Given the hints about the Isle of Dread, Scuttlecove and Sasserine, I thought I'd do a little research into where these lovely locals have turned up in the past.
Isle of Dread:
- The Isle of Dread (X1) (TSR 9043)
- "Backdrop: Isle of Dread" in Dungeon Issue 114
- "Torrents of Dread" in Dungeon Issue 114
- Anything on Demogorgon might be useful, given his prominence on the Isle of Dread.
Scuttlecove:
- "Porphyry House Horror" in Dungeon Issue 95
- Erik Mona DM's Greyhawk (Not a published source, but it might give some interesting information on where Savage Tide might be headed.)
Sasserine: I haven't done much looking into this yet, though I know it's mentioned in SCAP.
Sasserine: I haven't done much looking into this yet, though I know it's mentioned in SCAP.
Sasserine is part of the "Adventure Path Setting." It is a large, port city near Cauldron. There isn't much more information than that, unless you want to comb the HC for references of people coming from there. (For example: the wererats in Drakthar's Way were hired there. Sarcem is coming from Sasserine when he gets ambushed. So on and so forth.)
Also note that there were kopru ruins in and around Cauldron, and there are plenty o' kopru on the Isle. I've already got visions of a necromancer going to the Haunted Village (near Cauldron) and finding information to link them to the STAP.
Well thought out post, Electrum Pieces Healey. Or is it Experience Points Healey?
I would suggest that if you don't own the issues mentioned, you order them now before there's a big rush to get them. They will be very helpful when you are ready to run this AP.
Good list!
For those who plan to run "Savage Tide" in the World of Greyhawk I suggest the following:
The Scarlet Brotherhood(TSR11374) by Sean K. Reynolds
- It has good information on the Amedio region, natives, colonials, slavers, weather, flora & fauna, as well as a color map showing more of the Amedio and its surrounding waters and islands than the World of Greyhawk map does.
Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (TSR11743) by Gary Holian, Erik Mona, Sean K. Reynolds, & Frederick Weining
- Good information on the Hold of the Sea Princes and their involvement in the Amedio.
For everyone running "Savage Tide" I recommend Stormwrack (ISBN 0-7869-3689-4) by Richard Baker, Joseph D. Carriker, Jr., & Jennifer Clarke Wilkes.
-Lots of player options for a seafaring campaign as well invaluable information for the DM, water hazards, marine wilderness terrain, navigation, naval combat, ships, equipment, marine skills & feats, and many new cool monsters!
Thanks Torpedo and EP Healy for suggestions. I'd like to second Torpedo's recommendations on "Scarlet Brotherhood," which I just bought because I'm going to have my party get to Kuluth-Mar by sea, with a side quest or two on the way. I also picked up Stormwrack recently, and so far I think it's a good investment if you like seagoing adventures of any sort.
An earlier published Legends and Lairs d20 harcover supplement, "the Seafarer's Handbook" also has some useful stuff in it, but I'd put my money into Stormwrack first.
On Demogorgon, of course there's the entry in the Book of Vile Darkness (and previous edition materials--my very sketchy recollection of 1e MM is that he's not terribly well developed there, but 2e might have some stuff.) And Dungeon 120 features "The Lost Temple of Demogorgon" (which was a fairly unremarkable adventure, but the cover boasts an excellent illustration of the demon prince, and there's some info on the pre-history of the Demogorgon cult among trogs and other primitive humanoids).
Sasserine is part of the "Adventure Path Setting." It is a large, port city near Cauldron. There isn't much more information than that, unless you want to comb the HC for references of people coming from there.
I figured as much, though I'd hoped there might be something else, somewhere. I guess it's all academic, though. I'm sure that Dungeon will have all we need and want in it when the time is right...
Also note that there were kopru ruins in and around Cauldron, and there are plenty o' kopru on the Isle. I've already got visions of a necromancer going to the Haunted Village (near Cauldron) and finding information to link them to the STAP.
Oddly, one of my current groups is running through an Isle of Dread inspired series of adventures right now. They've learned to fear ye ol' kopru, I assure you.
Well thought out post...
Thanks, Steve. (blush)
I would suggest that if you don't own the issues mentioned, you order them now before there's a big rush to get them. They will be very helpful when you are ready to run this AP.
No worries. I have 'em. I'm hoping to get more information from other sources, but if there isn't any... well, then I'm sitting pretty, aren't I?
Mongoose Publishing has a nice supplement on naval d20 campaigns, entitled Seas of Blood: Fantasy on the High Seas.
