I’m just a DM thinking out loud for this thread, feel free to reflect on anything said and throw a few pointers this way...
I don’t have anything much on the Savage Tide yet (apart from the preview/summary of the AP’s chapters from the last Dungeon magazine.) I am planning on running this AP in the Forgotten Realms as I have already done so for the other AP’s; this is where the players feel most at home (and firmly refuse to leave).
I didn’t use the realms conversion notes much when I ran SCAP or AOWAP and we ended up making some sizable changes to the original adventures, while they where definitely still recognizable as the stupendous adventures from the magazines, many faces, places and creatures got a makeover.
One thing that has me very stumped this time round is Sasserine and how to kick the whole thing off.
I haven’t used this city in any of our AP’s as of yet and I would simply like to drop it into our realms as it comes presented in the next issue of Dungeon, however, I’m finding it hard to find a suitable spot and realms date to start the ball rolling. A couple of players are nagging me for more meat for their backstories.
These are a few things I would like to take into account when finding an area for Sasserine.
1. I want to use the poster map ‘as is’ pin it up on the wall and allow the players to soak it up confident in its place (the right way up) in faerun (wherever I eventually mark its dot on the FR map).
2. It has to be somewhere warm, with a hint of high adventure, a major change from our very grim and gothic toned Age of Worms campaign (which was set in and around the Dragon Coast and Westgate.)
We need a place in the ‘Shining South’ of faerun or similar. Smatterings of Sinbad and the Seven Seas, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Valley of Gwangi… and all those other wonderful films from childhood need an outlet to live again!
3. It needs someplace open to far off oceanic travels so the Isle of Dread can be safely placed into the campaign without too much work later on? Two of the groups’ players have chosen sea dwelling races (Darfellan and Sea elf) so coming up with a region with suitable cultural/geographical tie-ins for these races would be handy. Another player has settled on playing an Amazon or someone ‘Like a noble lady’ with ‘Amazon blood’ so that’s another thing to consider (she wants to work the Wonder Woman angle I fear?).
4. It has to have an ‘exotic feel’ to it; an area with a good racial mix and many mingling cultures, maybe a somewhat sweaty ‘renaissance colony’ flavor to it also. I suspect a Yuan Ti influence may be needed as one of my gamers have incorporated the snake people into their backstory and has written major plot hooks revolving around them.
5. I might (maybe) allow the odd pistol or musket to worm its way into the campaign, so it will have to be quite late-on in the roll of years because such exotic items are very new in faerun.
6. As I want to stretch out and play up the ‘lost world’ theme I therefore need the dinosaur encounters to blow my players away I don’t want to place Sasserine in Chult where dinosaurs, flying snakes, monkeys, scary large insects and strange tribal influences from the deep dark jungle will be somewhat familiar to them or at least glimpsed before.
I want the PC’s to be very unused to such things, feel the shock factor of it all; I need the potential encounters (in which I’m incorporating: dinosaurs, poison spear chucking cannibal natives, strangling creeper vines, man-eating Venus (Sune?) fly traps and giant apes) to be a very new thing for them. These events are going to be something they only ever heard about in sailors/adventurers tales or wild drunken tavern boasts.
So after all this musing and rambling I feel like Sasserine should be in southern Tethyr perhaps? The Purple Hills (if I can find some more background material and geographical information on them that is, might be a good choice.) or even somewhere near Thaymarsh on the coast of the Shining Sea? Somewhere there are no dinosaurs (apart from in tall tales) and having a ‘piratey’ vibe.
As to the faerun and its roll of years…
I think 1374 “year of lightning storms” could be the one to go for; I wish to avoid the rage of dragons, undersea war and what have you and build on what has gone before, incorporating past PC’s children from previous campaigns as young npcs and things like that. One player has suggested playing a character that lost everything during the rage of dragons…so 1374 might be the way to go… But then again, I hate being too up to date with the official current year in FR because it can end up forcing a DM into a corner if something unexpected and world changing happens. Story contortions and validation gymnastics of explanation in order to clarify unforeseen official events and their (often difficult) effects on our story really annoys me.
Any thoughts on this predicament of mine? Can anyone with the players guide or first chapter of Savage Tide give any advice on the things above?
