The Poughkeepsie problem

It turns out I need to set the record straight about my attitude to The Lord of the Rings. As I confessed in an earlier post, I haven’t read it. When I tried the first book, back in my mid-teens, the cosy Little England prose style didn’t grab me. I was more into Elric and Conan and the whole sword-&-sorcery side of fantasy. It might be different now, but the intervening years have made the plot so familiar that I’m not sure when I’ll get around to it.

All of that doesn’t mean I don’t respect Tolkien’s craft. I’m sure he knew what he was doing, and he did it with imagination and elegance. It’s much like my opinion of the Earthsea and Discworld books. I’ve dipped into them, I can see they’re done well, I admire the authors; the books just aren’t for me. And that’s a very different thing from disdaining them.

This cropped up recently when a friend told me he was planning a roleplaying campaign about defiance and resistance in the face of political repression. “There’ll be difficult compromises and harsh moral choices,” he promised. “And it’s all set in a brutalist industrial landscape.”

Sounded intriguing. I was almost hooked. But then he added: “And it’s got elves!”

Instant heartsink. "Oh," I said. "You had me until the elves.”

“It’s a long way from traditional D&D,” he protested. “The elves aren’t the Tolkien kind. It’s mysterious. It's dark and gritty urban fantasy.”

Imagine you were an HBO exec in 2016, you'd just heard Jesse Armstrong's story pitch for Succession, and then he'd concluded with: "And they're all orcs!" 

I'm against torture, but...

So -- disgust, obviously. But what really gave me pause was that my friend must have got the impression I despise Tolkien’s use of elves. Not a bit of it. From what I’ve seen, Tolkien put a lot of thought into them, and given that he was attempting a European (indeed, British) flavour of fantasy their presence makes sense. It’s worlds always from a recent bestselling fantasy polylogy I had the misfortune to come across, which had elves with guns and mobile phones in a Middle-Earth meets Blade Runner setting. Why elves? The author might as well have called them Romulans or Vikings or Cossacks, all equally out of place in an urban fantasy environment. This is using the surface styling of a fantasy trope without any of the context that forms its roots. It’s cosplay masquerading as storytelling. Ursula K Le Guin would have plenty to say about it -- and did, in her essay “From Elfland to Poughkeepsie”:

"The lords of Elfland are true lords, the only true lords, the kind that do not exist on this earth; their lordship is the outward sign or symbol of real inward greatness."

Le Guin is not talking about moral greatness, by the way. The elves she refers to aren’t angels. In at least one of her examples the elf is being petty – but grandly petty, gloriously self-centred, whining as only a silver-tongued immortal can.

Talking of the stir-it-all-in approach, the modern mangling of myth, she says:

“It is not fantasy, for all its equipment of heroes and wizards […] A writer may deploy acres of sagebrush and rimrock without achieving a real Western. He may use spaceships and strains of mutant bacteria all he pleases, and never be anywhere near real science fiction.”

Le Guin recognized that Tolkien had the genuine fantasy touch. When I say that I haven’t read The Lord of the Rings, that’s not a judgement on the quality of the work. I could have mentioned Dune, another series I never got into only because it doesn’t happen to chime with me. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good. There are plenty of absolute stinkers in the fantasy & SF genres (Sturgeon’s Law tells us that) but also some gems, and those gems are worth celebrating, so I just wanted to be clear where I stand.

More about elves next time. The proper kind of elves, I mean.

Reality "in here" vs reality "out there"

"Many people think that there must be something more to the fabric of reality than what science can explain," said The Economist in a recent review of a book about the philosopher Henri Bergson, who once said of Einstein's theory of relativity that "it is not science, it is a metaphysics grafted upon science."

Bergson obviously understood nothing about relativity, and The Economist is often surprisingly prone to magical thinking for a paper devoted to the dismal science, but the comment happened to coincide with this interesting post by "A Motley Fool" on Substack and the above video by Grim Jim Desborough, both dealing with the question of the mystical vs the material.

It isn't a contest, and only non-scientists imagine that faith in science puts the two in conflict. (A point that Grim makes in his video.) I am a rationalist. I believe that the universe is simply a set of processes, "mechanical" if you like. But I also believe that we live in a mental model of the universe, and our mental model includes mystical phenomena. Those things are not real outside the world of ideas, as Alan Moore puts it, but in that that world they matter.

In other words, both gravity and love are real and important, but they are not real and important in the same way. To think so, and to try to insist that mystical ideas are also important to the universe -- that they're part of the fabric of reality, as The Economist insists -- is a category error. We're apes, and apes with clever little brains that imagine all sorts of art and feelings, but the universe doesn't give a stuff about that -- unless you can believe in an immanent deity that thinks like an ape. Einstein would have had no need to refute Andrew Marvell's statement of time

But at my back I always hear
Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.

because, unlike Bergson, Marvell wasn't Dunning-Kruger (or even Donneing-Kruger) in thinking he was saying something fundamental about the objective nature of time.

It's the 21st century. We should have got past human exceptionalism by now, and also past the clomping kind of philosophy that still thinks science and intuition are describing the same kind of reality. For us they exist as a superposition, but that only matters on this tiny blip of matter in this tiny sliver of time to this one primate species. When humans are gone, the universe will still have red shift and black holes and gravitational waves but the notions of Bergson will be gone forever in the abyss of time.

