Running B10 'Night's Dark Terror' By Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, and Phil Gallagher. With Castles & Crusades For a Mini Campaign

 "Barely one day's march from Kelven, the uncharted tracts of the Dymrak forest conceal horrors enough to freeze the blood of civilized folk. Those who have ventured there tell how death comes quick to the unwary - for the woods at night are far worse than any dungeon."

"But you are adventurers, veterans of many battles, and the call of the will is strong. Will you answer the call, or are you afraid of the dark terrors of the night?" 

We were discussing how to follow up a killer line up adventure compilition like B1-9 and the classic B10 Night's Dark Terrror is an immediate follow up especially for a campaign set on Mystara using Castles & Crusades. According to B10's Wiki entry; "Night's Dark Terror is an adventure imodule for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game written by British game designers Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, and Phil Gallagher. Published in Nineteen Eight Five. "  This blog entry follows up closely on last night's here.  The PC's are exploring Mystara having survived to reach 3rd or 4th level going from the Grand Duchy of Karameikos into the more chaotic lands. This adventure takes place after dealing with the machinations of the Caves of Chaos from B2 Keep on the Borderlands shorter version in B1-9. B10 centers itself on the Wilderness. And it has a very unique take on Slavic style lands of  the Grand Duchy of Karameikos into the more chaotic lands. According to the B10 Wiki entry; "The PCs explore more than 20,000 square miles (52,000 km²) of wilderness, with eighteen locations, including multiple smaller dungeons, a riverside village, and a frontier town". Making B10 Night's Dark Terror truly a wilderness mini campaign. 

What makes B10 outstanding is the fact that it not only bridges the hump between Basic and Expert. Night's Dark Terror also serves as a gate way into designing better related Wilderness adventures. And I've got to agree with the rpg game  critic Ken Rolston..Ken Rolston's concerns are valid; "Ken Rolston reviewed D&D module B10 Night's Dark Terror in brief for Dragon magazine No. 124 (August 1987).^[3] Rolston called Night's Dark Terror "the best-illustrated and best-designed module I've ever seen—and the adventure and campaign material is every bit as remarkable as the graphic presentation."  And what makes B10 such a great module is the jackhammer like aspect to it's encounters and the fact that the modules makes such a great ripper of an adventure. This makes the module perfect for Castles and Crusades.  Powerful encounters, solid interactions, and a rip roaring adventure plot make B10 Night's Dark Terror an excellent follow up to B1-9 'Insearch of Adventure'! have some extra PC's ready to go! 

OSR Commentary On Dangerous Monsters & Creatures - AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue (Basic) By Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, & Graeme Morris For BECMI D&D

 "Are you ready to face the horror of the Hivebrood, the gruesome Geonid, or the dread Dusanu? These and many other baleful beasts lurk within the pages of this manual, waiting to challenge even the mightiest adventurers!

The Creature Catalogue is the first major expansion to the range of D&D game monsters. Within its covers have been collected all the curious creatures first presented in the official D&D adventure modules, plus many more new nasties, designed to challenge and perplex the heartiest heroes. Also included is a comprehensive index of all D&D monsters found in the Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master rule sets.

Whether your players' characters are 1st, 21st, or 31st level, this tome contains many fantastic creatures with which to test their mettle. Armed with the Creature Catalogue, you will be able to find the right fearsome foe to confront even the most foolhardy fellow." 

So last night we my DM's & the players, we were discussing a tome of monsters that can't be beat & that's the  AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue (Basic) By Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, &  Graeme Morris. This is a ninety six page monster tome of lot of different monsters  that can cause havoc through out your BECMI D&D campaigns. Looking over the Amazon reviews for AC9 Crimson Bassist has one of the best reviews & break downs I've seen; "YES!!!

This is IT!!
A whole softcovered book dedicated to the monsters of Basic Dungeons & Dragons!! This book, along with Chapter 14 of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia is all that is needed to have a whole slew of beasts to pit against your players. The monsters in this book are both new, and some are collected from modules and accesories from the 80's. Great, great, book. The only flaw I see, is that the monsters are not listed as one per page like in AD&D. Sometimes you will have 2 or 3 monsters on one page and the description of one of them will bleed over to the next page. But since the book is setup like this .... there is a BUTTLOAD of monsters here!

