| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| coach |
Posted - 17 Jul 2010 : 18:14:42
1) my kids are beginning to roleplay for the first time with me as GM.
2) We will use Pathfinder rules (or the 3.5 rules that I carried over)
3) The campaign will take place in the Bloodstone Lands
4) Of course being their first experience, they are first level.
now the dilemma:
I want to rewind back to pre-Witchking so they can experience the entire H-series and the FR9 sourcebook of adventures but...
H1 starts at 15th level and up and i'm actually gonna start pre-H1 because at the beginning of H1 the war has actually already started
what are some ideas I could do to let the low level guys be "side characters" in an epic war campaign?
the reason i say side characters is that i want the main story to play out so FR9 is still viable and accurate, thus i'd need Gareth and Co. to still be the main cogs |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 21 Jul 2010 : 01:01:10
My thoughts on your situation are this:
You want Gareth and all to be the "heroes" so that the timeline goes fairly much as written...
Then have your party fight the good fight against A DIFFERENT enemy! I decoy sent out by the Witch King. A powerful individual in their own right; but for these purposes, Zhengyi foretells a future in which the party, unless distracted, will be the end of him.
Have your badguy muster strength in a place out of sight of Damara, but near enough to threaten it. Perhaps a truly powerful Fiend that Zhengyi has bound to him and forced to work, sometimes at cross purposes, to the Witch King's own diabolical ends.
Perhaps in the area of Arcata in the mountains to its west...even Ironfang Keep. Perhaps Zhengyi wants what he thinks and/or feels are possible obstacles to his future dominion within Ironfang...and so his agents set up the party to come to odds against the inhabitants of that place in the future; but only through slow years of manipulation and even aid at times.
This allows the party to become as powerful as you might want them to be, even more powerful indeed than are Gareth and his band when they go against the Witch King and defeat him.
The irony here is that Zhengyi only avoids one aspect of his fate that he had foretold: defeat at the hands of your party...otherwise his fate remains the same.
This allows your heroes to gather whatever measure of power they want, adventure pretty much where they want and all the while thinking that eventually what they are truly doing is stopping a major threat to Damara.
In fact they may cause a threat to arise that did not exist before...and, on the day that the Witch King attacks Damara, maybe your heroes are deep beneath the mountains fighting the good fight against a true and measurable threat to Damara. Little do they know that the Witch King guided them there all along to thwart a possible rival to his dominion.
I leave out specifics here; because such a long term goal would have to be constantly modified.
Zhengyi would constantly have to have the party under his eye; sending duped agents (Paladins even!) through a long line of intrigue to aid and help direct his "puppets" as he would see the party. The Assassins could even be used to spur the party along believing they are on the right trail.
Whatever you need to get the job done; just as Zhengyi would do whatever he needed to do to see his plans to fruition. |
| coach |
Posted - 20 Jul 2010 : 15:02:00
yeah iyraclea is still alive in my current campaign (different than this new one in the OP) as i had her with contingencies that didnt allow her to "die" that weak death she did in the Rogue Dragon trilogy |
| Markustay |
Posted - 17 Jul 2010 : 21:36:44
Preventing the various humanoid groups from joining Zhengyi? For some time before the main conflict broke-out, I would assume small bands of Humanoids would be heading to the Witch king. Also, scouts/emissaries from the witch King to some of the outlying Humanoid groups could be stopped, or sabotaged.
So your PCs could be stopping quite a few forces from joining-up, which is just as helpful as fighting in the war, maybe more so. Drizzt did something like that against Obould.
You could even pull Iryclea {sp?} into it - have them get to her before he does, and convince her not to join his side (a bit higher-level then 1st, I'm thinking, for that one). I don't really know where she was at the time of that war, but its your campaign so you can fudge as much as you want.
Delivering supplies and/or messages to guys 'at the front' could be interesting, but you'd have to really do some epic DMing to make the PCs not feel like they were 'just there' and not really part of things. Having them 'save the supply train' would work - they would be hailed as heroes, if the food and what-not were already low at some distant encampment. In that regard, Zhengyi is now acting as I suggested the PCs do above, and now your guys are acting as counter-terrorists to stop the sabotage.
