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|| DRAGONQUEST Newsletter February 2001
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|| Volume 6 / Number 2
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The DQ Newsletter is for discussions of the DragonQuest role-
playing game. The key addresses you need to know are:

Rodger Thorm (Editor, Article Submissions, Etc.)
dqn@b...

All articles are copyrighted property of their respective authors.
Reproducing or republishing an article, in whole or in part, in any
other forum requires permission of the author or the moderator.

The DragonQuest Newsletter website is in the process of being moved.
It will be part of the list site:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dqnewsletter

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C O N T E N T S [v6/n02]
=================================================================

Editorial -- Graphics

Poor Brendan's Almanac Errata -- Rodger Thorm

Frontiers of Alusia Explored: The Thornewood -- Jason Winter

NPCs in the Thornewood -- Jason Winter

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DragonQuest NET

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EDITORIAL: Graphics
=================================================================

There is a small map file which accompanies this month's issue of the
DragonQuest Newsletter. This file shows the portion of the map of
the Frontiers of Alusia discussed in this month's article by Jason
Winter. Unfortunately, we apparently can't send attachments with
the Newsletter. To get the image of the Thornewood map, go to the
Newsletter Graphics folder in the Newsletter's website Files section:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dqnewsletter/files/Newsletter%20Graphics
/

This month's file is Thornewood.jpg

Until now, we have always kept the DQN as a text-only newsletter.
When
we produced some .PDF versions, they were always in addition to the
text-
only version.

With this new column, there will be graphical inclusions for
forthcoming
issues as well. For those of you who are still text-only, we hope
that
the separate graphic will be accessible. And we may again start
producing
the Newsletter in a more pleasingly formatted .PDF version. But we
are
still committed to keeping the information as accessible as possible,
and
we will continue producing the Newsletter as a text document.


Rodger Thorm
DQN Editor


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POOR BRENDAN'S ALMANAC ERRATA
-- Rodger Thorm <dqn@b...>
=================================================================
The following are a few minor changes to "Poor Brendan's
Alamanac." There are no major changes for playability, but these
are a couple things that I have noticed that should be corrected.
I'm sure there will be others over time, and eventually I will put
out a revised PDF distribution which incorporates these changes.

Rule Page Item

105.1 24 The weight of a Fustibal should be 3 [not 5] pounds

114.7 20 The cost of a Hunter's annual upkeep should be
100 [not 500] + (100 x Rank) Silver Pennies a year

If there is anyone who is using "Poor Brendan's Almanac" in their
campaign, I would like to hear about it. I hope that at least one or
two other campaigns have been able to find something useful in it.

Other corrections, clarifications, and notices of errata or the
like can be sent to me <dqn@b...>, and I will continue to
post PBA Errata Updates in the Newsletter as they are needed.


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FRONTIERS OF ALUSIA EXPLORED: The Thornewood
-- Jason Winter <Alarian@u...>
=================================================================

This section of the Newsletter will take a new section of the lands
of Alusia each month and better define it. In addition, it will
attempt to give one or two unique locations that can be found in the
region and define them as well.

This month, we bring you The Thornewood.

TERRAIN TYPE: Woods
DANGER LEVEL: High
ENCOUNTER FREQUENCY: 6
ENCOUNTER CHANCE: 40%
ENCOUNTER TABLE MODIFICATION: +10
Covering an area of approximately 50 miles by 40 miles is the
Thornewood forest. It is located far to the east of civilized lands
and is named for the large number of Thorneapple trees which grow
throughout it. Due to the numerous and large thorns that grow on
these
trees, passage for anyone not on foot is difficult. The fruit of the
Thorneapple tree is considered delicious to eat, but due to the number
of thorns and the size of the spikes, they are almost impossible to
pick without permanently destroying the tree. In addition to the
Thorneapple trees, but much less commonly known, the Thornewood is
known for the Brotherhood of Gellen (Location 2 on map), a Druidic
Cult of Orcs that have called the Thornewood home for well over a
century. Treat all human encounters in the woods as encounters with
the Brotherhood of Gellen. Encounters with the Brotherhood rarely end
with death for the captives (at least not initially). Intruders are
almost always taken back to the village and used as sacrifices in
their rituals. The other place of interest found in the Thornewood
is the Thornewood Orchards (Location 1 on map). The Thornewood
orchards can be found on the west side of the forest just before the
forest enters the hills. They are known Throughout Alusia for the
fine Thorneapple wine and brandy they make. How they are able to
pick the apples needed for the wine and brandy has been a well guarded
secret since the Orchard was founded well over 45 years ago.