The comfort zone

This excerpt from the D&D Dungeon Master's Guide has been getting shared on social media recently, turning into a gaming shibboleth after Elon Musk commented on it. (I'm surprised he had the time between tweeting puerile 'jokes', supporting fascists, and spreading misinformation about UK & European politics, but a brain soaked in ketamine has unusual priorities, I guess.)

It's a matter of etiquette rather than rules, and the DM's Guide approach isn't how I'd personally handle sensitivity among players. Consider two different games that you might join. One umpire (or DM if you must) offers the comfort tools outlined above. If you object to anything in the game you can stop the action and ask for something to be changed or deleted, much like a censor watching the pre-release cut of a movie. The other umpire starts off by saying that if you have any red lines you're better off not joining the game. So that's the equivalent of going to a movie theatre and checking the age ratings so you don't take your kids into an NC-17.

Those might be examples of Isaiah Berlin's two forms of liberty, though I'll leave it to the philosophers out there to tell us which is which. As I said in an old post, there's no point in subjecting anybody to an experience they're going to disapprove of, and both approaches deal with that. I prefer the certificate method to the x-card one, given that I very often aim to include extremely disquieting horror elements in my scenarios, and once called off a campaign rather than exclude one of my players who objected to the tone I was planning for the game. And I agree with Hubert Selby Jr that self-censorship is creatively stifling, and that would include group self-censorship. But if the creative outcome, the art, is not your main reason for roleplaying then you're perfectly entitled to join the self-censoring group. It all depends on what you're after.

Here's another way (from Upon a Distant Shore, a D&D campaign book) to handle players objecting to stuff in the game. It seems fair enough to me, but social media immediately lit up with people objecting that it wasn't using comfort "tools" the way they insist on framing them:

Folks get irate because not everyone uses their preferred gaming-table etiquette. But why? As long as you're told the etiquette upfront and so can ensure you aren't going to get unexpectedly upset or offended, isn't that all that matters? You go and watch Paddington in Peru, I'll watch Titus Andronicus, and we're both happy. So I'm not quite sure why the issue divides people into warring camps, other than the fact that pretty much anything does that these days; we're right back in the era of the Blues and the Greens. And Elon Musk is using that fact to buy control of the Western world, so we'd better all smarten the fuck up before it's too late.

This again?

'You should read some history, sonny boy. Read about the Black Shirts and the Gestapo and concentration camps.'

'That's not the same thing as Lisa Treadgold. Hitler was a fiend. Lisa's just a very beautiful woman with strong opinions. Do you mind her being so beautiful?' Timothy asked innocently.

These words made Fanny so angry she stopped the car. 'Listen, dumbo,' she said, glaring. 'I realize I'm no oil painting, and I'm not rich, and I'm not famous, and no one wants my autograph--'

'And you smoke too much,' Timothy said cheekily, trying to make her smile. Really, he was quite afraid of her at that moment. She looked fierce.

'And I smoke too much,' Fanny agreed. 'But there's one thing I'll tell you, and it's this. Learn to be frightened. When you see some magic-type person, a public person, hogging the media to talk about bringing back the birch and hanging, it's time to get a little nervous. Because the person who gets beaten or hanged might turn out to be someone you know. You with me so far?'

Timothy said, 'Okay so far.'

'But when that sort of person talks about action groups and banded together brotherhoods of citizens and vigilantes, get terrified. Because the person who gets dragged away in the middle of the night for a flogging might turn out to be you. Yes, you. Simply because you're a decent, normal, pleasant, dim human being. The sort of person who just happens to get in the way of the bully boys and bully girls. Do you understand, Timothy?'

Nicholas Fisk's novel You Remember Me! was originally published in 1986 but has been forgotten where other kids/YA fantasies, less uncompromising, have endured. Too bad. In it, a TV star founds a right-wing populist political movement with promises to make the country great again. A generation raised on stories like that might not be making the mistake of putting people like this in power -- because, once they have it, they intend to hold onto it, and to do so they will uncaringly wreck the democratic institutions and regulations that have taken generations to set up.

Narcissists and plutocrats served by a coterie of sycophants and compliant dopes insincerely pandering to the electorate's sense of inadequacy with crude slogans... it's a stuck record and you'd think people would be fed up to the back teeth of it, but it seems that politics, like entertainment, just consists of the same old clichés endlessly recycled.

I'm not delusional; I realize there's no going back to 'normality' now. Western democracy is in its end-of-the-republic phase, authoritarian regimes are thriving, and the world is cooking its own goose. Still, track down a copy of Mr Fisk's book if you can find one. Or at least listen to the hosts of the Backlisted podcast discuss it with author Sam Leith. Or watch Asif Kapadia's new movie 2073. Too grim? Hey, it's less disheartening than watching the news. 

More about Elon Musk tomorrow, I'm sorry to say.

In the Ashes

In The Ashes is a solo roleplaying gamebook written by Pablo Aguilera and published by Devir. Pablo was kind enough to send me a couple of copies. It's a handsome hardback with rich colour illustrations adorning almost every page and I’ve spent some immersive hours diving into its beautifully intricate world. 

First off, as you can see in the video, this is by no means your typical gamebook. The story itself is classic high fantasy, taking place on the magical island of Obor and beginning with a scene of great dramatic force and horror: a public execution. You assume control of several different characters over the first three (of four) acts, with the game introducing you to each in turn. While the plot remains mostly linear, your actions still matter, influencing how events unfold in later acts.

