I have been running the AoW campaign for a few weeks now, its been really good fun, both for me and the players involved, theres been deaths and a few twists along the way.
I didnt agree with the idea of running the FR version of AoW's in Daggerford/Waterdeep as suggested in the Overload handout. Our group has just played in Daggerford and Waterdeep too many times before and as all our campaigns are linked to those places in some way it didnt make much sense for us and would have been a little 'samey' to place 'yet another' series of adventures there.
The players had been bugging me for a while to do a more 'morally ambiguous' campaign and I felt the AoW's was the setting to let them 'get their anti-hero on'.
So because we wanted to do something different, I decided to make Diamond Lake a small town south of Wesgate on the inner sea called "Krakens Tooth" and have the free city become Westgate.
As the players are making their way (every Sunday) through the adventures I am trying to stay one (or even ten) steps ahead, quietly converting the future adventures to suit our 'darker' style AoW's. We are currently playing the start of the fifth AoW's adventure: 'The Champions Belt', we should have tied that up by another two sessions so I need to settle on where to place the other AoW's backdrops: Magepoint and Alhaster, I dont like to swap things out either, so while Starmantle might seem like a good swap for Alhaster I wont be doing that.
Instead I need advice on where I could put Magepoint (the jungles of Kuluth-Mar) and Alhaster in the realms as they are already written, so I can use the already available npc portraits and other resources available, I like to use the handouts and maps Dungeon magazine provides us.
For Alhaster I was thinking maybe it could be at the other end of the Sea of Fallen Stars, maybe the western side of the Easting Reach, the party could reach it by portal?
As for Magepoint and the jungles, I'm lost and totally undecided, should I (though I'm loathe to do so) just use a swap, it isnt mapped so maybe I could? Where in the realms would you find a place like Magepoint, an enclave somewhere near the jungles?
What to do, what to do...
Theres no easy to reach jungle in the realms. I'm just going to teleport my group to Chult and back. Saves on messiness.
I placed my group in Haptooth south of the dales and the Moonsea. It was an early whim based on where the campaign was currently at, but so far it has worked perfectly. Haptooth in't covered in depth anywhere making it easy to locate and modify. Hillsfar to the north makes a great free city, the frozen fen to the south is great for blackwall, and Zhentil Keep makes a perfect Alhaster.
Theres no easy to reach jungle in the realms. I'm just going to teleport my group to Chult and back. Saves on messiness.
I placed my group in Haptooth south of the dales and the Moonsea. It was an early whim based on where the campaign was currently at, but so far it has worked perfectly. Haptooth in't covered in depth anywhere making it easy to locate and modify. Hillsfar to the north makes a great free city, the frozen fen to the south is great for blackwall, and Zhentil Keep makes a perfect Alhaster.
That sounds like a good fit, a brilliant version you have come up with there. I think you spoke to me before in an old thread I started months ago and you mentioned Hillsfar, how has the campaign went for your group?
Many deaths? What have you done with Kyuss, is he 'as-is' or have you changed things? What adventure are you guys up to?
That sounds like a good fit, a brilliant version you have come up with there. I think you spoke to me before in an old thread I started months ago and you mentioned Hillsfar, how has the campaign went for your group?
Many deaths? What have you done with Kyuss, is he 'as-is' or have you changed things? What adventure are you guys up to?
Warning this may have spoilers!!!!!!!
The begining plot line of my campaign was the players hunting down the murderer of their mysterious mentor. Then I began reading the AoW stuff and decided to join them together. Early on they had run ins with Zhentarim and discovered a Priest of Bane that may have had some involvement or information on the death of their mentor.
my game plays at a slower pace and we had to skip a few sessions lately due to holidays and illness. The group started AoW around 4th level so I skipped whispering cairn somewhat. I kept the encounter with filge and kullik and they immensely enjoyed both. They entered the mines below haptooth hill and finished off the three cults of Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul (hextor, erythnul and Vecna respectively) I pumped up the difficulty a bit at some parts (4 otyughs in place of the chokers in the grimlocks lair for example) and they frequently got them selves in trouble with multiple encounters at once for example fighting all the kenku and weasals pretty much at once. So the pace has been a bit slower. I need to take it a bit easier on them I guess.
Right now they are heading to the frozen fen East of Haptooth and south of hillsfar to Blackwall keep. They agreed to destroy the 3 cults in 3 faces due to a bargain they made with a cleric of Bane. If they destroyed a renegade sect of Banites, he would give them information about who killed their murdered mentor. After completing the task they were instructed to head to Blackwall keep which is a Hillsfarian outpost to the south of their lands on the borders of the frozen fen. They were instructed to meet with a Zhentarim spy hiding among the ranks of the red plumes who ran the garrison at Blackwall. Of course when they get there, they will discover he was taken into the swamps by the lizardmen. After besting the lizardmen, the spy will instruct them to travel to the Free City of Hillsfar to meet with the Banite priest who originally tasked them with dealing with the cultists. Of course all the Free City stuff will happen at that point and the story line will be completely meshed with the AoW plotline.
Right now all the "age of worms" stuff is going on in the background, but its creeping them out that they keep hearing about it from different sources. The storyline is less "go meet mage A in city B, then go meet Mage B in city A" like the written AoW plotline. So far they have met the Free City Champions and learned their mentor was an ex-champion from many years before. That will let them dovetail nicely into the champion's belt, and the rest of the storyline.
I'm keeping Kyuss as they know very little about greyhawk, and my Manzorian is most likely going to be Manshoon, or the other high level zhent wizard that lives in the Citadel of the Raven (can't recall his name right now). Their evilness will explain why the archmage doesn't take more of an involvement in the adventure. Something I find silly about Manzorian so far. "Hey theres this great evil coming. You low level guys go deal with it, I'm busy, but not too busy to do research for you!"
