Matters of Metal & Survival In Sword & Sorcery - Dragon issue 70 February 1983

 Sometimes when its the weekend, there comes a time to pile on the Sword & Sorcery goodness. In this case it was the classic Dragon magazine,  Dragon issue 70 released in February of 1983.And when it comes to an essential NPC character for the PC's this issue has it in spades. 

This issue has as its editor Kim Mohan during this time & it was a time when Ed Greenwood was coming into his own. And this issue has the Smith NPC. Doesn't seem like a vital NPC for your adventuring party does it?! 
Think again! This is the guy who fixes & straightens your fighter's sword, creates those delicate little adjustments to your thieves tools, & gets your armor's kinks out. And yes the armorer takes care of all of the overview details. But the smiths who work under his supervision make sure all of the details are done. The fact that these gents seemed to be over looked time & again is a crying shame. Why?! Because of all of the little details that the DM can bill the player's PC's for! That's right you wanna make sure those treasures are spent. The Smith is perfect because every village had one along with his apprentice. 
When it comes to the smiths of the gods then the Dwarves of legend & mythology come alive. These beings were artists whom the gods courted. And their depiction is dangerous & callous. 
Ed Greenwood's NPC  depiction is solid & reminds me of a recent viewing of a classic Disney. 
When a smith works with a wizard of high rank the results can be well.. magickal. 

The Eighty one classic Dragonslayer has one of the Eighties most iconic magical weapons. But today it's seldom mentioned! The smiths of yore were formidable men of renowned courted for their wares. And it would high time to remind players of this. 
For a Sword & Sorcery game such as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Smiths are paramount for a snow bound & heady alien landscape such as Hyperborea. A good smith is worth their weight in good for being able to forge tools, weapons, armor, and other wares ensues steady wages & favors. The community with a good smith on Hyperborea is assured survival! 

And what about all of those wonderful toys of Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom?! The ladies of Barsoom may have created & assembled the parts & pieces of the  weaponry of Mars. But it was lame & shunned smiths who created those pieces, the artisans who carved the brave deeds into the pieces, worked brass, iron, etc. to create the weapons. The smith are never mentioned by rest assured they are busy working in the atomic furnaces of Barsoom! 
A good example of the science fantasy version of the smith is the recent depiction of the  Mandorian Disney show in the Mandorian Armorer. 

In Robert E. Howard's Kull stories the smiths play a vital role in the defense of Atlantis during its waning days. The fact is that Smith's should never be taken lightly but these days even in OSR game adventures they seldom get even a nod. 

'The Politics of Hell' Books III A 'What If' Infernal & Devilish Campaign Set Up For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition Or OSRIC Part II

Our game of 'What if' continues in part two of our Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition 'Politics of Hell' series. Where I begin to outline more of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons orange spine reprints & expansions from an alternative universe;" Let's play a game of 'What If' what would have happened if the trail blazing orange spines of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition reprint books had continued with those incredible pieces of cover artwork. James Panarella did some incredible Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition orange spine mock up covers of supplement books that we wish existed. "
Fans would have to wait more then a year for the dream team of Gary Gygax, Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grub, James Ward,Ed Sullivan, Frank Mentzer,  & a bunch of the TSR illumine get together & finish 'The Politics of Hell'. Robert Kuntz is brought on board (or has been behind the scenes) & Gary Gygax as well as Ernie & Alex are busy play testing the next round of 'The Politics of Hell book III'. The year is 1990 & TSR has its hands full with the other titles of James Panarella's 'The Ways', 'The Lands',etc.. Why?! Because all of these titles are doing exactly what BECMI's Mystara's Known World Gazetteers did but their doing it for Greyhawk. Greyhawk as well as the Forgotten Realms is getting the full publishing treatment. TSR is a juggernaut in the rpg market taking on companies such as the upstart White Wolf & many others during this the alternative world rpg Golden age. 'The Politics of Hell III' picks up right at the end of the infernal  events of  book II. The upstart & outsider devil war is full swing in Hell. And the planes are shaking from the war as the gods deal with the aftermath of infernal Hell war starting to make the Prime Material shake to its foundations. 'The Politics of Hell III' has new PC classes, military forces, new monsters, adventure hooks, dark connections to some of Hell's dark secrets & hints of the connections to James Ward's Greyhawk Adventure book.



The boiling warfare in Hell has enabled some of the most dangerous entities in the infernal realm to escape into the war. The PC's must delve deep into a high level dungeon ruin complex  on Maladomini  the seventh layer of Hell, 'the Hell of Ruins'. The Gods of Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, etc are getting ready for aremgeddon because the infernal forces are leaking into the mortal realms. The possessors & their infernal ilk detailed in Dragon magazine Issue 42  "Demons, Devils and Spirits" by Tom Moldvay have escaped from the vaults of  Maladomini. The worlds of Imagination are in grave danger & only the PC's can bail them out.