Thanks in advance.
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Back in the day, I was going to do a Freeport game, and since I had a lot of FR stuff, just use FR for the campaign world.
THEN, I had Skull and Bones, so I was going to just use the 'real world's' Caribbean during the age of Piracy, with all the FR stuff as the 'Old World.'
I had an idea for a golden age of piracy game, with Freeport put where Kingsport was, and New York was gonna be Newaterdeep, and stuff like that, and I was just gonna bump the whole timeline up 300 years, since I wasn't a real bigtime FR history buff.
I've been thinking lately, if I wanted to do that with the STAP, I could just put Sasserine in Jamaica somewhere. Or maybe in The Yucatan, nearby all those interesting Mayan temple ruins...
Well, though you can change it, Sasserine and Chauldon are suppose to be sister cities, never close to each other (as it mentions alittle about the problems that Chauldon had recently faced, though I don't know if those become an issue in the adventures, or if its like AoW and the area near Chauldon is just 'revisited').
I am don't use established campaign settings, I am a homebrew guy so I have alot more freedom in changing everything in an AP or keeping it all together.
Heathansson, I really like the Freeport setting and its supplements; they have a certain gusto and character I very much appreciate. I bought a couple of odds and ends for the setting when they first came out but haven’t gotten around to using them yet; hopefully the STAP will allow me the opportunity. :)
Do you find the Freeport material fits in ok with the standard FR timeline not too far into a renaissance styled period for most realms devotees?
An acquaintance of mine labeled it far too much like the Marrienburg setting of the Warhammer RPG for his liking and to avoid placing it in the realms as he felt it clashed with the setting; I would like to include it but as he’s a player in my games so I wouldn’t want to upset him too much.
As for Jamaica and the Caribbean, well that’s kind of the flavor I’m going for Sasserine (or at least influenced by coconut rum :)) where in the southern/western Forgotten Realms I would find a similar cultural experience, if any?
By the way: purchased the Tome of Battle the other week (and read of your love of the material in another thread) one of my players has been bugging me to roll up a character using either the Swordsage or Warblade for STAP. I envision something like the fighting style of The Musketeer a sort of euro-wuzia or perhaps even “Crouching Badger, Hidden Football Hooligan!” (As he wishes to be an unarmed pugilist.)
Are you PC or DM in the STAP? How would you interpret such wire-fu exploits into mainstream euro-styled Dungeons and Dragons (FR flavored if possible)? I believe its all about flavor and how one simply describes the action at the end of the day but if you have any good ideas do share. I may change the names of some of the styles (and if a certain player decides to go the whole Amazon route I might aim a style at her).
Arcmagik I haven’t linked Sasserine to Cauldron in past campaigns and our Dungeon Adventure paths haven’t really been linked. (As in linking each Adventure Path together; except by the most tenuous strings of plot... ;)) so my players haven’t ever explored any thing in depth as of yet; each campaign has been rather ‘stand alone’ so I’m lucky as a DM in that respect. I didn’t even run them in sequence (AOW’s first) and I have been going over the idea of setting the Savage Tide well before any Adventure Path that’s taken place in our campaign so far.
If I do go that way I may choose to begin the Savage Tide in 1369 DR; ‘year of the gauntlet’ and have the events of the Savage Tide become a precursor to the ‘great undersea war’ detailed in the ‘Threat form the Sea’ trilogy of realms novels.
I am substituting sasserinne with Baldurs Gate in my campaign. BG is sufficiently vaguely described so that i can modify it to be exotic in flavor, at least the harbor side of it. Plus it has numerus cool factions in town that can help the players spice up their characters.
I’m not really looking to use an existing realms city as a substitute for Sasserine; I’m hoping to add Sasserine to my Forgotten Realms. In a way, my realms have become/becoming a strange G'hawk/F'realms hybrid since these damn addictive adventure paths appeared!
As for Westgate, it already filled the role of the ‘free city’ in our Age of Worms campaign so we wont be going anywhere near that old place for sometime.
