DA2: Saint Stephen

DA2 "Temple of the Frog" features Stephen the Rock, or "Saint Stephen", one of the oldest villains in D&D history, conceived by Stephen Rocheford.

Daniel Boggs posted Rocheford's reflections on the development of the character in this post over at the Comeback Inn, back in 2010:

It is hard to believe that it is just over one year since Dave Arneson passed away. His passing was a chance to reconnect with old friends. It was interesting to see Dave in his coffin and realize that the original group, of which I was a member, is beginning to face the end of their respective journeys. This 'band of brothers' was comprised of some very unique people, the likes of which I have not found in other guises in my travels....

Dave approached me to invent an 'evil' character that would be 'different from the norm' in this world. Ergo, I thought and settled on a character that was 'not of this world' of Blackmoor. My inspiration eventually was from an old episode of the original Star Trek television series. In it, Captain Kirk found a planet of Nazi's and found the earthling, an historian, who founded it in the hope eliminating it's excesses and organizing this society for the betterment of all in the name of efficiency. I told Dave Arneson and he was delighted. He asked that I "flesh out" the character.

Standing Bishop by Belisario Corenzio ca. 1620

My character was a soldier( I was an Army Officer) who crash landed in Blackmoor with several others from a 'spaceship'. He found a village organized around a group of monks. They and the villagers thought the stranger was a very powerful wizard; in fact he was a man who used a 'phaser' and so overawed the indigenous people that he was proclaimed the "High Priest of the Monks of the Swamp". I set about to organize a theocracy based on the worship of frogs, which were in great supply in the swamp. These frogs were bred and genetically improved over time until some special breeds grew to enormous size.

A Temple was erected and an Order of Monks reorganized around this hall of worship. The High Priest had his secret chambers in which no one was allowed except his companions who filled various roles: security chief, treasurer, medical staff (for the genetics ) and so forth. In the High Priests most secret room only the security chief was allowed in as it possessed the generators to 'charge' the weapons and maintain the remnants of the computers from the crash. This allowed this small group to take over the immediate environs of the swamp and the villages.

The High Priest wore robes similar to a Roman Catholic Archbishop( I grew up Catholic), complete with staff and mitre. In the temple at the far end was a large pipe organ that ran to the roof and which the openings allowed the countryside to hear the strain of the High Priest playing THE music of this cult: Toccata and Fugue in d minor, by Bach. He played this piece at the time of weekly feedings of the frogs. Those who failed to convert were fed to the frogs, and their possessions were donated to the church.

Pipe Organ by Madame Memento, 2022

The Temple expanded to transform the original social structure found into a complete theocracy that was evil in nature and which preyed on it neighbors in raids for loot and captives but which always retreated to the swamps in which to hide. Outsiders who ventured into the swamps did not return. The myths and legends which grew were terrible as to what evil lurked in the swamp.

Eventually 'The Great Svenny' and his friends heard of this and were intrigued sufficiently enough to launch an expedition. Dave made sure we had worked out several details about this prior to him, as referee, passing on the rumors of this society in the swamps to the players. I kept my role as High Priest, per Arneson's request, secret from the others until the first actual expedition.

One of the characters was killed and his loss was a warning to the others and so set the stage for future endeavors by the group who wished revenge and to find out what happened. It was a great "what happened" set up when they finally found the the weird guy in the robes who shot an immensely powerful lightning bolt at them. Awaking later in the swamp, all that could be remembered evoked a 'riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma'. The game was on!!!

As I recall, the character and the temple emerged sometime in spring of 1973 with a basic version. It was refined a bit by 1975 (January?) and as I recall it was further refined somewhere around 1976-77 while I was stationed in Germany.

Sorry if my mind is a bit imprecise on exact dates but that was more than 35 years ago.

David and I conferred on this matter via correspondence and it was then that David announced that he had a name for the mysterious character: "Stephen the Rock"

My nickname used until I was 30 was "Rock" as my last name is pronounced 'Rockford". It had been the nickname of my older brothers in school as well. Hard to break those traditions.

I do not mind you sharing this, for what it is worth, with your Blackmoor forum. To answer your question about science fiction elements, as I recall, this was the very first time that those elements were added to the game. Dave specifically mentioned that point to me when I came up with the idea. We were sitting on the sun porch of his home on a sunny, summer afternoon when I outlined the role. This character was "totally different from the norm" as Arneson had requested, and he liked the idea.

