Hey all,
I'm in the early stages of DMing AoW with a group that are mostly CN/evil. I plan on making a few changes to the story and cast and one of these ideas was to sub Tenser/Manzorian with Rary. Does anyone know what's happened to him since the GH wars? I know he killed Tenser and then took off (to the Bright Desert?) but that's about it.
Any info or help in this direction would be greatly appreciated.
Thanx
Buy a copy of "Rary the Traitor", which kind of centers on Rary and what he has been up to. The Living Greyhawk Gazetter might have a few references in it too, but don't expect anything detailed.
The last big Living Greyhawk campaign (the one run by the central authority and accessible to wherever you are in the world, not sure how they officially call these) was centred around the Bright Desert and Rary's doing there.
But nothing really telling about the evil mage was to be found in there (at least in the first four or five modules, IIRC).
You could try to download the main official documents from WotC/rpga, but I would not my breath for any major info on Gary in those. If you have an active DM account on RPGA you could order the last modules still available (if there are some).
Good luck!
Bocklin
I plan on making a few changes to the story and cast and one of these ideas was to sub Tenser/Manzorian with Rary. Does anyone know what's happened to him since the GH wars?
Rary transported his entire castle out to The Bright Desert, and the maps for it are in Rary The Traitor. He has his hands full trying to subjugate the paynims and nomads of the Desert, and is trying to locate the remains of the Empire which once ruled the desert (again, see Rary The Traitor.)
He was joined by the Fighter Lord Robilar, who is the Field Commander for Rary's forces.
IIRC, there's not much been heard of him since then, although there is a line in the LGG about the Bright Empire (Rary's name for his fiefdom).
Changing him out for Tenser might be pronlematic, as he is living out in the Desert and not in a handy Cairn Hills location (although the two aren't too far apart). He would probably be a poor mentor for the PC's given his "previous" and although he wouldn't welcome the Age of Worms with open arms, any help he gave them would be with his own interests at stake.
|
The last big Living Greyhawk campaign (the one run by the central authority and accessible to wherever you are in the world, not sure how they officially call these) was centred around the Bright Desert and Rary's doing there.
But nothing really telling about the evil mage was to be found in there (at least in the first four or five modules, IIRC).
It centers around Rary's attempts to find the Scorpian Crown from the old Flan empire of Sulm.
Mike
Changing him out for Tenser might be pronlematic, as he is living out in the Desert and not in a handy Cairn Hills location (although the two aren't too far apart). He would probably be a poor mentor for the PC's given his "previous" and although he wouldn't welcome the Age of Worms with open arms, any help he gave them would be with his own interests at stake.
Exactly! My group consists of evil/CN characters so I'm looking to use someone a little more conniving and sinister than Tenser to deal with them. Not entirely sure if I'll use Rary for this but looking into it. Sounds like I gotta track down Rary the Traitor.
Thanx for the help, everyone.
|
Rary would certainly not welcome the Age of Worms, as this would put a serious wrinkle in his own plans for world dominations. Also, he's far too fastidious to approve of all those shambling, decomposing undead...
A less potent, but still sinister, alternative might be Evard the Black, who makes his living dealing information to anyone willing to pay his price. He had a write-up a few years ago as a Critical Threat; as a fundamentally greedy mercenary, he would probably be willing to trade all kinds of favours to the PCs in exchange for money/services/future favours.
A less potent, but still sinister, alternative might be Evard the Black, who makes his living dealing information to anyone willing to pay his price. He had a write-up a few years ago as a Critical Threat; as a fundamentally greedy mercenary, he would probably be willing to trade all kinds of favours to the PCs in exchange for money/services/future favours.
Hey, that's a good idea. I'm pretty sure i have the critical threat with Evard in it. Thanx for the input, I may use that.
Incidentally, I'm not looking for a villain who wants the age of worms to come (there's already enough of those), but someone like Rary or Evard who oppposes it for their own interests. I also don't think Tenser would invest his hopes of saving the world in a bunch of evil heroes.
Any other feedback is most welcome...and thanx again!
|
|
Hey, glad to be of help! I'd probably still get the Rary the traitor PDF, though - some people think it is the pits, but I found it both useful and rather enjoyable.
Another idea, if you don't mind having the PCs travel to exotic locations (seriously, who doesn't like an occasional change of scenery?), is to make Drax the Invulnerable their scary benefactor (more details in Ivid the Undying, located here). Rel Astra is one of GH's great cities, and the PCs likely know next to nothing about it. Drax hates his undead state, and would thus love to see the destruction of Kyuss.
