A Sword & Sorcery Take On The Borderlands - Two Free Modules Lead to An OSR Sword & Sorcery Campaign - Mark Taormino's Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #0 Village of the Borderlands Module & The Hyperborea rpg

 "Something evil has descended at the extreme border of the kingdom. Villages are being attacked and citizens are being killed. Some rumors say a coven of witches is responsible for the terror. Other rumors link the attacks to creatures that came from depths of hell. A group of hardy adventurers is needed to stop who or what is behind the attacks."

When it comes to balls to the walls Advanced Dungeons & Dragons sometimes you've got to settle back into the unexpected. That's where LG3: Evil in the Borderlands by Claude M. LeBrun comes in. It clocks in at 25 pages including maps & does the job for a module for characters levels 9-12 from 2016.  It brings home the pain with the PC' investigating an old foe of theirs; "The player character’s old nemesis, the evil wizard Gandilor, is back and he is more powerful than ever. After he was routed from his previous stronghold near Fort Kraken, Gandilor took to the hills to recover and recuperate. After many months he began of searching for new stronghold. He found a new stronghold in the mountainous land to the southeast of the kingdom."

This module is a straight up nasty run at a wizard & its got twists as well as a few turns in the right areas with action heating up an OSR campaign easily. Claude M. LeBrun brings in his usual standard of writing & for a free module this one's got solid encounters & an easy flow to the writing. The encounters are nasty. This one is part three in a module adventure chain; "This adventure was originally written for my kingdom of Sandidar, but the adventure can be inserted into any world. This adventure is the third module in my LG series. Completing either of the previous modules, Module LG1 – Terror in the Forest of Gizzick and Module LG2 – Famine at Fort Kraken, is not required in order to run this adventure. "
That suits me fine and this is obviously a homage to B2 Keep on The Borderlands By Gary Gygax. But it would be unfair to compare LG3: Evil in the Borderlands to B2 The  evil wizard Gandilor, could face the PC's down indirectly during the events of B2 and then encounter him in  LG1 – Terror in the Forest of Gizzick. 




The events in Keep on The Borderlands gives an adventure spine to the surrounding weirdness that comes into play in  Module LG2 – Famine at Fort Kraken, the second or third time that the PC's run into  the evil wizard Gandilor. Fort Kraken is another of those forts in the network that we see in the Borderlands.

"The people living in and around Fort Kraken are starving and they need your help in determining the cause of this famine so it can be stopped. Do your player characters have the mettle to end this tragedy? An adventure for Characters Levels 5 to  9."



Could these modules work in an OSR game such as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea? The answer is yes & here's how. The evil wizard Gandilor, is an Ixian necromancer hired by the cult of Chaos on one of the old disputed borders between the Vikings & the Keltic tribes. These ancient enemies haven't had an issue in a hundred years but the cult & its humanoid cultists have been slowly stirring the pot especially around the nearby areas of Brigand's Bay.
 The old humanoid birthing generators used by the chaos worshiping Hyperboreans to created disposable troops has been hijacked by cults of chaos to create an instant army. This can be backslid into LG1 – Terror in the Forest of Gizzick.  This whole thing winds up with LG3: Evil in the Borderlands.   Claude M. LeBrun's modules are generic enough that the dungeon master can easily adapt them to OSRIC with little issue.




This combination of modules should take characters from level one right up to nine if they survive. The dungeon master is going to have to work the angles to adapt some of the AD&D first edition elements of  Claude M. LeBrun 's modules  to their favorite Swords & Sorcery campaign but it can easily be done.
The adventure path from first level PC's to ninth & beyond goes something like this: 

1. B2 Keep on The Borderlands By Gary Gygax. 
2. Module LG2 – Famine at Fort Kraken
3. LG3: Evil in the Borderlands.

From here the action can be heated up with adding in the Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes by Jeffrey Talanian adding a map of the the depths of Diamond Desert in the belongings of the necromancer Gandilor. We strength his ties to the hermit in the caves of Chaos in B2 Keep on The Borderlands By Gary Gygax.  The mystery deepens but its the Ixian  necromancer's speculations about the artifacts that may add the cult of chaos in Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes.  The time factor may not be on the PC's side as the clock is ticking towards the Hyperborean Winter when things become ice & snow locked. The PC's might be in for a race against time. 

