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PaulBestwick
Seeker
United Kingdom
83 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Jan 2008 : 23:43:30
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Just wanted to ask where I should post to start a discussion on making some of the more recent WoTC core adventure modules fit better into the Realms and also amending the encounters to better fit the region I want to place them in.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
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PaulBestwick
Seeker
United Kingdom
83 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jan 2008 : 11:59:25
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Thanks Sage.
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Halidan
Senior Scribe
USA
470 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2008 : 21:05:01
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Which of the "more recent" adventures are you interested in relocating to the Realms?
In the past year (2007), WotC has only published three generic (or core if you prefer) adventures: Barrow of the Forgotten King, The Sinister Spire, and Fortress of the Yaun-Ti. In 2006 you had a two others - Scourge of the Howling Hills and Shattered Gates of Slaughtergaurd.
Before that, you've got to go back to the 2000-2002 series of eight modules that started with The Sunless Citadel. |
"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Allen Poe - 1849 |
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PaulBestwick
Seeker
United Kingdom
83 Posts |
Posted - 01 Feb 2008 : 21:51:06
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My intention is to amend the Barrow of the Forgootten King and the Sinister Spire. I have the Fortress of The Yuan-Ti on order from Amazon, but it has not arrived yet. So I am not sure if I will use it or how much work it will take to bring it into the Realms.
My initial thoughts are to place the Barrow of the Forgotten King in one of the towns around Uthmere at the western end of the Great Dale. The King in question being very old, my thought was a Narfell predecessor kingdom. I am toying with the idea of making the main antagonists a group of Red Wizards, involved in an internal power struggle. The earth node and the sinister spire itself appear to be easy to fit into a now abandoned drow city, not sure which one |
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Mace Hammerhand
Great Reader
Germany
2296 Posts |
Posted - 01 Feb 2008 : 22:12:07
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| Can't tell you about the new adventures, if you wanna know where to place the Adlerweg-series, for example, I can be of assistance |
Mace's not so gentle gamer's journal My rants were harmless compared to this, beware! |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 02 Feb 2008 : 05:53:13
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quote:
Originally posted by PaulBestwick
My intention is to amend the Barrow of the Forgootten King and the Sinister Spire. I have the Fortress of The Yuan-Ti on order from Amazon, but it has not arrived yet. So I am not sure if I will use it or how much work it will take to bring it into the Realms.
My initial thoughts are to place the Barrow of the Forgotten King in one of the towns around Uthmere at the western end of the Great Dale. The King in question being very old, my thought was a Narfell predecessor kingdom. I am toying with the idea of making the main antagonists a group of Red Wizards, involved in an internal power struggle. The earth node and the sinister spire itself appear to be easy to fit into a now abandoned drow city, not sure which one
Please keep us posted on how this works for you. I was thinking of tying the "Barrow King" module to Ejen Horo in the Hordelands, or possibly to some ancient Nar site.
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Shilo99
Seeker
63 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2008 : 12:54:27
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Gday Paul,
I share your interest in basing this adventure series in the Realms, and am interested in the series.
Kingsholm needs to be small and out-of-the-way. The town is set at the base of a series of rolling foothills, but I don't that's a necessity. Its also independent (at least, can’t rely on support from centralised authorities), and gets its wealth from trading with surrounding dwarf clans and gypsies & Halfling traders. That says Western Heartlands to me, so would be comfortable sighting the town, name unchanged, off the trade ways. Perhaps even renaming it as Hluthvar or Asbravn, given the small dwarf clans in the Sunset Mountains & Far Hills. The yuan-ti would come from Najara (Serpent Hills). For a bit of historical connection with a lot of canon already, I would suggest the King Theron is of the Talfir. Still, Ssamath broods beneath the far Hills, so the underdark may be too cosmopolitan for siting Pedestal there, or it may be fine...
Another appropriate fit would be Secomber or thereabouts. The yuan-ti still come from Najara, but the Dwarfholds could be based in the Forlorn Hills to the West. King Theron could date back to Athlantar (see Dragon 228 for full write-up) or the Kingdom of Man ( Delimbyran), Elembar etc (see City of Splendors web enhancement on the WotC site).
I also like your idea of using the Great Dale: the area is known to be pretty backwards and removed from the big powers players (they seem to have enough worries with close-to-home threats). Rather than the King’s origins being pre-Narfelli (that’s a REALLY long time ago…before say –900DR), I would suggest a realm neighbouring imperial Impiltur dating from the last millenia, or just some unnamed barony in the wilderlands, of which there are hundreds scattered across the historical tapestry of the Forgotten Realms…it’s the name of the setting after all!)
