Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea's Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes & S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks By Gary Gygax

"Somewhere in the depths of Diamond Desert lie the skeletal remains of Ymir’s Serpent, a legendary Viking longship. In days of yore, Sigtrygg Forkbeard led his company upriver, piercing the desert’s hostile heart. There the Vikings unearthed a lost mine brimming with green diamonds, but the River Æolus desiccated as the Serpent prepared for launch, and the ship was swallowed by the dunes. Forkbeard and his company were never seen again, but tales of a shimmering Viking ghost ship gliding over the dunes persist to this day."

Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes By Jeffrey Talanian is the one beginning adventure for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg that I'd run straight outta of the gate for getting a campaign off of the ground. Ghost Ship isn't really based on any one H.P.Lovecraft, Robert E.Howard, or Clark Ashton Smith story or novella per say. But its got my gears turning when it comes Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky. Who was Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky? Well according to his wiki entry;
"Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (Russian: Константин Эдуардович Циолковский, IPA: [kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj] (listen); 17 September [O.S. 5 September] 1857  – 19 September 1935) was a Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory."
Its really Tsiolkovsk's book 'The Will of the Universe' that's got me thinking about certain aspects of AS&SH's Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes;
"Tsiolkovsky wrote a book called The Will of the Universe. The Unknown Intelligence in 1928 in which he propounded a philosophy of panpsychism. He believed humans would eventually colonize the Milky Way galaxy. His thought preceded the Space Age by several decades, and some of what he foresaw in his imagination has come into being since his death. Tsiolkovsky also did not believe in traditional religious cosmology, but instead (and to the chagrin of the Soviet authorities) he believed in a cosmic being that governed humans as "marionettes, mechanical puppets, machines, movie characters",^[22] thereby adhering to a mechanical view of the universe, which he believed would be controlled in the millennia to come through the power of human science and industry."
What would happen if you had a sort of 'anti 2001' event happening upon Hyperborea's Diamond Desert? Imagine if you will that the cycle of the Great Old of Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea also marks other trans cosmic events. In this case an alien intelligence out in the middle of the alien desert of Hyperborea. Something infinitely more dangerous then would first appear. 
Maybe something truly alien has been using life forms out in the desert as merely pawns?! The events of Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes By Jeffrey Talanian continue normally but after the adventurers find the adventure's conclusion. Something else is awoken by their stirrings in the sand!?!
One of the most dangerous & yet easily overlooked truly alien races in AS&SH is the Great Race of Yith.  The Great Race are from The Shadow Out of Time a novella  H. P. Lovecraft.

Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.
"[T]he Great Race ... waxed well-nigh omniscient, and turned to the task of setting up exchanges with the minds of other planets, and of exploring their pasts and futures. It sought likewise to fathom the past years and origin of that black, aeon-dead orb in far space whence its own mental heritage had come – for the mind of the Great Race was older than its bodily form. . . The beings of a dying elder world, wise with the ultimate secrets, had looked ahead for a new world and species wherein they might have long life; and had sent their minds en masse into that future race best adapted to house them – the cone-shaped beings that peopled our earth a billion years ago.

— H. P. Lovecraft, "The Shadow Out of Time"


If one of the Great Races of Yith's techno occult bases was uncovered by the meddling of adventurers then the truly alien inheritors & time travelers from beyond the stars may have renewed their time  war upon humanity. Yes I said time war. The Great Race is beyond our standard comprehension but let's wax nigh for a moment. The Great Race has been warring with humanity for the destruction of their own timeline has been happening for eons.
What if for a moment here the that this war with the Great Race went full on hot? Could humanity deal with the fall out?! Imagine if you will a minor historical event that causes a space craft to crash land into a primitive world? You know like a space craft crashing into the Grand Duchy of Geoff just outside of the countryside of Hyperborea? Then those monsters started showing up?! 
"The Grand Duchy of Geoff has recently been plagued by a rash of unusually weird and terrible monsters of an unknown sort. This western area, particularly the mountain fastness which separates the Grand Duchy from the Dry Steppes, has long been renowned for the generation of the most fearsome beasts, and it has been shunned accordingly -- save a handful of hardy souls with exceptional abilities. Within the last few months, however, a walled town not far distant from the area, and four small fortresses as well, have been destroyed by mysterious attacks!"


The Great Race stands back & watches as the humans scramble & the introduction of the invasive Mind Flayer aliens again are introduced to another world! The fallout from such an introduction would be devestating to the local ecology! 


