Review & Commentary On Vacant Ritual Assembly Issue #3 From Red Moon Medicine Show For The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Rpg System or Any Old School Campaign

Sometimes you can crawl into a game designer's head and get a glimpse at what's going on at their table with clues as to what direction their taking their campaigns. Vacant Ritual Assembly #3 is now available and its one of my favorite Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Rpg fanzines out there. This is the zine that help me to loosen up with the  LoFP system  and take the game as it comes. The Red Moon Medicine show group of authors and designers headed by Clint Krause continues to impress me. There is an echoing them of down and dirty homegrown Lamentations horror in this issue and issue three echoes with it throughout.
Take one part Robert Howard's Beyond The Black River, mix in the fevered imagination of an obsessive LoFP fan, stir generously with 80's and 90's cinema swords and sorcery fantasy, mix in some dark material of the darkest magick , and perhaps you might get this issue of VRA. But I doubt it.
This issue reads like a temperate mix of Deliverance, Cannibal Ferox (1981), 
and Conan with a healthy dose of its own brand of insanity presented as a personal campaign setting.
Here's what you get for four dollars!

The Legend of Dragon Trench: Is the big adventure location for this issue and covers a wide gap of material including  Hex map, encounter table, rumors, NPC stats, site descriptions, and more. This is perhaps one of the best thought out bits of adventure campaign material and its a very dangerous area at that which will challenge and test adventurers to their limits.

Knights of the Dragon Clan - This knightly order are the guardians of the Dragon Trench and its environs. These are not the squeky clean paladins of OD&D but an order of adventurers,warriors, knights and survivors who are dealing with frontier life in a very dangerous world. Think Conan and company dealing with the Picts in Beyond The Black River with a LoFP twist, the Romans in ancient Britannia or the forces during the French and Indian wars in upstate New York. Life on the edge of a knife blade for your adventurers with death a hair's breath away.

The Thundercloud Druids - This is another faction with deep ties to the Dragon Trench rife with possibilities for adventurers. The Thunder Cloud Druids are the guardians of the Crystal Crater and masters of a twisted type of flute magick.
At night in the wilderness of this setting the head hunting witches of the  Tales of the Timberwives are detailed and these ladies are devious, dangerous, and wholly without mercy.
 The Grand Vespiary - This is one of the more unexpected adventures I've seen in an issue of VRA, it details a wasp cult that will leave adventurers changed forever or dead in equal measure. Its well done and very fiendish in what it does. And this is one of my favorite bits of the whole issue.
The final bit of this issue is Rick's Moving Castle an interview with the creator of the cult classic video game  Castle of the Winds  Rick Saada. A nice interview with one of video game classics masterminds and authors.
So far this is perhaps one of the most personal issues of the fanzine Clint Krause and we really get to see inside his head and his own personal campaign. This isn't a bad thing at all, we really get a sense of what's ticking off the boxes of the home game of the author and his crew at Red Moon Medicine Show.
And its an interesting glimpse into the creative process for one of LoFP's more dynamic fanzines in a community of gamers that continues to bring some of the best OSR material to the table.  This issue isn't for those looking for a simple set of hack and slash locations, these are adventure locations that could be used for many years to come in an LoFP or OD&D campaign.
But is all of this useful? Well, that really depends upon your personal taste in gaming. Personally I would say yes and buy this issue based solely on the strengths of the author's writing on his subject matter. Vacant Ritual Assembly each issue has threaded some very deep waters and this issue goes even further into a region that is rife for potential adventures. Personally I would break out my copy of Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad . 
This is exactly the sort of vibe that echoes through the Dragon Trench, a wilderness adventure location that is at once weird and dynamically different to take adventurers on a journey into the weird, pulptastic, and strangely different. That being said the locations that are detailed are easily used with other retroclone systems and that's part of the beauty of  Vacant Ritual Assembly issue three. There are so many things that can be done with this material and issue three is rife with old school gaming goodness potential. Do yourselves a favor, go and pick this issue up ASAP, its well done and well worth the money for the Lamentations of The Flame Princess rpg system or any old school system for that matter!

Death Frost Doom Adventure For The Lamentations of The Flame Princess rpg Writing by Zak Smith and James Edward Raggi IV Part II Death By Frost Review

Death Frost Doom is an adventure that literally draws you into the center of its world like a black hole of wintry death. This is a place that has gone beyond the pale of mere myth and legend into a world of all its own. And the adventurers are drawn up into the module's magick and malevolence. This is a horror movie starring your PC's and the situations described are ones with an internal world all their own. You've just stumbled into the world of Death Frost Doom. 

                                                          Grab It Right Over 
                                                                    HERE 

So what the hell is it about DFD that is so intriguing? The writing, the plot, or construction of the adventure or perhaps Zak Smith's writing? Maybe the artwork? None of the above really. There's an internal mechanism of menace to the adventure that makes it part investigation, part dungeon crawl, and part monster menace all rolled into one package.