Keep in mind, this is NOT Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. This is NOT 3.0/3.5/4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons.
This is BASIC Dungeons & Dragons. To use this book effectively, you'll need the Basic D&D Rules Cyclopedia book. This book like the Cyclopedia book may be quite expensive now, but both are worth each and every penny spent!" 
 What makes AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue (Basic) By Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, &  Graeme Morris For BECMI D&D worth it?! Simply put this book is essentially the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Fiend Folio for the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. 

There are well over 200 monsters that have been culled & included within the pages of AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue. And this means a Hell of a lot of creatures can be used with  the Basic D&D Rules Cyclopedia book. 
And it also means that many of these monsters are going to be unknown to the average modern gamer today. That as we found out last night is fact with Fifth edition players who are migrating away from Fifth edition into the OSR. 
 Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, &  Graeme Morris bring some excellent creepies & crawlies with a book with a singular U.K. TSR  art style & sensibility about them. Many of these monsters harken into the BECMI D&D focus on wilderness & beyond the dungeon adventures. Many of the monsters in the 'Conjurations' section are very deadly & powerful. Many of these horrors would not see the light of day again until the OSR kicked in '04. Because AC9 is made for BECMI D&D it's very easy to swing these monsters & races into an OSR game campaign such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess or other OSR retroclone systems. 

AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue is a joy to work with as a DM. The monsters here are new, and subtly different from the AD&D first edition style. Here the monsters have a far more hand crafted aspect. 

And each & everyone feels like it could easily be dropped into a weird historic or strange European campaign easily. 

Here the crossover with D&D's Mystara is in ernest with AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue having the vibe of Mystara without the heavy laden background & location mythological glut that comes with the venerable campaign settting. 

In my humble opinion AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue is a hidden gem from another age.
AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue could easily be used with many other retroclones today including the Hyperborea rpg & many others. And it's the attention to detail that makes the AC9: D&D Creature Catalogue so invaluable to DM's even today. 

B10 Night's Dark Terror By Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, Phil Gallagher For Your Old School Pulp Adventure Campaign

 "Barely one day's march from Kelven, the uncharted tracts of the Dymrak forest conceal horrors enough to freeze the blood of civilized folk. Those who have ventured there tell how death comes quick to the unwary - for the woods at night are far worse than any dungeon. But you are adventurers, veterans of many battles, and the call of the will is strong. Will you answer the call, or are you afraid of the dark terrors of the night?

Way back in the early Eighties I read a lot of X men comic books & I noticed that the group did a ton of wilderness based adventures. In fact if you begin looking into super hero comic books & graphic novels there's tons of lost world & such settings thrown into the mix. B10 Night's Dark Terror.  B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986) was made  the TSR UK brain trust of Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, and Phil Gallagher. 


B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986) is an old school adventure that I've used time & again with a wide variety of old school & OSR retroclones. Dungeon mastering B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986) includes OSR systems like  Dark Albion & Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea 2nd edition recently.

But I can already hear the groans from the reading audience, what the hell does one module have to do with two OSR game systems  & does this tie into the Thirty Year War? Wherever Chaos touches or washes against reality we've got mutation, supernatural issues, and the old Elven hills & pagan groves in some places are still opening upon Fairyland."The characters encounter a town under siege by goblins, a ruined city, and a lost valley" The Elves are doubling down on taking over a wide variety of realities & Fairyland is basically using old fairy rings & ruins across the planes. How does this work?
Fairyland is a rolling planar demi realm accessed as a higher parasitic dimension that touch on other realities.


For my purposes of 'The Otheworld' is another aspect of the realm of Fairyland that reflects the weirdness & the dangerous occult chaos of the other dimensional realm of the Elves. Each & every time these higher parasitic dimensions touch a reality they bring the subtle energies of chaos with them. So essentially each time a cult accesses an aspect of Fairyland it brings these places back into the world along with the chaotic ecological system. Dungeons are not simply created their borne of the chaos of the realm of Fairy.


D&D Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976), by Rob Kuntz & James Ward, is the fourth of four supplements for the OD&D game. It was published in July 1976 & has a solid roster of Celtic gods & heroes who have fought the powers of Fairyland to a stand still.  The 'Otherworld' is also an origin source of kings, heroes, & the destiny place  of warriors, knights, & wizards.

