Review & Commentary On 'Pay What You Want' OSR Adventure 'The Monkey Business' From Disoriented Ranger Publishing For Labyrinth Lord & Your Old School Campaigns

"Something steers deep in the jungle. Rumors of a strange drug start making the rounds … and then things start getting really hairy. Even the cannibals are upset. Monkey Business is a wild ride for Labryth Lord or other OSR retroclone compatible games."
So in the last twenty four hours I've had the patience of Job dealing with a few things at work and the very nice author/designer Jens Durke. This is a viciously fun old school adventure with lots of added on extras including random generators, a whole boat load of bananas dungeon location setting material, and some apetastic drug dealers, smugglers, and more. Monkey Business is available through Drivethrurpg as a pay what you want OSR title for Labyrinth Lord.




This module is packed with lots of neo OSR weirdness and right off bat your lead down the ape hole;"an OS compatible mostly setting agnostic sandbox module about ape organized drug traffic and flying feces. It
got way bigger than I thought it would and I hope it’ll bring you some joy. I’ll use Labyrinth Lord TM as the goto system here and it’s more like an adventure location instead of an adventure.
There will be some hooks to get the players involved, too. I’d like to thank Mark van Vlack for giving me the inspiration, an ear or two and his pen (plus his Random Monkey Table, check
out his monkey table in Appendix 5!).
This is not a work of science but a work of pulp. Don’t expect biological accuracy or anything. Indian, Amazon or African jungle? I don’t care, it’s all one hot mess. Easy enough changed
if you know better (and care), easy enough ignored by the rest. But, you know, this also has drug dealing apes and mushroom pygmies that want to get eaten and some magic. There is even a dinosaur somewhere in there, so going with “pulp fantasy” on this one is a safe bet anyway." "
And that's exactly what it is part adventure location setting book/part adventure with a wild ride of strangeness that has far more in common with "The Juggle Book" on acid then it does with Planet Of The Apes even though it does remind me of that classic film in some respects. This is balls to the walls gonzo done with an even old school lethality & a dangerous balance. The material here is Labyrinth Lord or  B/X Dungeons & Dragons style oriented towards a mature audience as the author sometimes uses the 'f' word with some regularity and lots of drug culture references. The adventure design is tight and centers around the effects of one drug as it filters its way (sort of) through out the adventure, its locations, its environs, and its NPC's. The artwork is public domain throughout most of Monkey Business but not all. There are a few pieces that really bring home the gonzo over the top nature of the adventure but not in a bad way. This makes Monkey Business a perfect add on for both Mutant Future and Apes Victorious but there will be a bit of adjustment needed for some of the encounters because of the possible inclusion of modern weapons and technologies from those Goblinoid retroclones systems.


Because Monkey Business has been created for Labyrinth Lord its easy to adapt and twist in many ways for your favorite old school or retroclone systems. The plot is part adventure tool kit & part setting book with a healthy dose of adventure thrown in. There is lots of uses for this one. For value this is one of the best 'pay what you want' titles to come down the pike in a while. I'd give this one a healthy five out of five. Its that good and that nice.

Review & Commentary On The Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine Adventure From Last Gasp Grimoire For The Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rpg And Your Old School Campaigns

I'm always on the lookout for adventures of an unusual nature and when The Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine For The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg system. I was attracted to the unusual lovely purple cover weird by line and the unusual format of the adventure. Imagine if you will that I was not expecting a full tour into body horror land via a cave system from hell via a sick and infectious adventurer and former wizard.  Grab It Right Over Here As A Pay What You Want Title 

Its adventures like this that make me so glad that I started this blog in the first place, the feel of this adventure is shall we say unique. The circumstances of the adventure are unusual and the fate of PC's is horrid;everything here is as if David Cronenberg's early efforts in film making and body horror were turned into an adventure set in a cave system and your PC's had to harvest some magical cysts from a mythical monster of a diseased and dire aspect. I love it! The imagination of the author is one of sheer delightfully twisted body horror with all of the little things that I come to expect in this sort of an adventure!
This is not a simple dungeon crawl at all or maybe it is but given over to wonderful details of horrid situations in the darkness and dread of a biological horror adventure that takes the usual dungeon tropes of go in to the caves, search loot the bodies, and gather the treasure and turns them on their ears!
And then there's these things. Once you read about these nasties you will never forget them.


