Salton Seekers: My Frankensteinian Labyrinth Lord Campaign

Okay, so I'm doing a soft reboot of the Basic D&D campaign I started earlier this year. My group of old friends and I sorta stalled on the roleplaying for a while. But we're all basically back on a more normal adult responsibility schedule, so I'm deciding to kick things off again.

Also, while I love the pure nostalgia factor of using the B/X rules, I have so much stuff for Labyrinth Lord, from the referee screen to game supplements, that it made sense to shift over to using LL. As any OSR follower worth their salt knows, there's enough differences between B/X and LL to necessitate moving from one rule set to the other.

I'm still using the city of Salton I created as the foundation of the campaign. I'm letting players keep characters or create new ones, with all characters moving up to level 2 (based on prior play and XP gained). Just need to transfer characters to LL sheets!

As for the campaign world itself, I was primarily using the Dwimmermount world of Telluria as the basis for the campaign, and using some homebrew stuff tacked on (including Stonehell Dungeon). I've decided to move things over to a world I call "Æarth." I know, clever aren't I?

To pull back the curtain a bit, here's a list of older and new OSR products I'm using so far to cobble together my Frankensteinian campaign:

• Dolmenwood (from the pages of the Wormskin zine)
• Barrowmaze
• Isle of the Unknown
• Frostbitten and Mutilated
• Blackmarsh (and possibly the larger Points of Light campaign setting)
• Stonehell Dungeon
• Maybe Dwimmermount again, if the characters head far enough south...

Okay, that's all for now! I'll be posting some session recaps as we go along! Happy gaming, y'all!

End-of-Week Caldwell (8/10/18): Alias and the Azure Bonds

I also appreciate the art of Elmore contemporary Clyde Caldwell! Those of us who played AD&D back in the late 80's and early 90's surely remember the illo above! The lady in the foreground with the impractical armor is Alias, the protagonist of the Forgotten Realms novel Azure Bonds (and the module Curse of the Azure Bonds). In the background is her friend...Dragonbait! Ah, the good old days!

Score at the Vintage Store: Endless Quest Books!

So the male offspring and I went to The House of Fun in Oaklyn, NJ yesterday. It had been a while since we'd been there, and I've written before about their stash of D&D and other tabletop gaming material.

As the boy, as usual, drooled over the wall-to-wall press of old and new action figures and other stuff, I headed for the book shelves in the back. There was the usual stockpile of games including D&D modules and particularly a lot of Ravenloft stuff. 

But lo and behold, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a small selection of random Endless Quest books! I also spotted something I'd never heard of: a Sagard the Barbarian adventure book. According to the Wiki entry, St. Gygax collaborated with Flint Dille, screenwriter for Transformers: The Movie and game designer/writer for games like Dead to Rights.

I figured I should grab a couple of the books for nostalgia's sake (you know how that goes). The store owner said they were $8 a pop, so I settled on two:

I was particularly glad to snag a copy of Return to Brookmere, being a fan of the cover illo by Larry Elmore. The interior art by Tim Truman is no slouch either (his stuff has a definite similarity to Elmore's work...perhaps that's why they were teamed up for this book?):

I picked up the other book, Duel of the Masters, mostly because of the artists: Clyde Caldwell for the cover and the late, great Keith Parkinson for the interior illos. I've honestly never seen anything done in black and white by Parkinson. I've always associated him with the incredible cover art he's done for gaming books and novels. 

Anyway, I'm happy with these small scores! Have you picked up anything you're excited about that has fueled some nostalgia?

End-of-Week Elmore (7/27/18): Magic Missile!

Quick, what level is this magic user?

End-of-Week Elmore (7/20/18): Dragonflight!

End-of-Week Nicholson (7/6/18): The Wages of Sorcery

I love this illo from Russ Nicholson, which I spotted in the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rules & Magic book. Russ's work is always evocative, IMHO! The guy in this piece looks like he's suffering for his craft...or should I say witchcraft? He seems to be paying a steep price for power!

End-of-Week Elmore (6/15/18): It's Satyr-day!