The "Second Campaign"

So yesterday I started talking about something I am calling the "Second Campaign".  It's not really a second one (more like a 20th one).  The idea is a set of adventures, maybe set in the same world, using classical adventures but with a new set of characters.

Now I am not yet sure I'll have the time for this but if I am setting it in the same world then I might want to lay a bit of a foundation.

So a theme that has come up a few times in my games, either D&D-like, CineUnisystem or other modern supernatural, is human(oid)s vs reptile invaders.  I first got the idea when I was going through the Fiend Folio and I noticed there were a lot of different reptile and amphibian races.

I later (likely through Chill) thought of a snake like race (maybe similar to the "Deceiver" creature) but I could have also been influenced by Doctor Who.  In any case they are there, squirming around in my brain.

I would love to take this do something with all these other cool adventures that share a theme, add a bit of backstory (not much) and maybe....just maybe run it all under Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

So here is my thought:

N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God, levels 1-3 (novice)
U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, levels 1-3
U2 Danger at Dunwater, levels 1-4
U3 The Final Enemy, levels 3-5
I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City, levels 4-7
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, levels 5-7

And that is about as far as I got.

I also have a series of "desert adventures" I want to try.

I3 Pharaoh, levels 5-7
I4 Oasis of the White Palm, levels 6-8
I5 Lost Tomb of Martek, levels 7-9
X4 Master of the Desert Nomads, levels 6-9
X5 Temple of Death, levels 6-10
I9 Day of Al'Akbar, level 8-10.
Gary Gygax's Necropolis, levels 10+

I could fold them into each other.  There are 13 here, so I like that number.  But they all don't fit in together thematically, unless I am saying that Set is somehow involved.  Which could be cool really.

I don't have a copy of Day of Al'Akbar anymore and it has not shown up yet on DriveThruRPG.  So I could make it 12 adventures.

Also I could take a page out of True20 and just have everyone go up a level at the end of each adventure.  It would make things easy.  If so then AS&SH might just be the right choice.  I would want to ratchet up the pulp feel.  But not really use any Lovecraftian beasties.  I am kinda burned out on them really.

Something to consider anyway.

Warlocks, part 2

Over the past week I had the chance to run an AS&SH game and loved it.  My only request to my players was for someone to play a Warlock character.  That was also really fun.

I have never really considered the warlock much. But I have been thinking a lot about the warlock as a class in D&D of late.  There is a Warlock in Eldritch Witchery. It is a type of Wizard basically. I liken it to "Wizard Grad School" to be honest.  They use the same spells as the witch and gain a few extra powers.

The AS&SH warlock is something more akin to a swordmage.  We see something similar in D&D4 Essentials Hexblade.  In general I liked the D&D4 Warlock.  They were a class that wanted quick access to power and none of the work that Wizards had to do.  That was a fine role-playing excuse, but not something that played out in the rules.  Warlocks gained powers just like the Wizards did and had no more or no less requirements.

The Warlocks in Fantastic Heroes & Witchery are another sort.  It is a chaos aligned wizard and has a lot of the same features really.  It uses the same xp per level tables, same HD and same spell progressions.  The FHW Warlock does gain some power, similar in many ways to my own witch, but at a cost.  On the surface this doesn't make it much different than a wizard, with a different selection of spells.  What makes this class, and really this book, different are the selection of spells (the book has 666) and the additional rules for acquiring magic and casting spells.  Adding this material makes the Warlock a much more interesting character.

The Pact-Bound in Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is another warlock-like class.  Again the idea here is a class that takes a quick path to power for a price, usually to an other worldly power.

There is a similar one in the pages of the ACKS Player's Companion.

In the 3e era we have a couple of "warlocks".  There is a warlock in the Complete Arcane and the witch in Pathfinder, which always felt more like a warlock to me.

Somewhere at the intersection of all these warlocks is the one I want to play.