After the events of Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes the DM could tie the events into running in  the Lug Wasteland with Tim Callahan's The Beasts of Kraggoth Manor where the necromancer Gandilor's maps might lead with his speculations about  long-lost Atlantean technology.  And here's where we get back into the realms of the Borderlands. The necomancer is the latest in a series of destablizing agents that we have unhinging the Borderland region of Hyperborea. This ties directly back into Mark Taormino's Maximum Mayhem Dungeons #0 Village of the Borderlands fitting into the backround of Gary Gygax's B2 Keep on the Borderlands & T1 The Village of Hommlet. These agents have been placed within the Borderlands to bring in the armies of Chaos in force. And this goes right back into the ideas we've been dissussing here on the blog for this Hyperborea rpg campaign. 

And the T1 The Village of Hommlet is key to making this whole set up work for us as both players and DM's. 

Review & Commentary On The Free B/X Dungeons & Dragons Adventure XC Catacombs of Death By RC Pinnell For Your OSR & Old School Campaigns

'Catacombs of Death'  is a sort of rare beast of a high level  adventure from Dragon's foot by author RC Pinnell because of the upper level of the PC's needed and the deadliness of the adventure.

The plot is something straight out of the pages of an old Dragon or Dungeon magazine in a good way, its got all of that hard core wilderness/ and dungeon action surrounding a nice plot of sword and sorcery action. But this one is an upper level crawl and lives up to its premise in spades; "An old friend requires your help to rid themselves of a curse, but can you survive the Catacombs of Death. An Expert-Companion adventure for character levels 12-15."

Grab it Free Right Over

HERE

The author lays out the ground work for 'Catacombs of Death' straight out of the gate.

This adventure is designed for characters at the upper range of the "Expert" levels of play--12 to 14. Players running demi-human types should have attained at least Attack Rank C, as provided in the Companion Manual of instructions, that their characters may be able to experience the adventure on a more or less equal footing with the human types.

This is not an open sand box style of adventure instead this is a carefully plotted adventure that follows PC's into the mid range of character development and the pit falls that go along with later life of such characters.

The encounters are a challenge for these characters and the adventure centers around several locations of very dangerous aspect and a rather nasty dungeon.

Action, NPC's, and plot are interwoven throughout the Catacombs of Death, the author making no secret of the lethality and challenge of its plot and story line. This isn't an adventure location but a set of interwoven plots in the style of the older adventures for Basic D&D and retroclone systems.

Think of this module in terms of the Expert module such as the Slave Lord series because there is a very similar vibe running throughout the adventure, a set of circumstances that will haunt the characters for years to come surrounding events already set into motion.

This is an adventure about old vendettas, ancient history, and hair trigger circumstance all putting the PC's at the center of its Egyptian style setting adventure & campaign style  material.

There is a ton of new monsters, set pieces and more right between the pages of this one. It really is a well done but upper level adventure & used well can propel characters into a whole other realm of character back story and development. But those playing this one are going to be changed forever by what happens out in the sands in the Catacombs of Death. Take a look and download this one.

Using Catacombs Of Death

 For Your Old School Campaigns

Using 'Catacombs of Death' for your Old School Retroclones is going to require a bit more of a challenge because of the very nature of the module, this isn't a sandbox or kitchen sink adventure but one that requires some preparation and careful thought by the DM.

Because of the very nature of its story and plot a careful working by the DM is needed. A nice idea is to work the events from the back drop into the PC's career early into a campaign and then use Catacombs as a send off or mid range adventure for upper level characters.

That being said there are other ways of dealing with the circumstances surrounding the adventure.

Another idea is to have another high level  rival party hook up with the adventurers and one of their number set the plot and events of 'Catacombs of Death' into motion. This adventure is interesting, complex, and full of adventure and surprises. There are a myriad of uses for it but for a game such as Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea some real solid adjustments of level and a handful of solid conversion work needs to be done by the DM. The material will fit a such a game but it would require some work on the DM's part.

This is a module well worth the time, energy, and circumstance to take a look at and its very well done. For a free module is blurs the line once again between fan and pro. I personally think that 'Catacombs of Death' is worth your time to down load & a solid addition to any DM's adventure backlog of modules. 

Commentary & Review Of The Free OSR Adventure 'The Obelisk of Forgotten Memories' by Gus LaRu For the Labyrinth Lord Retroclone

"A outdoor encounter area and small dungeon complex designed as a supplement for low level ASE exploration and with a focus on the Orbital Gods."

