Warriors of the Red Planet rpg, Raiders of the Lost Artifacts, & Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa

 Sometimes it's time to go back to basics and a recent interview with Matt Finch by Captain Courageous has me thinking. Matt Finch gave an excellent interview about the OGL disaster a couple of months ago. It got me thinking my own use Night Owl Workshop's Raiders of the Lost Artifacts rpg. 

And we use this rpg system with the Warriors of the Red Planet rpg. And the PC's in our usual game are planning on diving further into the activities of the cabal of the Sorcerers of the Black Gate ( this is an alternative class within WRP but it's primarily meant for NPC's). And so I've been looking over my campaign outline & notes. And there was mention of The OSR Library blog. And boy, has David Baymiller been busy with alternative material for Raiders of the Lost Artifacts. 
There's also notes about Carcosa & it's alternatives. And calm down Venger we'll get back to Cha'alt another time. Right now I'd love to focus on Carcosa. 
 And so doing some research on the OD&D forums about Carcosa. And there's a ton of older material there. I remember a recent review of the first issue of Ulfire Tablets, a zine dedicated to roleplaying in science fantasy / planetary romance settings. There was a metric ton of solid Carcosa  material within the first issue of Ulfire Tablets. 

Now I'm thinking of dumping the PC's onto Carcosa for the second or third leg of the ongoing campaign. We

grabbed Tristan Tanner's Lost Carcosa a long while ago. Tanner's Lost Carocsa is more then slightly different to Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa. The inclusion of so many other classic Weird Fantasy author's races such as Edgar Rice Burroughs Green Martians & several Lovrcraft races is interesting. 
Then there's the fact that Lost Carcosa has the feel of another part of McKinney's Carcosa. Almost as if this was another side of the Lovecraftian sphere. 
We've had several teams of NPC archaeologists looking into the Martian desert's ruins. I've managed to sprinkle in serveral Lost Carcosa Green Martians. These have strange tatatoos & body oramentation on them. They are unknown or taboo to the local Green Tharks & dead sea Red Martian barbarian tribes the PC's know. These Carcosa Green Martians are servants to the sorcerers of the Black Gate. 

There are several gates that lead to Carcosa being used by cultists on our post apocalpytic Mars. There's only been one instance of a party of ours making onto Carcosa in the current campaign & they literally lost two party members to cultists. The other players immediately retreated back through the gate and sealed it behind them. 

That's Entertainment - Postcards From Aviladad, Something Wretched This Way Comes , & An Encounter With 'Dr. Theophilus' Traveling Show' - Session Report

 

“Why the Egyptian, Arabic, Abyssinian, Choctaw? Well, what tongue does the wind talk? What nationality is a storm? What country do rains come from? What color is lightning? Where does thunder goe when it dies?”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

This week's game picks right up where last week's left off and you can read about that here. 

The Pleatis system is a secondary colony system with Pleatis Prime being a human colony world that is starved for attention. And  it's just the kind of mining world that the Cirque Diabolique from the Wretchedverse is attracted to like any group of apex predators. The Blackguard  had booked a slow boat from Earth to Pleatis Prime after having dealt with  David Bay Miller's OSR Libary blog's  'Dr. Theophilus' Traveling Show'   last week.   Pleastis Prime is a super Earth exoplanet & almost Earth gravity normal. And we're using the  Wretched Space Rpg here. 
We figured that we'd catch up with the Cirque Diabolique in the colony world's capital city. Little did we realize that  'Dr. Theophilus' Traveling Show' was also there and this rivalry of evil had resulted in several PC's deaths last week. Dr. Alphonsus Theophilus has repaired his plane hopping device with a piece of the machinery of  the 'Device of Lum The Mad' which has moved across the multiverse ages ago. At our seedy little dive of a motel we received a visit from Brunaldi the Stongman one of the enforcers of Dr.Theophilus. The good doctor  wants to see us?! About what we've no idea. why?
Dr. Alphonsus Theophilus wants to know what we intend when we catch up to the Cirque De Diabolique and recover an occult item from them or destoy their circus in the cross fire. 
This isn't going to be as easy as it sounds. The Cirque Diabolique knows we're onto em and there have been several attempts upon our lives. And their not going to stand idly by. As we found out when several mutant assassins came after us. This led to an extended fire fight in the streets of the capital. 

