What 'classic' D&D or AD&D adventures do you think could be translated successfully into the 'Stormbringer' setting (using either the Stormbringer (1e-5e), Elric!, or MRQII Elric of Melnibone rules)?
The adventure(s) can take place either in the 'Young Kingdoms' or the Moorcockian 'Multiverse' more generally (in the latter case, either some plane described by Moorcock, such as Corum's world, or an entirely different plane, but one in which the cosmic 'Law-versus-Chaos' conflict still applies).
Lost City (B4) (http://www.philotomy.com/lost_city.html) seems a natural fit. Lost civilization in the wastes. Factions that work well with a Law/Balance/Chaos struggle. Plus the masks of the Cynidiceans evoke the masks of Granbretan (not Elric, I know, but same feel).
Really, the struggle in the Lost City is nothing but the cosmic struggle in miniature. If the PCs are involved in the cosmic struggle, perhaps they find themselves in the Lost City in order to affect the struggle between the factions. If they serve Law, they'll naturally fall in with the Brotherhood of Gorm and the "old god" factions. If they serve Balance, they'll probably also fall in with the "old god" factions against the rising might of the Priests of Zargon (i.e., Chaos). If they serve Chaos it's more difficult to justify their involvement, but you could always use one Lord of Chaos working against another rising Lord of Chaos (i.e., someone sees Zargon as a threat to his power on this plane).
And if the PCs aren't involved in the cosmic struggle, the Lost City is a good place to draw them into it, or to introduce the general concept.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/Castle_Amber_X2.jpg/250px-Castle_Amber_X2.jpg)
Castle Amber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Amber_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons))
A few tweaks and it should fit in quite nicely. :)
This is a D&D suggestion, but I think WFRP's Doomstones campaign would work really well: strange demonic artifacts, tons of potential carnage to wade through, and a bizarre and epic finale.
Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;539019Lost City (B4) (http://www.philotomy.com/lost_city.html) seems a natural fit. Lost civilization in the wastes. Factions that work well with a Law/Balance/Chaos struggle. Plus the masks of the Cynidiceans evoke the masks of Granbretan (not Elric, I know, but same feel).
Wow, I'd never think of that, but it makes so much sense. The whole decadent splendour of it is so Moorcockian.
Quote from: Drohem;539056(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/Castle_Amber_X2.jpg/250px-Castle_Amber_X2.jpg)
Castle Amber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Amber_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons))
A few tweaks and it should fit in quite nicely. :)
Great idea! Just switch the D'Ambrevilles with a Melnibonéan noble house (possibly returned from a millennial exile in another dimension, a la Hawkmoon's Castle Brass), reskin some of the monsters with a more Moorcockian vibe, and voilà! Instant (and awesome) adventure.
Quote from: misterguignol;539058This is a D&D suggestion, but I think WFRP's Doomstones campaign would work really well: strange demonic artifacts, tons of potential carnage to wade through, and a bizarre and epic finale.
I'm not familiar with Doomstones personally, but generally I second the idea of looking at WFRP (especially 1e) adventures as inspiration for Elric stuff. After all, WFRP 1e is dedicated to Michael Moorcock ("this is all your fault!"), an obvious, huge influence; it's hard to look at the Old World and not think of Stormbringer (the novella) with its bleak fatalism and apocalyptic urgency. The Old World pretty much feels like the Young Kingdoms cosmology overlaid on a caricature of 16th-century Europe.
I love this thread! Makes me want to run Elric almost as bad as Akrasia's old APs. Arrgh, my GM ADD flaring up again... ;)
white plume mountain . . . there's a stormbringer knockoff inside already
(/jk)
Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;539019Really, the struggle in the Lost City is nothing but the cosmic struggle in miniature.
B4 is an excellent idea!
GDQ series. It could work really well with the Giants acting as invaders from another plane of existence, the drow reskinned as ancestors of the Melniboneans, and Lolth herself as a Duke of Entropy (Eequor, maybe?).
Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;539019Lost City (B4) (http://www.philotomy.com/lost_city.html) seems a natural fit. Lost civilization in the wastes. Factions that work well with a Law/Balance/Chaos struggle. Plus the masks of the Cynidiceans evoke the masks of Granbretan (not Elric, I know, but same feel).
Really, the struggle in the Lost City is nothing but the cosmic struggle in miniature. If the PCs are involved in the cosmic struggle, perhaps they find themselves in the Lost City in order to affect the struggle between the factions. If they serve Law, they'll naturally fall in with the Brotherhood of Gorm and the "old god" factions. If they serve Balance, they'll probably also fall in with the "old god" factions against the rising might of the Priests of Zargon (i.e., Chaos). If they serve Chaos it's more difficult to justify their involvement, but you could always use one Lord of Chaos working against another rising Lord of Chaos (i.e., someone sees Zargon as a threat to his power on this plane).
And if the PCs aren't involved in the cosmic struggle, the Lost City is a good place to draw them into it, or to introduce the general concept.
I don't think that I would've ever thought of B4 for a Stormbringer game, but you're quite right, it has a strong Moocockian vibe to it.
It would be easy to locate the Lost City in the Sighing Desert. It could be a remnant of the Quarzhasaat Empire that was wiped out 2000 years before Elric's time.
Very cool suggestion!
