1d4 Random Relic Torcs To Encounter Table For Your Old School Campaign

There are relic torcs that are still being fashioned in the dark recesses of the deep wastelands of Accursed Atlantis, these relics of ancient times are fashioned from semi precious metal, bits of relics, and woven with the dark magicks of some of the waste lander tribe's strange beliefs and twisted bits of ancient wisdom. Many of these relics are locked around the necks of their owner's necks and passed down in family lines. They are most often worn by adventurers and warriors from the former Celtic nations. Here then are 1d4 relic torcs that your adventurers might find in certain ancient ruins or around the neck of a corpse.

1d4 Random Relic Torcs To Encounter Table

1. Torc Of The White Moon - This torc gathers moonlight and allows it owner to take the power of the moon's fury into their heart. Once per day the owner can enter a quasi berserk state gaining +1 to their attack rolls. The owner becomes braver and almost foolish in his normal day to day risk taking however but gains the luck of the devil. Once per week he can reroll one failed roll. But abusing this power invokes the fickle side of the lunar goddesses and the owner may grow animal ears at a most inconvenient time losing two points of temporary Charisma. 
2. The Tears Of  The Vine - This torc is shaped like the twisted vines of a tree, the torc allows the owner to invoke a stone skin spell once per week. The owner is subject to prophecy dreams as their consciousness is drawn to the forest of wisdom while sleeping. The goddesses of fate may visit the owner to impart tid bits of wisdom during these dreams. 
3. Torc of Order - This torc has been forged in the fires of Law and twisted on the anvils of order. It allows its owner to detect Chaos in all its guises and to be immune to possession by a demon. The torc will glow or sing in its owner's mind if chaos comes within 10 feet of the owner. 
4. Torc of the noble - This torc has been forged and created in the blood of enemy noblemen. Once per every three days the owner is allowed to take on the illusion of nobility and culture. The owner may have the airs and behaviors of breeding for 1d4 hours. The owner will slowly have to learn the ways and means of nobles as the ghosts that haunt the torc show him the ropes of th nobleman.

Raid On The Baikonur Cosmodrome - Black Market Inc. & Islands In The Stream Campaign Prequel Adventure - A DCC Rpg Actual Play Event Part III

Last night I got called in last minute to run game after the dungeon master for a D&D game got called in on an emergency EM call. I ended up with nine players many of whom were regulars at my Black Market Inc game. A quick funnel and it was time to wrap up one of the lingering adventures from back at the end of August. So I finally got together with Steven and his brothers after a few months between Black Market Inc Dungeon Crawl Classic adventures. Last night's game saw the loss of two PC's in vaults and tunnels under the Baikonur Cosmodrome. 

The party had to contend with some of Kronos's spawn and they had to retreat more then a few times into side tunnels and they lost their cleric.To say that the players weren't happy is an understatement. The death of the cleric resembled something from anime. The less said about that the better. Kronos follows the rules laid down in Crawling Under A Broken Moon issue four, the object as patron rules. The PC's also ran into mutants & other horrors in a genetics lab and trashed the place with a handy flame thrower they found Alien Resurrection style. This whole event on level 6 attracted the attention of one of the Discarded under Krono's control and it was the rat bastard A.I. who controlled this entire level of the dungeon like ruins.


The party also spotted a really nice set of light mech armor still sealed in its plastic enclosure bubble, untouched and it wasn't corrupted by this level's boss monster. The party wanted that armor. And they had a fight on their hands with that Discarded A.I. whose stats looked something like this :
The Discarded, large: Init +1;Atk flailing appendage +4 melee(1d7+1); AC 17; HD 8d8; MV 20’;Act (2d3)d20; SP +4 to sneak,consume tech, play dead; SV Fort+5, Ref +1, Will +0; AL C.
The power armor and discarded came straight out of issue number seven of Crawling Under A Broken Moon  Which if you haven't picked it up then I strongly suggest you do. It's damn useful for DM's looking to add in options to their post apocalyptic DCC style game. This party of adventurers succeeded in defeating the boss monster but everything actually hinged on another party of adventurers!


Grab This Issue of CUABM

Meanwhile Out In The Wasteland
Surrounding The  Baikonur Cosmodrome

Meanwhile another group of freebooters were trying to avoid getting killed by a very, very, pissed off pack of invisible monsters thanks to Venger Satanis. The party of adventurers had a cyborg in their midst and various mutant adventurers along with a barbarian from the wilds of Canada. They had an ace up their sleeve as well in the form of a set of force fields that the other party had recovered and teleported to the surface before their wizard was taken over by Kronos. These were Great Race of Yith artifacts recovered by the Soviets before the Great Atomic Wars.



The party was able to set the force field in place but their barbarian was torn limb from limb by one of the invisible monsters. The wizard Crowley St. Germain sacrificed himself to distract Kronos as the inversion bomb was set and the timer counted down to give the party time to escape.  The invisible monsters sensed something was up and closed in on the party's location. Then it was 10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. Cafuush  and the  Baikonur Cosmodrome has a new set of step pits. Nothing could live through a Great Race Inversion bomb. Nothing. Well Crowley did give the adventurers time to escape.
So not only did the party escape but they made it out with some artifacts and goodies for their employers and that means they get issued new toys for the next adventure. All in all not a bad run at all. A few more deaths then I was expecting but not a bad game at all.
Notes On Running Black Market Inc.




