OSR Review & Commentary On Ashen Void By Albert Rakowski From Underworld Kingdoms For Your Old School Fantasy or Science Fantasy Campaigns

 "Ashen Void - a system-neutral Dark Fantasy campaign setting."

"Welcome to the arid, mysterious world plagued by trans-planar monsters known as the Angels. You won't find any rules here, nor any concrete information that must be used. Everything is presented in form of lists and random tables, to help you flesh out your own version of the world - or to allow smooth transplantation of ideas to your game."

Ashen Void is twisted in all of the right ways, this is a stat free & totally random set of tables about a world plagued with trans-planar monsters known as the Angels. Ashen Void is a hard one to pin down as this is a totally free & randomly generated world with tables dealing with everything from giants, ruins, wastelands, towns, etc. all totally random. And there are so many random tables but this is a good thing & we'll get to that. Albert has a long history with the OSR through his World of Ortix blog here. 
There is so much A.I. generated artwork by Albert Rakowski that its a bit distractiong at times. Yes, believe me I get the trend with the  Mork Borg rpg setting up the background artwork & the distracting fonts. Fortunately there's very little of that in Ashen Void.  Instead in Ashen Void we get random tables to generate entire campaign evirons, dungeons, monsters, and much more. This customization of randomness is going to keep players on their toes. 
And this consistant with  random table after table of well everything in Ashen Void & this is done on purpose according to the author's introduction; "In this book you will f ind the outline of a setting that has been growing in my mind for the last few years. Or maybe even longer, as it began somewhere between 2011 and 2013. All rules are presented in a very vague way to make the game as system neutral as possible. They should be compatible with virtually any OSR ruleset. Nothing that is described here should be treated as an element necessary for the setting’s coherence. That’s because nothing is coherent here - it’s just a toolkit for you to use, either to include in your own campaign" 
And what a tool kit! Ashen Void does a Lot of the heavy lifting for the DM to create their own OSR or Science Fantasy setting from scratch. With a handful of dice & Ashen Void the DM can create world after world of good solid gaming material from the ether of imagination. 
In eighty eight pages Ashen Void manages to accomplish campaign material that other supplements take page after page to explain. And it's all at the DM's whim. All in all it's really hard to put a rating on Ashen Void because of what it randomly does & how it does it. But Ashen Void is a solid addition to a DM's tool kit regardless of their genre of choice. Ashen Void fits the OSR very well with it being perfect for Mutant Future, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Mork Borg, or any other of the original OSR titles. It would also be perfect for orignal Dungeons & Dragons. 
Ashen Void is perfect as a campaign setting for any 2d6 rpg and I'm looking at any of the Cepheus Engine games here. This is especially true of Sword of Cepheus, Cepheus lite, Barbaric, or any of the other 2d6 powered system. 

Ashen Void By Albert Rakowski From Underworld Kingdoms For Your Old School Fantasy or Science Fantasy Campaigns Is Available Here 

Getting A More Lovecraftian Campaign Spin On Leigh Brackett's 'Shadow Over Mars'

" Rick Urquhart was going to conquer the turmoil-ridden planet of Mars. He was penniless and unknown, but there could be no doubt that he would rule the Red Planet-the ancient Martian mystic had made the prophecy, there was no way fate could cheat him of his prize.. "

When we begin looking into the lovely work of the far future of  the Terran Exploitation Company within the bounds of Startling Stories v11n02 [1944-Fall]'s Leigh Brackett's Shadow over Mars. Three things become evident. The Terran Exploitation Company are complete & utter bastards exploiting the ancient Martian races. This corporation is running absolutely scared & they have no idea of the extent of the Martian race's artifcial nature. All of this goes back to my original AS&SH campaign notes from Thursday, August 3, 2017 here on the blog. 

You can download
& read 'The Shadow Over Mars' Right Over Here. 

