The Age of Pike, Shot & the Weird - Using Adventurer, Conqueror, King's Guns of War For Old School Campaigns

 The Age of Sail & Shot has always hads a special place in my heart for running OSR campaigns. Guns of War was one of the books that really got me into the Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg in the first place. 

While the Guns of War takes some of its 'p's & 'q''s from the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg. There's more then enough goodness here to move an ACK's game into 'The Age of Pike & Shot.' But what I really want is the 'Age of Pike, Shot, and the Weird'. The fact is that if we look at a campaign world with an over reach of let's say prehistoric fauna then there's a chance that the world is going to be very dangerous indeed. Let's take it a step further and say that the development of gun powder was in regard to Kaiju or other monsters. And here's where Axoims Issue nine comes in handy. 

In Axoims Issue # 9 the articles Creating Custom Fantasy Races: A step-by-step guide to designing unique races for your campaign.&  Hauberks and Hobbits: Armor weight and cost for small and large creatures are both very welcome articles for this sorta of a campaign. And what's the perfect old school module to run with this sorta of a mini campaign?! Why X1 The Isle of Dread by Tom Moldvay & Dave Cook! 

If  I1: "Dwellers of the Forbidden City" (1981), which centered on a lost city in the jungle is used with X1 The Isle of Dread then things get really dangerous for the player's PC's really quick! The PC's have their hands full with everything to get into on a Pulpy & very dangerous Age of Pike, Shot & the Weird mini campaign!  And some of the dangerous life forms on the island might be set up for a war between the factions on it. And here's where Domain's of War for ACK's shines! 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The David 'Zeb' Cook Connection - I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City By David 'Zeb' Cook & More OSR Campaign Madness

Its Monday & I've had Winter storm Abel blow in & its given me some time to think about the following.  Between snow blowing & shoving I've had a bit of time to think about my Cha'alt/Godbound rpg campaign which has been in full swing. Now I've been doing a lot of thinking about megadungeons. In my current campaign Cha'alt planar location dimension warps itself into a modern Las Vegas. The whole space time warp has been expanding its influence around Nevada, Arizona, & California. The first effects of this has been the appearance of the X1 The Isle of Dread off of the coast of California.
How would a mega dungeon or dungeon locations effect the local economies, residents,etc. of this Earth? Well imagine if David Zeb Cook's Dwellers of the Forbidden City materialized just a few miles away from the isle of Dread. "Somewhere in the heart of the steaming jungle lies the answer to the whispered tales - rumors of a magnificent city and foul, horrid rituals! Here a brave party might find riches and wonders - or death! Is your party brave enough to face the terrors of the unknown and find the Forbidden City!?"Down around the docks of  Long Beach there's tales being told of  an island of deformed plants and deadly beasts in the jungle. The whole city is teaming with contraband, new drugs, tales of a new snake cult with horrid rites. There's been cargo stolen from cargo ships coming into port & the adventurers are hired to find out what's happened to the containers. 


Meanwhile strange natives not of Earth have been circulating among the locals looking for the son of one of their chiefs. They tell tales of strange mind controlling plants whose influence make the dead do their bidding. Most of California goes about its daily life but little by little it appears to be slipping into a strange  Sword & Sorcery Dungeons & Dragon world little by little. Strange murderers & raiders have made parts of California unlivable. People are disappearing out on the outer fringes of society & the US government is starting to notice. Artifacts, odd cults, & bizarre murder are becoming all too common. Even though this is California things are starting to get noticed. Reports of odd humanoids that appeared over night in some of the parks, residents yards, & more becoming very common. The Tasloi have become very common in some neighborhoods but who they are or how they got there isn't known. 


Sailors report running into horrid monsters resembling a dead humans with fish like features. There was an incredible wrongness about them near islands that their captains claim had never been there before. Those who go to these islands do not return or return changed.
If the rumors are to be believed the black pyramid of Vegas  has deep connections to a dooms day cult that has sprung up in the valley near Long Beach. The movement  of the tendril has been gaining favor among some Hollywood celebrities.


Some of the  planes & lowlands  near the old neighborhoods near Long Beach have been flooded by the rising waters of the cycles of the sea. Strange but valuable jewelry has wash up on the shore & some folks have made a killing selling the stuff on the internet moving out of the area as a result.
Everything within I1 is geared for a South East Asian style adventure with its own unique Lovecraftian style twist this makes adapting it to the melting pot of California a snap. Having visited Thailand I can honestly say that the Yuan-ti can easily be  traded in for the Serpent men  of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

Meanwhile in the back alleys of Long Beach & some of the resident neighborhoods strange 'demons' prowl the shadows. Assassins & masked cut throats kill anyone they run across  that doesn't fit their otherworldly agenda. The secret society of B6 The Veiled Society by David Zeb Cook  fits this grim & gritty mixture of a world.