Baldur’s Gate seems like a good sub, very intriguing and worth considering (yes veeeery spicy!) if I cant ever get Sasserine to fit but I’d ideally like to use Sasserine fully-formed-and-ready-on-a-platter for my players and their soon-to-be-players-guide-constructed PC’s.
I hope the guide can fit well with the FR.
I’m not really looking to use an existing realms city as a substitute for Sasserine; I’m hoping to add Sasserine to my Forgotten Realms. In a way, my realms have become/becoming a strange G'hawk/F'realms hybrid since these damn addictive adventure paths appeared!
As for Westgate, it already filled the role of the ‘free city’ in our Age of Worms campaign so we wont be going anywhere near that old place for sometime.
Baldur’s Gate seems like a good sub, very intriguing and worth considering (yes veeeery spicy!) if I cant ever get Sasserine to fit but I’d ideally like to use Sasserine fully-formed-and-ready-on-a-platter for my players and their soon-to-be-players-guide-constructed PC’s.
I hope the guide can fit well with the FR.
I had the same problem last night, as my game starts today, and nothing on the conversion content yet : ( well i guess i won't really need it now as the location of Sasserine is all i was really holding the game up for. After reading through the FR core book, i decided to place (Sasserine) with Port Nyranzaru. The description in the book for Port Nyranzaru is pretty short, basically saying it was built for defense, and is big on trade.
Its the last port city on the entire west side of Chult (which complies with what i heard about the GH version city) and looking at the FR Map its in a "cove" and connects to rivers/cannals, but is right there on the open ocean. To the south is the "chult jungle" which also makes sense when it talks about Sasserine saying most reach it by boat Vs. overland travel. And it appears to be a very defensible port.
So i took the Sasserine map out said there is Port Nyranzaru, and will use the material out of Dungeon for the city (basically changed the name) as i think it fits best as far as placement, and conformity.
Where is Port Nyranzaru? I cant see it on the map!
Where is Port Nyranzaru? I cant see it on the map!
Its on the Chult Penisula. Find Lantan, and then go directly South East, and you will run right into it. Its on the North Western part of Chult, just south of Fort Beluarian
Where is Port Nyranzaru? I cant see it on the map!Its on the Chult Penisula. Find Lantan, and then go directly South East, and you will run right into it. Its on the North Western part of Chult, just south of Fort Beluarian
Can’t see it; what map are you using? Is it near ‘The Mist Cliff’ area? Is the area detailed in Shining South at all?
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I originally tried to think of a Sasserine locale - Chult or Tethyr perhaps - but after reading the first adventure, I'm dumping Sasserine and replacing it with Waterdeep. Seems perfect.
BTW - I treat Cauldron as being in Chult and Isle of Dread as far off the western reaches of Chult. Lots of sea travel.
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In FR, top of my head, I'd put Sasserine in Chult, too.
I don't know if FR purists would resist putting Freeport in FR or not, but I see where it would mix flavors, and some folks don't like that kind of thing.
I was going to make my own history, and divorce it from standard FR by advancing time 300 years or so.
As to wuxia flavor, again purists would probably buckle at the idea of 9 Swords in GH, or FR. Some of the stuff is Wuxia dancing on bamboo stalks, but some of it seems straight up martial arts without too much of a stretch. If you have the Scarlet Brotherhood in GH, that's enough precedent to import other Eastern influences, IMO.
In FR I think there's some Mongolian-type guys over there in the east though, and they'd import a lot of their ideas into the Europeanesque setting. I also saw a yakuza crimelord in one of the books, I'm not sure.
Also, the Desert Wind stuff would go over pretty good in Mulhorand or Calimshan, with a Middle-eastern feel. Maybe some of those extraplanars that left their half-elemental lineages everywhere also left some esoteric fighting secrets.
I'm kinda in between games right now...real life jackin' with my fantasy life and whatnot. But I may scare up a group in the next few months. I'm rusty dm-wise, but that'll come back to me. I'd like to run Savage Tide, because I like running Pirate Genre stuff.