So we're all stuck in quarantine & I've suspended my game campaigns for three weeks or more. Like many folks I've been doing a lot of reading & debating with my players over the phone, via email, etc. And I've been going over notes about various dungeons one of which I came across was about  the Dungeon of Signs blog's free down load adventures. The blog is long gone but some of the great OSR material remains. 'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories' is a great low level module intended to supplement Patrick Wetmore's wonderful megadungeon the Anomalous Subsurface Environment (ASE) according to Gus LaRu's module introduction; 
"The Obelisk is moderately large outdoor adventure with a small attached dungeon
for a party levels 1-3.
This adventure was occasioned by my players deciding to take a lark into the
wilderness rather than exploring Patrick Wetmore's wonderful megadungeon the
Anomalous Subsurface Environment (ASE). It's my own attempt to create another,
smaller adventure location that seems reasonable within Pat's world. It
contains several elements (guns, ancient technology, God's eye's) that won't
make sense outside of ASE, but I suppose it could be run as a simple graveyard
based cult-smashing expedition in with a little modification. It's also an
attempt at an adventure in the old style of the TSR products I grew up with, or
at least as I remember them played in the hands of murderously inclined pre-
teen boys on lazy Summer afternoons. The encounters within are not scaled to
allow a 1st level party to win in a stand-up heroic fight. There are encounters, and even individual creatures (especially the special random encounters), quite capable of slaughtering a party within a couple rounds, but this is how it should be, as they can be avoided or negotiated with." 
 'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories'  although its meant as an addition to  Patrick Wetmore's wonderful megadungeon the Anomalous Subsurface Environment (ASE) it could easily be used for either Mutant Future or even Gamma World fourth edition.

This brings up an interesting point here about  'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories'   this is a straight up Swords & Sorcery module unto itself because of the 'gods of death' that are involved here. The module itself is a take no prisoner gonzo balls to the wall mix of old school or OSR Dungeons & Dragons with its science fantasy adventure elements. Gus takes on the material here with gusto but then that was his style. The gonzo encounters here are no holds barred & nasty. 
These are typical of  Patrick Wetmore's wonderful megadungeon the Anomalous Subsurface Environment (ASE) & that brings up my next point.  ASE I & II are perfectly aligned to be used in a Sword & Sorcery campaign as the complete basis.



Could 'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories'   be used for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea?! Yes & no possibly. Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has its own distinct OSR flavor. But there's more then enough adventure latitude that 'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories'  could be dropped into the mix of AS&SH. This is especially true at the edge kingdoms of the Hyperborea setting where not all of the weirdness of Hyerpborea's past has been forgotten. Right now there's a flash sale on a few of the AS&SH's adventure titles that I would take advantage of.

Another possibility that I've been considering lately has been the inclusion of both  'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories'  & Anomalous Subsurface Environment (ASE) I & II is using them with Adventurer, Conqueror,King's  Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu.

The PC's stumble onto the ancient past of their colony world & things get weirder the deeper into the adventure they go into  'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories' . The grave yard  adventure location ultra violent science fantasy weirdness & past all add up to one Hell of a ride. Could the PC's much later on as they level up take over the grave yard?!

Another possibility is using 'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories'  is to add it into a Castles & Crusades game to twist the entire campaign into the direction of sheer Science Fantasy gonzo.




Here the PC's are going to be challenged by the danger that the graveyard & its encounters represent.  The Anomalous Subsurface Environment treatment means that the campaign takes a very different turn then the usual C&C game if the dungeon master decides to go in that direction. 
'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories'  isn't without its flaws & some of these are laid bare:

1. The encounters are exceedingly deadly even for an OSR game but that's ASE's style. So don't whine about it. 
2. Super amounts of science fantasy gonzo abound & play across this adventure. This is the author's style. 
3. There are some nasty & very dangerous elements even for an OD&D or the like 
4. There's not enough of  'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories'   in my opinion the adventure left me wanting more. 
5. Its designed to be super specific to the world setting  Anomalous Subsurface Environment 

With all that said I think that  'The  Obelisk of Forgotten Memories'  does its job well beyond the scope that the author/designer intended. 

A Sword & Sorcery Take On The Borderlands - Two Free Modules Lead to An OSR Sword & Sorcery Campaign

"Something evil has descended at the extreme border of the kingdom. Villages are being attacked and citizens are being killed. Some rumors say a coven of witches is responsible for the terror. Other rumors link the attacks to creatures that came from depths of hell. A group of hardy adventurers is needed to stop who or what is behind the attacks."


When it comes to balls to the walls Advanced Dungeons & Dragons sometimes you've got to settle back into the unexpected. That's where LG3: Evil in the Borderlands by Claude M. LeBrun comes in. It clocks in at 25 pages including maps & does the job for a module for characters levels 9-12 from 2016.  It brings home the pain with the PC' investigating an old foe of theirs; "The player character’s old nemesis, the evil wizard Gandilor, is back and he is more powerful than ever. After he was routed from his previous stronghold near Fort Kraken, Gandilor took to the hills to recover and recuperate. After many months he began of searching for new stronghold. He found a new stronghold in the mountainous land to the southeast of the kingdom."

