statues in gleaming rows. And when night comes they climb tall terraces in the dew, and sit on carved benches of porphyry scanning the stars, or lean over pale balustrades to gaze at the town's steep northward slopes, where one by one the little windows in old peaked gables shine softly out with the calm yellow light of homely candles.
"The gods love your marvellous city, and walk no more in the ways of the gods. They have forgotten the high places of earth, and the mountains that knew their youth. The earth has no longer any gods that are gods, and only the Other Ones from outer space hold sway on unremembered Kadath. Far away in a valley of your own childhood, Randolph Carter, play the heedless Great Ones. You have dreamed too well, O wise arch-dreamer, for you have drawn dream's gods away from the world of all men's visions to that which is wholly yours; having builded out of your boyhood's small fancies a city more lovely than all the phantoms that have gone before.
"It is not well that earth's gods leave their thrones for the spider to spin on, and their realm for the Others to sway in the dark manner of Others. Fain would the powers from outside bring chaos and horror to you, Randolph Carter, who are the cause of their upsetting, but that they know it is by you alone that the gods may be sent back to their world. In that half-waking dreamland which is yours, no power of uttermost night may pursue; and only you can send the selfish Great Ones gently out of your marvellous sunset city, back through the northern twilight to their wonted place atop unknown Kadath in the cold waste.
"So. Randolph Carter, in the name of the Other Gods I spare you and charge you to seek that sunset city which is yours, and to send thence the drowsy truant gods for whom the dream world waits. Not hard to find is that roseal fever of the gods, that fanfare of supernal trumpets and clash of immortal cymbals, that mystery whose place and meaning have haunted you through the halls of waking and the gulfs of dreaming, and tormented you with hints of vanished memory and the pain of lost things awesome and momentous. Not hard to find is that symbol and relic of your days of wonder, for truly, it is but the stable and eternal gem wherein all that wonder sparkles crystallised to light your evening path. Behold! It is not over unknown seas but back over well-known years that your quest must go; back to the bright strange things of infancy and the quick sun-drenched glimpses of magic that old scenes brought to wide young eyes."

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath  (1943)
by H.P. Lovecraft

 

So it was David C. Sutherland III (April 4, 1949 – June 6, 2005) birthday yesterday the artist who helped shape the look of early Dungeons & Dragons & Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books & products. He's also very significant for today's blog entry. His famous A Paladin In Hell from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first Edition Player's Handbook was a piece of artwork that I used to stare at for hours. The lone paladin knight against hordes of demons in Hell & in those days we had no backstory except perhaps in some long forgotten issue of The Dragon. And no I don't need to know the issue I can easily look it up at some point. This one image was burned into my back lizard brain for years here & there I'd see the occasional tribute piece of artwork.


But then last night I was looking through the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual & there's our knight again. We can trace the party of adventurers throughout the books until they drop into Hell & our knight sacrifices himself to allow the party to escape. He lives as we'd find out later on via the book," A Paladin in Hell. " But the book at best is at best a retrocon of a classic piece of  old school Sutherland artwork.

Then last night I was thumbing through my copy of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition .After getting off the phone with a friend of mine who got through telling me that the far future setting  of Hyperborea isn't clearly the far future of millions of years from now in the game setting. Well, I cam across a piece of artwork titled 'Holy Avenger A Paladin in Underborea' in the AS&SH second edition book. Ragnarok already happened & many of the gods were killed. There wasn't simply one apocalyptic event there were many. The Poetic Edda poem Völuspá  goes deeply into the events leading up to the battle of the gods and its aftermath.

Brothers will fight

and kill each other,

sisters' children

will defile kinship.

It is harsh in the world,

whoredom rife

—an axe age, a sword age

—shields are riven—

a wind age, a wolf age—

before the world goes headlong.

No man will have

mercy on another

Zothique's period is long after this time when the cycles of  the apocalyptic events have run their course. The Last Hieroglyph by Clark Ashton Smith goes into the signs & portents of the end or beginnings of these cycles. It always begins quietly & dangerously.

"The world itself, in the end, shall be turned to a round cipher.
     -Old prophecy of Zothique

