So yesterday I wrote a bit about one of my favorite Basic D&D modules "X5 Temple of Death" By David 'Zeb' Cook. Already I'm taking some heat about it from the usual OSR scholars because I combined it with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Now yesterday I combined the module with the world of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique. But there are a wide variety of reasons for this one of which being the fact that Hyperborea in my games is very much linked with the Dreamlands & the far future fate of Earth.
There is a subrealm of the Dreamlands known as the Nightmare dimension closely associated with Mystara. James Mishler has an article about the plane right here.
Time has very little meaning in certain locations of the transitive planes for they are closely allied with the psychic powers & abilities of the mind. Here the connections between Mystera, Zothique, & Hyperborea become far more obvious. This all ties into the dark occult history of the Cynidicea & its ties with The Dungeon Master's Guide to Cynidicea article on the Vaults of Pandius. This helps to explain the presence of Zargon on the surface of Hyperborea & its cults deep connections to the Diamond Desert Underborea area.
Zargon's cults are insidious, dark, & very dangerous. They've crossed planes & their wizards should not be under estimated. Zargon is one of the entities that's survived the events of Ragnarok on my version of Hyperborea. The old gods are dead & there a few survivors which leaves room for the entrance of Lovecraftian abominations like Zargon & his ilk.
Thor and the Midgard Serpent (by Emil Doepler, 1905)
Zargon is building his base of power on Hyperborea by the time of the events of X5. The PC's are going to have reached a solid level in the campaign path that I've laid out. There are a wide variety of factions vying to take out the political infrastructure of the fragile governments of Hyperborea. The plane of Nightmares has all of the qualities of chaos that would be perfectly in tune to cause chaos & strife where & when as needed.
Hule is the perfect an oppressive theocracy of doom to drag down the entire works of Hyperborea leaving the entire world open for take over by the forces of Zargon & its cults. I've never run the Cynidiceans as a joke at all but instead like a horror movie cult akin to something we'd see in a Call of Cthulhu adventure. They've had their sanity shattered as a people & the remains are holding on to maybe the last bits of sanity. The Cynidiceans looked long & hard into the "Dimensional Vortex," which is defined as "the void between all dimensions."
Something deep & sinister answered them back & its been feeding on them ever since. Zargon is only the latest in a long line of horrors that has crossed into the realm of Hyperborea. One or more of the PC's can gain lycanthropy over the course of X5. I strongly suggest that the party allow it to give the players a fighting chance.
The key to "X5 Temple of Death" By David 'Zeb' Cook. is realizing that there is far more bubbling below the surface. I had details of the Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess show up in X5 such as the legend of the treasure called the Feathered Crown of Nanasa. This led to all kinds of interesting twists & turns as the players wanted to abandoned the quest of X5 to find this artifact.
This leads deeply into the fact that serpent men are behind some of the major threats of the Forgotten Fane. But their connection to both the Dreamlands & the legacy of X5 is thousands of years to late. There are much more dangerous occult & ritual connections between these modules. We'll get into those next time.
So yesterday I wrote a bit about one of my favorite Basic D&D modules "X5 Temple of Death" By David 'Zeb' Cook. Already I'm taking some heat about it from the usual OSR scholars because I combined it with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Now yesterday I combined the module with the world of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique. But there are a wide variety of reasons for this one of which being the fact that Hyperborea in my games is very much linked with the Dreamlands & the far future fate of Earth.
There is a subrealm of the Dreamlands known as the Nightmare dimension closely associated with Mystara. James Mishler has an article about the plane right here.
Time has very little meaning in certain locations of the transitive planes for they are closely allied with the psychic powers & abilities of the mind. Here the connections between Mystera, Zothique, & Hyperborea become far more obvious. This all ties into the dark occult history of the Cynidicea & its ties with The Dungeon Master's Guide to Cynidicea article on the Vaults of Pandius. This helps to explain the presence of Zargon on the surface of Hyperborea & its cults deep connections to the Diamond Desert Underborea area.
Zargon's cults are insidious, dark, & very dangerous. They've crossed planes & their wizards should not be under estimated. Zargon is one of the entities that's survived the events of Ragnarok on my version of Hyperborea. The old gods are dead & there a few survivors which leaves room for the entrance of Lovecraftian abominations like Zargon & his ilk.
