Retro Campaign Commentary - X4 Master Of The Desert Nomads By David "Zeb" Cook For Expert Dungeons & Dragons With A Clark Ashton Smith Campaign Twist

 
If you were playing Expert Dungeons & Dragons back in Eighty Three then one of the more dangerous modules to get your PC's embroiled in was the  second sword and sorcery style adventures that came from the pen of David "Zeb" Cook. X4 Master of the Desert Nomads. This adventure puts your PC's right in the cross hairs of two armies on their way to defeating 'The Master'.


"Everything seems to start off with a war and the PC's are caught right in the middle of the action in the Sind desert.
 

"To arms! To arms! The battle lines are drawn as desert men and inhuman tribes wait poised to strike on the fertile and rich lands of the east. The call has gone out through the civilized lands. The armies have been raised to match the invading foes from the west. Nobles and peasants have joined swords to greet the foes.
But Fate or Chance has decreed another role for a small few. No glorious banners will wave on their march. No squadrons of knights will charge at their word. Instead, they will fight the war through stealth, secrecy, and cunning. The risks they will take are great, but the fates of both armies lie with them.
It begins one night for your party far from the fighting. Suddenly you are entrusted with the most dangerous missions of the war. Can you cross the Sind Desert, occupied now by enemy armies, to find the Great Pass? Can you find the one known only as The Master? What will you do if your do find him?""


But how can this classic be adapted into a fully functioning campaign adventure, we'll with a bit of help from Clark Ashton Smith its a perfect vehicle to open the door to a whole cloth Sword & Sorcery  campaign set within Zothique or the far future of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition. But why Zothique at all? According to a letter written to Clark Ashton Smith himself described the Zothique cycle in a letter to L. Sprague de Camp, dated November 3, 1953;
" Zothique, as I conceive it, comprises Asia Minor, Arabia, Persia, India, parts of northern and eastern Africa, and much of the Indonesian archipelago. A new Australia exists somewhere to the south. To the west, there are only a few known islands, such as Naat, in which the black cannibals survive. To the north, are immense unexplored deserts; to the east, an immense unvoyaged sea. The peoples are mainly of Aryan or Semitic descent; but there is a negro kingdom (Ilcar) in the north-west; and scattered blacks are found throughout the other countries, mainly in palace-harems. In the southern islands survive vestiges of Indonesian or Malayan races. The science and machinery of our present civilization have long been forgotten, together with our present religions. But many gods are worshipped; and sorcery and demonism prevail again as in ancient days."
This sounds exactly like the sort of desert weirdness that the PC's encounter in Master of the Desert Nomads. The master is simply another in a long line of cult leaders & lost kings who have come across the trackless wastes of the Diamond Desert erm the "immense unexplored deserts" which bound Zothique to the north. As per usual I've already heard from friends that Empire of The Necromancers is a perfect frame work in which which this classic of the B/X era should dropped into? Actually X4 fits the campaign frame work of CAS's The Weaver In The Vault.  The idea of the ruined kingdom with  mercenary scouts doing dirty deeds in the desert fits the rough & tumble ideals X4. It fits the sardonic humor of CAS.
"Three of the king's roughest henchman began losing their nerve as they descended into the dark catacombs of a long-forsaken, earthquake-ruined burial site in Chaon Gacca. Their assignment, to recover the remains of an ancient king, was detestable enough. However, nothing could compare to the horrific sights and sounds....of the weaver!"



X4 The Master Of The Desert Nomads is one of those adventures where the classic wilderness crawl is full effect. The PC's can wander where & when they need to within the frame work of this hex crawl as the adventure take them. The village on the border of the Republic of Darokin there is a priest  looking for scouts to seek out the Master a mysterious figure who is uniting the various tribes of humans and humanoids in the Sind desert.

