Rage & Ruin - The Return of Dark Albion's 'Elves' Added 'One Shot' Campaign Commentary

 

This blog entry is going to pick right up from yesterday's blog enrty here.  If we're going to talk really nasty & dangerous antgonist NPC's in a Fantastic Heroes & Witchery rpg campaign then we're gonna have to talk about the fact that Dark Albion's Elves are evil incarnate. And 'the RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1' From Spectre Press brings this fact home in spades. 

Because when it comes to the Elves of  Dark Albion you are looking face to face with the true servants of Chaos with a capital 'C'. These things are baby stealing, soul munching, soul draining horrors from beyond the pale who once ruled most of Europe. And they'd love to again. The ruins & remains of the Elves are scattered all over Dark Europe. And its this fact that seems to drive scholars crazy because the reality of the Elves of legend seems to be fading. Because they were exiled to the 'Twilight Realm' according to 'The Old School Campanion. But if we look into Wiki's Elves entry the following comes up; "

Identifying elves with the demons of Judaeo-Christian-Mediterranean tradition.^[9] For example:

• In English-language material: in the Royal Prayer Book from c. 900, elf appears as a gloss for "Satan".^[10] In the late-fourteenth-century Wife of Bath's Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer equates male elves with incubi (demons which rape sleeping women).^[11] In the early modern Scottish witchcraft trials, witnesses' descriptions of encounters with elves were often interpreted by prosecutors as encounters with the Devil.^[12]
• In medieval Iceland, Snorri Sturluson wrote in his Prose Edda of ljósálfar and dökkálfar ('light-elves and dark-elves'), the ljósálfar living in the heavens and the dökkálfar under the earth. The consensus of modern scholarship is that Snorri's elves are based on angels and demons of Christian cosmology.^[13]

Elves appear as demonic forces widely in medieval and early modern English, German, and Scandinavian prayers"
This cement's the Elves of Dark Albion as something between demonic & Fairy, perhaps one of the left over races of the Pagan gods not destroyed during the Biblical Flood. And how does this squire with D&D Elves?! It doesn't & nor does it have to. 
The Elves of D&D fare are actually cattle to the true Elves of Dark Albion. The Dark Albion Elves have passed themselves off as 'pagan gods' and took full advantage of local populations while feeding enmass under the cover of plague or disaease; "Scholars have at times also tried to explain beliefs in elves as being inspired by people suffering certain kinds of illnesses (such as Williams syndrome).^[28] Elves were certainly often seen as a cause of illness, and indeed the English word oaf seems to have originated as a form of elf: the word elf came to mean 'changeling left by an elf' and then, because changelings were noted for their failure to thrive, to its modern sense 'a fool, a stupid person; a large, clumsy man or boy'.^[29] However, it again seems unlikely that the origin of beliefs in elves itself is to be explained by people's encounters with objectively real people affected by disease." 
And so this brings up the fact that perhaps the island of California has one or two Elven holdings. I haven't even remotely addressed the fact that both Drow & Elves will instinctively hate with a vengence these ancient Albion Elves. But there's a Chaos cult or two that has foot holds in these areas. 

So how will I be explaining this switch up of power from the serpent men?! I'm not because power vaccuums in D&D or AD&D are filled all of the time. And these Dark Albion Elves often pass themselves off as Pagan gods. They are quite capable of causing mayhem to anyone or anything they come across. 

Fantastic Heroes & Witchery One Shot - Dave Cooks's I1: "Dwellers of the Forbidden City" (1981)

One of the things that happens when you deal with a changing roster of players is the fact that players come & go. But certain game systems remain & in these is the fact that I always turn back to eventually and so it is with Fantastic Heroes & Witchery rpg.  Each & every time that Fantastic Heroes & Witchery comes up is the fact that Dark Albion also comes up into the mix. 

And one of the ideas that comes up is that Albion has before the Rose War an expansionist & discovery based trade economy. The Rose War comes along & all of that halts & the economy of Europe stalls or so it seems. But what the Hell happened to those exploratory expeditions?! Well it brings up one of my favorite old school campaign set ups  'the castaways '.