This module is a straight up nasty run at a wizard & its got twists as well as a few turns in the right areas with action heating up an OSR campaign easily. Claude M. LeBrun brings in his usual standard of writing & for a free module this one's got solid encounters & an easy flow to the writing. The encounters are nasty. This one is part three in a module adventure chain; "This adventure was originally written for my kingdom of Sandidar, but the adventure can be inserted into any world. This adventure is the third module in my LG series. Completing either of the previous modules, Module LG1 – Terror in the Forest of Gizzick and Module LG2 – Famine at Fort Kraken, is not required in order to run this adventure. "
That suits me fine and this is obviously a homage to B2 Keep on The Borderlands By Gary Gygax. But it would be unfair to compare LG3: Evil in the Borderlands to B2 The  evil wizard Gandilor, could face the PC's down indirectly during the events of B2 and then encounter him in  LG1 – Terror in the Forest of Gizzick. 




The events in Keep on The Borderlands gives an adventure spine to the surrounding weirdness that comes into play in  Module LG2 – Famine at Fort Kraken, the second or third time that the PC's run into  the evil wizard Gandilor. Fort Kraken is another of those forts in the network that we see in the Borderlands.

"The people living in and around Fort Kraken are starving and they need your help in determining the cause of this famine so it can be stopped. Do your player characters have the mettle to end this tragedy? An adventure for Characters Levels 5 to  9."



Could these modules work in an OSR game such as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea? The answer is yes & here's how. The evil wizard Gandilor, is an Ixian necromancer hired by the cult of Chaos on one of the old disputed borders between the Vikings & the Keltic tribes. These ancient enemies haven't had an issue in a hundred years but the cult & its humanoid cultists have been slowly stirring the pot especially around the nearby areas of Brigand's Bay.
 The old humanoid birthing generators used by the chaos worshiping Hyperboreans to created disposable troops has been hijacked by cults of chaos to create an instant army. This can be backslid into LG1 – Terror in the Forest of Gizzick.  This whole thing winds up with LG3: Evil in the Borderlands.   Claude M. LeBrun's modules are generic enough that the dungeon master can easily adapt them to OSRIC with little issue.




This combination of modules should take characters from level one right up to nine if they survive. The dungeon master is going to have to work the angles to adapt some of the AD&D first edition elements of  Claude M. LeBrun 's modules  to their favorite Swords & Sorcery campaign but it can easily be done.
The adventure path from first level PC's to ninth & beyond goes something like this: 

1. B2 Keep on The Borderlands By Gary Gygax. 
2. Module LG2 – Famine at Fort Kraken
3. LG3: Evil in the Borderlands.

From here the action can be heated up with adding in the Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes by Jeffrey Talanian adding a map of the the depths of Diamond Desert in the belongings of the necromancer Gandilor. We strength his ties to the hermit in the caves of Chaos in B2 Keep on The Borderlands By Gary Gygax.  The mystery deepens but its the Ixian  necromancer's speculations about the artifacts that may add the cult of chaos in Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes.  The time factor may not be on the PC's side as the clock is ticking towards the Hyperborean Winter when things become ice & snow locked. The PC's might be in for a race against time. 

After the events of Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes the DM could tie the events into running in  the Lug Wasteland with Tim Callahan's The Beasts of Kraggoth Manor where the necromancer Gandilor's maps might lead with his speculations about  long-lost Atlantean technology. 

A Free Adventure & A Keltic Campaign Sword & Sorcery Set Up

"Magical mirrors often hold more than you’re bargaining for. An adventure for a group of 1st and 2nd level characters."




This guy is in so much trouble its not even funny. Will o whisps are very unforgiving. Time to roll up a new PC.
Footprints 22 | Masthead by Zhu
The Grove of Ghost-lights by Markus Holzum

While the entire world melts down in virus induced panic, we've been doing research through the archives during the better & more sane days of the OSR. Specifically I've been looking at Footprints issue #22 & its starting adventure 'Black Top Vale' for OSRIC;

"Dolgrim’s tower was recently damaged, however, in an incident that occurred three weeks before the player characters’ presence in the surrounding mountains. During that terrible event Dolgrim mysteriously disappeared, and his tower suddenly slumped and shifted, killing Aeric, his lone apprentice. Even more devastating, after days spent searching for their master and attempting to recover the apprentice’s body from its resting place, Dolgrim’s dozen retainers and servants were set upon by an army of goblins and svartlings that had been scouting the area. Seeing that Dolgrim’s tower was in distress, and already preparing for their springtime raids, the humanoids immediately shifted their objective and attacked 'Blacktop Vale'. Thus, only four days after the mysterious incident Blacktop Vale was sacked by a humanoid army that killed the valley’s remaining inhabitants and razed all of its wooden structures. Presently, a small contingent of goblins resides in the tower, and the bulk of the raiders have moved on to their seasonal raiding."

