Bradley K. McDevitt has worn many hats in the table top rpg field from game designer,writer, artist, and much, much more. He's worked for all the major companies from Chaosium to Pinnacle Games and everyone in between.
One of the more iconic images from his work on "Dark Conspiracy" Game. This street samurai is a favorite of mine.
A grim image of sorcery, suitable for a fantasy game or a modern horror game that needs some cult activity! Now available! Right over HERE Cthulhu From Coldcon and a fantastic prints available on heavy, glossy stock suitable for framing!
I've always been a fan of the man's work because it evokes a certain style of rpg artwork that speaks to me as a DM and seems to want me to create adventures based around it. Much of the body of his work since I discovered it years and years back at Stellar games has always stayed in my mind. For me it evokes modern horror and dark grind house fantasy from the 50's , 60's, and 70's especially in the Hammer and Roger Corman traditions. His pictures seem to scream, "make me into an NPC" to inflict on your players. This a slightly sinister looking boss figure has appeared in several of my horror campaigns and my players hate this guy. In my games he's a businessman with particularly horrid tastes.
You can find the Artist's Home page right here with a metric ton of his artwork right HERE
"Mary Murrey" an NPC/Merc from my Dark Conspiracy campaign inspired by this drawing by Mr. McDevitt.
Check out and buy his wares right over HERE on Drivthrurpg . Many of which have a dark fantasy/horror bent to them and lend an air of weird horror to any game.
Some of his best work that really evokes the spirit of a game is the deeply disturbing Conspiracy Rules. The latest and best incarnation of the Dark Conspiracy game that's just plastered with Bradley's artwork and some of the most vicious monsters this side of New Boston. With it being on sale! Its a pretty solid steal at 10.00 right now for 200 plus pages of horror nastiness. You can find that wonderful game right over HERE
All artwork used by permission and copy right and trade mark to their respective companies along with the rights of the artist himself.
New Orleans "Something's prowling the fringes of the city. Something from the swamps, something old and wicked, with a legion of servitors at its disposal.
People in the outlying ghettos have been disappearing, the only clue to their fate a thin trail of blood and stagnant water leading to the sewers.
A panic is seizing the city. Fistfights and street battles are occurring at an increasingly frequent rate. It's becoming difficult to travel from one sector to another without a well armed guard.
Now someone is dumping tons of toxins into the swamps, leaving dead wildlife bloating in the hot Louisana sun. And the megacorps are blaming it on one another.
Can you unravel the mystery, without falling prey to the deadly swamps, the secretive corps, or the panicked citizenry of New Orleans?" 1991 ... Eric W. Haddock ... 80 pages ... GDW 2101 ... ISBN 1558780807
I got the New Orleans book for Dark Conspiracy recently & I've been diving into the deep end of the boyou on this book. The book is so much more then an adventure. The fact is that this is both a location book, adventure, & monster book all in one set against New Orleans of the Greater Depression.
There are a couple of Megadungeon locations that can be incorporated into a Mutant Future or DC style game. There are 2 bug style aliens including a new never before seen insectoid & the mega corp allies that are out to help with the alien agenda.
We really get a nice solid overview of New Orleans of the DC era. The whole place sizzles with the Dark Conspiracy menace just below the surface & the mega corporation menace during the day. This isn't a friendly world at all for a party.
The tone & ideas here are of "an old friend of the family" trope bundled into the ultra modern weirdness of DC. The maps could be used for a lot of different OSR games.
The metroplex area of Orleans is like something out of a cyberpunk game without some of the cybernetics & added with the megacorporation attitude of the 90s. This whole thing could well fit into the horrors of the "Twilight years" of Gamma World or Twilight 2000 which seems to be the tone here.
There's even a "Scooby Do" style adventure location in the swamps of Louisiana & its environs.
There are a boat load of NPCs who could be transported into any number of games. These could easily add local color to any game set within the swamps here.
There are guides to the various animals, horrors, etc. all within the background of the horrors of the Greater Depression where the breakdown of society is happening around the PCs making the horrors around them into an almost movie like quality about them.
Using the Dark Conspiracy New Orleans With Your OSR Games As I've said before this is one of the more useful DC book out there. I'd go so far as to say that this is a sort of "Keep On The Borderlands" for DC. It includes everything that we've come to expect. New strains of the DC monsters that are easily convertible to a retro clone format. The "Dark Tek" that marks & stains its users. More machinations of the Dark Lords, more mega corp/politico dickery, & the grinding horror of the DC setting.