One of the essential books in my experience of running this game was issue five of Crawling Under a Broken Moon. Not only do the players have their choice of a He Man or Thundarr The Barbarian style of PC adventurer to play with. The DM has lots and lots of toys to play with from this issue.  If your into 80's cartoon post apocalyptic action then this is definitely the issue to have in your tool box. There's lots of goodness to add in to the background. More action coming up as the parties expand into space and we've got more 80's action coming up and now we return you to your regularly scheduled games.

1d4 Random Altars Of The Illusionist Kings Encounter Tables For Your Old School Campaigns

Before the oceans drank Atlantis there were rulers who built kingdoms from the stuff of dreams and conquered by the power of nightmares. Reality ran like wax under their gaze & the very world sang with their songs of pseudo matter made flesh. They conquered nations with armies of shadows and pulled their power from the collective power of the dreams of humanity themselves. They were the blessed of the Trickster gods and their power was such that even today if one looks their markers still exist. But adventurers should beware for even though reality rebelled against these twisted tyrants of tricks and illusion; their power still sleeps in their relics. When one finds their works their power echoes throughout eternity.
1d4 Random Altars Of The Illusionist Kings Encounter Tables

1. The altar of A'phaugugyi - Those disturbing this altar will have to save vs wands or be subject to having their greatest nightmare made flesh as a three hit point monster made of echoing magickal energies. The effects will be the same as facing down a phantasmal force monster and the thing will try to murder their target to take over the corpse in a mockery of life and it will have an undead's unholy hunger for flesh. The altar rattles with the power of its namesake and from time to time it will project illusions of treasures, jewels and the like to lure in adventurers Each new moon the altar will create a free will monster duplicate to go and cause mayhem in the world. 
2. Thazotlhano's legacy - This altar has thousands of whirls and star like patterns across it, these will come to life at the whim the guardian spirit. The whirls and illusion that this altar creates will try to charm any target. The altar will summon a phantasmal possessing spirit to take over the body of victims as it creates a pseudo reality in order to seduce & beguile the targets in order make possession far easier. Those taken over will experience a whole gamut of emotions and trials as they become passengers with their own bodies. Their spirits are suppressed as the altar weaves and takes the person over completely. '
3. Egolothothac's Binding - This stone has many facets in various planes of existence at once. Those stepping around it will wander into another reality or dimension. The altar will project pride and false feelings of achievement onto its target even as it planarly shifts them into another. There are demons of illusion who wish to use the fools attracted to other dimensional  temple of the shadow illusions of the area. Those who can should beware even as 1d4 critters from HP Lovecraft's dreamlands cross over into the reality of the altar. 
4. Ibbotho-otha's Stepping Stone - This altar bares resemblance to the ancient stages of the temples of the illusionist kings. This stone is used to summon the demon Ibbotho-otha who has been locked away in the underworld of the dreamlands and yearns to be back among the living to spread darkness of his reality bending powers. This demon thing will grant 1d4 illusions of Ibbotho-otha and should the owner use these spells the barrier around the demon god will begin to weaken the fabric of the local space time in order to free the dark ones.

Review and Commentary On The Free PDF Adventure For The Dungeon Crawl Classics Rpg - HHSOLO 1 - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep From The Hapless Henchman

This is a eighty nine page can of 'Choose Your Own Adventures' or 'Fighting Fantasy'  style Dungeon Crawl Classics Madness in the form of a free PDF adventure from Hapless Henchmen games. 
 HHSOLO 1 - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep .This is actually three products in one, you get a choose your own adventure solo book, a monster book  for the adventure, and a really nice map of the Keep. Basically this is one very large and well put together solo dungeon that acts as a complicated PC funnel generator for the Dungeon Crawl Classics game using a modified set of DCC rules and some really nasty encounters. This isn't made to be an easy dungeon at all but its DCC folks. I personally died twice trying this adventure at four am this morning. Its a neat and fun little crawl put together with lots of twists and turns with a twisted sense of humor this side of a Nineties cartoon from Nickelodeon with an over flow of Adventure Time style hi jinks thrown in for good measure.

GRAB THIS ONE RIGHT OVER HERE
 HHSOLO 1 - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep .
Believe it or not this is a big module designed for solo play and your really going to need a solid copy of this adventure in other words a physical copy. The adventure unfolds around your character and does three rather interesting slight of hand tricks at the same time. One the story of the adventure's frame work happens around you. Two you want to read more to see what happens to your adventurer and three the damn adventure has your attention span in its clutches. All of this happens while your playing and reading it. I suspect that Noah Stevens not only played a hell of a lot of solo adventure books in the Eighties but he also played a ton of the video game Dragon's Lair because this has that feel to it. That classic playability is another factor that these various influences also share with HHSOLO 1 - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep.

This was done with a solid intent and all of the classic elements of OSR design are in the Keep. Are the encounters balanced? Yes they are with a solid base and they are beatable but this is Dungeon Crawl Classics and your going to have to think your way past several of the best bits and pieces of the Keep.
Before even attempting to play through this adventure there are several things to keep in mind. One have more then a passing familiarity with the DCC rulebook and then familiarize yourself with this adventure's modified rules set. It does exactly what it says on the can, this creates a solo played PC whose ready out of the gate for further adventures with a regular party  of DCC adventurers. This book emulates and twists around many of the conventions of solo play adventure books. This being the case your going to die several times and that's not something to worry about at all. The play is the thing here because its going to generate some solid PC elements in your brand new ready to take on the world character.

