A Piece of The Martian Action - Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign Commentary - Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu & The White Star rpg

 Today is one of those days where time is of the essence & I'm having to pull from my knowledge of Science Fiction & OSR gaming. So the players in our Mars game want to pull on owning their own piece of the action. So let's go back to April 23 of last year & this blog entry where we contrasted Kane of Old Mars by Michael Moorcock & Leigh  Brackett's heroes & anti heroes here. 

Back around that time period we were using Adventurer, Conqueror, Kings rpg Barbarian Conqeurors of Kanahu By our friends Omer Joel, &  Alexander Macris to carve up a piece of the solar system one planet at a time. Can BCK actually be applied to our version of Magic Pig Media's Have Death Ray Will Travel?! 

And if we want to carve up the Stellar Legion taking over various planets against the spiders from Colonial troopers well then BCK has this covered as well. Will this campaign work with the White Star Galaxy edition?! Again quite easily. 

Now we've got a whole lot of solar system scum among our ranks in this party and this brings up Star & Void. Star & Void hits the middle ground with the alignment lining up nicely with all of the old school & OSR resources. Star & Void knights are perfect antagonists against some of the Lovecraftian beasties. And what does this have to do with BCK & Law Vs Chaos?! Welll a bit of everything really. 

Not only does Adventurer, Conqueror, King feature the Law vs Chaos axiom but BCK implies that it's a cosmic principle that overlaps the Lovecraftian. The Lovecraftian aspects fit the implied Moorcock vs Moore & Leigh Brackett solar system. We are not the first tenants of this solar system nor will be the last and there's very little to stop the march of the cosmic line of aliens, gods, and monsters. Well little accept the sanity of the players 

'The Charnel God' By Clark Ashton Smith & OSR Commentary Toothy Thoughts on The Charnel God

 Let's talk about what separates wheat from chaff in Swords & Sorcery literature and that's knowing the classics. In this case let's talk about the published in the March 1934 issue of Weird Tales, Clark Ashton Smith's 'The Charnel God'. This tale is the tale  of a married couple who stops in the town Zul-Bha-Sair, whose charnel  god is Mordiggian. The bride passes & the groom tries to stop the priests of Mordiggian from taking his bride. As well as steal her corpse back from the temple. 
 Because, 'The Charnel God' takes place upon Zothique the last continant of Earth. The worship of Mordiggian is something that has been going on for eons at this point;""Dimly have I heard of Mordiggian, as a legend that travellers tell in Xylac," he admitted. "But I had forgotten the name of his city; and Elaith and I came ignorantly into Zul-Bha-Sair... Even had I known, I should have doubted the terrible custom of which you inform me. ...What manner of deity is this, who imitates the hyena and the vulture? Surely he is no god, but a ghoul."

"Take heed lest you utter blasphemy," admonished the innkeeper. "Mordiggian is old and omnipotent as death. He was worshipped in former continents, before the lifting of Zothique from out the sea. Through him, we are saved from corruption and the worm. Even as the people of other places devote their dead to the consuming flame, so we of Zul-Bha-Sair deliver ours to the god. Awful is the fane, a place of terror and obscure shadow untrod by the sun, into which the dead are borne by his priests and are laid on a vast table of stone to await his coming from the nether vault in which he dwells. No living men, other than the priests, have ever beheld him; and the faces of the priests are hidden behind masks of silver, and even their hands are shrouded, that men may not gaze on them that have seen Mordiggian." 

"But there is a king in Zul-Bha-Sair, is there not? I shall appeal to him against this heinous and horrible injustice. Surely he will heed me."

"Phenquor is the king; but he could not help you even if he wished. Your appeal will not even be heard. Mordiggian is above all kings, and his law is sacred. Hark! — for already the priests come." 
So basically Mordiggian is Death in  Zul-Bha-Sair and there's no getting around that. Within the story even the king is not above the god of death. And we have the necromancer &  sorcerer named Aenon-tha who has a very curious 'arrangement' with the priests of Mordiggian.And in this arrangement that's interesting. The idea is that the necromantic spells, black rites are fine as long as the corpses don't leave the temple of Mordiggian. 
Now I think that there's a reason for this and that's simple. The priests of Mordiggian want to keep an eye necromancers just to see if their is anything new within the black arts. One of the necromancer's pupil's puts Mordiggian & his follower's position quite nicely; ""But, master," said Narghai, shivering a little beneath his robe of nacarat red, "is it wise, after all, to do this thing? Must you take the girl from the temple? Always, ere this, you have contented yourself with the brief loan that the priests allow, and have rendered back the dead in the required state of exanimation. Truly, is it well to violate the law of the god? Men say that the wrath of Mordiggian, though seldom loosed, is more dreadful than the wrath of all other deities. For this reason, none has dared to defraud him in latter years, or attempt the removal of any of the corpses from his fane. Long ago, it is told, a high noble of the city bore hence the cadaver of a woman he had loved, and fled with it into the desert; but the priests pursued him, running more swiftly than jackals ...and the fate that overtook him is a thing whereof the legends whisper but dimly." 

