Clark Asthon Smith's Zothique, Appendix 'N', & Castles & Crusades - The D'Amberville's Secrets & Necromancy

“Gaunt as starved herons they were, and great of stature, with a common likeness; and their sunk eyes were visible only by red sparks reflected within them from the blaze. And their eyes, as they chanted, seemed to glare afar on the darkling sea and on things hidden by dusk and distance. And Yadar, coming before them, was aware of swift horror and repugnance that made his gorge rise as if he had encountered, in a place given to death, the powerful evil ripeness of corruption.” — Necromancy in Naat, CAS 1937



 Zothique is millions of years in the future & the world is a desert wasteland to rival Dark Sun in both richness & scope. Some have called Zothique a Dreamlands setting for the Call of Cthlhu rpg's with the Pagan Publishing adventure/sourcebook campaign Realms of Shadows. 

What if the events of  X2 Castle Amber By Tom Moldvay point to the fact that  Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, had a very inhuman element lurking in the background that fits Pagan Publishing's 'The Realm of Shadows' very well. And tied into one of the main inhuman aspects of Zothique. The Necromancers of Naat from the write up in the D20 Zothique book sound like an inhuman race that could be linked with the ghouls of X2;"As their name implies, Necromancers study the arcane arts of death and reanimation. They will always be male, of the Wizard class, and of chaotic evil alignment. If you elect to play Necromancers as a separate race, here are some suggested modifications: Females of this race have never been seen. This race will have the special ability “Frightful Presence”*, and the power to control undead as a cleric of identical experience level. . +2 Intelligence -2 Constitution or Strength +2 Charisma Modifier on Undead -2 Charisma Modifier on Living" Could the wizard-noble Stephen Amber (Etienne d'Amberville) family have more then a trace of ghoul blood within their veins?! But what does this have to do with the Wilderlands of High Fantasy?! Well a bit of everything really.
Going back to 2014 James Mishler created a book called Sorcerers of The Wilderlands & a really solid blog entry on the Demon Empire of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. This was during his time with Adventure Games Publishing & its all ancient history now.  But what it reveals is that there was cross breeding between the forces of darkness & mankind. I grabbed everything I could by AGP ages ago for  my hard drive. 

Now flash forward into now when I'm getting to dive back into Zothique & its connections with X2. Well it seems that the ghouls of X2 might have been getting very busy when it comes making sure the 'family business' continues into the far future. Could the d'Amberville family have far more sinister connotations when it comes to both Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne & Zothique?! 

Prince Sthachac managed to  recover the Demonomicon of Iggwilv for unknown reasons. In our on going campaign of Victorious. But the question remains why?! Was he even remotely human?! DM Ricky is already questioning me as far as the fact that Castles & Crusades Tome of the Unclean has made its way onto the table top. Why?! 

Because if there is a connection between the vampire cult Daughters of Iggwilv that is after Prince Sthachac & the PC's there's going to be Hell to pay. The real vampire war has been on going between the vampires of the Wilderlands & the vampires of  Ustaim. For the vampires of the Wilderlands I've been using James Mishler's Vampires of the Olden Lands & for the vampires of  Ustaim David Baymiller's Dark Shadow vampires. 

There are connections between a renagade group of elves & ghoul packs associated with the inhuman Necromancers of Naat. Could certain members of the d'Amberville family be far behind?! 
And what happened to several hirelings from Amazing Adventures that got left behind on Zothique the last time the PC's were there?! 

Clark Asthon Smith's Zothique & The Second Chess Board - Appendix 'N' & Castles & Crusades - The D'Amberville Legacy

 

There are times when my mouth should be shut. This morning was one of those. So last year we ran through a Castles & Crusades mixed with Amazing Adventures rpg campaign. And that campaign had the PC's end up on Zothique. And the PC's ended up working with & for the wizard-noble Stephen Amber (Etienne d'Amberville) from X2 Castle Amber By Tom Moldvay. Today was one of those days when DM Ricky has been on the phone to me again. After that it was DM Steven this was followed by a phone call to an old player of mine Bob. Bob played with one half of our group of players whose wrestler ended up going toe to toe with some of the gladiators & wrestlers in Shathair. Stephen Amber was playing chess with real people with Ossaru the wizard king.  To this end Ossaru  helped a niggling little wizard  fix his dimensional gate gizmo that ran a murder circus.  Thanks to David Baymiller's NPC's one of the player's PC's was turned into a vampire when the party ran head long into the murder circus. 

There's only one artist who captures the essence of  Clark Aston Smith's Zothique & that's the artwork of  Rodney Mathews. Even during the Nineties when you'd walk into a hobby shop & on the shelves would be TSR  Dark Sun products they never quite captured the alien dark fantay for me. Nor did Dark Sun have the  essence or alien qualities for me of  Clark Aston Smith's Zothique. This is especially true of the quinssential Zothique tale 'The Tomb Spawn'; 

"Great was Ossaru, being both king and wizard. He ruled over half the continent of Zothique. His armies were like the rolling sands, blown by the simoom. He commanded the genii of storm and of dark-ness, he called down the spirits of the sun. Men knew his wizardry as the green cedars know the blasting of levin.

