About the book:
On the arctic frontier, at the border between the mountains and the wastes beyond, looms Castle Thar-Gannon. For centuries, the Skull God ruled his domain from his blackened throne. But twenty years have passed since the routing of his armies, and the castle lies abandoned with riches unclaimed. Yet, death still lurks in the shadows of the ruins. An ancient doom arises from the depths of this place…
Gods of the Forbidden North is a massive, three-volume mega-adventure series written for the Old-School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy tabletop role-playing game by Necrotic Gnome. It details a campaign setting, a wilderness hex-crawl, a sprawling underworld connecting to multiple entrances on the surface, and most importantly, an enormous megadungeon.
- Volume 1: The first book covers the arctic frontier’s settlements, cultures, religions, and its vast wilderness regions. It includes an urban starter quest and five low-level dungeons.
- Volume 2: The second book details the underworld below the continent’s surface and six mid-level dungeons.
- Volume 3: The third book explores Castle Thar-Gannon, its upper halls, mysterious towers, and underground levels. It also includes the Cyclopean City deep under the earth, which leads to the entire adventure’s climax: the Tesseract of Time.
The first volume is designed for a heroic party of seven adventurers to begin at 1st level and reach a minimum of 5th level by the book’s conclusion, although most parties will hit 7th-8th level if all wilderness encounters are exhausted. Though the mega-adventure was originally designed as a sandbox, it also supports episodic “adventure path” playstyles, as well.
This trilogy is the only mega-adventure product on the market designed specifically for the Old-School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy ruleset out-of-the-box as written.
Adventure Summary
In “Morkaal’s Tomb,” the heroes finally locate and enter the infamous dungeon. Overcoming devious traps and powerful monsters, the party breaches the inner vault and discovers that the legendary Morkaal no longer sleeps within his sarcophagus, as they claim his ancient treasures.
As the party returns from their expedition to the tomb, a new enemy sends the Slavers of Shuun to attack the heroes in retribution for past actions. This leads the party to the “Bog-Ruins of Fort Ikenvar,” where the slavers are encamped. Defeating the brutal foreigners, the heroes learn that the Shuun feared something stalking the fort’s eastern island—and, if explored, the party faces a monstrosity from another reality: the Guzzler. They also behold the green, glowing, Inilgaan idol of a primeval entity that slumbers at the very edge of the cosmos.
Obtaining the Shuun’s notes about the region, the party gains several leads to other adventure sites, which they might tackle in any order as they please—the “Barrow of Eight,” an undead burial site of a cursed warrior king; the “Lost Temple of Ninchaga,” a ruined temple of the primitive Emeqist religion; and the “Watcher on the Water,” Vartoriak, a high, mysterious tower on misty Lake Helvarragh, wherein a deranged cult seeks entry into the tower’s impenetrable peak.
Throughout the entire wilderness, the heroes encounter dozens of potential quests and minor story arcs planted therein which may serve as exciting distractions from the module’s core storyline: getting hired by the evil Mazos the Kindly One to fetch items and explore nearby ruins; chasing open bounties on outlaws, gangs, and pirates; getting involved with (or opposing) the growing secret Enoruuk resistance; infiltrating the Fellowship of the Smiling Cloth in Valkengard; wiping out the Cult of the Magoth in their hidden Brass Temple; retrieving the two halves of a magic bone-sword and seeking a way to destroy it; resurrecting Sularuq the lost Tempest Bird; destroying the skeletal dragon, Brakkakhan, and the eight roving demons of the North—the Tarngrak.