Mordiggian & his followers are actually quite benefitical! You've got freedom from any necromantic plagues, disposal of the corpses, and more. So in point of fact for a society that is on the Late Roman Empire scale for an OSR game Mordiggian & his cult would be a solid addition. The god & hsi cult could take care of any necromancers or black wizards threatening a city under his protection. Sure, his cult is one of chaos but its chaos with a small 'C' and its one that takes care of disease that goes along with death and funerary rites. 
But is the clerical orders & cult of Mordiggian actually one of the richest within the world. Hear me out here. All funerary rites belong to the god & his followers does this also include the treasure vaults, tombs, etc. of the kings & queens of his religion or cult?! There have to be other places on  Zothique & off world  where these rites also took hold as well. 
Here are Seven Charnel God OSR Seeds : 

1. Ruins uncovered by a sand storm have a series of funery goods associated with them. The locals want to hire adventurers and laborers to cover them even though there are rumors of gold. There are other rumors that the order of Mordiggian may be involved. 
2. A necromancer and his attendants want to hire adventurers to break into the temple of Mordiggian to reclaim the body of his master. 
3. A silver mask of the order of Mordiggian has been uncovered at a nearby dungeon and no one is sure how it got there. The artifact is considered bad luck by one & all but worth 200 gold pieces to order for one who fetches it. And brings it back to the priests. 
4. There is a small war between the cult of Osiris & the cult Mordiggian.  The body of a priest of Osisis is in the Mordiggian temple and the player's PC's are to be paid to escort the corpse  back to the temple of Osisis. The priest corpse is to be resurrected back at the temple. The priests of both gods refuse to have anything to do with each other. Can you navigate between the two cults & make a bit of coin. 
5. A field of skeletal hands appears on a farmer's land & he was going to call the cult of Mordiggian. But many of the hands of the dead clutch gold coins. He wishes to keep the gold but not anger the god. He is looking to hire adventurers to help him for a split of the gold. 
6. A necromancer is looking for an escort through the lands of Mordiggian and there's gold enough in his pockets to tempt fools. 
7. Several royal corpses have gone missing & the king wants adventurers to help him locate them before the cult of Mordiggian learns of their disappearances. 

You can read Clark Aston Smith's Charnel God Here. 

The Grey Widowers From 'The Mist' 2007 Adapted For Cepheus Engine, Cepheus Atom, & Hostile Rpg Setting

 Existing in the mist like dimension between planes which occasionally contact's the plane Prime. The Grey Widowers are a highly aggressive species of  non Terra archind the size of a small dog. The larger man sized Grey Widower are expert hunters  capable of tackling a creature twice their size. The real horror of the Grey Widowers comes from their ability to lay thousands of eggs within a target & being capable of hatching within 1d6 days. 

Grey Widowers small 
9/18, Move 10m, Armor 4, 2 Claws (melee 1D damage each) or 1 sting (melee; target must throw Physical 6+ or die from poison within 1 turn). Corrsive web (ranged 2d dice damage)  Combat-2, Physical-2, Survival-1. Gigantism

Grey Widowers colonies are some of the most dangerous of the Mist plane's inhabitants. These colonies are a part of the macro agressive ecology of the plane. They provide a key niche predator within the ecology of the plane. They also work  taking out any mid tier animals while providing the species with an expanding basis for procreation, expansion, & colonization. The Grey Widowers have been found on other planes Prime as well. This includes several where they have taken over entirely. 
The Grey Wildowers are fast, aggressive, & horrific. In point of fact the most dangerous predator to a Grey Widower colony is another colony. 
The larger Widower Guardians & queens aggressively cull any smaller animals they come across. This includes any tasty straty humans. 
The larger Widow Guardians are often the source for several hiver widowers. These are smaller Grey Widowers that ride the larger of the species as they hunt to scout new colony sites. 

Widow Guardians are huge man sized or larger predators capable of taking on prey many times their size.
Grey Widow Guardian  
9/18, Move 10m, Armor 6, 2 Claws (melee 1D damage each) or 1 sting (melee; target must throw Physical 6+ or die from poison within 1 turn). Corrsive web (ranged 2d dice damage)  Combat-3, Physical-2, Survival-2. Gigantism, Eggs (eggs hatch within 1 day & the young eat their way out of the host) 


The Grey Widow Queens are a highly adaptive version of the Grey Widows that can often be found scouting for colony sites across the planes. They can create a massive colony of Grey Widowers all on their own. These are large armored behemoths with 1d6 Grey Widowers residing within their chitinous armor. These will attack on their own. 


9/18, Move 10m, Armor 7, 2 Claws (melee 1D damage each) or 1 sting (melee; target must throw Physical 6+ or die from poison within 1 turn). Corrsive web (ranged 2d dice damage)  Combat-3, Physical-3, Survival-2. Gigantism, Eggs (eggs hatch within 1 day & the young eat their way out of the host) 

Weird Monster Wednesday The K'nyanian Guardian Beasts From The Haunted Caverns For Your Old School Campaigns (Revised)

 The K'nyanian guardian beasts are an unholy combination of humanoid flesh, arachnid and insect genetic stock wrapped around a core of weird nearly demonic horror. They are the product of
 the K'nyanian empire a vast underground culture  filled with strange beasts and a highly advanced telepathic civilization who worshiped Cthulhu, Yig, Shub-Niggurath -and, until a certain incident, Tsathoggua. The K'nyanians had attained immortality &  subjugated other humanoid races before them. They  had the technology to biologically modify vanquished races and other life-forms and reanimate the dead for use as slaves, and could dematerialize and rematerialize at will. The underground people also engaged in sadism, depraved practices, horrid rites  and unspeakable things such as random body modifications and mutilations of other slave species as entertainment   The K'nyanian guardian beasts were a living security system used to watch over & guard certain above ground assets. They were the ancient servants of the K'nyanians watching over the mines and deep places of the forbidden civilizations of  K'nyan especially their underground mining, vast tunnel systems, and their near surface and above ground works.  They are extremely dangerous creatures capable of unspeakable violence & capable of rapid procreation should the need arrive.

