Sunday, August 29, 2021

Tales from the OSR part 1

 



The following a retelling our newest OSE campaign Barrowmaze, I used a modified gonzo version of the Village of Hommlet as a starting point for the game. (as mentioned in my Campaign setup piece)

 We started with my two daughters and have roped two of their friends in.  We are many sessions ahead at this point so I will update this as I can, I do have some set piece photos I'll eventually add .

Chapter 1   The Road

Starting PC’s   Malice- Elven Magic User.     Nyx, -Half Orc Fighter

Traveling from the great southern coastal city of Specularum , The caravan of the Silver Standard Merchant Company makes its monthly journey from the coastal port  city and its low lands thru the dangerous forests and swamps of Duchy of Aerik, eventually arriving  in the provinces foothills and its Capital, Threshold.

The long trip makes many stops along the way including the backwater villages of Hommlet, Bogtown, Helix, and Ironguard Motte all resupply points and trading posts for the Company. The danger of the trip thru theses lawless and rugged lands attracts Adventurer, Mercenary and Explorer alike. Most common people rarely travel beyond their place of birth. living out entire existence within the safety of City or Village of which they are born. It’s only the rare and exceptional ones who  venture out to seek their destiny where some find Fame, wealth or even both but most find a quick, grim end.  The demand for trade goods and the need to protect them  is premise of the Silver Standard Merchant Company’s existence and it pays handsomely for able bodied men and women to travel various legs of it monthly journey to assure its merchandise and important travellers get where they need to be safely and on time.

Malice the fledgling Magic User and her long time friend and companion  the intimidating fighter Nyx  arrived in Hommlet at the southern border of the Duchy of Aerik via one of these Caravans, hired on as two of the numerous guards for the trip to Hommlet which was so far a surprisingly easy affair. A group of bandits thought better of engaging the 4 wagon train and over dozen mercenaries protecting it and merely followed the caravan from a distance for the last day before reaching Hommlet.

 Leaving Specularum under questionable  circumstances our two starting PC’s  left their jobs as a busy tailor and apprentice armorer after Malice came upon a particular set of scrolls by accident while cleaning the study of her Sorceress mentor- Zahara   The scrolls told of an expedition to the great northern swamp known as the Barrowmoor which  Just south of the village of Helix lies huge mass of ancient burial mounds which contain entrances to underground tombs and passages centuries old.  The dead of many past generations or perhaps even the entombed rubble or a different civilization was known to contain great treasure and powerful magic for the taking by those brave enough to try.  Franzika writes of her own expedition there decades ago , she wrote of crediting the great power and prestige  she now enjoys in Specularum to an  ill-fated expedition to this Barrrowmaze and that it still haunts her dreams these many years later.

Malice’s obsession with arcane arts and Nyx’s desire for gold  fueled with the tales of the Barrowmaze was all the incentive the pair needed to leave their civilian trades and travel to Duchy of Aerik to see if this place truly exists as described.

 

Chapter 2  Hommlet

The Village of Hommlet  seemed rather unremarkable by most standards  and looks to be a simple  druidic farming community . The arrival in recent years of Silver Standard has brought progress here and its appears it may not be as welcome as some would like. Direct trade to the coast demanded the attention of the Duke Aerik IV who assigned a Castellan to Hommlet to build a Castle to protect the Duchy’s southern trade routes as well as its borders., The new construction brought many men from the north who worshipped the new faiths here and a Church of St Ygg was quickly established along with new residents and  merchants to serve the needs of the Castellan. The leaders of Drudic community grudgingly accept these newcomers for the gold and safety they bring to the village but clearly not all residents feel that way.

Malice and Nyx arrive at the Wayside Inn, The only establishment in the village which serves as both a travelers inn, and the villages social meeting place. They quickly book a room for the week planning a week long investigation here as the next Caravan moving north leaves in 7 days time. In the common room they eat, and  meet a variety of characters both local and passers thru like themselves  who are either fortune seekers or mercenaries.  Malice quickly finds hospitality among the local residents as elves are the children of Silvanus, The Green Man, who is at the core of their Druidic Faith, where both he and the Demi God, Herne the Hunter are worshipped together in balance.  Nyx meets the town blacksmith (Brother Smyth) and they talk shop and they later meet a friendly but clearly degenerate gambler , named Ned whose attempts to cheat are easily caught by the eagle eyed Nyx,  they use Ned’s vulnerability to pump him for local information  where they learn of an abandoned Moathouse rumored to be a base of operation for humanoid gang of bandits making trouble in the area. So much so that the Castellan is offering 10gp a head, literally for Goblin Heads. Neds leads the PC’s to unsavory pair drinking alone in the back booth of the common room. Hawkeye , a lean and well groomed fellow sporting an eyepatch over his right eye and the hulking Kano, huge burly bearded fellow, drinking an enormous beer,

