Simulation vs abstraction in game design

This is an excerpt from Game Architecture & Design, an industry textbook I co-authored with Andrew Rollings. (I wrote the game design bits, Andrew dealt with code, tech and development practices.) The book was originally published in 1999 and a revised edition came out in 2004. In the intervening two decades, a lot has changed, but it's also interesting to see what hasn't...

If I throw a ball and take many high-speed photographs of its flight, I'll see that the trajectory the ball took is a parabola. But the ball didn't follow that path because gravity told it: "Move in a parabola." A parabola is just a symbolic concept in the analytical domain of mathematics, and the universe doesn't know anything about mathematics or analysis or symbols; these are human concepts. In reality, there are just a bunch of physical processes, each of which deals only with the processes and circumstances just before and just after it. So, the ball is at one position, and gravity tells the ball's velocity to change, and the ball's velocity tells its position to change. The balance between kinetic and potential energy over the time the ball is in the air gives you what we call a parabola.

This is the opposite approach to that taken in most software applications. There, processing power is at a premium, so the sooner you can go to symbolic modelling rather than step-by-step simulation, the better. The tradeoff is that software can crash when your symbolic "shortcut" misses something that the one-step-at-a-time approach would have taken in its stride.

Researchers in Artificial Life have identified an analogous problem:

"The classical AI approach has been criticized because the symbols and symbol structures on which planning and decision making are based are not grounded in the real world. The problem is that unequivocally decoding sensory data into a symbol and turning a command without error into its intended action may be unsolvable."

- Luc Steels, "The Artificial Life Roots of Artificial Intelligence" in Artificial Life (MIT Press, 1997)

One big advantage of the way that reality does things is that the universe, being non-symbolic, cannot crash! Here is an example: Suppose I am putting a monster into my new Frankenstein adventure game, and the idea is that it will jump out of its vat when the player enters the laboratory. Instead of putting in a lot of complicated AI to do with detecting humans and having the goal of wanting to kill them, I just choose the short cut of placing a trigger tile inside the laboratory door. When the player steps on the trigger, the monster will appear and attack.

Okay so far, but what if the player manages to get onto the tower roof, jumps down, and, by some fluke, manages to land safely on the balcony of the laboratory? Now he can explore the lab, get all the power-ups, and read the journal about the monster (an entry that is supposed to be poignant if he's just fought and killed it, but that is meaningless otherwise). Only when the player goes to leave via the door does the monster climb out of its vat and growl, "You shall not steal my master's secrets!"

In the past, the nonsymbolic, step-by-step approach was not practical. The the processing capability wasn't available to deal with that and graphics too. But now much of the graphics work is done by the video card, and computers are doubling in power every eighteen months or so. At last, it is starting to be possible to create "uncrashable" games by avoiding the need to design using symbolic shortcuts.

Comparing Nonsymbolic And Symbolic Design

In the original Warcraft, peasants collected gold by entering a gold mine and bringing sacks back to your town hall. At the start of the game it was always worth spawning peasants because, the more peasants you had, the greater your revenue stream. However, there came a point when the peasants started to get in each other's way. Adding more peasants would then lead to “traffic jams” as the peasants encountered each other on the streets of the town and would have to back up to let others get past. The situation was alleviated by leaving wide streets. Additionally, it was not a good idea to place your town hall too close to the gold mine – giving a little more space also helped avoid traffic congestion.

Now, an economist could derive an equation to describe the flow of gold to the town hall. The factors would be the number of peasants, the placement density of the town buildings, and the distance from the town hall to the mine. We can imagine that it would be a pretty complex equation. The point is that the designers of Warcraft never needed any such equation. They simply programmed in the basic rules and behaviours and the economic simulation emerged directly from those.

Contrast this with a game like Caesar II, which used underlying equations to create a simulation of an ancient Roman city. This approach is less satisfying because the player is not directly viewing the reasons for success and failure. Instead, when playing a game like Caesar II (or any simulation of its type) you are trying to build an abstract match to the game’s underlying equations in your head. The simulated economy and the gameplay are less visible, lessening the sense of immersion.

And you know what? The same goes for stories. If you construct them from symbolic forms (arcs, paradigms, act breaks) you'll end up with less robust and varied stories than if you allow each micro-event to trigger the next and see where it goes. Which is why in roleplaying terms I'm a simulationist rather than a narrativist. Hey, if it's good enough for reality then it's good enough for me.

Principle of Least Action image by Maschen CC0, 

Mummers' games

As later Dragon Warriors books were released and we began to introduce creatures that were less familiar from folklore and fantasy fiction, I liked to include adventure seeds in the description as a guide to how to use them. Some have found the Blue Men silly, for example, but my excuse is that if a bit of wackiness has your players giggling then the cold grue that follows will be all the more chilling.

Blue Men

By night in the sailors' taverns of many a port, with salt spray lashing the windowpanes, one may hear old adventurers in their cups whispering seafarers' tales. Sometimes the talk is of the Blue Men, who plough through the cold northern seas in their dragon-prowed warships, and plunder riches and souls from the living.

They come out of churning grey waves with the gnawing icy gale of an approaching storm billowing out their sail. A pallid flare of phosphorescence limns the rotted timbers of their vessel - an ancient, barnacle-encrusted hulk, waterlogged and impossibly afloat, like a grim wreck that has been raised by sorcery from the ocean depths. The grisly mariners of this ship stand silent on her creaking decks, blankly observing the terror-struck faces of their human prey. Chilled to the marrow of their bones by a cold no earthly fire could dispel, they possess the hunger of the dead for the living. Their flesh is shivery blue and their long beards are tangled with kelp, and in his hand each grips a cutlass of brine-corroded bronze. 

The Blue Men hold a course alongside the chosen ship, whereupon it is soon clear that they cannot be outrun or evaded no matter what the steersman's skill. Standing by the fierce prow, the Blue Men's chieftain addresses his prey. In a voice like thunder he calls out couplets of verse that describe the terrible fate that shall be meted out to them, but if a spokesman from among the adventurers can immediately reply with a rhyming couplet refuting his words then the Blue Men will be temporarily balked from attacking. So the chieftain might say: 

'Our prow shall split your ship like kindling,
Your own bright blood shall wash the decks.' 

