The Coming of The Age of the Blood Imperator - Jason Vey's Rise of the Red God & WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun by Gary Gygax

 This blog post picks up from this blog post here, & it goes with the idea that the events of the  Amazing Adventures Day of the Worm is old history. The  ancient Heart of Yhtill has been found and its being examined by top men. But the fact that during pre World War two the heart was found & its been calling out to into the multiverse to the dead gods. And its this call that is answered by Ornduhl and marks the events within Jason Vey's Rise of the Red God.

The Thule Society is not only active & awake in Pulp 1980 but it has within its ranks serpent men who have been using their knowledge to reactivate the 'dead gods' pantheon. And this is also going to include Tharizdun. The Thule society will seek to bridge the dimensional gap between the temple of the red god and WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun by Gary Gygax.  Tharizdun's connection to the ancient primal chaos & the Abyss begs to be one of the power sources for the 'dead gods'. 

Reactivating the ancient pantheon of the 'dead gods' is a risky move by the serpent men to take the reigns of their ancient empire to bring it back in one bold move. But its still going to be a three sided war with the serpentmen, the PC's, the People of the Worm, and the unknown quality of the aliens. This makes it a very risky process for the PC's to interact with the serpent men. 
From their hidden valley they have been making overtures into the outside world through their agents from hidden valley in  I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook from 1981 

Where does this leave the Order of the Black Dragon Society!?! As an arm of the cults of the serpent men as we've talked about yesterday. During the Pulp 1980 days has the adventure elements of WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun by Gary Gygax taking place in the modern era. Add to this the events of Ornduhl in Rise of the Red God  & we've got a return to the Thurian era in apocalyptic fashion. 
Several organizations might be involved in trying to open the Dwarven seals that are holding the 'dead gods' patheon outside the planes of the multiverse. How & why is going to be coming up. 

Aftermath & Fallout from The 'Day of the Worm' & I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook from 1981 Amazing Adventures ! Rpg Campaign Update

 This blog post is going to pick up from this blog post here. What happens to  the ancient Heart of Yhtill after the events of  Amazing Adventures Day of the Worm which are history in our 1980's Pulp game. This adventure is tied into the Amazing Adventures! rpg beginning adventure Heart of Yhtill. This artifact may have slipped into the hands of 'top men' of the US government. But this still leaves out the fact that the 'People of the Worm' & many of the factions that were after the heart are still active in 1980. 

The  Ormazd Society is also more then a bit suspect & may have deeper ties to other occult organizations?! And there is also the fact that the Egyptian tomb found within the adventure may be a part of the late Roman occupation of Egypt. This could be one of the last real tombs from that period & have ties to other Roman influenced bits of the occult and this includes the serpent men. The serpent men are rivals of the 'People of Worms' especially for an occult object of power such as the Heart of Yhtill.
The serpent men in modern times will do anything to regain the position of their ancient empire. And this makes them all of the more dangerous & they are operating trying to hold on to any remains on the surface world aka  their lost valley of I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook from 1981.

This makes the serpent men all of the more dangerous because in 1980 their fighting a three sided war. The People of the Pit, the aliens, and the PC's who will be an unknown quality. Their hidden valley in  I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook from 1981 will offer clues to their hidden agenda for the outside world. But Amazing Adventures Day of the Worm offers a third party of outsiders who could play hard ball with the PC's. And that is a modern incarnation of the Thule Society. And during WWII the Thule Society may have reached the hidden South American valley of  I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook from 1981. The Thule society is a far bigger threat then the PC's realize. Because they have modern agents & thugs who can make life very difficult for the PC's. 
And all of this leads back to the fact that the serpent men have their own modern arm in the form of 'The Order of the Black Dragon' from the free adventure 'The Menace of the Serpent God' by Jason Vey.  'The order of the Black Dragon' has its own serpent men high priests at its head, super powered agents at the middle, & lower level thugs all to make the PC's lives Hell unless dealt with. 

Even if the players have played through  I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook from 1981 back in WWII both the Order of The  Black Dragon  & the Thule Society have kept tabs on the descendants of the player's PC's. These organizations are keeping their eys on them for the uncovering of any treasures or occult artifacts from the forbidden city. 
The forbidden city is still stands & is being used by the Order of The Black Dragon. It will be a target for our PC's. 

Nest of Vipers - The free adventure 'The Menace of the Serpent God' by Jason Vey & TM4 Legacy of the Forbidden City by Bill Barsh

" More than 50 years ago a band of daring adventurers found and explored the mythical Forbidden City.
The group defeated many dangers within the ancient ruin including an evil and powerful race of snake-men.
For several years thereafter, other expeditions ventured into the dark jungle to unlock hidden mysteries and treasures with the new-found city. But little more was found and the snake-men had vanished.
Now, something is again stirring within the Forbidden City. An unseen menace has called hundreds of lone adventur-ers to the rift city and none have returned. It is one of those “called” that your party pursues.
And the path has led inexorably to the Forbidden City."

Why would the Starship Warden be valuable to a community of highly advanced technological & occult serperntmen?! There's several reasons for this as we will see. And tonight I was reading through Pacesetter games TM4 Legacy of the Forbidden City by Bill Barsh. Imagine if you will that the module & campaign set up of Fang of the Serpent Men - I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by  David Cook And Amazing Adventures Campaign. Comes off without a hitch but the PC's are called back to the South American tropical lost world of I1 by David Cook has been explored. But something rather nasty has reared its head within the lost ruins. And the PC's are called in. Possibly a cell of the Black Dragon Society has decided to exploit some of the ruins as per events within 'The Menace of the Serpent God' by Jason Vey. 

The old haunts of New Orleans stir again & there is evidence that the serpent men are building a time & space gateway. But to where!? That's easy enough to identify! Their building a gateway into the interior or heart of the Starship Warden?! But why? This is easy enough to indentify & that's because the serpent men are masters of gene splicing & engineering. The starship Warden offers unlimited opportunity to access the gene banks of the Earth's future & a huge variety of mutant animals & humanoid species. Not to mention the numerous mutant plants also aboard the Warden. 

