Review & Commentary On "Stealer of Souls: A Quest For Vengeance in Ilmiora " By Ken Rolston For Stormbringer rpg

 "  The scenarios depict a woman’s quest for revenge against a deadly conspiracy of merchants in Bakshaan. The four merchants (rivals of the woman’s father, a man named Haver Nikorni hired Elric to storm his keep and kill him. That battle is chronicled in the Moorcock story entitled “Stealer of Souls”."

"Freyda Nikorn, the dead merchant’s daughter gathers together a group of adventurers and friends to embark on her mission of vengeance. The adventures in this book tell the tale of Freyda’s vengeance against the four merchants, and her success or failure is determined by the players."
"Stealer of Souls: A Quest For Vengeance in Ilmiora " By Ken Rolston came out in '85 & clocks in at only forty four pages. But this adventure set in motion a set of circumstances that killed off a major part of our players back then. Its this adventure that had one rule for playing the Stormbringer rpg, 'Never go after Elric'.  The contents for 'Stealer of Souls' is solid unto itself; "The gamemaster is provided with extensive information on the government, culture, and environment of Bakshaan. A complete description of a Bakshaan-Karlaak trade caravan is also included. Extensive character descriptions aid the gamemaster in storytelling.

" Four pages of player pullouts provide the players with all the information they need to start playing the scenarios. The pullouts include player-character knowledge of Bakshaan, a map of the city, and statistics for Freyda Nikorn."" 
Sound very straight forward, a daughter's vengence against Elric & Moonglum along a trail of adventure. Well yes & no.. The party is caught in the fall out of the the Moorcock story entitled “Stealer of Souls”.

 Over all Stealer of Souls as an adventure is a mid to upper teir adventure. It takes the concepts laided out in the Young Kingdoms and brings new Sword & Sorcery chops into it. The PC's are challenged to deal with the fall out of vengence & how it colours not only the NPC's lives but their own. 

Phil Frances from White Dwarf gave 'Stealer of Souls' an over all positive rating; 

"Phil Frances reviewed Stealer of Souls for White Dwarf #77, giving it an overall rating of 8 out of 10, and stated that "Stealer Of Souls is the first Stormbringer supplement that I respect (even reading it is enjoyable). Its freshness will revive the palate of many a jaded GM, and it will pose a healthy challenge to an experienced group of characters.""

 Freyda’s quest overall is interesting & very dangerous for the lives of the PC's. The feel here is that the player's PC's are along for the  quest. The dangers here are real & path of adventure is a long & bloody one. I don't agree at at all with the review of 'Stealer of Souls' from Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer No. 81 by Michael R. Jarrell, Jarrell commented that "The game just doesn't cut the mustard. If you are a SBophile you'll want it. if you are looking for quality versus cash outlay you may be seriously disappointed as I was."Freyda’s quest  isn't disappointing & this adventure is a strong outta of the gate effort. The player's PC's become involved with the machinations & consquences of the actions of Freyda. This is high level stuff & remember Elric is a force of nature within the Stormbringer rpg universe. He's never the good guy. 

Jack Gaughan artwork for The Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock ...

What we have in 'Stealer of Souls' is the equivelant of a woman's vengence against the bastards who choose to take that away from Freyda Nikor the most precious thing in her life. Her father's love is gone & her soul swims in the darkness of the aftermath. Will the PC's make any difference to this vengence!? They may have to take care of many loose ends in the her wake. And this is just for starters. There will be choices & side quests to take care of. 
Stealer of Souls is a rare beast, an animal that goes about sorta rail roading the PC's but does it with a style all of its own. Many of the adventure elements within 'Stealer of Souls are solildly done but this adventure takes the 'rail road' to new heights. Over all Stealer of Souls is a four outta of five. The reason is simple this is only the first adventure in an over all trilogy of Sword & Sorcery adventure. More to come! 

Review & Commentary On 'The Octagon of Chaos' by Tony Fiorito From Theatre of the Mind Enterpr For The Second Edition Stormbringer rpg box sets

 

"In the time of Sadric the LXXXVI, the Bright Expire was experiencing a time of peace belying the decadence and retrogression that has gripped the empire. Imperial garrisons in the far-flung Southern Kingdoms are brought home to Imrryr, the dreaming city, their need apparently past. Upon this vacuum the greedy theocrat of Pan Tang cast a crafty eye. He was not known to waste his time on trifles. In another place, a faceless Duke of Chaos contemplated the coming slaughter." 


