Random Tavern Generator For Your Old School Campaigns

    Skirmisher publishing just had their 'Game publisher WTF moments'on their  D-Infinity broadcast on Youtube this evening. Which had some pretty fun stuff in it. You can see that right over HERE. But the reason for the mention is actually the Random Tavern generator that was mentioned at the end of the board cast. This handy dandy little generator gives the perfect watering hole or meeting place for your party. 

This is a perfect random generator from Skirmisher publishing for your old school game campaign. This is a solid done generator. Easily adapted to your urban encounter area or adventure locations within a town, city, or even the countryside wagon trail.

Start Using It Right Over 

HERE

original artist right over Here

Another trick I came up with is to use the generator a couple of times to create various watering holes within a town or city block. This way various watering holes might be owned and operated by a crime family or thieves guild or some other organization.
All of this material is based on the Jester Dragon's Random Tavern Generator. A system neutral product that's only .99 cents and will seamlessly fit into the background of your campaigns,neatly and quite concisely.







Grab It Right HERE 

Lands Beyond Kos (Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting) From Skirmisher Publishing For Your Old School Sword And Sorcery Campaigns

Lands Beyond Kos is the newest entry for the Swords of Kos Fantasy imprint from Skirmisher Publishing and for a fan of sword and sorcery role playing the timing couldn't be better. 
This is closer look at the big bright world beyond the Kos setting books, a sort of 'Ancient World' of mythology seen through a D&D style lens with over arching spins of adventure, fortune, and glory woven together with sword and sandal. Here adventure is always at the ready and your PC's are expected to be thrown into the deep end of legend and mythology itself. 
These are the lands of Hercules and  the heroes of old, erm not quite. See your PC's are the heroes and this book is a setting book of lands,details, all the little bits and pieces your DM is going to need to deal with what's over the horizon of the seas of the world of Kos. 

Grab It Right
HERE

This book details the lands and high areas of adventure in Kos. The book does it out in grand style and very easy to read bits and pieces with scattered adventure hooks provided through out but its a book with plenty of room for customization on the DM's part. The nice thing is the lack of system which means a DM can hang this world book right into the backdrop of their own campaign world and favorite system. 

So what's in it? Well according to the description from Drivethrurpg: 

As their adventures take them away from the shores of Kos, characters may increasingly visit other countries throughout the Mediterranean and the lands of Europe, Asia, Africa, and beyond — and, the further afield they go, the more unfamiliar the customs and people of these places will be- come. This chapter contains detailed descriptions of 16 nations that characters from Kos might visit in the course of their adventures, or which themselves might be the homelands of some characters. Most of these lands in this extended adventuring area are located in the region of the eastern Mediterranean but a few lie further to the west and three lie somewhat outside the region altogether, along the shores of the Black Sea, in Mesopotamia, and in the European Alps, respectively. Most are at least as much under the control of Humans as of demihumans like Dwarves or humanoids like Hobgoblins.
Make no mistake, this isn't our world but an alternative world of fantasy, with lots of details and back drop for the Kos DM. But this book has a ton to offer a DM who wants to add this world to their sword and sorcery game. With a bit of work this world can easily become another piece of mythological or planar setting material just waiting for your D&D characters to explore. There is place after place just waiting for adventurers to put into port and go adventuring on the deep and dangerous twisting locations of Lands Beyond Kos.
This is a setting with a twist, this world came about by the events of 'The Great Cataclysm'  which sparked off the populations of fantasy races in Kos and makes a good back drop to add into a weird fantasy world backdrop. There's plenty of monsters and mayhem just waiting for a party, there are enough details here to get a DM headed straight into the world and connect it straight into an existing world or transport their adventurers into Kos's setting.
Look the pdf is a good value at only 3.99 for the amount of detail and work that your going to take a away from the setting. This setting is sword, sorcery, and mayhem with a flare for old school adventuring and there's lots to be had.
One last thing Lands Beyond Kos comes with a well done, and highly detailed map of the locals and locations spoken about within the product. For a pdf this is a really nice add on and one that I'm planning on having done out in heavy parchment style paper at a local printer to keep track of an upcoming campaign using this material.

Using The Lands Beyond Kos 
For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaign 
There are several ways to use this setting book, and for me they involve taking the backbone of the book in nations, details, and entries of the campaign setting and adding it to my favorite retroclone say Labyrinth Lord or some retroclone system. This is a readily available system free plug and play world and its a post apocalyptic fantasy world at that. 