The idea of the 'Castaways' campaign is a group of misfit characters from old school & OSR resources find themselves on a 'deserted' isle and all is not as it seems. And yes this isn't original at all & owes more then a glancing blow from X1 Island of Dread by Cook & Moldvay. But to be honest we've  done X1 Isle of Dread to death. And possibly I'm thinking of Dave Cooks's  I1: "Dwellers of the Forbidden City" (1981) instead. 

And there's a couple of reasons for this, one is the fact that the island might be more then just a simple island & instead be a part of the island of California instead. My version of Dave Cooks's  I1: "Dwellers of the Forbidden City" (1981) was originally a serpent men colony and it was taken over by the humans until the serpent men took it back. And now they in turn are having to deal with inhuman populations from the mainland. 

Add into the mix PC's & stir gentility until they begin to make their way in land & then all Hell breaks loose. And is this a possible old school module location where I could add in Dark Albion's Frog royals as a possible hidden faction?! More as this develops.

Using 'Level of the Lost' By Michael Curtis With Troll Lord Games Starship Warden rpg

 "Venture into forgotten territory! When a long-sealed section of the Warden is opened and a renowned explorer goes missing, new opportunities arise for adventure and danger. Rumor has it that one of the fabled Command Rings, potent artifacts of old that grants the wearer complete control over the drifting starship, lies waiting for the taking beyond the forbidding gate. Does your band of daring explorers have what it takes to overcome the threats of The Level of the Lost and claim the ring for themselves? This adventure contains new mutants, new artifacts, and new dangers for the original version of Metamorphosis Alpha." 

Michael Curtis is one of my favorite DCC rpg adventure writers. I don't know the man personally nor his politics, etc. But what I do know is the following he writes some kick ass adventures that I've used over the years. And this adventure has some awesome nods in various old school Science Fiction & Fantasy nods or tributes in Level of The Lost. 
Now because of the Metamorphis Alpha rpg Bundle of Holding I've been able to leap frog into Goodman Games version of MA.  And I've not been disappointed at all. Level of the Lost by Michael Curtis has some incredible adventure ideas, new artifacts, mutants, & dinosaurs! The adventure is a great but lethal in some of the encounters. This isn't always a combat heavy adventure as there is a lot of NPC action in 'Level of the Lost'. What I really like about this adventure are some of the concepts that are put forward in Level. 'Level of The Lost' feels like a mini campaign in true MA fashion. 

Could 'Level of the Lost' be used for the Troll Lords Starship Warden campaign?! In a word yes absolutely it could. And this adventure perhaps more then any other has all of the Amazing Adventures Pulp elements in place. 
Dinosaurs, lost world feel, lizardmen mutants, strange technologies, all of these hit the high marks of Troll Lords material. 

But would I set 'Level of The Lost' on the Warden?! Not necessarily. And this gets into a bit of quandary that has been plaguing me as a DM. 
We know from the timeline of the Warden from the original MA book that there were other ships from the Transplutonian shipyards. And this might be where the 'Level of the Lost' comes in. 

The PC's are actually aboard another of the exploration and colonization ships instead of the Warden. And this is where 'Level of the Lost' shines. The adventure could be used as bridge between MA and B/X Dungeons & Dragons as the level leads into X1 Isle of Dread By Dave Cook & Tom Moldvay.




Before the OSR crowd wants to roast me alive there are several points of interest here. 

1. The mutants of 'The Level of the Lost' fit the profile for the prehistoric animals found in X1 'The isle of Dread'. 
2. Some of the themes of 'Level of the Lost' can be carried over into X1.
3. This is a perfect crossover point for Castles & Crusades PC's or D&D PC's to join in the fray. 
4. The nastiness at the heart of X1 can be alien or mutant in nature.
5. X1 offers crossover potential  for the campaigns & a good point to introduce new mutant species. 