These beasts have been operating in remote locations of Old Earth since the last Ice Age & jealously guard the vast cavern systems & caves of the K'nyanians. They are able to change their metabolism to operate in a wide variety of conditions from the deserts of accursed Atlantis to the icy realms of Old Earth. These guardian beasts can easily adapt & survive in the wastelands of the post apocalyptic world but they don't like the various death lands and deeper wastes because of the extreme conditions and lack of easy victims .

The K'nyanian Guardian Beasts From The Haunted Caverns

Number Encountered : 1d2
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Size :Large
Movement : 40
Dexterity: 11
Armor Class: 2 (18)
Hit Dice: 10
Number of attacks: 3 claw, claw, bite or special bite (see below)
Damage 1d6, 1d6, 2d6
Saving throw: 12
Morale: 9
Experience: 2,500
Treasure : Q,R
Specials:

• 13 in 12 spell resistance Vs CA 12 spell casters. For every CA level less then 12, the chance in twenty increases by one (+1). 
• Surprises on a 3 in 6 chance 
• Immune to cold attacks but very vulnerable to fire attacks 
• Regenerates as a troll due to its partial fungal nature 
• Victims who receive a bite are webbed and infected with young. Save vs poison to avoid being paralysis. 
• Immune to any mind effecting spells and mind control spells as well because of the fungal nature of the beast's intelligence. 
•  The beast may choose to infect victims with a special bite that only does 1 to two points of damage but the victim must save vs. Death or be paralyzed. The victim will be taken to a nearby underground lair and infected with 1d10 eggs. 
• Anyone who escapes the beast may be stalked and sent telepathic images of horror and depravity of the beast's past victims.
• These beasts have terribly evil intelligence and may stalk as well as kill those who slay their kind. These horrors share a telepathic rapture and know what others of their kind know in a 12 kilometre radius.   

The so called Primordial beasts have been used by the  The K'nyanians for thousands of years as guardians for their operations upon accursed Atlantis and thousands of other worlds. They have the characteristics of many creatures but are actually horrors unique to themselves. They make their homes in wide variety of locations and easily adapt to a wide variety of conditions but often enjoy cold or inhospitable climates with nearby human settlements. The beasts enjoy feasting on human and near humanoid victims who stumble into their clutches.  They will strike a a lone victim or stalk a party picking off the adventurers one by one sadistically.
These horrors have a bite which places the victim into a near death like state unless save vs. poison is rolled. The victim is given a strange poison that not only keeps them alive and suffering but protects them from the cold. The beasts produces a special webbing that can hold a man sized creature stationary and protected against extreme cold. The beasts feed on their charges and lay 1d10 eggs within the victims who are conscious when the young eat their way out of them. This does 1d4 points of damage per round as the worm like young burst forth from the victim after feeding upon the marrow of the bones of the poor wretches.
 The beasts often hunt down witnesses and other special victims that they single out. The creatures uses their inhuman senses to ceaselessly track their targets. They are able to project into the minds of their victims images of suffering prey and friends that they often take. Those who witness such sights will be at -2 on all rolls as the telepathic horror of these images takes it's toll on the sanity and mind of their charges. Only a save vs wands may lessen the impact of such horrors.
These horrors can live hundreds of years and amass a fortune in artifacts and gold from past victims. They know that rumors of such treasure bring adventurers and fool hardy explorers but these are not the only treasures to be had. 

Many alchemists will pay good gold for samples of the beast's flesh and sections of its webbing. These are made into potions of regeneration and protection from cold. There is a 10% chance of those who use such things taking on certain characteristics of the beast or even becoming one themselves.

  

Adapted from the public domain Roger Corman film The Beast From Haunted Cave
 & now updated for my new OSR campaign.

High Tech Mysticism & High Caliber Adventure Encounter - The De Media Silvis

The chicken house of Baba Yaga is often seen marching through the 
the De Media Silvis & all sane folks avoid it. 



"Mayhap I shall find curious adventure - mayhap my doom awaits me. But better death than the ceaseless and everlasting urge, the fire that has burned my veins with bitter longing."
-Robert E. Howard, "The Hills of the Dead" 

Captain the darkness it took the men & then the invaders as well. There were things among the trees & there was laughter there. The sound was deafening & then came the roars then the biggest son of a bitch I've ever seen saved up. He & his men slayed the dark things with the hoofs, claws, & tentacles. They're offering their services Captain & sir I think we should take em up on it. "
Bart Reynolds First Army Scout New York United Police



Beowulf, A Book of Myths

Introduction 

Just beyond the fires of the men of Drow City there lays another deeper wilderness that connects the long shadows of various worlds. There is the deeper woodlands, the alien woodlands where the reality of the wilderness washes against  the  Kerouac Wilderness. These are places where the Drow refuse to go for here there are monsters dark & dangerous. This place is where even the most dangerous giant has pause & the Night Trolls don't even dark to venture. Here deeper woodlands cross into the realm of nightmare & the monsters are even worse. 
Frog like twilight goblins stalk the darkness as the air it lit up with the glow from the Underworld that casts weird borealis in the skies above. Shadow dragons via with the Scum of Shub Niggurath as ghoul tribes trade blows with heroes who come here to test their meddle against the incredibly dangerous monsters. 



The De Media Silvis touches many planes & even the occasional Gug will venture here as the curse of the Elder Ones does not bother them here. They come to the ancient standing stones & will make war with the Hyperboreans from the far future who come to make offerings to the Elder Ones. One or more of these tribesmen is sacrificed to appease the carnal appetites of the Gugs or the scum of Shub Niggurath near the giant circles of Koth. 