But is the adventure worth your time and effort to download? Yes I do think so because of its utility and here's what can be done with it. Adventure locations like Halthrag Keep tend to attract adventurers like flies to a corpse. These places are prime to generate a whole party on their own. Buy this adventure and pass it around to the players like a joint at a hippy party. The players will get killed have a kick ass time with the adventure and you dungeon master will have PC who have been forged in the fires of the Halthrag Keep. There are several reasons to grab this adventure as well if your a dungeon master. This adventure comes with a spiffy monster book and with a bit of easy slight of hand these mad bastards could easily be repurposed for your own Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign and perhaps with a bit of easy back fitting could be dropped into your campaign so that the Keep itself becomes a dangerous but minor campaign element in your own games. This way the solo play adventure might be used to create a new adventurer should one of your players have his own characters killed off during play. With DCC this happens frequently and its a trick I've used several times over the years, especially with games such as Gamma World second edition. The Endless Quest books were dismissed by 'serious players' but I came across more then a few at various tag sales and library sales. The setting of those books were pretty damn well done and with a bit of modification became a minor back part of a campaign and introduced a brand new green horn adventurer to the group. A trick that HHSOLO 1 - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep can do in spades. Do I think that The Hounds of Halthrag Keep is worth downloading? Yes and I'll go one better I think that its worth getting the physical book because my eyes are bleeding from reading the eighty nine page pdf, a physical book is so much nicer to have. Five out of five for content and inventiveness with lots of great old school and OSR fiddly bits thrown into the background. Is there a downside to this adventure? Yes in the form of it can't really be adapted to other OSR or retroclone style games. This is one of the downfalls of DCC's adventures in my opinion, while a myriad of D20 and retroclone adventures can easily be modified to DCC reverse engineering has been a problem for some folks. There is another side of HHSOLO 1 - The Hounds of Halthrag Keep in the form of a part II that expands the solo play into a full on full party of adventurers style game. Noah Stevens and co. need to get in on that right away.

Free Appendix N Sword and Sorcery Download - Avon Fantasy Reader 14 (1950) For Your Old School Campaigns

The Avon Fantasy Reader 14 (1950) was something I just ran across in my travels tonight and the Avon series of books has always had some killer sword and sorcery as well as science fantasy story fodder in it. This issue was especially good with stories from  Ray Bradbury, Z.B. Bishop, Henry S. Whitehead, and many more.

GRAB IT RIGHT OVER HERE
Here's a quick list of the contents -

"Temptress of the Tower of Torture and Sin"

"Ylla" by Ray Bradbury

"The Three Eyed Man" by Ray Cummings

"The Cave of the Invisible" byJames Francis Dwyer

"Guard in the Dark" by Allison V. Harding

"The Still Small Voice" by Clive Jackson

"The Curse of Yig" by Z. B. Bishop

"The Yeast Men" by David H. Keller, M.D.

"The Headless Miller of Kobold's Keep" by Irvin Ashkenazy

"The Shadows" by Henry S. Whitehead About ninety percent of this book's one hundred and twenty eight pages can easily be turned into OSR adventure fodder with The Yeast Men, The Curse of Yig, and "Temptress of the Tower of Torture and Sin" easily being translated into your favorite retroclone system as adventure fodder.Avon Fantasy Reader got started after 1947 and basically carried this mission statement on the back of their digest sized magazine: Past, Present, or Future or whatever sector of time and space you prefer, you'll find the stories in these pages encompass the entire universe of imagination. From the eerie, spook-haunted corridors of ancient Asian castles to the water-choked avenues of Atlantean kingdoms... From the sinister sands of icy Martian deserts to the thunderbolt battles of future's interplanetary rockets. Neither the invisible energy of atom nor the monstrous matter of the Milky Way present barriers to the mind that author these amazing fantasies. There are no boundaries to the astonishment, thrills and chills you'll meet in the pages of... the Avon Fantasy Reader! The majority of the stories and material in Avon Fantasy Readers were older pulp reprints and that's exactly why they make excellent dungeon master fodder. Many of the stories are now public domain and very few modern readers take the time to delve into these stories. And we're not talking low rent talent at all. William Hope Hodgeson, Robert Howard, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clark, and many, many more make the Fantasy Reader series a must for any OSR dungeon master. In point of fact the Appendix M writers from the Advanced Dungeons and Dragon's Dungeon Master's Guide are all available right in the Avon Fantasy series. One thing to remember is that according to Wiki: The magazine had one spin off, Avon Science Fiction Reader, with which it merged on its cancellation to become Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader.

Commentary on Ash vs The Evil Dead's Trailer and Featurette For Your Old School Campaigns

Listen up you primitive screw heads, just in case you've been living under a rock and haven't seen the trailers for Ash vs The Evil Dead let me enlighten you. Bruce Campbell is back as Ash and kicking undead ass and we're due to see this coming out very soon. In fact right around Halloween night on Starz! So as an Evil Dead fan this has had my attention right from the first announcement. So what the hell does this have to do with OSR role playing? Well, besides the Halloween season and the classic movie tie in that seems to ignore the horrid 2013 remake (well sort of). This series states something that's been floating in the back of my mind for quite sometime. Just because your PC has reached a high level doesn't mean that they're any less of an every man jerk.

