Sample File Rolemaster, HARP and Spacemaster Are Copyright © 2006 Aurigas Aldebaron, LLC, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Credits Author: Robert J Defendi Line Editor: Josh Peltier Additional Contributions: Scott Llewelyn Cover Art: B.C. Hailes Interior Art: B.C. Hailes Art Direction: Christopher Mitchell Pagemaking: Wallen Ashcroft Copy Editing: Christine Fortune Publisher: Robert J Defendi Editing, Development, & Production Staff: Robert J Defendi, Scott Llewelyn, Josh Peltier, Christine Fortune, Christopher Mitchell, Wallen Ashcroft Web Master: Robert J Defendi Play Testing: Amanda Peltier, Angela Daley, Bjorn Olsen, Brandon Leavitt, Brenda Llewelyn, Dan Willis, Gary Llewelyn, Jennie Mollerup, Josh Peltier, Kori Emerson, Mark Giffune, Mason Emerson, Mat Daley, Matthew Fitt, Robert J Defendi, Scott Llewelyn, Stephen Johnson. Special Support: Heike A. Kubasch, Bruce Neidlinger; Tim Dugger, and Steve Long. We’d also like to thank all the fans on the Iron Crown Forums who have shown so much support and enthusiasm, especially Allenrmaher, Buddha, Cormac Doyle, Grafton, Ictus, Ironmaul, Lichemaster, Lorenen, Maelstrom, Markc, Norin, Pendragon, Quasar, Smiling DM, Wolfram Riegler (our first cus- tomer), and Yammahoper.

Rolemaster™, HARP™ and Spacemaster™ are trademark properties of Aurigas Aldebaron, LLC; no unauthorized use permitted.

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For further information about Hero Games and the HERO System, visit www.herogames.com.

Stock #0007 This product contains no firm idea of what system you are using. The Moving Shadow alone is statted for four different game systems, and there’s no rea- What is an AdventureIntroduction Seed? son you need to use this with The Moving Shadow An Adventure Seed is a story idea. In The Echoes or even The Echoes of Heaven. of Heaven, an Adventure Seed is a story idea that This product contains no firm rules on how ex- we at Final Redoubt Press promise never to con- perienced the characters are. It’s designed with tradict in future canon. It’s a chance to allow you mid-range characters in mind, but since there are no to expand an idea or mystery in the setting without stats, you can use it to challenge characters at any worrying about whether we’ll contradict you with point in their careers. future products. But this Adventure Seed is a full product, and that means it’s something more. This is a fully written What Next? adventure plot, meant to allow you to get your game You can begin play almost immediately. If you moving almost immediately. This outlines all the ma- want to get straight to the meat, skip to What Came jor steps of a story, carrying you through an entire nar- Before if you’re playing in The Moving Shadow or rative arc. With this product, the rule books of your Setup if you’re not. It probably takes an average game (including maybe a monster book and whatever reader 10-15 minutes to read this adventure once manual holds sample NPCs) you should be able to run through. If you are about to run the game and you an adventure with almost no preparation at all, and just grabbed this as an emergency measure, step out of a touch of imaginative table improvisation. the room for a few minutes and you’ll be ready in no time. If your players seem likely to bug you, start What this Product Includes them arguing about a six-month-old GM call, their favorite sports teams, or reality shows. You’ll be This product includes a full adventure plot, with ready to start before they are. enough notes that you should be able to run with If you have a little more time, we welcome you no preparation at all. This product also includes a to read the next sections. They should give you an description of the Dramatic Purpose of each stage Sampleidea file about what The Echoes of Heaven and The of the story. This way, if your story moves off in Moving Shadow is all about. a new direction, you know what you need to do to maintain the dramatic arc. Finally, this product includes notes for how to fit this adventure in The What Is the Echoes of Heaven Moving Shadow™ campaign, our epic series of Campaign Setting? adventures in The Echoes of Heaven that will take The Echoes of Heaven is a game world of darkness the world to the brink of destruction. and danger, where a monolithic church has split into dozens of quarreling factions and holy war looms What this Product Does Not like a shadow. Here, strength and brutality win the Include day and only those with the most faith, honor, and courage can stand against the terrible tyranny of This product includes no creature stats. You have those who would enslave everyone of a different your monster books. belief, a different philosophy, a different race. This adventure contains no NPC stats. Almost Worse, it is a world infected by the very fabric of every game has premade NPCs for the GM to use, Hell itself. and many GMs are used to improvising NPCs on It’s a world that once knew perfection, where the fly. Mortals and Angels labored side by side and all This product contains no rules. You probably spent their days basking in the light of God. There know the rules you use at your table much better was no Mortal Realm. Hell was nothing more than a than we do.

