| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 14:29:44
Hello all!
So I recently tried to get a forum game running, but for some reason it dissolved.
Now I have made one of my tabletop gaming friends agree to do a Realms campaign by a private forum we have. He's quite adamant to AD&D as a rules system and I can understand why but hey we both need a fix and I want to enjoy some good old AD&D SO THERE.
Anyway, his character is finished, a half-elf mage/thief from Greycloak Hills who now has decided to leave said hills to experience the grandeur and wonder of Faerūn.
And I'm kind of stumped, even though I have like 70+ sourcebooks and sets sitting on shelves. Why am I stumped?
Partially because I want to really show off the Realms, as in, there's just so much. I want every tiny bit of cultural detail, every place to come alive.
And it's a sandbox for the most part. I suspect he'll head west and perhaps northwest (avoiding Anauroch) so technically I can use the map and the hexes to progress his movement, but I am not sure what there is to experience just outside the Greycloak Hills area (and Evereska to the south).
Well, that isn't the real crux of the problem; I do have the sourcebooks and all I need to do is get off my ass and actually gather the info I need.
What I really struggle with, is how to run a single character. I mean, it's deadly for a 1st level character to walk a road in the Realms (or that's how it feels, considering the amount of crazy powerful monsters everywhere).
Should I go with henchmen from the get go? I am planning to give him a sentient sword that could be helpful, though.
Also, while I'm at it, if you have any suggestions for subplots that I can weave into the sandbox (for the player to ignore or roll with), by all means.
Are there any roads at all near the Greycloak Hills?
(I'm playing 2nd edition as mentioned, I believe I'm going with 1366 or '67 to make it easier on myself).
I want him to eventually end up in Waterdeep so I can finally get use for my City of Splendorsbox which I've owned for more than a decade without using it.
Have you ever run the Realms as a true sandbox before? If yes, what kind of experience do you have with it?
The character is, by the way, Neutral Evil, and this is the first time I've allowed a character with an "E" in his alignment, anything I should need to consider?
Thanks for perusing this scroll and possibly adding to it your wisdom and skills of madness. |
| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 16 Feb 2014 : 19:16:19
Hey the Arcanamach, I saw your message. The game we're starting is at another site, Moonhunt Down went, well, down :)
We haven't started yet, and I haven't had the time to ask if he's fine with you aboard (I believe he will be - maybe). Anyway, I'll reply to your PM when we're ready to go. m/
I have a new question re: the Backlands. Are there any encounter tables for these lands? I know about the Elminster's Ecologies which describe some of the areas close by... but I was wondering if there are actual Backlands tables. |
| The Arcanamach |
Posted - 14 Feb 2014 : 16:29:45
Just PMed you with some ideas Caladan. Hope we can work something out. Cheers. |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 14 Feb 2014 : 10:57:23
All right, I've figured out a good deal and written and published the opening post (probably confusing to the player, but hey, you have to start somewhere and he'll explore the Realms on his own pace - but lots of names that got thrown in there).
Anyway, there is one thing I can't find. There is a mention that the Halfway Inn lies on an overland trail linking Evereska and Waterdeep. My question, then, is does anyone know the route between Waterdeep and Evereska?
Another question if I may: I found a map in Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast placing the Half Way Inn north and west of Evereska; in another source it said that the Inn lies west of Evereska. Which should I go with (not that it really matters). |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 14 Feb 2014 : 09:44:33
And again, thanks for enriching this thread people :)
I discovered while researching the Greycloak Hills that there is a fellow, a ranger named Thanadar, who runs a caravan guard unit in the Backlands, I'm thinking of putting him in there. I found it in The Seven Sisters.
Some additional information on Greycloak patrols in The Code of the Harpers.
That's the thing, you have to look in so many different books to piece together all the canon lore, but I admit it's kind of fun too.
quote:
Any reason why you don't have additional players? Cuz I'm willing to join in the fun here.
No particular reason - [url=]http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18201&SearchTerms=game]I tried setting up a PBP post game[/url] and it didn't work out, whereas the guy I'm playing with now is someone I know well and whom I play with in real-life, which makes communication a lot easier. I can ask him if he minds having a stranger join the game but know that we're both more used to "low fantasy/gritty" gaming and "my" Realms are a bit darker (I believe that's the route we'll go).
And now to gather the lore... |
| The Arcanamach |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 22:04:56
quote:
Running Evil campaigns is IMO not much different from running Good campaigns. As a GM, the biggest difference, is in what motivates the character's actions. Evil individuals are basically selfcentered individuals. They are out to make their life better, not to make the world better. An evil character might not be interested in saving a village from marauding Orcs out of the goodness of his heart, but if the price is right, or if he happens to be in the village, when the Orcs attack, he's probably going to get involved in the fight. Also, keep in mind that being evil doesn't mean that he can't have people he trust or care about (or the other way around), but he probably isn't going to care overly much for what happens to some random stranger.
