"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. 

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.

A baker's dozen

There's very little new material released for Dragon Warriors these days, but I prefer to take a goblet-half-full approach, consoling myself with the thought that what is released is of top quality and written and drawn by the best creative team an old-school RPG designer could possibly wish for. Yes, I'm talking about Red Ruin Publishing, whose latest offering is Casket of Fays #13.

If the cover alone isn't enough to tempt you, look at the contents: a couple of adventures (one of them solo, one of them with orcs), rules FAQs, some very useful campfire magic for travellers, a two-part article adding some details to the light-level rules and how they interact with spells, and creatures both new and really old. And you get bonus campaign material about the port of Gatina on the Azure Coast.

What do you have to pay for such riches? This is where the goblet magically runneth over, for Red Ruin are giving it all away for free. (The madness rules are in DW book 5, you'll recall.) Go and clear out the treasure hall now on DriveThruRPG.

Next year is Dragon Warriors' fortieth anniversary. I'd like us to mark it with lots of new stuff -- Robert Dale's brilliant Brymstone campaign for starters. Here's hoping the stars will align.

Everything must go

It's always a wrench having to chuck stuff out. Well, it is for me as I'm a bit of a hoarder. But lately I've had to take an "exterminate all the brutes" attitude to clearing out, so I've given a couple of boxes of gaming treasures to my wife to flog on Ebay. It's that or take them to the tip, and with classics like these that would be a crime. 

There's sets of Imagine, Adventurer, Red Giant (with Brymstone by Robert Dale), and Fantasy Chronicles - including the issue above with Steve Foster's superb Christmas adventure which I still remember us playing in his house on Western Lane.

There are some scenario books, Chaosium games such as Big Rubble, gems like Bushido and Champions, and some figurines. Take a look if you have space for them. I'd like to think they'll go to a good home.

Hear ye! Hear ye!

"There are going to be at least twelve Dragon Warriors books, surely," said the chief sales rep at Transworld as he drove me and Oliver around the country to run demo games for the book buyers.

That was thirty-five years ago, before the distributors messed up (they sent all the copies of DW book 1 to one part of the country, all the copies of book 2 to another) and the foreign rights department turned down a gold-plated deal from Gallimard.

Well, stuff happens. Dragon Warriors stopped at book 6, The Lands of Legend, and one calamitous consequence of that was Robert Dale's brilliant campaign set around the town of Brymstone never reached the wider audience it deserved.

Actually, part of it did get published a few years later. Jamie and I were offered the editorship of a new RPG magazine to be called Red Giant. We turned the job down (the title was the sticking point) but we did recommend the publishers get in touch with Robert about serializing Brymstone.

Red Giant sadly only lasted two issues, but roleplayers had got a glimpse of Brymstone at least. Over the years, its reputation rightly grew. But it's been like finding the Finnesburg Fragment -- until now, because (fanfare please) Serpent King Games have done a deal with Robert Dale to release his complete, definitive, remastered Brymstone. Read about it here.

I gather it's going to be a big book but (continuing last week's theme) none of that is extraneous padding or overscripted acts and beats. It's a true sourcebook packed with everything you'll need to run freeform adventures with Brymstone as a base -- the NPCs, key locations, rivalries, alliances, grudges, folktales, customs, and adventure seeds -- whether or not your player-characters engage with the épine dorsale, namely Robert's compelling central plotline of gathering danger, dread and doom.

Talking of the central plot, the big bad of this book is the Brollachan, a mythical creature with no true form that's said to take the shape of what you most fear -- or those you most trust. I still feel a shudder when I remember our encounters with it in Robert's original campaign. Dragon Warriors players have a treat in store.

Building up a threat

After writing the last post I was looking at William of Newburgh's account of a 12th century revenant. Passages like this have an almost dreamlike matter-of-factness:

"Hastening to the cemetery, they began to dig; and whilst they were thinking that they would have to dig to a greater depth, they suddenly, before much of the earth had been removed, laid bare the corpse, swollen to an enormous corpulence, with its countenance beyond measure turgid and suffused with blood; while the napkin in which it had been wrapped appeared nearly torn to pieces. The young men, however, spurred on by wrath, feared not, and inflicted a wound upon the senseless carcass, out of which incontinently flowed such a stream of blood, that it might have been taken for a leech filled with the blood of many persons. Then, dragging it beyond the village, they speedily constructed a funeral pile; and upon one of them saying that the pestilential body would not burn unless its heart were torn out, the other laid open its side by repeated blows of the blunted spade, and, thrusting in his hand, dragged out the accursed heart. This being torn piecemeal, and the body now consigned to the flames."