This means that the Starship Warden could figure highly in the diabolical plans of the serpent men to make a return to rule the future of Earth. And there's further evidence of the once great serpentmen of taking full advantage of the having acess to the time & space continuum allowing them greater access to the past,present, & future of Earth! 

But why stop there could the plan actually be to hook up once again with the serpentmen's ancient ancestors living on the world of Greyhawk? All this looping around to the Final Destination of the Warden?! 

All of this loops back around to the ruins within TM4 Legacy of the Forbidden City by Bill Barsh! This all builds as the dark  influence within TM4 comes crashing into the PC's laps & begins its own agenda for the character on its own terms! 

By The Serpent's Tail - The free adventure 'The Menace of the Serpent God' by Jason Vey & I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook And Amazing Adventures Campaign Recap

The serpent men first appeared in last year's classic Amazing Adventures! Rpg campaign with the introduction of the free adventure 'The Menace of the Serpent God' by Jason Vey. Now the adventure is considered to be a bit too railroady for some reviewers. This is a beginning classic Amazing Adventures! rpg introduction adventure & it contains a mini set of AA rpg rules, sample PC's, & more. So it's going to be a bit railroady! We've uncoupled the evets of the adventure & put our own stank on it. 
Our party picks up from those who threw down with the serpent god in 1939; "The year is 1939. Our heroes, the player characters, are all members of an adventuring and humanitarian group called the Brotherhood of William St. John. Headed by Mackie Gleeson, the granddaughter of the organization’s founder, this group is dedicated to advancing human knowledge, protecting the world from dark occult artifacts and occurrences, and to fighting for truth and justice across the world. In Europe, World War II is in full swing, though the United States is still 2 years from officially entering the conflict. Still, the U.S. is unofficially supporting the allies, with troops fighting under the British flag in both Europe and Asia, particularly pilots under the auspices of the RAF. The Wizard of Oz is the big hit at cinemas, and the price of a pack of cigarettes is 10 cents. Our adventure is set largely in New Orleans, which is the Big Easy no matter what era it happens to be. It can, with a bit of work, be easily transferred to any city you like, however, just by swapping out the locations herein. It begins when our heroes are all in town to celebrate Mardi Gras, and they get a call pointing to mysterious and dark forces at work. It turns out that an old enemy of the Brotherhood, the mysterious Doctor Serpent, and his organization, the Order of the Black Dragon, are plotting to unleash an ancient evil upon the world. Can our heroes race against time to stop the latest plot from their archenemy? That depends on you..." 

Flash forward to 1979 and the events of 1939 have taken place & the Order of The Black Dragon are on the move once again! The evil serpent god is being summoned from the depths of the Outer Darkness and only the PC's can oppose it.  In the last gasp of the 'Swinging Seventies' our heroes can foil the evil machintions of the serpent god & it's minions. There are several things going on at once, only very loosely have I used the 'The Menace of the Serpent God' to outline the further goals of the Black Dragon Society. 'The Menace of the Serpent God' actually dove tails in with Tomb of the Serpent Kings  another free adventure which is follows OSR ideas far more closely. 

For my own purposes of using Amazing Adventures!, we take the PC's from New Orleans & follow the winding serpent's tail into deepest South America of the Seventies with its political upheavels & down right dangerous events as a part of a mask for the machinations of the serpent men.

 And this sets up the serpent men in their lost valley of I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook from 1981. Thus bringing events full circle so that the PC's find themselves deeply embroiled in the machinations of the Black Dragon Order. The Menace of the Serpent God' brings everything full circle enabling the events of 1980 to unfold organically. 

Fang of the Serpent Men - I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook And Amazing Adventures Campaign Recap

 So over the last three months our Amazing Adventures campaign has been on hold for the last three months. We had a very elaborate game campaign going on with  the PC's jumping from one alternative Earth to another. Sort of a Pulp version of Sliders with various PC's coming into and outta of the campaign.  The various classic D&D modules such as I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook from 1981 are real & very much having an impact on the modern world of 1980. The cult of the Y erm serpent men is alive & very much running amok. This blog post is going to pick up right from here. The core of four players have a couple PC's with a changing roster of PC's. 

The driving force behind part of the campaign is the time displaced 19th century bounty Doc' Reagane whose been after the band of thieves who travel under the guise of   Dr. Theophilus' Traveling Show.  Yes, this traveling show moves from world to world under the mantra to rob anyone they come across.  And yes OSR guru David Baymiller did the traveling show.  Recently about three months ago they 'aquired' the  The Necklace of Harmonia for a wealthy client ( a rather nasty lich operating out of Alexandria. This had a rather attractive but dangerous minor Amazon princess join our party of adventurers.  Then the player's PC's ran afoul of the servants of Crom allowing Tom Holland raider of lost artifacts to join the party. The relics of Crom were returned implicating the serpent men of I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David Cook. 

There were rumors of the serpent men actually taking several other Amazon artifacts from museum across the Earth. And the PC's came across an Elven fighter named Prince Harmon who was being held captive for a slave auction. So we added another PC to the mix. 
And then everything ground to a halt because of one of our player's medical conditions. Unfortunately this condition isn't getting any better. And now to help fill in the gaps I've used Old Skull's Serpentine by Kent David Kelly. 

 

Dread & Corruption - I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City by David 'Zeb' Cook With Additional OSR & Old School Resources - Session Report Eleven

"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! Information is presented here to reconstruct this exciting tournament and even more has been given to expand play. Here characters may adventure several times in a unique and interesting mini-campaign. Included in this module are background and tournament notes, referee's keys, new monsters, pre- generated characters, and eight different maps."
So begins the infamous I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City: An Adventure for Character Levels 4-7 (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) by David Cook published in 1981.



Now two modules that I've always used together are I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City & E2 Isle of Dread by Dave Cook & Tom Moldvay. Now surely these two modules couldn't be used with my Cha'alt game could they? Well that's where your wrong! Sometimes talking with a player can stir up memories of the beginning of the campaign. In this case its my Cha'alt/Godbound rpg campaign set in a late Sevenities & Eighties modern day California. The Cha'alt dimensional/planar warp is opening up & gathering all kinds of weirdness to it merging worlds & time.  In this case E2's Isle of Dread & I1 The Dwellers of the Forbidden City have become part of the new frontier for adventurers. 

