(Cobwebbed Dragon)

Mortal Combat is the precursor RPG to the Dragon Warriors RPG written by Steve Foster and Dave Morris and contains many recognisable Dragon Warriors elements, including a formative version of the Dishearten spell called Decardialisation – two such great names for that spell that it is hard to choose between them!

Within its sixty-one A4 pages was an entire role-playing game, complete with character creation, rules for combat and magic, equipment lists, 92 spells, 49 monsters (with encounter tables), 61 unique magical items (on top of scrolls and simple “plussed” magical arms and armour), and an introductory adventure, the Crypt of Lieberkuen (later republished on Dave’s blog).

Released in 1979 in a limited print run of just fifty copies by Waynflete House, Mortal Combat was also made available as a PDF as a special reward for the "Mind Games with Dr Matt" Patreon. Are you one of the lucky few to have a copy?¹⁾

Whilst not everything made it from Mortal Combat into Dragon Warriors (like hit locations), there is still room to allow Mortal Combat to inspire new content for Dragon Warriors and enrich the Lands of Legend (themselves absent from Mortal Combat). Who was, for example, the great sorcerer Morgud, whose Arrow and Armour are immortalised in the Mortal Combat spellbook but did not appear in Dragon Warriors?

This article first appeared in Casket of Fays Issue 2.