HYPERBOREA / Why I Think Hyperborea's Adventures are Peak in the OSR

**Posted by Spider of Leng** 7/19/2026 11:23 am

Just an observation after having been away from Hyperborea for a few years. So I skipped the most recent adventures, but we had played everything up through Sea-Wolf's Daughter until the campaign ended with a near TPK (one PC survived only to later sacrifice himself in Tegel Manor). I recently grabbed Vanishing Isles of the Summer King, Thousand Eyes of Thaumagorga, and Oblation Slab of the Hepatomancer and I'm thoroughly enjoying my read-throughs. Good adventures, tied to the setting, but offering a fair amount of choice and DM freedom. Excellent presentation and artwork. Not too minimalist like OSE, but not too verbose, like DCC. Quite dangerous but survivable. And a free bookmark with every title ain't too shabby either.

On a related note, my homebrew mashup of Swords & Wizardry, Hyperborea, and Adventures Dark & Deep is coming together nicely. I'm updating my gazetteer now, changing a few things and cleaning up inconsistencies from earlier versions. Also actually typing it this time rather than writing it out by hand, so I can more easily make changes in the future. The fact that I had Glynn Seal do my maps is sweet too, since Hyperborea is bolted on as my North Pole.

**Posted by rhialto** 7/20/2026 5:11 am

Wow, do have a sample map of your setting? I also use Hyperborea as my North Pole, with the rest of the setting being antediluvian Earth (which, given the scant real-world remnants of, I have free rein).
And I'm very nearly done with my Hyperborea-S&W-Chainmail home-brew rules: I've used Lulu before for my table-copies, and it works out nicely.

**Posted by Spider of Leng** 7/20/2026 4:04 pm

The maps don't include Hyperborea, but I can send them to you via dropbox as they're too big for a regular attachment. Just PM me with a preferred email.

**Posted by Spider of Leng** 7/20/2026 4:06 pm

Oh and I did forget to mention one thing I don't like about the more recent adventures, which is that the monster stats are all at the end. I prefer them in the main text. Still better than just referring you to the core book, but a pet peeve nonetheless.