"The Otherworld was also seen as a source of authority. In the tale Baile in Scáil ("the phantom's ecstatic vision"), Conn of the Hundred Battles visits an Otherworld hall, where the god Lugh legitimizes his kingship and that of his successors.^{[1]"These various rolling dimensional aspects of  'the Otherworld' empower both the adventurers & heroes as well as fuel the whole of Fairyland. The original purpose of the place has been perverted.}
B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986) is a perfect pulp adventure to use because  this is a transition module and takes PC's into the big leagues! That's right set B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986) in some back part of Europe in middle of the Pulp Age or  the Golden Age of Superheroes and they're going to get noticed big time! 

Modern weapons are not going to be a huge deciding factor if your adventurer or pulp hero is looking down the business end of an owl bear! Way back in the Eighties many of the independent comic book companies had their own super hero & pulp teams encountering & recruiting wizards, clerics, thieves, etc. from Dungeons & Dragons style worlds into their ranks.

No one batted an eye & the number of Arthurian heroes that Marvel & D.C. used is numerous. The fact is that dungeon masters back in the Seventies & Eighties used whatever mythical or  fictional characters they needed as NPC's.

B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986) is a stepping stone module & even with modern pulp style adventurers is going to be a challenge. 
So let's update this a bit with some more background. Dark Albion action with the Elves of Fairyland going full invasion with OZ & Wonderland playing a huge part in DM Steve's game last night & it took place in an alternative Earth 19th century. A campaign that I wrote by the way. But already DM Steve has been modifying & messing with it. 



So what does this have to do with B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986)?! Everything as our PC's found themselves in the Otherworld & even playing a werewolf I had B10 wilderness messing with me because it was a part of Fairyland. Imagine it like this, the whole of Earth has been pushing agaisnt the wilderness with the second Industrial Revolution in full swing due to the Martian Invasion round one. The Elves, Fey,etc. are taking a very dim view of this & have been exploding Wilderness from their world into ours! The chaos & weirdness of their world has been converting lots of folks on the fringes into Elven cults straight outta of Dark Albion: Cults of Chaos



Now all of this ties back into Brian Young's Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum 2nd Edition. Which outlines the Castles & Crusades take on the Celtic Fey & their cycles. Some of the factions of the Fey have been helping the PC's And some have been actively hindering them in very nasty ways. 




Much of what's in Brian Young's Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum 2nd Edition easily ties into the works of Welsh author Arthur Machen. More on this all later. 

An Alternative Campaign Path For B10 Night's Dark Terror by Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, & Phil Gallagher

"Barely one day's march from Kelven, the uncharted tracts of the Dymrak forest conceal horrors enough to freeze the blood of civilized folk. Those who have ventured there tell how death comes quick to the unwary - for the woods at night are far worse than any dungeon. 

But you are adventurers, veterans of many battles, and the call of the will is strong. Will you answer the call, or are you afraid of the dark terrors of the night?

This campaign adventure is for characters just beginning Expert play (levels 2-4) and hurls them into the exciting outdoor world which awaits in the Expert rulebook. "
B10 Night's Dark Terror by Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, &  Phil Gallagher show cases everything that Mentzer's Expert Dungeons & Dragons set was meant to do. That is drown the PC's into a situation that will test the players to their limits. DM'ed correctly & this adventure could take the PC's into some solidly dangerous situations & could result in a TPK.




This module premiered in '86 & there's a unique history behind its publication; "B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986), by the TSR UK crew of Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, and Phil Gallagher, was the tenth adventure produced for the D&D Basic Set (1981). It was also a return to basics after the home office in Wisconsin had stopped producing new Basic Set adventures in 1985. It was published in February 1986."
B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986), presents the wilderness as both foe & setting for a mid range party of adventurers & it does an excellent job of presenting the adventures with an 'edge of the  frontier' setting that reminds me of the best of Robert H Howard's "Beyond the Black River" The player's PC's are literally up to their necks in the depths of a hostile environment. They'll need to be fast, quick witted, & wily to survive the machinations of the module. The DM needs to pay attention to the contents of this adventure & yes I said contents; "With a 64-page booklet, 2 double-panel covers, and complete scans of the orioginal double-sided mapsheet, this super-module provides all you need for epic wilderness and dungeon adventuring." The journey across the Grand Duchy of Karameikos is a very dangerous one indeed for the players are going to need their wits about them. There are several instances where the updated fan made maps available from the Piazza are a must.  Created by Sarastro Magnifico
The module is basically an adventure tour of the campaign setting of the the Grand Duchy of Karameikos & the DM has to keep the action moving. Done correctly & this module goes like an 80's action movie. All of the while it show cases many of the advantages of Mentzer D&D Expert Rules highlights & really showcases the streamlining of the systems. 