These are the features I am looking for:
- spontaneous spellcasting
- same spells as the witch or at least some sort of connection
- pacts with other worldly powers that grant the warlock power
- shortcuts to power, so they should get more spells faster, but maybe fewer as time goes on.
- some idea of corruption. Warlocks should be unnatural and not part of this world anymore.

Going to be playing around with this a lot more in the new year.

2013 Game of the Year

2013 was a great year for gaming personally.  I got to try out a lot of old things, which is fun, and had a chance to try out some new games as well.  I got to play a lot of Basic and 1st Ed AD&D with my kids, do a little more with 3e, started both a Pathfinder and 4e game.  The Pathfinder game kicks up again next year and I just got a notification about my 4e game just two days ago (on Tuesday, so I guess this post was premature).

But of all the games I tried out only one really grabbed me this year.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

Today we played a very Howard inspired "rescue the princess before the Old God is awakened" sort of deal.  It was fun and I borrowed a lot from Spellcraft & Swordplay and Call of Cthulhu for this one.
We had an Atlantean warlock, a Keltic Bard, Kimmerian fighter and a "Norse" Cleric.  It was a lot of fun.

For my money it is the best of the "Dark Fantasy" games on the market right now.
I hope I get to play it more in 2014.

If you don't yet have this game then you are really, really missing out on some fun.

AS&SH and Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts: Plays Well With Others

I often buy games together. Recently my two purchases were Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts. While not explicitly designed for each other, they share a common DNA in terms of Basic D&D via the d20 SRD.

AS&SH has a number of new classes, in particular magic-using  ones.  MT&DP is nothing but new classes and spells. AS&SH is a grittier, almost primitive, experience. MT&DP is straight up Basic/Expert/LL with spells that go up to level 10.   So where does the commonalty lie?

Ok take the MT&DP classes and limit them to 12 levels only.  Typically not an issue. And in some cases also reduce the spells to just 6th level.  Use the Magician as the base class. As far as the powers each class gets, well I would deal with them on a class by class basis.  Maybe give them some of the spells as powers.

Let's take the classes in detail.

Cleric and Wizard 
These classes are pretty much the standard archetypes, use the classes in AS&SH instead and swap out spells as desired.

Elven Swordmage and Elven Warder
These classes can't be used, no elves, but you could make a Swordmage or Warder and split their Casting Ability and Fighting Ability evenly.

Enchanter
Similar to the other Sub-classes"

Fleshcrafter 
This class has so much potential in AS&SH.  Given the horror elements in the game (and even the mythos elements) this classes takes on a more malevolent tone.

Healer
A subclass of the cleric. I would reduce the fighting ability, so "0" for levels 1, 2, 3; "1" for 4, 5, 6 and so on for a maximum of of 4.

Inquisitor, Merchant Prince, Unseen
I think these guys would work a little like the warlocks.  The warlock is a bit of a fighter and mage, so these classes are all a bit like thieves and mages.

Necromancer
AS&SH has a necromancer. Just use these spells.

Pact-Bound
This is closer to the concept of the Warlock

Theurge
These guys are neat ideas.  They are close to what would be a cultist in AS&SH. Spellcasters learning from long lost liturgical texts.

So a lot of really good choices.   Honestly there plenty of class choices in AS&SH already, but these can give your game an interesting twist.  Plus they feel right together.

Links

• Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts
• Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Red Sonja: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

My exploration of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea continues with one of the more iconic Barbarian characters ever.

Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes by BelleChere

Red Sonja of course comes with a Hyperborean pedigree. Though maybe not as much as say Conan, but Conan isn't a red head rocking a scalemail bikini either.

I went back to look over her builds for both Spellcraft & Swordplay as well as Barbarians of Lemuria.  The intersection of both games could be best described as Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

I thought also that given the level maximums I'd raise her to 10th level.