This wasn't the least of it as we faced undead clowns next. This time we were better equipped with swords, knives, and stakes. 
After staking the clowns we moved on to confront the lead undead horror only for him to vaporize as mist. 
We took the lead undead horror in the desert just before sun rise. Staked the bastard & left him for sunrise. Our party watched the rising alien sun gut the undead horror. Something Wretched This Way Comes sent it's regards. 

Then the Blackguard moved on or so we thought when my PC Edmond Harnatdez got a knife right in the back! That's right, our 'love interst' NPC 

Magda Cordalena the Mistress of the Knives was the plant! Three more knives littered my PC's corpse. 

And the last sight I saw was three arrows from Jessup The Archer slamming into my teammates. Not a TPK but close enough to really hurt. So our other PC's managed to escape undercover and we've got to figure out what the Hell is going on?! We took a smoke break here. 
We're going to regroup & introduce new PC's back in the Pleatis capital city. The party psychic was getting bad vibes from the capital city interior. And we figure that this was 'The Cirque Diabolique' at work. Our psychic got the impression of children in danger. So it was time to reload, restock, & bring in some heavy hitting scum! More when we pick it up in next week's game session! 

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?! 

Walking Backward In The OSR - - Using OSR & Dungeons erm Boot Hill & Horror Fantasy Resources For John Carpenter's Thing From Another World One Shot

 'The town of Brimstone Arizona has gone silent over the last two weeks & its only now that you've been called in. The Foundation has reason to believe that something from outside has invaded the town. You've been called in to handle it.' 



Time to do a one shot Con style adventure  tonight of the  Veterans of the Supernatural Wars rpg & after I stumbled into blog post by Jason Vey for doing Pulps or  super heroes in the game. This is when we decided to go ahead & run with it. The reason is simple two of our usual players are not making it because of work scheduling issues. So the legacy of horror of Brimstone continues tonight with a modern update to the town of Brimstone. From the "Taming of Brimstone " for the Boot Hill Rpg  from The Dragon issue # 71 now an isolated  modern tourist trap. A place where you can get away from the modern age of the internet, the smart phone, & settle down for a 'real West' experience. Brimstone has quite the history at my table top.  But a plane crash interrupts the peaceful goings on as assimilations begin. The Party (from the Party science fiction/super hero books ) is  a quisi secret military origanization has sent in its operatives to neutralize the alien horrors before they spread. 

This time the PC's are in for the fight of their lives as a 'Thing' has been busy on a small ranch just outside of town. Thanks to David Baymiller's OSR libary all of the heavy lifting has been done for me with some fantastic John Carpenter's Thing From Another World OSR stats right here. 

Basically we're going back to basics here using some of the ideas from the old Dark Horse Thing From Another World comicbooks.  The isolation & dangerous proto Lovecraftian atmopshere of the location will add to tonight's event. 

Strange lights have been seen over Brimstone as certain officials who are a part of 'the Party's' psychic division have been having strange vistions & dreams about the tourist trap town. There are a couple of reasons to go in this direction:

1. Super fast set up & run time for this mini adventure. 
2. The PC's are entirely expendable any living will be rotated into another adventure. 
3. Perfect excuse to use Tim Brannan's Witch links
4. Speed of execution 
5. Changing nature of the monster.
6. Another excuse to abuse Brimstone as a location of terror. 

Walking Backward In The OSR - - Using OSR & Dungeons erm Boot Hill & Horror Fantasy Resources For A Weird Western Game Campaign

 
"Brimstone is a young town that is already feeling its age. It sprang up in the scrub lands of northern Arizona, in anticipation of the railroad route that would pass that way. A few merchants and businessmen managed to make a decent living from a population that was only partly transient and generally very quiet. Then the rumors started — rumors of silver to be found in the nearby mountains. And, unfortunately for Brimstone, some of the rumors were true. The population of the town swelled with visitors, people who didn’t care about Brimstone nearly as much as they cared about themselves. Some of them were prospectors willing to work for their riches, but most of them were criminals and saddle tramps expecting to line their pockets at the expense of someone else’s wallet — if not his life."

Way back on December 21 there was talk on this blog about doing an urban campaign using the  'Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Rpg' using OSR & old school resources. But a conversation with my wife about 'No Country for Old Men' & the  Justified television show has my mind's brain turning. What would happen if a (never mind a witch queen war) Witch war or Occult war became a Range War?! Imagine if you will that during the 'Sheep Wars' the supernatural races became embroiled with each other over grazing rights not only of sheep but possibly the newly expanding West. This of course might include arriving settlers as well. 

