In the Prison of the Squid Sorcerer

In the Prison of the Squid Sorcerer (And Other Pulp Weird Encounters):

I am once more into the breach, dear friends.

In the Prison of the Squid Sorcerer is an RPG encounters book intended for use with your favourite Old School RPG, including the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game.

The base offering  is a  32-page softbound book containing  12-14 encounters at 1-2 pages each. The encounters, in addition to being very "Appendix N," each will include a unique monster, magical item, god and/or patron for the DCC roleplaying game. That's 12-14 scenarios with an original concept and original, re-usable content for your DCC RPG game.  That's 12-14 adventure hooks for further expansion.

And if you like this idea, it only gets better from there. If we can reach our modest targets, the main book doubles to 64 pages, and then we start adding separate, full- length adventures -- four in total if we meet all of our stretch goals.

I have signed on as one of the lead writers.  As with Angels, Daemons, & Beings Between, the modules I have published thus far through Purple Duck Games, and my contributions to Crawl! Fanzine, my goal in the encounters I'm developing is to bring you new ideas with very clear Appendix N antecedents.  In this case, I have decided to focus on John Bellairs' The Face in the Frost, the planetary romances of Leigh Brackett and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Manly Wade Wellman's Who Fears the Devil?, and Margaret St. Clair's The Shadow People as my primary inspirations.  With more than a dash of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, Abraham Merritt, and L. Sprague de Camp.  After all, these are some of the greats!

In addition, I am doing a "Stretch Goal" module for this campaign, The Tribe of Ogg and the Gift of Suss.  In this 0-level funnel, cave dwellers tackle a crashed space ship. 

Even if you don't contribute, I hope you will look into this project and let us know what you think.  And, of course, please spread the word to others who might be interested!

Reading Appendix N: Hiero’s Journey

Hiero’s Journey by Sterling E. Lanier was published in 1973, and is a post-Apocalyptic fantasy novel taking place 5,000 years after “The Death” – an all-out nuclear and biological world war.  Within it, Hiero Desteen (destined hero?) is a priest (cleric?) who has psychic powers, traversing a changed landscape in search of a computer (!) to help defeat the Unclean and their leemutes (corrupted from lethal mutations, now meaning any mutation inimical to mankind).

Along the way, Hiero assembles a party of adventurers including a telepathic bear, a riding moose (called a “morse”), a female warrior (and love interest), and an “Elevener” who seems an awful lot like a druid.  The Eleveners are members of the “Brotherhood of the Eleventh Commandment”, which is that “Thou shalt not destroy the Earth or the life thereon.”

If this all sounds a lot like TSR’s AD&D or Gamma World to you, you’re not alone!

The Story

Hiero Desteen is travelling on his morse, Klootz, seeking a computer for his church, the Kandan Universal Church.  The Church is opposed by the Unclean, humans who seek to use the knowledge that brought about the Death for their own ends, and who make common cause with mutants inimical to man.  Over the course of his journey, he must fight the Unclean (and escape from their capture), defeat strange creatures, make new allies, traverse the vast and hostile marshes known as the Palood, and explore the ruins of the ancients.

The novel is described as “A Romance of the Future”.  And it all takes place around the Great Lakes, which are now the Inland Sea, from post-Apocalyptic Canada to the massive jungles around modern-day Indiana.  Naturally.

Elements for Gaming

This book is chock full of gaming elements, and it is easy to see how Gary Gygax was inspired by it.  Living in one of the Great Lakes states himself (flooded by the Inland Sea by the time of Hiero’s Journey), Gary must have felt some level of kinship with the landscape Hiero passes through.

Here we have the seed of the cryptic alliances of Gamma World, the prototype of the Hool Marshes in Greyhawk, auguries being cast (and enigmatic answers being given), humanoid alliances against men, clerics in leading roles, psionics, intelligent animals, and some weird creatures that defy natural explanation.  We also have a truly dangerous fungal entity (House) and its attendant slimes….the abilities and descriptions of which seem familiar from Gary’s work in the Monster Manual and the Monster Manual II.  If you want to know why giant lynxes are intelligent in the Monster Manual, the answer is probably the influence of this book.

This is the first novel I have read where the protagonist actually defeats a foe and levels up.  Seriously.