Vision d'artiste de Shub-Niggurath By Dominique Signoret 

The city ruins of Sbcrath Koth are found deep in the dark forests guarded by ghoul tribes & the carnal monsters of Ubbo-Sathla. This is where many human wizards come to venture & certain tribes of mutants come from the Burroughs/Bakshi realms. The ruins of this place change & twist with the sleep of men & night mares come here to feed on the lost souls of psychics who fall pray to the lure of the song of Ubbo-Sathla.

1d10 Random Encounters In 
The De Media Silvis

1. 1d6 gasmask wearing dream wizards of 5th level come to collect dark & shadow Fey here. 
2. 1d4 wandering scum of Shub Niggurath who have come to pay homage to their mother thing by murdering some poor hapless fool. 
3. 1d6 ghouls wandering the byways of the place on their way to trade with a forest wizard & they are hoping to avoid a manticore or shadow dragon here. 
4. 1d6 Drow warriors whom the realm has swallowed. They are very itchy to not become a sacrifice to the Great Old Ones. 
5. 1d8 Gugs looking for easy prey & sacrifices to bring back to the underworld. 
6. Giant Slug on its nightly hunt 
7. A manticore looking to dine on goblins. He carries the wounds of small arms fire from goblins 
8. 1d8 human adventurers from the barbarian tribes of Croth on a hunting mission 
9. Dark druids out for sacrifices there are 1d6 of these mad bastards on their way to the ruins of Sbcrath Koth 
10. 1d6 Amazon warrior women on the hunt for a shadow dragon for their mistress wizard queen. They will trade with other adventurers but hate & loath goblins 

The De Media Silvis touches many worlds & occasionally there will be other places, times, & locations that phase into the mini plane. These times often have dire & mutational effects on those caught within this place as their mutations take on a dire & weird effect.  The De Media Silvis is said to touch the last days of life on Earth & those who get lost can end up on the shores of the 'last sea'.  Their souls food for the undead giant crabs to call that place home. The De Media Silvis is a dangerous & unpredictable alien wilderness that tests the mettle of even the most jaded adventurer.

New Lovecraftian Horror - N'rsae Worm Zomvies For Your Old School Campaigns

The next night devils danced on the roofs of Arkham, and unnatural madness howled in the wind. Through the fevered town had crept a curse which some said was greater than the plague, and which some whispered was the embodied daemon-soul of the plague itself. Eight houses were entered by a nameless thing which strewed red death in its wake—in all, seventeen maimed and shapeless remnants of bodies were left behind by the voiceless, sadistic monster that crept abroad. A few persons had half seen it in the dark, and said it was white and like a malformed ape or anthropomorphic fiend. It had not left behind quite all that it had attacked, for sometimes it had been hungry. The number it had killed was fourteen; three of the bodies had been in stricken homes and had not been alive.
Herbert West: Reanimator by H.P. Lovecraft


Newly exported into New York City just in time for the coming year the 'N'rsae worms' were found to be living within the embryonic cells of an almost prehistoric reptile from the unexplored jungles of
Guyana. The 'N'rsae worms' have been used for centuries by the native necromancers & witch doctors as short cut to animate the newly dead into a pliable & convenient disposable native workforce.
Exported by cultists of certain necromatic gods & necrotic demons these worms have begun to appear within the temporary black magick markets that litter some of the neighborhoods around the old Martian Invasion sites.



For some reason these markets always occur where the power batteries that the Martian used. These worms respond to certain frequencies of Etheric waves in the Zeta spectrum. This indicates an unearthly origin for these species and there is speculation of these creatures being parasites of certain mid tier Outer Dark creatures. Cultists, witch doctors, & even necromancers will expose a fresh corpse to a worm in a quick short cut to animate the horror. This happens within 1d6 rounds after the introduction of a worm to the corpse.
The 'N'rsae worms' once they reach maturity are kept in a brine of rotted animal flesh & Lovcraftian essential salts. Each twelve inch long worm will eat its way into the flesh of a newly dead corpse, the fresher the better within 1d6 rounds. It will eat its way into the brain pan of the corpse where it will attach itself to the brain stem of the creature with artificially grown neurons.It  pulse the corpse back to a semblance of life by using weird radiations generated as life giving micro pulses.
Each zomvie created by the 'N'rsae worms' are far stronger then a normal man as the weird radiations that animate the corpse also flood the muscle system & Adrenalin glands producing a strong, tireless, yet  enthusiastic worker. These creatures are highly pliable to suggestions & orders but can become easily confused requiring prompting & near constant management. N'rsae worm zomvies are also flesh cravers & eaters requiring raw human or animal flesh in short succession to keep the animated engines running in top form. The N'rsae worm zomvies has all of the usual undead immunities & is completely immune to all mind effecting spells.
N'rsae worm zomvies are almost always drawn to so called 'sink holes' of evil where the astral energies of violence & depravity are richest.



N'rsae worm zomvies can become highly aggressive as the worm divides & rapidly multiplies within the corpse's stomach until more worms are ready to burst forth. Many times these creatures are 'harvested' by necromancers of the lowest orders who have been trained in this job. Often if the zomvies are confronted & combated during their 'mature phase' there is a 70% chance of the stomach of the monsters erupting in a spray of 1d20 worms covering their victim in a shower of glowing eldritch gore & foul smelling liquids. Victims must vs poison or begin wrenching & vomiting from the awful spectacle.
Some of the immature worms are harvested from the muscle & other broader tissues of the human body through careful incisions & rude cuts in certain muscle groups. These immature worms are used to trade with certain types of hags & witches for unnameable favors & rites.