The proto mythological world of Kos and its Grecian roots the meat of the product can be plugged into a wide variety of fantasy setting variations from the larger then life legends of the 'Great Heroes', to battling the monsters and titans of sword and sorcery, to dealing with the everyday problems of living against the backdrop of this world. Kos has one other element to it, a very dark and seething underbelly of mythology and legend. There are reasons for this darkness and Kos has it in spades relating back to the 'Great Cataclysm' and the origins of its fantastic elements.
There is a ton to work with here and at its price there is more then enough nations,powers, NPC personas, and more that enough to keep a DM and his players busy for years to come. My recommendation is to grab Lands Beyond Kos and get to designing your own adventures within this expansive setting. There is also a ton of setting material support available for Kos. I highly recommend this book and to get in on the action. 

The 'Pay What You Like' OSR Resource - "100 Oddities for a Thieves' Guild" From Skirmisher Publishing For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

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HERE

Clint Staples and William T. Thrasher as well as the Skirmisher crew turn out another very interesting supplement on the 'pay what you want' scale. This one is really a must for any sword and sorcery DM. Seriously, this is one your not going to want to miss. Thieves guilds have been a staple of sword and sorcery ever since Fritz Leiber put type writer keys to paper back in the 40's. These organizations are the back bone of OD&D going back to when the thief class was first introduced and guilds have always been one of the most popular bits of adventures and PC's.
This book gives you that extra interesting edge when exploring items found in that safe house,ware house, guild hall, or other area where the guild's members have trodden with their ill gotten gains. This book puts odd right into the center of the guilds. This  book is filled with ten pages of high handed weirdness with items that can add that extra push into the zone of madness but its more then that.
This pdf proves the DM with a nice set of  items to encounter and add that special little bit of twisted humor and set dressing to use as a prime adventure hook. With a few tosses of the dice and suddenly you've filled that locker under the NPC's bed, the vault in the vile villains den, the chest out in the middle of that pox filled ruin, and so forth.

The lists here are brisk, weird, and original enough to include in my favorite sword and sorcery games, this makes this particular list extra nice for a game such as Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hypborea where the thieves guild is such a part of the underworld of the setting but this isn't the only place in which that this list can be used.
The items are truly unique and interesting, and with a bit of imagination could be used for everything from a Call of Cthulhu cult's head quarters to a museum as well as the standard fantasy menu
The Skirmisher crew knows their material and this is another product where they've went out of their way to bring a sense of the original and strange into back drop of these lists. With a bit of work this list could be used to create a quick and dirty warehouse space in anything from ancient Rome to Cimmeria itself. Or it could be used in a more modern police warehouse sort of evidence catch basin for investigators to look for vital clues for a horror style investigation adventure.
Is this pdf worth your time? In a word in my opinion yes. Because it sets off to really add another layer of tools to a part of a DM's palette that's needed; the devil being in the details of what's found and what's used by a party. Not everything needs to be +4 sword of sharpness. Sometimes a smoking bottle of demonic essence left from a magical duel will draw your party deeper into the doorway of adventure. Basically this is a nice solid and vital piece of old school gaming goodness that your going to be using again and again to generate more treasures, adventure opportunities, loot, and most of all fun items that will have adventurers wandering down new and exciting pathways of adventure and plots involving the local thieves guild and its members. All in all this is an essential book for anyone wanting to add another layer to their DMing of a life of crime and making their PC's pay for it one odd random  item at a time. 

'Beyond The Silver Threshold' - A Supernatural Horror Adventure Encounter For BASH & Call Of Cthulhu

Sitting on a shelf in a back water museum in a small New England Town is a terrible secret surrounding a centuries old Pictish artifact taken by Viking raiders in the 6th century. This silver artifact is part of ancient hoard containing ancient secrets including the location of a legendary monster god thing and its Viking warrior servants. Discovered in Nova Scotia and taken back to the small New England town museum of your choice. This piece has been stolen and is now up on the auction block. The theft has activated a strange curse summoning back the brine drenched ghosts and guardians of the god thing to slain whomever comes in contact with the artifact. Now its a race against time as the silver artifact passes from hand to hand spreading its blood curse to those who would defy the ancient god serpent monster. The thing who even now feeds upon the souls of those its minion slay in its name. There have been eight victims of the drowned Viking king and his warriors. The police seem helpless to stop the trail of bloodshed. 

