Free OSR Download From Emporor's Choice Games The Country of Chorynth For Your Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

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HERE
 This is a fifteen page free OSR pdf that originally appeared in the world of Khass. There is plenty of old school pirate adventure to be had here. You've got culture, locations, adventure seeds, and more all here for free.
Here's the Drivethrurpg blurb: 

Chorynth. Fourteen sea princes –squabbling and fighting to be the greatest, some aloof and cold, others hotblooded and brash. All of them dirty; pirates of each other and everyone around them, bearding the world with brass, steel in their hands and a sneer on their lips. Chorynth is called the island of cutthroats and pirates. A standard it bears proudly.

The country of Chorynth was originally found in the World Book of Khaas, Legendary Lands of Arduin. This expanded version has more grit and detail than the original, as well as associated material appropriate for the Arduin Eternal® game system, published by Emperors Choice Games & Miniatures®.

Chorynth makes an excellent pirate haven that can be dropped into any old school game that being said this makes a great sword and sorcery location of scum and pirates. The place has lots of blank spots on the map that can easily be filled in.
Pirates always mean one thing when it comes to horror games. Manic pirate undead! The movie the Fog from 1980!
Given the propensity of adventurers to end up as pirates especially in an S&S style setting. This free download might get a hell of a lot of play depending on the players. But every party of adventurers needs a place to unload booty, get into fights, and generally have place for the DM to add adventure to his games. This is where this location adds colour, variety, and a much needed injection of intrigue into the mix.

We get a bit of everything with this fifteen page pdf and a nice overview of all of the customs, history, landmarks and more of Chorynth. The level of technology is Renaissance. And the magic level is low as well but we've got a population of scalawags, cut throats, and revears that out matches the Bahamas! We clock in at about 950,000.
Reading it over made me think of Captain Blood as well from 1935 with Errol Flynn. 

Add a bit of pirate treasure and some friends after the holiday and your ready to go! 

 

Christmas Classic Rewind- The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

Just yesterday I secured this wonder classic on VHS, because I collect vintage tapes and  this was on my list. It doesn't get any better for Ray Harryhausen fans or Old School movie buffs. 

According to wiki :
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a 1958 fantasy film released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Nathan H. Juran and produced by Charles H. Schneer. It was the first of three Sinbad films made by Columbia which were conceptualized and animated by Ray Harryhausen and which used a special stop-motion technique called Dynamation (the others being The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger).

 Major Spoilers ahead! 

The plot according to Wiki : 

Legendary adventurer Sinbad the Sailor (Kerwin Mathews) and his crew are lost on the ocean but accidentally find the island of Colossa. They land for provisions. There they encounter Sokurah the magician (Torin Thatcher), fleeing from a giant Cyclops. They are able to escape when Sokurah orders the genie of his magic lamp to create an invisible barrier. However, Sokurah drops the lamp when the Cyclops throws a boulder into the sea, overturning their boat, though the men are able to swim to the ship. The Cyclops retrieves the lamp from the water after the barrier disappears. On board the ship, Sokurah tells Sinbad about how many ships crashed on the island and the Cyclops collected all their treasure. He offers it to him if they turn back to get the lamp, but Sinbad refuses. He and Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant), from the kingdom of Chandra, are on their way to Sinbad's native Baghdad to be married. Their union would cement ties between their two nations.

The Caliph of Baghdad (Alec Mango) allows Sokurah to provide entertainment on the night before the wedding. However, this goes wrong when the "snakewoman" that Sokurah had created nearly suffocates herself while trying to dance. Sokurah saves the woman by spraying her with a magical spray to make her a full woman, but the torture of entertaining her just for the king angers Parisa and a few others watching. Later, Sokurah prophecises war between the two nations when asked to look into the future. The Caliph is angered by this; and refuses to provide a ship and crew to retrieve his lamp while threatening to have him blinded if he is not out of Baghdad before sunset. That night, the magician secretly shrinks Parisa to the size of a hand. When she is discovered her father threatens Baghdad with war. Sinbad is able to find Sokurah as he leaves the City. Sokurah claims he knows of a potion that can restore Parisa, but it requires a piece of the eggshell of a roc, a giant,two-headed bird that coincidentally nests on the peaks of Colossa. The Caliph has no choice but to provide a ship. Sinbad enlists his loyal men from the previous voyage, but they are not enough and Sinbad is forced to recruit inmates from the Caliph's prison.

