OSR Commentary On Lamenting The Tome of the Unclean By Stephen Chenault, & Kim Hartsfield For The Castles & Crusades Rpg

 "Beyond the darkness and beyond all sense lies a gulf of empty fear where true evil lurks. Born with twisted thought, tainted with stains of malice, they are creatures foul and bent. They dwell in the darkness of time's caverns, in the Abyss, in Hell, in those Wretched Planes of shadow and evil, loss and despair. The echo of the unknown drives them from darkness toward the light. Some few seek salvation, but others to drive the souls of mortals to ultimate darkness and corruption. Tome of the Unclean unleashes all of the power and horror of these wretched planes upon your Castles & Crusades game!"

"From the Lords of the Abyss, to the Legions of Hell, and through to the gray wastes of Gehenna, a host of devils, demons, and daemons await your table! Tome of the Unclean includes all of the familiar denizens of the darker planes. Here you will find Demogorgon and Orcus; Asmodeus, Bael, and Mammon, plus legions of others. All of the major and minor demons, greater and lesser devils, and a veritable host of creatures from your players' worst nightmares await within these pages." 

With Halloween coming upon us soon we were speaking about Castles & Crusades. When it comes Castles & Crusades one of the books that doesn't seem to come up is an old favorite in the form of the Tome of the Unclean.  For Castles & Crusades the demons, devils, and lesser diabolic horrors are perfect to drope into your old school or OSR games. For Castles & Crusades the infernal regions are still the ultimate taboo in a way because of the Eightis Satanic Panic. Screw that! Tome of the Unclean covers the damned & diabolic quite nicely. Nothing up points a C&C paladin or cleric like a diabolic cult to play terror with a party of adventurers. 

With the callenge rating that includes a diverse range of damned & diabloc monsters Tome of the Unclean covers it. And these monsters as the center piece of a cult of the damned it's not hard to see how  an NPC cult leader  villain could offer more then a simple challlenge for your own party. Stephen Chenault, &  Kim Hartsfield have excellent chemistry in the Tome of the Unclean by tapping into the Hellish planes for their renditions of classic demons, devils, & horrors of the Underworld. 

Adventures fearturing monsters from 'The Tome of The Unclean should be incredibly special and because it plugs into Halloween these adventures should be special one shots. One shots offer three things a beginning, middle, and closed end. One shots should also have simple goals, & special treasures. And one shots should have memorable monsters & demons or devils offer those in spades.The Tome of the Unclean is perfectly aligned to offering a demonic cherry on the top of your adventure. The  Tome of the Unclean is in my humble opinion one of the most underrated monster book in C&C's product line. 

Demons & devils can also serve as both phyical & spiritual adventure metaphors for the corruption & horror that have come to pass with events that have happened in a given area experiencing traumatic or horrorific events. And this is the opportunity for adventurers to put things right. Often while this might seem like an old fashioned adventure or campaign goal. Often times players actually love making a marked difference in a campaign where evil with a capital 'E' can be vanquished.  Tome of the Unclean is a perfect book for the C&C dungeon master to add the extra horror of Halloween while offering monsters to crush the justice & good adventurers of a campaign. And these horrors offer challenges beyond the pale for knights, clerics, and paladins to have epic  conflicts with. 

OSR Review & Commentary Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler From Mishler Games

 So Shortcuts to Adventure #1: Shrine of the Slime God came across my email tonight from Mishler Games. And it's just in time for this weekend's Castles & Crusades game that I'm supposed to be running. And its 

"The first Shortcut to Adventure is the Shrine of the Slime-God. Here horrible Chaotic and Evil priests and cultists come to worship the Demon-Prince of Slime. Here they store their treasures when they return home and hide in obscurity among their Lawful, Goodly neighbors… but they do not leave these treasures unguarded!"

"Designed for a party of 4th to 6th level adventurers, this adventure can easily be adjusted to higher or lower levels by altering the mix and number of monsters present."

Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler is a perfect  small dungeon with a big adventure hook  for levels four to sixth level adventurers. And this is really significant for the fact that despite the small page count. Shrine of the Slime God  is a majorly deadly dungeon perfect for a weekend set up and play. 
Shrine of the Slime God a perfectly suited mini dungeon to drag & drop into your favorite urban campaign landscape. And this brings up the fact that because shrine is a mini dungeon that its perfect to drop into this weekend's Greyhawk Castles & Crusades game. Why?! Because the demon prince of slime is throw back to the Greyhawk city or Greyhawk ruins setting. There's just enough material within Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler to throw into an ongoing game and keep the players on their toes. 

Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler comes in at eight pages. And as an adventure it works quite perfectly for a Friday or Saturday evening OSR or old school games.The layout within this module is well done. The cartography of the Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler is simple direct & does exactly what it says on the tin. For C&C this is an excellent little mini dungeon to introduce the slime prince of demons to your players. And here's where C&C's Tome of The Unclean comes in handy to really bring home a few more details about the demon prince of slime. 

Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler is reasonably priced. Easily to add into existing campaigns & works very well to bring home the goodness of the demon prince of slime! 

 Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler From Mishler Games Is Available Here. 

Hawk Maiden - 'Wasted Years' & Greyhawk's ' Doom Grinder' Chaos & Law?! - An OSR Campaign Purposel

 "Wasted Years"

From the coast of gold, across the seven seas

I'm travellin' on, far and wide

But now it seems, I'm just a stranger to myself

And all the things I sometimes do, it isn't me but

Someone else

I close my eyes, and think of home

Another city goes by in the night

Ain't it funny how it is, you never miss it 'til it's

Gone away

And my heart is lying there and will be 'til my

Dying day

So understand

Don't waste your time always searching for

Those wasted years

Face up... make your stand

And realise you're living in the golden years

Too much time on my hands, I got you on my mind

Can't ease this pain, so easily

When you can't find the words to say it's hard to

Make it through another day

And it makes me wanna cry and throw my

Hands up to the sky

So understand

Don't waste your time always searching for

Those wasted years

Face up... make your stand

And realise you're living in the golden years

So understand

Don't waste your time always searching for

Those wasted years

Face up... make your stand

And realise you're living in the golden years

So understand

Don't waste your time always searching for

Those wasted years

Face up... make your stand

And realise you're living in the golden years

Iron Maiden 'Somewhere In Time' Album 1986



Somewhere out on the plane of time, an Eddie unit cruises to Oerth with the mission of making sure that it doesn't happen this time. The problem it can't remember what 'it' is?! Is it trying to kill or help the PC's!? 

The infamous Derek Riggs artwork for Wasted Years gives some clues along with the wiki entry; 

"According to artist Derek Riggs, this is because the band did not want to reveal the mascot in his new cyborg guise until the album was released a few weeks later.^[4] As with the Somewhere in Time album sleeve,^[5] the single cover also features the TARDIS from the BBC series Doctor Who.^[4] Riggs describes the illustration as "a duffer. It's a technical illustration of a keyboard of a time machine, with Eddie reflected in the window, because it was the only thing we could think of that wouldn't give Eddie away""

This Eddie crashes near the Doomgrinder & the 'The Eighties Greyhawk neon is slashed through with the high core sound of  hair metal. There is strange howling & whaling of guitars but the stone wind mill does not turn. But it does creak a bit. The Eddie unit begins to search for the PC's. The slaughter through the underworld of Greyhawk is alarming to some of the major powers especially Luz. 


The PC's have been on the track of Gord now for a few months but the evil powers of Greyhawk have hampered their efforts. The Eddie Unit is here to prevent something dire but what?! Several of Luz's gangs of heavy metal & evil grind core bands of adventurers are dispatched along his 'concert circuits while avoiding the Eddie Unit. If the PC's haven't reached Zel The Wise (now the Foolish) yet then their in real danger here. 
If  Tharizdun  or his followers get a hold of the PC's then they'll be brought one of his 'concerts' for sacrifice to the elder evil. This comes as no surprise as the elder evil's followers have come much more active after the landing of the Eddie Unit. Should one of the PC's die then things begin to swing into high action as the Doom Grinder begins to move a little bit. If a TPK happens then the wings of the doomgrinder begin to move more! 

What the doomgrinder represents & where it could take Oerth is a bit of an enemga wrapped in a mystery. But its the fact that the PC's might end up lost somewhere in time at the end of this. 
But let's pick up with our Eddie Unit in Hawk Maiden & where its forgotten marching orders might take it. 

Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time (2013 Reissue)

Eddie represents the far future of an Oerth that sees things coming full circle & one or more of the PC's causing a very dangerous tip in the balance. Here's where things get dicey for the PC's. Luz's lawyer demons could make life a living Abyss for the PC's on Oerth now. This is where  Rafael Chandler 'The Metallic Tome' & 'The Demonic Tome' come in very handy indeed. Are the demons keeping a possible technological jump point for Oerth away from the forces of light & rock?! 



