OSR Commentary - Lands of the Jotunn & G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief By Gary Gygax (1978)

 " Giants have been raiding the lands of men in large bands, with giants of different sorts in these marauding groups. Death and destruction have been laid heavily upon every place these monsters have visited. A party of the bravest and most powerful adventurers has been assembled and given the charge to punish the miscreant giants"

I've been thinking heavily about G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief  By Gary Gygax (1978) & looking into how this style of tourament module could be used in a Pulp style game & before you head off give me a chance. Since these are a part of the classic Against the Giants series of modules by Gary Gygax let's get a little insight;"Against the Giants is an adventure module written by Gary Gygax and published by TSR in 1981 for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game." G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief  By Gary Gygax  takes place within Jotunn in Greyhawk & if that location was rifted into the modern world then events get very horrific & dangerous. Now I was reading through Dungeon of Sighs review of G1-3 Against the Giants from 2017. I was struck by the following; "he Hill Giant steading is a balance between two common stock communities - the barbarian ‘meadhall’ and the cannibal ‘hillbilly’ clan compound.  One can easily push it in either direction, depending on how one sees Hill Giants.  Certainly the Hill Giant of the 5th edition (and perhaps the Monster Manual) is driven by gluttony and seems like something out of “The Hills Have Eyes” more than a Fomorian of Celtic myth.  This second idea, Hill Giants as oversized classical celtic with monstrous table manners is closer to the 1978 G1.  Giants cover everything in furs and love decorative jewelry, living in a hall as an extended clan, the warrior elite lording over their captives and servants.  The little art in G1 straddles these two conceptions as well, with giants clad in furs, or sometimes dressed in 19th century looking prairie dresses and depending on one’s campaign going in either direction could be very fun. " 
Now let's say that lands of the Jotunn plannarly merged with modern day England & that's when the real trouble starts. In Norse mythology this place is literally the land of giants, trolls, and other Dungeons & Dragons humanoids. For some reason H.G. Wells Food of the Gods stuck with me here & the idea that the Hill Giants might be feeding some of the locals on their own food or Eitr. Yeah this is right outta of the Bob Something Godbound/Scion: Titanspawns play book. The hill giants have been turning the locals into cannon fodder, slaves,etc.
Now this isn't the first time I've thought about doing this & for a Godbound/Dungeons & Dragons campaign this isn't a bad way to go. Scientists who are studying the food of the gods or Ambrosia are extremely dangerous circumstances. The food of the gods comes from Greco/Roman mythology; "Ambrosia is very closely related to the gods' other form of sustenance, nectar. The two terms may not have originally been distinguished;^[6] though in Homer's poems nectar is usually the drink and ambrosia the food of the gods; it was with ambrosia Hera "cleansed all defilement from her lovely flesh",^[7] and with ambrosia Athena prepared Penelope in her sleep,^[8] so that when she appeared for the final time before her suitors, the effects of years had been stripped away, and they were inflamed with passion at the sight of her. On the other hand, in Alcman,^[9] nectar is the food, and in Sappho^[10] and Anaxandrides, ambrosia is the drink.^[11] A character in Aristophanes' Knights says, "I dreamed the goddess poured ambrosia over your head—out of a ladle." Both descriptions could be correct, as ambrosia could be a liquid considered a food (such as honey).

The consumption of ambrosia was typically reserved for divine beings. Upon his assumption into immortality on Olympus, Heracles is given ambrosia by Athena, while the hero Tydeus is denied the same thing when the goddess discovers him eating human brains. In one version of the myth of Tantalus, part of Tantalus' crime is that after tasting ambrosia himself, he attempts to steal some away to give to other mortals.^[12] Those who consume ambrosia typically had not blood in their veins, but ichor the blood of immortals.^[13]

Both nectar and ambrosia are fragrant, and may be used as perfume: in the Odyssey Menelaus and his men are disguised as seals in untanned seal skins, "...and the deadly smell of the seal skins vexed us sore; but the goddess saved us; she brought ambrosia and put it under our nostrils."^[14] Homer speaks of ambrosial raiment, ambrosial locks of hair, even the gods' ambrosial sandals."