"Nushain the astrologer had studied the circling orbs of night from many far-separated regions, and had cast, with such skill as he was able to command, the horoscopes of a myriad men, women and children. From city to city, from realm to realm he had gone, abiding briefly in any place: for often the local magistrates had banished him as a common charlatan; or elsewise, in due time, his consultants had discovered the error of his predictions and had fallen away from him. Sometimes he went hungry and shabby; and small honor was paid to him anywhere. The sole companions of his precarious fortunes were a wretched mongrel dog that had somehow attached itself to him in the desert town of Zul-Bha-Sair, and a mute, one-eyed negro whom he had bought very cheaply on Yoros. He had named the dog Ansarath, after the canine star, and had called the Negro Mouzda, which was a word signifying darkness.
In the course of his prolonged itinerations, the astrologer came to Xylac and made his abode in its capital, Ummaos, which had been built above the shards of an elder city of the same name, long since destroyed by a sorcerer's wrath. Here Nushain lodged with Ansarath and Mouzda in a half-ruinous attic of a rotting tenement; and from the tenement's roof, Nushain was wont to observe the positions and movements of the sidereal bodies on evenings not obscured by the fumes of the city. At intervals some housewife or jade, some porter or huckster or petty merchant, would climb the decaying stairs to his chamber, and would pay him a small sum for the nativity which he plotted with immense care by the aid of his tattered books of astrological science.
When, as often occurred, he found himself still at a loss regarding the significance of some heavenly conjunction or opposition after poring over his books, he would consult Ansarath, and would draw profound auguries from the variable motions of the dog's mangy tail or his actions in searching for fleas. Certain of these divinations were fulfilled, to the considerable benefit of Nushain's renown in Ummaos. People came to him more freely and frequently, hearing that he was a soothsayer of some note; and, moreover, he was immune from prosecution, owing to the liberal laws of Xylac, which permitted all the sorcerous and mantic arts."
"The Last Hieroglyph" (Weird Tales, April 1935)

Its when these cycles of death & rebirth of the gods is revealed that the inherit Cosmicism of the circle of H.P. Lovcraft's circle of writers is revealed.  Even the crawls & tendrils of the Outer Gods is helpless against these circles of cosmic history. The fact is that in dungeons adventurers are far closer to the cosmic prison of the Underworld then they'd like to be. This comes through loud and clear in the tribute piece of artwork AS&SH's Holy Avenger A Paladin in Underborea.



Peering deeply into Gods, Demi Gods, & Heroes by Robert Kuntz then we see that a significant number of ancient people's pantheons from antiquity are represented. These same cultures go on to make up the bulk of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique cycle;
"Clark Ashton Smith himself described the Zothique cycle in a letter to L. Sprague de Camp, dated November 3, 1953:

Zothique, vaguely suggested by Theosophic theories about past and future continents, is the last inhabited continent of earth. The continents of our present cycle have sunken, perhaps several times. Some have remained submerged; others have re-risen, partially, and re-arranged themselves. Zothique, as I conceive it, comprises Asia Minor, Arabia, Persia, India, parts of northern and eastern Africa, and much of the Indonesian archipelago. A new Australia exists somewhere to the south. To the west, there are only a few known islands, such as Naat, in which the black cannibals survive. To the north, are immense unexplored deserts; to the east, an immense unvoyaged sea. The peoples are mainly of Aryan or Semitic descent; but there is a negro kingdom (Ilcar) in the north-west; and scattered blacks are found throughout the other countries, mainly in palace-harems. In the southern islands survive vestiges of Indonesian or Malayan races. The science and machinery of our present civilization have long been forgotten, together with our present religions. But many gods are worshipped; and sorcery and demonism prevail again as in ancient days. Oars and sails alone are used by mariners. There are no fire-arms—only the bows, arrows, swords, javelins, etc. of antiquity. The chief language spoken (of which I have provided examples in an unpublished drama) is based on Indo-European roots and is highly inflected, like Sanskrit, Greek and Latin."

These same peoples appeared in the pages of The Dragon Magazine & various other early original Dungeons & Dragons products. The cycles of the gods are something that's inherit in the mythology of Western & Eastern culture. The Apocalypse always seems to provide fodder for the dungeons & ruins throughout a campaign setting. You can well bet that below the ruined cities of the Hyperboreans there are millions of damned souls still being tortured by various demons.

AS&SH art by Del Teigeler for the Kickstarter winding up in 10 days!

I mentioned yesterday the inherit weird energies that always accompany invasive monsters in reality. Almost each & every time demons or beings of Outer Darkness are mentioned in Robert Howard's novels & stories there's more then a bit of trepidation over the corruption of the occult & supernatural & with good reason.

"Yonder in the unknown vastness"—his long finger stabbed at the black silent jungle which brooded beyond the firelight—"yonder lies mystery and adventure and nameless terror. Once I dared the jungle—once she nearly claimed my bones. Something entered into my blood, something stole into my soul like a whisper of unnamed sin. The jungle! Dark and brooding—over leagues of the blue salt sea she has drawn me and with the dawn I go to seek the heart of her. Mayhap I shall find curious adventure—mayhap my doom awaits me. But better death than the ceaseless and everlasting urge, the fire that has burned my veins with bitter longing."

"The Hills of the Dead" (1930)

Dungeons & the underworld are repositories & toxic waste dumps of the universe scrapping against the outer edges of chaos & Hell. Anyone living close to such areas are bound to be 'not right'. These are mutants & throw backs to other ages that we so often in old school gaming. Val Semeiks latest offerings on Corey Walden, The Anthropophagi of Xambaala & the artwork clicks all of my old school throwback buttons.