In the middle of  Game News (Issue 11 - Jan 1986) was an advertiment for a new adventure for the Stormbringer rpg. 'The Octogon of Chaos' by Tony Fiorito hit the stands in '86 & was real change from the Stormbringer adventures that preceeded it. And that difference straight up is that the  'The Octogon of Chaos' is a human centric adventure. There are no Melibonians allowed! 

Now we own a few Theatre of the Mind Enterprises, Inc adventures but this one is more then a bit different. This adventure focus of 'The Octagon of Chaos' is within the Young Kingdoms itself but as a fodder for the adventure & its place as a legacy of the Meliboneans.  'The Octagon of Chaos' takes place twenty years before the events of Michael Moorcock's "Elric of Elniboné'' & so this module could be used as a prequel to that book's events within the campaign;""For ten thousand years Melnibone ruled the world.

Elric, the 428th Emperor, seemed destined to see that era come to an end. An albino, sustained by rare drugs, it fell to him to confront the rise of the Young Kingdoms, of the monsters and sorceries which were threatening to overwhelm him and his ancient crown.
The Elric novels have already become classics of heroic fantasy and future projection. DAW is proud to present them to an eager public in new editions, corrected and revised by Michael Moorcock. ELRIC OF MELNIBONE is the first."" 

 'The Octagon of Chaos' by Tony Fiorito isn't a light weight adventure & requires six players dealing with four to six players running eight to twelve PC's. Of those half of those should be warriors easily. Hell, I would add in here that the players may sprinkle in another one or two just to deal with some of the encounters of  'The Octagon of Chaos'. This is a solid & dangerous module for the Stormbringer rpg. And it deals with two things that the players will not expect  a faceless Duke of Chaos & the greedy theocrat of Pan Tang. And a dungeon master running  'The Octogon of Chaos' is going to need to take full advantage of White Wolf: Temples, Demons, & Ships of War. Both for some of its military rules & the ship rules. I certainly did to deal with some of the nastiness that the PC's encounter. We get a very detailed description of Bakshaan & its environs. 

 'The Octagon of Chaos' takes full advantage of the rpg resources of the Stormbringer 2nd edition box set dealing with the material in spades. This is both a module & a potential resource that the DM should take full advantage of. We get a full cast of NPC's, factions they belong to, full background, & full on adventure time line. Personally if as a DM I  was going to run 'The Octagon of Chaos' with fourth edition Stormbringer, I'd grab my copy of 'Sea Kings of the Purple Towns'. 
The reasoning is simple, there's fully fleshed out addional  rules & guidelines for sea travel. 

There's murder, intrigue, and plenty of chances for double & even triple crosses within 'The Octagon of Chaos'. The material within this adventure reminds the players that their PC's are on the 'date card' for a chaos lord. For an Eighty Six adventure There's murder, intrigue, and plenty of chances for double & even triple crosses. 'The Octagon of Chaos' is a very progressive adventure for Stormbringer in the fact that it teases, uses, & exploits the PC's. 
Even the encounters can be scaled as needed. 'The Octagon of Chaos' presents a few opportunities to really go to town with this concept. The DM is going to have his hands full but this doesn't mean that 'The Octagon of Chaos' is a bad adventure far from it. But it does take advantage of both the players & its target audience. 'The Octagon of Chaos' isn't simply any old module this is a mini campaign unto itself.

OSR Review & Commentary On Michael Moorcock's Elric Vol. 1: The Ruby Throne Hardcover by Julien Blondel (Author), Didier Poli (Illustrator), & Robin Recht (Illustrator)

 One of the startling conclusions that has come my way over the last ten years is the fact that many gamers don't read. Oh all of the excuses come down the pike, 'I don't have enough time'., 'My wife or husband won't let me', or my personal favorite, 'Sorry but reading isn't as exciting as 'insert latest video game title here'. So when Michael Moorcock's Elric Vol. 1: The Ruby Throne Hardcover came my way via a friend who was moving out of Connecticut. I jumped on the chance to own the whole series of books. These books came out in 2014 by  Julien Blondel  (Author), Didier Poli (Illustrator), & Robin Recht (Illustrator). Note that this is only one half of the Elric saga by Michael Moorcock here!   

Michael Moorcock's Elric Vol. 1: The Ruby Throne Hardcover is gorgeous! The artwork is on point & all of the favorite characters are here. Elric isn't the bad ass demon sword wielding mercenary here.. yet. This is events & lead ins with all of the events surrounding the pallid prince. And its captured so well. Everything is here the inhumanity of the people of the ruby throne. The weirdness of the saga is captured nicely. And this is a an excellent entry point for the new comer to the saga. 

The scale of the saga is evident here & its rendered very well. For dungeon masters who want to show the stark Sword & Sorcery world of Elric this is the saga that you can easily use. The scale, scope, grandeurs & romance  is all here. 

