Druvas wrote:

I must say, I'm turning into a AS&SH/Hyperborea fan-boi, lol.  The setting just really gets my creative writing juices going.  What's your favorite region of Hyperborea? Which parts speak to you the most?  I'm sure there's multiple answers here but I'm focusing on Sharath at the moment.  I am intrigued by the potential for other-worldly weirdness there.

Here you have a region that, when I came up with, I was very much inspired by The Abominations of Yondo by Clark Ashton Smith. 
 

Ghul wrote:

Druvas wrote:

I must say, I'm turning into a AS&SH/Hyperborea fan-boi, lol.  The setting just really gets my creative writing juices going.  What's your favorite region of Hyperborea? Which parts speak to you the most?  I'm sure there's multiple answers here but I'm focusing on Sharath at the moment.  I am intrigued by the potential for other-worldly weirdness there.

Here you have a region that, when I came up with, I was very much inspired by The Abominations of Yondo by Clark Ashton Smith. 
 

Yondo was the first story I used for some Hyperborea inspirtation. 

I don't have a single area I could say was my favorite. For me it is the idea of Hyperborea. AS&SH set my imagination going, really unlocked a door to all this wonderful writing I had barely ever touched on in gaming. REH, Vance, Wagner,Leiber and Gygax himself always heavily influenced my gaming imagination and my fiction, but I'd never thought to take CAS and Lovecraft and all the Weird Tales type of stories and use them for a setting. In my campaign I'm throwing in tons of history as well. but it all fits, it becomes the lost WWI submarine finding itself fighting cavemen and dinosaurs, or the polar expedition discovering vast and disturbing otherworldly cities, or an ancient city that has endless streets and passages that take you to different times and dimensions, or a demon protected valley where his lamia paramour lies in wait for unsuspecting adventurers... There are boundless possibilities and boundless areas (that keep cropping up) for adventure and discovery.

Well, I'm probably a little biased here for a few reasons, but I have to say that the Nod's Chain and Lake Nova regions are my favorite. I really enjoy swamp terrain and water (or ice) elements in my dungeons, so that area complements my natural creative inclinations. Plus, I also like throwing in a little bit of super science and otherworldly elements, so the rumor of a crashed saucer-shaped sky ship in that area is perfect.

Ghul wrote:

Nod’s Chain: From the hoary heights of the Spiral Mountain Array, to the glaciated foothills below, Nod’s Chain is a winding waterway, each bend likened to the links of a chain. From Deluge (Year 5) to Drought (Year 8) of the 13-year cycle, the river flows freely, feeding Lake Nova, from which massive trout (up to 200 lbs.) migrate to spawn. During the intervening years, the surface of Nod’s Chain remains frozen. Kimmerian hunters and trappers sometimes prowl the frozen hills through which Nod’s Chain runs, but eerie lights, uncanny footprints, windborne whispers, and weird piping are cause for even the doughtiest barbarians to avoid the cold banks of Nod’s Chain.

Lake Nova: The surface of this bountiful lake thaws from Deluge (Year 5) to Drought (Year 8), though is frozen throughout the remaining years. Lake Nova is fed by Nod’s Chain and drains into Brigand’s Bay of the Hyperborean Sea. The lake supports several boggy, wooded islands. Lake Nova is rich with enormous lake trout and catfish, but attempts to ply its waters typically result in disaster, for the lake is inhabited by a colony of aquatic hydras of extremely aggressive temperament.A legend regarding Lake Nova dates back to the centuries-long Dark Age that followed the Green Death. It speaks of a saucer-shaped sky ship that burned down from the firmament and here crashed. A group of intrepid adventurers from Khromarium is rumoured recently to have located the crash site on one of the islands. It is told they unearthed terrible weapons that unleash death rays of fire.

The shores of the Black River Yleil in the Black Waste. I get all kinds of creepily good ideas from the following entry...

Ghul wrote:

Black River Yleil: The ancient Hyperborean King Yleil is said to roam the banks of the river, a lich of uncertain power, yet ever lost in the bottomless depths of his own black thoughts; notwithstanding, he has galvanized other restless beings: ghasts, ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, zombies, and other liches, all of whom await King Yleil's bidding. Soothsayers presage a time when King Yleil will emerge from his preoccupations to gather his undead horde and lay waste to mankind.

On the other hand, a dungeon crawl in the ruins of the old city buried under the basalt of Alus Mercury sounds like fun. And then there is always the idea of random, episodic adventures out of the City-State of Khromarium (ala Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser).
 

I'm sure I'll have a different one tomorrow (which reflects how rich this setting is) but the City State of Kor (spelling?) ruled by the ape men has-to me anyways-a distinct Beneath the Planet of the Apes feel. A still functioning supercomputer has gifted the apes with knowledge but as its fail safe device is a nuke. Maybe a bard in a lotus dream could have visions of it and once he and his/her group "liberates it" use it to free Kthulu from his frozen abyss in the Esquimax lands; or destroy the monolith at Sharath and usher in howling daemons from the abyss. This setting is the best!  