So let's say that the hill giants are using the local youth for part of an army of muscle & cult recruitment. Surely there couldn't be someone among them whose got the brains to organize hill giants into such a back handed group of muscle & dominance right? Well enter Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of The Kings of Britain", 12th century), & Gogmagog. "He was a giant inhabitant of Albion, thrown off a cliff during a wrestling match with Corineus (a companion of Brutus of Troy). Gogmagog was the last of the Giants found by Brutus and his men inhabiting the land of Albion."




Its no accident that I mentioned that G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief  By Gary Gygax (1978) might be transported to a modern England this goes back to Gogmagog (also Goemagot, Goemagog, Goëmagot and Gogmagoc); "Gogmagog ("Goemagot", "Goemagog") in the legend of the founding of Britain as written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae (1136). Gogmagog was a giant of Albion who was slain by Corineus, a member of the invading Trojan colonizers headed by Brutus. Corineus was subsequently granted a piece of land that was named "Cornwall" eponymously after him.

The Historia details the encounter as follows: Gogmagog, accompanied by twenty fellow giants, attacked the Trojan settlement and caused great slaughter. The Trojans rallied back and killed all giants, except for "one detestable monster named Gogmagog, in stature twelve cubits, and of such prodigious strength that at one shake he pulled up an oak as if it had been a hazel wand". He is captured so that Corineus can wrestle with him. The giant breaks three of Corineus's ribs, which so enrages him that he picks up the giant and carries him on his shoulders to the top of a high rock, from which he throws the giant down into the sea. The place where he fell was known as "Gogmagog's Leap" to posterity."

So why would  Gogmagog return with hordes of hill giants & the like to modern England? To track down his modern day descendants & use them in an army of the Apocalypse to destroy modern society; "The Lord Mayor's account of Gogmagog says that the Roman Emperor Diocletian had thirty-three wicked daughters. He found thirty-three husbands for them to curb their wicked ways; they chafed at this, and under the leadership of the eldest sister, Alba, they murdered their husbands. For this crime they were set adrift at sea; they washed ashore on a windswept island, which they named "Albion"—after Alba. Here they coupled with demons and gave birth to a race of giants, whose descendants included Gog and Magog" 

There's always been a mix here of gods & giants going back to Norse mythology
 the primary example here being Loki.
 But there are many others & to take this back to Dark Albion if  G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief  By Gary Gygax (1978) & placed it within Dark  Albion or Lion & Dragon  with our additions the effects could be devestating. Ambroisa being used as a sacrement for a cult of the hill giants on the local populace would have incredibly dangerous effects. The supplicant's strength gains  +4 & perhaps a +2 on dexterity.But their intelligence & wisdom go down by -2 points after two weeks of being on the Ambroisia. The cult's members become creatures of chaos before too long gaining unsightly & unnatural muscles. Originally these monsters were used as shock troops by the Elves in ages past & now these monsters have returned!




Hill giants have always been creatures of chaos within my mind anyway. Dangerous in the exgtreme, prone to violence, quick tempered, & representive of a different order then humanity entirely. 

And this gets into the fact that all of the above could potentially be used with a Troll Lords Mythos dark Europe. Let me explain, while may seem a bit convoluted and far fetched the forces of chaos could in point of fact be returning from Fairy and planning a full scale invasion of Europe! 
And the Mythos line of books from Troll Lord Games supports this! The Fey could easy taint the wells of surrounding  towns and other locations such as the Borderlands. And again here's where I'd pull quite a bit Adventurer, Conqueror, King's take on the forces of Chaos! 

Review & Commentary OnThe RPGPundit Presents #92: The Elven Tomb For The Lion & Dragon Rpg or The Dark Albion Campaign Setting

 "Arbor Low was once remarkably impressive, but now very few of its standing stones remain. Dating back to the Elves, it is clearly over five-thousand years old. A ruined church and manor are nearby, but who is occupying them now? What are they up to? Could there be something buried here or are the occupants merely taking shelter?" 

