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Sample Extract: Introduction
What follows is an extract from the published Corum supplement - the Introduction.
This section describes the basic setting and context for the book, including
a very brief discussion of the history of Corum, The Scarlet Prince.
Note: This extract remains the property of Darcsyde Productions, and may not be reproduced, in part or in full, for any purpose, without prior consent.
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Corum offers players of Stormbringer (and Elric! before it) the
chance to journey to the World of the Five Planes, where the elder
races (the Vadhagh and the Nhadragh) fight a grim battle for survival
against the encroaching hordes of Mabden, the humankind destined
to reign over the earth.
Adventurers from the world of the Young Kingdoms
may visit this plane and join the forces of Law or Chaos as they
fight to eclipse each other, or be drawn to serve Balance and the
cause of cosmic harmony. It is truly a time for high adventure;
the Conjunction of the Million Spheres, when all things are possible,
draws near.
New adventurers may also be found on this plane.
Character creation guidelines make it possible to create any of
the varied peoples of the world of the Five Planes, from the ancient
nobility of the Vadhagh to the howling Mabden barbarians who destroy
all they distrust.
Although this supplement makes use of the basic
Stormbringer mechanics, it expands upon them to better capture the
unique flavor of Corum's world. To use this book fully you must
own either the Stormbringer or Elric! rulesbook. Some reference
is also made to the instructions for ship construction and combat
found in the supplement Sailing on the Seas of Fate.
A new set of magic rules are provided for use
in the World of the Five Planes. There are also some new skills,
and a section on the use of chariots as vehicles of both transport
and combat. Many of these new rules could easily be used in any
game using the Stormbringer system regardless of where in the Multiverse
it is set.
Corum is the name of one of Michael Moorcock's fantasy heroes and,
like Elric, he is an incarnation of the Eternal Champion. His adventures
provided the inspiration for this book. Corum, a Prince of the Vadhagh
(a race not unlike the Melnibonéans) becomes a hero in a strange
series of conflicts against the Mabden people and their gods, the
Sword Rulers or Lords of Chaos.
Armed with the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of
Rhynn (fragments of gods who are lost in the mists of time, used
as terrible weapons) Corum battles to reinstate Law in the Five
Planes, and those worlds beyond his own.
Later he journeys far into the future of his
realm to aid the descendants of the very Mabden peoples who threaten
his own time. There he wars against the Cold Gods, strange beings
from Limbo intent upon turning the green and beautiful lands into
icy wastes before their own inevitable demise.
In his adventures Corum must face his own destiny,
that of the Champion Eternal, the constant hero of Law against the
forces of Chaos, the defender of the weak against the powerful.
Corum's saga possesses much of the doomed quality found in the story
of the albino prince Elric, and he is constantly at odds with the
superstitious and the supernatural. It is recommended that gamemasters
and players read the books of Corum. The tales are rewarding and
enriching: Corum is one of Michael Moorcock's finest creations,
equal in complexity and charisma to the legendary Elric of Melniboné.
The books of Corum are:
The Knight of the Swords
The Queen of the Swords
The King of the Swords
The Bull and the Spear
The Oak and the Ram
The Sword and the Stallion
The saga of Corum may be broken into two separate trilogies. The
first, known also as Corum, or The Swords Trilogy, or The Swords
of Corum, deals with Corum's battle against the Mabden barbarians
and the Sword Rulers, armed with the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of
Rhynn. The later three books, known as The Prince with the Silver
Hand, or The Chronicles of Corum, record Corum's war against the
Cold Gods. These are set in the future of his own realm, so far
indeed, that it resembles another plane.
This supplement draws chiefly upon the first three Corum books,
when Arioch and Chaos rule the land and the Mabden are stirring
across the face of the earth bringing sorcery and fear, bloodshed
and ruin. Rendering the later world which Corum knows would require
a book in itself and is beyond the scope of the present volume.
If sufficient interest in the Corum line is evidenced, then no doubt
such a book will be forthcoming.
Corum's world is also known as The World of the Five Planes. In
his realm, a god gains control of five planes at a time. The planes
are connected only by that god's sphere of influence. In Corum's
time there are Fifteen Planes interconnected: three groups of five,
each group dominated by one of the Sword Rulers, Arioch, Xiombarg
and Mabelode of Chaos.
This book details one single plane, Corum's
own homeworld. The other planes are mentioned, but only briefly.
Thus the World of the Five Planes is a useful generic term for the
single world of Corum, and should not to confused with the grouping
of the planes. It is the environment in which most of Corum's adventures
take place.
Corum was written as a supplement for Chaosium's Elric! roleplaying
game. The editors have been assured by Chaosium that this means
it is fully compatible with Stormbringer 5th Edition - the new version
of the Elric! system, to be published in July 2001. For gamers,
this means that all references to Stormbringer can be read as references
to Elric!, and were originally written with those rules in mind.
If you own Elric! you should be able to use Corum. If you own the
new Stormbringer, you should be able to use it equally well.
Corum is a game of high adventure, great quests,
noble deeds and derring-do. Unlike Stormbringer its focus is squarely
on the adventurers as the heroes of the age, presaging the arrival
of Prince Corum, the ultimate cosmically-inspired hero of this world.
The World of the Five Planes is a world in
desperate peril, teetering on the brink of an abyss of barbarism.
Ultimately the tide will be halted by the actions of the Prince
in the Scarlet Robe. But other heroes must step forth to stem the
flow until its ultimate ebb at Corum's hands. This is the role of
the adventurers of Corum. While they may be as diverse and self-interested
as any Stormbringer characters, Corum adventurers ought to be soon
swept up in epic quests and cosmic battles, and their own petty
concerns seen to be of secondary importance.
Stormbringer stands to Corum as a dark and
shadowy silent film masterpiece stands to a modern color cinemascope
adventure: while not its complete antithesis, Corum is still a very
different setting from that presented in Stormbringer and rewards
a more magnanimous, epic style of play.
For more detailed material, prospective Corum
gamemasters are recommended to read the Encyclopedia Masteria later
in this volume. |
For more information:
Contact Darcsyde Productions:
darcsyde at darcsyde.org
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Product information
Corum: Heroic Adventures Across the Five Planes
DCS 2000
ISBN 0-9578427-0-8
$24.95 USD
168 pages
perfect-bound softcover
Released June 2001
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Published by:
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Under license from:
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