OSR Post Apocalyptic Commentary On 'Daylight's End' 2017 As Inspiration for Your Old School Campaigns.

' Daylight's End' is one of those lower tier or lower budget films that seems to slip under the radar as the later '00's rolls by. According to the Daylight's End wiki entry; "Daylight's End is a 2016 American action horror film directed by William Kaufman and written by Chad Law. It stars Johnny Strong as a drifter in post-apocalyptic Texas who agrees to help survivors, played by Lance Henriksen, Louis Mandylor, and Hakeem Kae-Kazim, escape to safety. Mixed martial arts fighter Krzysztof Soszynski plays the leader of vampire-like creatures that attempt to kill them."

Also according to the Wiki entry; "The initial conception came from Chad Law, who had submitted a script to Project Greenlight. Shooting mostly took place in Dallas, including the Dallas Municipal Building,^[2] and throughout U.S. Route 66 in Texas. Influences include The Road Warrior, Assault on Precinct 13, 28 Days Later, and the novel I Am Legend" 

So we went into 'Daylight's End' not expecting much the other night. But we were incredibly surprised at how good this film is. There's a great cast, solid non original plot, and lots of action. Because this was shot mostly out in Texas the film has a very down home post apocalyptic quality about it. And it's incredibly well done for what it is. Why because this film isn't trying to be anything else then what it is. An entertaining popcorn flick with an action outer core. And it's well done. The writing is fast, the dialogue well written, and it wears it's mostly 70's influences on it's sleeves. 

If your going into Daylight's End expecting 'Shakesphere' then you've got the wrong movie. If your expecting an end of the world or apocalyptic film that has a double the butter on the popcorn film then this hits the highnotes. 

'Daylight's End' is a very 
quick paced & deadly little film that blends the action & monsters in equal measure. 
The setting is laid out, the characters find each other, and things move very much along it's track with a few twists. 

This film is a great inspiration for a low level Gamma World or Mutant Future rpg adventure or posssibly a start to a mini campaign. 
The characters here are former mililtary, cops, SWAT, & survivors. They've all lost people along the way & it shows. The cast of performers is well used and the gore is solidly done. 

For my own money Skirmisher Games Wisdom of the Wasteland issue #52 Nanotech undead would be the way to go for either a Mutant Future rpg mini campaign or a Gamma World Halloween romp for 'Daylight's End'. 

'Daylight's End' takes many of the elements discussed within and throws them into the blender of Eighties horror action films hence it's inspirations. And that's fine because there's enough bones to take it beyond the film's intentions. 

And this is also where Kai Pütz a.k.a Gregorius21778's 'Gregorius21778: 20 zombie encounters for the irradiated, weird, post-apocalyptic future' comes in very handy. Because this little pdf is in the same vein as 'Daylight's End' it's a perfect 'jump scare' add on for a mini campaign. 

Finally 'Daylight's End' is a perfect inspiration for a Bloat Games 'Survive This' campaign starter! All of the above resources can easily be used with this OSR rpg as well. 

'Daylight's End' hits all of the 'Survive This' high notes including unknown zombie types, weird circumstances, a familar United States location. 
Other survivors who may or may not be what they seem. Eighties horror movie style encounters and lots of mayhem all within the confines of a solid little highly underated film. 
'Daylight's End takes the usual zombie themes and uses them to excellent effect. This movie doesn't apologize for what it is but instead revels in it. 
And this makes 'Daylight's End' an underrated gem in my opinion. It's out to entertain and make the audience scared by it's own admission. There's no high agenda or anything resembling a Disney+ venue. What it does is give us a group of people trying to survive the post apocalyptic world of 'Daylight's End'. 

OSR Review & Commentary ' Something Wretched This Way Comes' By Miguel Ribeiro, & Joe Coombs From The Red Room

 "As the title so obviously implies, this scenario is heavily inspired by Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked this Way Comes. Just like in Bradbury's dark fantasy novel, there's a mysterious travelling troupe arriving in a small town and granting people's wishes. As in the source material, making the townsfolk's desires come true is just a ruse for evil beings to feed upon their life force (and maybe a little more than that)."


" Of course, the events will not be the same, the carnival is replaced by a European circus troupe, and this adventure allows the players to take the roles not only of children but also of the adults being tricked into submission or even the evil circus people. Naturally, this being a Red Room release, the adventure couldn't be as innocent as Bradbury's tale. That's why we crossed it over with the horrific and exploitative imagery of sexy fumetti, Italian adult comics of the 1970s/ 1980s."