He was amused that his new confidence seemed more than temporary. Beyond, and indeed underlying, the amusement was a hard-won feeling of mental power. Hiero knew, without even wondering how he knew, that Abbot Demero or any others of the Council would now be hard-put to stand against him...The two battles Hiero had won, even though the bear had helped decide the first, had given the hidden forces of his already strong mind a dimension and power he would not himself believed possible. And the oddest thing was, he knew it.

Tired, but feeling somehow wonderful anyway, he roused Gorm and the morse.

That's right. By fighting combats and defeating opponents, Hiero has become more powerful. He is aware of the increase in power, and, although tired (i.e., not at full hit points?) he feels "somehow wonderful anyway" (perhaps because he gained hit points with the new level)?

Interesting.  Especially as it predates the game whose mechanics emulate it nearly perfectly.  Nor is this the only time Hiero “levels up” after an encounter; using the Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg experience system (where you gain XP for encounters whether you defeat them or not) emulates the novel even better.

Another interesting note is how episodic the novel feels.  While it is a single story, the story seems to be a number of “adventures” that comprise the whole.  Hiero, Gorm, and Klootz form the initial adventuring party, encountering the Unclean.  Then they traverse the Palood as a separate adventure.  The warrior, Luchare, is rescued and joins the party as a third adventure.  Hiero has a solo go, being captured and then escaping (I guess the other players couldn’t make that session).  The reunited party goes through a half-drowned Ancient city (and fights what may well be bullywugs) before encountering a new party member, Brother Aldo.  They take a ship across the Inland Sea toward the place Hiero has been sent to investigate, acquiring several new PCs and NPC hirelings.  The ship is wrecked, and the new PCs go through a sort of 0-level funnel in the jungle.  The group deals with some female forest dwellers (who mate with the male party members in dreams) and then explore the underground multi-level complex of the Ancients. 

Along the way, they gain several artefacts from the Unclean, some of which are (or might as well be) cursed; including devices that allow the Unclean to track the group.

Encounter-wise, this novel is rich indeed.  Simply reading the Glossary in the back offers a number of interesting ideas for game play, and it is by no means complete. 

Gorm, the telepathic bear:  In rpg terms, clearly a PC, but not one anyone could choose to create.  Using the Dungeon Crawl Classics rules, the judge could allow special character types to arise as part of specific adventures.  i.e., if you play this particular adventure, you might gain a unique PC not available otherwise.  I think this is a good solution to the problem posed initially by the 1e Unearthed Arcana and then later (and more strongly) by 3e – gamers want those unique PC types in their game, but if they become part of the standard generation process, they are no longer unique.

(As an aside, it is interesting to note that my players encountered Growly, from The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, shortly after I had finished this novel, thus giving me a template to describe the Fez-toting empathic dancing bear.  Similarly, the great swamp around the Sunken City reminds me of the Palood...another useful reference for creating encounters in Purple Sorcerer’s setting!)

Morse:  Large empathic riding moose.  How this didn’t appear in Gary’s monster books is beyond me, because it is a cool idea that certainly fits in with Appendix N gaming.

House:  A giant, intelligent fungus, the section with House in it might as well be the base template for all slimes, molds, and fungi in the original D&D game, were it not for other fungus monsters appearing in other Appendix N literature.  With its “harem”, House might be the model for Juiblex or Zuggtmoy.

The Dweller:  A mental parasite that comes from beyond this world, let into it by the changes the Death have wrought.  This would be a great encounter for any rpg, where battle takes place on the mental plane, rather than the physical.  There are actually several mental battles in the novel (it is easy to see its influence on psionics in Dungeons & Dragons), but this is probably the best of them. 

Other Creatures:  There are far too many monsters described in this book for each to be given a line-by-line listing.  They include giant otters/weasels, wolverine men, the dam people (intelligent giant beavers), colossal giant frogs, giant leeches, giant snapping turtles, a giant loon, anthropomorphic ape-men (howlers), giant fish, giant gulls, man-rats, and a host of other monsters.

Conclusions

It is interesting to note how many of the Appendix N works are actually science fiction, or have science fiction elements.  For its contributions to role-playing games, Hiero’s Journey is sort of a must-read for fans of D&D, Gamma World, or their later-day clones and derivatives.  It is pretty obvious why Gary Gygax included this one in Appendix N, and it is a novel that he listed by name.

