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.
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.
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