The Archmage's Crown (2002)

from the Introduction:

The Archmage's Crown is a scenario for up to six players plus one referee. The players play members of a sect of evil wizards in a fairly generic fantasy setting. The system is based off the Chaosium (Call of Cthulhu) system. Pre-generated characters have been included with this scenario, the character sheets include brief descriptions of spells, special abilities etc. available to the characters.

from Players Background:

Nearly a century ago King Valiant and his Paladins drove a band of evil wizards from the Kingdom of Arlandia. The wizards eventually settled in the barren wastelands north of Arlandia, erected the Ebon Tower to provide a safe haven and subsisted off tribute they extorted from the local goblin population.

As the original wizards succumbed to old age their ranks were replenished by a slow but steady stream of disaffected wizards from Arlandia. Every so often the wizards of Ebon Tower came up with dastardly plans to conquer the world. However, none of them proved effective. Perhaps this was because too much time was spent arguing about who used the last of the dragons blood and forgot to order any more.

The most powerful wizard in the Ebon Tower is known as the Archmage and rules the other wizards through fear and intimidation. The Archmage's power is amplified greatly by a mystical crown. Whenever an Archmage dies, whoever first bonds with the Archmage's crown becomes the new Archmage.

The current Archmage is Cleon, who is the fourth Archmage to have ruled Ebon Tower. Cleon has been Archmage for the past twenty - five years. In addition to the Archm age, Ebon Tower is home to four wizards, one apprentice and a "man" that the Archmage created from spare parts. Roughly twenty goblin servants also dwell in the tower and the dungeons have one prisoner, a luckless knight who was recently captured while ou t questing.

This scenario is available as a free download from the Kapcon Scenario Design Contest website, see series entry for details.