In Arthurian lore these beings are those who have dallied with Fairyland  a bit too long. The chaos energies warp the very energies of their being making them mutants of the first order. Mutant Hordes of the Last Sun by Rpg Pundit has a complete system for generating mutant OSR PCs races and its one that intend to use with my Lion & Dragon game setting. Yes once again I'm using a 'Gonzo' source for mutant PC's but since it plugs in I'm more then happy to adapt it into the mix! The energies of Chaos have been lapping against the shores of Briton and even during the time of Arthur they knew to put certain tribes of marauders to the sword & torch as given in the History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth   Book 7: The Prophesies of Merlin;
"As Vortigern, king of the Britons, was sitting upon the bank of the drained pond, the two dragons, one of which was white, the other red, came forth, and, approaching one another, began a terrible fight, and cast forth fire with their breath. But the white dragon had the advantage, and made the other fly to the end of the lake. And he, for grief at his flight, renewed the assault upon his pursuer, and forced him to retire. After this battle of the dragons, the king commanded Ambrose Merlin to tell him what it portended. Upon which he, bursting into tears, delivered what his prophetical spirit suggested to him, as follows:—
"Woe to the red dragon, for his banishment hasteneth on. His lurking holes shall be seized by the white dragon, which signifies the Saxons whom you invited over; but the red denotes the British nation, which shall be oppressed by the white. Therefore shall its mountains be levelled as the valleys, and the rivers of the valleys shall run with blood. The exercise of religion shall be destroyed, and churches laid open to ruin. At last the oppressed shall prevail, and oppose the cruelty of foreigners. For a boar of Cornwall shall give his assistance, and trample their necks under his feet. The islands of the ocean shall be subject to his power, and he shall possess the forests of Gaul. The house of Romulus shall dread his courage, and his end shall be doubtful. He shall be celebrated in the mouths of the people; and his exploits shall be food to those that relate them. Six of his posterity shall sway the sceptre, but after them shall arise a German worm. He shall be advanced by a sea-wolf, whom the woods of Africa shall accompany. Religion shall again be abolished, and there shall be a translation of the metropolitan sees. The dignity of London shall adorn Dorobernia, and the seventh pastor of York shall be resorted to in the kingdom of Armorica. St David's shall put on the pall of the City of Legions, and a preacher of Ireland shall be dumb on account of an infant growing in the womb. It shall rain a shower of blood, and a raging famine shall afflict mankind. When these things happen, the red one shall be grieved; but when his fatigue is over, shall grow strong. Then shall misfortunes hasten upon the white one, and the buildings of his gardens shall be pulled down. Seven that sway the sceptre shall be killed, one of whom shall become a saint. The wombs of mothers shall be ripped up, and infants be abortive. There shall be a most grievous punishment of men, that the natives may be restored. He that shall do these things shall put on the brazen man, and upon a brazen horse shall for a long time guard the gates of London. After this, shall the red dragon return to his proper manners, and turn his rage upon himself. Therefore shall the revenge of the Thunderer show itself, for every field shall disappoint the husbandmen. Mortality shall snatch away the people, and make a desolation over all countries. The remainder shall quit their native soil, and make foreign plantations. A blessed king shall prepare a fleet, and shall be reckoned the twelfth in the court among the saints. There shall be a miserable desolation of the kingdom, and the floors of the harvests shall return to the fruitful forests. The white dragon shall rise again, and invite over a daughter of Germany. Our gardens shall be again replenished with foreign seed, and the red one shall pine away at the end of the pond. After that shall the German worm be crowned, and the brazen prince buried. He has his bounds assigned him, which he shall not be able to pass. For a hundred and fifty years he shall continue in trouble and subjection, but shall bear sway three hundred. Then shall the north wind rise against him, and shall snatch away the flowers which the west wind produced. There shall be gilding in the temples, nor shall the edge of teh sword cease. The German dragon shall hardly get to his holes, because the revenge of his treason shall overtake him. At last he shall flourish for a little time, but the decimation of Neustria shall hurt him. For a people in wood and in iron coats shall come, and revenge on him his wickedness. They shall restore the ancient inhabitants to their dwellings, and there shall be an open destruction of foreigners. The seed of the while dragon shall be swept out of our gardens, and the remainder of his generation shall be decimated. They shall bear the yoke of slavery, and wound their mother with spades and ploughs. After this shall succeed two dragons, whereof one shall be killed with the sting of envy, but the other shall return under the shadow of a name. Then shall succeed a lion of justice, at whose roar the Gallican towers and the island dragons shall tremble. In those days gold shall be squeezed from the lily and the nettle, and silver shall flow from the hoofs of bellowing cattle. The frizzled shall put on various fleeces, and the outward habit denote the inward parts. The feet of barkers shall