There's a nice quality of high weirdness and depravity to the events of DFD that give the DM plenty to work with. And if played correctly with a solid group of players will have them experiencing something akin to Evil Dead part two and some dark twisted European fairy tale on steroids. Adding to mix is the cover art (in color) was done by Yannick Bouchard and the black and white interior illustrations, cartography and design were done by Jez Gordon.  All of those seem to add to the total feel of the adventure and it can be added straight into a pre existing LoFP campaign with little issue.  Heck this could be added straight into any horror themed campaign. There are reminders and echoes of old Gothic European, Romanian, and Russian  legends in DFD. This is adventure that Ravenloft wouldn't have the balls to pull off, and yet the horror elements bring some new stuff to the LoFP. There is a totally new take on the undead in this adventure that has some very cool implications for your LoFP adventures if you decide to take this option on board your campaigns. Lots of miliage of this adventure if you decide to adopt some of the ideas, mythology, and high weirdness that lurks between the pages of DFD. As a frame work to me at least this adventure has a ton of potential to take your adventures in some dark and dangerous directions!
This is an adventure that pulls heavily from the legendary roots of its own mythology and deals with its encounters as a series of events set in motion with balance and terror all in one. Something that really well done horror movies try to do. But be warned this is a horrific module that can and will wreck PC's if dumb decisions are made.
So is Death Frost Doom worth the price of admission? Yes I not only think so but I actually one of the essential LoFP books because of the way that it handles the game's material. This is a solidly dark and disturbing read,run, and rabble through the underbelly of the Lamentations universe for characters. I'd put this adventure high on the list of runs for a mid level group of LoFP adventurers. Five out of five for a reinvention of a fantastic adventure. 

Death Frost Doom Adventure For The Lamentations of The Flame Princess rpg Writing by Zak Smith and James Edward Raggi IV Initial Impressions

I own and ran the first Death Frost Doom years ago and was both shocked and surprised to see a completely revised and expanded version of Death Frost Doom. But I spend a good part of the early morning going over this adventure.  These are my initial impressions of Death Frost Doom.




I approached James Raggi IV for a copy of this pdf about two days ago and downloaded it prepared for something of a total party kill adventure. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a stone cold horror adventure done in the round robin way of isolated Heavy Metal album covers and European myth & legend. Where as the first Death Frost Doom was a scattered tapestry of horrific elements, Zak Smith has rewritten the entire adventure from the ground up to weave every morbid facet of this adventure as a whole. And its done very well. The cover art (in color) was done by Yannick Bouchard and the black and white interior illustrations, cartography and design were done by Jez Gordon. These elements are all done very, very, well. From just a look over of the material we're plunged into a peusdo European world of horror and twisted dark mythology with an entirely new take on the undead. 
Grab It Right Over 
HERE 

Everything in this module echoes so far the charm of a romp through the darkest corners of imagination with bits of Lovecraftian adventure throughout out the first couple of pages. To get into the ins and outs of this module is like looking at a horror film with a subplot that runs through it in a smart and very well way. There is the feel of European legend here mixed in with horror films then set on high and poured into a setting waiting to spring on the PC's. And I'm not talking about a total kill straight out of the gate. Instead what we're looking at is an adventure that takes full advantage of the horror tropes in well done but different way. Ways that actually fit into a wide variety of old school quasi- historical backgrounds and setting for which Lamentations of the Flame Princess is well known. This adventure can not only seamlessly fit into the back space of existing campaigns but can be used to generate entire local sub spaces for such. The adventure elements add an entire sub mythology and myth to the adventure. This is something that Zak Smith has done before as an author and designer. I see this all of the time on his blog but to see it done in an adventure using the old Death Frost Doom material is something else entirely.
Straight up this is a very well done adventure and I'll get more into it in the second part. My intial impress is that not only can this adventure work for Lamentations of the Flame Princess but I would use this adventure for other old school rpg's as well. I'm thinking here of OD&D with a dark horror theme or even Cthulhu Dark Ages. The conversion would be quite painless and easy to accomplish. Death Frost Doom is an adventure of supernatural horror and intrigue with a veneer of OD&D. This is not a light weight adventure but one that needs far more attention then it has been getting.  Please remember these are only my initial impressions of the adventure.  But for those DM's already running a LoFP campaign who bought the original adventure, go back and grab this one. This is a completely different animal then the first adventure and be prepared for that. More coming up in part II. 

Review and Commentary On The Gnomes of Levnec Adventure From Zzarchov Kowolski For Your Old School Campaigns

If your looking for an adventure with gnomes, high weirdness, a great sense of humor, and plenty of room for customization. The Gnomes of Levnec might just be for your party of warriors, wizards, and adventurers. 

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HERE

 

I went to Zzarchov Kowolski with one thing on my mind, gnomes. This adventure incorporates gnomes but not in the traditional sense but in the weird humor of old school gaming. The Gnomes of Levnec is one part outdoor adventure, two part dungeon crawl, and a whole little mini sand box of gaming adventuring with a twisted humor slant to it. I don't mean that this is a jokey unplayable adventure, rather its a twisted romp with a wry and twistedly strange sense of humor about itself. Levnec is actually a very interesting little setting, with the slightly familiar and the oddly twisted existing side by side. Your adventurers are thrust right into the deep end of the adventure. And the adventure is well worth the money, this adventure would make an excellent and more then slightly twisted adventure to run with OD&D, Swords & Wizardry, or Lamentations of The Flame Princess. In point of fact I love to run this adventure as a low level introduction to the world of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. In only sixteen pages the author establishes the setting, adds in a number of interesting NPC's within the adventure locations, adds a real plot with some minor hooks for adventure continuation, and ties it together with a witty yet interesting device or two.
There are some nifty random tables in this adventure that add to weirdness factor of piece without taking your PC's out of what's going on. This adventure knocks the traditional out door adventure on its ass and does it with style. A style that has a unique view point on gnomes, spells, magick, and a ton of weirdness at its heart. And uses these elements with a sense of the morbid and strange. But it does it in a completely awesome way. Repeatedly!
If your expecting hack and slash dungeon crawl fest, this adventure isn't for you. If you want an adventure with plenty of DYI old school OD&D adventure with plenty of Twin Peaks style high weirdness this might be the adventure for you.
This adventure has some nice maps, great diagrams, and I love, love, the art in the adventure piece because it suits the adventure rather nicely and set's the tone for this darkly whimsical adventure.
 The Gnomes of Levnec provides the DM with a handful of locations in the village, and there's plenty of room to add more in except for the gnomes are waiting to screw with adventurers. And yet they're still more going on then is hinted in the general outlay of this adventure. In fact the plot will have your adventurers crawling around the woods in no time flat and getting lost. In fact their's a rather nifty random table for that. The adventure is going to take PC's into the woods, twist their perceptions around, and then leave them feeling more then slightly disturbed. This is a perfect adventure for a short set campaign adventure that can be dropped right into the background of an existing campaign and yet leave the PC's feeling rather particular about the gnomes that are featured. Which in my book is a good thing. Five out of five because this adventure ticks so many boxes. Dark and more then slightly twisted, great maps, easy set up, deployment ,and a great weekend adventure to keep the PC's weirded out and more then slightly disturbed.  This adventure is a five out of five in my book.

