"The Return of Stezen D'Polarno…” RPGA Scenario

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"The Return of Stezen D'Polarno…” RPGA Scenario

Post by buriedbybooks »

A question for Jim Lowder (or anyone else who may know).

(This is following on from thread on the Wizards’ Ravenloft board). I remember that there was an RPGA Tournament scenario, which Jim Lowder wrote in the early nineties, mentioned on the Kargatane site. A fellow poster remembered the name "The Return of Stezen D'Polarno (Or 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Necromancer') [thanks Catman Jim]. There are also apparently other RPGA tournament scenarios, and I was (blindly) hoping we could track some of them down (well those scenarios not formally badged and release like "Hour of the knife").

Is the Return of Stezen D'Polarno ... still extant, or could someone please provide a summary (possibly a tall order for a scenario which was run at a games con some 15 years ago - but I'm an optimist). I’d guess that the copyright for the scenario is owned by RPGA/Wizards/Hasbro so it probable isn’t sharable if there are still copies (…Though I can but hope).

Would it be possible to fill in some blanks regarding these missing gems? Or better yet could they be made available to the community via the Fraternity site (if the copyright holder is generous enough to allow it)?

Cheers, Daniel.
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Since Mr Lowder isn't visiting us on a daily basis, I'll write him to let him know of this request.

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Post by The Giamarga »

Here are some interesting posts from the Raveloft-L archive:


> You wrote an adventure? Really?

Yup. Actually, I've written a fair amount of gaming material. Most of it is stats (Monstrous Compendium, Hall of Heroes, Darklords), but I did a couple of adventures for the RPGA. The first was a two-rounder co-authored with Bruce Nesmith. The second was the three-rounder I mentioned. Both were set in Ghastria. I created Stezen for Bruce and I to use in the first one.

I've been playing D&D and various other RPGs since about 1978 or '79.

Jim


> So, you wrote two tournaments set in Ghastria? What were they like? When
> were they performed?

I created Stezen and Ghastria for a two-round tournament Bruce Nesmith and I wrote as an RPGA masters event some years back. Bruce wrote Round One, I did all the darklord & domain background and wrote Round Two. The entire adventure was called "Dance of the Dead." (This was where the Christie Golden novel got its name, by the by. Christie was stuck for a title; her book had nothing to do with Stezen, but I suggested the title I'd just used for the tourney.) The 2nd round, the one I wrote, had the PCs coming back as revenants to get Stezen after they'd been killed by the painting.

The following year I wrote a three round RPGA tourney: "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Necromancer." That's the one with the "journey through art." I've been kicking around the idea of sending this to Dungeon, though it needs some polish.

Both were performed at GenCon; I ran a couple of groups through sections of each. Likely they ran elsewhere on the RPGA circuit, too.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder



I created Stezen for the Darklords RL supplement. Bruce Nesmith and I wrote a two-round Stezen tourney for RPGA one year. The following year I wrote a three-round Stezen tourney for RPGA.

He's the darklord who drains people's life force with a painting. Last I heard, his domain was made into an island.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder


>>Was Dorian Grey the inspiration for Stezen D'Polarno? Because there was quite a bit of talk to that effect on the list last year sometime, about how there are a lot of similarities, etc. So I was just curious...<<

Not directly. There are similarities to be sure, but I wasn't thinking of DG when I came up with Stezen. I came up with his curse first--that
he was once a decadent sensualist, but now could only taste, feel, smell ashes, thanks to the Dark Powers. I then decided that he would be a threat because, like a vampire, he would steal lifeforce (in his case the ability to experience life as he once did). I thought a painting
would be a nice artifact, as it would be different from the usual sword or ring. Makes him vulnerable in weird ways, too.

I hadn't read Wilde's DG at the time, though I was familiar with the rough outline of the story. Maybe it was influencing me subconsciously,
but the parallels weren't intended.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder
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Post by Daisu »

I tracked down exisiting copies of various ravenloft rpga modules for preservation, alot of them are lost with only faint hope they still in some rpga vault. I tried numerous occasions to talk the rpga into rereleasing them or allowing companies, people or their author to buy rights. They wouldn't even confirm titles or if copies still exist, except for one adventure.
They eventually sent me to a dead end (lawyer) and but overall they were not intrested at releasing rights or republishing, I have made no any further attempts since then :( The ol' Kargatane knew of my endeavors and was up for the idea of going to add summaries of the rpga modules once the catalog became update.
Copyright holder is the rpga. I was working for arthuas at the time but since rights have gone back to WotC maybe they change thier stance. I like to be onboard if anyone going to try.


