Gary Con XVIII

My friends and I attended Gary Con once again, this year, held from March 19-22 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Artwork by Jeff Easley

This time around, we drove up a few days early, in order to settle in and playtest a couple of the games that I was planning to run.

Lankhmar: City of Adventure

Lankhmar: City of Adventure (1993)

Our first game of the con was actually on Wednesday, March 18 - a game run by the legendary Harold Johnson, organized by a friend.

Harold was the project coordinator for the AD&D 2e revision of "Lankhmar: City of Adventure" (originally published for 1e, in 1985) and is a fan of Leiber's stories.

It was my third time in three years playing in a game run by Harold, and it was great fun, as usual, with lots of memorable situations.

RuneQuest: Cattle Raid

RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (2018)

I've always been intrigued by RuneQuest, and so was looking forward to playing a game.

The scenario was "Cattle Raid" from the "RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha" GM's adventure book, included with the GM's screen.

The mechanics were, not surprisingly, similar to Call of Cthulhu, since both use the Basic Role-Playing (BRP) system.

It was a fun game, and I'm looking forward to revisiting Glorantha.

Night's Dark Terror: Siege at Sukiskyn

Illustration by Helen Bedford

This year, I ran two scenarios drawn from B10 "Night's Dark Terror" (1986).  The first was the Siege of Sukiskyn, a fortified homestead in a goblin-haunted forest.

I pre-printed the foldout map of Sukiskyn and various counters on hardstock, and they worked great in practice.  The PCs were ultimately successful in defending the homestead.

For the pregens, I used the thief from M1 "Blizzard Pass" (1983) as well as the pre-generated characters from B6 "The Veiled Society" (1984).

Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu (7th ed.)

Friday was my "Call of Cthulhu" day of the con, with four consecutive Call of Cthulhu scenarios.

I played in "High Water", "Shaolin Ghost Story", and "Facemaker" (each run by the "You Too Can Cthulhu" gang) and finished with "The Shadow Beneath the Ice" over at Timber Ridge.

All scenarios were run using the 7th ed. rules, published in 2016, and each was memorable in its own way (my character survived 2/4 times).

Immortality: Exploring the Unknown

Illustration by Larry Elmore

On Saturday morning, I hosted what was surely the highest level game of the con - a part workshop/part one-shot Immortals session.

We spent much of the time reviewing the paths to Immortality, in the context of BECMI cosmology, as players transformed a favorite character of the past into a rookie Immortal.

Towards the end, we rolled for a random event on the astral plane, and ran through a short encounter with a draeden.

Oerthbound: Beyond The Void (Part 1)

My friends and I signed up for an interesting AD&D 2e scenario, involving a group of marines stranded on an alien planet.

Our host skillfully wove us into a prequel to "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks".

Our marines fought creatures like bulettes and umber hulks, and we're looking forward to participating in "Part 2" at next year's Gary Con.

Night's Dark Terror: The Lost Valley

Illustration by Geoff Wingate

My second scenario from B10 "Night's Dark Terror" involved an expedition to the Lost Valley of Hutaaka, the domain of Kartoeba "the Thing in the Pit".

While the game was initially full with 8 players and 9 on the waiting list, 5 players canceled.  I was grateful to the 3 who showed up, including Zach Howard (of Zenopus Archives) and his son.

Fortunately, we were soon joined by 3 walk-ups, who joined the scenario with role-playing gusto, resulting in a truly memorable adventure for all concerned!

For pregens, I used the prerolled characters from B5 "Horror on the Hill", with magic items drawn from that adventure.

Knights of Camelot

Knights of Camelot (1980)

On Sunday morning, I helped the inimitable Doug Waltman run one of his famed "Knights of Camelot" sessions.

My friend Vince stepped in when someone who had previously signed up decided to cancel, and Vince ended up winning the game.

"Knights of Camelot" remains one of my favorite games, and I only wish that I could track down one of those hard-to-find sets.

B5: Guido's Fort

Module B5 "Horror on the Hill" does not contain a map or description of Guido's Fort, apart from a few short paragraphs concerning the inn (the "Lion's Den") and the trading post.

Some have simply used the iconic keep, from module B2 "The Keep on the Borderlands", which isn't the best fit, in my opinion.

I've previously used the map of a frontier fort, borrowed from "Across the Thunder River" (2005) by Vincent Darlage, a supplement for Conan the Roleplaying Game.

Map of a frontier fort, from "Across the Thunder River" (2005) by Vincent Darlage.

The mess hall corresponds to the location of the Lion's Den, with the trading post beside it.

One might also wish to track down the "Guido's Fort Supplement" (2009) by Robert C. Pinnell.

B5: Horror on the Hill

B5 "Horror on the Hill" (1983) by Douglas Niles is a D&D adventure for character levels 1-3.  While similar in certain respects to B2 "The Keep on the Borderlands" (1980), there are thematic differences between the two.

Module B5 "Horror on the Hill" (1983) by Douglas Niles.  Cover illustration by Jim Roslof.

"Horror on the Hill" was designed using the Moldvay Basic rules (cited by page number) although was published after the D&D Basic Set edited by Frank Mentzer was released.

What lives on the mysterious and distant hill beyond the river?  No one knows.  Rumors say a powerful and evil witch lives there - but no living adventurer has ever returned to confirm or deny that story.  Only the river separates you from the answer - do you really want to know it?

from "Coming Soon..." in Dragon #80 (December, 1983)

The teaser in Dragon magazine differs slightly from the back cover blurb:

The Hill is filled with monsters, they say, and an evil witch makes her home there.  Still, no visitor to The Hill has ever returned to prove the rumors true or false.  The thrill of discovery is too great to pass up, and only the river stands in the way.  The adventurers' boat is waiting!