So is 'Level of the Lost' fantastic?! Yes, does it offer the DM quite a lot to think about?! Yes it does. 
The Metamorphis Alpha rpg Bundle of Holding  Is Available Right Over Here 

Commentary on MMD#3 Villains of the Undercity From Dark Wizard Games & 'The Scourge of the Slave Lords' Campaign Outline & Structure

" Danger lurks at every corner of the small coastal city of Los Farport. The locals insist people are being abducted in the night and taken into into the bowels of the rumored “Undercity Dungeon” below. A lone survivor managed to escape and give some information before dying in your arms: “Secret door... Tavern of the Wiley Wench... Ugh!” You and your brave team of adventurers have decided to investigate these rumors, plunder the dungeon and destroy the dreaded “Villains of the Undercity!” ...right after you loot his still warm body, of course."

Alright so where do you begin with Dark Wizard Games's Maximum Mayhem Dungeons?! he small coastal city of Los Farport is a great big city urban environment for a beginning OSR campaign. We're talking about MMD#3 Villains of the Undercity This is a classic dungeon set up with the dungeon below the urban centers & city above. The PC's are drawn into a world of slavers, pig faced orcs, bug bears, & much worse. 

MMD#3 Villains of the Undercity  does exactly what it sets out to do  which is to draw the player's PC's into the web of the city. And its this fact that will enable the player's characters to move up the chain of the experience tables if they survive. 

Sometimes the classic encounters are the best, the reason is that it creates the stronger PC's during game play by weeding out the weakest links. Death is a part of play as much as life & having had our fill of Fifth edition this fact has become evident. The most successful campaigns that have come our way are born out of play. Friends getting together with friends to play. Its not the edition or the rules set but the sessions & play that make or break a game campaign. 

What MMD#3 Villains of the Undercity  does is present a workable beginning  campaign adventure that will allow the player's PC's two things. A home base to call their own & a fixed point to allow the DM to expand his or her game with the players organically through actual play. Now MMD#3 Villains of the Undercity   goes from levels 1-4 & this links quite nicely up with other old school modules & adventures. This style of play works very well with retro systems such as Castles & Crusades rpg. 

 Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #7: Dread Swamp of the Banshee could effectively take place outside of Los Farport. The swamps surrounding Los Far Port playing host to the latter adventure. The machinations of the banshee being a part of a far greater conspiracy?! Lost Far Port is a coastal city & port a perfect place for the classic slavers to be operating from. And in fact what would happen if Los Farport was another point in an on going planar wide operation?! What would happen if  MMD#3 Villains of the Undercity  is only the first stop for the PC's as their dragged through the Scourage of the Slave Lords Series of adventures!? 

MMD#3 Villains of the Undercity  is a homage in many respects to the classic TSR Slaver series so it stands to reason that the NPC slavers in MMD#3 could be a part of the classic organization of scum & villainy. 

This allows the DM to establish a campaign hook, line, & sinker as the PC's pernitrate further & further down the rabbit hole. Just how deep will depend upon the amount of work that the DM is willing to put into the module & adventures elements. 

Here are five reasons why this campaign would work: 

1. The idea of a campaign set up allows 'The Scourge of the Slave Lords'  to give weight & legs to MMD#3 Villains of the Undercity 
2. The conspiracies of  MMD#3 Villains of the Undercity take on far more depth & there is a ton more at stake then at first what meets the eye. 
3. This campaign idea could have the players going for years of actual session play. 
4. Some of the rogues gallery of NPC's is deadly enough to make the most jaded player sit up & take notice. 
5. There are even deeper goals here then the players know. And this fits into the Pulp Appendix N aesthetic of The Scourge of the Slave Lords' 

Return to Dwimmermount - Tides of Blood & War - Cha'alt & ACK's Dwimmermount

Its been a very busy morning but last night I wanted to get back to ACKs Dwimmermount within my Godbound/Cha'alt campaign. Way back in 2017 I stumbled upon this thread about Dwimmermount on the General ACKs forums. 

There are a few changes that would be made right off the get go. The fact that Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea's rpg system Hyperboreans & the Thulian empire are ancient enemies. These empires are too similar to get along. They compete for the same resources, the same turf, extra plus there are parallels with regards to the corruption that's been breeding through the lands of both.
Another change is the fact that I'd have the megadungeon existing in both Hyberborea & the campaign's Earth setting at the same time. That's right in the jungles of Bolivia & the high alien mountains of Hyperborea the mega dungeon would be sitting there 'lost'.


