Review on 100 Merchants & Their Goods From Fishwife Games For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

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There are times when a party of PC's pulls into a harbor or market place and you need a whole laundrey list of merchants who will provide equipment, new adventure opportunities, meetings, important NPC's, and more. All this sometimes has to be done at the drop of a hat and here's where this product fits the bill.

100 Merchants & Their Goods by Fish Wife games is a two page list of merchants and their goods. With a bit of reworking this list can provide the DM with targets who have been robbed by thieves, a list of goods for trade and merchants willing to trade, and as a last minute source of material for your old school games.

According to the blurb from Drivethrurpg : 100 Merchants & Their Goods

A collection of 100 merchant names to be dropped into any fantasy caravan or open marketplace. In addition to the names of the merchants, the list provides the most common/important goods and commodities that these traders are transporting/selling.

I see so much more there with this list.

Using The 100 Merchants & Their Goods 

For your Old School Campaigns

Using this list a DM can fill out a market place or bizarre fast and have opportunities to flesh out the NPC's as needed. The list can also be used as way of filling out targets that been hit in those lighting raids so common in sword and sorcery fiction.
The list can also provide a way of hooking adventurers in their vital re equipping stage  of adventuring. There are tons of opportunities where merchants can be used as hook, line, and adventure sinker in a sword and sorcery campaign. This list provides at of endless opportunities for adventure. Need a list of potential kidnap  targets for  your raiders? Well here you go. Need a merchant in some out of the way province? We've got you covered there as well. This list provides the DM with yet another tool to pull out and use as fodder for their games. 

AFS Magazine Issue #5 Has Been Released! For Your Old School Campaigns

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Well it looks like I've been asleep at the wheel on this one, on June 16th my birthday AFS Magazine was released. This is the print old school magazine that a number of old school authors and designers work on. This issue's focus is on the works of Michael Moorcock, perhaps one of my all time favorite authors. The issue's content reads like a love letter to that great fantasy author. 

According to the AFS website: 

AFS Magazine Issue #5 is released! - and available for purchase. It contains a full color cardstock cover, & a color map is 45 pages long and will be sent by parcel mail. Each copy costs $10.00 USA Domestic includes shipping, $12.00 Canada includes shipping, $15.75 International includes shipping. It includes old school gaming adventures, tables, a short fiction piece and articles with a nod to the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, Jack Vance, Robert E Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith.

*AFS 5 contains a special focus on the writings of Michael Moorcock*

AFS Magazine #5   - Table of Contents

Adventure - The Dogs of Muskovia written for the Chaosium Hawkmoon  RPG by  Shannon Appelcline

Weapon - Naladamar – also known as the Black Sword, Nightbringer, the Dead Sword, and the Vampire Blade

By Allan T. Grohe, Jr (grodog)

Adventure - Post Apoc Germania, 2512 A.D written for the Chaosium Hawkmoon RPG by Scott Moberly

Fiction – The House of the Sphinx by Lord Dunsany (1912)

Adventure – The Howling Caves of Sorrow by Tim ‘Turgenev’ Hartin, for any Classic D&D rule set levels 6-8

Interview – Ken St Andre talks with AFS about his time working on the Stormbringer RPG by Chaosium

Adventure – The Stories of the Ship of the Dead written for the Chaosium Stormbringer RPG by Shannon Appelcline

Article - Hyperborean Grimoires by the Scribe Lestrade

 

•    (Editor’s note: The cover art depicted is by Susan Seddon-Boulet and is copyright SSB c1987,  used by grateful permission of Eric Boulet .)
 This issue shall be mine! Looking so forward to getting my hands on this one. 

Slicing Deeper Into The Free OSR Magazine Resource From Dragon's Foot - Footprints #21 For Your Old School Campaign

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The other day before I was leaving for my usual game, I happened upon the latest issue of Footprints on Dragon's foot. Issue number twenty one has been sitting on my computer for a few days now but only tonight I got the chance to take a look at one of my favorite OSR resources. 
This is a double sized issue and clocks in at about eighty eight pages of old school goodness. Much of the material is AD&D first edition heavy but that's to be expected.