Pandelume wrote:

My campaign, which I've started to call "Tales of Old Earth," had my players (bunch of ex-Roman legionaires and mercenaries from Gaul) transported to Hyperborea via a portal they found in the Lost City of Irem. They arrived on the Savage Boreal Coast and are currently being hunted by half-blood Picts. They have no idea where they are, the large blood-red Sun being the only clue that something is not quite right... it's been a hoot!

That's great. Mirrors the way I introduced Hyperborea in some eerily similar ways. Long story short: My players were Gaels from the Southern Hebrides, pursuing a band of Picts into the wilds of Caledonia. Eventually their pursuit led them to a ring of standing stones, a well (poorly?) timed lunar eclipse, a portal, a scene straight out of Evil Dead 2, and everyone waking to a lurid red dawn. I was even able to hide the fact that I'd transported them to Hyperborea for a few sessions because we were still using S&W as our ruleset and hadn't introduced AS&SH to anyone yet. It was awesome hearing them speculate about where/when they had been sent.

As for my favorite part of the setting, that's awfully tough for me to say. In play, everything has mostly revolved around New Pictland and eventually Khromarium. But just for sheer inspiration, the description of the Spiral Mountain Array and Mt. Vhuurmithadon makes my mind reel and sets my imagination on fire.

Last edited by NAJones (4/06/2014 1:26 pm)

Ghul wrote:

Well, all I can say, Jason, is that it works in the reverse, too. Your creative posts help inspire aspects of my own home campaign.

Thanks Jeff. You have opened up a world of boundless possibilities I had never before imagined.
 

NAJones wrote:

Pandelume wrote:

My campaign, which I've started to call "Tales of Old Earth," had my players (bunch of ex-Roman legionaires and mercenaries from Gaul) transported to Hyperborea via a portal they found in the Lost City of Irem. They arrived on the Savage Boreal Coast and are currently being hunted by half-blood Picts. They have no idea where they are, the large blood-red Sun being the only clue that something is not quite right... it's been a hoot!

That's great. Mirrors the way I introduced Hyperborea in some eerily similar ways. Long story short: My players were Gaels from the Southern Hebrides, pursuing a band of Picts into the wilds of Caledonia. Eventually their pursuit led them to a ring of standing stones, a well (poorly?) timed lunar eclipse, a portal, a scene straight out of Evil Dead 2, and everyone waking to a lurid red dawn. I was even able to hide the fact that I'd transported them to Hyperborea for a few sessions because we were still using S&W as our ruleset and hadn't introduced AS&SH to anyone yet. It was awesome hearing them speculate about where/when they had been sent.

As for my favorite part of the setting, that's awfully tough for me to say. In play, everything has mostly revolved around New Pictland and eventually Khromarium. But just for sheer inspiration, the description of the Spiral Mountain Array and Mt. Vhuurmithadon makes my mind reel and sets my imagination on fire.

That is awesome! There are so many possibilities when using Iron Age Britain and other areas during that span. The horror elements it sounds like you are incorporating are really, really cool (my players love to be scared).
I have to say, seeing fellow gamers that love to use "real" history, cultures and legend and merge it with weird fantasy is inspiring to me and in many ways true to what I think (I'm still getting caught up reading) REH, CAS and HPL did. I'm sure Jeff T. knew he was doing this, but by incorporating ancient Earth cultures with his setting in a logical way he provided a milieu for the type "cross-over" historical fantasy gaming I've been starving for. And little touches to the rules (I know system doesn't really matter, but it helps), like including the "cataphract" class, no non-humans, etc. got me hooked immediately. Before AS&SH came out, I was using Paul Elliot's Zenobia (free download, BTW) as my "historical fantasy" setting, modified a little bit and using a hybrid OD&D/AD&D rule set in my return to roleplaying. It was what got me going down this path after a 9-year Greyhawk campaign years ago, and AS&SH tied it all together (setting and rules-wise), while dripping with atmoshpere and inspiration. That said, we're just being to explore Hyperborea, and my only problem right now is being patient as I peel back the onion and reveal more the awesome setting...

Pandelume wrote:

JasonZavoda wrote:

Pandelume wrote:

My campaign, which I've started to call "Tales of Old Earth," had my players (bunch of ex-Roman legionaires and mercenaries from Gaul) transported to Hyperborea via a portal they found in the Lost City of Irem. They arrived on the Savage Boreal Coast and are currently being hunted by half-blood Picts. They have no idea where they are, the large blood-red Sun being the only clue that something is not quite right... it's been a hoot!

That's fantastic. At one point I plan on having a troop trasnport with a bunch 101st airborne paratroopers end up landing in Hyperborea (But I'm also thinking of using the expedition from Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness find themselves near Leng and later a WWI German sub find themselves coming into the harbor of my hellenic city Ptolemides.

Jason - your posts here and on Google+ are truly inspiring. I've started a notebook with many of your ideas and can't wait to integrate them into my campaign. Also, your "Appendix Z" blogposts are informing my reading list once I finish with the Big 3.

Thanks very much! Have to get back to those Appendix Z posts once I get some daily life things back under control.