"Half immortal, he lived from age to age, waxing in his wisdom and power till the end. Thasaidon, black god of evil, prospered his every spell and enterprise. And during his latter years he was companioned by the monster Nioth Korghai, who came down to Earth from an alien world, riding a fire-maned comet." 
The Tomb Spawn Clark Ashton Smith 

The weight of ages hangs heavy on the stories of Clark Ashton Smith but the important bit here is  Ossaru, being both king and wizard. So this is one of the heavy hitters on Zothique & the story relates even more when the alien monster Nioth Korghai enters the picture. 
And it enters Zothique's history well & truly. Go read the story there's no wish of ours to destroy the stoy's ending.  Zothique is old inhumanly old & perhaps one of our  all time favorite Clark Ashton Smith's creations. For a pseudo Sword & Sorcery setting there is  so much to lend itself to gaming take for example the Gnorri from the Zothique D20 book: ; 
 "Small Undead Hit Dice: 2d12 (12 hp) Initiative: +2 (Dex) Speed: 30 ft. AC: 13 (+3 Dex) Attacks: Bite +3 melee; 2 claws +1 melee Damage: Bite 1d4+3, claws 1d2 ea. Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: Stench Special Qualities: Undead, +1 turn resistance, Darkvision 10 ft., receive double damage for all non-magical attacks Shaman spells: Darkness, Create More Ghorii Saves: Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +3 Abilities: Str 9, Dex 16, Con -, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 12 Skills: Climb +6, Escape Artist +6, Hide +6, Jump +6, Listen +6, Move Silently +6, Search +6, Spot +6 Feats: Multiattack, Weapon Finesse (bite) Climate/Terrain: Any desert, ruins, and underground on the greater continent Organization: gang (2-6), pack (7-19), band (20-60), horde (60-100) Challenge Rating: 1 Treasure: Conditional (see below) Alignment: Always lawful evil Advancement: 3-6 HD (Medium-size)" 
Any DM worth their salt can easily adapt the Gnorri  to a Sword & Sorcery  OSR based campaign especially using either Swords & Wizardry or Castles & Crusades. The chess board is still set up & the pieces are still in play. The only question is when does the first move on the second board begin?! 

Sailing & Strolling Down The Seas of Memory Lane With Flying Buffalo & Fighting Fantasy

Today was one of those days where I fell down a memory hole of my life and back to the early days of New York City Dungeons & Dragons scene back in the early Eighties. New York City isn't the cultural mecca it likes to pretend it is because the place has fantastic adverting & marketing departments. Anyhow back in Dragon magazine in the late Eighty two I saw the following advertisement. Way back in August of last year we lost Rick Loomis & its when you least expect it that some of the angst of a friend's death grabs a hold of you..



 Anyhow Mike Stewart's Facebook post grabbed me by the throat & forced me down as memory rabbit hole. But it also got me thinking about the overarching  urban theme of the Catalyst books according to the Wiki entry;"Catalyst is a series of fantasy role-playing game supplements created by Flying Buffalo as a series of game aids that could be used with any medieval fantasy-themed role-playing game system. The first one, Grimtooth's Traps, was released in 1981. Numerous other Catalyst books were produced including the Citybook series, seven Traps books, Treasure Vault, and the Lejentia campaign setting. The newest one, City of the Gods Map Pack was produced in 2011." Now one of the things that's got me thinking about Catalyst series is  sheer weirdness of some of the books  entries. Many of the businesses seemed to me to overlap providing the DM with a ready made urban & city environment. And before we get into isn't that the idea behind the supplement Mr.Obvious!?  Hear me out here folks. 


These books were made in Eighty two & yet there's some major rpg hobby & writing talent here;"Major contributors to the Catylyst books include Michael A. Stackpole, Liz Danforth, Steve Crompton, Ken St. Andre, Paul Jaquays, Deb Wykle (aka Debora Kerr and Wynn Mercere), Rick Loomis, Larry DiTillio, and Bear Peters along with many others." When Citybook III was published I couldn't wait for the next one. Why?! Because these books presented a perfect & I do mean perfect for using as a space going sailing ship port long before Spelljammer  was even a setting idea in TSR second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons writers & designer's brains!



This goes all of the way back to Dragon magazine issue #91's cover artwork which was one of my all time favorites. Sure I used Spelljammer much later on but with a few additions. Such as the fact that the Jammers could travel between planes & underwater.

Spelljammer was a 'johnny come lately' setting & as much as I liked it part of me still to this day resents the Hell outta of it. But back to Citybook setting there's everything from otter people to slime crime bosses. It was perfect to drop into its mini or demi plane or use right with Judge's Guild adventures & material.. 

 Anyhow this all goes back to my campaign notes & some idea that have been knocking around since the early Eighties. This goes back to staring at the cover artwork by Rodney Matthews for Fighting Fantasy #16 Seas of Blood. Damn I used to stare at that cover artwork for hours imagining all kinds of campaign adventures. Fighting Fantasy had/has some of the best cover artwork. BTW this is a damn fine adventure to run through for FF..


Rodney Mathews artwork makes this on point for me.

But its been a long time since I sailed these seas of dream & dungeons so I need to refresh my memories again. But already a lot is coming back to me & we'll cover this in the next blog entry coming up tomorrow.