And make no mistake that this is an Elric that lives up to the write up in Kuntz & Ward's Deities & Demigods!  Michael Moorcock's Elric Vol. 1: The Ruby Throne Hardcover brings home the evil & alieness of the  Melniboné very well. Even without the demon blade Elric is within his Sword & Sorcery element. He has all of trappings of life within confines of the ruby throne that make the events that happen all that more tragic. 

Jeff Dee artwork from Deities & Demigods. 

For DM's that actually want to run Elric & co. through their own campaigns as adventure elements & NPC's. The Michael Moorcock's Elric Vol. 1: The Ruby Throne Hardcover is a choice morsel to add to their libraries. Even though its only the first half of the saga. Michael Moorcock's Elric Vol. 1: The Ruby Throne Hardcover is an excellent beginning with some truly jaw dropping artwork, excellent pacing, solid character studies, & a piece of Sword & Sorcery history not to be missed. 

Michael Moorcock's Elric Vol. 1: The Ruby Throne
Hardcover is available right here. 

Coffee, Tea, or Elric of Melnibone By Michael Moorcock - Some Quick Sword & Sorcery Thoughts on The Elric the NPC

 "Elric of Melnibone, an albino prince, travels in the Ship Which Sails Over Land and Sea to the city of Dhoz-Kam, through the Shade Gate to the Pulsing Cavern where the magic swords Stormbringer and Mournblade await him"

Written in Seventy two when I was but a wee lad of two, by Michael Moorcock Elric of Melniboné. This was one of my bed time stories when my dad got back from
 to. There's something about Elric's situation which just goes from bad to worse that seems more akin to how Sword & Sorcery sometimes plays out. Moorcock's writing is at his best here someplace between 70's Rock & Roll & the Pulps. In other words the majority of Elric's saga is lightning in a bottle. It will not come again. Why because Elric isn't really a likeable guy but does he deserve the part he plays in the saga of the multiverse?! Yes & no.. 

Yes & no, the consequences he unleashes to stop his cousin ultimately doom all of reality to the cosmic cycle of things when Law & Chaos come calling. Chaos itself is ultimately a force of evil unto itself that people are only far too willing to play with. Magick itself is power. That unto itself is dangerous & nothing about the Elric saga is safe. And its that danger that propels the saga forward in a way. The older I'm getting Elric is not an NPC that should ever really be encountered! Every place he goes gods, evil, & destruction follow in his wake. 
                                                                                                                   

Recently the group of players that I'm with have been tossing the Stormbringer rpg back & forth. And talking about the fact that Elric isn't really an NPC that they'd want to run into. And in point of fact he might be a danger on level with the Jammers in The Design Mechanism's Luther Arkwright rpg. 

This was a topic of conversation over coffee & tea today with some friends. How would you get rid of Elric & co. if they blundered into your world?! He's got the attention of the chaos gods & elemental lords on his side?! Not to mention a god killer & soul sword at his side in the form of Stormbringer.

If Elric shows up on your back doorstep in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition your campaign is  in major trouble. Elric is a mercenary & antihero of the highest order & no where is this more evident then in the recent Titan comics releases of the graphic novels. Elric's appearance in AD&D first edition's Deities & Demigods gives a good overview of the NPC. 

Make no mistake he really is Chaotic Evil in every sense of the word after a quick re read of Elric of Melnibone By Michael Moorcock. We used to run or clean up after Elric would show up in my uncle's Stormbringer rpg campaign. But how the Hell do you get rid of Elric? What happens if the anti hero is actually the real villain after all?! 

Review & OSR Commentary On Lobo Blanco By Patricio González The Free Michael Moorcock Elric Fan rpg

"In this game you take the role of adventurers who pursue their own commitments and, during their journey, encounter numerous situations that escalate in intensity. Will you side with Law? Or Chaos? Can you survive to achieve your dreams? Or will you rest too long in the comforts of Tánelorn the Eternal?"

 There are not enough hours in the day to sometimes cover all of the games & retroclones take for example Lobo Blanco. Clocking in at over 219 pages of Micheal Moorcock Elric weirdness Lobo Blanco is a game that really tries to take everything we've seen before & repack it a system that works for eternal champion play. Oh did I mention that this is a free down load? Lobo Blanco is a dice (Primarily d8),skill based (buy or gain skills), & trait / Aspect Based (personality affects gameplay) motivated system. Lobo Blanco is centered around the world of the Young Kingdoms from the ground up. It motivates the players with a very well done system that works well for its Sword & Sorcery style of play. 

