Dark Naga Adventures - Hastur Mythos Adventures Path & Commentary

"Immediately following the events of Confronting Hastur, the characters wake up in Carcosa and are greeted by a broken man who tells them they only have a day to escape the plane before becoming permanent residents. The way home appears to require them to confront a demon lady and the three demon brothers who constantly vie for her attention and their domains within Carcosa. A land teeming with minor demons, humans, and three powerful Abrar, dreadful demon lords. Pressed for time, the party members find themselves pawns in the petty games of the brothers as they claw their way to worship before the lovely Grushka, the Abrar who runs Carcosa while Hastur slumbers. Their search for a way home reveals rumors of a way to trap Hastur in a longer, deeper slumber, giving their world peace from his attempts to invade for hundreds of millennia to come. Will they work to go home, or will they chance eternal damnation to save their world?"
So this is the Dark Naga Adventures take on Hastur & his Mythos, right off the bat they've taken things in a very different direction then most other OSR & fifth edition publishers. You know what given the madness of Hastur I don't have any problem with that as a dungeon master. Dark Naga Adventures has been running the PC's through this adventure gauntlet.



 I'm not going to lie folks I've had a problem with fifth edition since the beginning but this does look like a very well designed adventure. When it comes Dark Naga Adventures Kevin Watson has been friend for a while not simply on Face book but via the internet. So I was asked to take a look at his latest venture into Kickstarter. Shrugs so  this is a fifth edition adventure, knowing this publishing company the way I do there will be an OSR follow up for Carcosa. Given the fact that I have the patience of a gnat I'd be taking the fifth edition adventure & OSRing it to my favorite retroclone system. Why?! Well because I love adapt adventures to fit the campaign expectations & the world.


 Adventure events start in DNH1 - The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil (5e & OSR) From Fat Goblin Games which later on became Dark Naga Adventures. 
The adventures take the PC's from sixth through twelve level if they survive the experience and then get dumped on a crazy mythos plane of insanity. All of this is Kevin Watson's baby and the adventures go like this:
The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil  
The Buried Zikurat  
The City of Talos  
Confronting Hastur 

This is the final chapter & knowing Kevin as I do their going to have to be dealing with a multiplicity of horror & depravity. There are lots of ways of dealing with this series but I'll have to get into that next time kids. Happy Dice Slinging.

IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT THE KICKSTARTER GO HERE

Review & Commentary On The Buried Zikurat By Kevin Watson From Dark Naga Adventures For Fifth Edition & OSR Systems

The clay mining operation at Caford has discovered a large step pyramid, or zikurat. This imposing structure was buried completely in the clay sheet they have been mining for decades to make brick and other ceramic products. The local miners see what they think is an obvious entrance, but cannot get past the slab of stone. A call for aid is sent to the capital city of Meawold, and the party is sent to investigate.

Could this be one of the Nexuses that traded goods from the subterranean Land of Night to the surface world?

So over the last two or three days I've been going over sword & sorcery resources this includes Dark Naga games second in the Haunting of Hastur series The Buried Zikurat. "The Buried Zikurat is an adventure for three to seven characters between levels six and eight. It is designed for use with Fifth Edition version of Gary and Dave’s RPG. It can be adapted to any fantasy RPG." This is exactly what I'm planning on doing with The Buried Zikurat to adapt it to an OSR retroclone system. This has been made all the easier by the thirty six page OSR version of The Buried Zikurat, "This module is OSR Compatible and can be used with any old school RPG or modern clone . It was designed with the classic
version of the game in mind but with minimal changes can be used with original or advanced rules or their clones.
Encounters are listed in the following format:
Orcs (4) – AC 6 (13), HD 1, #AT 1, D 1d6
Armor Class is given both descending and ascending values, with ascending values in parentheses. An unarmored character
is AC 9 (10) and chainmail gives AC 5 (14). All encountered creatures use the same saving throws as a fighter of the same level as
their hit dice."
A very simple & easy to work with format for old school gaming systems.

So going all of the way back to August I did a bit of commentary on the Fifth edition adventure The Buried Zikurat . I looked into this this Dark Naga adventure because of its Lovecraftian sword & sorcery heart & I liked what I saw. A lot of care went into the adventure & I got to know the author pretty well too.