There are several highlights to it:
-NPC Class: Sailor (only 5 levels, easily added to any other NPC)
-PrC: Buccanneer (I find it preferable to Dread Pirate)
-PrC: Reaver (a warrior who specializes in boarding actions)
-PrC: Navigator-Wizard (a nifty arcane diviner/weather controller)
-There are statblocks for your average NPC crew
-Nautical Feats that aren't all broken
-Decent rules on navigation, weather, and seaworthiness
-Solid ship-to-ship combat rules
-19 deck plans and vessel statistics
-solid 'life on board' information, ranging from fishing at sea to trade goods
Downsides:
-The art isn't exactly the best
-It's 3.0, but IMO converts easily
-The spells and magic items are decent, but you may want to review some of them before allowing them
I picked it up about a year ago whilst contemplating a pirate campaign, and I don't regret it!
(/shill)
I suppose I should also list Ed Greenwood's "Ecology of the Ixitxachitl" from Dragon Magazine Issue 85.
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All I could glean on Sasserine was the following, much of which was from the original Dungeon adventures that oft referred to Sasserine as the capital of the realm:
Large city 21,000/40,000 gp limit.
Has a hidden temple of Nerull, mentioned alongside the Necrocants.
Has an assassin's guild, mnetioned as Taskerhill wished to hire an assassin from Sasserine to kill the Lord Mayor.
A temple of Saint Cuthbert larger than one in Cauldron, the one Tarcem Delasharn visited when buying wands in secret
A temple of Pelor, one that is above the shrine in Cauldron, that is concerned about what happened to the priests in Cauldron.
The following relates to Coryston Pike from Life's Bazaar:
"Coryston Pike’s adventuring career may have been cut short, but if she survives her experience in the Malachite Fortress,
the PCs will have gained a useful ally. Her father, Dovin Pike,
leads a powerful merchant cartel in the realm’s capital city,
and she has access to contacts and resources not usually
available to a character of her level. Her father has little
respect for adventurers in general, but Coryston knows many
ways to creep into his heart. She also enjoys manipulating her
father’s sycophantic underlings to secure expensive items
(including single-use or charged magic items) at a reduced
price. Provided the heroes don’t need an item immediately,
she can get it for them in 1d4+3 days at a discount (25% for
potions and scrolls, 10% for everything else).
When she is not locked away in some subterranean prison,
Coryston keeps abreast of events around her. PCs can tap her
knowledge of local rumors, as well as her knowledge of people
and places in Cauldron."
So there are large merchant cartels, presumably exported lots of wood from the jungles, along with minerals from the mountains, rare herbs etc.
I am sooooo using this AP for my Conan game! I'm currently running the AoW AP with Conan and even that is going smoothly, but this will be a fantastic change of pace for my group once I get time to actually begin creating it.
Scuttlecove: "Porphyry House Horror" in Dungeon Issue 95
Will Scuttlecove be essentially the same town in STAP as in PHH? Can we expect a treatment similar to Sasserine?
The Scarlet Brotherhood(TSR11374) by Sean K. Reynolds were can i find this book? I have never heard of it.
You can purchase it as a PDF download here at Paizo's web shop
If you like fantasy fiction you may also want to check out Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser stories as inspiration for the STAP. The Bleak Shore, When the Sea-King's Away and The Seven Black Priests have a tremendous amount of atmosphere that would serve any GM very well in preparing for this campaign arc.
More info on the two thieves and swashbucklers here:
Creative Director
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Will Scuttlecove be essentially the same town in STAP as in PHH? Can we expect a treatment similar to Sasserine?
Yes. The map will be revised to include more buildings and more detail, and the city itself will have some political changes due to the events that take place in Porphyry House Horror (and because the Ur-priests who used to run the city have moved on, leaving a gap in power), but for the most part it'll be the same messed-up place.
Toned down a bit so we don't have to seal the section up, of course.
The current plan is to do a backdrop of Scuttlecove and a poster map of the city, but we're still a bit away from the issue so things can change.
Is there any possibility of giving us a location for Scuttlecove? I want to incorporate it into a Saltmarsh campaign that I am about to begin running, which will eventually tie in to the STAP. I'd like to give the PC's the location to Scuttlecove without having to change it up later when Paizo comes out with a map far superior in appearance to one that I could create.
A similar thing happened when I began running the SCAP, and then several months later Paizo came out with their 4-part Greyhawk map that included Cauldron and Sasserine. By then, it was too late to change for my particular game.
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Creative Director
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Scuttlecove is placed on the regional map of the Amedio Jungle and Vohoun Ocean (the map that traces the route from Sasserine to the Isle of Dread) in issue #141 of Dungeon. It's MUCH farther away from Saltmarsh than Sasserine, and it's not necessarilly well-known where the city's exactly located to those who aren't part of the evil club.
It's probably best to just tell the PCs that Scuttlecove is rumored to be located somewhere in the Pirate Isles south of the Densac Gulf.
Much obliged JJ. You guys are doing a great job.
