OSR Commentary On The Thieves World Companion & OSR Moorcockian Frankenstein Campaign Musings

 "The Thieves' World series began in 1979 to instant acclaim. Not long after, Chaosium published a boxed Thieves' World roleplaying supplement, which gathered awards and more acclaim. Since the first book hit the newstands, more than 2200 paperback pages and eight additional Thieves' World volumes have been printed - a phenomenon others imitate but cannot duplicate.

Sanctuary, the town too mean to die, has changed a little from the time it first saw print, but many new characters now stride the city's streets, pillage the foolish in its alleys, and connive in its back rooms. Lalo, Ishcade, Roxanne, Niko, Mradhon Vis, The Beysa, Chenaya, Zip, and many more have come to life, and are now included in the Companion's full character stats for the RQ3 and MERP systems.

New essays consider Rankan, Ilsigi, Beysib, and Outsider deities in the light of further tales of Sanctuary, that place which is the funnel of the gods and the eye of the Rankan hurricane. The excellent encounter tables from the Thieves' World box have been revised to reflect later events and personalities, and are presented her in full. There are also floor-by-floor isometrics of the Great Dungeon. Though adjacent to Kitty-Cat's palace, nobody seems to go there. Now you can study its defenses and understand why.

Alone or with the Thieves' World box, the Companion rekindles the fabulous world of Sanctuary - Thieves' World."

Many believe the Thieves World Companion is a disappointment compared to the original box Thieves World box set. And the Thieves World Companion that we're going to be looking at is the first edition which is actually for the Rune Quest third edition rpg system. Rpg net calls it ; " A sort-of supplement to Chaosium's 1981 Thieves' World. This one covers the next four books, #3 to #6, but rather than being fairly generic as the original, it now only supports two rule systems: MERP and RuneQuest. Gods, locations, and characters from the later books are all included." 

The Thieves World Companion updates & sorta of expands on the mythos of Sanctuary in spades according to Wayne's books; ""The Thieves' World stories began in 1979, to instant acclaim. Not long after, Chaosium published a boxed Thieves' World roleplaying supplement which garnered awards and more acclaim. Since the first book hit the newstands, more than 2200 paperback pages and eight additional Thieves' World volumes have been printed - a phenomenon others imitate but cannot duplicate.

Sanctuary, the town too mean to die, has changed little from the time it first saw print, but many new characters now stride the city's streets, pillage the foolish in its alleys, and connive in its back rooms. Lalo, Ischade, Roxanne, Niko, Mradhon Vis, The Beysa, Chenaya, Zip, and many more have come to life, and are now included in the Companion's full character stats for the RQ3 and MERPs systems.

New essays consider Rankan, Ilsigi, Beysib, and Outsider deities in the light of further tales of Sanctuary, that place which is the funnel of the gods and the eye of the Rankan hurricane.

The excellent encounter tables from the Thieves' World box have been revised to reflect later events and personalities, and are presented here in full. There are also floor-by-floor isometrics of the Great Dungeon. Though adjacent to Kitty-Cat's palace, nobody seems to go there. Now you can study its defenses and understand why.

Alone or along with the Thieves' World box, the Companion rekindles the fabulous world of Sanctuary - Thieves' World."

1986 ... Anders Swenson & Steve Perrin & Iron Crown Enterprises & Midkemia Press & Lynn Willis ... 48 pages + fold-out map ... CHAO 2015 ... ISBN 0933635346"

The real on target material in this book is the fact is the fact is that it brings the locations, personalities, etc. of Sanctuary on the timeline of the books.  

The companion puts everything into perspective for Lamentations of the Flame Princess by moving affairs of the city & events forward. The city presented in the campaign setting is no stranger to travelers from across many worlds. This makes the city excellent for adventurers of all stripes. Sanctuary as a whole is a campaign setting that fits the whole theme of Swords & Sorcery quite nicely. 

According to Skiorht from Rpg net; "The new material is quite useful if you want to follow the books, and the map of the keep is very nice. The RQ stats are very good, but the RM/MERP stats are a bit weak"  Which means when it comes to the Stormbringer Rpg 1st edition through third the DM is going to have to do a bit of tweaking. Stormbringer brings home the 'metal' aspect of the PC's in spades. 

Using this opinion as a bench mark then we can assume that the Castles & Crusades stats are also going to be at the fourth level & upper end of sixth for the Thieves World Companion NPC's. The guidelines found in the Castle Keeper's Guide  are also key for this. 