What giamarga posted is good summary of the adventures, "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Necromancer" the second round is the journey through art for the PCs to escape, which is pretty awesome. Round 3 PCs become haunts that can only animate objects and try to kill the darklord.
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Post by The Giamarga »

How many RPGA Ravenloft adventures were there? What were their titles? Let's at least compile a list. I've done some research on the net and came up with the following so far:


1986 - Contact 86
- AD&D (Ravenloft II) (1 round) ??? Is this I10 The House on Gryphon Hill???


1991 - RockCon
- Ravenloft (Dance of the Dead) (2 rounds) by Jim Lowder and Bruce Nesmith


1991 - NI-Con
- Ravenloft (Ravenslurch) (2 rounds) ???


GenCon - 1992
- Ravenloft Grandmasters (The Return of Stezan D'Polarno) (3 rounds) by Jim Lowder


1991 Glathricon
- Ravenloft Masters (The Only Way Out) (2 rounds) ???


1993 AndCon'93
- Ravenloft Masters (Awakenings) (2 rounds) ??? Is this the module Awakenings ???


1994 -Winter Fantasy '94
- Ravenloft Benefit (The Trouble with Sara) (1 round) ???
- Ravenloft (Felkovic's Cat) (2 rounds) published in Dungeon #50, by Paul Culotta


1994 GenCon ‘94
- Ravenloft (The Beast Within) (2 rounds) ??? there's a Dungeon adventure in issue 65 of the same name but it's not set in RL ...


1995 GenCon
- Ravenloft (Sacrificial Lambs) (1 round) ???
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Stezen tournaments

Post by JamesLowder »

Hi:

I have the original files for my half of "Dance of the Dead," the round with the revenants, and all three rounds of "The Return of Stezen." The RPGA might have tweaked the files before they sent them out, fixed typos and so on, but my files should be quite close to what ran at the cons. In fact, when I ran the adventures as a GM at Gen Con, I believe I did so from my own files, not anything printed by RPGA.

Still, there might be an RPGA "official" printed version floating around out there; my wife did some support work on the writing of the three-rounder and is listed on the cover pages I have in my files, but she is not listed as a co-author elsewhere. That suggests that she was left off the RPGA cover sheet.

Bruce Nesmith, who wrote the first round of "Dance," cannot locate his file for the tournament. I asked him about this recently, since he's writing an essay for me for the big <i>Hobby Games: The 100 Best</i> project I'm working on at the moment. If he comes up with it, he'll let me know.

As for circulating the files:

TSR/WotC is unlikely to have records making it clear they own the material. I didn't write the adventures as part of my job and don't recall signing away any rights beyond telling the RPGA it was OK to run the material at cons. And TSR kept miserable records on top of all that. So they would have a hard time using the material again without paying me, or claiming rights beyond the use for RPGA events.

Just a guess, but this could be why the WotC lawyers have stonewalled when asked about the rights for the tournaments--they have no paper trail proving clear ownership. Moreover, not everything done for RPGA back in Lake Geneva was work-for-hire; I still own the copyrights for the video column I published in <i>Polyhedron</i> for 50 or so issues. So that creates some confusion as to who owns what for the tournaments.

Coversely, I don't own the characters in the tournament (I published Stezen in <i>Darklords</i> after creating him for the first tournament and signed contracts for that) or the Ravenloft setting. or the 2nd edition rules. So I can't just go posting this material anywhere, either.

I'll give this some more thought. If there's a way to get this material out for publication or for use on the net, I'll let you know.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder
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Post by Catman Jim »

JL: That would be very cool, as long as you are not "April Fooling" us! :wink:

Giamarga, the last list I saw of the RPGA Ravenloft games was on the Kargatane's Reference page, you can still access it through The Wayback Machine here
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Post by JamesLowder »

Catman Jim wrote:JL: That would be very cool, as long as you are not "April Fooling" us! :wink:
Heh. No April Fools. I have the files on my computer and recently unearthed a bound copy of the three-rounder.

Cheers,
Jim
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Post by Daisu »

My memory is abit fuzzy but think Bruce's computer got wiped few years ago, and that could been his only source for the file.


