TEXT: 
  Dragon Warriors
  Introductory Book
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  INTRODUCTION
  Dragon Warriors is the classic fantasy RPG 
  you’ve never heard of. Released in the UK as a 
  series of mass-market paperbacks in 1986, it was 
  a big hit and introduced many people to their 
  first role-playing experience. But it was never 
  released in the USA or Canada, where it remains 
  a mystery. Until now, and this new edition.
   
  Dragon Warriors combines an epic old-
  school style of play with a slick, fast and intui-
  tive system of mechanics, and a background 
  that combines historical realism with folklore, 
  superstition, myth, and buckets of atmosphere. 
   
  The world of Legend works the way that 
  people in the Middle Ages believed it did. 
  Magic is real and those who use it are not to be 
  trusted. The forests are home to monsters, and 
  goblins will turn the milk and lame your horse 
  if you annoy them. The fairy-folk will steal you 
  or your children away to the Lands of Fae if 
  you don’t take precautions. Ancient kings sleep 
  under the hills, waiting for the call to return 
  and fight again; Hell is a real place; and in the 
  mountains live giants and stranger things. And 
  of course, there are dragons.
   
  The full Dragon Warriors game presents 
  seven character-classes, 192 spells in four dif-
  ferent classes, over 110 monsters, and more than 
  80 magic items. There’s complete rules covering 
  everything from hiring henchmen to madness 
  and disease. The world of Legend is fleshed out 
  in full, and there are sections on medieval law 
  and justice, tournaments and jousts, travel by 
  land and sea, an adventure that leads into the 
  campaign-book Sleeping Gods, and much more.
  This Book
  This sampler contains four chapters from the 
  Dragon Warriors rulebook, creating a playable 
  introduction to the game and its world. 
   
  We’ve presented you with the full character-
  generation rules, two character classes, complete 
  combat rules, background on part of the Lands 
  of Legend, and three monsters from the Besti-
  ary, rounded out with art from Jon Hodgson, 
  Scott Purdy, Erik Wilson and Andy Hepworth.
   
  What you see here is, with the exception of 
  the adventure in chapter 6, taken straight from 
  the rulebook. It’s not been re-edited, tidied up 
  or mucked about. If you buy the game, this is 
  really what you’ll get.
   
  Welcome to the world of Dragon Warriors.
  CONTENTS
  Introduction & Contents 
   
  1
  1. Character generation 
   
  2
  2. The Warriors 
   
   
  8
  3. Combat  
   
   
  12
  4. The Lands of Legend 
   
  16
  5. Creatures of Legend 
   
  21
  6. Scenario: Under the Rocks 
   
  23
  For more information on Dragon Warriors, 
  including downloadable sample adventures and 
  character sheets, visit our website at http://www.
  magnumopuspress.com
   
  Dragon Warriors books can be bought at 
  all good games-stores, or downloaded in PDF 
  format from DriveThruRPG.com
  DRAGON WARRIORS 
  INTRODUCTORY BOOK
  Dragon Warriors designed by Dave Morris and Oliver 
  Johnson.
  Cover by Jon Hodgson.
  Artwork by Jon Hodgson, Scott Purdy and Andy Hep-
  worth. Maps and character sheet by Andy Law. Comic 
  strip by Erik Wilson. Adventure by James Wallis.
  All text is copyright © 1986, 2009 Dave Morris and 
  Oliver Johnson/Magnum Opus Press. All art and maps 
  are copyright © 2008 the individual creators. All other 
  elements of design are copyright © 2008 Magnum 
  Opus Press. All rights reserved. Dragon Warriors is a 
  trademark of Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson, used 
  under licence by Magnum Opus Press. Originally pub-
  lished in different format by Corgi Books, 1986-1987. 
   
  The authors have asserted their moral rights to be 
  identified as the creators of this work.
   
  Published by Magnum Opus Press in association 
  with Flaming Cobra.
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  BEFORE YOU CAN begin your first Dragon 
  Warriors game, each player must create a char-
  acter who will be his or her fantasy ‘alter-ego’ in 
  the Lands of Legend, the world of the game. 
  Only six-sided dice are needed for this. 
  ROlEplayINg
  Start by thinking a little about your character’s 
  past life. Maybe you’ve chosen to play an impov-
  erished noblewoman, perhaps? She should 
  demand some deference from the other player-
  characters, and moan bitterly if she has to bor-
  row money from them to support her doubtless 
  extravagant tastes. Or your character might be an 
  ex-soldier, just back from the Crusades. Maybe 
  he finds the unprofessional approach of his fel-
  low adventurers to be annoyingly amateurish. 
  His conversation could be a string of military 
  clichés and anecdotes. A roving Barbarian could 
  find civilization hard to understand, and might 
  prefer to solve most problems using an axe. A 
  scholarly Sorcerer might go off on an expedi-
  tion just to collect ancient objets d’art. Gold 
  and silver would mean nothing to him. He has 
  no interest in the tactics of adventuring, so he 
  would leave the warriors in the party to decide 
  on any battle plans. 
   
  Consider also ‘your’ attitude to the rest of 
  the party. Without a doubt you will eventually 
  meet—or even play—the cowardly villain who 
  covets treasure so much that he runs off with 
  the loot while his comrades are battling the 
  monster. Less familiar is the brave adventurer 
  who will risk his own life to delay a foe while his 
  friends retreat. Our own campaign includes the 
  tale of Dagronelt the Harpist, who befriended 
  an NPC (a ‘non-player character’ operated by 
  the GM) and then experienced a conflict of loy-
  alties when the other player-characters fought 
  the NPC in question. 
   
  You may also want to create a background 
  and a life story for your character: where they’re 
  from, what their family is like, why they chose 
  their profession, and any important experiences 
  they may have had before the game started. 
   
  There are three ways that you can work out 
  this information. First of all, you can simply 
  choose for yourself: read the rest of this book 
  or the Dragon Warriors rulebook to get a clear 
  idea of the world in which the Dragon Warri-
  ors game takes place, and decide how you want 
  your character to fit into it. (Subject to the GM’s 
  approval. You cannot simply decide that your 
  character is heir to a kingdom!) 
   
  Alternatively, you can create it randomly. 
  There are tables to generate more detail about 
  your character’s region of origin and other back-
  ground information in chapter 6 of the Dragon 
  Warriors rulebook. For GamesMasters, these are 
  also useful for creating non-player characters 
  (NPCs) in a hurry.
   
  If you want to get stuck into playing the 
  game straight away, then feel free to skip that 
  chapter for the moment. There is no need to 
  develop an entire life history at the start of your 
  first game. You can always come back to it later. 
  Often a character will take on a persona of his 
  own after you have played him a few times, and 
  you and the GM can add events or details to his 
  background later on.
  Step One 
  ThE 
  ChaRaCTERISTICS
  Each character is initially defined by his scores in 
  five characteristics. These are Strength, Reflexes, 
  Intelligence, Psychic Talent and Looks. The 
  value of each characteristic is found by rolling 
  three six-sided dice (3d6), and therefore ranges 
  from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 18.
  Strength is a measure of the character’s 
  fitness and physical toughness. 
  chapter 
  Creating a CharaCter
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  His Reflexes score indicates his dexterity, 
  agility and speed of reactions. 
  Intelligence shows how clever the character 
  is (so a player who rolls low for this ought 
  to role-play as though he really is dim-
  witted). 
  Psychic Talent represents the character’s 
  basic ability to resist (and in some cases 
  use) magic. 
  The character’s Looks score reflects his 
  appearance and personal charm; this has 
  no bearing on his adventuring skills, but 
  you should certainly take it into account 
  when deciding how non-player characters 
  (NPCs) would react to him.
  The player rolls 3d6 for each of these five char-
  acteristics, then, and records the scores in the 
  appropriate boxes on his character sheet. These 
  scores will never change—except in rare cases, 
  through illness or sorcery.
   
  Each player will require a blank Character 
  Sheet, to keep track of their character’s scores. 
  A full-size character sheet will be found at the 
  back of the book, and you may make as many 
  photocopies of it as you need.
   
  Special note: The luck of the dice means 
  that sometimes a player will create a character 
  with hopelessly bad scores, quite unsuited to 
  life as an adventurer. The player may discard 
  the character and roll up another. It is for you, 
  as GamesMaster, to decide whether a character 
  is ‘hopeless’ or not. As a guideline, we suggest 
  you allow a player to discard any character with 
  more than two characteristics below the average 
  (9 to 12) range.
  Step Two 
  ChOOSINg a 
  pROfESSION
  In the Dragon Warriors game there are seven 
  Professions to which an adventurer may belong: 
  Assassin, Knight, Barbarian, Elementalist, Sor-
  cerer, Mystic and Warlock. Players who have 
  never played an RPG before may find it easiest 
  to play either a Knight or a Barbarian. These 
  two classes don’t need to concern themselves 
  with magic or stealth, just cold steel, mighty 
  thews and valour.
   
  In any case, Knights and Barbarians will be 
  by far the most common classes in most Dragon 
  Warriors games. Indeed, there is no particular 
  need to include the other classes at all for many 
  adventures, and some campaigns will play out 
  in their entirety with only these two. Most par-
  ties, though, will have a balance, with perhaps 
  a majority of Knights and Barbarians and the 
  occasional Mystic, Sorcerer, Elementalist or 
  Warlock. Assassins are scarce and are often bet-
  ter fitted to use in solo adventures (with only 
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  one player character and the GM) or campaigns 
  in which everyone plays an Assassin! 
   
  Knights are the best all-around fighters in 
  Dragon Warriors. Though physically less robust 
  than Barbarians, they are able to wear heavy 
  armour without losing any of their combat 
  skills. Play a Knight if you want a character who 
  strives to be like King Arthur, or Lancelot, or 
  Gawain.
   
  Barbarians are better in attack, but defen-
  sively less skilful than Knights. Their fighting 
  style is fast and mobile, and heavy armour ham-
  pers them. They are able to go berserk in com-
  bat, making their attacks still more ferocious. 
  Play a Barbarian if you want a character who 
  could be a Viking warrior, or a skilled brawler 
  from the pages of fantasy novels, like Conan or 
  Fafhrd.
   
