CM9: Legacy of Blood

CM9 "Legacy of Blood" (1987) by Steve Perrin and Katharine Kerr is a D&D adventure for a party of "lawful adventurers" of levels 15 to 19.

CM9 "Legacy of Blood" (1987) by Steve Perrin and Katharine Kerr.  Cover illustration by Clyde Caldwell.

One of the PCs inherits a dominion in the Republic of Darokin, although must quickly prove his worthiness to rule (with a little help from his friends).

Creative Team:

CM9 "Legacy of Blood" was co-written by Steve Perrin and Katharine Kerr.

Perrin, of "the Perrin Conventions" and Chaosium's RuneQuest, was a freelancer for TSR at the time.  He also wrote GAZ 5 "The Elves of Alfheim" (1988).

Kerr was a regular contributor to Dragon magazine.  "Daggerspell" was published in 1986, the first of the Deverry Cycle, launching her career as a successful novelist.

The cover illustration by Clyde Caldwell "A Princess in Peril" originally appeared in TSR's 1986 Amazing Stories Calendar* (the full painting is featured in this interview)

*the painting was titled "Maiden's Vengeance" in "The Art of the D&D Fantasy Game" (1985)

Interior illustrations are by Eric A. Gehlin, with cartography by Jon Jacobsen.

Thanks to Playtesters: Alan Cohn, Douglas Friedman, Dawn Friedman, Steve Henderson, Barbara Huguley, Howard Kerr, Heather Mace, Devin McKinney

Republic of Darokin:

The Republic of Darokin is an oligarchy, or plutocracy, governed by an Outer Council of 37 individuals, members of wealthy merchant families, and an Inner Council of Six, chosen from among those in the Outer Council.

The Republic is divided into two areas, the Heartland and the Borderlands.

The Heartland law is administered by appointed officials who are directly responsible to the Inner Council, while the Border law is administered by a special class of hereditary rulers, the Magistrates of the Borders (equivalent to barons in a feudal system).

The PC inherits the dominion of Fenhold, in the Borderlands on the road to Selenica.

Darokin City:

The heir to Fenhold must first travel to Darokin City in order to claim his dominion.

Schematic flowchart for Darokin City.

A useful description of Darokin City is included, along with a "chase flowchart" (modeled after the chase flowchart for Akesoli in X10 "Red Arrow, Black Shield").

Fenhold:

Map of the area around Fenhold.

The dominion of Fenhold is fully detailed, with descriptions and stat blocks for important NPCs, and a keyed map of the lord's manor house.

Location of area around Fenhold in CM9.

Fenhold does not appear in GAZ 11 "The Republic of Darokin" (1989), and was relocated eastwards in Thorfinn Tait's updated fan map of Darokin (see this thread on the Piazza).

Dominion Administration:

The focus of gameplay is based on the Confidence Level mechanic described in the DMs Companion:

...the DM should remind the players about the basic focus of a dominion game: earning Confidence Points.  Actual Experience Points are no longer important.  What the player needs for his character is Confidence Points.

Confidence Points are earned by ruling well and reacting well to crises.  They reflect the confidence both the citizens of the dominion and the ultimate rulers (the Darokin Councils, in this case) of the dominion have in the ruler.  Confidence Points are totalled at the end of the game to determine the Confidence Level of the dominion.  A high Confidence Level means the dominion is doing well and the Councils of Darokin are pleased.  A low level means that Darokin will find someone else to rule the dominion.

CM9 "Legacy of Blood"

The Sunken City:

The deep swamp south of Fenhold hides a secret - an ancient, sunken city.

Details are left up to the DM to create, although this would serve as a fitting location for K1 "The Sunken City" by Rob Kuntz.

The Known World:

The first few modules in the CM series were set in Norwold.*  The last few, starting with CM7 "The Tree of Life" were set in the Lands and Environs of the D&D Wilderness, paving the way for the Known World of the Gazetteers.

*one of the NPCs in CM9 "Legacy of Blood" is "a famous bandit chief on the run from Norwold, where King Ericall has placed a price of 25,000 gp on his head".

GAZ 1 "The Grand Duchy of Karameikos", GAZ 2 "The Emirates of Ylaruam", GAZ 3 "The Principalities of Glantri" and even the forthcoming GAZ 5 "The Elves of Alfheim" are all referenced in the module.