Things I love about The Sleeping Place of  The Feathered Swine, the way that your PC's can put the map together as they explore a world of stone, bile, and horror. The uniqueness of the product and its very unappolgetic horror themes and its straight up nastiness while maintaining some pretty nice standards for layout, fonts, and easy of use. Print this one out and go straight to play! Yeah that works for me for a Lamentations of the Flame Princess pick up game. I realize that I'm late to the party for reviewing this adventure but its a damn fine addition to the world of LoFP  and retroclone gaming!
This for me is a sold five out of five for retroclone adventure gaming! My strongest recommendation and grab this adventure yesterday. Very well done with strong art, wonderful backgrounds, a solidly done setting, and a great attitude for old school body horror gaming!

Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine issue #8 From Shield of Faith Studios For The Dungeon Crawl Classics Rpg Or Any Old School SF Campaign

Available right over HERE
A couple of months back I got involved with writing up some tables for a fanzine for the  Dungeon Crawl Classics Crawling rpg. The experience was fun and quite professional for small press outfit. They bring a certain zeal and set of ideals to their fanzine. Its been a very positive experience.
Crawling Under A Broken Moon, while dedicated to bringing the gonzo post apocalyptic aesthetic to the Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg has some other. The materials in here are perfect for hooking up your favorite OSR wasteland classic like Gamma World 1st edition or such retroclones  as Mutant Future, or any old school science fiction or science fantasy rpg campaign. And its a very good issue and not only because I've done a table or two. Seriously this is well constructed set of tables for use with any old school post apocalyptic  rpg campaign

This issue contains a whole mountain of PA goodness:

Contents

A is for Aliens 2

B is for Barter Goods 4

C is for Computers 6

D is for Decay and Ruin 8

E is for Edibles 10

F is for Factions 12

G is for Garbage 14

H is for Hazards 16

I is for Inhospitable Places 18

J is for Junkyard Gadgets 20

K is for Keys & Klaxons 22

L is for Laboratories 24

M is for Mutants 26

So for three dollars you get twenty six pages worth of random goodness that can be used straight across in your old school campaigns to bring the post apocalyptic to your table easily and with some solid style and old school goodness. There's a blog dedicated to this fanzine right over HERE 

And there will be a second part to this coming out really soon. So grab this issue today!

Review & Commentary of The Revamped BLUEHOLME The Necropolis of Nuromen From Dreamscape Design For Your Old School Campaigns

Dreamscape design has done a complete ground up revamp and improvement to the Blueholme adventure The Necropolis of Nuromen from the interior outward with lots of little blends and bobs to it. The adventure clocks in at at twenty pages of pure adventure with a fairy tale feel to it on steroids. This is a great adventure to throw a beginning party of adventurers into.
Its Pay What You Want Right Over
HERE

This adventure features additional background, new maps, and an entire follow-on mini-adventure starring the notorious outlaw Lothar the Lawless. The reasons why this is such a great adventure are also laid out by the author,  this is a modular quest designed to let the referee introduce a group of 1st level characters to the thrills of Underworld exploration as they attempt to unravel they secrets of the evil necromancer’s lair and deal with some bandits, too.
But does it live up to the hype? I actually think it does.
Right out of the gate the party of adventurers is brought into a situation that draws them in and brings them close to the edge of a campaign setting that will provide them with weeks if not months of play. 

This adventure lays out everything from back history to full blown dungeon crawling in one go along with NPC's, some monsters (well lots of them) and some solid weird pulpy fairy tale adventuring right into the center of the whole affair. The prose is cleaned up and the layout solidly done and everything has been put together in a nice easy to read style. On the whole the adventure flows very well in the reading and is very easy on the eye. There are a ton of public domain artwork scattered throughout but these are perfectly suited to the whole affair and add to the adventure without distracting at all from the whole.
The adventure is keyed to be regionalized and local to it's environment, rumor tables link back into the implied campaign setting, things make sense on a local level, and forces are all evenly matched to the weird of the setting. This is a perfect adventure for players who will or could migrate into a Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign along the way or vice versa with Blue Holmes.
If you already have a copy of The Necropolis of Nuromen, then go back to Drivethrurpg and grab the updated PDF. You won't be sorry the maps are very well done.
The fact that this adventure has a fully realized dungeon at its center and side makes this a great starting point to bring players into the Holmes mindset over and over they get a taste of the weird while maintaining the integrity of their PC's. In the  middle of all this there are several places, events, and monsters that can end their 1st level snow flake existences and lives like blow torches. That's not an easy balance to pull off but The Necropolis of Nuromen does this with wit, charm, style and a sense of the fairy tale wrapped around a core of a solidly done adventure. My advice is to grab this one, some friends and get into the middle of a BlueHolmes style of play. Everything is right here to bring home the vibe and weirdness of a fully functional dungeon crawl that can play havoc with PC's while everyone has fun. This adventure brings home  that old school vibe of play with a sense of terror and weirdness while creating  an adventure that is actual fun to play. The Necropolis of Nuromen is a great adventure for both veterans and beginning players of old school OD&D and Blueholmes style games. 