I enjoyed the novel, although I am told that its sequel, Unforsaken Hiero, is not as good.  I am not sure, as I have not read it (yet).  Sterling Lanier had intended to make the series a trilogy when he penned the second, but his death prevented the completion of a third Hiero novel.

Reading this novel will give most GMs a lot of good ideas for monsters and encounters, especially if they don’t mind mixing science fiction and fantasy.  If you can get it at a reasonable price, you should.

S is for Sandbox Recap

Before I can start adding more to this series, I need to do a quick recap.  The various “S is for Sandbox” posts can be found here:

What is a Sandbox?  http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2011/10/s-is-for-sandbox-part-i-what-is-sandbox.html

Why System Matters:  http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2011/10/s-is-for-sandbox-part-ii-why-system.html, http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2011/10/s-is-for-sandbox-part-ii-why-system_17.html, & http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2011/10/s-is-for-sandbox-part-ii-why-system_27.html

Initial Set-Up:  http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2011/10/s-is-for-sandbox-part-iii-initial-set.html, http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2011/11/s-is-for-sandbox-part-iii-initial-set.html, http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2011/11/s-is-for-sandbox-part-iii-initial-set_06.html, http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2011/11/s-is-for-sandbox-part-iii-initial-set_21.html, & http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2011/12/s-is-for-sandbox-part-iii-initial-set.html

Sample Minor Adventure Site:  http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2012/01/s-is-for-sandbox-part-iv-sample-minor.html, http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2012/01/s-is-for-sandbox-part-iv-sample-minor_26.html & http://ravencrowking.blogspot.ca/2012/05/s-is-for-sandbox-part-iv-sample-minor.html

Sometimes it is difficult to keep all of these various ideas for blog posts going!  In any event, I’ve spent some time on reviews, house rules for the DCC RPG, and projects that I am working on.  While these other threads will no doubt continue, those threads discussing gaming theory and “how to” for prospective GMs are also important.

This post is to remind the Gentle Reader of the “alphabet” thread, and to give me a quick reference as to where I am on the “S is for Sandbox” portion of it.  We were about to see the Temple of Hermes and the dungeon below in as part of a minor adventure site, written for the DCC RPG.  More to follow!

AL3:  Through the Cotillion of Hours is now available, in print-on-demand or pdf format, through RPG Now or DriveThru RPG.  (EDIT:  Now available at Paizo)

Sooner or later, characters are going to want to quest to achieve some specific end – to raise a fallen comrade, to regain lost ability points, to discover a new spell, to find some new magic item…the possibilities are nearly endless. This scenario can occur at any time during the course of overland travel, and gives characters the opportunity to meet some of these goals.

In this adventure, sleeping characters are invited to the Cotillion of Somnos, the Dreaming God. If they can make their way past the entertainments at the Masked Ball, they can petition the Dreaming God to fulfil some request on their behalf.

Through the Cotillion of Hours is a Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game adventure designed for  any number of characters of any level.  The basic description and invoke patron results form Somnos, the Dreaming God, are included in this module.

Scott Ackerman does his usually amazing artwork in this product, and Kristian Richards supplies some excellent cartography.  Many thanks to Mark Gedak at Purple Duck Games for making this happen!


EDIT:  First review here!

EDIT:  Second review here!

EDIT:  Third review here!

EDIT:  Fourth review here!

Reading Appendix N: Lavender-Green Magic

There are a few difficult issues to resolve when one wants to blog about Appendix N fiction.  One of the obvious problems is deciding where to start.  At first, I considered writing about the authors and their works in the alphabetical order used by Gary Gygax in the first edition Dungeon Master’s Guide.  If I did that, though, I would be writing dozens of posts about the extremely prolific Edgar Rice Burroughs, and perhaps never get to Manly Wade Wellman.  I think that would be a mistake.

I am kicking this off with Lavender-Green Magic, by Andre Norton, mainly because I just finished reading it, and because it was suggested to me that this novel isn’t the type one would seek inspiration from for the Dungeon Crawl Classics role-playing game.

The Story

When their father goes missing in Vietnam, three children have to move in with their grandparents, who live in a junkyard in Dimsdale.  They discover an old embroidered pillow that allows them to penetrate an overgrown maze, leading them back through time to the young (good) witch, Tamar.  Basically, sleeping with the pillow causes dreams which point the way.  The first penetration of the maze occurs when the younger sister, Judy, sleeps with the pillow.

