im DMing a adventure with a big demon (not so big, but for my players, he is!), and one of them was captured by drow.
he managed to scape, and stole a ancient book.
i dont want it to be a spell book, so i think that a book "about" something would be great, and my thoghts are on demons.
since i read something about the Necronomicon having in fiction a ancient arabic version (the oldest one), i thought that a baklish book about demons/devils would be great to add flavor.
The Baklunish always seemed to be more into the summoning and binding of elementals (grues, mephits, etc.) and genies, rather than outsiders, to me. However, perhaps a flame sorcerer is so into fire that his research leads him to Hellfire, and he starts learning more about Mephistopheles and his underlings. Or it could lead them into knowledge of the Ebon Flames, relating to the lost Baklunish artifact (the Crystal of the Ebon Flame).
Don't forget in the real world Arabian legends, genies WERE demons, so ignore Di$ney. However, yes there could be any number of possible books. Forbidden lore about the genies, demons, the summoning of entities from the Far Realm (very Necronomicon-like there), even celestials of various sorts. Ancient histories, apocryphal and heretical religious texts, or even saucy, ribald tales could be the subject of your book. "1001 Nights of Dreams" - a book of Bakluni eroticism. "The Testament of Al'Akbir" - an apocryphal account of the god's days as a mortal man. "The Book of a Thousand Names" - a heretical book noting the worship of gods unknown to the modern Bakluni. I don't know of any canon books by the Bakluni, so the sky's the limit for you. Have fun! _________________ Greyhawk is dead; long live Greyahwk! It is not heresy; I will not recant!
I like to really get into detail about something like knowledge. Having the party mage go out and buy some books for his library without really designating what the books are is really 'ho hum'. Having a little more detail, such as having him buy books on the instruction of magic -application and theory- will add some more detail, then saying, 'you buy a book that details the application of necromancy specifically on how to animate dead animals (the game mechanic can be that it is for 1st or 2nd level spells).
In other words, really fleshing out the details of knowledge, what books by what authors will grant the party access to certain workings of magic and lore will really have a book like you are proposing will give these books some real heft and give your world more depth.
Knowledge is a real commodity, especially for wizards. The control of this knowledge is very important. The school of necromancy has some real negative connotations, so does the school of Enchantment/Charm. Many rulers, clergy, and self-appointed thought police, would see it as in their, or others, best interest to restrict this kind of stuff. On top of that, this is a medieval world, easy transportation or communication is difficult except for those with lots of magic, having the party travel to find knowledge could be a great impetus for them to adventure.
As for the Tome. I really like the idea that it is evilly enchanted and causes anyone to read it to be confused as to good and evil actions. The party think they are doing good things, but really aren't. Maybe an angel comes down to warn them, the party sees a demon mocking them. The book is also enchanted to confuse any comprehend language spells. Perhaps Loki is the one who is behind this...
Do you have any direction you want to take the campaign that you could put some clues about in there? Are any of your players talking about taking a prestige class (3rd edition) or paragon path (4th edition) that the tome might 'introduce' lore about to the party to roleplay them developing their character that direction.
Maybe some hints regarding Tovag Baragu or the Pinnacles of Azor'alq to get your players curious about some of Greyhawks more mysterious and less defined locations.
Oh, and by the way.... I imagine that drow is a bit irked and would like his book back. Let the party 'feel' that they are being watched occasionally (the drow scrying them out) and have some 'wandering monster' encounters that are actually hirelings of the drow sent out to punish the party and recover the tome. Occasionally have them 'black listed' in some town or city and if they check into it they could discover a connection back the the drow.
One of my more memorable D&D moments was when we found out after years of playing a campaign that these sporatic but brutal encounters with groups of half-ogres we kept having was because we had sightly inconvinenced a Lich early in our campaign (we had killed some of his minons that were returning to him with a magic item he had sent them after) and he would occasionally send out some minons to return the favor. We weren't important enough for him to really focus his attention on (which would have crushed us at those levels) but occasionally he would think about us, scry us out, and send some thugs to try to mess us up.
Along a simular vein was a small statue of Grazz't we found in a treasure horde. Non of us realized it was (un)holy to him and that some creatures attuned to him would seek us out just because we were carrying it. Perhaps the tome is powerful enough to draw some unwanted attention down on the characters from time to time.
very nice ideas!
(also, loved the "hit to mysterious GH places" thing)
we are playing 2ed, so no paragon or prestige classes.
dont want it to be a grimoire/spellbook, but a book of the macabre, the forgotten evil.
not sure if i want to use the tharizdun card, even as my players have no clue who he is (yes, such people exist!).
If you're looking for some good Mythos lore to insert into your tome, some of the Chaosium fiction line includes compilations of content under one roof (Lin Carter's books, for example), so I'd start with their Necronomicon version(s), and then rewrite portions with a GH slant. That's what I did with my old Necronomicon in GH article @ http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=142 (and the various still-unpublished excerpts from it...). _________________ Allan Grohe<br />https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html<br />https://grodog.blogspot.com/
Cool incorporation of mythos into GH, grodog. It reminded me a little of the Dungeon #134 adventure "And Madness Followed" based loosely upon the King in Yellow mythos:
Thanks. Now if only I could find the time to finish part 2 of that, part of Marisuda, and the other 5 or 6 articles I didn't write in 2008---well, then the world would be a better place ;) _________________ Allan Grohe<br />https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html<br />https://grodog.blogspot.com/
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