Before they reach the island of Colossa, the cutthroats mutiny and capture Sokurah, Sinbad, and his men. However, the sounds of screaming demons from an island south of Colossa madden the crew, and the ship is in danger of being dashed upon the rocks, after which sea-serpents will devour the sailors. One of the mutineers releases Sinbad so he can save the ship and the leader of the mutineers falls from the mast.

On the island of Colossa, Sinbad, Sokurah and some of the sailors enter the valley of the Cyclops where they find the treasure but are captured by the monster. It almost has one of Sinbad's men for dinner but they later save him. Sokurah focuses on getting the magic lamp and ignores the pleas of his comrades. However, the shrunken Parisa is able to open the latch on the cage the men are in, freeing them. Meanwhile the other men in the Valley have become drunk from a river that tastes like wine. They attack the Cyclops, but many are killed. Sinbad manages to blind the cyclops with a torch and leads it off a cliff to its death. Still needing Sokurah to guide him, Sinbad takes possession of the lamp. Parisa enters the lamp where she finds the unhappy boy genie Barani (Richard Eyer). He shows her an inscription inside the lamp of how he can be freed and tells her the words to summon him in return for her promise to free him.

The party reaches the nest of the two-headed roc, just before a giant hatchling emerges from its shell. Some of the men break open the egg and slay it as they feel hungry, which incites an attack by the infuriated parent. Meanwhile, Sokurah kills Sinbad's faithful lieutenant Harufa when he prevents him from getting the lamp. Sinbad manages to retrieve both a fragment of an eggshell and the lamp but is captured by the Roc which drops him unconscious in its nest. The magician then abducts the tiny Princess and takes her to his underground fortress.

Sinbad recovers, is told by the Genie what happened, and climbs down into the valley of the Cyclops to the entrance of Sokurah's cave. He slips past the chained guardian dragon. Once found, the magician agrees to restore Parisa to her normal size in return for the lamp. However, Sinbad then refuses to give him the lamp until they get back to the ship, so Sokurah brings to life a skeleton swordsman to challenge him. Sinbad eventually defeats it, and he and the Princess flee. As they cross over a river of molten lava, Sokurah causes part of the bridge to break off. The Princess summons the Genie who gives the two a rope to swing over. Parisa recalls part of the prophecy the genie told her about. She throws the lamp into the lava to free the genie from his captivity.

When the two leave the cave, they encounter another Cyclops. Sinbad releases the dragon who engages the cyclops in a fight to the death as Sinbad and Parisa make good their escape back to the shore. Sokurah orders the victorious dragon to follow and kill them. However, Sinbad's men have time to organize a giant crossbow ballista and fire at the dragon. Sokurah is accidentally crushed by the fatally wounded monster while Sinbad, Parisa, and the other survivors depart. They are joined by the genie, Sinbad's new cabin boy, who has placed the treasure of the Cyclops in Sinbad's cabin as a wedding gift.

This is perhaps one of the most iconic of childhood films. And there are a few things right off of the bat to look at for Sword And Sorcery games. 

Sokurah is the perfect S&S magician. A lawfully evil Aliaster Crowley like figure of genius and menace all in one. Want to know what it would really be like to deal with a lawful evil magician in the party? Here's your perfect answer. We know very little about this mysterious wizard. Except three things : A. he has been operating upon the isle of Colossa for sometime, B. He will do whatever it take to aquire the Lamp of The Genie, C. He knows much about the original inhabitants of Colossa and perhaps they're forgotten mystical knowledge is the basis for his powers. 

