Blood, Death, Satan & Metal

Finding the right system: Systemless adventures are nothing new, many statless bestiaries and one-page dungeons exist. They are generally assumed to use some dialect of the OSR Rosetta Stone or simple NuSR game. There are definitely things to take into account, however: you will want a low-powered or dangerous system, with a magic and skill system that is either generic or highly flavored toward Vermis's tone. Having run it several times, here are some suggestions: Session 1: Lamentations of the Flame Princess, heavily houseruled Location: Pauper's Catacombs                         Party: 4 level 6 characters I ran the Pauper's Catacombs as a "side-shot" in my campaign (when too many players are absent for a "real" session), using our regular characters with the rule that characters won't die, but suffer consequences as a result of these semi-canon adventures (i.e. missing limbs instead of death)....

Heist Job Date: 04.08.20X3 Location: The Cy. Slums on the Ports/Bigmosse border, near the waterfront. Cast: Switch the Discharged Corp Killer, Yung Ruffian the Burned Hacker, Jinbu (“Bu”) the Shunned Nanomancer, Bushmaster the Renegade Cyberslasher Content Warning: This session includes prostitution and “off-screen” sex. Portrayal of sex workers is as accepted but exploited class. A player (“Bu”) chose to be a bi-gender (femme presenting) “ladyboy”, and faced a degree of misogyny within the story.   Enter the crew of desperate lowlifes: a small gang of indebted street thugs in search of a way, any way, to stave off shattered kneecaps or worse from their debtors. Only one job has come knocking, and it’s not exactly going to pay the bills, but they’ve been promised a decommissioned and scrubbed police vehicle. Maybe it’ll come in handy for shaking down other unfortunates or they can trade it for drugs. You take what you can get. The patron is Charlie Sand, an exhausted and tapped...

Date: November 5, 1640   Location:  Sirenswail, Irish countryside, County Kerry, Ireland Main Cast: Shio the Acid-Burnout Alice, Gund the Amoral Magic-User, Salith the Cannibal Elf , Reynault the Fighter Supporting Cast: Helga of the Ulvenbrigaad, Harold the Mule   Previously: Our heroes destroyed the foundation of the Tower of London and fled the London guard in the style of Ye Faste & Furiousse by Thames gondola, returning to the safety of Sirenswail where they rested and spent a Haven turn. They set out in search of a mysteriously appearing statue in a cave in Ireland.   Presently: Traveling across the Irish countryside of County Kerry, the party traveled mostly without incident aside from the appearance of a red fox, which they attempted to follow but lost in the forest. This troubled them, seeming an ill omen of some sort to their minds. Gund was particularly bothered. Helga was like "whatever I'll kill it with my axe if it's a problem" and Harold was all l...

It's probably the most played module of all time: the in-box adventure for the Basic sets, one of the foundational text of the OSR and the model for open-ended gameplay. I've played it (DCC), run it myself several times in both B/X and "the current version of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game" as of the time of this writing. I think I've figured it out. And I think it's brilliant. No one in the OSR is surprised by this take. You've likely played it yourself, perhaps even in multiple campaigns as I have. So why read about it? Because it has endless potential. It is the gold standard of "easy to grasp" while also holding plenty of challenge and possibility. It's great as a low-prep campaign starter and feels just open and empty enough to fill in with your own locations and encounters while also feeling like the PCs can find all sorts of cool things to do if they're willing to spend some travel time. I am currently runnin...

Date: November 5, 1640   Location: London   Main Cast: Shio the Acid-Burnout Alice, Gund the Amoral Magic-User, Salith the Cannibal Elf   Cast: Helga of the Ulvenbrigaad, Harold the Mule Previously: After a mostly unproductive break-in to Laud's prison chambers in the White Tower, the party kinda-sorta left Gund to solve his own damn problems. Gund dissolved the foundations of the Tower of London and legged it onto an escape gondola. Presently: Aboard the gondola, the party took off as fast as Melvin, Shio's new boyfriend, could push. Because of the large amount of lead shot flying their way, that was pretty damn fast. Laying rubber on the Thames as one might do in ye Faste & Furiousse , they hit a rough patch of water. A capricious die condemned their second donkey, Seamus, Harold's new boyfriend, to tumble into the river. Only one boyfriend thus remained. A protest was raised at the death of the innocent animal. Despite the tremendous child body-count, this was to...

Date: Early fall 1640 Location: London Main Cast: Shio the Acid-Burnout Alice, Gund the Amoral Magic-User, Salith the Cannibal Elf Supporting Cast: Helga of the Ulvenbrigaad, Harold the Mule Previously: With a minimum of planning and the overconfidence that powerful magic items bring, our heroes quickly found themselves trapped in the Tower of London and Gundisalvus captured on the roof. Presently: Salith and Shio, in the prison chambers of Archbishop Laud, poke around. The twitching bodies held by massive iron bands to slabs were of surprisingly little interest to them- puzzling the Ref, but hey, these PCs been through some shit , so whatever. A chest was of somewhat more interest, and when inspected it seemed to have some kind of blurred field around it, as well as the materials being petrified and rusted. That seemed like too much trouble. The Archbishop was the objective, and they wanted to expedite things in order to maybe rescue Gund or at least escape. Salith removed the ring...