Contents Include The Following:

Contents

New Character Races (article) - This is a solid article about some really interesting racial options for AD&D first edition drawn from myth and legend. The article is well done and pretty damn ingenuous in how it treats these mythological and legendary races. Many of these have appeared in dark fantasy, science fantasy, mythology and more. As well as few originals races that have been brought to the table. 

Combined Combat Chart (article) - A combat chart for AD&D that replaces the one from the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. A nice little gem to use in various behind the scenes combat situations. 

How Much Experience Did We Get For That Dragon? (article)- This article gives a solid overview of experience for most of the major dragon types in AD&D first edition. Very useful for OSRIC as well 

Magical Miscellanea (magical items)- This article presents a set of guidelines for renaming,customizing, and adjusting many of the more common AD&D magic items while keeping a solid set of awe and wonder to the game. A very interesting take on a subject that seems to really come into focus at times at the gaming table. 

Glarck's Remote Spell Books (article)- This is really cool little twist on the standard spell book in which the mage literally has a gem which can access his spells and he can mentally scan the book remotely. This idea has all sorts of adventure hooks sewn into the background and seeds of it. I could see this sort of weird magical technology being used in a sword and sorcery game with some weird Lovecraftian twists. 

Ride the Lightning! (MU spells)- Not at all what it sounds but a set of spells with a magnetic and electrical twist to them. These are actually pretty damn neat and could cause merry havoc in the hands of an NPC. 

Monsters of All Sizes (article)- Monster adjustment with hit dice and scale according to ideas for the AD&D first edition game. Pretty damn useful for all kinds of monsters and with some old school examples. The ideas in this one can have all sorts of adventure design and monster placement for adventures. Definitely suited to the AD&D Dungeon Master. 

The Wizard's Laboratory (article)- Bubble, Bubble, Boil, and Trouble  this article goes into the contents, chemicals, formulas, and what not of a wizard's lab. An article with lots of potential. Suited for AD&D but really useful for any old school campaign. Very long and well thought out. A solidly useful article. 

The Conjurer (new class)- A vastly dangerous useful and a great class for both PC's and NPC's. These are the dark wizards spoken about in dark fantasy literature who make pacts with Outer Planar beings, have shady agendas, and can be very useful adventure hooks for all kinds of adventures. A really nicely rounded class with lots of mayhem potential for the DM. For AD&D first edition but with some tweaks could be used in any D&D style of game. 

The Lake Of Sorrows (adventure) -This is a low level OSRIC or AD&D first edition adventure with lots of potential, some great encounters, a nice background, and plenty of potential for expansion into a full blown campaign. Plenty of replay value in this adventure and its pretty well balanced with some nice maps to boot!
 All in all this was a very enjoyable read for a Footprint's issue. Many of the articles in this issue could be used as the basis for a horror themed campaign or a one shot sword and sorcery adventure. The magic items and ideas were pretty intriguing and have potential for adventure design and hooks.
The articles were well written, concise, original, and very useful for an OSR DM to use. The variety of the material was also a really nice balance across the board. Grab a copy because its free as always. 

Review of Swords of Kos: Necropolis From Skirmisher Publishing For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

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So almost a week ago I received this book via email and I've been climbing through it. Not because its an awful read but because its kind of hard to do it justice. Sword of Kos Necropolis is a weird throw back in time to the days of yor. Namely the sword and sorcery fantasy novels of the early 80's which I chewed through like a thresher. Thank the gods above that I joined one of those science fiction and fantasy book clubs. Sword and sorcery fantasy novels were mini campaign resource books as well as entertainment for any DM.  This one is no exception. Sword of Kos Necropolis picks the action up right in the middle of the Kos campaign setting.
The plot goes something like this according to the Drivethrurpg blurb : 

“Paros could only venture a guess as to how many graves the forsaken burial ground in the little valley before him contained. North to south, it ran about a half mile and, from where he stood beside the wrought-iron fence that zigzagged along its eastern edge, it stretched about a quarter mile to the base of the hills that surrounded it. The rolling, broken ground of this unkempt area was heavily overgrown with grass, vines, copses of scrubby little oaks and brushy gray-green juniper, great clumps of flowers in every color, and probably every other sort of vegetation native to the island of Kos. Obelisks, statues of patron deities, and other stones marking the grave sites of families and individuals lay broken and tumbled amongst the rampant growth, and mausoleums of every size were interspersed throughout.

