Albion
Albion is a two-player wargame featured in Ares #11, published by SPI in 1982.
It featured an EPIC map of Mythic Britain, which you can check out here!
The original issue of ARES Magazine is archived here!
Added to this basic framework of Mythic England, our GM Jim Murphy added many elements, including a little bit about Atlantis and High Fantasy Egypt based on some input from one of the players (Me.) It's now its own thing, an amalgam of Jim's interest in the Ares setting, and his own new ideas about the background of the setting, combined with player input and spontaneous creativity.Comments are welcome!
Albion is Mythic England. The year is 2780, 100 years after the Third Fomorian War, and 10 years after the Great Plague. How this date relates to our calendar is unknown and unknowable.
Before the ascent of Man, Elves ruled Albion. They built great cairns and towers, drawing power from the ley lines crisscrossing the island. The Elves dominated the south of Albion, while the Fomorians ruled the wild and raging north. The Fomorians came down from the mountains and waged terrible and bloody war with the Elves. In the third of these wars, the human sorcerer Dunatis the White allied with the Elves. Other legendary figures from this era include Bogan Redcap and Finvarra, King of the Elves of Ulster.
The Third Fomorian War left both the giants and the Elves devastated. Men, who previously lived in squalor (with the exception of unusual characters such as Dunatis, who may have been from Atlantis) rose up, building their own stone castles and extending their dominance across the emerald isle. While both Elves and the Fomorians lived in symbiosis with the land, humans cut down forests, built roads, and converted much of the Wild to farmland. Magical beasts and mythical creatures were pushed into the hidden, secret areas of Albion. For many, creatures such as the Medusa, Chimera, and Dragons were little more than vivid tales. Legends.
The medieval society which replaced the rule of the Elves in Albion was very like Chivalric England. The south of Albion was divided into several kingdoms, including The Weald. The Weald was ruled by a king. One of its provinces contained the town of Hoddenhill, ruled by a Baron. After the Great Plague, the king and most of his relatives were killed, the Baron of Hoddenhill and most of his family were killed, and about 70% of the rest of the population were taken by the plague. The only family member of the Baron's left, was the Lady Halfrid, at the time a young girl. Halfrid is a PC run by Craig. At the beginning of the Campaign, she has assumed the Barony and rules what's left of Hoddenhill.
The devastation left the humans without the capacity to defend against the wild and magical creatures of Albion, and slowly the former denizens of the forests and swamps have come out of hiding. Albion is once more populated by powerful creatures of legend. Humans must rebuild and retake what was lost. Magical creatures are not the only things taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the death of the human ruling class. The Men who are left now skirmish and position for political control of the Weald, and scouts from the Fomorians in the north and the Elves of Ulster from across the sea have been recently seen. If Men are to regain control of their destiny, they must fight magical creatures, an Empire of Elves, the Giants from the North...and themselves.
More information on the Fomorian Wars will be forthcoming. I've read the history of the setting but the characters in the setting still have many gaps in their knowledge.
Jaina
Note the two little gemstones in the Kaylin mini, they're real reflective metal of some sort.
This is a running chronicle of what we've done in Jim's game. It starts some two months or so after we started playing.
Images from a defunct version of the blog.
Friday, October 3rd & Friday, October 10th, 2003
Friday, October 17th, 2003 <---New!