'Something Wretched This Way Comes' By Miguel Ribeiro, &  Joe Coombs From The Red Room is about as close as we've come to a modern Wretchploitation rpg adventure written by a combination of Clive Barker & Ray Bradbury. If both writers were on acid, really nasty acid. Let me explain. ' Something Wretched This Way Comes takes the trope of the supernatural circus & adds in the European twist of Fumetti. These are post World War II Italian comic books aka little puffs of smoke in Italian. So named because of the shape of the word balloons. Fumetti became full on lurid Pulp magazine style affairs by the 70's & 80's with some really sleaze ball twists in them. Often these were almost to the point of gonzo. ' Something Wretched This Way Comes' By Miguel Ribeiro, &  Joe Coombs taps right into this over the top lurid horror & sleaze vibe. 
' Something Wretched This Way Comes'  does this by having the European circuis troupe be a harbor for an occult faction of dangerous, deranged, and  horrors waiting to be unleashed on small town America or Europe. Though 'Something Wretched This Way Comes' feels like a combination of  'Stranger Things' meets the  Ray Bradbury's classic. This adventure in fact points up it's Wretchploitation rpg origins; "The group is quickly splitting up, and the arrival of the Cirque Diabolique in their town will be the last chance to get together. You can set it in the fall, like Bradbury's novel, or in the holidays before high school, the last summer of their childhood."

Because you can play as a kid going to the Cirque Diabolique, or a Wretchploitation rpg PC or even as a member of the cirque there's lots of possibilities for cross over adventuring. There a substantial flow of PC interaction with the horror elements  & NPC's of the cirque itself.  There are several areas that work together for this to work within 'The Something Wretched This Way Comes'. The cirque itself, the cast of NPC's surrounding the cirque, the acts of the cirque, and whole package of the Cirque Diabolique. 

'Something Wretched This Way Comes' takes full advantage of itself by having the PC's embroiled in the adventure itself. This is a cirque with secrets & lots of them starting with the ticket sellers all the way to the owners. ' Something Wretched This Way Comes' excels at internal and external secrets. 

' Something Wretched This Way Comes' is a great little adventure not just for the Wretchploitation rpg but any OSR game that uses younger adventurers. And yes 'The Something Wretched This Way Comes' is an adventure that perfectly exploits it's player's PC's on the front & the back end.

I can easily see running  ' Something Wretched This Way Comes' By Miguel Ribeiro, &  Joe Coombs with Dark Places & Demigorgons as an adult campaign. 

For the Wretchploitation rpg ' Something Wretched This Way Comes'  is perfect to set during the Fall of 1979 right before we switch over to the Eighties. The last gasp of Seventies is taken out by the horrors of the on coming Eighties. 

' Something Wretched This Way Comes' By Miguel Ribeiro, &  Joe Coombs From The Red Room Is Available Right Here 

The Good, The Bad, & The Lovecraftian - Post Apocalyptic Lovecraftian Death Squad One Shot Encounter Updated

 One of the ideas that I've been toying with over the last couple of months with my campaigns is a down & dirty Cha'alt NPC death squad & for this I wanted to break out one of the OSR classics. So Goblinoid Games Realms of Crawling Chaos is gonna get a bit of a workout. This of course is part of my on going Cha'alt/Godbound campaign. 

The idea is that my player's PC's have been causing all kinds of havoc for the lords of Elysium & there's a hit out on the party at this point. And the party has been disrupting the lines of red zoth & xanthium-183 production.  But I don't wanna use some of the standard Dungeons & Dragons or Advanced books for some of this & Cha'alt is way too well known at this point to my players. What too do?! Jeff Grubb's Manual of the Planes for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons book is there with an answers. Well, not only do I have access to my copy of the Manual of the Planes but combined with  Realms of Crawling Chaos I've got a go to otherworldly resource of insanity!



How does this work? Well think Jack Kirby meets Lovecraft in a back alley. There's an exchange of money & then a group of inhuman adventurers appears made up of white apes, white ape hybrids, sea blood, and subhumans. We're talking about a group of NPC's who are 10th & above level here with perhaps a summoned upper level Lovecraft monster as leader such as a Mi Go or something equally nasty.
This party of mercenaries is often used to hunt down & take out any adventurers or others who get in the way of the interests of cults, cabals, & other organizations who are furthering the agenda of the mythos or its powers.



Reaper Bones Mi Go miniatures

So we are talking about a very alien group of mercenaries & I'm using this term in the loosest sense of the word. These are monsters who are hanging out in some of the most alien areas of the planes. This is where Jeff Grubb's Manual of the Planes for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons book comes in. You can easily design some of the more alien lairs, bases, & dungeons for such a hit squad. This is the idea where such Eldritch come into my games! These monsters have a tendency to be treated as stagnant & really need to be exploited far more! And they need to be dynamic!


Eldritch Demon Reaper Miniatures miniature 

Using both Goblinoid Games Realms of Crawling Chaos & the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Manual of the Planes a DM can string together a cult, worlds, organizations, etc. for the Lovecraftian horrors of their games. This enables them to create such horrors with impunity to go after their PC's with abandon. Such death squads will often appear to originate within post apocalyptic horror worlds especially in books,films, & video games. Fortunately Goblinoid Games already has this covered as well with Mutant Future.


Not my books but one that came up in a random Google search.