Locations of Interest

The Brotherhood of Gellen.
The Brotherhood of Gellen was founded by Haxtor Gellen well
over a century ago. He was a Druidic Earth Adept that came to the
Thornewood to escape hanging by the people of the City of Braxtor for
being responsible for a rather large number of disappearances of the
citizens of the city. Upon reaching the Thornewood, he discovered a
small tribe of primitive non-aggressive Orcs that had made the area
their home. He easily took control of the tribe and in a matter of
years had set to training those of the tribe that had the talent in
the ways of Druidic Earth Magics. It was slow at first as the Orcs
were difficult to train, but after several decades he had a small
loyal group of Earth Adept followers. As time passed and his
apprentices
were able to take on apprentices of their own, the group grew. The
tribe currently consists of 127 members, of which 34 are practicing
Earth Adepts. The reason for the uncommonly large amount of Orcs with
the potential for being an Adept, has to do with a pact Haxtor made
with an individual that was captured around 25 years ago and is now
also a member of the community although she is rarely seen by any in
the community and lives several miles away in her own home. The
individual is a female that goes by the name Shara Woodbinder who
unbeknownst to any in the tribe except a select few and Haxtor is an
Adept of the College of Black Magics. During the pregnancy of each
Female Orc in the tribe, Shara, who is considered a wise sage to the
local populace, performs a blessing on the unborn child. The blessing
is actually the spell: Spell of Blessing on Unborn Child (S-11), and
the characteristic modified is always the Magical Aptitude of the
child.
Due to her regular blessings on every unborn child now days, the
percentage
of Orcs in the tribe with the potential for magic's is expected to
soar.
Haxtor hopes that within another 50 years close to 70% of the tribe
will
be Adepts of the college.
Haxtor finds the Thornewood Orchards presence to be a Thorne
in his side (No pun intended). He feels the woods belong to him and
his
Brotherhood and the presence of the Orchard is a direct threat to the
Brotherhood. Unfortunately they seem to have either a powerful
magical
ally or strong magical protections as the two attempts he has made to
purge the forest of the Orchard have resulted in utter defeat for the
Brotherhood. The last attempt made 14 years ago and in which he lost
4 of his more powerful Druids. So, for now, he waits until an
opportunity
will present itself to him on how to deal with the situation. If
anyone
discovers how the Orchard is protected and can learn how to deactivate
or
bypass the magic that protects it, Haxtor would be willing to pay
handsomely
for the information.

The Thornewood Orchard
The Thornewood Orchard is a prosperous business run by an
ex-adventurer
called Kalen Brass. Many years ago while still young, he happened to
be passing
hrough the woods on his way elsewhere and came upon a Dryad in need of
help.
He successfully helped her and was rewarded with both her friendship
as well
as the friendship of a grove of Ancient Treants that lived in the
area. It was
many years later that he returned to the Thornewood having recently
retired
from adventuring. He used a good portion of the money he had gotten
from his
many years as an adventurer to set up his current home and business.
With his
family's help as well as help from the Treants and other friends of
the Treants,
it only took him a half a dozen years to establish himself in the wine
and
brandy-making business. Today his Wines and Brandies are sought by
all of the
finest homes in most cities in Alusia. Just how he has been able to
pick the
apples from the Thorneapple trees remains a family secret to this day.
The secret has to do with the friendship he made many years
ago. The
actual pickers of the fruit are the Brownies and Pixies of the forest.
In
return for doing so, the Brass family throws them a grand party once a
year
with as much Wine, Brandy and food as they can consume. The party
lasts a
week and is held after the Thorneapple harvest is picked in the Grove
of the
Treants.
Wine is sold only by the bottle (Although you can buy as many
bottles as
you desire) and the bottles are actually made here on the orchard as
well. The
sand for the glass is brought in from a small quarry a few miles to
the south.
The brandy is sold in varying amounts.
Prices of the Wine and Brandy are as follows. Note: This is
the price
if you purchase it at the Orchard. Prices in the cities will be at
least double
if not more depending on how far away the city is located from
Thornewood Orchard.

Thorneapple Wine (Bottle) - 25sp
Thorneapple Brandy (Bottle) - 18sp
Thorneapple Brandy (5 gallon Keg) - 288sp
Thorneapple Brandy (10 gallon Keg) - 550sp
Thorneapple Brandy (25 gallon Keg) - 1200sp
Thorneapple Brandy (50 gallon Keg) - 2000sp

Large purchases (More than 500 gallons of Brandy or more than 100
bottles of Wine
or brandy) will also receive a discount starting at 5% and going up to
15% at the
most for really large orders. Note: Orders for more than 1000
gallons of Brandy
or 200 bottles of wine must be placed 1 year in advance. An average
year will
produce about 2000 bottles of Wine and 10,000 gallons of brandy. (Yes
this is a
large and successful business).
It should be noted that Haxtor Gellen is unaware of the grove
of ancient
Treants and this is intentional on the parts of both the Treants and
the Brass
family. Much of the help around the orchards as well as the
protection the
orchard received in the past during Haxtor's attacks came from the
Treants. If
Haxtor were to find out about the Treant grove, he would almost
certainly take
steps to either try and control them, or if that failed, to destroy
them.