Lobo Blanco is a love letter to Michael Moorcock's Elric world setting & the eternal champion mythologies crafted over Moorock's writing career. The system while a bit dry emulates just the right amount of weirdness & solid strangeness  of the Young Kingdoms. Is Lobo Blanco trying to replace the classic Choasium Stormbringer? Hell no! What its trying to do is to bring the Young Kingdoms to gamers who might not even know it exists. And no its not its not  Mournblade rpg or that lines books at all. Lobo Blanco takes its own path & strives to create its own mark on the world of Sword & Sorcery gaming. There's a bit of PC customization going on within its bounds & it strives to build on it. Remember the mythologies that Moorcock created & how it Pulpy origins pull right from the classic writers that Mr.Moorcock grew up reading. 

So what does this mean for the DM looking to start a Lobo Blanco campaign set within the Young Kindgoms?! Well you get everything & we mean everything you need to pick up and play within the download from the ground up. You can literally download Lobo Blanco & with an IPad start playing with dice & friends! This is very appealing because of the drag & play aspect of the game. The layout, the system, & pretty much the entire book or is it two books because you get a black & white as well as a colour. 

Is Lobo Blanco perfect?! Not at all & for really bringing home the weirder aspects of Young Kingdom magick. I'd add in the Bronze Grimiore from the Elric rpg which has some of the best flavor of the Young Kingdoms magick that have been seen on the table top level.  Yes this is from 1994 but its cracking useful at the table top level especially for adding in that elusive Young King's weirdness & wild to the magick system. 

Lobo Blanco isn't perfect but as a fan created Young Kingdoms, Elric, eternal champion emulator, & complete rpg system package this is a chaos god sent in many respects. 

You can download Lobo Blanco for free right from here & start your Sword & Sorcery adventures in the Young Kindoms today! 

Review & Commentary On 'The Octagon of Chaos' by Tony Fiorito From Theatre of the Mind Enterpr For The Second Edition Stormbringer rpg box set

 

"In the time of Sadric the LXXXVI, the Bright Expire was experiencing a time of peace belying the decadence and retrogression that has gripped the empire. Imperial garrisons in the far-flung Southern Kingdoms are brought home to Imrryr, the dreaming city, their need apparently past. Upon this vacuum the greedy theocrat of Pan Tang cast a crafty eye. He was not known to waste his time on trifles. In another place, a faceless Duke of Chaos contemplated the coming slaughter." 


In the middle of  Game News (Issue 11 - Jan 1986) was an advertiment for a new adventure for the Stormbringer rpg. 'The Octogon of Chaos' by Tony Fiorito hit the stands in '86 & was real change from the Stormbringer adventures that preceeded it. And that difference straight up is that this is a human centric adventure. There are no Melibonians allowed! 

Now we own a few Theatre of the Mind Enterprises, Inc adventures but this one is more then a bit different. This adventure focus of 'The Octagon of Chaos' is within the Young Kingdoms itself but as a fodder for the adventure & its place as a legacy of the Meliboneans.  'The Octagon of Chaos' takes place twenty years before the events of Michael Moorcock's "Elric of Elniboné'' & so this module could be used as a prequel to that book's events within the campaign;""For ten thousand years Melnibone ruled the world.

Elric, the 428th Emperor, seemed destined to see that era come to an end. An albino, sustained by rare drugs, it fell to him to confront the rise of the Young Kingdoms, of the monsters and sorceries which were threatening to overwhelm him and his ancient crown.
The Elric novels have already become classics of heroic fantasy and future projection. DAW is proud to present them to an eager public in new editions, corrected and revised by Michael Moorcock. ELRIC OF MELNIBONE is the first."" 

 'The Octagon of Chaos' by Tony Fiorito isn't a light weight adventure & requires six players dealing with four to six players running eight to twelve PC's. Of those half of those should be warriors easily. Hell, I would add in here that the players may sprinkle in another one or two just to deal with some of the encounters of  'The Octagon of Chaos'. This is a solid & dangerous module for the Stormbringer rpg. And it deals with two things that the players will not expect  a faceless Duke of Chaos & the greedy theocrat of Pan Tang. And a dungeon master running  'The Octogon of Chaos' is going to need to take full advantage of White Wolf: Temples, Demons, & Ships of War. Both for some of its military rules & the ship rules. I certainly did to deal with some of the nastiness that the PC's encounter. We get a very detailed description of Bakshaan & its environs. 

 'The Octagon of Chaos' takes full advantage of the rpg resources of the Stormbringer 2nd edition box set dealing with the material in spades. This is both a module & a potential resource that the DM should take full advantage of. We get a full cast of NPC's, factions they belong to, full background, & full on adventure time line. Personally if as a DM I  was going to run 'The Octagon of Chaos' with fourth edition Stormbringer, I'd grab my copy of 'Sea Kings of the Purple Towns'. 
The reasoning is simple, there's fully fleshed out addional  rules & guidelines for sea travel. 

