OSR Review & Commentary On Amazing Adventures Free Fire Zone By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault For The Amazing Adventures rpg

 "Somewhere, sometime in the future, catastrophe has come to earth'

"Leap from your bunker with what supplies you can carry strapped to your back, stuffed in your pockets, or carried in your bare hands, because the world's end has come to your door. One resounding explosion has cut the water to your little world and catastrophe looms. The walls you built no longer matter, the food you've rationed, though it too has almost run its course, will do nothing for the water you need. No. The only hope for survival lies beyond the steel door of your home turned trap. And beyond that door the ratta-tat-tat of machine gun fire and small explosions creep ever closer."

Get up and move, or spend your last few days with bloated tongue and madness. Enter now the Free Fire Zone, and know, that here, everyone is a target."

I had zero intention of grabbing  Amazing Adventures Free Fire Zone By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault but my players convinced me. This is a first level rpg adventure for the Amazing Adventures rpg & it's a damn good one as well! Like I said my players are the ones who wanted me to grab AA's Free Fire Zone because they want me to run it! 
What is is Free Fire Zone?! Well it's the end of the world in no uncertain terms and your PC's are in the middle of it! Even though this is a first level adventure  it's written by  Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault which means that this adventure can and should be crossed over with Castles and Crusades. More then that  Amazing Adventures Free Fire Zone  provides an adventure frame work so that you as the DM can get your campaigns off the ground with a running start! The AA PC's can shine like their supposed to with real stakes of life and death running in the background. Everything talked about in the Amazing Adventure's Player's Handbook is put into practice. 

Is Amazing Adventures Free Fire Zone any good?! In a word, yes. Because it provides a working and breathing campaign setting adventure and framework to get your own Amazing Adventures campaign off the ground. It does this by putting the PC's in harm's way and then having them deal with the aftermath in two ways. Through the encounters and through the actual play with little issue. This adventure is a nice set up for a full blown campaign with little issue. 

Awake & Asleep - James Ward's Tainted Lands & Cultclassic Eighties Movie Mixed With Castles & Crusades A2 'Slag Heap' by Davis Chenault.

 " The Tainted Land's corruption & madness is no longer contained! The horror spreads into the world of the waking."

"The hunt is on! Agents have hired out the infamous Redcaps to raid along the Hruesen River and Baron Botkin wants them brought to justice. A mad run by the goblins left a trail of ruin along the river road but the time to act is now, beforre the trail goes cold. the evil doers broke off the raid and now lie in hiding somewhere in the Baren Wood. There in the deeps of the forest stands the legendary Slag Heap - an ancient complex of unknown origin and terrifying reputation for years ago the Heap served the horned God's minions as a bastion against the fey of the Barren Wood. But now all the forest is hostile to outsiders, whether good or ill.

The men of the Barren Wood are fierce, independent, and distrustful of outsiders. Facing them is a daunting task in the best of times and now they seem to be protecting one of their own. Discovering the real powers in this region only brings the characters closer to doom as they travel to piles and heaps of slag and detritus that was once a glorious abode and temple to the dark powers before the age of man."

Now I've always loved the cover artwork for  Castles & Crusades A2 'Slag Heap' by Davis Chenault.  If events from Troll Lords A1 are picked up here with the Tainted Lands crossing into 'Slag Heap' then we have the PC's right in the middle of the deep end of the Fey's affairs. And while Slag Heap might not seem a likely candidate for an Eighties  horror game. There is potential in directions that the players might not have considered! 

A1 Slag Heap might be striating the waking world & events might coincide with the affairs of Fairy & man. We're talking about Jim Henson's Labyrinth from '86 now the two might not seem related. But here me out here. If in 86, sixteen year old Sarah's half brother Toby is taken by the Goblin King. Then things could be far more ill defined between the human world & the Fey courts. Consider that Jareth, the Goblin King, is walking in the human world looking to take young Sarah as his bride. Are the events of Jim Henson's Labyrinth merely the latest indicator that the royals & Fairy courts in complete shambles?! 

So where does this leave the Tainted Lands?! Right in the middle of everything using its influence to turn the waking world into a living nightmare. The Fey courts are in shambles and events of Slag Heap only point this up. 
Adventurers are going to need to be right in the middle of this or things could fall apart. 
The events of Jim Henson's Labyrinth could be peripheral to the adventure. Things, events, etc. that happen over on the side. The notion that Jareth, the Goblin King, has almost taken a human bride incenses the Fairy courts inciting the events of S1 'Slag Heap' and there are calls for a new Goblin King. 
The Tainted Lands are encroaching on the waking world as Fairy continues to break down. The Goblin King is not fulfilling his duties. 