DA2: The Great Dismal Swamp

The Temple of the Frog squats in the center of the City of the Frog upon Frog Island, within the southwest region of the Great Dismal Swamp

Portion of map from DA1 depicting the Great Dismal Swamp (scale given as 24 miles per hex in DA1, but corrected to 12 miles per hex in DA2, pg 12)

DA2 "Temple of the Frog" delineates a relatively straightforward 10-day journey to Frog Island in three legs:

1. a 3-day trip departing from Vestfold, traveling up two slow-moving channels (the Barleycorn River and the Draco Channel) to a broad lake (the Lake of Mists)
2. one day under sweeps crossing the Lake of Mists in a dense fog
3. a 4-day trip down a sluggish channel called the Big Muddy, followed by another two days on Loch Gloomen in the center of the Great Dismal Swamp

Alternatively, the Zeitgeist Games version of Temple of the Frog provides enough information to run the Great Dismal Swamp as a sandbox, providing for a more open style of play.

"Temple of the Frog" (2006).  Cover artwork by Steve Argyle

The Great Dismal Swamp:

"Temple of the Frog" (2006) includes a mini-gazetteer of the Great Dismal Swamp, divided into descriptions of each of the four major regions within the swamp:

• the northeast region, including the town of South Pim
• the northwest region, including the town of Lake Gloomy
• the southeast region "a fetid, stinking mass of quicksand"
• the southwest region "the heart of the Great Dismal Swamp"

There are wilderness encounters for each region, in addition to several well-conceptualized and atmospheric set encounters, designed with a decidedly old-school feel.

Isle of the Swamp Giant.  Illustration by Britt Martin.

Boggy Bottom:

The small town of Boggy Bottom is described as a "haven of ill repute".

A keyed map with a description of the town's notable locations is included, together with a series of events involving the town's missing children, in which Miklos Haruska "Old Slyboots" from DA2 plays a key role.

DA2: Previous Expeditions

Characters planning an expedition to the City of the Frog may learn of at least two prior attempts to investigate the strange cult.

The first mention of the Monks of the Swamp appears in Dave Arneson's campaign newsletter Corner of the Table (vol. 4, no. 6):

Excerpt from Corner of the Table (Vol. 4, no. 6) c. 1972

Characters played by Dave Wesely (Fnord "Otto" the Barbarian), Scott Belfry (Scotty Debelfry), and Pete Gaylord (The Wizard of the Wood) set out from Loch Gloomen to investigate the town held by the Monks of the Swamp, and weren't heard from again.*

*The Wizard of the Wood was involved in a subsequent expedition to the City of the Gods, where he met his doom

Two years later, another expedition was launched, this time led by the Great Svenny:

One of the characters was killed and his loss was a warning to the others and so set the stage for future endeavors by the group who wished revenge and to find out what happened.  It was a great "what happened" set up when they finally found the the weird guy in the robes who shot an immensely powerful lightning bolt at them.  Awaking later in the swamp, all that could be remembered evoked a 'riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma'.

Stephen Rocheford, from The Comeback Inn in 2010

In "A Proposal in Confidence" the Fetch states "about five years ago ... there was some kind of change inside the order."

For a century it had festered in that awful stinking swamp, getting more and more eccentric and becoming gradually forgotten.  And, then, someone came along who had a head for leadership, and suddenly the order got active again.

We don't really know much more.  Our informers tell us that this man calls himself Saint Stephen and is some kind of foreigner.  He apparently has some very powerful magic at his disposal, and the Froggies are deathly afraid of him.

Fletcher William, from DA2 "Temple of the Frog"

The PCs may consider consulting with the Great Svenny for hints or clues, before setting out for the City of the Frog, themselves.

DA2: Temple of the Frog

DA2 "Temple of the Frog" (1986) by Dave Arneson and David Ritchie is a 48 page D&D adventure for character levels 10-14.

Module DA2 "Temple of the Frog" (1986) by Dave L. Arneson and David J. Ritchie.  Cover illustration by Denis Beauvais.

Creative Team:

Dave Arneson was the co-creator of D&D.  He returned a decade after leaving TSR to work on the DA series, based on his original Blackmoor campaign.

Arneson's co-author, David Ritchie, worked on several projects at TSR from 1982-83 (see this thread from Dragonsfoot in 2008).  He coauthored DA1-3 with Arneson, although garnered sole credit for DA4 "The Duchy of Ten" (1987).

Ritchie's wife, Deborah C. Ritchie, worked at TSR around the same time, serving as editor for B3 "Palace of the Silver Princess" (1981) and X3 "Curse of Xanathon" (1982).  She is credited as editor for the entire DA series, DA1-4.

Interior illustrations are by Mark Nelson.

Design Origins:

The Temple of the Frog was first published in The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures section of Supplement II: Blackmoor (1975).

The Adventure:

The PCs are tasked with rescuing the kidnapped Rissa Aleford, Baroness of the Lakes, from the dungeons beneath the Temple of the Frog, secret headquarters of the Order of the Frog, somewhere deep within the Great Dismal Swamp.

Return to the Temple of the Frog:

"Return to the Temple of the Frog" (2006) by Ted Albert

"Return to the Temple of the Frog" (2006) was released by WotC in the 3.5 era.  It is designed for four to six 10th level-characters and takes place 20 years after the events of DA2.