But I want to bring up the Graeme Davis review of Night's Dark Terror from White Dwarf No. 78 from the B10 wiki entry; 

"Graeme Davis reviewed Night's Dark Terror for White Dwarf No. 78. Davis felt that the farmstead in the adventure's opening was nicely detailed, and that the counters to play out the action on the 25mm scale map for that location were a nice idea. He commented on the plot of the adventure, "There is enough here to keep the fastest-moving party going for some time, and a section of suggestions for further adventures can help the GM to open out a long-running campaign in the area."^[2] Davis did note that the numbering system for wilderness locations was confusing, with an example where a location has one designation at one part in the module, and at a later point the location has a different designation which does not correspond with anything on the map. However, Davis felt that everything else in the module was written and laid out very well, and that the module would be a tremendous help for any game master learning the Expert rules"
This confusion with the wilderness locations on the maps has been corrected in that fan made maps from the Piazza by Sarastro Magnifico. The Dragon's foot site has a good thread of suggestions for running B10 as well.

 But now I've got an idea for slipping in B8: Journey to the Rock as a campaign shake up before continuing onto X10 Red Arrow, Black Shield By  Michael Dobson. Not only does this give the player's a more even adventure path but it gives them time to go up the levels needed to tackle some of the challenges seen in X10. 



Of course this is going to depend upon if they survive the horrors, weirdness, events, & weather of 'B10: Night’s Dark Terror (1986)'. Because B8: Journey to the Rock builds upon the foundations of B10: Night's Dark Terror's wilderness exportation in spades & aces.
There are several reasons to do this: 

1. Using B8: Journey to the Rock with B10 Night's Dark Terror gives the module a frame work to build the campaign upon. 
2. There could be a connection between B10's baddies & the wizard which gives the PC's more puzzles. 
3. The deeper one goes with this there could be ties with X10 Red Arrow, Black Shield By  Michael Dobson's forces. 
4. The campaign context makes the armies of the humanoids very dangerous especially if coupled with B2 Keep on the Borderlands. 
5. The war depicted in this module, The Grand Duchy of Karameikos, has all of its moving parts & pieces in place. 
6. The forces of  Karameikos, are going to need all of the outside help they can get that's where the PC's form the internal chain. 
7. The wizard of B8 might have vital information to the cause of the PC's and done correctly this might spur them on. 
8. The wilderness of both B10 & B8 could hide any number of mini dungeons & these are the perfect bits for any campaign side quests. 
9. Be sure to take full advantage of the random encounter & weather tables when running these two modules. 
10. The PC's could become military spies or assets for Karameikos,& the DM should take full advantage of this. 

I8 The Ravager of Time Adventure By Graeme Morris and Jim Bambra For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Editions And Your Old School Campaigns

"So this is the Ffenargh? Mile after mile of stinking bogs overlain by a swirling mist that clings to the skin and chills to the bone. Ahead, a decrepit causeway rises scant inches above the fetid waters and meanders its way through the twisted forms of stunted trees into the depths of this forsaken land.

For years, these blighted fens have been ignored by the outside world, but now an urgent summons brings you into the Ffenargh, to the Court of the Lords Spiritual at Eylea. A foul murder has been committed. Geoffrey D'Arcy, Lord of Myrkfast, has been slain by his own son and you are called upon to find out why.

Death has always hung heavy over this mire, but now an ancient evil has returned to haunt the mist - an evil whose icy fingers reach out to crush any who dare delve its secrets. You, who have faced death a thousand times, meet it now in its most terrible guise. Can you defeat it, or will you fall victim to the Ravager of Time?"

