OSR Commentary Marvel Super Heroes Module Rpg MH9 Gates Of What If By Roger E. Moore

 ""You have passed through of the Gates of What If - into a divergent universe, where things are almost the same, with a few changes. VICTOR has plans - and you're invited. GATES OF WHAT IF? is an adventure for use with the MARVEL SUPER HEROES role-playing game. You must have the MARVEL SUPER HEROES role-playing game to play this adventure. This package includes a 40-page adventure book and a full-color map of DOOMSTADT and other areas."" 

"You are in a world where Reed Richards did not live to become Mister Fantastic! Ben Grimm is the Thing, but he's not rocky and orange - he's wearing a power suit! And wait just one minute - you say that Victor Von Doom is a HERO?

Where are you?

You have passed through the Gates of What If - into a divergent universe, where things are almost the same, with a few changes. Victor has plans - and you're invited." 

 Marvel Super Heroes Module Rpg MH9 Gates Of What If By Roger E. Moore was the prelude module for us in 1987 to dive into the MX1 Nightmares of Future Past By Steve Winter. Let me explain why. We had just gotten roped into the lead in events of MH9. The module clocks in at about 40 pages in which the PC's are used by a heroic Victor von Doom to gain revenge against Mephisto. Our group had a blast with this module. 
The world was so very much like our regular Marvel Super Heroes campaign but there was something very 'off'' about it. According to the Gates of What if Wiki entry; " As Guide du Rôliste Galactique notes, "Much of the interest of the adventure comes from the confrontation between these characters and those of the parallel world. Some [of the superheroes in this parallel world] are dead, others have never been superheroes, or their costume is being used by someone else. The reactions of the public and the heroes of the parallel world therefore risk unsettling the characters.""
My uncle modified MH9 so that the module would work with our Marvel Advanced PC's. According to his notes Mephisto sends us sideways in time to MX1 and our own campaign's possible future! 

Victor is the one who eventually saves our party from the possible future of the events of MX1. Of course we had to go back to MX1 but we'll get to that. Roger E Moore's MH-9 is a tightly written and designed module. According to the Gates of What If wiki entry; "In Issue 4 of Adventurer, Ian Marsh called Gates of What-If? "a titanic adventure for Marvel Super Heroes which pits the Fantastic Four and Spidey against a formidable extra-dimensional opponent. Would you be surprised if Doctor Doom appeared too? Nope, nor would I."" And this review captures the feel of MH9. According to Kevin Derby's July 2016 Amazon review; "This is an interesting module for TSR’s classic Marvel RPG from the mid 1980s as the importance of Reed Richards is on display in this adventure. It’s an interesting twist on the Marvel Universe and GMs will have to be pretty well versed on it. This is one of the more comprehensive modules with plenty of character profiles and a few good maps. A solid choice though it does require quite a few heroes to beat it" My uncle's Marvel Super Heroes group had nine players at the time. Recently playing through with six PC's was a bit of a slog. Is MH-9 worth the download? Definitely because it highlights what can be done with the FASERIP Marveil rpg. 
After the events of MH-9 Mephisto became a regular thorn in our party's side. We had some runs ins with him & he cost us the life as well as the soul of one of our PC's but that's a blog entry for another time. 

Tegel Manor - Worlds Without Number & Cities Without Number Rpg - Dragon Issue#258 - The Machine Realm - Campaign Update

 

So we've had about a week off from the Cities Without Numbers rpg Tegel Manor game. Really what this has done has enabled me to take a deeper look into our Cities Without Number campaign itself. And this led me down the path of Dragon Issue #258 from 1999. Picture it if you will Wizards of the Coast is on the horizon and Alternity is the new Science Fiction rpg on the blog. Bruce Cordell's Mage Vs Machine article was the hot button article. 

Imagine if you will that besides the undead and ectoplasm activities of a dimensional hopping Tegel Manor. Valley of Tegel Manor brushes against the powerful machine cyst nests of the Machine Realm. 
'The Machine Realm's technology from Dragon issue #258 is worth a small fortune to the right mage's guild or cybernetic corporation. Dragon #258 is from before Wizards of Coast took over the brand into the 3.5 era. So everything within the article with the striking Todd Lockwood cover is second edition Dungeons & Dragons easily covertable into Cities Without Number. 
'The Machine Realm' hasn't really appeared anywhere else in D&D terms. To us it's a realm of Law magic works there slightly. Delving too deeply into the 'Machine Realm' might be sure suicide for a party of operators. 

