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MELNIBONE
DRAGON ISLE AND DREAMING CITY
"SHINING LIKE DIAMONDS, OR LIKE THE SPARKLE OF
SUNLIGHTUPON THE WAVES, WERE THE CITIES OF THE
BRIGHT EMPIRE.AND LIKE THE WAVES, THE 10,000 YEARS
OF MELNIBONE'S REIGN UPON THE WORLD WERE DRAWN
BACK BY THE TIDE OF TIME.”
- THE CHRONICLE OFTHE BLACH SWORD
MELNIBONE
BY
RICHARD WATTS
WITH
CEOFF CILLAN
PENELOPE LOVE
MARK MORRISON
BAIED UPON THE SOJOURNER'S GUIDE TO MELNIBONE, AS COMPILED BY
THE DISORDERED SCRIBES OF THE LEAGUE OF TUMULTUOUS ERUDITION.
COVER PAINTING FRANK BRUNNER
INTERIOR I LLUSTRATIONS GUSTAF BJBRKSTEN, JOHN BORKOWKI,
ALAIN GASSNER, MARK HILL, CHRIS JOHNSTON, MICHAEL KIRKBRIDE
MAPS PHIL ANDERSON, GUSTAF BJBRKSTEN, AND IAN HARRISON
PROJECT AND EDITORIAL MARK MORRISON
COPYREADING AND EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE ALLEN VARNEY AND RICHARD WATTS
EVEN FURTHER NlGGLlNG EDITORIAL LYNN WlLLlS
GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT LES BROOKS
PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE PETRA PINO
COVER DESIGN CHARLIE KRANK
CHAOSIUM INC.
1993
DEDICATED WITH LOVE TO MY MOTHER, WHO SHOWED ME NEW WORLDS.
- RICHARD WATTS
Playtestem: David Bland, Rhonda Gillan, Rebecca Heath, Martin Liedke, Trent Moses, Darrel Munro, David Munro, and Jason Rowlands.
Thanks to Ian Harrison, the Northcote Lounge Room Set (that nebulous, hedonistic bunch),Justin K. Weaver 8, Mary Jane,
Garry Fay, Nick Hagger, Lawrence Whitaker, Allen Vamey, and Penelope Love.
MELNIBONE is published by Chaosium Inc.
MELNIBONE is copyright ©1993 by Chaosium Inc.; all rights reserved.
Elricae trademark applied for by Chaosium Inc. MELNIBONE is a supplement intended for the Elric game.
Similarities between characters in MELNIBONE and persons living or dead are strictly coincidental.
Michael Moorcock's works Elric of Melnibone, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, The Weird of the White Wolf, The Vanishing Tower. The Bane of the
Black Sword, Stombringer. The Fortress of the Pearl, Elric at the End of Time, and The Revenge of the Rose are respectively copyright ©1963.
1964,1965,1967,1970,1972,1976,1977,1984,1989,1991 by Michael Moorcock. Quotes have been made for purposes of illustration.
The cover painting for MELNIBONE is ©1993 by John Brunner; all rights reserved.
It shows dragon-riders above a portion of the Dreaming City.
Except in this publication and related advertising, or unless otherwise agreed to, artwork original to Melnibonb remains the property of the artists,
and is copyright by them under their separate copyrights.
The reproduction of material from within this book for the purposes of personal or corporate profit, by photographic, electronic,
or other methods of storage and retrieval, is prohibited.
Please mail questions and comments concerning this book, as well as requests for free notices of Chaosium publications, to
Chaosium Inc., 950-A 56th Street, Oakland CA 94608-3129, USA
Please do not phone in game questions; the quickest answer is often not the best answer.
ISBN 0-933635494.
Chaosium Publication 2901. Published in Septembert, 1993. For ages 14 and up.
Printed in the United States of America
INTRODUCTION
F
OR 10,000 YEARS the Bright Empire of
Melnibonk ruled the world. The folk of Melnibonk are
not human, and their race is far older than humanity.
They are powerful sotcerers, and magic comes to them
as easy as breathing. In their heyday they forged unthinkable
pacts with Demon Gods, shaped the elements and the lands to
their liking, and tamed dragons and rode them to conquest across
many worlds. Old age has dulled the Bright Empire, tarnished its
proud beauty, and weakened its people; now the Dragon Princes
of Melnibonke conquer only in their drug-induced dreams, as
their Empire rots from within. Even reduced to this crumbling
introspection, they remain a great power among the upstart
human nations which have sprung up around them in their
dotage. Soon a new Emperor will come to the Ruby Throne.
Whether he will bring the Bright Empire to glory or extinction is
unknown, even in dreams.
Melnibone, Dragon Isle and Dreaming City contains
background information for players and gamemasters alike, as
well as scenarios for the gamemaster's eyes only. This book is an
evocation of the moods and images of Melnibone, but does not
claim to be an exhaustive rendering of every detail of the land.
The Dragon Isle contains too much of marvel and wonder to ever
be described so completely. Close attention has been paid to
continuity with the books of Michael Moorcock. The author
hopes that only in cases where Mr. Moorcock is himself
contradictory will readers discover any anomaly with references
as they appear in the Elric saga.
The chapter “Melnibone” presents the history of
Melnibonens upon the world of the Young Kingdoms world,
describing the great island of Melnibonk and other places of
note. Likewise the city of Imnyr, last bastion of the Bright
Empire's glory, is presented historically and physically.
Creatures living only on the Dragon Isle are also &tailed in this
chapter. The second chapter, “Melnibone”, concerns the culture
and traditions of that non-human race. Topics such as clothing
and drugs are covered, as well as additional information for
creating Melnibone adventurers. Descriptions and statistics for
important residents of the Dreaming City occur in this chapter;
these last differ in details from the rulesbook, where such
characters appear at their most powerful or at their most
representative to the Elric saga.
“Religion” explores Melnibonean theology. The chapter
discusses their beliefs concerning Chaos, the Balance, Law, the
Elemental Rulers, and the Plant- and Beast-Lords.
Encounter tables for Imrryr and for Melnibone as a whole are
found in “Encounters on Melnibone”.
The “Melnibone Digest” contains a complete roster of
statistics for Melnibone charactem and creatms, large and small.
Following this background come three scenarios, “The
Sojourner's Guide to Melnibone”, which sets the adventurers
loose on the Isle, exploring it at the behest of a league of Chaos
scholars; “The Suffer Glass”, which allows the adventurers
to be present at a pivotal point in the Bright Empire's ancient
history, and to take actions that will change that history; and
“The Ghost of Cities”, which involves the adventurers in a
Melnibonean's search for her father, who is missing in spirit but
not in body.
SADRIC THE EIGHTY-SIXTH,
DYING EMPEROR OF MELNIBONE.