Photo by Johnbod 

The last person to handle the item is Lowel Henderson, a local historian and antique dealer. He's been found slain in his west side home by neighbors who found the beloved historian with multiple stab wound and the police are at a loss. The players are called in to help identify strange symbols and whirls found made with his blood. Mr. Henderson has a book underneath some splintered book shelves which might offer a clue about the legend of the silver plaque called 'Viking Mysteries and Legends of Nova Scotia - An Account of the Supernatural Myths and Legends Of Vikings In The New World'. This book was written by Mr. Henderson's great grand father who tangled with the so called 'Drowned Kings and Warriors of Old'. The book goes on to describe that the Drowned Kings are servants and victims of the supernatural evil of the Sea Wyrm forever tied spiritually to the thing for all time due to the curse. Henderson was trying to trace down the 'whirl map' made up of the mystic symbols on the plaque that lead to the supernatural realm of the sea wyrm! But the drowned kings ended his life before he could open a gateway to the sea wyrm's realm & lift the curse. The silver plaque is part of a cursed Pict hoard of stolen silver artifacts and booty. The hoard bares a blood curse upon it for the terrible evil done for its possession whose betrayers fled to the New World but whose souls were pledged to the Sea Wyrm. They serve the thing beyond the grave even now and for all eternity.
The small silver plaque has been stolen by one of the neighbor's children who found the body. The magick of the blood curse compelled little Jimmy Throghu to take the shiny silver plaque because of its incredible shiny and supernaturally intricate design. The ghostly undead Viking warriors things are even now on their way.

Tracking down little Jimmy shouldn't be too hard at all as a dangerous and horrid storm of supernatural aspect moves into the neighbor hood surrounding  the Throghu household. The storm increases as the Veil between worlds begins to thin and the warriors move in.
A supernatural rip between worlds has been created as schism is created leading to the storm lashed sea  world where the wyrm waits to claim its latest victim's soul. The PC's must return the silver Pict plaque to the world of the Wyrm in order to end the curse. Or the blood shed will continue or worse will happen.

Returning the silver plaque to the realm of the Sea Wyrm will end the blood curse for now but there are many other artifacts from the hoard of the 'Drowned Kings' still circulating out in the world. The cycle of blood shed and supernatural slavery won't simply end with the saving of one or two lives. The PC's may have only seen the tip of the supernatural iceberg.

The Sea Wyrm for  Call of Cthulhu 

STR     85

CON    60

SIZ       80

INT      20

POW   30

DEX     12

HP       85

Armour:  8 points of scaly skin

Move:  4/ 12 Swimming

Damage Bonus: +9d6          

Weapons: His Majesty may bite each round, unless it is attempting to initiate a Grapple. Ongoing Grapple checks do not prevent His Majesty from biting.

Bite – 60%, 2d8+ Damage Bonus, If a target is bitten and survives, His Majesty will attempt a STR vs. STR roll to pull the unfortunate victim into its coils to Grapple, and  ‘Crush’.

Crush – His Majesty can automatically Crush each round that it maintains a grapple on an individual. It can also automatically Grapple any object, including boats with Hit Points up to ½ its SIZ. Use the Vehicle table on p. 285, of ‘Call of Cthulhu, 6 ^th edition, as a guide for judging the Hit Points for Marine craft. A ship that is ‘Crushed’ sustains half of the rolled damage bonus each round. When all of the ship’s Hit Points are gone it breaks up and begins to sink.

Swallow Whole – On a special or critical hit a target that is size 20 or smaller may be swallowed whole, in which case it takes half
More details on this monster can be found on Clint Staples blog HERE

For Call of Cthulhu the silver plaque is an artifact of the Draugr of Woden-lithi with deep ties to a particularly disgraced clan of these undead sorcerer warriors. Not merely undead viking warriors these things are something far more dangerous with ties to the Sea Wyrm and a deep as well as abiding curse upon them. 

STR 28

CON 25

SIZ 16 [for bloated/ gigantic, add +4d6]

INT 17

POW 27

DEX 15

APP 2

HP 21 [for bloated/ gigantic, add half of therolled 4d6 for greater SIZ]

Move 7

Damage Bonus: _2d6 ot +3d6 depending on SIZ.

Weapons: Witchbronze Blessed Keening Blade [Enchanted with Enchant Cane] 90%, 1d10+1 Damage + damage bonus.

Armor Points - Dead Flesh 3 AP + 1d10 – Skin Charm.

Skills: Astronomy 80%, Cthulhu Mythos 51%, Hide 55%. Antideluvian History, 50%, Mining 80%, Bronzesmithing 90%, Occult 84%, Sneak 69%;

Spells – Augur, Black Binding, Bless Blade, Cause/ Cure Blindness, Call Nightgaunt, Contact Nodens, Death Spell, Evil Eye, Dominate,
You can also find out more about these supernatural sorcerer things right over HERE

'Viking Mysteries and Legends of Nova Scotia - An Account of the Supernatural Myths and Legends Of Vikings In The New World'.