Kirillian cybernetic eyes & lens mean that even though the party has made it through the front door of Tegel Manor the ghostly  fun is just getting started! The PC's have  three White Feather hirelings that they've freed from the last version of Thundarr The Barbarian/Gamma Terra that they visited. 

'The Machine Realm' may be a bit too much to handle! But we'll see how they fair against it's machinations! 

Tegel Manor - Worlds Without Number & Cities Without Number Rpg - Beware The Cybernetters - Session Report - Legion Facility

 The PC's managed to beat back the bandits last game session and found out that they were actually guardian  androids. The party tracked the Cybernetters to an unknown facility along the Great Lakes. And then we flipped to the other operators who were in the facility. They awoke in a cybernetic operations theater & they managed to free themselves right after the android guards came in! And they ran! 

This facility along the Great Lakes ties back into the one that we see in GW1 Legion of Gold! And the other operators who were crawling along the lake shore in the marshes ran smack into a group of muntant braves from the White Feather tribe. The two parties managed to come to terms fast in the dark just as another two cybernetters were leaving the facility. 

The mutant NPC's & the party then broke into the facility through a duct leading into the swamp. The White Feathers tribesmen are looking for thier breathen scouts who were kidnapped by the cybernetters. 
The PC's entered another part of the Legion's cybernetic chop shop and came face to face with innocent  mutants & humans in Cryo. The party also came face to face with a White Feather scout party who about to be turned into Legion warriors. The party managed to free them and get them thier weaponry and equipment that was nearby. 

The party's cybersneak and thier secondary decker Lunatic Leo wanted to jack into the mainframe of the facility to download valuable intel. And the rest of the party including the White Feathers thought this was a really bad idea. We had another player join up our party who was a straight up "Thundarr the Barbarian" style  barbarian. 
And the other party had been crawling through the duct work & the operators came face to face with a facility cyberworm! And this led to the party falling through a grate into another part of the facility. More Cryo stasis tubes and literally hundreds of frozen mutants. Here's where 

Issue #75 of Dragon magazine, 'Mutants, Men?, & Machines' By Roger E. Moore came into play again where the operators came face to face with several mutant species that they deemed valuable. Holograms were taken, information was downloaded, and then they were attacked by facility androids! And this is where we ended for the moment. 

Tegel Manor - Worlds Without Number & Cities Without Number Rpg - Arrows & Andies - Session Report

 The action picks up from the last time here on the blog.The operators in last night's game were able to track the CYBER-NETTERs back to thier base. Yet the party were attacked by bandits before reaching the base! The bands had the party pinned down with arrows and small arms fire! After several successful rolls & plenty of flanking the party managed to pin one of the bandits down. The party collected ammo, ID cards, money, etc. all from the downed bandit. And the party got the drop on the other bandits as well. 

The bandits scatteered after three of thier number were shot up pretty bad. And the 'bandits's were revealed to be androids! The party quickly stuffed one  of the Andy's heads into a sack and began doing recon on the base. Across the lake there was a huge fenced in compound. The nuclear signature of the Cybernetters led directly across the lake into the compound not to mention the Cybernetter's tracks. The party decided to wait until night fall while scoping out the base. As night came on they noticed the sound of thrashing down by the water's edge. Arnold another street samurai of the party came face to face with a Blindheim! The thing blinded him and took a chunk out before escaping into the marsh reeds around him. And then back into one of the inlet caves that was nearby. 

The party was panicked they had no idea what or whom had taken a chunk out of Arnold?! They quietly searched through the reeds & around the area of the lake. Nothing except they did come across a cave enterance. An they weren't about to go down there. 
A bit more searching and the operators came across a boat. Mac The Hand the party's mechanic and cyber operator looked the boat over and with several more rolls determined that the thing was sea worth. And then the party heard several somethings thrashing around in the weeds. 
They immediately launched the boat across the lake. And Cutter Joe the party's 'communications expert' immediately started picking up radio and video broadcasts coming in from the compoud across the lake. These were really weird and there was mention of something called 'Legion'. And that's when the strange glowing started under the base. 
The party was scared senseless about what be in the water. And this is where we ended. 