So I'm looking for something simple, easy, and effective as an adventure opener. And stumble upon RPGPundit Presents #92: The Elven Tomb & I'm thinking that this would be a perfect for Dark Albion or the Lion & Dragon rpg. And because this is only a sixteen page adventure for two dollars & fifty cents I'm leaning far closer to the  Lion & Dragon rpg. Lion & Dragon has a lot of things going for it including getting the system simple & right on the money. 
The problem is that the mystery of the Elves is laid out in three or four products. And that's actually fine. Because the Elves of Dark Albion & Lion & Dragon were the original masters of mankind. It's only when humanity rose up collectively that the Elven empire was routed & went into decay. By the time of the Rose War in Lion & Dragon  Elvenkind is mostly a distant memory. Mostly.. 

That's where RPGPundit Presents #92: The Elven Tomb comes into play putting a full on tomb of the ancient Elves right into the PC's laps. 

RPGPundit Presents #92: The Elven Tomb For The Lion & Dragon Rpg or The Dark Albion Setting is a deadly little romp of a Midevil adventure. What it does is make it's presentation simple, delivers the goods, and then moves on leaving the PC's with a deadly legacy to deal with. The RPGPundit Presents #92: The Elven Tomb would be easy to port over into other OSR games as well. Swords & Wizardry could easily handle the adventure encounters, traps, and more. And The RPGPundit Presents #92: The Elven Tomb wouldn't be out of place within a Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg campaign for sure. 

The RPGPundit Presents #92: The Elven Tomb works on a number of levels. Level one it serves as an excellent introduction to the world of Lion & Dragon or Dark Albion. Level two this adventure presents the Elven menace as something ancient, evil, and downright deadly. And three it takes on the Lion & Dragon rpg system in spades. 

The RPGPundit Presents #92: The Elven Tomb For The Lion & Dragon Rpg or The Dark Albion Campaign Setting 

A Commentary & Overview of the Lion & Dragon Rpg Along with Dark Albion by RPG Pundit But With A Twist of Gary Gygax's Greyhawk - Updated

 Lion & Dragon by Rpg Pundit has always been more then the sum of its parts for me. The  hard back book hasn't left my gaming collection box of 'must use' rpg books since it came out . The Lion & Dragon system itself its own flavor of OSR D20 system that does the 'Rose War' history & adventure  events quite well.  Here the player's can not only change history but forge their own. The NPC's even the important one's are not only murderable but the back stage cloak & dagger intrigues make this a definitive possibility.

Dark Albion is the OSR 'Rose War ' historical setting book that has lots of goodies for a D&D Retro clone system think Swords & Wizardry here. But Lion & Dragon certainly has all of the bells & whistles for actually role playing in the historical era. What caused the Rose War?! Well the usual 'Game of Thrones' style history ; "One of the first causes of the Wars of the Roses was the precedent that stealing the throne of England by war and murder was an acceptable strategy for a future king. Henry IV of England (previously known as Henry Bolingbroke, r. ... 1066-1087 CE) in 1066 CE, had any king won his throne by murdering the incumbent monarch."
Why would you as a player make a PC for this era?! Why not is a better question. The Lion & Dragon  book contains all of the PC classes, ritual magic, alchemy, demons, & more to spin out a very solid campaign. Dark Albion adds in tons of events, maps, & even adventure hooks to get the campaign off of the ground. 

The English Civil War was the center of the universe as far as the fate of the throne of England according to the wiki entry it had all of the trappings of something very ugly indeed; "The power struggle ignited around social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years' War, unfolding the structural problems of bastard feudalism, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI which revived interest in the House of York's claim to the throne by Richard of York. Historians disagree on which of these factors was the main reason for the wars.^[5]

With the Duke of York's death in 1460, the claim transferred to his heir, Edward. After a series of Yorkist victories from January–February 1461, Edward claimed the throne on 4 March 1461, and the last serious Lancastrian resistance ended at the decisive Battle of Towton. Edward was thus unopposed as the first Yorkist king of England, as Edward IV. Resistance smouldered in the North of England until 1464, but the early part of his reign remained relatively peaceful.