Review and Commentary On The Crawling Under A Broken Moon Issue #1 fanzine For The Dungeon Crawl Classics Rpg System or Your Old School Campaigns

I haven't gotten into Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg at all. I've been poking it with a ten foot pole for some time but I couldn't get a copy or access to a print copy in my region of New England. So I kinda jumped at the chance to take a look at Issue one of Crawling Under A Broken Moon issue#1 

Grab It Right
HERE

So what's in issue one? 

Welcome to Umerica

Crawling in a Gonzo Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy World

The Technologist

A class dedicated to the accumulation of scientific knowledge and power

Weapons of the Wastelands

Guns, Guns, and more Guns    

Twisted Menagerie

The Sharkhana, Debris Elemental, and Sentrybot

An Interesting Place to Die

Blooms Fashions: a store with clothes to die for

Crawling Under A Broken Moon takes it points from every post apocalyptic trope known in science fantasy movies, literature, gaming, and spins it through the DCC rpg system. The issue is pretty nicely packed with some very familiar material here. The first article describes maintaining the air of what its like trying to describe the post apocalyptic world to your players. There's an artifact condition table and some pretty solid advice. Next up we get the technologist and in true DCC fashion we get a nice little rounded out PC class. There's enough here to work with and add into the back part of the DCC system. This class is probably one of the most useful folks for a full post apocalyptic party. The class is pretty well balanced for a gonzo game. Over all the first couple of bits are not bad at all.
Weapons of the Wastelands which includes rules for Firearms,gun smith work, and lots of familiar modern firearms and some energy weapons thrown into the mix.
Twisted  Menagerie  gives four mutated mutant monsters for the DCC wasteland crawl campaign. The Sharkhana is a humor filled nightmare for your adventurers to encounter. The mutant menace reminds me of a certain 90's shark themed cartoon and it hits a certain nostalgia spot. The Debris Elemental is a monster I've seen used in quite a few old school rpgs and this is always a favorite to see it used in the ruins. The sentry bot is perfect for your malls of murder or ruins of doom. It comes with a complete chart for its behavior and malfunction, this looks like it would be fun to play around. The Lobstrosity is a take off on the Lovecraftian Mi Go retrofitted into the UnAmerica setting. 

Blooms Fashions is an adventure location that can be dropped into any mall or ruined strip mall. Not too bad of a location to drop into a game. I can see using this in some ways. Not a bad first effort for a fanzine, personally I'd wait till she goes on sale. And then grab a copy but all in all its worth the effort for a download.  

Review And Commentary On Dungeon of the Unknown By Geoffrey McKinney From Lamentations of the Flame Princess For The LoFP Rpg System and Your Old School Campaigns

Grab It Right
HERE
 Dungeon of the Unknown By Geoffrey McKinney From the Lamentations of The Flame Princess Rpg system is one of those dungeons that's been out for quite while but doesn't seem to ever get mentioned on the blogsphere.
 To bad because its a damned decent dungeon crawl that acts both as adventure and tool box for the Lamentation of the Flame Princess rpg system but has a completely different style then other efforts in that line. This dungeon links up with the Isle Of The Unknown campaign setting and in fact links with the Minoan past of the setting. I'm not going to go into the mysteries and back history clues that are scattered throughout this dungeon but let's say that there are reasons for the high weirdness of the setting. It really doesn't effect the placement, ideas, or deadliness of this dungeon.
Here's the low down on this adventure from the Drivethru website: 

Located near the coast of hex 2214 of the Isle of the Unknown, this dungeon enshrines the mysteries of the Isle’s lost Minoan past. The module includes scaling information that allows it to be immediately and effortlessly used to challenge characters from 1st through 10th level. It features:

• 2 Dungeon Levels
• 20 Legends
• 2 Wandering Monster Tables
• 6 Sample Goop Monsters and a Random Generator to Make Countless More
• 12 Treasures
• 12 Weird Locations
• 19 New Monsters
• 7 Human Encounters

Along with the dungeon maps printed are keys that give an evocative appellation for each of the maps’ 75 encounter areas. The Referee can place the above 50 treasures, weird locations, new monsters, and human encounters in the blank spaces provided as he sees fit. Or, if he would rather, he can use the optional placements already given in the keys.

