Using 'Level of the Lost' By Michael Curtis With Troll Lord Games Starship Warden rpg

 "Venture into forgotten territory! When a long-sealed section of the Warden is opened and a renowned explorer goes missing, new opportunities arise for adventure and danger. Rumor has it that one of the fabled Command Rings, potent artifacts of old that grants the wearer complete control over the drifting starship, lies waiting for the taking beyond the forbidding gate. Does your band of daring explorers have what it takes to overcome the threats of The Level of the Lost and claim the ring for themselves? This adventure contains new mutants, new artifacts, and new dangers for the original version of Metamorphosis Alpha." 

Michael Curtis is one of my favorite DCC rpg adventure writers. I don't know the man personally nor his politics, etc. But what I do know is the following he writes some kick ass adventures that I've used over the years. And this adventure has some awesome nods in various old school Science Fiction & Fantasy nods or tributes in Level of The Lost. 
Now because of the Metamorphis Alpha rpg Bundle of Holding I've been able to leap frog into Goodman Games version of MA.  And I've not been disappointed at all. Level of the Lost by Michael Curtis has some incredible adventure ideas, new artifacts, mutants, & dinosaurs! The adventure is a great but lethal in some of the encounters. This isn't always a combat heavy adventure as there is a lot of NPC action in 'Level of the Lost'. What I really like about this adventure are some of the concepts that are put forward in Level. 'Level of The Lost' feels like a mini campaign in true MA fashion. 

Could 'Level of the Lost' be used for the Troll Lords Starship Warden campaign?! In a word yes absolutely it could. And this adventure perhaps more then any other has all of the Amazing Adventures Pulp elements in place. 
Dinosaurs, lost world feel, lizardmen mutants, strange technologies, all of these hit the high marks of Troll Lords material. 

But would I set 'Level of The Lost' on the Warden?! Not necessarily. And this gets into a bit of quandary that has been plaguing me as a DM. 
We know from the timeline of the Warden from the original MA book that there were other ships from the Transplutonian shipyards. And this might be where the 'Level of the Lost' comes in. 

The PC's are actually aboard another of the exploration and colonization ships instead of the Warden. And this is where 'Level of the Lost' shines. The adventure could be used as bridge between MA and B/X Dungeons & Dragons as the level leads into X1 Isle of Dread By Dave Cook & Tom Moldvay.




Before the OSR crowd wants to roast me alive there are several points of interest here. 

1. The mutants of 'The Level of the Lost' fit the profile for the prehistoric animals found in X1 'The isle of Dread'. 
2. Some of the themes of 'Level of the Lost' can be carried over into X1.
3. This is a perfect crossover point for Castles & Crusades PC's or D&D PC's to join in the fray. 
4. The nastiness at the heart of X1 can be alien or mutant in nature.
5. X1 offers crossover potential  for the campaigns & a good point to introduce new mutant species. 

So is 'Level of the Lost' fantastic?! Yes, does it offer the DM quite a lot to think about?! Yes it does. 
The Metamorphis Alpha rpg Bundle of Holding  Is Available Right Over Here 

The Dire Legacy of Good Man Games OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks By Gary Gygax & Michael Curtis

"The Grand Duchy of Geoff has called for help, asking for you to investigate a mysterious cave in the Barrier Peaks, and it's unlike any other cave in the world. In fact, it's not really a cave at all. It does however have alien inhabitants—crazed robots, eerie androids, and even stranger things—who endanger the world. The adventurers must confront these threats and navigate the unearthly interior of the wrecked starship, puzzling over and mastering alien technology to defeat their foes. If you’ve ever had the urge to zap an umber hulk with a laser rifle while commanding a robotic servant, this adventure is for you!"

So Goodman Games just sent me the latest announcement in the Original Adventures Reincarnated line of products. OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is going to follow in the wake of the other titles in that line which means that its going to be fifth edition D&D & I find myself increasingly not liking that system. If your playing Fifth edition D&D fantastic for you. But let's take a step back for a moment & think about what this module means for campaign play. Now if OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks follows in the foot steps of other titles in the OAR line then we're looking at an expanded Warden, adventure encounters, & much more. 

Now I've been reading early issues  of 'The  Dragon' magazine which covers many different early game products in the TSR line. This includes Metamorphosis Alpha first edition which I've used in the past to expand S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax. Corridors, rooms, etc. can all be switched up for more expansive play. Why? Because many players know S3 inside & out. Change the encounters up a bit or expand upon the ship using the table in Metamorphosis Alpha & things get very interesting. 

Another Metamorphosis Alpha art piece by Trampier

But let's talk about the four hundred ton gorilla in the room that nobody mentions the various alternative world versions of the Warden. The ship is a world ender & really a campaign starter across a number of D&D settings including Blackmoor, & Mystara because I personally think that the U.S.S. Beagle was or is a part of the Warden's colony fleet. The technology, the cybernetic life forms, etc. are all very similar in many respects. So who or what would be after the Warden that crashes into the Barrier Peaks? Well two vile NPC villains come to mind right off the bat. St.Stephen of the Rock & his cult of Froggies have the time, motivation, & technology to cross worlds & the Warden would be a prime target.