Right off the Channel Islands on the California coast things have gotten very strange & there are rumors of preshistoric monsters but what are the Channel Islands ; "The Channel Islands (Spanish: islas del Canal, Archipiélago del Norte) form an eight-island archipelago along the Santa Barbara Channel in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Southern California. Five of the islands are part of Channel Islands National Park, and the waters surrounding these islands make up Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The islands were first colonized as early as 13,000 years ago. Human remains from that period have been discovered."  in the Pacific ocean the Isle of Dread & I1 have positioned themselves. Scavengers & scum from Cha'alt have already infiltrated the islands. There's been clashes with the US military but there's been rumors of strange serpent men & even worse on the islands. Right now they are off limits to civilans but many Californians feel compelled to visit the islands. 

 In the adventure, the characters are hired to find an object taken to a lost oriental-style city, which has been taken over by a cult of snake-worshipers, the yuan-ti, and their servants, the mongrelmen and tasloi. So there's no real reason to change this leg of the module. But strange seemingly unknown South Eastern Asian people have been seen cycling through the population of Californians in the area. Because  Mr.Cook pulls a great deal of his monsters from the Fiend Folio this makes using I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City for this campaign an ideal choice for this campaign.

Another idea that I'm thinking of using is to put  the Hidden Shrine of Taomochan onto the island to give the gods of Cha'alt a run for their money. Now this is nothing new at all. I've written about using some of the resources of the old Dragon's foot forums before;
"I put the Hidden Shrine of Taomochan into the city" this makes perfect sense and there's some really great resources in the Expanding I1 The Dwellers In The Forbidden City Thread on Dragon's foot's forums. 
Another great set of suggestions is by Ulan Dhor:
"Imade some changes to the module detailed here:

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=71580&p=1673164&hilit=forbidden#p1673164


My campaign journal for our run through the module is detailed here:

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=67564&start=90#p1642464

Have fun with it, I found it to be one of my favorite runs through a published module, lots of open ended potential.

Cheers,

Ulan Dhor' 


This is gonna really put the 'cat among the pigeons' with our party's portal mage. . There are many weird Lovecraftian touches in I1 that could lead to even more adventure hooks and possibilities amid the ruins. One of my favorite monsters from the Fiend Folio is the Yellow Musk Creeper & Zombie. The Clark Ashton Smith story The Seed from the Sepulchre has some awesome suggestions about using such a Lovecraftian or is it Smithian monster. The sandbox nature of ' Dwellers of the Forbidden City' is in  a similar vein to  CAS 's The Demon of the Flower which can be used as an inspiration to unleash all kinds of Hell upon a party and might be grown by the Yu erm serpent men.

I might also locate a Cha'alt drug factory producing Zoth on Santa Rosa island. They've been blending into the local background while strong arming their way with the locals. But what they don't know about is the unholy presence that's taken up residence under the  Santa Cruz national park.

Dyson Logos  generously pointed out that he's done a number of maps for various locations throughout I1 Dwellers In The Forbidden City. "I've done some maps to detail some parts of the city when we last played through it."

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/tuesday-map-temple-complex-ruins-of-the-forbidden-city/

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/friday-map-the-ruined-hatak-temple/

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/friday-map-temple-of-the-snake/

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/friday-map-redstone-shrine-with-time-lapse-video/

" And for those planning on running it, here's a cleaned up scan of the main map with all DM notations removed - particularly handy if the party enters via the giant tree access point which gives them a good overview of the city"

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2015/06/07/dwellers-in-the-forbidden-city-the-city-map/

All of this can be used to pretty much establish the Y erm serpent men empire right within the heart of California. The gods & immortals of Cha'alt are not gonna sit down for this however. 

Using Classic TSR Era Tournament Modules To Build Old School Campaigns With Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition's I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City By Dave Cook

"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!?"

First appearing in  1980 at Origins Game Fair I1 Dwellers in The Forbidden City By Dave Cook and was later published by TSR in 1981 for use with the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. Its a classic tournament level adventure meant to showcase the advantages of AD&D play while it kills your PC with a bunch of your friends. Its also a good module to use to build a mini campaign to take your PC's up the ladder from levels four to seven.

This module introduced the players to one of the major dwelling places of the Lovecraftian Aboleth and the yuan ti which fit in so well to the Red Nails like atmosphere of I1. This is the perfect module to create an isolated plateau of lost world goodness in the middle of the jungle. For my own campaigns I've used the this adventure to be joined in with plot of  The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan.  This can take PC's up the long ladder for advancement & exploitation. We'll get to that in a minute. 



Because I1 is faction heavy its the perfect module to build up the pulpy atmosphere of an Asian heavy element campaign complete with competing factions within the lost city's environs. There are also some major pieces of Greyhawk's history within this module so a clever DM could back lace some of those elements into their own campaign world & setting. This includes taking the settings of Dwellers of the Forbidden City & peppering it throughout with mini dungeons then taking the whole adventure to setting it on one of the nearby islands from the Island of Dread. Yes I completely stole this from Dragon foot member cwslyclgh, "and its easy enough to combine them by placing the city on one of the other islands near the Isle of Dread." Its this lost world hot house melting pot aspect of I1 that really clicks with me.


There's so much potential to use this module to build PC's from one encounter to the other as things move along. The campaign moves along at a damn fast rate. The basic plot could actually start with the classic Isle of Dread adventure ;"In the adventure, the characters are hired to find an object taken to a lost oriental-style city, which has been taken over by a cult of snake-worshipers, the yuan-ti, and their servants, the mongrelmen and tasloi"  
The Gygaxian dungeon ecology is hard at work in this style of island hopping and dungeon crawling. Take your party into the environs of the Forbidden City followed closely
WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun  which can be used to piggy back and expand the whole thing into, S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. finally hitting its conclusion in the  AS&SH's Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess  that connects into one of the tunnels in I1.