1. The PCs are presented as mercenary scouts in almost but not quite Robert Howard Conan fashion in the X series. This is a perfect set up for adventurers & fits the rough & tumble nature of Sword & Sorcery adventures. 
2. The wilderness crawl presents the opportunity to introduce other side quests for the party & allows the DM to customize X4 as their own. 
3. The various desert locations are the perfect place to add in the adventure locations of  necropoli, abandoned ruins, epidemics & more that  fit the  far distant future of Zothique. 
4.  X4 is the perfect vechile for the that typical CAS vivaciousness! 
5. Master of the Desert Nomads has a bit of that Pulp weirdness we love already but with a bit of a push can be inverted into a hard core campaign. 
6.   Because the set up is a classic sword & sorcery adventure the X series of modules could be used to frame work around the Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes as a lost world style mini campaign. 

 

Within a pseudo historical setting X4 Master of The Desert Nomads could be used in an alternative dark fantasy Egypt or North African style adventure set around the Fourteenth or Fifteenth century. The dungeon master might want to draw from the Robert Howard well of dark fantasy literature with Solomon Kane and “The Fire of Asshurbanipal". This adventure will also work on the Chinese Gobi desert style Silk Road setting  which pulls from the Oriental and Middle Eastern mythological traditions. This plugs directly into the ideals of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique & yet keeps the adventure from becoming overly stale.
X4 remains a very different feeling adventure with its encounters wrapped around the central wheel house of  dark fantasy encounters, odd supernatural encounters, dangerous pieces of old school sword and sorcery action. This was one of the adventures that I've run over and over again with PC's coming face to face with weird monsters and becoming hooked on the desert series.

1d6 Random Deep Trail & Desert Encounters Table For Your Old School Campaigns

So the following small selection of random encounters happened in last night's X5 Temple of Death game, a few of these have been modified out to give the flavor and weirdness of the adventure with a bit of foreshadowing of things to come for the party of adventurers. Many of these encounters reflect the lands of Hule that the party is making its way into. The Great Pass has its own unique set of challenges & high weirdness. The deep trail encounters offer the dungeon master a chance to show the PC's some of dangers of Hule and could be a potential boon or problem.

1d6 Random Deep Trail & Desert Encounters

1. A family of  six refugees is traveling away from Hule fleeing from the dangerous army that they've found themselves in the cross hairs of, they are willing to trade food and water for information for a safe oasis on the trail ahead. They have with them an aunt who appears to be an a semi attractive woman of  forty years, she is not what she appears to be at all and is in fact a half ghoul black wizard who has brain washed this family into being her cover. She is a sixth level black wizard and at night fall takes on all of the abilities of a ghoul including the paralysing  touch. Zara is very dangerous and will sacrifice any of the family members to achieve her goals of leaving the country for a safe haven. She is armed with a +1 dagger and a mean streak a mile wide. 
2. A wandering peddler with camel and trade wares is entering Hule in an effort to see his brother in law for supplies, he carries 1d8 minor trade items with him and charges three times normal price for his items. But he makes superior adventuring and camping supplies. He is actually a spy though on a mission for the Republic and may confide in fellow adventurers if they let their guard down. He is cagey and quick with his words and has a charm spell scroll with three spells on it. 
3. A wandering priest who is seeking shrine in Hule, he is very nice and offers healing services to fellow travelers. Actually he's a part of the Hule clerical secret police and will rat on any adventurers he gets a chance to. He will also poison those who are too strong to be easily taken out. He is actually a 5th level assassin who has extensive first aid knowledge. He carries no real weapons but is very good with a straggling cord and his bare hands.
4. A fellow traveler is seeking help from anyone who might aid her, she is fleeing Hule and in need of assistance to reach the border passes. She is actually a princess whose family has fallen out of favor with the Master and the clerics of Hule. She really is fleeing for her life and there are clerically paid assassins on her trail. Her handmaiden was lost twenty miles up the trail and the assassins  are hot on her heels. She has 100 gold pieces to use as a bribe.
5.  A pair of spies of  from Hule are disguised as fellow travelers and are gathering information on those who travel the trails and are actually 5th level fighters with short swords and slings. They travel on camel back and are very helpful, cheerful, and inquisitive. They will also inform any patrols of the Master's army of any suspicious activity on the trails. They have 200 gold pieces that they've taken from others on the trails. 
6. A lone old peddler who travels with his donkey and a plays a weird stringed instrument. Zrabab' the wanderer' is a peddler and bard of sixth level who ministers to several minor thieves guilds along the trails and undermines the theocracy of Hule in subtle ways such as giving wine to the theocracy guards on the outskirts of the border and helping those in need with minor issues of the road. He also is a well loved but underestimated fellow who is beloved by the peoples of Hule. A salt of the earth type of bard, he quick with a story or tale and a slim dagger hidden in his instrument. He will help adventurers if its advantageous to him.
   
