Steve's DragonQuest Page
Welcome
to my DragonQuest page! This
page consists of the following (scroll down to see it all):
- Information
about my Classic DragonQuest PBEM Campaign (back in action!)
- Information
about the never-fully published 4th book of DQ, Arcane Wisdom.
- Information
about Worldly Endeavor,
my "book" of new skills, professions, magic,
etc. (version 2.0
nearing completion, inc. 2 color illustrations)
- A complete DQ
adventure you can download, The Blue
Sarcophagus, COMING
someday...
- Links to other DQ and RPG
web pages, some of which
are very interesting and include supplemental materials
you can download. This classic FRP game is alive
and well on the Internet...
(This page uses the Thalia font (the font SPI used for DQ) and
a couple of other unusual fonts that you may not see
correctly. If you don't have Thalia, at least, email me and
I'll get it to you. This page
looks best at 1024x768 resolution. Updated 7/18/02).
1. My
"classic" DragonQuest Online Campaign utilizes the following:
Those
interested in following along or joining the campaign should
email me (see bottom of this page).
The Player-Characters:
- "Arthur" - a female
elf from the kingdom of Elfholm, Arthur sufferered the
indignity of being a neglected bastard child. A
kindly mage from the College of Naming Incantations
recognized her magical talents and taught her the basics
of being a Namer. Never fully accepted by her
community, she has set out on her own, trusting in her
magical and thieving talents to survive and carve out her
own niche in the world.
- Morgen - a mysterious human
mercenary from a decadent kingdom far south of the
frontier of Alusia, Morgen gives the appearance of a man
who can take quite good care of himself. His huge
sword and rugged build speak volumes, though he himself
seems to be a man of few words, letting his actions do
most of the talking.
- Reldegan - the newest
member of the group is a flamboyant bard and adept in the
College of Ensorcelments and Enchantments. Reldegan
fought off personal disappointment at home and travelled
to the frontier. In the city of Seagate, he heard
exciting stories about a group of young adventurers who'd
cleared out an orc hold and scared off a veritable army
of orcs and goblins. He sought out the adventurers and
offered his services.
- Rellik - the legitimate son of
a travelling merchant from The Baronies, Rellik was sent
by his busy father to be raised in a mysterious far
eastern monastery his father had encountered in his
travels. Young Rellik learned the ways of the
monks, who recognized his superior agility and
dexterity. However, Rellik's beliefs never quite
coincided with those of his Brothers, and he has ventured
out on his own.
- Storm Silverfist - legitimate
son of a dwarven adventurer, Storm seems set on following
in his father's footsteps. Raised in a rugged
mountain clan, Storm is perhaps the toughest and hardiest
of the characters. Wielding a huge 2-handed great
axe in his big arms, Storm is an imposing sight.
Yet, the tough guy has his soft side too, and is without
a doubt loyal to those who he deems willing of his
friendship.
Major NPCs:
- Aramax - son of a
notorious bandit raider, Aramax has learned the arts of
the ranger and combat leadership from his father. The
young man has pledged not to follow in his father's
footsteps, however, and hopes his adventuring may do some
good for the ills of society. He has already made an
important contact in the city of Seagate and enlisted the
aid of the player characters to investigate a band of
orcs operating out of a mysterious hold somewhere in the
Pallisades. This in turn has led the party to seek out
the adepts in The Cloister for information about some
magical items found in the hold.
- Duril - a gnome found
imprisoned and nearly dead in the orc hold. Duril claims
to be from the local hills, which he says have been
heavily raided by the orcs and goblins in the hold. He
was healed and armed by the party, and subsequently
fought bravely. After the group exited the hold, he
departed to rejoin his suffering people.
The Saga!
- 7/99 - The 4 party members
met up in the city of Seagate and encountered Aramax, the
son of a famous bandit leader. Aramax proposed an
interesting adventure to the 4 characters, and the 5
hooked up as an official party. The group traveled by
boat to the western coast of Alusia and found a hidden
entrance to a mysterious orc hold in the cliff... They
entered and began investigating the hold.
- 12/99 - The party, now deep in the orc
hold, has triumphed in 3 key battles and explored much of
it. In a dark room with ancient statues, the party
battled 4 strange stone creatures guarding a mysterious
stone key. Still, the exact nature of this place and
fulfillment of the mission has thusfar eluded the
characters...
