So, I bought the Guide to Darkmoon Vale and already had D0: Hollow's Last Hope. I'm thinking about running a mini-campaign in the vale but I don't want to go Kobold King for the remaining adventures so I'll be making up some of my own based on some hooks tossed around in the guide.
My discussion though comes from the lack of info on some finer points from the guide. The insert map has all kinds of roads and trails crisscrossing it but none of them have proper names and there's no info on how good they are for travel. Also the whole Darkmoon Plain has me confused. On the map there's these orange spots representing "geothermal activity" but not all of them are spelled out some I'm wondering what to put there. Also is the plain really a plain, or is it more like rolling hills, some of which are high ridges, covered with scrub, small groves of trees and wild growth?
Please help me understand Darkmoon Vale before I start running a game there.
the simple answer is the vale is whatever you want it to be. in regards to the geothermal activity biy. droskars crag is a volcanoe this means that there is geolgical activity in the area that did something soecific in the case of the volcanoe but other areas likely has just made the ground "hot" in rl terms this can be anything from hot springs to geysers to pools of sulfer.
if the book doesnt e,plain anything then simply put whatever you want. the other books seem to imply there are peridic earthquakes that open cracks revealing stuff undergound for example.
i really like the forest encounters for d0 d1 d1.5 so far krktoblag has been a hit for both games i have run.
Reading through the fluff for Olfden I found
There was a town called Northsap up the road apiece from Olfden that was abandoned a little over a century ago. The buildings were well made though and the bones of the town are still largely intact, so the ruins are often used by bandits, evil humanoids or monsters. Such squatters are periodically flushed out by the Eagle Knights but they don't do it themselves; they hire out to mercenaries and adventurers
I figured rather than start in Falcon's Hollow (since my players have already run a modified D0 I did in another campaign) I thought I'd have the party start out as agents of the Eagle Knights. From the insert map it looks like soldiers have towers scattered all around the land, so I thought maybe have other missions be concerns of other towers.
I hadn't thought too far in advance to decide if this means the characters themselves eventually become Eagle Knights but it may come to that. The main plot for the first few levels was just to get the characters established in the vale.
But the reason for my thread is the more I conceptualized the more I realized I have no idea what's happening in Darkmoon Plain. Droskar's Crag and Darkmoon Wood are well documented and I can picture them in my head and there's enough info on Perin's Bluff and Olfden as well as the Arthfell to get an image of them. But right in the middle of the map there's this big blob of green mottled with other blobs of orange and not a ton of info.
I've found myself hunting Bing for images of mud pots; with no info on how the roads work I've been trying to extrapolate from travel rates through the woods in D0; based on medieval demographics and logic I suppose there might be some other villages, hamlets and thorps too small to be on the map but close to these roads even though the only info I get from the guide is "[the plains] are sparsely settled".
For example: specifically to my point in the spoiler, there's a symbol on the maps showing "Large Ruins" and another for "Small Ruins". The ruins in the spoiler get a fairly impressive write up twice in the guide but looking at the map they are not located at all. I know I can just make it up but I was wondering if there was some insight other users of the guide had before I start designing.
So, no one else has tips on Darkmoon Vale?
So, no one else has tips on Darkmoon Vale?
Mark - I do!
I'm currently running a game in Darkmoon Vale. I've already run LB1: Into the Haunted Forest, and next session the Level 2 characters are entering Falcon's Hollow.
From that point on I am using D0 & D1 as inspiration, but greatly changing things.
I'm really playing up the fey vs. lumberjack thing (to foreshadow Carnival of Tears and Realm of the Fellnight Queen), but my players really wanted to be treasure-seekers so I am also introducing some new sites for them based on the Guide to DMV. When I have time, I'll elaborate. I'm also going to post up a Campaign Journal at some point.
... I am also introducing some new sites for them based on the Guide to DMV. When I have time, I'll elaborate. I'm also going to post up a Campaign Journal at some point.
I'd be very interested for this. I'm essentially making up Northsap ruins from scratch. Looking at the map and what I'd assume to be major trading routes versus uninhabited wilderness I'm ruling most of "roads" drawn across the plains to be nothing more than winding tracks followed by rangers and occasional horse-drawn turnip carts.
Also based on RL medieval agriculture and wilderness usually arable land is settled between every 5-10 miles. Based on that and the fact that the guidebook says the plain is largely uninhabited but still boasts some settlements, plus the fact that SOMEONE has to be using these "roads" to justify them being on the map, I'm dotting the landscape roughly every 10-15 miles along the roads with a village, thorp or hamlet so small it doesn't show up on the map. These can be anything from a simple roadside inn and shrine to Desna to a full-blown agrarian barony in the middle of the wilds.
As far as the game goes I want to play up the fey but also wolves and werewolves with a look towards using a werewolf cabal as a villain. As far as an overarching plot goes I'm thinking along the lines of a kidnapped druid gives up to the werewolf pack something about an artifact that will replenish the trees of the Arthfell.