Ash isn't interested in saving the world, he wants to get on with life and party on. But circumstances of being a hero and fate just won't let him this is a situation that we see time and again in classic mythology from the legend of Beowulf to Odysseus's journey back to Ithica. Fate never let's a hero rest and often the journey is picked up long after the end of the tale. Here we've got Ash causing the Necronomicon Ex Mortis to release its energies and summon back to the world the corruption of the Evil Dead.

This new show adds a few new ripples into the crowded universe of Evil Dead, you can zip over to here and check out the cast of characters in the Evil Dead films right here.  

So what does this say about high level D&D & retroclone PC's? Quite a bit, we've got a characters who even though they reach the upper end of their adventuring careers still fall prey to fate and the forces of the supernatural. That's one of the things that get's me about the D&D and its tropes, the dark forces of the supernatural are eternal. They'll wait for the PC's guard to drop and then move in for the kill. These forces can also be set in motion by the PC's themselves after all they're messing around in ruins, tombs, and dungeons where the forces of darkness and the damned multiply. The Evil Dead films has a great example of an artifact or relic that ties the entire franchise together in the form of the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. The Evil Dead is a great example of a series that can adapt to circumstances or genre as required.


For a DM this is just the sort of adaption that will enable a dungeon master to twist and bend adventure elements as they see fit into OSR adventures. So if we take something Marvel Super Heroes or the like there's Marvel Zombie vs The Army of Darkness limited comic book series. This series of evens is far, far, outside of normal Marvel and Evil Dead continuity allowing a DM to bend adventure elements to their whim. This is the way it should always be, never ever be a slave to a series or game's continuity.


High level campaigns don't make things any easier in the long run and in point of fact it puts far more pressure on the heroes. PC's are going to be drawn into the clutches of fate regardless of their circumstances and the Evil Dead films have proven that the forces of weirdness & darkness are uncaring as well as relentless in their drive to destroy the hero and all he holds dear. Several retroclones take full advantage of this fact but Lamentations of the Flame Princess has done this in spades even at low level PC adventures. In point of several of Task Boy Game's adventures including The Manse on Murder Hill  &  Tranzar's Redoubt
using the Lamentions rpg system evokes the sort of echoing the creepy weird sentiments of Ash & The Evil Dead. So I can't wait till this premiere's on Staz to see where this series is going to take an older ASH and his crew of adventurers into the machinations of the Evil Dead. 

1d4 Random Unusual Druid Finds Table For Your Old School Campaigns

The druids of Ingondulingl
There are secretive & highly dangerous druid sects on accursed Atlantis, these particularly secretive as well as dangerous brotherhoods oversee some of the last Atlantian woodlands and forests. These places of the wild are their domain and charges watched over as one watches over a protected child. There are adventurers who sometimes invade these places to acquire special relics and items of the Ingondulingl brotherhood. Here is a selection of Ingondulingl items for your adventurers to run a foul. Ingondulingl are known to stake out and crucify their victims in ritual fashion, especially those who violate their woodland homes and forests.

1d4 Random Unusual Druid Finds Table

1. The Orb of Y'llra - This living wooden orb is grown and fashioned from the bowel of a mighty oak after six years. The orb shows the most fertile areas within a twenty five mile radius for a community. This orb grants dreams of prophecy for these areas; the orb must be grown in one of these areas after finding a suitable location for a community. A tree must be subject to a special blood rite by the local priesthood of druids by using the blood of a prophet to bind the magick of nature's promise to the tree. The orb also grants 30% magic resistance against black magick attacks because of its deep ties to the local forces of nature. 
2. The Tablet of P'kirnut - This living wooden tablet is grown within a special sacred grove and records the legends and stories as well as secrets of great heroes of olden times. The tablet animates with the shadows of fallen druidic brothers and shades of the fallen. The tablet will advise the living on matters of magick and nature. Tablets have been found out in the wilds of nature and some have become corrupted by the forces of darkness and chaos attracting the undead or worse. Tables out in the wilds of nature may grant 1d4 druidic spells to druids for great quests or adventures. 
3. The wands of the tree of Orthuaululkal - These living wands grow from the trees of Orthuaululkal, this tree moves with the winds between worlds. They allow a druid to move between this world and the other for special insight and wisdom. Those who take advantage of this power may be granted special insight or wisdom into a current or future adventure. These wands also have a 40% chance of detecting the best times for magickal rites and ceremonies. 
4. The vines of Fra- Those tied with these vines and staked out for two days are granted mental and astral passage into the shadow world. The owner of this item will be tested by a special predatory nature spirit should they survive the experience they gain the following ability. The living vines then wrap around the wrists of the owner allow the owner to gain +2 on all melee attacks.

Classic Free Sci Fi Reference - Starlog Photo Guidebook:Weapons For Your Old School Campaigns

There is a long tradition of the sci fi weapon in the entertainment venues of science fiction television shows and films. Ray guns, laser swords, and a variable rainbow of ray weapons and blasters has been one of the staples and traditions of sci fi fandom. When it comes to Starlog magazine the Photoguide book series of magazines were the references to have. Now the internet archive has had one of my favorites for a free download. The Starlog Photo Guidebook:Weapons is a relic from 1979 that's always been one of those books that somehow were out of reach to comic book and film fanatic in the middle of the North Western Hills of Connecticut. This isn't really so much a technical manual, the Starlog Photo Guidebook:Weapons is a reference book from 1979.