And be countered by: 

'We have no fear of cold blue dead men
Blustering from their sodden wrecks.' 

The adventurers then get the opportunity for a riposte, which the chieftain must likewise deny in rhyme. The contest of verse continues until one side falters or is forced to make an unconvincing or clumsy rejoinder. If the chieftain wins, his Blue Men board the adventurers' ship and fight like demons, untouched by lesser sorcery and all but impervious to wounds. They may be driven back if the adventurers manage to inflict more than 25% casualties, returning to their own vessel which then sinks rapidly below the waves. Any character they slew will be beyond resurrection - his soul taken down with them to the depths, as the legends have it. If the rhyming contest is won by the adventurers' spokesman, the Blue Men will depart at once. 

Hardy adventurers will perhaps refuse to play the Blue Men's game. Ignoring the verse, they may attempt to take the battle on to the planks of the dragon-ship. The Blue Men will respond by lowering the vessel below the waves, and each adventurer who boarded them must roll under his Reflexes on 2d20 or be sucked down with them. The chieftain will hurl a final weird upon those who survive: their vessel will lie becalmed and stricken by plague unless every adventurer aboard can resist his MAGICAL ATTACK of 16. (In game terms, the effect of the weird is to leave the vessel becalmed for 3-30 days, during which time careful check must be kept on rations and supplies of fresh water. The adventurers are exposed to 1-3 random diseases each day the weird lasts.) 

ATTACK 23         Sword (d8 + 2, 6)
DEFENCE 10         Armour Factor 1 (take half-damage from arrows, slingshot, etc)
MAGICAL DEFENCE 8 (but immune to Sorcerer spells of lst-4th level)
EVASION 6         Movement: 10m (20m)
Health Points 1d6 + 16         Rank-equivalent: 7th

Fast-forward thirty-four years and we were in lockdown. One of our gaming group, Dr Aaron Fortune, volunteered to run a traditional Yule adventure featuring the Company of Bronze mercenary characters (later to become known as the Iron Men) whom I've mentioned before. This was on Discord, naturally. Oliver and I missed the opening session but Aaron ran a side quest for the two of us that led into the main adventure. Oliver was playing Whirrun, aka 'Cracknut', who apparently was based on a book he'd published, and I was Calidore of Warens Field, aka 'Caliburn'. This is Caliburn's account of the session, but it's also a description of the macabre Mummers that Aaron had dreamt up:

The Adoration of the Magi

We meet Sir Wulfstan in a tavern outside Cantorbridge. He’s not really a knight, he’s a member of the Company. ‘Here’s your pay,’ he says. ‘You’re to come with me to the cathedral.’ He says a lot of other stuff too but now the sun’s gone down and we’re drinking. It’s Advent, you see, so fasting all day.

Next day at the cathedral, Wulfstan says we’re to escort Sir Joffe (who is a real knight) on a trip. ‘First you’ve got an audience with Subdeacon Elfwine.’

‘Why?’

‘Just listen to what he says.’

So we go in and this young priest tells us about factions in the Church and what his faction stands for and how there are rumours of the End of Days and that. After a bit I can’t hold my tongue. ‘Is there anyone you want killed, your holiness?’

‘Eh? No. There’s a relic at a hermitage up the coast. The hermits have been reluctant to part with it but now they’ve agreed. Go with Sir Joffe and bring it back in time for Christmas. Now, if Sir Joffe gives you orders then – ’

‘He’s not a member of our Company. We take our orders from Wulfstan.’

‘Well, pretend. I don’t want Sir Joffe to suspect.’

Suspect what, I wonder, but I don’t say anything because Church business is not Company business.

Wulfstan finds me and Cracknut and Portus. ‘It’s up the coast a ways. You’ll get another pay packet when we’re back. Also the best food and lodging, and horses all along the route.’

This sounds like when somebody is setting you up as a patsy but we don’t say anything. I put Coronach in the stables here in town because I gather we’ll be riding post up the road and I don’t want to wear him out.

Off we trot, with Sir Joffe and his five Chaubrettian guards, and a few days later we come to an island that you can ride to at low tide. Here the three hermits live, in conditions my granny would call squalid. Filthy wretches they are, claiming to be holy and that. ‘Where’s my relic?’ says Sir Joffe.

The shiftiest of the hermits, who I notice from his bloody shirt has been whipping himself, pushes back the altar and hands us an old box with three crisp new lead seals on it. Funny, I think, but I’m not paid to think so I keep quiet.

Off we go along the coastal road back to Cantorbridge. There’s a foul smell off the sea and some ominous looking ships, but the world is supposed to end soon so it’s not too surprising. Also, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good, and being in a mercenary company you tend to welcome bad omens.

After a bit Joffe discovers that what I handed him wasn’t the relic but a packed lunch wrapped in an oil cloth. He starts moaning that we’ve been robbed, but then I hand him the real box and he’s so happy he gives me a crown, which is five shillings or a considerable number of farthings.

Pretty soon Sir Joffe is whipping the horses so that two of them go lame. What an idiot. Then Gilbert, who is in the Company, rides up to meet us near Langdip. ‘Give me your horse,’ says Sir Joffe to Cracknut.

‘Good idea,’ says Wulfstan. ‘You three hand over your horses. Go down that track there and you’ll find the home of Mistress Godwina. She’ll give you fresh horses for the lame ones. We’ll ride on to the next coaching inn and you can catch us up.’

Now, this all seems entirely too convenient for anyone thinking to shake us off. Only two horses are lame, but Wulfstan is trying to get rid of me too. Is he up to no good?

‘Cracknut and Portus can do that,’ I point out, ‘and I’ll come with you.’

‘You stay too!’ says Wulfstan, a bit agitated now.

‘Uh-uh. I’m sticking to you like one of Joe’s turds after a big cheese dinner.’

‘I’ll see you sacked from the Company,’ he says.

‘Try it. I’ll answer to Pieter de Fleur.’

So he rides on with me right behind him. We’ll see what that was all about later.

