The Other Side blog: Search results for tsojcanth

Showing posts sorted by relevance for query tsojcanth. Sort by date Show all posts

Thursday, February 13, 2025

In Search Of...Drelnza, Iggwilv's Treasure

Drelnza holding Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn aloft.
Art by Jeff Easley, 2012.

My son is getting ready to run Module S4, The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth, one of my all-time favorite adventures. And as it turns out I recently re-acquired my original S4 from my old DM's collection. So I have that, the 5e version from Quests from the Infinite Staircase, the 3e extension, and other variants so I am well prepared to help him out.

Then he asked about Drelnza.

Of course I know who she is in the context of this adventure. I know who she is in relationship to Iggwilv, but beyond that...there is just not a lot about her. So I set out to discover more. Was she once a Lawful Good Paladin? Who was her father? How did she become a vampire? I might not be able to answer all these questions, but I will give them a try as I go In Search of Drelnza, Iggwilv's Treasure.

In Search Of...Drelnza, Iggwilv's Treasure

What can we say we know for certain?

Drelnza (sometimes Drelzna) is a vampire found in the spherical chamber guarding Iggwilv's stash of magical treasure.

She is called "Iggwilv's Treasure" and is her daughter. Whether that is a biological daughter can be debated.

She is a standard vampire in the original S4 for AD&D 1st Ed. In later editions, she gets a few upgrades, including fighter (or Samurai) levels and a really powerful sword (named "Heretic").

What is tantalizing about her is how little we really know.

From reading the original Winter Con V version of the adventure, we do know that she was originally just a "vampiress lord" sleeping on a stone slab, a bit like Sleeping Beauty, and designed to catch the characters and players off guard. It is a ruse that is only likely to be used once and lampooned in the later Castle Greyhawk adventure "Temple of Really Bad Dead Things."

Outside of that, there is very, very little about her in the adventure itself. However, I have learned that on Oerth-Prime, she was killed by Melf.

Drelnza's Life and Unlife

Nearly nothing is known here. We have one tidbit of information, though. The warlock Mary Greymalkin is the daughter of Drelnza and an Eladrin. This makes Mary the grand-daughter of Iggwilv. Something I should explore more.

According to the Dastardly Decimal System Podcast, Drelnza was a warrior Princess. I like the idea of her being something akin to Xena.

In any case, she must have had Mary while she was young, which means she is not a very old vampire at all.

Who's Your Daddy?

Gary never confirmed, or even really knew, who Drelnza's father was. He firmly left that in the hands of the players to decide in their own games if they ever felt the need. According to Dragon Magazine #336 (October 2005), Drelnza was born between 481 and 491 CY. But this seems really late into Iggwilv's rule of Perrenland and not long enough ago to be "centuries" since Iggwilv was last seen. Reminder the "current" year in Greyhawk is considered to be 591 CY.

In the article "History Check: The Iggwilv-Graz’zt Affair" from Dragon #414 it is stated that her father is still unknown and she might be the only being in the multi-verse Iggwilv ever truly loved. So I'd like to think she was born early enough in Tasha's/Iggwilv's life when she was still capable of loving someone.

Let's say that Iggwilv conquers Perrenland with her undead army in 481 CY. She is a Queen, but she needs a general, and who better to be a general of her undead army than her own vampire daughter, who also happens to be an excellent fighter (or even paladin/anti-paladin).

So, her exact date of birth is really in question (by me), but honestly, I would push it back to the 460s or even the 450s. This would give Drelnza time to grow into a woman, have her own child (Mary), and then get turned into a vampire, likely something caused by Iggwilv herself.

As for her father, there are many interesting prospects here. Let's look at them one by one.

Graz'zt

He has been the father of Iuz since his time with Iggwilv, but it is almost universally agreed that he is not the father of Drelnza.

Mordenkainen

Now here is an interesting idea. I like the idea that Iggwilv, maybe when she was still known as Tasha, and Mordenkainen having an illicit affair resulting in a daughter. The basic trouble here is one of timing. Back when Iggwilv/Tasha was young she had not met Graz'zt yet and it widely held that Iuz is older than Drelnza. Unless Drelnza is older, but was turned into a vampire and the age refers to her "living" age. Still...the timing is not exactly right.

Ok. So not Drelnza's father, but maybe there is another child out there where Mordy and Tasha are the parents. Maybe this is the origin of the "Son of Pohjola" who she gave birth to on an alternate Earth?

Orcus

This is who I went with when I created the Noidan Tytär, or the Daughters of Iggwilv. However, I think I will stick with this for Iggwilv's Nine Daughters. I feel less inclined these days to make Drelnza among their number. This means Noidan Tytär, Iuz, and Drelnza are all half-siblings.

Tsojcanth

We also don't have many details on who Tsojcanth was. The ever-helpful OSR Grimoire features a bit of an interview with Gary about Tsojcanth, stating he was a powerful wizard, and almost certainly Good and human. This contradicts what is presented in Iggwilv's Legacy: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. I am more inclined to go with Gary's notion that Tsojcanth was human and good if not Lawful Good. The "fiend" Tsojcanth feels lazy and dull to me. Not to say he was not corrupted later on, but it still feels lazy. Plus it just means that Tsojcanth is the same as Iuz, only instead of Graz'zt and Iggwilv it is Fraz-Urb'luu and Vilhara. Even down to the imprisoning. No. We can do better.