GRAB IT RIGHT HERE

This is a dark and gritty UK adventure set against the stinking fens and bogs of Ffenargh. A setting right out of the imagination of Robert Howard's Solomon Kane adventures. The grittiness of this adventure rings right straight through even as it uses monsters straight out of the Fiend Folio and Monster Manual II. This is an adventure that I've seen used with  the Rune Quest Third edition, the Warhammer Fantasy rpg  and ported over to The  Palladium Fantasy Rpg  as well as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons first edition. Well see why in a moment.

"So this is the Ffenargh? Mile after mile of stinking bogs overlain by a swirling mist that clings to the skin and chills to the bone. Ahead, a decrepit causeway rises scant inches above the fetid waters and meanders its way through the twisted forms of stunted trees into the depths of this forsaken land.

For years, these blighted fens have been ignored by the outside world, but now an urgent summons brings you into the Ffenargh, to the Court of the Lords Spiritual at Eylea. A foul murder has been committed. Geoffrey D'Arcy, Lord of Myrkfast, has been slain by his own son and you are called upon to find out why.

Death has always hung heavy over this mire, but now an ancient evil has returned to haunt the mist - an evil whose icy fingers reach out to crush any who dare delve its secrets. You, who have faced death a thousand times, meet it now in its most terrible guise. Can you defeat it, or will you fall victim to the Ravager of Time? "



An adventure for 6-10 characters of levels 8th to 10th.
There's always been something different about the UK TSR's efforts and this one is no different, I've seen this module described as the bastard child of  Shakespeare meets sword & sorcery with an English twist. Wiki actually sums up the British sense of this module quite nicely;"The adventure is a TSR UK branch production and features non-player character types, expository style, atmosphere, and situations that are notably different from many of the game modules created in the US."
This module is full of casts of characters with back story, twisted motives, and monsters lots of em and pay close attention to those PC levels because they mean it. There something really twisted about this module, maybe its the monsters or the main villain or the fact that it can be ported right into a few of the other swamp based modules that I've talked about. The adventure is clever and doesn't talk down to its audience at all, in point of fact it takes the dungeon master and expects them to take the PC's and throw them into the dark alleys of old age.
Here's the break down according to Wiki;"Ravager of Time is set in the Ffenarch. The Ffenarch is a dismal, boggy environment with only some small areas of firm ground. The player characters are hired to search the fens for a lord's son who killed his father. While searching, the characters become entangled in an evil plot that is tainting Eylea."
I8 takes your PC's by the short hairs and knows that your outlaws and adventurers. You're expected to have your characters use commonsense and there huge swaths of this adventure that are complete railroads but that's because this was a convention set up back in Eighty Six. Again this is a part of the TSR UK formula from the D&D Classics website;" Like most of the TSR UK adventures, this one is plot heavy, featuring numerous NPCs; a jury trial; and a life-draining sorceress, the eponymous "Ravager of Time." All of the adventuring occurs in towns or wilderness, without a dungeon to be found. This would all be much more typical of the TSR adventures of the 90s, but in the 80s it was almost exclusively the domain of TSR UK and (to a lesser extent) Tracy Hickman. Like many of the other TSR UK adventures, this one makes heavy use of monsters found in the Fiend Folio (1981) and the Monster Manual II (1983)."  But does this make the module bad or unplayable? Not at all, in point of fact Ravager of Time captures and encapsulates a certain time period in writing and game design. The plot, the writing, and adventure are a trial by fire in sword and sorcery terms. The country of Ffenargh could be in central Europe someplace in the 1400's with its gritty trappings and plot that could easily be ported over to Lamentations of the Flame Princess or Dark Albion. Yes I must sound like broken record but believe me because of the familiar nature of royal plot, the dark background adventure elements, twisted motives for the NPC's and the events of the backdrop this adventure fits the contents. Its also a tightly written affair and still widely regarded by the OSR community fondly.
There are three real reasons to use this particular module : 

1. The Ravager of Time has a very dark resonance with its audience and a pulpy grittiness that really tests players to their limits. Because the setting is generic you can drop this adventure into any campaign world and it will work. 
2. I8 has lots of investigation, hunting, and is a real mental workout it can be customized for DYI work and can be broken and still work for your old school or retroclone campaigns. 
3. Because of the connection with both the Monster Manual II and the Fiend Folio lots of old favorites show up and can actually get a deadly workout at the table lending this module a bit of an old world horror flavor. Bring spare characters and sheets, PC's should be of the appropriate level. 