be cut off; wild beasts shall enjoy peace; mankind shall be grieved at their punishment; the form of commerce shall be divided; the half shall be round. The ravenousness of kites shall be destroyed, and the teeth of wolves blunted. The lion's whelps shall be transformed into sea-fishes; and an eagle shall build her nest upon Mount Aravius. Venedotia shall grow red with the blood of mothers, and the house of Corineus kill six brethren. The island shall be wet with night tears; so that all shall be provoked to all things. Woe to thee, Neustria, because the lion's brain shall be poured upon thee: and he shall be banished with shattered limbs from his native soil. Posterity shall endeavour to fly above the highest places; but the favour of new comers shall be exalted. Piety shall hurt the possessor of things got by impiety, till he shall have put on his Father; therefore, being armed with the teeth of a boar, he shall ascend above the tops of the mountains, and the shadow of him that wears a helmet. Albania shall be enraged, and, assembling her neighbours, shall be employed in shedding blood. There shall be put into her jaws a bridle that shall be made on the coast of Armorica. The eagle of the broken covenant shall gild it over, and rejoice in her third nest. The roaring whelps shall watch, and, leaving the woods, shall hunt within the walls of cities. They shall make no small slaughter of those that oppose them, and shall cut off the tongues of bulls. They shall load the necks of roaring lions with chains, and restore the times of their ancestors. Then from the first to the fourth, from the fourth to the third, from the third to the second, the thumb shall roll in oil. The sixth shall overturn the walls of Ireland, and change the woods into a plain. He shall reduce several parts to one, and be crowned with the head of a lion. His beginning shall lay open to wandering affection, but his end shall carry him up to the blessed, who are above. For he shall restore the seats of saints in their countries, and settle pastors in convenient places. Two cities he shall invest with two palls, and shall bestow virgin-presents upon virgins. He shall merit by this the favour of the Thunderer, and shall be placed among the saints. From him shall proceed a lynx penetrating all things, who shall be bent upon the ruin of his own nation; for, through him, Neustria shall lose both islands, and be deprived of its ancient dignity. Then shall the natives return back to the island; for there shall arise a dissention among foreigners. Also a hoary old man, sitting upon a snow-white horse, shall turn the course of the river Periron, and shall measure out a mill upon it with a white rod. The shall break forth the fountains of Armorica, and they shall be crowned with the diadem of Brutus. Cambria shall be filled with joy; and the oaks of Cornwall shall flourish. The island shall be called by the name of Brutus: and the name given it by foreigners shall be abolished. From Conan shall proceed a warlike boar, that shall exercise the sharpness of his tusks within the Gallic woods. For he shall cut down all the larger oaks, and shall be a defence to the smaller. The Arabians and Africans shall dread him; for he shall pursue a furious course to the farther part of Spain. There shall succeed the goat of the Venereal castle, having golden horns and a silver beard, who shall breathe such a cloud out of his nostrils, as shall darken the whole surface of the island. There shall be peace in his time; and corn shall abound by reason of the fruitfulness of the soil. Women shall become serpents in their gait, and all their motions shall be full of pride. The camp of Venus shall be restored; nor shall the arrows of Cupid cease to wound. The fountain of a river shall be turned into blood; and two kings shall fight a duel at Stafford for a lioness. Luxury shall overspread the whole ground; and fornication not cease to debauch mankind. All these things shall three ages see; till the buried kings shall be exposed to public view in the city of London. Famine shall again return; and the inhabitants shall grieve for the destruction of their cities. Then shall come the board of commerce, who shall recall the scattered flocks to the pasture they had lost. His breast shall be food to the hungry, and his tongue drink to the thirsty. Out of his mouth shall flow rivers, that shall water the parched jaws of men. After this shall be produced a tree upon the Tower of London, which, having no more than three branches, shall overshadow the surface of the whole island with the breadth of its leaves. Its adversary, the north wind, shall come upon it, and with its noxious blast shall snatch away the tjird branch, but the two remaining ones shall possess its place, till they shall destroy one another by the multitude of their leaves; and then shall it obtain the place of those two, and shall give sustenance to birds of foreign nations. It shall be esteemed hurtful to native fowls; for they shall not be able to fly freely for fear of its shadow. There shall succeed the ass of wickedness, swift against the goldsmiths, but slow against the ravenousness of wolves. In those days the oaks of the forests shall burn, and acorns grow upon the branches of tell trees. The Severn sea shall discharge itself through seven mouths, and the river Uske burn seven months. Fishes shall die with the heat thereof; and of them shall be engendered serpents. The baths of Badon shall grow cold, and their salubrious waters engender death. London shall mourn for the death of twenty thousand; and the river Thames shall be turned to blood. The monks in ther cowls shall be forced to marry, and their cry shall be heard upon the mountains of the Alps.""