Another thing you can borrow from - Indiana Jones. What is Zhengyi is trying to gather as many artifacts and magical items as he possibly can before the coming conflict? Similar to the Nazi's in those Indy movies. You could have the various items unrelated, or you can even link them altogether - something he needs to assemble in order to build a 'doomsday device'. This is like the Rod of seven parts (and maybe you could even adapt that). Waterdeep had a very similar item as well - The Staff of Waterdeep IIRC. You could create a 'crown of the Witch-King', or some-such, that he needs all the pieces of.
And then, of course, there's the old 'throw his uber-potent ring into the volcano' scenario. 
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| coach |
Posted - 17 Jul 2010 : 21:16:11
@Dalor: I have EVERY forgotten realms product ever made so resources are complete, here is what i have listed (so far) that have ties to The Cold Lands:
quote:
Cold Lands – Compilation of canon reference information
Main Keywords for searches: Cold Lands, Damara, Vaasa, Narfell, Great Glacier, Sossal, Deepearth, Bloodstone, Galena
Other keywords: Heliogabalus, Yal Tengri, Iyraclea, Icelace, Gareth, Yellow Rose, Ilmater, Sollars, Dionysus, Giantspire, Perilous, Ulutiu, Avariel, Arctic Dwarf, Pelvuria, Zhengyi, Witch-king, Demonbinder, Bloodfeathers, Firward
For purposes of this outline, the East Galena Mountains are considered as part of Damara and the West Galena Mountains are considered as part of Vaasa. Some sources below do not mention the Cold Lands but were used because those sources detailed a race known mainly to the Cold Lands region (i.e. Arctic Dwarf, Ulutians, Avariel, Gray Orc).
I. CANON SOURCES
A. MAJOR - ACCESSORIES
1. Bloodstone Lands (FR9) – accessory, RA Salvatore 1989
2. Bloodstone Pass (H1) – module box set, Douglas Niles/Michael Dobson 1985
3. The Mines of Bloodstone (H2) – module, Niles/ Dobson 1986
4. The Bloodstone Wars (H3) – module, Niles/Dobson/Ed Greenwood 1987
5. The Throne of Bloodstone (H4) - module, Niles/ Dobson 1988
6. Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide (DSG) – sourcebook, Niles 1986
7. The Great Glacier (GG) – accessory, Rick Swan 1992
8. Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (FRCS) – campaign guide, 2001
9. The Horde (Horde) – boxed set, Zeb Cook 1990
10. Dwarves Deep (FR11) – accessory, Greenwood 1990
B. MAJOR - NOVELS
1. Promise of the Witch-King (PotWK) – novel, Sellswords trilogy #2, Salvatore 2005
2. Road of the Patriarch (RotP) – novel, Sellswords trilogy #3, Salvatore 2006
3. The Ruin (Ruin) – novel, Richard Lee Byers 2006
4. Soldiers of Ice (SoI) – novel, Harpers’ series #7
5. Dragons: World's Afire (D:WA) - If They Ever Happen Upon My Lair - novella, Salvatore 2006
C. MAJOR - ARTICLES
1. The Chasm Bridge – magazine article, Dragon #131 (Dungeon #101), Desmond Varady
D. MINOR ACCESSORIES
1. Demihuman Dieties (DD) – accessory, Eric Boyd 1998
2. Faiths and Avatars (FA) – accessory, Boyd
3. Unapproachable East (UE) – sourcebook
4. Races of Faerun (RoF) – sourcebook, Boyd, Matt Forbeck, James Jacobs 2003
5. Lost Empires of Faerun (LEoF) – sourcebook, Richard Baker, Bonny, Stout 2005
6. Player’s Guide to Faerun (PGtF) – sourcebook, Baker, Stout, Wyatt 2004
7. Powers and Pantheons (PaP) – accessory, Boyd 1997
8. For Duty and Deity (FDaD) – module, Dale Donovan 1998
9. Villians Lorebook (VL) – accessory, Dale Donovan 1998
10. Volo’s Guide to All Things Magical (VGM) – accessory, Greenwood/Boyd 1996
11. Netheril: Empire of Magic (N:EoM) – boxed set, slade/Jim Butler 1996
12. Wizards and Rogues of the Realms (WaR) – accessory, William Conners 1995
13. Warriors and Priests of the Realms (WaP) – accessory, John Terra 1996
14. Player’s Guide to the Forgotten Realms (PGFR) – accessory, 1993
15. Pages from the Mages (PftM) – accessory, Greenwood and Tim Beach 1995