A new phase of the wars broke out in 1469 after the Earl of Warwick, the most powerful noble in the country, withdrew his support for Edward and threw it behind the Lancastrian cause. Fortunes changed many times as the Yorkist and Lancastrian forces exchanged victories throughout 1469–70 (and Edward was even captured for a time in 1469). When Edward fled to Flanders in 1470, Henry VI was re-installed as king on 3 October 1470, but his resumption of rule was short-lived, and he was deposed again following the defeat of his forces at the Battle of Tewkesbury, and on 21 May 1471, Edward entered London unopposed, resumed the throne, and probably had Henry killed that same day. With all significant Lancastrian leaders now banished or killed, Edward ruled unopposed until his sudden death in 1483. His 12-year-old son reigned for 78 days as Edward V. He was then deposed by his uncle, Edward IV's brother Richard, who became Richard III." 


Framed print, "Plucking the Red and White Roses in the Old Temple Gardens" after the original 1910 fresco painting by Henry Albert Payne (British, 1868-1940) based upon a scene in Shakespeare's Henry VI, the original in the Palace of Westminster and a later similar painting by Payne in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, this print marked "copyright 1912 in London & Washington by "The Fine Art Publishing Co., Ltd. London", sight: 20.25"h, 21"w, overall: 27"h, 27.5"w, 9.25lbs.

The PC's can quite literally hold the keys to the kingdom but their social standing,background, and more are going to influence but not necessarily determine the fate of England herself. This isn't the England you know though,. Because of the events of the Civil War there's all kinds of supernatural elements vying to take apart the empire at its most vulnerable. The forces of Chaos herself lurk in the gaming system of the Lion & Dragon rpg & in the back lots of Dark Albion. Its here that Dark Albion's Cults of Chaos blows away the dust, rotten core, & deep weirdness of the cults themselves. The secrets of the  cults of chaos are laid bare & there are even options for the PC's to play inquisitors or possibly cult members themselves. 

Finally there's the RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 from Spectre Press which is the Lion & Dragon rpg equivalent of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition's Unearthed Arcana. RPGPundit Presents: The Old School Companion 1 collects the first fifty 'Rpg Pundit Presents' issues of support material for Lion & Dragon or any OSR system for that matter into one collected whole. 

It features...

• 5 new classes for your characters, such as the courtier and archer.
• Special rules for longbows/crossbows, advanced critical tables, domain management, and mass combat.
• Spellbooks and a number of grimoires, including the Goetia and Book of the Art of Hours.
• Astrology and the Arcana.
• Medieval life and activities, including the history and rule of the Clerical Order, merchant and caravans, and courtly events and intrigues.
• The supernatural, including the Twilight Realm of the Fae, cursed artifacts, and sinister supernatural wilderland encounters.

There's this whole other Earth feel to both the Lion & Dragon as well as the Dark Albion series of products. These books utterly follow the Rose War real world history but there's a sort of if Rome hadn't fall & King Arthur was real. And what if 'The Unconquered Sun' was the true church's God. 


There's lots & lots of tools for the OSR dungeon master in all of these books & I've used em quite well in other OSR & old school rpg settings. All of the Dark Albion books & Lion & Dragon books I've used to dramatic & damaging effect in of all things Gary Gygax's Greyhawk. From the ritual magic to the PC classes everything in both Lion & Dragon rpg line & Dark Albion fits Greyhawk as campaign very nicely. It allows the DM to run a lower tier & quite gritty Greyhawk with the known campaign rules acting quite a bit differently but the material being eerily familiar in my experience.
 

There's a cheapness to life in this altered version  of Greyhawk, the social standing rules become much more pronounced, the dangers are ever present, & the whole affair feels very much an Oerth waiting to erupt in the flames of  war. All of this with the dungeon delving still in the heart of Greyhawk. 

1. Ritual magic becomes so much more in this Greyhawk & wizards have to watch their steps. The magic guilds become a necessity. 
2. Greyhawk's royals have become very vulnerable to both the assassin's blade & the wars of the Flaeness. 
3. There are tons of incidents of Chaos festering in the near & far corners of Greyhawk
4. Many of the most well known dungeons suddenly become incredibly deadly. 
5. The politics of Oerth lend themselves to the social strata much more readily. 
6. The feel of Greyhawk changes to a much dark & far more Medieval campaign turn. Factions now gain the upper hand & kings are very dangerous indeed. 
7. The powers of the Flaeness are suddenly at each other's throat & many well known artifacts take on a new meaning & light. 
8. T1 The Village of Hommlet becomes the hot bed for a very dangerous supernatural slice of misery.   
9. Cults of Chaos among the underworld of Greyhawk also turn the volume up to eleven 
10. Greyhawk takes on a dark & gritty menace that it was meant too. Not new & improved but simply different & dangerous. 