This one of Brackett's first Martian novels & you can see the plight of the Martians likened to the American Indians in the United States West. Brackett would go on to write a ton of Pulp Westerns. Brackett's Shadow over Mars brings home the fact that there's been race after race that goes back eons on the Red Planet. Her Martians fit John Carter into a pocket of the Martian royalty. Brackett's Martians are thieves, wizards, warriors, & the alleyway runners of an exploited planet. And their fighting for their very existence. 
Mars exploits the hard bitten bastards as her saviors making it a perfect canvas for a party of adventurers. Especially those of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The Hyperboreans have their own part to play in the transformation of the solar system. 
The Terran Exploitation Company seems almost like the 'Company' of the classic 70's film Alien. Out to exploit the conquered planet at any means necessary but Mars has other plans. At some far distant point in the future of Old Earth the Hyperboreans returned according to Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea cycle & his Zothique cycles.

The humans of 'Shadow Over Mars' are solidly within the sleazy vein of Martian stories, the grungy New Town section with its stripper Venusian girls, 3-D cinemas, and various drug parlors are the perfect metaphor of the Earthman's coming to Mars.  The Terran Exploitation Company knows that their time is almost up & they are scrambling to get all they can outta of Mars as fast as possible. They are perfect rpg fodder to use Night Owl Workshop's Colonial Troopers to stand in as their forces. Mars is not going to give up all of its secrets easily. 

The Terran Exploitation Company knows that when the stars are right then Clark Ashon Smith's  Vulthoom  an alien 'god' (plant like) is going to awaken & then every Terran on Mars is deep trouble. They want to keep the peace with the current crop of Martians but when the new cycle begins they figure they can retreat back to Earth. But can they really?! 

Updated & Expanded The Starry Wisdom Cult Faction Of Neo England For Your Old School Campaigns

 

The Cult  of Starry Wisdom sect has risen in power in the world of  2889 throughout Neo England, this cult boasts over twenty thousand members from all strait of society. Their worship of a particularly loathsome aspect of Nyarlathotep, the so called Haunter In Dark who is tied to the occult artifact the  Shining Trapezohedron. According to the ancient scrolls and occult grimoires;

   The Shining Trapezohedron was discovered in Egyptian ruins, in a box of alien construction, by Professor Enoch Bowen before he returned to Providence in 1844. Members of the Church of Starry Wisdom in Providence would awaken the Haunter of the Dark, an avatar of Nyarlathotep, by gazing into the glowing crystal. Summoned from the black gulfs of chaos, this being could show other worlds, other galaxies, and the secrets of arcane and paradoxical knowledge; but he demanded monstrous sacrifices, hinted at by disfigured skeletons that were later found in the church. The Haunter of the Dark was banished by light and could not cross a lighted area.

The Shining Trapezohedron is a window into all of time, space, and dimensions. Those exposed to its weird and dangerous energies as well as those of its master will sport some type of weird mutation after 1d10 days. The newest incarnation of the Starry Wisdom Cult operates out of the ruins of Providence Rhode Island. And has infiltrated Neo England society at all levels. They operate as a fifth column within  the post apocalyptic societies to bring about the conditions for when the stars are right for the return of their master. Villages, lone settlements and the travelers  are slaughtered and disappear in the night. The corpses are found weeks and sometimes months latter with weird acidic burns on the corpse's rotting flesh.
They are often 3rd level fighters of incredible zeal and weird faith who are fanatical in their beliefs of their demonic alien god. They are lead by occultists or black wizards of 4th level or better. These expendable members of the cult are often used in operations of terror and maximum chaos to cause as much carnage as possible. There is a 60% chance of the cult's agents possessing a weird super science device, energy weapons  or artifact for the slaughter of innocents. Another faction of the cult is the 'hooded hexmen' a gang of  8th level insane super scientists who often use 'occult tech' devices to steal or transfer mutations or powers from mutants, adventurers, and others to give their operatives advantages in battle or on missions. The hexmen are particularly hated by mutant communities and their operatives ,agents, etc have been found hung from trees as warnings to others. When they've rarely been caught.

Lodges of the Cult of Starry Wisdom operate in small serpentine cell fashion, often under the guise of fraternal organizations or seemingly innocent occult groups, only the inner core members are aware of the group's true missions. These of course are expendable and true lodges keep an eye and maintain their own flocks. The Starry Wisdom Cult also trains its operatives in several ancient esoteric combat roles to be better instruments of terror. These operatives are often used as scouts or as infiltrators within isolated communities which are later attacked. These nick named scary monks have been used for centuries as isolated travelers, lone agents and instruments of terror often ahead of the larger cults. 

