Running A Hyperborea rpg One Shot With "And The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead" By Joseph A. Mohr 'A Pay What You Want Adventure 'As Prelude To U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

 "This is an OSRIC adventure for characters of 1st to 3rd level of experience. As the adventurers arrive at a sleepy little sea side town not all is as it seems. The town is under attack by pirates. But these are no ordinary pirates. These pirates are undead and their nightmare ship is just off shore waiting for the plunder to be brought aboard. This adventure allows the players to explore the mystery of these undead buccaneers and find out why they still sail the seas." 

If you've been following this blog then you're going to know about my fasin erm obession with U1 'The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh'  written by Dave J. Browne with Don Turnbull. What if there were events that proceed 'U' series of ocean based modules?! What if the undead  criminal mastermind 'The Alchemist' had raised a group of undead pirates to raid the Hyperborean coastline around Brigiand's Bay?! Well this is where  "And The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead" By Joseph A. Mohr 'A Pay What You Want Adventure ' could be used as a sort of side prelude to the 'U' series. 

Picture it if you will that the oceans of Hyperborea begin to come into their Summer season. And the arcane energies flood into the sea surrounding Saltmarsh once again! A lone figure of undeath & darkness stands atop a rock & begins calling back the undead pirates & raiders long moldering under the seawater. Hyperborea is mostly a huge bowel of ocean & undead raiders under the control of one of the most dangerous villains on Hyperborea calls for a solution?! And the Alchemist is using these undead pirates and raiders to sew fear into the citizens of the coastline. With so much of Hyperborea's being sea bound and the citizens tied into the ocean. This is going to open a whole cloth can of worms for the lich and his undead minions. 

These events act as a sort of destablizing element for the 'u' series of modules setting. The ocean is the life blood of Hyperborea providing food, shelter, and is the primary bringer of life for those in that fish it's waters. 

Why does this make things that much more complicated?! Oh yes, because of the fact that the Deep Ones are the ones that paid the Alchemist to lead off on the summoning of the ghost pirates! Why because of the fact that this leads down into the events of the 'U' ' series of modules. The undead pirates has to be dealt with to pave the way for the smugglers & the coming war. 

"And The Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead" By Joseph A. Mohr 'A Pay What You Want Adventure Is Available Here 

The Rise of the Haunted Manor - U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, The Hyperborea rpg, & Judge's Guilds Tegel Manor

 

So the other day we were talking about the role that the oceans of Hyperborea has in the average Hyperborean's lives on the blog here.And this has been at the back of my mind with the advent of reading through U1 Sinster Secret of Saltmarsh, again. U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh by David J. Brown along with Don Turnbull has an undercurrent of desperation about it. 

At the end of the events of U1, the PC's should end up with a sweet little boat which will come in very handy coming up as the party ends up in the lap of the lizard men. 
Why are the lizardmen so riled up to begin with?! If we're looking at U1 taking place on Hyperborea then we've got a partial answer. If U1 Sinster Secret of Saltmarsh's  Saltmarsh is placed  near Brigand's Bay. Then these are the fishing grounds of the tribes of lizardmen who for thousands of years have been fishing these waters peacefully with the human population.So what's put the screws to them besides the Deep Ones?! Well, the undead  leader of the Deep one corrupted smugglers for one. 

The smugglers in U1 in my version are actually headed by the Alchemist a lich who simply watches the PC's as their looking around the 'haunted house' & whose also the head of the knarly group of slavers. The Alchemist is deeply connected with the undead of Tegel Manor. Yes that Tegel Manor which is a deeply cursed haunted house that dimensionally travels between Hyperborea & Judges Guild's The Wilderlands of High Fantasy. 

This is how OSRIC, Castles & Crusades, and other OSR game's  PC's have come to Hyperborea in the past through Tengel Manor. The manor's undead are not entirely static. The haunted house because of it's dimensional cursed nature regenerates but the undead don't forget. These undead continually make sport out of any other dimensional travelers who fall into their midsts. And through lesser undead have forged a network of criminals across a few worlds over the centuries. The coming Deep One, human, and lizardmen war is simply another diversion in their eon's long undead existence. 
These bastard undead are not done with the party in Hyperborea, yet.. This is just starting. 

Blood In The War - A Fresh Look At U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh & the Hyperborea rpg

 

When one begins to read through the Hyperborea rpg books both the player's manual & the referee's guide along with the maps. One begins to find one very epic fact the seas of Hyperborea play a huge part in the welfare of the Hyperborean's lives. 