Could the Eddie Unit actually be tied to the long forgotten 'Warden Science Survey vessel?! Because anyone who knows me knows how much of a yen I have for Gary Gygax's S3 Expediation To The Barrier Peaks?! 

What if the 'Warden' wasn't as broken as it first appears in S3?! Where does the Warden take the PC's!? I've got a few adventure ideas about that coming up. 

 What really makes things easier to pull this off is the Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper's Guide with the star ship stats in them. But I don't envy the party having to clear out the 'Warden' science survey ship. 

Hawk Maiden - 'Caught Somewhere In Time' - "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner" - An OSR Campaign Purposel

 The tough of the track
With the wind
And the rain that's beating down on
Your back
Your heart's beating loud
And goes on getting louder
And goes on even more 'til the
Sound is ringing in your head
With every step you tread
And every breath you take
Determination
Makes you run never stop
Got to win got to run 'til you drop
Keep the pace hold the race
Your mind is getting clearer
You're over half way there
But the miles they never seem to end
As if you're in a dream
Not getting anywhere
It seems so futile
"The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner"
Iron Maiden 'Somewhere In Time' Album 1986

Hawk Maiden's Oerth a world of savergy, wizardry, & hard core head banging music. But you may have to sell your soul to get it! 



This is Earth but not as you know it. The Eighties neon here is slashed through with the high core sound of Eighties hair metal. Yes there's adventurers, violent warriors, & the night is ruled by bards, conartists, & many other performers. The mythic age is long over & now the old vile villains are creeping back in.. So go here & read up on Hawk Maiden - 'Caught Somewhere In Time' - An OSR Campaign Purposel

So while everyone's enjoying their holiday, DM Steve's been quietly after me about the Hawk Maiden campaign. 'When the first adventure gonna be done' & 'What can you do with "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner?", comes the breathy Forty Eight year old metal head meaty voice. 'Slow roll pal, I've got several adventure ideas brewing but we know that the old magick seems to creep back in when you least expect it. Cus this goes right along with The Metal Moorcockian Con Job - Some Sword & Sorcery Observations On NeoPlastic Press's 'The Metallic Tome ' By Rafael Chandler. 

The song reminds me of Zel The Wise (now the Foolish) a 7th level bard who bartered his soul to Graz'zt for a mighty instrument of Abyss.  Twenty years ago Zel The Foolish bartared his soul away for Darkness & Death +5 axe of the demon lord Verin. Zel has been playing the instrument every seven seconds between the moments of time for Graz'zt's amusment & to accompany his love making. Zel literally plays across planes each time he strums the instrument. He is quite literally chained to the guitar & has access to hundreds of dimensions.

Zel The Wise (now the Foolish) a 7th level bard is under a curse from Graz'zt. He's played with some of the top bands across reality but Graz'zt's curse prevents him him from revealing too much abou his master's plans. However he does reveal the occasional tid bit through song. He may know the whereabouts this version of Greyhawk's Gord. 



Graz'zt has a very strong hatred for Gord especially in the Gary Gygax's novels; 

"Graz'zt is known as the Ebon Lord of the Abat-Dolor, a race of demons who all look more or less like him. He ruled over the Abat-Dolor with his queen and consort, Elazalag, until he was captured by the witch queen Iggwilv." Does this mean that Greyhawk's Witch Queen is far behind?! 

 

She is the adopted daughter of Baba Yaga whose ties to the world of music industry excutives  on Hawk Maiden are well known. But her son Luz has his hands in many many pies in the arrangement of Rock & Roll acts. She was heavily opposed by the circle of Eight; "She last clashed with agents of the Circle of Eight in 585 CY when Warnes Starcoat employed a band of adventurers to recover Tenser's clone from Luna. Iggwilv currently resides in a manor in the Gray Waste of Hades. Her current plans, if any, are unknown (as of 597 CY)."

This begs the question can the players stop this vile villains before she frees Grz'zzts. And causes as much mayhem as she can? 

This is where Tharizdun comes in & because the disruption of the balance of the multiverse its the perfect opportunity for him. The multiverse is out of balance & its the perfect time to take a kingdom or two on Greyhawk. This sort of reasoning is heavily implied in C&C's Tome of The Unclean. 

