still remember when I first got my hands on the Polish edition of Castle Drachenfels for WFRP in the late 90s. The first contact was limited to examining the cover and a quick (lasting about 2 seconds) scroll through the content, because I immediately got a slap on the wrist from my GM along with a scolding that players can’t read the adventure. Then we played. I still remember how surprised I was how easy it was to die in the Castle.
After that, I had many more approaches to this adventure as a player and as a game master. I’ve read novels by Jack Yeovil (who later revealed himself as Kim Newman).
I was fascinated by the specific atmosphere of the Castle. It was perhaps the most disturbing and amazing place I’ve ever read about.
However, I felt quite unsatisfied when it comes to the presentation of Constant Drachenfels.
It is true that he was adequately an ancient, all-powerful sorcerer, guilty of a series of terrible deeds. However, I had the impression that both in the WFRP adventure as well as in the novels, the character of Drachenfels lacked some finesse, which in turn was hinted by the descriptions of his former ventures. I thought this character should have a little more depth. He should not be just a classic villain who wants to wipe out everything and everyone. I felt untapped potential and some missed opportunities (heresy, I know).
Constant Drachenfels, the one you will find in Drach Tales, is a new take on the Great Enchanter. Here Drachenfels is bored with his longevity, and almost overburdened with his magical power. The evil deeds he commits are not meant to bring him world domination, divinity, or reach any other epic goal. The Great Enchanter is simply looking for entertainment.
In Drach Tales, Constant Drachenfels is not a possessed, destructive monster. He is a proud and dominating figure. This is how we tried to present him graphically.
Picturing Drachenfels without his mask was a difficult task. Before the above portrait was created, several works prepared by other artists and many hours of working on the details, alterations and my general whining went straight to the bin. Hope the end result is interesting.
Find more on the Great Enchanter in future releases of Drach Tales.