Using The Gnomes Of Levnec 

With Your Old School Campaigns 

This isn't my first romp with Zzarchov Kowolski and I've read through his Pale Lady adventure which is a killer effort for the Lamentations of The Flame Princess rpg system. The Gnomes of Levnec isn't even in the same ball park as the latter adventure but the element of the mythological weird is none the less right there in this adventure. A sense that the 'unreal' of the fairy tales of old is right in your face screaming at you. 

Levenec might be used with the Pale Lady in a neighboring valley or other isolated spot along some of the trails. The idea that the truth behind the myths and legends is even weirder then we're expecting or want to know about. 

Review & Commentary On The Idea from Space From Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rpg System And Your Old School Campaigns

 So the Idea From Space is being sold as a low level dungeon romp with the PC's caught in the cross fire between two 'gods' and trapped on an island. Sounds simple doesn't it but this a Lamentations Of The Flame Princess adventure. And one that put's the PC's right into the cross fire of the divine essences of the story.
The adventure has elements of a surreal grind house film combined with bits and pieces of western mythology that were hinted at but never covered in your high school classes.

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HERE

Here's the basic outline according to the Drivethru rpg blurb:

Xaxus is a creature of pure thought. Manakata is a being of raw power. On an island at the edge of the world, they transform human proxies to act on their behalf. And they war. 

Now it’s you on this island, caught in this battle. Will you remain who you are? Can you? 

The Idea from Space is an adventure suitable for low-level characters for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role-Playing and other traditional role-playing games. 

One thing I've noticed about each and every Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure? Each and everyone is a unique product and very dangerous as well as interesting to the PC's involved. There's a certain amount of high weirdness involved here and your player characters are going to be sucked right into the middle of  the situation. Now believe it or not 'The Idea From Space' is a solid pulp style romp of an adventure with the players sucked right into the middle of a sword and sorcery situation from the darkest corners of some mad pulp writer's wet dream. The idea here is that we have two divine essences making war with each other in a ritual style game of  reality. The players get dragged right into the middle of this trying rescue  the Duke of  Santiago  whose family has been shipwrecked on the island.
The worshipers of Xaxus   a creature of pure thought  whose worship by the original natives of the island was ground to a halt by a meteor falling from the sky. This was Manakata the god of strength,another creature of alien essence and the history of the adventure goes into the backdrop of these two deities. Or is divinities a better word? If their is one thing about alien gods that I've learned from reading LoFP adventures is thus; gods are not something you want to encounter in real life. This isn't Clash Of The Titans or the benevolent gods of TSR's Deities and Demigods, these two 'gods' are alien things in the pulp tradition of Weird Tales. Xaxus & Manakata use the islands inhabitants as finger puppets and what's worse their hell bent on playing out their drama play with your PC's center stage. This plot point is something that I eluded to earlier. There are even bits of adult themed alien bio technology and worse lurking in the background.
The Idea From Space plays with a pulp notion that gods incursions into our world are never,ever a good thing. The author does a great job of taking this one central element  of a plot hook and expanding the hell out of it into an adventure with some real potential for the right group of players.
 

The inclusion of the Duke of Santiago and his family into the plot is rather brilliant as it places the entire back drop of events into a clever bit of real world history. This places the events of The Idea From Space someplace at around the early 1500's. This links play up right into the heart of the pseudo real world history of a Lamentations campaign. That being said there's no reason not to take this adventure and back link it to other Lamentations products such as Isle Of The Unknown or the Dungeon Of The Unknown. The very pivotal nature of the deconstructionist adventures that Lamentations of the Flame Princess presents allows a DM to back link adventures between adventure set pieces such as the Idea From Space. There isn't a reason in the world why you couldn't have a group of Roman adventurers stumbling onto the events of the island presented in the Idea From Space only to have the same island show up later with a different group of adventurers. But this is one of the exciting things that Lamentations adventures do is to present a piece of mythological adventure locations and then allow a DM to use it as a lost land in their games. This is exactly what The Idea from Space is a puzzle piece adventure with some dungeon crawling, solid maps,plenty of weirdness and perhaps if the PC's are very lucky they'll survive. But will they be forever changed by their experiences on the island? 

