Wow, here's a bit of an oldie. In fact, i think this may have been my second paid art commission. People of the Pit was one of the first adventures to be published under the OSRIC rule system, a clone of 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Back then, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) had recently acquired TSR and released 3rd Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. There were a lot of mixed feelings. 3e had introduced many new system, and the underlying d20 engine powered a lot of new games. It was a heady time, with lots and lots of new gaming material being produced due to perhaps the biggest innovation, the Open Gaming License or OGL that allowed anyone and everyone to release new gaming content. It also inspired folks to push the boundaries of what the intent of the OGL was - which was to have multiple parties producing content for D&D and driving sales of the core D&D books. Some folks wanted more, or actually less, and clamored for a return of the lighter game rules of previous editions of D&D. A group of like-minded folks from around the world clustered at various forums dedicated to older rules, with the Knights and Knaves Alehouse forums being a crucible for what would become OSRIC, a clone of 1e AD&D made possible by the OGL.
Brave Halfling publishing was one of the first companies to produce adventures under the OSRIC banner. They only released two, written by Alphonso Warden and with art by me. They would move on to other gaming systems, most notably Labyrinth Lord- a clone of basic/expert D&D. I sure had a lot of fun doing those adventures. Hard to believe it has been 20+ years now since i got my start on illustrating games. Here is the promo text for the adventure:
"The People of the Pit" is an excited adventure module for 4-6 player characters of levels 5-7 and has been designed for OSRIC(TM), but is easily compatible with the Advance Edition rpgs. The module was written by Alphonso Warden and features art by John Bignham.
Susurrus Profundi
Several millennia back, the peoples of the mighty Kingdom of Merritt entered into all-out war with their long-time nemesis, the People of the Pit, a nefarious race of slug-like creatures hailing from a vast subterranean city lying on their northern border. Though the battle was hard fought, with both sides initially incurring heavy losses, the Merrittians in due course gained the upper hand, almost wholly exterminating their foe. Even the very god of the People of Pit was banished to the lower planes by a cabal of Merrittian magic-users and clerics, or so they thought. Recently, the evil within the city of the People of the Pit has surged yet again, and it is up to you to see that it doesn't spill out into the surrounding lands.
"People of the Pit" was designed to be run with a minimum of preparation, and can be integrated into the Game Master's home campaign with little effort. Even though the adventure is designed for 4-6 players of levels 5-7, it can easily be modified to suit lower and higher level parties with the NPC tables in the appendix. It contains 41 pages of text, 12 pieces of original art, 4 new monsters and 5 pages of maps.