One of the standout features of the gamebook is its deck-building mechanic. Yes, deck-building -- In The Ashes integrates cards into its core gameplay. You’ll begin with a small set of cards and gain more as you progress, and those cards are all laid out on the page. While you never physically shuffle them, you’ll strategically choose cards during encounters, making for a uniquely tactical experience.

In fact that's a unifying feature of the game: everything, including your tactical moves, is written directly into the book, right there on the page. Another example: the symbols that you mark on later pages. These are like keywords in a book like Vulcanverse, but with a more subtle affect. You'll reach that page, see that you've marked a symbol, and immediately you know that what's about to happen is a consequence of an earlier choice you made. You can see why you might want two copies.

Though the gameplay is dense, the prose is clean and to the point, keeping the pace brisk without sacrificing the richness of the world. This is crucial for a gamebook that wants you to focus on its mechanics and tactical decisions as much as its story. You’re not just reading—you’re strategizing, managing your resources, and executing complex plans, all while the narrative unfolds.

The variety in character mechanics, the tactical depth, and the smooth integration of board game elements make In The Ashes an experience worth savoring. If you're a fan of solo roleplaying games, especially those with a classic fantasy quest structure and a focus on strategy, this book is definitely worth seeking out.

And while I'm doing the recommendation thing, a couple of other juicy items are, firstly, The Casket of Fays #15 -- the usual superb Dragon Warriors/Legend gaming material. It's pay-what-you-want but don't be stingy. I especially liked Tom Clare's article on doppelgangers, which begins:

"Sometimes, at particular hours on particular nights, one looks into a candlelit mirror and gets the distinct feeling that the person reflected there is somebody else. This is a sign the veil between our world and the murky, warped otherworld of the mirror people has grown thin. And if in that moment the mirror is touched, there is a chance that the gossamer barrier will yield and one’s double will step out into the real world. (Highly reflective ponds count as mirrors for this purpose and, if touched in bright moonlight, have an even greater chance of releasing a double.)"

That's very Legend, that. But I said two juicy items. The other is Travelling at Night, a luscious-looking character-driven CRPG from Weather Factory. It's set in a skewed alternate Cold War period. I've recently been drawn to The Thaumaturge and have been incubating a mid-20th century game of my own involving politics, espionage and ideological tensions, so maybe it's an idea whose time has come. (Relatively speaking, that is; I'm sure orcs and fireballs will continue to hold the top spot for most gamers.)

Gaunt dead that cannot die

"One hundred years of vampire cinema: opera capes and neck-nuzzling, glowing beauties and monster-kid wish-fulfilment. Gone! The whole lot swallowed up by this eerie bacchanal of sex and death."

That's Alec Worley on Substack, talking about Robert Eggers' 2024 remake of Nosferatu. Personally I found the movie disappointing after Eggers' previous work (especially The Lighthouse and The Northman) and would have spent my time better re-watching Werner Herzog's version or F W Murnau's 1922 original -- both so much eerier. (Spoiler-free review here if you're interested.)

My own preference is for the unglamorous and grave-cold variety of vampire, not the kind that snarls and growls and prowls like a big cat. It's a taste that may have been formed originally by Gerald W Page's short story "Thirst", which swept away my childhood notions of the vampire, acquired from reading Dracula when I was 10 years old*, and gave my teen self an unplugged, proto-punk take on the myth. Mr Page was kind enough to find the time to correspond with aspiring writers like me, so he may have discussed his reasons for wanting to break the mold. When I have time I shall go through his letters (which of course I have kept these fifty-three years) to see what he had to say about the story.

Later in my teens I was inspired by Gryphon's song "The Unquiet Grave" -- not specifically vampiric, admittedly, but chilling all the same with lines like this:

"My lips they are as cold as clay, my breath smells earthy strong,
And if you kiss my cold grey lips, your days they won't be long."

Robert Dale, with his deep knowledge of British folklore, encouraged this predilection with his very chilling depiction of Pyron the reaper, a vampire in the Brymstone campaign. Oliver Johnson a few decades later gave us another feral vampire in his Lightbringers game. This is from the game write-up:

"A pitiful mewling cry came from a thorn thicket to the south of the clearing. It sounded like a small child in distress or perhaps a snared bird. A narrow crawl way snaked deep into the thorns towards the sound. Nafaj squirmed into the tunnel. The thorns snagged cruelly at his clothing and skin. When he was several yards into the thicket, he saw a boyish white face staring back at him down the darkened tunnel of thorns. Though he had steeled himself for such an encounter, his will deserted him as the creature started whispering its blandishments. To his horror he found himself crawling forward. Soon he was next to the vampire. All its limbs had been ripped off; it was but a torso and a head.  The vampire drank Nafaj’s blood and instructed him to return later that night.

"Nafaj emerged from the thicket. The setting sun causing him discomfort, he had thrown the hood of his cloak over his head, but none of the others thought to question why this was. He was carrying a dead bird and explained the noise had been its dying song. The others were eager to be gone from the accursed place, but the marquis’ horse was suddenly lame and this caused a delay. Darkness fell, a temporary camp was made and watches held throughout the night."