Module B5 "Horror on the Hill" (1983)

Nowadays, this brings to mind The Blair Witch Project (1999), although the emphasis is on wilderness exploration, during which the adventurers learn of an impending humanoid invasion.

The Frontier:

The preface to the module states:

Guido’s Fort.  The end of the traders' road.  Perched along the banks of the mighty River Shrill, this isolated frontier settlement is the last stop on the caravan routes.  The mile-wide river is all that separates the Fort from the shadowy bulk known only as “The Hill,” a land of nameless terrors and ancient legend.

Module B5 "Horror on the Hill" (1983)

There is no reference to the cosmological framework of Law vs. Chaos as presented in "The Keep on the Borderlands".  Rather, the setting evokes the American frontier, with "the end of the traders' road" to the west of civilized lands.

The adventurers are not coming to a lonely outpost in a besieged Realm as warriors in the eternal struggle between Law vs. Chaos, but as explorers of the mysterious and threatening unknown, beyond the borders of civilization.

Possible Inspiration:

As with Tom Moldvay in module B4 "The Lost City", Niles may have been influenced by the writings of Robert E. Howard.

Compare the preface above to this passage by Howard :

Fort Tuscelan stood on the eastern bank of Black River, the tides of which washed the foot of the stockade.  The latter was of logs, as were all the buildings within, including the donjon (to dignify it by that appellation), in which were the governor’s quarters, overlooking the stockade and the sullen river.  Beyond that river lay a huge forest, which approached jungle-like density along the spongy shores.  Men paced the runways along the log parapet day and night, watching that dense green wall.  Seldom a menacing figure appeared, but the sentries knew that they too were watched, fiercely, hungrily, with the mercilessness of ancient hate.

Robert E. Howard "Beyond the Black River" (1935)

"Beyond the Black River" by Robert E. Howard was published in two parts, in Weird Tales (May, 1935) and Weird Tales (June, 1935)

Later in the story, the governor at Fort Tuscelan declares:

“We are wise in our civilized knowledge, but our knowledge extends just so far—to the western bank of that ancient river! Who knows what shapes earthly and unearthly may lurk beyond the dim circle of light our knowledge has cast?  Who knows what gods are worshipped under the shadows of that heathen forest, or what devils crawl out of the black ooze of the swamps?”

Robert E. Howard "Beyond the Black River" (1935)

Much has been written concerning "Beyond the Black River" as a tale of the American West at heart (see this article on Black Gate).  The story is one of Howard's best, and can serve as inspiration for those running "Horror on the Hill".

Guido's Fort:

A while back, I corresponded with Niles to ask a few questions about "Horror on the Hill".  He kindly responded with the following amusing anecdote:

The name "Guido" was a masculine version of my wife's D&D character, "Guida" (a cleric.)  "Guida" herself was a feminized version of a character on Saturday Night Live during the seventies, a rather rascally priest named "Father Guido Sarducci".  So that's where that name came from; I used it because I thought it was kind of funny.

Douglas Niles, personal correspondence

The Hill:

I would love to see a 3D reconstruction of The Hill, and have considered building one in Minecraft (but lack the skillset) or out of LEGO.

There are 19 encounter areas, including a Killer Beehive and a Driver Anthill ("killer bees" and "driver ants" in Moldvay Basic were renamed "giant bees" and "giant ants" in the D&D Basic Set edited by Frank Mentzer).

The encounter involving two elderly sisters, Rosabella and Rosalinda,* was inspired by the witches of Morva in the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, as mentioned in this interview on the Save or Die podcast (December 20, 2010) from 04:55 to 09:05.

*the interior of the sisters' cottage appears to be an extradimensional space, as in "The Dancing Hut" adventure by Roger Moore, published in Dragon #83 (March, 1984).  (I've considered substituting this or "The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga" (1995) for the sisters' cottage.)

The Ruined Monastery:

I created a Player's Map for the ruined monastery, which I printed on a poster-sized piece of paper at Staples.

Eye of Moloch statue, created using Nomad Sculpt

The pagan deity worshipped by the monks isn't named, although I have used Moloch,* since the statue on The Hill (encounter area #7) and in the old tomb seem a subtle nod to the cover of the AD&D 1e Players Handbook.

*stats for the arch-devil Moloch are given in the 1e Monster Manual II, in which the accompanying illustration by Jim Holloway resembles the idol on the cover of the 1e Players Handbook

Incidentally, the ruined monastery and the dungeon beneath can be used as a separate mini-module, since the ruined monastery can be located anywhere (the outskirts of town, etc.)

The Dungeon:

The dungeon is inhabited by a hobgoblin king and his warriors, although there are no female or young, another point of difference between this module and the Caves of Chaos in "The Keep on the Borderlands"

This suggests that the hobgoblin king is using the ruined monastery as a staging ground for a war party of humanoids, not as a permanent lair.  This also explains why the hobgoblins and their allies are poorly organized and scattered throughout the dungeon.

The kobolds and red dragon occupying the lowest level are reminiscent of the kobolds and red dragon in JG 76 The Dragon Crown (1979).

New Monsters:

Piranha Bird,* Steam Weevil,** Lava Lizard

*the stats for piranha birds and steam weevils are correct in their encounter descriptions, but were inadvertently switched in the New Monsters section

**the reader is referred to “Insect Swarms” in the monster section of the Basic rules book, although this entry was moved to the Expert Set rules in the version edited by Mentzer