Ned prompts the discussion of putting a group together to relieve the bandits at these Moathouse of their stolen loot as he heard that Hawkeye and Kano are looking for similar work. The pair agree and say that Malice and Nyx seem to be exactly what the pair are looking for help with such a task. Talk eventually comes around to the Barrowmoor and the Barrowmaze and while its well known as a place you don’t want to go to if you value your life they’ve personally never been there but they do have an acquaintance that the PC’s should meet  The towns recently arrived new Carpenter, Lareth who is a currently retired adventurer and claims to have been into the Barrowmaze numerous times. Other inquiries about the Barrowmaze are met with ghost stories of the barrowmoor or a quick change of the subject. The innkeeper Olster Gungidoot tells the PC’s that another guest of the Inn had mentioned he was on his way to the village of Helix to do some “treasure hunting” and he staying upstairs at opposite end of the hall from their room and he went by the name of Dirk Ironside.

The next morning They find Dirk Ironside at breakfast and approach him. He’s friendly and freely talks of the Barrowmaze and he is headed to Helix to put a group together to explore the burial mounds. He is open to traveling with the PC’s to Helix but when the Moathouse side trek is mentioned , Dirk says he thinks Hawkeye and Kano are thugs and drunks and doubts their ability…Should Malice and Nyx put together a better group he might be interested in raising some cash before he gets to Helix.  Venturing into Hommlet to walk around , Brother Smyth the blacksmith is working at the Smithy across the road and waves the pair over.  He asks the pair to visit the Villages Druidic leader, Jaroo who has asked Smyth to deliver the message they pay respects (tribute) to the Green Man and introduce themselves as Elves willing to intermingle with  humans here are rare and Jaroo would like to meet her. (The Elves of nearby Thornwild forest to the north are isolationist and tribal)

They oblige Brother Smyths request and meet Jaroo Ashstaff in the great grove at the center of village . Malice pays a generous tribute and Jaroo is friendly and welcoming, he tells them of dangers of the Barrowmaze and how its not for pairs of inexperienced adventures and they will need a large skilled group to hope to succeed and survive. When discussion comes to the Moathouse, he agrees this is a local problem and his friend , a Ranger named Black Jay is investigating a continuous stream of missing chickens from homes all over the village and he believes its goblins sneaking into the village at night. He suggests they speak to Black Jay and if agreeable he will send Black Jay and Brother Smyth with the group to the Moathouse. They ask Jaroo about Lareth, he tells them he knows little of the fellow and he arrived about 6 months previous from the North and took up the widow of the former town carpenter and became the new town carpenter. While this seemed a bit odd, Lareth seems charming and honest as is quite popular among the local folks, He believe he is a follower of St Ygg which is why he doesn’t know him.

Following the road north toward Black Jays home, they pass the Carpenters shop and see a tall , very fit , shirtless man , with long  flowing blond hair sawing lumber in the side yard.  They realize this must be Lareth and engage him.  Friendly and charming as described , Lareth offers them refreshments and tells them tales of his adventures into the Barrowmaze and how on his last adventure to the tombs he came back filthy rich only to be waylaid and robbed, by the gang of Renata the Robber the most infamous bandit in the Duchy. Viscount Kell Ironguard who rules over both Helix and Bogtown  for the Duke from his stronghold in the town of Ironguard Motte  has placed a hefty reward for her dead or alive. Lareth had no recourse to go after The bandit queen was basically penniless so he came to Hommlet  on invitation of a young widower he had met months earlier and took her up on a offer to take up her former husband’s carpentry business. The two are now married and he’s given up his adventuring days.  When asked about the Goblin bandits at the Moathouse..Lareth says he’s heard rumor its more than Goblins but doesn’t say what.  He tells the PC’s the Hawkeye and Kano are capable enough and since it seems the PCs are trying put a large group together if they do manage it, He will volunteer to lead it (????) for the good of the town.

