Does anyone have a good idea of where to run the Shadow over Istivin campaign arc in the Forgotten Realms? I realize the unique setting and background story makes it hard to play in the realms without at least some changes, but what are your suggestions for the best place, taking into consideration such things as geography, climate, monsters encountered and backstory?
On another note, will touching the Black Egg with gloves or gauntlets prevent the character from becoming chaotic evil? The description says physical contact...
I'm just about to put my group through 'Shadow', but since I'm all about the 'Hawk, I don't have your Realms trouble.
Still...where to put it? My first suggestion would be a distant part of Cormyr, but then I remembered that city that just up and disappeared a few years ago. (Sorry--can't remember the name.) You could place it near that, so that you would have that sense of evil off in the distance, perhaps even tying that into whatever Istivin-clone city you put your adventure into.
Just my three cents. Good luck running it.
Still...where to put it? My first suggestion would be a distant part of Cormyr, but then I remembered that city that just up and disappeared a few years ago.
You gave me a good idea.. the city you are referring to is called Tilverton. What if the shadows that consumed the city withdrew after the Shades had to give up their war.. the citizens moved back into Tilverton.. but something was wrong.. the Malgoth... hmm.. that might actually work. Thanks!
Tilverton! That was the name. Thanks, trellian. Glad the idea helped out.
James Jacobs recommended the Silver Marches.. which makes sense due to the presence of giants and drow.. but I think I will stick with Tilverton because it is the only city I can think of that can have (with some tweaking and artistic creativity), a history that mirrors Istivin somehow.
I may also decide to change the drow presence to a Shade presence. After all, the drow tried to consume the city in Greyhawk, and the Shades did the same to Tilverton in FR (I think maybe Vangerdahast did it actually.. I may need to check up on that)..
Follow up question regarding the adventure in itself.. the text in the Deeper DUngeons speak of a total pool of Greater Shadows that descend upon the PCs when they meet the Marquis.. how many is that in total? 3 shadows for each room 3 and room 6.. in total 18 shadows? Wow.. they'd better kill some off before the final showdown, or the dungeon will have more shadows at the end of the day...
On another note, will touching the Black Egg with gloves or gauntlets prevent the character from becoming chaotic evil? The description says physical contact...
Depends how nasty you want to be to the PCs. Wrapping a blanket around Sauroman's orb (palminteer?)was enough to block its power in LOTR so gloves might stop you from becoming evil...maybe. Go ahead, try it.
Way back when, I ran the original game in the NW of Realms. Fireshear is a mining town North of Luskan, and I had the giant problem escalate as they went further east along the mountains. Back then we weren't so concerned with backstory, so replacing Istivin with Fireshear wasn't a big deal.
In order to keep things going, Fireshear is again the city I'm using for the three Dungeon adventures. Because Fireshear is barely mentioned in most FR material is allows you to do whatever you want without running into "reality" problems in other areas. If I was starting from scratch, I'd probably use the Silver Marches area, though I don't know what city would be the focus.
Does anyone have a good idea of where to run the Shadow over Istivin campaign arc in the Forgotten Realms? I realize the unique setting and background story makes it hard to play in the realms without at least some changes, but what are your suggestions for the best place, taking into consideration such things as geography, climate, monsters encountered and backstory?
Well, if you look at it in the context of "where should we put G1-3/D1-3", then the ideal place would be the Silver Marches.
There's a 2e sourcebook called Giantcraft that put a tiny human kingdom called Hartsvale surrounded by giant tribes NE of the Silver Marches. Those giant tribes match up well to G1-G3.
Following from there, the nearest occupied, D3-like drow city is either Menzoberranzan (near the site of Mithral Hall) or Ched Nasad (south of Sundabar). I would have recommended the latter until the WotSQ occurred. If you pick Menzo, then D1-3 runs SW from Hartsvale. If you pick Ched Nasad, then D1-3 runs S from Hartsvale.
Once you've got that picked, then Istivin becomes either Silverymoon (if you picked Menzo) or Sundabar (if you picked Ched Nasad). Note that the former has a mythal, so if you pick Silverymoon, I'd probably make the black bubble some sort of poisoning of the mythal.
--Eric
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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As for the Black Egg issue... Gloves aren't going to help. If you touch the thing with any part of your body the full effects should be felt. If you want to move the thing you should use Telekinesis or build a frame and carry it on poles (like the arc of the covenant in Raiders, it couldn't be touched or you would die).
-I am a Vrock, I'm a Tanar'ri!
Thanks for all the advice! I would just like to tell you what solution I came up with.
The trilogy takes place in and around Tilverton, Cormyr. I have changed the official canon somewhat. In my Cormyr, when Vangerdahast interferred with the shadow magic, it conjured a growing orb of shadow from the plane of shadows. Everything in contact with it was weakened (negative levels, strength drain, etc).. when the Shade eventually withdrew from their war, the shadow disappeared as well, slowly. My Malgoth is a sinister presence from the Plane of Shadows. I also intend to have the drow presence changed to a Shade presence.
From Hand of the Abyss, I changed the Ooze thingy to an advanced Shadow Jelly, and the Hezrou to a Shadow templated Vrock. This to keep the theme of Shadows intact.
I have barely begun the Shadow of the Abyss, but not much will be changed. Gleodites the drow must be changed to a Shade, and I am thinking of switching the blue dragon to a shadow dragon, but that is because one of my players is a half drow shadow dragon searching for his parent.
I have looked at Wrath of the Abyss as well, and the backstory with drows from Mirith Glarnon and the Oestral Abyss puzzles me a little. Is it plausible that the war with the Shades created a hole not far from Tilverton? And that a bunch of Shades have moved in, avoiding detection?
If anyone has any ideas for the last part, or any other ideas to alter this module to the plane of shadows, shades and tilverton, let me know!