Basically I'm looking at  'Black Top Vale' as an introduction for a party within the Keltic regions of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg  Dolgrim was a descendant of the Hyperboreans land holders who once worked their human serfers in the area. Dolgrim is the heir to the Hyperborean ancient sorcerous knowledge which he used in the service to the Dwarven clans in the area. These disgusting creatures where tolerated by the locals because they held back the forces of Chaos. Dolgrim's tower held back those forces! But the forces of chaos have been enboldened because of the destruction of the tower.  These Dwarven clans may actually be Dwergaz which are the former humanoid slaves of the children of Ymir. They bare the clear maker marks of their former masters who still toil away beneath the moss covered rocks. 'Blacktop Vale' is such a center of political interest  that it marks a point of occult power within the land here;

"The domain of Dolgrim the Warlock is a high mountain valley nestled below Blacktop Peak, an 11,000 foot mountain capped by a massive, granitic dome. Small streams course around the mountain’s eastern and western slopes and then converge just south of its base. Nearly dry in autumn and winter, the resulting brook cuts down the center of Blacktop Vale before meandering through the surrounding mountains and becoming a tributary of a major river system. Water is plentiful in the warlock’s valley, and a dozen cattle and a herd of goats are afforded sufficient grazing on its pastures. Coming across the treeless, lightning-blasted mountain a dozen years earlier, Dolgrim identified the place as an energy nexus and endeavored to erect a small tower below it. From such a base the magic-user could study the power unleashed by thunderstorms and learn how to siphon away some of the electricity that frequently hammers the mountain. The warlock parlayed with Ordovar, the dwarf lord who held dominion over Blacktop Vale, and eventually gained permission to construct a tower there. With Ordovar’s thanes helping in its construction, Dolgrim’s tower was erected in less than a year’s time"

The PC's are going to be called in because the Keltic clan lords are beyond nervous & they want to know what's happened to Dolgrim the Warlock. This isn't simply another treasure raid & dungeon run. The tribal elders themselves are nervous & the proto Greco Roman feel of  'Black Top Vale'  gives this adventure some real Celtic or Arthurian mythological character too it.



 Merlin, The Enchanter vu par Louis Rhead dans Sir James Knowles's King Arthur and His Knights, 1923

I can see rune gravers, scouts, bards, & especially druids being incredibly useful here but I can't stress the importance of fighters & knights being at the center of any party. But a wizard or some variant is needed. A cleric or two might help with the adventure's events.
I can totally see linking 'Black Top Vale' for OSRIC with T1 The Village of Hommlet as the humanoid forces of chaos begin to  swarm the peninsula to the "west" of Khromarium which  would be ideal for setting this up. 



T1 The Village of Hommlet leads into of course B2 Keep on the Borderlands both of which adventures have a far different meaning because of the incredibly harsh Hyperborean winters. These winters could be fueling the cults of chaos's rise as the humanoids are raiding & pillaging for human meat for the long coming Winter. This in turn fuels the elemental religion of chaos that the 'Caves of Chaos' temple has been using to grow its humanoid army.


This proto Greco Roman feel to the Keltic legacy of this region of Hyperborea has some solid roots in Celtic mythology that the dungeon master can take full advantage of. This is especially true injecting in the Fiend Folio's Xvarts into the campaign mix. This gives a regional feel to the events of 'Black Top Vale'.

With the humanoids on the move the obvious choice here would be to go with the classic T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil by Gary Gygax & Frank Mentzer. But let's take a different tactic here & hook the humanoid raiding into"The Rats in The Walls & Other Perils"adventure anthology “The Lamia’s Heart".  In
“The Lamia’s Heart”: Your party are contracted by the nascent master of an unsanctioned thieves’ guild. To earn his favour, you must steal a singular gem from the mansion of a prominent merchant. Purloining this gem, however, may raise the ire of the city’s official thieves’ guild; notwithstanding, the reward is significant." But that merchant has ties to Dolgrim the Warlock thus bringing the regional troubles back into the heart of the Hyperborean capital. 

Anyhow the growing military issue of the humanoid army is coming to haunt the PC's but the rising of the Elemental Evil religion is whole other blog entry. For the moment keep em rolling.

Foot Prints Magazine Issue #22 is
 Available Right Here For Free