Cracknut and Portus have barely seen us off down the road when they hear a horse whinny, and turn and see a young bloke that gives his name as 'Prince' Aengus. ‘Have a lucky rabbit’s foot,’ he says to Cracknut. ‘It will help you win a dice game against the Mummers. In fact, it will mean you always win.’

‘What you want for it?’ says Cracknut, who is no fool.

‘Nothing. I give it to you freely. And now I ride off.’

As it’s getting dark they go down the lane Wulfstan pointed out and there’s an old house, reasonably grand with a porch and that. They’re welcomed by Mistress Godwina, an old bird who lays out a good spread. She’s a friend of Wulstan, who is even more long in the tooth than Portus so might conceivably have had a thing with this crone at some stage in the past.

‘What about these Mummers we keep hearing about?’ says Cracknut, gnawing a chicken leg.

‘Oh, they’re terrible bad sorts. Devils, some say, or bad fairies. They live in a ruined chapel in the woods and at this time of year they come to the door when people have had a baby, and they shake dice, and when they win they take the baby away.’

‘What if they lose?’ asks Portus.

‘They use weighted dice – or so the rumour goes – so they rarely lose. And if people don’t give them what they want, they kill everyone in the house most horribly. Blood and guts everywhere.’

I guess Cracknut and Portus look sheepish at that, as they are not known themselves for over-daintiness or mopping up people’s guts after they’ve done a killing, but they tuck in and soon forget it.

Meanwhile I’m at the coaching inn and Wulfstan is distraught. He takes me aside and shows me inside the box. There’s no relic, just a velvet cushion which has got exactly as tatty as you’d expect after a few centuries under an altar stone. It looks like there used to be a mask in the box, and as it’s a relic of St Lucinda I can guess what bit of her that was.

‘Where is it?’

He shakes his head. ‘The box was empty.’

‘Oh. That’ll be why that hermit was so shifty, then. And why the lead seals look new.’

‘You go back and get the others,’ says Wulfstan. ‘Better get back to the hermitage and – ’

‘Say no more. Acquire the relic by any means necessary.’

Now it’s a good job I tagged along, and I bet he doesn’t go bad-mouthing me to Pieter de Fleur after all. But as I ride back I’m wondering why he was so keen to get rid of all three of us. He’d have been well stuffed if I hadn’t insisted – unless, that is, he pinched the relic himself and this is a wild goose chase.

As it happens, roast goose is on the table when I get to Mistress Godwina’s place. I tell the others what’s going down. Luckily Mistress Godwina tells me the story of the Mummers, because Portus and Cracknut are sitting gaping at the food like a couple of flounders on a fishmonger’s slab.

‘Well, it’s clear to me what’s happened here,’ I say. ‘Shifty the Hermit gambled the relic away to the Mummers. Guilty conscience, that’s why he’s been whipping himself. We’ll have to get it back off them.’

‘They might turn up at the house of Leofstan and Hild,’ says Godwina. ‘She had a baby yesterday.’

Sigh. We grab our stuff. ‘We’ll have to get over there and deal with these Mummers.’

‘They’re very dangerous,’ says Godwina. ‘Monsters, really.’

‘Only way to get the relic.’

As we’re riding over, Cracknut mentions the rabbit’s foot. ‘Handy,’ I say. ‘You can gamble against the Mummers for the relic.’

‘No, I want a Yule present for my wife.’

‘Give her the rabbit’s foot,’ says Portus.

‘But don’t we need it against the Mummers?’

‘Look,’ I say to Cracknut. ‘Win the relic first, save the baby, then afterwards you can give the rabbit’s foot to Lady Misery. Sorry, Maisery*.’

The house is down by the shore and it’s quite a hovel really. Poor folks, this couple, but they let us in and seem to believe our story. I suppose they’ve been quaking there expecting the Mummers and we’re a ray of hope.

So we wait, and at midnight there’s a knocking at the door. I open it to find thirteen cowled figures in masks going, ‘Mmm, mmm, mmm.’

‘In you come.’ I’ve got my hand on my sword but they’re all armed and there are thirteen of them. It’s a tight squeeze inside the cottage. The leader goes up to Cracknut, who is sitting at the table. He points at the baby, then he slams down his dice cup.

‘Hang on,’ I say. ‘If you lose we want the face of St Lucinda, which is the relic from the hermitage.’

‘I think I must name you,’ says Cracknut, and he goes on to say they’re all called Death.

They don’t unmask, so maybe that’s wrong. The leader gestures impatiently at the cup. ‘Mmm.’

So Cracknut rolls and the Mummer rolls and, thanks to the rabbit’s foot, Cracknut wins. The Mummers don’t take it well. They start up a horrible shrieking and the leader whips off his mask to show a leathery yellow face with the mouth stitched shut, and he shrieks so much a few of the stitches break and a bit of black spittle rolls down his chin. I’m very glad that nothing scares me, and I’m surprised that Cracknut and Portus don’t lose their dinner at this point.

Anyway, the Mummers have lost so they give us the relic and piss off. The relic is, as I thought, St Lucinda’s face, cured and mounted on a jewelled stick like a posh bird’s mask at a ball.

‘I reckon she was ashamed of how often she got propositioned because of her beauty,’ I say, struck by sudden inspiration. ‘Holy people hate fucking. So she cut her own face off because being holy can make you do things like that.’

The baby was crying. We went and had a look, and Hild agreed to call him Whirrun as that’s Cracknut’s real name. I looked through the mask’s eyes at him and announced he’d have health, happiness and prosperity. But I’m not sure that blessing worked, coming from me, even though it was a relic, so I also left a shilling on the mantelpiece.

We’re riding back when Cracknut says he thinks there’s something up with the road, and sure enough it seems we’re somehow lost in a wood. Well, it is after midnight now. I take out the relic and look through its eyes and now I can see the true path as a clean gleaming trail, which leads to a warm light beyond the trees, but behind us are the Mummers and they have a cold, blue-white glow to them that’s somehow menacing.