-3- province of Heaven. All lived in Paradise, and they War in Heaven. It is truly a campaign that spans ten knew what it was like to wander in Grace. thousand years. Then came the War. The Fall of the first third of the Host of Angels Line Elements nearly destroyed Heaven. The Fall of the second The Echoes of Heaven contains two main elements. third came as a death knell. Only the foresight and They are sourcebooks and adventures. planning of the Five Prophets saved everyone from languishing under the rule of the Fallen . . . but it Sourcebooks came at a terrible price. Some of the existing sourcebooks are as follows: Enter Meridrin, the Mortal Realm, a world sundered The Echoes of Heaven Campaign Setting—The from Paradise, a world both familiar and strangely dif- Echoes of Heaven Campaign Setting details the ferent. A world where you can make a difference. Mortal Realm and includes a bonus supplement The Echoes of Heaven is designed for use in four describing the Kingdom of Ludremon at no extra different game systems. They are games using the charge. Open Game License (the world’s most popular Bestiary—The Mortal Realm is filled with many game license), as well as Rolemaster (owned by horrific creatures and some that merely terrify. Iron Crown Enterprises), HARP (owned by Iron Here you will find creatures unique toThe Echoes Crown Enterprises), and HERO System (owned by of Heaven from the Nephilim to Angels and Hero Games). Demons, to the Cambionic Beastmen and beyond. This product can be used with any fantasy game. In His Name–The churches of the Mortal Realm hold great power over their citizens, but what are What is The Moving Shadow? they like? Are they corrupt or noble? What do The Moving Shadow is a ten-part adventure the Priests believe, what do they preach, and are campaign that takes the world to the very brink of these the same? destruction. In it, characters must fight against the depredations of some of the greatest villains the Adventures world has ever known. In the end, only theSample smart, Each file sourcebook comes packaged with an adventure. the brave, and the lucky have any hope at all. Between these two works, your campaigns can explore These adventures are statted with versions for an ever-widening world of intrigue and danger. four different games: games using the Open Game The Throne of God (Episode 1)—A story that spans License, as well as HARP, HERO System, and 10,000 years, here the players learn the lay of Rolemaster. the land in the Mortal Realm and fight to find an The Moving Shadow gives characters the oppor- ancient relic—a diamond splinter said to come tunity to take characters through an entire career from the throne of God Himself. of adventures. They start inexperienced but will The Tainted Tears (Episode 4)—With the characters’ end as some of the most powerful characters in the success in Uzarâg, they must now make a mad world. The range of experience depends on the dash across Belkanâth in an attempt to stop the game system: end of the world. The Last Hallowed Place (Episode 5)—Now the Game System Starting Ending characters have freed themselves from the tragedies nd th OGL 2 lvl 20 lvl of The Tainted Tears, they must race to the Holy rd th HARP 3 lvl 30 lvl City in the hope they aren’t already too late. HERO System 165 points 300 points This Adventure Seed can fit neatly after The rd th Rolemaster 3 lvl 30 lvl Tainted Tears and before Adventure Seed 4b: One Man’s Burden. In addition, The Moving Shadow has a series of Teasers which take place during the last days of the

