''H4 - The Throne of Bloodstone'' is an Official Game

Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

or "module" for the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game.

Plot summary

In ''The Throne of Bloodstone'', the player characters go to the

Abyss Abyss may refer to: * Abyss (religion), a bottomless pit, or a passage to the underworld Film and television * ''The Abyss'' (1910 film), a Danish silent film starring Asta Nielsen * ''The Abyss'' (1988 film) (''L'Œuvre au noir''), a French- ...

to steal the powerful

Wand A wand is a thin, light-weight rod that is held with one hand, and is traditionally made of wood, but may also be made of other materials, such as metal or plastic. Long versions of wands are often styled in forms of staves or sceptres, which ...

from

Orcus Orcus ( la, Orcus) was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman mythology. As with Hades, the name of the god was also used for the underworld itself. In the later tradition, he was conflated with Dis Pater. A ...

. This module is recommended for characters between levels 18 and 100. They play the rulers of Bloodstone Pass. A war against the Witch-King of Vaasa has come to a standstill. The players venture into the Abyss, destroy a mighty demon, steal the

Wand of Orcus The Wand of Orcus is a fictional magical weapon described in various ''Dungeons & Dragons'' media. Because of the popularity of Orcus as a villain within the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' universe, many different authors have written materials describin ...

and take it to the Seven Heavens to be destroyed. The battle between the mighty undead army of the Witch-King of

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

and the forces of Bloodstone has come to a standstill. As long as the source of the Witch-King's power is at work, his evil forces will never be defeated! This module requires the player characters, as the rulers of Bloodstone Pass if following the series, to find the true power behind the Witch-King and defeat it. The module requires the players to journey to the

, confront

, one of its greatest demons, steal the ''

'', and destroy it. The wide range of levels the module is for is dealt with in several ways as well as the general principles described above for dealing with 100th level characters. For some encounters either the number and/or type of opponents vary or the NPC's reaction to the characters vary depending on the total level of the party. Some areas in the module like the city of liches or the city of 100,000 demons, are really too difficult for any party to overcome directly and require approaches other than brute force.

Publication history

H4 ''The Throne of Bloodstone'' was written by

Douglas Niles Douglas Niles (born December 1, 1954, in Brookfield, Wisconsin) is a fantasy author and game designer. Niles was one of the creators of the Dragonlance world and the author of the first three Forgotten Realms novels, the ''Star Frontiers'' space ...

and Michael Dobson, with a cover by

Keith Parkinson Keith A. Parkinson (October 22, 1958 – October 26, 2005) was an American fantasy artist and illustrator known for book covers and artwork for games such as ''EverQuest'', '' Guardians'', '' Magic: The Gathering'', and '' Vanguard: Saga of Hero ...

, and was published by TSR in 1988 as a 96-page book. Interior art was by

Graham Nolan Graham Nolan (born March 12, 1962) is an American comic book artist, best known for work for DC Comics on Batman-related titles in the 1990s and his work on ''The Phantom'' Sunday strip. He frequently collaborates with writer Chuck Dixon. Biograp ...

. This module is part four of four, though it is not required to have played the previous three modules. While this is the fourth adventure in the Bloodstone pass saga, and the second that sets the saga in the

Forgotten Realms ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as ...

, it is the first publication that bears the official Forgotten Realms logo. At 96 pages the module is larger than was common at the time of publication and is the longest in the Bloodstone Saga. It comes in a loose cardboard cover; the maps are not printed on the inside but in the book itself, and on a foldout poster. This module is listed as being intended for character levels 18 - 100. The upper end of this range is by far the highest level specified for any ''D&D'' module. The module includes a substantial section on running games with 100th level characters. The guidance rests on three principles: *100th-Level characters are not ten times more powerful than 10th-level characters *Apply all the rules strictly *Never give a 100th-level character an even break The module includes two sets of pre-generated characters. The first set is the same seven characters that have run through the Bloodstone Saga, most of which are now 19th level. The second set are based on great characters of mythology and all have at least one class at 100th level. These characters, who are much more powerful than the versions appearing in the ''Legends & Lore'' manual are Perseus,

Circe Circe (; grc, , ) is an enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and religion. She is either a daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse or the goddess Hecate and Aeëtes. Circe was renowned for her vas ...

