Using CM1 Test of the Warlords by Douglas Niles For Old School Sword & Sorcery Campaigning

"The king requests your presence in the honorable kingdom of Norwold. If you're worthy, you may be appointed lord of a dominion filled with friendly villages, sturdy fortresses, and raging band of monsters.

Raging bands of monsters?

Well, yes, and you may have to lead your forces into a war or two. But you'll be ready for the challenge. You'll be ready for treacherous spies who conspire to steal you land. You'll be ready for a foul band of giants that raids your dominions. And you'll be ready for the inevitable clash of empires, the outcome of which may alter the fate of millions. You'll be ready! Won't you?

Test of the Warlords includes a complete campaign setting, several new NPCs, and dungeon and wilderness encounters, and guidelines for running a war between empires."

Even though CM1 Test of the Warlords by Douglas Niles is a BECMI Dungeons & Dragons module  I've done very bad things with. A bit of history on this classic module;
'CM1: "Test of the Warlords" (1984), by Douglas Niles, was the first of nine Companion-level adventures for Basic D&D. It was published early in 1984.' We actually have to thank   Frank Mentzer BECMI series for Basic D&D (1983-85) for raising the level of PC advancement and expanding the scope of Dungeons & Dragons.
What CM1 Test of the Warlords does allows the player's PC's claim domains of their own & this makes the module very flexible in what it does. It puts your PC's center stage for the events of carving your own domains & empires. Make no mistake your PC's are going to be in the middle of vicious monsters & only the their king's purview to help hold things together.



This high level adventure makes the fortunes of PC's change with each encounter with winner takes all. Grab all of the maps from Atlas of Mystara. The PC's are going to be right in the eye of the storm to take all of the resources that are going to be up for grabs. "The Adventuring in the Northlands "by Giampaolo Agosta from Threshold Magazine issue 6 puts the layer of adventuring in the Northlands theme to the next level giving the dungeon master the advantage they need when dealing with this level of play. This high level adventure contains everything that's needed to have the PC's  establish baronies of their own, build castles, rule a populace, and explore the wilderness. All of this is because the king of Norwold wants to expand the boundaries of his empire. But the mini empires of the PC's are going to be dealing with a coup back home. They'll have to step into the big shoes now once the coup happens. 

Let's talk about the fact that this module is the merest skeleton of a campaign. Coupled with the war machine system this module makes it an empire building adventure that the dungeon master can use to customize their own campaign setting. Your PC's are going to have to deal with slicing the monster's throats & then building civilization assets.  According to Timeline of Norwold  by members of the Italian MMB on the Vaults of Pandius website you get a fan overview of the history of the area.
Using this module with OSR systems there be adjustments in  the details and levels are going to have to be made. For Test of the Warlords will be a simple matter of  fifth grade mathematics in three places: the levels, the combat, and the domination systems.

Just like playing in a game of King Conan's era, the PC's here are going to be doing it all, from wilderness exploration to two wars and dealing with the machinations of several high level enemies across the board. The sword and sorcery vibe is strong along with the war gaming aspect of CM1. Your going to be dealing with a cast of characters straight out of a Shakespeare play all of exceptional level. Here's your cast of characters and their wonderful positions on the chess board of Test of the Warlords:

• King Ericall of Norworld: lawful 28th level fighter ()
• Lernal the Swill: neutral 6th level fighter
• King Yarrvik the Just: lawful 9th level fighter (Oceansend)
• Tarn Oakleaf: neutral 24th level druid
• Madiera the Counselor: lawful 21st level magic user
• Christina Marie Alanira: Neutral 25th level magic-user
• Alak Dool: chaotic 19th level magic user
• Sir Ernest Day: lawful 16th level fighter
• Rutger Dag: neutral 15th level fighter
• Sandralane of Glantri: lawful 16th level cleric
• Max the First: chaotic 15th level fighter
• Alissa Patrician: lawful 15th level fighter
• Longtooth: chaotic 20th level thief
• Mequisa, the Lawful:
• Bethidia, the Neutral:
• Chasandri, the Chaotic:

Oh don't worry only a few of them want to slit your PC's throat or get you into a bind or two or perhaps make sure you owe them a favor or two. All of the politics and intrigue give CM1 a bit of a back room good old boys aspect to the war that comes your way folks. The PCs must fight an epic war and go on several adventures to assure the survival of their newfound lands  which will take months to play out in its entirety. Highly recommended!

