Stormbringer (role-playing game)
Encyclopedia
The Stormbringer fantasy role-playing game
published by Chaosium
puts the players in the world of the Young Kingdoms, based on the Elric of Melniboné
books by Michael Moorcock
. The game takes its name from Elric’s sword, Stormbringer
(though one edition was published as Elric!). The game system used is Basic Role-Playing
, a percentile-dice-based system used in many role-playing games designed by Chaosium.
In 2001, Chaosium also published a d20 System
version of the game as Dragon Lords of Melniboné, with cover art by Brunner.
As of November 2007, “Chaosium no longer [p]roduces new books for the Stormbringer roleplaying game”,
but in August 2007, Mongoose Publishing
published the Elric of Melniboné RPG by Lawrence Whittaker, which is based on the RuneQuest
rules system.
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
published by Chaosium
Chaosium
Chaosium is one of the longer lived publishers of role-playing games still in existence. Founded by Greg Stafford, its first game was actually a wargame, White Bear and Red Moon, which later mutated into Dragon Pass and its sequel, Nomad Gods...
puts the players in the world of the Young Kingdoms, based on the Elric of Melniboné
Elric of Melniboné
Elric of Melniboné is a fictional character created by Michael Moorcock, and the antihero of a series of sword and sorcery stories centering in an alternate Earth. The proper name and title of the character is Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné...
books by Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
. The game takes its name from Elric’s sword, Stormbringer
Stormbringer
Stormbringer is the name of the infamous black sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. Created by the forces of Chaos, it is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes carved deep into its blade...
(though one edition was published as Elric!). The game system used is Basic Role-Playing
Basic Role-Playing
Basic Role-Playing is a role-playing game system which originated in the fantasy-oriented RuneQuest role-playing game rules...
, a percentile-dice-based system used in many role-playing games designed by Chaosium.
History
The game has evolved through several editions over the years:- 1st edition (1981) by Ken St. Andre; boxed set; cover art by Frank BrunnerFrank BrunnerFrank Brunner is an American comic book artist and illustrator best known for his work at Marvel Comics in the 1970s.-Comics:...
- 2nd edition (1985) by Ken St. Andre; boxed set; cover art by Brunner
- 3rd edition (1987) by Ken St. Andre; book; published jointly with Games WorkshopGames WorkshopGames Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
, cover art by Peter Jones (“PAJ”) - 4th edition (1990) by Ken St. Andre, Steve Perrin, and John B. Monroe; boxed set; cover art by Michael WhelanMichael WhelanMichael Whelan is an American artist of imaginative realism. For more than 30 years he worked as an illustrator specializing in science fiction and fantasy cover art...
(from the 1977 DAWDAW BooksDAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...
and 1986 GraftonGrafton (publisher)Grafton was a British paperback imprint established circa 1981 by Granada Publishing Ltd, a subsidiary of media company Granada Group Ltd. It was named after the publishing company's then address, 8 Grafton Street, in central London...
editions of Michael Moorcock’s Stormbringer) - Elric! (1993) by Lynn Willis, Richard Watts, Mark Morrison, Jimmie W. Pursell Jr., Sam Shirley, and Joshua Shaw; book; cover art by Brunner (same as 2nd edition). The purpose of the “!” was to distinguish the role-playing game from the Elric board gameBoard gameA board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
published by Chaosium in 1978 and subsequently by Hobby Japan in 1981 and Avalon HillAvalon HillAvalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...
in 1984. - 5th edition (2001) by Lynn Willis, book, cover art by John T. Snyder
In 2001, Chaosium also published a d20 System
D20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
version of the game as Dragon Lords of Melniboné, with cover art by Brunner.
As of November 2007, “Chaosium no longer [p]roduces new books for the Stormbringer roleplaying game”,
but in August 2007, Mongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing
Mongoose Publishing is a prolific British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, actively publishing material since 2001...
published the Elric of Melniboné RPG by Lawrence Whittaker, which is based on the RuneQuest
RuneQuest
RuneQuest is a fantasy role-playing game first published in 1978 by Chaosium, created by Steve Perrin and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. RuneQuest was notable for its original gaming system and for its verisimilitude in adhering to an original fantasy world...
rules system.