There's murder, intrigue, and plenty of chances for double & even triple crosses within 'The Octagon of Chaos'. The material within this adventure reminds the players that their PC's are on the 'date card' for a chaos lord. For an Eighty Six adventure There's murder, intrigue, and plenty of chances for double & even triple crosses. 'The Octagon of Chaos' is a very progressive adventure for Stormbringer in the fact that it teases, uses, & exploits the PC's. 
Even the encounters can be scaled as needed. 'The Octagon of Chaos' presents a few opportunities to really go to town with this concept. The DM is going to have his hands full but this doesn't mean that 'The Octagon of Chaos' is a bad adventure far from it. But it does take advantage of both the players & its target audience. 'The Octagon of Chaos' isn't simply any old module this is a mini campaign unto itself. 

Review & Commentary On "Black Sword: Pursuit of the White Wolf" By Ken Rolston For the Stormbringer rpg

 "The scenarios depict a woman's quest for revenge against Elric himself. Elric was hired by three merchants of Bakshaan (rivals of the woman's father, a man named Haver Nikorn) to storm the Nikorn keep and kill her father. That battle is chronicled in the Moorcock story entitled "Stealer of Souls". And so this review picks up straight from "Stealer of Souls: A Quest For Vengeance in Ilmiora " By Ken Rolston For Stormbringer rpg

"Freyda Nikorn, the dead merchant's daughter gathers together a group of adventurers and friends to embark on her mission of vengeance. The adventures in this book tell the tale of Freyda's quest for vengeance against Elric and of Freyda's final battle with the White Wolf. Her success or failure is determined by the players.

Freyda's quest takes her across the land of llmiora to observe the breadth of the destruction which always follows in Elric's wake. Elric's adventures during this period are chronicled in the book 'The Bane of the Black Sword'.

The gamemaster is provided with extensive information on the governments, cultures, and environments of the various lands which Freyda must visit while following Elric's trail, including Nadsokor, Org, and Karlaak of the Jade Towers. Non-player-character descriptions aid the gamemaster in storytelling."

 appeared in '85 & involves the PC's emeshing themselves even further into the pursue of vengence. The adventure path here feels fully operatic & epic drawing down the PC's into a web of blood shed & spiraling weirdness within the Young Kingdoms. Freyda is only one or two steps behind Elric as we get a guided tour of his path throug Nadsokor, Org, and onto Karlaak of the Jade Towers. The PC's are going to have their hands full dealing with the repercussions of Elric blazing path through the Young Kingdoms. 

Remember "Black Sword: Pursuit of the White Wolf" By Ken Rolston  picks straight up from the previous module & exploits things & events  from Moorcock's 'Stealer of Souls'. This module picks up with;" Elric’s adventures during this period are chronicled in the book “The Bane of the Black Sword”."

Freyda Nikorn, the dead merchant's daughter is damaged goods. And if we're using the sanity rules from The Stormbringer Companions I & II then its easy to see how & why this whole ordeal is going to wreck her world. The player character's PC's are going to need to react to this. And the DM needs to keep this factor in mind as events & encounters happen frequently. 

The dungeon master has several factors to keep in mind here when dealing with "Black Sword: Pursuit of the White Wolf" By Ken Rolston:

• This is an epic level campaign module & should be dealth with by higher level PC's. 
• The path of vengence is litter with the bodies of dead PC's. 
• Hell hath no fury like Elric or a woman's vengence. 
• Chaos & Law are unforgiving task masters especially in this module. 

Most of all is the fact that "Black Sword: Pursuit of the White Wolf" By Ken Rolston is more then sum of its parts. This is a massive epic campaign that encompasses more of the 'Young Kingdom' then most people realize. The events of this campaign could take a year or so of actual play if the DM stacks events right & the players frequently don't do ill timed or ill informed decisions.  

"The gamemaster is provided with extensive information on the government, culture, and environment of Bakshaan." And Bakshaan is as much of a PC as the rest of the NPC's & adventure elements within "Black Sword: Pursuit of the White Wolf". This module is a part of another era & its approach to the Stormbringer material isn't something that modern players may be expecting. This is a deadly module & it helps to keep this within your mind. But is "Black Sword: Pursuit of the White Wolf" By Ken Rolston  good?! Yes if taken as a whole as a part of a triliogy of modules that form a coheriant whole?! Yes indeed it is.. A solid entry & one that players of the Stormbringer rpg should experience. 