So would the Ravager of Time be a good fit for a game of sword and sorcery pulp action for a game such as Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea? The short answer is a solid yes and the reasons why are very simple. The adventure is distinctly British in both tone, artwork, feel, and content or at the very least pseudo historical in its treatment of Ffenargh. The setting could easily be work of Celtic settlers in shattered shadow of Lemuria, Atlantis, or Hyperborea from Old Earth. The motives and feel of the adventure is sort of a woven dream of a corrupted pulpy landscape pregent with adventure waiting for the right match to come along and set the campaign on fire. This adventure has the feel and elements  of Mac Beth set against the world of Howard and Lovecraft. But this is an adventure for experienced players and PC's in every sense of the word.


Forget the usual solving everything with your sword arm and getting things done with a boot up a monster's backside. This adventure involves thinking things through very carefully and then taking swift action. Because this adventure came out in the shadow of the White Dwarf magazine era. I've seen this adventure converted over to Rune Quest and later on over to the Palladium Fantasy Rpg. This was because of the generic and well thought out way that the U.K. TSR crew put this one together. Its tightly designed, deadly as sin, and capable of taking PC's up a few levels and is a great jump off point for extended bits of old school campaign play. This is not an adventure to be taken lightly. I've seen several TPK's with I8 The Ravager of Time. Is it well done? Yes absolutely it is. Is it worth your time? Yes in a heartbeat. This is also one of the more reasonable used adventures on the open market clocking in at ten dollars for a used copy on Amazon.

Using & Expanding UK1 Beyond the Crystal Cave (1e) By Dave J. Browne, Tom Kirby, & Graeme Morris

Fleeing the rage that consumed their feuding families, Juliana and Orlando fled to the Cave of Echoes, where it is said every wish is granted. Two years have passed, and all attempts to return the lovers to their parents have failed, though some believe them lost in the enchanted garden beyond the cave.

Many are the rescuers who have entered that enchanted park; a few have returned after long absences, their minds and memories curiously disturbed. Now, the handsome reward offered for the return of the lovers has tempted you, but who knows what lies beyond the Crystal Cave?


For the better part of Holloween into 2020  now I've been dealing with a cold & sinus issue that has seriously kicked my ass. Not that it has in any way or shape cramped my style when it came to my gaming for 2020. The fact is that I've also been thinking of Rpg Pundit's Lion & Dragon as well as RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 From Spectre Press. I've been thinking about adapting UK1: 'Beyond The Crystal Cave into a Dark Albion or Dark Europe setting using the Companion. 

UK1: "Beyond the Crystal Cave" (1983) is the first adventure in the "UK-series" of modules produced by TSR UK. It was released in 1983. The adventure is for PC's between the levels of 4-7. This is not an easy adventure to adapt to more modern OSR games or is it? The module actually seems far easier to marry to Lion & Dragon because of the star crossed lovers. The module is partially based on Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet with a healthy dosage of the Tempest. Not at first this may not seem like a marriage suited to the Lion & Dragon Rpg.  


Let's pump the breaks here. The party made up from both worried family's retainers & adventurers working together to track down the where abouts of a pair of star crossed lovers who have fled into a enchanted garden of the ancient Elves?!
This module relies heavily on the Fiend Folio of monsters including a rare Yu Lung dragon! Echoes of this formula would be seen throughout U.K. TSR run of modules. But the Cave of Echoes has such potential even through this is a thinking man's module! Set UK1: "Beyond the Crystal Cave"  against the backdrop of the Rose War & suddenly things can get very complicated indeed. 


Juliana and Orlando as minor royals set's off all kinds of alarm bells at court because their disappearance could signal the fact that both families have been weakened by a loss of face against the tapestry of  'the War of the Roses'. The War of the Roses is for the very soul of the throne of England.Not only are the heirs of the families missing but the family's are distracted. This means that thier full attention to their duty to the crown is disconcerning to the other royals. Parties of adventurers are actually going to have to think their way out of UK1: "Beyond the Crystal Cave". 