The natural habitat of these revenants isn't a Victorian drawing room, nor even a Gothic castle. They are the dead who won't stay quiet, clawing their way up out of the dirt of the graveyard and crawling along ditches and over country lanes because enough of a spark of consciousness remains that they are jealous of the living and want to steal their warmth and lifeblood.

Such walking-corpse vampires can still have uncanny powers, like Gerwin in the Jewelspider scenario "Death Is Only The Beginning" who is able to hide himself from mortal sight after dark, though I prefer them to be nothing more than bloodless cadavers with a raging thirst, like the thing that visits you in your sleep in Workshop of the Gods:

‘Wake up!’

‘My friend... I dreamt a beautiful vampire was about to drink my blood.’

‘Beautiful?’ cries your companion in a voice thick with horror. ‘It is a monster. See!’

You look where he’s pointing and in a split-second you’re on your feet, heart pounding with adrenaline. Because only the vampire’s appearance was a dream. The rest is all too real. You see the vampire now as she really is – not a pale and beautiful woman, but a rotted corpse with maggots writhing in her pock-marked cheeks and lustreless eyes that leak brown slime. Clammy strips of dead flesh hang from her bones. The room is filled with the stench of decay.

She lurches forward, swollen grey fingers reaching for you, her lipless teeth clacking eagerly.

Sleep tight!

* To be fair to Mr Stoker, the Count is not intended to be a typical vampire. His wives and Lucy Westenra present as chillingly inhuman, nearly mindless vessels of simple appetite.

Alternate reality: "The Black Flower"

If you read White Dwarf back in its heyday, perhaps you saw this scenario in issue #31 for June/July 1982:

"The Black Flower"

This RuneQuest scenario is more plot-driven than a traditional dungeon crawl. It involves intrigue, mystery, and the investigation of an ancient curse tied to a mysterious black flower. Like much of Dave Morris's later work, it emphasizes storytelling, atmosphere, and character interaction over straightforward combat, making it stand out for players who enjoy more narrative depth in their adventures.

Doesn’t ring any bells? Ah, then you must be in the real universe. In the sometimes-hallucinatory world of ChatGPT-4, this was the cover:

Flattered by ChatGPT's high opinion of my work, I asked it for more info:

Overview:

“The Black Flower” is a RuneQuest adventure by Dave Morris centred around a mysterious black flower with a dark and tragic history. The adventure is for 3-6 player-characters and blends investigative mystery with supernatural elements, encouraging players to explore a series of strange and unsettling events. Typical skill percentages may range from 30% to 50% in their primary skills, with a few specialties possibly reaching 60% or more.

The story begins with the discovery of a rare and sinister black flower in a small town. This flower, once thought to be a mere legend, is associated with curses, madness, and death. The adventure leads the players into an investigation involving a cursed family, ancient magic, and a series of unexplained deaths. As they delve deeper, they uncover secrets about the flower's origins and the dark forces it draws upon.

The adventure emphasizes narrative and atmosphere over combat, with much of the tension arising from the unravelling mystery and eerie interactions with NPCs. It's filled with plot twists, and the players must use their wits to solve the mystery and confront the supernatural force behind the curse.

The adventure’s tone emphasizes mystery and dark atmosphere. The players are drawn into a world where folklore and supernatural forces have tangible effects, and their investigation becomes a race against time as the curse spreads. The focus on mystery-solving, atmosphere, and narrative richness is typical of Dave Morris’s style, which makes “The Black Flower” a standout scenario in White Dwarf.

Introduction to "The Black Flower"

There is a saying among the people of the southern plains: ‘Once you have touched the black flower, there is no turning back.’ For centuries, the black flower has been spoken of only in hushed whispers, a symbol of doom and death. Many believe it to be no more than an old wives’ tale, yet recently, the flower has bloomed once again.

In the small, nondescript village of Erondale, a rare black flower has been found growing at the site of an ancient burial ground. The villagers are frightened, recalling old stories about the curse of the black flower—a curse that brings madness, illness, and death to those who come into contact with it. Several strange incidents have already begun to occur, and the local lord has hired the adventurers to investigate the growing unrest in the village.

The black flower is said to be tied to an ancient family curse, one that has lingered for generations. As the players investigate the village, they will encounter a web of secrets, superstitions, and strange occurrences, all pointing to the malevolent magic behind the flower. But the truth is darker and more complex than they could have imagined, and they must tread carefully or risk becoming part of the legend themselves.

The setting

Erondale is a small, remote village with an eerie atmosphere, located in a misty valley surrounded by dark woods and hills. It is known for its unsettling quiet and the strange, almost dreamlike haze that lingers over the land, which the villagers attribute to old faerie tales. The villagers live simple lives, but the village’s dark history with the cursed black flower haunts their every step.

The Investigation

The investigation is the heart of the adventure, driving the players deeper into the story’s dark lore and cursed history. As investigators, the players must uncover several layers of mystery, dealing with increasingly strange and ominous events. Here’s how it typically unfolds:

1. Arrival and Initial Inquiry

• The players arrive in a village already tense with fear. The villagers are reluctant to talk about the black flower, but there are rumours of strange deaths and madness befalling those who have come into contact with it. 
• Their investigation starts by speaking with key NPCs, including the local lord (who commissioned their involvement), suspicious villagers, and any scholars or wise folk who know local folklore. 
• The black flower is found near an ancient burial ground, adding to the air of superstition. Villagers will offer conflicting stories, some claiming the curse is nothing but legend, while others are convinced it's real. 