I'm gonna state this again this isn't a random encounter this is an active group of NPC's that are sent to go after your PC's with abandoned. They will go all out to kill them & eradicate them with extreme prejudice! These folks are chaos & evil incarnate so this isn't a dungeon encounter per say. This is meant to be an all out encounter in either the wilderness or an urban setting. 

Review & Commentary On White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes [Swords & Wizardry] By James M. Spahn From Gallant Knight Games

 "White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes brings a touch of 1980s fantasy cinema to your Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox campaign. You'll find three new classes - the magical halflings called Feyweave Apprentices, roguish Swordsmen, and the tiny mischievous Pucks. Referees will find two new monsters, the tireless Devil Dogs and the explosive Two-Headed Dragon, to challenge their players. But heroism is not without its rewards, and two new magic items specifically designed for the classes in this book are also available!"

 White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes [Swords & Wizardry] By James M. Spahn is a twelve page call back to those Eighties Fantasy films that so many of us grew up with on VHS. White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes takes this premise and runs with it for $1.99. This product does this by giving us a magical halfling PC class called Feyweave Apprentices who have just the right amount of Fey blood about them. We also get a rouge like swordsmen class and in addition there's the pucks. On the otherside based in the realms of the monsters we've got Devil Dogs & the two headed dragon. 
And finally we've got two magic items that line right up with the classes presented within White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes. Now if White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes sounds like a love letter to the Lucas film's classic Willow that's because it is along with the video game Dragon's lair. 

With Disney + reviving the classic Willow film property into a new streaming series this the perfect opportunity to present an updated version of the Eighties White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes concepts for a new generation of players. 
White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes really lives up to the source material by adding in a classic bit of Eighties fantasy goodness for the Swords & Wizardry rpg or your favorite OSR system. So where could White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes be used?! Well that's easy within a Seventies or Eighties inspired fantasy campaign or world. There's so much solid potential to unlock with White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes that this could be a really solid addition to any players or DM's tool box for Swords & Wizardry. 

White Box Classics: Reluctant Heroes [Swords & Wizardry] By James M. Spahn From  Gallant Knight Games Is Available Here. 

OSR Commentary On Warriors of Mars: The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature, Gygax & Blume, TSR, 1974.

 "Worlds of heroic fantasy are many, but perhaps the best known of them all is the Barsoom of Edgar Rice Burroughs; where John Carter, Tars Tarkas, Dejah Thoris etol adventure endlessly in eternal youth. These rules are an attempt to expand your curious enjoyment of this Martian world. While there are but eleven books in the entire series there is a limitless new realm of possibility awaiting herein. The essence of Barsoom -- the fearless warriors, the men, the monstrous animals, the geography of Burroughs' Mars, the social customs, the the weaponry -- has been formalized into rules which permit the creation of whole new sagas. The tale can be as simple as a minor sk irm ish between two swordsmen, or it can be as complex as the interactions which arise between several of the Barsoomian city-empires. It can be the lone adventur.es of a hero pitted against the harsh realities of Martian wilderness, or it can be the epic tale of a voyage of discovery aboard small flier. Of course there is a slight hitch .." 

So because of running a post apocalpytic solar systrm campaign we've been looking into various resources. One of those is the original 'Warrriors of Mars The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature' by Gygax & Blume created in 1974 by TSR. TSR didn't have the permissions to publishing the game or the wargame rules. And as such yanked 'Warriors of Mars from their shelves. The game has become exceedingly rare with booklets going for hundreds of dollars on the collector's market. 

'Warrriors of Mars The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature' isn't a role playing game in any respect & is a sixty one page wargame for miniature. It simulates many of the major engagments between the various factions of Barsoom. There are copies of 'Warrriors of Mars The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature'  in pdf in various outlets on the internet. Reading through 'Warrriors of Mars The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature'  is like a trip down memory lane for me. Yes back in the Seventies we played this game along with my uncle. 'Warrriors of Mars The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature'  was meant to be played with Heritage miniatures Barsoom line. 

Warrriors of Mars The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature' has far more in common with original Chainmail then it does original Dungeons & Dragons even though there is some cross compatibility. There are pseudo rpg elements with character models being able to advance up to twelveth level as a campaign progresses. 
There are elements of 'Warrriors of Mars The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature'  that feel so fundamental to wargaming aspects of original Dungeons & Dragon. The artwork reeks of typewriters, copy machines, and other basement publishing aspects of the original TSR. 'Warrriors of Mars The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature' feels like a slice of gaming history that needs to be preserved in my opinion because this war game is a sort backdoor into the basis of what would become original Dungeons & Dragons. 
There are so many Barsoom battle  options that could be played with this game if the players wanted to run a miniature wargaming campaign. Warrriors of Mars The Warfare of Barsoom in Miniature'  reads like a piece of wargaming history. Becaus that's exactly what is is. And personally this aspect appeals to the grognard within me. 