Review & Commentary On "Stealer of Souls: A Quest For Vengeance in Ilmiora " By Ken Rolston For Stormbringer rpg

"  The scenarios depict a woman’s quest for revenge against a deadly conspiracy of merchants in Bakshaan. The four merchants (rivals of the woman’s father, a man named Haver Nikorni hired Elric to storm his keep and kill him. That battle is chronicled in the Moorcock story entitled “Stealer of Souls”.

"Freyda Nikorn, the dead merchant’s daughter gathers together a group of adventurers and friends to embark on her mission of vengeance. The adventures in this book tell the tale of Freyda’s vengeance against the four merchants, and her success or failure is determined by the players."
"Stealer of Souls: A Quest For Vengeance in Ilmiora " By Ken Rolston came out in '85 & clocks in at only forty four pages. But this adventure set in motion a set of circumstances that killed off a major part of our players back then. Its this adventure that had one rule for playing the Stormbringer rpg, 'Never go after Elric'.  The contents for 'Stealer of Souls' is solid unto itself; "The gamemaster is provided with extensive information on the government, culture, and environment of Bakshaan. A complete description of a Bakshaan-Karlaak trade caravan is also included. Extensive character descriptions aid the gamemaster in storytelling.

" Four pages of player pullouts provide the players with all the information they need to start playing the scenarios. The pullouts include player-character knowledge of Bakshaan, a map of the city, and statistics for Freyda Nikorn."" 
Sound very straight forward, a daughter's vengence against Elric & Moonglum along a trail of adventure. Well yes & no.. The party is caught in the fall out of the the Moorcock story entitled “Stealer of Souls”.

 Over all Stealer of Souls as an adventure is a mid to upper teir adventure. It takes the concepts laided out in the Young Kingdoms and brings new Sword & Sorcery chops into it. The PC's are challenged to deal with the fall out of vengence & how it colours not only the NPC's lives but their own. 

Phil Frances from White Dwarf gave 'Stealer of Souls' an over all positive rating; 

"Phil Frances reviewed Stealer of Souls for White Dwarf #77, giving it an overall rating of 8 out of 10, and stated that "Stealer Of Souls is the first Stormbringer supplement that I respect (even reading it is enjoyable). Its freshness will revive the palate of many a jaded GM, and it will pose a healthy challenge to an experienced group of characters.""

 Freyda’s quest overall is interesting & very dangerous for the lives of the PC's. The feel here is that the player's PC's are along for the  quest. The dangers here are real & path of adventure is a long & bloody one. I don't agree at at all with the review of 'Stealer of Souls' from Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer No. 81 by Michael R. Jarrell, Jarrell commented that "The game just doesn't cut the mustard. If you are a SBophile you'll want it. if you are looking for quality versus cash outlay you may be seriously disappointed as I was."Freyda’s quest  isn't disappointing & this adventure is a strong outta of the gate effort. The player's PC's become involved with the machinations & consquences of the actions of Freyda. This is high level stuff & remember Elric is a force of nature within the Stormbringer rpg universe. He's never the good guy. 

Jack Gaughan artwork for The Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock ...

What we have in 'Stealer of Souls' is the equivelant of a woman's vengence against the bastards who choose to take that away from Freyda Nikor the most precious thing in her life. Her father's love is gone & her soul swims in the darkness of the aftermath. Will the PC's make any difference to this vengence!? They may have to take care of many loose ends in the her wake. And this is just for starters. There will be choices & side quests to take care of. 
Stealer of Souls is a rare beast, an animal that goes about sorta rail roading the PC's but does it with a style all of its own. Many of the adventure elements within 'Stealer of Souls are solildly done but this adventure takes the 'rail road' to new heights. Over all Stealer of Souls is a four outta of five. The reason is simple this is only the first adventure in an over all trilogy of Sword & Sorcery adventure. More to come! 

Moorcock's Eternal Champion, Deities & Demigods, & Some Random Thoughts on The Cosmic Balance

“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.”

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity



Scale ships in the second Ether 


Never let it be said that I waste influences in this case the wonderful Boris Vallejo's 'A Fire Upon the Deep' book cover artwork. Man, this artwork grabbed me back in '92 when I was working in a book shop part time. Like many people I two or three part time jobs to make ends me. But man that artwork stays with you. Personally think these ships would make excellent scale ships. Sorry folks but I'm back to a bit of Moorcock musing. I'm using the Moorcock mythologies for campaign ideas but not directly copying from them. 




I've been thinking about 'Spelljammer' specifically the artwork for the cover the 'Legend of the Spelljammer box set from '91. The Nineties sure seem like the decades for manta style sky ships but I've been thinking about now! The now of the campaign promise of Spelljammer. Love the idea of the Spelljammer but the execution left a lot to be desired for me as a dungeon master. 