N'rsae worm zomvies are highly dangerous as they mature because these creatures begin to produce high concentrations of Zeta radiation in certain glands in the worms gut. This is long after the worms have threaded their way through their corpse's spinal system. After 1d10 months within the corpse the worm three times per day is able to admit a zeta ray glow to all within 20 feet doing 1d8 points of magical damage to the victim. The victim must save vs disease or there is 80% chance of the victim developing a terrible wasting disease. They will die within 1d6 days after exposure to these zeta rays.
N'rsae worm zomvies will also bite for 1d3 points of damage & their saliva contains the zeta ray contaminated virus that can cause a save vs disease wasting disease that will kill its victim within 1d6 days. Most of the time N'rsae worm zomvies pummel their foes for 1d8 points of damage from their bony fists.
N'rsae Worm Zomvies Number appearing:1d4
AC:7
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Size: M
Movement: 30
Dexterity: 4 
Hit Dice: 3 
Attack Rate: 1/1 pummel, bite, or zeta glow Damage: 1d8, 1d3, or special 
Saving Throw:15 
Morale : 12 
Experience: 100 
Treasure type: K,L,M
N'rsae worm zomvies are often found with small hordes of silver bars which are used to 'bleed' off the zeta radiation. The silver turns a slightly discolored blue greenish colour but this can easily be cleaned off. N'rsae worms can easily be summoned using a special variant of the standard four level black magick spell Call Worms. There will be 1d10 worms coming through mirco planar portals from the decayed skin of the rotting flesh of undead Outer Gods & Lovecraftian demons.

Pulp Era OSR Make Over For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons's Modue N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God By Douglas Niles

I was asked to do a Pulp era make over for N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God By Douglas Niles so let's dive right in.


" Terror by night! The village of Orlane is dying. Once a small and thriving community, Orlane has become a maze of locked doors and frightened faces. Strangers are shunned, trade has withered. Rumors flourish, growing wilder with each retelling. Terrified peasants flee their homes, abandoning their farms with no explanation. Others simply disappear. . ."

"No one seems to know the cause of the decay -- why are there no clues? Who skulks through the twisted shadows of the night? Who or what is behind the doom that has overtaken the village? It will take a brave and skillful band of adventurers to solve the dark riddle of Orlane!"
Along  the remote coast of Scotland an evil has taken over the quiet inhabitants of a remote village  for its own nefarious purposes. Coming from the world of Greyhawk a tribe of lizardmen has taken over a remote modern village. The sinister arcane powers behind the take over have been plot this for centuries & have now crossed over to a near by Prime Material plane. The idea here is that they're going to restart on another world. The lizardmen forces of N1 have a much more humanoid quality about them borrowed from Robert Howard's half human serpentmen hybrids. This version of N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God By Douglas Niles takes a good deal of its Lovecraftian thunder from Children of the Night by Robert E. Howard.

"Humans they were, of a sort, though I did not consider them so. They were short and stocky, with broad heads too large for their scrawny bodies. Their hair was snaky and stringy, their faces broad and square, with flat noses, hideously slanted eyes, a thin gash for a mouth, and pointed ears. They wore the skins of beasts, as did I, but these hides were but crudely dressed. They bore small bows and flint-tipped arrows, flint knives and cudgels. And they conversed in a speech as hideous as themselves, a hissing, reptilian speech that filled me with dread and loathing.

They are frequently described as snakes or having snake-like qualities. The Aryan legends say that the Children—none of the Aryans know what they call themselves—used to own the land in an ancient "outworn age" until they were hunted and driven underground by the Picts."
The PC's are under the influence of past lives or the arcane power of a wizard who has  faced these monsters down in the the western Flanaess. Modern or the science fantasy  technology isn't going to make too much difference here. The adventure will balance out with the inclusion of a showdown in a "traditional" dungeon at the end of the module.



The troglodyte are an excellent minion link up between the serpent men & the lizard men of N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God By Douglas Niles. The dimensional byways & doors used by the ancient serpent men make an excellent bridge gap between a traditional Greyhawk campaign & a more modern adventure.

A better question is once N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God By Douglas Niles ends do others in the vicinity bear the Lovecraftian taint of Children of the Night?
Are there descendant of the Children of the Night who have acted as agents for the cult and what of Robert E. Howard 's Bran Mak Morn and the cult of The Dark Man?

Have they been standing idly by as their world has been invaded by their ancient enemies? There are so many possibilities with the material found in N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God By Douglas Niles that a DM could use this module to flesh out a turn of the century campaign setting with little effort.

Lovecraftian Gods,Gorillas, & Classic Monsters In The Underworld - OSR Monster Commentary

So I've been looking looking to classic mythological sources again for some classic OSR action. For most folks this would the latest releases but for me I tend to fade back into the earlier adventure & resource  influences of the OSR. I've been looking into a few the earlier releases from several pioneer publishers including Goblinoid Games & Brave Halfling Publishing for some of my Lovecraftian itches.
I started doing a bit of reading through of Realms of Crawling Chaos tonight for dealing with some of ecology of Underborea of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition.

My version of Underborea is a wasteland of damned souls,the ever decaying remains of dead Lovecraftian  gods, & plethora of weird monster races straight out Lovecraft & Clark Ashton Smith. But right away I started to notice something that I wasn't expecting the sheer number of underworld Lovecraftian ape monsters in Realms of Crawling Chaos. You've got the Devil Ape, the Cave Beast, The White Ape & half White Ape PC races, & the Subhuman PC races not to mention the Voormis & several other animalistic Great Old Ones.

All of these are ripe to add to my 'Old Earth' setting after the events of the Ragnarök most of the major gods have passed away! The gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki are all dead but not gone suffering away below in Underborea held within a timeless decaying death where the act out the events of the war. They eternally decay but are still in an undead state. Yes there is more then a passing resemblance to concepts by Jack Kirby. Down below the surface of the world are the ruins of hundreds of ancient cities & temples.