The cult of Starry Wisdom often dupes adventurers into working for them recovering certain forbidden or lost relics from ruins, military installations, dimensional zones or other wasteland locations. Many times this patronage is through false or third parties. After several jobs are done the cult removes its expendable asset in the form of a party of adventurers. The Cult of Starry Wisdom remains at best mysterious, dangerous, and something only rumored or whispered about and at worst one of the most insidious threats that adventurers can face.

 
The  cult of Starry Wisdom is not above using Quantum crypto time travel techniques to manipulate various alternative history & Earth time lines across the planes to sow confusion & utter chaos. Their occultists & agents are right now moving among various theaters of Europe causing untold misery & horror. These vile villains are harnessing the power of the Cha'alt wave to unleash dangerous demons & creatures in the back alleys of New York City. When will the horror end?! 

The House of Fenwick's Purveyors of Fine Artifacts & Forbidden Objects & Machines Of The Lesser Machine Plane - Two OSR Campaign Factions For Your Old School & Retroclone Games

 

 Half way between several Heavens, an alternatively modern  Hell or two, & around the corner from a deserted Limbo is The House of Fenwicks. Fenwick's are the purveyors of fine artifacts, antiques, & forbidden objects. Operating since the beginning of time or the 12th century of yesteryear, Fenwicks are the very best at acquiring, gathering, & selling artifacts of an arcane nature. These incredible merchants reside on a mini plane ready to do business at the drop a hat.

They employ only the very best adventurers, scientists, merchants, & traders to act as their agents. They move throughout the planes buying, selling, stealing, & setting up shop so that others might have the tools of the adventuring trade they need.

Fenwick's has a unique set of mini planar storage units that house thousands of units in a single dimension. These millions of units are put into operation once a god, devil, lich, or other threat is taken down. They are the ones to call to move in & take possession of the loot.

Random Evalution table 1d10 

1. I'm so sorry but the market will not bare this artifact its simply out of fashion right now 40% mark down from the value. 
2. Fantastic we are looking for those 15% up sell from market value. 
3. Those are dangerous & unstable we can't use those. 
4. That item is exactly the sort of thing I've got a client for I'll give you 400 gold pieces for it.
5. The cost of doing business has gone up. We'll give you 10% less for that. 
6. This is a fake, I'll not pay a penny over 100 gold pieces 
7. This isn't a real one, & besides its only has 3 charges left 
8. Are you sure that you want to sell that? I can get you a good price at 10% of the list 
9. That's a real one for sure 20% of market value 
10. The god, demon is sure to come after you. Here's 50 gold pieces & we'll take care of your funeral arrangement 

 Fenwick's moves through out the planes & yet who or what runs the organization is a mystery. There are those who have broken into their dimensional ware houses only to be found buried under the pop cultural debris of a thousand worlds. They've been drained dry & their eye sockets empty!

There is a 40% that they may have a given item & that they are willing to sell it! More often then not favors & errands are expected for items instead. These favors can be called in weeks, months, even years later!

A random encounter listing for objects in Fenwicks 1d10 

1. A bottle of tears of an innocent man - The bottle slowly cries to itself at night but an application of the stuff will keep an angel, devil, or demon at bay for 1d6 rounds. 8 applications 
2. The dram of moon beams - This jar of moon beams will allow one to woo the girl or guy of their dreams. The stuff will subject the person to lycanthropy though unless a saving throw is made! 
3. Prism of  A God's Light - This piece of glass shows things & objects as they really are. Illusions & the like are disbelieved with a +1 on all rolls but it really does show how things are fascinating really. A successful saving throw might make you look away but why not another peak? 
4. Statue of Bast - This statue animates at night & will act as a pet & companion but wants to be fed a spell every night. The cat must report to the goddess but what does in report? 
5. Wand of Indecision - 5 charge want that makes any one hit not sure what do next for 1d4 rounds. What was it we were doing? 
6. The Flesh Magazine -  A magazine of sleaze, smut, & spells of living flesh that whispers forbidden spells to the owner. 1d4 spells every 1d6 days unless it doesn't feel like talking 
7. The Baubles of  Ra - A small orb no bigger then 2 inches round that shows a sunny day in a desert. If smashed does 1d6 points of damage to the target. Very rare because there is a 10 % of summoning the god himself 
8. The scales of  Namor - Named after some ancient fish god, these scales weigh the courage of anyone standing near them. Supposedly used to choose a champion but also work well under water. 
9. The watch of  Father Time- An ancient time piece created by a super hero from some alternative universe. Acts as a hold spell each time it is used. Three charges left 
10. The universal remote - Broken! 