But then there's also Egg of Coot whose more then capable of using planar travel to get that sweet savory technology. The Egg of Coot loves to to use to enslave various peoples as minions & expand its planar  way stations & check points of its higher dimensional empire. But is it the only interested party in S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax? Sure there's the Egg of Coot but are we forgetting some one or something? Aboard the Warden there are any number of intelligent alien species & creatures that have their own agendas especially the Mind Flayers.Copyright & Trademarked artwork to Jeff Dee used without permission.


If OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks  is going to expand the encounters, monsters, and perimeters of the Gary Gygax classic then we might see that the Mind Flayers aboard the Warden not only crashed it. But they  created the planar & dimensional rift to create the various alternative versions of the ship to expand their species! This species appears in Blackmoor, Mystara, & Greyhawk but can be encountered anywhere in the planes quite literally.


Is it really the Mind Flayers behind all of the events aboard the Warden? Including dumping every last monster could be a tactic to terriform some of these world settings. The wreckage of the Warden is world altering & will continue to bleed into the Duchy of Geoff. 
What will this mean for those who live in the area? Well I've got a few ideas in this direction:

1. The Mind Flayers make contact with the outpost that they've already established on Greyhawk 
2. The reactors aboard the Warden go critical & spew weird radiations across the countryside causing all kinds of havoc. The weird radiation might cause all kinds of mutations & horrors. 
3. The confusion caused by the crash within the Barrier Peaks might be just the sort of distraction that a wizard or cabal might be waiting for to take over. 
4. There could be any number of Dark Druids waiting to grab some of these alien monsters to cause evil in various parts of Greyhawk.
5. There could be a hidden evil we've not seen within the Warden & that might be yet another unknown waiting to spring forth from the bowels of the ship. 

These are just off the top of my head & there might be some other mind blowing revelations to come out of OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks  but we'll have to wait & see. 

Dungeon Crawl Classics #79: Frozen In Time by Michael Curtis & Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Connection

"Eons-old secrets slumber beneath the forbidden Ghost Ice. Since the time of the Elders, the local tribes have shunned the crawling glacier, knowing it as taboo land that slays all who tread its frigid expanse. Now, the Ghost Ice has shattered, revealing hints at deeper mysteries entombed within its icy grasp. Strange machines and wonderful horrors stir beneath the ice…"

So I've been doing a lot of thinking about  Dungeon Crawl Classics #79: Frozen In Time by Michael Curtis & how it might be used with Blackmoor. Think about it a time thief has been using this place as a base on some backwater planar world.  So let's change Dungeon Crawl Classics #79: Frozen In Time up a bit shall we? 


We've got a complex that's been moved across time over to Blackmoor from a post apocalyptic world. Yeah I know. I'm totally messing with the historical timeline of the module but we'll get to that. So the PC's surviving the machinations of the complex & its various trips, traps, & tricks make it to level one PC starting in DCC but what then?! In Blackmoor what was the original purpose of the time thief? Whom was he  working for? Are there clues left behind in the oral traditions of the PC's tribe on Blackmoor? Yeah actually I may already have some answers to this mystery.  The Egg of Coot has all of the machismo to employ such a nefarious hireling. The Egg of Coot is bio mechanical villain &  relic from Blackmoor's ancient era. The thing has been around since Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign from the early days of OD&D. My own interactions with the evil of the Egg came about when my friend Larry came across Harvard Blackmoor's 2009 Egg of Croot blog entry. There was a lot of misery involved. But what if the complex featured in Dungeon Crawl Classics #79: Frozen In Time by  Michael Curtis  was a back up plan from events from the Great Rain of Fire. Yeah, I'm taking a lot here from Havard's Blackmoor material. Some have called Dungeon Crawl Classics #79: Frozen In Time by  Michael Curtis   the weakest adventure in the DCC line of products & that's fine with me. It means I've got much more  way to monkey with it. So the PC's complete the dungeon & the complex activates! 
This is a mock up cover of an adventure that doesn't exist. Havard did a great job
 & its a favorite Larry Elmore piece of artwork of mine.

The PC's survive & all is right with the space time continuum. Umm no everything is really in a bad state! The completion of Dungeon Crawl Classics #79: Frozen In Time by  Michael Curtis  means that the Egg of Coot is now aware of the PC's & that its gambit has paid off! 
All across the planes Prime scattered to the four winds are other complexes almost but not quite like the one featured in Dungeon Crawl Classics #79: Frozen In Time by  Michael Curtis. This will allow the Egg & its forces access to the local space time continuum making them ripe for the conquering! Remember that Barony of  Blackmoor location mentioned  within Greyhawk box set?  Well that's one of the Egg's backwater military staging areas!


But don't worry we're just getting started with this one folks!