The older sister, Holly, then jealously cheats in order to get the next turn, and things go wrong.  Going “the widdershins way” through the maze, the children instead encounter Hagar – an evil witch, more beautiful than Tamar, and perhaps more cunning.  Certainly more ruthless.  She snares Holly in a spell to bring out her worse emotions, and to create a tie between the past where the witches dwell and the present where the children come from.

Research in the present reveals that Hagar’s acts are going to result in Tamar being accused of (evil) witchcraft.   A resultant curse has stung Dimsdale in the past, and seems ready to strike down the children’s grandparent’s home in the near future.  The children must go again into the past to save both Tamar and their home, facing down both Hagar’s malice and Holly’s insecurities.

In addition to the story, my copy includes a section entitled “To Make Tamar’s Rose Beads and Other Old Delights” that gives instructions for making rose beads, “tasties for tea”, sugared mint leaves, and pomander balls.

Elements for Gaming

One of the other dilemmas one faces writing about Appendix N fiction is this:  Should you talk about all the good ideas that are available to steal from make homage to?  Or should you just use them yourself?  There are several elements in Lavender-Green Magic which are useful to the aspiring DCC judge, either to create outright homages of, or to demonstrate game principles.

First off, Tamar and Hagar are usable almost as they appear in the novel.  Two witches, sisters, one Lawful and one Chaotic.  They both live in the same house at the centre of a hedge maze.  If you follow the right-hand path, you reach Tamar.  If you follow the widdershins way, you reach Hagar.  You can only follow either path by sleeping on a specific pillow, and your intentions determine which path you take.

Not only is Hagar an excellent example of the “standard” DCC witch, but Tamar is a great example of the “good Wiccan” type witch one also finds in several Appendix N works.  In addition, either could be considered a potential patron – it is fairly explicit that Tamar becomes Holly’s patron at the end of the novel.  Both Tamar and Hagar clearly have their own agendas.

A cat in the novel, Tomkit, is implied to be Tamar’s familiar, and offers some guidance to judges for using familiars or other creatures that might be sent by a patron or other supernatural power.  A creature need not be obviously supernatural when first encountered in order to be so.

This novel makes good use of travel through time, both in terms of its plot and the way in which the plot is staged/conveyed.  Judges interested in using time travel effectively in their adventures can certainly get some ideas from this novel.

Finally, the aspiring judge might gain some ideas for encounters or setting from the section wherein the children navigate the maze widdershins. 

Conclusions

Lavender-Green Magic is not a Sword & Sorcery yarn by any stretch of the imagination, but it does contain many elements that are firmly usable in the DCC rpg. 

I can easily imagine a 0-lvl adventure designed to allow players to take the roles of modern-era children, which could borrow even more heavily from this book.  Such an adventure might not be an actual “funnel” (so that you aren’t killing the kids off), but it could be designed in two parts, so that the first part of the story is when the characters were children, and the second part takes place when they are adults, perhaps dealing with ramifications (good and ill) from their childhood decisions.

That might actually make a good module.  Perhaps when I get some more free time, I will write it!

In Memoriam: David Gower

On August 27th, 2012, my friend David Gower passed away at the age of 64.

What can I say about David Gower?

He was an atheist, but he wasn’t afraid of opposing views.  He was a philosopher who was respectful of others.  David was a true skeptic.  He would actually listen to what you thought, and actually cared why you thought it.  If he thought something different, he was always willing to discuss, but not disparage.  David Gower loved the truth.

David sought to understand his world, and the people within it.  He was a thinker who didn’t believe that the true answers were necessarily the easy answers.  He was a poet whose work deserves recognition, and who – in the times I saw him perform – never failed to draw an enthusiastic response. 

David loved the outdoors.  Years ago, when we all had more time, we would go on hikes along places like the Caledon Rail Trail and the Bruce Trail.  Sometimes these were also excuses for long conversations, but the reality is that David really loved to be outdoors.  He enjoyed camping, campfires, and seeing the stars.

The last time I actually saw David, we met at a pub off Yonge Street to have a beer, a meal, and just to catch up.  It was amazing how quickly we could pick up threads left dangling from a year or more ago.  That was about a year ago, because, with a young child, and running back and forth between two households, I just didn’t have the time – or I thought I didn’t have the time – to see him more.  I wish now I had found that time.