Rates & such
  

Fenwicks always acts through its agents traveling the planes. They will hire adventurers in the local currency at  10 % normal rates. The job must be completed & they will cover funeral costs but never resurrection or the like. They pay on time & any double crosses will dealt with swiftly & without mercy! 

 

Be sure to visit your local Fenwick's today for the best deals on magic swords, wands, & other  objects of the forbidden! 

Machines Of The Lesser Machine Plane

The Astronaut cult of  Machine Order are granted certain incredible devices from within the well ordered trans hyper spaces between the plane itself . These devices are granted & created from within the body of the servants of the Great Ones. The following is a simple overview of the vast selection of items available to its worshipers & attendants:

The Great Tool - A leg/staff from one of the servitors of  Order & the great algorithm. This staff is capable of reweaving minor rends in the greater reality of an object. Those with this item are able to pin point the weaknesses in arguments, fights, & many social situations with a successful Charisma roll. The staff will always show the way to the owner's heart's desire. It will add +2 to any repair rolls as the staff breaks down into a wide array of 1d8 tools that are needed for that repair. The staff will manufacture many smaller parts for said repairs as well as long as the part doesn't exceed 12 inches long. Finally the staff acts as a +1 weapon against the servants of misrule & madness.

The Watch Of Progress - This instrument is capable of measuring the subtle interactions of life. The dreams of prosperity to the chances of success. This jeweled piece of crystallized order has within its gears a spirit of greater law. Anyone wearing this time piece will always be on time & it allows one to add +2 to to their charisma in matters of finance, love, & many other endeavors. There is a down side as well, the piece must be feed on the user's dreams once a month. The person will feel drained & unable to use his super science power s for one solid week.

The Tarot of  The Justice Maker  -This incredible stack of cards are part of the insignia of the Justice Maker of Order. These cards show the shortest, most direct, & right course of action to the balance of the universe. The tarot will draw one card itself when asked & expand into a suit of cards in three dimensions as a moving hologram. Each card is razor sharp & can do 1d6 points of damage to anyone who miss handles the cards or stands in the way of the card's "owner" The cards seek to address the wrongs committed within a 50 mile range of the person holding them. They will compel the owner to seek the wrong out & will redress it with their help.

The Hang Man's Wound - A mark given to especially favored servants of  order in the form of a rope burn around the neck. This burn is made by the knotted noose of a greater servitor & gives the person receiving it several super science powers:

• Empathy
• Danger Sense 
• True Sight 
• Z-ray 
• The Gripping Hand Of Justice -The person is able to at a range of 20 feet make attack that does 1d6 points of damage as the person's  planar life essence is squeezed. This is only done to those who have committed heinous acts against order & justice. 

The Lesser Mechanism- The ultimate weapon of order this strange device can look like any number of super science mechanisms. The machine itself is actually a planar spirit of order given form. It may sit quietly until it detects a rend in the fabric of reality or a creature of misrule or madness. Then it will change form into a fully formed giant scorpion of spun glass & hate.
Large

No. Enc.: 1
Alignment: Neutral (Inimical)
Move: 120'(40’)
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: 3
Damage: 1d8 (plus special)
Morale: 8

The pencers each do 1d8 points of damage. The sting of this creature does 1d8 but also injects a venom which will force a victim to become ordered within its reality. This often will cause the death of the creature in question unless a save vs death is made. The victim will seem less live, listless, & slightly out of sink with the rest of reality.
These mechanisms are often seen as a curse by their owners as they murmur & sing of the perfect waters of order & the boundless joys of reason. The mechanisms are often seen as the ultimate in perfection & unity by certain cults. They are often summoned at great expense as the cults have to burn cursed spell books & artifacts of chaos to summon these creatures to prove their devote to the lords of order themselves.

One of my favorite OD&D villains - The Egg of Coot For Your Old School Campaign

 

Today on the blog a quick update & expansion from a blog entry that appeared in 2016. Now on with the show. 