The dream writing & designing team of TSR has been busy connecting the Greyhawk & Forgotten Realm dots to Ward & Kuntz's Legends & Lore. Dragon magazine articles, appendixes,etc are all finding their way into the 'The Politics of Hell III.'  Mephistopheles, Asmodeus, Baalzephon, the other archdevils are very angry because they've literally been pushed with their backs against the planes walls. All of their schemes, lies, etc are exposed!


 Across the planes material paladins,clerics, & holy warriors are called to the front lines of what could be planar Armageddon. 'The Politics of Hell III' has all kinds of new information that sets the stage for 'Gary Gygax's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition'. 'The Politics of Hell' books are a sprawling Advanced Dungeons & Dragons mega campaign  that takes full advantage of  Gary Gygax's & Frank Mentzer's T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil II book. This book takes the events of T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil & continues it as the Abyss begins to take advantage of  Belial's warfare. Satan is going to have to take both Astaroth & Belial in hand with the PC's background help doing a lot of the heavy lifting with more dungeon delving. The PC's are going to have to act as a fulcrum between the gods & devils lest all out war on the planes spells absolute doom for both Greyhawk & The Forgotten Realms.  'The Politics of Hell III' can be used in ten ways: 

1. The evil infernal cults of Greyhawk may not stand down at the end of the events of the book causing the PC's to mop up. 
2. The artifacts that the PC's pull from Hell must be put back at the end of the campaign events of 'The Politics of Hell III'. 
3. The sprawling infernal horrors of Hell are going cause all kinds of havoc enabling campaign play for years to come. 
4. Political destabilization in Greyhawk means that the PC's may have to root out all kinds of infernal influences.
5. The PC's are going to have to deal with the gods getting very angry at their interference with the events of  'The Politics of Hell III'
6. The treasures that the PC's recovered from Hell might cause the PC's more trouble then their worth. 
7. The threat of Luz is now in full blown horror on Greyhawk after Hell has shown its weakness. 
8. Asmodeus may fully be aware of the PC's & have his attention. This isn't a good thing as he could recruit them for other missions for Hell to mop up since they did such a good job. 
9.  'The Politics of Hell III' sets off some of the dark secrets of Hell who knows what other monsters are hidden in the lowest depths of the plane. 
10. The sprawling horror of this campaign lays bare some of the threats that Hell poses to the planes. The PC's may well be questioned or worse by the kings & queens of Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms. 

And what of Mystara?! What happens if the Immortals get a whiff of the events of  'The Politics of Hell III'? They will slam & lock the door behind them?! This sets up even more dangers for other OSR systems.  'The Politics of Hell ' books for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons would indeed be an epic campaign. Now if they only existed?! 

'The Politics of Hell' Books I & II - A 'What If' Infernal & Devilish Campaign Set Up For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition Or OSRIC

Let's play a game of 'What If' what would have happened if the trail blazing orange spines of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition reprint books had continued with those incredible pieces of cover artwork. James Panarella did some incredible Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition orange spine mock up covers of supplement books that we wish existed.  So I reached out through Facebook to James about three mock up book covers that absolutely hooked into my mind tonight & my imagination. Know I actually know James Panarella  writing from a book he wrote called, 'The Roleplayers'. That's a blog review for another time.  Now the Politics of Hell AD&D first edition books never existed but what if they did? What would be in them, how could they be used, & could one set up an infernal campaign with the first two for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition or even OSRIC?
Right now let's get back to Advanced Dungeons & Dragon's 'The Politics of Hell'. The year is 1989  Gary Gygax, Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grub, James Ward,Ed Sullivan, Frank Mentzer,  & a bunch of the TSR illumine get together & publish 'The Politics of Hell'.  The 'Satanic Panic' folks lose their ever living minds over the book. The fervor over the book propels it up the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons charts as a classic. The book clocks in at one hundred & twenty eight pages, has connections to Jeff Grub's Manual of the Planes, some new PC classes, several new articles on adventuring in Hell, details on the first six layers of Hell & it updates as well as expands upon "The Politics of Hell" by Alexander von Thorn originally appeared in issue number 28 (August 1979) of 'The Dragon'.

'The Politics of Hell' book takes the information found in "The Politics of Hell" by Alexander von Thorn & marries it up with Ed Greenwood's two-part article "The Nine Hells" was in Dragon magazine  issues 75 and 76 (July and August 1983). And "Nine Hells revisited"in Dragon magazine's issue number 91 (November 1984).