And then let's take Pundit's Sword & Caravan this put's a different spin on Greyhawk's Bright Deserts. Here life thrives and the 'Silk Road' analogy for Greyhawk stands out. It wouldn't be hard at all to transform the social dynamic of Greyhawk down this road. According to the Greyhawk fandom wiki; " From the feet of the Abbor-Alz to the rocky shores of Woolly Bay, armies of desert nomads, goblinoids, and mercenaries ride, enforcing the will of their liege upon the simple folk of the desert, proclaiming every oasis for their reclusive ruler." If this sounds familar then it should. 

Gygax used existing cultures for his Greyhawk world and it would be easy enough to port over a diffferent dynamic with Sword & Caravan's rules. This makes the region hit slightly differently and still maintains the environ's flavor. 

OSR Thoughts on Sword & Caravan By Rpg Pundit As Well As The Lion & Dragon Rpg

 We've been discussing Sword & Caravan over coffee & tea at a local 'greasy spoon' this morning. And one of the things that has come across in the discussion is the fact that land is so damn valuable to the setting. Trade goods & land make Sword & Caravan unique in this regard. PC's can aquire gold and 'treasure' but power or land are the coin of the realm in Sword & Caravan. 

And this is born out in both the 'Silk Road's mythology & it's backdrop even according to the Silk Road wiki entry; "By the early first century CE, Chinese silk was widely sought-after in Rome, Egypt, and Greece.^[2] Other lucrative commodities from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, and porcelain; among Western exports were horses, camels, honey, wine, and gold." 

The real coin of the realm is the fact that social status can be made fluid by exploring, exploiting, and taking on new business ventures within  China, Korea,^[8] Japan,^[4] India, Iran, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia. And it's these instances where the PC's have many opportunities for adventure within Sword & Caravan. These areas where the remains of the legends & mythology of Lion & Dragon may still exist before the last vestige of the magic of the 'Old World' is gone. We're not talking about the 'Orientalism' of the Pulp magazines here but the down & dirty aspects of history. A history which is littered with half forgotten kingdoms, legends, the incursion of the Jinn into our world & far worse! 

One thing about the setting of Sword & Caravan is the fact that the current events or  histories of the regions of China, Korea,^[8] Japan,^[4] India, Iran, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia are so fluid. The time that Sword & Caravan are set are violent, dynamic, & utterly dangerous to PC's. Are there dungeons within Sword & Caravan? Absolutely there are! And the world of the unseen is in evidence in spades! From evil hyena spirits to full on Jinn. And it's the Jinn that have me questioning their interactions with humanity. From Sword & Caravan; "The Jinn are a class of Neutral nature spirits, hailing no doubt from the same twilight-world as what Europeans call the ‘elves’ and ‘fairy.’ The Jinn can be found throughout virtually all of the Silk Road, though they are very rarely even noticed. In their natural state, Jinn are invisible. However, they can also manifest themselves as a whirl of dust/ sand or as a kind of mist in the wind when they wish for humans to see them. They can additionally take the form of animals, their favorites being snakes, scorpions, dogs, and lizards. They can also take the form of humans or that of humans with animal heads. However, it is uncommon for them to take animal or humanoid forms because they are more vulnerable in that state. When non-corporeal, they can be harmed only by magic, and attack causing madness, disease, or misfortune. When they assume a humanoid or animal form, they can be injured by metallic weapons as well as magic' 

Could the Jinn account for at least partially the eventual destruction of the 'Silk Road' itself?! Hear me out here. Humanity has inserted itself dangerously across the planet in these past centuries like never before and could it actually be interferring with the natural portals of the Jinn into our realm?! 