I am more likely to go with Tsojcanth dying and Fraz-Urb'luu pretending to be Tsojcanth turned evil.

So let's say Tsojcanth was a lawful good wizard. Iggwilv in her search for more power seduces and corrupts him (she is evil, after all) but there is an unexpected consequence; Drelnza. Drelnza becomes a fighter, no, a lawful good Paladin, until Iggwilv twists her into her "treasure" and makes her a chaotic evil Anti-Paladin Vampire.

I like it. It is evil, devious, and filled with tragedy.

BUT the dates don't work here either since Tsojcanth was also supposed to have been dead for centuries.

Lerrek

One last choice comes from The Oerth Journal. In Issue #13 Lerrek (and sometimes "Lerrik") is mentioned as the father of "Drelzna." According to author Andy Seale (aka Fallon, Ranger-Sage of the Vesve), Drelzna was born in 453 CY.

Now this is from a fan publication, but the Oerth Journal has some weight behind it, and in the absence of other details we might as well use it.

Given her two "birth" years, I am going to say she was born in 453 CY and turned into a vampire between 481 and 491 CY. That 453 CY works well with my own thoughts on when she should have been born.

Ultimately, I guess it doesn't really matter who Drelnza's father was. The more important relationship is between her and her mother Iggwilv.

In the current state of things, Iggwilv is shedding her past to become the new Arch Fey Zybilna, and her alignment is drifting from Chaotic Evil to Chaotic Neutral. I guess we all slow down as we get older. While it is often stated that Iggwilv truly loved her daughter, I don't think there would really be a joyous family reunion even if Drelnza had somehow survived.

Still. I would like to say she did somehow and is still out there somewhere in the Multi-verse. Is she searching for her mother? And if so what will happen if they meet up again after so many years apart?

Sounds like something I might want to run someday.

Drelnza welcomes the characters to Iggwilv's treasure room

Links

The Adventures

My previous posts

Drelnza wiki entries

Forgotten Realms Wiki

Iggwilv's Legacy: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

OSR Grimoire

Friday, November 20, 2020

#FollowFriday: Tasha / Iggwilv on the Web

It is another Follow Friday here and since we are wrapping up Tasha's Week of Everything I thought it might be nice to detail some of the sites on the web and social media that feature Iggwilv, Tasha, and items from her history.

The Web

Tasha from HeroForge

Lots of great stuff here really.

Greyhawk Online has a wiki full of details.

Likewise, the Forgotten Realms wiki has some entries for her.

She has even made appearances in Golarion from the Pathfinder wiki. In particular as a former Queen of Irrisen. According to the Golarion timeline, she ruled 4113 AR to 4213 AR (current year 4720 AR).

If you want some fiction about Tasha/Iggwilv then there is Tommy John Kelly's Greyhawk Stories Page.

Iggwilv: Mother of Witches

Greyhawk Online has a number of posts featuring S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.

Blogs

Iggwilv from HeroForge

Lots of people have had some words about Iggwilv in the blogging circles too. Here are some of them

James over at Grognardia gives her an uncharacteristically brief mention in his post about The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.

Sean McG has written up an extensive post on the publication history of Iggwilv, which he keeps updated at the Power Score.

Mike Bridges at Greyhawkery also has a few posts.

And of course, Greyhawk Grognard has some posts. Though he is not as enamored with the adventure as I am.

Blogger Trent over at The Mystical Trash Heap has some thoughts on S4 as well.

Paleologos at the OSR Grimoire has a post on Drelnza the Vampiress Lord and talks a lot about the original Lost Caverns of Tsojconth.

Social Media

Baba Yaga from HeroForge

There is a ton of social media out there. What places are best for Iggwilv and Tasha?

Facebook

Twitter

The Greyhawk Channel
Bards of Greyhawk
Greyhawk Grognard
Iggwilv, the Baddest Witch (not active for a bit)

MeWe

YouTube

Like his blog? Well, GreyhawkGrognard is also on YouTube.

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Classic Adventures Revisited: S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

One of my all-time favorite adventures is S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.

A solid two-level dungeon crawl, filled with new monsters, dangers, and the promise of great treasures. Additionally, there are rumors of an ancient witch/archmage and her battles with demons and even the threat that some of those demons are still around. There is plenty of wilderness area as well. A wide expanse with a gnome community nearby and a raging blue dragon.

With its "Booklet 2" filled with new spells, magic circles, and demons it made me think that a witch class with ritual magic could be something that would work for D&D.

There is so much great stuff in and around this adventure it is hard to know where to begin. So let's start with the adventure itself.

S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

The adventure, S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, was published back in 1982 by TSR. It was written by none other than Gary Gygax himself. It is listed as "S4" and was the last of the labeled "S series" or Special modules. This includes some of the most popular adventures ever written; S1 Tomb of Horrors, S2 White Plume Mountain, and S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

The adventure itself is comprised of two 32 page booklets. The first book is the adventure itself, which I will get into detail in a bit. The second booklet covers all sorts of new magic, monsters, and more.

Book 1: The Adventure

The adventure is of the classic sort; the rumor of treasure and a vague threat coming from an area of the map known as Iggwilv's Horn. The adventure is designed for characters level 6 to 10. I have found over the last 40 years that it can be adapted to a variety of levels, though higher levels are better. Though the original tournament adventure featured slightly lower levels. Likely due to the addition of the wilderness adventure.