Unwelcome vistor via the artwork of Jeff Dee from SC3 Expediation
To the Barrier Peaks
Not only could the machinations of the Great Race of Yith go on for centuries undetected but the monsters would ravage the countryside of Hyperborea. Adventurers would have years of campaign time to clean up the land sharks,veggie pygmies, & other horrors.
All arranged by the Great Race!



Great  Race of Yith miniature from the Cththlhu Wars Game.
 Minature available here. 

All of this is to keep the PC's out of the Great Race of Yith's tendrils. The Yithians have a very large network of  underground library city bases across the underworld of Hyperborea. They use them to experiment on the population of Hyperborea using a variation of their standard mind swapping techiques. The other time traveling drug they use is a variation of Clark Ashton Smith's 'The Plutonian Drug'. Their trying to find the best route through the time streams to the local space time continuum using the human mind & soul. But the real reason is time properties of the  separation of consciousness that we'd see later on from the Martians of CAS's Mnemoka (1955).

The question becomes are some or all members of the Great Race of Yith part of the Tsiolkovsky's The Will of the Universe  or  The Unknown Intelligence? Or is it really this cosmic alien intelligence that their trying to escape by time jumping to escape from it? 

'The Fermi Paradox',Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea's The Mystery At Port Greely By Jeffrey Talanian & D1-2: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth" (1981) by Gary Gygax.

"Until about three years ago, the peculiar town of Port Greely was renowned as a prolific exporter of crustaceans. Then the Greely lobstermen severed all ties with outside partners. Subsequent attempts at renegotiation were shunned.

More recently, a small group of Fishmongers’ Guild representatives from the City-State of Khromarium has gone missing in Port Greely, and answers have been less than forthcoming. At present, the Guild seeks answers. It wants to know what became of its representatives, and it wishes to re-establish its lucrative partnership with the Port Greely lobstermen. Your party have been contracted to help resolve The Mystery at Port Greely."



Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea The Mystery At Port Greely By Jeffrey Talanian  is one of my favorite AS&SH adventures. The adventure ends on a very Weird Tales note. It was based on H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow over Innsmouth.  If you haven't read it I highly suggest that you do before running this adventure. I don't suggest that you read this H.P. Lovecraft story if your gonna play this adventure.


Although rejected by the magazine during Lovecraft's lifetime,
The Shadow over Innsmouth was reprinted in Weird Tales in 1942

It doesn't take much to start me back down the road of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea The Mystery At Port Greely. It got me thinking about Clark Ashton Smith, 'The Fermi paradox', & D1-2: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth" (1981) by Gary Gygax.

"The Fermi paradox, named after Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy and high estimates of their probability, such as those that result from optimistic choices of parameters in the Drake equation"

The Atlanteans in AS&SH suffered a fate I fear that was outlined in the Fermi paradox. Many of the techno occult artifacts in AS&SH were produced by the Atlanteans. AS&SH Deep Ones could well be the thieves of their knowledge,power, occult supremacy, etc. My thinking is given the Green Death plague wiping out almost all of the empire of  Atlantis & its holdings this has given the Deep Ones a very large toe hold on Hyperborea.
The material in "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa," the second adventure in this collection D1-2: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth" (1981) by Gary Gygax reminds me in many ways of Clark Ashton Smith's Poseidonis cycle. According to the D1-2: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth" Drivethrurpg entry; 
"D1-2: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth" (1981), by Gary Gygax, is a collection of two previous adventures. The collection appeared in 1981 after the final copies of the original adventures had gone out of print. The intent was to upgrade the older modules to match the new trade dress of Q1: "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" (1980)."
This loose adventure convention style collection by Mr.Gygax is perfect to mold into your home campaign setting. Its one of the things I love about  D1-2: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth".


Smith's Poseidonis is "the last isle of foundering Atlantis" part of the cycle of the 'Great Old Ones' seasons of destruction. But the end is not a quiet one at all. CAS makes this last sinking outpost Atlantis a rather dangerous set of locations were nothing is as it seems. Here's the complete Poseidonis  Cycle: 

• Atlantis (1912)
• Death of Malygris, The (1933)
• Double Shadow, The (1933)
• Last Incantation, The (1930)
• Muse of Atlantis, The (1922)
• Tolometh (1958)
• Vintage from Atlantis, A (1933)
• Voyage to Sfanomoe, A (1931)

There's a definitive menace that hangs over the whole of both Smith's Poseidonis & D1-2: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth".  The empire & adventure locations depicted in D1-2 could be used as a stand in for the Deep One's glorious holdings. That brings up the dangerous carbmen of AS&SH. We're gonna get a lot of detail when later this year Chainsaw's adventure The Lost Treasure of Atlantis hits the stands in January of this coming year.
The crabmen & their cults  adventure present one of the threats to the technologies & military of the Deep Ones! The crabmen are alien & absolutely ruthless to humanity as well.