The Egg of Coot is describe as;"Some scholars believe that it is one of the remaining servitors of the Outer Beings. In the Age of Blackmoor, these servitors are referred to as Elder Demons, and once dominated the entire continent. The Egg appears as a huge globe of mossy grey flesh and eyeballs and mouths randomly scattered across the slimy surface. The Egg is buried deep under ground and almost never moves. There are however tunnels leading to it which are used by its Keepers to contact and preserve the Egg. Its Spawn is of similar appearance. The Spawn of Coot has a relationship to the Egg as between Trees of Life and their Mother Trees. "

There are evils of the worlds of D&D and then there's the iconic, egotistical, weird, & downright nasty Egg of Coot. This thing has been around since the dawn of the original  Blackmoor campaign & its minions have cost me more then one PC over the years. My buddy Larry created adventures based on the mock up covers of Havard featured in this article.

Forget Strahd von Zarovich or any of the other iconic TSR era vile villains; 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.

 Larry grabbed some of the concepts that Havard put out & we began to face down some of the ill breeded horrors that came from the weirdness of the egg.This was  after the appearance of one of the Empire's scout ships as a part of a dungeon that our party of adventurers were exploring.

What really got Larry stirring was when I brought over my copy of Astonishing Sorcerers and Swordsmen of Hyperborea (which is now counting down three or less hours for the second edition). The egg's minions began to appear popping up across the planes in Larry's, Steven's campaigns, and Peter's campaign all of them looking for pockets of caches of lost Beagle & Warden interstellar technology. The Egg was a completely evil entity that mocked the players at every turn with off color graffiti & all kinds of evil humor. The Egg is a hate of old times that has come down from the very beginning of D&D continues its evil to this day. The thing that it is insidious is the fact that in each & every Blackmoor city, settlement, and village is an agent of the Egg of Coot exists


Havard actually has a breakdown of the Blackmoor technology; he's done a really good job of dealing with some of the OD&D Beagle technology on his own website.

The sci fi technology ties back into the Temple of the Frog & it's so iconic for me.
"The Egg is the definition of Evil. It is highly intelligent and communicates with its fanatical followers through Telepathy. " You don't want to encounter its evil if it can be dangerous & very devious in its machinations."

The Egg's evil is completely behind the Temple of the Frog & has ties now to some of the events of today's Dark Albion game (a blog entry for another time). The game I played today has a deep connection to Return to the Temple of the Frog for third edition AD&D.   
The science fantasy aspect of the Egg of Croot is one of the iconic back bones of the Blackmoor setting. These seem to follow in the wake of the appearance of the Egg of Coot. There are several science fantasy devices that I came across today.

There is a really nice OD&D resource that Havard designed that's available through the Vaults of Pandius website. This has all of the background that a dungeon master needs to introduce the Egg of Coot into their own games. There are also several articles that have more technological artifacts from Bloormoor. These include The Technological Battlefield by James Ruhland from the Mystara Mailing List posted 25 December 1999.Additional tech weapons by Alex Benson, from the Mystara Mailing List posted 6 December 1999.
  & Sample tech weapons by Rob, from the Mystara Mailing List posted 3 December 1999.  As well as the Alien Devices from Blackmoor by Dave L. Arneson and David J. Ritchie, from DA3 City of the Gods.
Finally there's the light sabre rules that S.Lentz made; Light Sabre by S. Lentz, from the Mystara Mailing List posted 7 September 1999.



Note because the Egg of Coot is a higher dimensional being it has access to a wide variety of campaign settings including OSR & old school ones such as Greyhawk, Godbound/Cha'alt Earth, & even Cha'alt itself. Is the  Egg more powerful then the gods or Mystara's immortals?! No but it is a very definitive Lovecraftian menace across a wide variety of spectrum. 

 

The Egg has been imprisoned for eons & is using whatever means it can to expand its reach across the planes. This is one of the reasons that the other night when speaking with players for Castles & Crusades there was speculation about the fact that they were worried that the egg might show up again?! 