Alright so what's going on here?! The 'heroes' have gated in from another world into our 'Thundarr The Barbarian' through the dimension spanning version of Tegel Manor.
The Great Lakes region of this world belongs to another A.I. overlord who was/is in league with the Legion of Gold. 

Tegel Manor - Worlds Without Number & Cities Without Number Rpg - Beware The Cybernetters - Session Report

 
This post follows up quickly on the heels of this post here on the blog

In the category of killing two birds with one stone I've sent my crew of operators after  Tegel Manor. The manor itself is taking the player's PC's over to a post apocalytic world. And this is where last night's encounter begins. 

Where the player's operators ended up is a whole other  story. The party observed a city across the lake from thier current position. 
Immediately there was the sound of hoof beats and the PC's were attacted by mounted knights! 
And they defeated the knights only to reveal that they were infact andoids! 

The players began to talk among themselves and grabbed the horses. The party's Doc immediately got to work examing the horses noting the 'locked DNA' of the animals. And these horses were clones as well. 
Come sun up the party headed out to explore determined that it was Summer in the Great Lakes region of North America. They rode to the beach at the edge of Tegel Manor valley. 
And almost immediately were attacked by Gamma World Rpg first  Gamma Terra cybernetters! This is a call back to last year's Thundarr The Barbarian Gamma World game here. 

And as the party were exploring along the shore they came across the carcass of a Legion of Gold cyborg. The biological flesh had rotted away leaving the bio cybernetics exposed. And while the operators were examing the corpse an unknown series of robots captured Doc, Street Samurai Sarah, Houser thier scout android, etc. These were the Cybernetters! And they made short work of half of the operators! 

Issue #75 of Dragon magazine, 'Mutants, Men?, & Machines' By Roger E. Moore featured the Cybernetter & it's an excellent monster to follow up on the hijinks of the Legion of Gold classic first edition Gamma World  module; 

"CYBER-NETTER NO. APPEARING: 1 ARMOR CLASS: 1 MOVE: 18 HIT DICE: 20d6 (100 hit points) % IN LAIR: Nil ATTACKS: See below 

TYPE: Robot 

POWER SOURCES: Nuclear plant
 SENSORS: Standard, infrared, ultraviolet at 2 kilometers
 CONTROL: Only by a specific permanent cybernetic installation
Adventurers in the Great Lakes region of North America have reported a new, apparently post-holocaust robot type that is occasionally found as far as 200 kilometers from Lake Superior's shorelines"
The operators were captured by unknown 

Now half of the party is split with the other half trailing the Cybernetters back to thier lairs! 
And here's what the party found out. The Cybernetters are nuclear powered, they are in constant communication with thier cybernetic installation/lair. They can follow them by thier power sources. The net's the cybernetter  use have an ultra strong webbing. 
Now the operators are tracking the netters back to thier bases along the Great Shore Lakes region. 

OSR Thoughts on The Gamma World Rpg, Thundarr The Barbarian Cartoon & Dragon Issue #75

 "The year: 1994. From out of space comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction! Man's civilization is cast in ruin!"

"Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn...
A strange new world rises from the old: a world of savagery, super science, and sorcery. But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice! With his companions Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sunsword against the forces of evil.
He is Thundarr, the Barbarian!"

It's been a long while since the Thundarr Thursdays on the Savage Afterworld blog were a thing. The OSR was much better place in 2011 but that's water under the game table. The World of Thundarr Barbarian sourcebook is still available on the right hand side of the Savage Afterworld blog here. 

The World of Thundarr Barbarian sourcebook has been an essential part of many a Gamma World 1st & 2nd edition campaign. There's quite a bit that this sourcebook has to offer & the Mutant Future Wiki entry sums it up quite nicely; "For years, Thundarr the Barbarian was an iconic figure with many Gamma World fans, and continues with a number of Mutant Future fans (the recent discovery of the Kamandi comics is also becoming a major influence with fans). The mix of Conan-styled sword & sorcery, with campy retro sci-fi really appealed to such fans. Currently, in the role-playing community, this style of genre is called "Kitchen Sink" gaming." 