In all of our talks, though, it was very clear that he loved, and was proud of, his immediate family.  He spoke of them with genuine respect and affection.  Simon, Sarah, Justin, and Nigel, and especially his wife, Frankie.  David was human.  He was subject to the same irritations, doubts, and regrets that we all are.  But he never regretted the course of his life, and he was thankful for who he got to share it with.  We talked a lot about life, and relationships, over the course of the years, and that never varied. 

What can I say about David Gower?  He was as intelligent, as open-minded, and as loving as anyone I have ever met.  I am better for having known him, and I will miss him.


(The photo was taken by his sister-in-law, Alison Groves, a last campfire that he sadly did not make.)

Help With Identifying Something

I was in Ottawa on 20 August 2012, walking along the Rideau Canal near Riverdale Avenue.  The time on the camera says "8:30 am", but it was probably 8:30 pm, our having arrived late due to the transmission on my Ford Windstar saying goodbye to us in Smith's Falls.

Being of that mindset, I decided that a picture of the treetops along the park would make a great desktop for my laptop.  But, when I actually checked the picture, I got this:

That is the original, unchanged picture, exactly as it came off the digital camera.  There was nothing visible at the time.  When I first saw the photo, I joked about fairies, because the area we were walking in is near the site of the Grugach's house in Charles de Lint's Jack the Giant Killer.

Then I zoomed in.

 Now, what I imagine is that there was some kind of insect flying around the treetops at the time I took the picture.  I am guessing that the glowing light is caused by their reflecting the flash back at the camera.

What I cannot figure out is what kind of insect would make an image like the one in this picture.  But, then, I am no expert.  So, here I have cropped the image a few times to allow for a little higher resolution.

They are clearly not some form of flower or catkin, because they are in the sky around the trees as well as within them.

So, if you know your area bugs well enough to venture a guess, I'd love to hear from you.

No matter how mundane the actual explanation turns out to be, the result is an utterly cool picture!

Reading Appendix N: Overview

So, I got a new camera from my son and his girlfriend this year for my birthday.  So, of course, my thoughts immediately ran toward cataloguing my Appendix N collection.  This proved a bit more difficult than I expected, though, for a number of reasons.  The first is that some of my collection is not at home.  Some of it is on loan to friends and family, especially to those I am trying to interest in the DCC rpg.  Other books are at work.  A few more are in a back room and are currently a little difficult to reach.

So, this is an incomplete view of the Appendix N books I have.  Nonetheless, here we go!

That last picture was taken because, as soon as I had cleaned up from taking pictures of all the others, sure enough a group of Appendix N books appeared sitting close by.

I am still wondering where I set The Moon Pool and some of my Lord Dunsany books, which do not appear in these pictures.  And, of course, as I was scouting my bookshelves for Appendix N books, I saw many books that I thought should appear in Appendix N, but do not (either because they were post-publication of the 1e Dungeon Master's Guide, or because they were not books Gary Gygax selected for whatever reason).  I might later do a photo-spread of these as well.  I am also aware that some might not include a few of these books in Appendix N -- some of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels are not fantasy, for example, although they all have elements that are worth including in a DCC adventure, IMHO.  YMMV.

In any event, I have now read about 3/4 of the books on display, and I am currently working my way through the remaining quarter....as well as seeking out some notable books that are missing from my collection.  In subsequent "Appendix N" posts, I'll be looking at these books individually or in related groups.

Everyone Else III: Sailors on the Starless Sea

One day, getting ready to begin running a Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign, I stopped at Hairy Tarantula on Yonge Street in Toronto and picked up both Sailors on the Starless Sea (by Harley Stroh) and People of the Pit (by Joseph Goodman).  Being a 0-level module, and having already run Portal Under the Stars using the Beta, I decided that Sailors on the Starless Sea was a logical choice for starting a campaign.

As you may be aware, I have written about designing 0-level adventures for the Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg previously, and my views here are going to take that analysis into account.  There are going to be spoilers in this review as well, so if you are going to be playing in this module, do yourself a serious favour and read no further!