Review & Commentary On The Wretched Bastards Rpg Quick Start By Miguel Ribeiro, & Sílvia Clemente From the Red Room

" As we mentioned since the beginning, Wretched Bastards, and the Wretched system itself, is a work in progress. That’s why the Red Room’s OSR dark fantasy game already had so many changes that a real update is needed. The changes aren’t enough to be called a second edition, though it will be given a new layout. It’s a revised edition with a new look, as it wasn’t just the rules that changed a bit over the last five months; my layout skills have also improved. So, this will be free to all who have purchased the game. The latest Wretched Bastards version (1.7) will remain available if you prefer the original look and more straightforward game mechanics. There will be a print on demand option as well (the original version will still be available for pod as well). For now, here's a quickstart so you can get a taste of the revamped Bastards." "Wretched Bastards is a low-magic, dark fantasy role-playing game. Besides being deadly and bleak, it is meant to be sleazy. The main characters aren’t heroes at all; they are greedy, violent, lecherous, cruel, untrustworthy scoundrels."

So Wretched Bastards Rpg Quick Start  By Miguel Ribeiro, & Sílvia Clemente is a dark fantasy beer & pretezels rpg. And this is the second edition of Wretched Bastards rpg line as the authors have made it clear that there's reasons for a second edition. This is the quick start for the dark fantasy game of adventurous bastards. These are not the heroes you want but the one's that your stuck with. And Wretched Bastards was the Red Room's second foreray into the underbelly of the OSR. So The Wretched Bastards Rpg Quickstart is equipped & I don't say this lightly. You've got eight six pages of 13 deadly sins for PC generation. 
The insanity of the Wretched Bastards setting is solidly intact & waiting to be exploited. 
On the whole The Wretched Bastards rpg Quickstart is a vast improvement. There are lots of little things like improved font, lots of solid A.I. generated artwork, solid layout, and easy to adapt rules that make this an excellent impovement on the older edition. 

There's the fact that you & your PC's are not the 'good guys' that's a refreshing approach to the usual classic Dungeons & Dragons OSR style games. Yes, you can have an evil campaign in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons or classic Dungeons & Dragons. Wretched Bastards is a bit different because the bastards aspect is baked in. Don't believe me just take a look at the 'World of Bastards: The Seven Bastards' as a rival adventuring party to your PC's! 

The Wretched Bastard Rpg Quickstart has everything you need to start tonight to kick off your campaigns. You've got PC rules, guidelines for generation, complete equipment list, and more all in a 'pay what you want' baked in package. And this allows the DM to take on the foreman role far more then in other OSR games. Is the Red Room's efforts & stylings worth it?! As Silvia Clemente observes within her observations; "? Sure! It’s your game now, you can do what you want. My recommendation for playing the typical hero in Wretched is to make it a young inexperienced character, an “innocent” that may become a bastard after being kicked around by life. The world of Antillia is a wretched place and the hero will be surrounded by deceitful deviants that will try, at every turn, to hurt, betray or take advantage of him."

And this style of campaign works very well with the Wretched Bastard Rpg Quickstart & could kick a campaign into high gear from the ground up. And this is what makes the The Wretched Bastard Rpg Quickstart worth the download! 
 The  Wretched Bastards Rpg Quick Start  By Miguel Ribeiro, & Sílvia Clemente From the Red Room  Is Available Here 

OSR Commentary - Gregorius21778: 20 Encounters in the Ruins of the Elder Beings By Kai Pütz a.k.a. Gregorius21778 'A Pay What You Want' Title For Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rpg

 

"After I finished H.P. Lovecraft´s story “At the Mountains of Madness” the GM in me dreamed about an adventure that would be take place in some (other) subterranean ruins of the Elder Beings. Another city or outpost, perhaps smaller, or just the caverns that would lead to its entrance. An adventure about the strange creatures that could have developed there, based on some breeding stock the Elder Beings once kept. I thought about the Elder Beings attempting to slowly retake those places they left as they moved back into the oceans so long ago. I thought about a renewal of their conflict with the Mi-Go, one that is only at the beginning as Mi-Go recon parties try to locate and gauge the erstwhile settlements and strongholds of their rivals. And about what could happen when a party of (demi-)human adventurers would stumble upon all of this, on their search for riches or ancient wisdom."

"As I was not able to create a full-blown adventure out of my ideas, I rather created a set of 20 structured encounters. The difference to (completely) random encounters is that some of them are preliminary encounters that will trigger certain other encounters as a follow-up (or will be triggered instead of their follow-ups). In addition, a simple frame was given for the encounters and stats for six creatures and two strange items [all of whom are compatible with Lamentations of the Flame Princess(tm)]"

Gregorius21778: 20 Encounters in the Ruins of the Elder Beings By Kai Pütz a.k.a. Gregorius21778 'A Pay What You Want' Title clocks in a eleven pages for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg. 