 
This gets into one of my favorite modules that seems to have time passed it by I'm talking about People of the Pit by Alphonso Warden. Alphonso Warden weaves a pitch perfect module that draws from A.Merritt's pulp novella The People of the Pit without ripping it off.

"Several millennia back, the peoples of the mighty Kingdom of Merritt entered into all-out war with their long-time nemesis, the People of the Pit, a nefarious race of slug-like creatures hailing from a vast subterranean city lying on their northern border. Though the battle was hard fought, with both sides initially incurring heavy losses, the Merrittians in due course gained the upper hand, almost wholly exterminating their foe. Even the very god of the People of Pit was banished to the lower planes by a cabal of Merrittian magic-users and clerics, or so they thought. Recently, the evil within the city of the People of the Pit has surged yet again, and it is up to you to see that it doesn't spill out into the surrounding lands."  The original story draws heavily on a Northern location perhaps Alaska which is one of the locations for the invasion points for my Old Earth setting. The Paper Knife blog has a really good overview of the original A.Merritt story. 


Needless to say that the module is a classic of the OSR and evokes the sort of weirdness that one expects from the OSR. There's lots of potential in People of the Pit to mine and even to a certain extent to expand upon for old school campaign use. Another Lovecraft adventure by Alphonso Warden through Mythmere Games  is The Namless City which is perfectly suited to be adapted for an AS&SH second edition campaign. Originally for Swords & Wizardry The Namless City also has another version closer to many of the OSR retroclone systems. "The module is available for both Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox and Swords & Wizardry Complete Rules and Freestyle (Core) Rules. If you're going to use it with another old-school system, it's obviously going to be compatible, but use the Complete/Freestyle version for this: the hit dice and other information will be closer to other systems than WhiteBox."

 

" In the world there are ancient, degenerated remnants still living, survivals from unimaginable antiquity. What happens when the adventurers stumble across one of these deadly places? There must be treasure untold for those willing to brave the long-forgotten perils of ... The Nameless City. "Both of these modules are perfect for evoking entrances to a Lovecraftian underworld realm that hooks up with the dangers & adventure locations of Underborea.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that many of the degenerative races of both AS&SH, Realms of Crawling Chaos, & these modules reminds me of many of the proto humanoid races of the first edition Fiend Folio. The Grimlock, and many other humanoid races of the Fiend Folio have the perfect left over servant or weaponized racial feel that would serve serpent men or other ancient Lovecraftian races. Yes I'm thinking of the Great Race of Yith or The Elder Things.

  

I could definitely see these guys guarding an ancient Elder Thing underground garden preserve waiting generations for trespassers to try & take some of the biological wonders of their ancient masters.
I think there are a lot of overlooked OSR gems on the market that need to have a second look taken at them to get their full potential realized in a campaign setting such as Hyperborea or your own old school setting.

1d6 Random Lemurian Death Angels & Ghosts Encounter Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are places in the wastelands that seem abandoned by time,suspended in another age, & left alone by all. No animals live in these places, the air is still & stale, it seems as if these places are forgotten by all. Most adventurers see these places as perfect picking grounds for relics, treasure, & loot. But locals &  veteran adventurers know better.
These are abodes of Death & her minions, entropy has long since left these places behind, time has slipped its mortal coil here, & now they are the lairs of forces of horror & the end of chaos.


artwork from Welcome images here
http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/
obf_images/3c/12/58a1652d11ccddd1169901cf509b.jpg

Those entering these places will smell the stale air which has the smell of vanilla & an under current smell of the faded scent of freshly cut roses. After 30 rounds or so time will seem 'off'' & colors of objects, buildings, & even small items will seem to fade. After fifteen rounds the grey & lifeless corpses of the former inhabitants will manifest & these announce the arrival of a ghost or angel of Death. These manifestations will politely ask if the PC's have come to die & take advantage of her services? If the PC's have taken any items or treasures from these places the dungeon master  consider them cursed for they are heirlooms of Old Earth. If nothing is taken & the ghost or angel of Death is not attacked & treated politely with the utmost respect she may answer a few questions & grant a boon prophecy for the party.  She may invite a member of the adventurer's party to play a game of chance such as cards or chess for a member of the party's life or for a great treasure in her possess. Those who win such contests have no fear of the curse of Death. Those who are foolish enough to attack a minion or ghost of Death attack these entities as if they were lichs because some of these things are. Those necromancers who seek the path of lichdom sometimes trod a modified path with its origins in 'The Lemurian Death Tenants' a group of scrolls that allow one to serve the negative material plane's powers & Death herself. To obtain these one must find an abode location & petition one of these entities for them. Upon completion of study they will fade back into the clutches of these entities.

Welcome image from here

http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/70/48/4b5c28e57609137dd2009ae490f2.jpg

Many of these abode locations sit outside of time & space crossing into several places & eras at once. These entities enjoy picking and choosing their visitors for they sometimes lure adventurers into their abodes to parlay with a mission or side quest for certain objects or other esoteric targets. They do not see themselves as 'evil' but rather fulfilling an enviable public service. They cause the end of eras & cycles of time to move on. Death is a small mercy to mankind & near humanoid kind.
Once per year they may take on the guise of mortal flesh for one solid year & a day. Some manifestations have parented bloodlines & families across the dimensions. Often times these are some of the most accomplished necromancer & clerical families whose traditions are steeped deeply in the lore of death & undeath.


A simple monster summoning or necrotic summons spell will call one of these entities up but they are not bound by many of the strictures of necromancy. They hate being taken from their charges, abodes, and holy duties. Many necromancers may pilgrimages to the spirits of Death's abodes which are far safer means to approach them.  Much of our knowledge of these spirits and their habits comes from a lost Lemurian order of death priests & necromancers.


