Princecon Annual Fantasy Role-Playing Marathon, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

Ten years after PrinceCon 13, the original MonsterCon, we revisit the Dark Lord and Lady. In MonsterCon, the players served the Dark Lord by retrieving and constructing his bride, the dark Lady. The Dark Couple exchanged vows and rings, the humanoids exchanged fearful gazes. Before long, the monsters had forced their way into new lands, conquering the feeble populace, and basking in the glory of the Dark Dominion!

Now, however, life in the Dark Castle has fallen into disarray! Both the Dark Lord and the Dark Lady have lost their respective Rings, and have tried to keep the loss secret. The humandoids are trying to take advantage of the situation to recover the initiative, and drive the monsters out of their lands. Clearly things are getting out of hand, and something must be done!

Player Theme Pack

Once upon a dream, there existed the bountiful kingdom of Joysea. It was a peaceful realm. The kingdom had finally eliminated most elements of strife throughout their land, leaving its people to live a happy if simple existence working the land.

Twenty years ago, the Dark times fell. Monstrous hordes appeared from all sides. Trolls and ogres came down from the mountains, sea hags and nagas arose from the seas, the dead awoke from their graves, and the great drakes came back from legend. In a short and coordinated offensive, the armies of the Dark Lord crushed the standing army of the Joysea Kingdom. Monsters preyed upon the population, and with the central authority of the Kingdom in tatters, villages turned to desperate measures to protect themselves.

The marriage of the Dark Lord to the Dark Lady ten years ago promised to ensure this state of affairs for decades to come. Bolstered by the steady flow of precious items looted from the downtrodden demihumans, the Dark Couple and their Monstrous Court presided over this marvelous triumph of evil. All in all, it was ajolly good time to be a monster.

However, in the last month, a crisis has arisen that threatens all who benefit from this supremacy. First, the Dark Lord and Lady are apparently no longer on speaking terms with each other. In fact, the Dark Lady has removed herself from the Monstrous Court so as to avoid any contact with the Dark Lord; only her closest handmaidens have seen her.

To make matters worse, the kingdom of Joysea has picked this moment to renew their offensive against the monstrous hordes. With the recent declaration of a Jihad from the Leo High Priest, combined with a strengthened presence of the Order of the Red Sword, and more aggressive patrols by the Kingdom itself, Monster casualties have increased twentyfold over the last month! With the Dark Lord and Lady distracted, the response to this uprising has been slow and ineffective.

Clearly this is unacceptable, and so the Monstrous Court has volunteered you to put an end to it. You must resolve the differences between the Dark Couple and crush the new human insurgency, else the prosperity of the past twenty years will not be renewed. Emissaries of the court will instruct you on the ways to begin your task.

Good luck and good eating!