Is a pretty solid series of encounters with H.P. Lovecraft's Elder Things ala from the 'At The Mountains of Madness' novella. The Elder Things were one of the powerhouse races in the Mythos. And this series of encounters is very dangerous fitting within each other like pieces of a puzzle. Take for example #14; "14# A Lost Soul Somebody or something runs towards the characters in the dark. After a moment, a tall and lanky man comes into sight. He wears dirty but sturdy clothes, his eyes are bloodshot and he storms towards the nearest character (no matter what). Once in reach, he grabs him with his huge hands. If the characters do not slay him outright the maddened adventurer, whose name is Henry, will grab the character with shaky hands and hoarsely yell “we must flee! WE MUST FLEEEE!!” and try to drag the PC along. Henry is a Level 1 Fighter with 8 hit points, but unarmed and scared out of his wits. If he cannot convince the characters to flee with him (or drag one of them along) he will just run off into the darkness. He belonged to a small group of adventurers, not unlike that of the characters, who encountered a Rogue Shoggoth. He was the only one who was able to flee, and dropped everything he had with him while doing so. Everything he says is “all are dead!” and “we must flee!”. This will only change after 2d6 rounds or after he left this place. If the characters search him (after they restrained or killed him), they will find 2d6 sp, the empty scabbard of a saber, a length of rope slung around his torso, two metal keys and a small blade in his left boot. When the characters head into the direction Henry came from, use 15# A Carcass in the Darkness (The bodies of adventurers) as the over-next encounter." And it's the use of the laying of the encounters that makes Gregorius21778: 20 Encounters in the Ruins of the Elder Beings work very well in my opinion. Not to give too much of this pdf away. But where can it be used for LoFP & Other OSR titles?! 

First place that one can see using Gregorius21778: 20 Encounters in the Ruins of the Elder Beings is with a straight up Antarctica adventure using LoFP. But Gregorius21778: 20 Encounters in the Ruins of the Elder Beings could also be used with 

Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa where the Elder Things are still active & alive. Carcosa remains one of the most dangerous areas for Elder Things because the serpent men's connection with them through Shubniggurath's continual rebirth of the species on the alien planet. Which means that they could be encountered anywhere there. 

Gregorius21778: 20 Encounters in the Ruins of the Elder Beings raises the stakes on these Lovecraftian horrors in three ways. One it brings a viable way to cross paths with them in LoFP. Two it brings the Elder Things works, alien agenda, and more into focus. And three it's very unlikely that PC's will be suriviving such an encounter not unlike other OSR games. For their are other Lovecraftian forces at work here. 

Gregorius21778: 20 Encounters in the Ruins of the Elder Beings By Kai Pütz a.k.a. Gregorius21778 'A Pay What You Want' Title For Lamentations of the Flame Princess Is Available Here 

Lovecraftian Cults & You - Using SURVIVE THIS!! What Shadows Hide - Cthulhu Sourcebook For Fun & PC Murder

 “The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age. ”
― H.P. Lovecraft

If you've been following our little romp with this mini campaign then you know that the supernatural & occult isn't going to be any stranger to our PC's. And that let me to start to think about the cults of celebrity & 'religion' or the cults of the Lovecraftian gods. This let me down the rabbit hole of using SURVIVE THIS!! What Shadows Hide - Cthulhu Sourcebook for fun & PC murder. 

The two classes that we're looking to use for the 'opposing' celebrity priests are the priest of light & the priests of the void. The idea of the interstellar holo networks covering these two Lovecraftian forces is an interesting mirror to the news & celebrity driven culture that we have. 

Wretched Space has more then it's  fair share of opportunities for Lovecraftian cults to take center stage disguised as self help groups, exploration societies, and more in the annals of interstellar weirdness. And within the vastiness of space there's plenty of places for Lovecraftian cult colonies to hide. 

Wretched Space has a lot of opportunities to hide a cult colony of like minded & dangerous cultists. Cultists who are just waiting for PC's to find them. 
And why find them in the first place?! There's of course is the natural resources that the universe has to offer. And Wretched Space itself has its Hellraiser like demonic entities within it. 
And these demonic entities also fit pattern laid out within  SURVIVE THIS!! What Shadows Hide - Cthulhu Sourcebook. 













The 'What Shadows Hide' rpg does the investigative horror aspect very well. And add this into an interstellar scene. It works very well as both interstellar & horror rpg system. 




And they also fit in Wretched Flesh Postcards from Alvildad & these entities of the Beyond play a major part in this mini campaign. But not before the Lovecraftian cults come to play & the interstellar scene is rife with them. These entities have infiltrated into Lazarus 3 & throughout our version of the  Vigilante City universe. 

And this ties back into the Ballerina murders from yesterday.  The Lovecraftian cults are operating both in the shadows & right out in the open. 

OSR Combination Mini Campaign - Bloat Games Scorched rpg & Wretched Space Combined

 So after getting a bunch of side long glances, several phone calls, and a physical meeting with one of my fellow DM's we began to formula a plan for this upcoming campaign. And the focus of that meeting was Lazarus 3. Haven't heard of Lazarus 3 then your not alone because Lazarus three comes from Bloat Games Scorched rpg; "THE WORLD OF LAZARUS-3 Lazarus-3 is a rare, habitable planet in a distant solar system that was conquered by a powerful confederation of planets known as The Black Brace. The peoples of Lazarus-3 had a pre-Space Age, Industrial Revolution era technology and had some usage of magic, but they were no match for the seasoned soldiers & the centuries-in-advanced technology of the Black Brace. The Black Brace quickly enslaved the population of the planet and started them to mining and building advanced weaponry. Outside of the major Black Brace bases, cities, trading posts & slaving raids, the conquerors paid little mind to the citizens in the wilds of Lazarus-3. Those areas became wild zones of outlaws, smugglers, raiders and chaos."