The Moorcockian Con Job - Some Sword & Sorcery Observations On NeoPlastic Press's 'The Demonic Tome' By Rafael Chandler

Over the last two weeks there have been numerous times when my campaign note books have been coming back into my hands. This campaign is point of fact the Castles & Crusades hybrid game that I was planning that exploded in my lap. Details on that will be covered in another blog entry. 



Events refer back to the fact that I've been going over campaign notes on the Michael Moorcock's "Melnibonéan mythos" in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition  Deities & Demigods by James M. Ward and Robert J. Kuntz. 

This brings up the campaign point that both the fact that both Orcus & Demogorgon have a dead on rivalry. This means that the kings & queens  of the Abyss have a twisted chess game against each other using humanity as a dangerous agents! 


This means that both Orcus & Demogorgon along with Jubilex are in point of fact not only powerful demonlords but chaos lords. These demon lords have been playing their usual games through agents for all of this time! But to what end?! Back on July 15th I wrote about & reviewed  NeoPlastic Press's 'The Demonic Tome' By Rafael Chandler. What would happen if Earth Chandler as we'll call this setting is actually the demon Kings & Abyssal queens's chaos  end game. 


When your campaign setting's end game is built on Sword & Sorcery fantasy classics & high weirdness could these apocalyptic tidings be far behind?! Its not at all far fetched to think that the random demon generator from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Dungeon Master's Guide could easily be used along side  NeoPlastic Press's 'The Demonic Tome' By Rafael Chandler to create a perfect 'End of Times'  OSR setting. 

This all lines up very nicely with the material within Castles & Crusades Tome of the Unclean! Perhaps chaos really does have its way! 

Time, space, & different eras are open to the forces of Chaos & the Abyss . Now before this blog entry ends up over here at this blog like my Pan Tangian take on the Moorcock stuff or the fact that over half of a blog is built on copying this blog. I want to get this material into your hands dear readers & Castles & Crusades fans. 
But all of this blog entry goes back to my late night forays into reading through the 'Power Word Kill' blog entry from 2015 & being inspired by its take on the classic devils & demons of Dungeons & Dragons. 

Blast em with Hellfire! Settling into an OSR Hell - Cha'alt & My Version of the OSR Hells!

There are so many lovely little Frog God Games Swords & Wizardry Monsters that 

I'd love to use in my games. I decided to get my infernal campaign  notes out for some business in my version of Hells. This goes back to my 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons D20 days so a little OSR patience.

Recently we reviewed Troll Lord Games Castles & Crusades Tome of the Unclean  & that review generated a ton of controversy. That's good because it means that folks are reading the blog & thinking about OSR gaming. Let's kick the infernal into hi gear or at least my version of Hell.


Someone made a comment on Me We in one of the OSR groups I'm in about the free D20 Infernum book rpg system book -  'Infernum - Book of the Damned'

"You are in Hell.
For an eternity, there has been nothing in the Infernum except constant war and constant suffering. Those in power grind those beneath them into the burning dust, while those below plot and conspire to overthrow their masters and take their place and all bow before the might of the warring Houses. Now, there is dissent and opposition even against their might, as the Free Cities declare their independence and threaten the hegemony of the Houses.
War is coming to Hell. Anyone, even a mortal, could conquer the Pit and become a lord of the Infernum.
Infernum: Book of the Damned is the Player’s book for the Infernum Roleplaying Game. In it you will find everything you need to start your adventures in Hell and begin working your way up the demonic ladder towards total domination.
Play as Mortal, Demon or Fallen Angel. Equip yourself with the latest infernal weaponry such as the flayer or hellcannon and trap a demon within your chosen tool of warfare. Develop and nurture your mutations as they twist your flesh and increase your demonic power. Feed from damned souls and bind other demons in unbreakable Covenants. Do unto others before they do unto you and remember...
Conquer or suffer. These are the only choices in the Infernum."

Now here's the thing for three years when D20 Infernum book rpg system book  came out I ran the system as an addition to 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons. Shocking I know because the first book was followed up with the setting book Infernum: Book of the Tormentor. The final book in the series was Infernum: Book of the Conqueror  which gives the upper PC levels & to rule in Hell & more.
Now I had a far bit of experience with the Infernum Hell because I also own Mongoose's D20 Book of Hell. Here's the thing this book came out before  D20 Infernum book rpg system book & there are several monsters, classes, equipment, etc. That are  not in the D20 Infernum the Book of the Damned.  There's a very nice quick conversion for 3.5 D&D or  Pathfinder over to Swords & Wizardry on the Pickled Punks OSR blog here. 