We follow the true path and it brings us to Mistress Godwina’s place, and the warm light is shining from her. The Mummers stay lurking back there in the woods, not liking to come near. Bastards. Bad enough that they use weighted dice or magic or whatever, but to be sore losers too. I’m tempted to go out and kill them all to teach them a lesson, but it is pitch dark and it’d be thirteen to one, so maybe not tonight.

We have some mince pies and ale, then we take turns sitting up through the night, and every now and then there’s a soft thump of something hitting the door, and when we’ve had breakfast and we go outside we find three dead rabbits in the porch with their front paw cut off, that the Mummers threw against the house.

We ride on, making a good pace, and by close to midnight on Christmas Eve we catch up to Wulfstan and the Chaubrette geezers. No sign of Joffe, he’s ridden on to present the relic – well, the empty box, as he’ll find out.

We’re approaching Cantorbridge and we hear the bells ringing midnight. ‘Happy Christmas, lads,’ I say, and at that moment White Light** appears in the north like a candle that’s been lit. Or more like a thousand candles. But it doesn’t last long and then it goes out. It makes me think of that star and our Saviour with the Magi that came and did the spells on the manger or whatever. Bet they didn’t leave a shilling. Stingy sods, Krarthians***.

* Cracknut had been wed in an earlier adventure to a lady of possibly fay origin called Maisery.

** One of the so-called Ghosts of the Magi (in common parlance) or, according to official Church teaching, the Pentaphan -- five celestial bodies that appear from time to time in the northern skies.

*** Caliburn is confusing the Magi who attended the Saviour's birth, who were almost certainly from Opalar, Batubatan and Zinj, with the rulers of Krarth.

There are plenty of interesting ways to use mummers in a Legend game. You don't even have to bring in magic or horror. Those masks are perfect for concealing one's identity -- a spy, a thief, a former foe seeking revenge, a proscribed lover sneaking in to see his beloved, an outlaw coming to free his comrade from the castle dungeon. But Aaron's Mummers are actual monsters, fay or undead or diabolic, so let's consider them in terms of the DW rules.

First, Cracknut seems to think that if he can name them they will be robbed of power over him. That makes sense, especially for beings wearing masks, and traditionally you get three guesses too. But there are thirteen of the Mummers, so it won't be as easy as dealing with Rumpelstiltskin. If you're going to let your players discover all the names I think it's fair enough to ask them to memorize them, not read them off a piece of paper. Oh, come on, not every adventure can spoon-feed the adventurers their successes.

But what if the Mummers aren't named? They offer a game with rules -- which is typical of the fays, however they may twist those rules. They roll the dice. If you win, they must depart. If you lose they will take the child they've come for, or something equally precious in its stead -- unless you can outwit them. Think on your feet. 'Do we roll for the one who was born tonight?' could mean the foal in the stable. Pointing to the cradle and saying, 'The winner takes what lies there' could indicate the cat, not the baby who you cleverly hid elsewhere when you heard them knocking at the door.

If they win the game and you haven't managed to outwit them, then it's a fight. A bloodbath, perhaps. They should be more than a match for any normal group of fighting men. You'll scale them to the strength of your PCs, but here I'm assuming they are equal in rank-equivalent to the strongest member of the party.

ATTACK 22         Shortsword (d8 + 1, 4)
DEFENCE 12         Armour Factor 2 (unaffected by nonmagical weapons until the dice game has been played)
MAGICAL DEFENCE 15 
EVASION 7         Movement: 15m (30m)
PERCEPTION 14
Health Points 2d6 + 10         Rank-equivalent: 8th

"The Tower of Demons" (a Questworld scenario for RuneQuest and Dragon Warriors)

In the early 1980s, Oliver Johnson and I were hired to work on Games Workshop's Questworld book. This was to be a non-Gloranthan setting for Runequest. I'd originally been asked to design Adventure, an all-new RPG for Games Workshop, when they had just lost the UK publishing licence for D&D. Adventure fell by the wayside when GW got the British licence for Runequest, so the Questworld job was a sort of consolation prize. By the way, when I say "hired", there were no contracts or money changing hands or any of that modern malarkey. The lot of a writer back then may have inspired me to write "Dealing with Demons", which was obviously taking shape around the time we wrote this scenario.

It's an introductory 2nd edition Runequest scenario for 5-8 characters who have 25% to 35% in main weapons. There seems to be absolutely nothing to distinguish it -- no baroque fantasy elements, no plot twists, none of the flourishes that Oliver and I later injected into our RPG work. To judge by the absence of Ancients and habdigars and the lingering traces of standard Runequest (dwarves, Lunars, etc), at this stage we were just part of the Questworld writing team in the UK. Later we got the whole gig (still no contract, obviously) and, fuelled by Afghan Black and listening to Bowie and Brian Eno and Lou Reed, cooked up a different strain of fantasy -- but you'll find no evidence of that here, sad to say. If the adventure is of interest at all, it's purely as a historical curiosity. For example, that mention on the map of "Brimstone". Robert Dale had already written that memorable mini-campaign, and run it, and so it's nice to be able to report that Brymstone (sic) might eventually get published this decade.

Storyline

A month ago, a dwarf called Trazien went to the Alban village of Sanmarl. He sought treasure beneath an old tower, but the villagers feared that an undead sorcerer dwelt there, so no one would accompany him. Trazien did not return, and now his family are hiring adventurers to find out what has happened to him.

The undead sorcerer actually died about forty years ago. A man named Gallofess has recently occupied the tower - he uses a disguise to pass himself off as the old lich. He will try to dupe the characters (as he earlier duped Trazien) into bringing up treasure from the caverns under the tower.

The adventure is primarily combat-orientated, with some scope for developing other skills. The fight with the kaifeng guardians at the end will call for some tactical intelligence if the characters are to avoid heavy casualties.

HISTORY (for the Referee)

High up on the cliffs near the fishing village of Sanmarl there is an old tower, once part of the coastal defences. It had stood empty for close to a thousand years when the demonologist and necromancer Moldragor made his home there. That was three centuries ago, and Moldragor's sorcery enabled him to remain active long after his natural death. His undead existence finally came to an end some forty years ago, but most of the villagers are still in terror of him and will not go near the tower on any account.