One thing about the island and contents presented in The Idea From Space, namely that there is some adult content here.I'm not talking about the ideas that this adventure presents. At its essence the Idea From Space reminded me of Clive Barker's 'In The Hills, The Cities'. In that story from the excellent Books of Blood volume one, two gay lovers get caught up in the path of a two battling cities which have been created from the strapped together bodies of the citizens of two cities in Yugoslavia. This brilliant story presents the idea of religious rites that have happened since time began and the tragic results that occur. The people who are strapped into the giants are dying and their gore as well as essence becomes a part of the bodies that make up these giants. It wasn't the erotic nature of the story but the revelation of what makes up the very nature of gods, giants, and other monsters.  The Idea From Space touches on that very idea that alien divine natures are something to be experienced but the question is really will your party survive? Will they be changed by the experiences and if so can they ever go back to their societies? Or will they be marked forever as outlaws, adventurers, and outcasts living on the fringes of 1500's Lamentations of the Flame Princess society while gods, monsters, and others battle?
About 60% of the ideas presented in The Idea From Space could be gutted out and recycled into a traditional sword and sorcery OD&D style campaign. The idea that the island presented in the Idea From Space is the only place that these two alien gods has met is simply ridiculous. You could take the essential parts of this module and transport it to say Hyperborea or any other weird sword and sorcery local. Much of this can also be done with Robert Howard tales as well or Lovecraft or any other pulp writer. Yes, this is how many ideas this title has spawned in my mind. 
Do I think that the Idea From Space is worth the five dollar download? In a word yes! The whole adventure reads like a kit of ideas, the maps are very well done, and I had a blast visiting it. And its marked for me to run this one. 

Review and Commentary on Vacant Ritual Assembly #2 From Red Moon Medicine Show For The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Rpg System or Any Old School Campaign

Where do I begin with this second issue of this great fanzine for the Lamentations of The Flame Princess Rpg system. Issue #2 has possibly enough material to qualify as a mini Lamentations campaign into itself. The second issue has some very strong article that fit right into the backdrop and setting for Lamentations. As a fanzine this Vacant Rituals is sort of like finding that really weird zine in the back of a comic shop, your not sure what the hell it is but you know its got to be something really cool and completely off the wall. But its also high quality and usable off the wall material for Lamentations. 

Grab It Right 

HERE 

Issue #2 comes on strong with some very nice optional rules, a collection of adventures, some weird Lobstermen, and lots semi aquatic goings on. 

Artwork from Ryan Sheffield, Abigail Larson, Anxious P, Sean Poppe, and Xolis.

d66 Name Table: This is the kind of table that your going to want to use to name your characters in style. Sort of the Robert E Howard baby name chart for Lamentations adventurers. 

Birthsigns: A d12 zodiac table to add in the PC creation process that has a definitive Hammer horror feel with add ons for your PC's. 

Dretcher's Bay: Imagine if your characters are caught between the claws of three lobstermen sea captains and the power and adventure opportunities. 

Carcinology: Anachronistic diving suits, weird cults, more lobstermen, and giant crab gods. There's lots of potential in this adventure situation. 

The Secrets of Acray: Strange ruins, underwater adventure opportunity, and all of it on one page. 

Oarsmen & Their Woes: Guest article by Anxious P! which includes some Moorcockian plane jumping opportunities but with much more LoFP slant on this group of sorts who travel the dimensions but there is a high price for their plane hoping favors and services. 

With Thine Eye Beheld: A cyclops cult and the weird Lovecraftian cult of inbred weirdos who worship these strange and weird beings. 

Interview with Greg Gorgonmilk: Greg talks Dolmenwood, Drunes, weed, and writing. Greg Gorgon Milk goes into his latest about Dolmenwood and its environs, weed, more weed and writing. 

So for a second issue this fanzine presents a complete and compact Lamentations jump off point for a complete mini campaign. This issue has style and quite a solid bit of substance. The material is well written, surreal, and utterly useful. I can honestly say that this issue would make a really weird and highly entertaining campaign. I've enjoyed the run of this magazine so far and the quality of the writing and systems that are behind this one are completely useful and utterly insane in a good solid OSR vibe. Can I see myself using this material? Yes and is it worth the price of the download? In a word I've got to admit that I can say,a solid five out of five stars. Perfect material to run a Lamentations game. Grab a copy of this magazine, some friends, and get right to playing today. 

Review and Commentary About Vacant Ritual Assembly #1 From Red Moon Medicine Show For The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Rpg or Your Old School Horror Campaigns

 

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HERE

 So I'm always late to the party and when it comes to fanzine doubly so, issue number #2 of Vacant Ritual Assembly is already hitting the stands and I'm just learning about the zine now. Its sort of like an underground zine that back  in the late 90's would have hit the streets if you were into the sort of dark and weird that is Lamentations of  the Flame Princess all in one fetid place. So what the hell is it? Well here's the owner to talk about the zine.

Reading through Vacant Ritual Assembly is sort of like turning into an OSR indie horror movie at about four A.M. and coming into the middle of the movie. You stay up to watch it, you know your enjoying it but you just not sure what the hell you just saw but you enjoyed the hell out of it.
This zine has everything that I loved about old school horror gaming with a dangerous Lovecraftian sensibility and none of the pretentiousness of other BS rpg stuff. It simply presents a solidly done horror OSR kick in the head. Besides some dangerous and weird artwork. Vacant presents some actual useful content for Lamentations of The Flame Princess in an easily digestible form.
The Goblin Market is actually one of the best setting set pieces of the zine. It presents a small Lovecraftian ghoul colony who trade with the living, the damned, wizards, and madmen all in one place under a chapel. Very dangerous and deadly wares are traded here but your PC's will never be the same.
The Skin Smith - This is the sort of demon who can do resurrections and alterations to your PC's but man the horror factor is very high. 

Vespero the Antiquarian is the sort of guy whose business ideals and interests intersect with those who do business with macabre and weird. The guy however can be down right nasty and could be a dangerous NPC as all those who are in a LoFP campaign can be. 

Luminari, Lady of the Golden Lamp is the sort of minor goddess who can make things very interesting and downright weird for a set of PC's. She's exactly the sort of a goddess who you want to use as part of a one shot adventure.

