Dragonquest anyone ?

[Sean]

So in 1987 our DM had the AD&D books, my other friend had Runequest 2nd Ed. and I had Dragonquest. Guess which system hardly got used ?

I remember the crit hits tables ('you are eviscerated'), the rip-off Adventurers Guild ('10% tithe'), the fact that you could be an Elven beastmaster/courtesan/mechanician, and the pages upon pages of demons you could summon. I recall DQ seemed rules-heavy to my teenage brain and combat was such a chore.

Most of all I remember the scenario at the end of the book - 'The Camp of Alla Akabar' - set in the desert, with the characters disguised as travelling entertainers trying to rescue a kidnapped drugged-up merchant's daughter from Bedouin bandits. The GM notes suggested that it was to be played in 8 hours by 1 or 2 players with one character each (even with a party thrice the size it can be a hard scenario). So all the players expecting something a bit more Tolkien ended up battling sand-golems, jackals and scorpions.  It was excellent - loads of interaction with NPCs and having to figure out a cunning plan to not only rescue the houri lass but also get away across a desert.

Years later I found out there had been another gaming crew from the next village playing a DQ Viking campaign which sounded sweet !

Has anyone else played DQ ?

[randalls]

Has anyone else played DQ ?

I played first edition DQ a few times after SPI published it, but only because one of the players in my regular group wanted to run it. I wasn't a fan as combat was too detailed for my taste.  The magic system was interesting, however -- although why they wasted all that space on the College of Great Summoning (with all those demons straight out of the Lesser Key of Salomon) was beyond me.

[Greyharp]

I only ever saw the advert in the gaming magazines, not the game itself.