  Assassins are average in combat but excel in 
  sneak attacks, when they can target an unwary 
  opponent. They are by far the most stealthy 
  character class in the game, and gain a variety 
  of other abilities that might seem magical to the 
  unwary. Play an Assassin if you want a character 
  who could have come straight out of a martial-
  arts fantasy movie like Crouching Tiger, Hidden 
  Dragon or Hero, or who emulates one of the 
  great rogues of fantasy literature like the Gray 
  Mouser.
   
  Sorcerers are the most common and gen-
  eral magic-wielding character profession—if 
  any of these rare individuals can be called ‘com-
  mon’. They are relatively ineffective in mundane 
  combat but can blast their foes with magic. 
  They have a more varied repertoire of spells 
  than Elementalists and a little more raw magical 
  power than Mystics. Play a Sorcerer if you want 
  a character resembling Merlin, or Gandalf, or 
  Harry Potter.
   
  Mystics use magic of a sort, but this is a 
  personal magic that comes from the Mystic’s 
  mastery of his own mind rather than some 
  external source. A Mystic is a good all-rounder, 
  not quite so magically strong as a Sorcerer or 
  Elementalist, but reasonably capable in combat 
  and with a few other useful special abilities. Play 
  a Mystic if you want to dazzle your foes with the 
  power of your character’s mind alone.
   
  Elementalists are specialist magicians, 
  using the power of the natural elements to 
  achieve their aims. Each Elementalist’s magic 
  is focused around a particular element, chosen 
  from among Fire, Air, Earth, Water and Dark-
  ness. Like Sorcerers, they tend not to be very 
  skilled with conventional weapons such as 
  swords and bows. Play an Elementalist if your 
  favourite characters are the shamans, witches 
  and druids of legend and fantasy literature.
   
  Finally, Warlocks combine magic with 
  swordplay. They can wear armour and use their 
  spells to boost their combat abilities. They aren’t 
  quite so versatile in combat as Knights or Bar-
  barians, but can be devastating when armed 
  with their preferred weapons. Play a Warlock if 
  your favourite fantasy hero is Elric, or just if you 
  want the best of both worlds!
   
  The player decides now to which of these 
  Professions she wants her character to belong, 
  and notes this at the top of her character sheet. 
  Step Three 
  hEalTh pOINTS
  Having chosen his Profession, the player can 
  roll his character’s Health Points score. A char-
  acter’s Health Points (or HP) show how robust 
  he is. Whenever the character takes a wound 
  in combat, the wound is expressed as a number 
  which comes off his HP score. 
   
  The character falls unconscious when his 
  Health Point score reaches 0, and will die if it 
  is ever reduced to –3 or less. Lost Health Points 
  can be recuperated by resting after the adven-
  ture—as long as the character survives (see 
  pages 68).
  A Knight starts with 1d6 +7 Health Points 
  (roll 1d6 and add 7).
  A Barbarian starts with 1d6 +9 Health 
  Points.
  An Elementalist or Sorcerer starts with 1d6 
  +4 Health Points.
  For an Assassin, Mystic or Warlock, initial 
  Health Points are found by rolling 
  1d6 +5 
  A character’s initial Health Points score increases 
  as he advances in rank (of which, more later). 
  Step four 
  ThE COmBaT 
  faCTORS
  The player is now ready to determine her char-
  acter’s attack and defence scores. No further 
  dice rolling is required—you have already made 
  the necessary rolls and choices. The basic scores 
  are:
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  for Assassins:  
   
  attack 13, defence 5
  for Barbarians:   
  attack 14, defence 6
  for Elementalists:  
  attack 11, defence 5
  for Knights:  
   
  attack 13, defence 7
  for Mystics:  
   
  attack 12, defence 6
  for Sorcerers:  
   
  attack 11, defence 5
  for Warlocks:  
   
  attack 12, defence 6
  These are, in fact, the scores for an average char-
  acter at the start of his career. If the player rolled 
  above or below the average range (9–12) on cer-
  tain of his characteristics at Step One, she may 
  have to modify her attack and defence scores 
  slightly as a result—see the table below.
   
  After making any adjustments, the player 
  should enter these attack and defence scores 
  on their character sheet. (In subsequent adven-
  tures, as the character rises in rank, these scores 
  will increase.)
   
  The way in which attack and defence are 
  used in the game is explained in chapter 3: of 
  this book, The Rules of Combat.
  Step five 
  magICal COmBaT 
  faCTORS
  attack and defence, as we shall see, represent 
  the character’s fighting prowess. In the Dragon 
  Warriors world, where magic is a reality, it fol-
  lows that these Combat Factors must have a 
  magical analogue: magical attack and magi-
  cal defence. 
   
  The basic magical defence score is 3 
  for Assassins, Knights, and Barbarians; 4 for 
  Mystics and Warlocks; and 5 for Elementalists 
  and Sorcerers. This base score is modified if the 
  character’s Intelligence and/or Psychic Talent 
  fall outside the average range—see the Effects 
  table below. 
   
  Elementalists, Sorcerers, Mystics and War-
  locks have a magical attack score. (Assassins, 
  Barbarians, and Knights do not need a magical 
  attack score as they cannot cast spells.) The 
  basic magical attack score is 15 in the case 
  of Elementalists and Sorcerers, 14 in the case 
  of Mystics, and 13 in the case of Warlocks. This 
  basic score is modified if the character’s Intel-
  ligence and/or Psychic Talent are outside the 
  average range. As above, see below.
   
  The rules for using magical defence and 
  magical attack are in Chapter 9: The Use of 
  Magic.
  Step Six 
  DODgINg
  Some attacks are not covered by the normal 
  combat rules of chapter 3. A character who 
  tries to parry a dragon’s fiery breath with only 
  Effects of High and Low Characteristic Scores 
  on Attack, Defence, etc.
   
     
   
   
   
  Characteristic score
  Characteristic 
   
  3 4 5  
   
  6 7 8 
   
  9 10 11 12 
  13 14 15  
  16 17 18
  Strength 
   
   
  – attack  
  – attack 
  No Effect  
  + attack 
   + attack
     
   
   
   
  – defence  
  No Effect 
  No Effect  
  No Effect  
  + defence
  Reflexes 
   
   
  – attack  
  No Effect 
  No Effect  
  No Effect  
  + attack
     
   
   
   
  – defence  
  – defence 
  No Effect  
  + defence 
  + defence
     
   
   
   
  – evasion  
  – evasion 
  No Effect  
  + evasion 
  + evasion
     
   
   
   
  – stealth  
  No Effect 
  No Effect  
  No Effect  
  + stealth
  Intelligence 
   
  – attack  
  No Effect 
  No Effect  
  No Effect  
  + attack
     
   
   
   
  – defence  
  No Effect 
  No Effect  
  No Effect  
  + defence
     
   
   
   
  – magical  
  No Effect 
  No Effect  
  No Effect  
  + magical
     
   
           attack  
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
   
      attack  
     
   
   
   
  – magical  
  No Effect 
  No Effect  
  No Effect  
  + magical
     
     
   
       defence  
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
   
      defence
  Psychic Talent  
  – magical  
  – magical 
  No Effect  
  + magical 
  + magical 
     
   
   
        defence   
      defence 
   
   
   
       defence 
      defence
     
   
   
   
  – perception 
  No Effect 
  No Effect  
  No Effect  
  + perception
     
   
   
   
  Not applicable* 
  Not applicable* No Effect  
  + magical  
  + magical
     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
             attack 
      attack
     
   
   
  *Characters with Psychic Talent of 8 or less cannot use magic.
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  a sword is going to be fried! In such cases, the 
  best thing is to dodge out of the way. The score 
  that shows how good the character is at dodging 
  is evasion. 
   
  The basic evasion score at 1st rank is 3 for 
  an Elementalist, Mystic, Sorcerer, or Warlock, 4 
  for a Knight, and 5 for an Assassin or Barbarian. 
  This is modified if the character’s Reflexes score 
  is beyond average—see the Effects table above. 
  Step Seven 
  STEalTh aND 
  pERCEpTION
  Any character (and monster, for that matter) 
  may attempt to move around unnoticed, though 
  assassins are the masters of this kind of task. 
  The two character scores that allow the GM 
  to determine the results of such activity are 
  stealth and perception. These scores vary 
  according to a character’s Profession:
  For Knights, Barbarians, Elementalists, Sorcerers, 
  and Warlocks: stealth score is 13, perception 
  score is 5
  For Mystics, their enhanced psychic awareness 
  grants them higher scores: stealth score is 14, 
  perception score is 6
  For Assassins, their special training grants 
  them excellent scores: stealth score is 18, 
  perception score is 8
  These scores assume a character with average 
  characteristic scores. A very high or low score 
  in Reflexes affects stealth slightly, and Psychic 
  Talent affects perception. See the Effects table 
  on the previous page.
  Step Eight 
  INITIal 
  EqUIpmENT 
  Each newly rolled character represents a young 
  adventurer who has yet to acquire much practical 
  experience. However, the character does not just 
  leap into existence at the instant the Character 
  Sheet is filled in. He or she has, even at lowly 
  1st rank, rather more skill in their chosen field 
  than the average man or woman—the result, we 
  can assume, of gruelling training throughout the 
  character’s youth. 
   
  Certain basic items of equipment have been 
  acquired by the character in the years leading up 
  to their first adventure. The starting equipment 
  is listed separately for each character class.
   
  Other equipment, including missile weap-
  ons such as a bow and arrows, may be purchased 
  if the character has enough money. The equip-
  ment lists on page 134 of the rulebook shows the 
  availability and cost of most common items.
  Step Nine 
  RaNk
  All characters begin the game at 1st rank. The 
  players should not imagine that this makes their 
  characters total novices, however. A 1st-rank 
  Knight or Barbarian is a respectably skilled 
  fighter. While not yet mighty heroes, they have 
  been in a few battles and know how to use their 
  weapons. Likewise a 1st-rank Elementalist, 
  Mystic, Sorcerer, or Warlock has learned more 
  about the arcane arts than most people will ever 
  know, and will be respected (or feared) by ordi-
  nary folk. A 1st-rank Assassin is probably a full 
  member of one of the secretive brotherhoods of 
  Assassins, qualified to kill for hire.
   