Thor and the Midgard Serpent (by Emil Doepler, 1905)
Zargon is building his base of power on Hyperborea by the time of the events of X5. The PC's are going to have reached a solid level in the campaign path that I've laid out. There are a wide variety of factions vying to take out the political infrastructure of the fragile governments of Hyperborea. The plane of Nightmares has all of the qualities of chaos that would be perfectly in tune to cause chaos & strife where & when as needed.
Hule is the perfect an oppressive theocracy of doom to drag down the entire works of Hyperborea leaving the entire world open for take over by the forces of Zargon & its cults. I've never run the Cynidiceans as a joke at all but instead like a horror movie cult akin to something we'd see in a Call of Cthulhu adventure. They've had their sanity shattered as a people & the remains are holding on to maybe the last bits of sanity. The Cynidiceans looked long & hard into the "Dimensional Vortex," which is defined as "the void between all dimensions."
Something deep & sinister answered them back & its been feeding on them ever since. Zargon is only the latest in a long line of horrors that has crossed into the realm of Hyperborea. One or more of the PC's can gain lycanthropy over the course of X5. I strongly suggest that the party allow it to give the players a fighting chance.
The key to "X5 Temple of Death" By David 'Zeb' Cook. is realizing that there is far more bubbling below the surface. I had details of the Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess show up in X5 such as the legend of the treasure called the Feathered Crown of Nanasa. This led to all kinds of interesting twists & turns as the players wanted to abandoned the quest of X5 to find this artifact.
This leads deeply into the fact that serpent men are behind some of the major threats of the Forgotten Fane. But their connection to both the Dreamlands & the legacy of X5 is thousands of years to late. There are much more dangerous occult & ritual connections between these modules. We'll get into those next time.
"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? "
Well let's get right into it. If the characters have survived the events of
Then things are going to really start getting hairy for them & the capital of Hyperborea is much more danger then it knows. Firs the official background for this module; "X5 Temple of Death is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure module designed by David Cook for use with the D&D Expert Set. It was written by David Cook and published by TSR, Inc. in 1983. The module is intended for player characters of levels 6-10."
The real issue here is the PC level which should be within range of the Temple of Death encounters & this module is straight up Robert Howard & Clark Ashton Smith action. The danger to the Hyperborea capital comes from the fact that the 'master's' assassins have been infiltrating the Hyperborean capital & making their way for committing political assassinations there. This could in fact destabilize the entire Hyperborean political structure. This adventure sub plot could become campaign side quest with assassins fighting at shadow war across the AS&SH campaign setting.
The PC's are going to be deep into the Great Pass where the adventurers must cross the "sanctified land" of Hule. Hule is going to be a problem because it highlights the dangerous religious aspects of this module. The encounters that the PC's face are going to need to be shown restrain & face them down systematically. Hule is perfectly suited as Sword & Sorcery cult straight outta Conan & PC's are going to need to tread very carefully here.
The occult desert city of Xambaala might have some back up information on Hule's deadly little secrets but the DM is going to have to do an excellent job of sprinkling in some tight links here. Possibly back dovetailing the adventure encounters into Rats in the Walls and Other Perils if they've already run this adventure.
Why? Well if they've run this adventure then the player's PC's are going to know about some of the political upheaval going on in the Hyperborean capital. The players continue their quest to stop a war in Hyperborea - making "Temple" one of the most pivotal adventures that they find themselves in. That being said its here that the PC's are going to up to their necks in the Hyperborean wilderness. DM's are going to have to adapt some of the wilderness encounters of X5 for AS&SH. There are some really deadly bits here.
Two key stories here for X5 in my humble opinion from Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique cycle are Garden of Adompha, The (1938) & In the Book of Vergama (1934). Both of which really capture the alieness that X5 brings to the table. X5 Temple of Death is a huge & expansive module in the sense that it can & will send a party off into a million directions unless the DM reigns in the adventure elements. The Great Pass in the Black Mountains has set, numbered locations as a dungeon adventure rather than wilderness. The chapter on Hule and the Dark Wood are very well thought out. The Great Pass for example can get outta hand unless the DM has gone over it with a fine tooth comb.
All of these events in X5 Temple of Death can be used to highlight some of the adventure set up that we used in B4 The Lost City. The cults of Zargon take a back seat as the influence of the Master's cult murders & gains dominance in the lands of Hyperborea. But don't worry this is all a part of Zargon's plans & schemes.
Because Hyperborea is so isolated all of these events are going to take a long time to unfold. On Zothique these events are simply going to be another chain if the unfolding of politics & sorcery but things are going to get very weird & more deadly tomorrow!