This has been taken advantage of by the horned god's minions & Slag Heap itself is another bastion of chaos for the Fey. 

This has allowed the Slag which is deep in the Tainted Lands to become a bastion for the forces that seek to over throw the Goblin King! And  insert a minion of the horned king on the Goblin Throne instead. Things can go from bad to worse as the PC's have to brave the Slag & its environs. 
Then there's the Barren Wood & its ties to the Fey. There are a lot of moving parts & pieces here in this campaign. The PC's are going to be deeply in over their heads as they get involved with the Fey courts & issues related to them. 
 

The Slag itself is a piece of the Tainted Lands given form & power. The thing wants power and it doesn't want to share it. So its using violence & blood to obtain dominance over both the Fey & humanity. 

So let me take this further with the Tainted Lands being someplaces between the Dreamlands and the Darker Realms near the borders of reality. The Tainted Land's Lollygag inn sometimes shifts over into the reality of Jason Vey's Nightshift Veterans of th Supernatural Wars looking for victims. 
The PC's must beat back the hordes of undead that come flooding into Nightshift's reality from time to time. And the PC's have to beat back the horrors that come into the reality of Nightshift. 

OSR Commentary On The Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 3rd Printing By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault For The Castles & Crusades rpg

 If there's one book that over the years that needs to go into my collection is  Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 3rd Printing By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault for the Castles & Crusades rpg. Over the years Castles & Crusades is one of my main favorite OSR systems. The fact is that I'm a really late hobbyist to the C&C rpg line. 

The Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 3rd Printing is possibly one of the best updates of the classic C&C Castle Keeper's Guide. It is superior to other printings because of the expanded rules across the board for the C&C's Keepers Guide. There are three areas that the 3rd printing shines. The sections on the urban areas. The city as adventuring hub and the dungeon as dynamic adventuring enviroment. 

The Castle Keeper's Guide is a great resource for the dungeon master looking to use the Seige Engine as a world building font. 

The reason for this is three fold, one  Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault have a deep as well as an abiding understanding of the system that they've created. 

Two the Siege engine isn't static but rather a dynamic campaign system and the various avenues of outlet found within the Castle Keeper's Guide bares this out. 

Three Siege Engine get's it's due within the Castle Keeper's Guide with all of the alternative rules, roles, and really beefs up the system. Not only for the DM's perspective but the players as well.. 

The Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 3rd Printing By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault is one of the absolutely key books for the Castles & Crusades system. The Siege Engine system is absolutely pimped out with a metric ton of subsystems that add a huge amount of adventure & world building options to the Castles & Crusades as well as the Seige system. 

OSR Review & Commentary On The 'Free' Davis Chenault's Castles & Crusades 'The Hanged Man' adventure module For Both The Castles & Crusades rpg

 "A long journey under an azure sky filling with brackish, boiling clouds ends at a large oak tree. Here, from a muscled branch, a man hangs limply by a thick rope strangled around his neck. Beyond, a dim, rising, yellow moon silhouette’s a village. Snaking, ashy tendrils of smoke coil above rooftops, lights glitter in windows while a miasmal fog creeps down upon the village from freshly churned fields. Then, as sudden as lightening, a fife and fiddle begin a joyous tune. This stops as abruptly as it started. All that now can be heard is a rope straining and groaning with the weight of the hanged man.

A bizarre and humorous adventure where absolution is as important as keeping one’s head."

Davis Chenault's Castles & Crusades  'The Hanged Man' adventure module in both 5th edition & Castles & Crusades version. This is a free module download when you sign up for the free C&C news letter.   'The Hanged Man' adventure module is a perfect Halloween adventure. 

  'The Hanged Man' adventure module clocks in at a twenty one page & a mid tier PC adventure that has a darkly humorous bent. But this adventure is pretty dark within it own right. 'The Hanged Man' this adventure is designed/written by Davis Chenault, so it could takes place in Inzae, the sort of more grimdark sister world of Aihrde. While this is a mid tier module its NPC's, encounters, etc. are all centered around itself. 'The Hanged Man' the adventure could be used for Ravenloft, Greyhawk, etc. or at the edges of Jim Ward's Tainted Lands'. The central adventure elements really could point up the dire influence of the Tainted Lands.
And in point of C&C's 'The Black Libram of Nartarus' by Casey Christofferson relates to a grand book of evil. And 'The Black Libram of Nartarus' could be the portal between the Tainted Lands & 'The Hanged Man'. 