I've used this companion several times with Lamentations of the Flame Princess and Dark Albion but its always been as a city where the PC's have visited as dimensional travelers who have had to watch their step. The fact is guns haven't been that much of an equalizer and in fact there are several NPC in the set that can cause some vicious horror aspects into a campaign of LoFP or Castles & Crusades. 
 I used this companion  with many of the Judge's Guild and Arduin materials switching in and out what I needed and wanted.  If we're going to be using the Thieves World Companion with Black Blade of the Demon King by Ahimsa Kerp,  & Wind Lothamer from Knight Owl Publishing then it becomes a matter of making sure the PC levels match. 

Now  BRUTORZ BILL asked me particulars about our game so let's start with the top. There are eight players currently & this is a game that has continued on from 2018 so the player's PC's are 4th level & up. They've made me drift back to Fantastic Heroes & Witchery with a ton of Castles & Crusades added in with elements of Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg. 

And I worked up several very fast NPC's from the material that is Black Blade of the Demon King by Ahimsa Kerp,  & Wind Lothamer from Knight Owl Publishing. Names, classes,etc. all coming up really soon. 

Down The Back Alleyways of Sanctuary - The Stormbringer rpg & The Thieves World Box Set

 "
"Skulk through the night on the heels of Shadowspawn . . . delve into the twisted tunnels of the Purple Mage . . . attend the court (or perhaps the harem) of Prince Kadakithis . . . dodge the keen-eyed Hell Hounds with Jubal's Hawkmasks . . . drink your ale and guard your purse at the Vulgar Unicorn . . . boldly walk the streets of the wildest, most varied, and most downright fascinating city in fantasy literature — SANCTUARY, the Thieves' World!
* The Players' Guide to Sanctuary — the creation of Sanctuary; Thud and Blunder, Sanctuary chronology; 'Hakiem' and 'The Hell Hounds'; a stroll through the city; a captured llsigi document; magic, working ladies, and oaths; glossary /pronunciation guide; a map of the known world; a city map. * The Game Master's Guide to Sanctuary — palm-greasing and arrest procedures; a secret Carronnian report; city gods and religions; main city encounters; encounters for the Jewelers' Quarter, Processional, and Westside; 18 tables of specific encounters, descriptions/encounters for The Maze, Bazaar, Street of Red Lanterns, Downwind; business generators and tables by area; 6 area maps, 15 floorplans of typical buildings (including the Vulgar Unicorn); scenario suggestions.
* The Personalities of Sanctuary — story/character index; system notes as applicable and character stats for 9 RPG systems (minimum of twenty characters each, each system divided to Prince and Retinue. Transients, and Residents); general descriptions of other characters.
* Wall Map of Sanctuary. Referee Maps of The Maze, The Maze underground."

So one of the best supplements for the first edition Stormbringer rpg wasn't published for the Stormbringer rpg instead it hit the shelves from Chaosium in Eighty one. The Thieves World box set is one of the gems of that era. 
What makes this an exceptional resource for  the Stormbringer rpg is the fact that Thieves World offers a shared Sword & Sorcery universe for the PC's to explore without any lower expections. Thieves World works on the Runequest three engine and so it's rather a bit easy to adapt it to Stormbringer. 