Lazarus 3 sounds exactly like the sorta of a place where aliens, smugglers, roughs, outlaws, and Wretched spacers live. And that's because we've set it within the Wretched universe. And there's a reason for that. Lazarus 3 has all of the hallmarks that are talked about in the Wretched Space rpg. 

This is going to be a totally different rpg campaign then our own Post Apocalpytic solar system campaign on a number of levels. Let's start with the fact that we've got a fully fleshed out interstellar world. And then add in the fact that Lazrarus 3 is a long, long, way from Earth. 

Well be using the Scorched rpg with a twist or two or more from Wretched Space. And magic is already baked into the Scorched rpg system. As is psionics and all of this will be added into the basics of the campaign. 

Wretched Space has enough flavor for two games but these games are going to back lit into our own Vigilante City supers rpg. Not even going to try to explain this aspect of the campaign to the players because they've taken it for red that this is a part of every day life. 

This is our first radeo with Bloat Games & the Wretchedverse. The biggest & baddest concern lately is the fact that work schedules, personal issues, etc. in other words real life has been chipping away into our campaign lately. On a personal level there needs to be a Giallo cinematic quality to this campaign. And this is going to hinge on the politics of the factions of Wretched Space. We've already set up one set of murders and ninjas. There are definitely going to more supernatural elements involved here as well. 
This OSR Combination Mini Campaign needs to be completely different then our ongoing Hostile rpg. And already our of the gate I feel that it is. Gated communities, weird corporate overlords, the occult, and more are already playing into the mix here. The Black guard an essential adventure element within our campaigns as both allies & antagonists for our player's PC's. We'll see how this pans out coming up. 

OSR Mini Campaign - Bloat Games Vigilante City Rpg Ninja Beat Down & Wretched New Flesh Rpg

 So over the weekend, we've been tossing some ideas about doing a Wretched Flesh/Space crossover campaign for sometime. But there's been 'real life' stuff getting in the way work schedules, family commitments, etc. with myself & my players. So the other half of the group that I've been involved with want a Bloat Games Vigilante City campaign. Now we had one going for a while. But again the same scheduling issues have been plaguing us. So could a Wretched Flesh/Space/ Vigilante City crossover work?! 

And the answer to this is yes.. So here's where Bloat Games Ninja Beat Down comes into play. Here's the scenario; "The tanaka family is just one faction of the dangerous Iron Clan Gang.  Ran by the head of the Tanaka Clan, Master Jiro Tanaka and his daughter (and general) Yuko Tanaka, this sect has taken up residence in a Western High school in the part of victory city known as “the War Zone.”

"The once students and faculty of western HS are now slaves and drug mules, who manufacture, sale and distribute KrySTLE-SMACk, a new strain of drugs, throughout all of Victory City.  K.S. is the Tanaka Clan’s primary source of revenue.The slaves are worked around the clock, beyond exhaustion, often until they pass out.  Then the initiate Ninjas of the clan will shoot a dose of K.S. into the unconscious slave’s bloodstream, reviving them, only to then beat them unconscious again as a form of punishment for collapsing." 

So we're going to turn this two page scenario by Eric Bloat into a convention game with a Wretched twist. And that twist is that one of the students in Western High School is a powerful mutant. A powerful mutant from a rather powerful family in  Avalidad. And they've hired the Blackguard mercenary & occult military operatives to take out the ninja & free their mutant child from the Ninja yoke. 

All of the background & fluff comes from Miguel Ribeiro, Sílvia Clemente, & Manuel Sousa's Wretched Flesh rpg but the setting, locations, etc. plus the rules come straight out of Bloat Games Vigilante City rpg. We're going to give Vigilante City a Giallo twist. And that modern Giallo twist comes from an unexpected but familar source Steve Miller's Nuelow Games blog. Back in March of 2018 Steve did a table called Who Killed the Ballerina? Remember our mutant high schooler?! Well his or her sister is Diana Aston of the Avalidad Astons. 
But is one of the serial killers of Vigilante City carving up mutants or is it renagade ninja Hell bent on revenge?! Or is there something else going on here. 
Or is there some other agenda  entirely at work here?! The Avalidad Aston family actually have deep ties with the space industry & there's far more bubbling below the surface of this mini campaign. So would say other worldly even. 

OSR Commentary - My Time Encountering Heward's Mystical Organ

 My history as a player of original Dungeons & Dragons is well known but not my misgiving encounters with an infamous artifact of Eldritch Wizardry. Let's get a bit of background & history on Eldritch Wizardry;" Eldritch Wizardry was written by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume and published by TSR in 1976 as a sixty-page digest-sized book, and was the third supplement to the original D&D rules.^[4] The supplement was part of the continued expansion of D&D in 1976, which also included Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes and Swords & Spells." 