In any and all cases, the pontifical Referee is encouraged to add to, subtract from, and otherwise alter all within to suit his sovereign whims.
This is a very deadly adventure and how its used is going to require a bit of effort by the DM every time its used. But its an adventure that has quite a bit of utility. It also allows the dungeon master to scale it to the game of their choice from LoFP to AD&D first Edition. Its not hard at all to see where the placement, use, and drawing of the dungeon elements will effect over all play and level of the module. This is done on purpose and allows for a much more customized experience. A very weird customized experience but LoFP specializes in the pulpy weird quite well. 
Geoff does a great job with this dungeon from start to finish, and basically from what I can see from the feel of this adventure this might be along with the  Isle Of The Unknown campaign setting  a love letter to the Mike Carr Basic Set Dungeons And Dragon's adventure 'In Search Of The Unknown'.  A very twisted and clever stalker style letter which puts the characters right into the thick of it.
 This adventure shares many characteristics of 'In Search of' according to wiki : 'Mike Carr intended it for use as an instructional adventure for new players. The module is a beginner's scenario, which allows the DM to add their own choice of monsters and treasure.^[1][3] The module is coded B1 because it was created as the first adventure for the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, though it is possible to convert it to Advanced Dungons & Dragons'  You can find out more about In Search Of The Unknown right over HERE
This dungeon is part of a greater location based adventure campaign but its a decent way to introduce the PC's into the Isle of the Unknown campaign setting. Using this dungeon the PC's are going to get a taste of the greater elements that await them on the Isle and they may have a better survival rate. This dungeon isn't as deadly as some of the hex crawling efforts found in Carcosa and that's fine.
In point of fact I think that the Dungeon of the Unknown makes a better stepping stone into this end of the LoFP system. Its not that its any less deadly or more so but this dungeon makes things a bit more manageable for mixing and matching parties together. Give a group of PC's a few common enemies and watch them blend together quickly. This module will allow you to do that as a dungeon master.

Using The  Dungeon of the Unknown By Geoffrey McKinneyFor Your Old School Campaigns 

Here's what struck me right out of the gate reading through this module, this adventure would make a great introduction for a party of castaway PC's sucked through a dimensional gate and find themselves at the mercy of this dungeon. In point of fact I'd mix in a whole group of very diverse individuals from across the time space continuums and planes and drop them right in to the Dungeon Of The Unknown. Those who survive then see the light of day past hex 2214. 
This isn't by accident at all. Given the tool kit style of this adventure, the DYI monsters, and the elements that a DM puts together I was reminded of Jules Verne's Mysterious Island. The book is very dark actually and those running this module as well as the campaign setting might want to look into that book as well for a bit more of the feel of this adventure.
 

The idea of a group of diverse castaways put into a dungeon adventure location  of weird circumstance isn't a new take and one that goes back to Robinson,  of course there's bits of  Robinson Crusoe  and The Swiss Family Robinson as well here that can be used for resource material. If you need a bit of a refresher on  Verne's Mysterious Island go right HERE

Because the odds in Dungeon Of The Unknown are going to be heavily stacked against such a party I'd use another LoFP  element  here as well. Black Powder firearms are something that I've used time and again in my OD&D campaigns and pulp sword and sorcery adventures as well. They can easily crop up in such locations as they did in Robinson Crusoe and Swiss Family Robinson. Fire arms can wash up as part of a ship wreck's cargo safe and sound with powder, horns, and twelve apostles in a nice trunk.
Make no mistake black powder weapons will not unbalance such a setting.
There's another aspect of the Dungeon Of the Unknown. Horror and believe it or not there are some nasty monsters and encounters in this one that if used correctly could very nicely unsettle the PC's without outright killing them. Remember this is an OSR product and a LoFP adventure as well. Cannibals, pirates, zombies, and worse would not be out of place here. 
But this also brings up a strength and problem with this adventure and indeed the Island Of  The Unknown campaign setting. Does a DM use this material with the pulp styling PC's of the LoFP rules or does one use the  ancient Mediterranean adventurers that seem to echo from the Minoan background of the Dungeon's history?   The answer is actually both.
Here's where the castaway option comes in quite handy. This setting will not break should a DM pull from the Howard Solomon Kane source material of the LoFP rules or the D&D tropes of other retroclone rules.
The beauty of Geoffrey McKinney's writing and design on The Dungeon Of The Unknown is that as a DM your not going to break it. The PC's are going to have a memorable time within the environs of the adventure and should they survive will get a nice foot print into the campaign setting of the Island Of The Unknown. But I'll looking to that one next time.
Dungeon of the Unknown is a bit on the expensive side right at the moment but there should be a few sales coming up soon with Halloween and the like so grab this one on the fly when it comes out. 
All in all I liked this adventure and as always your mileage may vary. LoFP isn't for everyone but so far I've enjoyed the ride into their product line and I've got more reviews coming down the pike. 
Grab Dungeon Of the Unknown and happy gaming! 