Almost sixty years ago, before Moldragor died the true death, Lord Culgast of the powerful Cavilla family came from his northern province, bringing his son to be educated at the renowned Academy of Lord Stagira. Disgusted at the "decadence" he found, however, Lord Culgast changed his mind almost as soon as he arrived, and set off again to the north. As Culgast's ship approached the headland where Moldragor's tower stands, a storm came down out of the heavens without warning, driving the ship onto the rocks. There was only one survivor.

A month ago, a dwarf named Trazien came to Sanmarl in a fishing boat. He sought treasure, and tried to hire some of the young men in the village to accompany him. When he found no one was willing, he marched off to the tower alone. His boat is still in the harbour.

PLAYERS' INTRODUCTION

Trazien's relatives are rather anxious to know what's become of him. They will pay adventurers 10 L per day (each), with a reward of 5000 L if Trazien is brought back safely or 750 L for news of his whereabouts/fate. [At this point we were still using Lunars as the standard Questworld currency, but that was only a placeholder.]

They tell the party that Trazien always wore a bloodstone amulet around his neck, by which he can be identified if the worst has happened.

THE VILLAGE OF SANMARL

Sanmarl is a typical fishing community of about one hundred and fifty souls. The villagers are generally good-natured, though a little wary of strangers.

There is one tavern (The Smuggler's Retreat) and one four-room inn (The Bell).

The principal inhabitants are:

Carnobar, a Lightbringer priest. A small village like this does not merit a full priest; he is just an initiate. He is also the local doctor. Impatient and irascible, he is not well liked.

Mother Ril is, at 70, Sanmarl's oldest inhabitant. She lives alone in a cottage on the outskirts of the village. She will tell visitors how she used to see Moldragor stalking the clifftops by night in her youth. The more inducement she is offered, the more she will embellish her tales.

Fergus the Red is the most influential man in the village. Officially there is no headman – all adult males have equal say in village affairs – but he is usually looked to as leader. He was a soldier in his younger days. If anyone breaks the law in the village (stealing, using weapons in a brawl, vandalism, etc.) he will see they are dealt with quickly and severely.

Mad Hriss was the cabin boy, and the only one to survive when Lord Culgast's ship went down. He has lived here ever since. He hit his head on a rock as he swam ashore, and he is now very simple-minded. Anyone patient enough to buy him a drink and listen to his rambling speech will be told how Hriss found himself washed up on the beach that night. Some way off he saw a hideous figure – the lich Moldragor, he insists – communing with figures of flickering light which danced and leaped between the sea and the raging heavens. Moldragor did not notice him, and presently a huge inhuman creature strode out of the sea carrying the treasure chest from Lord Culgast's cabin.

Selith Hala is a poet, a minor noble who chooses to live here for the quiet and scenic scenery. She can sometimes be seen practicing her swordplay on the beach; her technique is superb (60%), but she has no interest in adventuring.

Gosvin Keg is the village head-case. He will pick fights in the tavern and try to intimidate his opponents by saying, "I break bones." He is forever being put in the pillory, but it makes no difference. At least he normally only bothers strangers...

THE TOWER

Set back about thirty yards from the edge of the cliffs, this was originally built as a watchtower to give early warning of raiders from the sea. Mostly it appears to be very ancient and weathered except for the pavilion at the top and the arrow slits from the upper floors, which seem more recent additions.

The tower is sixty feet tall and about thirty feet across. The worn blocks of stone are quite suitable for climbing. (+5% to climbing rolls.)

The door to the tower is of oak. (It is not locked.)

General notes: There are seven floors, the topmost of these being the pavilion. Each floor consists of a single chamber about twenty-five feet across (the walls are ten feet thick). Crude stone steps link each floor to the next.

A. Ground floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (see below)

FIRST GLANCE: A large shield has been set against the door. As the party enter they will knock this over. Whoever opened the door has a chance to grab the shield before it hits the floor (DEX as a percentage) if they have a free hand.

The room is circular, about eight and half feet high (as are all the others). It has recently been swept clear of dust. Beside the entrance is an oak beam which once served to bar the door; the brackets which held this have fallen out of the wall. There are no windows.

CLOSER LOOKS: There is a bedroll against the wall behind the door. Its size would suit a dwarf.

EXITS: The steps up to the next chamber begin diametrically opposite the door. Below the steps is a trapdoor to the caverns under the tower.

TRAPS: The top of the shaft just below the trapdoor is covered by a Warding 1 spell. Passing through this will not activate an alarm. The Warding wands count as a Hidden Item.

DENIZENS: Gallofess need not be present in this room, but he will be somewhere in the tower. The shield against the door is his, placed there to warn him if anyone enters.

Gallofess is gifted with infinite patience. He is distantly related to the Cavilla family and believes he could make a legal claim to much of their land if he could obtain the lost talisman. He came to the tower six weeks ago. He has disguised himself, using gruesome make-up and rich, dusty robes, to appear as some sort of undead sorcerer. His plan is to pretend to be Moldragor and to send any adventurers who come along down into the caverns on his behalf. He can lie very creatively, and managed to fool Trazien the dwarf. Since Trazien has been gone a month, however, Gallofess realizes he must have been killed. If the party call Gallofess’s bluff he will use his Vial of Smokes (see below) to escape. If forced to fight, he will try to get his attackers to follow him up the steps (where they must use their weapons left-handed).

SPELLS - Demoralize; Bladesharp 1; Protection 1; Dispel Magic 2; Detect Magic; Detect Enemies; Healing 1

SKILLS - Oratory 25%; Evaluate Treasure 45%; Listen 55%; Spot Hidden 50%; Spot Trap 35%; Disguise 60%; Move Silently 35%; plus various Knowledge skills (Demonology, History, etc. at about 45%).

MAGIC - Tattoo on arm can be used to summon demon wolf for 2D4 rounds once per day.

Vial of Smokes is a glass bottle which releases thick fog over a 64 cubic meters volume when shattered; the fog disperses instantaneously after 5 rounds (one minute).

POW 5 storage crystal.

TREASURE – 3W (hidden in belt) and 35L (in belt pouch).