2. Unexplained Deaths and Madness

• As they investigate, the players will hear about or witness several unusual occurrences: people who touched the flower have died from strange illnesses, others have succumbed to madness, and a few have gone missing. 
• These encounters are designed to create an eerie, supernatural atmosphere. Players will find themselves chasing clues such as half-written journal entries, cryptic warnings from the local wise-woman, or strange markings on walls and bodies. 

3. The Curse of the Family 

• The black flower is linked to a curse on a noble family from the area, stretching back centuries. The players will have to dig into old records, interview reluctant family members, and even visit old ruins or burial sites to piece together the history of the flower and its connection to this family.
• The curse originates from a tragic event, such as an ancient betrayal or forbidden magic that was tied to the black flower. The cursed family may even have direct or indirect responsibility for the flower’s recent appearance. 

4. Supernatural Encounters

• As the players unravel the curse, they’ll begin to experience ghostly apparitions, twisted dreams, or confront strange creatures tied to the flower’s magic. These encounters are more atmospheric than combative, though the players may occasionally face physical threats. 
• The players might also uncover the truth about the origins of the curse. Perhaps the flower was used in a dark ritual or serves as a gateway for some malevolent spirit or entity that feeds on death and madness. 

5. The Resolution

• The adventure culminates in the players needing to break the curse. This may involve a dangerous ritual, destroying the black flower at its source, or confronting the malevolent force tied to the curse.
• How they choose to resolve the situation will depend on the information they’ve gathered throughout the investigation. The ending could be tragic or triumphant, depending on their choices and success in uncovering the truth.

Structure of "The Black Flower"

The adventure is more open-ended than a typical dungeon crawl, structured like a mystery that unfolds through investigation and player-driven exploration. Here’s a breakdown of the general structure:

1. Introduction/Setup

The players are introduced to the central problem: a black flower has bloomed in the village, bringing with it rumours of a curse. The local lord hires them to investigate the source of recent strange occurrences. 

The adventure’s tension is established early on with accounts of death and madness, as well as the unease among the villagers.

2. Exploration Phase

The village and surrounding areas serve as the primary setting for exploration. The players have several leads to follow: 

• Talking to key NPCs (the lord, villagers, scholars, and members of the cursed family). 
• Investigating the location where the flower was found (an ancient burial ground or ruin). 
• Examining strange deaths, madness, and other phenomena tied to the flower. 

During this phase, they uncover clues about the family curse, the history of the black flower, and any possible supernatural involvement.

3. Escalation/Encounters

As the players delve deeper, the atmosphere becomes increasingly tense. They may encounter supernatural manifestations tied to the curse, including ghostly visions, strange creatures, or psychological effects like nightmares and hallucinations. They may also find themselves pursued by an antagonist or malevolent force (possibly tied to the curse or someone seeking to protect the family’s secrets). 

Events in the village escalate: more villagers may succumb to madness, and fear grips the population. The players are under pressure to act quickly.

4. The Climax/Final Confrontation

The investigation leads to a final revelation: the true nature of the curse and how to break it. This could involve uncovering the site of the original ritual that created the black flower or locating a lost artifact needed to end the curse.

The climax is likely a high-stakes confrontation with the supernatural force behind the flower, or perhaps a moral decision about how to deal with the cursed family or destroy the flower. The players may have to perform a dangerous ritual or battle some form of guardian or cursed spirit tied to the black flower.

5. Resolution

The adventure ends with the curse either being lifted or the situation taking a darker turn if the players fail. The resolution may also depend on how well the players have pieced together the history of the curse and whether they choose to confront or work with the cursed family. 

The village’s fate is tied to the players’ actions. They may be celebrated as heroes or cursed themselves if things go wrong.

Key Themes

• Mystery and investigation: The core of the adventure is solving the mystery behind the black flower and the curse. Players are encouraged to use wit and diplomacy, rather than brute force, to uncover clues. 
• Supernatural atmosphere: The story is designed to build tension through eerie encounters and a growing sense of dread as the players unravel the dark history of the black flower. 
• Moral choices: There may be ethical dilemmas tied to the cursed family and how the players choose to resolve the curse, allowing for a more nuanced conclusion to the adventure.

“The Black Flower” is a perfect example of an adventure where atmosphere, intrigue, and player agency take precedence over combat.

Major NPCs

The NPCs in this adventure drive much of the investigation forward, providing clues, red herrings, and even danger. The key NPCs are often conflicted, with their own agendas, secrets, and relationships to the curse of the black flower. Here are some of the most significant figures players will interact with:

Lord Caradon

Role: The local noble who hires the players.

Description: A middle-aged nobleman who is well-meaning but deeply concerned about the recent strange events in his village. While not superstitious himself, he is under immense pressure from the frightened villagers to find a solution.

Background: Unbeknownst to the players, Lord Caradon’s ancestors were tied to the cursed family, although this connection is buried in forgotten history. His involvement in hiring the players is not entirely altruistic—he may be trying to atone for his family’s ancient sins. 

Clues: He provides the players with their initial information about the black flower and offers some vague knowledge about old legends. However, he knows more than he initially lets on and may gradually reveal this, especially if the players gain his trust.

Eldra the Wise Woman 

Role: Local healer and herbalist. 