   
   

Retro Review Of X5 Temple of Death For Expert Dungeons & Dragons And Your Old School Campaigns

If you were playing D&D in Eighty Three then you might have had your PC's stumble into Temple of Death, a pulpy and very dangerous conclusion to the 'Nomad' adventures by David 'Zeb' Cook. Last night I ran seven players through this adventure using the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg system. Here's my review and commentary

X5 Temple of Death is an adventure that I've had extraordinary fond memories of running and Saturday night, I can honestly say why I've had such solid memories of it. The module always seems to bring a crowd to the table. Temple of Death and Master of the Desert Nomads can be thought of two halves of the same whole of an expert Dungeons and Dragons whole. The over all feel is here is one slick and well thought out module but this one is not without problems as well. Fortunately they don't detract from the adventure or how it's put together to run at the table.


Everything about the set up here is classic pulpy sword and sorcery action with the PC's going into classic hostile terrority of the enemy for the set up but everything they know isn't enough. The blurb from D&D classics is provides everything the dungeon master really needs with the intro;"Sent on a desperate mission into an unknown land, you must seek out one called "the Master" and his Temple of Death. There is little time to waste, as you must act before the Master's armies destroy your homelands. But to complete your task, you must battle fearsome guardians, travel through a hostile kingdom, and discover the secret of the Master. Can you survive his defenses and win?" 
The blurb from D&D classics dot com is also wrong,  "This adventure contains referee's notes, background, maps, and detailed keys. It is the second adventure in the two-part Desert Nomads series begun in X4: "Master of the Desert Nomads," but it can stand on its own as a separate adventure. Whether you play "Temple of Death" by itself or as part of a series, the adventure will offer you hours of excitement and fun!"
A DM really needs to run this as part of a two part mini campaign and its one that hooks right into the back end of Master of the Desert Nomads. My players knew exactly what they were getting into with the background, adventure set up, and high pulpy weirdness of the adventure itself.
The Temple of Death is clearly for characters level 6-10 and there are parts that are especially deadly. But this is a perfect adventure to convert over to Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, everything in the module is keyed right into the sword and sorcery pulp tradition we have desert nomads, a lack of demihumans, a mechanical flying ship, and a maniacal arch-villain with his henchmen all surrounded by an oppressive theocracy. The PC's really are in hostile territory of  the Black Mountains and traverse the Great Pass through them to reach the land of Hule. Hule is an interesting dichotomy of oppressive religion and clerical horror under the booted heel of its religious leaders and very, very dangerous to PC's health.  Hule is an oppressive religious  totalitarian state in which social orders are carefully defined, and where the Master's stronghold is located. This is one of those states that seems like it came straight out of a late Seventies Marvel Conan comic book, one of those minor style states that would employ mercenaries along its borders or crush any adventurers within its sphere of influence.



After reading the Grognardia Retrospective on Temple of Death, I took the adventure and made some notes before running this adventure:

• I back filled in the clerical orders of the Temple of Death sprinkling several random encounters with their religions that the PC's witness giving the adventure's setting an added boast of pulpy weirdness that enforces the notion that the PC's are in deed in a dangerous land. 
• Back off on the hand of God clues sprinkled throughout the module especially if your running this one with veteran role players and D&D players. They'll know and find their way especially if they they've played The Master of the Desert Nomads. The PC's will find their way into the back end of Temple of Death quite nicely. 
• The DM is going to have to be aware that there are errors in some copies of X5 and things like a walled town without any gates shown on the map are bound to crop up. The DM should be ready for these and make notes to deal with this. This stuff is all easy to overcome with some prep time and effort .
• Have extra PC 's statted up and ready to go, during play several deaths occurred and this isn't an adventure that favors special snow flake PC's at all. They will die and pretty badly if certain decisions are made especially in certain adventure locations.
  