Now I've been looking deeply into some of the more infamous & slightly 'Science Fantasy' flavored
artifacts for my upcomingGodbound rpg campaign.
But looking through Eldritch Wizardry has given me flash backs to the Fall of '86.
 In the wastes of Greyhawk we ran into  Heward’s Mystical Organ. "Heward's Mystical Organ is a a massive, immobile pipe organ
 as tall as a cathedral. It is an artifact of tremendous power and great danger"
But I digress.

If there's one S.O.B. that as a player of Dungeons & Dragons & Advanced Dungeons & Dragons to run across in my forty years of playing the grand game to have run across its Heward. Yes that Heward who was a favorite of my uncle. My uncle was former retired RAF pilot & friend of my father's. He was from the United Kingdom who had married an American. A lovely lady & whose children have since scattered to the four wind. Both my uncle & aunt were instrumental in my education over the decades. Alas they have since departed but they both had a naught invincible love of music & this spelled my PC's doom.
We had been tracking our campaign's villain across the wastes of Greyhawk why? Because
an eldery old bard/wizard type had given his location after the villain had bought a map.
That man was Heward, Heward is a powerful quisi diety in Greyhawk & the patron god of bards.
He's descriped as thus; Heward appears as a human male of uncertain age—both youthful and elderly at once. He is lively, athletic, strong, and quick, with rosy cheeks and a wrinkled forehead. His bald head is offset by a small beard and luxurious mustache of sandy-brown. He tends to dress either shabbily, or in fine garb which is long out of style. However, if he wishes to go unnoticed, Heward can appear quite nondescript. He seldom carries weapons or wears armor. He often carries pitch pipes and tuning forks, which aid him in his travels to other planes." My wizard didn't like the S.O.B. from the start & it cemented my life long hatred of D&D bards even back then. Why was he important? Because Heward has a long & twisted some would say illustrous history with Gary Gygax's realm of Greyhawk;
"Heward was a member of Zagig Yragerne's Company of Seven. He was among the adventurers who helped imprison Iuz. Heward is distantly related to both Zagig and Mordenkainen, and often visits the latter. Although he is most often alone, he can occasionally be found in the company of Celestian, Fharlanghn, Keoghtom, Mordenkainen, Murlynd, or Zagyg." 
We caught up with the villain 'Lumay The King of  Musicans & Necromancers' someplace just outside of Heward's  laboratory in hills just outside one of the former Elven capitals according to my notes from the Fall of '86. There was a twelve level dungeon that dated from the Age of Elves that Heward had taken the place  over. That's where we encountered Heward's Mystical Organ! . My uncle's design of the organ was based on; "Heward's Mystical Organ appeared in Eldritch Wizardry (1976). A later expansion describing its powers apeared in A Working Design for Heward's Mystical Organ (or, "Play it Again, Sam"), Dragon Magazine #29 (Sep 1979), p.43."We didn't make it outta that dungeon & it was a total party wide when our bard misplayed the organ to thwart the villain! 
Later on in my friend DM Steve's game the coven of bards belonging to Heward would contact our party again & go after the Heward's organ but this time we'd run smack into Odd House; "Heward's eccentric dwelling is said to be extradimensional in nature, far, far bigger inside than it appears from outside, and a nexus between many alternate worlds, planes, and times. He once dwelled in a building in Greyhawk City's Thieves Quarter known as Odd House or "Hew's Place", but hasn't lived there in many years. It still retains portals to other planes, however. He currently explores the planes from a variety of homes and strongholds across the multiverse."  We trekked back to the dungeon holding Heward's Mystic Organ again in second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons;" Heward's Mystical Organ appeared in the Dungeon Master's Guide (1989) and revised Dungeon Master's Guide (1995).^[1]. It appears in the Book of Artifacts (1993), p.38-41." 


The Fatal & Friends Website has an excellent break down & commentary on the 2nd edition AD&D Book of artifacts version of the Organ of Heward;

"There’s one more artifact that I want to cover before covering magic item creation and then sealing this book in a trap-filled tomb to be forgotten. It’s Heward’s Mystical Organ, another artifact that can trace its origins to Mystical Energies. Like Lum’s Machine, the Organ is an immobile artifact that’s always housed in a cathedral-like building, “not necessarily the same one each time.” The cabinet of this pipe organ has three sets of keys-one of ivory and obsidian, one of jade and lapis, and the third of steel and brass. Each set of keys has nine ivory stops, or 27 in total. Nine rosewood petals complete the cabinet. The organ’s pipes are made of silver and gold, with the tallest reaching almost three stories in height.