From there you get into a sword & black powder or a sword & sorcery campaign or both that creates an entire lost world country of pulpy monsters, horrid cults, Lovecraftian plots, and lots of ruins to be explored, exploited, and expanded upon. Bad Mike from the Dragon's foot site Dragon's foot has incredibly great expansions that he's written that expand upon I1 here;"

As Grodog says I wrote up a big conclusion a few years ago, I sold/gave away copies several years ago. It's based on the Yuan-Ti dungeon in WGR2 Treasures of Greyhawk. I'll summarize it here. Basically there is an over-arching plot in the city that may or may not even be discovered by the adventurers; this final encounter ties into that. Here is the intro to the encounter, this can give you an idea of how to place the final encounter, and perhaps some ideas for staging a finale.

Mike B.

PLOT Arc:
The Yuan ti themselves have lately been raiding more frequently for two reasons: One, they have begun buying many slaves from the Taranthians, Tzula tribesmen and orc pirates through pureblood intermediaries to use as sacrifices, and need the treasure to use as payment. Two, they have captured the humans in the caravans to use as sacrifices. All these humanoids have been killed for a purpose, to open a gate that will lead to a hidden location atop Firestorm Mountain where many artifacts of the serpent men have been secreted for centuries. A few years ago while exploring the ruins of the Forbidden City the yuan ti found a chamber that contained a long ago constructed gate. Through research gleaned from the dusty libraries of the Forbidden City, the yuan-ti elders learned that when the City was originally inhabited thousands of years ago (before the Cataclysm) the yuan ti had infiltrated all aspects of life in the city. However, they were discovered by a great warrior Zull and his mage companion Aidar, who methodically located and killed every serpent man in the city. Before the last cell was discovered, they managed to create a gate to a hidden cave atop Firestorm Mountain and secret all their most powerful artifacts there. After the Cataclysm, the location was forgotten and then buried under tons of lava when Mount Firestorm erupted centuries later.
The location, although buried, still exists and divinations have shown the artifacts are still there awaiting discovery. With these treasures perhaps the yuan-ti could reverse the centuries of stagnation and once again become a mighty race. Unfortunately the only way to reactivate the gate is through blood sacrifice...10,000 humans (or thereabouts) must die at the altar before the gate once again functions. The yuan ti have managed to sacrifice over 9000 natives and explorers during the last few years, and are close to reaching their goal of opening the gate. Any sane human, evil or good, should stop at nothing to prevent the re-emergence and use of these ancient and powerful reptilian treasures! In general, any allies of the serpent men except for Horan will know absolutely nothing useful for the characters if they are captured and made to talk (only the serpent men directly involved in the sacrifices, plus the high priests, known the true extent of the scaly god’s plans). Powerful lone Abominations might know the complete reason for the caravan attacks, but they would rather die than let the player characters discover any useful information. Thus, it is left for the DM to slowly let information useful to the characters come to them in bits and pieces until they begin to see the scope of the serpentmen’s horrible schemes...a discovered ancient text in an abandoned library with cryptic information, an overheard conversation among snakemen referring to "regaining our lost glory", a chance find of a dropped set of instructions from Sathar to one of his followers concerning where to take the sacrifices "so that the Gate may finally open"...it will all begin to add up just before the DM springs the final encounter in Sathar’s lair on the now-enlightened party.

UNDERCITY OF THE SERPENTMEN

This area should be discovered whenever the DM thinks it’s appropriate; it is the climax of the adventures in the Forgotten City. The party should be approximately 7th-9th level at this point, and capable of foiling the plans of the snakemen to open the gate to their hidden temple and rescue the ancient serpentmen treasures hidden within. The battles will be deadly, and the party should have access to many anti-poison spells and devices, as well as one or two items vs reptilian beings. Ideally the assault should be quick and stealthy, and the main objective should be the slaughtering of the high priest...without him, the other serpentmen have no knowledge of how to open the gate.
If the party takes several days to penetrate the inner rooms of the undercity, reinforcements should arrive in the form of returning snakemen explorers and merchants. Each day there is a cumulative 20% chance that a party of purebloods, halfbreeds or abominations arrive to swell the numbers in the undercity (use the random tables above for statistics). They will have between 10-20 slaves with them, as well as the appropriate number of ophidian or histachii servants (tasloi are never allowed in the undercity). Even if the entire lair is cleaned out and destroyed, merchant bands of snakemen will continue to arrive each week for five weeks until word leaks out among followers of Set that the lair has been compromised. It will take several decades for another Serpent Man priest of high enough level to rediscover the ancient knowledge allowing him to open the gate, so the rise of the Yuan-Ti will be successfully thwarted although the undercity may continue to be used as a base for serpentmen and their allies.
Generally, almost all the snakemen encountered in the complex will be purebloods...Sathar requires his servants to be more than just brutes, and enjoys intelligent conversation and discussing the eventual rise of the Scaly Nations once again (with himself the main reason for this, of course). In truth, along with being supremely evil and intelligent, egotistical and a narcissist, Sathar is a bit of a racist in regards to his own race.... he believes Purebloods (and to a lesser extent competing Abominations) are the true rulers of the Yuan Ti race, Halfbreeds being no more than servants, bodyguards or cannon fodder for battles.
The entrance to the tunnels should be relatively unguarded...Sathar does not want to draw attention to this location by having a visible show of force. A ’40 wide opening that is shielded by hanging vines is the entrance, and utter blackness leads downward through a magnificently decorated hallway (40x20). The 2000 year old architecture is awe inspiring, but upon closer inspection several sinister motifs can be seen in the bas-reliefs...snake headed creatures with crowns leading seas of massive, wiggling snake things in a feast of screaming, bleeding humans dominate the proceedings. The area seems to have been excavated in the last few years, in several spots the marks of shovels and picks, along with mounds of dirt show evidence of this. The tunnel travels for 500 feet, eventually narrowing to 20 foot wide, all the time going downwards in complete and soundless darkness. At the end of the tunnel lies the Undercity of the Snakemen...
Typically, a caravan of slaves or goods continues down the tunnels to Location 1, where they are met by the guard on duty. He sends the caravan on ahead with half the ophidian guards to check in at area 1a, then drop off their cargo at area 6. After a day or so of rest and debriefing by the commander, the specially selected purebloods (specially selected for their ability to pass almost completely for human) leave the complex by the back exit (East door of Area 1d) and rendezvous with another slave coffle or plan another merchant or tribal ambush.

