S3 'Expediation to The Barrier Peaks' by Gary Gygax With The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 

So let's pick up where we last left off on this campaign built we've been talking about the Amazing Adventures version of Starship Warden. Ernie Gygax threw his hat into the ring with the following comment; "Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.

The opportunities offered with moving characters to either or both the Empire of the Petal Throne or the Starship Warden. Both have been done with early Greyhawk characters. Jim Ward's own Elf flunky Bombadil is with the Vigilists group in Jim's own game. A crse scroll from a game my father was running for Jim James M. Ward. We have fought EPT creatures in the Dungeon but yet to have a character transfer to the realm.." 
First of all I love Jim Ward's Elven PC Flunky Bombadil, that's awesome right there.  Its gotten me thinking about S3 'Expediation To The Barrier Peaks' by Gary Gygax. The Starship Warden of S3 isn't the same ship as first edition Metamorphis Alpha rpg according to the S3  Drivethrurpg entry; ""Barrier Peaks" is about a spaceship crashing into the world of Greyhawk. Gygax was very clear is saying that the ship was not the Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha: "The size and the technology in this vehicle should make such speculation quite misplaced, in fact. The downed space ship is far too small, and its science quite different from that of the famed starship Warden." The connection between "Barrier Peaks" and Metamorphosis Alpha is thus more of a thematic one." 

Is this simply a thematic connection or is this simply another space craft that's a part of the Warden's sciencitific expediation fleet?! 

The 'Warden' is actually a biological collection ship. Monster after monster is let go on Greyhawk. The ship is long since abandoned by its occupants.  This brings home the fact that many monsters of AD&D are invasive species from other worlds. The  world of Greyhawk is a part of one of the crossroads of the planes. This module is also one of the possible origins of the mindflayer species. 

This module seems to be an almost homage to Robert Kuntz's famous 'machine level'. The module has many of the same sorts of technologies that we find in Metamorphis Alpha rpg first edition. 

S3 feels like a precursor to Metamorphis Alpha rpg first edition.There's so many points where you can marry the two games through S3. 

With the Starship Warden there's some more options on the table. S3 'Expediation To The Barrier Peaks' by Gary Gygax has no origin point for the 'Warden'.

Could the micro planar technologies that caused  the Human Space Empires collapse also be responsible for the Warden fleet to plunge out of hyperspace. The Empire of the Petal Throne rpg makes it very clear that when M.A.R. Barker's world was cut off from the rest of the planes that many people, alien races, etc. were trapped on Tekumel as well. 
Now its interesting that Ernie states that we fought E.P.T creatures in his dad's dungeon on Greyhawk. This means that not all of the planar gates were cut off from the planes. The door always swings both ways, could E.P.T. PC's find themselves aboard the Starship Warden?! 

In a word, yes! The fact is that some poor party of players might find themselves aboard the Starship Warden. Given the crazy situation that the PC's might find themselves in this might not be that far out of their wheelhouse.  But this begs the question. How many other dimensional gateways lead to planes cut off completely from the Human Space Empires?! Are there literally hundreds of derelict space craft hanging in hyperspace with undead crews waiting for some poor adventurers to stumble upon them. Let's talk about the fact that the 'Solar Burn'setting & timeline lines up quite nicely with the Starship Warden timeline. What happens if the powers in charge of Solar Burn mount an expediation to actually find the Warden & stumble upon Greyhawk's Warden instead?! 

Things can go from bad to worse as the expediation isn't prepared for the horrors waiting for them inside S3's Warden starship. And this might actually be a warm up for what's about to come! 
And this brings home another point, the ancient gatesways used by the Human Space Empire might in point of fact still be operational way at the back of beyond especially in a setting like 'The Wilderlands of High Fantasy' where the wilderness is so vast that just about anything can & does exist in the back end of beyond. 

There may also be various planar versions of the crash site of the Warden such as in the Wilderlands, Greyhawk, Blackmoor, etc. 
The hyperspace shunt of the planar collapse of the Human Space Empire echoed across the multiverse caused many consquences throughout time & space. This is something we see time & again in Science Fantasy & Sword & Sorcery game settings. 

