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I’ve been working on a campaign based in Sterich focused around the Istivin Trilogy for some time now. The structure is based on Dungeons adventure path style of 12 adventures that take PC’s from 1st to 20th level with some side-trek/mini adventures weaved in based on the PC’s goals and motivations. For a better Idea of what I’m planning you can check out this thread on these boards at: http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dungeon/generalDiscussion/istivinTrilo gyTheHarrowingOtherQuestionsPossibleSpoilers

While I’ve been working on the campaign a few issues have come up that I would like to get a better perspective on.

1) Currently I have a rough outline of my twelve adventures, as I look over them I feel like I have a collection of relatively unconnected adventures that while it would form a campaign in its own right, my actual goal is to have something a little more connected and interlinked like how the Savage Tides adventure path outline in Dungeon issue 138 details. Any ideas on how I can go about accomplishing this task? For some reason I have it stuck in my mind that the “Azure Prince” detailed in the LGG has some major role to play in the campaign as well as the Malgoth entity from the Istivin Trilogy and perhaps even Lolth.

2) What exactly is the process used in creating an adventure path? I feel like I’m trying to shoehorn adventures into a campaign instead of there being an actual flow of adventures that leads to a cohesive story arc. Many of the seeds I’m using are culled from the Istivin Trilogy and a few other sources (mainly Dungeon, Dragon, and the LGG).

3) Since this campaign is set in the World of Greyhawk, and entirely within Sterich (with possible planar adventures) I’ve been struggling with ways of making the campaign have more of a Greyhawk feel to it. I’ve considered using the remnants of the Slave Lords, but unlike the FR or Eberron settings there doesn’t seem to be a lot of material (especially in Sterich) to work with. Any ideas on how to put the “Greyhawk” in this Greyhawk campaign?

I have to say Im kinda interested in what you have planned for your game. Ive ran a d20 modern game before and I have to say the one thing that I really didnt like was the classes. Especially if you want to have spell casters at 1st level. The other thing our group encountered as a problem was that fights with mostly guns and very little melee can get boring pretty fast (as oppossed to d&d with lots of melee fighters with plenty of melee options and few ranged fighters with not so many options). I think that the advanced classes would probably mix well with standard d&d classes, but Im not so sure about the base classes. The feats trees can be replicated pretty easily with standard d&d classes and are probably always the better choice over the d20 modern base classes.The only reason I see in using the base classes and advanced classes from d20 modern would be to get some abilities that d&d dosent already have. I would defintly say that you should choose one spellcasting system either d&d or d20 modern, otherwise things might conflict a little bit (thats my own opinion,without an actual comparison of the two). The big thing about d&d and d20 modern is that they share so much in common yet I find enough little diffrences that it can make things a hectic at the table if you and your players just assume that both work the same(yet another problem area out group had). Id love to here more about the details of you game though it sounds like it would be cool.

Since your in the planning stages you could run a short adventure where the players face a zombie threat on an island facilty to playtest some options. Then get all Racoon city apocalypse on them once you have an idea of what you want and what works and what dosent. Zombies rule!

For the heroes I would also suggest using reserve points from unearthed arcana,this keeps the action going longer and negates the need for healing potions (or in one d20 modern game I ran cure light wounds eppy pen injectors!)

If your running a campaign in which the zombies infestation has caused an apocalypse then theres lots of possiblities for scavaging tech, however if the world has been in an apocalyptic state for some time now, itcould be hard to come by anything thats not primitive or a jury rigged piece of junk.

Being a zombie/RE fanboy myself, I would suggest a few things.

For the Heros
1)Unless you want to play a realistic game in which bullets kill people the go for the V/W point way. I however have found that I prefer a much more heroic action game so leave the HP as is(after all dead heros are no fun for anyone in the end).

For the Zombies
2)Just say that bullets(ballistic damage) only do 1 point of damage per shot period!
3)Damage reduction is another option DR10 or 15 for really scary zombies
4)Make it so that your zombies have a vulnerable place (head for RE type zombies)and say that only on a critcal hit or called shot to the head (say a -4 to -8 penalty)does any damage to the zombies and leave their hit points at what they should be for normal zombies.

OK Skech,

Man you sent a lot of stuff! I wasn’t expecting that many documents. I’ve decided to post some stuff on your player’s guide on this thread since I thought that if you sent it to multiple people it would be simpler for review purposes. I’ve never really reviewed stuff before so here it goes.

1) You’ve gathered quite a bit of info here, from various sources, Canonfire, Dungeon magazine the LGG and the LGJ’s this is great, and I had no idea that some of that stuff was available on the net. Also you have some interesting ideas of your own that you’ve noted. I like that you have fleshed out the towns and counties a little

2) Im a little confused if this is meant, as a player’s guide intended for player’s to gain insight into the setting and help to provide information and material for additional house rules and character background creation. Or if it is meant as a DMs guide on the setting for yourself. I say this because you mention things that players probably don’t need to know right away. None the less you have some good stuff here.