The Planar Macro Parasite - Revised & Revisited For Your Old School Space Campaign

“	If I was wealthy I'd never do anything but poke around in ruined cities all over the world - and probably get snake-bit.	”
	— Letter to H. P. Lovecraft, 1931

Frequency: Rare 
No. Enc.: 1d6
Alignment:Inimical
Move: 120'(40’)
Armor Class: 6
Intelligence: Nil
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4 (plus special)
Morale: 6
Size: Small to Medium 

Psionic ability:Nil 
Attack/Defense modes:- 


A parasitic worm often found between the eddies of subspace where they lurk waiting for a passing object to move through. These vile creatures exist in at least 4 different planes of existence at the same moment. The minute that they detect a ship or traveler moving through their strange angles of subspace they are drawn to the life energy of the target. The victim must make a  saving throw vs poison or fall over unconscious as the parasite begins to feed on the life force of the victim. More parasites will be called to the feast as the victim's life ebbs away from the star fish like feeding mechanism of the parasite. Seen with the naked astral eye the parasite looks like a cross between an overly large star fish & a dead flat worm left in slime for a time. These creatures are often found in the war torn ruins of space battles. Sometimes an egg packet of a macro parasite is left behind in hyper space or the astral plane. These eggs will attach themselves to a host if the host doesn't save vs death. The eggs will burst from the host's stomach in a splattering of 1d6 planar macro larval. The macro planar parasite is often  drawn to the quantum flux of hyperspace jumps & faster then light drive leavings. A 'cure light wounds' spell will stop an infection of these creatures if the eggs are caught early enough.Usually within the first 1d4 days of initial infection. 
Only medical super science can overcome a late stage  infection of these creatures. They are often seen growing to about a 2 foot length after a recent feeding. These creatures can be summoned to the prime plane by a standard summon monster spell if the black magus uses the inverted Voorish sign. Black magus often summon a small swarm of planar macro parasites to make the 'black wine of the void' from the pickled remains of these least demonlettes. The black wine can be drunk & a save vs poison must be made failure & the magus's mind floats in the black void between realities for 1d4 months. Success & the magus may merge with a non sanity shattering aspect  his or her demonic or infernal god head there by gaining 1d5 spells that can be slotted at anytime.
  If the fool is under the influence of a blank cyberspell  while drinking the wine he or she can create a spell scroll regardless of level through self possession &  automatic writing. This is not without danger as these scrolls often have 'keys of the damned' woven into them. Random demonic summonings have occurred when these spells are read or cast. But this is chance the magus takes when the black wine is drunk & the rites of the planar macro parasites are used. 

1d6 Random Negative Planar Entities Encounter Table For Your Old School Campaigns

They're names are legion, they are all that remains once Chaos has had its way with men and near men's souls. Sometimes these things find their way back into our reality, a bit of space time flotsam and jetsam that continues to circle the drain of entropy and reality. Often times these horror escape from the Outer Darkness, the Abyss, or other place oozing their way between the cracks of our world. The damned find their way shadowing our world and hungering for the lives that we lead here are all that remains of those who have slipped their bounds and escaped into the world of the living once again. Often times an angel of Death or a bailiff from The Beyond comes to fetch these creatures back to the border lands again. But this can take months, sometimes adventurers and freebooters are the best hope against such entities.