This is where the UK1: "Beyond the Crystal Cave" shines & the 

RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1  shines because it allows the players take all of the hints dropped in U.K.1 & flesh them out. Family dynamics, double crosses, & more bring the facts into their game. 
 UK1: "Beyond the Crystal Cave"  is an excellent module to start a campaign with the party of adventurers becoming entrenched in three different royal family of means lives. The advantage is that the PC's have a duty to the plot of U.K.1 without getting rail roaded if the DM takes full control & advantage of the module.  UK1: "Beyond the Crystal Cave"  is a rare example of a campaign starter that might lead to ever greater glory or even an inquistor investigation of the dangerous Chaos influences hinted at in the module! 

Adapting Beyond the Crystal Cave (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Module UK1 By Dave J. Browne, Graeme Morris, & Tom Kirby For Your Old School Campaigns

Fleeing the rage that consumed their feuding families, Juliana and Orlando fled to the Cave of Echoes, where it is said every wish is granted. Two years have passed, and all attempts to return the lovers to their parents have failed, though some believe them lost in the enchanted garden beyond the cave. Many are the rescuers venturing into that enchanted park; a few have returned after long absences, their minds and memories curiously disturbed.


Alright so yesterday I wrote briefly about U.K1 Beyond the Crystal Cave by British designers Dave J. Browne, Tom Kirby, and Graeme Morris, and published by TSR in 1983 as a thirty two page booklet. So it trails in for PC's levels four through seven. Its sort of set within the confines of Greyhawk but its got a very midevil English countryside approach with a very differently enchanted fairyland sort of feel to the adventure taking place within Sybarate Islein the Hold of the Sea Princes. The size of the isle has always been a source of contention among DM's & players. For me its always been U.K.1's setting situated someplace between Robert Howard's Solmon Kane with the threat of his Conan Picts someplace out there in the far away. The sort of backwater adventure location that could be dropped into War Hammer Fantasy Rpg first edition or Advanced Dungeons & Dragons with little issue. 


Yeah sort of like this but with more Fiend Folio first edition monsters!

The PC's are hired to rescue a recently eloped couple that has fled into the Cave of Echoes & its from here where things go wrong. This is a thinking man's adventure where experience points are rewarded for role playing your way out of situations. You as the DM are going to have to think on your feet & move on the trot when it comes to seeing where the PC's take events in Beyond The Crystal Cave. Because kids this is Shakespeare meets AD&D first edition & its an adventure that does it with style.



The PC's are going to have to be wily & clever to enter the Crystal Cave then enter Porpherio's Garden. The Garden is on the island of Sybarate. This isn't as easy as it sounds. There's lots of possible complications, drama, & possible circumstances to easily murder a seventh level PC with easy. The trips, traps, & encounters are balanced but for the thinking rpger & AD&D 1st edition player. Could this adventure be adapted for retroclone systems today? Quite easily because U.K.1 has its roots firmly within Celtic mythology & it wears these on its sleeve!
In fact this module could be transported whole hog into a variety of retroclone systems starting with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition. The combination of Fiend Folio monsters & AD&D 1st edition makes this one a nature for the Keltic based nations. The easy of slipping this into the bounds of Hyperborea might need a bit of a push here & there. But all in all it will easily fit into the campaign setting.



I can easily see this  adventure module working for Dark Albion as well where the families become mid tier royals & the PC's have to find the couple as part of the background tapestry of the Rose War. The monsters & adventure background fit the whole cloth of the setting nicely. The lay out & clear writing are hallmarks of the U.K. series.  I can easily see adapting this module into a Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg campaign with more then a few twists & turns!

U.K. 1 Beyond The Crystal Cave isn't for everyone, the module works on a number of levels with its writing, investigative style, quirky subject matter, approach to role playing rather then the traditional Dungeons & Dragons dungeon crawling. For some it remains a cultclassic with its revolutionary approach but for others its not their cup of tea. For me its an old favorite of mine. 

The Wilderness & Beyond - Using The 'B' series & Alphabet Soup Method for OSR or Old School Adventure Path Campaigning

"The end of the road. A lonely fort stands on the banks of a mighty river. It is here the hardy bands of adventurers gather to plan their conquests of The Hill, the hulking mass that looms over this tiny settlement. 