Lost is a relative term but one of the other things I'll be doing is adding in Lankhmar: City of Adventure (2nd edition) for the streets, cityscape, etc. of the the dismal City-State of Khromarium.  The reason is the over flow of the Hyperborean armies onto Earth side. 


I really want to bring home the Hyperborean menace home coming up! Squad to squad level combat with Earth forces, Hyperboreans, & especially the high tech forces of the Cha'alt raiders. Here's where I start dusting off Adventurer, Conqueror, King's Domains at War: Battles. But before doing that I've got to look deeper into AS&SH's wargaming potential. 



I've got a lot of options on the table to pull this off? But the question is what to use? The Cha'alt hard back by Venger offers quite a few insights into the mind set of the Cha'alt forces.


Can the PC's survive in a three way toss up with events accelerating?! There are certainly some options that my players have brought to the table over the last month or so. They might even shut me down with some clever moves. Tonight I'm gonna grab my copy of David Cook's X4 Master of the Desert Nomads & bring on the Cha'alt mutations! 



Why does Dwimmermount's appearance matter? The other mega dungeon's influence is huge! I can't stress this enough. The adventure location is like a beacon to the forces of Chaos in my campaign.
There are several reasons for this: 

1. The corruption that Dwimmermount represents is huge. The impact of death & destruction is gonna be felt on a 'Lord of the Rings' level across the planet. 
2. Artifacts & treasure bring the pain to the locals & could spread across the planet. This lures more adventurers. 
3. The forces of evil themselves are drawn to the mega dungeon as well. 
4. Night roads are twisted around the place making it very lethal. 
5. Dwimmermount itself is seen as a prize for both the forces of law & chaos. 
6. The slavers are going to come calling for it. 
7. Blood & warfare follow in the wake of Dwimmermount. 
8. The planar nature of the megadungeon is lethal to all in its wake. 
9. Is there are greater force within the megadungeon that is advancing its agenda? 
10. Dwimmermount brings the pain when it comes to OSR adventure. 

Gangs, Tramps, & Thieves - Rogue To Rogue - The Use of The Rogues Gallery By Brian Blume, Dave Cook, & Jean Wells In Old School & OSR Campaigns

"No longer will you the Dungeon Master need to spend precious time laboring over the task of generating non-player characters.
This valuable booklet contains hundreds of pre-rolled non-player characters of all classes and types, complete with alignments, sex, personalities and much more.

The Rogues Gallery is specially designed to be compatible with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. It will save you time in creating your non-player characters, thus allowing you to pursue the other interesting aspects of your campaign."


Alright let's talk about the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition 'The Rogues Gallery' by  Brian Blume, Dave Cook, & Jean Wells for a moment. The low down on the  'The Rogues Gallery''s publication history goes something like this according to the Wiki entry on the booket; "The Rogues Gallery was written by Brian Blume with Dave Cook and Jean Wells, with a cover by Erol Otus and interior illustrations by Jeff Dee and Otus, and was published by TSR in 1980 as a 48-page book.^[1] TSR Stock # 9031. ISBN 0-935696-18-0."

 This book is a slice of another era of gaming, seriously this book is stat block after stat block of NPC's but its from an era when the internet didn't exist & many other companies were putting out similar books especially Runequest. The Runequest rpg had several titles in the rpg line that included stat blocks of NPC's & encounters most notably Scorpion Men and Broos (1978). But it was really Trolls and Trollkin (1978) that was the first of the Runequest rpg publications. The whole cloth point
& purpose of the 'Rogue's Gallery' was to give the dungeon master access to hundreds of NPC's. Said it right on the back spalsh page; "The Rogues Gallery was a supplement listing hundreds of pre-generated non-player characters for use by the Dungeon Master, including characters from all the standard first edition AD&D character classes, plus other characters such as sages, caravans, and city guards"



