The Other OSR: The Lair of the Vampire King

At the heart of the land stands a fortress of reinforced iron, encircled by a broken stone wall. Set in the wall of the fortress are two things. A window with a beautiful flower in a vase and an eye of crystal and bronze. Should anyone approach the fortress, the great Arm and Hand stretches up out of a hatch in the roof of the fortress and reaches into the cage that stands beside the fortress. From this cage it pulls out a monster and propels it at the wayward intruders. Not that there are any intruders, for the fortress is home to Vaevalz, the self-proclaimed Vampire King. For centuries, Vaevalz has warred against the monsters of the land lest they proclaim rule over the humans that once lived in the land. Now they are long gone, dead or driven out by the war and all that is left is a forlorn land of monsters and a self-styled Vampire King! No monster can enter his lair, but what about men? Could they find a way past its magical barrier and put an end to the unlife that plagued the region for centuries?

This is the set-up for The Lair of the Vampire King. This is mini-adventure for use with Mörk Borg, the Swedish pre-apocalypse Old School Renaissance style roleplaying game designed by Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell and published by Free League Publishing. It consists of four locations outside of the fortress and three inside. Apart from the thrown monsters, who are unsurprisingly irked at having been thrown at the Player Characters, the locations outside are surprisingly benign. Those inside, however, are nasty and deadly. The rooms inside the Fortress are sparsely furnished, but highly detailed, two of them having larva traps that spray deadly gouts of hot liquid rock! There is also a trap that cannot be escaped unless the Player Characters explore the adventure fully. Then, of course, there is Vaevalz, the Vampire King, all head, arms, and legs and ambitious spite. He is a very tough monster with a lot of Hit Points and an attack that can reduce a defender’s Hit Points to one and another that unleashes a hailstorm of lava and blood, damaging everyone in the room. There is the possibility of talking to him, but the Player Characters would have to be very obsequious…

There are some nice touches to the adventure. Notably, the interaction with the monsters. None of them are inimical towards the Player Characters, except when thrown, of course. Some of them are actually friendly—including those in the cage outside the fortress. So the Game Master can have some fun roleplaying them!

So, The Lair of the Vampire King? Just another nasty, dirty, deadly adventure for Mörk Borg? Well, yes and no. What makes The Lair of the Vampire King different is the fact that it actually based on the drawings and ideas of Assar Nohr, the five-year-old son of Johan Nohr, the co-creator of Mörk Borg. These have been made gameable by Assar’s dad and turned in The Lair of the Vampire King. The original drawings themselves have been included in The Lair of the Vampire King and it is clear that the original ideas and visualisation of the dungeon remains intact in being adapted to Mörk Borg.

Physically, The Lair of the Vampire King is well presented. The artwork is scratchy and gloomy and overall, the adventure avoids the Artpunk style traditional to Mörk Borg.

The Lair of the Vampire King is entertaining and inventive and ridiculous all at the same time. It is also incredibly deadly, but that should not be held against the adventure itself. After all, what five-year-old cares about game balance? so, Assar can we have another adventure, now that you six?