Just to give you an idea this is a rough outline of my PG and what I might want to see as a player:

Cover Page
Table of Contents
Introduction: Provides an introduction to the game
Campaign & Player Goals: States my goals as DM and requests players create goals for their PC’s
List of possible player goals: Idea generator for possible PC goals also reinforces in the player’s minds what kind of campaign I’m shooting for.

Chapter 1: History of Sterich : Provides a brief history of Sterich
Timeline of events: Point form timeline of events

Chapter 2: People of the March: Lists important people the character might know or have heard of

Chapter 3: Places of the March: Notes on places in the march
City of Istivin: Notes on the important locations in the city weapon shops, places to buy ale and magic ect.
Law in Sterich: give the players a heads up on what kind of behaviour is frowned on or illegal, so they can act accordingly
Sterich Hinterlands: Notes on important places in the march

Chapter 4: Religion, Organizations & Prestige Classes
Religion: list of religions in addition to the PH with important details.
Organizations: List of important organizations that the PC’s maybe aware of want to join ask for help or watch out for.
Prestige Classes: notes on what PrC’s I’ll allow and how I handle them.

Chapter 5: Character Creation & House Rules: basic house rules and what other books beyond the core books I allow in the game
Notes on Psionics: how psionics works in my Greyhawk.

I hope this helps.

BTW: what do you mean you use the Hero system and not d20, that’s just crazy man! I guess whatever makes you and your group happy is all that’s important in the end.

Heehee. Excellent, Smithers....

That's the kind of thing I like to hear, and has alot to do with why my own players hate me so.

Thanks for the comments and the in depth analysis on the many topics posted so far. I'm appointing you as my new PR man, P of B. I like how you explain my stuff better than how I do. :-)

I love the interest these adventures are still generating, as I think they're some of my best work (of course I had really great material to work with).

Thanks for the update, Eric. I actually remember that now that you mention it but had completely forgotten about the Hunt's association with Malar (ironic since half the stuff ever printed about Malar has to do with some hunt or other).

Skech, I'd love to take a look at your stuff and send you back a review. My only caveat is not I'm not really much of a reviewer so I have no idea if my opinions will be of any practical value or not. They could actually sum up as a "cool, I really liked it" type of thing, though I'll certainly make any suggstions that come to mind.

You can send them to me at gav3@cox.net. I'll try to get back with you within a week or so (which should be doable for me for 17 pages). I'm scanning through Ptolus right now, so I probably won't get to it immediately, though (not that I'll finish Ptolus first, but I'll probably at least finish the chapter on Jabel Shammar I've started).

Ah Ptolus, the third campaign Id love to run (#192 of 1000 on the preorder),man I need more time to game! But seriously, Im pretty psyched to run the Sterich game more than anything right now. P of B's comments on the nobility and other posts have been very insightful and helpful in the development of the campaign so far.

Ok, I looked around and didnt see anything prohibiting posting email adresses and what not. So Sketch you can send your file to zombiecowboy@hotmail and Ill take a look and post a review ASAP.Once Ive finished my SoS:PG, I'll shoot it over to you if ya like.

Savage Screen Monkey and Greg V.

I'd love to send you my Sterich Player's Gazetteer for your personal use/review/imput if you'd like. It's a "MS word" document of about 17 pages, kit-bashed from several canon and non-canon sources with my own limited twists thrown in. In other words, I worked hard on it to be thorough, but it's still bastardized where holes needed filling. It is not 100% original. i can site my sources if requested (I know them, I just didn't write them down).

My only request is that you give me a basic review and add suggestions.

Also, how do I get it to you?

Cheers

Id love to read/review your gazetteer! Im not sure what paizos site policy is on posting email adresses and other info is, otherwise I would say email it to me. If you could site your sources that would be nice in case I want to reference anything for my own campaign.

Greg V wrote:

1) The Master of the Hunt is from ancient Celtic legend which I transposed over to early Greyhawk druidism. He could be a feral aspect of Beory, a different nature god, or some demi/semi/ascended hero god that was extant at that time in Flanaess history. The only stats I have ever seen for him in D&D were in the old 1ste edition Deities & Demigods from which I borrowed the inspiration, even down to the description of the hellhounds in "Wrath of the Abyss". The Hunt is also mentioned indirectly in "Goblin Fever" in Dungeon #46 set in a generic campaign world.