Paros did not know the extent to which this place had been looted over the century since it was last known to have been used but there were undoubtedly hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of graves that had not yet been pillaged. And they were not even the object of their quest, which was marked by the small, columned temple of black marble that he could see halfway up one of the hills at the other end of the cemetery. And there was no telling what else might be hidden within this wild, desolate place. ... “

The characters are well thought out and engaging but its the setting as well that I warmed to. A giant series of mega dungeon location set pieces that could be put down right into your old school sword and sorcery campaign. There are other nice little nods to the old school fantasy novel tradition. There are some lovely maps and images that are insert pieces like you might see in some of the higher end 70's and 80's sword and sorcery novels as well. According to the Drivethrurpg blurb this was done by design: 

Inspired by the works of classic swords-and-sorcery authors like Fritz Lieber, Jack Vance, and Robert E. Howard, Swords of Kos: Necropolis is the first entry in Skirmisher Publishing LLC’s new line of fantasy fiction. It is author Michael O. Varhola’s eleventh book and is illustrated with a series of beautiful images by veteran fantasy artist Amanda Kahl.

Using Swords of Kos Necropolis For Your
Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaign




The characters in Swords of Kos are perfect NPC foils for a tradition fantasy campaign as well as the setting but when playing around with sword and sorcery there are some tropes and traditions that are going to need some adjustment.
Let's look at the Drivethrurpg blurb once again:

"Swords of Kos: Necropolis follows the adventures of Paros, a streetwise rogue with a penchant for alchemy, Parthenia, a savage female Elf barbarian, and Selene, a priestess of the outlawed Titan moon goddess, as they brave the hazards of a long-abandoned cemetery and the catacombs that lie beneath it. Dangerous though the hazards and supernatural guardians of this place are, an even greater threat might be the Necropolis itself .."
The problem is 'Parthenia, the savage female Elf barbarian', in humancentric campaigns such Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea which relies on the Conan model as well as other traditional pulp sword and sorcery tropes. Elves can be a real pain. Well not really at all. Elves with some adjustment become one of the elder races of pre-humans.Those who come before mankind. The burden of letting them into your Sword and Sorcery game falls on me and you as the DM. Not really a big deal because there are a ton of examples of making these more into a pulp mold then the Peter Jackson Tolkien movie style. Sword of Kos's campaign setting actually addresses this as well. As far as fleshing out their backgrounds, don't. The histories of many of the sword and sorcery campaigns are sketchy at best. 

 Sword of Kos Necropolis does a nice job of rounding out their world. There are bits that can be solidly old school and other bits I noticed that are Pathfindery but those can easily be ignored. Unless that's the style of game edition your playing.
The characters are likable and well though out but here we come to the 'Star Wars' burden. Do your PC's meet up with the novel's characters? My advise is no, its not necessary. There are so many threads left in the wake of Paros,  Parthenia,  and Selene, that you could have your PC's doing clean up duty instead and cursing their names as they go from one mess to another at their passage.
 This is actually one of the strengths of the novel as sword and sorcery resource, the characters are heroes with a passion for adventuring and leaving some good hooks for adventures in their wake. By chance or design there are some really nice campaign starters throughout the novel. Not to spoil it but I have a feeling these were done on purpose by the author for further adventures down the line. That being said a clever DM could take full advantage make this setting his own with a bit of old school DYI. 

All in all this isn't a bad place to gain a foot hold into Kos and then jump into the deep end of the Sword of Kos campaign setting! I personally enjoyed my vacation into Kos and look forward to dragging some PC's there soon. 