Review and Commentary On The Seclusium Of Orphone Of The Three Visions For The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg system on The Dark Corner Blog

Grab the matchlocks, sharpen your steel and roust the wizard once again we're going to review another title in the Lamentations of The Flame Princess rpg line.
The Seclusium Of Orphone Of The Three Visions awaits right over
HERE

A Single Small Cut From Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Adventures For Your Old School Campaigns

 Grab It Right
HERE
Micheal Curtis is one of those authors and designers whose work I admire and follow when I can. I do love his DCC adventure work and I have use as well continue to use his Lovecraftian work for Goblinoid Games Realms Of Crawling Chaos. So when I stumbled across his effort for The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg, I was eager to check it out and review it. I had the opportunity to get my hands on a physical copy today after my buddy Peter ordered it from Drivethrurpg.
This book clocks in at just under eleven pages of weird horror and the adventure is meant for third level PC's . After reading through A Single Small Cut I can honestly say that while it can be adapted this is one adventure that throws the PC's into the deep end of the pulp oriented weird horror pool. Bring a few extra characters to the party for this adventure. 
Michael does an outstanding job of setting up the background of the adventure with the introduction of the Order Of Kites and their machinations as the plot revolves around their efforts to stamp out a local cult of heathens with a magic bell and an planar monstrosity known as the Corrector of Sins. The bell and the Corrector have not been seen for a very long time as the knowledge and power of the order was buried with their leader. Now a wizard and his band of rogues have uncovered the bell. They're willing to murder an entire congregation of a church in order to gain the power and horror that are associated with the monster as well as the bell.
This is a three way circle jerk of an adventure in the grand tradition and the writer does an incredible job of balancing the elements of this LoFP adventure. There are three things that A Single Small Cut does well, one it showcases many of the LoFP systems strengths and introduces many weird elements into play within the context of a very concise package, two this adventure well thought out and keeps the situation of the adventure interesting for the PC's, and three this adventure has some major Lovecraftian themes presented within its bounds in an entertaining presentation.
Did I mention that this adventure costs less then a meal at McDonalds and that it does exactly what it says on the tin namely that this is a weird and well presented adventure with one hell of a monster and magic item. The options for how the party are going to handle this adventure are going to be right out front and if played incorrectly this one could easily present the DM with a TPK. But this is an old school adventure done under the LoFP banner and its one that I can see players talking about for years to come if done right. Michael Curtis knows his material and this Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure is one of my new favorites. It showcases everything I really love about LoFP and does so without bogging down the adventure and it does it with style and gusto.
That being said I could see this adventure being adapted to your favorite retroclone such as OSRIC or even 1st edition AD&D but its going to be a Lamentations of Flame Princess adventure because of its sword and sorcery elements. These are never in the background of this adventure they are always present throughout the background and history of this adventure as well as the twists and turns of it.
All in all I was pretty happy to get a chance to check this adventure out and to take a look behind the great Lovecraftian cover of A Single Small Cut. Not bad for an eleven page adventure and the maps as well as the entire package echoes with the ethos of the LoFP system.
This is one to get and one to play in my humble opinion but as always your mileage may vary. 

Heads Up On The New OSR Adventure - The First Sentinel. Written by Edwin Nagy From Lesser Gnome Studio For Your Old School Campaigns On The Dark Corner Blog

                                       

 Lesser Gnome Game Studio is releasing TS2 The First Sentinel and we've got details on this old school module. So grab your party and roust the wizard we're heading right over: HERE