AS&SH art by Mick Fernette

How will this pane out?Well either way you slice it humanity is screwed unless there are forces on AS&SH that neither of these alien races knows anything about! 

WarmongerMiniatures Fishman 3
The Foundry Here 

Anyway your slicing this all of these resources add up to one Hell of a solid base for old school & OSR campaign.

Above its domes the gulfs accumulate.
Far up, the sea-gales blare their bitter screed:
But here the buried waters take no heed—
Deaf, and with welded lips pressed down by weight
Of the upper ocean. Dim, interminate,
In cities over-webbed with somber weed,
Where galleons crumble and the krakens breed,
The slow tide coils through sunken court and gate.

From out the ocean's phosphor-starry dome,
A ghostly light is dubitably shed
On altars of a goddess garlanded
With blossoms of some weird and hueless vine;
And, wingéd, fleet, through skies beneath the foam,
Like silent birds the sea-things dart and shine.
Clark Ashton Smith Atlantis 1912

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Players' Manual By Jeffrey Talanian (author), David Prata (editor) From North Wind Adventures

"The heroes of a HYPERBOREA campaign delve the mazes and labyrinths of vast dungeons filled with horrifying monsters, lethal traps, and bewildering puzzles. They explore savage frontiers, breach hostile borderlands, probe ancient ruins, and investigate cursed tombs. They plunder for treasure and magic in a decaying world inhabited by bloodthirsty beasts and weird, otherworldly beings."

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is the premiere OSR Sword & Sorcery retroclone system until  the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Players' Manual has come out. This is a solid addition to the North Wind Adventures line of products. 

If there is one game that sums up the OSR for me its gotta be Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. I've spent more time on this game then many others in the OSR. So I asked Jeffrey Talanian for a crack at reviewing the  Rats In The Wall adventure.  I received the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Players' Manual along with a bunch of other stuff for review. Then I got hit with a rather nasty ice storm in Connecticut. So I settled in with my pdf copy & began writing notes. Just in case you don't know what Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is about. Let me help you out with this helpful video.

The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Players' Manual  provides the players of the game a lower price point for the Sword & Sorcery world of Hyperborea. A quick overview of the three hundred page tome goes something like this;

"The Players’ Manual contains all the information that you need to play AS&SH, including character creation, spells, and adventure and combat rules. You can play a fighter, magician, cleric, or thief, or one of their many subclasses: barbarian, berserker, cataphract, huntsman, paladin, ranger, or warlock; cryomancer, illusionist, necromancer, pyromancer, or witch; druid, monk, priest, runegraver, or shaman; assassin, bard, legerdemainist, purloiner, or scout. Character races include Amazons, Atlanteans, Esquimaux, Hyperboreans, Ixians, Kelts, Kimmerians, Picts, and several lost or moribund racial derivations, plus a variety of admixtures. "

The artwork is on point & so is the layout. The system itself is like an OSR revision of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition with some tweaks making it familiar & unique in its approach to the millions of years in the future world of Hyperborea.



The artwork is outstanding & on point for this book! The character generation has lost nothing of the big red book of Hyperborea kickassery. Here the characters are solidly put together to get a hunger for adventure right out of the gateway.
Everything in this book is here to generate player characters take names & then go kick ass except the world of Hyperborea itself. That's fine since this is a player's hand book that does exactly what the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook does. It gives this solid approach to the players allowing them to use the role playing system to create their own customized creation.


This book boils down the PC creation unto its essential &  solid parts. On the whole the hand book gives the players exactly the systems that are needed to play the game. The AS&SH system is squarely between the OSR & old school Dungeons & Dragons which is perfect for many people who love this game.
The quality & quantity is right up to North Wind Adventures standards. Note that this PDF comprises the first half of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (Compleat Second Edition). If you have that PDF, you do not NEED this one. This PDF contains all the information that a player needs. The complete edition contains all the information that a referee and/or a player needs.

This is a solid reference for players characters to generate their own create adventurers that they want for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.  The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Players' Manual  is a superior player's hand book to many of the others that I've seen as a player & dungeon master. I feel that the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Players' Manual  is worth your time & your money! A great addition to the OSR & the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerer's of Hyperborea. 