The wilderness adventure is actually well put together and not the older crazy random monster encounters. The encounters make sense for the area. Among the encounters are the Hermit, and I could not help make this the same hermit from Keep on the Borderlands (also a Gygax creation) and the Blue Dragon. The Blue Dragon, in particular, became so much a hit the first time I ran this that in future runnings of this I changed the dragon to Korbundar from CM2 Death's Ride to have a reoccurring villain. A lot of adventure is packed into 12 pages.

The second part of the adventure covers the Lost Caverns themselves, which includes the Lesser and Greater caverns. This features a large variety of new monsters, some living here, some just wandering around. Even encounters such as "The Garden of One Thousand Earthly Delights" have a good (enough) reason to be there.

The final encounter is in the center of the Greater Caverns and it is not for Iggwilv's Treasure, but rather against Iggwilv's Treasure; the vampire Drelnza. She is a bit more powerful than your average vampire and she has magic to help her out. Eventually, she will succumb to heroes and the treasure will be found including the infamous Demonomicon of Iggwilv, Daoud's Wonderous Lanthorn, and the Prison of Zagig.

Book 2: Monsters and Magic

This second booklet, as I have mentioned, grabbed my attention as much as the first, if not more. Listed inside were new monsters, only some appeared in the adventure, including new demons and demon lords. There were the mysterious Xag-ya and Xeg-yi, the Derro and the awkwardly named (for the early 80s) Valley Elf. All these creatures would later be reprinted in the Monster Manual II for 1st Edition. This is fitting since the original tournament adventure introduced monsters that would become part of the first Monster Manual. There are some magic items including some wonderful artifacts mentioned above. Of these The Demonomicon of Iggwilv capture not just my imagination, but that of hundreds of others. The Demonomicon became a feature in Dragon Magazine and even a 4e book of the same name. Iggwilv went from a "long-dead archmage" to "The Mother of Witches" and the premiere demonologist in D&D. This little booklet also contains plenty of new spells.

This was classic AD&D at the end of its 1st Golden Age.

The adventure is extremely playable and I have adapted it over the years for AD&D 2nd ed, D&D 3rd, and 5th Editions as well.

If you want to play it for 5th Edition D&D then the team over at Classic Modules Today has made a 5e conversion.

There are also maps you can print out with DM's notes.

And other realistic maps also for printing.

The Sequels

The first true sequel to this adventure was WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (though no WG1-3 were made*). This was published the same year and dealt with a Temple of Tharizdun. It was designed to be played right after S4 and used the same wilderness map. The adventure fits in well enough. I justified in my games by saying that Iggwilv, like Tsojcanth before her, chose this area due to its arcane and eldritch properties. The adventure also has a wealth of information on the World of Greyhawk and Tharizdun. All of these will be explored later in Gary Gygax's novel series about Gord the Rogue.

S4 and WG4 would also get a review in White Dwarf #44 and both get 9/10 from Jim Bambra. He calls them the last of the Golden Age adventures.

*The rumor is that WG1 was Village of Hommlet, WG2 Temple of Elemental Evil and WG3 was The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, or Tsojconth in the original.

Another sequel of sorts was The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga. Published much later in 1995 for 2nd Ed AD&D and written by Lisa Smedman, this adventure was labeled "S5" but it never appears in any of the classic reprints of the S Series adventures. While the connection is little more than any of the other "S" series, there is the connection of Iggwilv, then Tasha as the adopted daughter of Baba Yaga. Lisa Smedman would also work on Ravenloft and ShadowRun. Some Ravenloft monsters make their way into this adventure.

Yet again another sequel, this time for 3.5 D&D, was published in 2007. Iggwilv's Legacy was published in Dungeon Magazine in October 2007 and appeared for free on Wizard's of the Coast website well into the 4e era. Sadly no longer available, it added another level to the caverns to explore, The Hollow of the Horn, the areas left behind by Tsojancth himself with the implication that even Iggwilv was afraid of these areas. The adventure and the additions were converted and updated to 3rd Edition. I ran this version for my family at their first Gen Con in 2009. Here we meet the half-demon archmage Tsojcanth and his vile witch mother Vilhara.

The Reprints

As part of the much-loved S-series, the Lost Caverns of Tsojanth has been reprinted twice. Both times bundled with the other three S-series adventures.

The first reprint was called Realms of Horror and it was all the S-series adventures combined into a loosely tied together "Super Module" that was all the rage in the late 80s. All the maps were reprinted in a small booklet and personally, I found them harder to read.

The second reprint was the more faithful reprint from Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons of Dread, in 2013.

The Original Tournament Adventure

The original tournament adventure, the Lost Caverns of Tsojconth (note the spelling) appeared at the Wintercon V game convention in 1976. This would have been akin to a playtest version of AD&D. Also Iggwilv is described as being dead, and male.

While the adventure does not feature the wilderness areas, the caverns seem to have a more mystical bent to them, with the center "nexus" described as the connection point between worlds to help explain all the new and weird monsters in it. It would make sense, to be honest, and help explain why Tsojcanth and later Iggwilv possessed it.

Paleologos at the OSR Grimoire talks a lot about the original Lost Caverns of Tsojconth.