The society seems to have spies everywhere here but what their purpose is few can say. They seem to have some unknown goal or agenda all of their own. In another part of the city strange Greek like religious movements preach the words of salvation of a strange squat & bat like god from another world. His pale skinned & tall acolytes, priests, wizards are moving clandestine among the population.


Creatures from the deepest parts of the para elemental planes feed off the rich & deadly pollutants of Long Beaches harbor. All this  whist strange rumors of vampire queens & strange lights just off of the harbors abound. Any ships approaching these lights vanish without a trace.
There are certain islands that supposedly team with strange animal men that sometimes wash up dead in isolate salt marsh tide catch pools & basins. Just outside of Bluff Park (coastal bluffs) the daughters of Iggwilv have begun to gather under the new moons. 

Outside of Los Angles the highways have been the domain of road raiders & bandits. Police & state police find themselves increasingly out gunned. There have been sightings of bands of mercenaries imported in from the Nevada badlands & the Los Vegas time space warp.


Several groups of hippy like religious groups predict the coming of 'the Warden' & the space brothers. The locals are very wary of these 'Refaire Rejects' as they call them. There have been several violent clashes with these groups who are under the control of some other worldly influence.
Odd purple glows on the horizon often accompany the appear of strange apparitions in the sky. These groups talk of the 'blessed trans-version' event. 

OSR Campaign -X6: "Quagmire!" (1984) By Merle M. Rasmussen & Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique

"Swamp creatures! They surround you now as you move slowly through the gurgling muck. How will you reach Quagmire now? Each day, the hungry sea swallows more of the ancient port city. A fierce fever ravages its people, and now - these foul monsters! Their beady eyes glimmer from deep within the tangled vines.

Are these the creatures that have blockaded the city, turning away the ships that are the city's lifeline? Are these the scum that are starving the people of Quagmire, threatening an entire race with extinction? These creeps? Let's clean this jungle out! "

Merle M. Rasmussen's baby X6 Quagmire gets into the heart & soul of one of longest running Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea campaign runs. This module is an old favorite & gets into one of the areas that I love to deal with namely wilderness exploration & high level exploration at that! X6: "Quagmire!" (1984), by Merle M. Rasmussen, is the sixth adventure in the Expert series for Basic D&D. 

So while X6 is set in the 'Knownlands' the predecessor to Mystara what it actual does is introduces the Serpent Peninsula, Thanegia Island, and their cities of Slagovich, Quagmire, and Thanopolis. The Serpent Peninsula sounds like an incredibly cool place to introduce the Conan style race of serpentmen being the Ancients of this land. In fact there's a X6/I1 Quagmire/Dwellers of the Forbidden City mash-up by Demos Sachlas article over on the Vaults of Pandius. The whole campaign is straight out of Robert Howard's Conan or Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique. Between the headhunters, brain fever, giant leeches, cannibals, and leopards whole thing sounds like its the far future on Hyperborea of AS&SH. Think about it. The rising tidal lands, the ancient cities, & some of the most deadly bits & pieces of nature that D&D adventurers have to  cross. The fact is that Clark Ashton Smith's In the Book of Vergama reminds me of this sort of Sword & Sorcery melding. 

The basic adventure in second edition Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is "The Black Moss-Hag of Lug". Add in the town of Swamp Gate as the entrance to Quagmire & your good to go! Surely there's no connection to X4: "Master of the Desert Nomads" or X5 "Temple of Death"? Well after the events of Temple of Death the regime of 'the master' has been crushed right?! Well yes that's true but if the master was merely a puppet then things get very interesting. The cities of X4 & X5 are great starting points for AS&SH campaigns set within a mini campaign of all this Sword & Sorcery goodness.



The future world of Hyperborea's coast is going to be dotted with millions of half submerged ruins & dungeons. This is going to make the exploration all kinds of fun & you can bet there's going to more then a few of the spawn of Zargon leading his cults in these various places.


Do the assassinations that were carried by the assassins of Hule line up with another secret society that has been manipulating events from afar?!Specularum from B6: "The Veiled Society" (1984) might be one of the powers behind the 'master' rise to power. A powerful but manipulable force just far enough away to act as a lever for the royals of this powerful city with strong religious abilities & cult aspersions of conquest?



Could the same strong assassins guild be behind the release of Zargon from his prison or some of the horrors of the the Serpent Peninsula  on the world of Hyperborea? The Serpent Peninsula and the Thanegioth Archipelago contain much of the area of interest after all.



Transplant the events of B6 The Veiled Society into the Hyperborean  City-State of Khromarium suddenly lines up with the events of AS&SH's Rats in The Walls. Now all of the events loop around so that the PC's have some very dire reasons to fear those assassins. The real archetects behind the 'master' was a cabal of the Hyperborean royalty. But that leaves what's going on deeper in the swamplands behind the events of  I1 "Dwellers of the Forbidden City".
But we'll have to go deeper into the swamp for that one!