Review & Commentary on The Free OSR Module 'Terror under the Sea' By Joseph Mohr For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition & Your Old School OR OSR Campaigns

 

"Cthulhu still lives, too, I suppose, again in that chasm of stone which has shielded him since the sun was young. His accursed city is sunken once more, for the Vigilant sailed over the spot after the April storm; but his ministers on earth still bellow and prance and slay around idol-capped monoliths in lonely places. He must have been trapped by the sinking whilst within his black abyss, or else the world would by now be screaming with fright and frenzy. Who knows the end?"
Weird Tales (vol. 11, no. 2)  (February 1928)  edited by Farnsworth Wright
The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft


"Your ship has come across a strange island where none should be. Are you brave enough to explore this strange, unsettling place? A Cthulhu Mythos based adventure for characters of at least 10th level"

Terror under the Sea is full on & free  throttle Lovecraftian AD&D first edition horror just in time for Halloween 2020. Does the author know something we don't?! 

Joseph Mohr is a machine & while poking around Dragon's foot I came across a copy of a module that I wasn't aware of that he did. 'Terror under the Sea' is a high level Advanced Dungeons & Dragons module  that hits the Lovecraft vein hard. This is a tenth level module and its a nasty one to boot. The intro gives the set up;

"The storm put us way off course. When it ended we drifted for days on end. Without wind we were left at the mercy of the gods to get us to our destination. On day thirteen we spotted an island in the distance. It was not on our charts but we were desperate for provisions. We were very low on water and had nearly run out of food. The island had a peculiar spire rising out of it. The design was like nothing we had ever seen. Our brave wizard decided that we should explore this place. Perhaps there might be great treasure here. In the end it would have been better not to have found this accursed place. Living without food and water would have been far preferable to the screams I wake up to each night. What is truly terrifying...is that the screams are my own....."

This module takes the AD&D Deities & Demigods Lovecraft section & turns it up to eleven. The PC's find themselves in the middle of the most infamous island in the Lovecraft mythos! And they have to survive! This is a world shattering module for 2020. The premise lays someplace between oh my God  that's metal to full on how the heck would I run this!?! 

The nice part is that you don't have to own a copy of the AD&D Deities & Demigods book because everything is provided right there here for you in the module. A very nice change up. 
This is really a nice little module & its not bare bones but it fills in quite a bit of the Chthulu mythology for the end times of a campaign. This is world & campaign breaker stuff here within 'Terror under the Sea'. The encounters are fierce, deadly, & sanity shattering for a party & I'm not saying this lightly. 
Deep Ones,Shoggoths, and many of the heavy hitters are here in this module and its for more then mere affect here. 'Terror under the Sea' is the bloody big leagues & the adventure should not be used lightly. The layout is well done, the cartography is solid, and this is a perfect high level campaign Lovecraftian  game runner. 

Now with all of that said this is a perfect module to use with the  Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg! This is a perfect module to use as a follow up to the events within The Mystery at Port Greely. 
The PC's are sailing away from that module when the  'Terror under the Sea' comes to sweep them into its clutches! 

Bottom line  'Terror under the Sea' is a nice & solid no nonsense AD&D first edition Lovecraftian module with lots of possibilities if used right by the DM. 

1d7 Random Lovecraftian Sword & Sorcery Adventure Hooks Table For Your Old School Campaigns

Horror & evil grow like a cancer across the worlds, heroes are needed to stem the tide of this cancer. Men & women of valor,courage, and wisdom. Monsters, tyrants, & nameless horrors straight from the depths of the deepest underworld threaten the mortal realm. Are your heroes ready to meet this these threats head on?



These Sword & Sorcery hooks are set at levels three through six for PC's of B/X Dungeons & Dragons as well as most retroclones such as Labyrinth Lord or Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition.


These could be used as adventure or campaign starters with some tweaking for your own home Sword & Sorcery campaign settings. These hooks are set up with an experienced group of players in mind with mid tier characters in mind.


1d7 Random Sword & Sorcery Adventure Hooks Table

1. A pack of Nightguants has taken residence with a nearby set of ruins. Each night they take a random person on a wretched journey to a hag that strips them of vital life essence and returns them before morning. Each victim always has the same bone jarring nightmare of her asking them over & over about a hidden hoard of treasure in some ruined temple. The village priest is advertising for adventurers to track her down & destroy the monster! The village itself is becoming ruined because no is maintaining the place and the nightgaunts are unnerving as well as consuming the livestock in the most horrid fashion. There is a +2 dagger & small 120 gold piece stash within their nearby hide out. 
2. A necromancer has moved into the area & has gathered a cult of death worshipers nearby in a hidden grove. Each night zombies rise from the ground to gather around a sacred set of stones and worship a demon he or she has summoned for some unknown purpose. The place is getting an evil reputation among nearby villages and there is a festival coming up.The village elders are looking for heroes to destroy the necromancer & restore order. There are rumors of a treasure buried in the center of the standing stones.
3. A basilisk has taken residence within the ruins of a once rich temple of Apollo and is coveting the former offerings of the god. Priests of Apollo are seeking adventurers to take down the foul creature but there is a demon behind the thing who is guiding its actions. He wishes to attract a cult to further befoul the place. The heroes receive dreams of the monster going on a rampage through a nearby village. 
4. Villagers have recently uncovered in a field a sealed vault of the Elder Things a giant black pudding  and the thing is on a rampage each night at the hour of the dead. Fields, crops, and villagers have been killed and a wizard as well as heroes are needed to put the thing down. 
5. A hunger spirit has been let loose by the meddling of a local wizard and now crops, people, animals are all dying. An ancient talisman of the Ancient Ones is needed to put the thing to rest. The artifact is found in the temple of the gargoyles nearby hidden within the grove of the old ones. There is said to be other treasure there as well. 
6. A young druid has angered a shambling mound who was resting as a part of the grove of elder trees. Now the thing rampages each evening destroying and all in its way. A horrid fate awaits any who crosses its path but there are rumors of a necromancer who might be using it to uncover a treasure of old. The thing has killed three villagers already. 
7. A young priest of Cthulhu has come looking for converts to his twisted faith & is assisted by 5 zombies of Deep Ones whom he has awoken from deathless slumber. Now he seeks their grand tomb in the nearby endless swamp of Woe. He is holding the local village hostage and needs brave adventurers to plumb its depths.
   
   
   Out of what crypt they crawl, I cannot tell,
   But every night I see the rubbery things,
   Black, horned, and slender, with membranous wings,
   They come in legions on the north wind’s swell
   With obscene clutch that titillates and stings,
   Snatching me off on monstrous voyagings
   To grey worlds hidden deep in nightmare’s well.
   
   Over the jagged peaks of Thok they sweep,
   Heedless of all the cries I try to make,
   And down the nether pits to that foul lake
   Where the puffed shoggoths splash in doubtful sleep.
   But ho! If only they would make some sound,
   Or wear a face where faces should be found!
   
   Night-Gaunts  (1939)
   by Howard Phillips LovecraftWritten circa 1930. First published in Weird Tales (no. 34, no. 6, December 1939).
   Part of the "Fungi from Yuggoth" cycle of poems.