Quote from: Drohem;539056(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/Castle_Amber_X2.jpg/250px-Castle_Amber_X2.jpg)
Castle Amber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Amber_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons))
A few tweaks and it should fit in quite nicely. :)
Quote from: The Butcher;539059Great idea! Just switch the D'Ambrevilles with a Melnibonéan noble house (possibly returned from a millennial exile in another dimension, a la Hawkmoon's Castle Brass), reskin some of the monsters with a more Moorcockian vibe, and voilà! Instant (and awesome) adventure.
X2 is based on Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, obviously, and I think that there are some strong similarities between the fiction of CAS and Moorcock. (Moorcock himself probably would disagree...)
So, yeah, X2 could work, especially if tweaked as the Butcher recommends.
Quote from: misterguignol;539058This is a D&D suggestion, but I think WFRP's Doomstones campaign would work really well: strange demonic artifacts, tons of potential carnage to wade through, and a bizarre and epic finale.
I'm not that familiar with the Warhammer world, alas. (I own the 2e corebook, but haven't looked at it in years.)
Quote from: Akrasia;539943I'm not that familiar with the Warhammer world, alas. (I own the 2e corebook, but haven't looked at it in years.)
Doomstones was originally supposed to be a D&D campaign...it got ported over to WFRP, so it's probably the least WFRP-y of the WFRP campaigns, heh.
Quote from: Benoist;539363GDQ series. It could work really well with the Giants acting as invaders from another plane of existence, the drow reskinned as ancestors of the Melniboneans, and Lolth herself as a Duke of Entropy (Eequor, maybe?).
The D series occurred to me as well. The drow seem to be inspired in part by the Melniboneans. I would just make Lolth a Lord of Chaos, without trying to 'translate' her into one described by Moocock. Lolth is too cool, and Chaos needs a spider goddess!
If I were to set the D series in the Young Kingdoms plane, I would probably place it somewhere in the 'Unknown East'. The drow/Melniboneans would be remnants of the Bright Empire that did not return west eons ago, but instead hid from the rising humans in their underground realm.
I'm not sure how well the G series would fit (too much of a meat-grinder for BRP, I think).
Q1 certainly would fit well into the Moorcockian multiverse. Indeed, it seems designed for it! I'm not really a fan of this module for AD&D, but I think that, with some work, it would be a good fit for a SB/Elric game. However, it would have to be made far less lethal (perhaps give the PCs some kind of protection against typical demons...).
Quote from: misterguignol;539944Doomstones was originally supposed to be a D&D campaign...it got ported over to WFRP, so it's probably the least WFRP-y of the WFRP campaigns, heh.
Interesting!
Quote from: The Butcher;539059I love this thread! Makes me want to run Elric almost as bad as Akrasia's old APs.
I'm still trying to produce those APs. I had a new one at my blog (http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/2011/02/young-kingdoms-campaign-index.html) a couple of months ago.
But I really need to get the log up to date! Some terribly
cool (i.e., chaotic and violent) things happened to our characters after we left Ryfel. :D
Quote from: Akrasia;539945The D series occurred to me as well. The drow seem to be inspired in part by the Melniboneans. I would just make Lolth a Lord of Chaos, without trying to 'translate' her into one described by Moocock. Lolth is too cool, and Chaos needs a spider goddess!
If I were to set the D series in the Young Kingdoms plane, I would probably place it somewhere in the 'Unknown East'. The drow/Melniboneans would be remnants of the Bright Empire that did not return west eons ago, but instead hid from the rising humans in their underground realm.
I'm not sure how well the G series would fit (too much of a meat-grinder for BRP, I think).
Nah. It all depends how you deal with the Giants. Think about ways the players could deal with them. Add resistance to Giants, schisms amongst them and other ways in which the players could engage the threat (they could enroll with the Giants to sabotage their efforts for instance, or they could attempt to create an entire army and deal with it on a strategic level, which would mean there'd be some diplomacy, gathering of support etc involved, and so on).
Place the Hill Giant steading in the Sighing Desert, and have them come from a different plane. Make them feel exotic like Terarn Gashtek, and basically use the invasion of the Flame Bringer as a model. The PCs could deal with the Steading itself, organize an alliance with Tanelorn, etc etc. Lots of possibilities there.
Also, if you are pushing the angle of the Melnibonean ancestry, you could have some side adventuring done in and around R'lin K'ren A'a and tie it all together neatly (the entire map of the Young Kingdoms does look like a web a little bit, doesn't it?)...
Quote from: Akrasia;539945Q1 certainly would fit well into the Moorcockian multiverse. Indeed, it seems designed for it! I'm not really a fan of this module for AD&D, but I think that, with some work, it would be a good fit for a SB/Elric game. However, it would have to be made far less lethal (perhaps give the PCs some kind of protection against typical demons...).
I think that with some added components and reskinning on the Giants sandbox the whole thing would work admirably. It'd be pretty epic. The PCs would have to be quite experienced to take that Plane saving mission on.
Quote from: Akrasia;539946Quote from: misterguignol;539944Doomstones was originally supposed to be a D&D campaign...it got ported over to WFRP, so it's probably the least WFRP-y of the WFRP campaigns, heh.
Interesting!
The first incarnation of the Doomstones campaign (of which I wrote more here (http://www.therpgsite.com/showpost.php?p=455151&postcount=25)) was written with
RuneQuest in mind. The remote setting had a very Gloranthan vibe that is very different from the WH version.
It was published with both
RQ and
AD&D stats, and I believe that it was more often
played using
AD&D, though.