Running B1 In Search of the Unknown By Mike Carr for an OSR Sword & Sorcery Campaign Jump Off Point

 So tonight I was listening to the Bigus Geekus stream on youtube & it was a good stream.  However all the talk about pre generated PC's and Con's got me thinking about basic play in Castles & Crusades. Or starting a campaign & reading through 'The OSR Grimoire' blog got me thinking about using a classic TSR adventure. And so once again Dave Carr's B1 In Search of The Unknown is in my hands. 

There are several reasons to use B1 & the module plot while basic serves up it's history and rational well:"Many years ago two wealthy adventurers, Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown, built a hidden complex known as the Caverns of Quasqueton. From this base, they conducted their affairs away from the prying eyes of civilization. While of questionable ethical standing, the two drove back a barbarian invasion and gained the support of locals. Eventually, they gathered their own army and went on an expedition against said enemies, where they met their demise." 
So Dave Carr's B1 'In Search of The Unknown' is a great module to pair up with Gary Gygax's B2 Keep on the Borderlands. Why because the PC's could hear rumors about the humanoids invading the various nearby human lands and sacking villages. Perhaps the abode of Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown could hold answers. And as simple as that we're off to the races. 

What if the ruins of the abode of these two really might hold answers?! How well B1 is actually a how to build a dungeon module. And it's very easy to add in Castle & Crusade monsters & treasure from the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasures book. 

Add in the fact that the humanoid monsters from B1 might actually be scouts for the advancing armies of Chaos and things get very interesting very fast. The PC's might after ransacking the  abode of Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown might stumble into  the Caverns of Quasqueton. This is where the party found the journal that belonged Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown which detailed thier interactions with the Caves of Chaos from B2 The Keep on the Borderland. These two NPC's cast a very long shadow within our campaign by having served the lord of the keep. 
And having been vassel rulers of the Village of Hommlet. If one is going to run B2 In Search of the Unknown be aware that it's a pretty dangerous module. Also be sure to download  the B1 Campaign Sourcebook. There's a ton of additional material within the B1 Campaign Sourcebook. We actually had the PC's be related to both Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown there by having a far more personal connection to the classic adventure. Eventually the PC's eventually laid claim to both the keep and the fortress of Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown . 

What works so well with running B1 In Search of the Unknown with Castles & Crusades is how responsive the C&C system is to classic modules. C&C is easy to house rule, run, and take on play from the ground up. 

All one needs too run  is the C&C  player's handbook & maybe C&C Monsters & Treasure. 
 B1 is a template & tool box for running adventures & modules. This slots the adventure right into your own C&C or old school campaign. Framing the adventure within campaign is simple and easy as play can help to determine the role that B1 has within your campaigns. 

We've run B1 numerous times across the board in various campaigns. So using a classic module for Castles & Crusades isn't rocket science. I hate to use that turn of phrase but it's true.  For our own Chronicles of Yerth Sword & Sorcery campaign. We started with B1 In Search of the Unknown and it was the foul dealings of  Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown that got us involved. The two heroes were actually incharge of the barbarian army that they   'vanquished' but were actually building a mercenary army to help topple the king. Unfortunately for them the cult of Elemental Evil's faction in the Caves of Chaos rose up and killed them. This has led to the region of the Borderlands stagnating. Enter the party here. 

There are several reasons why B1 In Search of the Unknown Works for a Castles & Crusades Campaign : 

1. B1 is not well known today and is out right dismissed by less experienced players and so it's tricks & traps are unknown to these players. 
2. B1 In Search of the Unknown is a great module to tie into your home campaign because this is what it was created to do. 
3. Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown are blank slates easily modified for your C&C adventures. They can act as hooks into other adventures. 
4. B1's caverns could have tunnels that lead into other dungeons further expanding the role that B1's adventure location might play within your campaigns. 
5. There's something that seems to draw back players to B1 In Search of the Unknown again & again. 

Using Castles & Crusades for an OSR Sword & Sorcery Campaign - A Different Perspective - From The Player's Side

 Getting the  Castles & Crusades rpg system to do Sword & Sorcery isn't rocket Science. It takes three things 1. A copy of the Castle Keeper's Guide and to read through the CKG picking out what alternative rpg systems one wants to use. Two players that are willing adhere to the guidelines set down by the campaign's dungeon masters. And for us a healthy knowledge of the Sword & Sorcery genre conventions. And no, it's not simply, "have hulking barbarian go kill evil sorcerer in tower". There are far more to the genre then simply that. DM Steve recently grabbed the Castles & Crusades Starter Bundle. 

If we look at the Wiki entry on Sword & Sorcery literature  we begin to get a far more solid picture that emerges; "American author Fritz Leiber coined the term "sword and sorcery" in 1961 in response to a letter from British author Michael Moorcock in the fanzine Amra, demanding a name for the sort of fantasy-adventure story written by Robert E. Howard.^[3] Moorcock had initially proposed the term "epic fantasy". Leiber replied in the journal Ancalagon (6 April 1961), suggesting "sword-and-sorcery as a good popular catchphrase for the field". He expanded on this in the July 1961 issue of Amra, commenting:

I feel more certain than ever that this field should be called the sword-and-sorcery story. This accurately describes the points of culture-level and supernatural element and also immediately distinguishes it from the cloak-and-sword (historical adventure) story—and (quite incidentally) from the cloak-and-dagger (international espionage) story too!^[4]

Since its inception, many attempts have been made to provide a precise definition of "sword and sorcery". Although many have debated the finer points, the consensus characterizes it with a bias toward fast-paced, action-rich tales set in a quasi-mythical or fantastical framework. Unlike high fantasy, the stakes in sword and sorcery tend to be personal, the danger confined to the moment of telling.^[5] Settings are typically exotic, and protagonists often morally compromised" 

For Castles & Crusades forget the idea of a low fantasy and low magick campaign.What?! How dare you! Hear me out before you feed my feet to the fires of rpg & OSR howls. The real seed of the gerne and running adventures within it is contained within it's explaination ;"a bias toward fast-paced, action-rich tales set in a quasi-mythical or fantastical framework. Unlike high fantasy, the stakes in sword and sorcery tend to be personal, the danger confined to the moment of telling.^[5] Settings are typically exotic, and protagonists often morally compromised" This again isn't theorical physics but instead is a blend of pulling the levers and conventions of Castles & Crusades as an rpg system to get the right feel to a campaign going in. 

For the last several months I've been personally involved in DM Steve's Sword & Sorcery campaign that uses Castles & Crusades. I haven't been blogging about it for two simple reasons. One is that I really wanted a handle on his take of Castles & Crusades plus house rules. Two I reallly needed to be up to my neck in the actual play of his Yerth campaign setting. His Yerth setting draws far more from Edgar Rice Burroughs with magic then it does from Tolkein because he definitely draws in Fritz Liber's fantasy asthetic into his campaign. What do I mean by this? DM Steve has started with, "Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser sequence, beginning with "Two Sought Adventure" (1939)". Which was required reading for us players. 
The real sense of his Castles & Crusades Sword & Sorcery campaign hasn't been the magick or the C&C magick system. No instead it's the moral nature of the PC's which is pretty comprimesed after the PC's were on the losing side of a political war. We're mercenaries now without a country and outcasts because of the war. Yes this incredibly different then third Edition Hyperborea. Why not use that rpg system?! First of all I'm already running that OSR system. And second Castles & Crusades is a system that DM Steve knows and likes.