The Tainted Lands could in point of fact be the point of horror & nastiness that overlaps the Haunted Highlands setting. The elements of the 'The Black Libram of Nartarus' recall the Haunted Highlands setting. And these can call back to Davis Chenault's 'Hanged Man'. 
Davis Chenault's 'Hanged Man' is a very tight & well written mid level adventure. There are some real opportunity for role playing & NPC interaction. The campaign addition of 'The Hanged Man' allows the PC's to transition between tradition D&D style adventures & a comedic or  horror game. This style of play are up to the  the players & the DM.  

'The Hanged Man' is solidly done & highly recommended. The writing is tight, the encounters quick, the central core of the module solid, and the reasoning of the 'Hanged Man' is both fluid & weird enough to keep the players coming back for more. 
Davis Chenault's Castles & Crusades  'The Hanged Man' adventure module Is Available Right Here. 

Awake & Asleep - James Ward's Tainted Lands & Cultclassic Eighties Movie Mixed With Castles & Crusades A2 'Slag Heap' by Davis Chenault.

" The Tainted Land's corruption & madness is no longer contained! The horror spreads into the world of the waking."

"The hunt is on! Agents have hired out the infamous Redcaps to raid along the Hruesen River and Baron Botkin wants them brought to justice. A mad run by the goblins left a trail of ruin along the river road but the time to act is now, beforre the trail goes cold. the evil doers broke off the raid and now lie in hiding somewhere in the Baren Wood. There in the deeps of the forest stands the legendary Slag Heap - an ancient complex of unknown origin and terrifying reputation for years ago the Heap served the horned God's minions as a bastion against the fey of the Barren Wood. But now all the forest is hostile to outsiders, whether good or ill.

The men of the Barren Wood are fierce, independent, and distrustful of outsiders. Facing them is a daunting task in the best of times and now they seem to be protecting one of their own. Discovering the real powers in this region only brings the characters closer to doom as they travel to piles and heaps of slag and detritus that was once a glorious abode and temple to the dark powers before the age of man."

Now I've always loved the cover artwork for  Castles & Crusades A2 'Slag Heap' by Davis Chenault.  If events from Troll Lords A1 are picked up here with the Tainted Lands crossing into 'Slag Heap' then we have the PC's right in the middle of the deep end of the Fey's affairs. And while Slag Heap might not seem a likely candidate for an Eighties  horror game. There is potential in directions that the players might not have considered! 

A1 Slag Heap might be striating the waking world & events might coincide with the affairs of Fairy & man. We're talking about Jim Henson's Labyrinth from '86 now the two might not seem related. But here me out here. If in 86, sixteen year old Sarah's half brother Toby is taken by the Goblin King. Then things could be far more ill defined between the human world & the Fey courts. Consider that Jareth, the Goblin King, is walking in the human world looking to take young Sarah as his bride. Are the events of Jim Henson's Labyrinth merely the latest indicator that the royals & Fairy courts in complete shambles?! 

So where does this leave the Tainted Lands?! Right in the middle of everything using its influence to turn the waking world into a living nightmare. The Fey courts are in shambles and events of Slag Heap only point this up. 
Adventurers are going to need to be right in the middle of this or things could fall apart. 
The events of Jim Henson's Labyrinth could be peripheral to the adventure. Things, events, etc. that happen over on the side. The notion that Jareth, the Goblin King, has almost taken a human bride incenses the Fairy courts inciting the events of S1 'Slag Heap' and there are calls for a new Goblin King. 
The Tainted Lands are encroaching on the waking world as Fairy continues to break down. The Goblin King is not fulfilling his duties. 

This has been taken advantage of by the horned god's minions & Slag Heap itself is another bastion of chaos for the Fey. 

This has allowed the Slag which is deep in the Tainted Lands to become a bastion for the forces that seek to over throw the Goblin King! And  insert a minion of the horned king on the Goblin Throne instead. Things can go from bad to worse as the PC's have to brave the Slag & its environs. 
Then there's the Barren Wood & its ties to the Fey. There are a lot of moving parts & pieces here in this campaign. The PC's are going to be deeply in over their heads as they get involved with the Fey courts & issues related to them. 
 

The Slag itself is a piece of the Tainted Lands given form & power. The thing wants power and it doesn't want to share it. So its using violence & blood to obtain dominance over both the Fey & humanity. 

OSR Review & Commentary On Davis Chenault's 'Beneath the Black Moon' For Castles & Crusades Rpg or Your Old School Campaigns

 "The Celebration of the Black begins with the unfurling of the Banner of the Black Moon. Delivered to the streets of Bergholt by the gods, the Banner is raised high and paraded through streets and alleys for all to see. Everyone dons mask and cape, lights fires and burns incense, imbibes and enjoys a bacchanalia, only to be followed by deeds of heinous nature, murder most foul in dark alleys, killings and slaughter abound such that the night ends in dread and terror.