Red Sonja of Hyrkania
Barbarian (Fighter): 10th Level
Race: Hyrkanian (similar to the Vikings)
Secondary Skill: Hunter/Trapper

Strength: 18*
Dexterity: 16*
Constitution: 17*
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 11
Charisma: 18

Casting Ability: 0
Fighting Ability: 10

Hit Points: 76
Alignment: Chaotic Good
AC: 4 (special scale mail)
Weapon Mastery: Sword, Battle Axe (2 attacks per round)

+2 bonus to all saves

I think it is a good build to be honest.  A lot of the Barbarian powers/abilities work well with the concept as to be expected.  I didn't list them all here; they are in the book.

Looking forward to seeing what else I can do with this game.

Skylla: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

My love affair with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea continues. Please don't tell my other games.

Given that I was thinking about an AS&SH witch yesterday and in light of their sale that it might be a good idea to give Skylla a try.  Also I would like to compare this Skylla to the Dragon Magazine and Eldritch Witchery versions since I think thematically they will be the closest.

In many ways the Witch from AS&SH really captures the concept I have of Skyll very, very well.  Not just in terms of being a witch, but as something half forgotten out of a misty past.  AS&SH Skylla might be the most dangerous one yet.

Skylla in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea 
As with the other write-ups I am going with 7th level.  I will try to find similar spells, but when the option arises to take a "witchier" spell, I'll take that.

If I had to name a Tradition for her it might be something like a Cthonic or even a Hyperborean one.
Abilities with an asterisk are her prime abilities. In this case, Intelligence and Charisma.

Skylla, 7th Level Witch (AS&SH)
Race: Common (but could be Atlantean or Hyperborean)
Secondary Skill: Scribe

Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 15*
Wisdom: 11
Charisma: 12*

Casting Ability: 7
Fighting Ability: 3

Hit Points:  20
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection +1)

Powers
1st level: Brew Potions (x3), Read Magic, Scribe Scroll, Familiar (small demon - raven)
3rd level: Brew Love Philtre
5th level: Dance of Beguilement, Effigy
7th level: Animate Broom

Spells 
First: Charm Person, Detect Magic, Light, Sleep, Shocking Grasp
Second: Detect Invisibility, Levitate, Locate Object, Ray of Enfeeblement
Third: Phantasm, Witch Fire
Fourth: Shock Wave

Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Dagger +1, Broom

More powers and a wider variety of spells. Plus in these rules she gains bonus 1st and 2nd level spells due to her high intelligence.  The powers are most similar to the Dragon #20 witch which is no surprise; we are all pulling from the same sources.  I honestly was not expecting huge differences here.

Looking over the spells and some of the magic items I can see how you can get a whole lot of play out of just 12 levels in this game.

Other Skylla writeups

• AD&D Magic User (6th level)
• Spellcraft & Swordplay Warlock (7th level)
• Dragon Magazine #20

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea: Witch

I know I want to play a witch character from Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea some time.  And I want to play it as the rules are written, not adding in anything from my own books.  I think that would be a lot of fun.

I am not sure when I am going to do this, or where, or what the character will be like, but I know what the witch will look like:


Witch (finished) by *bloodyman88 on deviantART


Witch by *bloodyman88 on deviantART

I love the colored version, but it was the B/W one that caught my eye first.

It might not really be pulpy enough for AS&SH, but I really think it is cool.
What do you think is this AS&SH or is it more Pathfinder?

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea on Sale now

From now till Dec 4 you can get the amazing Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea in pdf for only $7.50!

That is an absolute steal!
Get this now while you can. This is my current favorite Old-School game.

Return to the Keep

We got a chance to get back to the Keep on the Borderlands and the Cave of Chaos today.  They cleared out one cave system and high-tailed it back to the keep to report on the growing threat.  The characters took some time to heal, regroup and restock.

The NPCs that had been travelling with them will come back, the Cinco Hermanos (the Keep is modeled in my game after Spanish missons and castles, so everyone in the Keep speaks Spanish).  They have also picked up a couple of other characters. An assassin pretending to be a thief, a healer (NPC) and a Forester (or maybe an Unseen).  The Healer and the Unseen are classes from Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts.  The wizard of the group is going to drift more towards Pyromancy so I am going to let my son use the Pyromancer spells from Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.   This will work out well since I am gong to start drifting towards my "older, bolder, colder" world that AS&SH supports.