1d6 Random Negative Planar Entities Encounter Table

1. This robed entity only half exists in your world and the smell of sulfur as well as damnation cling to its weirdly seen frame. The thing flashes a bit of a half wind blown face whose eyes are pits into the deepest abyss at the end of the universe and the thing is hungry for your soul. Only silver or a laser sword may harm it. Because of its half real nature this horror can't be turned.  Only destruction assures its hunger will be destroyed.
2. Once the leader of a cult of Chaos this entity knows 1d4  spells of 3rd level but can not remember its name or purpose in existence. Still it serves its ancient demon god masters murmuring their praises even as it pathetically pulls itself along the ground leaving an ectoplasm slime trail of its own digestive juices. 
3. This collection of 1d4 damned souls were gossips who ruined many a man's reputation in life, in death and change their minds have been scrubbed clean by the hellish winds of eternity.  They're non existent tongues murmur with the forbidden gossip of ages long forgotten there is a 20% of them dropping some minor cosmic truth otherwise they are in your business spreading lies about you and your lives. There is a 4% chance that these things may now a spell or two of 2nd level and they love to open with magick missile. 
4. These pathetic and slightly strange injured damned who seem to follow PC's and manifest at the most inopportune times. The half charred corpse thing will shift through realities and stalk PC's, always on the look out for fresh meat and they've somehow latched on to your party and will follow at a 100 yard radius. They also steal small objects such as keys, telekinesis enables them to move small things at a 60 yard radius. They seek to spread their own brand of depression, apathy, and horror in the face of entropy. These horrors have weird hooks for hands. 
5. Weird gas mask like bio mechanical faces mark these damned, far too long bodies and odd black garment glistening skin cloth these beings. They seem as if they're partially awash in a storm that only exists for them only. They their rounded snout like faces are filled with strange sucking lamprey like teeth that tear out horrid chunks of flesh from their prey's bodies and souls. Their touch smells of burnt cinnamon and human waste. These things swim through space to reach their prey. Their claw like hands held in downward mockery of prayers until they reach toward their victims with wet sucking sounds. 
6. These strange beings are clothed in black cloth like flesh resembling modern suits, these being's black glistening slime covered eyes resemble smoked glasses of the finest quality. They are not, instead these things are tall humanoids covered in pock marked flesh with odd alien eyes covering every space of flesh on their bodies. Two too wide mouths flutter with intense hungry sucking sounds as two tendrils wreath around their hands that can sense strong life forces which they will feed. But really their main meat is the moments of joy and happiness in life. They will drain 1d10 years from their victims with each touch. There are some varieties that level drain but these entities are mere rumors in space bars and brothels of spacers, adventurers, and some esoteric outlaws.
   

1d10 Random Prehistoric Swamp Encounters On Retro Pulp Venus Table For Your Old School Campaigns

The swamp world of Venus is a world of vast oceans and prehistoric swamps. A place of dangerous and deadly monsters as well as mutated dinosaurs and other creatures of bygone ages. This is an old world which has evolved mega predators and weird giant monsters. Some have speculated that this world has been used as a dumping ground for giant monsters or Kaijū by aliens over the eons. 

There have been thousands of civilizations and tribes which have evolved across the face of this world despite or perhaps because of the presence of these monsters. 
There is speculation among super scientists and adventurers that the humanoid tribes of this world might have been cast off experiments and that this planet may be nothing more then a biological dumping ground for various races and several temples found in the low lying swamp regions suggest that this might be true. But this is world teeming with possibilities for adventurers or those looking to start over. 
A world of countless ruins, weird humanoid races, dinosaur like monsters, and even mutated monsters from a thousand worlds across the universe. Just the sort of place for adventurers to wind up who seek opportunity and fortune. 

The most dangerous areas are the deep inner Venusian swamps which team with primitive life forms and dangerous predators and scavengers of all types. Here then is a random encounter table for some of the more dangerous Venusian life forms. 

Art work by Dinoguy2 (Corrected Miglewis) - Dinoguy2

The swamps often expand and contract with tidal movements bring with them quick growing giant fungus and deadly slimes and oozes. These are fed on by some of the larger insect things and other predators. Amazingly these swamps are where the largest and richest concentrations of ruins and dungeon complexes are, once the home of incredible lost and forgotten port city states some time in the past. Artifacts, relics, and strange technologies are often forced to the surface by tidal actions. There is evidence of incredibly violent and lethal conflict sometime in the planet's past.

1d10 Random Prehistoric Swamp Encounters On Retro Pulp Venus Table

1. A giant squid shrimp horror that is hungry capable of making a meal of a man quite easily. The deadly claws and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. This predator actually hunts and stalks prey as well as rests easy in the stagnant swamp waters. 
2. A giant crab trilobite capable of eating a man's hand quite easily, forges upon the bottom of the muck and mire. Blends into the background of the swamp like environment. 
3. Swarm of 1d8 giant dragon flies that are telepathically linked to each other, hungry and very dangerous. The size of a small child and very clever creatures. 
4. 1d8 giant muck snails that are armed with bony flails will stalk and slowly close on prey much larger then they are. Heavily armed. Use Flail snail stats. 
5. Monstrous giant swamp scorpion thing capable of bringing down two fully armed men. 
6. Killer swamp scorpion and scavenger swarm, 1d10 of these horrors will stalk and kill a fully grown man easily. 
7. Giant swamp squid quietly lays in wait for its prey, over thirty feet in length and capable of ripping a man or mount in half. 
8. Giant poisonous centipedes! 1d4 of these lethal and deadly swamp predators
9. Giant hunter centipede that is over thirty feet in length feeds on the 'chattering slugs' of the undergrowth. Equipped with razor sharp jaws and a lethal sting. 
10. 1d40 chittering slugs, these giant armored slugs are immune to energy weapons but are herbivores feeding on the dense undergrowth. They make a rasping sound similar to the sound of armor of larger alien prehistoric creatures. 

