d100 Rumours About Orks

"Have you heard what the village is saying about orcs nowadays? Heresy I say. Orcs have souls? Preposterous. Next, you will tell me about orc paladins and don't they dont all deserve to be strangled at birth"

In my game there are a bunch of wizard spells to make orcs. Oldest turns tortured elf into lots of orcs, then they did one with dead elves to orcs then all those wizards died and they made murdered humans into orcs. Nowadays wizards use pits of alchemical mud to make orcs in batches. Orc slave-coaches teach fresh born fully adult male orcs how to be cruel sadists for a month in their spawn pit before sending them to military school.

Nowadays most orcs are sick of wizards and evil overlords and breed like everybody else and have diverse cultures and individualism

Then there is spell where wizard surgically fuses a human and animal into a beast abhuman in 12 hours without anesthetic. Abhumans not so keen on wizards either. Wizards are jerks.

Thanks to those who came and chatted on my FB page

d100 Rumours About Orks
01 Orcs are all male, they don't breed naturally and are made by evil wizards
02 The first orcs were made from elves and orcs say a few elder orcs still live
03 In earliest times wizards made orcs from the recent dead as taught by an evil god
04 Nowadays evil wizards just use alchemical mud pits to make adult male orcs 
05 The wizards who make orcs are careful to instruct them in brutality and cruelty
06 In distant past orc heroes quested for their own women from the goddess
07 Most of orc barbarians hate wizards and any dark lords on idiot crusades
08 Some say orc women are far away making babies and food but what about orc amazons?
09 Some cleric set up a hospice to help orcs widows and now they operate a textile workshop and make best gambesons
10 People say there are half-orcs but usually just a name people who fight with orcs on the same evil crusades and adopt orcish fahions. Barbarians really hate being called half orcs
11 Humans and orcs are the two most recent mortal races and who would win has been uncertain. Both were slaves of evil wizards until the age of darkness ended
12 They say elves hunted and killed those who knew spell to make tortured elves into orcs but some say elves invented the spell to use their own dead against their enemies when it was clear elves would never recover their losses
13 Once you kill off the wizards and evil priests directing the orcs (most always human) they tend to go feral and set up wilderness tribal kingdoms like barbarians
14 Orc and human barbarians fight all the time but have some begrudging mutual respect. Occasionally they unite to destroy some wizard warlord who tries to build a wilderness stronghold
15 Many of those who once used orcs as slaves and magical cannon fodder have abandoned the practice as orcs tend to rebel and fight each other and turn on their masters
16 Many orcs serve hell claiming they get better deals with devils than serving humans or gods
17 Most orcs people see in human lands are mercenaries but some cities have a humanoid district where orcs live and produce cheap efficient tools and weapons. Many humans are wary of cheap competition but the guilds allow it as it meets a part of the market and used to upsell other goods
18 A magistrate hired some orc bailiffs due to local corruption and the well paid orc pair worked to the letter of the law and helped clean up the village but then they returned home
19 Lots of humans don't want to think of orcs as people because they just want to kill and enslave them without guilt
20 Orcs live short and brutish lives they say but not all orcs live lives or war and will live much longer if fed well and dont work the worst jobs
21 Orc gods were beings of darkness and wrath who became more orc-like over time 
22 Orcs and goblinoids have some common physical features but are not direct kin. Orcs will often dominate goblins and consider hobgoblins dangerous rivals and fear bugbears. They have united against humans and elves before but might squabble
23 One thing you can say about orcs is most tend to kill off mutants among them early which more humans should adopt
24 Orcs of different tribes squabble sometimes near battlefields but with their own tribe they demonstrate great teamwork and ingenuity and loyalty
25 Say what you want about orcs but they sure don't shun doing things in new ways and keep up with tools of war like siege weapons and gunpowder. Humans underestimate orc imaginations tend to die
26 When you make a newborn orc the wizards starve them and torment them in pits for a month, educated by turncoat orc slave drivers before they are equipped and trained for battle. You should see what orcs do when they figure out this cruelty
27 Orcs actually feel pain but they stoically put up with it and embrace scars and suffering. Occasionally work themselves to death or ignore injuries to a fault
28 Orc medicine is effective but stings, burns and promotes scarring so plenty of humans are reluctant to use it. Orc first aid is quite good and not just burnt logs or leeches for everything like people say
29 Orcs are not the best at caring for animals but their own breeds of dogs, horses, goats and cattle look hideous to humans but are tough and hardy and more nocturnal. It is nearly always untrue their beast have diabolic features, mostly just leaders pets
30 To orcs admitting weakness or injury is an invitation to be killed or left out 
31 Wolves and orcs get along well even equally and some ride dire wolves with evil intelligence bigger than horses. Many orcs have ordinary wolves as companions
32 Orc shamans change tribe members from male to female or vice versa depending on war or peacetime and that's why you don't see orc women much in wartime. The orcs don't seem to care or think it matters or its our business
33 Orcs nowadays seem to be not just the baby eating brutes of grandpas day. I saw orc clerics in the city. Was a popular orc bard in town a while (who went home as humans too soft). Turns out they are pretty law-abiding and don't want trouble  
34 Having some orc workers is ok, they are stronger and cheaper but don't let them own land and keep them poor for the worst jobs or there will be trouble
35 Dwarves are always crying about humans and orcs stealing their technology and changing it. Dwarves fought a war of extermination on orcs over iron and during it as Dwarves deployed better weapons the orcs copied and even improved designs but cheaper and faster. The dwarves saw they were numerically losing and the orcs numbers just bounced back again and again. Orcs are pretty unimpressed by this and have not forgotten, taking relish in destroying dwarf strongholds intended to last forever
36 Orcs often fraternise with goblinoids, abhumans and beast folk rather than humans or demihumans. They get tired of humans and demihumans looking at them in fear and disgust 
37 Orcs like piercings, tattoos, branding and scarification. Many paint themselves. Prettiness is considered vain, weak, wasteful and useless. Their markings carry complex meanings humans mostly miss unless fluent in the language
38 While bright elves sneer at orcs, dark elves treat them better than most humans do. Orcs often work for them as servants and mercenaries so you see some dark elf trinkets and runes on them sometimes. Dark elves apparently aided orcs and helped them revolt in the past
39 Yea orcs don't like paladins. Too many massacres of orc civilians. Paladins say there are no orc civilians and were even caught burning bodies and encouraging the lie about there are no or orc women or children
40 The orcs that grow up from babies raised in families seem more complete and more complex. I heard of orcs with own druids working to heal their race
41 Some barbarian orcs liberate their own kind enslaved by wizards to recruit ready-made warriors who don't ask questions and quick to prefer orc to human masters
42 Ground orc tusk is an aphrodisiac but orcs go crazy if you mention it and won't just let you grate any off even for a few coins
43 Lots of orcs work in abattoirs as increasingly humans won't do it. Orcs really have a knack for butchery and tanning and have a good nose for spoiled food 
44 I thought orcs only ate rotten meat and bones and leather but I went to a wedding feast, and they had olives, nuts, dried berries, cheese, dried meat, worms, snakes, frogs, eels, larvae, pickled cabbage, eggs, mushrooms, acorn bread and fish 
45 Poorest orcs will eat anything without complaint but those with money seem to like variety and even get fussy complaining about who even touched food in the kitchen. I guess they smell food more than a human does
46 I thought from the war, orcs never bathed but actually, some have enlightened views on baths and sewerage and waste using it as fodder for certain monsters. SOme prefer dust baths to remove fleas
47 You heard stories orcs only steal food and don't have farms but a wizard told me orcs often farm monsters in their underground labyrinths which they trade with each other. Their monsters are well cared for and named so orcs get upset when humans kill their beloved beasts. On the frontier, they release their extra beasts to keep slow human civilisation