Well the young & upcoming town of Brimstone back in 1887 on the Texas/Arizona border is an unsung chapter in American history. Actually its from the classic TSR era of Dragon magazine issue #71 adventure 'The Taming of Brimstone' written by Donald Mumma.. This was the centerfold module. But there's no Old Western guns or equipment?! That's easily fixed with my friend Mark Hunt's Tall Tales BX Wild West RPG. 

Need even more old Western B/X flavored goodness?! Faster then a plate of beans in a Mell Brooks Blazing Saddles scene we've got a Tall Tales BX Wild West RPG New classes. And this is a 'pay what you' want title adding in a bit of the new stuff. 

Need even more Western OSR goodness!? Well my buddy David Baymiller OSR library has two flavors Victoria & Western.  This includes even more Western material here. 

Because 'Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Rpg' works very well with B/X Dungeons & Dragons as well as older editions it means that the whole affair bleeds right into Brimstone. A small town in the middle of a supernatural conflict. Want to really add in some random  nastiness because humans are disappearing & both sides have to call a truce. Take David's version of the Jeeper Creeper's Creeper waking up & starting to collect body parts after its twenty three  year cycle. 

Yeah, yeah, the monster is excellent to add into the mix as an unexpected supernatural menace to take out Brimstone towns folk & gunfighters.. And those are just some of the ideas that this campaign work up brings to mind.  Brimstone is a town in bad need of taming & the PC's could be called in under the guise of hired guns or simply ranch hands. The supernatural or occult element adds a whole other aspect to this mix. Brimstone might take months to deal with the trouble that could result. 

South of the Mega City - B1 In Search of the Unknown Christmas Post Apocpalytic Mash Up Session II - Rise of the Tcho-Tchoids

The last of the skeletons were dispatched by the PC's & things were heating up fast in B1 folks. The skeletons were pretty mouthy to the player's PC's & they taunted the party even as they were getting mashed. A lot of Zombierama rules from

The OSR Library here in other words those weren't ordinary skeletons. 

 

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So being bound & determined to spend Christmas with my family didn't go as planned!?! Today I got dragged unto the gaming table again!?!  Never let it be said that the players ever let us dungeon masters rest on our laurels. We picked right up from last session with the player's PC's coming face to face with another old foe. 
After dealing with the orcs & several minor goblin snipers the player's party made it into a hallway where several strange bio mechanical alien mercenaries were having slave dealings with B1's humanoids. The aliens were buying a local young lass that had been captured for nefarious purposes.
 The PC's hung back & went to identify the aliens & came straight up with a successful roll of Heretick werks blog's  Tcho-Tchoids. I believe there was a 'Oh Hell no!' from one of the players & the PC's flanked the aliens & the pig faced orcs! 
There was a Frazetta artwork  moment when one of the thieves rolled a 'one' on their check!

 There is a long standing hatred of  the Tcho-Tchoids & the players as Papa has employed them as mercs since their first encounter in 2012. The alien mercs unleashed Hell on the party with grenades, and several fire ball spells. The PC's yanked the slave away from the orcs who went down under knives, bullets, & two natural 'twenties'. The Tcho-Tchoids disappeared in a whisper of psychic powers & retreated to the shadows. The party of six is bidding its time after a morale check once two of their number went down.. 
Turns out the girl is actually a 2nd level fighter and replacement for one of the player's PC's who died last game. The rest of the player's PC's equiped her fast with crow armor salvaged from the orcs, several knives, a short sword, and a goblin bow with arrows. Countess Tara wasn't in any position to be picky folks. She also managed to kill off a goblin warrior about to pick off the party's thief. 
Now its deeper & deeper into B1's inner works & the players absolutely think they know where this is heading. Not realizing that the DM is using  the B1 Insearch of the Unknown Sourcebook available here from the Zenopus archives site.  Papa will have his due folks its gonna get worse from here. Much worse... 