Turn the influence of Law & Chaos down to two on the volume of the Multiverse meter for Stormbringer. And it's within Interested Observer2's review from 2016 that we get into the heart of what makes Robert L. Aspin's Thieves World box set  so damn useful:"None of the reviews attached to this page actually review the boxed game set. So let's do that instead of talking about the books. The boxed set includes three books and some very nice maps of Sanctuary. The first book is the player's guide to Sanctuary and describes the town and details some of the locales in the books. Frankly, of the three books in the box, this one was the least useful. For one thing, the maps are excellent, but actually make running the city harder since it seems to narrow the GM's choices with regard to where things are or should be. Frankly, having a more vague city map would have been a positive asset. Still, the descriptions of the Bazaar (and the map) are intriguing and could easily be re-developed by a clever GM for his/her own purposes with little difficulty, and the general information is useful. Frankly though, if you want to get into the "spirit" of the city, it's better to read the first two books of the fiction series. Book two, the GM's guide to Sanctuary, provides a wealth of information on the gods of the novels, bribery and criminal justice in Sanctuary, encounters of various types throughout the several districts of the city, and a "business generator" that may very well have been the first of its kind (though perhaps Judges Guild did something similar earlier). This book is where the GM begins to get the data s/he needs to really get into the "nuts and bolts" of GMing the city. Finally, the third volume is a guide to the personalities of Sanctuary. It lists all of the major characters of the first two anthologies, and most of the minor characters as well. It even describes some of the unusual monsters that present themselves during the first two anthologies.
One of the best parts of the boxed set was that it actually delivered on being a "generic" RPG supplement -- not by glossing over the various game systems published at the time and making the GM try to figure it all out on his or her own, but by providing ACTUAL game statistics for the creatures, events, and personalities in the city. Want to play Sanctuary using The Fantasy Trip? It's all there. (Who even remembers The Fantasy Trip nowadays, other than some of us old geezers -- for whom it is STILL one of the best classic RPGs ever designed? But for those of you who have no idea what it is, think "father of GURPS" and a simpler and faster playing version at that. It's easy enough to translate TFT stats into GURPS, though, if you prefer GURPS as your platform.) Prefer AD&D? There it is? Original D&D? Uh huh. Runequest/Basic Roleplaying? Yep. Chivalry and Sorcery? Right there. This product was an absolute gem for its time, and has aged well in the 35 years since it was published...and there are few products that can make that claim! Overall? Five stars easily, and if you can afford to pick up a copy, you should by all means do so. While it lacks specifics for post 2nd Edition AD&D versions, it does include stats for a lot of the classic Fantasy RPGs of yore, and if you're an "Old School Rules" (OSR) kind of person, you're going to LOVE this product." 
So not only do we get a solid overview and review. We also get ideas thrown in from this review. What the Hell would Stormbringer rpg characters be doing in Sanctuary?! If we go back to the origins of the original Thieves World stories entry from Wiki;"Thieves' World is set in the city of Sanctuary at the edge of the Rankan Empire. The city is depicted as a place where many are downtrodden and where the invading Rankan gods and the Ilsigi gods they had ousted begin a struggle for dominance. As the series continues, additional invasions occur, and the city is taken over by the snake-worshipping Beysib as the Rankan empire collapses. Over time, a number of the characters in the series are revealed either to be the offspring of or otherwise blessed by various figures in the pantheons of the competing deities, and they discover or develop various powers as the series progresses."  Right smack dab there we've already got our answers. There is no way in Hell Law & Chaos are not going to have agents on the sidelines of Sanctuary. Even if thier demonic items and tools of Law are not as affective. Well so much the better in the eyes of the powers of Chaos & Law. After all it's all about the entertainment factor alone in the eyes of these two powers. 

Does Thieves World fit into the mode of the Million Spheres?! In a word? Oh yes it does. Thieves World and especially the box set as well as the Thieves World  Companion 
make an excellent urban campaign. 
There's enough within the Thieves World box set to keep a campaign going for months. Does Sanctuary fit the over the top demonic and law fueled world of the Stormbringer rpg?! Not really and that's alright. Sanctuary as a place to visit and kick up one's heels is fine as well. 
The PC's in Thieves World are right in the middle of the affairs of the gods. And sometimes this means getting down and dirty in the back allies of Sanctuary as well as the Maze. 
Incidently we've also used the Thieves World box set with old school Traveller many times.  One of the things that made the Thieves World Box set so damn useful was it's contents; "The Thieves' World Complete Sanctuary Adventure Pack is a boxed set published by Chaosium in 1981, containing: 1) The Player's Guide to Sanctuary; 2) The Gamemaster's Guide to Sanctuary; 3) Personalities of Sanctuary; 4) Map of Sanctuary; 5) Map of the Maze; 6) Map of the Maze Underground.

And Oliver Dickensen review from White Dwarf #30 hits the nail on the head for the box set; "Oliver Dickinson reviewed Thieves' World for White Dwarf #30, giving it an overall rating of 10 out of 10, and stated that "This has to be one of the most challenging adventure packs to come on the market. It is a whole city, realised with a richness and thoroughness of detail that matches City State of the Invincible Overlord, and though not as comprehensive as this, it presented in a much more readable form."
I'm not really providing a really good review of the Thieves World Box Set for that I suggest you take a look at The Blackgate Adventures In Fantasy Blog's overview and review here. 

Session Report # 3 Hyperborea rpg - Spidergods & Velderag At Brigiand's Bay

 My players in our Hyperborean rpg campaign have recently expressed an interest in a random encounter that has become something far more infamous. I've started them off in a Hyperborean version of B2 The Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax. You can read about my experiences back in 2015-16 with B2 here. 

Spring is just starting to appear on the lip of Hyperborea and Winter's grip is loosing. And its about this time when the PC's heard rumors of the mysterious black galleons that appear in the ports. All of this came about because of my own reading through GREGORIUS 21778's blog on his version of the black galleons from H.P. Lovecraft's The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath. The PC's don't know about the connections between the strange & highly unpleasant merchants along with their Hyperborea rpg countrerparts. There's a deeply unpleasant & rather unsavory business between these two versions of the servants of those who control the black galleons. The party is in love with the red rubies the merchants possess and their wares. But all is not well. The party ran into a rather strangely clad warrior. 
In Brigiand's Bay they ran into a warrior dressed in odd almost bio mechanical armor who warned them to stay away from the galleon's merchants in the local tavern. He revealed himself to be a Velderag whose own adventuring party was killed when two of their members were kidnapped & sold into slavery. The merchants had turned on the adventurers when the amount of gold wasn't satisfactory and up to the merchant's standards. 
The Velderag is giving up on his comrades who are as good as dead or worse. But he dragged the party along with him deep into the woods just outside of Brigiand's Bay into the grove of the Sisters of the Great Spider  & the refuge of the spider people.  The player's PC's offered up some of the items they had purchased from the merchants of the black galleon as payment for prophesies. The party is spending the night with the spider people. 