GENERAL TACTICS OF YUAN TI IN THE UNDERCITY:
Once inside the complex, due to the circular nature of the rooms, any combat can quickly become deadly due to the amount of openings into each area and the ability of the serpentmen to pour into any room by at least three entrances per room. The Yuan Ti are of genius intelligence, yet their fury at their ultimate lair being penetrated will turn most into sword swinging psychopaths wanting only to hack the characters to pieces, forgetting or not using their spell abilities to their best advantage. Only the commander, sub commander, and priest will keep their heads clear enough to use their spells. They are apt to cast Suggestion "Surrender and you won’t be harmed!" or Cause Fear, using Darkness ’15 radius to obscure escape and Sticks to Snakes to buy time for the same, should it be needed. At no time will any of these three attempt to retreat to warn Sathar; this would be viewed as weakness and Sathar would have them executed if the invaders were defeated or driven off. It is far more likely a Pureblood will break away from combat at some time and attempt to summon Sathar’s bodyguards in the area below the ramp in Room 1D.
Unless the characters are good enough or smart enough to pick off the serpentmen room by room without giving warning, at some point a large battle will take place and all the serpentmen on the first level will rush to the area, through as many different entrances as they can, and try to crush the adventurers with sheer numbers. Generally Sathar’s bodyguards and the ophidian jailers on the lower level will stay there awaiting the arrival of the adventurers; Sathar will react as indicated in his description.

1. Access tunnels
Any access tunnel through which the party comes will be guarded by a single yuan-ti pureblood, armed with a scimitar and longbow, about hundred feet from room 1. He will be accompanied by 10 ophidian servants, one of which he will command to summon help upon sighting invaders, and two pet flying fangs. If the party is careful, they can disguise themselves as a pureblood slaver or merchant party, but it would require someone speaking snakeman (perhaps by magical means) and appropriate props (humans in chains w/o weapons or armor, for example) as well as some knowledge of the procedures used to get past the guard.
Yuan-ti pureblood: (Int Genius; AL CE; AC 4; MV 120; HD 6; hp 36; #AT 2; THACO 15; Dmg 1-8 scimitar and longbow; SA Spell ability; MR 20%; SZ M; ML 14; XP 1,400. This pureblood speaks serpentman and Delosian. Once per day he can use cause fear, darkness 15’rad., snake charm, sticks to snakes, neutralize poison, suggestion, and polymorph self (human form only).

10 Ophidian guards: (Ophidian (Int. 8-10 Average (human) intelligence; AL CN; AC 5; MV 9, Sw 18; HD 3; hp 14; THAC0 17; #AT 2; Dmg 1d3 and spear or short sword (1d6) SA see below; SD camouflage; SZ M; ML Unsteady (5-7); XP 175)

Snake, Flying Fang (Int. 5-7 Low intelligence; AL N; AC 5; MV 9, Fl 21(B); HD 1+4; hp 9, 11; THAC0 19; #AT 1 + Special; Dmg 1-3 (bite); SA Acid Spray 10 ft 1d4 dmg, Encoil small foes; Flying snakes bite and slash with their needle-sharp fangs, or spit acid at opponents up to ten feet away. An acid spit does 1d4 damage to tissue, hide or cloth, but does not affect metal or stone. SD Nil; SZ S; ML Steady (12); XP 120)
Room 1A:
This is the entrance that is used by the caravans and will be the entrance the player characters enter the Undercity through.

Room1B: This is the storage area for all common goods that are taken from the caravans upon arrival, waited to be sorted and assigned a delivery location. The northern exit is trapped with Glyphs of Warding (Poison, Fire and Lightning) and runs for several hundred yards to an undisclosed location within the City (DM’s choice).
Room 1C: This southern room is used for storage of all weapons taken from the caravans (except magical weapons which are given to the commander for his decision on who should wield it). There is a secret entrance to the south that leads to the long abandoned sewer system below the city. This should only benefit the party if they are cut off from all retreat and must escape somewhere, as the serpentmen have left it unused for quite a long time and barely even remember where it is.
Room 1D:
If the party is approaching from west (only), an arch provides the entrance to the room. The east room has a ramp down to the second level (the main floor). It is otherwise identical to the other entryways. If the party approaches from the north or south, they will find a closed door (unlocked) that opens into that room 1. All entry rooms have three interior doors. Each room has a rack for two scimitars (of which one is missing), a statuette of a snake, and two pallets for sleeping.
The locked and trapped (Glyphs of Warding for Electricity, Fire and Poison) eastern exit leads to an heretofore undiscovered exit/entrance to the Undercity, the DM can have the tunnels wind for miles (with appropriate underdark encounters) until it exits far from the valley of the Forbidden City in a 20x20 cave hidden by an overhang and waterfall alongside a river. A small narrow path slick with spray and water exits behind the waterfall and circles around a freshwater pool that empties into the river; the path continues into the jungle (and hopefully for the party, civilization). Inside the cavern is a cache of supplies for serpentmen consisting of 12 weeks of iron rations; several empty waterskins (can be filled by the waterfall), a crate full of fresh clothing, a small pouch with 20 gold pieces, 25 silver pieces and a 100 gp gem; a crate full of tinder, flint and torches; several (1-4 each) normal knives, spears, short swords, long swords, quarterstaffs, long and short bows, and a small crate of 100 arrows; two special seals to the Forbidden City that allow entry past the guards at the Main Entrance, and a padded leather case with 2 healing potions inside. At the DM’s option, there can also be found inside the pouch the names of several serpentmen agents in nearby villages and Port Maugre, which could lead to further adventures as these groups are rooted out and destroyed.
The chamber is not unguarded; the pool (a small but 20 ft deep freshwater basin 30x30 in diameter) the waterfall feeds into contains a Water Naga that has been raised and trained by the serpent men, leaving it corrupted and evil in temperament. It will recognize snakemen and their reptilian allies, and they are the only ones who are allowed to pass into or out of the waterfall without being attacked. Two to five rounds after voices are heard within the chamber, the naga will rise out of the pool and stick its head through the waterfall to observe who has entered; the naga will be surprised for one round as it sees unfamiliar faces and instinctively knows these are not scaly folk; it then withdraws to the bottom of it’s pool to cast spells on itself (Detect Invisible and Blur) and attacks whoever exits, striking from the safety of the pool at anyone walking the path or foolish enough to jump into the pool or stick their head through the waterfall, first with ranged spells and then by biting. If the adventurers instead hunker down inside the chamber, the Naga will simply wait them out, never leaving the water for combat; she is patient and will concede that she must outwit the party rather than foolishly attack. The Naga has no treasure except 2-20 pieces of each type of currency used on Delos, and the skeletons of past victims, all which lie at the bottom of its pool.