One of the most interesting things about the Thundarr The Barbarian cartoon was the ability of kids to see their own regions of the United States featured from Hollywood to such iconic places such as Nasa launch head quarters in Florida. All of these had a part to play on the Ruby Spears creation. And this was the same with first edition Gamma World especially in the iconic Gamma World article in issue #75 of Dragon magazine, 'Mutants, Men?, & Machines' By Roger E. Moore. 

 Issue #75 of Dragon magazine, 'Mutants, Men?, & Machines' By Roger E. Moore featured the Cybernetter & it's an excellent monster to follow up on the hijinks of the Legion of Gold classic first edition Gamma World  module; 

"CYBER-NETTER NO. APPEARING: 1 ARMOR CLASS: 1 MOVE: 18 HIT DICE: 20d6 (100 hit points) % IN LAIR: Nil ATTACKS: See below TYPE: Robot POWER SOURCES: Nuclear plant SENSORS: Standard, infrared, ultraviolet at 2 kilometers CONTROL: Only by a specific permanent cybernetic installation Adventurers in the Great Lakes region of North America have reported a new, apparently post-holocaust robot type that is occasionally found as far as 200 kilometers from Lake Superior's shorelines"

We're thinking of following up the events of  Legion of Gold with a bunch of cybernetters taking victims around the Great Lakes regions of North America. And there's a deeper base & think tank within the in land ocean itself built before the time of the Apocalypse. And now events with the Wizards have set into motion more cybernetic horrors unleashed across the lands of Gamma Terra. 

OSR Commentary - Dragon Magazine Issue #90 & High Level AD&D First Edition Campaigns

 Ages ago back in the Eighties when one of my groups were playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition we did a Viking themed campaign. And to boot this was a high level campaign. There were a few magic items among the party but on the whole was between 10th to 12th level. And we had a revolving door of six to nine players of ages 11 through 60 with two or three dungeon masters at the time. All of this had started because of Dragon issue # 90 and the who thing revolved around the Nine worlds. Roger E. Moore was the behind part of the madness with his article on 'Plane Facts on Gladsheim'. And his high level  adventure Norse mythological  'Aesirhamar'. I'll say it before & I'll say it agian, Roger E. Moore doesn't get half the credit today that he deserves for his contribution to AD&D first edition. At the time we were being run through our paces with my uncle's campaign version of Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). So we were high level and cocky being kids. Were were about to get our lessons in humility really quick. 

Mr. Moore goes down the rabbit hole of dealing with high level PC's and several pieces of advice that moves around the weirdness of DMing these high level PC;"Running a high-level AD&D® game campaign involving deities and demigods is a very tricky business. In low-level and medium-level campaigns, deities are best kept out of sight. They would rarely have any interest in average adventurers, and the campaign has lots of other things to keep characters busy. At levels of play from 9th on up, it is more likely that player characters may legitimately meet and deal with deities and demigods, carrying out their missions and winning favors from them. Who or what will high-level characters fight when they go on such missions? Having characters duke it out with the gods themselves is not a solution. If the gods are properly and carefully played, and if the DM hasn't been handing out artifacts and levels to characters left and right, then fighting a god is just an easy way to die. However, there are beings around who can give even gods headaches. What if the gods want their higher-level followers to deal with such beings for a while, to give the gods a rest? It goes without saying that running a high-level adventure that involves both the Outer Planes and the deities upon them will be a lot of work. But it can, if properly done, provide hours of entertainment for everyone, and give powerful player characters a chance to match their skills against the best and the most dangerous of all opponents in the AD&D game system" And's wise advice when dealing with experienced players with high level PC's facing down NPC gods & worse. And there's much worse in  'Aesirhamar'. 'Aesirhamar' concerns a deal gone very wrong with the enemies of the gods getting their hands on a very dangerous magical  weapon.'
 'Aesirhamar' isn't simply a simple adventure as much as it's a mythological AD&D  mini campaign. We got our behinds handed to use time & again with many of the encounters in the adventure. Let's not mention the fact that several times the NPC's were the basis for lots of head aches for our group of faux Viking adventurers. Glaðsheimr  itself became a head ache as well when certain gods were accidentally crossed & we had to go on a quest to redeem ourselves in Odin's eyes. The fact is that with higher level adventures there were more headaches which is as it should be within a sense.  'Aesirhamar'  opened my eyes as a DM to the possibilities of high level adventures. And needless to say that Dragon magazine issue #90 led us into one of the longest running campaigns that we played going for almost five years of play. As PC's came & went we adjusted to the levels of play. 