Apocalyptic times of history are never simple things in old school campaigns but they can provide fodder for all kinds of adventure as long as the dungeon master & players don't take them too seriously. The underworld is an unending source of dungeon fodder for classic adventures. There's far too much material to cover in one blog entry we'll get more into it tomorrow! Remember sometimes having a paladin or knight in the party is necessary. Keep your holy avenger handy kids!

1d20 Random Deep Encounters With Warriors For Chaos Table For Your Old School Campaigns

When the incursions of Chaos come into the lands of men there are few who are not touched by these forces. Warriors touched by these forces often come taking what they want for evil they have crossed the threshold and become almost forces of nature & an evil to be reckoned with. Warriors for chaos are some of the most dangerous beings parties of adventurers and outlaws can face.They often sport 1d6 mutations picked up in their travels across the planes where the whims and wants of their chaotic patrons move them. These warriors of the wastes are often fighters of 3rd level or above and more then a match for beginning parties. They often have 1d6 relic or artifacts of minor note that they've picked up in their raiding & pillages. Warriors for chaos often come on the heels of a chaos storm of incredible violence and intensity.
Here then are 1d20 encounters to confound and cause your parties grief.



1d20 Random Deep Encounters With Warriors For Chaos Table

1. 1d6 2nd level tattooed warriors from a strange alien culture on the warpath looking to raid and pillage the locals. They are an advanced scouting party for a far large group of several thousand. They ride things that might have been horses once but have been twisted and changed they are armed with short bows & Calvary swords they wear leather armor and have several alien severed heads as a trophies. 
2. 1d10 lightly armed chariots drawn by weird horse like reptile mounts, the two warrior drivers and spear throwers are armed with light sears & Greek fire. They travel fast and the warriors are 2nd level fighters also armed with short swords. 
3. 1d4 outlaw mutant scouts are riding on giant dragon flies and are armed with short bows and sling shots. They will attack anything on sight and have murder on their minds. 
4. A gang of dangerous tattooed cut throats armed with throwing daggers, boomerangs and sling shots riding giant mutated men. They are 3rd level fighters and fight to the death, they are advanced scouts for a chaos cult's army. 
5. 1d6 former musketeers who have mutated into hideous mutant beastmen, they seek to slay anyone they run across they are armed with swords, small round shields, and pistols. They ride ghostly mounts and will murder anyone they can. 
6. 1d4 scouts riding on giant bats and sporting lances with poisoned tips. They are very dangerous and deranged. 
7. A group of outlaws and cut throats riding nigntmare like mutated horses that wants to kill a rival mutant. There are 1d6 of these mutants and they are armed with swords and shields. They hate normal humans. 
8.  There is a group of 1d10 mutated cannibals on horse back who are raiding for slaves for depraved demonic masters
9.  A ring of 1d20 murderous priests wants sacrifices for his hungry god thing at the bottom of a local chasm. The beast grants limited sorcererous power for any sacrifices made for the dangerous supernaturals power 
10. A deadly power of chaotic energies has summoned a cult of 1d20 outlaws to murder and rob in its name. These fools have begun to sport the mutations of their calling. 
11. 1d20 mutants on the backs of something that might have been a horse are armed with spears and want to hunt normals. 
12. 1d6 5th level hunters sport 1d6 mutaions that marks them as scions of the choatic hunter god thing who moves across the planes 
13. A single warrior carries the burden of a demon sword he wields is leading him to kill and maim until he finds the heart of chaos. 
14. 1d8 Elves who have been poisoned by their exposure to the forces of chaos. They seek to kill anyone they come across because of their insanity. 
15. A group entity that might have been a group of Dwarven but became one under the aspect of chaos. They seek to slay anyone they come across for their valuables. They have a cache of  gold is safe for them to pick up later 4 miles away.
16. A gang of 1d6 4th level mutants hound the trails of some dangerous sport to kill and take back to their demonic masters. 
17. 1d8 chaos priests turned warriors ride giant mammoths and seek a holy relic of chaos from the remains of their victims. They have lots of goodies from their raids. 
18. A dangerous gang of scouts and thieves seeks to crush their enemies in any way they could, so they've undergone mutations. 
19. 1d8 +2 chaos cultists ride on the backs of strange reptile beasts and seek to slay anyone they say that feeds the fires of order and time. 
20.  1d100 naked chaos warriors armed with swords and covered with wode seeks to slay and murder in their name of their foul demonic patron. They will try to bargain with the souls of their pray in exchange for the rite of mutation. Very dangerous and murderous beings.

Demons, Darkness, & Dark Albion As OSR Tool Kit Of Horror For Your Old School Campaigns

Over the weekend I began to take a look at Dark Albion by Rpg Pundit and some of the magic, and sorcery sections.With it being Halloween on it seemed to be a great time to get into the workings of Chaos on the empire of Albion. Now there's two reason why this is an important point for me as a dungeon master. One is the fact that Albion is an empire in flames burning from within as its being eaten from without by forces that are taking full advantage of the Albionian Civil War. Notice I said Albionion & not the War of the Roses; because while it takes full advantage of the real world history of the War of the Roses this isn't our world. Magick, chaos,cults, dungeons, and all of the full trappings of lower tier adventuring are there and they can tip the wars one way or another. Because of the lower levels of the NPC's, the impact that the PC's can have on the world setting of Dark Albion is immense.