  Each successful adventure gains experience 
  points for the character. When sufficient have 
  been accumulated, the character goes up to the 
  next rank. This is explained on pp129-130 of 
  chapter 12 of the main rulebook.
  Step Ten 
  BaCkgROUND
  Now you know what this character can do, it’s 
  time to find out more about who they are and 
  where they come from. This optional process is 
  described in chapter 6 of the rulebook.
  ChaRaCTER ShEET
  This summary shows how a Character Sheet 
  should be filled out for a 1st-rank Knight, with 
  appropriate modifications for Strength, Intel-
  ligence, etc.
  Example
  Bob is creating a Dragon Warriors character for 
  himself. He begins by rolling 3d6 for each character-
  istic, and comes up with:
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  Strength 7
  —a below-average score, but not exactly puny.
  Reflexes 13
  —he will be able to react quicker than many of 
  his opponents.
  Intelligence 18
  —extremely astute and sharp-witted.
  Psychic Talent 8
  —less than average occult awareness.
  Looks 14
  —handsome!
  Bob decides to make the character a Knight, and calls 
  himself ‘Sir Balin the Bloodthirsty’. Rolling 1d6 +7 
  for his Health Points, he scores 13—the maximum 
  for a Knight at 1st rank. 
   
  After making the appropriate adjustments 
  from his Strength, Reflexes and Intelligence, Bob/
  Sir Balin finds that he has an attack of 13 (the 
  Strength and Intelligence modifiers cancel out) and 
  a defence of 9 (helped here by his high Reflexes and 
  even higher Intelligence).
   
  Sir Balin’s keen Intelligence stands him in 
  good stead when he comes to calculate his magical 
  defence; the bonus due to Intelligence cancels out 
  the penalty due to low Psychic Talent, leaving him 
  with the basic magical defence of 3. Because of his 
  Reflexes, he has an evasion score of 5. His stealth 
  is 13 and his perception is 5.
   
  After taking the initial equipment due to him 
  as a Knight, Sir Balin spends some of his cash to 
  acquire a bow and six arrows. He would happily 
  leave it at that, but his GamesMaster points out 
  that he must have something to keep the arrows in! 
  Grumbling, Sir Balin parts with 4 more florins for 
  a quiver.
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  To live By The Sword
  IN THE LANDS of Legend, the world where 
  the Dragon Warriors game is set, there are two 
  main classes of people who earn their living by 
  use of weapons: Knights and Barbarians. 
   
  Knights come from more advanced cul-
  tures, the ones that have learned how to craft 
  sophisticated armour and weapons from refined 
  metals. Depending on where they originate they 
  may be bound by a chivalric code that prescribes 
  to whom they owe loyalty and service, when and 
  how they can honourably kill an opponent, and 
  so on. Some cultures have no such code for their 
  elite warriors, and some knights choose to aban-
  don the code and live outside it, masterless and 
  without loyalty or honour. 
   
  Barbarians by contrast are from less sophis-
  ticated cultures, though their ferocity and their 
  skill are no less fearsome for all that. 
   
  Though culturally different, Barbarians and 
  Knights are quite similar in game terms. Both 
  are primarily combatants and have been trained 
  in the arts of warfare and fighting. However, the 
  Knight will take a skilled and tactical approach 
  to battle, while the Barbarian relies on instincts 
  and the innate savagery of his attack to carry the 
  day. A mounted knight is an unstoppable oppo-
  nent in an open field, but in a woodland ambush 
  or a dockside tavern brawl a barbarian would 
  have the advantage. A well-formed adventuring 
  party will need the skills of both.
   
  There are other professions who are trained 
  in the use of combat: Assassins and Warlocks, 
  for example, who are described in the Dragon 
  Warriors rulebook; gladiators; pirates and ban-
  dits; warriors of primitive tribes; specialists who 
  use dogs, hawks and stranger creatures as their 
  weapons; those who let themselves be possessed 
  by their violent gods in battle; and more. But 
  these are all subjects for another time.
  kNIghTS
  Knights represent the civilised warrior aristoc-
  racy of countries like Albion, Ereworn, Chau-
  brette, Algandy and Kurland. Most player-
  character Knights will be landless, lordless 
  wanderers, perhaps nominally of noble birth, 
  but gaining respect through their deeds rather 
  than their family name. Some may be younger 
  sons of more important, established houses, who 
  know that they are never likely to inherit the 
  family lands and so must instead seek adventure 
  through errantry or crusading.
   
  A few so-called ‘knights’ are in fact well-
  equipped men-at-arms, perhaps veterans of 
  mercenary campaigns around the world, their 
  armour no heirloom or custom-fitted extrava-
  gance but a harness pieced together from the 
  loot of a dozen battlefields. Though many 
  Knights wish to live up to a chivalric ideal, 
  the reality of a short, harsh, war-torn life often 
  makes cynics and realists of the best of them.
  Special abilities of a 
  knight
  Like all the Professions, Knights have been 
  trained in some special abilities that raise them 
  above common soldiers and militia-members. 
  Some of these abilities are unique to Knights, 
  while a few are common to other Professions. 
   
  What’s more, there are a number of 
  advanced combat techniques that can only be 
  practised by a Knight of 8th rank or higher. The 
  character may select any one of these skills each 
  time he attains a new rank, beginning when he 
  reaches the 8th rank. 
   
  Knights’ special abilities are as follows:
  chapter 
  the Warriors
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
   
  •  
  Track
   
  •  
  Armour Expert
   
  •  
  Ride Warhorse
   
  •  
  Disarm Technique (rank 8 onwards)
   
  •  
  Expert Parry (rank 8 onwards)
   
  •  
  Main Gauche (rank 8 onwards)
   
  •  
  Master Bowman (rank 8 onwards)
   
  •  
  Quick Draw (rank 8 onwards)
   
  •  
  Swordmaster (rank 8 onwards)
   
  •  
  Weaponskill (rank 8 onwards)
  Track
  Knights may attempt to track their opponents 
  or prey animals across country. This is explained 
  in more detail on p. 63 of the rulebook.
  Armour Expert
  The Knight is the only character who can 
  wear a suit of plate armour without any penal-
  ties to attack or defence. He never suffers 
  any attack or defence penalties for wearing 
  armour.
  Ride Warhorse
  All characters can ride, but only Knights, Bar-
  barians and some Warlocks have had the long 
  years of special training required to ride a war-
  horse (rulebook, p. 245). Warhorses are larger, 
  stronger and far more spirited than ordinary 
  horses, making them impossible to handle if one 
  is not ‘born to the saddle’.
  Disarm Technique
  The Knight is able to twist an opponent’s sword 
  out of his hand by catching the blade in the spe-
  cially shaped guard of his own weapon. The skill 
  comes into effect when a sword-blow is aimed 
  at the Knight and the attacker scores a 20 for his 
  Hit Roll (always a miss). The Knight then rolls 
  3d6, and if he scores higher than his enemy’s 
  rank (or rank-equivalent) then the sword is 
  wrenched from the latter’s hand and flung 1m 
  to 6m away.
  Expert Parry
  Knowledge of this skill gives the Knight greater 
  proficiency in the use of a shield. For any blow 
  that would otherwise hit him, he rolls d10. On 
  a roll of 1 or 2 he catches the blow on his shield, 
  negating it.
  Main Gauche
  This skill enables the character to fight with 
  two weapons simultaneously—a one-handed 
  weapon such as a sword or axe in his right hand, 
  and a dagger or a shortsword in his left. Obvi-
  ously this precludes him from using a shield. 
  The secondary weapon may be used in either 
  of two ways, and the character must decide at 
  the start of every Combat Round which of these 
  options he is using that Round:
  1. 
  The secondary weapon may be used as a 
  guard, giving +2 to the character’s defence. 
  (If the dagger/shortsword is magical, its 
  bonus is also added.)
  2.  
  The character can strike with both weapons 
  at once, making a separate Hit Roll for 
  each weapon. His defence is zero for that 
  Round. Both blows must be at the same 
  opponent. The opponent’s defence counts 
  fully against both blows, as defence only 
  needs to be split against multiple attackers, 
  not against multiple blows by one attacker.
  Master Bowman
  The Master Bowman adds +1 to Armour Bypass 
  Rolls for arrows (not quarrels—the crossbow is 
  not covered by this skill). He is also able to loose 
  off his arrows more quickly than an untrained 
  archer; as well as shooting an arrow at his usual 
  time to act in the Combat Round, he has a 50% 
  chance of being able to shoot a second at the 
  end of that round.
  Quick Draw
  This skill applies to daggers, shortswords and 
  swords. Normally the drawing of a weapon 
  is an action requiring one complete Combat 
  Round, but a character with this skill can take 
  his weapon from its scabbard and strike with it 
  immediately. (This is equivalent to the samurai 
  skill of iai jutsu.)
  Swordmaster
  This skill is only effective when the Knight 
  is using a sword (either one-handed or two-
  handed). He makes a critical hit (i.e. a blow that 
  requires no Armour Bypass Roll) on a Hit Roll 
  score of 1 or 2. This is twice the regular chance 
  of a critical hit.
  Weaponskill
  A separate Weaponskill governs the use of each 
  mêlée weapon, so this skill must be selected 
  more than once if the character desires special 
  mastery of several weapon types. When fighting 
  with the weapon specific to his Weaponskill, the 
  character adds 1 to Armour Bypass Rolls.
  