I was basically going to say this. Evil CAN be played intelligently and without turning on each other (I usually find such acts to be done by immature players). There are tons of RW examples of 'evil' organizations thriving for various reasons (rule through fear, a code of honor, plain old need for survival, etc). It really irks me when folks assume evil is purely self-destructive (though I do believe that it turns on itself in time...but then 'good' organizations also falter over time).
This is just my opinion, but playing a solo (or duo) character is a good opportunity to allow for power gaming without having to worry about game balance. It's far easier to handle one or two players who are very powerful than it is to handle a group of six (although a good DM can work with a large group as well...trust me I've seen it done). Anyway, letting him be stronger than average will help facilitate his survival.
Kyrel, dazzler and fend have all given sound advice. I would just add that an additional character (PC or NPC) should have levels in cleric and warrior methinks. To round out the group. Likely I would go with a Ranger/Fighter combo (on the warrior side) combined with a specialty priest of some sort.
Any reason why you don't have additional players? Cuz I'm willing to join in the fun here.  |
| Kyrel |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 18:00:45
Running a single character really shouldn't be all that different from running a group of players, except that you only have to try and cater to the interests of one player, which really makes things easier...at least in my oppinion. Biggest trick is to scale the fights properly. But as mentiond by others, even if you do end up taking the character down, he might survive, but as a captive. Though it does of course depend a lot on which kind of opponent took him down. There is after all a difference between being taken down by a group of town watchmen, and a pack of wolves looking for a meal...
A single 1st lvl. character should probably not be running around alone in the wilderness, adventuring. They are going to die that way. That being said, however, people travel the roads all the time, so there really isn't any good reason why he can't join up with a caravan or a group of individuals heading in the direction he's going. This gives him the protection of a group, while out on the road, and it also gives you an opportunity to drop hints of possible adventures, and provide him with information. If he insists on going into the wilderness and the local "dungeon of death" on his own, then the player is asking to get killed, in which case I'll say warn him out of game that his character will very likely die that way, and if he still insists, let him die.
You mention that the guy's a Wizard/Thief. OK. If I were the GM, I'd expect that the majority of the game would end up taking place in cities and civilized areas, rather than out in the wild and in various dungeons. At least as long as he's on his own. I'd expect him to be robbing and burglering wealthy individuals, and I'd expect the main opposition to end up becoming other humanoids normally found in such cities. You have a perfect opportunity to let him acquire magical items by stealing them, rather than by taking stuff off of slain monsters, and there is every chance that he might need to deal with local thieves (guilds, which he could end up taking over...), get involved in some nobles private political power play or some such.
Running Evil campaigns is IMO not much different from running Good campaigns. As a GM, the biggest difference, is in what motivates the character's actions. Evil individuals are basically selfcentered individuals. They are out to make their life better, not to make the world better. An evil character might not be interested in saving a village from marauding Orcs out of the goodness of his heart, but if the price is right, or if he happens to be in the village, when the Orcs attack, he's probably going to get involved in the fight. Also, keep in mind that being evil doesn't mean that he can't have people he trust or care about (or the other way around), but he probably isn't going to care overly much for what happens to some random stranger. Keep the following in mind when setting up plot hooks: SHOW ME THE MONEY!!! It's the question that's going to be going through the mind of the character.
One word of advice with regards to running a sandbox adventure. Communicate with your player about what he's looking to do and where he wants to go. The Realms got so much premade material available that you can find stuff on virtually anything and any area. But it's also near impossible to read and remember it all, and that means that you actually need some preparation time to read up on and prepare an area for the player.
Good luck :-) |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 16:02:00
Llorkh is probably described in the north boxed set the savage frontier book, maybe even the silver marches. Also the Volos Guide to the North should have it
The Delimbiyr Vale is a bit of a grey area as to whether it is part of the North or the Western Heartlands. I personally class it as the Western Heartlands (anything south of the Delimbiyr River) |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 15:50:03
(A character questionaire is already done) :) |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 15:49:06
Thanks for those excellent posts. You have given me some very useful tips :) I just checked the entries on the Backlands (in Volo's Sword Coast) and it does describe the region as very monster-infested. LORKH is that in the North (boxed set?) ? |
| Fendrikor |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 14:59:44
Additionally you can use the Cast of Characters to bring Different parts of Faerun into your descriptions. People from far and wide. showcasing a range of different peoples and ideals.
