DQ1 Shattered Statue                                Home Up


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Produced in 1987 as the first of a planned series of "dual-game" modules, combining AD&D with the DragonQuest game, also from TSR.

DQ1 Shattered Statue by Paul Jaquays

This idea never caught on with players, and the module fell into relative obscurity.  Some of the characters from this module were eventually incorporated into the Forgotten Realms via module FR5 Savage Frontier (thanks to Michele Toscan for this info).

The working title for DQ1 Shattered Statue was "The Enchanted Wood".  Interestingly, author Paul Jaquays was previously the author of a module titled "Enchanted Wood", which was published as the third module for SPI's DragonQuest game (before SPI was bought out by TSR). (Thanks to John Justice for this info).  From contributor Bruce Probst: "In fact, the two modules are not at all similar and have almost nothing in common, other than their author and their connection to the DQ game.  Settings, plot, etc. are all very different, although one significant NPC features in both adventures.  This leads me to *speculate* that Jaquays had originally submitted 'Shattered Statue' to SPI as a purely-DQ adventure, and later adapted it to AD&D when TSR wanted to release a companion adventure to their reprinting of the DQ rules ('Third Edition') some years after the SPI acquisition.  I don't have any evidence to base that speculation on, however.  (FYI, the TSR reprint of DQ was welcomed by DQ players about as much as the DQ1 module was welcomed by AD&D players -- it contained many editorial changes intended to 'sanitize' it and make it 'PC' -- demonology was a strong component of the original editions, and that was all entirely jettisoned; it's not surprising that they ended up burying both).  DQ1 is specifically set in the TSR's Forgotten Realms campaign world; 'Enchanted Wood' didn't have any specific setting although it was intended to be compatible with SPI's 'Alusia' DQ campaign world."  (Thanks to Bruce Probst for this info).

Author Paul Jaquays clarifies:

When I first proposed the project, it was intended to be a conversion of my original SPI module "The Enchanted Wood".  And in fact, TSR was initially quite receptive to the idea and I began preliminary work on it while finishing up work on M5 Talons of Night for the D&D product line.  At some point, my contact inside TSR asked me to change the adventure to something original (i.e.; not a conversion of EW) and transform it into a combination AD&D adventure/DQ adventure and supplemental rules sourcebook for DragonQuest.  I'm fairly certain the intent had more to do with keeping the DQ trademark active than any interest in extending the product line.  Plus there was the request that I set the adventure in the Forgotten Realms.

The sequencing of projects is somewhat hazy for me now, but I featured the Amelior Amanitas character and his sidekick Erik (from The Enchanted Wood) as NPC characters/sidebar story in three products: FR5 Savage Frontier, REF5 Lords of Darkness (undead mini-adventures), and DQ1 Shattered Statue.

The Shattered Statue never really became part of the canon of the Forgotten Realms, but much of the 'ancient history' backstory that I adapted from The Enchanted Wood in FR5 Savage Frontier, along with some additional material extrapolated on in REF5 Lords of Darkness, became foundational prehistory for the world in which the Forgotten Realms was set.

From contributor Brett Altschul:

DQ1 uses 'Dungeon Master' and 'round', as opposed to the original DragonQuest (DQ) terms 'Game Master' and 'pulse', but it also uses the DQ term 'adept', instead of 'magic-user'.  Further, DQ players will need d4, d6, d8, and d12 dice, in addition to the usual DQ d10 only.

When significantly different rules are needed for the two systems to handle some circumstance, the rules for resolving things are presented in special formats.  The actual rules that are different for the two systems are primarily the combat statistics, magic spells, and methods of resolving skill checks and saving throws.

The center pages contain the pre-generated characters.  They have the AD&D statistics and picture of each character on one side; on the other side is the DQ rules and role-playing notes, all printed on a shaded background.  One of the characters is an AD&D druid, making the DQ conversion rather difficult.  His description begins:  'Although Durguid is technically an Adept, he considers himself a priest of nature.'

The last third of the booklet (pages 33-48) is a purely-DQ supplement, "Arcane Wisdom".  It details many spells and abilities in the Shaping and Rune magic colleges.  Arcane Wisdom was not written by Paul Jaquays (who wrote the module and did all the interior illustrations), but rather by David J. Ritchie and Gerry Klug.  This was because "Arcane Wisdom" was an unpublished supplement for SPI's DragonQuest game; the information from that original supplement was divided up between DQ1 Shattered Statue and the AD&D Third Edition DragonQuest rulebook. (Thanks to Brett Altschul and John Justice for this info).


Printing Information Logos
There was but a single printing of this module.


Auction Commentary

With both being produced fairly late (1987) and not being particularly popular, this module barely clears cover price at auction.


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Shattered Statue