Festival of the Damned

Transcription

1 Festival of the Damned A nniversary E dition Two Classic Ars Magica Adventures by Jonathan Tweet and John Nephew Revised and Updated for the Fourth Edition

2 Festival of the Damned Anniversary Edition C R E D I T S THE GHOUL OF ST. LAZARE CREDITS Author: John Nephew Tales of the Dark Ages Edition Editor: John Brandt Original Tales of the Dark Ages Cover Artist: Tara Kinnunen Playtesters: Marty Dennis, Woody Eblom, Matthew Gress, Nicole Lindroos, Damian Sherridan FESTIVAL OF THE DAMNED CREDITS Author: Jonathan Tweet Original Edition Editor: John Nephew Original Edition Cover Art: Janet Aulisio Playtesters: Sandy Johnson, Greg Stolze, Mike Halse, Mary Oettinger, Gail Hermodson, Marty Dennis, and especially Jay Ferm, whose Al Zed Miracle paid the ultimate price ANNIVERSARY EDITION CREDITS Development, Editing, Layout: John Nephew Additional Editing & Coordination: Jeff Tidball Cover Illustration: Charles Gillespie Interior Illustrations: Ralph Horsley, Eric Hotz, Jeff Menges, Eric Pommer, John Scotello, and Tonia Walden Cartography: Eric Hotz Special Thanks: Bob Brynildson, Jerry Corrick, Nicole Lindroos, Link Martineau, and all the players whose enthusiasm has made this game prosper for more than a decade Fans of Ars Magica discuss the game on an discussion list. To subscribe, send the command subscribe ars-magica (no quotes) in the body of an message to Majordomo@soda.Berkeley.EDU. To subscribe to a digest version of the list, send the command subscribe ars-magica-digest (no quotes) to the same address. Project: Redcap archives and links to many of the fan-created Ars Magica pages on the World Wide Web. To get to Project: Redcap, point your browser at Errata for the first printing of the fourth edition of Ars Magica is available on request. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to PO Box , Roseville, MN, Up-to-date errata is also posted on the Atlas Games World Wide Web site. Ars Magica, A Medieval Tapestry, Hedge Magic, Kabbalah: Mythic Judaism, Mythic Europe, Covenants, and Charting New Realms of Imagination are trademarks of Trident, Inc. Atlas Games is a trademark of John Nephew and Trident, Inc. Tales of the Dark Ages is a trademark of John Nephew. Order of Hermes and Tremere are trademarks of White Wolf, Inc. and are used with permission. Copyright 1990, 1991, 1998, 2002 John A. Nephew. Published under license by Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work by any means without written permission, except short excerpts for the purpose of reviews, is expressly prohibited. PO Box Roseville, MN info@atlas-games.com Digital Edition Version 1.0 August 2002 Stock No. AG0257PDF

3 Table of Contents Foreword PART ONE The Ghoul of St. Lazare Chapter 1. Introduction Players Background Storyguide Background Notes to the Storyguide Theme Chapter 2. Vézay The Church of St. Lazare Chapter 3. Events The Death of Noilis A Parody of Resurrection The Unholy Hour Conclusion The Diabolopsuche Map of Vézay PART TWO Festival of the Damned Chapter 1. Introduction Time and Location Summary of Plot Groups Explanatory Notes Chapter 2. Vézay Key to the Map Villagers Chapter 3. The Witches Position in Vézay Current Activities The Midwives House The Cursed Cloth Investigating the Fevers Pacing the Mystery of the Witches The Witches Chapter 4. Temptations Palm Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Maunday Thursday Good Friday Chapter 5. Easter Sunday The Day Dusk After the Fight End of the Vigil Curse of the Fiends Fiends of the Seven Deadly Sins Aftermath for Vézay Reference Villager Checklist Mystic Auras People from Ghoul Timeline

4 Foreword M ilwaukee, summer, 1990: I stood in a corner of the Lion Rampant booth at Gen Con, hanging out with my friends and former housemates, hawking copies of Tales of the Dark Ages, a 64-page book with a strikingly plain cover printed in blue and black. I had four years of freelance writing and editing under my belt, including a year on the staff of Lion Rampant, which had just moved from Northfield, Minnesota, to the Atlanta area. With Tales of the Dark Ages, I stayed behind and struck out on my own. I don t put a lot of stock in anniversaries, but the release of this book does mark eight years of Atlas Games (and more than a decade of Ars Magica, which first came out in late 1987). In an industry as challenging as this one, survival itself is an accomplishment. I d like to think that we have lived up to some of the vision I set forth in the introduction to Tales of the Dark Ages. The company started with a licensed book of adventures for Ars Magica, now publishes the game itself. Since the contents of this book have been out of print for about five years, we are pleased to celebrate our birthday by bringing these stories back. The first part of this book is one of the adventures from Tales of the Dark Ages. The Ghoul of St. Lazare is a story I ran for the gang at House Rampant. Our saga, Patina, was in a fantasy North America that had been colonized by late imperial Romans. For publication, I transplanted the tale to Occitania, which the then-current 2nd Edition had made ArM s official setting. Festival of the Damned was published in 1991 as a stand-alone book. Jonathan developed it as a sequel to my story. I m afraid my own little adventure looks a little weak beside his masterpiece. A number of Ars Magica fans have told me over the years that they think Festival is one of the best RPG adventures ever published. Strong praise, but I would have to agree. It s a delight to make these stories widely available to Ars Magica storyguides once again. John Nephew Roseville, Minnesota June 10,

5 Part One The Ghoul of St. Lazare by John Nephew Art by Tara Kinnunen, from the cover of Tales of the Dark Ages, in which The Ghoul of St. Lazare originally appeared