Stormbringer!

Choose Your Masques

On April 28, 2019

A Short Scenario for the ELRIC! ruleset by Carl Pates

Deep with the bowels of Old Hrolmar an ancient evil has been released. Lying dormant for centuries the chaotic Masque of F’Haarok Tor has been found by a young girl who mistakenly ventured into a rotting temple of Chaos, sealed by the Champions of Donblas some two centuries before. Now the Masque has taken possession of the child’s body and once again roams abroad seeking fresh hosts to feed its unholy lust.

Choose Your Masques is a short ELRIC! edition scenario introducing new powerful artifacts to the Young Kingdoms – the Masques of Law & Chaos.

This adventure, and its supporting material, first appeared in the Herald of Doom fanzine, and is reproduced here with the permission of the author.

Actual Play – Red Moon Roleplaying

By Stormbringer

On April 14, 2019

In Actual Play, Stormbringer Related

Great games like Stormbringer never die… and to prove this point the team over at Red Moon Roleplaying have recently teamed up with Dirk the Dice (from the Grognard Files) to play through one of our favourite Stormbringer 4th edition scenaros – The Fang & the Fountain.

This excellent scenario, written by the fantastic Richard Watts, is a great way of introducing players, new and old, to the Stormbringer experience. In Red Moon Roleplaying’s hands, this chilling seaborn adventure becomes even more of a classic, with the group’s narrative-driven, character-focused approach to their actual play recordings bringing the setting and story bursting into life. Go find out yourself just how great Stormbringer can be over at Stormbringer, with The Grognard Files!

[Review] The Book of Brilliant Things

By Stormbringer

On March 13, 2019

In Reviews

Two Gods – one Dead yet Living, the other trapped behind the Barrier of Law – struggle for power in the Young Kingdoms. For too long has this battle has ebbed and flowed, and now through the manipulation of an innocent bard the plans of both sides reach towards a conclusion.

Yet, even now the Mistress of Fate, Balance, acts in the guise of our heroes. Through their actions and decisions, the future is yet to be decided. Which God will prevail? Only time – and perhaps the Book of Brilliant Things – may tell…

The Book of Brilliant Things is a scenario written by long standing guardian of all thing Eternal Champion, Loz Whitaker and appears as one half of the supplement – The Fate of Fools (released by Chaosium Inc in 1994 for the Elric! Edition). As with all scenario reviews on the Stormbringerrpg.com site, these commentaries are the opinion of the author only, and are rated in three simple categories – Must Run, Should Run, Might Run (see the sidebar below for more information on these ratings).

The Book of Brilliant Things is recommended as a Must Run scenario.

Interview with John R. White

By Stormbringer

On June 10, 2018

In Interviews

The transition of the Eternal Champion license from Chaosium to Mongoose Publishing was a sudden one, although, given the lack of interest in the line at the time by its long term owners, one that I suppose, in hindsight, was not to be unexpected. By the mid 2000s, Chaosium was a shadow of its former self, surviving for the most part, on their loose schedule of new Call of Cthulhu products and its impressive back catalogue; to be successful, the Moorcock’s roleplaying Multiverse needed a new Champion!

This opened the way for Mongoose Publishing, who under the leadership of Mathew Sprange, and the dedication of such authors Pete Nash, Loz Whitaker and Gareth Hanrahan (amongst others) revived both the Elric and Hawkmoon lines. But, like many of Moorcock’s own stories, history was destined to repeat itself. The lines, although popular, suffered from the very aspects that had made Mongoose a rising star in the early 2000s, and in the end only one author remained – John R. White – The Last Defender!

The Stormbringer Saga

By Stormbringer

On December 6, 2017

In Fiction of the Multiverse

The following is a summary of the Stormbringer/Elric Saga of stories as published in Chaosium’s 5th Edition of the Stormbringer roleplaying game. Rather than rewriting this excellent overview it is presented here with only minor changes.

An Overview

The Elric Novels and short stories encompass approximately seven years of the albino emperor’s life. In order of events, the books are Elric of Melniboné, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, The Weird of the White Wolf, The Vanishing Tower, The Revenge of the Rose, The Bane of the Black Sword, and Stormbringer.

A ninth book, Elric at the End of Time, contains two Elric tales among the works collected in it, but need not be considered a vital part of the saga. Of these, one takes place after The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and the other fits between the last two stories in The Bane of the Black Sword.

A tenth (and similarly extraneous) book is Tales of the White Wolf, an anthology of Elric stories by various authors. It includes Moorcock’s short story “The White Wolf’s Song,” which takes place at an undefined time between the end of Elric of Melniboné and the beginning of The Sailor on the Seas of Fate. Finally, the Elric novel The Dreamthief’s Daughter was published in April 2001. This tale is not dealt with here.