Flora/Fauna: Thorneapple Tree
The Thorneapple trees that grow abundantly in this region can
only
be found here. From a distance, they look to be ordinary trees, but
once one
gets a closer look, it becomes apparent they are anything but
ordinary.
From about where the tree begins to branch, the limbs of the tree
become
covered in long, sharp thorns. These thorns are each 2-4 inches long
and
have razor sharp points. Due to the strength of the thorns and their
sharpness,
they make a very desirable dart for use in blowguns. When the thorns
are used
in a blowgun, the base chance of the blowgun is increased by +10. In
addition
to the thorns, the even more prized item off the trees are the Apples.
While
again from a distance, the fruit of the Thorneapple tree does resemble
an apple
(hence the name) the fruit actually resembles a huge grape. They have
a thin
yellow-green skin and the interior of the fruit is soft and succulent.
Surprisingly, with the large number of thorns that cover these trees,
very few
of the fruit on the trees ever get damaged by these thorns. The
thorns do
make an almost impossible task of picking the fruit though. For every
attempt
to pick a piece of fruit from the tree, there is a base chance of 35%
of taking
a D-2 damage from getting pricked by one or more of the countless
thorns
protecting the tree. An average tree will produce around 200 Apples
per season.


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NPCs IN THE THORNEWOOD
-- Jason Winter <Alarian@u...>
=================================================================
[Note: The NPC information is provided separately for GMs who may want
to use
these characters in a campaign. Players should consider checking with
their
GMs before reading this section.]

Haxtor Gellen: Human - Druidic Earth Adept.
PS: 13 AG: 17 MD: 16 MA: 24
WP: 19 EN: 14 FT: 20 PC: 18
PB: 15 TMR: 5
Skills: Alchemist: 5 / Astrologer: 2 / Dagger: 4
College: Druidic Earth Magics
Spell Rank Spell Rank
T-1 12 S-1 5
G-1 6 S-2 14
G-2 3 S-6 8
G-3 6 S-8 9
G-4 8 S-9 11
G-5 6 S-10 14
G-6 9 S-11 6
G-7 3 S-12 6
G-8 7 S-17 16
G-9 0 S-18 12
G-10 3 R-1 18
G-11 2
Q-1 8

Equipment of note:
Magic Robes - Protection 3 - No AG mod.
Magic Dagger (The Sticker) - Damage D+3
Magic Ring - Adds +2 ranks to all Earth Magics Spells

Personal Notes:
Haxtor Gellen is a tall man with craggy features and weathered skin.
His
hair is brown and has blue eyes. His clothing is often a set of brown
robes
and he has a few pouches at his belt that he uses to either store
herbs he
may find while out in the forest, or for keeping herbs he uses
frequently.
When not dealing with his tribe is a ruthless uncaring individual. He
views anyone not part of the brotherhood as his enemy and will treat
outsiders as such. He rarely makes deals with anyone outside the
brotherhood and on the rare occasion where he makes a deal, is willing
to
break the deal at a moments thought if doing so will better himself or
the
brotherhood. When dealing with the brotherhood, he actually does care
a
great deal. What he has created here in the brotherhood he considers
his
greatest accomplishment and he is willing to die to defend it if
necessary.
Haxtor is currently 134 years old although he looks to be in
his
early 40's. He himself is unsure why this is the case and why he
still
feels so young. Given is current location though and his
unwillingness
to leave the tribe for an extended period to search out the reason,
finding
out why he has lived so long and aged so slowly is currently a low
priority
for him.