48 I knew a scared war veteran who lived with the orcs a few years and he never felt judged for his appearance and war wounds, in fact they were impressed and considered him one of them 
49 Orcs at home like to stage heroic operas about their heroes escaping servitude and betraying their dark lord. They even have contests but not many humans brave enough to try the events that last for days
50 Its perfectly legal to use orc corpses for animal food, leather or golems. But the orcs do get upset. For some reason, people find orc flesh golems less horrible than human ones
51 Orc jerky is delicious just check who they made it out of first 
52 A famous orc Longarm used to protect the forest from chaos mutants and cultist
53 An orc gladiator started a revolt and all the orc gladiators involved had to be put down. Was a shame as I had lots of bets placed
54 I noticed lots of those barbarian orcs really hate whips and slave manacles. They give really dirty looks at them. Though I did see an orc strangle a slaver with a chain and she seemed happy
55 There was a famous archer who married several orcmaids and even became one and everything in a magical orc kingdom in the deep. Eventually, he went into the deep to claim his own kingdom
56 In the wild places of the world where humans can barley survive, you can find tribal orcs
57 Cyclops orcs are pretty strange. Famed as smiths they act like they are smarter than everyone and claim to have made tools for the gods long ago. They seem pretty civilised and even make stuff which looks prettier for non-orc customers
58 One famous orc tribe road huge wild boar, some from the deep ride lizards, others ride huge dire wolves and orc heroes rode wyvern
59 In the war I saw orcs elect a new leader with a dance contest. They said wasting good orcs with violence was helping the enemy
60 Orc tooth tipped arrows can kill and elf if made by shaman of the elf-eater cult. Elves have a bounty on this cult
61 Most of the chaotic orcs you see worship demon cults, adopting their sigils. Over time they come to develop traits of their patrons and specific cult mutations. Mostly orcs tend to law and evil 
62 Orcs treat prisoners wounds and carry them for days. Only when hard-pressed did they eat a few to stop a goblin thrall riot. Orc slaves often earn freedom after years of service and get treated better than goblins. They will also random off well off prisoners keeping them for years
63 Orcs often seem confused buy luxury and they often have been seen destroying statues and masterworks. They dread the softness civilisation brings like it has to humans and elves. Metal items can be traded or recycled but works of symbolic waste disgust them. The art in their palaces and temples are mostly to generate fear and suggest leaders or tribal power
64 Orcs are very canny with money and materials using the least material for the most effective. Items being more uncomfortable to use or with sharp edges doesn't bother them.  
65 When you give an orc crafter materials for a job they will always come out with spare scraps for some other project
66 Orcs frown on waste and comfort. They had nothing for so long and they still don't feel they can afford to squander wealth in a world set on destroying them all. Lots of orcs collect string, pebbles and other scraps "just in case"
67 Orcs have been known to serve giants. Some are slaves but many choose giants over humans and their gods who keep the orc and giant down
68 Some orcs came and sacked a monument of a paladin standing on a pyramid of orc heads. Just rubble now 
69 I had to look after work prisoner labour gangs after the war, and they seemed utterly unaware humans were not made by wizards or the differences between men and women. They thought children were a slave race or sprites 
70 I met an orc shaman who explained many orc ancestral spirits are cursed and mutilated in magical and spiritual warfare in the past. The shaman led his followers to try and free these cursed souls and remove the corruptions of chaos and dark lords so the dead can rest
71 A tavern of war veterans was comparing their orc-ear-necklaces and all of them were found dead poisoned or stabbed
72 Lots of orcs kept being bastards after the war because of all those cursed evil relics the dark lord handed out like honey cakes. If you're not allied to evil many of those relics will turn bad or turn you bad. Also, why give up that magic if it kills better 
73 Orcs can survive in the worst places humans cannot and living in hellish places means humans will not encroach. This makes them harsh and unforgiving and often exposes them to evil influences in such forbidden lands. The humans in the same places are similar
74 Orcs perform secret rituals in wild places with whicker structures covered in flours and vegetation which they destroy after so outsiders never see them
75 The idea there is only one kind of orc and they are bad is a popular view. Many orcs think humans are all mass murderers
76 People say orcs and elves hate each other but they know each other quite well and sometimes share enemies. They have made no direct action on each other for centuries
77 Orc sympathisers are in league with chaos, demons, witches, devils, mutants and cthulhu
78 The real trouble will be when nobility realise orcs are cheaper to feed than humans and put up with more suffering, the common humans will be finished
79 I heard a few tales of orc wizards recently which sounds bad. Probably turn us into frogs then eat us. Some are overcoming their suspicion of wizardry  
80 Orc gods are vindictive and vengeful entities orcs worshipped just to spite humans
81 Ogres sometimes live among chaotic orcs sometimes as bullies or elites or as slaves 
82 Deep under the earth, there are orc kingdoms thousands of years old, civilised with great armies unseen on the surface this age and in eternal unseen war
83 If you know the right gestures and signs you can challenge some orc leaders to battle 
84 Orcs can be dealt with by gift of food and weapons to start a parley
85 To an orc taking a cursed thing and making it work for you is seen as great cunning
86 One of the old elf to orc dark rituals of old could make a single elf into many orcs
87 The towns that ban orc labour have more orc bandits
88 Orcs don't discuss their families or children so no enemies will learn of them and harm them. What seems callous or proof of their lack of family is an actually deliberate reaction to humans massacring orc families
89 Lots of humans are raised by orcs and live as orcs. Especially when orcs can't replace children fast enough they will adopt war orphan humans (but not demihumans)
90 Orcs don't really find humans or elves attractive but some take delight in tormenting pretty things for their evil masters and just spite from evil upbringing
91 Some wizards crossed ogres and orcs to breed sterile bodyguards, not as dumb or big as ogres but big orcs
92 Orcs forearms are slightly longer than humans and have a peculiar gait. 
93 A typical orc is a match for a common guard or regular soldier but the professional arc warriors and especially orc barbarians who were bred by evil wizards as let's troops long ago making them stronger and better in light with powerful leaps
94 Chaos orcs appearance varies more depending on their cult but also carry deformities from diseases and parasites common to chaos warbands and being intimate with demons
95 Long ago there was a tribe of dire-wolf-orc centaurs or perhaps people then had not seen anyone ride animals
96 The orcs of the deep have a pantheon of orc gods who claim other accounts of orc origins are enemy lies. These orcs claim blood from ogres and giants making them frightening but also have heavy infantry and pike formations and crossbows
97 Some orcs worship siege weapons as mobile shrines dedicated to an orc ancestor, devil or demon
98 Druidic orcs seem like many other hidden woodland races and wild forest people and they all intermingle in secret and avoid humans
99 Orcs have been seen in legions of hell and in service to demon nobility on their floating realms in the maelstrom
100 Orcs have offered some humans to come and live among them for a year or even come to a feast to help peace. So far nobody is willing to go as everyone knows orcs are just useless cannibalistic sadistic fiends with no culture or individuality

Eat your bone too or Drizzzt will come and murder everyone you know

Next: how all dwarfs are really bearded women

and how only 1% of elves reach puberty ever

d100 Stone Age Tunda Encounters + Gamelog

So sorta like the Beringia landbridge tundra with patches of forest, permafrost, grasslands but also animals like flightless birds roam here. Mix of Pleistocene and Eocene animals, mostly mammals. If plants got across bearing crossing and tortoises got into Norway and UK rapidly after glaciers left I wonder about non-mammal crossing but oh well. A sea or a night time table might be good and a bit more spooky.