I find the same effect in the opening scene of A Serious Man by the Coen Brothers, in which a man may or may not have inadvertently asked a dybbuk home for supper. Anyway, that reminded me to go digging around a little more in the Brymstone material for a couple of descriptions of the Brollachan, who was the Big Bad for that campaign. First we have this sober account left by a scholar called Edlym Whitebeard:

"Long ago, before the awakening of men's hearts to the True Faith, there was found in the far north of this land a strange being left over from the parting of Death and Life. No form had it, save what it could seize, and the men of the North Country feared it, believing it to be a god. At each new moon they sacrificed to it their goods, cattle and even their children. The demon Achferinar took it for a servant and bestowed upon it great gifts of sorcery, yet it was ever wilful and would not answer its master's call when he summoned his servants to the feast of the Breaking. Thus it was that it survived the fate of the old gods and continued to trouble the men of the North. At length Kurnac Mac Dir, whose domain this now was, sent out his heroes to seize and bind the monster. He himself sealed the enchantment by which the Brollachan was sunk in the depths of the sea, to thresh and chafe impotently there and trouble the hills and vales of the middle world no more..."

That we found in a local monk's library, but later in the campaign we received a rather more vernacular description of our adversary from a farmhand who had been sleeping off an evening at the tavern:

"I were dozin' behind this tree by the river, see, 'avin' drunk perhaps more 'an I needed, an' I woke about midnight to see these little goblins carryin' some poor chap out of a boat. Well, there were this tall thin feller on the other bank, an' 'e called across to 'em, sayin' "Bring 'e 'ere, you knows I can't cross". All them goblins started a titterin' an' a-gigglin', an' the poor feller they'd ahold of moaned somethin' fearful, when suddenly this thin wight calls out again, only this time 'e's got a voice like a clap o' thunder! The goblins all fall down in a tremblin' heap an' start wailin' for mercy, then they bundle the feller in the boat again an' row 'im over to where the other one's waitin'. Well, 'e took that poor feller's head in 'is thin hands an' the next thing - an' I swear on me good mother's grave I were sober when I saw it - he sort o' belched up all this black smoke into 'is face! I only 'eard a muffled scream, but I caught a 'orrible whiff o' brimstone right across the river. The thin feller, 'e falls down like a broken puppet, but the feller the goblins 'ad I thought he were a goner, but 'e sort o' breathes in the smoke an' then some'ow 'e's turned into the other feller even though 'e don't look no different. The goblins all start to grovel at 'is feet, but just then 'e sees me an' gives a great shout. Well, I don' need no tellin' but I'm off like a ferret in a hole, an' don' turn round till I'm 'ome and a-holdin' on to a crucifix in one 'and and an oak club in the other...."

We didn't actually encounter the Brollachan in the flesh until the very end of the campaign, but you can bet that he had been built up enough by then through hearsay and eyewitness accounts that the whole party had a healthy terror of him.

It won't stay in the ground

About a year ago we ran a short series of posts about the town of Brymstone, a setting for roleplaying games in the land of Legend. I played in this campaign back at Oxford originally, before Dragon Warriors was even thought of. The town was called Sneyp then, though not apparently from the Old English root meaning a marsh, for it was surrounded by farmland and downs. Robert Dale, its creator, later renamed and relocated Brymstone to the DW country of Ellesland where, funnily enough, it seemed like it had belonged all along.

The main thrust of the Brymstone campaign was the tension between the traditional power of local lord, Erek Longsword, and the town guilds that were gaining in strength. This conflict was embodied in the Brollachan, a primordial shapechanger who had settled in the district and seemed to be fomenting strife for his own reasons. I'm keeping the rest of the campaign under wraps because possibly the team at Serpent King Games may want to do something with it someday - and in any case, that decision is Robert's, not mine. But here is a short episode that gives a little of the folkloric flavor:

A VAMPIRE AT CRADOC'S FORD

This incident has nothing to do with the Brollachan storyline, but will provide some light relief for the player-characters, as well as a good fight. The creature in this adventure is not quite the standard sly bloodsucker. Folklore abounds with a number of interpretations of the vampire, after all. The shrewd and scheming tactician personified by Count Dracula is one; this is another.