I think its coming along but I'd still like others' experience so I'm not completely reinventing the wheel.
Mojorat has the beginning of a good idea. I'd throw in a cult of Mhar (They're not evil! Just misunderstood!)
Mark - Very Cool idea. I love the idea of multiple factions the PCs may have to align with then fight.
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I'm definitely turning the Droskar's Crucible into a place for dark druids and werewolfs, but they are a bit more of a one off in my campaign.
Main components of my campaign are:
1. Heroes are treasure-seekers. SO I've turned the Calendar of the Ancients into dwarven ruins that served as a university/astronomy lab of sorts. However, housed deep within it is a prison for some duergar locked in stasis. Through plumbing the depths, the PCs release these dudes who are bent on raising what they call the Mithril Thaumaturge - a dwarf locked away for daring to challenge the 1st king of the dwarves (rough outline).
So, they will be contending with an evil they released. (Thus the prison beneath Droskar's Crucible has nothing to do with the Whispering Tyrant, but instead the Mithril Thaumaturge - the 1st of 5 seals needed broken. And, I've never had a dwarf BBEG.
2. The fey vs. lumber consortium. A way for Kreed to pay and ingratiate himself to the heroes, because . . .
3. Kreed as a someone who wants to sell out to Cheliax so he can claim all of Darkmoon Vale as his 'barony.'
A lot of plates to juggle, but I like campaigns with stuff going on in a bit of sandbox way.
So your guys are treasure-seeker types; where are they selling their loot? Are they using Falcon's Hollow as their base of operations? How do you handle travel (calculate times, handwave, something in between)? How much involvement will the Eagle Knights/Diamond Regiment have in all this?
From what I gather the Eagle Knights and their Diamond Regiment do more than just march around towers, ride horses and smile. For example both groups (without TOO much of a spoiler) supports covert operations. Based on this fluff, if its used in a Darkmoon Vale campaign, you might easily say that these knights have a handle on the volatile political situation.
I'm really leaning more and more into having the knights utilize the PCs in my campaign as a sort of Mission: Impossible group. They're free to pursue their own interests but every once in a while they will be called up for a mission. During these excursions they will have access to other resources officially off the books from the Eagle Knights. Of course should things go south while the PCs are on a job for the Regiment they will be disavowed and left hanging. However success at these jobs means certain boons are delivered to them under the table; money, contacts, research materials and accommodations might all fall under this broad umbrella.
This setup would allow for a certain amount of sandbox play while also handing out the occasional railroad that keeps the party dialed into the overall stuff going on in the vale.
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Here are some things I did with that area.
0.) I started my campaign in Olfden, during the Night of the Night of Silver Blood. There, the PCs fight some wolfs and a weake version of a Werewolf and also met Ingrid Odeber, who became a friend and ally during the campaign.
1.) I decided, that Ulizmilla is still alive, but absend. I made her a friend and alley of the fey of the woods.
Kreed managed to kidnap her (with the help of some Red Mantis assissins) and took her hostage in his manor's cellars.
It is said, that Kreed pays huge sums to keep him safe, and I figured that I could use the Red Mantis for this.
Kreed captured Ulizmilla to blackmail the fey of the wood, so that the attacks on his workers stopped. As I made Ulizmilla a strong alley and very good friend of the queen Syntira, that works for now...
2.) The fox, which get's encountered in D0, Encouner B (p.6) is actually Ulizmilla's familiar. The group rescued it and nursed it back to health. It was the fox, which led them to Kreed-manor, where they figured out, that something's going on in there.
3.) In the cellar of Kreed-manor Ulizmilla was imprisoned and guarded by a bearded devil, which was a "present" of Baron Vendikon, with whom Kreed is trying to figure out, how to ship the wood from the forest to Cheliax. Which also ties in to the LB1-Module (Tower of the Last Baron).
In this cellar was also a heavily guarded door, which couldn't be opened, and which I might use later on for some Snakefolk-stuff, or Nar-Voth stories.
4.) At one point, the group meet a guy called Adivion Adrissant (from the Carrion Crown AP), who was visiting the area, because of the legend of a seal of the Whispering Tyrant. He has been the guys, who brought Merlokrep back to undead life.
I did this, because I plan to incorporate part 3 of the Carrion Crown AP (Broken Moon, AP #45) into my Darkmoon Vale campaign.
5.) More plans:
a)Once Ulizmilla is free, the fey start attacking the workers again and go crazy (Carnival of Tears).
b)Kreed is furious with the PCs and sends Red Mantis after them (in my campaign I had the luck, that the mother of one PC was secretly a Red Mantis, and so I decided that she got contracted to kill the group, which made up some awesome roleplaying moments).
c) Finally, I plan on an all-out war between the Lumber consortium and the fey, which might awaken Darathyxl, who might finally burn Falcon Hollow to the ground, in order to bring "peace" back to his kingdom...
