G'Day people,
I'm in the process of converting SCAP and AWAP to the Wilderlands setting for an upcomming campaign. I thought I might post what I've done in case there is anyone out there using the old judges guild backdrop (got to be at least one!)
First some disclaimers, I don't own the hard cover so these conversions are on the original mags. Rather then detail the conversion all at once I'll do it one adventure at a time.
It's not a masterwork of prose but functional I think.
P
#1 Life’s Bazaar
CAULDRON
Cauldron is located on the Isle of the Blest perched on the edge of the Cruaich Mountains overlooking the southern jungles (hex 4402 Map 14).
4402 Cauldron (large town): Conventional; AL NG; TL 7; 3,000 gp limit; Assets 600,000 gp; Population 4,500 (Able bodied 1,250); Mixed (79% human [mostly mixed or Ghinoran], 9% Halfling, 5% gnome, 3% dwarf, 2% elf, 1% half-elf, 1% half-orc); Resources: Obsidian and Market.
Changed Important Characters: Vortimax Weer (Male Common Orichalan Alchemist 10)
The four primary temples in Cauldron are changed thus.
The Church of St. Cuthbert is replaced by the Temple of the Virgin Owl, dedicated to Athena.
The Temple of Lordly Might retains its name but is dedicated to Thor.
The Church of Pelor is replaced by a shrine to Modron.
The Church of Wee Jas is replaced by the Temple of the Moon, dedicated to the Moon Goddess Amlifos Cauldron’s oldest religion.
Slavery is central to the plot of the first adventure and is also a very common institution in the Wilderlands. In this case Cauldron is one of the exceptions, since the earliest dwarf and gnomish settlements it has been a free city. While slave ownership within the city is not illegal, there are several hundred house slaves within the city at any one time, buying, selling or mistreating slaves is. In accordance with ancient law if an unaccompanied slave can remain in the city for a year and a day they are declared freemen. The arrival of runaway slaves from Rallu or the northern villages is not an uncommon occurrence.
Unlike as stated in the adventure most kidnapping victims have until recently been Dwarves and the odd runaway slave. The capture of the children appears to be a major departure from previous targets. Otherwise information gained about the abductions is unchanged.
CHAPTER ONE:
Change Ruphus Laro to a Sage 2. As such he does not participate in the fight and remains a helpless victim.
The Temple of the Virgin Owl is primarily dedicated to Athena and all the resident clerics hold her as their patron but it does host small shrines to Aphrodite, Apollo, Poseidon and a generic shrine for the rest of the pantheon.
Half of the temple priests are actually Sages dedicated to Athena rather than clerics.
The temples holy relic, the Star of Justice is changed to a +2 Shield known as the Shield of the Oracle. Its special ability remains unchanged with the cryptic results of divinations appearing as writing on its mirrored surface.
Alek Tercival the paladin is replaced with the no less righteous Alexis Tercival (Female Amazon, Amazon Warrior 4).
The Lantern Street Orphanage is replaced with the Mendicant’s House. In other city states orphans and strays often find themselves enslaved. In Cauldron the Temple of the Virgin Owl takes in orphans and the children of impoverished parents. They are trained in the Mendicant’s House to become clergy of Athena. Those who fail to make the grade in either scholarship or combat arts are apprenticed to city craftsmen (for a modest fee). So the building is more of a place of religious instruction than is portrayed in the adventure.
Both Gretchyn and Williow should become 1st level Adepts. Jaromir changes to warrior class and becomes the combat instructor rather than gardener.
The Striders of Fharlanghn are replaced by the Blest Striders. This is an organisation based in Foundation (hex 4831 map 11) a community in which all the residents are of mixed human and elven ancestry. Likewise the faiths of Amlifos and Beytnorn have blended. The Blest Striders patrol the entire island monitoring disturbances in the natural balance of the world. The Striders are not well regarded by any of the clergy of Amlifos as their faith is seen as heretical. Although only a small minority are actually clerics any in the organisation can pick domains from either god and have the longbow as a favoured weapon. Otherwise their motives and actions in the adventure are unchanged.