Brahnwick is Dead: one part adventure and one part throw your PC's into a flooded town inhabited by madmen and with weird occult bits happening around their ears. 

An interview with Chris McDowall about his new opus Into the Odd. Shrugs I'm here for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess material. If your looking for more information about Into the Odd then this is your interview. 

Greycandle Manor: An abandoned manor on the edge of town, which makes a perfect side encounter for use as a location between Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventures. The PC can be used as is and used just to make the PC's very,very, nervous or filled with those NPC's you've been itching to use. 

Go grab this issue right now and get cracking with the material as part of a horror themed campaign. This is a tight,tight, well done fanzine.



Using Vacant Ritual Assembly
As Part Of Your Old School Campaigns 

Vacant Ritual Assembly is the sort of a fanzine that replaces so many things that have been missing from OSR horror gaming for a while. It presents a bunch of actual usable elements and dares you to put them into your games. There's no manifesto simply a whole bunch of well assembled parts to install into a Lamentations campaign. 

The ghoul market frame work is the corpse from which everything else is hung and that is part of the form and focus. This issue really pulls everything that I love from the Kult rpg and puts it in one easily useful package. 

Everything in this issue is perfectly focused and useful for a Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign. Fact is that I can see using this material in a number of OSR horror games and still coming back to raid this material time and again. That my friends is utility. And that's what makes this product utterly useful in my mind. 

Review and Commentary On The Pale Lady Adventure By Zzarchov Kowolski From The Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rpg System

"Deep in the woods, every woods, there seems to be a monstrous child stealing witch.

Every spring more and more children go missing never to return.

Two years ago one returned from his absence and is telling tales of vast riches, monstrous servitors, and the way back to her accursed domain."

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  So I read through the blurb of 'The Pale Lady' adventure for Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg system. Now I approached James Raggi about a review copy and I didn't know what I was getting into. I'm familiar with the writing of Zzarchov Kowolski from a number of his rpg products over the years but the Pale Lady is very something very weird and a completely different avenue from what I was expecting. The rpg title refers to an incredible goddess or witch of incredibly strange alien power. The module concerns a mini adventure that surrounds her, her followers, her children and much more. Look I don't want to spoil this module but it addresses a prime concern of mine with the Lamentations of the Flame Princess system. What do you do with the Elves and Dwarves in the Lamentations system. Call it a Tolkien hang up but trying to wrap my mind around the concepts put forth for the 'Fey' powers has been problematic in LoFP. Not any more,this module tackles some of the pseudo historical background of the issue and does it with high weirdness and gusto as well as style. 

This module touches upon the classic Hammer horror and pulp trappings of dark sorcery and witchcraft whipped to a seething froth of high weirdness in a European countryside. The backdrop and setting fits in and dovetails very nicely with the rest of the adventure. There is some dark and disturbing goings on,and much of the plot as such reminded me of some of games of Kult from back in the 90's. Yes there is a child snatching witch and horrid murders but there's dark goings on in the name of the old religions of the region and more.
The adventure for all of its mature content is a seething cauldron of dark magick and forces bubbling out as part of the deep countryside and its a very messy adventure waiting to splatter your PC's in whipped gore, odd happenings, and more.
The writing is well done and possibly as well done as anything that I've seen from the pen of Mr.Kowolski. The artwork is evocative and even though the pieces are b/w they set the tone nicely. This adventure is sort of like stumbling upon a gem of dark 80's horror popping it into the VCR and coming away feeling like you've found another favorite horror flick as the screen is drenched in gore, guts, and intelligence. That's the type of quality I see in this adventure. 
On the price,you can think of it like this. As a comic book fan, I've paid through the nose for quality pieces of artwork,graphic novels,etc. Well this isn't simply another thirteen page download of low quality crap.What this is a thirteen page adventure and kit that fills in as nice and horrifically weird adventure for a party. Although this adventure can be run as a one shot for LoFP, this adventure serves better as a build up on an existing European campaign set in historic Europe. Personally wait till there's a frequent sale on Drivethru if your worried about the price. For me it was worth the admission. 
The context here is a nice divider into some of the events of Raggi's 'Better Then Any Man' and other Lamentations adventures. The Pale Lady touches on the powers of magick that came up during the witch trials of the 1600 & 1700's across  Europe spun through a darkly pulptastic aesthetic and set into to weird dark common to Clive Barker novels of the fantastic.The content here is a blood drenched mature rife with murder,mayhem, other elements that you'd come to expect from the Lamentations line.
So what's 'The Pale Lady' about? Its about  encounters with ancient powers beyond the ken of mortal men where tales of this  horror are still told around camp fires across the region of your campaigns. Mothers clutch their children and families look over their shoulders as the sun sets as they watch for the coming of the 'Pale Lady'. 

I really enjoyed the hell out of the 'Pale Lady'. A great addition to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess line. 

Four out of Five for weirdness and packing in the horror as well. 

Deconstructing & Commentary The 'Better Then Any Man' Adventure By James Raggi For The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Rpg System.

War is Hell

The Swedes are invading!
Sorcerers have taken Karlstadt with the aid of unearthly creatures!
In Würzburg, the Prince-Bishop schemes to retain control of his domain.

… and yet darker forces gather…Better Than Any Man is a deluxe LotFP: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing adventure for character levels 1–4. Dungeoneering, wilderness adventuring, investigation, politics and negotiation, many new spells, magic items, and monsters—this one has it all!

