Observations And More On The GP Adventures Developments With The Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers Of Hyperborea Rpg System

I've been quietly following a very interesting little thread upon the AS&SH forums that was started by AS&SH contributor Benoist Poire whose has been drafting some great AS&SH-related articles of late. In these articles, he explains various ways with Ernest Gary Gygax Jr for adapting serveral adventures they've published to the AS&SH rpg system. In my opinion this material is something for the OSR Dungeon Master  to pay close attention to.


According to the introduction on the forum  :

I am Benoist Poiré, founder with Ernest Gary Gygax Jr. of GP Adventures, LLC. I am the co-designer, developer and cartographer on the Hobby Shop Dungeon project (HSD for short). The HSD is one of the surviving dungeons that were created in the Lake Geneva, WI area in the 70s. Created by Ernest, inspired by the games he played with his dad, it is a traditional adventure setting that is very classic in its conception and very effective for campaign play because of it. 

GP Adventures started introducing people to the world of the Hobby Shop Dungeon through a module published in Gygax Magazine Issue 3 (available here in print and here in PDF format). It is entitled The Marmoreal Tomb of Garn Pat'uul, and presents an old abandoned dwarven settlement that the players' characters can explore to their hearts' content. It will be published in its entirety for the first time soon by GP Adventures, and will include a number of pointers, additional encounters, one additional level and more to the material that was published by Gygax Magazine.  This will become DU1 Marmoreal Tomb of Garn Pat'uul.

The Marmoreal Tomb is the first of a series of modules that will introduce and later complement the dungeon itself, a dungeon which we plan to publish some time at the beginning of next year. Other modules will be published in the meantime, including DU2 Haunted Halls of the Beggar King, a completely autonomous chunk of which is already available on our website and GB1 Murder at Sandermire, authored by Simon Todd, a long-time friend and illustrator of the Hobby Shop Dungeon, who also did the art on

Sammi-Zowa Versus The Dueling Dragons.

"These Picts have embraced the ways of the ancient fomorians who walked the surface of the continent long before the first spires of Khromarium were raised by the Hyperboreans. They listened to the forbidden secrets hinted at by the ancient mossy stones raised in the forlorn fens of the world. They discovered the Black Stone and were welcomed by the essence of Gol-goroth who dwells in places where darkness is so thick and sharp it can cut through the eyes of those trying to pierce it."

"Krassus the Cambion learned from them. He is no Pict, oh no, for he spent a long time getting used to Hyperborea, building up his forces in hopes to challenge those who oppose him. He was not always strong, however. He thought he was, as one of the major commandants of the Ninth Legion, but he did not really know what he was doing. Adventuring beyond the Wall was folly, he knew it then, but had he known his fate on that day, he might have deserted instead of walking further north. It would have been fine for a strong youthful Roman commander to die in the service of the Senate of Rome, but to be exiled, victim of some Pictish sorcery, to become lost and wander up to the point he emerged from the dark swamps of Hyperborea on this cursed Skarag Coast, he could not abide."

- The Marmoreal Tomb of Garn Pat'uul adapted to Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Seehttp://hyperborea.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=239 for more.

This is some pretty interesting stuff, its a trend that I've seen over the last year or so of taking an existing module and converting it from the tradition OD&D TSR adventures  and adapting it to the sword and sorcery mold of AS&SH. This is a formula that has win/win written all over it. This is a trend that I've seen done at various times with In Search Of The Unknown at the AS&SH forums HERE and the 

Steading of the Hill Gia.....Fomorian Chief discussion right over HERE. So the AS&SH game system seems not only able to support the classic modules but easily adapt new adventures as well. This is pretty exciting and with new material and support for the game its nice to see that the interest for the game continues to grow.

I'm familiar with Benoist Poiré work from AFS issue #3 as well as Gygax magazine. Ernie Gygax's writings paired with Paul over the last year or so have yielded some pretty solid stuff. Ernie is a pretty solid designer and writer in his own right. So its going to be really wild to watch where this development goes.
So I'm following these developments pretty damn closely. This is a very exciting time to be an OSR and  AS&SH dungeon master.