The era of 1976-1978 was an interesting time and lead to some interesting styles of play. We had the Holmes Basic Set and the B1 In Search of the Unknown (1978) adventure out and we had the AD&D Monster Manual. This Holmes + Monster Manual actually became the game of choice for many. I would later play this same hybrid of D&D/AD&D in 1979.

Likely as a way to replicate that Demos Sachlas/Paleologos over at the Vaults of Pandius recreated the original tournament adventure, along with some descriptions from the full 1982 S4 adventure and reformated it to fit the style of B1 to give us a "Holmes version of the Lost Caverns of Tsojconth." This adventure is a tight 16 pages with two more pages for maps. It feels like a late 70s offering. Reading through it I do get the feeling that B1 and S4 could be bookends of a classic 70s adventure series. All it is missing a nice monochrome cover. I might need to mock one up someday.

Greyhawk Online has a side-by-side comparison of the 1976 Tsojconth and the 1982 Tsojcanth.

If you want to buy your own Noble Knight Games has one on sale for only $7,195.50. If you are worried that is overpriced it does come with the original zip-lock bag.

Playing in Hyperborea

Normally at this point in my Revisted posts I would talk about using this adventure with other games. But instead, I think I just want to focus purely on Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

A while back I posted about HS4 The Lost Caverns of Acheron, a Hyborian Age reskinning of S4 from the Hyborian Age site dedicated to the d20 Conan RPG. They have a lot of adventures including some reskinned ones on their Adventures in the Hyborian Age page. But it is S4 that interests me today.

Combining this idea with the Holmes flavored Tsojconth above you could have a perfect game for AS&SH. The idea came to me while reading Eric Fabiaschi's Swords & Stitchery blog. He even pointed to me that he had done exactly this.

The pulp sensibilities of Gygax's adventures comes through in S4 with vampires in lost temples, ancient eldritch forces, and strange creatures from beyond. Pairing this with AS&SH and the Lost Caverns of Acheron turns it up to 11 as it were.

With its history of magic, archmages, witch queens, vampires, and demons it is no wonder that this is one of my favorite adventures. Like B1, it is one I like to come back to again and again.

Friday, April 22, 2016

A to Z of Adventure! S is for Special Series.

S is for Special Series.

Ah! The "S" modules. No series of modules have been as divisive, controversial or as fun (to me) as these. Originally just four adventures, it has one "honorary" member in my mind and two more unnumbered members. I have played in these and run them; some (like S4) many times over. These are some of my favorite adventures of all time.

Where to begin?

Well here are the modules/adventures I want to discuss.

S1 Tomb of Horrors (Ranked #3 greatest adventure of all time)
S2 White Plume Mountain (Ranked #9 greatest adventure of all time)
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
(Ranked #5 greatest adventure of all time)
S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (Ranked #22 greatest adventure of all time)

These first four are published now as part of S1-4: Dungeons of Dread.

(S5) The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga
(S6) Labyrinth of Madness
and special addition WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun.

These adventures have all been featured here many, many times.
Also, the first four have been collected into a single volume not once, but twice. Many of the adventures have also been updated for other versions of D&D.

S1: Tomb of Horrors
Depending on who you ask, this is either one of the best adventures for D&D or the worst. I enjoy this module, but it is not one I plan on running again. I ran it for my kids and they survived, but I think there are better adventures out there. It is one of those adventures that everyone talks about; often about how horribly they or someone else died in it. In the picture above, the book on the right with devil with his mouth open? Yeah. More than one ~~idiot~~character put their hand in there only to loose said hand. The big bad is that jeweled skull on the cover of the middle book.
Tomb of Horrors is often described as a meat grinder. This is true, but it is also a fun challenge and if I can be so bold, a rite of passage of the D&D gamer. You can't really call yourself a D&D gamer until you go through this.
Love it or hate it, it's place in history is solid and unmoving.

S2: White Plume Mountain
In many ways White Plume Mountain is one of my favorite adventures. It's a crazy dungeon filled with traps, monsters a few legendary weapons of vast power, all dropped into a semi-active volcano. I ran it for my kids a while back. Back then I ran it under 3rd Edition, using a 1st Edition rule base, Basic Edition characters, and some 4th edition add-ons. It was such a classic though that it all worked. My kids loved it.

S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
This was one of the first adventures I ever bought for myself. The characters (in a quasi-medieval Europe) find an ancient crashed star-ship and all the crazy alien life forms still trapped inside. Based a bit on the game Metamorphosis Alpha. I ran this for my kids a while back. My youngest LOVED it, but my oldest didn't. Which is a bit odd I thought, because he began playing with the Star Wars d20 RPG.
Still though, I personally think this is a great module.

S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and it's near sequel WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun are two of my favorite modules ever. I bought S4 my freshman year in high school and read it cover to cover. One of my favorite bits was the "sneak peak" at some of the monsters that would later appear in the Monster Manual II hardcover. It was also a rather deadly adventure. The nearby Forgotten Temple of Tharizidun then opens up a new threat of the ancient imprisoned god Tharizdun. This ties it in to the T1-4 Supermodule The Temple of Elemental Evil. But I think what I liked about it was the information on Greyhawk. We are introduced to the witch Iggwilv here. She would later become an important figure in the history of Greyhawk and D&D.
The boys loved this adventure. Combining it with WG4 and some additional material from the web it took us about 6 months to complete. Still, it was a great time.