New Monsters:

Giant Swamp Eel, Giant Freshwater Slug, Swamp Velya, Giant Swamp Snapping Turtle, Nekrozon*

*from Master DM's book 

Pre-Generated Characters:

Lord Hugh of Redlands, Lawful 16th level Fighter
Athel the Deep One, Lawful 18th level Magic-User
Alys the Cheerful, Lawful 16th level Cleric
Iorg Quickwrist, Neutral 15th level Thief
Dariel Sundancer, Lawful 10th level Elf; attack rank E
Meadowrock Barberry, 8th level Halfling; attack rank D

CM8: The Endless Stair

CM8 "The Endless Stair" (1987) by Ed Greenwood is a D&D adventure for a party of four to six characters of levels 15 to 20.

CM8 "The Endless Stair" (1987) by Ed Greenwood.  Cover illustration by "Jack Fred" (Keith Parkinson).

The PCs get caught in the cross-fire between a deceased wizard's apprentices, as rival mages vie against one another to claim their master's inheritance.

Creative Team:

CM8 "The Endless Stair" was written by Ed Greenwood (credited as Ed "Elminster" Greenwood), and published the same year as the original Forgotten Realms boxed set.

Ah! Space contraints (this was my "learn how to write TSR modules" module) forced me to leave out a lot of the catches (like side-effects, geases, quests, etc.) tied to all that magic. Without them, it's a treasure shop giveaway, at the end…

Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 24, 2018

Development and editing was credited to Chris Christensen.

The cover illustration is by Keith Parkinson, who used "Jack Fred" as his signature, a pseudonym shared by himself and fellow artists at TSR for work they felt was not up to their usual standard (as discussed by Larry Elmore, here).

Interior black-and-white illustrations are by Graham Nolan, with cartography by Dennis Kauth.

Special thanks were extended to: Jenny, Anita Buttemer, Jim Clarke, Andrew Dewar, Ian Hunter, John Hunter, Victor Selby, and (of course) Grimwald.

The Setting:

For those campaigns set in the D&D® game world introduced in the Expert Set, it is recommended that Daelzun’s Rest be located on a road somewhere in the Principalities of Glantri, at least four days' ride from Glantni City.

CM8 "The Endless Stair" pg. 2

Greenwood refers to the Lands and Environs of the D&D Wilderness, and may have therefore envisioned Daelzun's Rest along one of the trade routes leading northwest out of the Principalities of Glantri.*

*for a discussion regarding other possible locations, see this thread on the Piazza

The module states that the area around Daelzun's Rest was ruled by a Baron Elktazar some 300 years earlier (prior to the formation of the Principalities of Glantri in 858 AC)

The Baron reigned from Moonkeep "a many-towered fortress atop a rocky crag (it is up to the DM to decide if Moonkeep has vanished entirely, is an explorable - i.e., dungeon - ruin, or still exists, perhaps under a different name, as an inhabited stronghold)."

His large realm contained "vast forests, rocky crags, and small farms, a loyal land under the Baron’s even justice in a land of many small baronies and landholdings."

Daelzun's Rest:

Illustration by Graham Nolan

Daelzun's Rest is a fully detailed roadside inn, easily repurposed for use in other settings or adventures.

The Endless Stair:

Illustration by Graham Nolan

"The Stair takes the form of an open (that is to say, with a large open space at the center) spiral of joined (seemingly fused together in one piece) marble, polished smooth and glowing with a soft, pearly white radiance, which brightens to a blue-white glow on each step whenever a living creature is touching it."

Comparisons have been drawn between the Endless Stair and the Celestial Stairway in the Avatar Trilogy (see this thread on the Piazza).

The Seat of Power:

The Seat of Power

The Seat of Power is a Lesser Artifact, as described in the Master DM's book (1986), created by the same unknown Immortal who fashioned the Endless Stair.  Ancient tomes name this Immortal as "Cheiros" and the guardian as the "Cheiromar".

Seat Powers (usable only once per round, and only one power per round): Dispel magic (R 120', EF 20' cube, X8) meteor swarm (R 240', EF 4 for 8d6 + 8d6 or 4 for 4d6 + 4d6; C26) curse (R touch, EF limited; see X14) teleport (self only, from Seat; X15) create any monster (R 90'; DR 4T, EF 40 HD; M8) reverse gravity (R 90'; EF 30' cube; C22) heal (M9; automatic healing of self only) remove curse (R touch; X14) prismatic wall (R 60'; DR 6T, EF 10' radius or 500 sq ft; M9)

R = Range in feet, DR = Duration, T = Turn; EF = Area of Effect; page and volume number of rulebooks describing magic given at end of entry.