DnD dire wolves more Tolkien than real. Real dire wolves are not that bigger than regular wolves but science says they were dumber and more were caught in tar pits than more modern wolves who live in the same place but didn't keep getting stuck in tar. But here I mean DnD ones. LOTR movie ones are more hyena-like. Giant beavers and Lynx in ADnD are smarter than most people realise. I'm fine with this or even that a % of animals are intelligent and potentially use magic.

Tundra ain't all permafrost and snow. It has woodland, seasonal grasslands, streams, frozen marshes, rivers, glacial gravel heaps, areas of stones and moss, hills, ravines and more. The remnants of prehuman ruins in mountains and even advanced stone using peoples and monolith makers are rarer here with mostly nomad peoples. Many grandparents note trees have increased on mountains and spread along tundra plain rivers. The elves have been busily reforesting the planet after the dim light in the age of the monster ruled era. 

Lone strangers are to be treated with caution. Many supernatural beings appear as loners as do wicked outcaste magicians, lycanthropes and worse. Some don't take a risk and slay loners without any familiar tribal markings. 

a few interesting links
http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/e/embolotherium.html
https://www.nps.gov/articles/aps-17-1-4.htm
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-permafrost-arctic-animal-herds-pleistocene-park-siberia/
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/pleistocene-park/517779/

Found a funny essay surprised hominids ate so much rabbit for so long and would bother. As rabbits are very easy to catch kill and skin in less than a minute and digging them up is easy I was surprised but I guess most assumed everyone eating megafauna and big animals.

Most recent game had cave people make friends with civilised lizard people who encouraged the tribe to drive out white apes, snake tribe folk (these serene lizards hated bossy snakes) and giant spiders in area. The elf and halfling spent some time scouting ape areas with lizard men temporary followers two scouts with darts and a monk with an obsidian naginata. Invisibly sneaked up on and killed shaman and his baboon guards and a bunch on spider monkeys. Found potions and fetishes and human skins in the shaman shack. then returned to lizard monastery triumphantly.

Spent some time studying and the elf read lizardfolk wall texts and learned the basics of spoken language. The halfling had become a druid  and learned a puffball spell and the elf had learned fireball was keen to test it. So they went ape hunting and killed a number of small foraging groups then returned to the ape stone circle where they killed the shaman. They fireballed mourning white apes in the shamans ancient stone hut and killed many of the ape tribe heroes. The apes had a great setback and the lizards gifted tribe with some crystal daggers and a crystal that could store one cantrip spell for anyone to cast. Lizardfolk welcomed tribe entering valley and offered them the evil spiders cave. What could go wrong with mostly human colonists? Well better than stinking white apes and giant spiders. 

On way out of valley they killed spiders and returned through the secret valley entrance back to the icy tundra. Thinking of recruiting unwanted peoples of the frozen lands and bringing some back here where the food is plentiful. Next game contacting more of the local tribes.

d100 Stone Age Tunda Encounters
01 Remains of a camp possibly of strangers in territory recently
02 Remains of camp whare a friendly tribe was a d4 days ago
03 Remains of a fresh kill picked at by vultures and jackals
04 Lions eating a huge beast wary of thieves near kill
05 Baboons picking at bones left by other preditors
06 Ape folk eating a kill furious at any rival humanoids
07 Mammoth stuck in a pit attracting sabretooth or d4 dire wolves
08 Assemblages of bones or shellfish left by primitive ape hominids
09 Bees in area, skilled survivor can find d4 kilos of honey
10 Rabbit or ground rat burrow complex
11 A herd of elk or reindeer 1in6 followed by tribe or preditors
12 A herd of mammoth 1in6 followed by tribe or preditors
13 A herd of bison 1in6 followed by tribe or preditors
14 A herd of auroch cattle highly aggressive to any preditors
15 A herd of ponies 1in6 followed by tribe or preditors
16 A herd of goats or sheep 1in6 followed by tribe or preditors
17 A herd of camels or llama 1in6 followed by tribe or preditors
18 A herd of brontotherium 1in6 followed by tribe or preditors
19 A herd of musk oxen 1in6 followed by tribe or preditors
20 Flock of giant moa like herbivore grazing flightless birds
21 A giant ground sloth grazing
22 A glyptodon near huge burrow complex
23 Giant beavers creating a lake from streams and marshes
24 Giant anteater tearing apart huge ant mounds
25 Flock of game birds or wetland birds if water near
26 Giant porcupine lumbering about
27 Grumpy woolly rhino hostile to the smell of humanoids or fire
28 Pack of ferocious ground squirrels pour out of holes to drive away enemies
29 Thousands of small migrating birds
30 Boar and d4 females and 2d6 piglets will eat anything
31 Giant eagle will grab humanoids by the head and carry off and possibly drop on rocks
32 Flock of terror birds out hunting
33 Huge lone sabretooth hunting mammoth or anything really
34 Cave lion pride most often females hunting
35 Giant lynx or bobcat skulking about 
36 A pride of sabretooth spotted leopards-like cats 
37 Pack of wolves out hunting, cries will draw more in and may follow prey gathering numbers
38 Dire wolves obviously following 
39 Wild dog pack (formerly domesticated and gone wild) 
40 Jackals (Coyote) mostly avoid humans but might follow to steal scraps
41 Giant weasels or otters if need near water
42 Cave Hyena pack the cowardly following for scraps to scavenge or steal
43 Hyaenodon pack prowling 
44 Entelodont (terminator pig) roaming about terrorising animals
45 Bear dog or sarkastodon roaming alone
46 Paraceratherium roaming 1in4 has a calf it protects otherwise it ignores humans
47 Grisly bear 1in4 has a d2 cubs
48 Polar bear 1in4 has a d2 cubs
49 Cave bear 1in4 has a d2 cubs
50 Giant owl try and snatch smallest party member
51 Giant carniverous ape on prowl often near a family group of a d4 with d4 children
52 Primitive ape folk tribe who use fire but don't make it and use simpler tools
53 Scrawny ape folk who live in trees scavenging meat and fear fire
54 White ape tribe hateful of humans who they eat and sacrifice to demons
55 Nomadic tribe of human hunters following herds (one of the great tribes)
56 Cannibalistic ape folk hunting for humanoids
57 Lone abandoned disabled old person, 1in4 has an unusual useful skill 
58 Shamen on a quest with a d4 unusual followers and pets in camp
59 Degenerate albino subterranean semi-humans hunting on the surface world
60 Wandering band of mutants shunned by tribe, 1in4 serve chaos demons
61 A lone pine elf scouting tundra and planting tree seeds
62 Halfling trappers prowling will hide and spy shyly on strangers but may trade
63 A grubby naked dwarf with a stone axe banished from the home clan and hungry
64 Gnome spies on strangers from burrow hole with huge ground squirrel friends
65 Dark elf full of malice 3rd level with invisibility spell will follow victims to kill in sleep
66 Grubby hairy all over dwarf cannibal berserker from Underland 
67 Ugly lost gnome in a strange suit and goggles from Underland knows no surface speech
68 Nasty cannibal halflings lure victims in close for ambushes using treachery 
69 Tiny fairy folk use tiny d3 arrows to drive away giant intruders from area
70 Dryad or satyr looking for love has d4-1 enthralled lovers now
71 Kobolds from underworld 3d4 exploring surface with a pet
72 Goblin hunters looking for smaller game and mushrooms 2d6
73 Hobgoblin warriors with stone axes and spears hunting humans 2d6
74 Bugbear head hunter on the prowl with bow and strangling cord
75 Bugbear warriors hunting humans silently d6
76 Norker cave goblins with clubs and overbites out hunting 2d6
77 Orc hunters hunting humans for status 2d4+4
78 Goblin magician and d6 servants d4 1=druid and wolves 2=dark priest and zombies 3=shaman and warrior 4=wizard with hobgoblins (1in6 of all groups have a thoul) 
79 Elemental abhuman warrior far from home d4 1=frost 2=rock 3=fire 4=fog
80 Beast abhuman hunters 2d6 in band d6 1=wolf 2=lion 3=bear 4=elk 5=goat 6=bull
81 Ogres out hunting d4 with sacks of flint, ochres and dried meat and fungi
82 Horrible insane chaos troll slobbering and following trails for food
83 Group of d4 rare elder trolls survive the old times d4 1=hedge troll (as halfling) 2=cave troll (as dwarf) 3=mountain troll (as abhuman) 4=arcane troll (as elf)
84 Hill giant 1in6 with a pet d4 1=polar bear 2=dire wolf  3=sabretooth tiger 4=mammoth
85 Centaur brutes with clubs seek to carry away mates d6
86 Wise noble centaur loner skilled in several arts including healing with bow and lance
87 Plant spirit folk changeling in human form out to wander world before returning to life as a tree
88 Animal folk spirit changeling in human or animal form often curious about strangers d6 1=seductive vixen troublemaker 2=wise owl priest 3=witch woman spider 4=friendly lynx 5=ranger swan-maidens 6=
89 Lycanthrope alone and cursed enemy of humans d4 1=wolf 2=panther 3=bear 4=mammoth might try to get close to use treachery or murder foes in sleep
90 Wildman abhumans covered in green hair some with antlers, 2d6 led by a 4th Lv druid. Shy but protective of wilderness resources and wary of humans
91 Fairyland spirit able to create an animal form or 1in6 a human or elf form with other magic powers, protect nature and punish evil or destructive humans