Judges Guild has several adventures that make this sort of a campaign very easy. Classic JG was easy to insert into whatever campaign you need. The Wilderlands 'wilderness' is rife with adventure hooks that can be exploited to fit your home campaign  narrative. And this is where classic gaming succeeds on so many levels. Easy to adapt, fully modular, and even easy to fit, these are some of the characteristics of classic gaming supplements. 

OSR Keys & Gates - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 Back in Nineteen Eighty, the Wilderlands of High Fantasy was growing & changing with each & every expansion. Spies of Light Elf is another wilderness expansion for the Wilderlands from Judges Guild. 

 Spies of Lightelf: Wilderness Book Two By Bryan Hinnen- Wilderlands project, histories, 25 maps, tables, three villages  Fantastic wilderness detail. Spies of Lightelf: Wilderness Book Two fills in a lot of the details on the side of the campaign setting for the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. And surprisingly it does this very well. The question in my mind is there far more going on out in the wilderness of the Wilderlands then anyone suspects. Yesterday we spoke about Portals of Torsh. And the opinion not fact that could there be a definitive connection between the occult technologies of the brass rings of  Castles & Crusades Stains Upon The Green and the portals of JG's portal series?! 

The portal technologies of  the module series Portals of Torsh, Portals of Irontooth, and Portals of Twilight concern a series of planar locations & dungeons which the characters can stumble into or explore. But these portals may lead to ancient locations in dungeons & other ruins that few survive from exploring. Such trips maybe one way. But these portals are reminding me of the microdimensional planar technologies of the Empire of the Petal Throne rpg. 

Given the collapse of the dimensional gates from the Human Empire. Are we actually looking at old gateway technologies that other races stumbled upon and started using?! Anything is possible but the number of campaign setting worlds that might have been cut off by the collapse of the gates of the Human Empire?! 
How many planets continued as local interstellar  governments struggled with keeping up with the local sector demands?! 
Could this partially responsible for the full on cut off situation that we see in original Traveller?! 
Might this same style of hyperspecial gate collapse & hyperspacial shunt  be responsible for some of what has  happened to the Starship Warden?!? 

The brave starship flies through & hyperspecial gateway which messes with the unreality of the ship. Throughout space & time the events of the the microdimensional planar technologies of the Empire of the Petal Throne rpg echo. These events even blast a number of psychics causing the 'Scream' in Stars Without Number Revised. Star faring empires suddenly caught in the wake of events without their control. 

Now imagine that one of these worlds cut off from the rest of the interstellar community might be called Blackmoor & that a treacherous interstellar spacer sees an opportunity to land during the chaos. This is merely idle speculation but it begs the question. Does the wilderness hold far more then the adventurers suspect?! 

Secrets of Judges Guilds "City State of the Invincible Overlord" By Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw - The Castles & Crusades Rpg Aligned With The Star Ship Warden Rpg book

 Its been ages since we've talked about Judge's Guilds "City State of the Invincible Overlord" By Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw. There's some very interesting little tidbits worked into the background of the grand ol'e fantasy city state. I went over the some of the ins & outs of Judge's Guilds "City State of the Invincible Overlord" By Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw here. 

Yesterday's OSR Nexus The Infinite City rpg session got me thinking again about Troll Lord's The Starship Warden & its possible relationship to 'The Wilderlands of High Fantasy'. More specifically ideas about  the planar rings of  the Rings of Brass, magical portals that lead to dwarven roads carved through the planes from Castles & Crusades Stains Upon The Green.

These Brass Ring portals  might in fact be portals created by the same occult technologies that appear in Judges Guild's Portals of Torsh?! Portals of Torsh was by Rudy Craft from 1980. And the module series Portals of Torsh, Portals of Irontooth, and Portals of Twilight concern a series of planar locations & dungeons which the characters can stumble into or explore. These were early planar travel modules. They are very underrated today & most players wouldn't have a clue about them. 

Portions of the Starship Warden that are stabilized & civilized in a sorta of pseudo European setting might have planar traders come in from the 'Wilderlands of High Fantasy' to trade with them. This leads into many possibilities including the fact that the wily invincible overlord or his court may have maps to the starship Warden. Then the question becomes what other destinations & secrets does the court of the overlord have?! Could they be making a packet selling information about other dungeons & adventure locations from aboard the Warden?! 

The Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Campaign Set Achievement Unlocked & Now With More James Mishler

So over the last couple of months I've been debating what to do with the Judge's Guild issue that's been going on in my campaign. Not the controversy of Bob Bledsaw II but instead getting my hands on the The Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Campaign Set for 3.5 D&D. This is one of my unicorns for my archives & next to impossible to get a hold of. With some networking among contacts & friends I was finally able to snag a copy from a friend's family one of whom's players has passed. God rest his soul. 

So what does this have to do with my Castles & Crusades game?! Quite a bit actually. Over the years more then a few of my games have been spent in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.  Why?! Well as its explained;"It is also gonzo as hell, having been born in the time when scifi and fantasy were not clearly distinct, and gleefully embracing both into a weirdass pulp land where both Conan and Flash Gordon would be right at home. The land is littered with crashed spaceships - as mentioned up above - thanks to a prehistoric space war between two different alien coalitions, and amongst the standard fantasy races you've got folks like cavemen (riding mammoths!), amazons (with captive women doing all the menial work and men kept for reproduction), lion, cat, hawk, and even chicken people, and it's not at all uncommon to bump into a perfectly normal human except with his skin blue, red, green, or even entirely transparent."

But surely there can't be a Castles & Crusades connection?! Well thanks to the hard work by James Mishler with Monstrous Menaces #2: Blade Dancer, Goblin, and Tharghûl I can add more depth & weirdness to the Higherlands.  And the rest of this series.


First of all in no way shape or form is this benefiting the latest incarnation of Judge's Guild & second these bastard monsters are perfectly suited to add into James Ward's  Tainted Lands setting. This setting is the perfect overlay for the Demon Lands of Judge's Guild fame. Especially since I'm adding in just a tinge of Arduin with the Hellmaiden thanks to the 'In The Cities.dotcom' entry on Arduin Demology entry on Hellmaidens; "Randall, at Retroroleplaying, provides this description of the Arduin Hell Maidens:

“Hell Maidens (5 to 8 HD) are lovely warriors from the neck down, but their heads are skulls. Generally wear chainmail and use a shield, lance, and sword. While they are NOT undead, only silver or magic weapons harm them, they have all undead immunities as will as immunity to confusion and level drains. They ride Hell Horses. They screech and gibber in combat — and collect the bodies of those they kill for food. Unlike their riders, Hell Horses are undead, skeleton horses with cat-like fangs and green flames for eyes. They have 5 to 10 HD. They have all undead immunities, only silver or magic weapons hit, and they hate dwarves, attacking them on sight unless successfully restrained by their rider.”

This creature is described as a “demoness” in the Pegasus issue – not exactly the case according to a close reading of Hargarve, but they do seem pretty demonic in aspect. One of his other demons is described explicitly as resembling a larger version of the Hell Maiden."
Now what would happen if the Rumps had been dallying with the demonic forces of the Demon lands!? Perhaps one of the Rumps of royal linage is a Tharghûls .

This brings into focus the fact that the forces of Hell are pushing our alternative Earth toward's World War One. Making this the perfect excuse to pull out my copy Tome of the Unclean. Here's where the devil & demon cults are operating behind the scenes in both French & German societies. Agents double dealing from the shadows, cabals of secret societies crossing over into fantasy worlds.


Alliances happening as heroes struggle to keep the cap on things as ray gun battles happen in back alleys of Europe. "A series of swift Prussian and German victories in eastern France, culminating in the Siege of Metz and the Battle of Sedan, saw French Emperor Napoleon III captured and the army of the Second Empire decisively defeated." sets up everything as the forces of the  Victorious rpg scream towards World War One. Its here that James Mishler's Vampires of the Olden Lands comes in really handy for constructing the vampire lords of Europe this slots right into The Codex Slavorum material. 

My campaign is a world where cult leaders regularly cross planes into fantasy realms to dally with wizards & demons. This is an Earth where the bounds of sanity are regularly tested & steampunk horror is only around the corner.
The alien Fey of Cha'alt are in a battle for sheer survival against the natural order of this Earth. This isn't anything new & has been happening for thousands of years.



There's a war coming in the shadows & its not going to be pretty at all! The world is growing darker & stars are not quite right.