The Vormusri Horde - A Demonic New Monster For Ancient and Accursed Terra For Use With The Astonishing Swordsmen And Sorcerers of Hyperborea Rpg System

They have so many names, these things that come from across the half worlds.  The Vormusri Horde are demonic horrors and fragments of beings from Old Earth, mutated survivors and warriors from the Outer Darkness that come to the edges of Hyperborea and Accursed Terra to claim their victims and vanish back into the starless night. They are monsters of depravity and horrid darkness who live on worlds under a damned and hellish skies. 

The strange mutated horrors of the Vomusri Horde are semi demonic creatures of the damned and have many of the same weaknesses common to minor daemons and their kin. ( see the AS&SH Refree's Book pages 25 - 31 for Daemons and their kin). These horrors are often brought to the edges of reality by strange other dimensional ill winds from the Outer Darkness and vanish with them as quickly back to the Outer Darkness . They wield a wide variety of minor enchanted weapons capable of slaying and harming other magical  creatures. There are hundreds of tribes of these horrors and all capable of violence, bloodshed, and depravity of the worst kind. Legends of their origins abound. 

The Vormusri Horde

Number Encountered: 1d8 

Alignment: Chaotic Evil 

Size : M to L 

Movement : 40 (fly 60)

Dexterity: 10 

Armor Class: 3 

Hit Dice: 8 

Number of Attacks: 3 (claw/claw/weapon)

Damage: 1d6/1d6/As Per Weapon 

Morale : 10 

Experience : 1,590

Treasure  Type: I, C 

The Vormusri Horde are vulnerable  to many of the high tech or semi mystical devices of Atlantian manufacture. They will attack those wielding these weapons with a particular zeal and marked violence. There is speculation among certain scholars that the horde may have actually originated as a strain of a demonic cult in ancient Atlantis on Old Earth and during the destruction of Atlantis ; the worshipers gave themselves over to the powers of the Outer Darkness. Through the eons the survivors of other realms and worlds have given themselves to this twisted horrid existence and the cult continues down through the ages. 

The Vormusri Horde often sack and raid communities claiming the souls and minds of their victims. These are bargained with other demonic and Hellish powers in exchange for favors, magical and semi sorcery weapons, and even the locations of hidden caches of magical knowledge. The horde serves no particular master and often act as mercenaries for Lovecraftian demonic lords and rival gods. They are unpredictable and very dangerous in the extreme. 

Review & Commentary on Kos City (Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting) From Skirmisher Publishing For Your Old School Sword & Sorcery Campaigns

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Swords of Kos - Fantasy Campaign Setting - Kos City is the main title in a shared world by Skirmisher Publications. The book has a throw back sword and sorcery  flavor to it. Thi
Its basically their go to fantasy campaign setting with a Greek/Minoan spin on it. The pdf weighs in at about eighty pages and its well written. The book describes about 50 locations in a system neutral bent with a leaning towards the old school flavor that we've been seeing for the last couple of years. Personally I wouldn't use it with a Pathfinder game but friends of mine whom I showed it too said that they would. Your mileage may vary as well your choice in games or editions. 

The Drivethrurpg blurb: 

Welcome to the world of Kos and to Kos City, the first volume of the highly-anticipated Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting!

This book contains descriptions of 50 different specific places that can be used either individually or in conjunction with one another, and within the context of the city of Kos as presented here or as part of any other community a storyteller might have established within their own campaign setting. It also includes a fully-keyed map of the city of Kos, both in the book and as a separate 11 x 17 file that can be printed out on a single sheet of paper.

The Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting has deliberately been designed to be system free, not tied to any particular game setting, and to be compatible with any set of role-playing game rules suitable for ancient, medieval, or fantasy venues. In that the setting was used as the playtest backdrop for games using the OGL/d20, Pathfinder, “Basic” Dungeons & Dragons and Labyrinth Lord retroclone, and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules, of course, it is an especially ideal setting for them.
There has been a boat load of work that went into this book and it seems to be a labor of love. Some might even say Herculean in scope. Many of the locations link up with the Kos Necropolis books by Micheal Varholus. This is really where the shared universe bit comes in and its not a bad little hook for the DM to get some fast background. 

