Friday Fantasy: The Dusk Bringers

Two centuries ago, a heretical cult that had begun as a radical sect within the Church of Zonurandi brought to fruition its plans for a great ritual which it believed would bring about a new Dawn for their Sun God when he would shine so very brightly. Yet in order to bring about this age of enlightenment, the world must first enter a perpetual Dusk. The Dusk never came. The cultists—including many secret members within the ranks of Church of Zonurandi—disappeared. In the time since, the Herald of the Sun, the name of the original sect within the church, and the Dusk Bringers, the name for the cult, have become nothing more than an interesting side note in the history of the Church of Zonurandi, and then only to sages and archivists. Recently, a message has been received by the authorities from the remote Wichama Valley. It is a Rite of Protection, an ancient tradition which if fulfilled would be answered with an Oath of Loyalty. What is curious is about this message is that the Wichama Valley is part of the estates belonging to the Mayweather family which has long been loyal to those it owes fealty to. So, the question is, who has sent this Rite of Protection, and what exactly do they need protection from?

This is the set-up for The Dusk Bringers, a scenario published by LunarShadow Designs. The scenario is a departure for the publisher, which is best known for solo journalling games such as Signal to Noise or roleplaying games such as Project Cassandra: Psychics of the Cold War, because The Dusk Bringers is very much an Old School Renaissance-style adventure. Excepts for one thing. There are no stats. In other words, The Dusk Bringers is a systemless or systems agnostic scenario. This is a fantasy scenario which could be dropped into numerous settings and not so much adapted, as given stats to run with Old School Essentials, Dragonebane, or the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. To name, but three. Ultimately, all the Game Master needs to apply stats and if the names do not fit her campaign, then change them so that they do. And if the Goblins and Ghostly Knights that comprise the majority of the scenario’s monsters—though not its threats—do not fit her campaign either, then they can be changed to. What all of this boils down to is that The Dusk Bringers is at its heart, a plot, a scenario in the true sense of the word.

However, The Dusk Bringers is not all plot. There are maps too and much of the scenario’s plot is wrapped around those maps. The Dusk Bringers was a submission to the ‘Dyson Logos Jam’, which ran throughout October 2021, using those that are available from his commercially available maps. Dyson Logos is renowned for the quality of his maps which have appeared in numerous releases for the Old School Renaissance. These include maps of what the scenario calls a keep, but is more of a tower, plus a strange temple complex connected to a mine and a map of the nearby walled settlement of Motuen township. The plot concerns a clan of goblins, which like all of its kin, lurked in the hills and caves surrounding Wichama Valley, but without being any real threat to the inhabitants. They have been driven out the mine in which they had made their home and taken refuge in Veranna Keep. However, whatever it was that the Goblins disturbed in the tunnels of their previous home has followed them to Veranna Keep and lurks still, ready to pounce on anyone foolish enough to be alone. The Goblins want help with the thing outside the walls of Veranna Keep and they want to return home, which also means dealing with what it they found in the mines.

Investigating the mines raises questions that cannot be answered there, but might be in the records to be found at the temple to Church of Zonurandi in nearby Motuen. The walled town was once prosperous, but has fallen on hard times with the paying out of the nearby mines. This has led to a loss prestige and power by the local branch of the Mayweather family to the influence of the church and the town’s merchants. The result is some tension between the head of the Mayweather family and the rest of the town, though this is more resentment than anything else. Only a two-page spread is devoted to Motuen along with an accompanying one-page description of the temple to Church of Zonurandi and its staff, but together these three pages are the highlight of The Dusk Bringers providing some local colour and roleplaying opportunities for the Game Master. Details beyond this are left for the Game Master to develop, but the basic building blocks are there.

The plot to The Dusk Bringers has a certain circularity to it, and the whole scenario can be played through in two or three sessions. Beyond this, there is a handful of story hooks that require full development upon the part of the Game Master and there is also a discussion of what happens if the Player Characters deal with the actual threat to the Wichama Valley and what happens if they decide not to. The latter has greater ramifications than the former. There are also notes on all of the scenario’s NPCs and detailed descriptions to accompany the maps.

Physically, The Dusk Bringers is cleanly and tidily presented. Both artwork and cartography are good—very good in the case of the cartography—and whilst there is very little artwork in the scenario, all of it I used to illustrate the various NPCs and monsters to be found in the scenario.

Without any stats, The Dusk Bringers feels threadbare. There is though decent advice on how to run the scenario, as well as questions that the players, their characters, and the Game Master might want answer by the end of the scenario. The outline of the scenario is also decently done. Overall, if the Game Master is looking for something that is ready-to-play with a modicum of preparation, then The Dusk Bringers is not going to be for her, but if the Referee is looking for a scenario that she can readily more design the monster and NPC stats around and adjust to make it her own, then The Dusk Bringers is a good choice.