Also make sure you ask him what his primary motivation in the world is, as he is neutral evil - Perhaps get him to fill out a character developing survey? You can find them easily enough with 5 minutes hunting in google. Just asking some questions to get a rough idea of how much attention to detail he honestly cares for.
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| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 14:53:40
As far as roads are concerned.
Just north of the Greycloak Hills is the Delimbiyr Route that runs to Llorkh from Daggerfalls parallel to the River Delimbiyr. After Llorkh i think it becomes part of the Black Road that the Zhentarim use to move goods through Anauroch.
As for difficulty levels. If you went with 3rd edition i could give you loads of advice on customising the difficulty levels. The best one would be to just lower all the stats on monsters by creating a minion template (similar to the 4th edition idea) and thereby making all monsters weak enough for a single character to easily handle.
However rules aside you can make it easy enough in many ways.
People dont get jumped by super hard monsters as soon as you leave a settlement. Caravans and people travel the roads all the time and they may well get attacked by bands of brigands or orcs, but a dragon attack is rare so just only set weak monsters on them.
A band of two or three bandits might attack a lone traveller. Then again the pc might be able to convince him he is poor and not worth the bother.
You could give him plenty of equipment, a bow, bear traps, camouflage, good armour and weapons makes a lot of difference to survival.
And not all encounters need to be beaten with combat. If the PC is from the area, a few wilderness lore checks might allow him to travel safer routes and avoid ambushes (failed check means he encounters the baddies, passed check means he avoids them but still gets xp).
Finally if a battle does occur and the PC loses, that is not necessarily the end. He could be captured. He could be rescued by unexpected allies (or even enemies that just hate the bad guys more than him). I have used two enemies fighting one another plenty of times as intervention to prevent the party getting killed.
Llorkh is the nearest settlement to the greycloak hills and is a hotbed of intrigue involving the Zhentarim so read up on Llorkh and the Zhentarim and you cant go wrong.
I have tried running a sandbox game in the realms and unless you have an experienced player who knows the realms you will probably get asked what he should do next more often than not. Best to give the illusion of choice rather than actual choices.
So if he chooses to leave an area and you dont want him too then the settlement could be blockaded by the Zhentarim or he could be arrested for something, as long as it then leads logically into the story you want to run then he will probably be none the wiser |
| Fendrikor |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 14:47:47
Hrmm....
my mind swells with ideas for you... neutral evil, i gather a good motivator for him would be to find opportune ways to gain wealth at the expense of others, or help desperate people for a steep rate in personal gain.
The roads are dangerous indeed. I would have him meet up with a halfling wagon train on its way to Waterdeep. Many tavelers come and go along the way. He could get many of his missions on the wagon train.
For instance, the train comes across a flooded out road way. They have to wait until the water level falls or scout out some other way around. Enter volunteers. Immediatly, you could have him run with a group of Redshirt NPCs he may or may not sacrifice to save his own skin (from bears or wolves perhaps) only to valiantly laud their heroic deaths on returning.
Another idea is meeting someone equally shifty on the wagon train, perhaps someone even more evil in nature who doesnt show it. A Red wizard, A Shadovar Agent, a Zhent, or maybe even just a simple ass necromancer. Perhaps they court eachother in a game of cat mouse and power until eventually they can find a means to perhaps undergo a quest for both their mutual gain.
Given its only one person, i would put the focus more on intrigue and politics. Or, Alow him to play a Gesalt Class (i dont know if this exists in 2nd ed).
Instead of being killed in overwhelming encounters, he could be Captured and Dragged away - only to attempt to use his wits to escape the clutches of his captors.
Evil can be very fun, more fun with less people i always think. When you have big evil groups they turn on eachother as the need to be individual mixed with inherant selfish roleplay results in PVP. Often evil players tend to find ways to kill off their rivals, or humiliate them to put them in their place, rather than come up with some positive solution.. So less people tends to create more 'Free will' to play out your own evil bastard.
If he is a mage theif, perhaps throw in someone dumb and thuggish for him to run circles around mentally - a half orc thug in the Caravan who is mistreated by the Drovers - an easy target for your player to coerce into working for him instead.
Its just one idea, but i would think of it as a backdrop that moves itself slowly to waterdeep - and has enough reason to Stop (and can be made to stop for varying amounts of time) for you to work with. Now all you need to do is make a highly Detailed cast of NPC's with different motivations and Agendas on the wagon train to create an atmosphere of intrigue and tension within which he may find plenty of opportunity to play the badguy in.
hope this helps you! |
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