- 6/00 - The party senses they are near
the end of clearing out this extensive hold. They have
just entered a room with a large, commanding orc and his
massive reptilian bodyguard...! The orc commanded the
party to leave at once, but, of course, they did not heed
his warning...
- 9/00 - The party has advanced up a long
corridor with a cool draft clearly evident. Could they
finally be approacing the exit of the orc hold? However,
along the corridor the party found and entered a strange
room...and inadvertently awakened an ancient horror!!!
- 1/01 - The
adventure is suspended due to "real
life" realities after the party returns to Seagate.
The party cleared out the hold and defeated a nearly
invincible monster protected by powerful magics. Duril
soon left to rejoin his people, and the party headed off
to the east. The overland return to Seagate included an
ambush by bandits, but the startling appearance of the
Ghost of Swithan scared off the bandits and helped the
exhausted party to return home.
- 7/02 - After 1 and 1/2 years of
real-life time, the
adventure resumes with 3/4 original
players and 4 lurkers returning. One lurker becomes the
4th character, and the other player character, Storm, is
retained as an NPC until the player, Chris Short
of the U.K. can be found (hopefully). The party adds
another adept, Reldegan du Azure, and sets off for the
mysterious adepts in The Cloister, seeking answers about
a mysterious red cloak and black staff found in the Orc
Hold. In game time, only 2 weeks has gone by since the
party returned to Seagate.
CHRIS SHORT! If you are out there,
email me!!
2. Arcane Wisdom was to be SPI's
fourth book of DragonQuest (the original 3, Character Generation, Combat;
Magic; and Skills, Monsters, Adventure were included in the
game). It was never published in totality, as SPI's assets
were taken over by TSR in early 1982 (TSR only published parts of
the supplement in The Shattered Statue and the 3rd
edition of DQ). However, most of Arcane Wisdom has been
available on the internet for some time and is well-worth
checking out. It is mostly an expansion on the magic system
in the game, and includes the following numbered sections:
89. The College of Lesser Summonings
90. The College of Rune Magics
91. The College of Shaping Magics
92. Magical Research and Spell Construction
93. Guide to Magical Rocks, Stones, and Gems
94. Guide to Herbal Lore
95. Magic Items
96. an alphabetized master list of all DQ magic rules, etc.
(not available, nor really even necessary)
97. Magic System Designer's Notes
You can freely download a nice .pdf version of Arcane Wisdom at
Snafaru's
DragonQuest Fan Page. Please
note that this is a rather large download (on the order of 1.5
megs)!
3. Worldly
Endeavor,
the virtual "Fifth Book of DragonQuest", is
available for free!
In gathering material for my online
campaign, I decided to compile a bunch of new skills as well as
some professions and other stuff into a virtual 5th book of
DQ. Most of the contents of this is my own, but some ideas
come from a variety of other sources (all credited with the best
info. I have available). The book, now up to version 2.0a and featuring 2 vintage color illustrations (plus, content reorganized, added to, edited, yet
still being edited and tweaked) provides some interesting
expansions to this great vintage RPG, consisting of some 41
pages of the following: Professions, New Skills, Devotional Paths, New
Magic, Equipment, and Adventuring.
Professions: I've got 23 professions
written up. These includes such stuff as Aristocrat,
Bandit, Explorer, Soldier, etc. These
are mostly just useful
skill groupings for NPC's,
making them easy for the GM to create, and also making them more
realistic and well-rounded in a pseudo-medieval setting. However,
WE includes rules for PC's following an actual profession, if so
desired. The Knight, Monk, Priest, Warrior, and
hybrid Warrior Priest are especially designed to
appeal to some PC's. Don't
worry, these are NOT character "classes" that any
player-character must follow rigidly.
New Skills: I've compiled 27 new skills
from a variety of sources. Most are my own ideas
tailored specifically to my pbem campaign, while others are based
on skill ideas I've found on the net. Cool skills such as Acrobat,
Arms Master, Berzerker, Chevalier, Devotee, Martial Artist, and
Weaponsmith are included. In addition, more mundane
skills to flesh out realistic NPC's (or add some diversity to
Player Characters) such as Administrator, Artist, Orator,
Planter, Scholar, Teamster, Tradesman, etc. are
included. Finally, some simple but useful adventuring
skills are available: Cartographer, Climb, Hunter, Sailor, and
Swim.