  0
  Dragon Warriors
  BaRBaRIaNS
  Barbarians may come from Thuland, the East-
  ern Steppes, or one of a variety of other distant 
  and inhospitable lands. They might be raiders 
  sailing out of the north in their longboats, or 
  hard-eyed desert nomads seeking vengeance, 
  or savage hunters from the unexplored lands 
  far to the south. They will be regarded with 
  some wariness if they wander in more civilised 
  realms, where they may be thought of as little 
  better than animals. In truth, the Barbarian may 
  have a code of honour as complex as that of 
  any Knight, though he might never explain its 
  subtleties to an outsider, or even articulate them 
  into words for his own benefit.
  Special abilities of a 
  Barbarian
  Like Knights, Barbarians have a number of spe-
  cial abilities. These are:
   
  •  
  Track
   
  •  
  Berserk
   
  •  
  Ride Warhorse
   
  •  
  Bloodrage (rank 8 onwards)
  Track
  Barbarians may attempt to track their oppo-
  nents or prey animals, across country. This is 
  explained on p. 63 of the rulebook.
  Berserk
  Barbarians have the special ability of going ber-
  serk in combat. The character is able to make 
  more powerful attacks at the cost of neglecting 
  his defence. He may temporarily add 1 point 
  to attack for each 3 points he subtracts from 
  defence for that Round.
  Ride Warhorse
  All player-characters can ride but only Knights 
  and Barbarians, along with a few Warlocks, have 
  had the long years of special training required to 
  ride a warhorse. Warhorses are larger, stronger, 
  and far more spirited than ordinary horses, 
  making them impossible to handle if one is not 
  raised to ride them.
  Bloodrage
  A Bloodrage is an even more effective way than 
  going berserk (see above) of calling upon the 
  reserves of stamina and ferocity that reside in 
  the depths of the human soul.
   
  A Barbarian of 8th rank or higher may go 
  into a Bloodrage during any combat in which he 
  has taken a wound. He begins to bellow and roar 
  terrible war-oaths, foam drools from his mouth, 
  and his eyes glaze with insensate fury. Any nor-
  mal mortal (that is, an unranked character not 
  belonging to an adventuring Profession) whom 
  he attacks is 80% likely to flee in terror, and even 
  hardy adventurers of the 1st and 2nd ranks have 
  a 25% chance of immediate retreat. 
   
  Under Bloodrage, the Barbarian may 
  not use missile weapons. He will always seek 
  close combat with his foes, attacking with an 
  enhanced attack score equal to his normal 
  attack plus his defence score. He loses all 
  interest in parrying, however, and his defence 
  goes temporarily to zero. (Thus Borak, who 
  has attack 22 and defence 14 under normal 
  circumstances, becomes a ‘killing machine’ with 
  attack 36 and defence 0 when in the throes 
  of a Bloodrage.) Armour Bypass Rolls are not 
  affected, but any blow that gets past the oppo-
  nent’s armour scores an extra 1 HP damage (a 
  morning star inflicts 6 points, etc.).
   
  A Barbarian in Bloodrage feels no pain. 
  Whereas a character normally falls unconscious 
  when wounds reduce his current Health Points 
  score to 0, the Barbarian continues to fight on 
  until victorious or dead (i.e. at –3 HP). Also, his 
  battle-craziness cannot be abated by mind-con-
  trolling spells. A spell such as Enslave has no 
  effect on him while he is in the Bloodrage. 
   
  The snag with Bloodrage comes when 
  all enemies have either fallen or fled the field 
  of battle. The Barbarian will then turn on any 
  other available target of his fury—and this may 
  include his own companions! To shrug off the 
  Bloodrage and return to normal, the character 
  must roll under his Intelligence score on 1d20. 
  He attempts this roll at the start of every Com-
  bat Round, and if he fails then he must spend 
  the round pursuing or fighting the nearest pos-
  sible opponent. Once the Intelligence roll is 
  made, the Barbarian calms down and returns to 
  normal.
  Barbarians and armour
  Barbarians can wear any armour up to full mail 
  armour without suffering any combat penalties 
  for doing so. They are unused to fighting in 
  plate armour, however. 
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  THE RULES OF combat are the most fun-
  damental element in any FRP game. A large 
  proportion of any adventure is likely to be taken 
  up with battles against monsters and hostile 
  non-player characters. Make sure your players 
  understand the basic combat procedure before 
  starting the first adventure—it will give them a 
  framework on which to build their knowledge 
  of the rules as a whole, and save you from taking 
  time out for explanation during the adventure.
   
  In its simplest form combat consists of 
  two characters fighting one another. For game 
  purposes every fight is divided up into Combat 
  Rounds; each Combat Round represents six 
  seconds of game-time. The procedure of each 
  Round is the same for both characters involved 
  in the fight, the one with the higher Reflexes 
  getting the first blow: 
  1.  
  The attacker rolls 1d20 to determine 
  whether he hits (the Hit Roll). If he fails 
  then his go is over for the round and his 
  opponent gets to strike back.
  2.  
  If an attacker scores a hit, he rolls to see 
  whether the blow gets past his opponent’s 
  armour (if any). This is the Armour Bypass 
  Roll. If it fails then the opponent’s armour 
  does its job and he is not hurt by the blow.
  3.  
  A blow which gets through armour inflicts 
  a wound. The opponent’s Health Points 
  are reduced by the damage rating of the 
  weapon used (4 Health Points in the case of 
  a sword, 5 HP for a battleaxe, etc.)
  If the Combat Round ends with both combat-
  ants still able to fight (i.e. their current Health 
  Points have not yet been reduced to 0), the next 
  Round begins and the procedure is followed 
  through again.
  The hit Roll
  To see if he hits an opponent, a character simply 
  subtracts the opponent’s defence score from his 
  own attack score. This gives the number that 
  he must roll equal to or less than on 1d20 in 
  order to score a hit. A roll of ‘20’ is always a miss, 
  regardless of the combatants’ relative Com-
  bat Factors. Conversely, a roll of ‘1’ is always a 
  hit—and, in fact, always gets past armour. (Such 
  a roll is called a ‘critical hit’.)
  The armour Bypass Roll
  Having scored a hit, a character rolls to see if his 
  blow can penetrate his opponent’s armour. Each 
  type of protection has a given Armour Factor 
  (usually abbreviated to AF).
  Armour type  
   
   
   
  Armour Factor
  None   
   
   
   
   
   
  0
  Gambeson   
   
   
   
   
  1
  Padded Armour   
   
   
   
  2
  Mail Hauberk 
   
   
   
   
  3
  Mail Armour 
   
   
   
   
  4
  Plate Armour 
   
   
   
   
  5
  The attacker must roll higher than his oppo-
  nent’s Armour Factor in order to penetrate the 
  armour. The type of die used for this Armour 
  Bypass Roll depends on the weapon with which 
  the blow was struck.
  Weapons
  Weapons vary in effectiveness in two ways: their 
  ability to penetrate armour, and the damage 
  they inflict for a successful hit. For convenience, 
  the following notation is used:
   
  •  
  Sword (d8, 4 points)
  This means that a character attacking with a 
  sword uses an eight-sided die when making 
  an Armour Bypass Roll. If his blow gets past 
  armour, his opponent will lose 4 Health Points.
  moving into Combat
  Before hitting an opponent, it is (obviously) nec-
  essary to be adjacent to them. A character may, 
  chapter 
  the rules of Combat
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  when it is his turn to act, move up to one-quar-
  ter of his normal movement and strike in the 
  same Round. Normal movement for a human 
  is 10 metres per Combat Round, so a character 
  who is no more than 2½ metres from an enemy 
  is able to close and strike as one action.
   
  There is an exception to this rule. When a 
  character has surprised his foe (see p. 61 of the 
  rulebook) he may move half his normal move-
  ment and attack in the same Combat Round.
  Example
  Angus and Fergus, uncompromising Barbarians, 
  arrive at a door in a dungeon and kick it open to 
  discover two Orcs about to go on guard duty. One 
  Orc is only 2m from the doorway. Angus closes and 
  strikes at him. The other Orc is standing by the 
  weapon rack some 4m from the door, and although 
  Fergus charges in he cannot strike him this round.
   
  (If our Barbarians had surprised the Orcs—by 
  rolling a 1 on 1d6; see p. 61 of the rulebook—they 
  could both have closed and attacked.) 
  It is very important to have some way of keep-
  ing track of where everyone is standing during 
  a fight. Figurines or labelled counters will be 
  useful.
  Strength
  A character with a Strength score of 16, 17 or 18 
  adds +1 to his Armour Bypass Rolls and to the 
  damage he inflicts for a successful hit.
   
  Occasionally, as a result of magic, a charac-
  ter may attain a Strength above 18. His Armour 
  Bypass Rolls and weapon damage get a +2 
  bonus.
  Shields
  A character using a shield rolls 1d6 for any 
  blow that is struck against him. On a roll of 1, 
  he catches the blow on his shield—the blow is 
  negated, even if it was a critical hit.
  fighting more than one 
  opponent
  We said earlier that a one-on-one fight was 
  the simplest form that combat could take. It is 
  unlikely that a group of adventurers will encoun-
  ter an exactly equal number of monsters; most 
  combats will actually involve someone (either 
  character or monster) fighting more than one 
  opponent at the same time.
   
  A character (or monster) can divide his 
  defence between up to three attacks made 
  against him in a Combat Round. He must 
  announce how much of his defence he is putting 
  against each blow before the attacker makes his 
  Hit Roll. 
  Wounds and Recovery
  As stated above, when a character is wounded 
  he loses Health Points. When the character’s 
  current Health Points reach 0 he falls uncon-
  scious. If they are reduced to –3 he is dead (see 
  p.121 of the main rulebook).
   
  A character who falls unconscious rolls 1d6 
  at the end of every minute (every 10 Combat 
  Rounds) of game-time. When he manages to 
  roll a 1, he wakes up. (His Health Point score is 
  restored to 1, the minimum necessary for con-
  sciousness.)
   
  There are two ways to recover lost Health 
  Points: by magic or by recuperation. Magic is 
  faster, but not widely available. The healing 
  spells are detailed in chapter 10 of the rulebook 
  and we will concern ourselves only with natural 
  recuperation here. The character must wait four 
  days before the natural healing process begins. 
  He will then regain a number of Health Points 
  equal to his rank each day, until he is back to his 
  normal (unwounded) Health Points score. 
   
  Neither magical nor recuperative heal-
  ing will ever take a character above his normal 
  Health Points score. The only way to increase 
  this score is by advancing in rank.
  Example
  In his first adventure Sir Balin the Bloodthirsty 
  has several fierce battles. Eventually he is felled by 
  a Zombie. He wakes up a short time later (with 
  1 Health Point) to find that his companions have 
  defeated the Zombie. Since they are all heavily 
  wounded by now, they head back to the nearest vil-
  lage to rest. After four days, and every day from then 
  on, Sir Balin regains 1 Health Point. He is fully 
  recovered when his Health Points score is back to 13; 
  it will not increase beyond that until he advances 
  to 2nd rank.
  missile Combat
  Missile weapons such as bows differ somewhat 
  from handheld weaponry. For one thing, most 
  characters cannot parry an arrow that is shot at 
  them! In order to score a hit on his opponent, 
  an archer must simply roll equal to or less than 
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  his attack score on 1d20. It is like the Hit Roll 
  in normal combat, except that the target charac-
  ter’s defence score makes no difference. 
   