Olidimmara is a very weird choice for the only priest in town, and I can think of no reason why he would be there . His equivalent Mask, doesn’t really fit, but if you went with your Great Dale location, then you could say Hergon is a priest of Mask retired from the cut-and-thrust of the big city (Telflamm, Impiltur etc). Perhaps he has a disability (e.g. an arm or leg with an incurable injury, perhaps from a battle against Thayans). Still, I would substitute a more appropriate, but still not quite trustworthy priest.
Not sure of the canon names of drow cities in the region. Phillip Wallace once wrote up the details of four drow cities in the eastern underdark, but they’d be non-canon.
Hope that helps,
S |
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Shilo99
Seeker
63 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2008 : 13:01:55
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Paul,
After scanning quickly through Fortress of the Yuan-ti I’m now thinking the king must have been more historically powerful/significant than I originally suggested. Again I’d look at Talfir, Delimbyran or (in the East) potentially from early Impiltur itself (as a baron not necessarily that realm’s king).
The good thing is the last adventure is set on the other side of a gate, so Cettrux Hill & Castle Serastis can be sited anywhere. For some reason I’m thinking South here: given the open existence of the slave farm. Suggest the Vilhon Reach somewhere.
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PaulBestwick
Seeker
United Kingdom
83 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2008 : 14:57:08
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Shilo, thanks for the input. As I said previously my copy of Fortress has not arrived yet. So I am not sure whether I will even use it yet. I suspect that I won't and will bail out of the series after the second module. Leaving the plot hanging knowing that the Red Wizards have an interest in you home town is a longer term threat I want to play with. I have ideas for old Narfell ruins and a run in with the Circle of Lethyr over the groups delving into the Narfell ruins along with the interest of the Red Wizards should be quite interesting. I aim the campaign with the characters all being part of the retinue of the towns new leader (they will all be part of the various first level types that come along with the taking of the leadership feat (hence we avoid the cliche of everyone meeting in the inn at first level) and they should all be of compatible alignment types. The new Lord has just inherited/been appointed to the overlordhsip of the town by Lord Uthlain of Uthmere. I will be using the one the satellite towns around Uthmere. Not decided which one yet, I am still pondering which to use based on Ed's reply to my questions about the various towns.
My players will control the characters will be part of the group sent ahead by the towns new Lord second in command to make sure that there are no issues ahead of the new Lords arrival.
Barrow should be quite straight forward to convert, I will tone down the difficulty towards the end as I want to slow the advancement of the characters through levels. I intend on the node being a roadblock for a while, the characters will have to research the way to access the node and travel the the spire, hence I can run some other adventures related to the Dale and Uthmere. I am toying with the idea of using humanoid creatures with the blooded one template as opposed to the Varags, the writup in MM4 makes the supply requirements for the group trying to opertae un-noticed quite high. Any thoughts on a replacment for the cleric of hextor. Bane or Mask would seem a good fit to me.
Sinister Spire should be ok to use with very few modifications. Other than the replacment of the main villan from a Yuan-Ti to be a Red Wizard. I am concentrating on the Barrow module for now I have had only brief thoughts on the Spire module. |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2008 : 22:13:09
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| Hmmm, Olidammara could probably be replaced by a deity other than Mask, as his portfolios are Music, Revels, Wine, Rogues, Humor, and Tricks. He isn't just a god of thieves. Maybe Llira would work? |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1796 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2008 : 03:26:41
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Hmmm, Olidammara could probably be replaced by a deity other than Mask, as his portfolios are Music, Revels, Wine, Rogues, Humor, and Tricks. He isn't just a god of thieves. Maybe Llira would work?
Vergaddain of the dwarven pantheon might fit as well, Garl or Baravor of the gnomes for the trickster aspect, music/bards goes to Milil/Oghma, revels can go to Sharess and Lliira, mischief goes to Beshaba...
Olidammara is a hard one to "shoe-into the Realms" (i.e. the Realms have more deities on various aspect of life; Greyhawk has deities that are more of interest to adventurers and the classic aspects of D&D; i.e. pantheons more oriented for dungeoncrawling rather than roleplaying)
That's my two cents, of course!  |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2008 : 04:28:36
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While I'm not sure about trying to fit the entire Pathfinder adventure paths into the Realms, I've been curious about trying to see if any of the stand along GameMastery adventures fit into the Realms. Some of them look isolated enough that they could be dropped in fairly easily.
I had initially thought that Entombed with the Pharoahs would be a good fit for Mulhorand, but after hearing that it involves potential alien involvement and a city in a giant beetle's carapace, it might not fit there after all, but I still need to pick it up and see.