The Hill is filled with monsters, they say, and an evil witch makes her home there. Still, no visitor to The Hill has ever returned to prove the rumors true or false. The thrill of discovery is too great to pass up, and only the river stands in the way. The adventurers' boat is waiting!" 


For me right outta of the gate B5 Horror on the Hill By Douglas Niles is a continuation of  Gary Gygax's B2 The Keep on the Borderlands . This makes the module actually useable instead of just another campaign adventure center piece. The premade characters are weak & should not be used by an experienced dungeon master for his PC's. I came across this little blurb from the Drivethrurpg entry on B5 ;" B5 is quite similar in general nature to B2: "Keep on the Borderlands" (1980): It includes a home base out in the wilderness - here, Guido's Fort - and from there players can trek to monster-infested areas. We can speculate that this might have been a purposeful replacement, as TSR was releasing the third-edition Basic D&D set at the time, and thus B2 (which had been a staple of the first and second edition Basic D&D sets) was dropping out of print.

The biggest difference between "Horror" and the classic "Keep" is that Guido's Fort is given almost no detail, leaving the gamemaster to create any roleplaying opportunities for the home base itself. Of course, as some have suggested, you could just replace Guido's Fort with the Keep on the Borderlands!" I'm going to take a very opposite tactic & say don't do this! Take the maps of the keep & simply use them for Guido's Fort  whist filling in the encounters you want. This will keep the players guessing & have you able to keep them on their toes.
Now not only can you use both B2 & B5 together but these can be strung together using the glue of B8 Journey to the Rock by Michael Malone. You get all of the wilderness & all of the remains of the forts along the borderlands now converted into dungeons, ruins, caverns, etc. 

Now if you really want to screw with your players & the Caves of Chaos just aren't cutting it for you because of the 'we've read & memorized all of the classic TSR modules' bit that players seem to do. Then grab your handy AC9 Creature Catalog By Jim Bambra, Phil Gallagher, & Graeme Morris. Swap out some of the monsters & swap in some of the Creature Catalog monsters this makes it seem as though the forces of chaos are on the move. I recently did this with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. These modules used together made the wilderness seem like a nightmarish never ending nightmare.
If these modules are coupled with B10 Night's Dark Terror by Jim Bambra, Graeme Morris, & Phil Gallagher. They give an adventure path that seems to indicate that the humanoid armies are gathering & more over their on the move to conquer the human lands.



When I used this adventure path with AS&SH the players remembered the hyena men connection & this sent them into a blind panic. It seemed like 'Underborea' was cracking open & the hordes of Hell itself were spilling out. In Mystara all of this had different connotations as the cults of the elemental evil began to gather & tighten around the throat of the kingdoms.



I don't usually go light weight when it comes to describing the reality warping powers that are held within the dungeons & ruins of the elemental evil. For me the elemental evil books are as follows for old school D&D as well as AD&D: 

• The Village of Hommlet (1979, AD&D)
• The Temple of Elemental Evil (1985, AD&D) 

That's it unless I'm specifically picking up the pieces from 3.5's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil but I don't run that all that often. This brings everything in line with the expansion of the humanoid armies seen in B2 Keep on the Borderlands. So why not simply use B1-9 In Search of Adventure by David "Zeb" Cook, Jeff Grubb, Gary Gygax, & Tracy Hickman? Because the wilderness & encounters from the previously mentioned modules are cut down, the whole affair is edited, & it cuts back on the play time folks.

This whole adventure path gets everything in a campaign primed up & ready for the main events. Running this sequence of adventure modules could take a year or more easily. These could be played out with Mentzer Expert Dungeons & Dragons  or Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition.


Now before all of the occult esoterica hits the fan & the humanoid armies crush your home campaign I've also run U.K.1 Beyond The Crystal Cave by Dave J. Browne, Tom Kirby, & Graeme Morris   an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Module also known  Uk1 9066  TSR as a buffer module to set up the next leg of the campaign after the events of T1-4  Temple of Elemental Evil By Gary Gygax & Frank Mentzer.  


This breaks events up. Gives the PC's time to regroup & for the humanoids to mass then attack some of the outlying areas of your home campaign. This also sets up for a smooth transition into the U.K. series of modules as the party re euips, gains new members to replace the dead, and levels up. All of that is of course if they survive.