======================================================================
=======
Shara Woodbinder - Human Adept - College of Black Magics
PS: 19 AG: 16 MD: 16 MA: 20
WP: 15 EN: 15 FT: 20 PC: 17
PB: 11 TMR: 5
Skills: Alchemist: 5 / Healer: 2 / Merchant: 3 / Thief: 4 / Dagger: 7
College: Black Magics - Lesser Pact
Spell Rank Spell Rank
T-1 8 S-1 0
T-2 4 S-2 8
T-3B 0 S-3 6
T-3D 3 S-4 1
T-3E 6 S-5 3
G-1 4 S-6 4
G-2 5 S-7 4
G-3 5 S-8 0
G-4 7 S-9 9
G-5 2 S-10 7
G-6 0 S-11 13
G-7 0 S-12 2
G-8 0 S-13 2
G-9 3
G-10 5
G-11 4
G-12 8
G-13 11
G-14 2
Q-1 13

Equipment of note:
Familiar: Black Crow
Personal Notes:
Shara Woodbinder is a short nondescript middle aged woman. Time has
not been
kind to her nor has here profession. She wears dark clothes with a few
trinkets attached. Her hair is black with gray hairs interwoven and
she has
brown eyes.
Shara has mixed feelings about her current position. In
general, her
role among the brotherhood is performing spells that help the
brotherhood and
at least in her mind "do good". The reason she was forced to flee
civilized
lands in the first place was because her natural inclination is to do
just
the opposite of this. She delights in nothing more than watching
people
suffer. Not necessarily in watching them die, but in watching
suffering. It
is for this reason that about a dozen years ago, she moved out of the
village
itself and moved into an old abandoned stone house about 3 miles from
the
village. The main reason she stays is two-fold. Deep down she is a
coward.
It is the main reason she has never made the greater pact. She feels
at least
at this point, she can always abandon black magic if the need ever
arose. By
making the greater pact however, she would irrevocably be forced down
the dark
path. She also likes the security and safety of having the
brotherhood so
close. She has little to fear from outside sources, and on occasion,
Haxtor
will give her one of the prisoners they catch periodically in the
forest to do
with as she pleases. She has had a pair of manacles permanently
installed in
her home for occasions such as these.

======================================================================
=======
Kalen Brass - Human Merchant
PS: 22 AG: 19 MD: 18 MA: 5
WP: 18 EN: 23 FT: 23 PC: 20
PB: 14 TMR: 6
Skills: Merchant: 7 / Ranger: 10 / Estoc: 7 / Short Bow: 8

Equipment of note:
Magic Estoc - Base Chance 54, Damage D+9
Magic Ring - Gives him a protection equal to Chainmail (6) with no
Agility loss

Personal Notes: Kalen is a happy, easy going individual. He is
currently
entering his twilight years (age 86) but his mind is still sound and
he is able
to still drive a hard bargain. He doesn't do any traveling anymore,
but does
still do all negotiations with anyone coming to the orchard to do
business.
His wife of 48 years died 7 years ago and he still misses her deeply
and talks
about her with anyone willing to listen. He is survived by 4 sons, 3
daughters
and 14 grandchildren, of which 1 daughter, 2 sons and 4 grandchildren
still
remain at the orchard and currently do most of the day to day
business.
Note: The stats listed above represent him in his prime. All physical
stats
today would actually be about 1/2 to 2/3 the numbers listed above.

======================================================================
=======
Gerrik Brass - Human Merchant
PS: 20 AG: 19 MD: 17 MA: 8
WP: 15 EN: 22 FT: 22 PC: 15
PB: 17 TMR: 6
Skills: Merchant: 7
Equipment of note: None.

Personal Notes:
Gerrik Brass is a man in his late forties. He is about 5'8" and is
balding
and in the past four or five years he has slowly begun to see his
girth grow.
He is somewhat concerned over this, but as of yet, not so much as to
actually
do anything about it.
Gerrik is the eldest son of Kalen Brass and currently is in
charge of
the orchard. He is a hard worker and is as proud of the Orchard as is
his
father. When his father passes on, it is assumed he will inherit the
entire
business. His brother and sister that remained here to work as well
have no
problems with this as Gerrik is a fair and honest person and has every
intention
of leaving everything the way it is currently. He is also a wine
connoisseur
and has collected a fairly extensive wine cellar located in the
basement of
the main house. He has wine's from just about every vineyard in
Alusia as
well as many from far away lands. When not at work, he can often be
found
with his wife Elina and two children off exploring the local area or
having
a picnic.


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DragonQuest NET
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing new has been brought to our attention this month, so the call
will go out again:

For quite a while, one of the services of the DragonQuest Newsletter
was to keep a list of URLs to websites and other online resources
which contained DragonQuest-related information. With the abundance
of websites for DQ, and with so many online resources now available,
the Newsletter is actually a pretty inefficient way of keeping a
list. Therefore, rather than including a list of resources in each
Newsletter, we will, instead, try to review websites that have
recently come online (or that we have recently discovered) or websites
that have added new content.

If you are involved in producing a website with DragonQuest-related
material, and would like to have your site featured in an upcoming
issue of the DragonQuest Newsletter, please contact Rodger Thorm
(dqn@b...).

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### End of DragonQuest Newsletter v6/n02 -- February 2001
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