This is a bad time for Albion & after looking at the Dark Albion books in some detail over the weekend I can honestly say that terror stalking the land in the form of Chaos leads me to think that perhaps the Church of  the Unconquered Sun  isn't all that far from the truth. You've got frogmen and their cultists, Elven cults & their followers, and a host of evils just waiting from the shadows to strike! The strip & burn method of handling cults isn't that far from the truth. The country of Albion doesn't have time to dally with the horrors waiting in the hills.




Between the machinations of wars were fought largely by the landed aristocracy and armies of feudal retainers, with some foreign mercenaries. "Support for each house largely depended upon dynastic factors, such as blood relationships, marriages within the nobility, and the grants or confiscations of feudal titles and lands." This is the stew that PC's are going to find themselves in & it would take a very clever NPC patron to navigate such waters and perhaps real world history has already provided. Your going to need a good head of the occult, the landed aristocracy, battle tactics, warfare, and a near genius.Meet "John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occult philosopher,^[5] and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. He was also an advocate of England's imperial expansion." who although born in the wrong time period would have felt at home in the darkness, blood, and court intrigues of a Dark Albion campaign.


"
Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on the geometry of Euclid at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties. Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and a respected astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery.
Simultaneously with these efforts, Dee immersed himself in the worlds of magic, astrology and Hermetic philosophy. He devoted much time and effort in the last thirty years or so of his life to attempting to commune with angels in order to learn the universal language of creation and bring about the pre-apocalyptic unity of mankind. A student of the Renaissance Neo-Platonism of Marsilio Ficino, Dee did not draw distinctions between his mathematical research and his investigations into Hermetic magic, angel summoning and divination. Instead he considered all of his activities to constitute different facets of the same quest: the search for a transcendent understanding of the divine forms which underlie the visible world, which Dee called "pure verities"."
Dee would make a perfect patron for a shadowy war and spy campaign where magick & chaos are going to play a central role. For the movers and shakers of behind the shadows of the Rose War there would need to be another piece of the puzzle for Chaos. Enter the "Stolas, also written Stolos, is a demon that is illustrated in the Dictionnaire Infernal published in 1863 and described by Collin de Plancy and the Pseudomonarchia daemonum of Johann Wier 1583.
In demonology , Stolas is a Great Prince of Hell , he ordered twenty - six legions of demons (twenty according to other authors), and teaches astronomy and knowledge of toxic plants, herbs and precious stones.
It is depicted as an owl crowned with long legs, like a crow, or as a man."
These demons make excellent patrons for a Dark Albion Cult of Chaos campaign or adventures. The author goes into several real world resources that could be used to flesh out even more details about these horrors.   
If you like research then there's some great resources there.

In my various old school campaigns players know better then to screw with owl headed demons. There actually is a historical evidence that fleshes these creatures of chaos out far better. According to The Devil and his Works: the Owl in Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516) from Medievalists.net ;
"The art of the early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch should be understood as part of the theological framework of the Renaissance (14th-16th centuries) and earlier Christian art. In Christian symbolism the owl stands for the devil and his works, and this article investigates the possibly of this interpretation for several works of Bosch. The owl makes a regular appearance on the Dutchman’s paintings and many in the Christian society of Bosch’s day were familiar with the religious implications of its presence. This bird of the night and darkness is a key to understanding Bosch’s thinking and the message of his paintings, which were largely produced for a religious setting, e.g. as altar paintings. Bosch painted in a society where the devil was seen as a real and present danger to any person. This article concludes that from the perspective of Christian symbolism and medieval Theology, the owl should not be taken as a traditional symbol of wisdom, but as representative of the devil and his schemes."
A perfect addition and adversary for your Dark Albion games and a great vile villainous foil for your party of adventurers and foes of Chaos.
They can even be used as an unexpected encounter for a mid tier group of Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventurers for an unexpected twist!

Becareful the next time you crawl into that dungeon ruin in Albion there might be an owl headed horror waiting down there for with his coven of cultists for you!

Sex, Death, Chaos, and Hell Or How To Make Hell Work For You In Your Mega Dungeon

Its Jack Kirby's birthday today and there's one of his creations that I absolutely love, Etrigan the Demon.Today bears little to no resemblance to the Jack Kirby's original creation. All of this really relates back to the 90's and the even further back to the Satanic Panic of the 80's.But I digress, Etrigan is perhaps on of Jack Kirby's finest creations and perhaps on of his most underrated in my humble opinion. What does this have to do with megadungeons, Chaos, Hell, death, and the Demon? Well everything and nothing. Very briefly according to wiki :
The Demon is a superhero and antihero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, the titular character, named Etrigan, is a demon from Hell who, despite his violent tendencies, usually finds himself allied to the forces of good, mainly because of the alliance between the heroic characters of the DC Universe and Jason Blood, a human to whom Etrigan is bound
 

I remember cracking open my first issue of  Etrigan The Demon back in late '89 from the 1970's and being blown away. After the canceling of  Kirby's Fourth World saga, he pulled the Demon out of his bag of tricks.
And at the time I was blown away with such sights as this.