After Greg posted more on the Master of the Hunt stuff, the gears started turing on how I could use all these juicy tidbits in the campaign. I actually thought that there was an intersting parallel with Malar that I found in the FR:CS.Id like to get FR:F&P especially if I decide to run an FR game oneday. Ive been debating the merits all of FR,Eberron and Greyhawk. Most likly Ill go GH, being that most of the work will already be done for me, and there will be a minimum of spicing up to do on my part.

The "Master of the Hunt" also appears in a debased form in FR5 - The Savage Frontier in the write-up of the orcs of the High Forest. I believe I included his alias in Faiths & Pantheons in the write-up of Malar.

--Eric

Greg V., I have some questions regarding timeline conflicts with your notes.

According to the Living Greyhawk Journal #1 or #2, in the Keoland article, it states that Istivin was created in CY -230. You seem to imply that Brellis Krelont was the overseerer of the March (in CY -229) until Qualtaine took over 27 years later (I thot Qualtaine was in charge from day one). In the trilogy, under the Istivin Crossing entry, Brellis Krelont disposed of the miners and was awarded "Warden" status (which I assumed was just a fluff title and an excuse for him to eat at the good table) about CY 394, "200 years ealier". Is this the same man? His descendent?

Sterich is a feudal society according to the LGG. How does a council of Barons constitute a "legislative branch" in a "feudal" government? Perhaps a council of appointed advisors would be a better term. Also, wouldn't it be made up of 6 counts and the Earl? The LGG says that Sterich is made up of 7 counties, each with 3-15 lesser baronies. I assume that the Earl runs one and that 6 Counts run the rest with Barons answering to the counts or Earl. Lord Bova, I would assume, is actually a Count and not a Baron (regardless that Baron Bova sounds cooler).

Please do not take my questions in a harsh manner. That is not my intention. I have just finished writing and compiling a 16 page gazetteer of Sterich for my own new campaign. Yes, I am one of those CANON freaks. I just wanna get it ALL and done RIGHT!!!

Thanks for sharing.

I have to admit that I was a little curious/confused about the whole baron/count aspect.

Skech,I would love to see what you have compiled for your campaign on Sterich, as well as what kind of adventures and other ideas you had planned for fleshing everything out. I have a good while before my campaign takes off the ground so I have lots of time and room to change things.Plus I just kinda love hearing about other peoples adventures and campaigns.

I never would have considered myself a canon freak before but for some reason perhaps with age I find myself like that now. Also, It makes you ask the question: What makes any campaign setting what it is. You could take stuff from anywhere and use it in your game but then is a Greyhawk game really Greyhawk if you dilluted it with stuff from Eberron or FR. This isnt a setting bashing statement just an observation, I think Eberron and FR are cool settings too. I just find myself becoming more an more enthralled with Greyhawk, perhaps because of a lack of published material, or because its what the bulk of the classic D&D material was spawned from? I Dunno...

SSM--IRT your comment about relationship of historical reality to fantasy:

I see the history of our world, along with mythology, ethnography, religious studies, etc., as a source of inspiration that helps to fill some of the gaps left by imaginative, fantastic world-building and create a sense of verisimilitude that the FRPG otherwise lacks. Unless you're playing in a steam punk or six-guns and sorcery type setting, a lot of the assumptions we have about how the campaign milieu operates are based on medieval or "pre-modern" societies that we know of from history. Doesn't mean we have to be slaves to history, but keep in mind that history (or what might be called antiquarianism) can be a useful stimulus to the imagination.

Of course sometimes that means research, which may be as difficult as making things up whole cloth--but never underestimate the usefulness of our collective knowledge on the boards.

Once again great point PoB,I probably should have elaborated on that comment more. What I was really shooting at in that post was for more along t he lines of how people argue the actual physics of the D&D world (The game mechanics and other rules) should be a mirror reflection of how the "rules" of our own world has worked past present and future. For example, hit points dont acuratly reflect how some one getting injured in a fight in real life would work or how much damage ceratin weapons deal compared to their real life counterparts ect.

Ive discovered its alot easier to express what Im saying through actual speach as oppossed to posting it on these boards sometimes.

Greg V wrote:

More answers...

15) I don't know where you got the name Avestane from. I don't recall seeing it, but it may be from some other source.

Isle of Avenstane LGG, page 151 under the Davish River entry.

Hope this clears up any "canon" concerns.

Cheers

Thanks! it was really starting to anoy me that I couldnt remeber where I found that tidbit.I looked everywhere except in the LGG,figures it would be there.

Thanks Greg, all this stuff is great!

A few questions:

Is the Master of the Wild Hunt a Greyhawk thing or was this of your own design? Is it like some ferral version of Beory? I've never played or DM'd a Greyhawk campaign before and I find that its really difficult to find out things about the world sometimes. And then when you do some of the sources conflict about this or that, which then leaves it up to you as the DM to choose which is fact and wich is fiction.I find this to be a real pain sometimes.