16. Hall of Heroes (HoH) – accessory, various 1989
17. Underdark (U) – sourcebook, Cordell, Kestrel, and Quick 2003
18. Heroes Lorebook (HL) – accessory, Donovan and Paul Culotta 1996
19. Draconomicon (D) – 2nd ed. accessory, Nigel Findley 1990
20. Champions of Ruin (CoR) – sourcebook, Boyd, Wil Upchurch, and Jeff Crook 2005
21. A Grand Tour of the Realms (GTotR) – 2nd edition boxed set campaign guide, Greenwood and Grubb 1993
22. Running the Realms (RtR) – 2nd edition boxed set campaign guide, Greenwood and Grubb 1993
23. Champions of Valor (CoV) – sourcebook, Thomas Reid and Sean Reynolds 2005
24. Mysteries of the Moonsea (MotM) – sourcebook, Reid, Reynolds, Drader, Upchurch 2006
25. Forgotten Realms Atlas (FRA) - sourcebook, Karen Wynn Fonstad, 1990
26. Dragons of Faerun (DoF) – sourcebook, Eric Boyd and Eytan Bernstein, 2006
27. Demihumans of the Realms (DotR) - sourcebook, Roger E. Moore, 1999
28. A Cyclopedia of the Realms (CotR) - 1st edition boxed set campaign guide, Greenwood and Grubb and Karen Martin 1987
29. DM Sourcebook of the Realms (SotR) - 1st edition boxed set campaign guide, Greenwood and Grubb 1987
E. MINOR – NOVELS
1. The Rage (Rage) – novel, Richard Lee Byers 2004
2. The Rite (Rite) – novel, Richard Lee Byers 2005
3. Realms of the Dragons (RotD) – short story - Wickless in the Nether, Salvatore 2004
4. Realms of Infamy (RoI) – short story – Twilight, Troy Denning
5. Realms of Shadow (RoS) - short story - Darksword, Denning 2001
6. Realms of Shadow (RoS) - short story - That Curious Sword, Salvatore, 2001
7. The Summoning - Return of the Archwizards trilogy (Summ) - Denning 2001
8. The Siege - Return of the Archwizards trilogy (Siege) - Denning 2001
9. The Sorceror - Return of the Archwizards trilogy (Sorc) - Denning 2002
10. Pool of Radiance (PoR) - novel - James M. Ward & Jane Cooper Hong 1989
11. Bloodwalk (BW) - novel - James P. Davis 2006
12. Bloodline (BL) - short story - James P. Davis
13. Shield of Weeping Ghosts (SoWG) - novel - James P. Davis 2008
14. The Fall of Highwatch (FoH) - novel - Mark Sehestedt 2009
F. MINOR – ARTICLES
1. Assassin’s Run – magazine article, Dragon #64, Greenwood - source of ch.4 in H3
2. Sailors on the Sea of Air – magazine article, Dragon #124, Greenwood
3. Elminster’s Notebook – magazine article, Dragon #216, Greenwood
4. Branching Out All Over – magazine article, Dragon #209, Roger E. Moore
5. Portals of the Frozen Wastes (PotFW) – Perilous Gateways web article – wizards.com - http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=fr/pg20020626z
6. Realms Personalities – web articles - wizards.com, various authors and links
7. Deity Do’s and Don’ts (DDaD) – web enhancement - wizards.com, Reynolds
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20020504a
8. Impiltur: The Forgotten Kingdom – magazine article, Dragon #346, George Krashos
9. Rivals – magazine article, Dragon #343,
10. Six Very Special Shields - magazine article, Dragon #89, Greenwood
11. Soargar’s Legacy - magazine article, Dragon #277, Krashos
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| Dalor Darden |
Posted - 17 Jul 2010 : 18:57:21
What resources do you have regarding the area Coach?
Let me know what you have, and I'll drop a few ideas at you. I tried something similar a few years back for a few one shot adventures; and while I can't remember the details of what we did, I am pretty familiar with the area. |
| Brix |
Posted - 17 Jul 2010 : 18:28:09
Take a look at Necromancer Games modules. Most of them have a Orcus theme. You can start with the free module "The Wizard's Amulet" (an establish a long term foe)
Next "Crucible of Freya" (substitude Freya with Bhalla aka Chauntea)
Find a backstory for Zhengy and fill in some hints of his rise to power from time to time. I had a nice twist, but I have to refer to my notes
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