There have been a few other times when I was this excited reading a comic book, the first time I read through Spawn, and the introduction of Hellboy plus the various Vertigo lines from DC back when they didn't play it safe. Hell was something #$@ed up and completely alien & when I asked one of the guys who worked with Kirby what they were thinking when they did this stuff it was his response that gave me pause. 'It was fun!'  That's right kids Chaos and Hell can be fun. Because there is a vast difference between the 'Pulp Hell' of D&D and the Hell of Scripture and religion. Pulp Hell is the Hell of horror comics, D&D, and Rpgs. Its also one of the most over used cliches since the days of Dragon magazine. But it works in grand style. So much so that in both Fantastic Heroes and Witchery as well Dark Albion, Chaos does a damn good job of aping many of the conventions and issues of Jack Kirby's the Demon in style. If you don't believe me then check out this preview of the Dark Albion's Demonic Magick


Alternative Cover for Dark Albion the Rose War Available Through Lulu

The Hell of Dark Albion is the Hell of Faust and Shakespeare as well as the Gothic writers and later the comic book and  pulp writers of yesteryear. This also dovetails into the fact that since Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea works very well with Fantastic Heroes and Witchery, many of the artifacts,treasures,locations and whatnot can be used in a modern setting. Such as the mythical past or mythological connection to a game set in modern times or as a part of an alternative Earth. A fact that has been exploited by Dungeon Crawl Classics numerous times in their products  and as something of a convention that both Marvel did with Conan back in the 70's as part of their super hero and horror titles and one that DC took full advantage of in their own Dr. Fate appearances. A more recent appearance of this convention has been recently unlocked as a part of the Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.'s Marmoreal Tomb Campaign. This megadungeon could be used to link all of the products that the Otherside mentioned. With only four days to go the Marmoreal Tomb is offering some very tasty ideas & link ups for a multidimensional megadungeon touching areas across all of time and space as well as beyond.

Artwork by Mark Allen 2014
THERE ARE ONLY FOUR DAYS TO GO!

Here's where the sex and death come in folks, given such a location of a megadungeon the powers of Chaos could well be exploiting the  heck out of this location staging numerous sorties into all kinds of campaign times and adventure landscapes. It might also mean that PC's eternal souls might well be denied their eternal rewards allowing the Revenant PC class that FH&W to come into play or the other version of these characters from the Gong Farmer's Almanac to come out to play for Dungeon Crawl Classics.
But there's more to the issue then simply allowing a megadungeon to go plunking down across space and time. Chaos could well be spreading its seed across the post apocalyptic landscape as well as the fantasy one. The spawn of Hell could easily turn up as part of the landscape allowing the implementation of  many of the options of races to be a sign of the taint of the landscape. The powers of  Hell itself can easily manipulate entire generations of adventurers into doing their bidding through the various locations a fact that DM's should take full advantage of. But Hell should be very dangerous, unpredictable, and never ever something PC's should really be familiar with. More on that tomorrow!

All of the various rpg and retroclone systems mentioned copyrights and respective trade marks belong to their owners. Jack Kirby, Etrigan the Demon belong to their trademark & copy right holders no violation or infringement has been implied. This blog post is for educational and entertainment purposes only.
The term 'Pulp Hell' is trade marked and copyrighted to Dark Corner Productions & Eric Fabiaschi the author. This copyright and trademark extends to the Warlord of the Outer Worlds campaign setting and the Accursed Atlantis setting as well. All rights reserved.

Where Tim Went Wrong and Right. Witches, Chaos, Cults, And Witchcraft In Old School Retroclone Campaigns

I've been following Tim Brannan's blog now for many months and he's been doing some very nice Fantastic Heroes and Witchery posts and talking about mixing in Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. He's going to try and smooth out some of the rough edges of  Fantastic Heroes and Witchery with the pseudo historic wonderfulness of Dark Albion from the mighty pen of +Kasimir Urbanski's aka RPGPundit's in his latest book Dark Albion: The Rose War. For the better part of  over a month I've been looking into Dark Albion's demonic and chaotic foundations. And I think that's where Tim is missing some vital information. He's done some damn fine posts about FH&W  All of these very solid posts can be found right over HERE, HERE & right over HERE. 
  Which brings up the point here, FH&W's implied lack of a cleric goes to the heart of the nature of Chaos in the rule book. Chaos in Fantastic Heroes and Witchery is all things of Hell, the Abyss, and Chaos. Occultists walk indeed a very fine line and a razor's edge in the game one to which can indeed cut the throat of the very expert in Magick as its implied in the book. Fantastic Heroes and Witchery takes grave pains to wear its Gothic pedigree on its sleeve especially in regards to its conventions towards Hell and the powers of Chaos especially within its spells. The six hundred and sixty six spells have had great pains by the author to have them modified to fit his world view of the corrupting and dangerous nature of Chaos. A view that is both shared by me and Kasimir Urbanski. Dark Albion presents a very solid pseudo historical  structure for its view of Hell, Chaos and its Demons. This is not so much based on a refinement of actual history but a blending of occult fictional tradition, historical ideas, and mythological conceits wrapped in very rich game setting.


