Treasure of the Dragon Queen

Northeaster 2 Convention D&D tournament - Saturday, 8 April 1984

Updated 25 June 2008

Since July of 2001, I have been trying to locate a copy of an old D&D tournament called "Treasure of the Dragon Queen."   This 1st edition AD&D scenario was played in 1984 the Northeaster 2 convention at the New Brunswick, NJ, campus of Rutgers University. The conventions were sponsored by RUG, the Rutgers University Gamers (not related to RURPG, Rutgers University Role-Playing Gamers, a new RPG group at RU). 

Here's the convention booklet registration details for the "Treasure of the Dragon Queen" tourney:

Saturday, 8 April 1984, 5:00 to 8:00 pm

Event - 19.  RUG Treasure of the Dragon Queen (40/$5/1R/6H/8P/SL3/C)

A fortnight of silence is all that is left of your predecessors who set off across the river to find and secure the fabled treasure. Now you must complete the quest before the forces of darkness subjugating the region stumble across it. For God only knows what horrors would be unleashed on the world in their hands in this FRP event. (CS 20/15/15/10)

The explanation for the codes is: 

• 40 contestants
• $5 entry fee
• 1 round
• 6 hours per round
• 8 people per table
• skill level 3 (Players must be familiar with the game)
• materials requirements C (No materials required)

Here's the Player's Information for the session, taken from my brother's pre-generated PC.  I haven't changed any of the typos, grammatical glitches, etc. in the background or character sheet.

Telemar's Vale a land f great be[a]uty and tranquility, but today such matters is of no importance to you.  Trouble brews in the south.  The powers of evil gather to expand their ever-growing empire.   Normally, such news is of little importance to you but alarming facts have been brought to your attention.  The threat is not to the people of the region but there is a small chance that the rumored enchantments of the Treasure of the Dragon Queen does exist.  The power given forth from the items, in the wrong hands can cause the balanced scale of good and evil to tip against you and all you represent.

A proceeding party was sent in but not a word has been heard from then in over two weeks.  A possibile opportunity has open up to you and your comrades.  Two rival evil factions also search for the rumored treasure.   One, a more powerful band of advanced lizardmen.  Secondly, Ti and Ag-mar, two evil devil worshippers, and a small band of men-at-arms.

Your are being sent to accomplish a trio of related missions.  First, discover the fate of the first party.  Second, verify the rumor of the treasure.  Finally, if real, recover the treasure or deny the use of any to all items to the evil factions.

My brother Phil played Turpin Masewelder, a LG Human Male Cleric 9:

As an aside, the PC was a photocopy of a 1978 Del Enterprises character sheet (the ones that looked like computer punch cards; it was enlarged by a third or more, probably, for the copy).

The text of the event listing is similar to the Northeaster event, but shorter in descriptive detail:

RU03 TREASURE OF THE DRAGON QUEEN: Find and secure the fabled cache before the forces of darkness subjugating the region stumble across it. God knows what will happe if they do. AD&D. 40 Players, 8/Game. TR=C3. W:P, R=5 Hrs, LI-209/LI-213/LI-215/LI-207/LI-211. Fee=$5. Prizes: MC/Attt., 1st: $0 MC, 2nd: $25 MC, 3rd: $15 MC, 4th: $10 MC.

The explanation for the codes is:

I was originally looking for the tourney in the hope to run it for my younger brother Phil as a 30th birthday gift.  "Treasure of the Dragon Queen" was the first D&D tournament we played together, and I'd hoped  to surprise him with it, upon my return home at Christmas of that year (I currently live in San Jose, CA; my family's in Merchantville in southern New Jersey). 

I have done a fair amount of research on the tourney thus far, which I summarize below after the details that I recall about the adventure itself:

• "Treasure of the Dragon Queen" was illustrated in a manner similar to the Tomb of Horrors module (half-page images), so it may have been RPGA (but most folks at WotC don't think it was). From what I recall of the illos were in a Jeff Dee-like style, although Jeff doesn't recall working on this adventure (perhaps it was Jim Holloway or Jim Roslof or someone else altogether---I definitely wasn't as savvy about recognizing some the artists' styles, back in the day...). 

• The wilderness adventure plot featured competing bands of PCs and NPCs/monsters attempting to recover a portion (?) of Tiamat's horde---or something like that.   

• The wilderness concluded with a confrontation in a temple of Tiamat, in which a dragon laired (one of her consorts had gone rogue and stolen some of her hoard??).  The temple environs included a swampy area, though I don't recall any more detail about the temple itself.

• Some names and plot details I recall include:

  • Claude (a beholder), bursting up through the floor, eye-rays blazing!  (This was definitely one of the illustrations)

  • the Fighter Lords Ti and Agmar (who where served by, or rivals with, a group of Lizardmen); I'm pretty sure they were Lawful Evil, and may or may not have been in cahoots with Claude

  • I think some Druids were involved as well, and they have been partnered with some Lizardmen

  • the Lizardmen worshipped Tiamat, I think, and wanted to protect her hoard, or something like that; they also may have served the dragon???

In terms of the research I've done, here's the scoop:

• Frank Mentzer, founder of the RPGA, had no ideas.  

• Frank pointed me to an RPGA guru/collector by the name of Larry Hull, but he hasn't turned anything up. 

• Gary Gygax, Rob Kuntz, Jim Ward, and Skip Williams don't remember it.  

• Jean Rabe has put me in touch with a number of ex-TSR and ex-RPGA folks, all no avail (as yet):

  • Keith Polster

  • Harold Johnson

  • Rembert Parker, who advised that early RPGA tourneys weren't illustrated 

• Eric Shook remembers the adventure, and thinks that Tom Moldvay may have written it, but isn't sure.  He's trying to rack his brain for more details.  

• Scott at the Acaeum is a dry source, as are Matthias Bock (afterglo's non-TSR list of D&D stuff), Rhea Shelley, Jason Zavoda, William McCarthy, Adrian Newman, and various other hard-core D&D collectors I know from online.

• Randy Porter, the Keeper of Ancient GenCon Lore, hasn't heard of it.   

• I've posted to rec.games.frp.dnd and r.g.f.misc and r.g.f.announce.

• I've tried various NJ-based retailers and convention managers, including The Gamer's Realm and ShoreCon

• I've also tried the past presidents of Rutgers University Gamers (Albert J. Rieder was the 1982 RUG president for Northeaster II, according to the preregistration booklet), and the RUG MSN group---both nada. 

None of these sources have panned out.  You are my only hope!

If you have any information about this tournament, or can put me in touch with any long-time gamers who may know it, or have a copy, I would vastly appreciate your help!

Thanks!

Allan Grohe

Return to Grodog's Greyhawk Tournament History.
Return to Grodog's Greyhawk.
Return to Grodog's D&D.
Return to Imrryr.