As for the dates and time line, when you wrote the backdrop article on Istvin what was the current date 594CY or what. Because Im getting conflicting dates while I try to compile the history of the area.

Another thing Ive discovered about Greyhawk is that during the Pre Suel-Baklunish migration there was alot of history and ancient history that occured, and is not part of cannon anywhere.This probably means that I could create whole cloth alot stuff that happened and even tie it all in with the Malgoth somehow.

Nobility--It was typical for medieval/early modern rulers to have an office in charge of keeping track of patents of nobility. England and Scotland, for example, had (well, actually still have) heraldic colleges, which kept track of the genealogies of all families with a claim to noble rank, along with the heraldic devices they were entitled to use, etc. They probably also at one point kept track of the estates and other sources of revenue each noble house had been granted by the king. Sterich probably has some sort of heraldic college, but its archives were most likely destroyed (at least partially) during the giants' occupation of Istivin. This makes it easy to forge patents of nobility and pass them off as "the family copy" of the patent. The surviving heralds may be a bit senile or suffer from madness since the giants were evicted, making it hard to refute such claims. Alternatively, fortune seekers look around for manors or castles that haven't been reoccupied, and then create genealogical documents to establish their claim as legitimate heirs ("I'm the former baron's second cousin once removed. Alas, his only son perished in exile, leaving the estate to me.") Zone of truth, etc. might detect such falsehoods, but presumably there are magical countermeasures that can be taken. Nondetection, anyone? [Presumably there are some even more effective spells specifically designed to foil "lie detector" divination spells--if they're not in the spell compendium, someone should invent them.]

Shahng--remember, the weapons master in the third adventure in the Istivin trilogy? She was on the cover of Dungeon. My party set her free after she agreed to show them the underdark route back to Istivin. The paladin was not happy, but he had to cut a deal or risk not making it back in time to stop the Malgoth. Yes, Shahng is a cool NPC with great potential.

Headless--Spoilers!

this adventure is animated by a Derro loremaster's attempt to feed souls to Orcus in order to bring him to the...

You make and very good point and provide some interesting details in regards to the nobility question. I always hesitate to use real world history in D&D, which I guess in kind of silly in that there are a plethora of parallels between the two. I’ve always hated those arguments in which people argue well this is how things work in real life so that’s exactly how it should work in a magic infused fantasy realm, but that’s for a different thread. In the future I think I will take this a lesion to do some historical research into what equates to relatively mundane topics.

In regards to Shahng, Whoops! I guess I should have read the adventures better. Man do I feel dumb for not seeing that.

About the “Headless” adventure, I know that as DM I should modify things and adapt adventures but sometimes I feel weird about modifying “canon”. For instance in the original GDQ series part of Istivin is covered by Lolths bubble when I first read this I thought man that’s stupid! But Greg went ahead and rolled with it and came out with a really cool concept for a campaign. So now in retrospect I think the whole Lolths bubble thing while kinda weird when I first read it, is now kinda cool. So I always wonder when I should modify stuff and when I shouldn’t.

In addendum to my last post Im also waiting for Dungeon#89 thats being shipped with Dungeon #96 so that I can check out the Headless adventure and see how it could work into the campaign.

As I mentioned before, I wanted to structure the campaign around the concept of the AP series, that is 12 adventures that take the characters from levels 1-20. Outlined below is the basis of the framework for the campaign. Most of it is based on the adventure seeds culled from the Istivin Trilogy (Dungeon Magazine # 117-119) and the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer.

Shadows over Sterich Outline

1) Levels 1-3: “Enemy at the Gates”, An introductory adventure to Sterich and Istivin the characters meet at the Javan gates waiting to gain entry into the city. During this waiting period they have chance to get to know each other and forge the bonds of friendship in a combat encounter that occurs at roughly the same time. In order to keep the group together after the fight, the group is invited by a noble or someone to join them for dinner, at which time they are given an opportunity to work for the noble. Out of all the adventures in the campaign this is the one that I’m having the most trouble with as I want the PC’s to naturally come together out of circumstance as opposed to just saying okay you guys are a group here’s the adventure.

2) Levels 3-5: “The Society of the Vigil” In this adventure the PC’s go up against the society of the vigil, the madness of the Malgoth has tainted the minds of many in the city.
And its up to the hero’s to get to the bottom of who and what the society of the vigil is and put a stop to them.

3) Levels 5-7: “Its Alchemical my Dear!” The hero’s require a special alchemical substance that can only be found at the Kragmere School of alchemy, when they arrive at the academy they discover its been taken over by goblin raiders, after defeating the goblin raiders they learn that the alchemical substance they require has been strangely taken by the goblins back to their layer in the Stark Mounds. After defeating the goblins in their layer they return to Istivin with the substance and complete the mission that required the substance in the first place.