And that's really part of the problem with mixing and matching some of these sources, Lord knows I've been wrestling with this problem ever since I received Dark Albion. Tim Brannan's style is the mixing and matching of these styles of games according to him:
'Another point of commonality is Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. I wanted to use it as a game system for both Dark Albion and my witch adventures.  I think it would work out well.  I need to find locales in "Dark" Europe for all of these adventures.'

What time's not getting is very dark and dangerous nature of Dark Albion, AS&SH, along with FH&W. These games are not so much D&D as they are Gothic pulp sword and sorcery wrapped in the seeming tropes of D&D. Rpgpundit went through a very carefully contrived blog entry regarding demons, cults, and chaos worship in Dark Albion :
'Regarding Chaos worship, some people have asked just what a Chaos-cult in Albion should look like.  Now the thing is, the particular manifestations of Chaos-worship in the setting ought to be extremely varied. Law is One, Chaos is Legion. So I don't think there's a lot of uniform things you can say about it. There are heretical subversive cults that appear to worship the Unconquered Sun (like the Cathari), there are secret 'satanic'-style sects, lone would-be witches venerating some dark thing in the woods, there was Bishop Peacock's sect that looked like a regular church congregation on the outside but they were preparing to open a gate to hell in the old Arcadian catacombs, there are of course the Frogmen and their Frog-Gods. So the answer is that the main thing a GM should try to do with Chaos-cults is not make any two look too similar to one another; this is of course a great detail if you choose to focus on a game of chaos-hunters (for example, of a party being sponsored by the Clerical order). Even so, there's a good list of references from the details in the gazetteer and chronology as to provide a GM with ideas of what Chaos cults can look like.
With demons, the whole system for demon-summoning, and the details thereof are explicit in the game.  The system is based on the actual medieval ideas on demon-summoning, from grimoires like the Goetia.  Demons come in different ranks (corresponding to their level of power), that human beings have labelled as though they were mortal titles: knights, counts, dukes, princes, etc.
The medieval magicians did not believe that summoning demons was necessarily an evil act; if you could control and bind them in the name of divine forces (in this case, the Unconquered Sun), then evil could be used for good purposes (naturally, non-magicians would have a hard time being able to tell if that was the case and would be highly paranoid about the whole business regardless).  Suitably bound, they could then be obliged to offer a service or deal with a problem in exchange for being released back from whence they came.  But it is also possible to end up making a pact with a demon, if one was inclined to the service of Chaos, where the demon would provide certain gifts in exchange for the magician's loyalty.  I did write a little about the kind of gifts Demons can offer: the permanent use of any of that demon's special powers, magic items, access to spell knowledge for magic-users, etc. But again, I didn't want to get too specific here so as not to be restrictive. In short, what is offered will be defined by what the magician wants, and what the demon has the power to give (and yes, there are clear guidelines as to what any given demon is capable of doing).' You can read the whole thing right over HERE And that's part of the very issue of using witches from Dark Albion, magick in the setting can and could be tied into demon summoning along with its attendant issues. Tim also talks about, 'I can take the occultist class and make it into a passable Occult Poet.' Why not simply use the bard class from AS&SH as a compliment as well?
This brings up the role of Chaos, & the Witch in AS&SH. The witch is a class in the game that can serve a very wide variety of purposes and roles in the game. Though tied to the world of Hyperborea by the class's very nature, the witch is perhaps in my mind tied to and linked with adventurers in a way that beckons adventurers into the very fabric of AS&SH. They can be and should be used as the glue that ties both cults and covens in the setting together. Chaos is in the mix for AS&SH but its the Chaos of classic mythology and otherworldly Lovecraftian horror and not so much of the Infernal or is it? Well its actually both. There are the classic demons of AD&D and OGL fare but also the rolling sanity wrenching weirdness of the Lovecraftian multidimensional murderverse laying in wait for the witch or wizard of AS&SH.


By using the three of these products together one gets the best strengths of all three as long as the DM remembers the conceil that these are Gothic/Pulp games at their heart and are  more then the sum of their parts. Tim's idea is killer with some real teeth to it:
'One thing I always wanted to do was run a dark age WitchCraft RPG game.  Set in the 1600s it would deal with rival factions of the Gifted fighting each other while Europe descends into the Burning Times.  It struck me how close that idea was some things I was also planning in my War of the Witch Queens adventures.'
In point of fact what I actually think could be run using Dark Albion and its Hellish powers as its base is in point of fact a Solomon Kane style campaign with bits and pieces borrowed from AS&SH and Fantastic Heroes and Witchery but the balance is very tricky.


At its heart and soul here in this style of campaign are the pulp sword and sorcery forces of the party and the forces of Hell and the demons all waiting to tear a ragged straight razor across the throat of the party. Does Tim have a fantastic idea? Absolutely but these rpg systems can be very tricky to use together. The key is balance and planning when working with these forces.