OSR Commentary - Beyond The Ice Falls By Joseph D. Salvador From Raven God Games For Swords & Wizardry - Hyperborea rpg Session Report

 "In the village of Askibakken, the winter has been harsh and an unnatural blizzard has gripped the area. The village chieftain has called upon young warriors to search for a missing supply ship, but this endeavor leads the adventurers into a mysterious adventure. Will the party discover what lies Beyond the Ice-Fall?" 

Wayback in 2017 Raven God Games sent me a copy of Beyond The Ice Falls By Joseph D. Salvador for Swords & Wizardry. But tonight I'm not running this deadly little adventure instead I'm playing Scotta Berarus last viking theurorist noble to the tribe of Odin's rabble. Scotta Berarus has fled to his cousin Gunther Blood Bear's tribe after his was wiped out by an orc raid in the lower ice flows of Hyperborea. Gunther has sold our party's services to  the village of Askibakken in exchange for a Winter's store of fish, sea greens, and other food stuffs. With the unnatural Spring weather the village of Askibakken is deep trouble! We came into the village & observed that the village was in poor shape with everything covered in snow. 

Beyond the Ice Falls has quite a bit of talent behind it; "Features cover art and an interior piece by Del Teigeler! Writing, cartography and additional art completed by Joseph Salvador. Included in this 28-page product are a mini-setting, a dungeon crawl, two maps, new monsters, new magic items, new spells, and a viking name list!"We sat with the chief to find out particulars and while the catch was amazing the hunting around the village had suffered as animals were found flash frozen, beheaded, and destroyed in ways that spooked even the hardest of the village of Askibakken's hunters & trackers. 

So I'm a party of a party of hardened Viking mercenaries & warriors having joined up with my cousin's band in a fit a promise of a life of plunder & adventure. So far things had worked out. We were recruited to go on patrol with the village fishermen as monster patrol because of problems with sea serpents & the like. Next we were asked to help as monster patrol with a hunting expediation. Something wasn't right & finally we asked the village headman why didn't the village's warriors help out?! Then it was revealed that they had been found dead flash frozen by some mysterious force?! 

The woodlands & waters around the village of Askibakken are highly unnatural. There's few sounds, the spirits are quiet as in too quiet, and there are highly dangerous monsters in the woods around the village. Darr The Brave our scout & tracker found the tracks of a highly dangerous monster! We got into it hot & heavy with a Hyperborean  owl bear! And it wasn't even our first session! The monster was pretty dangerous & highly violent! He took out two of our hirelings & almost one our fighters but I got off a magic missile spell to distract him while Gunther got Valt out of the monster's reach. We were barely able to get our wounded back to the village. 
And now we've got to track down the owl bear back to it's lair to put the monster down! It's wounded, dangerous, and a terror to any other villages in the area. 
So DM Pual was incharge of tonight's Hyperborea rpg session. He's got a slightly different style to DM Steve's killer DM style of play. Being a forever DM being on the otherside of the screen for once has been both enlightening & very dangerous. We're all 2nd level PC's and there are six of us at the moment. 

OSR Review & Commentary On Three Shops article by Jeff Bowes art by Del Teigeler The Free AD&D 1st Edition & OSRIC Supplement

 Three Shops article by Jeff Bowes art by Del Teigeler is a really solid little addition to the AD&D 1st edition  or OSRIC rpg campaign.Jeff Bowes really knocks it out of the park with this short eight page businesses that can be dragged & dropped into your ongoing campaigns. 

Del Tigler knocks it outta of the park with his three dimensional cut away maps of the businesses. Proudfoot and Archer finder of lost objects and are literally a throw back to the 40's and 50's private detective film but these guys are perfectly suited to OSRIC; "Proudfoot and Archer are finders. Despite the fact that the city has a large, well-organized City Guard there is still a need for private investigative work. In general they concern themselves with recovering stolen property, the protection of property and finding missing or hiding persons." The NPC stats are well laid out, the adventure hooks write themselves, and the business works well; "The owner of the shop is Rorie Archer, a middle- aged balding Halfling. In the past 5 years Rorie brought on the Halfling adventurer Sam Proudfoot as a partner and his business has blossomed. Sam is much younger then Rorie and still engages in the adventuring life. A combination of his natural skills and enthusiasm has made Sam an excellent investigator. Due to Sam's reputation customers frequently insist on his involvement. This is something of a headache for Rorie." You've got details well laid out with Jeff Bowes going into each business solidly and giving reasons for said details.  And then we get into Northwind Arms Exchange - a precious goods exchange which is part coin exchange, part pawn shop, and part adventurer shop;"Norwind Arms Exchange Precious goods exchange. In most towns of reasonable size transactions must be carried out in the local coinage. Often towns have Laws governing how many foreign coins can be carried within the Town Limits. For this reason there are a few moneychangers near the Town Gates. Norwind goes beyond just changing coins, they will also purchase gems, jewelry and some objects of value. Owner: Anton Kaiden a member of the local Norwind Merchant house. Anton is a portly man of 46 years with close shaven grey hair. Anton married into the Norwind Merchant house and received this position from his unimpressed father-in-law." The fact is that Jeff Bowes goes into staff, layout, adventure possiblilities, hours of operation, customers, & more. Finally we get into 'The Roving Eye Tavern' which is part adventurers tavern & part retired operation for a family of adventurers. But there's far more to 'The Roving Eye' then at first it appears; "The Roving Eye Tavern The Roving Eye Tavern is a small tavern on the Town's main market square. Although a two-story building, only the lower floor is a tavern open to customers. The wooden sign above the door has the shape of an eye carved in its center. Faded red paint clings to the wood. Beneath the eye are two crudely painted legs. Owner: The tavern is owned by the Conwon merchant family but managed by Genin Moorwalk. Moorwalk manages the Tavern with little interference from the owners. Moorwalk is a retired merchant in his late forties. Moorwalk is heavyset and is generally found behind the bar or mingling with patrons wearing a stained apron. He has a wisp of grey hair above his ears and a bald head." You really get a sense of these three businesses from the bottom up and get a real sense of the potential for your own campaigns in 'Three Shops'. Is Three Shops worth the download?! Oh Hell yes!

 Three Shops article by Jeff Bowes art by Del Teigeler The Free AD&D 1st Edition & OSRIC  Supplement Available At The Bottom Link Here