The book is very well written, its concise, has a ton of adventure hooks, NPC's and a complete city too boot but is it really 'plug and play' friendly in the tradition sense of the word?  Let's really find out!

Using Kos City For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

If we take a look at a game like Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyberborea with it's Green Death plague sewn into the background and its pseudo Greek cultures as well. This book's locations can easily be dropped into the background of the game campaign. There are ton of opportunities that suddenly open up with the campaign city and its environs. 
With the recent firth of Hercules movies hitting the pop culture landscape this book might not be a bad choice to use as a campaign jump off point if the PC's are not ready for the bright lights of the main campaign cities of Hyperborea.  There is a lot here to use and with a bit of work and luck the DM could have almost an entire campaign in the isles surrounding the Kos locations in a quiet corner of Hyperborea. That's where the strength of the setting comes into play. The flavor of Kos literally crawls off the pages and demands to be added into a sword and sorcery campaign. The thing about Kos is that to my mind there is more pulp and less slick fantasy artwork that puts it square in the old school tradition in my book.
Because of the way that the Kos Pdf is set up its quite easy to print the section that you need to plug the city into the background of your PC's. The fantasy races lurking in Kos's background can easily be transformed into their AS&SH equivalents. 
The set up of the book which gives location then adventure hook works to pull in the PC's world of Kos when they may not quite be ready for the heady bright lights of certain sections of Hyperborea.
   Kos is a smaller pond for adventurers to swim in but make no mistake this isn't a nice little place. The NPC's, locations, businesses, etc. are all done in the pulp tradition of Howard in some respects. Tread very carefully where you will. 
All in all a real game of play is truly needed to know if Kos City works as a complete campaign or even a convention set adventure game. This review and commentary is only a 'thought exercise' in reality. Play is very different. 

The Bottom Line 
Is Kos City worth your money? Yes! The production values and locations are cool, well done, interesting, and engaging. The pseudo Minoan spin is different, solid, well done and very dangerous in its own ways. Its something I'll get into in another commentary on the Kos campaign setting.   

Review of Encounters (Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting) From Skirmisher Publishing For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

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Welcome to Encounters, the fourth volume of the highly-anticipated Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting! This book contains 17 system-free encounter tables for general and specific areas on the island of Kos and the lands surrounding it. All of them can be used either individually or in conjunction with each another, and within the context of the Kos campaign setting or as part of any other milieu. It follows Kos City and Lands Beyond Kos and is fully compatible with and expands upon concepts that appear in them.

The Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting has deliberately been designed to be system free, not tied to any particular game setting, and to be compatible with any set of role-playing game rules suitable for ancient, medieval, or fantasy venues. In that the setting was used as the playtest backdrop for games using the OGL/d20, Pathfinder, “Basic” Dungeons & Dragons and Labyrinth Lord retroclone, and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules, of course, it is an especially ideal setting for them.

We've got an interesting part of the Sword of Kos fantasy campaign from the Skirmisher publications folks. This is a pretty interesting little supplement and its pretty solidly system neutral with some original ideas in its eighty eight pages of material. Much of the material here is specific in some ways to the Kos setting.

What Is The Kos Campaign Setting?
I've been following the Kos Kickstarter and Skirmisher's efforts for some time. As a fan of both Greek Mythology and Skirmisher Publications this was pretty much a no brainer.
They've gone to town on the setting with very game neutral books and instead concentrating on the setting material as well as the world.


According to the campaign setting Kickstarter:

At the heart of this setting is the City and Island of Kos, located in the southeastern quarter of the wine-dark Aegean Sea. Although devastated by the volcanic cataclysm that blew apart the nearby island of Thera and threw the world into chaos a century earlier, Kos has since enjoyed a cultural and economic resurgence. Its main geographic characteristics are broad plains, arid hills, and a deepwater harbor along its eastern edge near the straits that separate the island from mainland Anatolia, just two-and-half miles away. Kos city is a metropolis located on this harbor and is home to innumerable merchants, rogues, adventurers, thieves, mercenaries, harlots, hedge wizards, cultists, and other transients. It is dedicated to the god Hermes and committed to commerce. It is also more tolerant than many other Hellenic cities of the resurgent trend toward devotion to the pre-Olympian Titans.
Here's the Kickstarter for the Kos fantasy campaign setting HERE