92 An ancient burial ground has been exposed and thawed out with some precious stone implements, magic tools and undead d4 1=ghouls d6 2=skeletons 3d4 3=zombies 2d4 4=shadows d4. Remnants of tablets with symbols might be useful wizard research
93 Spectral minion of a beast improperly slain without ritual which local hunters know from ancient prayers and litanies from past. Angry spirit animal will attack unless appeased possibly by a druidic sacrifice 
94 Spectral minion of a wicked tribal outcaste who died alone in the wastes and barred from the family tent in the underworld. Possibly appeased with sacrifice but often malicious or will scare strangers
95 A wicked lone spell caster Lv d4+2 banished from other lands might seek to join a group but will have a strong influence d4 1=druid 2=priest 3-wizard 4=sorcerer 5=bard 6=changeling 
96 Lone abhuman wizard 4th Lv awoken from hibernation and angry at dirty apes not knowing place  d4 1=catfish 2=
97 Feathered or furred reptilians d4 1=allasaurus 2=giant constrictor snake 3=pack or raptors 4=dimetrodon 
98 Horrible hybrids left over from dawn age d6 1=chimera 2=manticors d4 3=hell hound 4=peryton 5=lecruotta 6=sphynx 7=griffon 8=wyvern
99 Elemental beast d4 1=salamander (fire or frost) 2=winter wolf 3=drake (fire or frost) 4=Fire newts riding striders with obsidian bladed war clubs and spears 2d4
100 Titanic elder beast, mostly sleep but ocationaly move, some kill everything in path others mostly harmless. Some people might have spoken to them in the past but not now days d8 1=Ikathra the living glacier who brings cold weather 2=Gthron the beast with no face who eats souls in the fog 3=Malardra the the undead collosusand and his walking death followers ever seeking to replenish their fallen 4=Vardura the hungering one, makes everyone for miles feel hungry and angry and edgy 5=Korran the walking tree thing spreads fertility in wake atracting animals and prosperity 6=Ull the hunter a great spirit on skis leading spectral minion hunters and beasts seeking to slay any hunters who failed to make the prayers and proper butchering procedures animal spirits require to be born again in the mortal world 7=Aran the stalking death comes to area in form of a black cloud or antlered dark giant  to claim the lives of the oldest in a village, wait a day and if elder does not come with them forever will attack the tribe 8=Emora the God Mammoth comes to lead herds away and will often be heard by many trumpeting mammoth followers that little could stop, she is revered by the mammoth cult and druids

I might do a table of hazards and wonders too to the company this
possibly a bunch of events of interest or seasonal events...

Im happy to advance this group to test my rules at higher levels which I have neglected. Only one of my three games still running. 

SF Timeline Notes

Had been wanting to work on some setting timelines again and had a play with my sf one a bit. Might surprise ppl that SF i prefer to fantasy mostly. I like fantasy for it's referencing to history and archaeology rather than high fantasy tropes of crystals and flying ships. 

So while crunching this I considered If I did a SF product I think space archaeology campaign would be what I would do as It is a theme not focused on yet is common in SF and even SF adventures. Old traveller black book had an ancient pyramid that I liked and the concept art of original alien film which was kind of used later. 

Have run using DnD, BRP and my old homebrew d100 system I used 84-89. It started inspired by Top Secret SI and Starfrontiers and evolved more towards BRP so I just changed to that. Ringworld RPG and GURPS probably a huge influence too. I have my setting notes but not many mechanic notes or the huge spell lists I made for the fantasy version.