 

What brings the Black Moon?"

Davis Chenault's 'Beneath the Black Moon'  isn't an adventure that you hear a lot of talk about. That's too bad because its a really solid mid tier adventure for Castles & Crusades PC's levels three to six. And 'Beneath the Black Moon' picks up from where Castles & Crusades By Shadow of Night leaves off. The setting of  the City of Bergholt is a sort of mid point pseudo European country that adventurers always seem to stumble upon. And it reeks of criminality, backroom deals, scummy nobility and more. 

Inzae reminds me of Middle Ages Europe in the midst of the flowering of history. Things & history are changing, the old ways are dying, and almost everyone is trying like Hell to hold a candle to the darkness. According to the Inzae primer; "Observations, Notes and Commentary of Fodius the Fishmonger (deceased) on the World and People Before aught, the Dragon Inzaa existed. In the vast emptiness, Inzaa grew restless and wroth and began to spin upon herself. Such a violent thrashing and churning did this become that the Dragon ripped a shred from the fabric of nothingness and from this hole all manner of energy and matter spilt into the universe in a savage, churning vortex: the Maelstrom. Inzaa twirled about the Maelstrom for ages untold as time and space and matter and energy were cast off into the universe. Thus the beginning of worlds . . . . Inzae is a primer for a savage world of dark design. A land forged by the rage of a dragon. A land both harsh and cruel, where life is short and brutal ..." So the whole affair reeks of a world circling the drain of history. But Inzae is a world of a sorta of stability amidst the tides of the gods & history. Davis Chenault's 'Beneath the Black Moon'  takes this up & runs with it. Now I've got a physical copy of  'Beneath the Black Moon' & its not missing that key map. And the adventure itself is nicely done. Is it Halloween fare?!  Well yes & no. Remember those regions of stability within TSR classic Ravenloft second edition setting?! There were no monsters per say (even though there were). Well, Beneath The Black Moon presents other more dangerous foes and NPC's. Inzae should be called the sunset world. Because as soon as the sun sets your PC's are in for a Hell of a time. Highly recommended.. 

 Davis Chenault's 'Beneath the Black Moon' Is Available Right Over Here.. 

Things of the Moon - James Ward's Tainted Lands & Cultclassic Eighties Movie Mixed With A1 Assault on Blacktooth Ridge By Davis Chenault - More Thoughts On Horror Campaigns In The Tainted Lands

  “This madness is no longer contained in the Tainted Lands. It spreads, filling the empty places around it with the dread of horror, polluting the world one small step at a time.”

"Upon the far slopes of the Turmberg Mountains, where the northern shores of Lake Vanhir lap the Plains of Cos lie the fog-enshrouded Tainted Lands. In the Days before Days hosts of dark hearted Val-Ehrakun settled here even before the sun and moon rose in the heavens. They shaped the earth, molding it with hysterical delusions. In their delirium they befouling the land, polluted the waters and staining the very air with madness. The land itself, filled with this poison became twisted, a living embodiment of the horror of nightmare. But as with all things, this too passed and the Tainted Lands became a wasteland of forgotten dreams and misspent sorcery. For eons it lay dormant, suffering under the yoke of time. But now, the shroud of its winter has given way and the Tainted Lands have come alive again. The earth groans and spits its necromantic horror in the air. Monsters, dread and foul rise from the muck of corruption and stalk the wastes. And the dreams of gods rise as nightmares from the blasted heath.

Nothing good is born in the mists of the Tainted Lands. Those who enter can survive there, some even thrive there, using the nightmare landscape to hide in. But as often as not the very magics that corrupt the lands consume them, they are twisted and driven mad, turning on all those and anything that stand before them. Still others fall into he oblivion and never rise again, their bones soaked into the earth and forgotten by history."

If we're talking horror & Castles & Crusades rpg within Jim Ward's Tainted Lands then let's talk about a module that seldom get's mentioned. And we're speaking here about Davis Chenault's A1 Assault on Blacktooth Ridge. And while this might not seem like a good fit for the Tainted Lands bear with me here for a moment of your time. But wait, A1 Assault on Blacktooth Ridge?! 