Matters Mundane & Magical - Elemental Spells By James M. Ward for the Castes & Crusades rpg & Roger E. Moore's 'NPC's for hire' from Dragon Magazine, Issue 45

 "Beyond the firmament lies the maelstrom of elemental planes, where the fabric of all things begins. The elemental planes: Where fires rage in an infinite expanse of heart and light, where the rich and loamy earth consumes all, where air grows heavy, grinding upon unseeing gears, where water flows forever to no end. It is here that the base of all power lies and it is here that the elemental lords must turn.

Join the elementals to your spell casters. Unearthed in this text are a host of new spells for your Castles & Crusades game."

So let's talk James ward for a New York second & I don't mean that BS TSR debacle that happened last week. No I want to talk about the James Ward who often lends his design chops to the Trolls. Specifically the fact that Castles & Crusades features little book called Castles & Crusades Elemental Spells By James M. Ward. The book sells for about ten dollars US plus a bit of shipping. But what this book does is actually offer an alternative take on spells from each of the four elements specifically designed for the wizards & magic users. Elemental Spells By James M. Ward. offers   176 new Cleric spells, 115 Druid Spells, 183 new Wizard Spells and forty-six new Illusionist spells. That’s 520 new spells in all! And this is perfect for creating well rounded PC's & NPC's. Especially nasty & dangerous NPC's who are wielding powers byond the ken of mankind. 
The spells are fantastic but what really set's Elemental Spells apart is how easily this supplement can be merged with some of the older aditional D&D material. Specifically Roger E. Moore's 'NPC's for hire' from Dragon Magazine, Issue 45 Paperback - January 1, 1981

This artice concerns alchemists as NPC hires, Elemental Spells could be used as a mechanism for updating the NPC class into something a bit more modern & elemental in line with your C&C game. Thih really gives the NPC class some important bite. Another thing is that I don't think that Roger E. Moore get's half the credit he deserves in the OSR gamer's communities. Mr.Moore practically gatewayed between Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition & the second! 
Mixing & matching the older AD&D first edition material with Castles & Crusades showcases one of the important highlights of C&C. The ability to mix & match as a dungeon master as you see fit. This lends far more strength to a campaign especially in the area of elemental magical power. 

Elemental Spells  gives the magic user or wizard in C&C a far more rounded & dangerous customization within the C&C game. This elemental occult power could be used from regiion to region within a campaign world setting. For example do you need an American Indian clerc capable of casting spells related to their elemental god?! With Elemental Spells the ball is in the DM & his or her player's court. This book isn't a must have for Castles & Crudes but its solid addition into the tool box of the C&C DM & or player 

The Stars Are Wrong - Using 'the Astrologer' NPC Class From The Dragon 45 January 1981 For Your Old School &OSR games

Last night I went hunting for Dragon issue #45 after diving into one of the later issues in other blog entries. Issue #45 is one of those issues that's mixed back into one of the transition eras of the magazine. Wayne from Wayne's Books feels the same way; "My favorites are what I deem the "Golden Age" of Dragon Magazine: Issues ranging in the 50s and 60s. They had some of the most inspired writing, including great essays by Gary Gygax, examinations of the Planes, the whole range of demi-human articles and deities, and so much more!

-Wayne"Now the big draw articles for this issue seems to be 'Dragon Dungeon Design kit' article,the 'Write Way to Get Published' By Kim Mohan,"Ways to Handle High Level Headaches' by Lewis Pulsipher & this goes hand in hand with 'Magic items For Every Man' By Philip Meyers.  This last article was one for out fitting high level PC's & NPC's. I'm gonna tackle these in another blog article.