  Circumstances will modify the d20 Hit 
  Roll, making the chance of hitting less likely.
  Target is...  
   
  Adjustment to die roll
  at short range 
   
   
  no adjustment
  at medium range  
   
  +3
  at long range 
   
   
  +7
  small or crouching 
   
  +2
  moving slowly 
   
   
  +2
  moving quickly  
   
  +4
  in poor light 
   
   
  +3 or more (GM’s 
     
   
   
   
   
  discretion)
  Example
  Fully recovered after his last adventure, Sir Balin 
  sets off with his comrades-at-arms to explore a 
  ruined hill fort. As they approach the ruins, a Goblin 
  is spotted some distance off. Doubtless it is slinking 
  away to report their presence to others of its kind. 
   
  Balin quickly readies his bow. The Goblin is a 
  small target, moving slowly at medium range and 
  in poor light (it is dusk). The total modifier is thus 
  +10. Balin rolls the d20 and scores a 4, adjusted by 
  the modifier to a 14. Balin has an attack score of 
  13, so the arrow just misses. Sniggering evilly, the 
  Goblin disappears among the trees.
  Combat penalties for 
  Wearing armour
  Knights are trained to fight in any armour. The 
  fighting style of other Professions is different, 
  however, and may incur penalties to the charac-
  ter’s Combat Factors:
  Barbarians or Warlocks: –2 from attack and 
  defence if wearing plate armour
  Assassins or Mystics: –2 from attack and 
  defence for wearing mail armour; –4 for plate 
  armour
  Elementalists or Sorcerers: –1 from attack and 
  defence for wearing a mail hauberk; –3 for 
  mail armour; –4 for plate armour
  The Combat Round 
  All the important rules governing combat itself 
  have now been covered. However, the six-sec-
  ond Combat Round is not just the time taken to 
  strike a blow or shoot an arrow, but also covers 
  the time needed to perform a number of other 
  actions as well. 
   
  Within a Combat Round, characters act in 
  descending order of Reflexes. When a charac-
  ter’s (or monster’s) turn comes, he performs his 
  action. In detail, the possible actions a character 
  may take include:
  -  
  attack with a mêlée weapon (after moving 
  up to 2½m if desired—see above, Moving 
  into Combat)
  - 
  prepare and shoot an arrow
  -  
  discharge a loaded crossbow
  -  
  partially load a crossbow (the character 
  must spend 3 rounds doing this before he 
  can shoot)
  -  
  draw a weapon
  -  
  cast a spell
  -  
  take out a scroll and unroll it
  -  
  take out a potion and unstopper it
  -  
  read a scroll
  -  
  drink a potion
  -  
  activate a magical device (amulet, etc.)
  - 
  make a normal move (10m for a human, 
  12m for an elf, etc.)
  -  
  run (20m for a human, 25m for an elf, etc.) 
  (a character who runs must either run, move 
  normally or do nothing in the following 
  round)
  Characters who have the same Reflexes act 
  simultaneously. When a character’s turn comes 
  he may, if he chooses, defer his action until later 
  in the round. This gives him the chance to see 
  what other characters are doing first. 
  Example
  Sir Hugo, accompanied by his employer Ulric, a 
  Sorcerer, are in the town of Clyster shopping for 
  some items. After a busy morning in the market, 
  they seek refreshment in a small dockside tavern. 
  Without realizing it they have strayed into one of 
  the town’s most notorious haunts for ruffians and 
  rogues. Three wiry cutthroats begin to insult them, 
  and in moments swords are drawn.
   
  Hugo could act before any of them, but he 
  decides to wait and see what Ulric (with a lower 
  Reflexes score) has planned. The Sorcerer casts a 
  Transfix spell which only one of the cutthroats man-
  ages to resist. If Hugo had struck sooner he might 
  have wasted his blow in wounding one of the men 
  who now stands transfixed. As it is, he makes short 
  work of dispatching the last cutthroat.
  Evading an attack
  GM: “You’re advancing down a musty corridor. 
  Your torch gives off a smoky light, revealing large 
  spiders that scuttle away as you pass. Strange carv-
  ings mark the walls. Suddenly you hear an ominous 
  grating noise—a gigantic stone slab is descending to 
  block the corridor behind you.”
  Player: “I whirl and throw myself through the gap 
  before it can close.”
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  GM: “You can try. The slab’s descent has a speed of 
  10. What’s your evasion?’’
  Certain fast-moving attacks or other threats 
  cannot be prevented by using defence, but 
  might just be dodged by the use of evasion. 
   
  evasion is used in a wide variety of situ-
  ations—to leap through a closing gap, to side-
  step a Dragon’s breath of fire, to dodge a falling 
  chandelier... in any situation where the charac-
  ter’s survival depends on getting out of the way.
   
  The attack that the character is trying to 
  dodge is given a speed rating. This might be 
  anything from 5 for a slowly toppling statue, up 
  to 20 for the lancing energy-beam of a magic 
  Ring of Red Ruin. The character’s evasion is 
  subtracted from the attack’s speed. If a roll of 
  2d10 comes up less than or equal to the result, 
  the attack has hit. If greater, the character 
  dodged. 
   
  Note that this is very like the Hit Roll in 
  combat, except that the roll is made on 2d10 
  instead of 1d20. A roll of 2 always means that 
  the character has failed to dodge, while a 20 
  always means the attack has missed. In the 
  example above, the character had an evasion 
  score of 4. The GamesMaster rolled two ten-
  sided dice. On a roll of 6 or less, the slab would 
  descend too quickly, crushing him before he had 
  scrambled beneath it. On a roll of 7 or more, the 
  slab would miss.
  Typical Attack Speeds
  Description  
  speed score 
  Example
  Easily evaded 
   
  5 
   
  Toppling statue
     
   
   
   
  6
  Very slow  
   
  7 
   
  Drifting gas-cloud
     
   
   
   
  8
  Slow  
   
   
  9 
   
  Hurled chair
     
   
   
   
  10
  Average 
   
   
  11  
  Rolling boulder
     
   
   
   
  12  
  Falling masonry
  Fast 
   
   
   
  13  
  Trapdoor 
     
   
   
   
  14
  Very fast 
   
   
  15
     
   
   
   
  16  
  A Dragon’s flame
  Extremely fast 
   
  17  
   
   
     
   
   
   
  18   
  Javelin1
  Dazzling 
   
   
  19
     
   
   
   
  20  
  Energy-beam 
  It is very important to visualize the situation 
  when a character has to evade an attack. Do not 
  1 
  It is thus difficult but not impossible to evade a jave-
  lin—if one sees it coming. Other missile weapons move far 
  too quickly for a character to stand any chance of dodging 
  them.
  simply make the roll without considering what 
  it represents. A character dangling on the end of 
  a rope is treated as having evasion of zero when 
  a magic ring is fired at him, unless he says that 
  he is prepared to let go of the rope. A character 
  trapped at the bottom of a deep well will cer-
  tainly be hit by the fireball that his enemy lobs 
  down at him. evasion scores only apply when it 
  is physically possible to evade.
  getting out of Combat
  The wise adventurer knows when to escape 
  from a fight. There are two ways of doing this; 
  the first is recommended, except for characters 
  in very good armour.
  Retreat: When his turn comes to act, the 
  retreating character, still defending normally, 
  backs up one-quarter of his normal movement 
  (i.e. 2½m in the case of a human). The next 
  Round, if his opponent does not follow up, the 
  character can turn and run.
  Rout: This is a more desperate method. The 
  character simply turns his back on his opponent. 
  The opponent gets one free strike at his back 
  (zero defence) before he can run off.
  Sensible players will always be prepared to 
  escape when things are going badly. No one can 
  expect to win every battle—particularly not in 
  the early days of inexperience. 
   
  Monsters may decide to give chase. It is the 
  GamesMaster’s task to role-play the monsters 
  and make this decision. You will probably take a 
  number of factors into account, such as: 
  •  How powerful are the monsters? 
  •  How powerful are the fleeing PCs 
  •  How powerful do the monsters think the 
  fleeing player-characters are?
  •  What do the monsters have to gain from 
  chasing them? 
  The characters may discourage pursuit by 
  throwing down food (to distract unintelligent 
  creatures) or treasure (in the case of more dis-
  cerning pursuers). Very intelligent and powerful 
  monsters will not be fooled by such tactics—
  why should they stop and pick up baubles when 
  they can catch the characters and get all their 
  treasure?
   
  Lastly, remember that the monsters also 
  have the option of running away. Some (Orcs 
  are a case in point) virtually make a habit of it. 
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  ‘A myth is a pure and absolute imagination; a legend 
  has a basis of fact, but amplifies, abridges or modifies 
  that basis at pleasure.’ —Rawlinson
  The lie of the land
  THE WORLD OF Dragon Warriors has a 
  name: Legend. It is a place of warring nobles 
  and mysterious wizards—a place for adventures. 
  But there is a ‘real life’ behind the adventuring 
  scenes. The country of Ellesland is described 
  here in more detail than the rest of the world, 
  and is the focus of many of the published adven-
  tures for the game. But you should not feel con-
  strained by that!
   
  The GamesMaster should remember one 
  thing in particular. Players may read these chap-
  ters about the game-world, but their characters 
  will not know very much about the world unless 
  you, as GM, tell them. A character who knew 
  everything about Legend would have a very 
  high level of general education. If players make 
  use of information that they (as characters) do 
  not have access to, then the GM should change 
  a few key details here and there so as to give 
  them a surprise. A nasty surprise….
   