This book is the vanity press creation of Dr. D.D. Henderson from 1919 from his deep studies of the Pictish hoards taken from the wilds of some of the isle settlements  surrounding Norway taken by the Vikings and certain artifacts found in Nova Scotia. 

It contains the accounts of mythological legends concerning the dealing of the Vikings with the Draugr of Woden-lithi, Nodens, Odin, and the god thing known as the Sea Wyrm. The book is part archaeological journal, part occult treatise, and part sea account chronicling the author's journey into the world of the supernatural and his confrontation with the Sea Wyrm.  There were only twenty three copies at the time of pressing. Only four remain in the world. 

Spells Within The Viking Mysteries The book contains some very intricate spells drawn from antiquity mapped and steeped in deep symbolic language of the original author's view of the occult. There are spells such as call/dismiss Draugr of Woden-lithi, Contact Nodens, Call Odin, Bless Blade, Contact Sea Wyrm, Create Doorway To The Realm. 

There are still more secrets within the Mysteries and the DM can add in more mysteries as he sees fit to the book.
Special thanks To Clint Staples for his creations and conversions of the film Ragnarok

Aegean Regional Map (Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting) From Skirmisher Publishing For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

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HERE

Maps are a very tricky little issue when it comes to rpgs, they set the tone of a campaign. Allow the players to reference the entire campaign and even in someways bring players into having a stake in campaign world by allowing the players to chart the course of their PC's across the face of the world. The Aegean Regional Map (Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting) From Skirmisher Publishing is a very central resource for the Kos setting. The setting of the Kos campaign and its attendant products has been growing for a long while now. 

If your into the old school Swords of Kos sword and sorcery setting then this map is really a no brainer. This map shows in great detail the world of the campaign and allows a DM to see as well as design their own adventures using the whole cloth of Kos as fodder. This is not our Earth but an alternative world with its own distinctive flavor drawn from the mythology and legends that the designers have come up with. 

Kos has plenty of room for a DM to customize and stake out who, what, where they wish to stake out in their own campaign. Everything is laid out in very nice detail within the cartography of Kos and shows all of the locals that the Kos line of products has produced. There's a nice distinctiveness with this map and its a really nice little piece of artistic fluff that allows a DM to pitch their own campaigns within the confines and use this map as both a campaign resource and as a palette to set down their own old world mythological adventures in one sold product. 

Maps such as this one can also serve a higher purpose as both a hand out and as reference to give credence to the DM's vision for his or her own campaign. There are several things that I really like about this map. One the colors are not exploding off of the page but reflect Kos's Agean grounding. Second thing is the level of detail is just enough to explain but not over state campaign bits and pieces. The third thing is that there's plenty of room for customization and just enough places to fit a plethora of adventures across the area. Not too bad of a piece of artwork that actually has real world gaming applications. 

According to the Drivethrurpg blurb: 

This map is bounded by the Black Sea in the north, mainland Asia in the east, the sprawling island of Crete in the south, and the Ionian sea in the west. It encompasses the area occupied in whole or in part by the modern countries of Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. States represented on the map, both with political boundaries and their national symbols, include the city and island of Kos, Abbadonia, the Tetrarchy of Anatolia, Attica and the city state of Athens, Çatalhöyük, the Kingdom of Lydia, Greater Peloponnese, the Grand Duchy of Porphyris, and the Republic of Rhodes.

I've always liked the cartography of acclaimed fantasy artist/cartographer Francesca Baerald. And this map looks like it came out of a Ray Harryhausen film. A piece of artwork set's the tone for an rpg campaign and this map looks like a piece that might be on an Aegean general's desk or within a sea captain's cabin with some old instruments around it. 

Thus a DM can use this map to print out smaller sections to bring his party right into the fray of adventure and detail what will be pivotal to the adventurers. Is it worth the price of admission? Perhaps but I might wait till Drivethrurpg has a sale. But I definitely would purchase this product because of its utility and usefulness in adventure creation and balancing of the Kos campaign setting. This is a really nice piece of artwork and cartography with myriad of uses across the board.  

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

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HERE

This is is one of those anthologies that comes out when a company is promoting an rpg setting. I love the Sword of Kos campaign sword and sorcery setting. Its got a different flare to its material then many OSR efforts that have come out. This is the second volume of the series and its a nice solid hit to the material. 

