OSR Commentary - Adapting S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1e) By Gary Gygax For A Greyhawk Sector Campaign

" In the Yatil Mountains south of Perrenland there is rumored to be a magical hoard of unsurpassed value, a treasure of such fame that scores f adventurers have perished in search of it. Find the perilous Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and you may gain the hidden wealth of the long-dead arch-mage -- if you live!"



The big problem with getting together with players is that someone comes up with a killer idea & then decides to pull me aside with a beer & to have a word. The word tonight was about two things one was The White Star Galaxy edition rpg  & the second was S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth By Gary Gygax. Now the suggestion was that the classic dungeon was once upon a time a void knight training facility that has fallen into disrepair. Well sort of.. The facility has become active again as a  rival void knight party has taken up the dark magicks of the place under the watchful eye of the demi lich. 

There's a lot to unpack here as the party have been called in (erm hired by) the respresentives of a Greyhawk nation but personally I make this a part of the Greyhawk sector. The whole cloth weirdness of the dungeon setting can come down to the presence of Iggwilv. Its her influence as a  true creature of the void & her association with her daughter Drelnza, that makes this one Hell of a training facility. 

Drelnza, may have been personally training her own quartet of void knights to serve her own selfish whims. This leads me back into the fact that ;"The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is a revised and expanded version of The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth, a tournament adventure that Gygax wrote for WinterCon V, a gaming convention sponsored by the Metro Detroit Gamers (MDG) in 1976.^[4] It is based in part on one of Rob Kuntz's dungeon levels, as Kuntz helped Gygax revise the tournament version.^[5] This original version consisted of eight loose sheets, an outer folder, and a zip-locked bag; only several hundred copies were printed.^[4] In the May 1980 issue of Dragon, Gygax said "Rob Kuntz has the reworked Lost Caverns module which must be finalized" and that "We want to get it into print as soon as possible."^[6] Lawrence Schick later suggested that "there's evidence that Gary considered Tsojcanth part of a longer Greyhawk campaign, placing the adventure between T1–T4 The Temple of Elemental Evil and WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. (By this reckoning, The Village of Hommlet, The Temple of Elemental Evil, and Tsojcanth are thus the "lost" WG1 through WG3 modules.) So, Tsojcanth was published in the S series because it got completed out of order, but was too good to delay.""  This is why the whole cloth of S4 could be considered a really well thought out training facility & major part of the Greyhawk sector. Now mostly forgotten. Well mostly forgotten. The dark magicks of Tsojcanth keep the monsters in suspension until someone enters their area. 

Many of the traps, tricks, & monsters are used to separate parties of void knights & adventurers. This is to test the steel of the knights in question. This goes towards a long way to help explain the presence of so many monsters living on top each other. 



S4 has at its core some very dark magicks & some adventure elements that can help fill in some gaps in the 'void knight reference & adventure background  material' for the Greyhawk sector. Drelnza is going to be a major bad ass not something to trifle with. 

Its once this classic module is solved & cleared then things get very interesting! Once WG4: The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (1982), by Gary Gygax is pulled out then the true nature of this shrine of the void becomes apparent. Tharizdun would be a true avitar of the 'void' and his release spells the doom of the Greyhawk sector. 



The idea for using this classic module as an add on came from  Bud's RPG review of this infamous vintage module. The fact that the review looks at it with such gusto makes me want to run these two classic modules as a part of a mini campaign. 


If done the right way in my opinion then using S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1e) By Gary Gygax For A Greyhawk Sector Campaign not only makes perfect sense. But could keep a White Star game going for a year or better. It also shows the adaptablility & resilience that these classic modules have across a huge spectrum of old school & OSR table top rpg systems. 

Adapting Dungeons of Dread For Old School Sword & Sorcery Campaign Play

"Dungeons of Dread is a collection of four classic, stand-alone Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules -- S1: Tomb of Horrors, S2: White Plume Mountain, S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, and S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth -- complete with original black-and-white interior art."


Stay in a hobby long enough & you might witness your own play as you go at the table top coming back to haunt you. This is the case with Dungeons of Dread by Gary Gygax & Lawrence Schick. I was challenged today to create a campaign that uses the Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and this cycle of adventures. Yes this has been done before with Realms of Horror . But Realms of Horror has some very weird choices in editing & content when it comes to actually running that super module as a campaign. But add to this the idea of running these as a Hyperborean campaign & things get even more interesting. But I've got some ideas for actually running these adventures as an adventure cycle on AS&SH's Hyperborea.


Let's start off here with the idea of S1: Tomb of Horrors (1978) by Gary Gygax  & what the original killar dungeon is doing on Hyperborea. The idea is rather simple really not unlike Clark Ashton Smith's Empire of the Necromancer's story. Our demi lich has deep connnections to the royal bloodlines of Hyperborea especially within the capital & he's now challenging the best of the best adventurers of the land. Why?! Well to eliminate the competition of course. Our Demi lich awakens after the Green Death & goes about testing the best of the land.


If the characters survive their little vacation within S1: Tomb of Horrors (1978) by Gary Gygax then something that they've done within the tomb activates the original fun house of horrors Lawrence Schick's S2: White Plume Mountain (1979).  This little bit of menace has been the product of its returning lunatic wizard whose now testing & killing adventurers by the score not to mention the reappearance of one of the original 'swords of power'. This is a sign that some prophecy of Hyperborea has been fulfilled & now the objects of power are hearkening a dark harbinger from space heading for favorite Sword & Sorcery setting. 

This sets up Gary Gygax's S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1980) which is the original science fantasy crossover module. Here Pre Green Death era space craft has crashed into the Hyperborean mountains & is creating havoc as the monsters ravage the local countryside. 

The entire module doesn't really have to change at all to suit AS&SH's Hyperborea. The space craft is intact but totally insane as factions & monsters fight for dominance over the various inhabitants of the space craft. The robots are still dumping the alien monsters   into the countryside but there's the brave adventurers to take them on. I suggest using this adventure in a temperate zone of hyperborea because of the distribution of the monsters. My suggestion is to locate  Gary Gygax's S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks at the base of the spiral mountains so to easy the PC's into the thick of things. 


While dealing with S3 the PC's find a lead onto an ancient hoard of Hyperborean treasures beyond compare. The player's PC's must find the  The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth & deal with the blow back from this classic module by Gary Gygax. The spiral mountains make a very tempting target once word gets out about  The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. S4 The  Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth By Gary Gygax is a classic & this module is easily adaptable to your old school campaigns. 



Adventurers by the score descend upon this location & turn up dead or not at all. The reputation of the caverns grows with each telling and the players are gonna have to deal with rival NPC adventuring parities. They'll also have to deal with the tons of monsters that serve a behind the throne toadies. All in all these are classic modules and highly adaptable to any dungeon master's old school or OSR needs.