Cover of the Gen Con OSRIC Tourney Module!

Just got the art in from John and Daisey Bingham. Looking sharp! Now I need to generate all the pre-gen character sheets handouts and it will be complete. Once that's done, all the tourny GMs will get their early PDF copies. Sign up for the tourney begins tomorrow - we have 30 open slots in 3 games.

Returning from a successful trading voyage to far-away lands, the party’s ship is stranded in the doldrums. After two days without any wind, the sky darkens and small particles of black ash fall like a dark snow. The party’s two native guide-translators panic and begin wildly yelling, quickly whipping themselves into a fury of fear. Faster than the group can react, the two guides pull their small knives and stab themselves in the chest repeatedly as they jump over the side of the ship. Their dark-skinned bodies unnaturally sink down into the depths below the glass-like surface of the still sea as, one-by-one, each party member feels an irresistible sleep suddenly come upon him.

When the party awakes, it finds itself in what appears to be a giant coliseum, their seaworthy boat stranded upon the obsidian sands that line the floor of the great arena. On the floor sands stands a gigantic marble statue of a lightly armored warrior apparently caught off-guard as he bends to retrieve his massive shield and spear. The statue surely stands at least 300 feet tall! Perhaps a mile away stands another gigantic marble statue; this one of a lion just released from the chain holding it at bay.

The marble walls surrounding the coliseum floor are easily 1,000 feet tall, and beyond them in the stands are thousands more statues, each as large as that of the warrior. They sit silently watching the tableau, as if at any moment all could come alive in a great roar. The sky above is a deep crystal blue and completely cloudless.