Just how useful is this material? Very actually for the DM who needs to see this type of stuff around them. This module/guide book could provide a whole campaign's worth right at your finger tips. This is one of the cheapest of the DC books at only a single penny on Amazon & one of the least known in certain circles. The whole book sets the tone, sets out the world, & pushes PCs collective faces right into the horrors of the DC setting!
"As the Earth slips further into chaos and despair, some places have far less to slide: One of New York City's largest children's hospitals, funded by 'private donations,' is being used to provide orphans as human raw material for some unspeakable purpose. This could have gone on for a long time, had not one of the nurses stumbled on part of the secret. She vanished, just another victim of the city's lawlessness, but leaving a worried and suspicious uncle. On another part of the globe, Moscow, amidst the ruins of a Russia blighted by pollution, war, hunger, and fear, there stands an age-old figure of unimaginable evil. Once he was called Koshchey Bessmertny, Koshchey the Undying, and he became the dark enemy of Russian fairy tales and folklore, a name to whisper when the moon passed behind a cloud. In the 1930s and '40s, they called him another name, and he became the sinister mind behind the deaths of millions in the Siberian Gulag. What he does not know is that the disapearance of a simple provincial nurse threatens to bring these loose strands together into the noose that may at last catch him. If, that is, the players are able to face and overcome the horrors waiting them... Among the Dead."
So says the blurb from the back of Among The Dead on of the many adventures from GDW for Dark Conspiracy. With the recent events of New York & New Jersey. My thoughts & prayers for those areas continue. What a real life horror! This adventure seemed suddenly very topical & harder hitting. The adventure takes us deep into the weirdness of DC.
From the retro kitsch artwork of the interior panel into the DM's guide we're in a world quite different from the reality of even now. This the world of NY & Moscow through the DC lense of a horror comic.
The whole adventure is part/horror novel/part spy noir adventure with a twist of DC. Quite a lot of DC actually.
I'd like to take the time to take a look at something namely how DC handled NPCs its quite brilliant in a way. They give a gloss over approach to them. Here's some details, history, a bit of background & then boom your stats. That's exactly the way early OD&D & AD&D handled it & that tradition carries on here. Old School DM's take note!
Creepy artwork abounds throughout the book but notice for a moment the hand out on the left there. The letter & the bloody fingerprint. The letter is an actual part of the adventure not an add on after the fact but a real solid part. The deeper we get into the adventure the more Russian it becomes. There's lots of New York surrrounding a core of Moscow & beyond here.
The Moscow of DC isn't a nice place in the least! The whole place is like a Greater Era Depression nightmare of totalitarianism & oppression gift wrapped with Koshchey the Undying dressing on top. There are plenty of opportunities to die in this one & worse.
Bio Giger style Russian monsters with lots of dripping gooey stuff for characters to explore. The megadungeons in this adventure need to be expanded. The locations are great but its hurry up because we're moving on now. That's where you come in & add your personal touch.
The ubiquistic GDW maps. They made some excellent maps for their products but they're useful not atmospheric like AD&D adventures that really pop with the D&D style flavor. Or even Gamma World where Legion of Gold's map is a character itself as much as the adventure is. Still it does fit the world of the Greater Depression.
Here's that DC NPC thing happening again. A few details, how to play the guy as DM, Stats, & boom he's in the can & done. Bottom line is the adventure good? Yes it is! Is it still useful? Utterly & its still topical even now! Whose going to use it? A DM running these locations! New York, Moscow, & beyond! The Bottom line is also the bottom line at $4.50 at Amazon or less its a steal & here's why!
How to use Among The Dead For Old School Horror Camapaining & Beyond
I've used Among The Dead time & again because its really three products in one. Its a handy adventure with a nifty plot that introduces more Dark Tek not found in that source book. Its a guide book for a future Greater Depression era New York & Moscow because GDW packed more details into their products then others did.
Its a fantastic resource for a Mutant Future, retroclone DM looking for a different spin on monsters from Russian legend & beyond. The settings are easy to play around with for other games such as Labyrinth Lord where the players know the monsters of the Retroclones inside & out.
The book is a great resource for some new monsters for your post apocalyptic adventurers because they've got energy weapons. There are a few twists & turns here as well. There are several plot threads that can easily be adapted to a wide variety of games
GDW loved their 90s era details on weapons, npcs, powers, dark tek, etc. So as a source book for a retro post apocalyptic game this book is a gold mine. There's weapons, monsters, & gear to mine for a metric ton of two different locations & more.