Speculations about The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad
For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery 

The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad seems like a cut and dry 'G' rated family film. And for the most part its a great adventure fare film.
The fact is that this is pretty damn complex film when you come down to it. Right after the credits we're thus into the world of Colossa and machinations of Sokurah. We shoved right into this tropical lost island  and encounter one of the most iconic Harryhausen monsters around, the goat footed cyclops. I always got the feeling that there were more then one of those things on that island.
 Sokurah is one cagey wizard and I'd estimate he's been on that island for quite some time. As I've speculated earlier the technology, magical knowledge, and wonders of Colossa are the basis for his powers. His most formidable power is his cunning and evil mind. He'd make a hell of a patron for a party of adventurers who might encounter him prior to his experiences with Sinbad. 
And that desert island bothered me. Why would a micro climate island like that have such an abundance of fruit baring plants and trees? What is with the near perfect weather and the legendary creatures that inhabitant it. Colossa is a near mystical place and I believe that the original inhabitants of the isle were deep into sorcery and super science. 
Looking into the island I think that it could have been a Lemuria or Atlantian colony. The island might have survived the cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis and survived well into the era of Sinbad.  Further I think that these are the same ancient's ruins we encounter much later in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger).
And what about Colossa itself before Sokurah blow it up. His workshop hints that there might be extensive ruins below ground. What other wonders were lurking down in the extensive mega dungeons of Colossa?
The workshop has always reminded me of the Krell laboratory in Forbidden Planet. A dusty workshop filled with forbidden wonders and tools looted by Sokurah. Who knows what secrets are still there? What treasures are still waiting for some madmen or fools to grab what remains. 
The Seventh Voyage is a great resource for a Sword and Sorcery game. Very low powered magic, lots of monsters, weird ruins, and a grand dragon!
Let's not even get into the fact that two nations are about to go to war over the fate of an impending marriage. We never did learn what happened after the credits rolled? Why of course everyone lived happily ever after! 

The Treasure of Colossa

Let's suppose for a moment that the treasure of the cyclops isn't the only gold and silver left behind on that island. Most of that seems to have come from shipwrecks over the centuries according to the movie's wizard. Who knows what lays underground for some band of adventurers to uncover. What incredible artifacts await a band of fools in the dark of Colossa.  Well a good solid indicator of the type of artifacts is  the Lamp of the Genie. This is a major artifact with a very high level of sophistication that has gone into its  creation.
There might be other artifacts deep underground that the wizard never got because of their immortal guardians. The skeleton that fights Sinbad might be only the first of such things below ground. Golems, tribes of horrors, and worse might be just waiting for someone to stumble upon them.
The cizitens of Colossa must have been great engineers because they were able to tap the geothermal potential of the volcano of the island. I'd hazard to guess this was used extensively throughout the island and as part of a power source of both sorcery and science perhaps alchemy. 

So there could a window of centuries when the Island of Colossa is simply waiting for some band of shipwrecked fools to stumble into it.

 Happy adventuring and Merry Christmas 

Five Call of Cthulhu Resources As Fodder For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns

“The living close the eyes of the dead,
but it is the dead that open the eyes of the living.”
— Old Slavic saying

Call of Cthulhu is the classic horror rpg and one of the best under used resources for old school sword and sorcery rpgs. Each of the following adventures and resources are perfect fodder for a great old school D&D style campaign. For example Beyond The Mountains of Madness has a metric ton of information on the Elder Things and their machinations, history, and works, as well as time frames that could be used by a DM to incorporate them into a mega campaign. 

From OD&D and their retroclones to AD&D there is room to incorporate much of the Mythos from Chaosuim and their products into your old school horror gaming.
Terror Australis is one old school Call of Cthulhu book that I love to use for for games like Carcosa and much more. The book contains everything I need to run a dream time based campaign along with everything about the Great Race of Yith. In terms of sheer volume many of the backgrounds of the book are simply fluff that can be added to an old school campaign to add a very different lost world style of setting flavor.

