OSR and Making Old New

 I recently started taking a shine to some OSR RPG games Primarily Basic Fantasy RPG and Cairn this Blog is not so much about those games specifically but Finding something old that you like and making it new. I have a ton of old RPG Magazines and Supplements and came across The 1988 March-April issue of Dungeon magazine and remembered the fun my friends and I had playing an Adventure By Larry Church called the "Secrets of the Towers" I won't be a spoiler and talk about what we encountered in his adventure but to present it as really cool side adventure concept to insert into your campaign.

Basically, your Adventurers Discover or Stumble across an Ancient Tower in some remote part of your world it could be occupied by almost anything Bandits, Orcs some sort of beast using it as its lair, or Nothing at all. The Tower is been mostly Long forgotten and even those who may reside near it know nothing about its Origins or its lore. At the Uppermost level of the tower unbeknownst to the current residents is a set of runes carved on the walls. In addition to the runes, each of the walls has a magical Portal that is indistinguishable from the wall itself. Each of these Portals leads to another Tower in some other Far-flung and Remote place in your campaign world.

These Magical Portals can be detected by a magic spell or perhaps some research or discovered by accident. The Portals Can vary from being one-way portals, to two-way portals to inactive Portals that for one reason or another no longer work. The one-way portals present some interesting twists in the adventure. Imagine adventure parties trying to find their way back in the original article it said characters placing an appendage or going partially through would be stuck and only allowed to go forward but not return where they came from, this would definitely be some funny and twists to an adventure party. 

In the Original Adventure from 1988, the Towers were five-sided and All looked the same other than the number of levels they had. Another twist that makes this adventure concept interesting is that the Towers were designed from an adventure perspective to be slowly discovered and explored over time so your party may discover one or two at the beginning when they were say 1st or 2nd level and would discover and explore more as they progressed in level and where ready to tackle them or gained new secrets and lore about the towers. The original adventure had 12 such towers but in reality, you could have as many as you like and shaped how you like. It also indicated when the party reached around the 7th to 8th level they discovered a tower that had a Crude Rune marked map indicating all the towers.

The Adventure can be intertwined within your campaign and offer neat plot twists and side quests, not only giving the ability of your players to travel to far-flung locations in your world or even perhaps other planes or worlds versus the party having a portable item that lets them do this willy nilly. It lets them have certain advantages without being overpowering. They have to travel to a specific tower and perhaps learn how to unlock the secrets.

So this is just an article about me sharing something Old I found that inspired me. As for making it new, I started creating the maps for these towers for my personal use and inspiration with the intent of weaving them into my world of Evermyst. I also have started making these maps available to my Game master level subscribers on my Ko-Fi page.

No matter whether you are an Old School D&D Grognard or a new age D&D5e/One D&D player or playing any sort of RPG. I hope there is some inspiration from this blast from the past I shared. I still have my issue of Dungeon Magazine #10 and that's how I got my inspiration but you can find the Dungeon Magazines in a PDF Archive form at this link Below.

A/N/N/A/R/C/H/I/V/E (annarchive.com)

 

Try finding something Old and Making it new for your game. That's the whole fun of this hobby sharing or grabbing an idea for an adventure or a rule twist, making it your own, and having fun.

 Happy Adventures until next time.

Inspirational NPC (Piper Tamberdown)

 Before I begin, let me apologize for not putting much up here on my Blog. Family affairs and other distractions have basically kept my Blog inactive. I'm hoping that will change starting today.

I easily get distracted by things that interest me, so I have been exploring different and New Role-playing game systems and AI-generated artwork. Advancements in AI Artwork have come rapidly and can even be impressive at times and disappointing at others. While working on my world of Evermyst and its maps, My Mind wandered towards a specific Capitol City known as Dunland, which sits on a rocky cliff at the confluence of the Frostrill and Rivenscar Rivers. I started thinking about the sorts of people who call this Fantasy RPG city home, so I share one with you today.

I Give you "Piper Tamberdown" A Female Half-Elf River Barge Captain Born in the West Landing District of Dunland. Piper is 23 years of age. Born to Eagan Tamberdown a human father, with Lissa Nightree and a wood elf ranger from Riverden her mother. Piper Grew up under mostly the care of her father a knowledgable River barge Captain. Piper's Mother served the King's Army as a scout and was often away on duty for the king, her independent nature and obligations of duty pretty much kept her from being around as much of a mother so pretty much most of her life Piper has only seen her mother perhaps six to twelve times in any given year.

Piper now 23 years old captains her own boat as part of her father's river barge company she has even earned some reputation in the Bargeman's Guild of Dunland. A Capable Bargewoman herself she knows the Frostrill and Rivenscar Rivers well as far north as Frad's Mill and as far south as Two Rivers although she has taken her barge to the sea on a couple occasions to Rivengar and in the Duchy of Rymar. 

Piper is known for establishing her authority while hiring her barge services right off by saying something like, 

"You Paid for a destination, not entertainment or a romantic evening cruise. As soon as we leave the shore you follow my word or I drop you off at the next eddy or push you over the side got that?"

Piper is an Attractive woman and very fit capable of taking care of herself, and perhaps a little stubborn and independent like her mother she has proudly pushed off and even overboard many male suitors in the recent past not finding many of them particularly attractive to her.

Artwork created with Bing Image Creator DALL-E-3

Piper would probably use a Variation on D&D 5th edition Stats for a Scout below is what I would imagine them to be, Although she would fit in any FANTASY RPG...

PIPER TAMBERDOWN

Medium-sized (Half-Elf) Neutral Good

Armor Class: 13 (Leather Pants & Vest)

Hit points: 16 (3d8+3)

Speed: 30 FT

STR      DEX      CON      INT        WIS      CHA

12(+1)  14(+2)    12(+1)   11(+1)   13(+1)  14(+2)

Skills: Stealth +5, Nature +2, Survival +3, Perception +5, Vehicle (Boat/Barge) +5

Senses: Darkvision 60', Passive Perception 15

Languages: Common, Elvish, Riverslang 

Keen Riverwoman: Piper has Advantage on any skill checks regarding handling her barge and or tests of perception along riverways.

Fey Ancestry: Piper being of partial Fey blood has Advantage against Charm Spells and cannot be affected by Sleep Magics.

Actions:

Multiattack: Piper can make two attacks with her Dagger or Shortbow.

Masterwork +1 Dagger: (Finesse) Melee Weapon Attack +5 to hit, Reach 5 ft. one target Hit 5 (1d4+3) Piercing Damage.

Shortbow: Ranged attack +4 to hit, Ranged 80/320 ft. Two hands one target Hit 5 (1d6+2) Piercing damage.

Piper will gladly Help Adventurers with the right coin, Her General appearance she wears Rugged but well-worn clothing. Besides being an accomplished River Captain she has a beautiful singing voice when she does not have a piece of river reed to chew upon. She can be brutally honest to a fault sometimes offending others. In Pipers Ideals she believes in the greater good of things and gladly tends to her chores and duties for the People who rely on the rivers. Her bond is to her parents she treasures the barge her father helped her make and the masterwork dagger her mother gave her. Her Secret Flaw is that she envies those of upper stations in life or those with stronger families.