CHAPTER THREE:
Jzadirune is functionally unchanged from the adventure. The gnomes who founded the enclave discovered relic technology left behind by the Markrab slave races that lived under Cauldron during the Uttermost War and through to the Century Wars of Domination. Features such as the gear doors and the Automatons are examples of the technology the gnomes had been able to recover from these ruins. With the abandonment of Jzadirune even this knowledge is again lost.
CHAPTER FOUR:
The Malachite Fortress was once the main entrance to the gnome and dwarvish settlement in Cauldron, long before humans began to arrive. The tunnel at M8 does not lead to the underdark but rather it extends for fifteen miles to the south east where it exits into the jungle (hex 4604 map 14). This forgotten doorway to Cauldron was discovered by Kazmojen soon after Zenith Splittershield abandoned his post. Kazmojen started out using it to transport runaway slaves from Cauldron back to Rallu (hex 0404 Map 15). He then expanded into taking dwarves from Cauldron and selling them to the sea king of Rallu who is currently in great need of dwarven slaves. The capture of the children is a special order for Pyllrak Shyraat.
Pyllrak Shyraat is the head slave keeper for the Temple of Thanatos (hex 4927 map 11). As the residents of the temple are banned from entering Rallu more than once a year, Pyllrak was forced to look elsewhere when Nartork the Holy decided he needed some children for next months ritual.
All the prisoners in M18 and M27 should be changed to dwarves. While Coryston Pike can remain unchanged, she unfortunately found the jungle doorway and was discovered by Kazmojen’s minions.
#2 Flood Season
CHAPTER ONE:
Most of the adventure background in this one can remain the same with the need for but shortage of wands etc. The only real change is that Sarcem travelled to the Temple of Poseidon at Rallu to secure more wands both because as a sea god that is his territory and also as Athena and Poseidon are in the same pantheon his appeal would have a better chance of being heard.
CHAPTER TWO:
Obviously the players’ handout of a rough map of Cauldron’s surrounds will have to be redone. The features to include and what they represent or replace in SCAP are as follows:
- The Lucky Monkey (hex 4604 map 14)
- Haunted Village (hex 4303 map 14)
- Gormcairn [Redgorge] (hex 4433 map 11)
- Silver Cavern [Lair of Hookface] (hex 4502 map 14)
- The Witch’s Hut [Crazy Jared] (hex 4804 map 14)
- Blackheart Keep [Keep of Jarl Khurok] (hex 4802 map 14)
- Praetor [Kingfisher Hollow] (hex 4833 map 11)
- The Demonskar (hex 4405 map 14)
- Ruins of Shatterhorn (hex 4907 map 14)
The Lucky Monkey inn is located on the banks of the Deer River at the edge of the Jungle only a couple of miles from the hidden tunnel to the Malachite Fortress. This is a very old establishment, an inn as been sitting on this site since the first dwarf/gnomish settlement of Cauldron. These days the clientele is limited to those who travel along the game trail that skirts the north edge of the jungle to Rallu.
Little has threatened the inn in the recent past, jungle pygmies (Halfling barbarians) have learnt the hard way that it was not an easy target and the jungle gnoll tribes rarely raid this far west.
The Alleybashers gang are members of the notorious thieves’ guild of Rallu.
Tongueater: Although the temple to Hanuman the Accursed is abandoned in Rallu, the bloodline of Hanuman still lives on in the surrounding islands, a heritage Tongueater shares.
Room M39: Sarcem’s +1 holy light mace should be changed to a +1 holy short spear.
Shensen Tesserit is the bastard daughter of Maltamron of Entenwold (hex 4532 map 11) and one of his human slaves. She fled as a child fifty years ago and lived for a time at the Lanax Monastery (hex 4828 map 11) where she trained as a monk. Still feeling unaccepted she moved onto Foundation (hex 4831 map 11) and fell in with the Blest Striders. As per her Dark Elf bloodline she is an albino.
CHAPTER THREE:
The Red-Haired Women: Triel does not hail from Cauldron so the PCs will not be able to discover anything about her with Knowledge checks.
Visiting the Churches:
The Temple of Lordly Might is dedicated to Thor and contains some shrines to the other Norse gods. Attitudes and information gained here otherwise remains unchanged.