Welcome to a little corner of  the Thirty Year War in the sword and sorcery back drop of  Better Then Any Man adventure for the Lamentations of The Flame Princess Rpg system. This is a deconstructionist horror adventure with witches, cults, and old school downright nastiness set into the world of a sandbox adventure with plots, counter plots, double dealing, adult situations, and the occult in full blossom around your PC's ears!
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'As a pay what you want'
You must be 18+  to download this adventure 

This is one of the best adventures to throw the party into the deep end of a horror themed dark survival horror straight out of the 60's or 70's with a dripping helping of dark fantasy via HP Lovecraft spun through the lens of  Dario Argento. This sandbox is set in the ruins and aftermath of  Karlstalt as the Swedish army coming through on its way for conquest against the Roman Catholic forces. Yes this adventure uses actual history as its backdrop using Catholic against Protestant forces.
From the adventure -
Better Than Any Man takes place in October 1631, in and around Karlstadt, a small town outside Würzburg. Situated in the Holy Roman Empire, both the town and the surrounding area have been in turmoil for much of the past 13 years, caught up as they have in the events of the Thirty Years War. Here are the important background details: The Thirty Years War began almost as a civil war within the Holy Roman Empire. The conflict is often simplified by describing it as a religious war between the Catholics and Protestants, but once foreign powers became involved such distinctions become wholly inaccurate as alliances became less ideologically based.
Add into this mix the Seven, gang and council of witches, wizards, and madmen whose occult power has introduced the  Dark Forces into the backdrop of the ruins of the villages and the surrounding countryside. 

They've seized control of the locations involved and declared an end to war and it gets much,much, worse. PC's can wander through the landscape and deal with a variety of dark and dangerous NPC's. The machinations of the Seven are at the heart of the adventure but there is far more going on here. 

What Better Then Any Man does is introduces several key concepts to the DM from the Lamentations Of the Flame Princess rpg system along with rules for black powder weapons which would be later expanded upon in the hardback rule book. The key adventure location and adventure elements are horrific, dangerous and downright PC tearing. PC's looking to tear across the landscape with guns and swords blazing are going to be dead and that's no lie.



The adventure is a romp through the Thirty Year War and the horrors that echo through history brought to vivid life by the echoes and creatures of occult power throughout Better. This is a completely different take on the pseudo historical elements explored in Chandler's No Salvation For Witches adventure romp.
The darkness here is mankind and the occult forces are working side by side taking every advantage but this Better reaches into the back drop of the soul on a much more personal and intimidate level of play on the horror tradition. This is an adventure that is a piece reaching for Howard and instead finding a splatterpunk aesthetic wrapped in a brutal brick of pulp flavored witchcraft laden piece of weird adventure. In fact this is outlined right in the introduction by James Raggi with the adventure details :

• Anachronistic historical truth taken from other times and places from the Thirty Years War and the early-to-mid 17th century in general, • Historical myth, • Historical detail which is thought to be true by the author, but actually isn’t, • and pure fiction… … and it does not distinguish between them. This is a game book, not a tool for learning or teaching history, nor does it seek to encourage or discourage any real world attitudes or actions other than “Buy more Lamentations of the Flame Princess books because they’re gnarly.”

This will give you a good explanation of what's in store for the PC's and also gives a good benchmark for PC generation.
The PC's should be a very nice cross section of classes from across the Lamentations spectrum to get the best chances of not only survival but profiting from the experience laid out in the adventure.

Using The 'Better Then Any Man' Adventure
With Your Old School Adventures
Better Then Any Man takes the dark and nasty bits of a pesudo historical pulp adventure setting and mixes in the essence of an open ended seven day romp through Germany. This is done with some really nasty adventure elements lurking in the backdrop.
You've got covens,things from outside, the machinations of the Seven, time traveling wizards who murder children, and more.
This module makes Ravenloft look like The Swiss Family Robinson adventures. Seriously its twisted,evil,and darkly dangerous. 



Look with everything I've said before this module introduces all of the major elements of horror and depravity set against the events of the thirty year war in the Lamentations of The Flame Princess game line self contained world. 
This is an offensive, dangerous, maliciously wonderful little romp through history seen through the fun house slaughter mode of James Raggi, if this sounds like a basic adventure to introduce all of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg line to your players then check this one out.
A quick read through of the Thirty Year War on Wiki can't hurt when running this one.
Right over
HERE

Get this adventure if you want to get in on the ground floor of a Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg mini campaign with all of the mature and adult supernatural horror trimmings. Not for the faint of heart but well worth the download. 

Commentary On The Lamentations of The Flame Princess Rpg System's Adventure 'No Salvation For Witches' By Rafael Chandler For Your Old School Campaign

Its Friday the Thirteenth and I couldn't have picked a better adventure/source book to take a look at then this one. I'm late to the party on this Lamentations of The Flame Princess adventure. And once again I'm late to the party and asking myself why I didn't get in on the action from the beginning? 

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  No more holding back folks, I haven't devoted nearly enough time to looking into some of the 'E ticket' rides of the OSR. In this case its The Lamentations Of The Flame Princess's Rpg System ' No Salvation For Witches' adventure.

  I've been a bit conflicted about this adventure and not because of the 'Mature Content' but because of the background, and setting research I've done. I read through review after review of it and several interviews of Rafael Chandler and James Raggi's on various rpg outlet sights and various internet what not outlets for marketing the game adventure. And the successful Indie Go Go campaign that the Lamentations line has run for 'No Salvation For Witches' adventure. And no its not the MATURE CONTENT that isn't for little kids or the easily offended or the occult powers that the adventure depicts. No, I want to do the damn adventure justice,because its very,very, well done and one of the best things that Lamentations has done to date.