Why is this? Well because this is the era when Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was codifying the grand game as we know it. And this issue reflects that & it contains one of my favorite but most underutilized NPC  classes within its pages 'the Astrologer'. There's also a decent NPC 'Alchemist' class as well within the same article by Roger E. Moore & Georgia Moore. Now these are quick & dirty rules that would later go on to be quantified & spun into more fleshed out articles later on. But for the OSR dungeon master the Astrologer NPC class has lots of potential. Astrologers have been getting a lot of press in the OSR with Lamentations of the Flame Princess's Tower of the Star Gazer adventure. 



Not only can I see the Astrologer being a useful NPC class but I can see them being used as a great source for weird tales style adventures. There is a tie for Mystara right out of the gate I found from a post on RPGnet's site thanks to poster'sIthaeur ; 

"The Poor Wizard's Almanach for Mystara (BECMI in this case) had an astrology option; each week of the month tied to one of the elements, and each month to a creature of the Mystaran zodiac, and you could use these to give you ideas about the personality of a character." We can also see a tie in with the classic Greyhawk box set which has all of the celestial data on Oerth itself. 

Astrologers in setting such as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea would be key to so many things. Locating dungeons, favorable star conditions for dungeon exploration, times of royal birth, the correct times & alignments for Mythos rites, & possibly locating the hidden signs of the Old Ones among the stars. One of the adventures from AS&SH that could benefit from consulting an astrologer would be THE BEASTS of KRAGGOTH MANOR by Tim Callahan The adventurer's chances need the help of the stars on their side cracking this module. There are several celestial related adventure elements here but I really don't want to spoil the adventure.


Alternatively if the player's PC's are high level enough to have settled into a tower or castle an astrologer might be consulted for the best dates to conceive a son or daughter to continue a PC bloodline within a game. In fact this might be critical to a retro clone such as Adventurer, Conqueror, King.
The Lion & Dragon Rgp & Dark Albion setting books  do  have some solid  'Astrology' resources but RPGPundit Presents #18: Advanced Medieval-Authentic Astrology is a great choice for adding in an astrological background to your OSR games.

In Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique setting an Astrologer would be a welcome addition. Not only could he benefit  the PC's by locating the old stars & possible favor conditions for exploration but he might be able to locate the ancient abodes of some of the 'Great Old Ones' among the changing stars. In CAS's Shapes of Adamant (1935)we get a taste of this in the fragment of this story. Astrologers play a key role within  Averoigne
These specialists are also key in predicting the destruction of Hyperborea in the ancient past. 
 B3 Palace of the Silver Princess's events might be fore told by Astrologers & wisemen giving the DM yet another way of drawing the player's PC's into the spider's web of that classic adventure. 

The Clark Ashton Smithian Ecology of The Hobgoblins in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea With Help From Dragon Issue #63

Hobgoblin artwork by LadyofHats

The Wangliang  have been a part of 'Old Earth' & Hyperborea since before humans first appeared beyond the 'fourth wind'. These beings constructed some of the earliest civilizations & cities in the wake of the 'Green Death'.

AD&D first edition Hobgoblin

It is speculated  that there there were millions of Hob warriors pulled from the Underworld & natural world by Hyperborean wizards during the events of Ragnarok. The spirits of dead warriors & other unnatural semi devil like humanoid armies were raised from within the Earth itself . These Wangliang were bred for generations in the fissure worlds & hidden valleys of the inner Earth awaiting the time when they would be summoned back to the surface. Efficient & highly effective these warriors commanded millions of gobelin warriors at the whims of their Hyperborean masters.

Goblin artwork by LadyofHats

These  Wangliang tribes forged their tribes into nation states upon 'Old Earth' & established a foothold on Hyperborea when the black miracle of the crossing happened. But there are only two or three of Hobic nations on Hyperborea. They have moved into several abandoned Hyperborean cities & began the upward climb toward civilization. But two key events have prevented these Wangliang from gaining any serious foot hold upon Hyperborea. The first is the war of  instinctual genocide waged by several tribes of chaotic humans who worship the dark gods of the Outer void. The second thing is the wraith of a Jotunn wizard who has made it his life's mission to extinguish every last  Wangliang Hobic warrior from the face of the world. This is due to a blood debt but the nation state of Ha'rai near the frozen edge of Hyperborea continues to flourish. Carved out of the solid rock outcropping this community have come to inherit some of the alchemical knowledge of the Elder Ones. They have raised army of gobelin warriors but they are still vulnerable to attack by several tribes of local human warriors. 