The bottom line is that GDW deserves more respect then it gets these days. The retroclone DM can use this stuff all day long & still come back for more! After all this has one of the DC's most dangerous Dark Lords
The Litany of Chaugnar Faugn, a Cthuloid Poem by David T. St. Albans Translated from the Necronomicon
Highland Stench, Somethings Smells in Scotland by Lee William and Norm Fenlason for Dark Conspiracy
Nocturnally Yours, Seasonal Poetry by Kar Ess
Tragedy of the Commons, a Role-Playing Game by Jeff Moeller
The Queen of the Changing Seasons, a Halloween Scenario by Jeff Moeller for Tragedy of the Commons
Sons of Albion, an Empathic Underground, by Lee Williams and Norm Fenlason for Dark Conspiracy
Come to Me, Poetry by Kar Ess
Clifton Magna, Dorset, UK, a location by Linden Dunham for Call of Cthulhu
The Ningyo, a Dark Race by Norm Fenlason for Dark Conspiracy
Rico JC2 Signature Model, Weapons, for Dark Conspiracy
Three Babies and a Shoggoth, an Adventure by Dave Schuey for Call of Cthulhu (D20)
Sacks and Claws, Fiction by C W Kelson III (Tad)
Red Dots and Occurrences, an Interstitial Adventure by CW Kelson III (Tad)
Gilboa Snake, double the firepower for the discerning Minion Hunter by Lee Williams for Dark Conspiracy
The Corner of 5th and 15th, a Dark Seed Location by CW Kelson III (Tad) a System Independent Location
Self-Guiding Bullets?, Talking Tech by Kevin O’Neill Non-System Specific
A Long Day, Poetry ,by CW Kelson III (Tad)
Hollow Life, Even More Fiction by CW Kelson III (Tad)
Protodimensional magazine its a free professional magazine that has been carrying the torch for modern old school horror gaming for years & years. This is the Dark Conspiracy headquarters & goes over the entire gamut of stuff. The above is the contents of this slam bang home run of an issue. Lee Williams & the Protodimenion stable of writers & artists have been doing these year after year. I've been following these for years. This is all done by them for the love the horror role playing genre there's no money being made here. This is ALL FREE! From Call of Cthulhu CoC D20, & Dark Conspiracy its all here. The subject material is very well done in this & almost every issue I've seen. The material is for the most part easily convertible to your favorite retroclone system. Much of the material is so system neutral that its a simple matter of assigning stats to it. The artwork is very well done. The lay out is better then half of the professional stuff in Drive through rpg. I'm totally blown away as per usual with this stuff. So go download it right over here & you won't be sorry. Tell em Needles send ya! While there be sure to check out the other back issues. Believe me you won't be sorry! Go right over Here
"Dark Races, Volume 1 Compendium "This first Dark Races Compendium is designed to maintain that sense of horrifying mystery central to Dark Conspiracy adventures. Within the pages of this volume, referees will find more than 50 Dark Minions from the feverish visions of a dozen and a half different authors. Many of the creatures herein are the stuff of often-repeated legends of darkness. Others spring from more private nightmares..." There are somethings that any DM can always use. There is one constant & that's there always needs to be more monsters but these aren't your ordinary rank & file nasties. Instead these are far more then meets the eye with them.
These monsters have a very horror science fictional feel! Each is unique & weird enough for several adventures.
The book is done with sold writing & some really interesting B/W artwork. These are not the usual minions found in the DC rule book. Instead these are the more advanced creatures waiting in the wings to take down your PC adventurers!
Each monster is nasty dangerous & acts as both the center of an adventure or the end of one. Many of them are very, very, powerful almost on par with a Dark Lord itself.
"Many of the creatures herein are the stuff of often-repeated legends of darkness. Others spring from more private nightmares.." The legends & mythology are included with the entries along with the actual background.
Each of these things is either a campaign starter or stopper.
Using Dark Races In The OSR
These aren't the random monsters of OD&D or the wandering kind from AD&D first edition. These monsters are instead the center of the adventure itself like many horror novels, movies or television shows. They're either the center of the piece or the right hand of the villain.
The entries are devided into the legends behind the thing. The reality of who or what it really is & a quick overview of the creatures itself. The monsters are actually interesting & cool.
The psychal description are not simply what it looks like but also the flavor of the creature. The combat abilities are one of the places where the book really shines. This is the meat & patatoes of the monster. How it reacts & uses its powers.. Its capabilities in combat for the PCs.This not only gives the flavor of the monster but the sauce of its attack.