SPECIAL NOTES: The demon wolf takes half damage from bronze weapons. Anyone striking it with a bronze weapon is subject to a special curse spell; if the curse takes effect (compare the wolf's POW and the character's POW on the Resistance Table), roll D6: 

1. Character's arms are paralyzed 
2. Character is struck blind 
3. Character is struck dumb 
4. Character is transformed into a rat 
5. Character's leg is withered, halving their movement 
6. Character is hideously disfigured and twisted, causing the loss of 10 points CHA.

A curse can be removed with dispel magic 2.

As daylight demoralizes the wolf, Gallofess will summon it only on the ground to third floors (where there are no windows) or within the fog from the Vial of Smokes. At night he can summon it anywhere, of course.

B. First floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: Pretty much the same as the ground floor. Again, there are no windows. There are brackets on the wall for torches. There is a wooden table in the middle of the room.

CLOSER LOOKS: There are several clay jars and a pile of what look like rabbit bones on the table. (The jars contain fresh water.)

EXITS: Two - the steps leading down to the ground floor and, across the room from these, the steps up to the chamber above.

C. Second floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: Still no windows. Set around the room are several statues about a metre tall.

CLOSER LOOKS: There are five statues in all. All have had their heads smashed off and one has been toppled from its plinth. The statues are of black marble and all depict old men in ceremonial robes.

EXITS: The steps up and the steps down.

MISC. NOTES: Moldragor used the statues to commune with his colleagues in the mystic Brotherhood of Whispers. Gallofess smashed them, just as a precaution in case they animated.

D. Third floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: Still no windows – and no torch brackets, either. There is a stone font in the middle of the room, and the floor around it is thick with dust.

CLOSER LOOKS: The font is dry. Within, at the bottom, is the bas-relief of a smiling unhuman face.

EXITS: Steps up and down.

MISC. NOTES: The font was used by Moldragor in certain scrying spells. Gallofess knew just enough about it to give it a wide berth (hence the dust), but it is in fact quite harmless.

E. Fourth floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-95 Nothing
96-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: Six arrow-slits serve as windows in this room. It seems to be a storeroom strewn with miscellaneous items of all kinds.

CLOSER LOOKS: There are wands of various woods, lacquered ceremonial masks, several flutes, two small silver bells, a drum, rotting gowns and robes, bottles of fluid, coloured chalks, books, censers, a small bronze gong, and so on.

EXITS: Steps up and down.

TRAPS: There is a trap on the bronze gong (See below for details.)

TREASURE: The entire contents of the room would count as treasure to a demonologist, as they are his stock-in-trade. If the party could locate a practicing demonologist and get all this stuff to him it would be worth about 2500 L.

The bronze gong is the only really special item. Moldragor used it to call and control his demonic guards (see below). He also set a Runic defence on the gong. If it is touched, everyone within three metres must resist a POW of 18 or be frozen in place for ten minutes. Only Detect Magic will reveal this spell. The spell works only once, and then is automatically dissipated. It can be removed with Dispel Magic 6. It was originally intended to hold intruders until Moldragor himself could come and finish them off. Since he is now dead, everyone will be fine when the spell wears off – unless those unaffected take the opportunity for some treachery.

If the gong is struck, one of the demonic guards leaves the door to Moldragor's sanctum and make its way to wherever the gong is. When it sees any intruders, it will attack. Within ten metres the demons find the gong's sound painful – only Moldragor could use it to control them, but anyone else striking it repeatedly can at least cause them enough pain that they will fight at a 5% penalty to Attack and Parry.

F. Fifth floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-35 Nothing
36-00 Gallofess (unless already encountered)

FIRST GLANCE: There is an oaken cabinet against the wall, and six more arrow-slits.

CLOSER LOOKS: There is a complicated geometric symbol etched into the floor. The cabinet contains six bows and six quivers, each with twelve arrows. The bows require a STR of at least 18 to use, and do 1D10+1; treat as Composite Bows.

EXITS: Steps up and down.

TREASURE: The bows are very fine, worth maybe 300 L each.

MISC. NOTES: The symbol in the floor is (of course) for summonings. Moldragor liked to call up demonic archers if his tower needed defending. The summoning spell is described in one of the books in E and could be used by anyone who knows the Ritual of Summoning.

G. Top floor

INITIAL DIE ROLLS: If the players have come up from the other floors and not yet run into Gallofess, he will be here. If they scale the outside of the tower, there is roughly a 27% chance of finding him on the top floor.

FIRST GLANCE: The chamber is a marble dome with five archways leading out onto a balcony. The steps themselves emerge onto the balcony, which is five feet wide. In the middle of the domed chamber is a low stone slab.

CLOSER LOOKS: This was open battlements when originally built, and the dome is a much more recent addition to the structure. The floor under the dome is tiled with green marble. On the stone slab there is a greatsword. Its blade is a deep, almost luminous, blue-green and the hilt is of polished coral. Four effigies squat at the corners of the slab: clawed warriors with heads and lower bodies like a shark’s. These are about 25cm high, carved of black wood.

EXITS: Down the steps or (in emergencies) over the parapet.

TRAPS: Within each effigy is a Warding wand. The sword is protected by a 4-point Warding, and anyone reaching for it will receive a 4D3 Disruption attack.

TREASURE: The sword bears the Water Rune. Anyone who belongs to a Water Rune cult can use it to summon a small undine from out of the sea once a month. Any character, whatever his cult, can use it to fight in water at no penalty. The sword can take 30 points of damage, and is as hard as iron on a critical hit. The user can swim with it in water, at no penalty.

THE CAVERNS BELOW THE TOWER

The trapdoor at the bottom of the tower gives access to a three-metre shaft protected at the top by a Warding spell (see above). At the bottom of the shaft are steps hewn out of the rock. After descending about thirty metres these emerge into a tunnel sloping gently downwards, and this opens into a natural cavern.

1. Jetty

INITIAL DIE ROLLS:

01-75 Nothing
76-00 Zombie

FIRST GLANCE: A low chamber; characters will have to stoop. Stalagmites and stalactites reach to form pillars here and there. An underground stream flows across the far side of the cavern, and a boat is moored at the jetty there.