CM1 Test Of The Warlords Hybrid Campaign Actual Play Event Using Adventurer, Conqueror, King

A great game was had in my buddy Steve's on going Adventurer, Conqueror, King/Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea game campaign

This blog entry is a wee bit late for a Saturday because I spent the night on my friend Steve's couch. We had some rather nasty weather hit last night & it got a bit dicey to go home such as it is playing D&D in New England.Anyhow I got involved in Steve's Adventurer, Conqueror, King/D&D B/X hybrid game! It was on his recommendation that I get involved from the player side of the screen! We were playing at the conqueror level embroiled in the events of Test of the Warlord during the establishment of Norwold. The players had already run through Red Arrow/Black Shield X10. So there were six players in last night's event and we were running at Conqueror level. There were six players (each of whom was an experienced DM in their own right) this actually helps & we've know each other for thirty plus years.


So I was the johnny come lately to this hot mess of a campaign. 'The Master' had been defeated & his head was resting on a spike someplace outside on of the cities of the campaign. Steve had used ACK's to create and flesh out the city states, towns, villages, etc. Even though he was using modules such as X10 & CM1the campaign was his own creation. He's drawn it from both existing public domain sword & sorcery fiction, pulp magazines, B/X D&D, & ACK's. Does this formula sound familiar? Anyhow we had six players last night & took on most of the PC aspects in stride but the heart & soul of CM1 Test of the Warlord is the establishment of domains of their own for the players. The regular adventure has a bit of everything some dungeoneering, a bit of war fare, political intrigue, etc.  That part was kept but this bit;

"The fame of the players' heroes have earned them the right and title to run a realm of their own, under the supervision of the king of Norworld, a newly colonized region to the north of Mystara. But even from the start, with all the troubles of establishing your own pockets of civilization in as yet untamed wilderness, Norworld has become the center of attention in the struggle between two old enemies: The sorcerous empire of Alphatia and the war-mongering realm of Thyati"

Yeah that was almost completely gutted & revamped for last night's game using ACK's. While there was still the sorcerer's empire & a warmongering nation both had far weirder twists to them. What we had instead was the sorcerous empire of  Whraru's who had found the ancient war technologies of the Serpent Men. The nation of Tirurs who were the demonic humanoid remains of the 'Master' who were united under a banner of war & conquest. This was an empire of necessity that had its back to the wall & now a black wizard of Lovecraftian aspect had taken over! Oh did I happen to mention the fact that the PC's nation were caught in the middle of all this? Did I also happen to mention that I helped Steve construct this campaign over two years ago with suggestions after I reviewed CM1? 

 Yeah the campaign was constructed using a combination of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea & ACK's. This was done using K Slacker's rules on PC generation & Domains of War.
Bare in mind that this game has been on going for the past two years.
So why CM-1? "Test of the Warlords" also claims that Alphatia is secretly the empire of Atlantis, something that's repeated nowhere else in the literature on the Known World." Yes that's right you have a prime back door to connect the old world of the Known World with the Old Earth of AS&SH 's rules to round out certain aspects of the campaign." The game went very well for the other players! They routed the enemy's strongholds but my PC's fate was far less grandiose. 

So while the thundering clashes of armies happened & PC's were blowing away demonic orc warriors my PC was busy dissolving in a pit of Green Slime. Yeah that's right kids Duke Isenthral The Light of Eternal Wellness died in a pit of Green slime that took rider, horse, and all into it. My PC opened the way for the others to get in the arrow they needed. In other words I had a great time! The players mopped up the resistance they needed. The dice gods were not kind to me.


Will I join again? Perhaps as the son of Duke Isenthral The Light of Eternal Wellness! Who as soon as he puts his father's house in order will be joining his compatriots in the realms of adventure! Yes, I died but I had a great time! 

Retro Review Of CM1 Test of The Warlords By Doug Niles For Expert Dungeons & Dragons or Your Old School Campaigns

After running through X3 Curse of Xanathon By Douglas Niles over the weekend the smell of beer, Diet Mountain Dew and sword & sorcery hi jinks hadn't left me for Monday. So I started thinking about past OD&D higher level flights of fancy that might be of use with the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg engine. My mind raced back to CM1 Test of the Warlords also by Doug Niles.  Test of The Warlords is where your PC's step up to higher level ruler ship and concerns with dominions and kingdoms of their own? Or go back to being murder hobos?
GRAB IT RIGHT HERE
CM1 Test of the Warlords answers those questions with solid play, challenging and dangerous encounters and the ability for your PC's to carve out an entire kingdom while trying to avoid getting killed and it all does this while providing the bare skeleton for a campaign that could in theory take two years to play!