Two other modules were later added to the "Special" Series but never had, to my knowledge, an "S" designation.

S5: The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga is one of those characters that we keep coming back to in D&D. There are at least 3 or 4 versions of The Dancing Hut adventure out there now and even for the Pathfinder game (a game very much like D&D) has her as the main bad guy for a whole series of adventures.
I am going to feature her and this adventure in my own "War of the Witch Queens" campaign that I run next.

S6: Labyrinth of Madness
Of all the "S" modules, this is the only one I know nothing about.
From what I can tell it is sort of a tribute to the kinds of dungeons we saw in the S-series. It looks like a lot of fun though.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Adventures in Hyperborea

Hat tip to Jason Vey for sharing these with me.

So if I know ANYTHING at all about Conan, likely it came from Jason Vey. In addition to being a top rate game designer, he is a Master's level scholar on Robert E. Howard. So when he shares something related to Conan, or Howard or realted topics, I pay attention.

This week he shared this with me, Adventures of the Hyborian Age. This is an older site with adventures for the Mongoose d20 Conan game. Jason is using this material for his OD&D-based Conan game which sounds fantastic.

He shared with me something he knew I would love. A Conan-flavored conversion of one of my favorite adventures of all time, S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.

The new adventure has a more Hyborian feel to it and draws heavily from Conan lore, in particular, Red Nails.

HS4 The Lost Caverns of Acheron

The adventure is, at it's heart, the same as S4. Save now it has been reskinned for the Hyborian Age and all the background has been changed.

Now maybe I have been reading a lot of Eric Fabiaschi of late (or always really) but this sounds like a PERFECT adventure for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea!

Eric has had a LOT to say about AS&SH (most of his blog) and S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. In fact he pulls in a lot of Jason Vey's own game, Amazing Adventures into the conversations too.

In fact, I am very curious to hear what Eric has to say about this adventure. (EDITED: I talked to Eric before this post went up. He has played it using AS&SH. He also pointed out my next point.)

Now AS&SH only takes us to level 12. This adventure is right up against that level limit and might even be a bit more than a party can deal with. I would alter this by having a larger party to be honest or carefully scaling the encounters.

Outside of the Hyborian skin the biggest change is the Witch-Queen Xaltana. She essentially combines the characters of Iggwilv and Drelzna into one.

So instead of this:

We get this:

It actually works out quite well. In fact, Xaltana is much more interesting than Drelzna ever was. (Sorry D!)

Appropriately the adventure takes on a more Clark Ashton Smith feel to it. This plays so well into the sequel WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. Which could in like fashion be reskinned as The Forgotten Temple of Thasaidon. Hmm. Maybe that is something to try; borrowing heavily from The Tomb-Spawn.

She would make a great Witch Queen! More on that later.

Sunday, October 16, 2022

100 Days of Halloween: Sepulcher of the Sorceress-Queen

Robert E. Howard casts a long shadow over Fantasy Role Playing in general and D&D in particular. This is best seen in two different near clones, Adventurer Conqueror King and Hyperborea. So when ACKS did an adventure that was an homage to Taramis, well I had to check it out.

Sepulcher of the Sorceress-Queen

Print and PDF. 56 pages. Color cover and interior layout art with black & white art.

For Character levels 7th to 9th.

Ok. So another tomb with a sleeping undead witch. It is a powerful trope. This one features the Sorceress-Queen Semiramis of Zahar who has been dead, but sleeping, for 1000 years. She had been betrayed by a former lover (and having killed her first 100 lovers she should have seen this one coming) and is now waiting for her chance to rise and rule again.

The adventure is part of a loosely connected series but it is mentioned that it can be used as a stand-alone adventure and placed anywhere.

The adventure involves going into her tomb, stopping her from rising, and maybe make off with some treasure. The tomb is full of undead horrors and other dangers. To make things more interesting there is a group of lizardmen in the tomb trying to do the same thing as the characters.

It then becomes a race against time, times 2. Get to the queen before she gains her full power and get to the treasures before the lizard men do.

The adventure gives us a bunch on new magic items, a new spell, and five new (ish) monsters. The adventure itself is cut from familiar cloth but the map is quite good and great for groups that like to explore old tombs.

Use with my War of the Witch Queens

For this campaign, this adventure covers more than just familiar territory. This will be the third or fourth "tomb of a long dead witch coming back to life" they have seen if I stay on current plans. So...what am I to do?

Well. I do love the map here and the tomb itself is an interesting place. Maybe...I can merge this with my other Howard/Hyperborea-influenced adventure The Lost Caverns of Acheron. I mentioned all the pluses that using this adventure gives me when I reviewed the V series from BRW Games. There is one thing I failed to mention though. I have already taken my players through module S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. Once they get to that spherical room they will remember they have been here already.

I could use this as a base and bring notes from The Lost Caverns of Acheron. I certainly do not need to run both adventures no matter how fun they are. But I also really love the idea of using Xaltana.

Do I go with Xaltana or Semiramis?

I thought maybe the unnamed Witch-Queen of Yithorium from Hyperborea might be a good substitute. Both come from the same sources. Semiramis has a name, the Witch-Queen does not (even though I named her Miriam). Semiramis is a Zaharian Sorcerer which reads a lot like a warlock or a witch and has a strong Howard/CAS vibe. Same with our Witch-Queen of Yithorium.