4) Levels 7-9: “Pandemonium in the Veins” This adventure is from Dungeon #96, I haven’t read it yet (but it’s in the mail), If it works well I will use it mostly because I really wanted to use the Circus (location #19, Dungeon #117). It seemed like this was an appropriate level to place the adventure based on the NPCs and Monsters found at the location.

5) Levels 9-10: “And Madness Followed” This adventure is from Dungeon #134. I’m not sure if I will actually put this into the campaign arc. I’ve considered it for the following reasons. A) I love the Cthulhu Mythos, B) It kind of follows the theme of madness/ horror that I want to evoke in the campaign. C) it fits in the spot of the framework of the campaign as far character levels go. If I use it, the adventure will probably require a certain amount of modification to fit properly. I’m hesitant to use it because I feel that it just comes out of left field as continuity goes. Maybe I’m wrong here.

6) Levels 10-11: “Touch of the Abyss” Dungeon #117
7) Levels 11-12: “Shadows of the Abyss” Dungeon # 118
8) Levels 12-13: “Wrath of the Abyss” Dungeon # 119

I think that these three speak for themselves for obvious reasons, as they forum the backbone of the entire campaign.

9) Levels 13-15: “Verbane’s Gambit” I’m not sure what I planed on doing at this point I was mostly thinking that the PC’s have made a huge enemy of Verbane as threats to his taking the reigns of power from the marchioness. At this point he would take make his play to take over the city, if not control over the entirety of the Marchlands and take out the hero’s at the same time. In retrospect it would probably make sense if the Malgoth entity, after his defeat at the hero’s hands, tried and succeeded in taking possession of Verbane making him a true for to be reckoned with!

10) Levels 15-17: At this point I would run either “The Chapel of Time” An adventure inspired by the chapel of time encounter site/adventure seed found in Dungeon #118 or ”The Harrowing” by Monte Cook (Dungeon # 84). The Harrowing is cool; it has lots of interesting encounters and other stuff in it but like “And Madness Followed” it feels to me as if it just jumps out of left field and doesn’t follow the campaign continuity. To make it work I was considering making the drow house of Tormtor loyal to Laveth. Running the Harrowing would be easier than creating an entirely new adventure. If I where to create the Chapel of Time adventure I was thinking along the line of the PC’s needing to recover some relic or stopping the fiendish devil worshippers (perhaps related to the Malgoth) from accomplishing some vile ritual or both. Still lots to work to do on this adventure if I decide to take this route.

11) Levels 17-19: My notes list this as an adventure based on some kind of drow plot possibly in regards to the Elder Elemental Eye and House Tormtor, or and Assault on the Vault of the Drow. I could possibly place the Harrowing or the Chapel of Time adventure here.

12) Levels 19-20: Here also my notes are vague as all I have at this point it Davish Headwaters and the “Azure Prince” This is one area that I really want to build an adventure around its just to mysterious and cool not to. Also, because it was the only other major thing of note in the LGG it seems too pertinent to be left out. As far as the Azure Prince is concerned I’m still trying to come up with an interesting concept for what exactly he or it is. I don’t really want to use the cliché of Ogre magi or a Blue Dragon, although I had considered using a Barghest when I was going to place this as a lower level adventure. Now that I have FC I: Hordes of the Abyss I was considering making him the Demon Lord Fraz-Urb’luu searching for his staff which he believes is hidden somewhere in the Sterish Marchlands specifically the Davish headwater mines, again here I feel as if all of a sudden the campaign takes a major swing from the natural flow of things.

That’s pretty much the outline of the campaign to date. Of course I want the PC’s to be able to accomplish some of their own campaign goals so the adventure levels will be adjusted accordingly and should make room for some minor side treks based on the PC’s personal agendas. Of course I won’t know what those are until we start playing when ever that may be (I’ve got a long time to go before my turn to DM come around, and then I have to decide Shadows over Sterich or Savage Tides.)

So while I’ve been reading up on stuff and reviewing the trilogy material, as I like to call it, I’ve come up with more esoteric questions, I just wanted to reiterate how thankful I am for everyone’s input on the subject. It’s been encouraging, insightful and overall fun to read with all the humorous remarks and what not.

It seems to me on reflection that if the campaign requires a theme, that theme is going to need to revolve around the machinations of the Malgoth. In that vein, I think that one of the overarching themes should be the horror/madness of the Malgoth in addition to the Malgoth’s goals.

In addition here are some more questions:

13) Those people that illegitimately assume the title of barons and other noble titles, would they be more inclined to take a pre-existing noble families name or would they come up with some sort of forged documents saying that their related to so and so through whatever line. It seems to me that magic would make it relatively easy to discover who was lying and who wasn’t.