Can’t see it; what map are you using? Is it near ‘The Mist Cliff’ area? Is the area detailed in Shining South at all?Where is Port Nyranzaru? I cant see it on the map!Its on the Chult Penisula. Find Lantan, and then go directly South East, and you will run right into it. Its on the North Western part of Chult, just south of Fort Beluarian
Yes! : ) Its near the mistcliffs, if you found the mistcliffs go East (you have to, lol. West is ocean) There are two rivers, Soshenstar and next to that is River Tiryki. If you follow the river Tiryki to were it dumps into the ocean, Port Nyranzaru is right there.
Im using the big faerun map from the core book (it has the North South East West compass in the bottom left corner with a picture of a ship in it)
Can’t see it; what map are you using? Is it near ‘The Mist Cliff’ area? Is the area detailed in Shining South at all?Where is Port Nyranzaru? I cant see it on the map!Its on the Chult Penisula. Find Lantan, and then go directly South East, and you will run right into it. Its on the North Western part of Chult, just south of Fort Beluarian
still having problem find Calimport, and go directly east until you hit Chult and its right there.
I think I've decided to place Sasserine in Samarach, perhaps specifically replacing Samargol with it. Reading the history of this region, they are isolationists, and until fairly recently, have been out of touch with the known world thru various magical shields. This fits well with the Sasserine background of being concealed from common knowledge by the Scarlet Brotherhood. I can find nothing on Samargol in any of my FR books, so I can put Sasserine as-is there. It's located on the coast, with river access, and the entire country is surrounded by mountains, separating it from the rest of the Chultan peninsula.
I thought of making island known as the Mother of Mists into the Isle of Dread. It's far enough out in the Trackless Sea, and I can find little info on it as well.
Other thoughts: I think the Red Wizards will be my FR version of the Scarlet Brotherhood, and the pirate group mentioned in the overview in Dungeon 134 (can't recall the name) will by replaced with the Kraken Society. Any thoughts?
The Kraken Society's a great stand-in for the Crimson Fleet. Does the Kraken Society operate in the tropics, though?
In any event, we should be getting in Eric Boyd's conversion notes for the first adventure on Monday, at which point we'll try to get them up online ASAP.
Let's just say that in my campaign they may be expanding their horizons }:0)
Let's just say that in my campaign they may be expanding their horizons }:0)The Kraken Society's a great stand-in for the Crimson Fleet. Does the Kraken Society operate in the tropics, though?
In any event, we should be getting in Eric Boyd's conversion notes for the first adventure on Monday, at which point we'll try to get them up online ASAP.
I thought the Kraken society operated out of Luskan. But that is a great idea regarding expansion! I think they will also be moving thier operations south in my game... heh
-Good to hear about the conversion, : )
I had given thought to Lantan - some of my reasoning for this is the vast importance of the Shipping lanes, it is an island so it is naturally somewhat isolated.
I do like the Idea of Samarach though - any thoughts?
still having problem find Calimport, and go directly east until you hit Chult and its right there.Can’t see it; what map are you using? Is it near ‘The Mist Cliff’ area? Is the area detailed in Shining South at all?Where is Port Nyranzaru? I cant see it on the map!Its on the Chult Penisula. Find Lantan, and then go directly South East, and you will run right into it. Its on the North Western part of Chult, just south of Fort Beluarian
:) I eventually found it; I was looking at an old second edition map and never thought to drag out the third edition poster map!
I considered Samarach but then Tashluta grabbed my attention as one player has back-story beef with the Yuan ti. The third edition campaign book doesn’t have much material on either region, especially Samarach (this might work out to be a good thing for most DMs though.)
I think I may just wait (and somehow try to dodge any of my players’ further enquiries) until I get the magazine and download. We are SO chomping at the bit over this adventure path its crazy! Helps to chat about it over with other AP fans here; doesn’t make me feel quite as mad! ;)
The Kraken Society's a great stand-in for the Crimson Fleet. Does the Kraken Society operate in the tropics, though?
Random thoughts:
In the realms, how about making this ‘Crimson Fleet’ into a corsair type fleet of slave traders from Zakhara? (Home of the Forgotten Realms Al Qadim setting.) These pirates from the ‘Land of Fate’ could bring all manner of exotic qualities, shocks and surprises to a typical faerun campaign; I could even make their ships mage a Sha’ir from the Dragon compendium and the captain a fire genasi called Burning Beard!