If the seas are vast then the question becomes whatelse lurks within them?! In the past we've seen U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh by David J. Brown along with Don Turnbull used in past Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea campaigns. Perhaps its time to look at U1 with fresh Deep One eyes. In the latest edition of Hyperborea the campaign setting has been tightened up quite a bit. So U1 Sinster Secret of Saltmarsh places Saltmarsh near Brigand's Bay.

The Deep Ones have been for centuries going along the coast corrupting the local ports with their hybrid progeny. This has put pressure on the local lizardmen & the uncorrupted locals which has resulted in the increases of piracy & smuggling by the Deep Ones. The church of Cthulhu has been turning the heat up by taking more slaves for sacrifice & as offerings for its smaller Old One cults. The Alchemist isn't simply a corpse for the PC's to find but a lich priest of old working for the church of Cthulhu among others. The clouds of war have been gathering as the fish monger's guild has stopped all trade with the capitial of Hyperborea. This is because the clouds of war are gathering for the humans, the Deep Ones, & the Lizardmen. The reasons for this are also due to the Summer season ending & the Winter phase of Hyperborea beginning.  So we have the 'U' series of modules enabling the Deep Ones to rise towards war and this is rounded out by 'The Mystery At Port Greely' being another twist towards the human/Deep One war.

OSR Commentary - Weird Tales Judges Guild Wilderlands of High Fantasy - Modron & The Mystery At Port Greely

 "Five centuries ago, Modron was a thriving port city whose inhabitants worshipped Modron, the Goddess of Rivers and Proteus, the Shepherd of Neptune. Legends tell of the huge merchant vessels from far off Karakan and the incredible wealth brought by traders from the Isle of the Blest for pearls and dwarven artifacts. The mermen of Crespar stopped trading sponges and pearls, yet the port's wealth increased. Then, a huge migration of Orcs stopped the flow of dwarven merchandise and the far travelers no longer docked at Modron. In less than 50 years, the once flourishing area lost most of its population and the followers of the god and goddess blamed each-other's deity for the loss. Civil strife erupted and the temple of Proteus was submerged in the holocaust. The death blow was delivered by raiders in longships which carried off the few women and men into slavery. The survivors fled when or& scavengers moved into the ruins for a final pillage, hefting tons of marble. The Temple of Modron, being underground, was left unscathed and the Mermen renewed their vows to the Goddess of the Rivers.

With funds from the City State, a new town was founded on the ruins of the old, to protect the Overlord's merchant ships fro- river pirates. 'Maelstron', a giant sea snake, with an allegiance to the City State, protected the builders. The original name was retained because it equated with magnificent warships and high-wizards in songs of the bards..."

So as per usual last night I was zipping around Wayne's book site & doing a bit of research when it comes to Judges Guild Wilderlands of High Fantasy section. 

Now looking deeper into the Judges Guild  Wilderlands of High Fantasy, I began to notice Modron. Modron was a module that came out in '77.Modron is a product from Judges Guild for the Wilderlands. It was published in 1977 and was written by Bob Bledsaw and Gary Adams.  And the module has an interesting flavor. Modron is someplace between a war time  boom town, a fishing village, & a salvage  crawl.  The Bundle of Holding For Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea kicked off a run of Sword & Sorcery nostalgia at our table top.  Now what if the events of Modron kicked off something far more sinister. 

So the what if the adventure events of Modron kicked up a hornet's nest of Lovecraftian proportions. Modron's location is the key here & its 'Goddess' might be far more & less then she seems. Now we've talked about running the Wilderlands with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg. Now the events of Modron come off without a hitch for our PC's.  Modron is built on a site that is scared to three peoples, the humans, the Formorians, & the Deep Ones. Wait, what?!  The PC's messing around with the recovery of the treasure in Modron have disturbed something very dangerous. A shrine sacred to ancient peoples best left alone. 
"Until about three years ago, the peculiar town of Port Greely was renowned as a prolific exporter of crustaceans. Then the Greely lobstermen severed all ties with outside partners. Subsequent attempts at renegotiation were shunned." This is the opening for 'The Mystery At Port Greely' for AS&SH. What if the messing around at the undersea ruins of Modron kicks off the events of the 'The Mystery At Port Greely'.  
Why?! Because Modron was once the center of worship for the Formorians, the Deep Ones, & their human subjects. The Deep Ones have continued to make pilgrimages across worlds to their once sacred site. But now with the PC's having disturbed the ruins the compact between peoples has been broken! This kicks off the second ark of 'The Mystery At Port Greely' ; 'More recently, a small group of Fishmongers’ Guild representatives from the City-State of Khromarium has gone missing in Port Greely, and answers have been less than forthcoming. At present, the Guild seeks answers. It wants to know what became of its representatives, and it wishes to re-establish its lucrative partnership with the Port Greely lobstermen.' 