The Atlanteans took several tribes of the Wangliang Hobic warriors & alchemically modified them into their koalinth or dark waves. These warriors were used in extensive campaigns against the Deep Ones but eventually the Atlanteans fell. The koalinth barbarian warriors remain with a deep hatred against the Deep One with whom they have a 'war inheritence'. These tribes of warriors worship a particularly nasty aspect of the hunter god Nodens. Known as the 'One In Between the Waves' this aspect of the god takes & revels in the destruction caused by the seas. 


 The koalinth barbarians hunt & destroy human settlements by summoning  horrors from the depths as sacrificial rites to their inhuman god. The koalinth barbarians use the human remains for reproduction & foul magical rites of empowerment of the darkest magicks. Several tribes of  koalinth barbarian tribes  work for the aquatic serpent men elders  who dwell in the sunken remains of the Atleantean cities  just off the River Oceanus. They often come into human waters to raid any passing ships. They have a history with the Amazon nations of blood & warfare going back generations.

The desert dwelling   Wangliang Hobic warriors of Zothique retain many of their 'Old Earth' counterparts retaining the worship of the god Maglubiyet. They dwell in many of the former human city's ruins & remains. The raid many locals & murder anyone who gets in their way. These are a dangerous series of nation states & they boast many dark wizards among their ranks. The Hobs of this epoch are murderous & utterly vindictive routinely going to war with the local hyena men tribes for both sport & blood count. They will kill & murder any humans they come across unless they can ransom them for a good profit. 


About 12 percent of this I exploited from Roger E. Moore (July 1982). “Point of View: The Humanoids - Goals and gods of the kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins & gnolls”. In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #63 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 25–32.

The Clark Ashton Smithian Ecology of The Orc Tribes in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea with Help From Dragon Issue #62

"These despicable humanoids are the unhallowed progeny of swine dæmons and an abominable tribe of Picts. They are stocky, short-legged, thick-boned, and heavily muscled, but their features are horribly disfigured and oft porcine, with pronounced lower canine teeth. In the wilderness they are largely nocturnal, but in subterranean lairs not necessarily so. Orcs are temperamental and prone to infighting, but under a strong leader they are capable of exceptional obedience. They are a violent species, killing for pleasure, and they relish in torturing and burning their victims; too, they are notorious slavers. 

Orcs are intelligent enough to manufacture their own weapons and armour and perform other feats of simple engineering, but their craftsmanship is generally inferior to human standards; hence, a suit of orcish plate mail might provide AC 4 instead of AC 3 (otherwise orcs have natural AC 6 from their thick hides). Orcs speak their own language (Orcish) and oft a crude form of the Common tongue of man; some are able to speak a smattering of Pictish."

These are the orc warrior tribes that we've come to know in Hyperborea but there is far more bubbling below the surface of these eaters of men & warriors of renowned cruelty.

When most folks think of the troops of Ragnarok they seem to always forget the most dangerous & deadly the Orcs.  Found on the edges of Zothique  & the temperate forests of Hyperborea the pig faced orc warriors are some of the most dangerous foes that adventurers can encounter. The orc tribes of Hyperborea go all the way back to the time of the ancient Hyperborean nations were wrecking havoc on Earth. They are the projeny of Babi - ngepet ("swine demons") & an abominable tribe of half blooded Picts on Hyperborea. But their origins go much further back in history into the very mists of time. Their wiki entry hints at some of their demonic origins;

"Old English glossaries record the word orc corresponding with Latin Orcus (deity of the Underworld), and synonymous with þyrs/ðyrs "ogre" (cognate to Old Norse: þurs), as well as "hell devil". The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal defines ork in the very closely related Old Dutch language as a verslindend monster ("devouring monster"),^[3] and points at a possible origin in the Old Dutch nork "petulant, crabbed, evil person".^[4]

The Latin: Orcus is glossed as "Old English: Orc, þyrs, oððe hel-deofol"^[a] as given in the first Cleopatra Glossary (10th century), and on this entry Thomas Wright wrote, "Orcus was the name for Pluto, the god of the infernal regions, hence we can easily understand the explanation of hel-deofol. Orc, in Anglo-Saxon, like thyrs, means a spectre, or goblin.