"Test of the Warlords is a campaign setting and scenario concerning the establishment of dominions in the land of Norwold. The module includes a description of Norwold, including its land and rulers, dungeon and wilderness encounters, and guidelines on how to handle large battles. The fame of the players' heroes have earned them the right and title to run a realm of their own, under the supervision of the king of Norworld, a newly colonized region to the north of Mystara. But even from the start, with all the troubles of establishing your own pockets of civilization in as yet untamed wilderness, Norworld has become the center of attention in the struggle between two old enemies: The sorcerous empire of Alphatia and the war-mongering realm of Thyatis." This high level adventure contains everything that's needed to have the PC's  establish baronies of their own, build castles, rule a populace, and explore the wilderness. All of this is because the king of Norwold wants to expand the boundaries of his empire and charges the PC's to step into the role of rule ship and manage their own lands. The king requests your presence in the honorable kingdom of Norwold. If you're worthy, you may be appointed lord of a dominion filled with friendly villages, sturdy fortresses, and raging band of monsters.

And like the Russian revolution there's a military coup back home and the PC's have to step into the big shoes to handle things back home. According to D&D classics dot com, ""Test of the Warlords" is intended to act as the skeleton for an entire campaign that will last roughly two years of game time" and that's exactly what this module is supposed to do bridge the gap between wargames and D&D with the introduction of the War machine system "It introduced two major new game systems: a "Dominion system" that allowed players to run their own kingdoms and the "War Machine" mass combat system that let them fight great battles with armies. " Ever wonder where Adventurer, Conquerer, King got its roots and its start? This is it and it shows the evolution of that game in its standards and system  in spades. ""Test of the Warlords" supports both of these new rules systems and thus shows a new direction for Basic D&D adventures. It lets players claim their own dominions - to be the focus of many future "CM" adventures - and it uses the War Machine mass-combat rules both for super-high-level encounters and for an oncoming war."
For the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea dungeon master there is a far different reason to grab this module. "Mark Bertenshaw notes that some of these primordial details of Alphatia and Thyatis that are found in this adventure are later contradicted by Dawn of the Emperors, including the age of the two countries. "Test of the Warlords" also claims that Alphatia is secretly the empire of Atlantis, something that's repeated nowhere else in the literature on the Known World." Yes that's right you have a prime back door to connect the old world of the Known World with the Old Earth of AS&SH and to work i it into some of the details of Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess.   and Beneath the Comet or the Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes

Many of the details and level adjustments are going to have to be made for Test of the Warlords and much of this will be simple fifth grade mathematics in three places, the levels, the combat, and the domination systems. The DM should actually fall back to AS&SH or their favorite retroclone systems as needed. Many of the over arching themes of CM1 can easily take place or be moved into the real world Russian or a dark fantasy Europe of myth and legend. This system could be used to simulate many of the minor princes and nobles of Romania or Lithuanian kingdoms of the Dark Ages bringing a Lamentations of the Flame Princess game into a new era of blood splatted history and violence. Murder and court intrigues bring brand new horrors all of their own. This is a simple and easy to run set of common sense and hard background foundation rules for running a domain and actually playing in high level games.


Just like playing in a game of King Conan's era, the PC's here are going to be doing it all, from wilderness exploration to two wars and dealing with the machinations of several high level enemies across the board. The sword and sorcery vibe is strong along with the war gaming aspect of CM1. Your going to be dealing with a cast of characters straight out of a Shakespeare play all of exceptional level. Here's your cast of characters and their wonderful positions on the chess board of Test of the Warlords:

• King Ericall of Norworld: lawful 28th level fighter ()
• Lernal the Swill: neutral 6th level fighter
• King Yarrvik the Just: lawful 9th level fighter (Oceansend)
• Tarn Oakleaf: neutral 24th level druid
• Madiera the Counselor: lawful 21st level magic user
• Christina Marie Alanira: Neutral 25th level magic-user
• Alak Dool: chaotic 19th level magic user
• Sir Ernest Day: lawful 16th level fighter
• Rutger Dag: neutral 15th level fighter
• Sandralane of Glantri: lawful 16th level cleric
• Max the First: chaotic 15th level fighter
• Alissa Patrician: lawful 15th level fighter
• Longtooth: chaotic 20th level thief
• Mequisa, the Lawful:
• Bethidia, the Neutral:
• Chasandri, the Chaotic:

Oh don't worry only a few of them want to slit your PC's throat or get you into a bind or two or perhaps make sure you owe them a favor or two. All of the politics and intrigue give CM1 a bit of a back room good old boys aspect to the war that comes your way folks. The PCs must fight an epic war and go on several adventures to assure the survival of their newfound lands ambitious scope, which will take months to play out in its entirety. Highly recommended!

The fact is that CM1 is a companion level game that allows a DM to take the outline of the Test of the Warlords and outline their own campaign's kingdoms, lands, and adventure resources into workable frame work for an extended war gaming style of campaign. This makes the adventure part OSR D&D resource and part challenging adventure all in one.