Amazing Adventures is a d20 game of modern adventure. Amazing Adventures uses familiar old school rules but keeps the roll high vision of later editions. This month continues building a 1930s world of player characters armed with guns and fist facing off against vampires. In Transylvania. To claim the Necronomicon.
The Books
The adventure Halls of the Blood King for Old-School Essentials is the main location in this adventure. It is a castle full of vampires that appears and disappears across time. Leagues of Gothic Horror: Guide to Mordavia provides additional encounter ideas as well for the travel to the castle. The Romani people encounter on page 34 would be an interesting event for PCs to have before hunting vampires.
The King and the Iron Guard
Carol II was accused of lack of duty due to his desertion from the army during World War I. Another controversy was his marriage which resulted in two attempts by Carol to give up the rights of succession to the royal crown of Romania, both of which were refused by his father, King Ferdinand. In the political crisis created by the deaths of Ferdinand I, Carol was allowed to return to Romania in 1930, and his name was restored by the royal house of Romania, dethroning his own son. The beginning of Carol’s reign was marked by the negative economic effects of the Great Depression. Carol II weakened the parliament of Romania, often appointing minority factions of historical parties to the government and attempting to form nationally concentrated.
On February 10, 1938 King Carol II of Romania dissolved the government and initiated a royal dictatorship in Romania. King Carol II strongly opposed the Iron Guard’s political aims.
The Iron Guard was a mystical organization whose beliefs may not completely align with the PCs but whose help could be invaluable in tracking down vampires. The Iron Guard is not popular with Romania’s current government, but they can get the PCs to the Halls. Corneliu Codreanu, their leader, can aid the PCs if they meet him in Sinaia, south of Brasov.
Transylvania Travel
Romania in the 1930s is full of intrigue and infighting and Transylvania is a great location for a bloodsucker lair. Tensions are running high between the Iron Guard and the royal government.
PCs can enter the country either by plane or by boat. An overland trip will be required from either entry point to get to the Halls of the Blood King. Travel by rail or car is an option depending on speed needed and risks. A rail car will require official or forged papers but once onboard the PCs will undergo much less scrutiny. Travel by car will invite many more possible stops by police and military although canny PCs may avoid patrols all together.
If the PCs travel with the Iron Guard, they will bypass the need for proper papers and will not have to worry about getting lost. But any encounter with police or the military will be much more likely to turn bloody.
Vampire Blood King
The Halls of the Blood King disappear from Earth and only returns to Transylvania on certain days like Samhain. It will also return on the day of Saint Patrick’s death, March 17, 1938.
Vampires are detailed in the Manual of Monsters. No real surprises. The book includes a blood king entry. Options other than level drain would easily port over:
Energy Drain is replaced with d6 roll:
| 1 | Reduces the victim’s maximum hit points by 2. |
| 2 – 3 | Drains 1 CON which returns with normal rest. |
| 4 – 6 | Applies a cumulative -1 penalty to the victim’s attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Penalties are removed after a night’s sleep. |
Blood Spiders and Their Queen
The Halls of the Blood King are haunted not just by vampires, but also by blood spiders and their queen. The blood spiders are medium spiders and the queen is a large spider. While the adventure includes a fungus monster as another encounter, combining that monster with the spider queen opens up the option for an uneasy alliance between PCs and the spiders.
This enemy of my enemy could ally with the PCs against the undead. What happens to the alliance if the PCs and the spiders win will be another challenge the PCs face. And, of course, to stay in constant communication with the spider queen requires one PC accept being poisoned with her venom.
Poison: A willing subject who takes a small amount of blood spider venom into their system can gain certain powers, and they can communicate with the blood spider queen who can sense what is going on wherever her children spin webs. The first injection inflicts 1d4 points of damage to Wisdom as the subject’s senses are scrambled.
Gifts: The blood spider queen offers gifts to her champion. Each gift inflicts 1d4 points of damage to a random ability score. The damage lasts for one hour, and the gift lasts for 24 hours. If PC ever falls below 0 hit points or has an ability score drop to 0 while using a gift, the champion becomes enthralled to the blood spider queen (she won’t disclose this fact as part of the bargain).
- Spider climb: Walk up walls and on ceilings with normal speed. Move in webs at double normal speed.
- Generate webs: Creatures caught in webs become entangled and immobilized. Breaking free depends on Strength: 2d4 turns for Strength in the normal human range, 4 rounds for Strength above 18, 2 rounds for creatures with giant Strength. The webs are destroyed by fire in two rounds. All creatures in a flaming web suffer 1d6 damage.
- Drain blood: On a natural 20 melee attack roll, heal an equal amount of damage inflicted.
Necronomicon
The Necronomicon can be used for reference, especially in regards to the Red God (Shadows of the Red God). It can also generate a protective aura. Cost: a group of at least four willing participants must accept a curse (if they go to -6 HP or lower they auto die and rise as a vampire). Benefits:
- Roll all HD plus Con per level. If greater than current hit point total, keep new total. (This benefit may restore hit points lost to vampire attacks)
- In conjunction with a powerful artifact cast to put aura on the Earth itself: keeps Red God out. Have to travel to one of his temples to activate. Spell gives general direction of the temple. (This spell opens up two adventures: one to seek the artifact and the other to travel to temple of the Red God to activate the spell).
Next Steps
Amazing Adventures supports pulp horror well. An adventure combining vampires and the Necronomicon will add horror and depth to the campaign world. The addition of devil’s bargains like the spider venom and gifts and the protective aura from the Necronomicon will add to the ongoing terror.
Picture credit: Pixabay