How is it married? Through the infernal powers described in 'The Monster Manual II' & "The Politics of Hell" by Alexander von Thorn kick everything off;

"Asmodeus has reorganized Hell to suit his purposes. Satan had originally divided Hell into nine distinct planes, in order to keep track of which damned soul went where (no pun intended). Asmodeus has dispensed with the old structuring and doled out the planes as sort of fiefdoms under his suzerainty. He kept the ninth plane as his personal demesne and granted the sixth and seventh to Baalzebul, out of respect for his previous service, making him the only devil to rule two entire planes personally. Dispater and Geryon were also granted entire planes because they were the first to support Asmodeus, and they have since been his most loyal followers. The other planes are divided among the other six dozen or so arch-devils. Astaroth was offered a plane, but he declined the responsibility. Asmodeus has used his position to increase his personal strength to the point that he is now the most powerful devil to be found on the nine planes of Hell. This is unheard of, but it was barely permissible by the Laws of the Multiverse because the departure of Satan and Belial from Hell and the reduction in strength that Baalzebu1 took left a slight imbalance in the Multiverse which Asmodeus used to increase his own strength. And so, all the planes of Hell are now securely under the dominion of Asmodeus, Lord Of Hell."

Satan & the other outcast devils are launched into an infernal war  by Belial; "In the presence of both Asmodeus and Belial, the armies of Hell will make an attempt to capture Belial, because they do not want the anger of the Lord of Hell upon them. Belial’s other allies are Satan and his followers. His enemies are the same as those of Satan, except for the armies of Hell as stated. However, the other devils have more enmity for Belial than for Satan, because Belial did a lot of Satan’s dirty work when they were in charge, and Belial seemed to enjoy harassing the devils."
Events begin to escalate because of one world setting & that's Greyhawk. Adventurers are responsible for the imbalance of the planes because of the opening of the ruins of  T14 The Temple of Elemental Evil By Gary Gygax & Frank Mentzer. This follows swiftly the events of WG4: The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (1982), by Gary Gygax. T1 The Village of Hommlet By Gary Gygax forms one part of a book end according the Drivethrurpg entry on T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil; "the four modules do form a nice adventuring continuity: T1 is "introductory to novice level"; T1-4 carries that up as high as level 8 (and possiblly higher); S4 runs levels 6-8; and WG4 goes from levels 8-10.

In his "Greyhawk Grognard" blog, Joseph Bloch suggests that Iuz might have been the lynchpin holding the arc together, since he's involved with the Temple of Elemental Evil and is also the son of Iggwilv from "Caverns."" This imbalance on the side of the demonic forces of chaotic evil allows their opposite evil number of law to go out of balance.


Belial takes the opportunity to disrupt the ranks of the armies of Hell recruiting a group of high level adventurers to recover a treasure hidden on the plane of Avernus, the first layer of Hell. Tiamat, Bargrivyek, Kurtulmak, Sekolah, Bel, Dispater, Mammon, Belial, Levistus, Glasya, & Baalzebul are all going to play a part as the PC's race against time to brave the dungeons of Avernus, the first layer of Hell. Should  Asmodeus get wind of this coup then he will take revenge on the families of the PC's for disturbing the balance of Hell. 
Events quickly take up steam & hell fire as Nergal whom Belial has been playing too takes the opportunity to try & seize a plane of Hell in 'The Politics of Hell II' By Gary Gygax. This book has the next three layers of Hell, exhaustive details on the armies of Hell,  the second major NPC's, the banished cohorts of Tiamat, the real low down on getting out of Hell, major artifacts of Hell, several dungeons & details on the city state of Dis, & how all of this relates to the  Greyhawk setting including a detailed study of the weaponry of Hell. 


Many of the details of 'The Politics of Hell II' book has extensive information on  the interactions between Satan, Belial, & Astaroth whose ranks are counted among the outcast rabble of Hell. This book does not go into the major conflicts of the 'The Politics of Hell II'. This is saved for the upcoming 'Politics in Hell III' supplement. 

Ten Ways The Politics of Hell Book I & II
Can Make a Campaign Devilishly Better 

1. The PC's can become embroiled in the affairs of a manic cult of devilish worshipers on Greyhawk. Events escalate quickly as the reigns of power get thrown out of balance. 
2. The infernal outcasts are watching events on Greyhawk unfold & are looking for a weakness. Recent events lead them to suspect that there's an opportunity
3. The nine planes politics connects up to the events of some of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons modules into more subtle context. 
4. Events on the prime material are pulling the nine Hells into total war. 
5. Adventurers caused these events & could make things much easier to solve. 
6. Most of the major NPC's in the Nine Hells are capable of quietly handling  even higher end adventurers with little problem. 
7. The devils are major sources of treasure & this is a good hook for the PC's. 
8. Humans are going to be the go to villains for facing down parties of adventurers. 
9. The Devils of the Nine Hells are infernal gods in their own rights & this imbalance in the planes is going grab the attention of the gods. 
10. The Hell's are major areas of pychic real estate & any power struggles for the planes are highest stake campaigns unto themselves. Adventurers are going to be wild cards at even the best of times use this.  