Lareth’s (who they are now calling “Larry”) bravado was a bit off putting to Malice and Nyx but he seems like the most experienced of all the people they have met. So they are thinking it he might be a good idea. After Leaving Lareth they head off to find Black Jay.

Moving north the PC’s cross the river past the trader and money lender with the Church of St Ygg looming on the hill above them.

They make note of both establishments and  as they reach the church they find nearby the small home of the Ranger , Black Jay.

 

Black Jay is interested in their plan as it coincides with his own suspicious in regards to the missing chickens and as they soon find out other larger farm animals.

The Ranger is cautious of the local company the PC’s seem to be associating with however since the planned expedition has Jaroo’s blessing Black Jay agrees to go to the groups initial meeting later that evening at the Wayside Inn.

 

Stopping by the Trading Post on the way back to the Inn, They meet Reeves and Hugo Grimwood, proprietors of the Trading post and examine their somewhat clearly overprices stock. They say they are interested some adventuring supplies and Grimwoods are friendly and full of questions and offer their goods,  pack animals as well as a trained man at arms to accompany them while doing any local exploring. The PC’s tell them they will return to make some purchases the next day and will consider their offers. Oblivious that these two  are agents of the Necromancers of Set and hired Killers who have now taken  a keen interest in what they are up to.

 

Chapter 3  To the Moathouse

Reconvening at the Wayside early evening the details and organization of the group are discussed.  Malice and Nyx the PC’s with their new friend, the gambler Ned who confesses he is an accomplished thief but degenerate gambling always has him a step behind. Then the hired muscle of Hawkeye and Kano. On advice of Jaroo the Druid,  The Ranger Black Jay and Cleric Brother Smyth agree to accompany the group to oversee the towns interest in the eyes of the Grove and the locals. Finally there is “retired adventurer and town carpenter” Lareth whos Bravado alone seems to win over the support of Hawkeye and Kano. After some charisma checks for the whole group, everyone involved seems to support Lareth as the most experienced of the group,  “I can fight, I can heal, what more do you need?” he boasts. As drinks are consumed and celebrate this new group Lareth suggests the head out first thing in the morning but not too early, they should reach the Moathouse at mid day. Goblins are nocturnal and they will surely be sleeping during peak daylight hours. Its best to quick supply up with the basics and meet up at Lareths home.  Malice and Nix want to bring an oxen cart, the reward for goblins dead or alive is of interest to them, not to mention treasure and weapons, it suggested  they get it one in the morning from the trading post.  The group parts and goes their separate ways for the evening,  As the PC’s are about to go to sleep for the night, there is knock on their door. It’s Dirk Ironside from the previous evening. “quite the group you two have put together” . “I thought about minding my own business here but you are walking into a trap. You cant trust Hawkeye and Kano, and that Lareth character is a fraud if , I’ve ever seen one. You need me along just to have someone to watch your back. No one is coming to save you out there.”  There well debate about an extra member, Hawkeye already complained about too many in the group , Malice recalls. Nyx is hesitant to Dirks offer but Malice offers him her share of any gold, requesting only scrolls…and He readily agrees.. Nyx follows suit.

 

The PC’s visit the Trading Post as soon as its opens and resist the Grimwood brothers hard sell to take along their Man at Arms…they rent the Oxen cart , It is in poor shape and the oxen clearly pasts it prime but it can move at walking speed weighted down and its roughly only 5 miles past the town’s borders to this Moathouse. The grab a bare minimum of adventuring supplies, despite both being demi humans with infravision, they purchases the basics, Food, Torches, Sacks, Ropes, etc   not know what the others will bring , they are the last to arrive at Lareths, Dirk in tow…there is a bit of scene about Dirk which almost leads to brawl between Dirk and Kano, when said he is not taking a share but one of the PC’s. Lareth smooths  things over and group departs  they are:

Malice, Elven Magic User

Nyx, Half Orc Fighter

Ned , Human Thief

Lareth, Human

Dirk Ironside  Human Fighter

Hawkeye, Human Thief (Assassin)

Kano Human Fighter

Black Jay Human Ranger

Jay’s hunting dog, he just calls hound.