Description: An elderly woman who lives on the outskirts of the village. Eldra is both respected and feared due to her knowledge of herbs, magic, and local folklore. She is one of the few villagers who takes the curse of the black flower seriously. 

Background: Eldra has long studied the dark history of the region and may even have some ties to the supernatural forces at work. She is a reluctant ally, torn between her fear of the curse and her sense of duty to protect the village. 

Clues: Eldra knows a great deal about the legends surrounding the black flower, including its ties to the cursed family. She can offer insight into breaking the curse but will be cryptic, forcing the players to interpret her riddles and warnings. 

Encounters: Players can visit her for knowledge, but she may also become a target of the supernatural forces as the curse escalates.

Sir Gereth, the Cursed Knight

Role: The last living member of the cursed family. 

Description: Sir Gereth is a haunted figure, a knight whose family has been plagued by tragedy for generations. He is the most direct link to the curse but is reluctant to speak about it. 

Background: Sir Gereth’s family was once powerful but fell into ruin due to the curse associated with the black flower. He is racked with guilt and fear, believing that his family’s past sins are the cause of the current events. He may initially appear as an antagonist, but he is more tragic than villainous. 

Clues: Gereth holds key information about the origin of the curse, including details about his ancestors’ role in the dark rituals that gave rise to the black flower. However, he is reluctant to help, fearing the curse will claim him if he gets too involved. 

Encounters: Players may need to convince or force Gereth to reveal his knowledge. Depending on how they interact with him, he could become an ally or a source of further danger.

Mira, the Flower's Guardian 

Role: The protector of the black flower (or the force controlling it). 

Description: Mira may appear as a mysterious woman tied to the supernatural elements of the story, possibly a spirit or an ancient being tasked with guarding the cursed flower. 

Background: She may be connected to the original ritual that created the curse and now serves as a manifestation of the flower’s dark magic. Her motivations are ambiguous—she might want to protect the flower to prevent greater harm or use its power for her own ends. 

Clues: Mira holds critical information about how the flower can be destroyed or controlled. However, her intentions are unclear, and trusting her could lead the players astray. 

Encounters: Mira is likely to appear in the final stages of the adventure, perhaps offering to help the players—though her true motives may remain hidden until the climax.

Key Encounters

The encounters in "The Black Flower" are designed to build tension and heighten the sense of unease. They focus on atmosphere, puzzle-solving, and occasional supernatural confrontations rather than straight combat.

The Discovery of the Flower 

Location: Ancient burial ground near the village. 

Description: Early in the investigation, the players visit the site where the black flower was discovered. The area is filled with eerie silence, and strange carvings can be found on nearby stones. The flower itself is a dark, unnatural-looking plant, surrounded by the decaying remains of animals or people who have come into contact with it. 

Challenge: Players must examine the site carefully, looking for clues about the flower’s origin. They may need to avoid disturbing the flower too much, as touching it can cause illness, madness, or worse. 

Potential Encounter: Ghostly apparitions may appear at the site, warning the players to leave or showing glimpses of the past events that caused the curse. This encounter is more atmospheric than combative, setting the tone for the rest of the adventure.

Visions and Dreams 

Location: Various locations (inn, village, etc.) 

Description: As the players investigate, they begin to experience unsettling dreams or visions tied to the black flower’s magic. These may occur when they sleep or even while they are awake, providing cryptic clues or warnings about the curse’s nature. 

Challenge: Players must interpret the meaning of these visions. The dreams could include imagery of the cursed family’s past sins, the ritual that created the flower, or glimpses of what might happen if they fail to lift the curse. 

Potential Encounter: In one vision, the players might see the family performing a ritual to summon a dark entity that is now bound to the flower. They may encounter this entity later in the story, either as a spirit or a physical threat.

Supernatural Attacks 

Location: Throughout the village and surrounding countryside. 

Description: As the players dig deeper into the mystery, supernatural forces tied to the flower begin to attack the village. People may be found dead or driven insane, animals act strangely, and the natural world seems to turn hostile. 

Challenge: These supernatural events are meant to escalate the tension. For example, villagers may fall ill with no apparent cause, or their eyes may turn black like the flower’s petals. Players need to find ways to protect themselves and others from these forces while continuing their investigation. 

Potential Encounter: At night, the players could be attacked by creatures born from the curse—perhaps ghostly figures, or even corrupted animals controlled by the flower’s magic. These are physical threats, but they serve to increase the players’ sense of urgency.

The Ritual Chamber 

Location: Ruins or crypt connected to the cursed family. 

Description: The players eventually discover a hidden chamber or ruins where the black flower was originally used in a dark ritual. This location is crucial to lifting the curse, but it is also heavily guarded by supernatural forces. 

Challenge: Players must decipher old inscriptions, locate a key artifact, or perform a counter-ritual to end the curse. The room itself may have traps, magical wards, or illusions designed to protect the flower’s power. 

Potential Encounter: A final confrontation with a spirit or demon bound to the flower occurs here. This could be the original entity summoned during the family’s ritual or the cursed spirit of one of the ancestors themselves. Combat here would be challenging, with the entity drawing power from the flower, making it difficult to defeat.

Confronting the Guardian 

Location: Near the black flower. 