CLOSER LOOKS: There are moorings for a second boat. The boat is in perfect repair and could hold half a dozen people. The stream flows south.

EXITS: There are three: the passage back to the tower, and the two tunnels where the stream flows.

DENIZENS: The zombie may be here, but is more likely to be encountered in 6.

MISC. NOTES: The perfect condition of the boat is due to the Stasis Rune magic Moldragor used in building it. A Dispel Magic 6 would cause it to rot in seconds.

2. The tunnel

This is very low, and characters will have to crouch down in the boat.

3. Another jetty

FIRST GLANCE: A second boat, identical to the first, is moored here. The cavern is like the first, except that the roof is high enough for characters to stand normally.

CLOSER LOOKS: There is a metal gate (open) in the southern part of the room.

EXITS: Via the metal gate, or up- or downstream.

HIDDEN SPOTS: Concealed behind a stalagmite to the north are two hand axes and a small pouch containing damp, very mouldy bread.

MISC. NOTES: Trazien left the axes and bread (which was a bit mouldy when he first bought it), thinking he would return this way.

4. Storeroom

FIRST GLANCE: The room is obviously artificial, carved out (presumably) by Moldragor's demonic servitors, whose claws have left gouges in the rock. It is two and a half metres high. There are four figures standing at the far end.

CLOSE LOOKS: The "figures" are just suits of bronze plate armour hanging on stands. They are SIZ 15.

EXITS: There are two: the metal gate through which the party have just come, and a heavy wooden door in the eastern end of the room.

TRAPS: Opening the door in the east rings a bell to alert the demons outside the inner sanctum. The bell cannot be heard from here.

DENIZENS: The Iron Snake. This creation of Moldragor's is hidden in one of the suits of armour. Its favourite tactic is to coil around the leg or arm of the person it attacks, in order to prevent the use battle magic.

5. Small waterfall

There is a shallow but quite sudden slope in the tunnel here. If the boat overturns, there is a chance that the zombie will make an underwater attack (if not already encountered and destroyed).

6. The tomb chamber

FIRST GLANCE: The cavern is some three metres high, flooded except for a protruding shelf of rock to the north-east on which rests a bronze casket 2x1x1 metres.

CLOSER LOOKS: The casket lid bears a glyph. Anyone who can read will recognize it as the glyph denoting "mol-". This glyph represents the same sound in both Sovereign and Upcoast so it does not matter which of these languages the character understands.

Within the casket is the shrivelled body of Moldragor. Clasped to his chest he has a small lead plaque covered with a twisting serpentine script that can only be read by characters with Demonology of at least 15%.

EXITS: The only visible exit is the tunnel from which the stream flows into this chamber. To the south, under the surface of the pool, the stream exits and flows down to the sea.

DENIZENS: The zombie spends most of its time here. It was once a smuggler who foolishly took refuge in Moldragor's tower one night when the coastal patrols arrested his companions. It will attack any intruders, attempting to drag them under the water.

MISC. NOTES: The plaque buried with Moldragor is a special safeguard. Without it, his spirit is prey to the torments of all the demons he summoned in life or undeath. If either of the demonic servitors from 8 is led here it will (after discharging its duty to kill intruders) remove the plaque. Gallofess would recognize the plaque's significance, but would hardly care about removing it.

7. Antechamber

FIRST GLANCE: Another chamber hewn out of the rock by demons. Steps lead down to the south. The staircase is surrounded by a low balustrade, so that there is a narrow landing to the south of the room. There is the mouldering corpse of a dwarf with a bloodstone amulet beside the entrance.

CLOSER LOOKS: There is a painting on the south wall. It depicts a proud-looking young man. The corpse is that of Trazien and he was hacked to death.

EXITS: The passageway in the north end of the east wall, and the stairs to the south.

TRAPS: If anyone goes onto the landing directly under the portrait, a trapdoor gives way and drop him/her about six metres onto the stairs.

TREASURE: The portrait is of Moldragor as a young man. It is more than three centuries old, signed by the artist, and worth up to 800 L to a collector. It is preserved with Stasis Rune magic.

There is also Trazien's equipment. The armour is bronze - but dwarf-sized, naturally. He also had a heavy mace, a large shield and a spear. His belt-pouch has 100 L, which his relatives would like returned.

8. Passage to the sanctum

FIRST GLANCE: From the foot of the stairs, the passage goes south for eight metres and ends in a door. There are two figures standing at the far end – or only one if the other was summoned by the gong in E.

CLOSER LOOKS: (Is anyone going closer?) The figures are Moldragor's demonic guardians. They are powerful beings with fiery red eyes and black scales tinged with reddish-gold.

EXITS: Back down the passageway or past the guardians and through the door at the end. The door is oak, stained with blood, into which Moldragor's name has been burned.

DENIZENS: The demonic guardians. One of these will guard the door at all times, but the other will leave to attack or pursue intruders.

9. Inner sanctum

FIRST GLANCE: This is a circular room hung with rotting tapestries. Illumination comes from a circle of bright white light six metres across on the floor in the middle of the room.

CLOSER LOOKS: The pool of light has no obvious source. The tapestries fall into shreds if touched.

EXITS: One door to the north (the entrance) and a secret panel to the south-east.

HIDDEN SPOTS: The secret panel counts as a Hidden Item. If not spotted immediately, a meticulous search of the room (taking 15-20 minutes) would locate it. The panel is hinged horizontally through the middle.

TREASURE: In the alcove beyond the secret panel is a chest. Moldragor bound this with his Stasis enchantments. Dispel Magic 4 or 35 points of STR will break the seal; there is only room for two characters to wrench the lid up at the same time.

The chest contains an amulet, a bronze jar, three books, a ring and a number of gold and silver coins.

The amulet is an emerald in a silver setting. This is the lost talisman of the Cavilla family. It would fetch 800 L if sold as treasure. Returned to the Cavillas, it would earn their undying gratitude, which is maybe worth more.

The bronze jar is sealed with wax. If opened, it will be found to contain a pungent liquid in which floats a pickled human heart.