The basic premise of Sailors on the Starless Sea is that cultists are attempting to revive two fallen brother Chaos Lords.  They have been converting local villagers to beast men or preparing them as a sacrifice to bring the Chaos Lords back.  The PCs begin by investigating a local ruined keep, trying to rescue kidnapped villagers.  In the course of their investigation, they become part of truly epic events.

The adventure further breaks down into (1) getting into the keep, (2) exploring the keep, (3) the dungeons underneath the keep, (4) the sunless sea, and (5) the epic climax.  Many of these parts allow for multiple avenues of exploration, and, in some cases, they intersect in interesting ways.  For instance, there is a tomb that might be uncovered while trying to get into the keep, or it might be uncovered exploring the banks of the sunless sea, or it might not be uncovered at all.  None of these options is the “right” one, and none of them are “wrong”.

The module also allows the players two chances to replenish their supply of 0-level characters.  This is a good idea, and is something I wish I had thought of in my own analysis of the 0-level funnel.

Following my own analysis, I can certainly see how both character death and character growth are planned for within the context of the module.  Harley Stroh did a stellar job here.

The village the PCs come from is not described, so no difficulties arise from starting occupations.  If you are going to run this as part of a campaign, you might actually take the PC starting occupations as your baseline for describing what the village is like.  The climactic encounter, moreover, may make returning to the village different, so you can gloss over this if you like.  I did.

I had suggested that the initial adventure should include some means for elves to buy one set of mithral armour and one mithral weapon at standard prices when they attain 1st level; Sailors does not do this.  On the other hand, there is no reason why this must immediately be available to Elf PCs.  Obtaining mithral arms and armour may well be part of the next adventure.  This isn’t something you need to worry about, but it is something the prospective judge should keep in mind.

Sailors has more than enough encounters that will make characters progressing into Thieves and Warriors make sense.  Warriors certainly have the opportunity to access to weapons and armour. 

Previously, I had written “Potential warriors are also going to need opponents they can fight.  As with the initial offering in the Core Rulebook, this should be a combination of simple and difficult fights, and the difficult fights should be resolvable using brains over brawn.  The opponents must also be interesting, at least some of them demonstrating some unexpected property…even if you only make the giant rats have hand-like paws and be capable of speech.”  There is certainly no problem with Sailors on the Starless Sea in this regard!

Regarding Clerics, I had written “Your initial funnel must include the divine in some way, shape, or form.  It may include a hidden shrine where the influence of a god is felt, or it may include a fight against some unholy thing in which a holy artefact is of aid.”  Well, Harley Stroh certainly manages to do this, and then some.  From an evil shrine to the Chaos Lords and cultists themselves, the divine (or potentially divine) is felt strongly in this adventure.

I had also been concerned about potential wizards needing a way to access spells, and Harley includes an exceptional means to this end as well – a magic ring that can access three spells for good or for ill.  So, even if you follow the advice in the Core Rulebook, and give XP per encounter, allowing the PCs to level up when they gain 10 XP, the would-be wizards potentially begin their magical careers with something wizardly to do.  Not that Sailors is shy about making them work for it. 

I had also expressed some concerns about transition.  Following the Core Rulebook, most of my players’ characters achieved 1^st level after a particularly deadly encounter on the Sunless Sea, and thus levelled just prior to the climax of the module.  It was remarked that it felt as though the characters, having survived the deadliest thing so far, had pulled themselves together and were now better able to face what was to come.  This covered both my concerns about transition, and about the 1st-level finale.   The final battle against beast men, cultists, and a resurging Chaos Lord definitely resolved issues arising from the 0-level funnel, and showcased character growth. 

I had written that this part of the adventure “answers some unresolved questions, faces similar opponents, and/or fulfils the promises of the first half”.  I believe that Sailors on the Starless Sea does this magnificently.

In addition to the usual Appendix N influences, this module draws from King Kong and The Island of Dr. Moreau for imagery and content.  Well, in a way.  Where Dr. Moreau made beast men out of beasts, the villains in this module make beast men out of men.  I also found this very reminiscent of the "Count Brass" cycle of Michael Moorcock, which may have been the actual source reference.  In any event, they are fun references, and my players had a great deal of fun with this module.  As did I.

Overall, I found Sailors on the Starless Sea to be a nearly perfect 0-level adventure.  I certainly had a hell of a lot of fun running it, and I would recommend it to anyone. 

Easily five stars out of five!