They have not run into Dr. Zabaza yet, but I'll keep you all posted!

This group doesn't have a name yet.  I'll need to figure something out.

Spamming Hyperborea

So I was going back over some AS&SH posts in prep for today's game and I saw this as a comment:

I am Alan from Finland and I have always look forward for this day to tell the world about the the great powers of Dr.Zabaza. This great man called Dr.Zabaza was able to bring back my lover who left me, And within the space of 48 hours Dr.Zabaza brought my lover back and since then my love life have been more lovely and peaceful than i ever had. You can also strengthen your relationship or get your lover back by contacting Dr.Zabaza on zabaza.logan@XXXX.com or call him on +XXXXXXXXXXXXX and i assure you that you will get a better relationship after the help of Dr.Zabaza

You can read the original here: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-weekend-in-hyperborea.html

I think Dr. Logan Zabaza needs to become my next evil NPC.  Obviously some sort of evil wizard. Given that "Alan" is from Finland maybe some LotFP influences should be added!

My Weekend in Hyperborea

I spent some quality time this past weekend reading and rereading the rules for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

I have to say. The more I read the more I like them.
For starters there is a real B/X feel about these rules I like. Simple, intuitive and easy to run.  Not that say AD&D or 3e are difficult rulesets, but there is more given to flow of play with these rules. Plus it goes for that same sweet spot of play that Adventurer Conqueror King goes after.

I also feel, in all honesty, that this is the best combination of "D&D" and "Cthulhu Myths" I have ever read.
It captures the nihilism of Lovecraft's world view extremely well and infuses it with the proper amount of horror.  Building on a world that is, as I have been taking to call it, "Older, Bolder and Colder".
I do have Realms of Crawling Chaos for Labyrinth Lord, and I think it is great.  This just has a better Lovecraftian vibe to it really.
What I like most of all is how it makes even "mundane" monsters seem weird and alien. I was rereading the Gelatinous Cube and thinking of it as horror beyond reality now, not just some stupid slime that cleans dungeons.

I have been wanting to use it for some time now to flesh out my own Hyperborea (for my own play, not publish!) and it is perfect.

Since I have been reading a ton of Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs and of course Clark Ashton Smith this is really the best rules to get after that weird, Pulp Horror.

I was looking over the rules and the classic adventures I want to run, and thought it might just be perfect.  While I would prefer to use this system, my boys are committed to AD&D proper.   I might though slip in a rule here and some monsters there.   Thankfully AS&SH is perfect for this.question for

In fact I think I know how I am going to bring this all together.
But I think that reveal might need to wait till another posting.  I am missing one key ingredient.

Though it would totally fit my need to use the older modules, bring them up to date for a post-Drizzt crowd and use my "Older, Bolder, Colder" ideas.  


Links
Unboxing
Review
Mystoerth: Hyborea / Hyperborea

Unboxing: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Every Halloween I buy myself a new game or game supplement.  Usually something with a horror theme.
I got mine 2013 one last night.

Nice big box from Noble Knight Games.  What's inside?

OOOO  a Game in a Red Box!

Nice thick spiral bound books and dice that I have to color in!  No crayon though.

The Witch class looks awesome.

Lots of character sheets!

And a big hex map of the lands beyond the North Wind.

Cool back of the box.

Looks great with my other boxed games.

And I saved some space for it on my OSR/Clone shelf.

So far I am far, far more pleased with this game than I have a right to be!  In fact I like it even more than the when I reviewed the PDF back in March.   I think it is because I have been spending most of my summer and fall reading the Pulp/Appendix N classics.  I was always a fan of Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, but I have been reading Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter,Pellucidar) and Robert E. Howard.
This game is called "Weird Tales: The RPG" in the Forward, I think that is very, very apt.  And since Weird Tales is my new current favorite thing to read, I really enjoy this.