But what does any of this have to do with the Formorians?! The Formorians have deep links to Irish mythology & within several places have been cited as a part of the origin of the Sea Elves of AD&D's origins.  According to Wiki; "

The Fomorians (Old Irish: Fomóire, Modern Irish: Fomhóraigh or Fomhóire)^[1] are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. They are often portrayed as hostile and monstrous beings who come from under the sea or the earth. Later, they were portrayed as giants and sea raiders. They are enemies of Ireland's first settlers and opponents of the Tuatha Dé Danann,^[2] the other supernatural race in Irish mythology. However, their relationship with the Tuath Dé is complex; some of their members intermarry and have children. The Fomorians have thus been likened to the jötnar of Norse mythology.

The Fomorians seem to have been gods who represent the harmful or destructive powers of nature; personifications of chaos, darkness, death, blight and drought.^[3][4][5] The Tuath Dé, in contrast, seem to represent the gods of growth and civilization" Within my uncle's Wilderlands of High Fantasy campaign the Formorians were a part of the branch of deep ones through a hated strain of sea giant. 

Deep One Minis available here. 

So not only do you have the strains of war happening on two worlds but the PC's have to navigate through two very dangerous adventures to bring two worlds to peace. 

Incidents At the Isle of Dread - The Seas of Mystery & Rise of The Cults of Tsathoggua

"Hundreds of miles from the mainland, surrounded by dangerous waters, lies an island known only as the Isle of Dread. Dark jungles and treacherous swamps await those who are brave enough to travel inland in search of the lost plateau, where the ruins of a once mighty civilization hold many treasures - and many secrets!"


So off the California coast wreathed in perpetual storms, fog, & weather phenomenon I've got X1: "The Isle of Dread" (1981), by David "Zeb" Cook and Tom Moldvay. The Isle is part of a chain of islands that connect to Venger Satanis's Islands of Purple Haunted Putrescence.  These island chains  exist in on both Earth & Hyperborea simultaneously. Ships have been getting lost or destroyed for centuries. There's also a deadly connection with some of the elite cults that have been operating in the Hollywood hills. The Baleful Sorcerers of Tsathag'kha have been initiating & sacrificing the elite in rituals dedicated to  the Clark Ashton Smith Great Old One Tsathoggua.



So I've had this Godbound/Cha'alt campaign going for quite awhile. The cults of Tsathoggua have been making massive in roads into the hills of Hollywood. I dusted off Venger's Slaves of Tsathoggua adventure & there have been hints of something very powerful & supernaturally dangerous in  a cave on one of the purple islands. Here the The Baleful Sorcerers of Tsathag'kha have reign over an ancient village where a treasure is rumored to be guarded by incredibly deadly monsters. Only those blessed by Tsathoggua & part of the inner mysteries of the Old One may enter the caverns. So why use The Islands of Purple Haunted Putrescence? Its not only a great hex crawl, but it’s also a great little campaign source book. Part of the background that was hinted in last week's game is about  the primeval war between Earth's Atlanteans & the monstrous, mind-bending creatures known as kopru.
The Kopru are living weapons left over from the Deep Ones who were actually behind the extinction of the Atlanteans. This brings me to the fact that the church of Dagon is using the Isle of Dread to make a big push to return to Earth & awaken their brethren beneath the seas of Earth.

Jeffrey Talanian's Mystery At Port Greeley adventure  has this happening on Hyperborea. The adventure hints at the church of Dagon  about to engulf AS&SH! I've decided to make the fantastic adventure a part of my campaign by having my AS&SH find out about the link between the church & their plans for Earth! 



There are deep links between  the cults of Tsathoggua & the church of Dagon! Both see Earth as a prime opportunity & resource to be harvested. Those within the Black Pyramid of Cha'alt wait & watch with fetid eyes!
Two killer free resources that that I've used with this campaign for this leg are Threshold magazine issue #3 Sea of Dread & Issue #4 Sea of Dread. 