The characters hear that the villagers of Cradoc's Ford are looking for adventurers to help guard an isolated farm against attacks by a vampire. The young daughter of one of the farmers, Anskar, has suffered recurrent attacks. Local efforts to track the creature down having proved ineffective, outside help is sought. The characters will be expected to arrange themselves into a hunting party by day and provide protection by night. For this they will be paid 25 silvers a day each (payments will be made one day in arrears), and there is a reward of 300 silvers for whoever removes the vampire's head. The villagers will lend a hand if the characters make any attempt to track the vampire, but they will not fight except in extreme circumstances. The vampire's lair is an old forgotten barrow on a low hillock north of Cradoc's Ford (see map). There are no really clear tracks, so unless a search party stumbles across it by accident there is only a 10% chance that even the most experienced trackers (say Assassins of 5th rank or higher) will succeed.

The characters will probably soon see that the best way to catch the vampire is to let it come to them. At Anskar's farmhouse they will meet his ailing daughter Kara, frail and pale but still winsome. Her swain, a youth named Skuli, is also present. He is a very likeable sort, though not particularly charismatic or forceful. However, he is utterly devoted to Kara and will doggedly insist on joining the characters' vigil. They need only watch for one night before the vampire makes its appearance.

Pyron the Reaper (vampire)
Reflexes 18; ATT 22; DEF 2; Sickle (d6+2,6); Unarmed Combat (d6,4); AF1; 30HP; MAG DEF 7; EV 7; move 10m(20m); STEALTH 13; PERCEPTION 10 (darksight); nonmagical weapons (unless of solid silver) score half damage

Pyron can fight until literally cut apart, but effectively only has animal-level intelligence. This does not mean that he is stupid, merely that he cannot reason logically. It would never occur to him to lie low for a week or two to throw hunters of his scent, for example. When approaching his prey he may utter phrases of reassurance ("But wait - Pyron means you no harm..." etc, etc) without consciously remembering their meaning. In trying to imagine himself into Pyron's role, the GM should perhaps consider something like a very long and horrible nightmare. Pyron's conscious mind fell into the sleep of death years ago, and the fragment that remains is primitive, tormented and irrational.

He is not affected by garlic or crucifixes. Because he is just a walking corpse as opposed to an undead spirit, he does cast a reflection. He cannot change into a bat, mist or perform any other Hollywood trickery such as mesmerism. Immersion in fresh running water renders him powerless, and at the sound of cockcrow he must depart to his lair or be destroyed by the first rays of dawn.

In a fight at the farmhouse, Pyron will continue to attack until he is obviously losing the fight. If he manages to retreat (perhaps taking advantage of a chance diversion such as burning logs spilling from the hearth and starting a fire during the struggle - the GM can improvise) the villagers will insist that a hunt is mounted to destroy the monster once and for all. They will not pay the characters any more until Pyron is slain, and will place themselves under the protection of Erek Longsword if threatened.

Pyron's hasty retreat from the farmhouse will have left good tracks, and his barrow should be found without difficulty. Forewarned by now that he is not the kind of vampire they are accustomed to, the characters should no longer be caught off balance by the fact that he is immune to the usual precautions. If they enter after sunrise they will find Pyron lurking in the very heart of the barrow. Bearded in his lair, he fights to the true death.

A distinctive mood may be brought to this adventure by giving some emphasis to the characters of Anskar, Kara and Skuli. Anskar does not entire endorse the youngsters' relationship, so Skuli is eager to prove his worth. So eager that he might just rush into battle against Pyron - and either get himself killed if the PCs do not act quickly, or just possibly end up as the one who slays the vampire and claims the reward. It could be interesting for once to give the player characters the impression that they are not at the centre of the stage, but peripheral characters in someone else's story. Whether that story is one of tragic love, grand heroics, gentle whimsy or broad farce... that is up to the GamesMaster.

There is a small amount of treasure in the tomb, though most of the grave goods are of purely archaelogical interest - just old pots and so on from the player-characters' viewpoint. There is a gold drinking cup worth 900 silvers, silver belt fittings (on the belt around the vampyr's waist) and a necklace of jet (not worn by Pyron; perhaps a last token from a loved one). The silver would fetch perhaps 60 silvers and the jet (prized by sailors as a charm against shipwreck) another 100 or 150. All told, some 1100 silvers. The villagers will claim a quarter share as is their due under local law. Again, they will invoke the protection of Lord Erek if threatened.

As I read through this, I'm aware that Pyron as an archetype has appeared a few times in our games, most recently in Tim Harford's Immortal Spartans campaign, where he dwelt in an ancient tomb by the eastern walls of Rome and was known as "the Etruscan". If your taste is for these gray, loam-smelling, grave-cold vampires, I can recommend Marcus Sedgwick's My Swordhand is Singing and Lindsey Barraclough's Long Lankin as two novels that will send a chill down your spine. In a nice way.