I talked before about wanting to add a Hyborea/Hyperboria to my own world/playing and this might is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to do.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea covers a lot of the same ground as Adventurer, Conquer, King. But the ground in AS&SH is older, colder and has the foot prints of unnamed horrors.

Among other things this game is one of the best I have seen that mix the Lovecraftian Horrors and classic "AD&D" demons together into a believable whole.

Expect me to be going on (and on and on) about this game in the future.

Review: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

There is just something about a big red box for games.

I have not been able to get Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea in it's big red box form, but I do have it on PDF, and let me say it is really nice.
So what do you get with this?  Well there is a 256 page player's book, 240 page Referee's book, a map of Hyperborea and pdfs of the Box Covers.  So all in all about 500 pages worth of old school playing goodness.

Now there is a lot here that is old hat for the experienced role-player and some that is similar to many of the OSR games.  That all being said it does also make it a great intro game for anyone and there is a still so much here for the old-timers that I don't feel a page is wasted.

The Players Book focuses on making characters, magic and combat.  So ability scores are covered, alignment and classes.  Most of this is the same as say D&D or S&W, but there are enough little changes to make it worth your notice.
for starters the races of Hyperborea are all human-centric.  So we have Amazons, Kelts, Kimmerian, Vikings and Hyperboreans among others.  All what I call the "Conan" races.
Let's move to the classes. There are the four basic classes, the Fighter, Magician, Cleric and Thief.  But each also has 4 to 6 subclasses. Fighter has the Barbarian, Berserker, Cataphract, Paladin, Ranger and Warlock.  The Magician has Illusionist, Necromancer, Pyromancer and Witch. The Cleric has the Druid, Monk, Priest,  and Shaman.  Finally the Thief has the Assassin, Bard, Legerdemainist and Scout.
Each subclass is very much like it's parent classes with some changes.  The classes look pretty well balanced. I liked the bard as a single class option (nice to have and not something that we had in 1979).  I would love to try out the Necromancer, Witch and Warlock and I know my son would love to try the Pyromancer.
Each class has a "Fighting Ability" and a "Magic Ability" which relates to attacks. So yes, even magicians can get a little better in combat as they go up in level.  It's a great little shorthand and works great.  So a 4th level Fighter has a fighting ability of 4. A 4th level magician still only has a fighting ability of 1 and a cleric 3 and thief 3.  Sub classes can and do vary.

AC is descending (like old school games), BUT with the Fighting Ability stat it could be converted to an ascending AC easy. There are background skills and weapon skills.

The next 90 or so pages deals with magic and all the spells.  The max spell level is 6. Not a bad number really and that is still plenty of spells.

The last 60 pages of the Player's book deals with combat in all it's forms. So combat, mass combat, saves and conditions.  A great collection really of some of the "Best of" ideas I have seen in many games, but it all works really nice here.

The Referee's Manual is next.
It is nearly as big (240 pages vs 256).
The first half is fully devoted to monsters.  The format is most similar to Basic or Labyrinth Lord, and it is full of the usual suspects with some notable exceptions.  For starters this book includes the Demons (but not the devils).  It does NOT include any dragons. But to make up for it there are many of the "Lovecraft" races such as the Great Race, Elder Things and fish men.  Great inclusion.

The next 50 or so pages covers treasure. Among the magic items are things like Radium Pistols and other sc-fi artifacts. Very pulpy.

Finally we end with the Hyperborea Gazetteer. A great bit that I can easily drop into my game. The lands are a pastiche of Howard, Vance, Lovecraft and Smith.  If these names mean anything to you then you know, or have an idea, of what you are going to get here.

All together this is a package of such great ideas I can't wait to use it somewhere.

For me this would work perfect a "Hyperbora" in my own Mystoerth world.  I would include my own White Orcs in any AS&SH game though.  The witch is a nice class, I would supplement some of my own rules for it.

With the GM's sales going on this is a great buy. You can also buy the print version from their website (and find other goodies too). http://www.swordsmen-and-sorcerers.com/.

This game is so full of potential. Whether you play it as is or as a supplement to your favorite old-school game.