Yes, A1 Assault on Blacktooth Ridge because this module has a dark & sort of twisted fairy tale feel to it. A perfect module to twist & exploit for the Tainted Lands setting. The  wilderness encounters  of the A1 Assault on Blacktooth Ridge  adventure reads like a Grim's Fairy tales bit. A1 Assault on Blacktooth Ridge 's set up & setting feels like the isolated backwater village & surrouindings that adventurers of low level can cut their teeth in. 
A1 is homegrown horror taking adventurers into a world of small time 1st level adventure. And this is perfect because the region is filled with abandoned temples, ruins, & dungeons that are scattered through out the region. 


A1 could be the perfect start up for the greater horrors that don't seem as real to the backwoods & backwards appearing of the regions. And this makes it perfect for the foulness of the module. The tone of A1 feels like two folds of a campaign on the one hand there's the familar fairy tale feel. And on the other hand bits & pieces of A1 Assault on Blacktooth Ridge remind me of B2 Keep on the Borderland by Gary Gygax. But for moment let's look at A1 being a dark fairy tale reflection of another world. For Eighties classic horror this comes in the seldom mentioned Eighy Four classic 'In The Company of Wolves'. 

An Earth NPC  young woman transported into the tainted lands with the horrors of fairy tale weirdness edging on lycanthropy's curse is a way of extending the themses of A1 Assault on Blacktooth Ridge into full on campaign mode. The tainted lands mold themselves around the dreams & thoughts of a young woman while werewolves are called in by the shattered dreams of innocence. A1 backwater wilderness could be all that's needed to set the adventurers onto the path of werewolf stricken madness. This all ties back into the E.C. comics blog entry last week of 'From Out Of The Mists'.  The tainted lands turns the nightmare factor up to 'eleven' and then some. The cultclassic factor creeps in as the mists of the tainted lands weave to make the NPC's dreams into the nightmares of reality. Wrap this all with a Ray Bradbury bow and you're off to run with a ready made campaign jump point. 

Twisting & Turning Through Castles & Crusades A2 Slag Heap By Davis Chenault

"The hunt is on! Agents have hired out the infamous Redcaps to raid along the Hruesen River and Baron Botkin wants them brought to justice. A mad run by the goblins left a trail of ruin along the river road but the time to act is now, before the trail goes cold. the evil doers broke off the raid and now lie in hiding somewhere in the Barren Wood. There in the deeps of the forest stands the legendary Slag Heap - an ancient complex of unknown origin and terrifying reputation for years ago the Heap served the Horned God's minions as a bastion against the fey of the Barren Wood. But now all the forest is hostile to outsiders, whether good or ill."




Now I've always loved the cover artwork for  Castles & Crusades A2 'Slag Heap' by Davis Chenault. Right out the  ate I'm gonna start modifying this adventure right out the gate. Right now I'm listening to CCR's 'Run Through The Jungle' cus it fits my mind set today;
"The men of the Barren Wood are fierce, independent, and distrustful of outsiders. Facing them is a daunting task in the best of times and now they seem to be protecting one of their own. Discovering the real powers in this region only brings the characters closer to doom as they travel to piles and heaps of slagand detritus that was once a glorious abode and temple to the dark powers before the age of man."Once again we're confronted with this idea of a D&D style adventure taking place before the age of man so  let's go with this. I really like the idea of powers from beyond meddling with man & the adventurers playing in the debris of other ages. It feels like A2 'Slag Heap' could be dropped straight into Advanced Dungeons & Dragon's Greyhawk box setting with little effort. And yes I need the whole cloth of the 'A'  of C&C modules but I'm purposely taking A2 'Slag Heap' out of module context to get the feel of it. The more I'm reading the more that this feels like  A2 'Slag Heap' could be ported over to my War 1870's home brew  campaign as an alternative Earth fantasy setting point. Here's where two other Castles & Crusades products come to mind. The Codex Celtarum is perfectly suited to add to the mix here. There's an almost horror Fey element through A2 'Slag Heap' for me. 



Davis Chenault for good or not has imbued  A2 'Slag Heap'  with a bit of dream like Celtic quality here. And here's why I think that this module would be perfect for James Ward's Tainted Lands.  And this starts going a long way towards fitting into my hybrid Victorious rpg/Castles & Crusades home brew campaign. 



I'm getting a full on Arthur Machen 'White People'  gritty down & dirty Celtic feel from A2 'Slag Heap'. And that's the fantasy campaign world that I'm going to brew up for this module.  

A Sword & Sorcery fantasy world set amid the piles of the former Pre Flood Biblical style remains of the 'gods'.
 But there's gonna be a very strong weird tales horror vibe too this module when I run this 
module in my War 1870's campaign  
The feel here with my take away from A2 'Slag Heap' is that you might 
 disappear  around the next coal pile in rural England & end up trapped in a fantasy world where your a spear point 
away from death by spear point wielded by a Drider.