You can find all of these books and more on Chaosium's Website right over
HERE

Shadows of Yog- Sothoth is simply one of the best resources for a world spanning cult that I've seen that can be mined for a ton of ideas. Everything from the early beginnings of a cult to time travel then there are the breath taking encounters with the Mythos that can easily added to any Sword and Sorcery adventure.  

Secrets of Japan is one of my all time favorite go books for a very different take on the Mythos. Everything is laid out from the ancient Mythos fused history of a weird Japan to hints of cults that stretch back to the beginning of recorded time. This is a big book that should be taken in bite sized doses for use with your favorite retroclone. Many of the ideas here are easily translated into a sword and sorcery adventure background and drip all the way back to the beginning  of unknowable eras. 

My all time favorite CoC book for use with OD&D and its ilk is Cthulhu Dark Ages. I've used this book time and again as fodder for D&D. The book has a great feel and all of the standard Mythos monsters in one place as well as cosmology of insanity waiting for adventurers to blunder into. 

This book also happens to have one of the most flexible backgrounds to inject monsters from OD&D right into the Dark Ages background. This isn't a heroic setting but a bleak and unforgiving place right out of mythology and legend just waiting for some D&D style adventurers to blunder into. I've actually used the setting to run a very dire version of 'Keep on The Borderland'. None of the players were aware that they were playing an old favorite until the maps came out and the encounters became more intense and more savage.
The Caves of Chaos became whole different ball game when the Mythos influence became evident. A very nasty and dangerous mini campaign resulted. Cthlhu Dark Ages remains one of my all time favorite books for use with OD&D. 

Free OSR Download - Revised Arduin - A Primer From Emperors Choice

Download it right over
HERE

Bloody,Bloody, Arduin comes down from history with a free download,this is great overview of the campaign world of Dave Hargrave created so long ago. I enjoy the hell out of Arduin back in the 90's. This wonderful Emperor's Choice decided to release  this piece as a free download.

According to the blurb: 

The famous document that David Hargrave released at DunDraCon in 1984 that changed Arduin.  It seems fitting, as we contemplate the release of Arduin Bloody Arduin, to talk about the document that revised the original Arduin Grimoire and Arduin Adventure rules.

While short, it cast waves well beyond its brevity.  Enjoy this document as it was presented 29 years ago and bask in the glow of yesteryear.

This is a good solid overview of Arduin and its systems. Arduin was a series of second hand suggestions and ideas that a DM can take or leave but this is a good starting point for a pretty extensive campaign.
Have a great holiday every one. 

A Little Free Old School Horror With The Secret of Kralitz By HENRY KUTTNER For Your Old School Campaign

The Secret of Kralitz

By HENRY KUTTNER

Get It Right Over 

HERE 

 Here's a great little tale of horror with a pulp twist that could be used to generate a nice little adventure of ancient inheritance, starling revelations, and a chance of some greater revelations of horror.
The tale could be twisted into a dark sword and sorcery tale with some work. There's lots of room here for customization by a DM and with a bit of fleshing out might make a quick mini campaign with some strong Lovecraftian overtones.
I hope you enjoy it.  

Five 80's VHS 'classics' Sword And Sorcery Films For Your Old School Campaigns

Once upon a time back in nineteen ninety something I used to work part time in a off corner video rental store. The place was right around the corner from China town. It always seemed to be raining back then for some reason but the neon glow of the 'Open' sign was a very welcoming sight to a cold winters day. There were some Sword and Sorcery films that always seemed to have fantastic covers at the video store but folks always complained about 'em. Yet they were always rented over and over again on the weekends.
So here are five right off the top of my head.
Your mileage in your OSR campaign  as always with these may vary. I bare no responsibility for assault on your sanity. Excuse me while I go put some tapes away in the stacks.
Hundra 1983
 On The Back Of The Box: 

A WOMAN WHO COULD NOT BE TAMED!