Yithorium is surrounded by the Zakath desert. Zahar is now described as a desolate wasteland like a desert. Ok, that's a stretch but you see where I am going here.

Why mix or merge them at all? Simple I want to get as much of all the great material out there I can for this adventure campaign and knowing full well I can never run everything. Also by picking and choosing different OSR systems, publishers, and products, I am naturally going to get similar results; we all draw from the same wells.

So in my campaign, the Sorceress-Queen Semiramis of Zahar and the Witch-Queen of Yithorium become the same person.

Maybe I'll keep Miriam around as the descendant of Semiramis. She is every bit as evil as her forebearer. Maybe Miriam leads them to the tomb in order to gain her ancestor's power but ends up getting possessed in the process. I do like this idea.

Use with my Second Campaign

My original idea for this was to run it mostly as is for my Second Campaign. I'll have to see how that one develops when the characters get to the right levels.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Return of the Dragonslayers

I got home early from work today and my boys wanted to play some D&D. Like a good Daddy I agreed.

We continued going through the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, the Lesser Caverns, and they got to the stairs to the Greater Caverns. I pulled out my 3.0 version of the Book of Vile Darkness to up the "demonic" content a bit. I figure that caverns are a stopper for the forces of the Abyss, so the boys are bound to run into the worst types of demonic scum.

The original adventure had the Greater Caverns were protected by a gorgimera. Today it was the largest abyssal chimera ever seen (well by them).

It was a great time today. Looking forward to the Greater Caverns and the search for Iggwilv's greatest treasure.

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Review: The Witch-Queen's Lament (OSRIC Adventure)

A couple of weeks back I noticed a posting in one of the Greyhawk groups on Facebook about a new adventure. It was called The Witch-Queen's Lament so you know it immediately had my attention. The adventure was designed for OSRIC and had an old-school module look and feel to it. I didn't know much about it to be honest, but I was sure I was going to get it. I went over the publisher's website, casl Entertainment, and bought a copy of the PDF and perfect bound softcover. While I was predisposed to like it, getting the PDF made me quite excited for it.

The Witch-Queen’s Lament

An adventure for character levels 6-9 (70,002 total experience points) for OSRIC or compatible games. PDF and softcover available, 95 pages.

This adventure is "compliant" (I think "compatible" is the word they want, it is "compliant" with the OGL) with OSRIC. This really means it can (read should) be used with AD&D 1st Edition. It will work with other games too, but more on that.

This adventure is designed for Tournament play. That is why we have the 70,002 XP value on it and there is a tournament scoring sheet. IF you wish to play this adventure with tournament rules and scoring my advice is do not change anything about it. I have run a few tournament adventures with scoring and this one feels like it put together well. My concern would only be can you fit it into the four-hour time slot? I am 100% certain that author Carlos A.S. Lising has and has done so many times. I am not sure *I* could do it. That all being said I want to look at this from the point of view of a campaign, and my War of the Witch Queens campaign in particular.

So let's start back at the beginning. This adventure was the official Tourneyment adventure for GrogCon 2021. Looking over their catalog it looks like they have run a few adventures at other old-school cons as well. This bodes well. The adventure was written by Carlos A.S. Lising, with cover and interior art by Daniel Govar, and cartography from Glynn Seal. Carlos A.S. Lising is a huge fan of module S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth which is also one of my favorites. This makes me optimistic for this adventure.

Now when this was announced for sale there was a little bit of wailing from the usual suspects in regard to the module code, G2, on the cover. With many complaining that this was not really G2. Sorry but the TSR G2 The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl is over 40 years old now and neither TSR nor Gygax owned the letter G. I am sure the G, in this case, stood for "GrogCon." If this bugs you, be like Elsa and let it go.

On to the adventure proper. We learn right away that the eponymous Witch-Queen is none other than "Natasha the Dark" aka Tasha, aka Tashanna, aka Zyblina, aka Iggwilv herself! Ok. You now have my undivided attention. We get a bit of backstory on Natasha the Dark including her becoming a Daughter of Baba Yaga, and her sisters Vasilisa (Elena) the Fair and Anya the Plain. Anya is going to be our focus here since she has gone missing with Natasha's matryoshka doll. This was no ordinary doll, this nesting doll held a bit of Natasha's soul/life force and has kept her immortal for centuries. Natasha, it a bit uncharacteristic token of love, gave the newly enchanted doll to Anya for safe-keeping, knowing her sister would love it and cherish it. The side effect has been that as long as Anya has the doll she will also be immortal, just stuck in the form of a 12-year-old girl.

The doll, and Anya, has now been stolen and ~~Iggwilv~~Natasha needs you all to get it back.

As far as adventure hooks goes this one is a good one. The doll is in the hands of an evil Wizard named Andrei Anazinov who knows it is special and knows Anya has never aged. He trying to discover its secrets. So get the doll before the wizard figures out Natasha's immortality. The adventure overtly makes it about saving Natasha's immortality, but as you read it the real reason is also uncovered, the ancient Witch Queen still loves her little sister. Undoing the immortality would be bad for Natasha, but it is also likely she has many safeguards in place. It would however kill Anya outright.

I don't want to go too much deeper than this in case potential players read this. It is a MacGuffin search, but a fun one and a chance to interact with one of the more notorious characters in D&D lore.