Skirmisher does a good job setting up the backdrop to their sword and sorcery setting with this volume which is set right smack into the heart and soul of their timeline for the Kos rpg material. These stories are focused around the various Kos historic monsters and horrors that the setting uses as both background and game fodder in spades. All of this material has an ancient Mediterranean fixation and it suits what it does quite nicely.It reads some place between ancient Greek mythology and its own brand of highly epic sword and sorcery fantasy with a Skirmisher Publishing flare.
 Here's the Drivethrurpg blurb: 

"'Hekaton! Hekaton! Hekaton!'

From his quarters at the top level of the City Guard commandery that controlled the main entrance to the Hippodrome of Kos, Commander Ivan Pieger could hear the crowds chanting in the grand plaza some five stories below. Hekaton, of course, simply meant “one hundred,” and was shorthand for hekatontaetirída, or 'one-hundred-year anniversary,' but the full expression of the term did not roll off the tongue very nicely and could not easily be chanted in unison by hundreds of frenzied souls.

Pieger got up from his paper-strewn desk and strode — as much as he was able to stride on his short, somewhat bowed legs — over to the narrow casement window that looked straight out onto the plaza before the great oval-shaped Hippodrome. It was still more than a full day before the start of the Titanomalia, the annual commemoration of the great volcanic disaster that had rocked the very pillars of the world and which many people believed had been caused by a great war between the Gods and the Titans. It had, in any event, awakened the forgotten races, monsters, and magicks of a primordial age that had preceded the relatively placid era of human-dominated peace and commerce that was ongoing at the time of the cataclysm.

The Titanomalia was always a chaotic spectacle but this one promised to be unprecedented, corresponding as it did with the hundred-year anniversary of the cataclysm ..."

Inspired by the works of classic swords-and-sorcery authors like Fritz Lieber, Jack Vance, and Robert E. Howard, Swords of Kos: Hekaton is the second entry in Skirmisher Publishing LLC’s fantasy fiction series and follows Swords of Kos: Necropolis. In this anthology, the island and city of Kos and the lands around it are explored through the stories of eleven authors and original illustrations and cartography by nine artists. All are set during the Hekaton, centennial observance of the great volcanic cataclysm that reawakened magic, the elder races, and all manner of fell monsters, in a fantasy world that draws upon the myths, legends, and history of the Mediterranean, Europe, and the Middle East.

Stories in this compilation include “Bloodsuckers” by Michael O. Varhola, “Rogue’s Nightmare” by R.M. Aislin, “Chasing Shadows” by Richard T. Balsley, “The Misadventures of Bjoric” by Brendan Cass, “The Rite” by Christopher Van Deelen, “To the Dragon Apeiron” by Lissanne Lake, “Unfamiliar Ground” by Sharon Daugherty, “The Day Pateon Fnordseeker Gave Up Drinking” by Eric Lis, M.D., “Nithernons the Ale’er” by John Giddens, and “The Price of Land” by D.M. Fitzgerald. Join us in our adventures through the dark and fascinating swords-and-sorcery world of Kos!
The writing in these stories is tight, well thought out and done with its own merits. Some of the stories are well done and work well with the sword and sorcery slight of hand that does its work well. Namely making me want to run a game set within this campaign world. I didn't mind weighing through the pdf and going through the two hundred and eighty plus pages of material here. The stories are well done and nicely written, they go down easy. But I'm not crazy about the cover art on this one. I understand what its supposed to convey but it doesn't do the sword and sorcery material of this book any justice. Point of fact I actually think it takes away from what this book sets out to do. Namely market me on a new campaign setting. That really is how I feel about it.

Using Swords of Kos: Hekaton
For Your Old School Campaigns 

This book is meant to be a throw back to the 80's fantasy paper back anthologies with the illustrations, maps, and background pieces. The book might as well be another old school resource book for the campaign setting. The stories illustrate and under pin the setting very well. I think that its very well written, and the folks at Skirmisher know the material very well. That being said I don't think that DM should take any of this material within the stories as gospel. I've written, read through and made a stab at Kos as a campaign setting and its strength lays partially within the fact that it can be a very well thought out DYI old school campaign setting.
With all gaming fiction there is a problem, role players often take these anthologies as gospel and that can be a problem for a DM which makes the following my advice with this and any of the Kos material, use what you like, leave out what you don't and pull from these books as needed when planning adventures.
Skirmisher makes these books system neutral and the ideas here suit that premise very well. The heart and soul of this anthology is the writing which captures the ideas, spirit, and intent of the setting very well. Bottom line is these stories entertain and pull the reader in while dealing with the issues and events of the historical and current world of Kos. Grab this one when you can and pull the material as you need. 

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

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HERE

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. 

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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HERE 

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

Grab It Right 

HERE

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

Watch It Right Over
HERE

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?