Karagatane list is not complete. There also another ravenloft rpga adventure called beats within. That title used alot. Plus many other not on the list, some did not even get put into a con :(
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Post by Catman Jim »

Daisu wrote:Karagatane list is not complete. There also another ravenloft rpga adventure called beats within. That title used alot. Plus many other not on the list, some did not even get put into a con :(
"Beast Within" is the second title on the Kargatane list I provided a link to above.
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Post by Daisu »

The Beast Within(1994) by Bruce Nesmith & Thomas Reid(Reid wrote 2nd round)
Domain: unkonown, has a town called riverbee and a castle.
Summary:They are taken by the mists while in myth Drannor to a land ruled by Count Vordascek and his wife the countess. Th PC were turned into werewolf and sent rampaging but were caught. A local priest knew a way for a cure but before able to give it, wolves and werewolves broke into the dungeons and killed everyone cept for the PCs to set to blame. Pcs escaped and eventually meet up to the count's personal priest who knew the former priest and he befriends the PCs. Pcs before set off were ambush by the count's twin sons and their guards. PCs releaize one was loup garou causing the twins to square off till one was expose as a werewolf and killed. As the Pcs undergo their cleansing ceremony, the countess and her werewolves attack, killing the assistants and stealing away the priest while PCs were chained in their part of the ceremony. Werewolf don the PC equipment and go rampaging in the village. Pc escape and try to help the village but it was too late and they have to try to win back the village's trust. The countess wants to turn her other son into a true werewolf but she needs the essence of werewolf creted by her other son, in which sets a trail for pcs to follow into a trap.



The Beast Within(1998) by James Wyatt (One of the rpga ones missing from the list)
Domain: Dementilieu, village of Villebois (level 4-6)
Summary: A loup du noir been feeding on the village and either making a villagerconivince of their own guilt or use a stranger as a scapegoat who wil be unable to give a believable alibi. In walks the PCs who get arrested under suspicion of lycanthropy. Pc find a unlikely alley of another lycantrope trying to avoid suscion and find the real killer. Pcs must piece the evidence while avoiding angry mobs of villagers unmasked the loup du noir.

The Greatest Loss (1995) by Andrew Hauptman
Domian:Phantom Lover's domain, city of Saerloon in sembia(forgotten realms)
Summary: 3 months ago party's founder and longtime leader died. His loss was felt most heavily by his wife. Month later she was strickinn by some wasting illiness, and found each morning found asleep over her husband grave though how she got there been mystery. The housekeeper fearing some evil power had enspelled the wife, she sent out summons for the rest of her adventuring companions. Pcs arrive just as their friend agreed to travel with the phantom lover who been feeding on her in guise of her husband.

-Out of the dozen of rpga adventures this one is one of my most favorite well written ones. Well probly with alot of people who first saw phantom lover in Darklords thought be hard or would not been able to make an adventure for that darklord, probly something to skip. But Andrew's adventure and characters really suits this darklord.


There a summary of three, I can keep going through the list covering what I know, hopefully bring enough intrest that can attempt to see their re-release from rpga. Is there a new head of rpga?
This is what I meant by second title of beast within, there also module that is forgotten realms.
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Post by buriedbybooks »

This is a brilliant response - thank you everyone. I’d sort of forgotten how many of them there were. It is such a shame that these scenarios have slipped into limbo. While I suppose they’re not cannon, they certainly have some pedigree when it comes to their authors and some tantalizingly evocative titles.

Thanks for the summaries Daisu, I for one would be interested in any further info you can offer. In fact I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else who has played or DM’ed them (or indeed wrote any of them) and has some memories they can share.

And a big thank you for taking the time to respond Mr. Lowder -- if there is any way you could make these available I’m pretty certain I’d not be the only one to greatly appreciate it.

Cheers, D.
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Post by Daisu »

I will do up some more summaries to post later, but like to see some more board partipation and output to show there is alot of intrest for these.

A Curse of Blood(1995) by Robert Wiese
Domain: Dementieu(village of Cerlimieu on banks of the Musarde River)
Summary: Dooplegangers are trying to infiltrate the village, they are using a ghost of the Wicked Man of the Woods to get rid of rivals and place blame. When a troop of vistani come to town, the doppleganger leader fears their gift of sight would compromise his plans to taking over all of Dementieu. Four adventurers on the trail of the ghost come upon the vistani camp and get embroiled in a murder. The vistani are of two decendants and when one leader was replaced by a doppleganger to kill the other, a curse came upon all implicated until the killer is delt with to break the curse.
Note: Two of the playable PCs are true vistani of each decendent line, so was intresting how the race was handled. Adventure also does not follow the ravenloft timezone or ahead of it, since ghost was created from Vald darkov dealings a hundread years ago in ravenloft.
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Post by Catman Jim »

Daisu wrote:I will do up some more summaries to post later, but like to see some more board partipation and output to show there is alot of intrest for these.
I'd love to see them added to the reviews section here, I know nothing more about them than the titles.
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Catman Jim wrote:
Daisu wrote:I will do up some more summaries to post later, but like to see some more board partipation and output to show there is alot of intrest for these.
I'd love to see them added to the reviews section here, I know nothing more about them than the titles.
Ditto :)
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