The thing that's really off the chain about 'The Rogues Gallery' is the fact that it contains NPC  stats for Ernie Gygax, Gary Gygax, Tim Jiardini, and Rob Kuntz that originated in the Lake Geneva campaign. And that means that you get stats for all of the big names of  Greyhawk & Kaliburn's  original PC's such as Bigby, Mordenkainen, Riggby, Robilar, and Tenser plus getting a bit a peak behind the curtain of  Rob Kuntz's world of Kalibruhn  & Gary Gygax's world of Greyhawk. Or did we? According to certain folks these famous NPC stats are mere fictions but that doesn't take away from their usefulness. I always used 'The Rogue's Gallery' in conjunction with 'The Dragon' magazine  issue #24 which included a ton of stuff on lost civilizations. If I need an NPC sage with information on a lost city or dungeon the 'Rogue's Gallery' is right there.


But when I need rival big boss NPC's & bad guys well that's when the 'Rogue's Gallery' comes out with  the big names of Greyhawk & Kaliburn's  original PC's such as Bigby, Mordenkainen, Riggby, Robilar, and Tenser taking center stage as the stand in NPC bosses stand ins. The Rogues Gallery is a title that I often use when I'm playing or DMing Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg. Why? Because AS&SH has its own version of the 'Rogues Gallery' called funny enough 'Rogues Gallery II'.



Using both the original AD&D 'Rogues Gallery' & AS&SH's  'Rogues Gallery II' with any OSR game & suddenly the DM can populate a town or adventure location with Sword & Sorcery NPC's in no time flat. A tactic that I've recently used with several locations for my own Cha'alt/Godbound rpg campaign.


The same tactic can be used with other OSR games especially Castles & Crusades. Remember the apple doesn't fall far here. The idea is that NPC's are easily within the offering but its the fact that old school & OSR systems are cross comparable. 



By default the 'Rogues Gallery' is perfectly suited to work with Adventurer, Conqueror, King, rpg system. The stat blocks should work quite well. But why use such a relic of the old school especially first edition AD&D? Because its a relic that's why! The fact is that most modern players even the OSR ones have forgotten all about the Rogues Gallery & it gives the DM ample opportunity to bring another tool from their tool box into play again. Here are ten reasons why the 'Rogue's Gallery' is still useful at the table top level: 

1. An NPC for every situation & especially in the old school Sword & Sorcery vein of AD&D first edition. 
2. On the spot role playing opportunity for the DM to make up some weird or interesting NPC. 
3. An excellent NPC book use to create some important bit of campaign information that you forgot to impart the players with. 
4. Treasure opportunity for the players when a minor NPC appears. 
5. Rival NPC adventurer party  generation book! 
6. The 'Rogues Gallery' used with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragon Dungeon Master's Guide random dungeon generator can create an entire dungeon & its NPC's in no time flat. 
7. Sage NPC's are always handy for really screwing with the player's PC's. Perfect time for a side quest in the campaign. 
8. Rival suitors or girl friends for the PC's to deal with can be converted right outta of the Rogues Gallery. 
9. The Rogues Gallery's famous Lake Geneva NPC  party stats are perfect for replace Slave Lords from A0- A4 Against The Slave Lords 
10. 'The Rogues Gallery' has a number of NPC assassins that are perfect to send after the player's PC's! 

Purpling The Seas of Dread - Prehistoric X1 'The Isle of Dread' By David Cook & Tom Moldvay Commentary

"Hundreds of miles from the mainland, surrounded by dangerous waters, lies an island known only as the Isle of Dread. Dark jungles and treacherous swamps await those who are brave enough to travel inland in search of the lost plateau, where the ruins of a once mighty civilization hold many treasures - and many secrets!"




If X1 The Isle of Dread by David Cook, & Tom Moldvay is one of the greatest prehistoric wilderness & exploratory modules then when it comes to my Cha'alt/Godbound campaign where does it fall in my versions of California,Nevada,& Arizonia. There are a couple of resources that I began to turn up in my research. One is 'The Dinosaurs of California's Lost World' article by Brian Switek  which is an excellent source of ideas for the preshistoric monsters on the island. The second article that I started looking into is the California current wiki article. The current view on the isle of dread is that its strongly connected with the Elmental Plane of Water via the endless seas.  This being the case the elemental plane of water connecting up with California's seas is gonna be disasterous!