I might try a spacial map to go with this to show early periods only a few hundred light-years across to being 

So some notes on this setting (I have played various past periods) 

• Technology templates used by colony ships are standard like the way most of planet use metric. Some colonies have alternate tech and specializations they have developed that is associated with more advanced tech
• Colonies were equipped with templates to limit them and keep them thralls to their homes
  
• Various peoples of Sol (Martian, Venusian, Selinites, Jovian, Terran, Belter) were influences on early colonies 
• Earliest colonies were isolated for up to a century and developed distinct culture and genotypes 
• Sol is far away and forgotten. It withdrew from communication with an interdiction field and built a Dyson sphere. Centuries later it vanished, withdrawn into hyperspace. Many old peoples of Sol left the system before this. Sol is mostly a myth to most of the galaxy. The old core colonies are closed to less advanced visitors
  
• Those aliens you see, most used to be human. Humanity is allied with starfish and cephalopods. Once Terra faked an alien race "Proximen" to keep colonies united. Real aliens are rare. Some are leftovers of ancients now mostly primitive
• Ancients left bioweapons and machines and ruins that are a threat to explorers and security of the whole sectors. Quarantine planets are common
• Humanity and allies control about 2/3 of the galaxy loosely. Together they prevent virulent swarm outbreaks and excesses of pocket empires. Many warlords feel the great civilisations are impotent uncaring as long as you keep low tech
• There are individuals who have survived thousands of years in cryonics accidents or become synthetics or reconstructed from data by AIs
• Although Sol is gone, many who departed It before the end and operated at Template3 came to aid the mass of humanity as crusaders who came to wage war on threats against humanity. The last of them died fighting Makkara host from another galaxy
• Using most advanced tech attracts trouble from lotechs who want it or worse awaken the advanced remnants of ancient weapon systems 

Frontier Murderhobo Town Streets

So in murder hobo town new people arrive almost daily to start trouble.
Life on the frontier is lawless and brutal.
Every day people throw done tools and travel to the frontier.
Dream of adventuring wealth and fame and a easy life.
Plan on looting the ruins, tombs and dungeons on humanoid holy lands.
Most die, some flee now broken, a few remain.
Maybe those humanoids are fighting for something?

New rivals are scrutinised by criminal factions as new people to exploit.
Other grifters or do gooders might speak to strangers.
Guilds don't like each other but missionaries are a pain stealing possible victims.
Some orphans and drunks offer to be guides for a copper.

As towns grow the beggars get competitive and start own guild or become taken over by crime. New "beggars" are driven away and eventually start Beggerton.

d12 Random nice stranger problems
1 An orphan has lost all family and everything
2 Looking for a lost relative or loved one possibly a hostage or was meant to meet here
3 Just had a narrow escape from an evildoer d4 1=kidnapping 2=stabbing 3=sacrifice 4=cannibal or non-humans
4 Lost a recent travelling companion hoped to meet here
5 Robbed and lost all valuables d4 1=bandits 2=robber knights 3=goblins 4=orcs
6 Vermin infested d4 1=fleas 2=rat bites 5% chance of plague 3=worms 4=skin rash
7 Stalked by a creep d4 1=crimminal 2=pervert 3=serial killer 4=murder hobo thinks they is heaps purdy and wants to buy them or touch them and stares at them
9 Hired a dodgy guide d4 1=urchin works for thieves guild 2=kobold they bought cheaply from a guy 3=beggar wants to attach self to prosperous betters as servant keeps away other possible parasites 4=beggar works for a cult needing sacrifices
10 A criminal gang leader takes an interest in life and tries to corrupt them
11 Faction interested in them
12 Being nice and naive is a front, have a secret accomplice to steal money

d12 Random nasty stranger problems
1 Horrible alcoholic smells and staggers 
2 Needs a fix of drugs and would sell their own mother to get more
3 Mildly blazed and relaxed or serene high of drugs, perspiring
4 Loves to gamble and would sell children to keep gambling
5 Thinks people are snooty or mocking will knife them if they keep doing it
6 Keeps thinking about people they once ate while talking to people
7 Always looking to exploit, scam, lie or achieve the goal with ease and deceit
8 Likes to spy on people for a chance to murder and rob them
9 Reports to a faction, often overly cocky and haughty "don't you know who I am?"
10 Reports in secret to a faction, nosy for information, befriends strangers
11 Member of a horrible cult who occasionally murder and recruit
12 Goes berserk in a fight +2 Attack, damage, fights into negative HP to death anyone they can reach once they become enraged 

d10 Quick Encounter Types
1 Losers - those who came to adventure but got chewed up here
2 Innocents - naive fresh meat like runaways or orphans seeking lost dad 
3 Grifters - looking to recruit, exploit and scam 
4 Dreamers - idealists come here to become rich
5 Missionaries - come to save souls and help the fallen
6 Soapbox - ranters, ravers, spruikers and rabble rousers
7 Criminal - loners, gangs and guilds 
8 Spies - all kinds of outsiders want to know what goes on here
9 Madmen - fugitives and wanted coming here to hide in unwashed masses
10 Murder Hobos - grisly dungeon veterans here to kill or rest between killing