New Spells:

Stone Bolt (3rd), Control Bats (4th), Warning Trumpet (4th), Control Gargoyle (5th), Symbol: Spell Loss, Entrap (8th)

New Magical Items:

Crystal of Death Scrying, Dart of Death, Gem of Magic Missile Protection, Diadem of Disenchantment

From AC4 "The Book of Marvelous Magic": Buttons of Blasting (pg. 21), Cabinet of Ministering (pg. 22), Table of Plenty (pg. 64)

New Monsters:

Prying Eyes, Guardian Hand,* Skullwraith, Eater-of-Magic

*similar to Ed's "Crawling Claw" from Dragon #32 (December, 1979)

Prerolled Characters:

Thondaril "The Sword", Lawful 21st level Fighter
Baerum "The Bold", Neutral 16th level Fighter
Elensyl the Maga, Lawful 17th level Magic-user
Zanzir "The Mysterious", Neutral 20th level Magic-user
Durnath the Patriarch, Lawful 19th level Cleric
Thurlan "Evilscourge", Lawful 15th level Cleric
Orskil "Sharpeye", Neutral 15th level Thief
Sparnus "The Hand", Neutral 17th level Thief

CM7: Q & A with Bruce Heard

In preparation for yesterday's post on CM7 "The Tree of Life", I reached out to Bruce Heard with a few questions, which he kindly took the time to answer.

Illustration by Larry Elmore

Q. Can you tell us about what sources of inspiration or concepts led to the development of CM7 "The Tree of Life"?

The source came from Frank Mentzer’s Companion Set and his descriptions of the elves.  Much of the rest came from adventures I ran while I was still in France, in 1981-1982.  The funny thing is that I recycled the Basic D&D idea of sentient, magical trees at the center of forest-dwelling clans in my later Calidar game world describing an elven kingdom.  It all goes back to the Companion set.

Q. Were there any significant changes made to the module before publication, on advice of the editor, or through playtesting?

Surely, you jest!  Playtesting at TSR rarely took place.  There just wasn’t enough time for this, given everyone’s production schedules.  Typically, editors focused on text clarity, grammar, spelling, formatting, and copyfitting.  They did not often address pure design issues with a writer.  So, no to your question.  Once I turned in my design, it disappeared into TSR’s black box and came back out on the other side, not looking too bad!

Q. The Star Map is a nice feature of the module.  Did you provide a detailed sketch to the artist, or does it represent more of a collaboration?

Yes, I drew a diagram for the star map.  Unfortunately, I do not remember who produced the chart’s final artwork.  I suspect it was Larry Elmore.  I was too new in the company to grasp all the production ropes or to go snooping around to see what other staffers were doing on the module.  As I said earlier, for me at that time, it was a black box until the “tah-dah” moment came.

Q. Looking back at CM7, one of your earliest works, is there anything you would now consider doing differently?

Nah!  It was as good as I could have written it at the time.  I wish the Gazetteers had already been published which would have helped me position the adventure in the Known World specifically.  GAZ1 came in 1987… too late for CM7.  This was part of the reason I started pushing for these Gazetteers when I earned enough influence on the D&D product line to do so.

Q. Any advice for those considering running the adventure?

No, not really.  I wrote most of this more than 40 years ago.  Been a while.  A note in passing as I flip through my copy: Page 3 introduces a druid named Cucurbita Pepo.  This was the name of a PC in a campaign I ran back in France (based in Greyhawk, using AD&D first edition rules).

CM7: The Tree of Life

CM7 "The Tree of Life" (1986) by Bruce Heard is a D&D adventure for a party of high-level elves (the pregens are 10th level), accompanied by a 10th level druid.

CM7 "The Tree of Life" (1986) by Bruce Heard.  Illustration by Larry Elmore.

The Feadiel clan's Tree of Life is dying (see Demi-human Clans).  The PCs are sent on a quest by the elders of Alfheim to discover the source of its affliction.

Creative Team:

CM7 "The Tree of Life" was written by Bruce Heard, who previously co-authored M1 "Into the Maelstrom" (1985).

Heard was originally hired by TSR as a French translator, and found himself as the de facto BECMI product line manager after Frank Mentzer left the company (see this post on The Piazza).

The cover illustration is by Larry Elmore.  Interior illustrations are by Mario Maccari.  Cartography is by Tom Darden.

Selinar:

Location of Selinar, the eastern portion of Canolbarth Forest, home to the Feadiel Clan.

Alfheim is described as "a group of large clans allied under the authority of a sole king for the defense of the woodland and of their civilization.*  Many powerful druids live in Alfheim, helping the elves to maintain the sylvan realm."

*the ruler of Alfheim is given as King Doriath in X10 "Red Arrow, Black Shield" (1985)

The adventure begins in Feador, the Feadiel's clanhold in Selinar, described as a village.  From there, the party must discover at least one of two magical ways to travel to the Feadiel clan's ancestral homeland, far to the northwest.

(The northern part of Canolbarth Forest was previously detailed in O2 "Blade of Vengeance".)