14) On the Istivin Hinterlands map there’s a manor location called the Bova Estate, and also a village called Bova. I assume that the Bovas are nobles most likely barons, was there anything that you had written about this location that got cut out the material?

15) There’s an island in the middle of the Davish river and the Javan River that has a keep/tower on it (according to the map), I believe it’s called the “Isle of Avenstane” although I cant now find out where I found that information because I didn’t write the source down in my notes. Is this place apart of Keoland or Sterich? Is there any more info on it somewhere?

16) In the post above in regards to the druidic faith, would those druids worship Beory or some other Greyhawk nature deity? Or was this something of your own design? How well could material found in the Twilight Tomb adventure be adapted to the stone circles/druidic order/Malgoth entity in the campaign?

17) Who is this “Shahng” NPC that Antithesis is referring to if its something a player in the Shackled City or Age of Worms AP isn’t supposed to know about don’t tell me as I’m a player in both of those campaigns.

Man I sure ask a lot of questions, I really hope I’m not being a pest.

...shoo! Parden me I was brushing all of those pesky Logues and Petts off of my thread.

Well I look Forward all your adventures in the Savage Tides AP. Fianally I have my own AP that I can read and DM instead of be at the whimsical fancy of my megalomaniac DM's (we rote between about three or four of us.

as to the stone circles, those tie into a druidic tradition in Sterich's distant past before it was Sterich and would still serve as holy places for druids today. Most of the material alluding to the druidic past ended up being cut, but it had connections to both the Promontory and the unsual wolf statues at the city gates which are actually far older than the city or the country even.

What happens to all the cool stuff that gets cut for what ever reasons deemed needed by the editor. Will it ever see the light of day? Is it possible that things like that could be compiled into some sort of PDF or a freedownload or whatever makes the most viable senes?

As to the Druidic order, I suspected that this was the case, however I didnt make the conection with the wolves at the gate.Defintaly something cool to think about working out as a full blown adventureor at least a side trek.

I always feel when Im working on an adventure of my own design like Im missing something key.I feel like okay heres the idea of a plot I work out a few details a build a frame work, yet it still feels as if somethings arnt smoothly connected like you would find in a published adventure.

As far as this campaign is concerned, I feel like I dont have a proper theme nailed down. After I started playing in the Shackled City AP, I said to myself why did I never think of organizing a campign this way. A series of 12 adventures makes so much sense in a logistical/organizational manner. So while Im making room for side quests and a chance for player's to expand and play out their characters goals, I want this campaign to be more than just a series of adventures that happen in Istivin and Sterich. I want some sort of overarching plot brewing in the background, and while a few unrelated advetures is fine, over all at the end the player's are like "Oh, okay now I get it!"
One of the problems that I've encountered is that the Malgoth while he may not have much power in the begining of the campaign,once the trilogy begins he really dominates the campaign. Once the palyers defeat him and the "Taint" clears about the city, anything after that seems almost peanuts. I dont really like the idea of sending a message to my player's saying that okay now that the looming threat has been defeated your role has become your basic drow/orc/giant hunters. If this makes any sense to anyone, do you have any thoughts or comments. Perhaps I expect to much from/for the campaign, or maybe Im just not seeing things clearly.

I must say that it’s extremely cool that Greg, Erik, and Richard have chimed in on this thread. You guys rock. I would say that the three of you along with James Jacobs and company have been one of the major reasons that I ordered a subscription to Dungeon and Dragon. Your efforts at putting out great adventures and articles in the magazines have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. I certainly hope that one day we will see a true, and updated Greyhawk setting, and that if we do it will be because of great writers such as you. I think that the rivalry between Greg and Richard is awesome; it makes reading these boards pretty fun sometimes.

I really appreciate the quick responses to my questions, and for taking the time to answer them. You have all help have help immensely and when I get this campaign off the ground it’s going to be great. I do have some more questions though (I write them down as they come up in my campaign notebook)

7) How does Istivin’s Council of Barons work?

8) I read in some of the old posts that there may be a follow up adventure to the Malgoth abyssal entity. Is this going to happen sometime in the near future? If so, that would be very cool, and Im sure Im not the only one that thinks that.

9) Is there a list of the Ranks of nobility in the world of Greyhawk, specifically for Sterich or Keoland somewhere. For instance the LGG states that Querchard gets promoted from Earl to Marquis by King Skotti. This type of detail seems kind of important in a city of feuding, backstabbing nobility, no?

10) On the city map of Istivin location # 21: Ancient Stone Circle. What’s the deal with these stone circles is it just me or do they appear all over Greyhawk, What is or was there purpose.

11) I downloaded the supplemental material for Dungeon issues #117-119, but when I tried to cut and paste the city and Hinterland maps for the player’s guide I’ve been working on none of the words would come with it. Am I doing something wrong here? How do I fix this problem?

