Dead Gods

Last updated
Dead Gods
TSR2631 - Dead Gods.jpg
Rules requiredAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd edition
Authors Monte Cook
First published1997

Dead Gods is an adventure module for the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Contents

Plot

Dead Gods is composed of two adventures which revolve around the theme of death and resurrection of a god: "Out of the Darkness" and "Into the Light". Each adventure can be played separately, although the two plots can be woven together by the Dungeon Master. [1]

"Out of the Darkness" consists of nine chapters. Long ago, Orcus the tanar'ri lord of the undead had grown fat and inattentive towards his realm in the Abyss. The minor demipower Kiaransalee, drow goddess of vengeance, conspired against Orcus and slew him, supplanting his realm and position and even banishing his name across the planes. Orcus’ corpse lay dead on the Astral Plane for some time, until he began to stir in the not-so-distant past. His form changed to become thin, small and shadowy, but rather than being truly restored to life he had become an undead god much less powerful than before. Orcus eventually disappeared from the Astral and chose a new name for himself: Tenebrous. He sought to gain revenge on everyone in the multiverse, and raised his former demonic servants as undead called visages to gather information to aid in his vengeance. He returned to an old base of his, a fortress on the Negative Energy Plane, and on the plane of Arborea he found a magical force called the Last Word which was potent enough to slay even a god. Kiaransalee had sent two of her drow followers to bury his powerful artifact, the Wand of Orcus, in an unreachable vault of stone on the plane of Pandemonium. In his search for his Wand, Tenebrous used the Last Word to slay Primus, the lord of the modrons, and using Primus's form he began using the modrons to search for his Wand. When the modrons discovered the two drow who had buried the Wand, Tenebrous began making preparations to take back the Abyss. The player characters must follow the clues to discover Tenebrous's scheme and keep the Wand away from him long enough for the power of the Last Word to consume him; if they succeed, the characters must then stop one of Orcus's followers from reviving his corpse on the Astral Plane yet again, to conclude the adventure.

"Into the Light" consists of three parts, and takes place in the city of Sigil. Many years ago, the last worshippers of a dead god brought the pieces of his body from the Astral Plane to Sigil and used the body to construct a monument of five standing stones. Some time later, when the significance of the monument had been forgotten, adherents of another religion built a temple around the standing stones; in time, this religion died out and was forgotten too. This church stood vacant for centuries until bought by a wealthy man named Cruigh Manathas, who ordered his workmen to tear it down. The workmen disappeared one day – unknown to all, they had been absorbed into the standing stones, as were those who came to investigate what happened to the workmen. Secretly, a fighter named Argesh Fiord has been in control of the situation and is using it in an attempt to foment a war between some of the city's factions in revenge for the death of his wife. The player characters must uncover Fiord's plot in order to resolve the matter and prevent the war.

Publication history

Dead Gods was published in 1997, and was written by Monte Cook, with cover art by rk post and interior art by rk post, Adam Rex, and Josh Timbrook.

Reception

Dead Gods was ranked the 14th greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game. [2]

Reviews

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planescape</span> Dungeons & Dragons fictional campaign setting

Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, designed by Zeb Cook, and published in 1994. It crosses numerous planes of existence, encompassing an entire cosmology called the Great Wheel, as developed previously in the 1987 Manual of the Planes by Jeff Grubb. This includes many of the other Dungeons & Dragons worlds, linking them via inter-dimensional magical portals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drow</span> Dungeons & Dragons fictional creature

The drow or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of elves connected to the subterranean Underdark in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil spider goddess Lolth. However, later editions of Dungeons & Dragons have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illithid</span> Fictional monster from Dungeons & Dragons

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, illithids are monstrous humanoid aberrations with psionic powers. In a typical Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, they live in the moist caverns and cities of the enormous Underdark. Illithids believe themselves to be the dominant species of the multiverse and use other intelligent creatures as thralls, slaves, and chattel. Illithids are well known for making thralls out of other intelligent creatures, as well as feasting on their brains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vecna</span> Dungeons & Dragons character

Vecna is a fictional character appearing in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Vecna has been named one of the greatest villains in the Dungeons & Dragons franchise.

In the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, an Outer Plane is one of a number of general types of planes of existence. They can also be referred to as godly planes, spiritual planes, or divine planes. The Outer Planes are home to beings such as deities and their servants such as demons, celestials and devils. Each Outer Plane is usually the physical manifestation of a particular moral and ethical alignment and the entities that dwell there often embody the traits related to that alignment.