Description: If the players meet Mira or another guardian figure, this confrontation represents a key decision point in the adventure. Depending on how they’ve handled the investigation, Mira may offer to help them destroy the flower or mislead them into performing a ritual that strengthens the curse. 

Challenge: This is a moral and intellectual challenge as much as a physical one. Players must decide whether to trust the guardian and follow their advice or take matters into their own hands. The outcome will influence how the curse is lifted or whether the players inadvertently make things worse. 

Potential Encounter: If the players reject Mira’s guidance, she may turn on them, revealing her true nature. This could lead to a final battle or a tense negotiation.

Outcome

The adventure culminates in the players either successfully lifting the curse, which may involve destroying the black flower or dispelling the dark magic tied to it, or failing, allowing the curse to continue or even grow stronger. The resolution may depend heavily on the decisions made in the ritual chamber and their interactions with the NPCs, particularly Mira and Sir Gereth.

The outcome can range from a tragic ending where the curse consumes the village, to a bittersweet resolution where the players end the curse but at great personal cost.

The stat blocks for "The Black Flower" primarily cover supernatural entities, cursed creatures, and the guardian of the black flower. Here’s an outline of potential stat blocks for key encounters.

Cursed Villager (Minor NPC/Encounter)

These cursed villagers serve as minor threats, affected by the black flower’s influence. They act erratically, and in some cases, violently. 

STR 10-12
CON 10-11
SIZ 9-11
DEX 8-10
POW 5-8
INT 7-9
CHA 6-8 

HP 11 

Skills: 

• Dodge: 25% 
• Melee Weapons: 30% 
• Unarmed Attack: 35%

Abilities: 

• Cursed Mind: Due to the influence of the black flower, these villagers are under the control of the supernatural entity. They may become violent or act irrationally. 
• Madness Check: Players who spend too much time near them might experience hallucinations or nightmares. 
• Madness: 1d4 sanity loss when interacting with a cursed villager (GM discretion).

Black Flower Guardian (Major NPC/Encounter)

This could be a spirit or entity tied to the flower, guarding it from destruction. Mira, as described earlier, could take on this role. 

STR 8-10
CON 12
SIZ 13-14
DEX 15
POW 16
INT 13
CHA 15 

HP 15 

Skills: 

• Dodge: 55% 
• Melee Weapon (Dagger or Staff): 40% 
• Manipulation (Magic): 75% 
• Stealth: 60% 
• Lore (Ancient Rituals): 70%

Abilities: 

• Spellcasting (RuneQuest magic system): 
• Dominate Human: Forces a target to obey commands (POW vs POW roll). 
• Spirit Combat: Engages in ethereal combat with other spirits or characters tied to the spiritual plane. 
• Curse: Affects the target with a temporary debilitating curse, reducing one characteristic (like POW or STR) for a set duration (1d6 days). 
• Illusionary Presence: The guardian can create illusory duplicates of themselves or other creatures to confuse players. 
• Roll against POW to disbelieve illusions. 
• Aura of Fear: Any who come within 10 feet of the guardian must roll against POW or be paralyzed by fear (failure means they lose an action for 1d4 rounds).

Weaknesses: 

• Vulnerable to certain rituals or objects tied to the black flower’s origin. Players might discover a way to weaken the guardian using ancient knowledge.

Cursed Spirit (Mid-Level Combat Encounter)

This spirit represents the malevolent force bound to the black flower, often tied to the cursed family’s dark history. This could be a wraith, shade, or similar entity. 

STR 8-10
CON 13
SIZ 10-12
DEX 14
POW 16-18
INT 10
CHA 10 

HP 12 

Skills: 

• Dodge: 45% 
• Unarmed Combat (Spirit Strike): 50% 
• Stealth: 60% 
• Intimidation: 70% 
• Spirit Combat: 75%

Abilities: 

• Spirit Strike: Deals POW damage to an enemy in spiritual combat. If the target loses POW, they may lose access to their magic for a certain number of rounds. 
• Ethereal Form: Can phase through physical objects and attacks, though magical weapons or spells can still harm the spirit. 
• Aura of Despair: Any living being near the spirit must make a POW check or suffer from visions of their worst fears (reducing their effectiveness in combat by -10% to all rolls for 1d4 rounds). 
• Drain Life: On a successful attack, the cursed spirit can drain 1d4 points of POW from the victim. If the victim reaches 0 POW, they die, and their body is left as a desiccated husk.

Weaknesses: 

• Bound to the Black Flower: The spirit’s strength comes from the black flower’s magic. If the players begin a ritual to destroy the flower or sever the curse, the spirit loses 1 HP per round until it dissipates.

Black Flower’s Final Manifestation (Major Combat Encounter)

In the final stages of the adventure, the black flower might manifest as a powerful supernatural force, combining both physical and magical threats. 

STR 16
CON 15
SIZ 16
DEX 12
POW 20
INT 8
CHA 5 

HP 18 

Skills: 

• Dodge: 30% 
• Tentacle/Root Strike: 60% 
• Magic Resistance: 80%

Abilities: 

• Tentacle/Root Strike: The flower can lash out with magical roots or tendrils. This attack deals 1d8 damage and can restrain targets, forcing a STR vs STR roll to break free. 
• Corrupting Pollen: The flower releases toxic pollen that weakens the players’ resolve. All within a 20-foot radius must make a CON check or suffer from a -20% penalty on all rolls for 1d4 rounds. 
• Aura of Corruption: Any living being within 10 feet of the flower must make a POW check or suffer from the "Cursed" condition. This reduces their maximum POW by 1 point for every round spent near the flower. The POW can be restored with a powerful ritual after the flower is destroyed. 
• Summon Cursed Spirits: Every few rounds, the flower can call upon 1d4 cursed spirits or cursed villagers to fight for it. These spirits are weaker than the primary cursed spirit but still dangerous.

