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In the FFC there is an ink drawing of the City of Father Dragon. Is there any canon resource which describes the very curious and fascinating picture there?
My very first, visceral impression was that it might have been an impact crater with strange, perhaps alien, domed buildings in the centre. Do any of the resident BM experts have any input?
Furthermore, who summoned/controlled/employed the Balrogs?
Whose throne room was it?
What was the Evil Device? What did it do, or threaten to do? Why was it so fragile that it could be destroyed by a mere rock dropped upon it? (shoddy workmanship indeed!) 
Why were the dragons in a "deep and unnatural slumber"?
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I think that Richard Snider came up with the Father Dragon idea, but I don't remember much more than that.
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Baetho an Elf
The Vales campaign
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Interesting about the connection to Snider, Greg!
DungeonDevil Wrote:In the FFC there is an ink drawing of the City of Father Dragon. Is there any canon resource which describes the very curious and fascinating picture there?
No such resource. Father Dragon is mentioned in the D20 Sourcebook as an other name for Insellageth.
Quote:My very first, visceral impression was that it might have been an impact crater with strange, perhaps alien, domed buildings in the centre. Do any of the resident BM experts have any input?
I think it was Aldarron who suggested that it might be located on the Isle of Dragons, which can be reached through a portal in the Blackmoor Dungeon.
Quote:Furthermore, who summoned/controlled/employed the Balrogs?
Whose throne room was it?
What was the Evil Device? What did it do, or threaten to do? Why was it so fragile that it could be destroyed by a mere rock dropped upon it? (shoddy workmanship indeed!)
Why were the dragons in a "deep and unnatural slumber"?
Since Balrogs are involved, I think it is likely that the Egg of Coot is behind it. My theory is that the City of Father Dragon is essentially home to the Good Dragons. The Device kept the dragons sleeping, preventing them to come to Blackmoor's aid to counter the Egg's Evil Dragon allies.
That's my theory anyway. I consider the whole description of the actual combat as humouristically intended. Probably it would take more than a rock to destroy an artifact.
I did chuckle when I read it though
-Havard
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Eggs are fragile....
There's a lot of gueses we could make, but no facts yet. I did suggest the idea of the city being on the Isle mentioned in BM dungeons. That's kind of how I picture it im my campaign, but the "Isle of Dragons" also might simply refer to the lower level where a dragon/dragons live on an island surrounded by lava. Dunno.
Balrogs were listed as a kind of dragon in the early days so they would be a normal sort of creature for such a city.
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Aldarron Wrote:Eggs are fragile....
Good one!
Actually, now that I think about it, I seem to recall seeing a reference to the Orbs of Dragonkind somewhere in the FFC. I can't find it right now though. These were from the OD&D rules IIRC. At one point I did connect those with the artifact that made made the good dragons sleep.
Quote:Balrogs were listed as a kind of dragon in the early days so they would be a normal sort of creature for such a city.
Possibly. However, the dragons have been placed in an unnatural slumber and the Balrogs seem to be protecting the evil artifact. I think they have been summoned there for that task.
-Havard
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Havard Wrote:Quote:Balrogs were listed as a kind of dragon in the early days so they would be a normal sort of creature for such a city.
Possibly. However, the dragons have been placed in an unnatural slumber and the Balrogs seem to be protecting the evil artifact. I think they have been summoned there for that task.
-Havard That's a good point Havard. Your probably right that the artifact kept the dragons sleeping to prevent thier coming to the aid of Blackmoor - perhaps during the invasion when Sophie was killed.
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Yepp, my take as well.
This will feature at some point in, oh, how tiring the teaser, the PL campaign.
The orbs of dragon kind are the same as in Dragonlance, at least the way I see it.
Yet note that the Soul Magic as we interpret in our game, leaves entirely new options on how that can end up -
what was that?! - The longer you bond with a soul gem, the more you become like the soul in it?
In light of 4e, you can possibly guess where that is going to end, but let's not spell it out, or I will have to censor again... :wink:
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That illustration of the City has really gotten under my skin (in a good way ) and I've been thinking about making a series of nice computer-rendered maps to start building up ideas for an adventure location. It would be nice if I knew more about the original site from the Blackmoor campaign before I started, but I'm afraid all I can glean comes solely from the FFC.
I plan on having the site described as a strange impact crater, inside of which are boletoform structures (essentially a mass of geodesic domes of glass or plexiglass on broad columns or pillars, with a globe-surmounted tower in the very centre of the conglomeration). We know that dragons were kept asleep there and guarded by many Balrogs, and that there was some artefact which, among other possible functions, kept the dragons in artificial hibernation. The caption states there was a "throne room", but for whom (or what!) isn't given.
Any ideas?
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DungeonDevil Wrote:I plan on having the site described as a strange impact crater, inside of which are boletoform structures (essentially a mass of geodesic domes of glass or plexiglass on broad columns or pillars, with a globe-surmounted tower in the very centre of the conglomeration). We know that dragons were kept asleep there and guarded by many Balrogs, and that there was some artefact which, among other possible functions, kept the dragons in artificial hibernation. The caption states there was a "throne room", but for whom (or what!) isn't given.
Any ideas?
I'd like to see that. If you work on the assumption that this Father Dragon is the same as Insellageth from the D20 Sourcebook, then Father Dragon is a kind of Dragon-God who lives on the Prime Plane rather than on an outer plane (This from the D20 sourcebook). I don't know how close I would keep the building to the illustration, but a series of domes making up the city would be interesting. The Throne Room would then be the Throne Room of Father Dragon, and the dragons residing there are his children. My theory is that the agents of the Egg of Coot got hold of a Dragon Orb and placed it in the Throne Room, putting all the Dragons to sleep. Then he summoned the Balrogs to make sure noone would break the spell.
-Havard
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Havard Wrote:I don't know how close I would keep the building to the illustration, but a series of domes making up the city would be interesting. Havard Arnesons own drawing of the city in the 77 FFC is just about the same. the crater is a little broader and the domes look a little more like a pile of eggs. Probably the city is meant to mimic a dragon nest in appearance.
Probably the throne itself is a special device like the one in Blackmoor dungeon.
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