On the whole if a DM was to use X 4 and X5 in pseudo real world history there are several areas that can easily suit the pulpy conceits of  Temple of Death. The Iran,India, Pakistan triangle of legend and mythology easily takes on yet another kingdom whose existence has fallen through the cracks of history. But I digress that it would actually be another influence from the early Seventies that has a far more reaching impact in the form of the Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad film's pulp and mythological tradition that Temple of Death owes much of its roots and influence from.


The fact is that Temple of Death has several adventure elements that have been keyed off the Orientalist school of the pulp tradition which David 'Zeb' Cook seems to take and warp making them all of his own. This is especially true of the encounters in  the Great Pass. All of the encounters in the Great Pass including  a mechanical dragon, a palace of hallucinogenic fungi, and a moon pool, and more are ones that my players want to revisit as soon as possible. Especially the moon pool which creates a ladder to the moon on nights of the full moon. Each and everyone of these has analogues within the Orientalist fairy tales and legends of real world mythology making X4 and X5 a snap to run and convert with Lamentations of the Flame Princess or Dark Albion. Each of these is steeped in pulpy dark fantasy to pull PC's right into the deep end of a Fourteen or Fifteen Hundreds alternative history adventure on their own. 

I also have to say that I really loved Tim Truman's artwork throughout X5, it gave a unifying feel to the adventure and really brought home the harsh sword and sorcery vibe of the adventure for me. Which brings me to Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The fact is that X4 and X5 easily fit the bill for sword and sorcery action, many of the elements presented in this series of modules is already build into the background of the setting. There are several desert areas that can be used for the X4 and X5 but as I mentioned before the Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes environs are ideally suited for exactly this sort of treatment. In fact to break up the action of the X series I would easily use both modules and follow those up with the Ghost Ship, giving the PC's a reason to stick around the region.

The set up of the Ghost Ship adventure for AS&SH   along the Diamond Desert is just the sort thing that would attract the 'Master' and his minions. The state of Hule would be looking for any military or magical tactical advantage and those nearby legends would be very enticing to them..
"Somewhere in the depths of Diamond Desert lie the skeletal remains of Ymir’s Serpent, a legendary Viking longship. In days of yore, Sigtrygg Forkbeard led his company upriver, piercing the desert’s hostile heart. There the Vikings unearthed a lost mine brimming with green diamonds, but the River Æolus desiccated as the Serpent prepared for launch, and the ship was swallowed by the dunes. Forkbeard and his company were never seen again, but tales of a shimmering Viking ghost ship gliding over the dunes persist to this day."
Both Temple of Death and The Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes  include wilderness, town, and dungeon encounters which should challenge a party of experienced adventurers easily. The legend of the Ghost Ship is built along the same pulpy lines as X4 & X5 all the while weaving its own Hyperborean mythology and legends around Ymir’s Serpent. All of the while drawing the PC's deeper and deeper into the adventure while revealing more of the mysteries of Hyperborea's glorious past as well as  its peoples, locations , setting bits, and even more weirdness. This sets up the foundation for a glorious sword and sorcery adventure campaign. This was the feeling I got running X5 last night for my players.

Two other sword and sorcery  monsters that fit the bill for the pulpy goodness of AS&SH, the Malfera is an elephant-faced monster from the "Dimension of Nightmares," which has shades of a Robert Howard demon but is pretty horrific on its own and would make an excellent addition to Hyperborea's roster of horrors.
While the Spectral Hound is from the "Dimensional Vortex," which is defined as "the void between all dimensions." also could be known as a part of the Outer Darkness of the planar nature of Hyperborea. Some adjustments might need to be made for stats but all in all these are two iconic monsters that should be used in far more dungeon and sword and sorcery venues. After last night's game I don't see my players ever wanting to tangle with the horrors of Hule for a while.