Between the maps, the information, the background, etc. within these two issues there's a ton of material to really help flesh out even more of the Isle of Dread & the seas that surround it. These can be incredibly useful for OSR games! 

Going Down Deep - Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Campaign Workshop & White Dwarf Issue Seventy Commentary

"Until about three years ago, the peculiar town of Port Greely was renowned as a prolific exporter of crustaceans. Then the Greely lobstermen severed all ties with outside partners. Subsequent attempts at renegotiation were shunned.

More recently, a small group of Fishmongers’ Guild representatives from the City-State of Khromarium has gone missing in Port Greely, and answers have been less than forthcoming. At present, the Guild seeks answers. It wants to know what became of its representatives, and it wishes to re-establish its lucrative partnership with the Port Greely lobstermen. Your party have been contracted to help resolve The Mystery at Port Greely."

So last night I got a call from DM Cole whose a gentlemen I met a book swap some years ago & he runs an Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea/AD&D mash up game. He has for some years now. He's been putting his group through their paces with The Mystery At Port Greely & the recent 5th edition Saltmarsh hardback. Once all of the Deep One menace has been solved then what? 

Baring in mind that all of this took place over a year's time & that he's dealing with 8 or so players in a small  New York state town. I began to wrack my brains as to how to continue the campaign until Cole told me something very interesting he'd recently picked up a crate of the old run of White Dwarf magazines. 'Do you have issue 70 in there by any chance?' I waited with baited breath. 'Yes.. why?'   'We've just solved your campaign issue.'  Here's how we continue'.  

White Dwarf issue Seventy has three things going for it besides coming out in '77 it features a particularly nasty adventure titled 'In Too Deep'. Now this is a perfect side quest for making the Salt Marsh & Port Geely campaign cycle continue! Besides the Williams cover artwork that could be used as the 'big bad villain' of the campaign. This issue features the following ;"The Role-Playing Games Monthly. In this issue: Reunion - A Golden Heroes Caper. Plus: In Too Deep - Aquatic AD&D Adventure. Cover by Williams. Cover price $3.00."
All of this blends very nicely with the recent  fifth edition Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh book that came out some months ago. 

But let's talk about The Mystery of Port Greely here for a moment & what it actually means to the campaign. The Deep Ones are making a very orchestrated move on Hyperborea & its no secret that using this adventure is going put the horrors of Deep Ones center stage. The church of Dagon is going to be bring a power play to all of the shores of Hyperborea. I hope that DM Cole's group of players is going to be up to what he's got planned?!

The Sword & Sorcery action is going to be flying high & hard in this campaign path. Most of the PC's are middle levels now so they should be able to weather some of the coming Deep One storm. I believe that we're gonna see much more dangerous versions of these Lovecraft favorites trotted out. There have already been a few deaths here & there; 

Lovecraft provides a description of the Deep Ones in The Shadow Over Innsmouth:

I think their predominant color was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed. They hopped irregularly, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four. I was somehow glad that they had no more than four limbs. Their croaking, baying voices, clearly used for articulate speech, held all the dark shades of expression which their staring faces lacked ... They were the blasphemous fish-frogs of the nameless design—living and horrible.

 Knowing DM Cole like I do, there are several things that I can see happening here; 

1. He's gonna lean even more heavily on the The Mystery of Port Greely which means that his players are likely to see a heavy Lovecraft influence throughout the campaign. 
2. The Clark Ashton Smith Poseidonis  cycle is going to get a lot of table top air time. So given that his players better bone up on spells & their 'A' game. 
3. Cole's got the option of fusing this campaign with D1-2 Descent Into The Depths of the Earth By Gary Gygax. That launches the campaign into a very different direction 
4. There might be a few Deep One Hybrid turn coats among the party of adventurers already this was something we spoke about last night. 
5. There's complications with the royals of the capital city of Hyperborea already and some of the guilds this could play out with assassinations especially of the adventurers. 
6. Family members of some of the adventurers might be infected with Deep One taint already. 
7. Some of the treasures that the adventurers have taken might be cursed and dark magick might already be at work among the party. 
8. There might be Altantis's royal  influence among the background ranks of the campaign 
9. Some of the PC's home towns along the sea coasts of Hyperborea might already have gone up in flames. 
10. I believe that given DM Cole's plans many of the Deep One activity might be a prelude to more dire Great Old One action in his campaign.