Translations
- 2nd edition:
- FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
edition (1987), boxed set, published by Oriflam - JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
edition (1988), boxed set, published by Hobby JapanHobby JapanHobbyJAPAN CO. is a Japanese hobby magazine and publishing company, specializing in roleplaying, war, and tabletop games, as well as action figures, toys, and artbooks for successful anime, manga and light novel franchises.- Role-playing games :...
, cover art by Yoshitaka AmanoYoshitaka Amanois a Japanese artist. He began his career as an animator and has become known for his illustrations for the anime Vampire Hunter D and for his character designs, image illustrations and title logo designs for the Final Fantasy video game series developed by Square Enix . His influences include...
- French
- 3rd edition:
- GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
edition (1989), boxed set, published by CitadelCitadel MiniaturesCitadel Miniatures Limited is a company which produces metal, resin and plastic miniature figures for tabletop wargames such as Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000....
as Sturmbringer
- German
- 4th edition:
- SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
edition (1990), hardcover, published by Joc Internacional, same cover art as the American version: Michael WhelanMichael WhelanMichael Whelan is an American artist of imaginative realism. For more than 30 years he worked as an illustrator specializing in science fiction and fantasy cover art...
(ISBN 84-7831-036-3) - FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
edition (1991), boxed set, published by Oriflam, same cover art as the American version (Michael WhelanMichael WhelanMichael Whelan is an American artist of imaginative realism. For more than 30 years he worked as an illustrator specializing in science fiction and fantasy cover art...
) - FinnishFinnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
edition (1992), softcover, published by Finnish Gamehouse (ISBN 951 582 001 4) - ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
edition (1993), softcover, published by Stratelibri
- Spanish
- Elric!
- JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
edition (1993), soft-cover, published by Hobby JapanHobby JapanHobbyJAPAN CO. is a Japanese hobby magazine and publishing company, specializing in roleplaying, war, and tabletop games, as well as action figures, toys, and artbooks for successful anime, manga and light novel franchises.- Role-playing games :...
, cover art by Yasushi NirasawaYasushi Nirasawais a Japanese illustrator, character designer, and model maker born in Tochio, Niigata Prefecture. His first works were as the conceptual artist for the film Space Truckers and the set design of Vampire Hunter D. He is also credited for designing the Phantoms in "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within"... - FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
edition (1994), hardback, published by Oriflam, cover art by Hubert de Lartigue - SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
edition (October 1997), soft-cover, published by Joc Internacional as Elric, without any exclamation mark, cover art by Frank Brunner (ISBN 84-7831-154-8)
- Japanese
- 5th edition:
- JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
edition (2006), soft-cover, published by enterbrainEnterbrainis a Japanese magazine publisher established on April 1, 2000. Enterbrain magazines are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy guides. In addition, the company publishes a small selection of anime artbooks. Enterbrain is based in Tokyo, Japan...
, cover art by Yoshitaka AmanoYoshitaka Amanois a Japanese artist. He began his career as an animator and has become known for his illustrations for the anime Vampire Hunter D and for his character designs, image illustrations and title logo designs for the Final Fantasy video game series developed by Square Enix . His influences include... - SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
edition (Elric, 2002), hardcover, published by La Factoría de Ideas as Elric, without any exclamation mark, same cover art as the American version: John T. Snyder (ISBN 84-8421-482-6)
- Japanese
System
Versions 1-3 are functionally similar, version 4 changed the magic system extensively, Elric! was a substantial reworking of the game, and version 5 is a new layout of the Elric! rules, with additional material from several older game supplements that are no longer in print. The Spanish version also includes excerpts from the Dragon Lords of Melniboné book.External links
- Chaosium.com —
- Stormbringer! - a website supporting all editions of the Stormbringer RPG
- ストームブリンガー／エルリック！ ゲームコレクション (list of Japanese editions and supplements)