-4- Our Philosophy This isn’t saying that we don’t add optional abilities or even change the way that some things work. At Final Redoubt Press, we wish to bring high- That’s necessary in all game worlds. It just means quality products into the hands of the gamers who that we won’t stumble all over ourselves because an need them. Starting with characters ignorant of the OGL Bard can do a bit more with illusions than a world around them, players can discover the Mortal Rolemaster Bard. Each game group should play the Realm even as the story unfolds. With each new game the way they like to play it. adventure, player and character alike will discover a world rich in excitement and adventure, a world as intriguing as their GM can make it. Dramatic Purpose An Ongoing Campaign Every stage in this adventure has a dramatic purpose. We’re aware that different games progress at many These are there so the GM can better decide what to different rates. Some groups play almost every day do if the party goes off book. If a group diverges and some fight to meet once a month. Therefore, wildly from the written adventure, let them. Take we’ve tried to devise this world and this series for the dramatic purposes of the skipped stages and any rate of play. invent new events that serve the same purpose. Each adventure is designed for characters of a cer- Maybe the party abandons the adventure entirely tain level. A GM needs only to adjust the rate of expe- and refuses to go back. If so, who are any of us to rience gain to meet the needs of his group. If a group say they did wrong? Take the remaining dramatic can play an entire adventure in one weekend and that events and create new ones for the party, following leaves three more until the next product releases, then their new path. It might not be this adventure, but the GM can match the experience gain to move hand it will be an adventure, and it will be a lot more fun in hand with this pace. Meanwhile, he’ll find Adven- than arguing about whether the party is ruining the ture Seeds in every product that will allow the char- GM’s plans. acters to explore the world around them until they’re As long as all the purposes are served, you will ready for the next episode of the series. Samplehave file a workable story, probably even a good one. It That is one of the possible uses of these Adven- doesn’t matter if it isn’t the story you set out to tell. ture Seeds. They fit neatly between the full adven- Gaming is a collaborative effort, after all. ture products, allowing you to flesh out your game while you’re waiting for the next release. Quad Statting Running the Campaign The Echoes of Heaven contains stats for four This Adventure Seed fits neatly into the ten-part, different games. We at Final Redoubt Press purposely ongoing campaign The Moving Shadow. This chose these games for their compatibility. Each of brings up some issues one wouldn’t have in a stand- these games has the same general levels of power alone adventure. and abilities for the major classes or professions. Mages in all four have similar spells and clerics in Down Time all four have similar divine powers. It’s possible that someone will want to run these This means that we can weave a story without adventures before the entire series has been released. worrying about whether a mage can cast a fireball It’s likely that a game group may finish an adventure in all three systems. We can provide a GM with ev- before the next one is available. erything he needs to run his game, and he can do We’ve taken this into consideration. You can’t run that with his own house rules and his own style of a ten-part adventure and not expect to take some side game play. As much as possible, we intend to stay trips. Don’t worry if this is your intention. We’ve out of the way. built downtime into the story between each adven-

-5- ture, and these Adventure Seeds are handy ways to But since you choose the power of the adversaries fill that down time. Near the end, it might be nice to in this adventure, they can be just as powerful as run the adventures concurrently, but there’s no point you want them to be. This means you can use this in this series where one adventure must be played Adventure Seed in any setting or any point in your directly after the one before. characters’ careers.

Experience and Table Pacing If you’re running the adventures in a series, then the issue of experience will come into play. Some No opponents haveStats stats in this adventure, but most groups might want to do the adventures one after every game has NPC stats in one of the primary another. Others might have ten sessions between books. Use them to flesh out the bad guys in this each adventure (especially if they meet frequently Adventure Seed, or, if it’s easier, just improvise while waiting for the next release). them as you go. Many GMs can stat an NPC in The thing to remember about experience is that their heads without skipping a beat. it’s all arbitrary. Many GMs ignore official experience guidelines. Some have home systems. Some just assign experience by story points, some by number of sessions, regardless of session content. Descriptions The important thing to remember is that no expe- This Adventure Seed has no “boxed text.” That rience system is set in stone. If you have multiple means the descriptions of rooms, people, and places adventures in this series and you wish to run them are up to you. Tailor them to your game and your back to back, then a party will need to gain three characters. This is most of the improvising you’ll levels in a single adventure. If you want to run eight need to do to run this Adventure Seed. adventures in between, then they need to average a third of a level each time experience is given. It doesn’t matter how fast a group advancesSample as long file as everyone understands what to expect and why to We’ve left mechanicsMechanics as simple as possible in this expect it. If you tell a party you want to game every work. We’ve listed all bonuses as a percentage. 5% single night but the next adventure isn’t out for two = 5 in a percentile system or 1 in HERO System or more weeks, they’ll understand they might need to OGL games. advance more slowly. What Came Before If you’re running this Adventure Seed as part of The IfCharacter you are plugging this Power adventure into Level The Moving Moving Shadow, it fits neatly after the events in The Shadow, then it likely takes place right after the Tainted Tears. This gives the characters some history. events of The Tainted Tears and before Adventure In The Throne of God, the villain created a power- Seed 4b: One Man’s Burden. It’s likely that ful unholy relic. In The Festering Earth the charac- characters came out of the last adventure at a certain ters tracked a murderer and discovered more about approximate character level or point value. the relic’s nature. In On Corrupted Ground they Game System Character became involved in a plan of a powerful evil force. OGL 9th lvl In The Tainted Tears, a great villain led them in a HARP 13th lvl chase across country, and they only stopped when HERO System 215 points an Ulcer sprang up in their path. Rolemaster 13th lvl

