Can you suggest me some BFRPG adventures that would work well in a Swords & Sorcery themed campaign? I'm running Primeval Thule https://simonsprimevalthule.blogspot.com/ - it's a great setting with a 'Conan Fights Cthulu' ethos, but a little short of adventures. I think Monkey Isle might work well - apes are always good. Any others?
Welcome to the forum.
You'll likely find something that'll work in AA1 or AA2 (on the Downloads page). But as I won't pretend to be an expert on S&S vs. "more standard fantasy", what do you look for and/or prefer in a S&S-themed adventure? Perhaps I'll need to whip something up for AA3...
S&S tropes - apes, snakes, evil wizards, rather than goblins, trolls and ringwraiths (or dragons). S&S princesses are more well-endowed than waifish/ethereal. Conan the Barbarian, not Lord of the Rings.
As Chi said many adventures in AA1 and AA2 can be used. The Vault of Thaire is explicitly S&S and one of my favorites. Death Crypt of Khaldun can easily be done with a little modification, and Island in the River is sort of whatever you want to make it from the beginning, all from AA1.
I'm not as familiar with AA2, but since undead, necromancers, and human sacrifce are core to the S&S genre, Tomb of the Mummy Priest might be good one. On that note, most modules based around tombs would be worth taking a look at.
Something else to consider about S&S is that the heroes usually end up doing the right thing, but it's almost always for selfish reasons (usually money), so many of the scenarios can become S&S by changing the hook slightly, and palette swapping any undesired monstrous humanoids for some other kind of proto-human.
Other common tropes for modifying (and to help those unfamiliar get a better grasp):
Magic is Evil
Eldritch Abominations
Deadly Poison (Lots)
Deadly Deserts/Jungles/Swamps
Ancient/Dark Secrets/Powers
Black and Gray Morality
If the gods care at all, then they probably want you dead
Good is not Nice
Some of the themes also overlap with:
Greek/Roman Myth (Monsters/Magic/Women in general and Atlantis in particular)
[check out Mazes and Minotaurs for inspiration]
1,001 nights (atmosphere, architecture, and setting details)
Beowulf (including dragons to a limited extent, but more likely called serpent or wyrm)
Gothic Horror (More tone/having a bad dude do weird things, and not so much Victorian England)
Cosmic Horror (Also monsters here because Lovecraft was friends with Howard, and tone because it's a successor to Gothic Horror)
Last edited by Clever_Munkey on Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Clever_Munkey wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:19 pm
As Chi said many adventures in AA1 and AA2 can be used. The Vault of Thaire is explicitly S&S and one of my favorites. Death Crypt of Khaldun can easily be done with a little modification, and Island in the River is sort of whatever you want to make it from the beginning, all from AA1.
That's great thanks! I just cracked open my copy of AA1 and the Vault & Death Crypt definitely look like what I'm searching for!
That's a great tropes list too!
I think what I'll do is adapt the suitable AA1 and AA2 adventures to run at a higher level, plus I think with Monkey Isle it'll probably work best to place the sites/adventures around the Thule wilderness map, rather than use the whole thing - for one thing I ran a Monkey Isle BECM campaign with my son years ago - it was his first D&D, aged 6! - he's a player in my current Thule game and I bet he still remembers it.
Any others?