Alternatively, go get this file and introduce your band of scumbags to the Circle of Eight - the best candidate is probably Warnes Starcoat. Enjoy!
Another idea, if you don't mind having the PCs travel to exotic locations (seriously, who doesn't like an occasional change of scenery?), is to make Drax the Invulnerable their scary benefactor (more details in Ivid the Undying, located here). Rel Astra is one of GH's great cities, and the PCs likely know next to nothing about it. Drax hates his undead state, and would thus love to see the destruction of Kyuss.
Alternatively, go get this file and introduce your band of scumbags to the Circle of Eight - the best candidate is probably Warnes Starcoat. Enjoy!
Thanx for that awesome file of the Circle of Eight, Vattnisse, and that's a great idea to introduce the PCs to them. I have a feeling they will play an important part of this campaign once I get all the details worked out.
I do have a copy of Ivid the Undying, I love all of Carl Sargent's GH material. I've thought about using some of the stuff from that book and Drax seems like the best choice, still undecided. I have a few other ideas I'm playing with that I'll throw your way (getting a little off the thread's topic, I know...)
-replace the Order of the Storm with the Ur-Flan mystics, using the lost citadel of Veralos (detailed in Dragon #293) instead of Kongen-Thulnir. I realize it would mean significant changes to "Kings of the Rift" but I don't mind that. I think the timeline with this may be off a bit but that can be adjusted for my game.
-involving Kas (of Vecna fame) as a major player, maybe replacing Lashonna. Alternatively, he could play the silent partner for the PCs . I'm sure he'd like to get his hands on the Hand of Vecna once the party has dealt with Darl Quethos.
That's it so far. If ya got some time lemme know what you think.
Cheers.
|
|
Son of a b~~*~!!! The site just gobbled up my six-paragraph post! Blah!! Try again...
Hmmmm.... "Kings of the rift" gets its considerable charm from the giants and dragons. If these don't float your boat, you should of course change this. Personally, I love it, but that might be because I'm such a sucker for giants. I'll change the dwarf rogue and some other minor details, but otherwise keep it more or less as is. It is such a high-end meatgrinder that it provides a nice change of pace from Zeech's ball.
I wouldn't swap out Lashonna. After all, she's a very unusual and cool villain that packs major punch; also, how would a lesser beast manage to steal the obelisk from Dragotha's lair? You sorta need a dragon for that kind of antics...
I really like the idea of seriously redoing the "Library of last resort", and the Ur-mystics sound just right. They are far creepier than the druids, and Veralos is a cool location. However, I would refrain from using Kas too much, though the idea of him as silent partner has some appeal. It would gain the PCs some seriously unwholesome allies that would insist..., um, strenuously that they get to keep the Hand once it becomes time to divvy up the loot. Good times!
While we are discussing adventuring in the eastern parts of the Flanaess, you might want to swap out Redport with Rauxes - this would add lots of roleplaying opportunities for your PCs, and also allows you to run more substantial urban adventures, if you want to. This assumes, of course, that Rauxes hasn't been reduced to the magical slag heap of the post-Ivid days, but that is a minor rewrite. Marc Chin's evil Shackled City campaign ran there, so you might want to check out that campaign log. And finally - don't forget everybody's friend Delglath of Rinloru! He'd certainly be interested in anything involving the undead.
Son of a b%&&#!!! The site just gobbled up my six-paragraph post! Blah!! Try again...
(LOL) I've nearly put my fist through my monitor on several occasions because of that, then GGG clued me into copying my posts before submitting them. It works and I highly reccomend it.
Hmmmm.... "Kings of the rift" gets its considerable charm from the giants and dragons. If these don't float your boat, you should of course change this. Personally, I love it, but that might be because I'm such a sucker for giants. I'll change the dwarf rogue and some other minor details, but otherwise keep it more or less as is. It is such a high-end meatgrinder that it provides a nice change of pace from Zeech's ball.
I have a love/hate thing with Kings of the Rift. On one hand I like the dragon vs. giants warzone, but I think its overkill. If I use it I will make some changes to it.
I wouldn't swap out Lashonna. After all, she's a very unusual and cool villain that packs major punch; also, how would a lesser beast manage to steal the obelisk from Dragotha's lair? You sorta need a dragon for that kind of antics...
Yeah, I think you're right. She has a pivotal role in the AoW. I think she's a great evil NPC, but I've never really liked the "Dragotha turned her into a vampire" story. I didn't think dragons could be vampires. But I digress...
