Is there any information on the Seekers, other than the little bit in The Whispering Cairn? I thought I saw something somewhere else, but I can't recall.
I've been thinking about creating a little tidbit about the Seekers, as well, and I don't want to contradict anything that's been written about them.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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The Seekers in Dungeon are not necessarily the same thing as the ones from Planescape. This Seekers is an Oerth-bound organization of unscrupulous explorers that have been mentioned off-hand in several Dungeon, Dragon, and Living Greyhawk Journal articles, mostly by me, Gary Holian, or James Jacobs.
The best resources are Dungeon #112, LGJ #4, and a forthcoming Dragon article that Holian has taken two and a half years to revise (so far).
--Erik
Outstanding! I'm gonna have to look those up.
Thanks!
The Seekers seem to get a bad rap, which I attribute mainly to the Silent Ones of Keoland. Sure, Eli & Khellek may be evil, but that doesn't mean all Seekers, or even the organization, has to be. I see the Seekers, at their best, doing for magic what the Age of Reason/ Enlightenment did for science.
Erik, sorry to attention whore at you, but ...
Not having read Maure Castle (DL'd the PDF and Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure today), are the Seekers mentioned here and in AoW (as it pertains to Greyhawk) anything to do with the Seekers you mention in Baklunish Delights? Just a coincidence of naming and, well, seeking something?
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Different.
As I recall, the Seekers in that article had to do with looking for the missing Zuoken, and are a faction within the faith of that demigod. Their true names would be in Baklunish, anyway, so "seeker" would only be a rough translation.
The Seekers we're talking about in this thread are an organization of "knowledge at any costs" explorers and archeologists that include Eli Tomorast (Maure Castle), Lashton of Grayhill (Queen of the Spiders), Khellek (Age of Worms), Ulavant (dead guy in Whispering Cairn), and potentially a couple of others I can't remember. Holian's (as yet) unpublished article also ties in the Seer, of Ghost Tower of Inverness fame, unless I'm misremembering.
--Erik
It looks like there are at least 4 different Seeker groups:
The Planescape Seekers
The Spelljammer Seekers
The Seekers from Baklunish Delights
The "Enlightened" Seekers, from WC, et al.
BTW Erik, a Seeker Lodge in the Free City was mentioned in either WC or the backdrop. Will details on location, etc (I 'm thinking maybe Clerkburg or the Foreign Quarter) appear in the upcoming Dragon article? Would this be the type of establishment that allows just anyone to visit, or would guests be required to pay a fee or be accompanied by a full member? I planted a few seeds in 3FoE that may lead my players there by the time we get around to HoHR (in 2-3 months, perhaps).
Since the AoWAP has already moved away from the Free City and likely won't be going back, I doubt they'll detail anything about the Seeker Lodge. However I certainly wouldn't object to a Backdrop or Wormfood article on it. :)
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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The Seeker subplot is one that would have seen more development if space and time were not an issue. If we ever do a hardcover, I'm going to try to reinsert some of that material, although really little side-treks and things like that might be better as a stand-alone volume. The adventures as they are already strain a credible hardcover. We're approaching encyclopedia volume thickness.
In any event, we won't be detailing the Seekers in Dungeon in the near future. But we will do something eventually, in some format.
--Erik Mona
After playing the Computer series: Thief I, II & III, The Seekers seemed to me like "The Keepers" from the computer game. A secret organization that lurks in the shadows and follows the development of events throughout the city (Campaign).
I've adapted 'The Keepers' to my AoW campaign and I use 'The Seekers' in the same manner.
Check out the Thief product line (from 1998 to 2004) you might find some nice ideas for your game too :)
Since the AoWAP has already moved away from the Free City and likely won't be going back, I doubt they'll detail anything about the Seeker Lodge. However I certainly wouldn't object to a Backdrop or Wormfood article on it. :)
Read the rest of the thread--I was referring to Gary Holian's upcoming article.
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So, all this being said... what are you all doing with this group? My characters just finished WC and have decided theyre going to go looking for The Seekers to get better prices for the Seeker items (doggone nat 20 bardic knowledge check!!) they found within. I'm just now percolating ideas for some mini-adventures and SideTrek stuff involving them, but many minds are always better than just my 'lil old noggin.
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The Seeker subplot is one that would have seen more development if space and time were not an issue. If we ever do a hardcover, I'm going to try to reinsert some of that material, although really little side-treks and things like that might be better as a stand-alone volume. The adventures as they are already strain a credible hardcover. We're approaching encyclopedia volume thickness.
--Erik Mona
Ummm.....Erik.....What do you mean my IF?!?!?!?! you boys and gals HAD best be coming up with a forthcoming HARDBACK book of Age of WORMS...I know I will be preordering it....LOL. I have already told several of my friends to make sure to pick up shackled city and the AoWAP book when it becomes available.
Ummm.....Erik.....What do you mean my IF?!?!?!?! you boys and gals HAD best be coming up with a forthcoming HARDBACK book of Age of WORMS...I know I will be preordering it....LOL. I have already told several of my friends to make sure to pick up shackled city and the AoWAP book when it becomes available.The Seeker subplot is one that would have seen more development if space and time were not an issue. If we ever do a hardcover, I'm going to try to reinsert some of that material, although really little side-treks and things like that might be better as a stand-alone volume. The adventures as they are already strain a credible hardcover. We're approaching encyclopedia volume thickness.
--Erik Mona
Absolutely publish a hardback! If thickness of the volume is a potential problem, just do it in font 6 and supply Goggles of Minute Seeing in a future Dungeon issue. :D
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So, all this being said... what are you all doing with this group?