12) I was thinking of incorporating the Scarlet brotherhood and Iuz into the campaign somehow, mostly because I think there interesting bad guys and also because I want to try and give this a very Greyhawk flavour. Is this a good route to go as far as supersizing the Greyhawk aspect or are there better avenues to explore first.

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate your comments!

Ps. Sorry for the set back with richard, Will I be able to make it up to you by buying youre new module from WotC? heh hehe

I just ordered the back issues of Dungeon 94 and 96. I really look forward to reading the "Headless" adventure. In working on the campign that I've titled Shadow over Sterich (not original at all,I know)I've really been mining the Istivin Trilogy adventures and backdrop article for everything I can and trying to sort everything into smaller adventure sized bites froming a coherent campaign with the Istivin Trilogy being a strong backbone for it. One of my goals is to use the material presented to create my own adventures. Unfortunatly this is somthing that I have little experince doing on my own. I've created little one shots and the stereotypical run of the mill adventures, but I figure that if I use the adventure seeds presented in Dungeon it would be like taking some baby steps into the big grand world of adventure design. I will be using and adapting other Dungeon adventures for the campaign, but I dont really want to string them together to form a campaign if I can help it. I feel as if the campaign loses some of its focus that way. At least thats been my expirence in the past.

Wow!
I wasn’t expecting a response so fast, especially one from Mr. Pett! Just to let you know your Styes adventure kicks ass! Currently the other DM of the Squeegee Clan (the name of our gaming group) is running it for us and it’s been a blast. To see more antics of the Squeegee Clan see the Shackled City: Company of the Copper Coin in the campaign journals section of the message boards.

Thanks for the reply on question #4, I,ll check that out. I also have some more questions I just thought up. So in addition to the above:

5) In Dungeon #118 in the DM notes its says that Pelman Drudd has a veritable army of Wild Coast mercenaries working for him. Aside from the location of the Wild Coast what constitutes a Wild Coast mercenary and what makes them so special.

6) Is there any more info on Sterich aside from the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer?

And thanks again all, and keep up the great work Richard

Currently I have been hard a work trying to create a campaign set in Sterich, with the Istivin trilogy from Dungeon issues #117-119. I have never played the original modules that the trilogy is based on but have read them a little. I have a few questions that I was hoping could be answered from the excellent people that post on these boards, maybe even from Mr. Greg the Man Vaughan himself.

1) In the conclusion of “Wrath of the Abyss” Dungeon #119 Mr. Vaughan states that Monte Cook’s the Harrowing from Dungeon #84 could be a great springboard to continue the drow plot in Sterich. What is the best way to incorporate this adventure as it seems after reading it that it would require a significant amount of changes to make it all make sense in the end.
2) Is there any published source that reveals who or what the “Azure Prince” is that controls the Mines at the Davish Headwaters, or has this adventure seed been left intentionally vague so that DM’s can do as they please. I have ideas to expand on this, however if something has been done on this already it could save me a lot of effort.
3) In Dungeon issue #117, In the Istivin: City of Shadows article Location #15: The Old Livery is this place an Inn as well as a stables or did adventurers just sleep in the stalls? Is that still the case today? Are there any suggestions of how I could incorporate the Livery and especially the finding of the Axe of the Keeper into an adventure?
4) I also wanted to use Location #19: the Circus in an adventure and am not exactly sure how to proceed with an adventure based on this, except that of the kidnapping of someone important and the PC’s looking into it, but that seems kinda clichéd, especially since there seems to be quite the long list of kidnappings and disappearances in the city already.

That’s all I can think of right now, I have quite a few notes and have read the message boards here on all that I could find. I look forward to your responses and will post with more as it comes to me.

It would be nice if the DM could throw his own spin on events in the campaign. Even if he can only post every two weeks.Perhaps we need to give our DM an incentive to get the campign rolling at a decent pase again.

On another note,it would appear that the people on these boards think our campaign journal is boring.Maybe we should start a thread about the merits of Greyhawk vs. Ebberon so we can get that psycho Takasi to show up. One almost wonders if hes paid by wizards or Keith Baker to promote the setting.

Let the flame war begin!

Memoirs of the Monkey Mage: Ander Aslaxin

Many would have you believe that being born with blue blood running through your veins ensures a life of comfort and having everything that your heart desires presented to you on a silver platter. Allow your humble narrator to assure you that, while being of noble birth does have its perks, one must still work hard to survive in the cut throat arena of courtiers and gentry that would give even the legendary drow a run for their money.