Yes, I'm using a huge number of monsters & such from the Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets blog for our Hyperborea rpg campaign. Frankly I haven't had the time to devote to fleshing it out more. But since we've got a cleric of the spider god in our ranks it was an easy! But what is the  Velderag warrior's connection to the spider people?! And what of the black galleons where will they be going next?! The party is still crazy for the rubies! 

Nightshift Veterans of the Supernatural Wars by Jason Vey & Tim Brannan Rpg & B3 'Palace of the Silver Princess' By Jean Wells & Tom Moldvay OSR Campaign Commentary

 B3 'Palace of the Silver Princess' By Jean Wells & Tom Moldvay has an adventure location lost and frozen in time. Now what would happen if this module echoes its circumstances on our modern Earth?! Can you imagine what might happen as B3 Palace of the Silver Princess's  spell weaves its way towards Earth?! 

 Now let's pick it up with someone possibly one of the player characters being the 'chosen one' ala Nightshift's PC classes. They've been plagued by terrible dreams & nightmares. They are drawn back to Haven  a small pocket dimension plane or demi plane. The waking world & the dream realms were never meant to meet. Chaos storms begin to rage across the Earth and they bring with them all kinds of problems including the rise of the supernaturals. 
The rise of the chaos storms across the Earth brings the monsters from Haven  onto the local time space continuum. And this brings home the fact that this allows the Fey of Haven to walk on our Earth. 

This isn't the first time I've covered this module on this blog. You can find out more here.  The Unreality of the Misty Swamp brings home that all is not right on the demi plane of  Haven. And it well might come down to the wizard of Haven. 
The wizard is someone taking full advantage of the plot using it to establish his own other dimensional domain hellscape. The wizard might be from Hyperborea, the leader of a powerful faction of a  Lovecraftian chaos cult. I'm still tossing this around in my mind but the events of the Palace could recycle themselves over and over again. This makes Haven & its environs a weird pulpy sword & sorcery location with lots of old school potential.

The local supernaturals are going to be dealing with some real hard core fall out from Haven even if they take care of ending the out of time cycle. The story book like feel of  B3 'Palace of the Silver Princess' By Jean Wells & Tom Moldvay hides the deadliness of the module. There far more going on beneath the surface within the module. Because the module situation feels like there's been far more seeded by the wizard & perhaps a cult of chaos. 

OSR Commentary On The Thieves World Companion & OSR Moorcockian Frankenstein Campaign Musings

 

"The Thieves' World series began in 1979 to instant acclaim. Not long after, Chaosium published a boxed Thieves' World roleplaying supplement, which gathered awards and more acclaim. Since the first book hit the newstands, more than 2200 paperback pages and eight additional Thieves' World volumes have been printed - a phenomenon others imitate but cannot duplicate.

Sanctuary, the town too mean to die, has changed a little from the time it first saw print, but many new characters now stride the city's streets, pillage the foolish in its alleys, and connive in its back rooms. Lalo, Ishcade, Roxanne, Niko, Mradhon Vis, The Beysa, Chenaya, Zip, and many more have come to life, and are now included in the Companion's full character stats for the RQ3 and MERP systems.

New essays consider Rankan, Ilsigi, Beysib, and Outsider deities in the light of further tales of Sanctuary, that place which is the funnel of the gods and the eye of the Rankan hurricane. The excellent encounter tables from the Thieves' World box have been revised to reflect later events and personalities, and are presented her in full. There are also floor-by-floor isometrics of the Great Dungeon. Though adjacent to Kitty-Cat's palace, nobody seems to go there. Now you can study its defenses and understand why.

Alone or with the Thieves' World box, the Companion rekindles the fabulous world of Sanctuary - Thieves' World."

Many believe the Thieves World Companion is a disappointment compared to the original box Thieves World box set. And the Thieves World Companion that we're going to be looking at is the first edition which is actually for the Rune Quest third edition rpg system. Rpg net calls it ; " A sort-of supplement to Chaosium's 1981 Thieves' World. This one covers the next four books, #3 to #6, but rather than being fairly generic as the original, it now only supports two rule systems: MERP and RuneQuest. Gods, locations, and characters from the later books are all included." 