These entries also show how easily convertible to your favorite retroclone or 1st edition AD&D. The monsters would fit right at home in the atomic wastelands of your favorite post apocalyptic game. Mutant Future & Mutant Epoch would be perfect places to spring board these monsters into the broken future with little changeover
The artwork runs from the weird to the really odd & there's the occasional goofy piece as well. Some sections are in color while most of the book is black & white. There is a horror movie feel to many of the monsters & several are out right thefts from popular movies of the time. This isn't a bad thing, because the creatures will keep your players on your toes
Many monsters could double as magical familiars for your favorite mutant wizard or cleric of an evil god! These creatures are often times minor powers unto themselves capable of some measure of power beyond themselves.
There is another element to this book that was only found in many of the "Chill " rpg products the idea of culturally found mythological monsters. If the PCs had a mission in South America then these would be the mostly likely encountered creatures. The monsters actually reflected the mythological & mystical traditions of their country of origins. This didn't mean that this is the actual reality however. Simply this might what be your PCs could encounter.
Many of the monsters also could be used to generate the whole adventure. An idea often seen in the Johnny Quest Saturday morning cartoon show. This is where the monster is the actual adventure. The creature strikes from shadow causing the PCs to be uncertain of its capabilities & powers. The players fear the unknown allowing the DM to deal the monsters on a case by case adventure by adventure basis. This idea was seen in various pulp stories & horror comics of the 20s,40s & 50s. The bottom line is that this is one of the best books for a DM to get a hold of for horror gaming. I've used these bastards in a number of games, Torg, AD&D, Mutant Future, etc. The approach of the book allows for easy conversion & deadliness in any number of games. At five dollars on Amazon this is one of the better bang for your buck rpg books.
"Behind the shadows of our world, the Dark Ones lurk, plotting humanity's ruin. Their Dark Minions stalk us, armed with horrific devices, the products strange and hideous sciences. Human agents capture what they can, hoping for weapons that will aid them in their fight. And in some secret strongholds, individual ETs who have escaped the darkness labor side by side with human scientists, creating items to hold the Dark Ones off.
Meanwhile the megacorporate sector pursues technologies that pander to the wealthy. For many, HiTek is the truest symbol of high status. Worn like a coat of arms, it distinguishes the movers and shakers from the increasingly disenfranchised hordes of 'commoners' below.
In this volume, you will find items ranging from the gruesome biologic weapons of the Dark Minions, to the futuristic constructs of the ETs, to the most advanced in human technology. But all belong to the world of Dark Conspiracy, a world that is itself ever more a product of DarkTek"
1991 ... Charles E. Gannon ... 104 pages ... GDW 2102 ... ISBN 155878084X
Dark Conspiracy was a game whose time ran out way back in the heady days of 1991 & really didn't have a chance to shine at all. One of the best books for the series was one which I constantly still turn to called Dark Tek. The game shined in three areas one was the alien technology, the second was the retro tech that was a part of the pulpy Great Depression setting of the game, & the third was the weird bio- mechanical stuff of the Dark Minions.
Dark Tek is nasty stuff the book really shines through with over a hundred & four pages worth of weird stuff. Time & again this technology has appeared in Mutant Future, Call of Cthlhu, & other horror rpg when I need something really special. There's a certain corruption factor to each & every item.
The game really wasn't given its proper due & now still has a cult following among horror gamers. When you need something weird or out there this is a great book to turn to.
The problem is as it was explained to me tonight that the game is way out of date when it comes to technology. Or is it? The background of the game is a general break down of society in a Greater Depression setting amid a United States indeed a world that is more Kult rpg then Dungeons & Dragons. Yet has the feel of a science fiction Saturday morning show.
The artwork is decent the technology has the feel of a hybrid of alien/their corporate allies. An enterprising DM could adapt it for both Mutant Future or any game set in the Shadow Years of Metamorphosis Alpha or Gamma World 1st edition where a bit of extra punch was needed.
The artwork is typical of the Game Designers Workshop stuff of the time & there is a somewhat of a later 80s & 90s Dragon magazine science fiction feel to whole book. Some of the technology is weird & archaic now with a retro feel to it. But basically its good stuff for using this as a science fantasy horror jump off point. There is a ton of stuff to mine here.
With the latest release of the X Com video game & the season of Halloween I've been taking a look at this who series again. The OSR market lately seems pretty closed up with the gothic horror motif being done to almost death so I wanted to look into something different.