d100 People on frontier murder hobo town streets
1 Former adventurer lost d4 limbs, begging to afford artificial limbs or a cart
2 Scrawny filth covered beggar shows badly bandaged stab wound needs doctorin
3 Addict former wizard apprentice now stoned on wizard weed and lotus sells drugs
4 Former thief lost hands d4 1=guild business 2=trap accident 3=caught stealing 4=captured by monsters 
5 Begger with holy symbol preys all day 1in6 has a pet that also preys by begging bowl 
6 Monk with bowl, stick and robe sits quietly watching except when goes to the forest to train
7 Beggar with a curse d4 1=blind 2=mute 3=flatulant 4=hideous
8 Village idiot hit hard times back home with newer idiot routines
9 Bard with a flute, mostly paid in booze and adventurer trinkets 
10 Wounded man in bloody bandages needs healing so can go back to dungeon
11 Brother and sister here looking for dad as mom recently died and now all alone
12 Happy blind link boy sure adventuring party will return to take care of his pension
13 Young group of street kids from city stole some supplies and now want to rob a dungeon
14 Woman here looking for husband to bring him home to family
15 Group of country bumpkin youths here looking to get that free dungeon gold they heard of 
16 Child looking for parent who left them here when they joining a party in a dungeon yesterday
17 Escaped slave wearing rags to cover tattoos has no idea where they are
18 Wandering tinkerer has come here by accident and warily looking around for work
19 Orphan escaped a wicked abuser and wound up here
20 Several halflings have come out of curiosity but at least a few look interested
21 Man in university scholars robe selling coloured miracle potions just for today
22 Kobold seller offering cheap obedient kobolds who rob purchaser and return to store
23 Selling cheap booze from a barrel with snake heads and worse mixed with strong grog 
24 Woman claims to be widow selling dungeon map and claims "from her dead husband" 
25 Old drunk offers secret ways in the local dungeon only monsters use normally
26 Adventurer leaving town selling cheap cursed magic items before leaving 
27 Thugs try to take a map from a orphan, really she is their boss and uses them to ad credibility to her map selling racket and other scams
28 Madame Zora can tell future with petty divination spells and skills but claims extraordinary magic powers including local betting tips with her brother in pub 
29 Man selling fake fragment of  famous artifact. "Dont know what it is but i reckon 30gp would sort me right". It has a magic sling stone inside to detect as magic 
30 Man offers you a chance to see a naked dryad for 10gp, takes you into woods where dryad charms new mooks for her gang to go and get more guys to charm
31 Runaway farm boy come here to seek adventurers to join brave heroes on a quest
32 Farmer has come here for some easy gold to save farm from debt
33 Mutant has come here to make money to remove their deformity
34 Girl has come here escaping bad arranged marriage to meet her true love
35 Scribe from city thrown away a boring job to meet elves and barbarians as an adventurer
36 Has come to buy monster bodyparts they take to city to sell wizards, it cant fail
37 Tinkerer has come here to start a new store supplying adventurers
38 Plucky young urchin from the city come to get a job serving adventurers
39 Farm youth fled work and wants to kill goblins and orcs 
40 Youth runaway hopes to make money to impress sweetheart of higher class
41 Pilgrim has tourist has come seeking holy souvenirs
42 Preacher warns about gambling and drinking, lectures locals about wasting all the blood spilled for grog is a sin that hell loves
43 Missionary has come to save all the sex workers and the gangs glare angrily at the attractive well-funded preacher
44 Priest investigating to see if church needs a shrine or church here
45 Inquisitor hunting for cults, witches or heretics among the camp
46 Healer has come to help crippled adventurers and find them work
48 Missionary come to raise money for orphans and collect stray children
49 Templar has come seeking a relic, wants to join adventurers
50 Drunken friar wants to kill undead former friends in a dungeon & heal the poor
51 Village idiot arrives and argues with a duck (a shapeshifting druid friend) 
52 Troublemaker preaches against treason to king and law
53 Filthy old bard singing about the murder hobo life with a big crowd
54 Woman complaining adventurers here abandoning wives and children is evil
55 Local tavern owner and gang leader propose town needs a new feature
56 Merchant spruiking new wares d4 1=new weapons & armour 2=latest lamps & climbing gear 3=new sex workers 4=drugs and grog arrival
57 Medicine show selling potions and herbal brews for baldness, libido and VD
58 Puppet show with drunken adventurers having sex with monsters and killing them
59 Bard lampooning local aristocrats and lawmen in front of laughing crowd
60 Bard offering coin for tales of daring and seeling a party to join for inspiration
61 New pick pocket has no idea local crooks will want a cut and membership fees
62 Begger with fake bandages and dungeon treasure maps for sale
63 Shifty looking fellow gasps, staggers and falls dead for breaking a gang code
64 Hulking brute with a dent in the skull and a big knife looking for work
65 Fancy dressed oik looking around town scouting for gang considering moving in and local gangs want this person beaten up
66 Shifty man in black cloak and hat with many knives just want a quiet private room is asking around, wants to hide until gets an assassination contract
67 Bounty hunter with manacles and dogs needs men to help catch bandits robbing drunken murder hobos which is actually a tax evasion scam
68 Lady bard a famous dancer and courtesan for nobles wants her own floorshow in a tavern and local mob overjoyed treating her as a hero, a d4 ex noble lovers soon follow
69 Attractive woman looking for murder hobo husband she can marry and murder for money
70 Desperate stab and grab thief arrived and can't wait to shank someone to get drinking money, skilled at doing in a crowd even will pretend to help a 'sick' victim 
71 A secret policeman from city here to see if city needs to annex this place and check for sedition as rumours of lawlessness get worse
72 Old sergeant of a lord has come to see what criminals and commerce here might need more policing
73 Tax agent here secretly recording who seems to have lots of cash and messages larger towns tax offices with pigeons every few days 
74 Merchant guild agent looking at the local economy to see if guilds need to move in or if non-guild workers are here 
75 Cultist here to recruit and locate lost evil relics sold by adventurers
76 A bandit working for an orc gang here for an alliance of humanoids who want town destroyed
77 Cannibal gang member pretends to be an adventurer and has a cool map of cave of redneck cannibal clan
78 Goblin magician hidden as a human by a spell for a while investigating murder hobo weaknesses and destinations
79 A bhut works in village spying by night is a horrible monster aiding cultists and monsters with adventurer secrets. Gets lots of adventurers drunk and talking
80 A were rat spies on town and investigating drains and other ratty hiding places. Uses rats for information it trades with other monsters and evil beings
81 Crazy man with missing legs begs to be taken in the dungeon for the last fight
82 Crazed widow mad with grief sobs all day looking crazy and tugging hair
83 Muttering drunk complaining always covered in blood when it is mostly just mud and shit
84 Mad surgeon come here makes drinking money on adventurers after lost licence for drinking. Late at night likes to murder drunks on the street and uses corpses for necromancy experiments
85 Mad widow sure adventurer is her long-missing husband has a d4 scared hungry children
86 Mad rich drunk boasts of unlikley adventures imagine they have had
87 Crazy old murder hobo happy to give tips and dungeon locations for beer and pub meals of mostly meat. At least half stories are true
88 Murder hobo with axe in the head wound now walks around naked warning of the burrowers under the street and the eyes in the trees and spies everywhere
89 Mad old woman talks to all the goats about town who seem to whisper back
90 Mad old prospector locates dungeons and sells maps to younger men with notes on main monsters. Love only mule and crossbow he talks too. Sells furs and monster scalps too
91 Murder hobo empties a sack of goblin scalps in the street and cheers, giving away beer from a keg
92 Murder hobo carrying the corpse of a child camp follower to the priest for burial and looks pretty grim
93 Murder hobo with goblin arrows staggers into town with sack of coins and passes out, some locals get out their shanks to finish them off
94 Murder hobo boasting about recent dungeon trip offers to sell map with left over rooms for 25gp 
95 Murder hobo with chained up kobolds offers to sell as untrained slaves as a lot 
96 Murder hobo showing off a dryad head in a sack and magic items her enthralled lovers had
97 Murder hobo drunken berserker with twitching eyes and hands
98 Murder hobo wizard lloking for couriers to get jars of monster organs to the wizards guild in the city before they spoil
99 Murder hobo enetratining urchins with candy, a monster face skin mask and his orc finger necklace. He gives away kobold dollies and monster knucklebones for the kids once a week
100 Murder hobo claims they are best at everything in fact they are high level slumming it and being a jerk. Annoyingly follows parties, kills everything and demands 90% treasure. Young adventurers roll their eyes when he comes near. Actually serves a demon lord messing with adventurers through this jerk. Oddly undead wont target him

Vikings & Cthulhu

With a new Cthulhu Dark Ages book out time to look again at some of the stuff I used for my 3 generational Viking game. To be honest I like historic gaming but it can be a hard sell so Cthulhu brings the bacon and bums on seats in these various campaigns. Vikings were an easy sell in my club too. Not many people really get idea of Dark ages especially if fed on a dnd diet. Im hoping we get some adventures and this gets developed more.

Going through various products I used for Viking campaigns.
Oddly wearing armour, using swords and shields makes a viking more than a match for monsters and when they use Rune spells and high skills they do not feel as lame as most investigators.

In a Vikings game you need plenty of non mythos action too so any Viking adventure content is usable. Viking dreamlands could be the realms connected by Yggdrasil.

Viking Minis available in lots of scales too, i use 1/72 and a nice boat that scale available.

HARN Ivinia the Viking lands - has great weather and sea encounters (not sure of the exact book) the copy of tables in my folder since 80s as harn was very hard to find

TSR 2nd Ed dnd Vikings - ice maps, names, house diagrams some ok bits

Rolemaster Campaign Classics Vikings - lots of good stuff and some adventure ideas - had a character battle a woman to marry her and was a very very long fight inspired by this

GURPS Vikings pretty good and I like the job tables in older GURPS books which they seem to have dropped. Other GURPS books like Russia. Low Tech and Middle Ages handy.