GRAB IT RIGHT OVER
HERE

What it contains is weaponry from film and sci fi television shows starting with Planet Algol from 1920 all the way through an overview of the weaponry of Space 1999 and Battle Star Galactica. There is a brief overview of the show and film that their covering followed by a note about weapon prop. Don't let this fool you sci fi dungeon masters there's plenty here to use, Science Fiction Weapons covers a ton of off the radar or half forgotten film or television shows. The middle section also has some very nice color inserts of Luke's light saber, the Martian War of the Worlds manta ship,a Logan's Run pistol and more. While much of this material might seem like its easily within reach of a dungeon master with an internet connection. All of this material is in one book that happens to be a free download. But there's actually more to this book.

From Dr. Who to Fire Ball XL5 these all get their own sections including Battle Star Galactica 1979 and Space 1999. There's lots of bits and pieces on the weaponry of these shows and their application into an OSR retrofuture campaign. For me the Battle Star Galactica Colonial laser blaster was worth the price of admission because of the details of this weapon. This isn't an elegant weapon, its one that was designed to take out armored non CGI Cylons in battle gear. Players wanted details on this weapon and this book has a pretty solid break down of the original props.

The  Starlog Photo Guidebook:Weapons also has a whole section on the original Flash Gordon serials and series along with the weapons for reference.Given the fact that pulp magazines and retro science fantasy campaigns are white hot right now this is another section that has some top shelf potential for the right Dungeon master. The Star Trek sections follows from the original series up through the Star Trek The Motion Picture weapon systems. And proves a nice overview.


So how can this material be used by a DM for a fast adventure turn around using this Starlog resource? Easily this material can provide a DM who needs to pepper a retro future adventure with sci fi relics and artifacts along with back fitted Easter Eggs for their favorite retro post apocalyptic or sci fi adventures. The Starlog Photo Guidebook:Weapons has you covered.



Once upon a time Starlog and Starlog Photo Guidebooks were the only game in town for a sci fi fan long before the internet was even a twinkle in the eye of a defense contractor and the Army. The magazine always sat next to my copy of Traveler and Gamma World first edition. So this book is an echo from another time but its got plenty to offer the enterprising DM who wants to cash in on that retro future and sci fi vibe of yesteryear.

1d4 Random Minor Lovecraftian Obelisks Encounter Table For Your Old School Campaigns

 
There are nameless ruins that dot the landscape of accursed Atlantis, these ruins often have wind worn obelisks with weird powers and strange auras about them, many of these places are taboo to local tribesmen and warriors. They avoid these places where it is said that the very powers of hell sometimes hold sway and their mystic elements have come down to those who live around them in myth and whispered legend. So here are 1d6 minor Lovecraftian obelisks for your adventurers and freebooters to encounter.

1d6 Random Minor Lovecraftian Obelisks Encounter Table

1. Obelisk of Rlz'haakehua - This obelisk summons 1d6 minor demons of weird aspect, they will perform obscene rites and try to summon their horrid demonic overlord trapped in the Outer Darkness. They will try to attack PC's to sacrifice to open at a dimensional gate to their master's prison world. There is a treasure chest buried at the base of the obelisk buried by past adventurers who came across this place in the gibbous moonlight of the night. 
2.  Zsig-otha's Needle - This obelisk is actually the antenna of a demon god thing that has been trapped by  ancient Atlantian heroes and bound into this sacred temple's ground. The thing could be released by a sacrifice of a great hero's death. But so far only adventurers and thieves have come here looking for treasure.  Zsig-otha's minor demons are summoned from the dreams of the demon god and dance in the court yards at night under the alien stars of accursed Atlantis. They have been murdering and killing for thousands of years and the treasures of a million adventurers have been piled at the needle's base to tempted thieves and fools here. 
3. Dachacholoin Prison - This obelisk marks the prision of the demon whale  Dachacholoin who is held within the Outer Darkness and whose essence is locked in the soil here, 1d8 gremlins of a weird aspect are summoned nightly to carry out the wishes of their trapped master who feeds on the souls of wizards. The scroll of Ig'keliqu was swallowed by the demon whale and it gained two hundred twenty true demons names and spells. These have been burned into the flesh of the monster and even now wizards hunt for this site to pry the secrets from place. There will be 1d4 soulless wizard zombies animated at night by the shadow of the prison.
4.  Ighogggoshaz Shaft - The summoning site for the incubus/succubus prince 'Ighogggoshaz the Wounded Seducer of Kings & Queens'; this shaft is supposedly the member of the demon prince and marks the spot where the paladin Ddhlathus murdered him and banished his essence to the Outer Darkness. This demon prince once was used to spawn half demon bloodlines across Atlantis. Now its essence appears in the wasteland and whispers horrid secrets of magick and damnation on the wind. It manifests  as a crimson mist that wizards and adventurers seek out to find hidden gold in the radius of the ruins.
   