The Politics of Hell books I & II could easily be ported over to an OSR game such as OSRIC or Goblinoid Games  Labyrinth Lord with little issue. The stats would be the same & the tone has all of the hallmarks of a great campaign set up.

From Epic To Urban - The Uses of Lankhmar City of Adventure (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition : Official Game Accessory) by Anthony Pryor For Your Old School Campaign

"LANKHMAR...city of thieves, city of the night, city of adventure. Home of Fritz Leiber's famous heroes, FAFHRD™ and the GRAY MOUSER™; greatest adventurers in the world of Nehwon. The city of Lankhmar springs to life as an exciting Setting for the AD&D® game.
Visit the fabled Rainbow Palace, stroll the surly streets of the old town, haggle at the market place or risk the winding maze of the Tenderloin, From the wharves and shipyards to the dark sewers of this mighty metropolis,. LANKHMAR takes you on a full tour.
Also included are many encounters in LANKHMAR and adaptations of the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Its unique approach makes LANKHMAR a living, changing city.
Leave the dungeons and wilderness and step into a new world of intrigue and adventure. Enter the city of LANKHMAR; if you're lucky, you'll get out alive."

Lankhmar City of Adventure (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition : Official Game Accessory) Paperback – November 1, 1993 by Anthony Pryor (Author), Fred Fields (Editor)

Way back in the 90's I was running a complete Grimjack comic book from First comics  rpg campaign. I learned a lot back then. one of the things is never listen to the 'community' & that's because often over looks the good stuff. Manos review on Amazon  from 2011 encapsulates my feeling about Lankhmar: City of Adventure (2nd edition); "Now this is THE city supplement to buy.The streets are named, the map is very well setup for modding or using as-is, and just so much more.The only thing I didn't care for was in the very center on each district, the GM had to use a geomorph from the book. (The idea was to make each city unique, which was not really needed.)Having said that, it's still a 5+ item. In the second edition they added the sewer maps which just pushed it over the top for great that much more. (And all the Skaven, err... "Ratkin" scraps.)

(IMO) The best part? Most younger gamers have no experience with the old stuff, so you can just mangle it as you wish without breaking any of their sacred cows.

Lord knows this city had multiple names in multiple systems for me: D&D, RoleMaster, Palladium Fantasy... the game might have changed, but same city remained. The players actually dug it."

Here's the thing original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition's Dieties & Demigods could be scaled back to fit the player's PC's as needed. So could Lankhmar: City of Adventure (2nd edition) a lesson I learned from Grimjack's Mortal Gods story.  Its not about killing gods but bringing in the lessons of mythology. 



 Homer's The Iliad and the Odyssey, killed more gods & demigods then I've personally ever seen in a D&D campaign. The fact was & is that  Fritz Leiber's famous heroes, FAFHRD and the GRAY MOUSER, the greatest adventurers in the world of Nehwon showed that gods were alien, flawed,highly dangerous & profitable from time to time. Trust me I heard about using a second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons book back then as well from the old timers & from the then 2nd edition crowd of DM's as well. If you've got the players sometimes its best to turn your back & play at your table. Just because its a popular consensus doesn't make it right. Its only an opinion. At the end of the day its about what the players want.


Grimjack is the copyright & trade mark of Tim Truman & its writer John Ostrander. They went through Hell & back to secure the rights to their characters. This is a blog post for educational & entertainment purposes only. Not a copy right or trade mark violation on my part.

I never used the character of Grimjack only the idea of the city setting of Cynosure. What I used instead was Jeff Grub's Manual of the Planes from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.  This allowed me the AD&D's planes without the cannon baggage of the upcoming Planscape setting.



The real turning point for me was using The Best of the Dragon volume II's article by Ed Greenwood Theory and use of gates: From the city of Brass... to dead Orc Pass. There's a solid love of the hobby in these early issues of The Dragon for me. Its something I return to again & again.


I got really super tired of hearing all of the grumbling of the gamers & dungeon masters at my local hobby shops & what not. So I started doing things with the enthusiasm of the originators of the games that we loved.
Even gods could be scaled up or down for encounters with party members as needed there has never been a fear of not doing things 'right' for encounters. Next time another game takes me in a new direction. Keep em rolling..