South of the Mega City - B1 In Search of the Unknown Christmas Post Apocpalytic Mash Up ( !?) Session Report

 Over the Christmas holiday we got a chance to get together & the players wanted something fast & dirty to play. Now since over the Christmas holiday we've been messing around with some Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg supplements. But the players wanted something meaty & solid to sink their teeth into but short. Now there was a dog eared copy of an old campaign not  with me & we were all pretty much into the Christmas spirit. So this session was run like a Con game from the ground up. The party is called into the small Mexican town of Mesa Verda by  Father Pluatos after the appearance of a strange castle & lands one Winter morning. He had originally called in a Judge inquistor & co to investigate.  He hasn't heard from them in two weeks. Yes that's right last night I ran B1 In Search of the Unknown modified into a gonzo post apocalytic adventure. I used Swords & Wizardry to run this little debacle because it was the only thing on my hard drive at the time.  There was also the fact that we had access to the B1 Insearch of the Unknown Sourcebook available here from the Zenopus archives site 

What the players didn't know was this was the return of one of the party's most hated villains Papa Marvin Slayer. Papa is a necromancer of a really nasty disposition whose got a hulking  double hit poiny juju zombie half orge body guard named Riley. Riley has killed off four PC's in the past and he fancies himself a full on metal head/biker. Papa raised the Caverns of Quasqueton & then punched into a post apocalytic reality. Now the players wanted a mix of D&D & post apocalytic types. And then it was Mad Max style combat. Thankfully there's a few resources that I happen to know out on the internet. My buddy Dave Miller did OSR Vehicle Rules. And also  Mega-City One Vehicles (OSR) And no none of the player's PC's were going to end up with a Lawgiver!  So the party came face to face with Pig Faced orcs armed with machine guns & cars! 

Otherworld Miniatures Orks frpm here. 

The party had to think, move, & sneak by them to get into the works and then rolled a couple of grenades out into pizza. And the explosions finished most of the pork. The party ran into the corpses of the psi judges & the inquistor along with his adventurer back ups. The corpses were being fed on by trogoldytes. This time it was a bit of hand to hand with these scavengers. 

The party spent way too much time with the corpses & then it was wandering monster time. A small group of six skeletons in full armor made the party really hit bricks because they were intelligent, & fought more like Deadites then normal skeletons! 

And this fight took up a great deal of the evening! And so we have to continue this another night.
Where will things go from here?! Who knows stay tuned! 

Resources from the Osr Library

OSR Vehicle Rules (My take on them)

Mega-City One Vehicles (OSR)

The Doom That Came to Mega-City One (OSR Dredd/Cthulhu Mashup)

HP Lovecraft's Dreamlands Cycle , Dark Albion, Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, Original Dungeons & Dragons, & Campaign Session Catch Up

"THREE times Randolph Carter dreamed of the marvelous city, and three times was he snatched away while still he paused on the high terrace above it. All golden and lovely it blazed in the sunset, with walls, temples, colonnades and arched bridges of veined marble, silver-basined fountains of prismatic spray in broad squares and perfumed gardens, and wide streets marching between delicate trees and blossom-laden urns and ivory statues in gleaming rows; while on steep northward slopes climbed tiers of red roofs and old peaked gables harbouring little lanes of grassy cobbles. It was a fever of the gods, a fanfare of supernal trumpets and a clash of immortal cymbals. Mystery hung about it as clouds about a fabulous unvisited mountain; and as Carter stood breathless and expectant on that balustraded parapet there swept up to him the poignancy and suspense of almost-vanished memory, the pain of lost things and the maddening need to place again what once had been an awesome and momentous place."The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath  (1943) 
by H.P. Lovecraft

HP Lovecraft's Dream cycle is probably as important to me as Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique tales especially in setting the campaigns that I've run for over the last thirty years or so. All of this comes down to the fact that I've once again been talking with friends over the use of Elves, Dark Albion, the Lion & Dragon Rpg, European history, & mythology within the context of old school Dungeons & Dragons. Sure Appendix N is a set of guidelines from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide. But 'The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" is one of his foundation novellas & it ties in directly into the dream cycles of Edgar Allan Poe & Lord Dunsany. 




The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, HP Lovecraft - Ballantine 1970


Let me see if I can catch you up on some of what's been happening in my campaigns which have been disrupted due to lots of snow. But I've been debating & working the Elven Empire's  influence on Europe & the planes through debates with players & friends via phone calls, emails, etc. I use HP Lovecraft's Dreamlands cycle as a sort of Chaotic future catch all where the D&D races retreated after the fall of Camelot.
 I've used the Lion & Dragon rpg with a number of other OSR products & its been interesting to say the least.