Water Naga (AC5, Mv’9/SW18, HD7, HP40, 0=13, Dmg 1-4 poisonous bite, ’10 long)
Spells:
1st: Charm Person, Magic Missile (4), Shocking Grasp (on 1st bite)
2nd: Blur, Detect Invisibility
3rd: Slow"

All credit to Bad Mike for some great ideas on expansion  & conclusions of the events of  Dwellers In The Forbidden City.


No I'm stealing them but these are incredibly influential because they can be used as an outline to create & expand the Forbidden City into its own South Asian or China style lost world country. This is something that I'm considering doing within my own Ancient & Accursed Terra setting.  So why I'm bringing all of this up right now & what does this have to do old school/OSR play? Well when your PC's go from 1st to the upper levels of play there is a good chance that might take on the role of rulers of a small jungle or lost world kingdom. This is something that I've been speaking with friends about last night and the suggestions that we came up with for a kick ass lost world take on.


Sure this is the promise of Adventurer,Conqueror, King, and even Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea but by using this old school classic formula the PC's will be carving out their own petty kingdoms in the lost world jungles ala 'Apocalypse Now' in no time. That is if they survive the experience! My advise is to bring plenty of extra character sheets.

Using Classic TSR Era Tournament Modules To Build Old School Campaigns With Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition's I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City By Dave Cook

First appearing in  1980 at Origins Game Fair I1 Dwellers in The Forbidden City By Dave Cook and was later published by TSR in 1981 for use with the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. Its a classic tournament level adventure meant to showcase the advantages of AD&D play while it kills your PC with a bunch of your friends. Its also a good module to use to build a mini campaign to take your PC's up the ladder from levels four to seven.
"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!?"
This module introduced the players to one of the major dwelling places of the Lovecraftian Aboleth and the yuan ti which fit in so well to the Red Nails like atmosphere of I1. This is the perfect module to create an isolated plateau of lost world goodness in the middle of the jungle. For my own campaigns I've used the this adventure to be joined in with plot of  The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan.  This can take PC's up the long ladder for advancement & exploitation. We'll get to that in a minute.  



Because I1 is faction heavy its the perfect module to build up the pulpy atmosphere of an Asian heavy element campaign complete with competing factions within the lost city's environs. There are also some major pieces of Greyhawk's history within this module so a clever DM could back lace some of those elements into their own campaign world & setting. This includes taking the settings of Dwellers of the Forbidden City & peppering it throughout with mini dungeons then taking the whole adventure to setting it on one of the nearby islands from the Island of Dread. Yes I completely stole this from Dragon foot member cwslyclgh, "and its easy enough to combine them by placing the city on one of the other islands near the Isle of Dread." Its this lost world hot house melting pot aspect of I1 that really clicks with me.


There's so much potential to use this module to build PC's from one encounter to the other as things move along. The campaign moves along at a damn fast rate. The basic plot could actually start with the classic Isle of Dread adventure ;"In the adventure, the characters are hired to find an object taken to a lost oriental-style city, which has been taken over by a cult of snake-worshipers, the yuan-ti, and their servants, the mongrelmen and tasloi"  
The Gygaxian dungeon ecology is hard at work in this style of island hopping and dungeon crawling. Take your party into the environs of the Forbidden City followed closely
WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun  which can be used to piggy back and expand the whole thing into, S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. finally hitting its conclusion in the  AS&SH's Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess  that connects into one of the tunnels in I1.


From there you get into a sword & black powder or a sword & sorcery campaign or both that creates an entire lost world country of pulpy monsters, horrid cults, Lovecraftian plots, and lots of ruins to be explored, exploited, and expanded upon. Bad Mike from the Dragon's foot site Dragon's foot has incredibly great expansions that he's written that expand upon I1 here;"

As Grodog says I wrote up a big conclusion a few years ago, I sold/gave away copies several years ago. It's based on the Yuan-Ti dungeon in WGR2 Treasures of Greyhawk. I'll summarize it here. Basically there is an over-arching plot in the city that may or may not even be discovered by the adventurers; this final encounter ties into that. Here is the intro to the encounter, this can give you an idea of how to place the final encounter, and perhaps some ideas for staging a finale.

Mike B.

PLOT Arc:
The Yuan ti themselves have lately been raiding more frequently for two reasons: One, they have begun buying many slaves from the Taranthians, Tzula tribesmen and orc pirates through pureblood intermediaries to use as sacrifices, and need the treasure to use as payment. Two, they have captured the humans in the caravans to use as sacrifices. All these humanoids have been killed for a purpose, to open a gate that will lead to a hidden location atop Firestorm Mountain where many artifacts of the serpent men have been secreted for centuries. A few years ago while exploring the ruins of the Forbidden City the yuan ti found a chamber that contained a long ago constructed gate. Through research gleaned from the dusty libraries of the Forbidden City, the yuan-ti elders learned that when the City was originally inhabited thousands of years ago (before the Cataclysm) the yuan ti had infiltrated all aspects of life in the city. However, they were discovered by a great warrior Zull and his mage companion Aidar, who methodically located and killed every serpent man in the city. Before the last cell was discovered, they managed to create a gate to a hidden cave atop Firestorm Mountain and secret all their most powerful artifacts there. After the Cataclysm, the location was forgotten and then buried under tons of lava when Mount Firestorm erupted centuries later.
The location, although buried, still exists and divinations have shown the artifacts are still there awaiting discovery. With these treasures perhaps the yuan-ti could reverse the centuries of stagnation and once again become a mighty race. Unfortunately the only way to reactivate the gate is through blood sacrifice...10,000 humans (or thereabouts) must die at the altar before the gate once again functions. The yuan ti have managed to sacrifice over 9000 natives and explorers during the last few years, and are close to reaching their goal of opening the gate. Any sane human, evil or good, should stop at nothing to prevent the re-emergence and use of these ancient and powerful reptilian treasures! In general, any allies of the serpent men except for Horan will know absolutely nothing useful for the characters if they are captured and made to talk (only the serpent men directly involved in the sacrifices, plus the high priests, known the true extent of the scaly god’s plans). Powerful lone Abominations might know the complete reason for the caravan attacks, but they would rather die than let the player characters discover any useful information. Thus, it is left for the DM to slowly let information useful to the characters come to them in bits and pieces until they begin to see the scope of the serpentmen’s horrible schemes...a discovered ancient text in an abandoned library with cryptic information, an overheard conversation among snakemen referring to "regaining our lost glory", a chance find of a dropped set of instructions from Sathar to one of his followers concerning where to take the sacrifices "so that the Gate may finally open"...it will all begin to add up just before the DM springs the final encounter in Sathar’s lair on the now-enlightened party.