RuneQuest3 Avalon Hill Vikings Box Set is a great core campaign and as it is BRP. Is a great start for a family of poor Vikings going on the first raid and good clan soap opera. I ran everything in here for the core of the first campaign. As time went on the clan settled Iceland. Mongoose Vikings book kind of had tacky art that did not suit the historic topic but had names and a few bits usable. RQ3 used dark ages Europe as the default setting. I added lots of RQ combat features like hit locations for a more complex portrayal of Melee.

BRP Iceland is one of the better RPG books ever. Very dense and content for a long period of play and full of detail. Has rune magic and good notes on viking gods.

The Ravenar Sagas monograph 0348 Chaosium for Call of Cthulhu has lots of good bits that played well. Layouts look like a word processor but at least readable and usable. I got to spread the scenarios out quite well so they were years apart. Spirits & Dreams of the Viking age monograph 0390 is not as good. The layout has lots of issues which affect readability and organisation.  Adventures revolve more around Viking supernaturalism and showcase monsters. Adventures are ok but I didn't use any of this book really.

Castles & Crusades Viking book worth a look. Have not read them all but they are well researched, dense and more modern than what most ppl know about mythology in other volumes of series.

Mythras have a great Byzantium book which could be handy for when your Vikings visit Byzantium. My guys spent a few years there and came back with awesome Varangian armour.

There are probably more and recent books I have not touched. As always osprey books are good for historic arms and armour. The World of the Ancient Slavs published by Orbis is handy. Kids books often good for daily life.  Read Icelandic Sagas. Best fantasy books were ever written and easier going than Tolkien. Elder Eddas especially.

So basically I used RQ3 for skills and magic (spirit and divine). I used mythos magic for cultists and the dark ages folk magic for common non-aligned magic. BRP Iceland religious mechanics on top of this worked well. I used elements of Ringworld RPG for skill groups too. I did have characters become runelord berserks, priests and shaman by the end. My character sheets in links below.

Multiple characters slept with supernatural beings and of course, such children grow faster in the faerie world and will hunt down their fathers wanting revenge. As we played 3 generations some later characters started with better choices of career (most started farmers in the first game). Some were born rich and some with non human blood of troll or elf or giant. I like to keep the human world gritty but the supernatural world of giants and faeries were reachable and pretty horrible. Lots of fog-shrouded seas with monsters too. Islands of deep one cults. Lots of isolated monasteries actually full of cultists too.

Any adventure for regular Cthulhu mentioning Vikings is an opportunity. I used trail of Tsathogua adventures in Greenland which were fantastic. When I ran them again later I put links to the Viking players in with the Viking ruins. As the temple scene in the novel derived from is set in ancient Hyperborea time change was not a big deal. As Brian Lumley (I thing in House of Cthulhu) his Hyperborean like lost world had sailors visit Relyeh I was happy to repeat it with my Viking players mostly straight from shadows of Yog Sothoth. Of course, half party died or went mad. One player jumped into Cthulhus open mouth axe in hand as he Prayed to Odin.

As travel a feature and my Vikings went to Americas, the Lost City of Irem, Egypt, Rome, Byzantium, Russia, Frankland, Germania plus a trip to Jotunhiem (dreamlands? you don't need to ever explain this stuff). Characters had lots of training time to improve skills and attributes. Kept a few poor literate monks as slaves to read books for them. Letting months or years go by was great and I used Pendragon to see if wives and children and horses lived. It is good to have at least one king out to get the party.

In the last section of game Christianity was replacing Viking magic and characters happy to move to Iceland. Different characters developed different links to various lands they visited.

The second game I didn't document as well and 3rd I didn't detail at all but a heap of links here on games and prep.

So Cthulhu has been a great way to have Magic in a historic setting where magic is mostly horrible and hard to get. You might want to consider changing insanity tables and obviously dead bodies won't bother Vikings much.

890 AD Vikings Game
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/prep-for-brp-viking-horror-fantasy-game.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/cthulhu-vikings-growing-up-norse.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/cthulhu-vikings-ragnorak-now.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/viking-log-final-brp-viking-pc-sheet.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/viking-log-wolves-of-fenris.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/viking-saga-cursed-land.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/viking-log-thralls-brides-and-forbidden.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/viking-log-to-iceland-and-jottenhiem.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/vikinglog-evil-orkneys-clan-and.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/vikinglog-kingdom-of-york-and-dreamlands.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/viking-log-sagas-of-tsathogua-and.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/viking-log-from-hyperborean-temple-of.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/viking-log-hrafns-battle-bride-wedding.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/vikinglog.html Byzantium
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/vikinglog-byzantium-to-bagdad.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/viking-log-city-of-irem-to-mecca-to.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/vikinglog-old-gods-hate-us.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/vikinglog-storming-iquathas-castle-in.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/vikinglog-giantland-and-cheating.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/vikinglog-cheating-and-killing-cthulhus.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/viking-interlude-hrafns-own-funeral-plan.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/the-last-vikings-sacking-of-rlyeh.html
Second Campaign featuring kids from first
- was meant to last a few weeks went for a few months
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/vikings2-brpcthulhu.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/vikings-2-campaign-updates.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/vikings2-ends-rome-begins.html

Hacking the Classics A1-4

So nice comments on last few posts and i was asked by Tim Baker about Al Quadim setting stuff after these posts. I quit dnd about 91 and got more into RQ and CoC and TSR Marvel and homebrew SF games. Basically product lines from around then were of less interest to me art and text wise. Plus earlier modules are simple and easy to work with. They have simple plots easily made more complex. Making less complex or more open is difficult. Post Desert of Desolation series and Dragonlance more so things became more linear and overly detailed and over written into the 90s. Brave ideas got watered down. Demons and devils were persecuted for being to evil in a game about fighting evil etc.

i never had or seen Al Quadim stuff much till recently. The day of AlAkbar was a funny module i liked when i was 15 (including cover older friends at uni laughed at) and like Dragonlance books I just went into marvel comics, Morecock, 2000ad. I had seen gurps book and iron crown one on setting but i think at this time i just got into history reading and classics. Probably i was more into bronze age.

I might do desert of desolation and the master of desert nomads series.

Early tsr stuff needed more work to pad them out and were more like board game set ups in some ways. By Hickman era style became big things became highly detailed over written linear adventures and mostly less interesting and harder to work. Simple old dungeons don't need much to improve. Most have encounters, treasure, some simple goals, defence plans. Mostly I like to add lots of factions to meet or find signs of and be able to potentially work with. Rival competitions explorers or cults or greedy wizards are good. Factions that might be helped or used or aid you in a crisis or if captured are good.

i did make a god for my setting that was for my desert nomads in various settings and it was accidentally good...

Slave Lord Series
Slavery is bad and you can fight it and die trying!

These were early purchases long ago for me in 84. And i complected a set in several bundles and POD versions on drive through in 2019.

You could ignore tournament stuff but pregens also good for a lethal short campaign or npc meatshields or sent by factions as rivals.

