X8: Drums on Fire Mountain
X8: Drums on Fire Mountain is a TSR UK (Graeme Morris and Tom Kirby) adventure module for Dungeons & Dragons set in Mystara that has the dubious distinction as one of the most racist adventures to come out of D&D. Tally ho, chaps!
The Setting[edit | edit source]
X8 takes place on the island of Teki-nura-ria, which lies in the stormy tropical waters south-east of Thyatis. The name is Kara-Kara for "Mountain of Death", whilst other races who sail in the area just call it "Fire Mountain", for the large volcano that dominates the island. Centuries ago it was home to an unknown race of humanoids who chose to live in a subterranean city below the island's surface; weakened from within by their own decadence, they were eventually overrun and utterly destroyed by the Kara-Kara - a primitive seafaring race of orc-kin - who proceeded to settle on the island and claim it as their new home. Over time, the kara-karas forgot how they came to inhabit Teki-nura-ria and instead rewrote their own oral history to portray it as their ancestral home, with the ruins of its former owners being rebranded as the remnants of the kara-kara's ancestors.
Aside from its volcano and its population of seafaring orcs, Teki-nura-ria's most unusual feature is that the local waters are not only stormy, but infested with a species called Kal-murus; vicious shapechanging predators from the Plane of Air with the ability to emit a cloud of enchanted, mind-befuddling mists. The kara-karas have learned to take advantage of these creatures, also known as "ship-banes", using their attacks to soften up targets before plundering the weakened or annihilated crews.
The Plot[edit | edit source]
A Thyatian transmuter named KalnaKaa was forced to flee his home after contracting the dreaded wereswine variant of therianthropy, taking with him only his daughter and a few charmed minions. Landing on Teki-nura-ria, his nature as a wereswine convinced the kara-karas that he was an avatar of their god, Tapu, the Pig God. In a theme ripped right off Heart of Darkness, KurtznaKaa decided to use them as weapons to exact revenge against Thyatis. Learning how to use his magic to control the kal-murus, he has been wielding elementals and orc-kin against Thyatian shipping in the area.
Of course, this campaign of piracy swiftly came to the attention of Her Majesty's Navy the Thyatis Seafaring Merchant's Guild, and they retaliated by launching scouting expeditions into the area. Whilst this cost them dearly in lives, they were able to capture a kara-kara and magically interrogate it, learning about KalnaKaa's ploy. And that's where your PCs come in: you are hired by the Guild to sail to Teki-nura-ria and launch a decapitating strike against the tribe by killing KalnaKaa; without his leadership and magic, the kara-kara will revert to being little more than a minor nuisance. As good fortune has it, the kara-kara are about to engage in a multi-day-long religious festival, which will keep them distracted and give the party a chance to sneak into the underground ruins, assassinate the wereswine wizard, and flee back to their ship to return to Thyatis - staying too long will give the hundreds and hundreds of kara-kara the opportunity to mobilize their full numbers against the intruders, so you really don't want to dilly-dally!
What's Wrong With It?[edit | edit source]
So, why is this module regarded as so racist? The major talking points are generally held up as:
- The Kara-Kara themselves, who combine Polynesian cultural trappings with old-school orc lore of being stupid, evil savages.
- There is no diplomatic options with the kara-kara themselves here; once you meet them, it's kill or be killed.
- KalnaKaa is a white dude who gains power over a bunch of non-white people by exploiting the latter's cultural ignorance, causing them to believe he is a divine avatar. As mentioned the theme isn't new, and foreigners have historically found ways to take over unprepared peoples; but usually they did that with the connivance of interested locals. Just ruling "derrr the tribes thought they were gods and shit" is lazy.