So lately I've been looking back into the Adventurer,Conqueror, King rpg system a lot because of its B/X roots. The Kickstarter pdf bundle came with the Book of Lore, The Book of puzzles, A Book of Maps & Illustrations, An OSR version of The Buried Ziggurat adventure, The Fifth edition version of the adventure, & the hi rez scan of the The Buried Zikurat. So you get everything your going to need to run this adventure out of the gate. The adventure picks up with the continuing saga from The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil (5th Edition Fantasy- OSR) From  Fat Goblin Games.

This is part dungeon crawl, lots of puzzles, some boat loads of monsters, lots of action, and some real nasty bits throughout. This module also sort of has its own implied setting throughout but nothing that a dungeon master worth their salt couldn't adapt, twist, and bend this adventure to their own home campaigns. The art, layout, etc are easy on the eye. This is the type of adventure where there's going to be more then a fair share of investigative work on the part of the PC's. In the events of The Buried Zikurat  there's a lot of investigative work with an actual plot where the PC's actions can make a real difference to the world setting in the short & long term.

This isn't an appearance of the Mythos, collect the treasure, kill the monsters, & save the world. There's some really nasty turns for the PC's if they're not careful & actual tragic death & personal destruction. The trick here is that the PC's have to think on their feet or they might end up dead or worse. Yes there are several areas, traps, and tricks that can do more then maim. There is more then a bit of a science fantasy twist to this module. In fact parts of this adventure feel as if the cycles of one fantasy campaign ended and another began especially with things such as;"Places where treasures of the subterranean kingdoms, like mithril weapons, were traded for surface goods. Bastions of trade that were lost during the fall of the First Age of Man. Why has it been dormant for almost two millennia? What lies within? Is it a threat to Caford, or the Kingdom of Meawold as a whole?"


On the whole I actually liked the  The Buried Zikurat  but I also think that it would take a bit of work to use it with other  OSR settings but its really going to depend upon what the DM is looking for in his or her OSR adventures. There's a great degree of weirdness & plot within this module. I like that and think that more of it needs to be applied for other OSR products. This one is isn't strictly hack and slash, instead this is a thinking DM's adventure with some good solid hooks for overt long term hook in and campaign play.

All in all I really enjoyed The Buried Zikurat & how it plays out, I'm actually thinking of running some of my players through this one after the holidays.

Commentary On The Buried Zikurat by Dark Naga Adventures (Kevin Watson) Kickstarter For Your Old School Campaigns

Good morning, well it seems that while I was away from blogging for a few hours Kevin Watson has been busy getting his next fifth edition kickstarter going.The Buried Zikuratby Dark Naga Adventures (Kevin Watson)This is the next installment in the The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil series  which successfully funded back in February.  Swords and Stitchery caught up with Kevin back then and got into the heart and soul of Dark Naga his company's vision for sword and sorcery.  

Now Dark Naga is back with band new Kickstarter for  The Buried Zikurat;"The Buried Zikurat is an adventure for three to seven characters between levels six and eight. It is designed for use with Fifth Edition version of Gary and Dave’s RPG. It can be adapted to any fantasy RPG."


You can fund The Buried Zikurat
Right Over Here

The premise feels like its one that might work in just about any old school OSR sword & sorcery rpg & it sounds promising;"

The clay mining operation at Caford has discovered a large step pyramid, or zikurat. This imposing structure was buried completely in the clay sheet they have been mining for decades to make brick and other ceramic products. The local miners see what they think is an obvious entrance, but cannot get past the slab of stone. A call for aid is sent to the capital city of Meawold, and the party is sent to investigate.
Could this be one of the Nexuses that traded goods from the subterranean Land of Night to the surface world? 
Places where treasures of the subterranean kingdoms, like mithril weapons, were traded for surface goods. Bastions of trade that were lost during the fall of the First Age of Man. Why has it been dormant for almost two millennia? What lies within? Is it a threat to Caford, or the Kingdom of Meawold as a whole?