(I’m in serious danger of overloading myself!)
not bad atall.
adding in the special things of that place, liquid fire and such..
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Isn't there a pirate haven on the southern coast of Faerun, between Halruaa and Dambrath? It's detailed in Shining South, which I don't have with me right now. Maybe that would be a better sub for Scuttlecove.
Also, speaking of Dambrath, the Bay of Dancing Dolphins has colonies of aquatic elves living there, IIRC, so that may work in the background of one or both of your aquatic PCs.
I finally have #139.
Overall, I’m very pleased with this first installment. Half the group has read the ‘players POV’ article in this months Dragon #348 and have suddenly become extremely excited so that is a good thing indeed!
The balls a rolling and my minds racing!
One thing that unsettled me was the poster map: It is very much like the city of Marienburg from Games Workshops Warhammer world, almost a sister city! This may cause one of my players to spontaneously combust but I’m sure they will realize its only the map that looks similar after reading the quality material; the character of Sasserine is very Dungeons and Dragons and that should win ‘old fussy pants’ over.
All in all, a extraordinary issue and a magnificent kick-start to a new series of high adventure! Well done team Paizo! Thanks a million.
edit: Here's a map of Marienburg so you know why my friend feels so peeved. ;)
http://www.warhammer.net/download.php?file=maps/Kislev/marienbg.jpg
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IMHO it can be only in Chult.
Tethyr, Baldur's Gate, or even the Moonsea are out of question if Sasserine's most important source of income is supposed to be spices. It has to be in the south.
Besides there are supposed to be some dinosaurs in following adventures on the isle of dread. Dinosaurs are native to Chult, I don't know any other region of the realms where dinosaurs live.
The Isle of Dread could be placed somehwere to the west/ north/ south of Chult depending on its relative climate and accessibility for other influences (you already mentioned pirates and some empires which influenced the isle's past history).
The closeness to Halruah and (to some less degree) to Calimshan could come in handily.
Greetings,
Günther
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One thing that unsettled me was the poster map: It is very much like the city of Marienburg from Games Workshops Warhammer world, almost a sister city! This may cause one of my players to spontaneously combust but I’m sure they will realize its only the map that looks similar after reading the quality material; the character of Sasserine is very Dungeons and Dragons and that should win ‘old fussy pants’ over.
I think there were quite some maps lately (also another one in one of the two last Dungeon issues, sporting "Venice like cities", sea port with quarters separated by channels/ on islands. ;-) See it as a challenge of your DM skills: your task is to give that city such a different flavour that your players will rub their eyes and say: "Wow, that city has so many similarities to Marienburg, but feels completely different!" ;-)
By the way "Marienburg" is a quarter in my home town... :-)
Greetings,
Günther
good point; i changed Sasserine out for Port Nyranzaru in my groups FR STAP. I think the isle of dread will be directly WEST of the port city. On the FR map i have, there is a lonely island directly West of the port city, and South-West of Lantan called "Mother-of-Mists". Works for me...
IMHO it can be only in Chult.
Tethyr, Baldur's Gate, or even the Moonsea are out of question if Sasserine's most important source of income is supposed to be spices. It has to be in the south.Besides there are supposed to be some dinosaurs in following adventures on the isle of dread. Dinosaurs are native to Chult, I don't know any other region of the realms where dinosaurs live.
The Isle of Dread could be placed somehwere to the west/ north/ south of Chult depending on its relative climate and accessibility for other influences (you already mentioned pirates and some empires which influenced the isle's past history).
The closeness to Halruah and (to some less degree) to Calimshan could come in handily.
Greetings,
Günther
IMHO it can be only in Chult.
Tethyr, Baldur's Gate, or even the Moonsea are out of question if Sasserine's most important source of income is supposed to be spices. It has to be in the south.Besides there are supposed to be some dinosaurs in following adventures on the isle of dread. Dinosaurs are native to Chult, I don't know any other region of the realms where dinosaurs live.
The Isle of Dread could be placed somehwere to the west/ north/ south of Chult depending on its relative climate and accessibility for other influences (you already mentioned pirates and some empires which influenced the isle's past history).