Never let it be said that I'm ever a guy to leave any stone or campaign idea alone. Now I've been toying with 'Cha'alt' by Venger Satanis for some months now. Over the last couple of months I've toyed with played around, folded,spindled, & mutilated Cha'alt in no uncertain terms. Because of Cha'alt's Lovecraftian  status is it a place that counts as 'Chaotic evil' ?


But then I started going over my Michael Moorcock notes on the Von Bek family;"The von Beks, also known as the van Beeks, the Beks, the Beggs and the Becks, are an ancient, extended family who are important players of the Game of Time. The von Bek family, possibly due to their origin and fact that many members are Eternals, have spread through the Multiverse, and they exist in many realities." Are the Von Bek's, the Beggs, etc. Are the  Eternal's actually spreading the misery & chaos that they are fighting?! Or is it simply a case that the 'eternal champions are drawn to death,destruction, & chaos?! These things seems to follow them in in his or her wake. 



The  Eternals are inherit to the alignment system of Dungeons & Dragons  going all the way back to original Dungeons & Dragons with Law,Chaos, & Neutral.The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Deities & Demigod brings home Elric's eternal champion alignment & its not pretty folks. This is not a nice NPC & could wreck a campaign quite easily but again this is the point. Elric is fated & doomed to his fate to end the world. 



Elric is known as:" Elric of Melniboné, also called The Albino Emperor, Elric Womanslayer, Elric Kinslayer, the Pale Prince of Ruins, The White Wolf, and many other names beside, is the four hundred and twenty-eighth (and final) emperor of Melniboné and an incarnation of the Eternal Champion." He's not to be taken lightly at all & I've seen dungeon masters use him as a NPC once or twice. The roles that Elric played was straight up vile villain in both of those campaigns. And I've got no argument about. 



Elric isn't a guy you bring home to mom unless mom is an empress you want dead & her soul sucked out by a chaos blade. That chaos is a lower world evil that can be trade under foot & its the sort of thing we see on Cha'alt as well. Cha'alt  isn't the kind of place that one goes lightly too. Its a fallen world not unlike McKinney's Carcosa where sanity & reason are by words for adventurers to tread underfoot. These campaign world settings  take the lives of PC's by the score. 

It is within these 'fallen worlds' that one finds the most daring fare, the greatest treasure, & the most sanity bending monsters. But its nothing without the two halves of the same coin Law & Chaos.. Or is it sanity & in sanity!? I'm just playing about a very long campaign chain here. But without the AD&D alignment system none of this makes any sense. I would say that there's a meeting point of the lower tier cosmic balance of Moorcock vs the almost Christian cosmology of C.S.Lewis's Space Trilogy with deep smatterings of Lovecraft thrown in. I'm not sure if this is the beginning of a campaign or random philosophical mental masturbation. Only time will tell. 

Warduke Prince of the Damned?! A More Moorcockian Dive & Speculation Into XL1 Quest for the Heartstone By Michael L. Gray For Expert Dungeons & Dragons

We know that the cold, cruel, & calculating Warduke remains one of the most popular of 'The Dungeons & Dragons' cartoon but is there far more going on under the red glowing eyes of the bat winged helm?! Whom does Warduke really serve!? And is there a Moorcock connection?!


“A heart of stone, beyond the mist you’ll find,” Loftos said softly. “The heartstone will tell you who should be your king.”

“But where is this stone? How will I find it?” the queen asked.

“The stone was stolen over 50 years ago by Dahnakriss the Master Thief. He Who Watches originally gave the tiny, heartshaped stone to Qasmar, who was the King of Ghyr during the Prism Wars. During these wars, Qasmar used the stone to see into the hearts of men, and was so able to choose his friends and allies. Soon after the war, the magical stone vanished from Castle Ghyr’s supposedly thief-proof vaults. Until now, no one knew what had become of the heartstone. According to He Who Watches, it lies north, in the great Mountains of Ice.

“We must convince a party of adventurers to retrieve the stone and bring it back to us. But we must be very careful. No one must know of the stone’s power, especially not those who would aspire to the throne. Even those we hire to find the stone should not know of its strength!

XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray. 

And just like that two champions of chaos & law were created from the ground up. Pureheart the paladin & Warduke mortal enemies for all times each representing far more then they seem. The two are representatives of powers beyond the pale in 'the Realms'. According to the official back story he was a simple lowly fighter given almost supernatural power by the heartstone.