The lack of clouds along the coast (and also along the Central Valley of California)
is due to an offshore wind blowing drier air from the land offshore.

Not only are there going to be hundreds of alien species introduced but the disruption of Earth's seas allows foreign vistors to enter Earth's planar boundaries. This is because of the placement of the Endless Sea.



artwork copyright & trade mark wizards of the coast.

See the free OSR Mystara resource the Seas of Dread for even more prehistoric action! 
Mystara & its various environs could merge & then vanish with no one being the wiser.
But somehow I doubt it given the nature of the isle of dread itself.



I've said it before that the isle of dread would be playing a major part within my campaign & given the fact that the slavers are operating with it. There's dinosaur & giant fish meat showing up within the fish markets of California & on many a dinner plate. But there's also far stranger cults showing up deeper in land. This is because of my scaling the encounters to deal with the player's expectations. And that's where the unholy trinity of Venger Satanis comes into play. The sea of worlds allows the  "The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence" to sneak in. 


Because  "The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence"  is outside of known time & space the perfect excuse is available to encounter a plethora of horrors. So I can sneak in a wide variety of lower tier encounters without having to skimp on quality. What we're looking at is a cross selection of undead, skeletons, humans, berserk warriors, slimes, goblins, and many of the weirder monsters of OD&D. This would also include lizardmen and more dangerous horrors as middle men & finally minotaurs and some giants as boss creatures. The Pulp aspect might be in the dungeon locations as the wreckage of flying saucers & space craft becomes the temples, stock dungeons, & ruin locations on the Islands now the home of some perhaps weird or mutated D&D monsters.

Both the island of dread & "The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence"  allow the players the perfect excuse to use a wide variety of OSR PC options & combined them into a party of adventurers without the need for complicated backstories.  
The player's could use Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu & Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea adventurers together trying to survive against the alien horrors of the islands. 


The Cha'alt wave has dragged in many additional planar elements into the mix of my campaign this includes  "The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence"  & X1 The Isle of Dread. Everything here is keyed so that Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea will provide all of the necessary stats and monster profiles to set up & spawn any of the horrors for this campaign to succeed. The balance here is in the gonzo, weirdness, and otherworldly adventure that the The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence  thrives on along with X1 The isle of Dread.
This also means that many of the domains that are featured in these modules are gonna be up for grabs! 

Some OSR Thoughts on The AD&D Rogues Gallery by Brian Blume, Dave Cook, Jean Wells For Your Old School Campaigns

" Hundreds of pre-rolled non-player characters of all classes and types, complete with alignments, sex, personalities and much more."

There are books that I used to pore over for hours on end & then there are Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books that have gained utility as I've grown with this hobby. One of these is the AD&D Rogues Gallery by Brian Blume, Dave Cook, Jean Wells."The Rogues Gallery was written by Brian Blume with Dave Cook and Jean Wells, with a cover by Erol Otus and interior illustrations by Jeff Dee and Otus, and was published by TSR in 1980 as a 48-page book.^[1] TSR Stock # 9031. ISBN 0-935696-18-0." 


Its 2019 & I'm still using the Rogue's Gallery for everything from NPC stats to pouring over the bits of history about Gary Gygax's original player's in his home campaign's PC's. But according to the Drivethrurpg entry not all of the PC's stats are true; "  "The Rogues Gallery" includes characters run by Ernie Gygax, Gary Gygax, Tim Jiardini, and Rob Kuntz that originated in the Lake Geneva campaign — some in Rob Kuntz's world of Kalibruhn and some in Gary Gygax's world of Greyhawk. This provides some of the earliest insight into the world of Greyhawk. These characters include Bigby, Mordenkainen, Riggby, Robilar, and Tenser, who would become increasingly important to the Greyhawk setting over the years — though Bigby, Mordenkainen, and Riggby were all Gary Gygax characters that he originally ran in Kalibruhn.