The closeness to Halruah and (to some less degree) to Calimshan could come in handily.
Greetings,
Günther
Your very right, I agree with everything you’ve said.
Although I’m nowhere near ready to play as of yet, I think we might of found a place for Sasserine here:
http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m74/Anti-Grav-Ankles/?action=view&cu rrent=Sasserineinchult3img015.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1
As for the Isle of Dread, I think its going to be somewhere waaaay west over the Trackless Sea almost a thousand miles away (also south of Evermeet by about one thousand five hundred miles or so.)
I think there were quite some maps lately (also another one in one of the two last Dungeon issues, sporting "Venice like cities", sea port with quarters separated by channels/ on islands. ;-) See it as a challenge of your DM skills: your task is to give that city such a different flavour that your players will rub their eyes and say: "Wow, that city has so many similarities to Marienburg, but feels completely different!" ;-)By the way "Marienburg" is a quarter in my home town... :-)
Greetings,
Günther
Watch out for those chaos cultists! ;)
I am exceedingly pleased with Sasserine; I don’t think I have to worry about my players thinking it’s the same as Marienburg at all now! Since we got the players guide and the related Savage Tide magazines our fears have been firmly put to rest; Sasserine is completely different in nature and a lot more ‘swashbuckly’ and D&D than Marienburg.
Your totally right about all the great maps Dungeon has printed in the past; I’ve found some excellent resource material for this campaign just by flicking through my old issues of dungeon and dragon magazines. I found a very cool 'jungle trading port' map in an old folder of mine (think it's from dungeon). I’m thinking I could possibly have it somewhere in this AP as an ‘out of the ordinary settlement’ featuring a large dvati population or similar.
Cant wait to run this! :)
One thing that has me scratching my head is which deities to use in place of the Greyhawk set up in FR.
Since most of us FR users have placed Sasserine in Chult, I imagine Ubtao should have some sort of temple or similar here.
Other deities such as Valkur, Umberlee, Talos, Talona and such would also likely have shrines (in the case of the last three I mentioned, these shrines would be mainly kept out of fear and a desire to placate the evil deities wrath.)
Shar (as her chultan ‘Eshowdow’ aspect) and Thard Harr must have some worshippers in the city and yuan-ti may have constructed the odd shrine to their gods somewhere (hidden).
I think Lathander (perhaps even in his aspect of Amaunator should be there; also Ilmater might be a good swap out for St Cuthbert. Shaundakul would be worshipped by sailors and the like -as would Istishia and Akadi. Siamorphe would have a small temple in the noble district.
Mask as a swap for Olidammara isnt great but might have to be close enough -at least he will be wearing a mask as ‘St. Worgul’. ;) Wee Jas will probaly end up being exchanged for Mystra IMC -but I might go with something else instead like Azuth what with Halruaa being kind of nearby. Latan is a stones throw across the waves so their may be a shrine to Gond somewhere.
I’m loath to swap Kord for Tempus so might try something crazy like using an ‘aspect’ of Uthgar with a different name and come up with some history/backstory on how his faith has found a home so far south. This would explain the friction between the champions district patron deity and the magic loving followers of the arcane magic god that I eventually decide on using. I’m thinking that a rather devout Uthgart reaver/pirate started it all with a simple shrine (and a lot of personality) hundreds of years ago and over time the faith has ‘morphed’ into something else entirely?
Then theres all those shrines to the demihuman gods.
Plenty to think about.
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Hi R-Type,
you know that there are some rough guidelines about converting Greyhawk deities to FR ones (-> FRCS). But you are right in that these conversion tips are rather for the main land of Faerun. So your proposals make sense to me.
After all this is a matter of taste and if you come up with a persuading (yet unusual) "Sasserine pantheon", so be it. ;-) Keep your players on the edge.
Required conversions would be for Sasserine's and her lover's faith, though (see Dungeon article on Sasserine's history). After all Sasserine was founded due to a vision sent by a deity.
The FR pantheon engulfs considerably more deities than the Greyhawk one. So you will be rarely able to replace one deity completely by another. Most often FR deities will only cover parts of a Greyhawk deity's portfolio, but in most cases the context reveals which portfolio is the centrral part of adoration in any given place. You can still add new cults/ shrines etc. if you realize that a portfolio was not considered.