Dryder,
I like what you've done w/your storyline incorporating so many elements of the setting. Will you have the PCs interacting at all with the baron in Piren's Bluff or anything? I'm wondering about mundane details also like travel rates and stuff you may have made up for the geothermal activity in the plains (if at all).
I'm thinking of having a little side encounter as the PCs are headed to the ruins from Olfden. As they're traveling on the map where I'm GUESSING Northsap's ruins are (since they're not actually located on the map) there's this huge orange blob with no info about it other than it is "geothermal activity".
When I did d 0 d1 d1.5 and d5 before my players enjoyed it, there was really only one issue. With no follow up module being presented with a broken seal of tar baphon's prison leaves things with alot of tantalizing information but at that point everything int he DM's court. At the time i didnt feel comfortable trying to write out an entire thing to defeat him. (although i did have the 3.5 mini adventure complete with maps and his stats with his mummy consort)
Therese alot of usable stuff in the d0 modules even if you dont run them, so far every encounter with Kurktoblag ive done has been a hit, and i plan to introduce his wife when they run d1.5
But what to do with the whole of the Vale? What i came up with likely wont work for the OP as its centered around the d modules but making parts of the story more coherent in regards to a longer story.
When i ran it before one of the players decided that a cursed item needed to be taken back to the fires that forged it (Ie like the one ring, except Droskar's crag plays the role of mount doom).
I also noticed that re-reading the story glintaxe was looking for an artifact related to droskar (though as of this writing i cant remember what it is)
Anyhow tie that all in with the fact that there is a Dragon inside the volcano with something /really/ valuable to dwarves and we have the seeds for a whole adventure.
Also, the new towns book suggests that not onl might Uzmila return but theres at least one other hag in the area, which provides for more either bbeg minions or mini bosses.
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It's cool to read all those ideas, because this gives me even more material and thoughts in which directions to develop this setting.
Mark,
my players decided to show those contracts between Kreed and Vendikon, which they've found in Kreed manor, to Ingrid Odeber. She was the one, to send them to Piren's Bluff because of this, so as to start the module.
The ruins of Northsap came into play, when my players had to flee Falcon's Hollow during a stormy night. They crossed the river east of Falcon's Hollow and during the night happened unto the ruins, which they only knew stories of.
I had them met a barghest there, which was very creepy. I played the whole scene out as a ghost town, whith a creaking wooden door somewhere, and sniffing noises which suddenly developed into a deep, angry crowl (the barghest).
Another thing I did, so as to be able to send my players all around Golarion: It is said, that in Elara's ruins (the orphanage) there's only a cellar left. In this cellar I placed a magical door (of which only Ulizmilla knew how to open it) which leads into the Short Ways (from the Wheel of Time RPG). I like the concept of that idea and wanted to incorporate that into "my" Golarion. After the Starstone struck the world, the Short Ways started to fall apart and are pretty dangerous now.
Also, in Kreeds cellar, in his office, they've found a compas, which seems to be broken, as it points always into the same direction which is not north. Whenever the PCs investigate this any further, the compas will lead them to the ruin of a flying city, and I might use the Crucible of Chaos module for this.
Another thought I had that doesn't rely on the usual modules
There's a blurb in the guide about a red dragon that plays in one of the noted geothermal spots in the plains called Draonspring; a hot springs with weird colors from the metal deposits in it. The blurb says the dragon comes and bathes then flies away to the southeast. What if it didn't leave the vale?
Recent explorers and soldiers on the trail out of Olfden that passes the ruins of Northsap have noted that a pall of mist has begun to seep out of the ancient lava plug tor in the shadow of which the town was built. The countryside around Northsap is already a dreary moor dotted with copses of fir and spruce, but the vapor adds a level of fear and mystery many have found irresistible. Kobold raids throughout the plains have kept the Diamond Regiment from investigating further but a few adventurous souls have gone to Norhsap; few have returned.
They speak of kobolds in the ruins. Worse yet they say that the town has begun to repair itself, as if it is growing back within the mist just as the trees surrounding it have slowly returned. Many now suspect the place to be haunted.
The reality is that kobold sorcerers have moved into the ruins to worship the young red dragon now lairing in the lava tubes under the tor. The dragon is the same one people see bathing once a year at Dragonspring. It's activities in the depths of the plug have stirred up the magma vents below and started the place to brume.
The young red dragon, we'll call him Ignandraxyl, demands tribute from his pets. The kobolds in turn have been slowly spilling across the plains by night raiding, pillaging and getting phat lewtz for their new deity. This has caused several other issues in Darkmoon Vale.
This campaign would be a bit more sandboxy. The PCs would start again in Olfden and it would still be low to mid level. The idea to this one is the party would have the stuff in the spoiler as like a background element at first and slowly that would become the focus of the game. Meanwhile their first few level-building adventures would be in helping deal with people and places affected by the background elements in the spoiler.