þanon untydras ealle onwocon eotenas ond ylfe ond orcneas swylce gigantas þa wið gode wunnon lange þrage he him ðæs lean forgeald —Beowulf, Fitt I, vv. 111–14[7]

Thence all evil broods were born, ogres and elves and evil spirits —the giants also, who long time fought with God, for which he gave them their reward —John R. Clark Hall, tr. (1901)[8]

The compound orcneas is designated "evil spirits" above, but its accurate meaning is uncertain. Klaeber suggested it consisted of orc < L. orcus "the underworld" + neas "corpses" and that the translation "evils spirits" failed to do justice"

Orcus himself the demon prince of the undead had a hand in seeing his babi-ngepet minions sewing the seeds of his chaos as the old gods battled the orc warriors birthed from the stomachs of mankind. These first warriors were the powerful gods of the orcs who would later be worshiped & venerated in the city state of Orcust. Shamans to this day court the evil survival at costs favors of their gods. The Hyperborean wizards & shaman scientists who courted the favor of Orcus lord of the underworld had no idea of they were sewing the seeds of their own destruction.

DD12 – Orcus, Prince of the Undead By Otherworld Miniatures 

Driven by their Jotunn masters the tribes of orcs ran riot killing both man & demi god alike. They were born into an age of the axe & very well adapted for it. The events of Ragnarok were the orcs golden age & they reveled in it. But as time moved on the orc mind began to resemble or emulate mankind. Even as they put man to the sword & axe their chieftains began to arise from those touched by their gods. The chieftains were methodical in their violence & carefully dangerous in their tactics. They became more lawful in their evil as time went on. They began to turn on both human & Hyperborean masters alike putting them to fire & flame. 

HT3l – Pig-faced Orc Chieftain I by Other World Miniatures 

With the unleashing of the Green Death upon the Earth the orc tribal shamans & priests lead their peoples into the underworld of Iceland soon to become Hyperborea. When the black  miracle of Hyperborea was lifted into the sky occurred the first champions of the orc tribes waited along with their babi-ngepet masters. Their infravision scanned the caverns of Underborea. But soon the Hyperborean wizards would create more savage versions of these creatures. Orc shamans communed with the Great Old One Abhoth ("The Source of Uncleanliness") for his genetic favors for their warriors. The shamans passed this knowledge along to senior Hyperborean wizards & they birthed special warriors & chieftains who were slightly more intelligent then the usual rabble. These warriors often had mastery over many weapons stronger natures & constitution but soon the Green Death came for all & once again the orcs retreated beneath the vaults of Hyperborea. Thousands died but those who survived were the strongest of the race of the damned.

HT3q – Pig-faced Orc Shaman I By Otherworld Miniatures

Today foolish humans have forgotten the face of the Hyperborean wizards & their kings of the damned nation states. The City State of Orcust now grows fat with the newest batches of these despicable monsters. But in the genes of orcs, ogres, & goblins flows the promises of damnation from the twin horrors of insanity from both Abhoth ("The Source of Uncleanliness") &  Ubbo-Sathla. The wizard houses of the Ixians have been turning out record numbers of new Orc shock troops. While in the wilds outside of the bounds of civilization the ancient Orc shamans & priests begin to call upon their gods. Some of the Ixian's shock troops already hear the ancient call of their gods as it courses through their dark & sinister veins!

So one would not think that there would be a Dragon magazine angle to this but in Dragon issue#62 we have the article Gods of The Orcs Make War Not Love By Roger Moore. The update to this article is the roll that orcs have on Hyperborea today.



The difference here is that the shamans of the orcs tell of their incredible bravery & battle prowess during the time of Ragnarok & how now their is only room on Hyperborea for them! The humans will once again die by the score on their sword & knife blades as they did during the end of all things.


Today the orcs of Hyperborea are even more dangerous then they were during the time of Ragnarok because humanity does not preconceive the danger that their in. The orcs grow bolder & more dangerous with each passing day. So mankind will feel the rage & wraith of the orc once again!