Much of the eighty eight pages of the Encounters book takes this campaign material and builds as well as expands it. This could be a traditional  D&D fantasy setting or with very little work this material could be turned into a solid sword and sorcery setting with little issue. The book is very well done. There is however a very solid Greek mythology feel to the Kos setting as you can see. Encounters takes that setting and expands upon it.
The setting is playable with a number of systems and with  a bit of work it could be used as a solid sword and sorcery addition to a campaign world. Because of the isle nature of the setting and its expansions as well as encounter this book is easily dropped into the background of your favorite fantasy world.
All in all I was pretty impressed with the Encounters book a solid read from beginning to end. 

Commentary On The d-infinity Live! Series 3, Ep. 23: Go to Hell! For Your Old School Campaigns

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I've only recently been introduced  to the controlled craziness that is the d- Infinty series of video chats and hangouts. The crew goes over a number of old school topics and generally cover a lot of ground.  I don't have the capacity to get involved with these events. However this event covered a subject near and dear to my heart. Adventuring in the Afterlife as well as Heaven and Hell. This is a subject near and dear to my heart and goes all the way back to very roots of our hobby. Dragon magazine covered choruses of  the major angels, the legendary nine Hells were depicted by Mr. Moore, and there have been numerous products covering these  subjects going all the way back to Judge's Guild. But I heard no mention of one of my favorite plot devices that gets PC's up to their necks in Afterlife affairs.
Hellmouths! These horrors are schisms in the fabric of reality that can lead right into the very bowels themselves. Part demonic horror and gateway these things devour the sinners and anyone else that gets into their gnashing teeth. They can appear anywhere across creation where the forces of Hell have been summoned in the past. These things have a low grade malevolent intelligence of cunning evil as they lay in wait for anyone who comes their way.

Hellmouths have deep connects to other demonic monsters such as Leviathan and the whale that swallowed Jonah. Hellmouths can appear anywhere when they slip the bonds of the angels and guardians that hold the keys which lock them outside of the planes Prime.
Often times these horrors can appear outside of populated cities and the like camouflaging themselves and devouring anyone who seemingly wanders into their areas of influence. At other times these horrors have been known to vomit foth hordes of the damned, lesser demons, and devils who plague cities and towns. The powers of Hell are let loose upon a providence and population centers. Only adventurers journeying into Hell may stop these invasions at great cost. More information on Hell Mouths can found right over HERE
 
1d10 Random Encounters With Hell Mouths Table 

1. A horde of 1d8 minor demons is encountered and attacks the party. The PC's suddenly see the demonic fury of the Hellmouth! 
2. A ghost of the newly dead is encountered with a 40% chance of being related to one of the PC's and bringing a dire warning about the Hellmouth nearby. The fool is then captured by demons and dragged back to the place of the damned. 
3. A group of panicked survivors from a nearby town are fleeing en mass warning about the terrors of the nearby Hellmouth. There is a 10% chance that some form of undead is actually among them and waiting to pick off a few. 
4. A very nasty devil like entity has exited the mouth is getting ready to raze a town to the ground. It is working with the Hellmouth the secure and devour the innocent! 
5. A horde of minor hell spawned gremlins is causing all kinds of trouble. Is there a Hellmouth nearby causing the trouble? 
6. A minor artifact not seen in five hundred years makes an appearance nearby and there is a warning of a Hellmouth coming! 
7. A group of religious fanatics is causing mayhem nearby as a Hellmouth has manifested. Only a group of adventurers can curb their excesses. 
8. A cult has sprung up feeding villagers to the Hellmouth. Actually these are minor demons in disguise and are causing major political mayhem as well. 
9. A Hell mouth has sprung up right in the middle of the most populous city and only a brave crew of adventurers can save it! It has become literally Hell on Earth. 
10. Your group comes face to face with A Hellmouth ready to feed you to Hell itself. What will you do?