1d6 Random Lemurian Death Angels
& Ghosts Encounter Table

1. A six armed minion of Death who was a priestess of a goddess of sex & love. Her village was cut down by plague when she encountered her first angel. Now she has made the pilgrimage into the sacred lichdom after the death of her old goddess. She guards the remains of a large city & its own holy treasures. She often has adventurers find artworks and artists who are needed in the afterlife & underworld. 
2. Ar'ru The Sacred Skeleton Srur - This weird triple armed warrior of Death was a druid until his grove was cut down by inquisitors three thousand years ago. Now he collects the heads of those who summon death spirits from their sacred duty. He hates those who defile innocents and children with a vengeance. 
3. Silas Com - This ghost of Death was a necromancer who crossed over when he took the blow for his master a necromancer of an almost god like level. Now he watches over an ancient city of necromancers at the end of time. He often employs adventurers to save works of art from the end of a country or civilization. 
4. Trus Ran - Master chess player & former necromancer whose skill at playing reality is now matched by his skill at taking down demon cults who spread the will of Orcus. The demon lord  disrupts the balance of things in many dimensions. Adventurers are employed to help in his sacred duties. 
5. Raore Queors - The sacred general ghost of Death employs adventurers to bring him those warriors & wizards of incredible skill to add to his armies. He fights in the Grand Games of Death often against Odin & other gods of War. His skill guards the planes of death & the underworld against the incursion of dangerous demonic forces. 
6. The Last One - A ghost of a small alien who works in the employ of Death against the most dangerous of planar forces especially those who destroy the houses of Death which hold the most dangerous wizards & criminals of the gods. She often employs adventurers to bring back the most dangerous escapees from the Underworld prisons.
   
   The force of suns had waned beyond recall.
   Chaos was re-established over all,
   Where lifeless atoms through forgetful deeps
   Fled unrelated, cold, immusical.
   
   Above the tumult heaven alone endured;
   Long since the bursting walls of hell had poured
   Demon and damned to peace erstwhile denied,
   Within the Abyss God's might had not immured.
   
   (He could but thwart it with creative mace. . . .)
   And now it rose about the heavenly Base,
   Mordant at pillars rotten through and through
   Of Matter's last, most firm abiding-place.
   
   Bastion and minaret began to nod,
   Till all the pile, unmindful of His rod,
   Dissolved in thunder, and the void Abyss
   Caught like a quicksand at the feet of God !
   The Abyss Triumphant  (1912)
   by Clark Ashton Smith
   
   

1d10 Random Alien & Lovecraftian Menaces From Within The Vampire's Corpse Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are things that survive the killing of a major undead horror such as a vampire especially around Christmas time. The true nature of these horrors is revealed in this world & the alien negative material plane. Parasites, alien things, and worse that live within the bodies of the lords of the undead reveal themselves. PC's should be aware of task that they take on for themselves when one of these monsters is destroyed.

Efficiunt Daemones, ut quae non sunt, sic tamen quasi sint, conspicienda hominibus exhibeant.
(Devils so work that things which are not appear to men as if they were real.)

—Lactantius

HP Lovecraft
The Festival 1925

Sometimes vampires  journey  to the far edges of reality or worse. They often bring back invasive species of supernatural or preternatural infestations that can cause plagues that ravage local villages, or even the populations that they feed on. Adventurers may be called in to deal with such infestations because they have no connection to the local community. Vampires often have extensive treasures, relics, and more because of their undead 'immortality' & connection to the supernatural realms. Wizards who showed especially good service to their Lovecraftian gods are sometimes 'rewarded' with the condition of undeath & vampirism.


Parasites & weird lifeforms found in the corpses may not exceed 2 hit points and can be menaces in their own rights. Alien things that can cause infestations, plagues or worse. Cure light wounds or remove curse spells will outright destroy such horrors as well as holy water which will act as acid on the flesh of these monsters. These sorts of horrors will seek out a host as soon as possible to avoid the rays of the sun. They are mostly AC8 or 9 but have a move of 10" per round.

1d10 Random Alien & Lovecraftian
Menaces From Within A  Vampire's Corpse Table

1. 1d10 Black slugs from beyond that will animate a corpse or living host as a Ju Ju zombie. They are completely alien & weird. 
2. 1d6 alien macro life forms that spread 'The Red Death' as they infect hosts with this horrid plague. 
3. 1d8 black bat like  life forms that enter in through the host's mouth and create animated plague wraiths. They spread a cancerous form of an alien disease. 
4. 1d4 alien life forms the size of a small lap dog that bite, claw, and try to spread a horrid form or rabies or Ghoul plague. 
5. 1d8 black goo like mini black puddings that will slowly change those they bite with form of wasting disease that turn the victims into B/X shadows within 1d6 hours 
6. A strange colour life form exits the vampire's rib cage will seek to drain 1d6 victims of life force before spreading to another village or county within 1 mile. 
7. 1d10 parts & pieces of the vampire come to undead life on their own and crawl off to bite & claw others with a form of least zombism creating 1d10 minor zombies or skeletons. 
8. The skeleton of the vampire breaks free of the corpse & becomes a menace in its own right having a more twisted & destorted version of the damned soul of the vampire. It will seek to create 1d6 others of its kind. The skeleton is weirdly spongy & twisted in odd ways. 
9. 1d8 alien organs burst from the corpse on weird angel like miniature wings & seek to create 1d6 ghouls of strange & hungering aspect. These organs can be used in dangerous necrotic magic. 
10. The alien shadow essence that inhabited the vampire is now free to wreck mayhem & seeks to infect the countryside with its evil. It will seek to create 1d10 other shadows from the souls of nearby villagers or victims to consume & come back to quasi life.