New game session coming up this week! So stay tuned & keep em rolling for the moment! Stay healthy folks! 

Rereadings & Commentaries On Judge's Guild's "City State of the Invincible Overlord" By Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw

"The City-State of the Invincible Overlord was the first fantasy RPG setting ever published (1976). It features a huge walled city that is ruled by the eponymous (lawful evil) Overlord and the surrounding environs that are full of adventure possibilities. What was so striking at the time that it was first released was the incredible level of detail that the product contains. Hundreds of streets are mapped, named, and populated with shops, temples, inns, taverns, brothels, houses, barracks, and the like. Hundreds of NPCs are listed along with their stats and rumors they know (for starting adventures). The history and political system of the City State is described along with relevant laws the PC's must abide by while inside the city. It includes dungeon levels beneath the City State and detailed information for nearby adventure / dungeon sites: the dwarven fortress "Thunderhold" and the "Sunstone Caverns".
The City State was designed for Dungeons & Dragons (Original Edition) but was not officially licensed for D&D until 1978. The license ended in 1983. It was printed many times over the life of Judges Guild and changed in size and configuration in subsequent editions." 
From the RpgGeek Entry here
Since the Me We social media platform has turned into the same roving social media marketing commercial for the fleeing hoards of OSR folks including all of the annoying Kickstarters & OSR stuff. I find the whole experience pretty hallow & soulless. So I'm going to keep my account but I'm not going to use it. Its way too much of a time suck these days because work has been killing me I'm moving away from it.
Instead over the course of a day I've been getting back into the older edition & OSR material that I actually own. This brings me to some observations about The City-State of the Invincible Overlord. First let's get some real world background out of the way about this product;

"Bob Bledsaw and Bill Owen founded Judges Guild in 1976 to sell subscriptions to gamemasters, but they needed a real product to get things going, so they began work on a large map of Bledsaw's City State of the Invincible Overlord. They got this first product done just in time for Gen Con IX (1976).^[1]:186-187 A listing of cumulative sales from 1981 shows that City State of the Invincible Overlord sold over 40,000 units.^[1]:200
City State of the Invincible Overlord was designed by Bob Bledsaw with the assistance of Bill Owen, and was inspired by Bledsaw's own Dungeons & Dragons campaign.^[2] City State of the Invincible Overlord was first released at Gen Con IX in August 1976.^[3]
City State of the Invincible Overlord launched Judges Guild as a company, and was the centerpiece of its Wilderlands of High Fantasy campaign setting, the first licensed and published Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting"


" The City-State of the Invincible Overlord" goes hand & glove with the Wilderlands of High Fantasy because its meant to. Over the years I've seen lots of gamers & hobbyists separate the two products. This is fine but taken as a whole these Judge's Guild products work like a campaign watch setting. Not perfect by any means but with its own Judge's Guild style. This is really key to gaining an over all understanding of the vision of Judge's Guild back in '76;
"City State of the Invincible Overlord" setting itself was a single city designed to be both as a base for campaigning, as well as a seed for city-based adventures. A second product, Wraith Overlord, explored the city's subterranean cellars, sewers and catacombs.
The City State of the Invincible Overlord setting was used as a home-base for characters created by Judges Guild in other products. Attention was also paid to synchronising the setting with broader adventure possibilities: a northern Dwarven fortress city Thunderhold with an associated "dungeon" area; and a series of four modules written to explore areas adjacent to the route from the City State of the Invincible Overlord setting to Thunderhold, as well as a fifth which was to introduce a "witch" NPC character class"
The city state is the home glue of a campaign setting & players even to this day seem to fondly remember this adventure location. Why?! Because it provides a 'safe spot' between adventures & the wilderness of the dangerous supernatural world of high fantasy. The city state could easily provide the dungeon master with infinity opportunity for getting the PC's into & out of  then back into all kinds of trouble.

Because of the very nature of the "City State of the Invincible Overlord" setting it became the perfect foil for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook first edition. The "City State of the Invincible Overlord" setting provides numerous opportunities for use as the origin point for PC's in game.  There is isn't simply one or two of these points in  "City State of the Invincible Overlord" but literally dozens.



Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw meant for the city state to be a whole cloth adventure location that would be used for years & years by players. And it has for all these years & on numerous table tops all over the world. The "City State of the Invincible Overlord" setting still stands out among a wide variety of old school & OSR products to this day. The adventure location is still being used on numerous table tops & in a myriad of campaigns right now. Not a bad legacy to a company that produced some of the most epic products for Dungeons & Dragons.

Rereadings & Commentaries On Judge's Guild's Wilderlands of High Fantasy By Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw

Wilderlands of High Fantasy By Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw
"Wilderlands of High Fantasy is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Judges Guild in 1977.^[1] It is part of the same world as their earlier City State of the Invincible Overlord setting materials. "

"Details the wilderness areas of the City State. Valley of the Ancients, Valon, Tarantis, and the Barbarian Altanis. This playing aid includes s 32-page booklet on the villages, populations, leaders, technological levels, citadels and castles, and wilderness monster lairs of these areas. The first of our wilderlands series, this covers the settlements of the City State of the Invincible Overlord, Tegel Manor, Modron, Thunderhold, and Haghill. This Playing Aid has been Created and Approved for use with D&D."
So while everyone is extremely concerned about the mass migration away from G+ social media collapse. I've kept my head down & my mouth shut & I've been going back over some of the Judge's Guild's Wilderlands of High Fantasy By Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw. I've been looking for a Swiss army knife of sand box & wilderness settings.  For me this is the standard of those. The dungeon master is given a thumbnail sketch of a settlement, an alignment, a title or bit about the ruler, & very little basic information. 
The dungeon master is fleshing out just about campaign level everything else from the ground up &  filling in the blanks as the player play through the adventure location & affairs of the Wilderlands. This approach was summed up on Grognardia in the comments section on the Wilderlands entry by Mundi KingAugust 31, 2011 at 9:15 AM 
who sites Rob Kuntz's feelings & opinions quite concisely;

"I think Rob Kuntz gave a concise response to the issue of level of detail in adventuring products in a post over at Greyhawk Grognard.

"As there are literally 3 camps that exist within this sphere (DYI and fill in the blanks yourself, give me a little context to mix and match with my own, and DO IT FOR ME) this argument cannot be resolved cross-camp, but only by the weight of numbers attached to each of the three. So the best response is: YMMV." -- Original Post"

This quite literally sums up the entire approach that Judge's Guild had toward their products & their campaign settings. It also matches out my feelings about the Wilderlands as a whole. The focus here is on 'adventure' & eventually on running an entire kingdom. The Wilderlands really allowed the player's PC's to make an impact without whole sale damage to the entire setting. There's just enough detail without phone book of background to filter through. The strong points are the random tables and all those maps. They make world building easy & high customization possible within the Wilderlands.
Other modules seem stale and stagnant while the JG stuff is completely inspirational all of  these years later. That's the key for me with the Wilderlands, their not a cantonal setting these are the settings that you & the players customize through actual play.

So is the Wilderlands of High Fantasy By Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw still actually useful for old school & OSR style games?! Yes it is perhaps more so now then when it came out. How can I justify this answer? The truth is that the materials haven't changed nor have they needed to. The same tight descriptions & ideas that made the
Wilderlands of High Fantasy great still apply in spades. I've seen the lower tier adventure locations used in Lamentations of The Flame Princess games & even as stand ins for Gamma World game adventure locations. The adventure  material of the
Wilderlands of High Fantasy is great stand in adventure locations for games such as Labryth Lord & Labryth Lord Advanced.
This also means that its original Dungeons & Dragons as well as its Advanced Dungeons & Dragons roots still are firmly in place. The Wilderlands of High Fantasy was made to be used with the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide. The random tables, charts, & stats line up perfectly with the material by Gygax in the DMG.  

"Don Turnbull reviewed Wilderlands of High Fantasy for White Dwarf #6, and commented that "It is good, and well worth the money, particularly if you are a 'fantasy campaign' fan." After rereading Wilderlands of High Fantasy this past week I hardly agree with the reviewer's assessment.
Classics are classic for a reason & in my mind the Wilderlands of High Fantasy By Bill Owen and Bob Bledsaw stands the test of time for campaign easy & table top utility.