Heward was the Patron of Bards, who lived during the ascendancy of humans as the elves faded to the background. Early humans apparently weren’t interested in music, so Heward set out to change that by building a magic organ. The Organ was wildly successful and made everything wonderful, so of course a few deities decided to fuck things up. These gods convinced the mice of Heward’s hall to gnaw on the Organ’s pipes. The next time Heward played the organ it gave harpies and sirens their special abilities. Heward was of course pissed, and so he played one last song to curse the mice into being lowly and meek. And then Heward and his Organ disappeared.

The suggested campaign use for the Organ is very similar to the Machine of Lum the Mad-a party needs the Organ to produce a certain effect, they need to discover the musical sheet, then they have to find the Organ itself, and play the tune. The major difference is that by the artifact’s nature, this artifact works best with a Bard in the part, a class that a PC had a miniscule chance of rolling the requirements for in 2nd edition if they used method 1 of rolling attributes.

Like the Machine, the description of the Organ’s powers is more focused on how to use it than what it can do. There are at least 23 powers of the Organ, each requiring a separate song. No, these powers aren’t actually detailed, but at least the suggested random power tables are provided. To use a power, not only must the song be played flawlessly (an unmodified proficiency check) but the stops must be set appropriately. There are 27 stops, labeled A to Z with the last one marked “!”. Stops can be set from 1 to 8, with 1 being the the default. The ! stop is especially important, as setting it incorrectly automatically triggers the curse. Otherwise, if any of the other stops are incorrect or the proficiency check is failed, the DM needs to roll a d10. On a 1-7, nothing happens, on an 8-9 the artifact curse is triggered, and on a 10 there is a random effect.



These are the suggested tables for a DM to select the Organ’s powers, but the DM can always come up with his or her own. In fact, a lot of the powers that can come from these result are pretty lackluster for the effort involved, so a DM is better off making his own.


Personal Enhancements: 16, 8, 12, 11, 16

• 8: Regenerate 2 of the user’s hit points per turn
• 11: Cast lasting breath at will
• 12: Provide the user with a permanent +1 bonus to saving throw rolls

Abjurations: 3, 5, 16, 6, 12, 2

• 3: Cast banishment by touch (1/week)
• 5: Cast dismissal upon any planar creature by touch (1/week)
• 6: Cast dispel evil/dispel good (1/day)
• 12: Cast lower resistance (7/day)
• 16: Have repel insects in a 10’ radius constantly in effect while the artifact is in hand

Enchantment/Charm: 3, 15, 11, 7, 20, 17

• 3: Cast charm monster (1/day)
• 7: Cast command (7/day)
• 11: Cast emotion (1/day)
• 15: Cast geas by touch. The mission must relate to the goals of the artifact, if any (1/month)
• 17: Cast hypnotism (1/day)
• 20: Cast suggestion (3/day)

Cataclysms: 9, 11, 10

• 9: Strike the area of effect with an earthquake spell
• 10: Rain a fire storm down upon the area of effect for 2d6 rounds
• 11: Flood the entire area of effect, destroying buildings and fields. All living creatures unable to fly risk drowning in the rushing water. The water recedes to safe levels in 1d6 hours but remain covering land for 2d20 days.

Conjuration: 5, 17, 15

• 5: Cast call lightning (1/week)
• 15: Summon an invisible stalker (1/week)
• 17: Inscribe a symbol of the user’s choice (1/week)

I guess you’re expected to make a song for every power, even if you never plan to use them

If the curse is triggered from playing poorly, then all those within the hall containing the Organ must save vs death at -4. Those who fail go mad forever, unable to tolerate any sound but unable to bear silence either. They lose all class abilities “and are controlled by the referee”. This madness can only be cured with wish. There’s also a risk that a character play the Organ too well. If the organist rolls a 1 or less on the proficiency check, at the end of the song he or she is instantly struck by melancholia, knowing their performance will never likely be matched. Anyone listening must make a Wisdom check or come to the same conclusion. Stricken characters have no motivation to do anything and will waste away. No word on whether this effect can be reversed.

As for the songs themselves, the DM is encouraged to make their own list of tunes based on their own tastes in musics, and it’s suggested to play the tune “on a stereo” at the climactic performance. That’s my favorite part of this artifact, and I could see myself including it not just in a D&D campaign, but any roleplaying game where a world-changing Organ is plausible. At the very least it would rank up there with the greatest effort taken to Rickroll a group of people. "
We got set up to take a fall from the cult of Heward & my wizard was lost across the multiverse after nearly blasting the head of the cult off the face of Greyhawk. There was a tripple cross on the part of the cult's head & I got the brunt of it. Our party's actions were noticed by Heward himself & neutral good my ass, he had a personal vendetta against our party. Every bar, two bit brothel,etc. which had a bard meant that we had our heels dogged at every turn by that quisi deity & did job after job to get back into his 'good graces'. And Heward's Mystical Organ is still out there in that dungeon & its still a giant danger on Greyhawk as well as any of the alternative versions of it strung across the planes. The organ is dangerous as Hell to any god or demigod that has the misfortune of running across it. Even god level PC's should have share in take of breath if they even hear rumors of  Heward's Mystical Organ!