Could this lead back to the point that the Jinn see that humanity has rebelled against it's former Elven masters!? And certain factions or courts within the Jinn want to move into that forsaken slot of rulership?! Weakening the 'Silk Road' from behind the scenes is one way of doing that. 

Campaign Matters Infernal : Beer & Judges Guild - Inferno By Geoffry O. Dale

 So on Sunday it was get together with friends over beer & discussing our  varsious campaigns over one of my player's houses. Things have been pretty chaotic in Connecticut with the Pandemic & the rise in cases. But not so much that we didn't get together but half our players were missing so it was a beer night. And things turned as they do to past games & one of which was TPK romp through Inferno By Geoffry O. Dale. Where do we start with this module? Well at the time it offered an alternative infernal cosmology to Dragon issue #75.  Old School hersey I can hear the AD&D first edition crowd screaming. Inferno By Geoffry O. Dale came out in Nineteen Eighty. 



So over the years my uncle Jack mixed,patched, matched infernal adventure & campaign elements as needed.  This is no slight on Geoffry O. Dale's creation & we gained a very healthy appreciation of Dante's Inferno. So let's jump right into the thick of things here;

"Inferno is based primarily upon the poem "Inferno" by Dante and is also fitted as a scenario into my campaign, Nidevellir. My purpose in writing it is twofold -- first, to answer the perennial question of Judge's when the party finds a cursed scroll: "GO DIRECTLY TO HELL!!" now what do I do? And secondly, to provide a power base to the evil immortals in the campaign. There may arise occasions in which an irate Cleric will geas some poor fighter into returning something that is on the Devil's plane and this allows the character somewhere to go for the adventure."

This brings up  where & when I would use O'Dale's modern creation looking into the classic review of this module from Dragon #44 (December 1980).


Which if you don't have is worth it for the classic 'Food Fight game alone. Simplier times folks. Anyhow, William Fawcett goes deep into the module hitting the high points;

"Inferno was reviewed in Dragon #44 (December 1980) by William Fawcett. He commented that "This is one of the more expensive and longest modules offered by Judges Guild. It is a mixed offering with some excellent points and some potential problems. Many DMs will like this module just because it is perhaps the one situation where they can validly play with Asmodeus as a wandering monster!"^[3] Regarding the commentary on TSR's placement of the archdevils, he stated that "Actually there is support for both placements; the argument harkens back to the days of the “angels on a pin” discussions. Depending on their sources, both authors have them placed correctly (or relatively, incorrectly). In any case this is of little importance to the play as most characters will be reluctant to face any of the Archdevils anyhow."^[3] Fawcett added: "Obviously, this is a very high-level dungeon. A party of no fewer than eight members and averaging no less than 10th to 14th level is suggested. Even for these levels, this is a very deadly place. This puts a strain on the judge; there is a fine line between playing this module well and playing it either so deadly as to be discouraging or crossing over into Monty Haul dungeoning. [...] This can lead to a party that is terribly over-encumbered with new major magic items."^[3] He continued "Another problem inherent with playing characters and monsters who are this high in levels is that it takes a long time to resolve most melees. Either the characters have a lot of hit points or the more complicated magics take longer to roll up and compute. Several new spells are also suggested for use in the module, many of which would unbalance a campaign when (or if) the characters return. Even with these problems this module can be a real experience if played with a capable DM. There are some excellent descriptions in the early sections that set the mood beautifully for the players. The DM is further aided by suggestions throughout the book on how to play certain situations. These, for the most part, are quite useful. The module handles encountering and generating high-level monsters very well."^[3] Fawcett concluded his review by saying, "If you are looking for something that will challenge players who have characters grown to great heights or are looking for a suitable ground to play high-level characters as a change, this is an excellent choice. This is definitely not a module for a new DM to attempt, but correctly run it offers an unusual challenge."" 
One of the ways of handling the magic item problem is very simple, some magic items don't work outside of Hell. Even escaping Hell is going to be problematic enough. 
So we started brininging this discussion into our Castles & Crusades rpg game. Now recently the Troll Lords are going to be producing a planes book. That's great but I really don't care. Most of my infernal goings on have come from the above sources & material that has appeared in Tome of the Unclean. 