The series has a good moral evil villain to stop
Know people hurt or taken by slavers enough bait
You are basically commandos, spies and at times infiltrators and assassins
Bad guys are just wealthy and greedy murder hobos
Spin it like James bond but with wizards and monsters but they take up spaceYour outcome could effect slavery world wide and effect many factions
Run it as a 1400-1600 European adventure, full of swashbuckling and some guns

d12 Patrons
1 Guild slavery banned from guild influenced lands
2 Noble family wants lost kin returned
3 Merchant clan wants slavery banned as devalues goods
4 A good church order funds and aids expedition to rescue pilgrim
5 Tribes folk want slavers to leave them alone pay in pearls
6 Criminal guild linked to rival slaver org put out of business
7 A foreign empire wants to know slavers secrets and possible risks
8 Slavers of the Forbidden City serpent folk have been short of human sacrifices
9 Drow clan short on slaves and tired of humans slaves thinking they own own slaves
10 Several religions of good has sent priests to recruit adventurers to eliminate slavers
11 Evil church want to get piece of the action, find out secrets and attempt to join them
12 Terrible lords of the under ground black lotus kindom dislike slavers raiding their drug addled labourers from surface plantationsMost want information, some hope for business leverage. Scarlet legion or Drow are involved in slavers but you could have them send stooges to test factions or test weaknesses. Have patrons help sailing you to anywhere needed and travel costs.

d12 Why I hate Slave Lords
1 Captured family members and took them away
2 Someone you know spoke against them and was stabbed
3 Town you came from was burned down by slaver raiders
4 Country that opposed them became strife with civil war and assassins and evil cults
5 Secretive agents of some brotherhood killed your family for opposing slavers
6 Churches opposed to slavery have been attacked and donations given to pro slavery faiths
7 They use bribery and corruption to change laws to be pro slavery
8 Common folk in clan driven off land by slave labourers and moved to city slums
9 Born into slavery and adopted into owners family, remember real family and slavers
10 Enslaved but escaped or left for dead
11 Saw a country opposed to raiding slavers destroyed and over run with humanoids
12 Noble sold own serfs from slavers and replaced them with thrall goblins

Also scarlet brotherhood might hire someone test the security and purge the weakest links in slavers and send party pretending to be a faction. End of A3 could include party employers informed slavers you were coming.

Extra factions, patrons and thinking about slaver's heroes influences
Monster types are a good guide for factions within a dungeon
Bosses have other motivations and interests outside slavers

A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity
-Slavers have yellow sails
-Despoiled city of Highport in Wastes of Parmarj
-Awesome ruins needs more work and some demon cults
-Overrun by humanoids hell yeah! Why are I not there now?
-Old invisible thief slaver boss trick and a witch doctor
-Sewers with crocs!Id name more bad guys and extend ruins. Have to find the temple for a while before entering would be ok. Perhaps question prisoner or escaped slave. Have some maps and handouts for the bosses to have at end - scribe and the thief.

d12 Ruin Encounters by Day
1 Pteradactyl d4
2 Harpies d4
3 Baslisks d2
4 Orc scouts x12
5 Aspis scouts
6 Doppelgangers 2d4
7 Dimetradons d4
8 Cannibal tribal hunters 3d4
9 Sundew
10 Carrion crawler d2
11 Slavers 3d4 moving prisoners 2d4 with 2d4 guards and foreman with whip
12 Slaver comanders d3 with 12 orc squad with a sarge and a d4 ogres

d12 Ruin Encounters by Night
1 Leopard stalking victim
2 Ghouls 2d4
3 Zombies 3d4
4 Orc scouts 12
5 Orc infantry 12
6 Orcs off duty drunk 3d4
7 Orc priest and d12 cultists
8 Stirges d10
9 Wight
10 Shadows 2d4
11 Ogres d4
12 TrollCool boss guys (need names and more info)
Orc Chief of orc tribe might like names for both
Orc Witchdoctor
Nameless thief runs base for slave lords

A2 Secrets of the Slavers Stockade
-Lost old castle of Drachensgrab is a slaver trade route base
-Processing and fattening of slaves (rendered puffin lard?)
-Several slave lord bosses to kill
-A-team style raid on prison

Monsters are mostly nocturnal but keep to human time mostly and by night let some monsters in fort loose or up from basement. If alarms ring use day table indoors and night for uncovered areas.

d12 Fort Day Encounters
1 Hobgoblin squad
2 Vipers d3
3 War Dogs 2d4
4 Bugbears x2
5 Gnolls 2d6
6 Escaped Slave x1
7 Slavers 2d6 with slaves 2d4
8 Slaver patrol with trader
9 Orc drunks d4 punishing slave 
10 Orc matrons doing chores 2d6
11 Goblin riding warg
12 Giant Rats 4d6

d12 Night Encounters
1 Hobgoblin squad
2 Hobgoblin shaman & 2d4 hobgoblins
3 Cave lizard
4 Carnivorous Apes d3
5 Cave Spider d2
6 Escaped Slave x1
7 Cave Beetle
8 Spectral minion d8 HD in one or multiple peaple
9 Cloaker
10 Squad of orcs
11 Boggle wandering about like an idiot
12 Giant Rats 4d6

Cool boss guys
Markessa beautiful elf boss here for cash, power and chance to make vivisection monsters
Blackthorn ogre magi in human form second in command
Fyndax Alchemist assists Markessa's experiments
Kyvin Trist evil scribe (he talks in libraries and eats in bed reading books?)

A3 The Aerie of the Slave Lords
-Infamous for killing the party as plot device-Crazy caves of Drachensgrab made to look like has choice but not really much-Secret trip to Suderham and it's council of slavelord leaders
-Hidden City of Suderham urban adventure
-Bad guys just greedy crooked adventurer party not supernatural evil plots
-Catacombs with with warned enemies waiting intent on killing party, ask questions later

Its pretty narrative linear adventure with limited agency beyond surviving a ambush. Id try to not end of the cliffhanger of everyone beaten and murdered. My players beat the ambush anyway but were worried. The Drow could or priest might have a demon ally they use under duress at risk of their souls.

Cool boss guys
Feetia 10 fighter - buccaneer runs slavers fleet or raiders and transporting
Nerilas 11th level assassin leads a assassin order protecting slave lord interests
Mordrammo 9th Level cleric of the earth dragon
Ajakstu 9yh level wizard fears awesome staff near depleted, uses crystal ball to spy on party
Brother Millerjai 9th level monk of scarlet brotherhood involved in this part of evil scheme

A4 In the Dungron of the Slavelords
-Volcano erupts in the slavelords secret island capitol!
-Another party of greedy murderhobo billionaires to kill
-Players resurrected interrogated tortured then escape prison naked!
-Escape dungeon then volcano and kill the slavelords
-Possibly make friends with mushroom folk, they might know volcano coming
-I think a explanation for volcano might help not just dumb luck (dragons? Gods?)
-Maybe gods started volcano to bust you out of prison

Good dramatic idea of killing and put in a dungeon but most gamers would be upset. Perhaps some patrons might request dead slave lords bodies so they can raise dead or speak with dead. Might give players idea idea slavers will do this or do a cut away to some god in the land of the dead sending them home.

Cool boss guys
Stalman Klim evil high priest Probably WeeJas or of some evil god involvedTheg Narlot half orc fighter assasin runs assassins and orc hordes used by slavers
Edraive drow fghter/cleric, so drow again! those bastards!
Lemonster the Illusionist greedy hedonist
Brother Kerin of the scarlet brotherhood
Slippery Ketta the thief runs infiltration and thieves guilds across world