Being born the second son to lord Zachary Aslaxin the first does not provide for a very good start. Living in the shadow of my older brother Zachary the second, has long driven me to out do him in every possible way (which I have, if I may say so myself). So when Zach II decided to run off with that Taskerhill bird and create the Stormblades, I decided that I would not allow him to steal the spotlight away from me further. Thus, I began my quest to locate my missing friend and associate Peron Alos, from the Bluecrater Academy. That was when I met up with some like-minded individuals also seeking some missing city folk. Later, in the ruins of Jzadirune we came upon the name for our adventuring company, which was dubbed the Company of the Copper Coin. That’s a story I’ll leave to Torrek Spellmason though. While the name isn’t as cool as the Stormblades, (Score one point there brother) at least it has meaning to it.

Later on I find love at the Demonskar ball that my family hosted. This was a great night not only did Torrek give my brother a walloping (Score 1 Ander), but also Lady Thifrane Rhiavaldi and I begin our courtship (score 2 Ander). One word of advice when one is in a relationship. Scrying on someone, even ones you love can have disastrous consequences (don’t ask, just trust me on that).

After rescuing Zenith Splitter Shield from that awful Koa Toan Shrine deep in the under-oerth a number of interesting events occurred. The first was when we unfortunately had Zenith held prisoner-awaiting transport back to his father in the Malachite fortress (which is now being converted by Dagmar Anvilheart into a fabulous church to Clangaddin). In the middle of the night we where attacked by a crazy Derro sorcerer named Kravichak who turned both Gwydion into a toad and myself into a monkey. It was after that upon reflecting about how monkeys kept appearing (the Lucky Monkey, which I now partly own with Gwydion, Tongue Eater, ect.) as if some sort of omen that I decided to take the moniker of Monkey mage. The second event was quite funny. Penelope Little sprout, company rouge, was taking a little walk through Cauldron (or so she claims) and came upon the Stormblades discussing their plans. After when Zach II and which ever girlfriend he was with at the time (he gets around I’ll tell you) where er, busy Penelope made off with his pants and some other items, and then took his pants and ran them up the town squares flag pole (score 3 Ander, 1 Zach II).

Today, after spending much time trying to rescue Sir Alex Tercival, and prevent a massacre at Redgorge we are now lost gods nowhere in the blasted Sea of Dust. I can’t say that I like what the Suloise have done to the place.

When we publish Greyhawk material, our sales go up.

Period.

All of this anecdotal google stuff is interesting, but it's not what we base our business decisions on.

--Erik

I love Rpgs,it dosent matter what. It could be GH,Eberron,FR, or any of the tons of other D&D and non-D&D (Vampire ,Cthulhu, ect.) settings. So my question to Paizo is: Since it seems that you guys love Greyhawk so much(At least Erik Mona seems to), how come we havent seen any GH licensed products from you? This of course is not counting the liberally GH sprinkeled APs. Is it WotC that is holding you back, or is it a lack of finacial return, or both?

It's my understanding that WotC does not see GH as part of its business strategy anymore. I find this sad, because I and it seems to me many like minded people would love to have an updated,beautifully rendered copy of the GH setting. Is Paizo the last hope for the continuation of a D&D legacy or is that to much to ask?

Torrents of Dread works fine as a prequel to Savage Tide, especially since it doesn't really let the PCs experience the "bad" part of the island. Savage Tide takes place about 2 years after the events of Torrents of Dread, in any event.

I think its rather ironic that ST takes place two years after the ToD adventure since thats about the time Ill get a chance to run it in the first place. Curently I'm a player in the Shackled city campaign (Almost finished the Demon Skar Legacy),and after that I will a player in the Age of worms AP with a diffrent DM. So I have the time to prepare,get the issues and the hopefully the hardcover (fingers crossed for that).

I plan on running the STAP in the future, so I was wondering if it would give away to much, or conflict in some way with the AP if I were to run the Torrents of Dread adventure from Dungeon 114. I would run this as sort of a prequel to the actual AP, with the players playing diffrent characters than what they would actually create for the AP itself.

If the answer is yes this is a good idea, is there any suggestions to improve on or add to the adventure itself.

Aquatic themes are all over Savage Tide like stink on a monkey. There will be many points where you'll need to cast water breathing, but none of the adventures will be completely underwater. The most I anticipate at this time is that one of the adventures might be half underwater. Of course, we've only got a couple of adventures in so far, so anything can change if one of our authors comes up with a cool plot twist.

Since it seems obvious that aquatic themes will be prevalent, how helpful/useful/prevalent would the stormwrack sourbook be for the STAP?

As an aside: How interested would people be in seeing some affiliations tailor made for an Adventure Path?

I have to say that as a player currently in the shackled city campaign,the litle options that players can choose to take (like nobility which my character took)has greatly enhanced play for my fellow players and myself at the table. So to have affiliations tailored to Savage tides, which I plan to run in the future would be a warmly welcomed idea.