  It is the prerogative of each individual 
  GamesMaster to give his/her campaign its 
  ‘fine tuning’—the distinct flavour that makes it 
  unique. Different groups have different styles. 
  Some may choose to role-play dauntless Cru-
  saders marching south with the banner of the 
  ‘True’ Faith, charging into battle against the 
  pagan horde. Others will prefer to take the part 
  of Ta’ashim warriors, defending civilization 
  against the crude infidels from the north. 
   
  Some will choose to focus on the broad 
  canvas of Legend—trading and politicking 
  their way to power in the courts of kings, get-
  ting involved in assassination and skulduggery 
  in Ferromaine, or siding with various factions 
  in the power struggles of the Tamorian Senate. 
  Those with a taste for low-key adventures can 
  take a small section of Legend and develop it 
  with meticulous care. 
   
  For others with more exotic tastes there are 
  always the areas we have included off-map: the 
  theocracy of Batubatan, with its gold temple-
  towers scraping the very floor of Heaven; the 
  majestic land of Minj, awhirl with coloured silks 
  and the clash of cymbals; Khitai, the empire that 
  has endured throughout Time, where a ponder-
  ous bureaucracy involves itself in ever-greater 
  refinements of etiquette and philosophy; or 
  war-torn Yamato, where the haiken swordmas-
  ters follow their ethic of honour even if it leads 
  them to ritual suicide.
   
  Or, if you prefer, take a different time 
  period. Set your campaign in the days of the 
  Selentine Empire, or in the heyday of Ancient 
  Kaikuhuru—or move forward to the Age of 
  Discovery, when ships open up a new world 
  beyond the western ocean. In this future time 
  the old class divisions are crumbling as mer-
  chants buy noble titles, and old aristocrats sink 
  into the peasantry. Musket and rapier have 
  taken the place of bow and broadsword. Pos-
  sibly sorcerers will not be the rare and solitary 
  folk that they are in medieval legend. There may 
  even be a ‘Magician’s Guild’!
   
  What I am saying is that GamesMasters 
  can make their own campaign. You do not need 
  to be constrained by what is set out in this book 
  (change any bits you dislike, in fact) but there is 
  plenty of detail here if you do not have the time 
  to make up your own. However, players should 
  respect their GamesMaster’s decision; the cam-
  paign is his, and he must have the final say. If 
  you disagree with what he says, you can always 
  quit the campaign—or start your own!
  Cornumbria
  Ellesland (pronounced ‘EL-ess-land’) comprises 
  five nations: Albion, Cornumbria, Thuland, 
  Glissom and Ereworn. It is in Cornumbria and 
  chapter 
  the lanDs of legenD
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  Ellesland is a small part of the Lands of Legend, a 
  divided island that the rest of the world regards as 
  slightly primitive and a bit frightening. The largest 
  of its five kingdoms is Albion, where the king is a 
  weakling and the barons pursue old grudges against 
  each other. Superstitions and old wives’ tales are 
  usually true, the power of the fey is strong, ancient 
  creatures of folklore lurk in the forests, and lordless 
  knights, returned from the Crusades without the 
  glory or riches they were promised, roam the land in 
  search of adventure, or prey. 
   
  The first three adventures for Dragon War-
  riors (Sleeping Gods, The Elven Crystals and 
  The Prince of Darkness) are all set in Ellesland.
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  in Ereworn that the original natives of Ellesland 
  still predominate. At one time they ruled from 
  shore to shore, but their fierce armies were bro-
  ken by the legions of Selentium in ancient times, 
  and the people became citizens of the Empire. 
  Later, when the legions departed to protect the 
  core of the Selentine Empire (by then under 
  threat from constant barbarian incursions out of 
  the western plains), the Elleslanders were prey 
  to attacks from the mainland. Finally they were 
  driven back to Cornumbria by the invaders.
   
  Authority in Cornumbria is centred on 
  the lofty hill-forts where the chieftains and 
  their grim thanes overlook the moors and val-
  leys of their land. The High King is elected at 
  the meeting of all the chieftains, and it is also 
  not impossible for such an assembly to strip the 
  High King of his rank (though this has hap-
  pened only rarely).
   
  Cornumbria was brought into the True 
  Faith in the latter days of Selentium and has 
  remained so since then. Perhaps harking back 
  to their ancestral tradition of a wild, solitary 
  priesthood, Cornumbrian priests have opted 
  for a monastic Church with no central author-
  ity. The monks live in the most inaccessible and 
  uncomfortable places—not just abbeys on chilly, 
  windswept sea cliffs, but even in caves and on 
  barren islands. They are famous for their learn-
  ing and their works of art. (The illuminated 
  manuscript known as The Book of Dathnan, of 
  which there are five copies, is widely considered 
  the grand masterwork of limnery.) However, the 
  monastic Church of Cornumbria is effectively 
  autonomous from the Selentine Church, and for 
  that reason is regarded with suspicion by priests 
  of the neighbouring countries.2
  albion
  The ancestors of the current inhabitants of 
  Albion were reavers from the mainland—mainly 
  from the region now called Chaubrette. They 
  were originally heathens with the same grizzled 
  warrior-gods as the Thulanders, but the True 
  Faith now predominates. Trade routes extend 
  far to the south and west, providing the lords 
  of southern Albion with a rich source of taxes. 
  With their coffers full, they are free to indulge 
  their incessant squabbles.
   
  This is a feudal society. Land is held by lords 
  from the king. Originally this meant that there 
  was a ‘pyramidal’ pecking order: the king ruling 
  over his vassals, the dukes and earls, many of 
  2 
  Though the occasional accusations of black magic or 
  even devil worship are surely unfounded.
  whom have vassal lords of their own. Most lords 
  have castles where their retinue of knights and 
  men-at-arms reside with them. Some knights 
  have lands of their own and they, as well as some 
  of the minor nobles, oversee their estates from 
  manor houses. The peasants are the foundation 
  of the feudal society. They work the land of the 
  manor, which may be only one of many in the 
  lord’s fief.
   
  That is the system in theory. In practice, 
  like most feudal societies, it is somewhat upset 
  by the rise of the merchant class. Merchants 
  become wealthy without themselves producing 
  wealth, but just by buying, transporting and 
  selling the goods and produce of others. Spe-
  cialized crafts also develop so that, whereas in 
  a small village a family must build their own 
  house, make their own clothes, etc., in a town it 
  is possible to pay someone else to do this. Even-
  tually the craftsmen organize into guilds and 
  insist that you use guild members to build your 
  house, and so on. The towns achieve autonomy 
  from the local lord, receiving their charter direct 
  from the king. The citizens of Port Clyster, for 
  example, are freemen—not the vassals of Baron 
  Aldred, nor of any other lord. Technically, a serf 
  can obtain his freedom by escaping to a town 
  such as Clyster and remaining there for a year 
  and a day.
   
  Tradition and mutual obligation are strong 
  forces in Albionic society. The peasants work 
  hard for their lord, but they are also under his 
  protection. The knights who fight and even die 
  in the lord’s name also thrive by his beneficence. 
  The king bestows the land, but in return he can 
  call on his lords in time of war.
   
  Albion’s king, Hadric, has his court in the 
  city of Ongus. Hadric is a weak king and a poor 
  judge of character. This mix means that he has 
  surrounded himself with ruthlessly self-serving 
  advisers. Untold damage has been wrought in 
  the last ten years of Hadric’s misrule: the lands 
  of loyal vassals have been stripped away, unwor-
  thy men have been ennobled, and peasants have 
  suffered under a yoke of hard taxation. In the 
  north, old foes like Aldred, Baron of Gorburn, 
  and Earl Montombre care little for the king’s 
  law. They have their own grudges to pursue.
   
  The towns of Albion tend to be quite small. 
  Apart from the larger ports and market towns, 
  most have grown up around a lord’s castle—a 
  place where the citizens can be sure of protec-
  tion in times of trouble! Others may co-exist 
  with a strongly fortified abbey. Confined within 
  secure walls, a town’s population is unlikely to 
  number more than a thousand. In all the coun-
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  try, only about a dozen cities have populations 
  in the tens of thousands. The overwhelming 
  majority of the people live in manors consisting 
  of perhaps twenty cottages.
  Thuland
  The country north of Albion is a high, craggy 
  place split by deep river valleys and cold blue 
  lakes. The people—settlers from across the 
  Mergeld Sea, both from the Mercanian Coast 
  and from the outer Thulan islands to the 
  north—are barbaric and fierce, often at war 
  with their neighbours. Lords sit out the win-
  ter in smoky mead-halls, surrounded by their 
  housecarls, waiting for the summer months of 
  reaving. Wandering priests brave hostility and 
  harsh weather in order to bring the True Faith 
  to the people. In this they are hampered by the 
  same rugged geography that prevents any real 
  centralization of power.3 Some of the lords have 
  been converted, but even they show no inclina-
  tion to completely reject the old gods of their 
  ancestors—Wotan, Tor, Loge and the others. 
  The merchants here are also minstrels, welcome 
  to barter their wares if they can regale the hall-
  heroes with stirring tales. The serfs who till the 
  land have no rights. To their lords they are of 
  little more importance than animals. 
  Ereworn
  In the far north, the influence of law is scarcely 
  felt at all. Brigands and masterless knights roam 
  unchecked about the foothills of the Pagan 
  Mountains. The racial stock is mostly native 
  Elleslander, with an admixture of Mercanian and 
  Algandian blood.4 The gods worshipped here 
  are the strange primeval deities that the Druids 
  called upon—Lahmfada, Kernanu, Morkaan; 
  shadowy entities of the forest and mountains.5 
  3 
  The court of the King of Thuland is located at Kator-
  heim. His rule is strong enough on the island itself, but the 
  Thulan lords across the sea in Ellesland may really be con-
  sidered to rule over semi-autonomous duchies.
  4 
  Mercenaries from the continent were employed by 
  both sides in the ‘Black War’ fought between Cornumbria 
  and Ereworn some three hundred years ago. After hostilities 
  dwindled down into the customary skirmishing, the mer-
  cenaries stayed on and gradually became absorbed into the 
  native population.
  5 
  Most of these gods were ‘discredited’ in the conver-
  sion of Cornumbria by the time-honoured proselytizing 
  technique of equating the gods of the old religion with the 
  devils of the new. As far as the average Cornumbrian is 
  concerned, therefore, his northern neighbours are devil-
  worshippers. Generally this is a bit of a slur—the old gods 
  The True Faith is not recognized at all.
   