But Temple of Death wasn't the last time that we'd see Hule or the Master in print, there were two other times that he and his desert nomads graced the pages of an adventure. According to Classic D&D dot com;
 "Cook never intended a sequel to the X4/X5 sequence, but the characters and setting were sufficiently evocative that Michael S. Dobson later wrote X10: "Red Arrow, Black Shield", which features the return of the Master and his desert nomads."
But I shall have to return to X4 and X5 another day, while Temple of Death is with some problems the Desert Nomad modules remain a favorite of mine and its a certainly made an impression upon my players. I started at four in the afternoon and finished at about three this morning. All in all a very deadly adventure, out of seven players three PC's bit the dust and were replaced during play along the way.

1d6 Random Deep Desert Encounters Table For Your Old School Campaigns

Here are several random encounters that I've recently used with X4 Master of the Desert Nomads to help pad out some of the random wandering wilderness desert encounters. Many of these were quick and easy to deal with vignettes that helped to set the stage until the PC's made it to the Abbey and to help set the stage for the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea vibe I was going for during play.


1d6 Random Deep Desert Encounters Table

1. 1d8 displaced clan of desert nomads whose village was burnt to the ground, they are fleeing away from the devastation of the humanoid forces and are willing to trade water for food and information. They are quite suspicious of outsiders but are willing to give the benefit of the doubt. They are led by a 6th level shaman as their head man and have three 2nd level fighters among their party. 
2. A spice trader caravan of 1d10 merchants who will be very flighty with their humanoid caravan guards. These 2nd level fighters are armed with short bows and are on camel back. The caravan is lead by a 5th level fighter who is also a prince of a local desert clan, he is spying on the forces of the Master and may trade water and food for information. 
3. A group of 1d6 desert noblemen on an errant for their master, they seek a certain cursed oasis for a plant that grows their but they are very cautious with the Master's forces in the area. They will agree to travel with you for their is strength in numbers. They are actually 3rd level thieves and will slit the throats of adventurers in the night to steal all they have an sell the information to the Master's forces. 
4. A wizard's party winds its way among the dunes, he is fleeing from the Master's forces and is willing to trade information for small services. He has 1d8 2nd level warriors with him on camel back and armed with swords, short bows, arrows and shields. He has map to a nearby small set of ruins near an oasis for five hundred gold pieces that he is willing to trade for and for a 3,000 gold pieces will cast a cure light wounds for the injured. 
5. A sand priest of a nearby tribe wanders the wastes searching for enlightenment and insight into recent events by communing with the gods and spirits of the wastes. He is looking for information and numbers about the Master's forces. He is actually a master spy for a nearby kingdom and is willing to trade silver and gold or a map for information. He knows the terrain and local legends quite well. 
6. A family of traveling performers of half human stock is fleeing in the wake of a nearby oasis settlement being burnt to the ground. They are very flighty and panic stricken, they have with them a 3rd level desert fighter who has sword, bow and arrows, and a shield. They have a 400 gold piece diamond that they stole from a temple to help them start a new life in a nearby kingdom. They also have 140 gold pieces that they will be willing to pay for the PC's to provide them with an escort to said kingdom.

Retro Review X4 Master Of The Desert Nomads For Expert Dungeons & Dragons & Your Old School Campaigns

If you were playing expert Dungeons and Dragons in Eighty Three then you got a chance to play in one of the second sword and sorcery style adventures that came from the pen of David "Zeb" Cook. X4 Master of the Desert Nomads puts your party center stage on a daring recon mission of dangerous and deadly proportions to find the 'master'.



Everything seems to start off with a war and the PC's are caught right in the middle of the action in the Sind desert.
 