Commentary on 'Mandy: Book of Monsters - Comic Anthology' Kickstarter by Hellbound Media

Who fights the monsters under the bed of kids? Who takes down the nightmares of children that crawl from under the deepest corners of children's dreams and the dark parts of our imagination? Mandy is our newest hero. She's got a brand new Kickstarter coming from Hellbound Media.
"Every child knows that a monster lives under the bed. Or perhaps they lurk in the wardrobe, or down below in the basement, or up above in the attic? The home isn't the only place monsters can be found either. Under the old bridge, in the derelict and abandoned house, or perhaps lurking in the undergrowth at the bottom of the garden – monsters are everywhere, every child knows that. Mandy is here to hunt each and everyone of them" . She's got a brand new Kickstarer right over HERE

I had the fortunate pleasure of having incredibly talented friends, in this case I've been quietly watching from the sidelines while two very talented writers and their artists from Hellbound media have put together a brand new Kickstarter for a horror anthology comic book; in this case  Mandy: Book of Monsters - a comic anthology  a brand new character with some very cool supernatural elements. Mark Adams & Matt Warner have a pretty cracking concept for their horror anthology, Every child knows that a monster lives under the bed. Or perhaps they lurk in the wardrobe, or down below in the basement, or up above in the attic? The home isn't the only place monsters can be found either. Under the old bridge, in the derelict and abandoned house, or perhaps lurking in the undergrowth at the bottom of the garden – monsters are everywhere, every child knows that.

Mandy hunts Monsters. Her name is whispered on the playground, a legend amongst the children of the world. Whatever creature troubles you, when the adults won't listen, it is Mandy that can help you out. All you need to do is draw a picture of the beast, and it will reach her.
Straddling the line between childhood imagination, and threatening entities in the dark, Mandy the Monster Hunter encounters all manner of creatures, great and small. Have no doubt, she's the thing that the things in the dark are afraid of...

 

So Mandy not only battles her monsters and hunts them but has armor made from the monsters she battles and hunts. By all accounts she's a damn strong character in a children's style comic book. Over coming childhood nightmares and monsters under the bed has always been a bit of underdeveloped area in comics and graphic novels but I really where the company is taking this title. For example this is one of Mandy's first appearances, with art  by Anna Pennlund. You can read the whole comic right over HERE


According to the Kickstarter Hellbound Media has a commitment to getting this title out into the wild with a combination of some of the best independent artists, writers, and other professionals:"Hellbound Media has been entirely self-funded since its inception, and as we expand our titles dip our toe into coloured artwork, we find the initial costs getting higher. We're here to ask you to help us bring our most ambitious book yet to life. “Mandy: Book of Monsters” will feature a combination of atmospheric, shaded black and white art, and full-colour storylines, alongside some original pin-ups and exclusive material."
Do I think that this Kickstarter is worth your time and coin? Yes, yes, I do. 

Classic Free Sci Fi Reference - Starlog Photo Guidebook: Spaceships New Enlarged Edition! For Your Old School Campaigns

The Starlog Photo Guides are a relic from another era, the Starlog Photo Guidebook: Spaceships covers many of the spacecraft from the classic sci fi science fiction eras of the Fifties to the Eighties from motion pictures, television, and science fiction. As a reference for retroclone sci fi dungeon masters and players this provides a really wonderful work for inspiration, possible adventure locations, and retro sci fi gaming. 

Grab It HERE

As a free download this Starlog Photo guidebook, this version has been enlarged for easier detail and reference for the reader. This version of the book covers everything from the original Buck Rogers spacecraft to the Star Trek The Motion picture making it a rather impressive book clocking in at ninety eight pages including full color spreads of space craft from Close Encounters, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Black Hole, and more. This book also includes spacecraft from the classic era of television as well with years including 1949 thru 1959. The more modern eras include 1970 thru 1980 include full color spreads of Battlestar Galactica, Alien, and cult classics like the First Men In The Moon. The bibliography is damn impressive and worth the price of admission alone.
  According to Wiki  the history of Starlog is one tinged with sci fi history-
"Starlog was a monthly magazine devoted to science fiction films, television series, and books published by Starlog Group, Inc. One of the longest-running and most popular publications of its type, the magazine was created in 1976 by publishers Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs. Starlog was one of the first publications to report on the development of the first Star Wars movie, and it also followed the development of what was to eventually become Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Many fans^[who?] of the long-running magazine considered its heyday to have been the 1980s, with very little substance to the content in later years, and many of its long-time contributors having since moved on. But it continued to boast some top-flight genre journalists, including film historians Will Murray, Jean-Marc Lofficier, and Tom Weaver."


So what makes the Starlog Photo Guidebook: Spaceships valuable to the sci fi retro gamer? Well besides having all of the various space craft of classic era sci fi at your finger tips, it provides a valuable window into another era of science fiction and science fantasy motion pictures. It can also provide tons and tons of possible relic space craft for adventure locations and settings all in one place and allows a DM to have instant inspiration at their finger tips. These books were from another era of science fiction fandom when there wasn't an internet and sci fi fans had to do a bit of rooting around. This book puts everything right into your hands for easy access.

Some ideas for using this book include using the Photo guidebook's more obscure sci fi space craft as used vehicles for a sci fi campaign at used space craft lots, as possible derelict space craft in space grave yards, this book could serve as a reference point for various space ships and craft around Sargasso of space locations & even other ideas. Other ideas are use for domain level play where high level cosmic or interstellar craft are used for adventure play. The possibilities for this book are only limited by your imagination.