The adventure Guardians of Dragonfall was another one that I had a "gut feeling" might be a good fit for the Realms, after reading about the magic eating nebulous creature that appears in it. Nebulous magic eating things remind me of the Realms (nishruu, hakeashar . . . you know), but again, I've not gotten the adventure yet, so I'm not sure on this one either. |
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Shilo99
Seeker
63 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2008 : 14:33:01
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Hi Paul, your adventure ideas sound great…keep them coming.
And the input from Mr Greenwood himself will only add extra spice I’m sure!
>Any thoughts on a replacment for the cleric of hextor. Bane or Mask would seem a good fit to me.
Yeah, Bane is the usual substitute for Hextor (see table 1-1 in FRCS). In fact, Bane has replaced Hextor in canon 4e core D&D. Loviatar is also mentioned but I thinks it’s a poor fit.
> Sinister Spire should be ok to use with very few modifications.
True. Unlike some reviewers (e.g. see EN World) I like the look of the module. All that running around a basket-case city inhabited by lots of humanoid factions reminds me of the old 1e module Dwellers of the Forbidden City.
> Other than the replacment of the main villan from a Yuan-Ti to be a Red Wizard.
Renegade red wizard, of course (aren’t they all?!)
P.S. The drow city I was thinking of Undrek-Thoz, a metropolis in the Middledark area of the Earthroot (underdark under eastern FR). Pedestal may be in its area of influence.
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PaulBestwick
Seeker
United Kingdom
83 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2008 : 21:39:28
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Sorry for the delay, I have been busy spending my prep time reviewing all the bits for my next session in my current campaign.
For Uthmere and the Great Dale (as I am titling my next campaign), I am toying with a Cleric of Kossuth or Bane for the cleric, given the ties of the church of Kossuth with Thay. Although with some of the things I plan for later in the campaign and ruins of Narfell in the area, Orcus might be a neat idea. Especially given the shrine in Sinister Spire.
I was thinking of developing a another side trek within the city to grant my guys a little more experience. mainly as I believe that XP comes to easily in 3rd Editon and tend to award less per encounter than suggested by the DMG. Definately something to tight the whole thing more tightly into the realms.
I was actually have the wizard working for a higher level Red Wizard, as to my mind they are still mainly evil S.O.B.'s, just that their merchantile interests give them excuses to get ever more involved in other peoples business. Finding powerful magic items is something any Red Wizard would be interested in.
As I said before I have The Fortress of the Yuan-Ti on order, but I intend going with the conspiracy that the ritual that will pervert the magical items will and use the bones of the Forgotten King to summon a contemporary of Eltab to the realms, although this will be much later in the campaign. This idea I think ties in well with the Narfell ruins and fits in well with an impending doom type theme. |
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Baldwin Stonewood
Acolyte
34 Posts |
Posted - 12 Mar 2008 : 17:09:04
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| I have found that the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergard Module fits in nicely in the Shining South Region. In my current campaign, I placed the Valley of the Obelisks in the Rathgaunt Hills. There is small, unnamed river north of the River Channath that works well for campaign. This unnamed river has become the main river featured in the module settling. I know this is a different location than the one suggested in the module for placement but I personally really like the Shining South region. |
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oktoberguard
Acolyte
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 19 Mar 2008 : 18:53:10
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i'm actually planning on kicking off my forgotten realms 3.5 campaign this friday with the "scourge of the howling horde" module modified to fit into the forgotten realms milieu. not that much needed to be changed. i cast barrow's edge as a start-up mining camp in the foothills of the spine of the world and listra as a cleric of tyr. i don't think i had to make any further alterations. if you're interested, i'll let you know how it goes.
daniel |
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Mace Hammerhand
Great Reader
Germany
2296 Posts |
Posted - 22 Mar 2008 : 20:27:53
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As I mentioned elsewhere, I run GDQ at the moment. The beginning is adapted to the Realms where the characters offer their assistance to the dwarves of Citadel Adbar in fighting the Hill Giant attacks on merchant caravans. Frost Giant Jarl will most likely take play in the Great Glacier or in the Spine of the World, and Fire Giant King is something I still have to figure out, since having fire giants in the North seems kinda weird to me.
Also I did not cut back on the enemies and played them logically: once the alarm was raised (the party spent 45 game minutes arguing where and how to attack the major giant force in the place and simply were discovered) they had to fight about 30 giants, nasty business... the party's new artillery (aka Wiz 4/Sorc 1/Ultimate Magus 6) used up his total allotment of sorcerer fireballs empowered by as many 2nd level wizard spells. And the fight still took the entire day (playtime-wise), and in the end the giants were quite dead and half the party lay unconscious on the floor. Fun stuff |
Mace's not so gentle gamer's journal My rants were harmless compared to this, beware! |
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Generic Adventures and Realms
