Dragons of Tirenia

  With one of the players from The Ruins of Auromia returning to Auckland briefly before moving overseas, we had a catch-up game where we revisited what those characters were up to now! We did, however, run out of time, so the end of this was extremely rushed. Two and a half years had passed since a group of adventurers defeated the arch-fairies who had pretended to be gods in Auromia, and Sorrel Acetosa had become the new genius loci of Auromia. In that time, Dova the cat-head had become first mate on the Coral Claw  under Capitano Giuseppe la Fenicottero (a flamingo-head wizard) sailing with the pirate fleet of Capitano Giovanni Bramare, a brass dragon. The three ships under his command fought against the imperialist bronze dragons of Staglia and the capitalist red dragons of Selenizia. Recently, a Staglian fleet had stopped at the island of Santa Severina and demanded its surrender, and then plundered the port when it was refused. The Coral Claw  and the other ships se...

 Given the recent changes to the Open Gaming License by Hasbro / Wizards of the Coast, we have decided to remove all Dungeons & Dragons references from Tirenia. I will be revising the world to remove any D&D-isms from it, and also to bring it in line with a Future Project that we are working on! Image: 'Aeneas Flees Burning Troy.'  Federico Barocci, 1593.

 I've been having a break from Tirenia, but I had a strange thought and wanted to get it down. What are dinosaurs? Dinosaurs were created in the War of the Host as living weapons. They were meant as living weapons. Eventually, they led to the creation of dragons, when some bright spark demon had the idea of putting a soul inside one and giving it wings and innate magic. (This also means that in Tirenia, birds did not evolve from dinosaurs, and might in fact pre-date them! What a strange thought...)Who are these angels and demons who enjoy flesh-shaping so much? What happened to the dinosaurs since then? Doubtlessly there are still some hidden away in the remote places of the world in the remote places. Perhaps some fairy or demon will bring them forth again as part of the Tirenian Wars! The Primitive World . Adolphe Pannemaker, 1857.

 Dragon Princes now has quite a complicated storyline! With every game influenced by those that came before it, and influencing those that are yet to come, there's a lot going on. You don't need to know the story across the multiple games to appreciate what's going on in your game, but if you're interested, this is a quick summary of the entire thing so far. As more games get played, I'll update this post! 1015, Summer The mercenaries of the Company of the Wolf stop the bronze dragon Generale Corragio from conquering the Salassi Valley in north-western Tirenia.  (The Company of the Wolf) 1015, Autumn The Company of the Wolf discover the ancient system of monoliths designed by the last gold dragon emperor to channel magic and destroy it before it could fall into the hands of the red dragon Rubina. Rubina and the company are killed in the explosion. The fall of the monolith network sends a surge of magic throughout Tirenia.  (The Company of the Wolf) Rubina's skul...

  Recently, I had to run a very session of D&D over Zoom for patrons of the library. It would have been easy to do something generic; instead, I decided to do something a bit more complex. I present: The Giant's Tomb. In the winter of 1017, Cercius the Sibilant, a snake-head priestess, was disturbed by bad dreams. She realised that the dreams were prophetic: that Ahiman the Giant-King was stirring from his slumbers. Long ago, a group of humans had studied the meta-physics of the world, and figured out the secrets of draconic power - how to reincarnate sequentially in their own body, and thus grow in power and stature as dragons do. Ahiman was the philosopher who made this discovery, and shared it with his race. They used it to establish mighty powers, to create life, and to enslave the world around them. Only a coalition of heroes and dragons of the ancient times, and the rebellion of their created servants, was able to bring an end to their power. Seeing his end coming, Ahiman...

After two years and two months, we finally finished The Ruins of Auromia ! I notice that I've been lax I writing up session reports, so this will be a general overview of what happened, where the characters wound up, and how the world has changed going forward as a result. In Session Eleven, the dead characters went through Purgatory. They confronted their past lives and managed to process some of it. They also met some of the Fairies living in Purgatory. In Session Twelve, the dead characters returned to life with new fairy powers and united with their allies in Baraccoppoli and amongst the free fairies. They attacked the ghost armies of Bellona and found the gold dragon vault where the last artifacts were hidden. They also were warned about their former employer, Aurelian the undead gold dragon. In Session Thirteen, the players fought the servants of Bellona and rescued Tellaia from captivity. They convinced her to help them destroy the fairy relics at the Temple of Morta. Bellon...

 Hi everyone - I'm putting this blog on hiatus while we're in lockdown. I've got an idea for a new RPG article series, which will start when lockdown levels drop and stress levels drop!  Stay safe everyone! Image: 'Doctor Beak.' Paul Furst, c. 1650.