Because both Dark Albion & Lion & Dragon are medieval authentic its easy to slot the ritual magic, some of the races, classes, etc. into the back ground of other traditional old school campaign settings such as Greyhawk, Blackmoor, & Mystara.  And of course I put my own spin on all of these which has both its good and bad merits. D&D Elves in my games are known as huldra("hidden being") from the  Scandinavian language. They along with other beings were bred from mankind in a wide variety of capacities that were needed for various jobs.  The Dreamlands & Zothique touch the far future of Earth millions of years in the future when the world grows strange & twisted by the forces of entropy. Leng & Kaddath themselves blur the edges of time allowing their alien appearance in Hyperborea. 
"Several of Lovecraft's short stories might be understood as laying the mythological groundwork for "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" to include: "Polaris (short story)," "Memory," "The White Ship," "The Doom that Came to Sarnath," "The Cats of Ulthar," "Celephaïs," "Nyarlathotep" (an Outer God and/or Other God), "Ex Oblivione," "The Nameless City," "The Quest of Iranon," "The Other Gods," "Hypnos" (an Elder God), "Azathoth" (an Outer God and/or Other God), and "The History of the Necronomicon." Reading these short stories before "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" and consulting a map of H. P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands can improve the readers understanding of Lovecraftian mythos."

This also helps to explain the appearance of some of the Dreamlands places within AS&SH's Hyperborea.



The appearance & mention of 'The Sign of Koth in the underworld of the Dreamlands &  is a clear indicator of its power especially since in 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'  it was inscribed on a tower in the dreamworld  to keep the gugs from returning to upper dreamland. and as having strange attributes. It is also inscribed in the catacombs under Curwen's long abandoned house. I would also hazard to guess that  'The Sign of Koth' also keeps the Dreamlands Underworld & Underborea separated & the planar gateways closed between the two worlds. 

"The Plateau of Leng is referenced in several of Lovecraft's other works including Celephaïs, The Hound, The Whisperer in Darkness and At the Mountains of Madness, although its location differs in each instance." It also appears in Hyperborea as one of the most forboding & insane areas within the AS&SH game settings. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the authorities of Albion not only know of Hyperborea & its connection to Leng but think of the place as one of the supreme places of blasphemy & Chaos. Going over my notes from dungeon master  Peter's old Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg mash up campaign with I5 Lost Tomb of Martek I suddenly remembered the foul workings of  Nyarlathotep in the Dreamlands& Hyperborea. 


"Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, is frequently mentioned in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos tales, but his appearance here is the only time during which Nyarlathotep interacts meaningfully with any of Lovecraft's human characters. Nyarlathotep also appears in the sonnet cycle Fungi from Yuggoth." 
And could be one of the key agitators in the history of Earth, & across the planes acting as a fulcrum for Chaos that seems to engulf various periods in Earth's history. His could be the occult powerhouse behind of the most successful witch families & cults we've seen.



Adventurers who run across giants in the back washes of Europe better be prepared for the fact that other dangerous monsters often accompany them. The more time that goes on the monsters from the Chaos laced unreality of Fairy become real in our world. The troglodytes, bugbears, &  carrion crawlers are all native to the Welsh 'Otherworld'  & can easily be an indication that giant henchmen working for witch cults are about. Nodens (an Elder God)  described in "The Strange High House in the Mist." appears in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea as well as a god of chaos in Dark Albion's Cults of Chaos. 


Demons are often mentioned here & there within HP Lovecraft's Dreamlands cycle but always as a background element in some of the terrible lands surrounding the main body of countries & kingdoms. Both 'The RPGPundit Presents: The Goetia'  &  The Lion & Dragon Rpg have perfect resources for creating unique demons for AS&SH as well as the Dreamlands. Demons are not to be used lightly however as they often have powers that transcend time & space. Their wrath could bring PC 's to their knees & they could wind up locked in nightmare realms of Hell for eternity.


Several of the Conan mythos deities have connections within the Dreamlands especially those of Kuntz & Ward's Gods, Demigods, & Heroes. Jason Vey's Age of Conan 

"hack"for using OD&D in the Hyborian Age of Robert E. Howard

along with his free 

Age of Conan II: Secrets of Acheron, are especially useful here.

This brings me to the fact that we've got wide swaths of history that is open to the dungeon master to connect to the Dreamlands. Realms of Crawling Chaos from Goblinoid Games is very useful for flesh out those interesting Dreamlands artifacts, races, and even the psionics of the Old Ones. A
 second resource is David Baymiller's OSR Library Blog which has extensive OSR resources for the mythos, horror, The Dreamlands, & much more. May I also highly recommend Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets for spells & highly valuable Dreamlands like spells, magic items, & much more.

Next time more on the horror & fury of the Formorians, their connection to the Moonbeasts, & the deep end of the PC's in this week's game!