-6- The characters cleansed the Ulcer, but in doing so, fun, but not so hard as to present a real challenge. Al- they lost the trail. They’ve ended up in the village low the characters to feel powerful, potent. This will of Invill, in Gaerydd, and while the people there make what comes next much more involving. are grateful, the characters are probably looking for something to do. Dramatic Purpose The Dramatic Purpose of the Teaser is to hook the players in, hopefully before even a single die is thrown. In a television show, the Teaser is the part of the episode that comes before the credits, WhatThe follows Adventure is the plot of the Adventure Plot Seed. lasting anywhere from thirty seconds (for shows This is only one course the adventure could take. If like the defunct Enterprise) to more than ten the party diverges from this plot, let them. minutes (for shows like the also defunct Alias). The Teaser is (relatively) short, to the point, and Setup usually set up to end in a cliff hanger to keep the By default, this Adventure Seed begins after the end viewer from changing channels. of The Tainted Tears. This Adventure Seed could exist anywhere or at any time, however. All you need is a world where there are villages, magic, and Act One evil Hobgoblins (or a monster you can swap out). This product assumes the characters play in The The woods are lousy with Hobgoblins. Echoes of Heaven Campaign Setting. Still, with When the Ulcer expanded in The Tainted Tears, slight adjustments, it could take place anywhere. the Demons began collecting all the treasure in the When the Adventure Seed begins, the characters surrounding area. This included all of the Hobgob- are in the village of Invill, in Gaerydd. The party has lin’s treasure. Since the collapse of that Ulcer, the likely been trying to find the trail they lost in the last Hobgoblins have been on a rampage, striking out adventure, but so far, they’ve had no success. The farther and farther in their attempt to reestablish trail doesn’t exist inside the area that wasSample once the their file loot. Ulcer, and by the end of that adventure, the Ulcer Notes: The motivations of the Hobgoblins are covered many miles. grounded in the previous adventure of The Mov- ing Shadow campaign. If you are running this Teaser Adventure Seed on its own, the Hobgoblins will As the story opens, the characters search for their need to have lost their wealth through other lost trail inside some woods west of Invill. It’s means. This doesn’t need to be anything spec- something of a needle in a haystack, tacular. They could easily have been attacked The characters are distracted in the middle of this by an adventuring party. They could have been search by several loud sounds, not too far away. robbed by a thief. Regardless, something has The characters are almost certainly quieter than the stirred the hornet’s nest. creatures making these noises, and they should have no problem sneaking up on them. When the characters finish this first battle, take They find a band of Hobgoblins casually torturing a them through a series of encounters, showing the deer. The Hobgoblins wear Human ears on their belt escalation of the Hobgoblins’ deeds. They could be and the party should have plenty of reasons to attack. laying an ambush on a forest trail. Perhaps they tor- If your characters are higher level, don’t use typical ture a kidnaped family. Maybe they perform dark Hobgoblin stats for this adventure. Instead, treat them rites in the woods and sacrificing to Demon gods. as NPCs just a bit weaker than the party. You are aim- In the end the encounters should begin to form a ing for a challenge level that’s just tough enough to be pattern. The characters will see that they are tor-

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