Date: Early fall 1640 Location: London Main Cast: Shio the Alice, Gundisalvus the Magic-User, Salith the Elf Supporting Cast: Helga of the Ulvenbrigaad, Harold the Mule Previously: Our heroes adjusted to life on the island as Cult VIPs, spent their just rewards carousing and investing, and sought further adventure. Their queries aimed them toward the Tower of London to investigate the unexpected and suspicious imprisonment of Archbishop William Laud by Parliament for papism and overreach. Presently: Tired from their long journey, the party sought out an inn where they might avoid notice. They found themselves in London's Southwark, a seedy and pseudo-lawless district south of the Thames at the Strident Goat Inn. Operated by a sweet old couple, Shio overpaid significantly, shelling out a gold coin each night for silence and privacy.  After some time shopping and getting their bearings, they traveled as innocuously as possible to the Tower. Outside they found a young man about to...

The Accursed Den (but upside down) Rotblack Sludge is the introductory adventure included in the Mork Borg core book. It's well-suited to a one-shot, as are the ones created by Mork Borg's DNGNGN . I ran it for 3 players, using 2 characters each in case of a high body count. This report will include spoilers, obviously.  The players: Kelly Quinn Dylan Our heroes:   Quaker Mary the Dark Traveler. Occult Herbmaster, cowardly and prone to substance abuse. (Kelly) Doctor Dizzy the escaped cultist. Esoteric Hermit, alcoholic and extremely loud with a phlegm problem. (Kelly) Dun Kirk the Zweihander-wielding Gutterborn Scum. Wasteful, ruthless, and stutters when he lies (constantly). (Quinn) Roman the repugnant. Esoteric Hermit, vindictive and lazy. (Quinn) Chastity Goodfellow the Rotten Nihilist. Occult Herbmaster, former slave of a witch, shrewd and giggly. Has 4 monkey companions named Caligula, Nero, Ivan, and Mary, Queen of Scots. (Dylan) *Scream of a dying man* (the actual soun...

Campaign Date: August 24-30, 1630 CE Location: Durham Cast: Hernando de Pieza (Nic's Fighter), Ferrn the Shepherd (Ross's Magic-User), Mystery (Bill's Specialist), Peter the True XXVIII (Peter's Fighter), Arcturus Avenza (Arc's Fighter), Bemuk (Brady's Dwarf), Hans (Chance's Specialist), Inigo Pizaro (Anders' Fighter) and Kelvin Roseman, a very disturbing animal trainer hireling. After exiting the Barrow of the Old King the party headed northward towards the city of Durham, where they hoped to set up a base of operations and perhaps head even further north to Scotland. There was debate about what was to be done with their investment in the still-in-progress inn back in Abingdon. The consensus among the party seemed to be that it was fucked and they should move on. A plan was suggested to head north and lead the Scottish south to conquer- the Ref was puzzled but admired the PCs' moxie.  A few wilderness encounter rolls were made but t...

Campaign Date:  August 23, 1630 CE Location:  The Barrow of the Old King Cast:  Hernando de Pieza (Nic's Fighter), Ferrn the Shepherd (Ross's Magic-User), Mystery (Bill's Specialist), Peter the True XXVIII (Peter's Fighter), , Bemuk (Brady's Dwarf), Hans (Chance's Specialist), and Kelvin Roseman, a very disturbing animal trainer hireling. As his first action, Ross's shiny new Magic-User Ferrn used Arboreal Gallows ,  releasing multitudes of bloodthirsty strangler roots in the lower level of the dungeon while he and the party remained above, safe from the carnage. Secure in the knowledge that those vicious little bastards would just wreck the ever-loving shit out of everything down there, they set up camp. The party took watch shifts, set two campfires, erected horsicades (a previous adventure had blurred the distinction between horses and bears) and secured their wagon and horses inside the barrow structure. A few hours into the first watch, Ross a...

Campaign Date:  August 21, 1630 CE Location:  The outskirts of Scarborough, the surrounding countryside and the Barrow of the Old King Cast:  Hernando de Pieza (Nic's Fighter), Roda (Ross's Halfling), Mystery (Bill's Specialist), Peter the True XXVII (Peter's Fighter), Carjek, "Mind of Light" (Anders's Magic-User), Bemuk (Brady's Dwarf), Hans (Chance's Specialist), and Kelvin Roseman, a very disturbing animal trainer hireling. After facing exile from Scarborough, where both the Ref and the party had thought they would be spending the foreseeable future enjoying lucrative questing opportunities, the party discussed their options. Before setting out Hernando attempted to gain entry to the town, hoping to pick up the custom shield he had commissioned. Nic had been absent the session prior, was completely aghast at the party's ridiculous fuckup, and thought perhaps he could convince the guardsmen of his relative innocence. Unfortunately he ro...