One of my favorite OD&D villains - The Egg of Coot For Your Old School Campaign

The Egg of Coot is describe as;"Some scholars believe that it is one of the remaining servitors of the Outer Beings. In the Age of Blackmoor, these servitors are referred to as Elder Demons, and once dominated the entire continent. The Egg appears as a huge globe of mossy grey flesh and eyeballs and mouths randomly scattered across the slimy surface. The Egg is buried deep under ground and almost never moves. There are however tunnels leading to it which are used by its Keepers to contact and preserve the Egg. Its Spawn is of similar appearance. The Spawn of Coot has a relationship to the Egg as between Trees of Life and their Mother Trees. "

There are evils of the worlds of D&D and then there's the iconic, egotistical, weird, & downright nasty Egg of Coot. This thing has been around since the dawn of the original  Blackmoor campaign & its minions have cost me more then one PC over the years. My buddy Larry created adventures based on the mock up covers of Havard featured in this article.

Forget Strahd von Zarovich or any of the other iconic TSR era vile villains; 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.

 Larry grabbed some of the concepts that Havard put out & we began to face down some of the ill breeded horrors that came from the weirdness of the egg.This was  after the appearance of one of the Empire's scout ships as a part of a dungeon that our party of adventurers were exploring.

What really got Larry stirring was when I brought over my copy of Astonishing Sorcerers and Swordsmen of Hyperborea (which is now counting down three or less hours for the second edition). The egg's minions began to appear popping up across the planes in Larry's, Steven's campaigns, and Peter's campaign all of them looking for pockets of caches of lost Beagle & Warden interstellar technology. The Egg was a completely evil entity that mocked the players at every turn with off color graffiti & all kinds of evil humor. The Egg is a hate of old times that has come down from the very beginning of D&D continues its evil to this day. The thing that it is insidious is the fact that in each & every Blackmoor city, settlement, and village is an agent of the Egg of Coot exists


Havard actually has a breakdown of the Blackmoor technology; he's done a really good job of dealing with some of the OD&D Beagle technology on his own website.

The sci fi technology ties back into the Temple of the Frog & it's so iconic for me.
"The Egg is the definition of Evil. It is highly intelligent and communicates with its fanatical followers through Telepathy. " You don't want to encounter its evil if it can be dangerous & very devious in its machinations."

The Egg's evil is completely behind the Temple of the Frog & has ties now to some of the events of today's Dark Albion game (a blog entry for another time). The game I played today has a deep connection to Return to the Temple of the Frog for third edition AD&D.   
The science fantasy aspect of the Egg of Croot is one of the iconic back bones of the Blackmoor setting. These seem to follow in the wake of the appearance of the Egg of Coot. There are several science fantasy devices that I came across today.

There is a really nice OD&D resource that Havard designed that's available through the Vaults of Pandius website. This has all of the background that a dungeon master needs to introduce the Egg of Coot into their own games. There are also several articles that have more technological artifacts from Bloormoor. These include The Technological Battlefield by James Ruhland from the Mystara Mailing List posted 25 December 1999.Additional tech weapons by Alex Benson, from the Mystara Mailing List posted 6 December 1999.
  & Sample tech weapons by Rob, from the Mystara Mailing List posted 3 December 1999.  As well as the Alien Devices from Blackmoor by Dave L. Arneson and David J. Ritchie, from DA3 City of the Gods.
Finally there's the light sabre rules that S.Lentz made; Light Sabre by S. Lentz, from the Mystara Mailing List posted 7 September 1999.


The Egg of Croot is. And that's the whole problem isn't it. The thing continues to plague Mystara & my campaigns at various time across the eons. I believe its time that the Egg made an appearance coming up!