Brother Smyth- Human, Cleric

 The Party of 9, with and Ox Cart driven by Hawkeye with Lareth and Malice leading the group down the east road out of Village of Hommlet and toward the moathouse. They pass the Castellan’s Tower and castle construction site and the Soldiers on duty, give them a watchful eye as they pass. Immediately upon leaving the village outskirts they are fire upon by several crossbow bolts, cleary aimed at Lareth. The both barely miss.  Black Jay and his hound move into the woods quickly Nix and Dirk close behind, a short search later they find nothing by one of the black feathered bolts stuck into a tree and examination reveals the bolts were clearly poisoned.  Lareth is unrattled, claiming its his former mentor looking to keep him from returning to the Barrowmaze. (This is the Assassin mentioned in last paragraph of the original T1, except in this reality he’s after Lareth , hired by the current leaders of the Cult of Orcus. The Assassin is Lassiviren the Dark of 1e Fame and will return later in the game)

Traveling the weather beaten track thru the lowland and what eventually becomes marsh the moathouse  looms before them by Midday, a low fog still sit heavy on the surrounding bog. The moathouse is dead quite and they approach the gates splintered open, the metal portcullis laying over the soggy moat replacing a rotten broken drawbridge. Black Jay the Ranger sends his hound in to investigate as the group unpacks the cart  as the dog begins growling on the bridge. The hound is suddenly gone in a flash grabbed by huge red tongue and swallowed, As 6 Giant Frogs leap from the swamp and attack the party.

The Frogs lumber in and mostly miss trying to chomp at the group.  Dirk and Nyx are slightly wounded,  Malice casts  her Sleep spell and three of the frogs fall, on the following round strong dice has Hawkeye , Nyx, and Kano making short work of the remaining frogs, with ranged attacks from Black Jay and Ned assisting , finishing the sleeping frogs after the fight is Dirk job and he does so greedily finding a lucky gem in the one of the Frogs gullet.  Brother Smyth heals Nyx’s wound , and Black Jay searches the remaining Frogs and finds it too late for his hound who is quite dead. , Black Jay digs a quick hole, and the group slowly crosses the make shift draw bridge into the courtyard.

End of part 1.

 

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Required Reading

My daughters and I headed up to our 1st major area comic convention since 2019. It was a pretty major affair I'd have to estimate at least 5000+ people attending on Saturday. I of course was on the hunt for holes in my collection that I could make a deal in person on. I am always on the hunt for weird Bronze and Silver age pulp stuff to dig into, and while that might not have  much value , they arecalways inspirational in ones games and fun to read.

I've been a Conan collector for decades, I have had most of the 275 issues of Marvel original series at one point or another, I have had issue # 1 at two different points in my life and sold it when the market was high and funds where low but this current pandemic effect Comic boom is like nothing I have ever seen, what I sold some of my old books for which were premium prices at the time are now dwarfed by current prices. Its unlikely I'll have the urge to spend the current dollars for a copy of the first issue again, but I may pick up a low grade copy if the price is right. I'm currently trying to fill the holes in the 1st 25 issues and I picked some very nice books at the show, #3 and #14 the 1st Appearance of Moorcocks Elric of Melibone in comics are very hot books right now, #11 is the classic retelling of Howards "Rogues in the house" , I've got 12 of the 1st 25 issues, the rest arent terribly hard to get with exception of #1, #23, #24 (the 1st Red Sonja issues, and I have some great RS stuff, I'll talk about as some point) Of house I have several editions of Howards original stories and several comps (Omnibus) of the comics, so I have read most of them at one point or another and that includes, The Savage Sword Mag, the epic Dark Horse series AND the Marvels new Conan series. I jumped a at $10 NM copy of the movie special as that I had somehow never read as kid so I might as well add to the mix. I could pontificate for many 1000's of words on The Cimmerian and the inspiration of that Howards world had on my interests, its one of the reason I want to start a new chapter blogging to do just that. 