Commentary on The Alpha Blue Kickstarter by Venger Satanis For Your Old School Space Opera & Science Fantasy Campaigns

Given my dungeon master to use brothels in science fantasy campaigns its not surprising to see this new kickstarter for Alpha Blue from the pen of Venger Satanis
Brothels have always served any number of functions in campaigns besides the obvious ones; they're an easy way to separate adventurers from coins, as a handy way to impart information to PC's as the brothel employees acting as information brokers and other interesting functions of space adventuring.

Kick Starter Right OVER HERE

With all of the retroclone science fantasy retroclone games on the market, there's always room for a space brothel adventure location  and now Venger Satanis has filled that niche with a new Kickstarter.

Alpha Blue was a Federation space station for the study of sexual addiction and rehabilitation of its clientele.  That was back in the good old days when enjoying sex was for deviants.  Behavioral psychologists believed that stimulus overload would cure addictive personality disorder.  Simply, give those hopeless degenerates what they crave... seven-fold!  And pretty soon, their obsession will burn itself out.

It was years before those kinds of theories were debunked and said behavioral psychologists were rounded up with the rest of humanity's failures and blasted into the nearest star.  

Now decommissioned, Alpha Blue is something akin to an interstellar whore house or "love boat", drifting from planet to planet, acquiring new talent, clients, and security.  It's as big as a city, so there's no shortage of wild escapades, interesting characters, lucrative opportunities, and naked throbbing pleasure.  Plus, there will be plenty of scenario seeds fleshed out for planet-side shenanigans.

There are a few reasons why this is a very well thought out and well put together idea for a space based adventure location: 

• This is an amazingly huge planetoid sized space brothel and its perfect to act as a staging area for adventures or to act as a jump off point into other old school style or retroclone system for a game such as White Star or even X plorers rpg
• Given the fact of Venger's influences I can only imagine what we're going to be seeing, he lists some of those cultclassics in the Kickstarter page - I'll be relying on classic sci-fi TV and film inspiration to see my through... such as Blake's 7, (vintage) Doctor Who and Star Trek, Star Wars, Ice Pirates, Heavy Metal, Thundarr the Barbarian, Starchaser: the Legend of Orin, Flash Gordon, Blade Runner, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Dune, and dozens more. This makes Alpha Blue a perfect lead in for other old school or retro adventures.
•  Venger has a proven track record of creating solidly weird and yet very useful adventures and sourcebooks. I have a good feeling that Alpha Blue isn't going to be any different in this regard. 
• I can't wait to see how he's going to pull this one off and the ripples across the OSR with his latest creations.  Space brothels really are an untapped resource for both space fantasies and space opera adventures this product has the potential to be a really fun and weird OSR resource. So if you want to see this reach the wilds of the OSR retro space market then throw a few coins his way.

Encounter On The Field Of Fulility - The Battle of the The Phashanyamar - The Spawn Of The Antediluvian Gods

The echoes of Old Earth rip across the PC's path at some random point as lighting and thunder rip across the boundaries of reality as the Phashanyamar pay a visit. The echos of these titans and ghosts of the ancient gods. The black winds of the Outer Darkness have carried the ancient battles of the gods across the PC's paths. There will be lighting strikes causing 2d6 points of enchanted damage to various points on the landscape and violent winds that seem to rip the vary foundations of the lands. An unnatural storm accompanies the appearance of the ancient godly echoes of olden times.
There will be 1d6 ancient ghostly warriors appearing and echoing out of phase with the pace of the unnatural storm. Weturortharo 5th level black wizard from another accompanies the storm and is trying to harness  the Chaotic and unearthly energies that keep pace with the storm. He's already drained his own six followers and turned them into wights who do his bidding. He will try to drain and consume the PC's souls if possible. He uses a staff +1 of power with the ability to level and soul drain. 


The whole lot will try to slaughter anyone who gets caught in the boundaries of the unnatural storm and it's dreamlike unreality. The Phashanyamar battle a group of Lovecraftian dream demon essences known as the Uroglathaua. These things have the ability to rot reality around them and exist in two places at once.

The Uroglathaua Lovecraftian dream demon essences
No Encountered :1d6
Alignment: Chaotic Evil 

Size : L 

Movement :60
Dex:7
Hit Dice: 14

Armor Class: 4 

Number Attacks:2

Damage:4d6

Saving Throw :9

Morale:9Experience:2,600

Treasure : A
Whenever the Uroglathaua are banished an exceptional pearl of beauty appears worth 7,000 gold pieces. This pearl actually contains a piece of what passes for the dream demons souls and allows a black magician to summon these horrors from the black winds of the Outer Darkness. They feast on men's dreams and souls poisoning and corrupting men as they roam the Outer worlds. They always know the locations of secret and ancient treasures to bargain with black magicians and their ilk.

The storm and its battles will seem to go on for hours and hours when in fact only a single hour of time has passed. There will be 1d6 pools of poisonous ichor left behind by the passage of this unnatural battle. PC exposed to this horrid stuff must save vs death or gain 1d4 mutations. The black magician, his minions, and any horrors will be swept away with the morning sun as if it was all a dream.