These NPCs also give some insight into how characters were run in the early D&D game. The most shocking revelation is how many of them were evil, including Ernie Gygax's Erac's Cousin, Lawrence Schick's Lanolin, Al Hammack's Lassiviren the Dark, and Rob Kuntz's Robilar.

Though almost all of the characters were human, a few were instead rather unusual races. Jeff Leason's Phoebus was a lizard man, while David Cook's Talbot was a centaur — both as the results of reincarnation. The dearth of dwarves, elves, and halflings among the characters is another reflection of early play styles.

Of course, these character write-ups aren't entirely trustworthy. Gary Gygax later said that at least his character stats were "quite fallacious" because he wasn't willing to give information on characters that he was still playing to Brian Blume. It's one last insight into how different things were in those early days of roleplaying, when characters might actually be secret."  Why would there be a veil of secrey around Gary & company's character stats? Well it not unlike today the many of the gamers in inner workings of TSR didn't entirely trust the competition. These folks were & to a certain extent still are risk takers & many times there were games in play that were used for upcoming projects & convention events.

 
But what's actually in the  AD&D Rogues Gallery? Well here's a fast break down from the wiki entry; "The Rogues Gallery was a supplement listing hundreds of pre-generated non-player characters for use by the Dungeon Master, including characters from all the standard first edition AD&D character classes, plus other characters such as sages, caravans, and city guards.^[1] The book also includes statistics for characters from Gary Gygax's original D&D campaign." If you need NPC stats fast to populate a ruin,town, high way, or just a quick encounter the this is the book for you. And this wasn't the only book of NPC's to hit the shelves; "This was the first of several books of NPCs for D&D. Basic D&D would publish their own, AC1: "The Shady Dragon Inn" (1983), a few years later. Much later, TSR would publish a Rogues' Gallery (1992) for AD&D 2e."  One thing about the AD&D Rogue's Gallery is the fact that there is wealth of humancentric NPC types making the book great for Sword & Sorcery games. The AD&D Rogue's Gallery has become iconic to early Dungeons & Dragons even making it into the first season of Stranger Things. But why was the AD&D Rogue's Gallery so iconic? Even at the time of its release there were other NPC books even from Judge's Guild.


The answer is when it came out in the history of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons & B/EX Dungeons & Dragons. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Rogue's Gallery takes the NPC efforts a step further by  determining the composition of caravans, city watches, border patrols, pilgrims,  & even rival  dungeon parties. Its a hell of a tool kit for the classic TSR era.

The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Rogue's gallery even fills out some of the details on four of the more deadly AD&D psionic using monsters; "  four psionic- or magic-using monsters: the couatl, ki-rin, lich, and shedu." This was in the days before the internet or easy access to the AD&D rule books or Monster Manual.


 

Is this book still useful today to the OSR dungeon master? In a word? Yes it is because it can enable a DM to populate a city, town, or any encounter with an NPC into a memorable experience. You get the bare bones NPC's  but these are actually usable bare bones NPC's. There's also the fact that you've got actual usable rival NPC adventurer party stat ready to go on the fly. This fact makes the AD&D Rogue's Gallery serviceable for BECMI Dungeons & Dragons.





Many of the NPC's within this book have appeared in numerous games & adventures of mine. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Rogue's Gallery is a classic for a reason & that reason is utility. No only can this book provide hours of fun reading but it can be used to harry,harass, & goat along other player's PC's.  Many of the same guidelines &  techniques that we see employed in this book for NPC's we would see used again for other OSR products a great example of this is within the Stars Without Number rpg by Kevin Crawford. 
Products such as the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Rogue's Gallery are classics for a reason & this one is no exception.
The AD&D Rogue's Gallery is available right here. 

Exploiting I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City With X1 Isle Of Dread Plus OSR & Appendix N Resources

"Somewhere in the heart of the steaming jungle lies the answer to the whispered tales - rumors of a magnificent city and foul, horrid rituals! Here a brave party might find riches and wonders - or death! Is your party brave enough to face the terrors of the unknown and find - the Forbidden City!"