The Thieves World Companion updates & sorta of expands on the mythos of Sanctuary in spades according to Wayne's books; ""The Thieves' World stories began in 1979, to instant acclaim. Not long after, Chaosium published a boxed Thieves' World roleplaying supplement which garnered awards and more acclaim. Since the first book hit the newstands, more than 2200 paperback pages and eight additional Thieves' World volumes have been printed - a phenomenon others imitate but cannot duplicate.

Sanctuary, the town too mean to die, has changed little from the time it first saw print, but many new characters now stride the city's streets, pillage the foolish in its alleys, and connive in its back rooms. Lalo, Ischade, Roxanne, Niko, Mradhon Vis, The Beysa, Chenaya, Zip, and many more have come to life, and are now included in the Companion's full character stats for the RQ3 and MERPs systems.

New essays consider Rankan, Ilsigi, Beysib, and Outsider deities in the light of further tales of Sanctuary, that place which is the funnel of the gods and the eye of the Rankan hurricane.

The excellent encounter tables from the Thieves' World box have been revised to reflect later events and personalities, and are presented here in full. There are also floor-by-floor isometrics of the Great Dungeon. Though adjacent to Kitty-Cat's palace, nobody seems to go there. Now you can study its defenses and understand why.

Alone or along with the Thieves' World box, the Companion rekindles the fabulous world of Sanctuary - Thieves' World."

1986 ... Anders Swenson & Steve Perrin & Iron Crown Enterprises & Midkemia Press & Lynn Willis ... 48 pages + fold-out map ... CHAO 2015 ... ISBN 0933635346"

The real on target material in this book is the fact is the fact is that it brings the locations, personalities, etc. of Sanctuary on the timeline of the books.  

The companion puts everything into perspective for Lamentations of the Flame Princess by moving affairs of the city & events forward. The city presented in the campaign setting is no stranger to travelers from across many worlds. This makes the city excellent for adventurers of all stripes. Sanctuary as a whole is a campaign setting that fits the whole theme of Swords & Sorcery quite nicely. 

According to Skiorht from Rpg net; "The new material is quite useful if you want to follow the books, and the map of the keep is very nice. The RQ stats are very good, but the RM/MERP stats are a bit weak"  Which means when it comes to the Stormbringer Rpg 1st edition through third the DM is going to have to do a bit of tweaking. Stormbringer brings home the 'metal' aspect of the PC's in spades. 

Using this opinion as a bench mark then we can assume that the Castles & Crusades stats are also going to be at the fourth level & upper end of sixth for the Thieves World Companion NPC's. The guidelines found in the Castle Keeper's Guide  are also key for this. 

I've used this companion several times with Lamentations of the Flame Princess and Dark Albion but its always been as a city where the PC's have visited as dimensional travelers who have had to watch their step. The fact is guns haven't been that much of an equalizer and in fact there are several NPC in the set that can cause some vicious horror aspects into a campaign of LoFP or Castles & Crusades. 
 I used this companion  with many of the Judge's Guild and Arduin materials switching in and out what I needed and wanted.  If we're going to be using the Thieves World Companion with Black Blade of the Demon King by Ahimsa Kerp,  & Wind Lothamer from Knight Owl Publishing then it becomes a matter of making sure the PC levels match. 

Now  BRUTORZ BILL asked me particulars about our game so let's start with the top. There are eight players currently & this is a game that has continued on from 2018 so the player's PC's are 4th level & up. They've made me drift back to Fantastic Heroes & Witchery with a ton of Castles & Crusades added in with elements of Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg. 

And I worked up several very fast NPC's from the material that is Black Blade of the Demon King by Ahimsa Kerp,  & Wind Lothamer from Knight Owl Publishing. Names, classes,etc. all coming up really soon. 

OSR Retro Review Thieves World Roleplaying Game (Boxed Set) By Greg Stafford For Your Old School Campaigns (Updated)

 

Wayback in the annals of time in the misty years of the Eighties, Chaosium had author Greg Stafford release a glorious box set of the Thieves World sword and sorcery material. Thieves World was completely shared world that worked along a Gygaxian NPC ecology. Wiki has a decent break down of the set up for it;"Thieves' World is a shared world fantasy series created by Robert Lynn Asprin in 1978. The original series comprised twelve anthologies, including stories by such science fiction authors as Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Andrew J. Offutt, C. J. Cherryh, Janet Morris, and Chris Morris." Here's the complete byline for the series of novels:

"Thieves' World is set in the city of Sanctuary, located at the edge of the Rankan Empire. The city is depicted as a place where many are downtrodden and where the invading Rankan gods and the Ilsigi gods they had ousted begin a struggle for primacy. As the series continues, additional invasions occur, and the city is taken over by the snake-worshipping Beysib as the Rankan empire collapses. Over time, a number of the characters in the series are revealed either to be the offspring of or otherwise blessed by various figures in the pantheons of the competing cultures, and they discover or develop various powers as the series progresses"