A devil is a fictional classification of monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Often used as a high-level challenge for players of the game, devils are Lawful Evil in alignment and originate from the Nine Hells of Baator. In accordance with their Lawful Evil alignment, devils adhere to a rigid and ruthless hierarchy, undergoing transformations as they ascend the power structure. At the pinnacle of this hierarchy stand the mighty Archdevils, also known as the Lords of the Nine, who exercise dominion over distinct realms within Baator. Devils frequently view the myriad worlds in the D&D metacosmos as instruments to be manipulated for their own purposes, including waging the Blood War—a centuries-long conflict against their arch-foes, the demons.

Plane (<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>) Role-playing game multiverse

The planes of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game constitute the multiverse in which the game takes place. Each plane is a universe with its own rules with regard to gravity, geography, magic and morality. There have been various official cosmologies over the course of the different editions of the game; these cosmologies describe the structure of the standard Dungeons & Dragons multiverse.

<i>Queen of the Demonweb Pits</i> Dungeons & Dragons adventure module

Queen of the Demonweb Pits (Q1) is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game written by David Sutherland. The "Q" in the module code is an abbreviation for "queen". The module, a sequel to the D series of modules, was novelized in 2001.

Tiamat (<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>) Dragon deity from Dungeons & Dragons

Tiamat is a supremely strong and powerful 5-headed draconic goddess in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The name is taken from Tiamat, a goddess in ancient Mesopotamian mythology. She is the queen and mother of evil dragons and a member of the default pantheon of Dungeons & Dragons gods. Her symbol is a five-headed dragon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Cordell</span> American novelist and game designer

Bruce Robert Cordell is an American author of roleplaying games and fantasy novels. He has worked on Dungeons & Dragons games for Wizards of the Coast. He won the Origins Award for Return to the Tomb of Horrors and has also won several ENnies. He lives in Seattle.

<i>Descent into the Depths of the Earth</i> Dungeons & Dragons adventure module

Descent Into the Depths of the Earth is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game coded D1–2. It was written by Gary Gygax, and combines two previously published modules from 1978, the original Descent into the Depths of the Earth and Shrine of the Kuo-Toa. A sequel to the first two modules, Vault of the Drow, was also published in 1978. All of these D-series modules were produced for use with the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules.

<i>The Throne of Bloodstone</i> Module for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game

H4 - The Throne of Bloodstone is an Official Game Adventure or "module" for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Lich (<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>) Undead creature in "Dungeons & Dragons"

The lich is an undead creature found in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Liches are spellcasters who seek to defy death by magical means.

Sigil (<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>) Fictional city in Dungeons & Dragons

Sigil is a fictional city and the center of the Planescape campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

<i>Expedition to the Demonweb Pits</i> Adventure module for Dungeons & Dragons

Expedition to the Demonweb Pits is a super-adventure module for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. The adventure is designed for characters of levels 9–12. It involves the machinations of the demon lords Lolth and Graz'zt and was heavily influenced by the 1980 adventure module Queen of the Demonweb Pits.

The Wand of Orcus is a fictional magical weapon described in various Dungeons & Dragons media. Because of the popularity of Orcus as a villain within the Dungeons & Dragons universe, many different authors have written materials describing artifacts created by or associated with the character. The Wand of Orcus is consistently the most important and most described of these artifacts. Screen Rant has noted that "[t]he weapon that Orcus wields in battle is almost as famous as the demon lord himself". Furthermore, the device has at times been employed in books, games, and other media within the franchise as a thing distinct from Orcus himself, such that adventurers may encounter the wand as a freestanding element of the game or story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corellon Larethian</span> Fictional character in Dungeons & Dragons

In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Corellon Larethian is the leader of the elven pantheon, and the deity of Magic, Music, Arts, Crafts, Poetry, and Warfare. Corellon is also considered a member of the default D&D pantheon. Corellon is the creator and preserver of the elven race, and governs those things held in the highest esteem among elves. Corellon's symbol was originally a crescent moon; in the 4th edition Corellon's symbol is a silver star on a blue field.

References

  1. Cook, Monte. Dead Gods (TSR, 1997)
  2. Mona, Erik; Jacobs, James (2004). "The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time". Dungeon (116). Paizo Publishing: 78.
  3. https://archive.org/details/colecaodragonslayer/Dragon%20Slayer%2001/page/n11/mode/2up