Saturday, June 10, 2017

'A Bad Case of Crab Cultists' An Astornishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Actual Play Event & A Free Appendix N Sword and Sorcery Download - Avon Fantasy Reader 14 (1950) For Your Old School Campaigns

The PC's went to get a magic item identified from a recent adventure  in tonight's game at the local temple of Mercury. They quickly became embroiled in a plot of kidnapping, intrigue, & cultists!


Tonight's game was all about Crabmen in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea game. I've moved the crew in tonight's game onto to the Hyperborean mainland.In tonight's game there was  a tight little encounter with a temple of Mercury that's been having their clergy snatched for sacrifice or so it would seem.
The elder priest quickly identified the a wand like item as a piece of half Hyperborean crabmen cultists magic item. The rod of disintegration does 2d4 +3 damage with a range of 30 feet & it usually has 1d10 +2 charges. These items are easy to manufacture for the Hyperborean crabmen who equip their cultist cannon fodder soldiers with these items.  For a god of trade, the afterlife, magick, & thieves the priests in the temple didn't charge the PC's with the identification & there were so few priests that it was a bit unnerving for the players.
The PC's were given beds for the evening & a meal as the priests quickly explained that their numbers were being kidnapped for sacrifice on the altars of the crab men cultists!
The PC's bedded for the night & were awoken by the sound of gun shots coming from down the street. A group of hyperborean knights & the city watch had pinned in some of these crab cultists! Long gun shots were being exchanged with the crab men's rod weapons but the tide of battle was starting to turn on the city watch.
The PC's got into the middle of the fray & helped out the city watch. There were already some cultists prisoners & one of the PC's found out that these cultists had tendril slug things in these priests necks! A lengthy interrogation commenced & so did the deaths of a few priests. The PC's learned that there were twelve more cultists hiding in the sewers for some nefarious purpose. So huge beast had gone through the streets & entered the sewers. There were cobble stones that were knocked out of place & large foot prints in some of the holes. The tracks lead straight to the sewers.


After a quick meeting with the city watch the knights allowed the PC's to venture into the ancient sewer system. The walls were coated with a slick slightly sickly clear slime & the smell of methane was replaced with the smell of sea salt & ocean rime.
The first thing that the PC's encountered was the corpse of what might be a man dressed in archaic armor with his face and part of his head chewed off. He's also missing his hands but he still has his side arm. The sight was too much for our intrepid heroes and we ended there tonight.


So what's going on in the sewers of this minor beach front city state of Hyperborea? Well it all begins with me reading "The Voice of El-Lil" by Robert E. Howard. earlier this afternoon. If you haven't read it then by all means do! Its got a great design & layout for a crab god cult as your going to get. The Avon Fantasy Reader 14  actually has everything your going to need plus more sword & sorcery action then you can shake a sword at.


This issue has a bit of everything but it contains some solid material with "Temptress of the Tower of Torture and Sin" (aka "The Voice of El-Lil") by Robert E. Howard. Other stories in this issue are all top drawer stuff. 
  1. "Temptress of the Tower of Torture and Sin" (aka "The Voice of El-Lil") by Robert E. Howard  is the main attraction here with a good solid adventure story that can be adapted for a wide variety of OSR games.
  2. "Ylla" (aka "I'll Not Look for Wine") by Ray Bradbury
    is a first contact story with Martians that has some really interesting bits for an old school Mars adventure. " First human contact with Martians turns fatal - for humans."
  3. "The Three Eyed Man" (Tubby series)] by Ray Cummings is one of those stories with potential to turn things in an old school adventure in a twisted direction especially for a science fantasy adventure.
  4. "The Cave of the Invisible" by James Francis Dwyer  is a very interesting pulp story by one of the masters of the genre that could be used as the basis for an OSR adventure with a pulp twist or two. 
  5. "Guard in the Dark" by Allison V. Harding  is about a young boy whose in possession of a set of magical soldiers but he could use the help of some PC's !
  6. "The Still Small Voice" by Clive Jackson is a tale of the supernatural with a twist that could be the basis for a very different OSR adventure
  7. "The Curse of Yig" by Z. B. Bishop is a classic of the Lovecraft mythos with the potential for a Boot Hill crossing that makes this an easy fit for an old school campaign 
  8. "The Yeast Men" by David H. Keller, M.D.  novella is by one of the early masters of science fiction & this novella is a perfect one to steal a few ideas for your favorite OSR system.
  9. "The Headless Miller of Kobold's Keep" by Irvin Ashkenazy  is another supernatural classic with a twist to keep things moving. Some of the ideas here are perfect for adapting for an old school adventure
  10. "The Shadows" by Henry S. Whitehead  is one of my favorite writers of the other end of the Lovecraft circle,  " R. H. Barlow would later describe Whitehead as a member of "the serious Weird Tales school".[2] Whitehead's supernatural fiction was partially modelled on the work of Edward Lucas White and William Hope Hodgson.[2] Whitehead's "The Great Circle" (1932) is a lost-race tale with sword and sorcery elements." This tale is no different. Perfect OSR adventure fodder.

    YOU CAN DOWN LOAD  Avon Fantasy Reader 14 (1950) HERE

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