"Skulk through the night on the heels of Shadowspawn . . . delve into the twisted tunnels of the Purple Mage . . . attend the court (or perhaps the harem) of Prince Kadakithis . . . dodge the keen-eyed Hell Hounds with Jubal's Hawkmasks . . . drink your ale and guard your purse at the Vulgar Unicorn . . . boldly walk the streets of the wildest, most varied, and most downright fascinating city in fantasy literature - SANCTUARY, the Thieves' World! * The Players' Guide to Sanctuary - the creation of Sanctuary; Thud and Blunder, Sanctuary chronology; 'Hakiem' and 'The Hell Hounds'; a stroll through the city; a captured llsigi document; magic, working ladies, and oaths; glossary /pronunciation guide; a map of the known world; a city map. * The Game Master's Guide to Sanctuary - palm-greasing and arrest procedures; a secret Carronnian report; city gods and religions; main city encounters; encounters for the Jewelers' Quarter, Processional, and Westside; 18 tables of specific encounters, descriptions/encounters for The Maze, Bazaar, Street of Red Lanterns, Downwind; business generators and tables by area; 6 area maps, 15 floorplans of typical buildings (including the Vulgar Unicorn); scenario suggestions. * The Personalities of Sanctuary - story/character index; system notes as applicable and character stats for 9 RPG systems (minimum of twenty characters each, each system divided to Prince and Retinue. Transients, and Residents); general descriptions of other characters. * Wall Map of Sanctuary. Referee Maps of The Maze, The Maze underground."



Back in 1981 Chaosium published one of the most under rated box sets ever to come out. It had everything you the dungeon master could want! "The Thieves' World Complete Sanctuary Adventure Pack is a boxed set published by Chaosium in 1981, containing: 1) The Player's Guide to Sanctuary; 2) The Gamemaster's Guide to Sanctuary; 3) Personalities of Sanctuary; 4) Map of Sanctuary; 5) Map of the Maze; 6) Map of the Maze Underground"  Did I also happen to mention it was cross compatible with AD&D first edition, Stormbringer, Tunnels and Trolls, Runequest and many others? No? Well no this box set doesn't get mentioned too much because it was a highly successful in my neck of the woods so much so that it spawned a companion in eighty six.


""The Thieves' World stories began in 1979, to instant acclaim. Not long after, Chaosium published a boxed Thieves' World roleplaying supplement which garnered awards and more acclaim. Since the first book hit the newstands, more than 2200 paperback pages and eight additional Thieves' World volumes have been printed - a phenomenon others imitate but cannot duplicate. Sanctuary, the town too mean to die, has changed little from the time it first saw print, but many new characters now stride the city's streets, pillage the foolish in its alleys, and connive in its back rooms. Lalo, Ischade, Roxanne, Niko, Mradhon Vis, The Beysa, Chenaya, Zip, and many more have come to life, and are now included in the Companion's full character stats for the RQ3 and MERPs systems. New essays consider Rankan, Ilsigi, Beysib, and Outsider deities in the light of further tales of Sanctuary, that place which is the funnel of the gods and the eye of the Rankan hurricane. The excellent encounter tables from the Thieves' World box have been revised to reflect later events and personalities, and are presented here in full. There are also floor-by-floor isometrics of the Great Dungeon. Though adjacent to Kitty-Cat's palace, nobody seems to go there. Now you can study its defenses and understand why. Alone or along with the Thieves' World box, the Companion rekindles the fabulous world of Sanctuary - Thieves' World."" So could the material in these box sets still be used today? Guess what they are! Many of the Connecticut dungeon masters that I know never gave this material up at all and went on to use it for many games including Traveler. Yes there was a conversion for that game already worked into the box set. You got stats and work ups for of such characters as;
* Shadowspawn- a master thief that finds himself in the middle of a web meant to catch another...
* Prince Kadakithis- the brother to the emperor he is a political threat so he has been sent to San to bring order, or to meet a more gruesome end...
* Myrtis- the most powerful and beautiful madam in Thieves' World she will do whatever it takes to protect her girls and their way of life, even if that means bargaining away a bit of her soul...

I've used this box set several times with Lamentations of the Flame Princess and Dark Albion but its always been as a place where the PC's have visited as dimensional travelers who have had to watch their step. The fact is guns haven't been that much of an equalizer and in fact there are several things in the set that can cause some vicious horror aspects into a campaign of LoFP.