Weaknesses: 

• Tied to the Ritual: The flower’s power can only be weakened or destroyed by completing a specific ritual or using an artifact discovered during the investigation. 
• Vulnerable to Magic: The flower is particularly susceptible to magic that counters curses or purification spells. Attacks involving fire, holy symbols, or salt might deal extra damage.

General Notes for Encounters in "The Black Flower" 

The encounters are designed to build atmosphere and tension, with a mix of psychological and physical challenges. Many of these stat blocks assume that players will need to use magic, wit, or specific knowledge (gleaned from the investigation) to gain an advantage in combat. 

The adventure encourages players to engage with NPCs and utilize their skills creatively, meaning that not all interactions will require high skill percentages. Clever role-playing, teamwork, and narrative creativity can lead to successful outcomes even when skill checks are low. 

Morale and Sanity: Players may face sanity checks or POW rolls during particularly intense encounters, as the supernatural elements could erode their mental resilience over time. 

Weaknesses: Most creatures are tied to the black flower and draw their strength from its curse. Players can exploit this if they discover ways to weaken the flower or dispel its magic. 

Clearly ChatGPT hasn't quite got the hang of how scenarios were written back then, but its notes for "The Black Flower" are considerably more extensive than anyone actually needs to whip up a game session. (If it were really my scenario I'd make the black flower curse a MacGuffin and have the meat of the adventure involve somebody exploiting the curse for reasons of their own.) If you feel like giving it a go, tell us all about it in the comments. And if you're one of those who is fretful about AI in general, this article will help dispel some of the more paranoid myths.

Imagine all the people

By the time you read this we've had the US presidential election, the bellwether of the direction the West is taking -- whether towards liberal & humanist values or a retreat into conspiracy theories, insular nationalism, and turkeys voting for Christmas. Not that the losing side turned out to exactly be paragons of incorruptible and dutiful good governance. One day maybe we'll appoint somebody who's fit to hold the office. (Other countries are doing better, but the overall liberty trend is downwards.)

You may have wondered what would happen if all the world's borders were open -- that is, the EU model of freedom of movement applied globally. According to one analysis it would make the planet nearly $80 trillion richer. That's ten thousand dollars a head if distributed evenly, so not to be sneezed at. Read about it in The Economist here (you can register to get free access to the article, or look at the archive.ph snapshot without the graphs here).

An additional benefit is we could stop spending money on war. The total cost of Putin's invasion of Ukraine to date, including reconstruction of Ukraine's damaged infrastructure, is now more than four times the entire amount spent on the Apollo programme after adjusting for inflation -- and before factoring in the spin-off tech benefits of the Moon landings. It's often said we shouldn't waste money on AI, or particle research, or space exploration, or whatever, until we've sorted out problems here on Earth. Well, start with national boundaries and then we can go to Mars and do the other things and still have trillions of dollars left to save the whale.

It happens I think the cultural benefits of full freedom of movement would be even greater than the financial ones. Intolerance thrives when people live in a racial and social bubble. The more you meet people from other walks of life the more you appreciate that our real identity is human, not national or religious or ethnic. And people from different societies bring different ways of looking at a problem. There are so many win-wins from international cooperation.

A criticism is that having open borders would be radically disruptive. So it would. But look at the inequality we have now, the division, the frothing hatred. When things build up to that kind of pressure you get wars and revolutions in which people are killed in the thousands or millions just for who they are. With the growing climate crisis the situation will only get worse. Isn't it worth looking for a soft revolution in how we live that could avoid all the atrocity and that after a decade or two of upheaval would yield a richer world for all?

It won't happen, of course. More likely the 21st century will go along the same lines as the 20th only with even more monstrous tech to fuel it all. There are plenty of dark clouds and few silver linings right at the moment. But don't let future generations say we never even tried. We only get a good future if we strive to bring it about. Here's Konstantin Kisin on that very point:

Onto more frivolous matters (which, the gods know, we're all going to need as a safety valve over the next few years) this is the 40th anniversary of the Dragon Warriors RPG. We didn't get The Cursed King in 2024 nor the English edition of Blood Sword 5e, but there's an online Dragon Warriors convention coming up in just over a week (sign up quick!) and lots of really amazing semi-pro content from Red Ruin Publishing on DriveThruRPG, most of it at pay-what-you-like prices. And there's still a hope of seeing Cursed King and Brymstone in 2025, or anyway before Donald Trump leaves office. If he ever does.

I'll try to make up for the lack of any actual pro publications with some scenarios and reminiscences here on the blog. Following a pre-Christmas chat with business consultant and gamer Tom Burton I keep wondering whether the best thing for DW would be to make the original core rulebooks available under Creative Commons. Here is Book One, which I just discovered is available as a free download. I can't truly sanction this sort of thing, as it's entirely unauthorized by the authors and publishers, but if you've never tried a Dragon Warriors game, now's your chance. Happy New Year!