Now lets dive back into the fray with four characters cut from the opposite sides of the cloth. Warduke himself is a study in contrasts but its his own nature that bares out the curse that comes from the Heartstone ;" Both were exposed to the Heartstone, and Warduke’s cruel nature was brought out while Pureheart’s just nature became stronger…." The heartstone manipulates its victims traits into the best or worst alignments & personality that they can be.  The heartstone literally is advancing its own agenda giving more power to both law & chaos within 'The Realms' & Mystara in the form of champions.

[He] especially hates Pureheart, who he feels wastes his time protecting the weak and helpless. “A true fighter,” Warduke feels, “makes himself rich and powerful by the strength of his sword arm. He takes what he can—if you would keep your possessions, kill those who seek to take them.” He calls his sword “Nightwind.”"
I've said this before I think that the power of Warduke isn't the man himself but his accouterments & sword. I think the helm is an artifact similar to Frazetta's Deathdealer paperbacks & Deathdealer comic books by Glen Danzig. 

This also goes a long way to explaining some of the inconsistencies that we see in appearances, levels, etc. going all of the way back to Warduke's official inclusion in Wizards of the Coast's 'official' canon on the character here.  But imagine the tragic circumstances surroundings Strongheart the paladin whose hunted, and tried to defeat his friend so many times only to have the knowledge that he's trapped within his own body & mind!? Very dark stuff indeed. 

But surely there's not an Elric analog of the Pureheart/Warduke relationship in Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythologies is there?! Meet " Prince Gaynor Paul St Odhran Badehoff-Krasny von Minct, known as Gaynor the Damned, Gunnar the Doomed, and Paul Minct, is a fallen knight of the Cosmic Balance. "

 A cursed & damned  champion of Chaos. He is an arch enemy of Elric of Melniboné, Ulrich Von Bek, Oona Von Bek, Prince Corum and The Rose, and has crossed swords with Elric of Melniboné. In the guise of Paul Minct, Gaynor antagonizes Jack Karaquazian, Sam Oakenhurst, The Rose and Colinda Dovero.

Gaynor is responsible for the destruction of a universe dear to The Rose, and this has earned Gaynor her eternal hatred. Gaynor seeks the Holy Grail to be reconciled with the Balance, or else to die and drag all of the Multiverse into Limbo."

Prince Gaynor  too appears in Kuntz & Ward's Deities & Demigods borne on the  whims of Chaos to serve in every single major conflict of Law & Chaos. He would definitely seek out the heartstone from  XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray. 

But Gaynor very cursed chaotic nature with Elric makes eerie parallels with the Pureheart & Warduke relationship dynamic & Gaynor is tied into the immortal  existence of the Eternal Champion;" In Corum's universe, Gaynor served Xiombarg and led an army of Chaos against the city of Halwyg-nan-Vake. Corum defeated him and removed his visor, exposing his face and banishing him from Corum's universe to continue his torment elsewhere."

Even  Gaynor gear & weapons look very similar to Warduke?! So is there a prophecy or two tied into the fate of 'The Realms' wrapped around Warduke?! 

XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray leads to more adventure opportunities & questions then answers for me. But here are ten of them right off the top of my head. 

1. Does the heartstone have a Greyhawk analog & if so will there be more conflict & chaos that it inflicts on Oerth. Could some of the wars & conflict be because of it. 
2. Are 'The Realms' subject to other darker & sinister incursions of chaos & could Tiamat's relationship with 'the Realms' be tied directly into this. 
3. Do the lords of order have a stake in 'The Realms' & if so how!? 
4. XL1 Quest For the Hearthstone by Michael L. Gray tie into the greater cosmic chess game of the Eternal Champion in ways that affect Venger & his dark master. 
5. Could the 'Nameless One' be the source of Warduke's dark power?! Is this why he's so cavilier in his relationship with Venger in the D&D cartoon episode 'In Search of the Dungeon Master'. 
6. Could Elric or one of the other Eternal Champions pop up in the Realms searching for one of the artifacts that 'young pupils' destroyed?! If so would this put the albino prince in a direct confrontation with the Dungeon Master or Venger for that matter!?
7. What of the other powerful NPC's mentioned & outlined in AC1 The Shady Inn?! Could they have more then a vested interest in fate of Warduke. 
8. With his nightmare mount Warduke could theorically travel the planes including making appearances on Greyhawk during his time as a mercenary. Why was he on Greyhawk!? Did he cross swords with Gord Gary Gygax's renegade theif,  cat lord, & champion of balance?! 
9. Whose personality or mind are in charge of Warduke & what is this person's actual agenda in 'the realms'. 
10. Could Warduke be planning & building up some hidden agenda far more dangerous then Venger's?!