This RPG has proved brilliant and entertaining for both novice role-player and experienced, for both those familiar with Moorecock's work and those who are not.
Publisher: Chaosium
System: Elric! (1e)
Setting: Young Kingdoms
Author: Lynn Willis, Richard Watts, Mark Morrison, Jimmie W. Pursell, Jr., Sam Shirley, Joshua Straw
Pages: 160
Year: 1993
Year: 1993
Description – Core Rule Book
Melnibone is an island, an archipelago set amidst the oldest ocean. Ruler of the Young Kingdoms for the past 10,000 years, Melnibone has seen the might of its once all-powerful dragons wane. Their terrifying flights are no longer common, and the dragons sleep longer after each foray.
Imrryr, the dreaming city, is the capital of Melnibone. It is rich beyond imagining, but its people are quiescent, slumbering in a stupor of neglect and decay.
Elric is emperor, 428th in line of direct-descent from the first Dragon-Lord. Elric is a brooding albino, unlike his ancestors in many ways. Yet in his hands rests the future. To be counted Elric’s friend is to be found, dead.
Stormbringer is Elric’s fearsome runesword, intelligent and malicious, with its own plan for tomorrow. Stormbringer is highly magical, harkening from an age when chaos held greater sway upon the world.
The Young Kingdoms are a handful of upstart nations, once part of the bright empire, who in the past few centuries have dared to defy once-mighty Melnibone.
(2900)
Elric is a dark fantasy roleplaying game with some interesting variants on the classic Choasium basic roleplaying system. A fantasy game with punch and vivid differences that set it apart from more generic fare.
If there's one thing Chaosium has always understood, it's that without unique characters, roleplaying tends toward stereotype. Without colorful individuals, a roleplaying game is particularly susceptible to bland cliché. Perhaps it is for that reason that Chaosium turns to literature for inspiration more frequently than other companies.
Based on Michael Moorcock's anti-hero, Elric! (a.k.a. the second edition of Stormbringer) is Chaosium's addition to the growing line of dark fantasy role playing games. The game's tone is gloomy, of course. But rather than emphasize simply a doomed world, Elric! remains true to Moorcock's novels by stressing a gorgeous, baroque setting tragic fate and the ultimate despair of its inhabitants.
An Empire In Decay
The sourcebook begins with a brief introduction of Moorcock's books and a discussion of roleplaying, then goes on to describe the degenerate, inhuman Empire of Melnibone. Also detailed are the Young Kingdoms, upstart nations who hate and fear their ancient, alien neighbor.
The chapter gives an overview of the land's history, social outlook, magic, economy and language, then gives more detailed individual entries for each kingdom. These provide each country's individual history, and more importantly, evoke local flavor and mood. Finally, there is a discussion of gods and cults. Beyond the character's petty struggles are the Lords of Law and Chaos, who continually wage war for cosmic dominance. Arioch, the cruel patron deity of Melnibone makes his appearance here, as do Mabelode the Sword King and Donblas the Justice Maker. Playing their own part in the conflict are the beast- and plant-lords, embodiments of the world's many living things, and the elementals -- animate, intelligent manifestations of the physical world.
USED CONDITION
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