  'No Salvation For Witches' takes place in the world and setting of Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg's pseudo European London of the early 1620's and the middle of the Price Revolution. You can find out more about that right HERE . The whole adventure is a giant back handed sandbox mini campaign of horror and depravity. Your going to need the  right group of players  because their going to come into a situation that reminds me of a X ticket Hammer horror fest and something akin to a punch to the gut via a splatterpunk historic adventure with lots of twists and turns. 

  I've seen this adventure compared with 'Better Then Any Man'; and no this isn't anything like the 'Better Then Any Man' adventure. That's one thing that folks have to understand about the Lamentations line of rpg products. They're all stand alone adventures and have to be taken on their own merits and this was done on purpose. There isn't an over arching meta plot to them except in the fact that Raggi has used his lady adventurers and signature characters as cover connectors for the various products of the line. If you the DM want to connect these products together,well really that's your business. And that brings us right back into the witch coven that centers in London and the deal of the century that they've cut with a really,really alien life form. Rafael Chandler brings his NPC's to life with a flourish and grand gesture or two that gives these poor fools depth but there is an edge of evil here to the situation because once your party is in the middle of this sandbox adventure then all bets are off. 

No Salvation For Witches handles the gore and nastiness with the hand of an 80's Italian horror flick spun through the lens of Lovecraft and poured onto a steaming pile of 1600's European darkness. This is the sort of adventure  that Ravenloft kinda hinted about and never dared do. Look this is the type of adventure that would be directed by Dario Argento and starring your PC's if he was using a Robert Howard Solomon Kane story as the basis. In other words this isn't an adventure to get too attached to your PC's.They may die rather well and truly in a way that you wouldn't want them to be resurrected. Seriously because that alien god thing at the heart of this adventure is polluting everything in the backdrop of it. And its still out there and dangerous, as well as incredibly weirdly dangerous. But it also doesn't quite understand human beings and its powering the heart and soul of this adventure. That's one of the things about Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventures unique in a sense. Yes there's a greater whole to the sandbox but it doesn't touch any other adventure unless you want it too as a part of your campaign. The locations within the adventure were best summed up by the author in a recent interview in Diehard GamFAN - 'Rafael: This is an open world exploration, but there are certain constraints; the players will be able to explore the setting, which includes moors, villages, and a derelict priory. In addition, there’s a bit of a dungeon, but it’s quite small, and really, it’s very safe. Be sure to go there.'

And its all tailored around the twisted heart and soul of the No Salvation For Witches adventure setting!  But wait there's still more. 

Within the adventure is a mini source book of demonology and family fun (kidding unless your family happens to be a demon lord & co.) The “The Tract of Teratology”  is worth the price of admission alone. The thing is a demon and Lovecraftian generator that gives incredibly weird and highly dangerous insane Lovecraftian horrors as prize winning monsters. Once again I reference The Diehard GameFan interview with Rafeal Chandler and James Raggi - 'DHGF: The Tract of Teratology, a key component to the adventure, is supposed to be able to generate roughly 3.6 TRILLION different monsters according to the campaign page. Can you give us any examples of the fiendish thingies that can be born from this thing?

Rafael: Of course!

“Cube-shaped body with transparent skin showing the internal organs; cold to the touch. Appendages: Glistening trench full of delicate bulbs of tissue. Scent of honeysuckle. Neutral: Acts in its own interests; bears the caster no ill will, but is not favorably disposed towards him either. If the caster makes good fodder for satisfying the entity’s Compulsion, so be it. 15 hit points. Armor class 14. 2 attacks for 1d4 damage. Movement 60′. Morale 10. Knows 1 randomly-selected 3rd level Magic-User spell. Attacks at +3. Compulsion: To consume some of the flesh of those who have fornicated recently. After 2 days, the monster vanishes silently.” " 

And you get this sort of thing in spades which is perfect for adding into not only a Lamentations of The Flame Princess campaign but any old school retroclone system that needs that extra demonic kick in the teeth! You can read that interview from Diehard GameFan right HERE 

The rituals and rites for summoning these horrors from beyond the pale is horrid, nasty, and downright murderous in the highest degree! This isn't stuff that you simply add to a game. Reading through this stuff  was like watching Ken Russell's Devils film from 1971. You get uncomfortable and squirm in your seat but you come away feeling that you can actually use this material. This is after all an old school horror adventure and one done in the vein of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess line and venue.

Is it worth the price of admission? Yes and then some the artwork is top notch, the text and flavor of the adventure is up to the caliber that I'd expect from the Lamentations line of product. Grab it and I so want this in print yesterday. 

Using No Salvation For Witches
In Your Old School Campaign 

'No Salvation For Witches' is deadly,nasty, and highly dubious for PC's and that makes it great to use. Playing this adventure is playing a low level, high horror adventure set to 'eleven' and one that hits the high points for an old school OD&D style survival horror adventure. 

I would use the video game rule of three characters each a player at least. Coming into this adventure is like coming into the bad scene of a horror film. The pit here is black and the adventure is survivable but your PC is forever going to be changed by the experience. and marked forever by the experience.
Think of this as a 1620's John Carpenter 'The Thing' adventure in tone and gut churning elements brought home with the style and flourish of a basic OD&D kick to the teeth.
This adventure combines many I think of the best elements of Lamentations of the Flame Princess's rpg system and gives the DM the tools to take it to the players as an introduction into the world of sword and sorcery that this game does so well. 