UNDERCITY OF THE SERPENTMEN

This area should be discovered whenever the DM thinks it’s appropriate; it is the climax of the adventures in the Forgotten City. The party should be approximately 7th-9th level at this point, and capable of foiling the plans of the snakemen to open the gate to their hidden temple and rescue the ancient serpentmen treasures hidden within. The battles will be deadly, and the party should have access to many anti-poison spells and devices, as well as one or two items vs reptilian beings. Ideally the assault should be quick and stealthy, and the main objective should be the slaughtering of the high priest...without him, the other serpentmen have no knowledge of how to open the gate.
If the party takes several days to penetrate the inner rooms of the undercity, reinforcements should arrive in the form of returning snakemen explorers and merchants. Each day there is a cumulative 20% chance that a party of purebloods, halfbreeds or abominations arrive to swell the numbers in the undercity (use the random tables above for statistics). They will have between 10-20 slaves with them, as well as the appropriate number of ophidian or histachii servants (tasloi are never allowed in the undercity). Even if the entire lair is cleaned out and destroyed, merchant bands of snakemen will continue to arrive each week for five weeks until word leaks out among followers of Set that the lair has been compromised. It will take several decades for another Serpent Man priest of high enough level to rediscover the ancient knowledge allowing him to open the gate, so the rise of the Yuan-Ti will be successfully thwarted although the undercity may continue to be used as a base for serpentmen and their allies.
Generally, almost all the snakemen encountered in the complex will be purebloods...Sathar requires his servants to be more than just brutes, and enjoys intelligent conversation and discussing the eventual rise of the Scaly Nations once again (with himself the main reason for this, of course). In truth, along with being supremely evil and intelligent, egotistical and a narcissist, Sathar is a bit of a racist in regards to his own race.... he believes Purebloods (and to a lesser extent competing Abominations) are the true rulers of the Yuan Ti race, Halfbreeds being no more than servants, bodyguards or cannon fodder for battles.
The entrance to the tunnels should be relatively unguarded...Sathar does not want to draw attention to this location by having a visible show of force. A ’40 wide opening that is shielded by hanging vines is the entrance, and utter blackness leads downward through a magnificently decorated hallway (40x20). The 2000 year old architecture is awe inspiring, but upon closer inspection several sinister motifs can be seen in the bas-reliefs...snake headed creatures with crowns leading seas of massive, wiggling snake things in a feast of screaming, bleeding humans dominate the proceedings. The area seems to have been excavated in the last few years, in several spots the marks of shovels and picks, along with mounds of dirt show evidence of this. The tunnel travels for 500 feet, eventually narrowing to 20 foot wide, all the time going downwards in complete and soundless darkness. At the end of the tunnel lies the Undercity of the Snakemen...
Typically, a caravan of slaves or goods continues down the tunnels to Location 1, where they are met by the guard on duty. He sends the caravan on ahead with half the ophidian guards to check in at area 1a, then drop off their cargo at area 6. After a day or so of rest and debriefing by the commander, the specially selected purebloods (specially selected for their ability to pass almost completely for human) leave the complex by the back exit (East door of Area 1d) and rendezvous with another slave coffle or plan another merchant or tribal ambush.

GENERAL TACTICS OF YUAN TI IN THE UNDERCITY:
Once inside the complex, due to the circular nature of the rooms, any combat can quickly become deadly due to the amount of openings into each area and the ability of the serpentmen to pour into any room by at least three entrances per room. The Yuan Ti are of genius intelligence, yet their fury at their ultimate lair being penetrated will turn most into sword swinging psychopaths wanting only to hack the characters to pieces, forgetting or not using their spell abilities to their best advantage. Only the commander, sub commander, and priest will keep their heads clear enough to use their spells. They are apt to cast Suggestion "Surrender and you won’t be harmed!" or Cause Fear, using Darkness ’15 radius to obscure escape and Sticks to Snakes to buy time for the same, should it be needed. At no time will any of these three attempt to retreat to warn Sathar; this would be viewed as weakness and Sathar would have them executed if the invaders were defeated or driven off. It is far more likely a Pureblood will break away from combat at some time and attempt to summon Sathar’s bodyguards in the area below the ramp in Room 1D.
Unless the characters are good enough or smart enough to pick off the serpentmen room by room without giving warning, at some point a large battle will take place and all the serpentmen on the first level will rush to the area, through as many different entrances as they can, and try to crush the adventurers with sheer numbers. Generally Sathar’s bodyguards and the ophidian jailers on the lower level will stay there awaiting the arrival of the adventurers; Sathar will react as indicated in his description.

