Hawkmoon (role-playing game)

Hawkmoon is a science fantasy game based on Michael Moorcock's The History of the Runestaff novels. It is linked to the Stormbringer game in the "Eternal Champion" series.[1] The rules are a variation of the standard Chaosium skill-based system from Basic Role-Playing.[1] The "Players Book" (52 pages) describes Europe in the "Tragic Millennium," an age in which a loathsome magico-technic empire gradually brings the world under its control. The book also covers character creation, skills, weapons, and combat.[1] The "Science Book" (16 pages) covers the history of the Tragic Millennium, technological items, and mutations.[1] The "Gamemaster Book" (48 pages) explains how to run the game and also includes monsters and NPCs, treasures, statistics for the main characters from the novels, sample character record sheets, and two introductory miniscenarios.[1]

Hawkmoon was designed by Kerie Campbell-Robson with a cover by Frank Brunner and was published in 1986 by Chaosium as a boxed set that included a 52-page book, a 48-page book, a 16-page book, a map, a pamphlet, and dice.[1]

One adventure was published for this edition, The Shattered Isle.

The Hawkmoon game became popular in France, where it was translated into French for the first time in 1988, and a third French edition was published in 2009.[2]

Peter Green reviewed Hawkmoon for White Dwarf #86 saying, "There are a few problems with it, but fans of Michael Moorcock will be more than pleased to defend the Kamarg, or to battle in Londra to overthrow the Dark Empire for all time, or at least until other 'alternate realities' affect the outcome."[3]