In the southeast corner of the Flanaess, lies an ancient, ruined city or at least that's the general notion. Let's go under the premise that in fact Dave Cook's l1  Dwellers Of The Forbidden City could be used to extend & expand X1 The Isle of Dread. Dwellers is a a sandbox / open game adventure  where you as the dungeon don't feel shoehorned into the usual D&D corners. Couple this module with Goodman Games X1 Isle of Dread & the campaign world begins to feel a bit like 1931 King Kong's Skull film; a world alien & truly removed from the normal flow of humanity. 



Yesterday I wrote about Elemental Plane of Water & the Sea of Worlds getting the PC's into the deep end of trouble. Why!? Because in this l1 Dwellers In The Forbidden City does something unique, it sets up a fallen empire waiting to have its history & backstory exploited for the players by the DM. The factions of the module become the focus for a once great fallen empire. The perfect adventure canvas for the DM to pain the serpent men empire. Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea's The Forgotten Fane of The Coiled Goddess adventure as a mini mega Swords & Sorcery  campaign.



This makes it ripe to couple this campaign with Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique. The gods & empire have fallen in the thousands years since the sun has become red & raw with age.

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.

He who has loved the wild girls of Zothique
Shall not come back a gentler love to seek,
Nor know the vampire's from the lover's kiss:
For him the scarlet ghost
Of Lilith from time's last necropolis
Rears amorous and malign.

He who has sailed in galleys of Zothique
And seen the looming of strange spire and peak,
Must face again the sorcerer-sent typhoon,
And take the steerer's post
On far-poured oceans by the shifted moon
Or the re-shapen Sign.

Zothique

Clark Ashton Smith
l1 FORBIDDEN CITY is a fun but somewhat generalized trip through a ruined city in a jungle.But this makes it ripe to mate it up with both Isle of Dread &Zothique. The sea of worlds leads to ruined straights of the seas of CAS's Zothique. CAS's Zothique cycle is unique in that the old gods have fallen after the 'stars have come right'. The Old Ones have come, the gods of mythology have died, & the dying world of Zothique has taken its place & CAS cycle bares this out; 

• Black Abbot of Puthuum, The (1936)
• Charnel God, The (1934)
• Dark Eidolon, The (1935)
• Dead will Cuckold You, The (1950)
• Death of Ilalotha, The (1937)
• Empire of the Necromancers, The (1932)
• Garden of Adompha, The (1938)
• In the Book of Vergama (1934)
• Isle of the Torturers, The (1933)
• Last Hieroglyph, The (1935)
• Mandor's Enemy (1989)
• Master of the Crabs, The (1948)
• Morthylla (1953)
• Necromancy in Naat (1937)
• Shapes of Adamant (1935)
• Tomb-Spawn, The (1934)
• Voyage of King Euvoran, The (1931) [Illustration "Quest of the Gazolba" By Boris Dolgov]
• Weaver in the Vault, The (1934)[CAS Illustration]
• Witchcraft of Ulua, The (1934)
• Xeethra (1934 [CAS Illustration]
• <Zothique (1951)

All of this sets up Zothique & Dwellers as the perfect Sword & Sorcery blend for exploitation by a mixed group of Pulp style adventurers. Troll Lord Games Castles & Crusade can be used with this heady mix. 

  X1 Isle of Dread is an isle of castaways filled to the brim with pirates, dinosaurs, & horrors undreamt of. But its also a place ripe with possibilities for a group of players to use their own PC's to meet on terms outside the bounds of a normal Dungeons & Dragons game..Exploiting the possibilities for having Pulp heroes fighting side by side with their fantasy counterparts from the player's favorite setting is very exciting for some groups of players. Its the perfect opportunity to have classic Greyhawk characters fighting shoulder to shoulder with Pulp adventurers. 

Next time we dive deeper into the Pulp side of things to get the player's ready for what or who might be waiting to exploit the PC's in such a heady campaign mix. So stay tuned for more madness coming up.