Reposessed & Hell To Burn - Dragon Issue # 20 & Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's Heroic Fantasy Handbook - Campaign Commentary

 Today we're gonna pick right up from where we left off on the blog the other day here. Hell is not going to remain static at all during a Heroic Fantasy Handbook campaign in Adventurer, Conqueror, King. And the first signs of the events coming up are going to be found within the pages of The Dragon magazine issue# 20 November 1 1978. 

And if we look at Wayne's book site we've got a front row seat for this late Halloween style issue:"ARTICLES: A New Look at Witches in D&D; GenCon Photo Album; Imperium Clarifications & Addenda; D&D Death Stats; Mythos of Polynesia in D&D; Demonology in D&D; Demonic Possession in D&D; more"  We've got a plethora of demonic topics in classic Dungeons & Dragons. Everything that could make any Satanic Panic era mom salivate with demonic dread. 
Let's look at this from a completely different perspective. And that's the idea here that clerics in a classic or ACK's campaign are going to be up too thier eyeballs in signs & portents of the demonic activity to come. 
And according to the article  Demonic Possession in D&D article"  by Chas. Sagui we're going to be playing with the big boys of the Abyss; "Only demons of level IV or greater and the Princes are capable of possessing bodies of adventurers. The rule of the thumb is that only those demons that are immune to all but magical weapons and therefore exist upon two planes at once may possess. The corporeal body of the demon is sent to another plane while the spiritual essence remains in a room, cave, dungeon hall or other area. The amulet of the demon must remain on the plane and world in which the possession takes place. It need not be in the same room but must remain within one mile of the place of possession. Although the demon should be placed by the DM, the member of the party affected should be at random (First person into the room, last person, fourth person or whatever) so that any member of the party" 

Is this in line with Advnturer, Conqeuror, King's Heroic Fantasy Handbook!? Yes it is because it gives high level clerics another entire advenue to deal with. 

Possessors are not simply some run of the mill demon. Nope these things are out & out spirits of Hell. And yes I know all about the "Demonology in D&D" article by Gregory Rihn in which he lays out who the wizards engaging in such nafarious doings of the black arts; "In Dungeons & Dragons®, magic users have other, more immediately rewarding enterprises to occupy their time, such as spell research and the manufacture of magic items, not to mention adventuring. However, the demonic heirarchies laid out in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual make it attractive for D & D magic users to delve into the dubious science of demonology." 

And thus its also true for the black wizards of the Heroic Fantasy Handbook as well. Here we've got a rash of heroic level demons waiting to be exploited or to exploit the population of the campaign's surrounding countryside. 

Clerics & other religious PC types are going to be key here for freeing the local governor's wife or family members from the clutches of some demonic prince or it's minions. The truth of the matter if we're looking at Hell and or the Abyss getting a foothold into reality. It's gonna be through the machinations of some black wizard's blunderings with the black arts. 

And this is where the dungeons of ACK's come into play the 'dungeon' is a 'sink of evil' with the ACK's appendix of the rule book. And these sinks could hold the artifact or verse that might free the hostage of said possession. 

How does this relate to the idea of dragging our PC's down into the depths?! Hell is not mocked nor the devil or demon cheated. That dungeon may be the NPC's salvation but the PC's doom. The forces of Hell may just come after the PC's for such an affont to Hell itself. And the gods may wait to see if the PC's mettle is up to the task. How and why we'll get into next time.