Lieber's dyamic duo, are a close second from boy fantasy library (or 3rd if we count Tolkien) This Fafhrd and Gray Mouser 5 issue series was cancelled due to lack of sales back in 1973, unfortunately these guys were not on my radar until about 1978 or so, so I couldnt have helped with Sales back in the day.  I have had the first issue pictured here for years but found 2,3 and 4 in a some 3 dollars bins by vendor out of Indy, it was karma because I looked for these books all day friday and did not find them, and then  they turn up 1st thing Saturday after I had given up looking and was browsing the cheap bins for oddball stuff and -score! These books are a great read if your looking for an intro to Lieber,  all but issue 3 are adapted original Fritz Lieber stories. while a nice copy of issue 5 still illudes me it's not alone , There are some other comic adaptations out there, including my favorite story "Ill met in Lankhmar". That four issues series has illuded me as well, as I'm  looking for the original comics instead of the trade paperback compilations.




 Did you know Archie Comics put out weirdo horror/ sword and sorcery comics? Neither did I ,but that's  who published Red Circle Comics and this title "Sorcery", Only 6 issues in 1974 -75. I havent read them yet , just flipped thru them and they look off the wall.  these are not worth much
especially in "reader copy" condition, so they are books you can find in the dollar bins of any shop with a decent 70's indy stock. I'll talk about great stories from these types books at some point. 

Creepy magazine was just awesome back in the day, I have numerous copies of it , Famous Monsters , Starlog, and more. I never had this Jim Starlin Cover Issue before and its quite fitting for the theme of this blog, I havent read the stories in this yet and I am certain I'll do a best stuff you've never read Top 10 ten out of these lesser known mags at some point.

Finally speaking of the lesser known, Have you heard of Dagar the Invincible?? When Marvel licensed Conan from Robert E Howards estate in 1970, The Sword and Sorcery boom was on!, Dagar was the Gold Key comics "Barbarian" and it ran for 19 issues, I have some of these and want to pickup a few more. I get a real laugh out of Dagar and plan on him showing up at some point as a NPC is our D&D campaign. Dagar's and Gold Key comics are the merits of a series of thier own posts, so I am going to leave this 1st comics entry with a photo the Dark Horse archive reprint of the 1st 9 issues.



the facial expression on many these painted covers are classic, do yourself a favor and google it....

SETTING UP AN OSR CAMPAIGN

   

Unlike my adventures in Dungeons and Dragons 5e where we cracked the original starter set, rolled up characters, I spent a day reading it and we started playing and then used the essentials kit to expand the world.  Returning to my OSR roots to reframe the game was a bit of a challenge.  I originally started playing 1st Edition somewhere around 1978.  So I remembered it took us along time to figure out 1e correctly and picking up B/X a few years later we played with both pretty interchangeably with all the bumps you imagine that entails. In the end I want to say we were playing a B/X style game without the racial and class limitations  and whatever else we liked best from 1e. and for us it worked.  Fast forward nearly 40 years, the whole OSR movement, retro clones  from OSRIC, to Labyrinth Lord… I am a big fan of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG as well and the gonzo sword and sorcery nature that it captures so well.

Old School -My original books purchased in 78-79

Running an intro game of D&D for 12-14 years olds, I knew B/X was the way to go and I was a happy sometime last year in my You Tube feed to find people talking about Old School Essentials, while the basic game was too limiting for my tastes, the Advanced version was right up my alley as a better more concise version of the game I remember I used to run that we loved so much.

 

New Old School.......

Like any good home game I have my share of  optimal and house rules to tailor the game to my group.

We are using many optional rules, like Advanced Character Creation, Ascending Armor Class (starting kids with 5e, THACO seemed like not something I wanted to bring into the mix), Weapon Proficiency’s  and Specialization,  we separate Race and Class , 1e style.. I added bonus spell slots for higher Intelligence and Wisdom scores, knowing my kids as I do, they were not going to dig casting 1 spell without having to rest for 8 hours..So when you read about a second level wizard having 4 spells, that’s why.  To counter that I make them roll to cast everytime they fire off a spell , on “1” you miscast and I have a not too horrible miscast chart, that can kill you if you roll bad enough, a 20 gives the spell maximum effect.  We use a converted %  to d20 roll for Thieves Skills to keep it easy and lastly I softened up Death a bit , at 0 hit points you are unconscious ,  up to -10 Hp you get a Death Save…Save or Die negative modifiers may apply…beyond -10 you are just plain dead.