The books are tracts on Demonology (theory rather than practice). They are almost incomprehensible to anyone with knowledge of Demonology less than 25%. Others can use them to raise their knowledge of Demonology to 50%, at a rate of 300 hours' study per 5% increase. The books are worth 2000 L each.

The ring is silver with miniature jade butterflies set around it. It is a Healing 3 matrix.

The coins amount to 75 W and 1000 L.

Notes

It irks me that we gave no explanation for why Moldragor is now properly dead, having previously enjoyed two centuries of existence as a lich. Player-characters are bound to wonder about that, especially as the demons he summoned are still doing his bidding. One possibility is that he is not completely dead but only dormant, using long periods of rest to recuperate his undead “stamina” – but the characters will probably burn his body, so perhaps he could partly awaken and mutter threats and promises if they don’t destroy him. You won’t want him to awaken fully because these are after all starting-level characters, but it could still be a memorably creepy and frightening moment in an otherwise fairly routine dungeon-style adventure.

Oliver and I assumed we’d need a simple adventure like this because a lot of players might be coming to Runequest for the first time. Our Questworld setting in its eventual form was more of a traditional fantasy milieu (influenced by Moorcock, Vance and Robert E Howard) than Glorantha with its Bronze Age cults and talking ducks – though whether it was traditional enough to entice the mass of players away from D&D, as Games Workshop hoped at the time, is something we’ll never know.

If the GW Questworld book had ever looked like being published, we might well have decided to drop this scenario. One sign that we hadn’t revised it is the presence of a dwarf (“Mostali” in RQ). At the point we wrote this we were still testing how far we could push Questworld away from Glorantha. I couldn’t see the point of importing all the same gods, and was damned if I was going to include those daffy ducks, and soon after this we’d discarded RQ elves (not actual elves but humanoid plants, meh) and dwarves in favour of bespoke creatures like habdigar.

The Dragon Warriors variant

This being the anniversary year of Dragon Warriors (oh, did I mention that before?) I can't resist adding DW stats -- purely for completeness, as it's hard to imagine that anybody wants an old-school dungeon bash for starting DW characters these days!

GOSVIN KEG (village bully)

Rank: 2^nd

ATTACK 15                            Fist (d3+1, 3) or improvised mace (d6+1,5)

DEFENCE 7                             Armour Factor 0

MAGICAL DEFENCE 3          Reflexes 11

EVASION 4                             Movement 10m/20m

STEALTH 12

PERCEPTION 6

Health Points 15

Special ability: On an Armour Bypass roll of 4, Keg grapples his opponent, who is then at −2 ATTACK. The grappled character must roll Strength or less on d20 to break free (one attempt per round).

GALLOFESS (fraudulent warlock)

Rank: 5^th

ATTACK 17

DEFENCE 11                           Armour Factor 3

MAGICAL ATTACK 18

MAGICAL DEFENCE 9          Reflexes 14

EVASION 5                             Movement 10m/20m

STEALTH 14

PERCEPTION 8

Health Points 11                       Magic Points 10

Special Items:

o    Vial of Smoke: Thick white smoke billows out in a 5m radius; completely opaque, even to magic; dissipates on a roll of 6 on d6, roll at the end of each round.

o    Summoning Tattoo: Calls a Demon Wolf for 2d4 rounds, one use per day.

DEMON WOLF

Rank: 2^nd

ATTACK 16                            Bite (d6,6)

DEFENCE 4                             Armour Factor 1 (half damage from nonmagical weapons)

MAGICAL DEFENCE 8          Reflexes 17

EVASION 7                             Movement 15m/30m

STEALTH 17

PERCEPTION 14 (elfsight)

Health Points 12

Special Abilities:

• Cursed bite: a target who is bitten is subject to a curse with a MAGICAL ATTACK of 8; roll for effect of the curse as in the Runequest scenario; it can be removed by a holy relic or a 6-point Dispel Magic.
• Takes half damage from nonmagical weapons.
• Weakened (−2 ATTACK, −1 Armour Bypass) in daylight.

THE IRON SNAKE

Rank: 4^th

ATTACK 19                            Bite (d6,4 + poison) or coil (see below)

DEFENCE 8                             Armour Factor 5

MAGICAL DEFENCE             Reflexes 18

EVASION 7                             Movement 15m/30m

STEALTH 18

PERCEPTION 10

Health Points 15

Abilities:

• Coil Attack: Restrains an enemy’s arm, causing −2 from ATTACK, −1 from Armour Bypass rolls, and preventing gestures needed for a sorcerer to cast spells.
• Poison: Injects a strong poison if it scores 5-6 on an Armour Bypass roll.

THE ZOMBIE

Rank: 4^th

ATTACK 14                            Axe (d8,6)

DEFENCE 6                             Armour Factor 1

MAGICAL DEFENCE 3          Reflexes 3

EVASION 3                             Movement 6m

STEALTH 6

PERCEPTION 5 (gloomsight)

Health Points 24

KAIFENGS

Rank: 7^th

ATTACK 17                            Battleaxe (d8,6) or 2 x Claws (d6,5)

DEFENCE 10                           Armour Factor 4 and shield

MAGICAL DEFENCE             Reflexes 13

EVASION                                Movement 10m

STEALTH 15

PERCEPTION 15 (panoptical)

Health Points 24

Special Abilities:

• First kaifeng Can jump 10 metres in combat.
• Second Kaifeng: indetectable by magic, ESP, etc.

Converted Magic Items

Bronze Gong (Summoner’s Bell)

• Striking it calls a kaifeng demon from the tower’s sanctum.
• Can be used to cause pain to summoned demons (−1 to Attack and Defence if gong is struck within 10m).
• Has a one-time stasis effect (Magical Attack 18, lasts 10 minutes).

Greatsword (Sea-Forged Blade)

• Magical Weapon (d10,5))
• Allows wielder to fight in water without penalty.
• User can summon a water elemental out of the sea once per month.

Silver Ring with Jade Butterflies

• Allows one use per day of Greater Healing, Antidote or Cure Disease (user’s choice). Roll d20 when used; on a roll of 20, the magic dissipates permanently but the ring still has value as jewellery.