The Magic Rainbow:

The Magic Rainbow is the common arch of our skies; however, very few people know that it is indeed magical and that it can reach any place a traveler is seeking, whether real or imaginary, if its secret is learned.  The inside of the rainbow is a dimension by itself, inhabited by powerful creatures. 

CM7 "The Tree of Life" (pg. 7)

In addition to serving as a means of transportation, the Magic Rainbow permits travel to "The Land of Colors", parallel worlds where everything is based on their respective colors, with entry points corresponding to locations in the Lands and Environs of the D&D Wilderness:

Scarletland  (entry point corresponding to location of Glantri City, infested with giant red ants and rust monsters)

Amberland (entry point corresponding to location of Ylaruam, featuring ochre jellies and many great cats of all sorts)

Goldenland (entry point corresponding to location of Specularum, contaminated with yellow mold)

Jadeland (entry point corresponding to location of Alfheim, contaminated by clusters of green slime)

Azureland (entry point corresponding to location of Norvik, a land of frost giants and creatures of ice)

Violetland (entry point corresponding to location of Thyatis, with poisonous ultra-violet rays)

The Star Map:

The Star Map, a rudimentary planisphere depicting twelve constellations and the names for the months of the year

Twelve constellations are depicted on the Star Map: the Manticore, the Eagle, the Chimera, the Centaur, the Griffon, the Warrior, the House, the Lizard, Justice, the Nymph, the Hydra, the Narwhal*

*symbols for each of these are given in Chapter 3 "The Elven Land", some of which are depicted in the illustration on the module's cover

The names of major stars in the various constellations are also given: Hunard (the Eagle), Celeb (the Chimera), Mantis (the Griffon), Rhax (the House), Wyrm (the Lizard), Coloth (Justice), Walinor (the Nymph), Sidon (the Hydra), Lith (the Narwhal)

Five planets* are indicated as parts of constellations on the Star Map: Alith (the Manticore), Zoar (the Eagle), Telax (the Centaur), Loth (the Warrior), Mym (the Hydra)

*the positions of planets in the night sky are not fixed ("planet" literally meaning "wanderer"), so regarding these as minor stars may be more appropriate

The 12 constellations are divided into 4 seasons, each of which is associated with an element: spring (earth), summer (fire), autumn (air), winter (water)

Finally, elven names for the months of the year are given: Frostend, Youngfire, Seedwell, White-Ewe, Rich-Sun, Sweetlife, Copperfield, Goldharvest, Redtree, Darkwood, Snowdrop, Gloomlight

The Elven Land:

The Elven Land, located in the northwest corner of the continental map in the D&D Companion Set.

The Elven Land, also referred to as "the Sylvan Realm", is the Feadiel clan's ancestral homeland.

The land of the ancients is a remote realm, bordered on the north by a huge swamp-forest, on the east and southeast by a chain of high mountains, and on the west by an ocean.  The south is open to vast steppes.  Most of the realm is covered with forest;

The forest was originally divided into four areas called Ietzirah, Beriah, Atziluth and Asiah, the four archaic terms for Water, Air, Fire, and Earth.

CM7 'The Tree of Life" (pg. 12)

The names for the different areas in the Elven Land are drawn from the Kabbalah, corresponding to the four elements as described above.*

*see Introduction to the Kabbalah – The Sefirot and the Four Worlds

Coincidentally, "The Tree of Life" is the name given to a diagram in the Kabbalah representing the process by which the universe came into being.

The Tower of Light:

The Tower of Light, illustration by Mario Maccari.

The Tower of Light was an elvish palace consisting of multiple towers, and represents a challenging three-dimensional environment for the DM to run.

Summary:

CM7 "The Tree of Life" seems like an epic module.  Although structured as a quest, the players must deduce their objectives using clues (such as the Star Map).

There are powerful monsters to fight, a devious adversary to defeat, and several puzzles to solve.

Upon seemingly achieving their goal, the players are confronted with an unexpected twist, followed by a war machine scenario.

This is a complex adventure for experienced players, a fitting Companion-level module.

Trivia:

Elven rations provide sustenance for 10 weeks, rather than one week.  They are normally not for sale, but on a human market are worth up to 300 gp.

A pre-rolled character named Miridor Feadiel, described as the nephew of a clan leader, appears in module X11 "Saga of the Shadow Lord" (1986).

The name of the druid, Cucurbita Pepo, was re-used for a young druid in Robrenn in "The Voyage of the Princess Ark" (Dragon #177, pg. 43).

A "Magic Mouth" spell effect (pg. 30) represents an AD&Dism, and may reflect the module's component origins as a AD&D adventure.