Elric of Melnibone Magic of the Young Kingdoms.pdf

Credits

Contents

Credits & Contents 1

A Letter of Introduction 2

Demons 6

Rune Magic 34

Alchemy 48

Sorcery - The Conjurer’s Art 55

The Elemental Paths 74

Enchantments

Author

Charles Green,

Lawrance Whitaker

and Pete Nash

Editor

Charlotte Law

Cover Art

Pascal Quidault

Logo

Iordanis Lazaridis

Proofreading

Ted Chang

Interior

Illustrations

Chad Sergesketter,

German Ponce, Jesse

Mohn, Leonardo

Borazio, Nathan

Furman, Phil Renne

& Robin Bowles.

Playtesters

Mark Billanie, Jason

Denton, Daniel

Haslam, Mark Howe,

Thomas Howe, Alan

Moore, & Michael J

Young

Print Manager

Ed Russell

Special Thanks

Michael Moorcock &

Richard Watts

Additional

Thanks

Ian Kaufman & John

White

Necromancy

107

Tomes: Hidden Secrets and

Forgotten Lore

121

Voice of the Dreamthief

134

Index

144

by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. All art and text herein are copyrighted

by Mongoose Publishing. All signiﬁ cant characters, names, places and items featured in Elric of Melnibone; Magic of the Young

Kingdoms the distinctive likenesses thereof and related elements are trademarks of Michael Moorcock and Multiverse Inc.

This game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written

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This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United Kingdom. This product is a work of ﬁ ction. Any similarity to

actual people, organisations, places or events is purely coincidental.

My Lord High Inquisitor,

As requested, I’ve concluded my study on the tome found in the possession of the arrested heretic, Tobias Gill.

Gill claims to be a member of the Cult of Arkyn and that the tome, which he admits to writing, is merely a

scholarly treatise on the religious and metaphysical traditions of the Young Kingdoms.

He begins the book with a study on Demons , including the means for summoning and coercing them to

do one’s bidding. Many of these beings are overt creatures of Chaos and since Gill has neglected to provide

commentary on how these beings could be put to use in order to further the aims of the White Lords, it is safe

to assume that he intends them to be used to promote Chaos in the world.

Then he proceeds to discuss Rune Magic . While Church of Law has sanctioned the use of Runes for Lawful

purposes, again Gill does not have any discussion on how this is to be done. Instead, he deals strictly with a

more general study of the subject, which could potentially supply the enemies of the Church with dangerous

weapons.

He follows this by speaking of Sorcery in general and shows an appallingly accurate discourse on how to not

only perform this type of magic but to do so safely. Again, by seeking to make this material available to the

general public, Gill provides our enemies with the means for calling substantial supernatural aid and makes

it so that they are less likely to ﬁ nd death at the tail end of their folly.

Then comes a section dealing with something called The Elemental Paths , which appear to have

something to do with the primitive religions of the Elemental Cults. By itself, this is not as dangerous, as it

is obviously a work of ﬁ ction. Everyone knows that the elementals are little more than animals, so the many

abilities described here cannot possibly be true. Gill also makes reference to the Balance, which, as you know,

is a proscribed term not meant for public ears.

Gill continues on by deviating from speaking of magic to issues of history in a chapter called

Enchantments. He details the history of many of the Bright Empire’s most notorious weapons from its past.

This by itself would be of no consequence, save that Gill claims to provide information about the current

locations of these items and bears a certain fascination with them that speaks of corruption by Chaos.

Additionally, he clearly discusses many of the Church of Law’s most Holy Relics, the Virtues. From what

fevered imagination he assumes that such things are meant for the uninitiated is entirely beyond me. There

is also some discussion of the mythological ‘Treasures of the Elements’ and what it means about his state of

mind that he readily blends hard fact and the purest fantasy I am unwilling to speculate.

Then, as though he dared his reader to not think his heresy would grow any deeper, Gill provides a hideous

essay on the nature of Necromancy . Please understand that I am not speaking in hyperbole here. He

actually admits to, not only some knowledge of this most heinous of the Black Arts but betrays a familiarity

with the subject matter than can only come from willingly wallowing in it. Of all of the dangerous

information found in his work, this section I am most pleased about not allowing to be published.

He again shifts to history in a discussion of the history of To m e s . Whereas the Church has ofﬁ cially

sanctioned the production of The White Path, Gill speaks of it in the same manner in which he described

other books of forbidden lore, including the proscribed Of Gates and Keys, Armin Land’s infamous work on

the nature of planar travel, for which he was executed as heretic and sorcerer.

