H4 The Throne of Bloodstone.pdf - Free

Notes for the
Dungeon Master
The four-module Bloodstone Pass
campaign series (of which this is part
four) explores what is one of the most
interesting aspects of the AD&D®
game: becoming a ruler.
Although the Dungeon Masters
Guide provides that a character of
sufficient level can build a castle, hire
an army, and set himself (or herself)
up as a proper medieval ruler, the
rules given for accomplishing this are
not sufficient to allow ruling and role
playing to go together. Instead, highlevel
characters who become rulers are
normally considered to be “retired”
from adventuring. Perhaps from time
to time these old warhorses in your
campaign get trotted out for a particularly
tough challenge, leaving their
seneschals behind to administer their
dominions for a while. But mostly the
campaign moves on to younger, newer
characters.
More often, players avoid the burdens
of rulership altogether, preferring
to maintain their high-level
characters as freelance adventurers,
ready to move on to the next
dungeon, carrying their treasure in
their backpacks or in the saddlebags
of their mounts, or in a convenient
magical chest that neatly avoids the
issue of encumbrance altogether.
It has been our feeling for a long
time that there is a lot more that can
be done with characters who become
rulers. The Bloodstone Pass saga is
our attempt to show that high-level
AD&D® game play can be qualitatively,
as well as quantitatively, different
from low- and medium-level
play—and just as exciting.
In this conclusion to the saga, the
villain that has been lurking just
behind the scenes, Orcus, Prince of
the Undead, comes to center stage, as
INTRODUCTION
the player characters must enter the
Abyss and defeat Orcus on his own
territory in order to secure their kingdom.
The authors acknowledge their
debt to the spirits of such great traditional
dungeon-crawls as the infamous
S1, Tomb of Horror, and Q1,
Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Dave
Sutherland, co-author of Q1, and
currently Chief Mapmaker for TSR, is
the designer of the castles of the
Witch-King and of Orcus, and his
malevolent, sinister imagination is
greatly appreciated.
As noted in H3, The Bloodstone
Wars, this series was integrated into
the new FORGOTTEN REALMS
Fantasy Game Setting from TSR, Inc.
The Forgotten Realms is the creation
of the incredibly talented Ed “Elminster”
Greenwood, whose columns in
DRAGON® Magazine have inspired
many a campaign. A certain amount
of retrofitting had to take place to
shoehorn this campaign into the larger
world, including melting a large
glacier on the original maps from Ed
Greenwood’s campaign to make
room for the kingdoms of Damara
and Vaasa.
Pre-generated characters are provided
for those players whose characters
are not yet of sufficient levels.
Certain situations are built around
the specific abilities of these characters,
but handling those situations
should pose no challenge for the
experienced Dungeon Master.
High-level modules are inherently
open-ended, because of the vast
range of options available to powerful
characters. It takes skill and a firm
hand to run such an adventure successfully,
but we have confidence in
your ability to handle the unforeseen
in the context of the evolving plot.
This is the first module written for
people who run super-high level characters.
Although we do not endorse
the so-called “Monty Haul” cam-
2
paign, there’s nothing wrong in sampling
what really high-level play has
to offer!
As usual, the authors will be
pleased to answer questions when
accompanied by a stamped, selfaddressed
envelope, mailed to us
using the address on the back cover.
Good luck, and good adventuring!
What Has
Gone Before
Players whose characters have
adventured in the first three modules
of the H-series should be familiar
with the background information
that is summarized here. Players who
are new to the Bloodstone Pass campaign
need to be given the general
background; it may also not hurt to
refresh the memories of the other
players. Certain “deep background”
information is for the use of the
Dungeon Master only; the player
characters will discover the truth soon
enough. . . .
This material may be read or shown
directly to the players, or it may be
revealed in the course of the adventure
as the PCs explore the area, conduct
research, or ask those whom they
encounter.
The Kingdoms of
Damara and Vaasa
For generations, the cold northern
wastes supported a scant population
of hunters, trappers, and poor
farmers. These hardy souls scrabbled
a meager living from the hard, stony
soil; they barely endured the long,
dark winters.
But that was before the coming of
the Witch-King, Zhengyi, who
formed the Kingdom of Vaasa and in
a single night built an evil castle atop
a lonely crag, from which his sinister
shadow crept across the land.