Deconstructing & Using The Free OSR Adventure 'Wrack & Rune From Faster Monkey Games For Sword & Sorcery OSR Campaign Construction.

"It's a typical job: Go get the thing, bring it to the wizard. Of course, you should keep a few details in mind... like the thing is a three-ton statue... probably broken in pieces... and sunk to the bottom of Eel Bight, a dangerous bay haunted by thick fogs, Reef Devils, and a magic island full of kidnapping fairy-folk. Oh, and this wizard is in a hurry, so the reward drops every day. Other than that, no problem!"





Sometimes you've got to lean back into the classic modules & sometimes you begin looking around for something else. In this case I was talking with a friend of mine who blew into and then out of town this morning. I was wondering what else I might use as a stop gap Winter time module for my Old Earth campaign setting. His answer was inspired & interesting, he suggested Wrack & Rune from Faster Monkey Games.

The adventure by Jeff Sparks has the weirdness & definiteness of old school style writing but how adapabable is it to other settings?
Suddenly lower tier PC's are thrust into an alien environment where the clock is ticking & the DM is facing down some pretty hard pressed PC's. Since this module is set up for a ticking clock it requires a bit of imagination on the part of the DM but its got some solidly done encounters, the writing is tight, and everything centers around a plot that's not unfamiliar to fans of Sword & Sorcery style games.
There's a sense to Wrack & Rune that the whole adventure has room for a bit hook for all kinds of weird monsters, alien encounters, & some very dangerous factions from Clark Aston Smith's stories in this module.Maybe its the poetry aspect of this module or the fact that the adventure plays so well with its own world.
The module  is set in Faster Monkey Games’ Eastern Valnwell campaign setting, but there is nothing to stop the Dungeon master  from dropping it into his own campaign world. And this is one of its strengths. The other is that this one is for lower level PC's & it does a solid job of creating that sense of adventure to a certain extent foreboding. This module could be used to generate an entire campaign path.
This campaign adventure path might include the following classic TSR era as the fate of
the Lady Elaine might cross over into the classic U series, I'm of course speaking about the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh series. Could the town, its events, horrors, and more all be connected with the evil alchemist of Saltmarsh? I think so even if the DM strings the material together with overlapping NPC's, a few treasures, and more.


'Desolate and abandoned, the evil alchemist's mansion stands alone on the cliff, looking out towards the sea. Mysterious lights and ghostly hauntings have kept away the people of Saltmarsh, despite rumors of fabulous forgotten treasure. What is its sinister secret?'
'The module serves as the introduction to an underwater campaign set in the town of Saltmarsh, which the DM can design from the guidelines provided' This basically means that Sinister Secret becomes linked up with 'Wrack & Rune' can be placed on the 'Old Earth' setting or as an adventure that has certain elements  replaced by the alieness & strangeness of the pulpy flare of Smith's Zothique cycle. This puts the wizard into a desperate & rather dangerous light where the PC's are unsure of his motives as well as the place in his schemes within Wrack & Rune. Certain other elements of the module could be used as 'call back' elements as events overlap with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea's Port Greely. 

Be careful because lower level PC's are going to be slaughtered by certain horrors of Port Greely. Hence taking them through the U series first before attempting to jump aboard the over arching horrors of Port Greely. 

So what does all of this mean? Well it puts the PC's squarely in the center of an underwater campaign setting that can be shifted over to a salvage, piracy, or weird fantasy campaign with little issue. Its this 'Weird Tales' old school aspect that takes the PC's up the ladder of campaign play that places this one firmly into the old school court. The events of the 'U' series have a further twist to it. 'The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh can be played by five to ten characters of 1st–3rd levels.' Five to ten players are the perfect number to set up a salvage, pirate, or exploratory company.

There are ten reasons why this sort of a campaign works:

1. Ships are a mobile home base and provide the players & the DM with ready made plot hook into itself. 
2. Sea adventures are cool and can be made to work a jaded group of players in completely different directions of thought and play. 
3. Dungeons & ruins take on a whole other aspect and the range of monsters increases by order.
4. All of the upkeep for a ship eats gold like candy giving the DM the perfect treasure siphon. The PC's are broke always looking for adventure. 
5. There are nasty and dangerous things under the sea, the DM giveth and monsters can taketh the  ship which can become an entire campaign goal arch itself. 
6. Weird Tales under sea adventure locations 
7. Under water cave complexes are cool. 
8. Sea based cults appear again and again across Appendix 'N' literature. They make excellent enemies. 
9. Many treasures are found underwater leading to more opportunities for more adventure. 
10. Sea monsters are some of the most dangerous foes a party of adventurers can face.