"To arms! To arms! The battle lines are drawn as desert men and inhuman tribes wait poised to strike on the fertile and rich lands of the east. The call has gone out through the civilized lands. The armies have been raised to match the invading foes from the west. Nobles and peasants have joined swords to greet the foes.

But Fate or Chance has decreed another role for a small few. No glorious banners will wave on their march. No squadrons of knights will charge at their word. Instead, they will fight the war through stealth, secrecy, and cunning. The risks they will take are great, but the fates of both armies lie with them.

It begins one night for your party far from the fighting. Suddenly you are entrusted with the most dangerous missions of the war. Can you cross the Sind Desert, occupied now by enemy armies, to find the Great Pass? Can you find the one known only as The Master? What will you do if your do find him?"

Here's one of the classics of the expert set of Dungeons and Dragons adventures,a wilderness crawl through one of the more deadly regions to appear in  OD&D. Master of the Desert Nomads puts the PC's front and center on the border between civilization and desert wasteland in a Conansque style adventure using a loose and classic sword & sorcery  comic book frame work to gather the PC's as part and parcel of a military recon into the deep end of a desert wastes to find the Master. This is another of David Cook's dips into the sword and sorcery deep in this adventure.


This module has all of the elements of  the classic wilderness crawl told within the frame work of a series of adventure encounters that mold themselves to the party's wanderings. The village on the border of the Republic of Darokin there is a priest  looking for scouts to seek out the Master a mysterious figure who is uniting the various tribes of humans and humanoids in the Sind desert. The Republic's army forces have already moved out and the PC's are left behind to fill in on this dangerous mission.
There are really three reasons to use Master of the Desert Nomads for a retroclone game -

• This is a solid adventure divided into two easy to run parts for the dungeon master but also an  adventure that will challenge a party of mid level adventurers to their core. There are opportunities for both dungeon crawls and wilderness hex crawling. .
• There are several opportunities for subterfuge and deception are built in  within the confines of the adventure.  The PC's can act as both scouts and actual warriors  in this adventure.
• The first half of the adventure deals with the PC's journey to the master and the second deals with their handling of an evil abbey which has its own darkness  to deal with. 
• Treasures, relics, and artifacts are key to several adventure plot points making them not simply PC window dressing. 

The module is very well done for its time and presents several encounters which might be right at home within a Michael Moorcock novel or as a part a 70's sword and sorcery novel from a drugstore spinner rack. Wiki has a good break down;"In the adventure that follows, the adventurers must tackle a series of wilderness encounters, including journeying up a sluggish river to its source, passing through a dismal salt marsh, crossing an inhospitable desert, and searching for a pass through the high and forbidding mountain chain on the far side of the desert. If successful, the adventure ends at an abbey situated on a mountain spur above the alpine meadows"
The Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg can run Master of the Desert Nomads quite easily and there are several desert locations within the game that can easily be used as a stand in for the Sind desert. Because the set up is a classic sword & sorcery adventure the X series of modules could be used to frame work around the Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes as a lost world style mini campaign.
Within a pseudo historical setting X4 Master of The Desert Nomads could be used in an alternative dark fantasy Egypt or North African style adventure set around the Fourteenth or Fifteenth century. The dungeon master might want to draw from the Robert Howard well of dark fantasy literature with Solomon Kane and “The Fire of Asshurbanipal". This adventure will also work on the Chinese Gobi desert style Silk Road setting  which pulls from the Oriental and Middle Eastern mythological traditions. 


X4 remains a very different feeling adventure with its encounters wrapped around the centeral wheel house of  dark fantasy encounters, odd supernatural encounters, dangerous pieces of old school sword and sorcery action. This was one of the adventures that I've run over and over again with PC's coming face to face with weird monsters and becoming hooked on the desert series. This is one of the stronger modules for Expert edition D&D and seems to hook its players early and the encounters are keyed for the mid range party of adventurers.X4 Master Of The Desert Nomads remains one of the classics for a reason and in my humble opinion X4 remains very vital and is an easily to access adventure to draw a campaign up very quickly and drop the party into the deep end.