Greetings,
Günther
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I’m just a DM thinking out loud for this thread, feel free to reflect on anything said and throw a few pointers this way...
I don’t have anything much on the Savage Tide yet (apart from the preview/summary of the AP’s chapters from the last Dungeon magazine.) I am planning on running this AP in the Forgotten Realms as I have already done so for the other AP’s; this is where the players feel most at home (and firmly refuse to leave).
I didn’t use the realms conversion notes much when I ran SCAP or AOWAP and we ended up making some sizable changes to the original adventures, while they where definitely still recognizable as the stupendous adventures from the magazines, many faces, places and creatures got a makeover.
One thing that has me very stumped this time round is Sasserine and how to kick the whole thing off.
I haven’t used this city in any of our AP’s as of yet and I would simply like to drop it into our realms as it comes presented in the next issue of Dungeon, however, I’m finding it hard to find a suitable spot and realms date to start the ball rolling. A couple of players are nagging me for more meat for their backstories.
These are a few things I would like to take into account when finding an area for Sasserine.
1. I want to use the poster map ‘as is’ pin it up on the wall and allow the players to soak it up confident in its place (the right way up) in faerun (wherever I eventually mark its dot on the FR map).
2. It has to be somewhere warm, with a hint of high adventure, a major change from our very grim and gothic toned Age of Worms campaign (which was set in and around the Dragon Coast and Westgate.)
We need a place in the ‘Shining South’ of faerun or similar. Smatterings of Sinbad and the Seven Seas, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Valley of Gwangi… and all those other wonderful films from childhood need an outlet to live again!3. It needs someplace open to far off oceanic travels so the Isle of Dread can be safely placed into the campaign without too...
just quit playing forgotten realms and switch to greyhawk.
Is anyone trying to put place Sasserine in a non-Wizards setting?
Or am I the only one (White Wolf's now defunct Scarred Lands is our groups default setting)?
I'd be very interested to see how DM's rise to their players challange.
Is anyone trying to put place Sasserine in a non-Wizards setting?
Or am I the only one (White Wolf's now defunct Scarred Lands is our groups default setting)?
I'd be very interested to see how DM's rise to their players challange.
(oops, I replied to the wrong post, sorry!)
I rather like the Freeport setting, as do others here. That looks to be a good place for the STAP.
Have no knowledge on Scarred Land, sorry.
@Cardinal_Malik
Yes, while that could be one quick way to solve the problems of using the dungeon adventure paths ‘as-is’ it won’t really work for us.
The group and I are Forgotten Realms fans first and foremost as the realms novels brought us all into the role-playing hobby in the first place. Another reason for not ‘going Greyhawk’ is nobody knows enough about the setting to do it justice.
Besides I actually like the process of converting the AP into something that fits our style of play and suits our needs. :)
In many ways the creation element is the most fun part for me!
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So, is there any further word regarding that official Dungeon conversion to FR. What you lads have posted here so far is top notch, but it would be nice to here an "official" word as to the conversion.
Really looking forward to taking at least substantial parts of this adventure path and incorporating it into my upcoming sea-based campaing.
I was planning on having it centered around the Sea of Fallen Stars, but this has convinced me to strongly consider having the characters begin at Sassarine, which I will likely place in Chult as many of you have said as well.
I think I've decided to place Sasserine in Samarach, perhaps specifically replacing Samargol...
After reading through the description of Samarach in Serpent Kingdoms (pg 116-118). I think this would be a pretty good match. It definately has a different feel, but still a good reason for isolation. The ton of the city would change from one just coming out of isolation with hope to a more oppressive city state full of lies, deceit and illusion. So overall a much darker feel.
If you really wanted to play that up you could decide that the High Phantasmage Meleghost Zoaster succeeded completely from Nimbral 10 years ago. In order to gather further resources it was necessary to start opening the ports for the first time, but outsiders are only allowed in certain portions of the city unless escorted by natives who have been approved by the government. Additionally any incoming ship is forced to hire a guide ship to lead them through the ever shifting veils of illusions set up in the harbor that lead the unwary to their doom on hidden dangers just below the waves (leaving the Phantasmage in firm control of all trade while still letting trade in). The overall feel I would shoot for would be that of how Nazi Germany was displayed in movies, with searches of homes and gestapo-like control of the city.