Born in a tribe of fierce warrior women, Hundra has been raised to despise the influence of men. An archer, fighter and sword fighter, Hundra is superior to any male. Hundra finds her family slain and takes a vow of revenge until one day she meets her match.

Sorceress 1982
 Back of The Tape :

AN AGE UNDREAMED OF; AN AGE OF FANTASY AND MAGIC...

To maintain his powers, the evil wizard Traigon must sacrifice his firstborn child to the god Caligara. His wife, however, has other ideas and runs away after giving birth with her twin daughters. Before dying, she hands the girls over to the warrior Krona who promises to raise them as great soldiers. Twenty years later, Traigon returns and begins hunting down his daughters once again. Will the twins, with the help of the Barbarian Erlik and the Viking Baldar, be able to defeat their father?

Ator The Fighting Eagle 1982  Back of The Tape : 

HE WAS BORN TO WIELD THE MIGHTY SWORD OF THOREN.

The son of Torren learns of his heritage, goes to avenge the deaths of his fellow villagers, and rescue his sister/love interest from the evil Dakkar and his spider cult. Ator battles giant spiders, swordsmen cloaked in shadow, re-animated dead warriors, and horribly hideous witches.

Hercules 1983
 Back of The Tape: The film is an odd retelling of the story of Hercules (Lou Ferrigno) battling the wizard Minos (William Berger), who uses "science" in an attempt to take over the world. Hercules must stop him and rescue his princess love in the process. Part of the adventure finds Hercules battling giant robots brought to life by stop motion animation. The musical score by Pino Donaggio.

Thor The Conqueror 1983
Back Of The Tape : 

THE ONE WHO DARES THE BLOODTHIRSTY BARBARIANS!

After both his parents are brutally murdered by his fathers rival Gnut and his men the new born Thor is placed in hiding by the physical embodiment of the god Teisha. Raised in secret under the guidance of Teisha, Thor comes to maturity and goes on a quest to avenge the death of his parents and return peace to his lands, in the process he discovers a woman to take as his wife, finds and uncovers his fathers sword and masters the art of combat.

Lor'turra 'The Soul Gobbler' For Accursed and Ancient Terra And Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Lor'turra 'The Soul Gobbler'

Number Encountered : 2 (1d4) 

Alignment : Chaotic Evil 

Size: L 

Movement: 50 (60 swim)

Dexterity: 4
Armor Class: 5 

Hit Dice : 18

Number of Attacks:1 bite 

Damage: 4d6 

Saving Throwing : 8 

Morale: 9 

Experience Points : 5,000 

Treasure Type: B

 Lor'turra 'The Soul Gobbler' is a nightmare of Old Earth that swims the ancient Hells and nightmares of mankind. This dread monster is drawn to the most ancient and apathetic of souls.  This horror has a cylindrical body 70 meters long and seven meters in circumference.
 These monsters often attack ships and once they have tasted one poor soul's flesh more must always be on the menu. Partially demonic these horrors may be driven off by certain priest sects  or ancient clerical spells.
 The remains of all those whom this horror eats collect in its gullet where many fabulous treasures are stored. These often end up  in a secondary organ to help  grind up bones, meat, and grizzle this horror consumes.
These monsters are sometimes found in mated pairs fused until the young are born in the fetid waters of the Underworld where they consume the damned until large enough to hunt on their own. These horrors are capable of moving from the lower realms and into the physical world quite easily but the mechanism of how remains somewhat of a mystery.
Only the priests of the so called Sea Kings hold even a bit of mastery over these hates of the Old World. And they are very wary to let loose these ancient horrors for their hunger knows no bounds once they have tasted flesh.
In some sea side communities these horrors are worshiped as ancient gods. The things crawl partway on to land to consume sacrifices, many sacrifices must be made to appease these horrors.