If they can get inside, the party will have to navigate millennia old magic locks and security sentinels to find answers to these questions and more within The Buried Zikurat.  "



Because this is a fifth edition adventure conversion shouldn't be too hard at all. My interest stems from the science fantasy aspects coupled with the exploration & pulpy bits. Dark Naga has a proven track record and its nice to see that the author/designer is pay attention to the little details of the Buried Zikurat. Many of their products have a dark ages feel mixed in with a good dose of Lovecraftian elements.



My own interest is peaked because their adventures can easily be seamlessly inserted into an existing campaign & will work quite nicely with the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea game or any of the myriad sword & sorcery style clones that are on the market currently. The continuation of the storyline of The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil is an essential bonus especially given the science fantasy element. I really enjoy Kevin Watson's writing & design work. So I would love to see this addition to the adventure line of The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil continued.



So take a look open up your pocket books for the  The Buried Zikurat by Dark Naga Adventures (Kevin Watson).  This is going to be one of those Kickstarters to watch! Also there will be an OSR adventure  in on the Buried Zigurat. According to the author;" There will be a PDF/PoD OSR edition. It will be a separate edition. The stretch goal will be a print run with detached old school covers for the OSR edition."

So this looks like its going to be a Kickstarter to back
& its one I'm going to be keeping a close eye on!

Using New OSR Resources With Old School Systems - Commentary On The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil From Dark Naga Adventures

Sorry I'm running a bit late with today's blog entry but I wanted to take a moment to talk about using neo OSR adventures with old school systems. I wanted to specifically speak about "The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil"  From  Dark Naga Adventures. 

GRAB IT RIGHT HERE
  The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil launched and had a very successful kickstarter. The video below was from that kickstarter and nicely lays out some of the themes, ideas, and conceits that we'll be talking about today.

This is an old school sword & sorcery adventure that has its own brand of Lovecraftian evil that really fits well into lots of campaign worlds with little problem; "" The small town of Boldon, and its surrounding villages, are afraid. Dozens of people are missing, some speculate lost to some nefarious purpose. Tales of an evil temple and the horrible things within circulate. The few who know the legends and history of the region are beginning to think the dark times have returned, not seen since the fall of the first age of man. People are beginning to feel the icy fingers of fear closing in. Upon arrival, the party encounters a broken man, a homeless drunkard prone to incessant rambling. This inspires an investigation into the stories of a lost temple. Has it been rediscovered by men seduced by its forgotten evil? The drunkard’s tale leads to others who might help the party discover more before they face The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil." 



So this adventure is done very much in the old school tradition and gives extensive cues to the DM for the set up and maintaining of a blending of dark fantasy & Lovecraftian horror in a compact package that can be dropped into an existing campaign or as a bridge gap for a band of experienced adventurers. But there's more to it then just that. This adventure sets everything up for a dungeon master to introduce Lovecraftian elements into their own AD&D 1st edition campaign easily and with little problem because the stats are already done in an OSR format as well as fifth edition. This makes expansion a snap into AD&D 1st edition style games.


There are several reasons why this style of adventure will appeal to a DM and how it can expanded upon.