Now as the twilight's doubtful interval
Closes with night's accomplished certainty,
A wizard wind goes crying eerily,
And on the wold misshapen shadows crawl,
Miming the trees, whose voices climb and fall,
Imploring, in Sabbatic ecstacy,
The sky where vapor-mounted phantoms flee
From the scythed moon impendent over all.

Twin veils of covering cloud and silence, thrown
Across the movement and the sound of things,
Make blank the night, till in the broken west
The moon's ensanguined blade awhile is shown....
The night grows whole again....The shadows rest,
Gathered beneath a greater shadow's wings.

The Eldritch Dark  (1912)
by Clark Ashton Smith

New OSR Monster & Spell - Ashes of Sunset

Who fares to find the sunset ere it fly,
Turning to light and fire the further west,
Shall have the veils of twilight for his guest,
And all the falling of an ashen sky.
On lands he shall not know, the splendor lies—
A pharos on some alienated shore,
In foam and purple lost forevermore,
Where dreams are kindled in remoter eyes.

Ashes of Sunset  (1922)  by Clark Ashton Smith

Down from Saturn these things have come, shapeshifter life forms that bonded with the ashes & leaves of the ghoul plagues that swept the Earth of old. These things roam about carried on the invisible astral winds that blow across the 'Old Earth'. Desperate, dangerous, & weird pieces of living abnatural tissues they blend into the once golden leaves of Fall. The blow like miniature tornadoes tearing apart living beings with with death by a million cuts for touching them does 1d4 points of damage as blood is sucked dry into the desiccated tissues of these horrors.  These things take on a golden color of an Autumn sun set after a feeding but there is something disturbing & off about them in their appearance. Because of the Saturian nature they are shape shifters after a limited fashion. They can take on the appearance of dead native plant life.



Adventurers encountering the Ashes of Sunset for the first time will hear the rushing of wind from no particularly location & a sense of dread followed by the taste of burnt matches on their tongue. By then it far too late, the Ashes of Sun set have set hundreds of spores capable of paralyzing their victims. The victim must save vs wands or be frozen to the spot. Looking like the leaves some alien tree the Ashes of Sunset  open up with millions of cilia containing a dark pustulent acid capable of doing 1d6 points of damage to the tissues  of anyone unfortunate enough to encounter them. These things are an emphatic hive mind & drawn to living beings within a twenty mile.  When they have not fed these things resemble the ashes of a recently burned piece of paper or rag carried on the winds. These things travel from place to place on a combination of very limited telekinesis flight & astral winds. They move in a  deceptively relaxed manner. Attracted by emotions of conflict & violence. Often wars, combat, or violence will attract a colony of Ashes at Sunset. They will wait for any dying or wounded victims to fall to the ground so they can move in silently  then begin to drain blood, life force, & reproduce.  Those that survive an encounter with these things must make a save vs disease or have their  sprout with strange weirdly living unnatural sporelike finger sized growths. Only a bless spell or remove curse can halt the process.

Ashes of Sunset
Frequency: Uncommon 
No appearing: 1d4 
Armor Class: 4 
Move: 12" 

Hit Dice:4
% in Lair:Nil
Treasure Type: See Below
No of Attacks: 4
Damage/Attacks: 1d4, 1d4, 1d4, 1d6
Special Attacks: Paralysis
Special Defenses: Undead immunities
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Average but very alien
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Size: S - M
Psionic Abilities: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
Level/XP Value:
II, 65+4 per hit points
These growths being the alien & painful process of leeching life force & soul stuff to form the basis for the next generation of Ashes of Sunset. The victim is paralysized & conscious while the process happens. Gold dust particles are attracted from the air & form the protective shell of the undead alien life form as the corpse of the victim decays at an accelerated rate. There will be three or four pounds of pure gold. Within 1d8 days a new colony collective of 1d4 Ashes of Sunset will burst forth from the corpse. Because of their undead nature these horrors can be turned like a ghast by a priest or cleric.
Those Ashes of Sunset that have recently fed take a person take on a golden color of an Autumn sun set whisking themselves along on the astral winds to their next victims. There is some evidence that suggests that the Ashes of Sunset may work for one or more gods of Saturn but the evidence is scant at best.

Rumors say that there strange Roman like designed temples of marble & basalt that the Ashes of Sunset protect. The overgrown  grounds scattered with the corpses of hundreds of their victims. Adventurers looking for quick riches only to get caught by the alien monsters. There are those alien or insane spell casters & Druids of Old Earth who summon these things from the depths of the alien wastelands of the new world where they wander. 
Call forth Ashes of Sun Set
Level: Druid 4, wizard 5, witch 4, shaman 4 Range 20 feet, Duration: 6 turns (1 hour)

The caster cuts themselves with a specially prepared dagger of Narn wood & blood Quartz. The droplets of blood become charged with the power of the magick & the strange looping astral winds that blow between dimensions carry the power of the spell across the land. The Ashes of Sunset appear within 1d4 rounds drawn by the essence & blood. They will emphatically contact the caster & if in a favorable mood they may serve the fool on some simple errant. There is a 30 % chance they are hungry & may turn on the caster if a suitable victim isn't available. The Ashes of Sunset are fickle & dangerous at best, unless the caster has a very well written poem ready for being recited once they have appeared  these monsters may take the victim & turn on the caster anyway.
Casters call the Ashes of Sunset to create their strange gold as a sacrifice for demons & other alien entities for summoning. The Ashes often can create 1d10 pounds of gold for such endeavors from one victim within an hour under the influence of the spell.