The Phashanyamar - The Spawn Of The Antediluvian Gods

No Encountered :1-12
Alignment: Chaotic Evil 

Size : L 

Movement :60
Dex:7
Hit Dice: 16 

Armor Class: 4 

Number Attacks: 1 

Damage: 6d6

Saving Throw :9

Morale:10 

Experience: 3,600 

Treasure : Q 

Deep within the ancient Black Winds there are the remains of the mad dreams of Old Earth Gods who still war among themselves. They sail the skies upon steeds of legend, monsters of horror and worse drawn from nightmare itself.  They are completely insane, and chaos incarnate manifesting randomly carried by the Black  Winds. They make war among themselves and where they will.
They are giants and utterly alien to Terra causing great swaths of destruction with ancient enchanted weapons. These beings will make war with giants, monsters of legend, and anything that gets in their way. They seem to appear in the worst of thunder storms upon Terra and typhoons.

Please not that this adventure encounter was originally used in my Atlantandria Port City Of Accursed Atlantis campaign setting and has been statted for OD&D and similar retroclone systems. 

Review & Commentary on Free The OD&D Cacozealot Class By Corey Ryan Walden For Your Old School Campaigns

With the Fall sweeping in to New England I'm looking into more horror themed  and unusual OD&D racial PC options.


 

GRAB IT RIGHT
HERE

Cacozealot racial class is a really nice half demon/half fairy PC class from the pen of Corey Ryan Walden. I've been looking for a low powered but highly dangerous race to throw into my games. This is it; the Cacozealot  has many of the powers, abilities, and minor skills that a pre Flood monster that I'm looking for a Fall sword and sorcery campaign.

All minis featured in this overview are from Reaper right over HERE

For a sword and sorcery this class adds the hint of corruption just bubbling under the surface of such PC's. You get a whole range of possibilities without sacrificing the awesome even as the heritage of weirdness and horrors roils under the surface of the PC race. There's plenty of pulpy weirdness in this class that can bridge the gap  between a sword & sorcery campaign and a modern horror investigation game using the OD&D engine for horror adventures. The class is balanced, well done, and does not use  a mishmash of ideas and concepts from its writer's pen but pulls in his ideas into a coherent whole that is very useful at the gaming table.

I can see using this racial class as all kinds of infernal muscle in alternative world  historical Nineteen Forties game campaigns where half demon mobs and mafias run the gamut and clash in the shadows. Applying these sorts of modern conceits though for a more modern OD&D game a DM might want to visit the OSR Library.  This class could also be used for dealing with the horrors of the underworld. More on on that coming up.
All in all this class makes an excellent addition to a DM's library of tools and options for players to choose from for their games.


For an unusual racial PC class for OD&D the Cacozealot  makes a welcome addition to the DM's OD&D menu of PC options. For a free PC option Corey did a great job with this.

1d4 Random Encounters With Lovecraftian Pseudo Lifeforms Table For Your Old School Campaigns

“And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
~ Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1817.

Deep in the wastelands of accursed Atlantis there are scattered ruins and places of ancient aspect that echo with the horror of ages past, there the Elder Things and their scattered creations once flourished. But they have long since departed leaving only their biological pseudo lifeforms behind. Adventurers and madmen alike seek these relics of the past out for wizards and cultists alike who will pay top dollar for these horrid items. Little realizing the danger and insanity they can unleash on the world, here then are 1d4 weird  pseudo lifeforms that your adventurers could unleash upon the world!  The weird does not care about your adventurers agenda, it has its own.




1d4 Random Encounters
With Lovecraftian Pseudo Lifeforms Table

1. Ldothmatul - The semi sentient pseudo plant forms that constantly change and decay from one second to the next that mimic the human form and soul yet are none of these. These small rolling monster things hunger for human and near human life force, they will level and hit point drain anyone that they get a hold of, after 1d4 rounds they will form pleasing shapes and then try to swarm their victims, they will level drain in two rounds the victim and take 1d4 hit points. The Ldothmatul will then erupt in a riotous explosion of spawning & drifting rainbow coloured spores to grow on nearby walls. 
2.  The Varornglai a telepathic virus life form that forms into weird and colorful combinations of almost but not quite humanoid forms. The reads new minds and forms pleasing shapes from the target's surface thoughts forming insane looking temporary bits and pieces. The Varornglai forms into a riot of insane and temporary thought patterns intended to drive the target to madness. The Varornglai infects the victim though its eyes, ears, and brain pain forming into its next generation of horror. The victim must save vs death if exposed to the purple spores of this horror. Shoggoths find the Varornglai delicious and eat them when they find them. 
3.  Vangorguth pools are spawning pits of Elder Thing left over bio matrix that form itself into mocking pseudo life shapes, these take on the elements of life around it forming into temporary instrumentality. Highly valuable this stuff mimics technology and devices in biological form. The stuff can easily flesh weave a human or near human into those same functions unless a save vs death is made. The stuff infects and rewrites as well as over rights human brain and nerve functions. Animals are automatically attacked by the Vangorguth and given over to its insane and weird biological needs. 
4.  Vazgorir is perhaps the progenitor of the troll virus, traps and mutates lifeforms into troll like humanoids with 1d4 vicious mutations. The life form created is a weird hybrid and combination of its former self. These horrors are often found wandering the wastelands of Terra spreading their contagion to others. Some places have a standing taboo of destroying these horrors with a combination of acid and fire. Anyone exposed to this material is killed in this way as a part of a rite.