Leira (Cyric) would be predominant religion and this would also help account for the rise of the thieves guilds as corruption spreads. Mages, specifically illusionist, would hold the upper crust in society (maybe add that one of Lavinia's parents was an illusionist or not and say that as a result the family is in decline). The Killani's would definately have an illusionist and strong ties to the church of Leira in order to make it even more heinous to cross them.
I think this would work beautifully. The first two adventures work pretty seemlessly if you just play up the above aspects. The third would need a little more fitting to work. I think I would steal from another poster who suggested the path to the Isle of Dread is through a ship sized portal (I am thinking near the Mother of Mists island to lead the voyage around a good portion of the Chultan peninsula and therefor fit very nicely in with Sea Wyvern's Wake... just add in an encounter with a mist shrouded portal and think up a good key like someone who recently visited Tamoachan or just something Lavinia owns and you should be good).
Once past the first three adventures it shouldn't matter tremendously where in the Realms things are unless there needs to be some converting of the planes later due to the unique structure of Toril's cosmology).
As for fitting Cauldron and it's background into the adventure, I think this works pretty well with the isolationist feel of this kingdom. Additionally the threat of the rise of the serpent folk again in the jungles would take on a whole new meaning... read Serpent Kingdoms for more on that.
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A couple of other points in favor of this location. The description of one of the three major cities in the region describes it, Sorl that is, as "nestle[d] in a steep-sided bowl." This would look to be a wonderful sub for Cauldron as it would throw off too much suspicion of an impending volcanic eruption from any player who has read Serpent Kingdoms (and it is likely if you are going to this much detail in Forgotten Realms that some of your players may have done just that).
Another great idea would be to add in an encounter into The Sea Wyvern's Wake that makes the PCs choose between sailing close to the Snout of Omgar and paying the creatures strange tolls (perhaps something from Tamoachan is required and you place that ruined city in this area) or drift too close to Beacon Rocks and perhaps be forced to have a small adventure there to shut down the compulsion that draws them to the lighthouse for a short period of time.
Sean Mahoney
A couple of other points in favor of this location. The description of one of the three major cities in the region describes it, Sorl that is, as "nestle[d] in a steep-sided bowl." This would look to be a wonderful sub for Cauldron as it would throw off too much suspicion of an impending volcanic eruption from any player who has read Serpent Kingdoms (and it is likely if you are going to this much detail in Forgotten Realms that some of your players may have done just that).
Another great idea would be to add in an encounter into The Sea Wyvern's Wake that makes the PCs choose between sailing close to the Snout of Omgar and paying the creatures strange tolls (perhaps something from Tamoachan is required and you place that ruined city in this area) or drift too close to Beacon Rocks and perhaps be forced to have a small adventure there to shut down the compulsion that draws them to the lighthouse for a short period of time.
Sean Mahoney
I would place the city as Westgate in the moonsea. The region is quite known for pirates I believe. Westgate is kind of a "scum and villiany" kind of place.
Westgate is on the Dragon Coast and not the Moonsea. Several hundred miles away from each other.
So, is there any further word regarding that official Dungeon conversion to FR. What you lads have posted here so far is top notch, but it would be nice to here an "official" word as to the conversion.
Do what works best for your campaign.
In the conversion notes I've given to Paizo, Sassarine == Tashluta. The Sea Wyvern's path is west around the horn of the Jungle of Chult and then south across the Great Sea.
--Eric
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Do what works best for your campaign.In the conversion notes I've given to Paizo, Sassarine == Tashluta. The Sea Wyvern's path is west around the horn of the Jungle of Chult and then south across the Great Sea.
--Eric
Thanks for the work, and for the note.
Did they give any indication of when/where that should show up on their website? I'm looking forward to giving your notes a good read-through.
It's great that you placed it so hear where others have on the boards...most have seemed to place it somewhere on the Chultan peninsula. Great minds think alike it would seem.