I'm writing an adventure I wish to submit to Dungeon, and we all know that Paizo does love Greyhawk, so I figured I'd get a cool point by making sure the adventure fits within the setting's history. And that, is where you come in. I need a kingdom, preferably set in a mountainous region or that includes a mountainous region big enough for a county. It needs to have either no history written for it so far, or a tumoltuous one where, for the last 300 years or so, no male monarch has been able to rule for long before being violently removed. Is there such a place in canon Greyhawk, or some place similar that I can adapt to? It would also be of help if this kingdom was geographically close to another one that is more solid, politically speaking, and perhaps more ancient.
Thanks in advance,
The Woefully Uneducated,
TK
Let´s see...
Major mountain ranges are the Hellfurnaces/Crystalmist/Barrier Peaks/Yatil ranges to the west of the continent, and the Rakers/Griff/Corust the the east.
In the Hellfurnaces, the Hold of the Sea Princes would be a place for a history of violently removed rulers. The Yeomanry and Keoland are relatively stable realms, with Keoland having a long history.
Tusmit and Ekbir bordering the Yatils could do if you go for a more exotic setting, the whole baklunish states having a long history, and removing a ruler through assassination seems to be fitting there.
To the east, Stonehold and the barbarian states surely have a history of violence. I´m not too sure about Ratik, but it could fit the bill as well.
The Lortmil Mountains have demihuman states along them, so that would not fit that well. The Wild Coast and the Pomarj don´t have royality in the traditional sense, although they are quite violent.
The Hollow Hills, Glorioles and Hestmark Highlands are bordering on the remains of the Great Kingdom, which has a long and bloody history.
So much for now.
Stefan
I'm not so sure that's a good method for creating a "Greyhawk" adventure. If you're only reason is to be "one of the cool kids," don't bother. Additionally, design the adventure for Greyhawk instead of trying to shoehorn Greyhawk into it, especially if you don't really know much about Greyhawk at all.
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I'm inclined to agree with Amaril - you'll get cool points for creating a good adventure, and any Greyhawk content would have very little impact (and might be negative if you accidentally get something wrong). The last Dungeon had a viking-themed adventure - nothing to do with Greyhawk, but it got in anyway (and was a good adventure with a very interesting premise). The key is the adventure, not the setting. Don't tie yourself in hoops with Greyhawk as it might impact negatively on your final submission - you will be better off if you make it fit your own conception.
? Are you talking about the adventure that uses the Ice Barbarians from Greyhawk? That specifically mentions the Frost Barbarians are attacking (the Fruztii and the Cruskii names are used if I am remembering correctly).
I personally think it is better to tie an adventure to a setting than to just make it generic. Even better if you tie it to a setting and then include pointers on fitting it into FR and Eberron or Greyhawk.
As far as a kingdom that hasn't had a male ruler in 300 years, you are out of luck. The closest to your description IMO would be Ratik which is a coastal barony that has a large mountain range to its west (Rakers). It is currently ruled by a woman, Lady Evaleigh (with much grumbling from the nobles there) and has been allied with the Frost Barbarian nation to its north for several decades. It was once part of the Great Kingdom and still retains its titles from then. The nation to its south (Bone March) was also once part of the Great Kingdom but was overrun by humanoid armies 30 years ago.
I personally think it is better to tie an adventure to a setting than to just make it generic. Even better if you tie it to a setting and then include pointers on fitting it into FR and Eberron or Greyhawk.
To tie an adventure to a setting is one thing, but to design and develop an adventure first and then try to force it into a setting just for the sake of saying it's in a setting afterwards is the wrong way to approach it, especially if the adveture is dealing with national history and politics.
As far as I'm concerned the more Greyhawk converts the better. I trust the editorial staff of the magazine to excise anything that goes completely against Greyhawk canon.
If all he wants is a setting that has a female ruler and some mountains near by... I say go for it.
And as far as the viking adventure talked about in the previous post, it doesn't surprise me that people missed the Greyhawk connection, but it's nice that the author bothered in the first place.
I'm not so sure that's a good method for creating a "Greyhawk" adventure. If you're only reason is to be "one of the cool kids," don't bother. Additionally, design the adventure for Greyhawk instead of trying to shoehorn Greyhawk into it, especially if you don't really know much about Greyhawk at all.
That's why I'm asking questions like this here.
I could have just pulled out the Greyhawk maps and said, hey, here's this North Kingdom here, why don't I just butcher all the history anyone else has ever written for it with my own twisted visions, eh? But I wanted my adventure to have more broad-ranging appeal and not trample over what's already been written.
The political history I'm asking about isn't central to the adventure I'm writing - and I haven't finished writing it yet, so there's still a good deal of molding to do - I was just asking to see if there was anything like that already out there.