Quick Shout Out For Slaughter Grid For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

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HERE

After a recent TPK in AS&SH, I haven't really been doing as much as I should with this blog.Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea is retooling and getting a new Kickstarter soon as well as getting ready to unleash a plethora of kick ass sword and sorcery products.
Lamentations of The Flame Princess has been dealing with production and print issues, which I hope the printer in question is dealt with. I understand issues with printers all to well from various friends who small and vanity press publish. You have my sympathies when it comes to these.
In the meantime I've been contending myself with other old school & OSR  materials including this gem that I got to see in the flesh and read this past weekend. I've heard about Slaughter Grid for a few years but never got a chance to peak between its covers.
Just wow is all I can say, the cover says for OSRIC but after peering through this one it might be right along the edge of a Lamentations of The Flame Princess vibe. The design aesthetic here is right down that alley.
The description on Lulu has a pretty good break down : 

Created by genocidal halflings aeons ago, SlaughterGrid is a strange and gruesome dungeon, avoided by all save the bravest or most foolhardy of adventurers.

This module features:

* An 18-area mini-hexcrawl to start you off

* A three-level dungeon with 55 encounter areas

* Rules for thieving abilities, schemes, and weaponized monsters

* 32 new monsters, including stygiacs, gold-whores, progenitors, and necro-otyughs

* Weird treasure, dangerous magic items, and unpleasant surprises

So right off the bat this module has the excitement and vibe of many of the old school products of yesteryear with exciting background, high weirdness, and several really well thought out encounters. It reminds me of an old AD&D first edition favorite?

The text gets right to the point in a concise, well laid out manner, and no nonsense way while maintaining the adventures goals.

Right so this one is a homage to White Plume Mountain but takes several of the conventions of 'fun house' dungeons and turns them on their collective ears.Taken as an adventure this is a very fun rattle trap of a dungeon in the old school tradition of exploration, treasure, escape, and evade in equal turns of high weirdness. Rafael has carefully crafted this adventure to play around with PC's while adding elements of play that are nasty and dangerous to PC's but done with style. In other words this is a very well done module. I think that with a great deal of customization this one might be used with Lamentations of The Flame Princess or any retroclone. I personally liked some of the ideas that were behind the dungeon ecology and sword & sorcery vibe in this one. Yeah, yeah its a throwback in some respects to AD&D 1st edition's glory days but its got a lot going for it. Pick this one when Lu Lu has their sales.

Review and Commentary On The Lamentations Rpg System 'Death Love Doom' 'Pay What You Want' Adventure For Your Old School Campaigns

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HERE  *
*Just in time for Halloween comes this OSR adventure but the explicit content warning is spot on. Not one for the kids.

So this afternoon I downloaded James Raggi's Death Love Doom and I was expecting some freak show horror adventure with adult themes. Well it is that but there's more here in just twenty two pages. This module is an exploration and re-definition  of what makes up a weird horror adventure. This is an adventure with some very strong sexual themes, disturbing art work, and weird reworkings of horror conventions by James Edward Raggi IV.
Well yes and no really. This is more of an exploration of one family's descent into a level of depravity and madness with a structured OSR adventure that uses many of the deliberate transgressions and taboos of  one family by an artifact of incredible maleficence and horror. The PC's are along for the ride and no power in Heaven can help them. This is an adventure that uses baroque bodily transformations allied to an almost demonic reverence to the carnal within the bounds of an adventure location. In other words this adventure uses the conventions of weird erotic horror in the likes of Clive Barker,Ramsey Campbell, and other modern 80's and 90's horror writers. Its a very dark homage to the imaginative echos of Clive Barker's film Hellraiser in some respects. I wasn't shocked because I've played plenty of the Kult rpg back in the early 90's and this adventure reminded me of the better adventures that came out for that game.
This is a vicious and horror filled adventure not for the faint of heart and it contains a horrid adventure location that the PC's will be lucky to get out of with their lives and souls. This isn't simply a haunted house of a survival horror adventure redressed for OSR gaming. This is a highly charged horror run through and gauntlet for a mid level party of adventurers that you want to shake up with a series of adult highly charged encounters.
 This isn't Ravenloft with a new coat of paint, this is Gothic horror adventure with gore and sex themes  center stage. I've seen other Call of Cthlhu adventures with much adult themed as well as weirder plots and twisted paths then Death Love Doom. But I haven't seen the material framed as well as this one.

 Using Death Love Doom For 
Your Old School Campaigns 

One of the themes here is sexual and bounded alienation done against the painted gore and twisted horror of the NPCs as well as the adventure location here, the mansion of the center stage here.  This adventure should be run when the game campaign is at a bit of slow period and the players agree to something different. This is where players and DM's have to have an understanding of the level of adult material in the twenty two pages. I'm not talking about about the 'shocking' art work and adult themes of the adventure. I'm talking about the whole of the level of weirdness that this adventure evokes in those that play it. This is one that sticks with you long after you put down the pdf.

Elements of this adventure involve the whole range of taboo events that take place within the mansion and how those supernatural elements transgress against the natural order leading to a Lovecraftian build up and execution of this adventure. A DM running this is going to be left with a feeling of having run one of Satra's plays like No Exit, here the Hell really is other people. The family and NPC's ultimately are a part of a series of events of horror where the themes of the mundane and supernatural exist side by side in a reworked and deconstructionism of the usual D& D tropes. One part Shining and one part Hellraiser style old school  Barkerism where the journey not the end will change a party one way or another.
My advice is to run this with a group of players who understand and appreciate 80's & 90's horror movies and are out for a good time with lots and lots of Raggi style twists,tricks, and traps against an entire cast of NPC's that not even the cast of ER can put together again.
In the end this is one very twisted adventure location that can be dropped into a campaign and will drop a party into an adventure that they will not expect and much less survive without in some respect be changed and touched by the madness, depravity, and insanity of Raggi's vision and writing. This isn't a light weight module but a blue print and tool box of how to do a very nasty old school weird horror adventure. All not too bad at all for twenty two pages.