 House rules aside, I then choose a meat grinder of module to get started with Greg Gillespie’s  fantastic Barrowmaze,  I was a recent participant in his last Kickstarter and picked up the hardcover and PDF of the 10th Anniversary edition.  I love his minimalist setting I knew I could make great use of it as intro before dropping them into the Barrowmaze itself.

 

I thought I was pretty smart when I realized Gillespies map of his world was taken from the old "wilderness survival" board game that was used by the TSR guys as either the inspiration for Greyhawk or Blackmoor, I dont recall.

Loving  AD&D Module T1-  the Village of Hommlet as I do but having zero desire to ever run the Temple of Elemental Evil again,  I found dropping a modified Hommlet  made an easy way to get players into the story and the style of play and was pretty simple with following changes.  The new faith vs old faith dynamic of Gillespie’s world plays perfectly into the existing story structure.

major changes to original include:

-No Terjon,  The Church of St Cuthbert  becomes the Church St Ygg, Run by Y’Dey

-No Rufus and Burne, Replaced by a Castellan assigned from the Viscount of Duchy to build a Castle     in  this border Village. The  are new faith followers of St Ygg

-The druidic old faith worship Silvanus and Herne, are  represented by Jaroo, Brother Smyth and Black Jay respectively. They represents most of the long standing Villagers.

 -The Cults of Orcus, the Necromancers of Set , and secret followers of Nergal are all represented in Hommlet as agents of the factions within the Barrowmaze and the quest for the control of the Tablet of Chaos.

 The curve ball here is my players wanted to try playing some neutral, even chaotic characters this time around,  so the following  less than savory characters from the module represent these forces in Hommlet.

 -Lareth the Beautiful (replaces Elmo) as the local character who chooses to engage the PC’s.  Lareth is really an outcast of the Temple of Orcus and wishes to overthrown his former mentor Zur the Black. Doing so will require he gain much power personally as well as powerful allies, he wishes to use the PC’s to attain this goal

 -Rannos Davl and Gremag, pose as Reeves and Hugo Grimwood,  the New Proprietors of a area know family business that spans numerous cities,  The real Grimwood brothers having been deposed by these two before their arrival, They are spies and agents of the Necromancers of Set and look to undermine nosy PC’s and anyone involved with Orcus or Nergal. They are friendly and helpful to all, leaving the dirty work of disposing of bodies to their vile henchman, Egor.

-Dirk Ironside (Zert) Worshipper of Nergal, A small but secret sect who honor the death cult of Nergal aware of the goings on of the local followers of Orcus and Set, they seek to prevent the discovery of the Tablet of Chaos.

 -The infamous Moathouse is again the focus of the 1st level PC’s . Humanoid bandits have been plaguing local caravans and raiding the village.  Cleaning out the threat entrenched there is motivation for all factions to look for an opportunity to take control of the Moathouse themselves, far enough away from town to be covert base of operations for large group and expeditions into the Barrowmoor.

 While the Moathouse encounters remain only slightly modified from the original , In Hommlet , many of the names have been changed to not give away the intentions of the some of the NPC in case they should ever play the original again as its written,

 Moving ahead I’ll dig straight into the narrative of this campaign, we are well into it at this point .

The Hommlet portion is complete and the group is now approaching Helix where its first forays into the Barrowmaze are soon to occur. Being far enough ahead should allow me to write episodically pretty regularly re telling the games exploits as there is no need to catch up to the games real timeline .

 Keep an eye out for Chapter 1 of our Barrowmaze saga,  this week!

 

Monday, August 9, 2021

Welcome to Iron Shadows in the Moon

 


Welcome to Iron Shadows in the Moon.   This is (will be) classic Swords and Sorcery blog that recounts My adventures as a DM running a B/X , 1st Ed Style Dungeons and Dragons campaign with my Kids. We are using the Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy  rule system , our 1st endeavor was a retake On the classic Village of Hommlet leading not into the expected Temple of Elemental Evil but instead into the OSR’s infamous Barrowmaze of which I have the 10th Anniversary Edition., I’ll also be discussing Classic Sword and Sorcery Comics and Pulp Mags from the 70’s and well as anecdotes from my favorite Appendix N writings, if this sound likes your thing please give me follow and we all look forward to me future posts.



Tales from the OSR part 1

  The following a retelling our newest OSE campaign Barrowmaze, I used a modified gonzo version of the Village of Hommlet as a starting poin...