Yes, I don't know much about Greyhawk. Again, that's why I'm asking these sorts of questions here. Just reading what I've got about Greyhawk does not fill in the whole picture (and yes, I AM looking for the Greyhawk Gazetteer, but all I've found so far is the one without Mordenkainen on the cover).
Additionally, I'm trying to get published. The editors here love Greyhawk. They have stated that every time one of them says, "Oh, cool!", that's that much better of a chance of being published. I think it's only smart to write an adventure in a setting that interests them, instead of spitting out a bunch of backstory that they won't care all that much about.
I may just go with my original history. But first I wanted to see if I could write something that the Greyhawk fans could appreciate. Am I wrong there?
Thanis, my suggestion would be to join Greychat on a Thursday night and talk to the Grey Sages there. As it turns out, there is, in fact, nothing very similar to what you are looking for. But with the help of the knowledgeable 'Hawkers in Greychat you may be able to come up with something close enough to work.
Go here for the link: http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/index.php
As an aside, I would suggest for a writer looking to break into the magazine for the first time that you think about an Eberron adventure or even Forgotten Realms. Ech! Sorry.
There seems to be more demand currently for adventures in those settings, which would definitely improve your chances. The last I read on these boards, Paizo was not getting very many proposals for either one. That may have changed, though.
You should check out the Black Hole thread for some recent suggestions of what the editors are looking for and what is currently being rejected.
And one more bit of info. The Kingdom of Ratik is ruled by a woman, the Archbaroness Evaleigh. Her husband was killed during a failed attack on hostile southern enemies and her father died without a male heir. She is a competent leader and pretty much accepted and liked by the people of her kingdom. So, the rest of what you need really doesn't work there. But, I figured I'd at least give you [italics] something [italics].
Good luck!
Thanks Steve, I'll try to check that out (granted, I work Swing Shift). Unfortunately, I know that the adventure would not fit into Eberron at all, and I'm even more iffy on Faerun than Greyhawk. I only started actually looking into published campaign settings when Eberron came out, and most of my money for that sort of thing has gone into Eberron books.
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I know the writers' guidelines are out of date in a lot of subjects, but here's what they have to say on the subject of settings:
In addition to generic adventures, we also publish adventures set in the GREYHAWK, FORGOTTEN REALMS, and EBERRON campaign settings, published by Wizards of the Coast. Such scenarios are published less frequently than generic D&D adventures, and only when excellent adventures in these settings become available.
Based on this, it sounds like a generic adventure has a better chance at getting accepted than a Greyhawk adventure. I think I'd side with the people who say forget Greyhawk, and just write the adventure you want to write.
I'm an avid GHer, but I have to agree with Matthew. Don't let campaign settings hinder you from writing what you want. Generic is really the best when it comes down to it since it isn't pigeon holed into a specific backdrop.
Also, keep in mind that you are trying to get published in pretty much the toughest D&D publication to get published in. There are a lot of other publishing companies (sorry, Paizo) that are actually a little easier to break into and you don't have to share your published work with a handful of other writers. If Paizo rejects your proposal, IMMEDIATELY shop it around to other publishers like Goodman Games, Necromancer, Silven, Green Ronin, etc. rather than accept the rejection and allow that to stop you. Most likely, it wasn't because your proposal was bad... more likely, bad timing.
Anyway, good luck once again!
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Additionally, I'm trying to get published. The editors here love Greyhawk. They have stated that every time one of them says, "Oh, cool!", that's that much better of a chance of being published. I think it's only smart to write an adventure in a setting that interests them, instead of spitting out a bunch of backstory that they won't care all that much about.
I may just go with my original history. But first I wanted to see if I could write something that the Greyhawk fans could appreciate. Am I wrong there?
Nothing wrong at all. I was just pointing out that the magazine has one of the world authorities on Greyhawk as the editor, any inadvertant errors would be more likley to antagonise than help, and that you might be more likely to stymie yourself than help you to get published. And I'm not sure blatant sucking up to Erik will help that much (but if it does, could he please make that clear.)
Just trying to help.
You know, this thing can be set in Greyhawk--just don't put it in the flaness.
There is a perfectly good other side of the continent which no one knows anything about save for some scribbles in Dragon Annual 1 (1996).
This one is a no-brainer.
Yes, Erik is particularly found of Greyhawk... but then that makes him particularly picky about setting accuracy. But you know what? That kind of detail can always be ironed out (and is) during editing. But you should realize that both those pieces of information are less important then you think, because Erik is not the editor that makes the first pass on submissions. Erik may never even see your submission!
There is only one thing that counts. Put your best effort, and all of your energy, into making the actual adventure the best adventure you can. Ultimately, thats the only thing that counts, not the setting. A generic setting has just as high (maybe even higher) probability of getting picked up then any specific setting.
An intelligent plot, some clever twists, interesting and well-developed NPCs, unique puzzles, and a solid grasp of the English language and writing so tight that the words squeak.... THAT is what will get you published.
Denis, aka "Maldin"
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