Now given the circumstances that several of Frog God Games Swords & Wizardry products are on sale I thought I'd go into these Hellish circles.  Now I had to do a lot of house ruling when it came to running D20 Infernum book rpg system books. So much so that I whole cloth modified very nature of the setting Hell itself. The Seven Circles of Dante's Hell became the main stage of Hell with the Abyss & its demons being the back stage. The view point was reinforced with Green Ronin''s Book of Fiends another 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons  book which I own.  The thing is you as the dungeon master have to realize the amount of scaling that you have to do with the monsters for OSR games. But for converting 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons monsters over to Castles & Crusades? I've got that covered with this forum post over at Troll Lords. 

Now with my Cha'alt/Godbound campaign on hiatus for a bit I've taken some time to evaluate some of my old Hell campaign notes. You've got to understand that this was a balls to the walls Rifts/Gamma World style VHS grind house game. Towns being swallowed up by Hell, humans being mutated into demonic horrors then sent to ravage their own towns, etc. This was a campaign in need of  heroes & it got them! These were some very flawed heroes indeed but they were summoned to Earth to do a job! 


Now I've been thinking about using the Siege engine/Castles & Crusades to do a full balls to the walls Rifts Cha'alt game for weeks now. But what about the forces of Hell are they simply going to be on the side lines?! I've got a team of demonic mutant horrors just waiting to be unleashed on my table top as soon as this quarantine breaks!

Note that I really don't give two craps about the poisoned  politics of any the designers & writers of these games. I've put my time into this campaign & on the whole I've got to say that this part of the community aspect of the hobby sucks. Keep your politics off of my table folks. 

Review & Commentary Castles & Crusades -- Tome of the Unclean By Stephen Chenault, & Kim Hartsfield

  "Beyond the darkness and beyond all sense lies a gulf of empty fear where true evil lurks.

Born with twisted thought, tainted with stains of malice, they are creatures foul and bent. They dwell in the darkness of time's caverns, in the Abyss, in Hell, in those Wretched Planes of shadow and evil, loss and despair. The echo of the unknown drives them from darkness toward the light. Some few seek salvation, but others to drive the souls of mortals to ultimate darkness and corruption.

Tome of the Unclean unleashes all of the power and horror of these wretched planes upon your Castles & Crusades game! From the Lords of the Abyss, to the Legions of Hell, and through to the gray wastes of Gehenna, a host of devils, demons, and daemons await your table!

Tome of the Unclean includes all of the familiar denizens of the darker planes. Here you will find Demogorgon and Orcus; Asmodeus, Bael, and Mammon, plus legions of others. All of the major and minor demons, greater and lesser devils, and a veritable host of creatures from your players' worst nightmares await within these pages."

A week or so ago I ordered a copy of Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean. Let me first point out that this supplement is meant for Castles & Crusades exclusively. While Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean can be used with other OSR systems its meant exclusively for C&C or other Siege engine rpg systems. This book does exactly what I was looking for, it adds in a  plethora of Demons, Devils, & even appendixes on adding in undead, hellish fauna, & flora. But  Tome of the Unclean is geared for Aihrde, the default C&C campaign setting. I'm good with this.
This seems to bother a lot of members of the OSR & but not me in particular. I'm a completest & so  Tome of the Unclean has been on my Troll Lords radar for a long time. My feeling is that I'd love to put together an OSR game campaign centered around my version of the Hells as the major antagonistic force of darkness.  Since the C&C Player's Guide is being offered for free I figured it was a great time to get in on the action.


I gotta say that despite reviews like this from Tim O; "C&C is my go to game, but I must say I'm very disappointed in this one. I was really looking forward to the official versions, but the expected improvements to the "big baddies" did not happen. In my opinion all the major demons and devils are under powered as far as hit points and magical abilities go; even the "standard" abilities of both groups seem weak and incomplete." Sigh.. I didn't particularly find this at all. In point of fact I think that all of the infernal deviants of  Tome of the Unclean  work very well for me. I wasn't looking for a huge push in abilities,powers,etc. in the way of the 'munchkin factor'.
Instead I'm looking for an infernal book that lines up with other Siege Engine & OSR products. So if I want a demon, devil, etc. I can grab this book off of the shelf & pop one of these horrors into my games. Tome of the Unclean   is that book. It does it job & its up to the quality of  other Troll Lords products. I bought it with my own pocket money & paid well for   Tome of the Unclean. That should tell you everything right there.