1. The focus of The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil is rooted in both dark fantasy and has its goals laid out for a party this makes it easy for the DM to concentrate on the expansion of their own elements of Lovecraftian horror within the campaign. 
2. There is already an extensive evil and foe set up within the adventure its takes a few moments for the DM to back root these into their own home game adventures. This also means that the adventure can easily be used with AD&D 1st edition making the utility of it even better.  
3. The places,events, etc of the Lost Temple are not static and with a bit of adjustment can be used for jumping off an epic campaign. This isn't a quick module of play according to the author the DM can get;"About 18-20 hours. I think we ran it over 4-5 sessions, 4 hours each when we ran it locally. It all comes down to how the DM handles the optional encounters. We took about 2 hours per optional encounter. This isn't a single slot adventure for a Con. I'm not sure I could run it in 4 hours without massive changes" In other words this is a mini campaign that the DM can use to jump start their own adventure campaigns. 
4. 'Evil does not rest' sure the players might have struck down the evil of the Temple but will it evolve and thrive someplace else? This is one of the main interesting points of this campaign there is far more going on below the surface then is simply hinted at this means that it can be used and back rooted into some of the familiar faces and foes of the AD&D 1st edition game books. 
5. The Temple has some great pieces of dark fantasy elements that can be taken and cooked into your own campaigns and used for other games such as OSRIC, Lamentations of the Flame Princess or even Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. It can also be fitted into a Dark Albion game but there might be a bit of rearranging of some of the elements. This isn't hard to do.
6. The cults, the horrors, and situations are not as over the top as some other adult themed adventures but caution should be exercised with some sensitive parts. 
7. Given the history and ideas of this adventure there is plenty of room for expansion as necessary for the DYI D&D dungeon master this means that the cult can be used ANY place or period in your campaign's history. You decide where and when that's going to be. 
8. There is room to bring more or less room to bring in the  sword & sorcery elements as necessary when using this adventure. With AD&D 1st edition this is going to be up to individual DM's as they want or need. The barometer approach isn't going to cause harm to this adventure. 
9. The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil has a classic feel and could  be dropped into many of the classic AD&D 1st edition or D&D classic campaigns with no problem. TSR classic Greyhawk or the Judge's Guild could easily support and foster such an adventure with no world breaking ripples. Again this is a strength of the adventure. I really love the sand box approach to the temple and its surroundings.
10. There is tons of utility that can be had from the The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil. This is this author's humble opinion and as always your mileage may vary at the table top.

Ten Questions In Gaming With Eric Fabiaschi - Today's Interview Kevin Watson From Dark Naga Adventures

To Back This Project Go Here
Dark Naga Adventures is running a new Fifth Edition and OSR edition adventure Kickstarter ; called The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil. The premise is very promising  and could be used with a myriad of old school retroclones;" The small town of Boldon, and its surrounding villages, are afraid. Dozens of people are missing, some speculate lost to some nefarious purpose. Tales of an evil temple and the horrible things within circulate. The few who know the legends and history of the region are beginning to think the dark times have returned, not seen since the fall of the first age of man. People are beginning to feel the icy fingers of fear closing in. Upon arrival, the party encounters a broken man, a homeless drunkard prone to incessant rambling. This inspires an investigation into the stories of a lost temple. Has it been rediscovered by men seduced by its forgotten evil? The drunkard’s tale leads to others who might help the party discover more before they face The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil." 

We caught up with Kevin for 'Ten Questions In Gaming'

Thanks for taking the time to speak with us tonight and we’ve got ten questions for one of gaming’s guiding lights. So let’s get right to it shall we. 1. How did you get your start in the rpg hobby and how has it changed since then?

I started back in late 1980, playing with some school/Boy Scout friends. I was DM’ing in early 1982, probably at my birthday party. So many games have come and gone since then. The production values have skyrocketed, the new players in the market seem to double every few years. That’s as an end user.

As a writer, I have submitted probably 15 articles or adventures to magazines like Dragon. I think the last one was in 1992 or 1993. Usually no response, occasionally an encouraging rejection letter. No traction. So few outlets back then. Now, with crowdfunding, the OGL and other programs, the barriers to entry are pretty much gone, and people can share their voice and vision with the world.

2. Is table top role playing still one of your favorite past times? How often do you get together with players?

It is. Computer games just don’t have the same enjoyment for me that table top role playing does. I meet weekly, on Saturdays. Sometimes to playtest, sometimes to work on classics that I want to run again or always wanted to, but never did. Last year we played through the Volturnus series from Star Frontiers, and play tested “The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil” twice. Currently I am adapting T1-4, The Temple of Elemental Evil for 5e and seeing how well it holds up 35 years later.

3. I see that you’ve got a new adventure module Kickstarter happening. How is your Kickstarter different from those that players have seen in the past?

From a content perspective: I borrowed a concept from the Tactical Training world that they use in Force on Force classes. In those classes, you are run through a number of situations, some of which you should use lethal force to respond, some you should never even draw, and the balance have the outcome determined by the choices you make during the encounter. They can go either way. This is a critical tool in helping people learn to make the right choice quickly, particularly members of law enforcement.

I applied the idea to have some encounters favor combat, other favor role playing, and some able to go either way. All of them can be completed combat or RP. But the ones designed for RP are very tough combats and the ones designed for RP are very demanding on the RP side. My hope is that all playstyles will find enjoyment, and even try the other styles to complete the adventure.