The PC's discovered that their mentor was a free city champion before and some of his companions still live. They will travel back Haptooth (diamond lake) when they discover one of them retired there (my version of Alhaster) and thats how they will get involved in the Gathering of Winds adventure.
Overall you don't have to do many tweaks to really immerse your group into a Forgotten realms campaign. Its actually a lot of fun tying the loose ends to an existing plotline. If your not happy with the story "as is" or a specific early adventure I suggest giving it a try. Just yank it and add in your own plotline that strengthens your vision of the campaign.
When I reach this point in the campaign, I hope to be able to take the party on a lengthy sea voyage south along the Sword Coast to Chult. It would take weeks, perhaps months (not sure), but I'd like them to land on a beach and delve into the forests like great explorers.
When I reach this point in the campaign, I hope to be able to take the party on a lengthy sea voyage south along the Sword Coast to Chult. It would take weeks, perhaps months (not sure), but I'd like them to land on a beach and delve into the forests like great explorers.
I am quite interested in doing this also, only problem is I think it may eat up quite a few game sessions if I were to have a long voyage by ship.
My group would have to get from Westgate/Dragon coast region to Chult, this is difficult to do by ship.
In a previous campaign I had the players travel via a dangerous 'whirlpool-portal' from the Sea of Swords to the Sea of Fallen Stars, they had to pilot the ship into a magical whirlpool called (rather clithé) 'The Maelstrom'. I dont want to do this again.
I might have them use a portal to get to a Yuen-ti ruin on the Chultian beach and take things from there, Stargate style.
I would like to do the whole 'Lost World' thing, have them encouter dinosaurs and primitive tribal folk, it would bring a complete change of scene and different feel to our rather gothic, traditional dark fantasty AoW's campaign; It would really shake things up for the players like stepping of one fantasy genre and into another totally different one. (Could give a strange 'pulpy-twist' to the campaign as a whole though)
I always use music to set the mood in our games, anyone know of somesort of tribal, african-pounding-war-drums cd's I could use for the Chult sessions?
I have a picture in my head of those old black and white movies where the white people go to find something in the congo and in the background you can hear the constant drumming as this looming threat. Usually someone in the movie freaks out and shouts 'Why wont it stop!?' or something to that effect. Once it does stop of course, thats when the silence hits home and the white guys realise they are in trouble.
I want to re-create this scene, my players would flip!
That sounds like a good fit, a brilliant version you have come up with there. I think you spoke to me before in an old thread I started months ago and you mentioned Hillsfar, how has the campaign went for your group?
Many deaths? What have you done with Kyuss, is he 'as-is' or have you changed things? What adventure are you guys up to?
Warning this may have spoilers!!!!!!!
The begining plot line of my campaign was the players hunting down the murderer of their mysterious mentor. Then I began reading the AoW stuff and decided to join them together. Early on they had run ins with Zhentarim and discovered a Priest of Bane that may have had some involvement or information on the death of their mentor.
my game plays at a slower pace and we had to skip a few sessions lately due to holidays and illness. The group started AoW around 4th level so I skipped whispering cairn somewhat. I kept the encounter with filge and kullik and they immensely enjoyed both. They entered the mines below haptooth hill and finished off the three cults of Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul (hextor, erythnul and Vecna respectively) I pumped up the difficulty a bit at some parts (4 otyughs in place of the chokers in the grimlocks lair for example) and they frequently got them selves in trouble with multiple encounters at once for example fighting all the kenku and weasals pretty much at once. So the pace has been a bit slower. I need to take it a bit easier on them I guess.
Right now they are heading to the frozen fen East of Haptooth and south of hillsfar to Blackwall keep. They agreed to destroy the 3 cults in 3 faces due to a bargain they made with a cleric of Bane. If they destroyed a renegade sect of Banites, he would give them information about who killed their murdered mentor. After completing the task they were instructed to head to Blackwall keep which is a Hillsfarian outpost to the south of their lands on the borders of the frozen fen. They were instructed to meet with a...
You seem to be running the AoW in a simular manner to myself, I dont use the AP as a sctrictly followed plan, it is simply the nicely worked frame to paint our own picture inside of. :)
I have kept Kyuss, only I changed his backstory a little, to fit with an idea about the far-realms and him being a herald of a coming god-form that seeks divine worship in the realms. My players are not at all familiar with Greyhawk so I can get away with using the name Kyuss and keeping the creatures of Kyuss around.
I have had to change the Dragons in the adventure into titanic psuedo natural creatures instead and swapped the mindflayer for an Avolakia, this was because I have had dragons and mind flayers feature as the main enemy in past campaigns, I wanted to keep things fresh and offer new obstacles for the group.
I love your campaigns involment with the Zhent's I am a big Z-fan myself and would like to include or use them at some point, if not in the AoW's, then maybe in the next campaign.
I might involve the Nightmasks in the future, as our 'Free city' is Westgate, the Nightmasks will have no-doubt come to realise that the PC's are worth watching, perhaps the vampire leaders of that organisation might see the coming AoW's as a threat to their 'cattle' and might take actions to help the PC's stop it by offering aid, I could even have a certain Nightmask mage fill the role of Manzorian in the future, maybe Manzorian is one of the Nightmasks?
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Slight take on using Manshoon in place of Manzorian here. If you're wanting to use one of the Night Mask leaders in lieu of Manzorian, make it Orbakh II. He's a stasis-clone of Manshoon who was 'freed' from becoming a host body when a vampire found his dormant body and turned him. Means he has all the Zhentish Mansoon's memories but is completely independent of the Zhentarim. He is the top of the food chain in the Night Masks and by extension Westgate pretty much.