Notes
from the GM
This
was the very first DragonQuest™ campaign
I ever ran and it began in late 1982. I had played the
game a few times, but I wasn't completely fluent in the
mechanics. This campaign was an experiment, really, and
I did 2 interesting things at the outset: I had
the players roll up "evil" characters and I
gave them lots of Experience Points so they would be fairly
powerful. I wanted the characters to have some punch so
that I would be forced to learn more of the system more
quickly. Doug Miers rolled up Krandox - a fairly
powerful human necromancer - and Myron Thomas rolled up
Denots - a stone giant fighter with a sinister side. We
role-played some minor expeditions first, so we could
all get better acquainted with the game system in general
& the combat sequence in particular. Then I designed
my first major DragonQuest "dungeon"
- Castle Belgier - over the Christmas break of 1982 -
'83. I continued to run this campaign for several months.
These
adventures occured decades ago, so I really have no idea
about the specifics, but I do remember the broad strokes.
Eventually,
these characters were set aside and the players rolled
up new, beginning-level characters of their own choosing,
which became the Gonham
Campaign. However, the deeds of King Krandox
of Halfast would reach the ears of those characters as
legendary horror stories about the South West in the First
Age of Man.
---
Charlie |
Ancient
History - The Magi
For
uncounted centuries, the world of Lia was the domain of the
Magi - an immortal, yet human-like race with a powerful natural
ability to manipulate manna. Even the elves were no match for
the magical prowess of these wizards. While the elves were master
spellsmiths with the elemental forces of nature, the Magi could
tap into other sources of manna & channel forces that the
elves could not. For instance, they could summon & bind
powerful denizens of the outer planes and some of the wizards
bargained with these beings for untold dark power over mortals.
The Magi also could channel the rich field of ambient manna
on Lia & use it for thaumaturgy, the generic magical art
of manipulating the environment & other beings and bending
them to one's will. Over time, the elves learned the thaumaturgy
of the Magi and the wizards learned to channel elemental forces
as the elves did. However, nearly all elves refused to delve
into any magic that brought demons & others of their ilk
to this world. Those elves who did learn the dark arts became
the Drow. So, the balance of power between the elves & the
Magi did not change until the introduction of a new sentient
race to the world of Lia - humans.
By
the beginning of the First Age of Man, only a dozen of the ancient
Magi were left.
Each
of these surviving wizards had customized his/her powers over
the centuries and they each specialized in one particular magical
domain. Those 12 whom the humans would come to call the "Great
Wizards" included the Namer Eman, the Sorceror Detem, the
Mentalist Belcor, the Illusionist Manif, the Aeromancer Bris,
the Aquamancer Regen, the Pyromancer Ardiente, the Terramancer
Intero, the Celestidigitator Himmel, the Necromancer Kann, the
Black Mage Nestor, and the Summoner Obedecor. Although Eman
& Obedecor were half-brothers, they held diametrically opposed
points of view regarding magic and they were constantly at war
with each other. From these 12 Magi would come the 12 "Colleges"
of magic that exist to this day at the Towers of Trimon - the
premiere university of magic on Lia.
/\
BACK TO TOP /\
The
Necromancer
(with a nod to Neil Peart, Rush, &
Hugh Syme)
For
as long as anyone could remember, the Morkán Rain Forest
had been the home of the Necromancer Kann. In fact, the jungle
had been named "Mor-Kann" ("home of Kann")
long before the current resident known as "Morkán"
(a senile old ent) had sprouted its first branch.
Even
in the First Age, it was widely known that the road into Kann's
realm was lined with peril & that the air was charged with
fear. Many told of the silence that shrouded the forest there
and the shreds of black clouds that loomed in overcast skies.
Common belief held that the intensity of Kann's dread power could
be felt from a great distance, weakening the body & saddening
the heart of anyone who forded the River Dawn and turned south.
Songs passed down through the generations warned that the shadow
of his nearness weighed "like iron tears" upon those
who journeyed into the dark & forbidding lands of the Necromancer.
His tower stood deep in the swampy lower section of the jungle,
where the brooding Necromancer kept watch with magic prism eyes.
Gazing into his prisms, he viewed all his lands & immediately
knew whenever helpless invaders were trapped in his lair. Few
who had ventured there had ever returned to tell the tale. Legend
said that intruders into Kann's realm ultimately would become
empty, mindless spectres; stripped of will & soul, only their
thirst for freedom giving them hunger for vengeance.
/\
BACK TO TOP /\
The
Kingdom of Halfast
The
Kingdom of Halfast lay just north of the Morkán, encompassing
all the fertile lands between the rainforest and the Kirshin Desert.
This land had a long & storied history, but the reigning king
was a noble man who had the love of his people. The kingdom enjoyed
a certain level of peace - it was allied with Cuifastai (the neighboring
kingdom across the river to the east) and the nomadic bedouin
tribes in the desert to the north weren't unified enough to present
a serious threat. Furthermore, the channels of the Lesi Nais (the
rocky islands off the western coast) were far too treacherous
for any serious attempt to invade by sea. The only real threat
lay in the rainforest to the south, but the Necromancer had been
something of a "sleeping evil" for more than a generation.
Around
the year 300, Kann began planning
& implementing ways to corrupt the king of Halfast, but found
him to be of too strong a character for this. As an alternate
plan, Kann decided to overthrow the king. The Necromancer could
have waged an all-out war against Halfast using armies of skeletons
& zombies, but he realized that this would be a slow march
and that it would allow the king time to call upon his ally to
the east for aid. Kann decided that a small elite strike force
would be best and he set about patiently building that force.
Taking control of Halfast was to be the first step in a grand
scheme to turn the entire southwest quarter of the world into
a land of the living dead; he could afford to take his time.
/\
BACK TO TOP /\
King
Krandox [1982-'83]
By
the year 313, Kann had spent over
a decade teaching the necromantic arts to an eager young apprentice
named Krandox, a human from the city of Wuldoth. Kann had taught
him the basics of animating & controlling the dead, as well
as some specialty spells & rituals. Krandox had become powerful
in his own right & Kann encouraged him to recruit some fighters
with deadly skill as bodyguards. Krandox found one huge fighter
named Denots - a savage stone giant from the hills of Westen -
and he never felt it necessary to look any further.
That
autumn, Kann sent Krandox & his extra-large associate to infiltrate
and take Castle Belgier in Halfast and he offered Krandox the
throne if he could take it. Krandox & Denots found a way in
through the drain system and released all the prisoners from the
dungeons below the castle. Krandox re-animated all the castle
guards they killed them, giving the intruders a substantial force
of zombies with which to fend off attacks from other castle guards
and to create diversions. They eventually killed the king &
secured the castle [I believe it took them several gaming sessions]
and Krandox immediately assumed residence.
Kann
was quite pleased with his apprentice and quickly arranged a coronation
ceremony, where he officially placed the crown of Halfast on the
head of Krandox. He gave Krandox only one directive: wreak as
much havoc as possible on the neighboring peoples & sovereignties.
King Krandox soon began a campaign to eradicate the bedouin tribes
to the north, then declared war on the kingdom of Cufastai. After
that, he invaded the dwarven mines of Kâr Düm. He became
notorious for re-animating the fallen soldiers of any force that
came against him, turning them to fight against their own. Krandox
took many surrounding kingdoms in his quest for power. He would
be remembered for millenia as one of he most horrific & ruthless
rulers in history. |