Devotional
Paths: DQ lacks a religious
system, so WE adds a rather simple one whereby certain characters
can optionally choose one of 3 "Paths": Light,
Dark, and Gray.
This makes sense especially in conjunction with professions such
as Knight, Monk, and Priest. Characters following a certain
Path may have advantages or disadvantages in certain situations.
New Magic: I have a College of White Magics here,
chosen from one of 2 I found on the Internet. Also, the
Colleges of Magic are reorganized somewhat (including a new
Branch -- The
Devotionals -- I've come up
with) to include those found in Arcane Wisdom.
Equipment: Some simple rules for durability, wear, and
tear of equipment. Also, an additional equipment list is
included.
Adventuring: Expanded Character Generation and
Birthrights, Revised Heritage tables, New Starting Character
Skill suggestions, and EP costs for all the ranks of the new
skills. And, there are new, ahem, exciting optional rules on Sex
in DQ.
Worldly Endeavor is free to anyone who'd like a copy of it to look at.
As I said, this is really just a large part of my
"house rules" for my own campaign, but I'd be
very interested in comments anyone may have on what I have
compiled so far.
Email me (see below) and
I'll send you the current version of Worldly Endeavor (about
830K in .doc format, about 600K zipped). I'd love to hear
comments and ideas for possible inclusion.
4.
The Blue Sarcophagus adventure
Originally an adventure I
designed way back in 1981 when I was a teenager, The Blue Sarcophagus has been revised and expanded by me to fit into my Classic
DragonQuest PBEM Campaign. Journey to a mysterious old
"Orc Hold" hidden inside the cliffs of Alusia and do
battle with the minions of a distant evil leader with designs on
the fair Barony of Carzala! Along the way, meet up with
several interesting NPC's and try to clear out the hold and
report back to your mysterious "silent benefactor" with
crucial information.
The adventure includes
2 pages of maps, several NPC's, and over two dozen room
descriptions! The
adventure starts out with this cryptic message posted near the
Seagate Adventurer's Guild:
Adventurers
Needed!
Only the brave
need apply
See Conrad at
the Bloody Dagger Tavern
9 PM sharp
Great Danger
yields Great Rewards!
A complete adventure for 4-6 beginning or
low skill rank characters with hints for expanding into a
campaign.
5. Links (as of 7/02). Here are a few of the MANY
sites out there.
Vintage Sites
(I've known of these since the 90's):
- My main game
page includes a link to DQ's science
fiction RPG sister, Universe
- The DragonQuest Players Association
(DQPA) is an online
collection of DQ players. Stop by this must-see site which includes an excellent Links
page. Oh, and
don't forget to join (it's free)! I am member number 18
of (at last check) 201 members.
- The DragonQuest Newsletter
Archive -- (at last check complete up through Volume
1, Number 7 -- Summer 2002)
- The Irony
Games web site.
Check out this must-see site of on-web support for roleplaying
gamers. Some of the pages include map-making tools
and some really good PBEM pages with advice for players
and GM's of PBEM games
- The DQN-list Yahoo Group -- discussion board requires
membership. Just sign up and join in on active
discussion with online players. I contribute here
occasionally
- John Kahane's
DragonQuest RPG Page -- includes a nice history of the game, a
DQ FAQ (!), a DQ products index, Shariana's Guide to DQ,
and more. Lots of great reading!
- Snafaru's DragonQuest
Fan Page -- a great site that has Arcane Wisdom in .pdf format,
extended Alusia maps (that I don't care for, in all
honesty), The DragonQuest Ultimate Character sheet, and
many other features of interest
- DragonQuest Online -- formerly by "Aescylus" but now
by Grindwall, has quite a few very good additions for DQ,
some of which were adapted for Worldly Endeavor.
Check out this must-see sight thoroughly, as it has some nice links
and other stuff
- DQ Fantasy Page -- by Todd Schreiber, has a few good
additions to the game. Click on Game Stuff
to see.
- DragonQuest Index v2.0d -- compiles all non-electronic published DQ
stuff
- The DragonQuest Page -- features a world called Karth.
Some
NEW sites I found in the Summer of 2002:
Email me at...
ssclark@comcast.net