With a bit of work this style of campaign the PC's could set sail for a upper level campaign in this style of campaign and you want to add in a bit more gonzo then the Battle For The Purple Islands by Venger Satanis Kickstarter is wrapping up soon. But the purple islands have plethora of old school gonzo elements that can warp or add to such a campaign depending on what you want to do.


Approaching Wrack & Rune from a whole other end might mean busting out your old B/X expert copy of Isle of Dread.

There are some really good solid lead ins & weird tales potential cross over ideas for Wrack & Rune. The feel is really well done and works well to sustain both adventures. The PC's are not going to know what's hit them. There's some great crossover potential there to really bring home some of the lost world and pulpy elements of both adventures. Wrack & Rune has a ton of great ideas hidden in its pages.

You Can Download
Wrack & Rune For Free Here!

Reconsidering The Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes From North Wind Adventures For The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Rpg System & Your Old School Games

Sometimes there are adventures that I've owned and always wanted to run again, Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes for the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is one of those. Its a great adventure that I pulled off of my hard drive & began to take a look at for an upcoming gaming event.


Clocking in at about sixty pages, this adventure follows the new direction of AS&SH was starting to take a few years ago. There is a coastal village with a lycanthrope issue some great rumors tables then a hunt for some radioactive green diamonds all wrapped around a plot that sounds like it came from an Eighties swords and sorcery paperback. "Somewhere in the depths of Diamond Desert lie the skeletal remains of Ymir’s Serpent, a legendary Viking longship. In days of yore, Sigtrygg Forkbeard led his company upriver, piercing the desert’s hostile heart. There the Vikings unearthed a lost mine brimming with green diamonds, but the River Æolus desiccated as the Serpent prepared for launch, and the ship was swallowed by the dunes. Forkbeard and his company were never seen again, but tales of a shimmering Viking ghost ship gliding over the dunes persist to this day."
I hadn't looked at Ghostship for a few months almost close to a year because of my dad getting sick. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the maps of Glynn Seal of Monkey Blood Design.

I almost had forgotten about the giant radioactive ants & the hyena men who ride giant chameleons all wrapped around the central plot of the long ship! Ghost Ships is one of the those adventures that plays fast and loose with the player's PC's motives for dealing with the reality of the ship. The monsters here are vicious dangerous & highly creative.

 The radioactive berserker zombies are still one of my favorite monster elements of the Ghost Ship. This adventure brings a lot to the table for PC's. There's enough action to make the quest, action, sword & sorcery elements and more all work well together.Expectations of the legend of the Ghost Ship by weaving its own Hyperborean mythology and legends around Ymir’s Serpent all of the while drawing the PC's deeper and deeper into the adventure while revealing more of the mysteries of Hyperborea's glorious past.  In point of fact there is a ton of elements of dungeon crawling, investigation, a bit of plundering, and lots and lots of sword and sorcery action. This adventure adds lot of Hyperborean details and story line to the world of Hyperborea which brings me to the point. This isn't simply another bit of Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea but a full blown expansion.


Everything in this adventure fits together like a glove, the adventure elements are not that over the top to be on the stupid or completely gonzo. They work and work well together. The PC's are not going to be coming out of the adventure with all kinds of campaign wrecking treasure. If they survive the experiences of  The Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes there will certainly be a profound respect for the creative effort that the author brings to the table  with this one.


Ghost Ship of The Desert Dunes remains an old favorite of mine and a very dangerous adventure to unleash on a party of unsuspecting adventurers. Its an adventure that has great risks but deep rewards. Ghost Ship is well written and easily available through Drivethrrpg.

GRAB IT RIGHT OVER HERE

Coming Soon - The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg 2nd Edition Kickstarter

So today on G+ just before I left the house on a series of weird errands for work and such Jeffrey P. Talanian of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea fame released an image that set my brain on fire. Check this out sword and sorcery fans!

So what's this going to mean? Well AS&SH fans are going to see expanded content, new spells, a boat load of new classes, and brand new map all of which is going to be packed in a new hard back. All of this happens with a  Kickstarter to Launch in October! According to the author;" I sure hope that those of you who supported our past Kickstarter campaigns have been happy with the results. This is going to be our biggest, most ambitious project to date, and it is already well underway!" There's going to be brand new artwork by Val Semeiks. "He did the cover for "Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess," and he's also doing a series of full-page illustrations for AS&SH 2nd Edition! :)"
Just incase your wondering at the level of quality in Mr. Semeiks's artwork check out the cover on the 'Forgotten Fane of The Coiled Goddess' . This is the level of quality that we're going to be seeing come October folks! Stay tuned and I'll have more information as soon as it becomes available.