Using Dark Tek
At three dollars on Amazon its really a no brainer that the book is excellent value for the money. With stuff like this on the back of the book:
"Human agents capture what they can, hoping for weapons that will aid them in their fight. And in some secret strongholds, individual ETs who have escaped the darkness labor side by side with human scientists, creating items to hold the Dark Ones off.
Meanwhile the megacorporate sector pursues technologies that pander to the wealthy. For many, HiTek is the truest symbol of high status. Worn like a coat of arms, it distinguishes the movers and shakers from the increasingly disenfranchised hordes of 'commoners' below" The game could well be set in an alternative Earth pretty damn close to our times with the Greater Depression lurking like some sort of pulp bully leaning over the whole setting. The monsters of Dark Conspiracy have a definiative OD&D feel to them. The technology of the book feels like a nightmarish science fantasy source book & this is exactly how I've used it. Mutant Future easily adapts some of the technology & the setting is very stark & somewhat depressing. Basically it cries out for heroes & dare I say super heroes or pulp heroes to inspire the masses. The whole thing is very Xfiles years before the xfiles were even around. Instead it feels like this old television show.
The old War Of The Worlds television show
The beauty of the setting is that it adapts to any science fiction horror rpg trope quite easily. With the usual GDW stats adapting to your favorite post apocalyptic game is a snap. I've heard rumors that the reason that the game has an OD&D feel is because a number of Tsr folks worked on this one. There's bits of Aliens in here, the Terminator, & any number of mid night science fiction movies as well. Dark Elves, Goblins,4 weird alien races including the greys, cyborgs, & various pieces of 50's weirdness. Dark Tek is great for filling in the missing bits & hardware for Mutant Future & giving a cyberpunk edge to a metric ton of OSR games.
1d20 Random Dark Technology Corruption table
The user begins to hear voices of various Dark Minions within his mind & to understand the insane ramblings of the unholy creatures. Save vs wands or being to slip bits & pieces of their dark tongue into your every day speech
Strange marks appear upon your body & boils roll under your skin. They smell weird & bad minus 2 on Charisma
Weird hallucinations keep happening & mutations seem to form randomly in these dreams. Unless a wisdom check is made they may happen in real life as well
You have a random telepathic event. The whole world seems to crash in upon your mind. Random thoughts not your own happen for 1d4 rounds then happen again in 40 minutes the cycle continues for 1d4 hours
You have dreams about demons & then people around you turning into them. You attract type 1&2 demons to you
You can now speak the dark tongue. You no longer speak common at all. You must make a wisdom roll everytime you speak lest you lapse back into it again
A random circuit board pattern traces itself painfully across your skin each night & glows at night but by morning its gone
There are aliens from another plane following you across every surface you see them. In every mirror their there again. Even now in the back of your mind their there & they mean to do you harm
You are attracted to weapons & violence. You've become in sensed to the suffering of others. You have sadomasochistic tendencies. You must make a wisdom check each time you encounter a social situation to snap out of it or you lapse into the moment of enjoying or having imaginary waking dreams about the suffering of others.
You grow 1d4 demonic or devil like minor features nothing that gives you bonuses but small mutations that take -2 to your Charisma immediately
Holy water & symbols cause you pain. When confronted with these objects you must make a saving throw vs wands or be stunned for 1d4 rounds
Your skin becomes translucent & grows thin. Weird alien organs roll under this strange flesh. Then after 4 rounds the illusion is gone or is it? Within 1d4 hours the mutations come back there is a 40% their real
Your reality matrix breaks down & you gain 1d4 mutations as you change to a horrifying monster from beyond the Outer Darkness
There are voices in your head that are telling you to kill & kill again with a successful saving throw you banish these voices. For now
You become apathetic to any high technology & are only comfortable around greenery & low tech items. There is a 20% of you wanting to smash any high technology around you. Should this happen you are unaware why you've done this
You may only use Dark Tek as all other technology breaks down in your hands. You will deal 1d4 points of damage automatically to anything more complex then a ball point pen
You must make a random mutation check otherwise gain 1d4 mutations. These are permanent
Your eyes can now truly see the real world beyond the illusion & there are things there that wish you dead. Your eyes are now sensitive to light
A fine coat of tentacles sprouts across your body. You gain +1 on all observation & navigation checks. You perceive the reality beyond the pale in the Outer Darkness
You become a demon fully please turn your character over to the DM as you become a lowly soul given to the powers of the abyss