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, wikt:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travelle ...

and

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

Reception

Lawrence Schick Lawrence Schick is a game designer and writer associated with role-playing games. Early life and education Schick attended Kent State University in Ohio. Career Schick, as the head of design and development at TSR, brought aboard Tom Moldvay ...

, in his 1991 book ''Heroic Worlds'', found it strange that the module purports to be usable for character levels 18-100, "considering there are no rules for character levels above about 25 in ''AD&D''".

Credits

Design: Michael Dobson and

Editing:
Brand Manager:
Cover Art:

Interior Art:
Cartography:
Typesetting:
Art Direction:
Electronic Prepress Coordination:
Playtesters: Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors. Distributed in the United Kingdom by TSR UK Ltd. product number 9228

Notable nonplayer characters

Opponents

To complete the adventure players will need to defeat many opponents. Those difficult or impossible to avoid include: *Arctigis, a huge, ancient

White Dragon The white dragon ( cy, Y Ddraig Wen) is a symbol associated in Welsh mythology with the Anglo-Saxons. Origin of tradition The earliest usage of the white dragon as a symbol of the Anglo-Saxons is found in the ''Historia Brittonum''. The releva ...

. *The Witch-King Zhengyi - a

Lich In fantasy fiction, a lich (; from the Old English , meaning "corpse") is a type of undead creature. Various works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's " The Empire of the Necromancers" (1932), had used ''lich'' as a general term f ...

with 30th level magic-user ability. *100 Type III Demons. *Fyrillicus, the Abyssian Dragon - a Red Dragon larger than any found on the

Prime Material Plane The planes of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game constitute the multiverse in which the game takes place. Each plane is a universe with its own rules with regard to gravity, geography, magic and morality. There have been various offic ...

. *

Baphomet Baphomet is a deity allegedly worshipped by the Knights Templar. that subsequently became incorporated into various occult and Western esoteric traditions. The name ''Baphomet'' appeared in trial transcripts for the Inquisition of the Knights ...

, a Demon Lord. *

, Lord of the

Undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by supe ...

. *

Tiamat In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( akk, or , grc, Θαλάττη, Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial crea ...

, the Chromatic Dragon. Other major opponents characters may face include: *Large numbers of Demons of all types, including large cities of hundreds of thousands of demons. *the Tarrasque *10,000

Zombies A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in wh ...

*100 Liches, 12 Demiliches & 12 Death knights *Various Lesser Gods and Demon Princes including: **

Pazuzu In ancient Mesopotamian religion, Pazuzu ( akk, , translit=pà.zu.zu; also called Fazuzu or Pazuza) was a personification of the southwestern wind, and held kingship over the lilu wind demons. As an apotropaic entity, he was considered as bo ...

, Prince of Lower Aerial Kingdoms (Demon Prince) ** Charon ** Demogorgon, Prince of Demons ** Yeenoghu, Demon Prince of Gnolls ** Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders **

Juiblex In the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, "monsters" are generally the antagonists which players must fight and defeat to progress in the game. Since the game's first edition in 1974, a bestiary was included along other game ma ...

, the Faceless Lord (Demon Prince) **Urdlen, the Crawler Below (Lesser God) **Zuggtmoy, Demoness Lady of Fungi **

Graz'zt In the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, "monsters" are generally the antagonists which players must fight and defeat to progress in the game. Since the game's first edition in 1974, a bestiary was included along other game ma ...

(Demon Prince) ** Fraz-Urb'luu, the Demon Prince of Deception ** Kostchtchie (Demon Prince) **

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tra ...

, Goddess of Destruction **

Vaprak In the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, giants are a collection of very large humanoid creatures based on giants of legend, or in third edition, a "creature type". Description Giants are humanoid creatures of great strength and ...

, demigod of

Trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

and

Ogres An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world ...

Laogzed This is a list of deities of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', including all of the 3.5 edition gods and powers of the "Core Setting" for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') roleplaying game. Religion is a key element of the D&D game, since it is require ...

, demigod of Troglodytes

References

External links

H Series modules at Acaeum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Throne Of Bloodstone, The Dungeons & Dragons modules Forgotten Realms adventures Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1988