He ends this book with a transcript of a conversion, supposedly overheard between a noble of some sort,

arranging commerce with someone who claims to speak with The Voice of the Dreamthief . I must profess

ignorance in this regard, in that this term is one I have not come across in the performance of my duties. The

section also describes a series of fabulous ‘dream-realms’ which, while obviously fanciful in nature, do betray

some hint of magic. The fact that it hides its meaning in metaphor makes it especially troubling, as it alone

might evade Inquisitorial attention and be read by an ignorant public.

I’ve included the captured text for your perusal and disposal. As for Gill, he’s thus far proven quite resistant

to the methods of extracting more information from him. It seems apparent that this work alone merits his

execution, as it mixes sorcery, heresy and lies with secrets about our Church that no one besides the anointed

are privy to. However, the decision is yours in this matter and I will keep Gill in my custody until I hear

further from you. I’m sure his tongue can be put to good use, given more time.

Sincerely,

Enous Sharpeyes

Captain, Order of the Inquisition

This book is a collection of purely optional rules. Many of the magics found herein are of such tremendous

potency that, even if they seem fun, can, without proper handling, bring a campaign to a screeching halt. The

trick of the thing is to remember that the point of the game is to have fun telling exciting stories of thrilling

adventures.

These are optional also in the sense that they provide options. Campaigns ﬁ lled with Virtuous weapons, Rune

magic and vile necromancies will be rather different without these elements. Individual Games Masters may

decide that they’d rather not see elements from this book in their campaigns. They are perfectly within their

rights to do so.

However, consider this. Many stories begin with a quest to achieve something, be it an item of great power,

lost knowledge or the throne of a kingdom. How would these stories differ, if you begin with the thing you

crave and are forced to use it in unfortunate circumstances and defend it from others who desire just as much,

if not more, than you. Remember, power is not in the getting but in the keeping.

Sorcerer

In order to create a sorcerer for the Elric game, a few factors

need to be considered.

be less than or equal to the character’s High Speech skill.

Initiates must take a Compulsion and a Gift but they need

not choose them at this point in the generation process.

Marsha decides to make a character for the game. She

thinks it would be fun to play a sorcerer, since magic from

the books looks like it would be fun to experience during

the game. Her Games Master agrees that running a sorcerer

would be interesting and okays the choice. She wants to be

a normal human.

The character will need to have high characterstics in INT,

POW and CHA.

In order to learn sorcery, the character will need to either

have access to a grimoire (which should be exceedinly

rare) or be an initiate in a cult. In the example character

generation below, I’ve handled the initation proceedure

after establishing the skills earned from background and

profession. Characters who wish to learn sorcery after the

game has begun must either ﬁ nd a grimoire and learn magic

from it or become an Acolyte in a cult.

She rolls her characteristics in the usual way, and winds up

with STR 10, CON 13, DEX 13, SIZ 13, INT 18, POW

16 and CHA 16. She places her highest results in INT,

POW, and CHA in order to make her as good at sorcery

as she can be. She’s not very strong or sturdy but she has a

keen mind and is good at talking her way out of problems.

She has 5 Hit Points in each leg, 6 in the abdomen, 7 in

the chest, 4 in each arm, and 5 in the head. Marsha decides

that her character is quite young, she is a standard character

and does not gain any further characteristic bonuses. Her

character would be a concubine slave, taken to Pan Tang

when the ship she was on with her parents was overtaken

by a Slave Galley. Her parents where slain and she was sold

to a nasty Pan Tangian Nobleman.

When the player spends free Skill Points, he must spend

at least 30 Skill Points to purchase the Advanced Skills

of Command, High Speech and at least one Summoning

Ritual or Runecasting skill from the cult. They also get the

Pact skill at it’s base chance. The reamining Skill Points can

be spent as normal. Remember that all Sorcery skills must

From her characteristics, Marsha determines her attributes.

She had a damage modiﬁ er of +0, 3 Combat Actions and

a Strike Rank of +16. While most adventurers start with 3

Hero Points, Marsha’s character will be a sorcerer, so she

only begins the game with 1.

Since she has not been in Pan Tang all her life, she chooses

the Civilized background and takes the Courtesan profession

to represent training in the arts of love while in the Demon

Isle. Based upon her occupation, She gains the following

skills: Evaluate +15% (33%), Inﬂ uence +15% (41%),

Lore (World) +10% (28%), 1H Sword +10% (33%),

Courtesy 16%, Language (Common) +50% (68%), Lore

(Vilmirian) 18%, Mechanisms 31%, Play Instrument 16%,

Streetwise 32%. Being a courtesan grants her Evaluate +5%

(38%), Inﬂ uence +10% (51%), Perception +10% (44%),

Persistence +5% (31%), Resilience +5% (34%), Stealth

+5% (15%).

Since neither her background nor profession grant any of

the skills needed for sorcery, the Games Master decides this

is the best time to an initiate into a cult, as this is the only

way for someone like her to gain them. They determine that

she is approached by the underground cult of Eequor, made

Making a

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