You got a ton of material that could be inserted into many old school sword and sorcery  campaigns and would be a perfect addition into an Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea campaign. There would be a bit of  twisting and converting but this material would fit  in spades. This comes from another time before Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was so  controlled. The spirit of these earlier styles of games is evident throughout the box set and you have to give a bit of respect for the editing slight of hand that went into many of the NPC's and descriptions in this box set. Is it still useful? Well it most certainly is and the material is a bit dated though because portions of the shared world anthology have moved on. That being said there was far more sense of fun and vile purpose about this series of books then say Game Of Thrones. And Thieves World could easily be converted over to the Castles & Crusades system making an excellent basis for a C&C campaign. 

Many of the authors were from the foundations of the sword and sorcery literary movement in the Sixties and Seventies so there was whole cloth feel to this box set as well as some of the products in the line. I used this box set with many of the Judge's Guild and Arduin materials switching in and out what I needed and wanted. The city of Sancutary could easily be ported into a region of inner Hyperborea or even better used on its own and used as a location that the PC's could potentially visit.

Retro Review of X6 Quagmire! By Merle M. Rasmussen For Expert Dungeons and Dragons & Your Old School Campaigns

 Swamp creatures! They surround you now as you move slowly through the gurgling muck. How will you reach Quagmire now? Each day, the hungry sea swallows more of the ancient port city. A fierce fever ravages its people, and now - these foul monsters! Their beady eyes glimmer from deep within the tangled vines.

Are these the creatures that have blockaded the city, turning away the ships that are the city's lifeline? Are these the scum that are starving the people of Quagmire, threatening an entire race with extinction? These creeps? Let's clean this jungle out!


You Can Grab It Here

 Lately with the retro reviews I've been indulging quite a few of my friends and I decided to return to one of my favorite mid level Dungeons and Dragons Expert modules. X6: "Quagmire!" (1984), by Merle M. Rasmussen is a pulpy and dark roving look into the heart of a sinking bug infested hell hole of a swamp that features some very in depth exploration of some of the lowest recesses of Mystara. "The characters must travel through a monster-infested swamp to get to the city, which is being slowly swallowed into the sea.^[2] Quagmire is a whelk-shaped "spiral city", built by a dead race in the Serpent Peninsula", yeah at least that's the break down according to Wiki.  What X6 actually does in solid terms is to create a very dangerous and deadly intense wilderness crawl with a viable ecosystem, rules on disease, complete environment crawl through on every level. That's exactly what X6 does in spades. This is a damn fine module to use and download.


The real secret to X6 Quagmire! is the fact that half of the adventure is taken up by wilderness crawling and the second half is the shell city. The adventure also includes new magic items and a special, expanded monsters section many of which are available in a wide variety of retroclone systems including Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. I've used X6 Quagmire to introduce the Picts from AS&SH more then a few times now using Robert Howard's Serpent Men and Lovecraft's Lizard men using geological and ecological slow wars against one another. Quagmire presents a perfect city to introduce shadow half serpent men into the mix as NPC allies and antagonists. Realms of Crawling Chaos from Goblinoid Games works quite well to back this sort of an adventure up with both Lovecraftian PC races and optional antagonists. Deep One Hybrid fighters and thieves can help with many of the incredibly intensive underwater encounters and monsters.


As I said the Shell city was the real center piece of this adventure and is a perfect place to encounter some of the incredibly dangerous and horrid aspects of the serpent men of Lovecraft and Robert Howard. A recent piece of OSR material that can help with to flesh out the development of the serpent men's religion to some of Quagmire!'s NPC's is Obscene Serpent Religion From  Neoplastic Press

The reason for all of this dungeon master slight of hand is so that the Spiral City can be fleshed out with a solid Lovecraftian background to fit straight right into a sword and sorcery setting with little issue. It also helps to solidify the other worldly quality of X6 which is present in my opinion throughout the module.There are several real world swamplands that can easily take the place of the X6 environs, these would be perfect stands in for using Quagmire with either Dark Albion or Lamentations of the Flame Princess in the 1500 or 1600's. Another possibility is to send the characters into another epoch entirely of Earth during one of Lovecraft's many world cycles with the mechanism to return them to the campaign present in the spiral city. Many of the monsters, treasures, and game elements are very dark and dangerous perfect suited into Lamentations style games!

Because of the very nature of X6 a dungeon master could expand it into a complete mini campaign and really expand it as they want. This DYI aspect of many of the early modules was an excellent selling point for me. Look at the material here; "The wilderness of "Quagmire!" includes a pair of large hex maps; 17 location-keyed encounters; an additional 25 encounters that can be placed as desired upon appropriate terrain; multiple wandering monster tables; and even some notes on weather. All told, the wilderness takes up somewhere more than half of the adventure, a fact that's unusual even for Expert-level adventures."  That's what makes this an excellent piece of OSR fodder now. The adventure material isn't all that well known today and just about anything can be placed within the bounds of Quagmire!

Retro Review N3 Destiny of Kings By Stephen Bourne For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition And Your Old School Campaigns

"When Treason Walks the Land...