As I only had the Mind's Eye information to go with initially, the Seekers of the Age of Worms are an Oerthian based group associated with the cult of Boccob. Their Planewalking associates frequent their Lodge on occasion but primarily their work is focused upon the Flanaess.
Since their group symbol reeks of Moorcock, I see them being a Chaotic Nuetral group. This alignment manifests in a number ways in the Seeker organization:
— It is a group of eccentric "sages", gathering knowledge for Boccob.
— The knowledge gained is biased to the particular Seeker's methodology and multiverse-view.
— Each Seeker laces their subjective information with red herrings to deter other Seekers from becoming better "experts" at the same information.
— Only when a particular Seeker's "grail" is finally found, do they fully divest themselves of knowledge and actually add something objective to the cult's various libraries.
Thus the Seeker Lodge is going to be "next door" to the Temple of Boccob in the Free City (or as close as I can get it without too much tweaking) and will appear as a untidy library filled with half-baked theories and concepts frequented by eccentric Seekers that belong more in a Indiana Jones story than a D&D game. The Lodge is most useful as an Unemployment Agency as many adventurers experiencing lean times can find work here accompanying another Seeker out to find their "grail". The last caveat of the Seekers is their reliance upon portents and astrology to guide their quests. This ties with Boccob well enough (thanks Sean Reynolds for that recent article!) and explains why the Seekers aren't more prominent as an organization.
The adventures as they are already strain a credible hardcover. We're approaching encyclopedia volume thickness.
Speaking of large tomes, what if the Ptolus book is insanely popular... maybe you could do a really big book, too. Of course, the $100 price tag is really high.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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My guess is that we priced the Shackled City book too high. It's sold well for us and in the long run we'll make a profit off of it, but the price is really high and has probably turned off more customers than it attracted. I am sure Monte will do well with selling his book to his own audience, but I will be very curious to see how it sells beyond the "we'll buy anything Monte touches" crowd. My guess, based on the last couple years, is that it probably won't do fantastically. But then Monte and Sue are smart enough to make the project profitable even if it does not enjoy major penetration into the mass market, so it may not matter.
--Erik
My players sort of tainted my preconceptions of the Seekers. They were drawing all sorts of comparisons between the Cairn and Indiana Jones, and when they found dead tomb raiders wearing armbands, the immediate connection was "oh, Nazis".
Since one of my players is playing a cleric of Xan Ye, the goddess of secrets, the Seekers may yet play some part in the proceedings in addition to giving the sneering arrogant Khellen something to be sneering and arrogant about. I'm tempted to put a Seeker agent somewhere in the undercity of Greyhawk, looking either for an eldritch decive rumored to be owned by an illithid or the Apostolic Scrolls themselves.
I bought the .pdf of Dungeon 112 from the Paizo site hoping for a more flushed out rundown of the organization (the one from the last Dragon was decent, but I'm always on the lookout for more), as I'm planning on using the Seekers heavily in the campaign my wife is in. Sadly, no go. Just a bunch of stat blocks where "Seeker" could be replaced by "npcX." Can anyone that has the Living Greyhawk Journal #4 tell me what kind of overview on them I might expect before I shell out for it? Thanks much! ;)
I started an abortive thread a while ago asking if anyone had used the seekers in their camaigns. Erik Mona kindly replied and this is what he said:
I wrote a one-page affiliation (a la PH2) on the Seekers for the first episode of "Savage Tidings," the "Wormfood" for the new adventure path that begins in Dragon #348. That issue includes the bit on the Seekers as well as some fun information about the Scarlet Brotherhood and four other Sasserine-based organizations. I think you'll find it helpful if your player should want to join the group.
So you might check that out mwbeeler. I haven't had the cash flow to track the article down yet, so I can't rate it for you. Given the author though, it's probably pretty helpful...
Yeah, I have both the last Dragon and the PHB2. I'm a big fan of the new affiliations system; just really wondering if I buy the LGJ4 is if I'm going to end up with a nice page write-up of the seekers, or if it'll be like a sentence or two. Though, the Tyrg entry in the Dungeon 112 .pdf did make up for the lack of Seeker background.
The Seeker subplot is one that would have seen more development if space and time were not an issue. If we ever do a hardcover, I'm going to try to reinsert some of that material, although really little side-treks and things like that might be better as a stand-alone volume. The adventures as they are already strain a credible hardcover. We're approaching encyclopedia volume thickness.
In any event, we won't be detailing the Seekers in Dungeon in the near future. But we will do something eventually, in some format.
--Erik Mona
That's what I call a PROMISE... too bad we won't see anything the like though...
Oh well, we all can dream.
That's what I call a PROMISE... too bad we won't see anything the like though...
Oh well, we all can dream.
Actually...Gary Holian and I developed the Seekers but they never saw print in time for Dragon or Dungeon. However, we took what we had and put it in Oerth Journal 25. It can be downloaded from the following address, http://www.oerthjournal.com/oj25.html
Thanks Rick! This is a great resource! I've been using the Seekers as important NPC during the characters' encounters in Icosiol's tomb. Several new members of the party have come to meet what is left of the original group by having been exploring in the Cairn Hills. When one the new Seekers died in one of Icosiol's tomb's traps, the Seeker group in Greyhawk floated a loan for resurrection, but want Wind Duke artifacts in exchange. It gave the whole party more significant motivation in going through the tombs, and all the threats it posed. They are about to come out and go meet with their Seeker allies, so your work is perfectly timed for me!
Actually...Gary Holian and I developed the Seekers but they never saw print in time for Dragon or Dungeon. However, we took what we had and put it in Oerth Journal 25. It can be downloaded from the following address, http://www.oerthjournal.com/oj25.html
Wow great! Thanks!