The Taming of Dragon Pass - the Campaign

From: RICHARJE <Jeff.Richard_at_metrokc.gov>
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 14:55:21 +0800


Howdy fellow Gloranthaphiles,

     I've decided to test the practical utility of the Digest (as opposed to its well-proven utility at sparking interesting -and not-so-interesting  -Gloranthan tangents) by telling one-and-all the concept behind my new campaign (to begin about the same time that Chaosium mails me my copy of Wym's Footprint). Then I've got a few practical questions for some of you wise sages with reams of unpublished Glorantha material. Well, here it goes:

     THE CONCEPT (paraphrasing King of Sartar pgs 200-201): Vicious feuds and ceaseless petty strife have plagued Heortland ever since Belintar the Stranger washed up on the shores of Kethaela some sixty years ago and declared himself the Sacred King of the Land. The balance of power between the Hendreiki warrior-elite and the land's proudly independent carls, once favoring the carls, has, over the last two generations, tilted towards the Hendreiki. Shameful tribute has been increasingly imposed upon the carls to support the Hendreiki warriors and in many cases, the right of the carls to chose one of themselves to be chief of the clan has been abrograted by these ambitious warriors. For many proud carl families, this is an intolerable affront to their dignity, their rights and their well-being, and they fight a losing war against the Hendreiki.

     However, for the brave and adventurous, there is an alternative.

     To the north of Heortland lies the Wilderness of Dragon Pass. Ten generations ago, the great kingdoms there were cursed and devastated by the Great Dragons. The dragonnewts erected great stone crosses at the edge of the Wilderness and decreed that no humans born of living flesh would ever live if they came north. So for centuries the land lay wild.

     That is until, brave Colymar of the Black Spear and his followers broke the Dragon's Curse and settled in Dragon Pass around Clearwine some sixty years ago. Since then, bands of settlers - small and large - have braved the Wilderness and begun to build new clans and new kingdoms in Dragon Pass. Guided by Orlanth, these brave souls follow in his path and the the eternal path of the Storm Tribe - to win a place for oneself in a hostile world by one's courage, by one's strength and by one's wits.

     Often these settlers were no more than a single ragged bloodline seeking refuge, or a disgruntled half-clan that left Heortland without any official sanction. Still others were gangs of desperadoes, murderers and freebooters. Nonetheless all of these immigrants had one thing in common - despite dragonnewts, uz, aldryami, beastfolk, little folk and the wild immortals, they all sought to make a new life for themselves in the Wilds of Dragon Pass.

     So what do y'all think? I am going to run one settlement in the Wilds, in a vale near the Dragon Creek, said once to be the home of an EWF thane, and first settled by the family of a now-aging local strongman. Here, hardy pioneers and refugees begin the ardous task of taming the wilderness to their will.

     Here come's the questions.

  1. Are there detailed (ie. showing the location of hills and streams) maps of the lands between the Creek and the Stream in existence and if so, can I get a copy? Surely one of the old Chaosium hands has a good map of those lands (how else could someone have generated that wonderful map of the area around Grey Dog Inn for TotRM?).
  2. Are there any unpublished stories/sagas of the mid to late Fourteenth Century in the Dragon Pass area which I should be aware of?
  3. Has anybody else run such a campaign and would be willing to give some advice (or background material - see Question One)?

     Finally, any comments or suggestions, are welcome and solicited.

     Yours truly,

     Jeff Richard


End of Glorantha Digest V2 #8


WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html

Powered by hypermail