Trouble stirs in Dunador! The King lies dead of a wound received during a hunting expedition. His brother, Lord Edrin, challenges the rightful Crown Prince, a half-trained young man named Edmund, for possession of the throne while Edmund travels on a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Nevron. Forces throughout the kingdom vie for control of the realm. Can the player characters find the Crown Prince and protect him from the treacherous forces at large in Dunador?"
Given the almost Hamlet style of sword and sorcery politics N3 Destiny of Kings isn't the first choice that leaps to mind. But there are reasons why this Advanced Dungeons and Dragons module is a perfect fit besides cross compatible old school systems. Stephen Bourne wrote this module back in '86 and we were well on our way towards far more villina corporate D&D back then. N3 out of the 'N' series is one of the best of the bunch, this is a module I've had some experience with as both a player and DM. This is the third in the novice series and one of the better adventures for PC's on the one through fourth levels, that being said this is an adventure for the more experienced players. Basically this adventure takes the PC's out of the dungeon and places them into the back end of a royal plot of assassination and intrigue with monsters.

GRAB IT HERE

 This module can be thought of as one part hamlet, two parts AD&D, and a whole ton of intrigue revolving around plot.  The PC's must find the prince of Dunador and return him home safely. Elements of investigation and detective work with a light smattering of wilderness adventure make this a solid AD&D module but it can be easily customized to suit a sword and sorcery campaign such as Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Marvel Conan from the Seventies has a tradition of using King Conan for a great deal of its plots and political maneuverings. We saw this in the Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties. By using this as a base Destiny of Kings can easily be back slotted into any number of game campaigns. The maps alone are worth the price of entry.  Given the plot this module could be placed right within the central parts of Hyperborea.

 Given the Byzantine structure of politics in Dark Albion and Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Destiny of Kings has some very dark points behind it that can easily be adapted into the frame work of a Shakespearean adventure. It has an excellent castle ambush within its frame work. It is however like many Eighties adventures from the late Eighties heavy on plot. Not that this has ever stopped me at all from gutting using and folding its systems to suit my needs. This module gets the PC's out of the dungeon into the back end of deep court politics and  it's crappy to prepare, and not a very good story, unless you spice it up. Once this is done then the module shines through. I've taken Destiny of Kings routed out its back plot and transported it into Romanian and Russian setting where it worked as advertised. Given the backstabbing, murdering, poisoning, and other political frame work that surrounds Hyperborean politics, Destiny is a good mirror to use when creating a structure for your royal families in AS&SH.  There are several reasons why this toybox should be used for working through old school campaigns. One this is believe it or not a good primer and introduction  for 1st AD&D edition domain play to PC's and the importance of dealing with royals throughout a sword and sorcery campaign.  Because of the investigation and dealing with wilderness outside of the dungeon the central heart of this module is one part Arthurian mini campaign and two parts Hamlet style adventure in the heart of the royal politic.
"King Halfred of Dunador has died in a mysterious accident. As the heir has disappeared, the wicked Lord Edrin intends to seize the throne. Hollend, head of the Royal Council, asks the player characters to seek out the missing Prince. The characters must contend with scheming Dukes, raiders and corpses as they trace the pilgrimage the Prince took before the King's death. They must uncover and rectify ignoble deeds, bringing traitors to justice" Basically plots within pulpy plots. Which brings this image to mind.

Not only are your PC's in the middle of all of royal political intrigue their center stage and in Destiny of Kings the protection that a domain offers is made really evident because of a party's numbers game. The PC's as they raise in levels suddenly becomes a far more creditable threat and a danger to other minor royals around them.  Thus Destiny of Kings can actually serve as a stepping stone within a sword and sorcery campaign as a leg up onto the road of domain play. This makes this a module that can be used for an Adventurer, Conqueror, King style of play within an old school gaming system or retroclone rpg.

 Here's a bit from Wiki on the contents;  "N3 Destiny of Kings was published by TSR in 1986, as a 32-page booklet with an outer folder.^[1] The module was written by Stephen Bourne, with cover art by Keith Parkinson and interior art by James Roslof.^[3] 
The module includes a fold-out cover including a color area map.^{[2]"   Because of the fact that its not that well known the module is easily available on ebay and other outlets and can pack a punch to surprise players. Spoilers ahead so consider yourselves warned. Here's a quick wiki overview " In Destiny of Kings, an assassin kills the King of Andevar, and the King's brother seizes power. A loyal retainer hires the player characters to find the missing prince, who is held by agents of the usurper. They are charged with bringing him back to claim the throne.The module includes descriptions of a citadel, a castle, an abbey and an inn."  This is not a well known module and its one that can be sprung on players, it is in my mind in line with some of the material of Marvel  Conan style play by default but with a bit of work can work with other old school systems.}