  The lords of Ereworn are either mad or 
  irredeemably steeped in evil. Some are both. 
  Vendettas among themselves and wars against 
  Thuland, Cornumbria and Albion form the 
  yearly round. The throne lies empty while 
  numerous claims to the succession are made. 
  Assassination is the accepted means to advance 
  one’s cause, and an entire subculture—the Clan 
  of Harbingers, who live in solitary mountain 
  villages and are roughly equivalent to Japan’s 
  ninja—has developed to cater to this need. At 
  present Duke Darian holds the old king’s for-
  tress, Castle Ereworn, but he is too canny to put 
  his life at risk by claiming the crown.
   
  Merchant-adventurers seldom brave the 
  ports of Ereworn, for villains lurk as thick as 
  shadows and one’s life may be lost as easily as 
  one’s merchandise. Outside the towns, the coun-
  tryside is bleak and scattered with crude forts 
  and peasant hovels. Many villages are deserted 
  because of the Black Death that has claimed 
  many of the people in recent years. At night the 
  peasants shutter their windows and cower by the 
  fireside while goblins dance on the rooftops and 
  the Devil, they say, stalks the land with his two 
  hounds—Pestilence and Plague.
   
  Deep within the Pagan Mountains, beyond 
  the bandits’ foothills, a number of proud 
  Dwarves dwell. Rarely seen by people, these 
  Dwarves are vaguely aware of the problems of 
  Ereworn, and long ago withdrew from all diplo-
  matic and mercantile contact with the humans 
  of the kingdom.
  glissom
  The social structure, customs and religion of 
  this small country resemble those of Ereworn. 
  You will find a description of it in the adven-
  ture-book The Prince of Darkness.
  The Stranded Isles
  A few words will suffice for these forlorn islands 
  which are located dead west of Ellesland in the 
  Hadran Sea. They are permanently covered by 
  a pall of mist, for they lie at a point where the 
  winds are still. We must rely on mariners’ tales 
  for our knowledge of the isles—as, for example, 
  are elemental and uncivilized, but not intrinsically a force 
  for evil. However, some of the crazier lords (e.g. Duke Dar-
  ien—see the adventure-book The Elven Crystals) revere 
  still stranger gods. Balor and Rimfax were demons even in 
  the Druids’ pantheon, and there can be no doubt that they 
  appeal to all that is vile in the human heart.
  
  0
  Dragon Warriors
  in the logbook of Olo of Cornumbria, whose 
  ship was becalmed there for ten days. Olo wrote 
  that “the sea was like a pane of blue glass, the 
  mist like drifting strands of silk”. Some of his 
  crew claimed to see wild naked figures leap-
  ing among the cliffs by the shore, but there is 
  evidence that they had by this time resorted to 
  drinking salt water. Only adventurers would 
  have any reason to journey to this forsaken cor-
  ner of the world.
  The North-west mainland
  The people of Chaubrette, Algandy and Kur-
  land—the three great kingdoms of the north-
  west peninsula—incline to the view that the 
  Elleslanders are simple ruffians, with coarse 
  ways that set them little above their barbaric 
  neighbours. Occasional wars across the Glaive6 
  over the years have caused much ill-feeling and 
  doubtless fuelled this prejudice.
   
  The royal families and nobilities of these 
  countries are strongly linked by blood—and, in 
  fact, there are also ties with some of the lords 
  of Albion.7 The last twenty years or so have 
  been relatively peaceful. The land is fertile, 
  trade profitable. Life is comfortable even for 
  the peasantry. The robber knights, who had 
  been marauding and trouble-making through 
  the length and breadth of the land for centuries, 
  6 
  The channel separating Ellesland from the mainland.
  7 
  As an example, Montombre’s wife Talia is a niece of 
  the King of Algandy.
  have been given an acceptable outlet for their 
  rapaciousness in the form of the Crusades.8 The 
  Age of Chivalry is thus flowering, and war-
  like energies are channelled into such sport as 
  tourneys, jousts and steeplechases. The perfect 
  gentle knight of an elegant castle in, say, Chau-
  brette cuts a very different figure from his rough 
  Elleslandic cousin, sitting in a draughty keep, 
  clutching a wench in one hand and a brimming 
  mead-horn in the other.
   
  From a geographic point of view, these 
  lands are generally higher and more mountain-
  ous than Ellesland. Climate is similar, warmed 
  by south-westerly ocean currents from the trop-
  ics.9 These lands are more densely populated, 
  and large tracts of forest have been cleared for 
  farming.
  8 
  The idea of the Crusade was formed jointly by the 
  Pontiff and King Vergang of Algandy. Nominally a Holy 
  War, it was more truthfully a way of getting these trou-
  blesome knights out of ‘civilized’ regions and putting them 
  somewhere that they could grab land to their hearts’ con-
  tent.
  9 
  Krarth and the Mercanian Coast do not receive the 
  benefit of these warm currents and are correspondingly 
  colder than Ellesland even though at much the same lati-
  tude. Krarth in particular is a flat country subject to winds 
  off the polar ice. Temperatures drop to –30° Celsius or lower 
  in winter and rarely attain +15° in midsummer. Contrast 
  this with the mean annual range of –6° to +28° Celsius for 
  Albion.
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  CaITShEE
  The Caitshee, or Faerie Cat, lurks in cemeteries, 
  woods and ruined abbeys. It moves with great 
  stealth, and in darkness it will not be seen by any 
  character below 4th rank. The Caitshee’s usual 
  habit is to attach itself to a party of adventurers 
  and follow them unseen. The effect of its pres-
  ence is to jinx any spells cast by members of the 
  party. There is a 50% chance that a Sorcerer will 
  miscast any spell he attempts, while for a Mystic 
  the chance of bungling a spell is 35%.
   
  If detected, the Caitshee can be fought. In 
  darkness or poor light, characters of 3rd rank 
  and below must deduct 4 from attack and 8 
  from defence while fighting it. For higher-
  ranking characters, the penalty is –2 attack 
  and –4 defence. 
   
  Only enchanted or solid silver weapons 
  chapter 
  Creatures of legenD
  can strike a Caitshee; others will always miss. 
  With much hissing, spitting and howling, it can 
  leap up to 5m and attack in the same Combat 
  Round. Its claws pass through normal armour as 
  though it were not there, and only when attack-
  ing a character in magical armour does it need 
  to make an Armour Bypass Roll. The touch of 
  its claws conveys a Weaken spell with a magi-
  cal attack of 17. The creature’s spell-jinxing 
  ability continues to apply throughout the battle; 
  additionally, any damage-inflicting spell that 
  is successfully cast on it will do the minimum 
  damage possible (e.g. Firestorm would inflict 
  only one 8 HP wound).
   
  The character who deals the fatal wound to 
  a Caitshee takes a curse for his action. The effect 
  of this curse may be delayed for 1–6 months. The 
  GM rolls d10 and refers to the table below: 
  d10 Curse Effect
  1   Any item of iron or steel the character tries 
  to use (including weapons and armour, unless 
  magical) will rust to uselessness within a day.
  2  The character suffers a run of bad luck in 
  combat from time to time. There is a 20% 
  chance this will apply in any given fight. His 
  enemy’s first blow against him will be a critical 
  hit, while his own first blow will go wide.
  3   The character is particularly susceptible to 
  magic at night-time. From sunset to sunrise, his 
  magical defence is reduced by 3 points.
  4   Any party the character is travelling with has 
  twice the usual chance of an encounter (see 
  pp11-12) each day. Animals and monsters 
  encountered in this way will concentrate their 
  attacks on the character if possible.
  5   The character accidentally sprains an arm or leg. 
  If an arm, he temporarily loses 2 points from 
  both attack and defence. If a leg, he loses 1 from 
  attack and defence, halves his evasion score 
  and movement rate, and is unable to run. The 
  torn ligaments and muscles can be reknitted by 
  Miracle Cure, but if the curse is not lifted then 
  the injury will recur within a month. Natural 
  recovery from the sprain requires the character 
  to roll d12 at the end of each week; on a roll of 
  12, he recovers normal use of the limb.
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  6   There is a 35% chance on every adventure that 
  the character will lose his most useful weapon 
  or magic item. 
  7   No steed (except for a Destrier) will allow the 
  character to ride it.
  8   The character’s eyes become sensitive to light. 
  He cannot go about during the day. 
  9   Whenever he sees a black cat, the character is 
  subject to a 1d8 intensity Fright Attack (see 
  DW rulebook, p. 122). If this takes effect, he 
  dies of heart failure. 
  10 Any treasure the character touches becomes 
  debased. Gold is changed to silver, silver 
  becomes copper, copper becomes bronze (which 
  is worth one-tenth as much) and gems turn to 
  wood or glass.
  The death-curse of a Caitshee can be lifted by 
  the application of a 20-Magic Point spell of 
  Dispel Magic, or by touching a sacred relic.
   
  The Caitshee’s stats are:
  attack 14, Claws (d8, 3  Armour Factor 0 (but 
  and Weaken spell)   
   
  see above)
  defence 21  
   
   
  Movement: 12m (25m)
  magical defence 16  
  evasion 10 
  Health Points 1d101   
  stealth 26 
  Rank-equivalent: 4th  
  perception 18
  ghOST
  Ghosts are spirits of the dead that have chosen 
  to linger on the earthly plane for some reason. 
  Often the reason is to give guidance to the liv-
  ing or to exact revenge on an enemy—often the 
  Ghost’s murderer. Ghosts exude an aura of ter-
  ror, and when they encounter living beings there 
  is an automatic Fright Attack (see the Dragon 
  Warriors rulebook, p. 122) of 1d12 intensity.  
   