Comments on the Adventure

A few comments. I can completely understand why Natasha wants the doll and Anya back. I even understand why she wants good adventurers to do it. I am not sure why someone of Natasha's caliber would a. let the adventurers know who she is and b. what the doll is. It seems to me that good or evil the party might want to hide or destroy the doll to stop an evil witch queen. When I run this I am going to need another reason.

The maps are great. I am glad I have to PDF to print them out on my own.

There are some cool new monsters (a must in any adventure) and magic items. There is even a pronunciation guide.

One nitpick. None of the pages have page numbers on them. Seems a touch odd, but I can deal.

Sixteen pages are given over to the 8 pre-gen characters. So that is nice. There are also tournament scoring sheets.

Adapting for War of the Witch Queens

I bought this adventure with idea of adapting it over to my War of the Witch Queen campaign. This is not the first "Witch Queen" adventure I have bought, nor will it be my last I am sure. The fact that it includes Natasha/Iggwilv just makes it more perfect to be honest.

So here are my changes.

I am not running this as a tournament since I am going to be using OSE-Advanced Fantasy for it. There will be some more tweaks for the rules, but I think it is going to work out just fantastic really.

Natasha/Iggwilv is not going to let the adventurers know who she is or why she wants the doll back. I am going to have her disguise herself as Elena the Fair and "Elena" will be hiring them to rescue her sister Anya. This way she feels she is not lying about her mission. In the end, Anya will out "Elena" as Iggwilv, but the terms of their agreement will remain. Maybe Vasilisa the Beautiful will show up to take Anya. I have Elena and Vasilisa as two separate characters.

I love the whole Russian feel to all of this, but I am going to take out Andrei Anazinov and replace him with Kelek. Kelek has had some dealings with Iggwilv already and he is the "big bad" of the War of the Witch Queens. I need an adventure to get him in front of the PCs instead of making him a behind the shadows guy. Andrei is a 14th level wizard. I made Kelek a 15th level magic-user/necromancer. Also in my games Kelek is looking for ways to make himself ever young, he thinks Anya (not the doll) is the answer. Kelek is a misanthrope, so kidnapping and experimenting on a little kid is kinda on-brand for him So this all fits.

Plus I have these great minis to use.

There might be other little tweaks along the way. More winter wolves and worgs to be sure. I am certainly going to steal ideas from the newer 5e versions of Iggwilv and Kelek and I am also going to steal ideas from the Pathfinder Witch War series.

There are more adventures on the casl Entertainment website. Including one, C11 - When Comes the Witching Hour, that looks like it could be Iggwilv on the cover. So I am going to need to check that one out as well. Just watched this video and yup, looks like it is! I have to go get it now.

Friday, January 22, 2016

The Temple of Elemental Evil

Confession time. I have never run or played through The Temple of Elemental Evil.
I think I was in the Villiage of Hommlet once, but that was back in the early, early days of the game.

So I have to admit I really want to run it now. Though I want to tie it in to my current D&D5 game.
Trouble is that the characters are now already 7th level and in the middle of the Slave Lords. I didn't want to start with T1 because for me it was more important to start with B1 and B2.

So I have the T1-4 supermodule on PDF, but there is a lot going on that I am not a fan of. Not that it isn't good, it is, but not what I need or want. Plus I am no fan linking Zuggtmoy to the temple. Her powers are not elemental in nature. Plus I always liked the idea that some remnant of Tharizdun especially in the guise of the Elder Elemental Eye. Maybe this is an elemental themed patron for a warlock. The idea is of course to play into the larger "Come Endless Darkness" plot line. So yes this evil is related to the larger evil. Which might be Tharizdun. At least that is what I have always considered over the years. Turns out that +Joseph Bloch agrees with me. I already did S4 and WG4, so I guess I am going in reverse.

As usual I have an embarrassment of riches. Too much material actually.

I found some 5e Conversion notes that look really nice.
And I have a lot of choices when it comes to plots, ideas and adventures.
Of course I will use T1 The Village of Hommlet and likely a good portion of T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil. Given my particular desire to make an easy job far more difficult I am also going to look at versions for other editions.

I read through most of those last night. T1 is easy, T2 will be a bit more work. I think I am going to steal a lot of ideas from Return and Princes of the Apocalyspe.

While doing some research, I discovered this blog post, http://sagaworkstudios.blogspot.com/2014_08_01_archive.html that talked about T2 The Temple of Elemental Evil as promised back before T1-4 came out. It is a very interesting read to be honest. That is where the image above came from.

Here are some other posts I consider "must read" on my goal to build this gigantic conspiracy of evil.

To me "Expert" level (as listed on the T2 cover) is 4 to 14. But I am more likely to do 4 to 8. Then the characters of this adventure will then join the other characters of the Order of the Platinum Dragon to move on to GDQ.

So it is settled. Zuggtmoy is out. Tharizdun is in. What is his plan?

Simple. He wants out. He has convinced all these different evil factions to blot out the sun and deliver the essences of gods to him they think they are going to obtain godhood, but in truth they will be freeing him. Maybe each has a piece of the Elder Elemental Eye. Lolth has Air, Orcus has Earth, Dagon/Hydra has Water and someone else has fire. I kinda want it to be Asmodeus. But I am leaving out the mindflayers. Why Air for Lolth when she is underground? Air represents what she has lost. Plus I like tying her to the Queen of Air and Darkness.