DM choice for their campaign trumps rpg creator, writer, & company's vision every single time at the table top level. This is something that going all of the way back to the first 'official' world setting has been a problem. Homebrew campaign world's settings  always beat the above. I'm not picking on Troll Lords in particular at all but over the last forty years numerous incidents have rammed this point home. Games should be bought, read, torn apart & the dungeon master along with his or her players should make it their own. This is part of the philopshy that one sees with some of the Troll Lord Kickstarters.   This level of customization on the DM's part doesn't equal micromanagement. That get's thrown out the window by the players as soon as they start playing a high level adventure like Inferno. It takes a steady hand to do these adventures. Because players are gonna screw your plans up royally and its glorious folks. 




What I don't agree with is  Ron Shigeta review about Inferno  in The Space Gamer No. 31;"Ron Shigeta reviewed the adventure in The Space Gamer No. 31.^[2] He commented that this adventure "is for those that have gotten cursed scrolls saying, "Go to Hell!!" or owe a Geas to some Lawful Good cleric. Hell is everything it's cracked up to be. Not just anybody can dash in and out of this place. As a matter of fact, it would be the achievement of a character's career to get out alive, as it should be. Everything is covered, from Tiamat's cave to the palace of Minos – and nothing is easy; both new and old Devils and monsters abound here."^[2] He continued: "But not everything is as it should be. Minos' Palace has 13 rooms and Tiamat's cave has four paragraphs, where it should have a book of its own. Often a description of some new magical item will take up more room than the overall description of the level it's on. Usually the only major encounters are those on the road through, leaving the rest of the circle one big random encounter area."^[2] Shigeta concluded the review by saying, "I bought Inferno because I wanted the plane of 9 Hells in my campaign and didn't have the time to do it myself. Anybody who wants to spend a few weeks on it can probably do as well or better, and with the gaps in Book 1, I feel little confidence in the forthcoming book 2, which contains the remaining five levels, the infernal City of Dis, all the Monster Manual Arch-Devils, and the only way off the plane .... Perhaps Mr. O'Dale should be playing Napoleon instead.""

Sigh, Hell has been the back bone for my campaigns for over thirty years.
Here's how it works, Hell is main stage & the Abyss is the backstage of Hell.
The whole cloth of the game campaign is based around it. Anything even romotely 
associated with the infernal is choatic.



Things of Earth & the material don't last in the infernal at all. Hell adapts as it wants & needs to but
 its always evil, destructive, & destructive. That brings up Hell coming into its own 
with its latest incarnation in the Metallic Tome by Rafael Chandler.
 

But if you want to deal with the hardcore metal forces of the infernal darkness along side the Metallic Tome. Then I suggest going with 'The Dragon' magazine issue #20. This issue has quite a few variations of the usual infernal themes that would fit along side of horrors of the Metallic Tome. Especially 'Demonology Made Easy' By Gregory Rihn. p. 15  a perfect article for those lawyer demons;

"Any demon or devil should be a hard bargainer in making a pact of service, attempting to get as much from the operator as possible in return for as little actual work as can be. The demands of lesser fiends will be in the area of material rewards. They will demand a small animal sacrifice each time they appear, or else a small taste of the operator’s blood or tears. This is because the lesser fiends cannot bind the operator’s soul to perdition, or enforce their will upon him once he is in their clutches — the big ones will take him away!" 

So there are only four levels to O'Dale's Hell? Getting a party of adventurers to even get past the first would be a trick unto itself. But this isn't very Dungeons & Dragons at all. Well let's talk for a moment about Michael Moorcock's The Warhound & The World's Pain. An aspect of the eternal champion takes up the familial search for the Holy Grail. 

To run this campaign in a more modern setting I turned to an older game that happen to love because its easily adaptable and that's The Lion & Dragon rpg. Not only did I use it with a modern infernal game but used it quite nicely with adventure elements from Inferno By Geoffry O. Dale. 

Gaming is what you make of it and always has been. Judges Guild material is very adaptable to old school & OSR campaigns as needed. Beer often leads to Hell but this time it lead down several memory holes and perhaps a campaign hook or two..