On Monday I am righting a wrong.  I am going to run a game that I am totally enamoured with and have not run as a regular gig.  I am really looking forward to this.  The game:  Dungeon Crawl Classics.  I got this game for my birthday this year and ran the level 0 funnel that is in the back of the book on my birthday, but I have not run it since.  I have read the book through a few times and designed some adventures but on Monday it is going to fill the OSR hole in my life.

I have started the adventure (which I will finish this weekend) and I want to share the background to the game that my players will be involved in here as a taster for the campaign, and perhaps some inspiration for others in their own games.

Devastation of the Golden Tyrant King

Twenty-eight years have passed since the day of the coronation.  The Golden King of the holy order of Jingo-Pol was carried to the throne of the City of Radiance.  His armour of gold gleamed in the sun, still tarnished by the blood of the Crimson Demon Lord that he and his forces had defeated in the final bloody wars of Slaughter Rift.

His reign had begun quietly and his eminence seemed to be a beneficent ruler of the lands.  Units of troops, once only seen in the City of Radiance began to be placed in every town, village and hamlet.   They removed the vicious wild creatures of the outskirts who had been the peril of many peasant and land holder.  Lords were granted estates and taxes levied and much was good and safe.  That was until the Night of Abduction.

Night of Abduction

The soldier units each contained a spy whom was reporting on the actions of every local.  Seven years of information had been brokered and the night of his seventh anniversary as King troops rolled into many locations to take prisoner those labelled as performing sedition, or traitor to the King.  None were spared, even members of troop units were abducted and thrown into the cruel dungeons below Radiant City’s Keep where the abducted were submitted to vile tortures and horrendous cruelties.  None of the abducted from that night were ever to see the light of day again.

This night was a clear message from the hero of Slaughter Rift.  He saw traitors everywhere and where once a Knight of the Holy Order of Jingo-Pol who lead by action and blade the King had turned to the dark arts of spying on his own people.  For those that dared to whisper it, he was now known almost universally as the Golden Tyrant King.

Every year, for twenty years the Night of Abduction still occurs as a grisly reminder of the Golden Tyrant King’s rule.  Other abductions are made by strong armed soldiers that now hold an iron-fist over every community.  Those that attempt to leave seem to go missing in the night, all their belongings still packed in their homes for the journey.  Dark hunters with no eyes and hounds made of bone and fire are said to stalk the wilderness, taking those that seek to meet in secret back to the keep or, even worse, flay them alive and hang them at crossroads as a warning.

The 21st Night of Abduction

It is the 21st Night of Abduction and your characters have been labelled traitors or as inciting sedition among the populace.   Wrongly or rightly you are taken to cages rolled into your community square and at the deepest point of night a dark creature of shadow shrouded in a maroon cloak covered in mystical symbols sewn into the fabric with the tendons of virgins and pre-pubescent boys.  Glowing pale yellow eyes peer out from the cloak and a sibilant hiss slowly undulates through a practised and arcane ritual.  In no time your stomach feels to rise into your mouth and you are overwhelmed with golden and red flashes of light you appear in a cell, filled with many others as scared as you.  Laughing and holding burning brands many soldiers bearing the insignia of the City of Radiance and the Golden Tyrant King attempt to burn those that appear close enough to them through the bars.

Come on Monday!

I really enjoyed writing that premise!  All I can say is come on Monday night!  Oh, and keep rolling!

Legalese: Image used in this post was created by Willys Vandestio under a Creative Commons – Attribution, Non-commercial, no derivative works 3.0 licence.