This will also let me try some of the new material coming out for 5e. Like +Mark Craddock's Dhampir TK Monk!

What have your experiences been? What should I watch out for?

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Review: I6 Ravenloft

For this October, I am going to focus on Dungeons & Dragons' own horror setting, Ravenloft. I am not going to review every Ravenloft product, nor am I planning on a review of every Ravenloft product I own, but I am going to focus on some select items. To that end I am starting with where it all started, the classic Ravenloft module, I6.

I6 Ravenloft

by Tracy and Laura Hickman. Art by Clyde Caldwell. (1983). Color covers, black-white interior art. Cartography by Dave Sutherland. 32 Pages.

I have talked about this adventure a lot. It is one of my all-time favorite adventures. Maybe less for what it is and more for what it meant to me.

Ravenloft was originally an adventure for First Edition AD&D, released in 1983, and written by Tracy and Laura Hickman's husband-and-wife team. It was part of the "I" or intermediate series of adventures. Most of these were not linked and only shared that they were higher levels than beginning adventures. Ravenloft, given the code I6, was for character levels 5 to 7.

Ravenloft is not your typical dungeon crawl, and it is very atypical of the time's adventures. There is less of the typical Howard, Moorcock, and Tolkien here, and it is pure Bram Stoker.

Ravenloft is Gothic Horror—or, more to the point, it is the Hammer Horror flavor of Gothic Horror laid over the top of Dungeons & Dragons. Harker was a milder-mannered English solicitor. The heroes here have fought dragons, goblins, and other real monsters. How can the Lord of Castle Ravenloft measure up to that?

Quite well, really.

I picked up this adventure when it was first released and essentially threw it at my DM and told him he had to run me through it. It was everything I had hoped it would have been. Remember, my Appendix N is filled with Hammer Horror, Dracula, and Universal monsters. This was perfect for me.

Ravenloft was a huge change from many of the adventures TSR had published to that date. For starters, the adventure featured an antagonist, Count Strahd von Zarovich, who was no mere monster. Yes, he was an AD&D Vampire, but he was meant to be run as an intelligent Non-player Character. Before this, the vampires have been the unnamed Vampire Queen of the Palace of the Vampire Queen, Drelnza, the vampire daughter of Iggwilv in The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and Belgos, the Drow Vampire in Vault of the Drow. By 1983, the amount written on all three of these vampires would not even be as long as this post will be. Strahd was different.

Strahd had a backstory, motivation, and intelligence, and he was ruthless. The goal was to destroy him, and that was not an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination.

The adventure also introduced some new elements. The dungeon crawl was gone, replaced by a huge gothic castle and a nearby village. The adventure could be replayed and unique given the "Fortunes of Ravenloft" mechanic, which allows key items, people, and motives to change based on a fortune card reading.

Finally, there were the isomorphic, 3D-looking maps from Dave Sutherland, which helped give perspective to many levels of Castle Ravenloft.

The adventure was an immediate and resounding hit. This adventure, along with the Dragonlance Adventures, also by Tracy Hickman (and Margaret Weis), led to something many old-school gamers call "The Hickman Revolution." They claim it marks the time between the Golden Age and Silver Age of AD&D, with the Silver Age coming after 1983. While yes there was change, a lot of it was for the better.

For me, it was a dream come true. Vampires had always been my favorite creatures to fight in D&D, and I was an avid Dracula fan. I bought this adventure and then threw it at my DM, saying, "Run this!"

I grew up on a steady stream of Universal Monsters, Hammer Horror, and Dark Shadows. That's my Appendix N. So, an adventure set in pretty much the Hammer Hamlet where I get strange locals and have to fight a vampire? Yeah, that is what D&D was to me. You can almost hear Toccata and Fugue in D minor while running it.

I find that the people who don't like this adventure don't see what makes it great. This is not Lord of the Rings, Conan, or some other Appendix N pulp fantasy. This is Hammer Horror. Strahd has to be played with a combination of charisma, scene-chewing villainy, and absolute brutality. In other words, it is exactly like Christopher Lee playing Dracula. Even the nearby village is filled with terrified but pitchforks in the ready villagers.

That is not to say the adventure doesn't have its problems. At times, the Gothic elements are shoved into the Swords & Sorcery fantasy of D&D. And...let's be honest, some of the puns on the headstones in the lowest level are more than cringe-worthy. If played properly, a vampire like Strahd could wipe out a party, and that is not counting all the other monsters (gargoyles, really strong zombies, werewolves) in the castle. Though Strahd suffers from the same issues that Christopher Lee's Dracula did, completely obsessive that blind him to some obvious blunders. But that is the nature of vampires, really.

Original, 25th Anniversary Edition, Print on Demand Edition

I have played through this once, and I have run it four or five times. I would love to try it sometime under the Ghosts of Albion or WitchCraftRPG rules. I took my D&D 5e group through it when they completed Castle Amber to make for a "Mists" series. It was fantastic.

I even got my original module from 1983 signed by Tracy Hickman the year I ran my family through it.

Much like Dracula, Count Strahd and Ravenloft keep coming back for more and more.

All versions of Castle Ravenloft, so far.

I am sure there will be even another version of this adventure out for D&D 5.5/5r. And I am just as likely to buy it.