From a project perspective: I launched the campaign with the adventure fully written and edited. Most of the art is delivered and the maps are in progress. It is more done than almost all of the projects I have backed. The goal was to remove the biggest issue I have seen over the years from the equation: the inability to write the content on a schedule. It seems to plague a lot of people, and upset a lot of backers. Things can still go wrong; not every risk can be mitigated. The single point of failure has been removed. The last thing I would want to do is miss a deadline for backers. The next to last thing I would want to do is replace an artist. As the only writer, I am a single point of failure. There are a lot of talented artists and cartographers that I could hire if some catastrophic even befell mine.

4. What systems are this adventure going to be for and what can players and dungeon masters expect from it?

It is written for 5e and the OSR compatible versions and dual stat’d. GM’s can convert it to any fantasy system. I think one of my backers mentioned interest in adapting for Call of Cthulhu as well. I’m looking forward to seeing how that one turns out.

5. How is this adventure going to stand out in today’s dynamic and changing table top rpg market?

It is non-linear. The intermediate quests are optional and can be done in any order. The art is great looking and plentiful. Alyssa Faden has always dazzled with her maps. Lovecraft themed adventures are the next big thing. Zombies are starting to get tired after 13 or so years. Everything I am seeing on the market has a single path A to B to C to D to Boss Fight. The hardest fight in the temple delve will surprise the players. Hint: it isn’t the BBEG at the end

6. What kinds of perks and levels are we going to see in your adventure and is there going to be continuing support for it after the Kickstarter ends?

In terms of stretch goals, adding to the art, adding player handouts and custom dice are planned.

In terms of support for the material, I am working on a website that will host a webstore, blog and a product catalog. It will also include forums to discuss adventures and a place for play testers to collaborate and discuss. There are sequels to this adventure planned.

7. Do you feel that as a writer and designer that Kickstarter has helped or hindered the table top rpg hobby in 2016?

I think it has helped more than it has hurt. It has given a lot of people a venue where they can get the capital needed to hire artist, cast miniatures, and put together some quality products with all the charm of something that wasn’t written by committee.

Personally, I think the failed projects have done the most harm to the independent gaming community. I know I have taken extra steps through Kickstarter and on my own to demonstrate the care I have taken to avoid ending as a failed project.

8. Where do as a designer fall in the spectrum of table top gaming? Are you an old school, new school, or some other facet of the hobby as a designer or writer of table top adventures?

I am mostly old school. I like the idea that the players may go too deep/far and get into an encounter that they may need to run from. I find the material from that era, take as a whole, better written and more fun. Every edition of the game has added something great to the game (even the editions I don’t like) and similarly every edition has changed how adventures are written. I think 5e is giving me the platform to publish the material I enjoy and am not seeing a lot of in the market without forcing players to be retro if they don’t care for retro gaming. This adventure has played well with B/X players and 5e players. I want all of them to do the same.

9. If this Kickstarter funds what other projects can we expect to see from you in the coming year? How does this define your expectations for this project?

I have 4 sequels to this one planned. I hope to run two more KS campaigns this year, and the balance next year. For the first project, my goal is to set myself apart from the pack by setting realistic goals, communicating like a champ and delivering on time. For the projects that follow, the goal will be to grow the audience while improving service, and schedules.

10. Where in 2017 would you like to see yourself and your place in the table top hobby?

I will finish the Hastur series of adventures and move into something larger in scale (14 parts). The next set of adventures includes 2-4 gazetteers and takes the party from level 1 to level 20. Dark Naga will be at GaryCon, NorthTexasRPGCon, andGenCon. However, I’m going, not as an Organized Play DM, but to promote Dark Naga.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today on Swords & Stitchery, this has been your host Eric Fabiachi.

Alright from where I'm sitting this adventure has the potent to be both useful and pretty damn slick. The Lovecraftian elements and old school vibe is there and it looks from here like Dark Naga Adventures has recruited some top talent for this. Will the Kickstarter come off? Well that's where you come in. Take a look and help to get this adventure off the ground and onto your gaming table.