1. Access tunnels
Any access tunnel through which the party comes will be guarded by a single yuan-ti pureblood, armed with a scimitar and longbow, about hundred feet from room 1. He will be accompanied by 10 ophidian servants, one of which he will command to summon help upon sighting invaders, and two pet flying fangs. If the party is careful, they can disguise themselves as a pureblood slaver or merchant party, but it would require someone speaking snakeman (perhaps by magical means) and appropriate props (humans in chains w/o weapons or armor, for example) as well as some knowledge of the procedures used to get past the guard.
Yuan-ti pureblood: (Int Genius; AL CE; AC 4; MV 120; HD 6; hp 36; #AT 2; THACO 15; Dmg 1-8 scimitar and longbow; SA Spell ability; MR 20%; SZ M; ML 14; XP 1,400. This pureblood speaks serpentman and Delosian. Once per day he can use cause fear, darkness 15’rad., snake charm, sticks to snakes, neutralize poison, suggestion, and polymorph self (human form only).

10 Ophidian guards: (Ophidian (Int. 8-10 Average (human) intelligence; AL CN; AC 5; MV 9, Sw 18; HD 3; hp 14; THAC0 17; #AT 2; Dmg 1d3 and spear or short sword (1d6) SA see below; SD camouflage; SZ M; ML Unsteady (5-7); XP 175)

Snake, Flying Fang (Int. 5-7 Low intelligence; AL N; AC 5; MV 9, Fl 21(B); HD 1+4; hp 9, 11; THAC0 19; #AT 1 + Special; Dmg 1-3 (bite); SA Acid Spray 10 ft 1d4 dmg, Encoil small foes; Flying snakes bite and slash with their needle-sharp fangs, or spit acid at opponents up to ten feet away. An acid spit does 1d4 damage to tissue, hide or cloth, but does not affect metal or stone. SD Nil; SZ S; ML Steady (12); XP 120)
Room 1A:
This is the entrance that is used by the caravans and will be the entrance the player characters enter the Undercity through.

Room1B: This is the storage area for all common goods that are taken from the caravans upon arrival, waited to be sorted and assigned a delivery location. The northern exit is trapped with Glyphs of Warding (Poison, Fire and Lightning) and runs for several hundred yards to an undisclosed location within the City (DM’s choice).
Room 1C: This southern room is used for storage of all weapons taken from the caravans (except magical weapons which are given to the commander for his decision on who should wield it). There is a secret entrance to the south that leads to the long abandoned sewer system below the city. This should only benefit the party if they are cut off from all retreat and must escape somewhere, as the serpentmen have left it unused for quite a long time and barely even remember where it is.
Room 1D:
If the party is approaching from west (only), an arch provides the entrance to the room. The east room has a ramp down to the second level (the main floor). It is otherwise identical to the other entryways. If the party approaches from the north or south, they will find a closed door (unlocked) that opens into that room 1. All entry rooms have three interior doors. Each room has a rack for two scimitars (of which one is missing), a statuette of a snake, and two pallets for sleeping.
The locked and trapped (Glyphs of Warding for Electricity, Fire and Poison) eastern exit leads to an heretofore undiscovered exit/entrance to the Undercity, the DM can have the tunnels wind for miles (with appropriate underdark encounters) until it exits far from the valley of the Forbidden City in a 20x20 cave hidden by an overhang and waterfall alongside a river. A small narrow path slick with spray and water exits behind the waterfall and circles around a freshwater pool that empties into the river; the path continues into the jungle (and hopefully for the party, civilization). Inside the cavern is a cache of supplies for serpentmen consisting of 12 weeks of iron rations; several empty waterskins (can be filled by the waterfall), a crate full of fresh clothing, a small pouch with 20 gold pieces, 25 silver pieces and a 100 gp gem; a crate full of tinder, flint and torches; several (1-4 each) normal knives, spears, short swords, long swords, quarterstaffs, long and short bows, and a small crate of 100 arrows; two special seals to the Forbidden City that allow entry past the guards at the Main Entrance, and a padded leather case with 2 healing potions inside. At the DM’s option, there can also be found inside the pouch the names of several serpentmen agents in nearby villages and Port Maugre, which could lead to further adventures as these groups are rooted out and destroyed.
The chamber is not unguarded; the pool (a small but 20 ft deep freshwater basin 30x30 in diameter) the waterfall feeds into contains a Water Naga that has been raised and trained by the serpent men, leaving it corrupted and evil in temperament. It will recognize snakemen and their reptilian allies, and they are the only ones who are allowed to pass into or out of the waterfall without being attacked. Two to five rounds after voices are heard within the chamber, the naga will rise out of the pool and stick its head through the waterfall to observe who has entered; the naga will be surprised for one round as it sees unfamiliar faces and instinctively knows these are not scaly folk; it then withdraws to the bottom of it’s pool to cast spells on itself (Detect Invisible and Blur) and attacks whoever exits, striking from the safety of the pool at anyone walking the path or foolish enough to jump into the pool or stick their head through the waterfall, first with ranged spells and then by biting. If the adventurers instead hunker down inside the chamber, the Naga will simply wait them out, never leaving the water for combat; she is patient and will concede that she must outwit the party rather than foolishly attack. The Naga has no treasure except 2-20 pieces of each type of currency used on Delos, and the skeletons of past victims, all which lie at the bottom of its pool.

Water Naga (AC5, Mv’9/SW18, HD7, HP40, 0=13, Dmg 1-4 poisonous bite, ’10 long)
Spells:
1st: Charm Person, Magic Missile (4), Shocking Grasp (on 1st bite)
2nd: Blur, Detect Invisibility
3rd: Slow"

All credit to Bad Mike for some great ideas on expansion  & conclusions of the events of  Dwellers In The Forbidden City.


No I'm stealing them but these are incredibly influential because they can be used as an outline to create & expand the Forbidden City into its own South Asian or China style lost world country. This is something that I'm considering doing within my own Ancient & Accursed Terra setting.  So why I'm bringing all of this up right now & what does this have to do old school/OSR play? Well when your PC's go from 1st to the upper levels of play there is a good chance that might take on the role of rulers of a small jungle or lost world kingdom. This is something that I've been speaking with friends about last night and the suggestions that we came up with for a kick ass lost world take on.


Sure this is the promise of Adventurer,Conqueror, King, and even Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea but by using this old school classic formula the PC's will be carving out their own petty kingdoms in the lost world jungles ala 'Apocalypse Now' in no time. That is if they survive the experience! My advise is to bring plenty of extra character sheets.