The church of Pelor is replaced by a shrine to Modron. The shrine’s only cleric Kristof Jurgensen (Skandik NG Cleric 4) is subservient to the order of Modron citadel (hex 5031 map 11). The shrine is three years old and the order has only been on the island for ten years. The order has had poor success spreading the faith as the local inhabitants see little relevance in a demi-goddess of a river from far off Roglaras. To counter this Kristof has been promoting the idea that the fabled monster of the lake is the daughter of Modron and Amlifos. Followers of Amlifos disagree violently claiming that Amlifos would never take male form. Even so this has enabled Kristof to build a small but devout cult composed of those who claim to have seen the mythical beast.
Kristof is eager to help with the wands but he is unable to offer practical help. None of his order is powerful enough to create them and the order is very low on finances after completing the citadel. He is willing to point the finger of blame towards the clerics of Amlifos, not for any real reason but simply because of his running dispute with them.
The church of Wee Jas is replaced by the Temple of the Moon, Cauldron’s oldest religion. The moon goddess Amlifos (NG- Water, Magic, Good, Dream – Trident) has been worshiped on the isle of Blest since time began. She is said to live under the sea during the day before rising on the onset of darkness. Her holy symbol is a silver crescent with its points upright. Water and silver are seen as holy and her rituals involve baptisms and prayers in the light of the full moon. Cauldron’s Temple of the Moon is the single largest place of worship for Amlifos on the island. Even so Embryl Aloustinai is not the high priest of the cult as a whole, that honour is held by the leader of the secluded monastic temple found beneath the Lake of the Gods (hex 4729 map 11).
Since the war between the Pious and Philosophers the Amlifans have been challenged by the rival cult of the Moon Demon Enlifos (NE - Water, Magic, Evil, Madness – Trident). His holy symbol is a red crescent moon pointing down and his rituals involve sacrifice by drowning. The Enlifan cult is centred with its high priest in Rallu.
It is widely known that Embryl was not pleased to hear the announcement that Cakjak of Abject (hex 4626 map 11) was appointed the Champion of Amlifos as she felt she was more deserving of the title. Since then the Temple of the Moon has slowly been separating their ties with other Amlifos temples. It is even whispered by some that a few of the clerics of the Temple of the Moon now serve the demon Enlifos.
Otherwise the staff of the Temple of the Moon is as haughty and disdainful as they are portrayed in the adventure.
CHAPTER FOUR:
The Kopru were an alien slave race of the Markreb and they helped man the Markreb base under what is now Cauldron.
This ruin was built near the conclusion of the century wars after the Kopru were abandoned by their Markreb masters. The Kopru fought with other slave races and where forced to abandon this complex well before the first Kelnore sailor landed on the shores of Blest.
The dungeon was constructed with the aid of great technological engines. The reason the construction looks half melted is because it was. The surfaces of the dungeon have melted to a smooth black glass which is always cool to the touch, in spite of the hot humid air.
Modern Kopru only have at best half remembered legends of their past achievements and servitude.
The Ebon Triad:
This triad cult is not native to Blest but rather it hails from far off City State and Roglaras. The three component cults serve Harmakhis god of death, a sub cult from the Hellbridge Temple that worship a LE aspect of Morg and Yog god of the outer darkness. They are here to help build the soul cages for the cagewrights in exchange for arcane secrets needed to further plans of their own. Once the last cage is complete they intend to return to the City State.
Skaven is a servant of Yog and is changed to Diviner 5 / Alienist 2. The Air Elemental in his room K24 should be changed to a Fihyr. I would also replace his collection of books and scrolls with a madness inducing Tomb of Knowledge about the outer void.
Triel is an upwardly mobile priestess of Morg. She is of respected, if militaristic, noble stock and her involvement in the Ebon Triad is all about building up a power base both within the Hellbridge Temple and the City State itself. Otherwise she is unchanged.
Tarkilar is however a local, the brother of Vrurag (hex 5005 map 14) and was as mentally unstable as the rest of his kin. A cleric of Harmakhis who found himself involved in the Triad after a divine revelation. Otherwise he is unchanged.
Troll, cool stuff! Just make sure you are using the Necro/JG Wilderlands Boxed Set :)
Clark