  Having survived a Fright Attack by a Ghost, 
  a character becomes inured to that Ghost and is 
  in no danger from it in future (though he may 
  still be scared to death by other Ghosts). For 
  this reason, a Ghost will usually depart after 
  encountering a party of adventurers, unless it 
  has some message for them. Sometimes (20% 
  chance) a Ghost will decide to haunt a party; its 
  presence will swamp out the danger sense of any 
  Mystics, cause a clammy unease that will dou-
  ble the chance of the party being surprised, and 
  bring bad luck in the form of a temporary 1-
  point penalty to attack and defence for each 
  character. Apart from Exorcism, there is no way 
  to harm or drive off a Ghost. 
  1 
  The Cat shows no sign of how badly wounded it is 
  until the mortal blow lands, whereupon it fades away like 
  a shadow in sunlight.
  gOBlIN
  Goblins are malicious sprites renowned for 
  their evil ways. They relish cruelty, and their 
  magical mischief is blamed for many mishaps 
  experienced by travellers along desolate country 
  lanes. Their favourite time to attack is at dusk, 
  and they will customarily begin with a sorcer-
  ous prank such as causing a horse to go lame, 
  or making a bat fly in a character’s face so that 
  he falls from the saddle. Once the party is in 
  disarray, the Goblins will leap from the bushes 
  to attack—hurling sharp flints from their slings 
  or closing to stab with swords made of icicles.
   
  Goblins are small, never more than a metre 
  tall, with disproportionately large heads. Their 
  faces are warty, sallow and hollow-cheeked, with 
  large hooked noses and sunken eyes. They go 
  about in hooded jerkins which help them to 
  blend into the shadowy corners where they pre-
  fer to lurk. Although nimble and crafty in battle, 
  they are essentially of a craven nature.
   
  A Goblin, captured and threatened, aban-
  doned when its fellows have fled, will resort to 
  all manner of whingeing promises in return for 
  its freedom. A promise wrung from a Goblin 
  will be followed to the letter once the creature is 
  free, but it will always seek to twist the wording 
  of such a bond for its own foul purposes.
  attack 13, Shortsword 
  Armour Factor 1
  (d8, 3) or Sling (d6, 3)
  defence 7  
   
   
  Movement: 12m (25m)
  magical defence 5  
  evasion 5
  Health Points 1d6 +4  
  stealth 21 
  Rank-equivalent: 1st   
  perception 13
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  chapter 
  unDer the roCks
  This is a short introductory adventure for 
  Dragon Warriors, for novice characters of rank 
  1-2. It can be set anywhere in the Lands of Leg-
  end, but works best in a rural, mountainous part 
  of the world. Most of Ellesland is ideal.
  Introduction
  The player-characters are travelling together—
  they may have met on the road. Night is falling 
  as they reach a village at a crossroads. There is 
  no inn here, but for a few copper pennies they 
  can find lodgings in a villager’s hut. At dawn 
  they are visited by Ifan, the bailiff of the local 
  lord’s lands, who lives in the largest house. 
   
  He explains that the village has been expect-
  ing a visit from the abbot of a small monastery 
  in the nearby hills, to bless the fields for the fes-
  tival of Saint Felicia, granting good weather for 
  the coming season. The festival is today but the 
  abbot has not arrived. Would the adventurers 
  travel along the road to the monastery to make 
  sure all is well, and escort the abbot if they meet 
  him?  Ifan can offer only 30 florins, but is sure 
  the abbot will be generous for their help. 
  The Road
  If asked, Ifan will tell the PCs that the mon-
  astery is home to a small order of Cenobitic 
  monks, around twenty men, around a day’s 
  travel from the village. 
   
  The route to the monastery is along the 
  least travelled of the crossroad’s branches, an old 
  road paved with stone slabs that must date back 
  to the first Selentine Empire, built for their con-
  quering armies to march along a thousand years 
  ago. It winds through farmland, then woodland, 
  and finally enters the foothills of the nearby 
  mountains. By mid-afternoon the player-char-
  acters are travelling through rugged countryside 
  with steep valleys. They pass an occasional 
  crofter’s stone cottage, their herds of scraggy 
  sheep dotted across the rocky hillsides like tufts 
  of wool caught in a hedge. Occasionally they see 
  one of the hill-folk, far off in the distance.
   
  If the PCs approach one of these shepherds 
  he will initially be wary of them, but an offer-
  ing of food or money, or any display of kindness, 
  will change his opinion. He will tell them, in 
  speech so heavily accented it takes an Int roll 
  to understand (–5 on the dice if the character 
  was born locally), that he’s seen no traffic on the 
  road for the last week, and something bad lies 
  ahead—he can tell by the way the crows circle 
  in the evenings. He will warn them to go back.
   
  Not long after seeing the crofter, as the road 
  leads upwards, the clouds begin to descend, cov-
  ering the tops of the mountains. As the adven-
  turers continue they find themselves in a thin 
  cold mist, the sun a pale disc sinking in the sky 
  to the south-west. 
  The Bridge
  An hour or so further on, the party will come 
  around a stand of pine trees and see a arched 
  stone bridge across a steep-sided ravine. It is 
  solidly built, and its shape betrays the hand of 
  the same makers as the road. Ifan mentioned 
  the bridge; he said that the monastery is another 
  two hours travel from that point.
   
  About twenty metres beyond it a strange 
  black shape lies at the side of the road. Its details 
  are obscured by the mist, but it is larger than a 
  man, and moves strangely. 
   
  If the PCs look down into the ravine, allow 
  them a Perception check to spot scattered bones 
  in the stream that flows through it. An Int check 
  will reveal that these are only sheep carcasses. 
  They could have fallen onto the jagged rocks, or 
  been swept down by a sudden flood. Or—not.
   
  The bridge, or more specifically its central 
  arch, is home to an ogre. The creature is old, 
  and was recently chased from its lair deep in 
  the mountains by a group of adventurers, who 
  
  
  Dragon Warriors
  blinded it with a Dragonbreath spell. Now it has 
  found a new home in the space under the bridge. 
  Here it spends its days listening for sheep or 
  wild goats that have strayed into the ravine, or 
  occasional travellers on the road above. When 
  something passes over the bridge, the ogre can 
  hear them and sense the vibration of their steps 
  through the ancient stonework.
   
  The only way to cross the bridge safely is 
  to go one at a time, moving stealthily (Stealth 
  check—rulebook, p. 63), without speaking. 
  Horses or other beasts of burden will not be able 
  to cross safely. Do not ask your players if their 
  characters are taking special precautions; and if 
  they do not suggest it then assume they are not. 
  After all, it’s just a bridge.
   
  Establish in what order the adventurers are 
  crossing the bridge. The moment the first char-
  acter who is not taking any precautions reaches 
  the midpoint of the span, two things happen. 
  Firstly the black shape by the road explodes as a 
  mass of crows take flight, revealing the dismem-
  bered carcass of a horse that they were feeding 
  on. Secondly, a huge hand appears over the 
  parapet of the bridge and grabs for the leader!
  The Ogre
  The ogre may be old, but that does not mean 
  it is stupid, and it has fought humans before. It 
  will stay below the bridge, using the stonework 
  as a shield, and making occasional grabs for 
  members of the party from alternate sides of the 
  bridge. When it is completely under the bridge, 
  it cannot be seen or targeted by anyone on the 
  bridge or the road. If it comes under repeated 
  missile or spell-fire and can’t work out where its 
  attacker is, it will run away, down the ravine and 
  out of sight.
   
  Its arm has an attack of 12. If it hits, it 
  ignores armour but its victim can make an eva-
  sion roll to evade its grasp, against a speed of 12. 
  (If it gets surprise by rolling 1-2 on 1d6 then its 
  first attack has a speed of 16). If it grabs a char-
  acter successfully, it pulls them over the parapet. 
  In the next round it whacks them against the 
  stonework for (d8, 4) damage—they can attack 
  this turn—and drops them in the stream (addi-
  tional 1d4 damage for the fall).
   
  If the arm takes 6 or more points of damage 
  in one round, it will drop anyone it is holding. 
  This may be a bad thing, as they’ll take 1d4 fall-
  ing damage as they drop into the ravine.
   
  After it has failed to grab twice, the ogre 
  will switch tactics. Instead of grabbing for char-
  acters on the bridge, it will try to bash them 
  into the stonework. If all the PCs retreat off the 
  bridge, it will concentrate on attacking anyone 
  who is in the ravine with it.
   
  If any PC wants to scramble down into the 
  ravine at any point, they will need to make a 
  Reflexes roll. Failure means they have stumbled 
  and fallen. It’s only a six-metre fall (1d6 dam-
  age) and the water is shallow enough to stand 
  and move about easily, but once down they are 
  stuck. The ravine walls have a climbing dif-
  ficulty of 13—anyone with a Reflexes of 13 or 
  more can scale them, but if a PC’s Reflexes are 
  lower they must roll under their ability on 1d20 
  to succeed.  If they go upstream fifty metres the 
  walls are easier to scale (difficulty 8).
  Old Ogre
  attack 16 (12 for arm),   Armour Factor: +1 for 
  Bash (d8 +2, 4)  
   
  tough skin
  defence 10 
   
   
  Movement: 10m (15m)
  magical defence 8  
  evasion 2
  Health Points 17  
   
  stealth 6 
  Rank-equivalent: 5th  
  perception 5 
  The abbot
  Once the ogre has either fled or been killed, the 
  PCs can investigate the site. Under the ogre’s 
  arch lies its larder and treasure-hoard. Unfor-
  tunately it only has 16 florins and a tattered 
  leather satchel—empty. However, also down 
  here, half in the water, is the unconscious body 
  of the abbot: the ogre had learned that food usu-
  ally doesn’t start rotting until it’s killed, and has 
  kept him alive. 
   
  The abbot is badly battered and one of his 
  legs is broken. Healing spells may bring him 
  back to the waking world (he’s on -2 HP) but 
  he is too weak to move or even ride a horse, and 
  the pain from his limb will cause him to lapse in 
  and out of consciousness.
   
  The PCs should remember that the mon-
  astery is closer than the village, and should be 
  able to work out that the abbot is likely to get 
  better care there. Ask them how they are going 
  to transport a badly wounded man several miles 
  uphill, and give extra experience points for 
  inventive solutions.
   
  Once at the abbey, they will be invited to 
  stay the night. In the morning the abbot will 
  thank them personally, and will gift them three 
  things: a +1 mace given to the monastery by a 
  pilgrim; a Potion of Occult Acuity, and a let-
  ter of introduction bearing his seal. In a world 
  where the church is powerful, this may be more 
  valuable and useful than the mace!
  
  
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