I can't wait till this hits the wilds in October! So girt your lions, sharpen your sword, and grab your friends its time to get back to Hyperborea!

Review & Commentary On The Mystery at Port Greely From North Wind Adventures For The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Rpg System & Your Old School Campaigns

Missing Fishmongers’ Guild representatives? Strange goings on over in the area of Port Greely? The fish supply to the capital of Hyperborea in dangerous peril and more violent  happenings? This looks like a prime opportunity for your PC's to make some gold pieces and get involved in the Mysteries of Port Greely!

GRAB IT HERE

Where the heck do I begin with The Mystery at Port Greely From  North Wind Adventures 

for the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg system? Well, its a really nasty & dangerous run of an adventure. This is a mini campaign adventure that peels back a weird & very dangerous layer of Hyperborea based on the HP Lovecraft novel The Shadow Over Innsmouth. But this adventure puts its own AS&SH spin on the proceedings but be warned this is an adventure meant for PC levels of four to six characters of 4^th through 6^th level. Well after reading through the adventure this morning at four A.M. I can honestly say that this adventure sets the bar very high in terms of quality & investigative danger to the PC's. The set up is classic old school Lovecraftian weirdness right out of the gate;"Until about three years ago, the peculiar town of Port Greely was renowned as a prolific exporter of
crustaceans. Then the Greely lobstermen severed all ties with outside partners. Subsequent attempts
at renegotiation were shunned. More recently, a small group of Fishmongers’ Guild representatives from the City-State of Khromarium has gone missing in Port Greely, and answers have been less than forthcoming.
At present, the Guild seeks answers. It wants to know what became of its representatives, and it wishes to re-establish its lucrative partnership with the Port Greely lobstermen. Your party have been contracted to help resolve The Mystery at Port Greely." Yeah, and that's where things begin to take a left turn into the weird and dangerous world Hyperborea. This adventure places the PC's right into the action straight from the start;" this adventure begins at sea with the party en route to Port Greely, about 120 miles west long the coast from Khromarium."  The minute your ship docks is the minute your in the world of the AS&SH version of the Deep Ones. NPC's are well drawn out and robustly detailed with enough room for the DM to make these things their own. The writing here has been created to draw in the PC's and take them into the world of Port Greely with lots of one on one encounters, plenty of urban crawling action, and one on one action with the inhabitants. The encounters are well balanced , tight, and deadly. The events follow a wandering timeline enabling lots of exploration by PC's.


There isn't simply one urban crawl adventure location after another in this adventure instead we get into reams of adventure opportunities with plenty of chances for the PC's to die in the middle of Port Greely. The town isn't the only point of horror in this adventure and there is sea travel, dungeon action, investigative opportunities, and much more. The dungeon master get's a boat load of details on the AS&SH version of the Esoteric Order of Dagon and its a very insidious & dangerous menace for campaigns. There's a claustrophobic and rushed sense of panic in certain sections of The Mystery at Port Greely that is going to put the PC's through their paces.  Throughout the adventure I could see bits and pieces of the influences of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Henry Kuttner. The adventure complete fills out everything you've ever wanted to know about AS&SH's version of the Deep Ones and in this regard The Mystery at Port Greely  also works as a source book for future adventures featuring these Lovecraftian horror.



But is the adventure worth getting into as an AS&SH dungeon master? There's a lot going on under the simmering center of  Port Greely and the fact that its within striking distance of the capital of Khromarium makes this a very subtle and rising menace with Hyperborea. That leaves lots of weird questions on the table and lots of opportunity for even more Hyperborean adventure. Is it worth getting into? The answer is yes!
Because the adventurers are at a cross point and put on the spot with;" At present, the guild seeks answers. They want to know what became of their representatives, and they wish to reestablish their lucrative partnership with the Port Greely lobstermen. Your party has been contracted to help resolve the mystery at Port Greely." the adventurers are going to find themselves up to their necks in the some very dangerous goings on and then their going to have to escape with their lives if their very lucky. This is a very deadly adventure in places & the cartography is top notch enabling the DM to really bring home the extent of the danger of Deep Ones of Port Greely. This module isn't the end of the mystery its really only the beginning. Five out of five for this one and go grab it!