I really like the idea of seriously redoing the "Library of last resort", and the Ur-mystics sound just right. They are far creepier than the druids, and Veralos is a cool location. However, I would refrain from using Kas too much, though the idea of him as silent partner has some appeal. It would gain the PCs some seriously unwholesome allies that would insist..., um, strenuously that they get to keep the Hand once it becomes time to divvy up the loot. Good times!
I've pretty much made up my mind that I'll go with Ur-flan. They are so cool and creepy and I've always wanted to somehow fit them into a campaign. I read somewhere that Vecna was believed to have been Ur-flan so it makes a nice tie-in. As for Kas, I see how using him could be problematic....but he's just a damn cool villain!
While we are discussing adventuring in the eastern parts of the Flanaess, you might want to swap out Redport with Rauxes - this would add lots of roleplaying opportunities for your PCs, and also allows you to run more substantial urban adventures, if you want to. This assumes, of course, that Rauxes hasn't been reduced to the magical slag heap of the post-Ivid days, but that is a minor rewrite. Marc Chin's evil Shackled City campaign ran there, so you might want to check out that campaign log. And finally - don't forget everybody's friend Delglath of Rinloru! He'd certainly be interested in anything involving the undead.
I've wanted to use Rauxes in my game forever! This will tempt me to want to bring in heavy hitters like Xaene and Karoolk..(pause to rub my hands together). I'll take this into serious consideration. So, is Ivid dead? I haven't kept up with the LGG material. And Delglath? I thought about him a long time ago and he'd fit nicely into many roles. Ah, the ideas are endless! Same with Szeffrin but now I'm starting a whole other campaign. I'll look into that evil SC campaign log, thanx for the tip.
It seems the Great Kingdom is the way to go for an evil group. I'll probably move it there for "The Prince of Rauxes"...that sounds pretty good!
If you still want to go the Rary route, which by the way can be done, I'd suggest you link Diamond Lake to Hardby somehow, and check out this as a resource (nothing on Rary, but is a good run-down on Hardby itself):
http://www.peldor.com/world/hardby.html
In my game, the PC's have actually been to Hardby a couple of times, as one of the PC's grew up there and her cohort (Melinde the Paladin) did too. So when they decided to find a place to trade their new-found "wealth" of iron balls, I lead them to Hardby, and tied it into a couple of adventures there. The second one actually involved Robilar - he was in town on a "diplomatic mission" and was part of a group that tasked the PC's to help retrieve some lost items from the hills - things they wanted to do secretly. Rary's been in the background, not doing anything except behind the scenes "off camera" so to speak. The PC's are all Good in my game, and struggled with the morals of what they were doing in Hardby at times, as it wasn't made clear to them who was "good" vs "evil" (Robilar has a magic device to conceal his alignment, and many of the other players are neutral in outlook). I've used some of the ideas etc from the current "Bright Sands" material from the Living Greyhawk campaign, and weaved them into the overall AoW as little "side-treks" that help flesh out the story for the PC's (their own stories and development, as opposed to anything that's actually related to the core AoW plots). In the end, my group inadvertently helped Hardby cede from the Domain of Greyhawk, becoming an independent city in its own right once the Despotrix died and her grand-daughter took over, at which point Rary declared that any attacks on Hardby would meet a swift response from the Bright Lands...
You could certainly have Rary be more involved in your campaign, and Hardby is a good place "in the middle", between Diamond Lake and the Bright Lands, for the PC's to bump into his minions etc (I'd suggest he's too high level to be their mentor directly, at least initially, but that's perhaps just my DM style).
After giving this a lot of thought, I've decided to back up a bit. I think I'll save the Great Kingdom for another canpaign as there is just so much in there I want to use. I'm going to keep the campaign centered as is, with some changes to the following:
-swap the druids for ur-flan mystics. That means Kings of the Rift will take place in the ruins of Veralos, which is in the Rift Canyon anyway.
-replace Manzorian with Evard, who has connections with Rary. I haven't yet looked at Hardby closely but I will definately give it a look to see if I can work it in.
-include Kas as a silent partner to one of the PCs,who is an evil flan wizard with an obsession for the lost secrets of the ur-flan. I'll have Kas imprisoned somewhere and since Kas would have much knowledge of the ur-flan (from his days with Vecna) he'll trade this info if the PCs free him, which will involve using the Hand of Vecna acquired from Darl. This will serve as a sub-plot in the campaign that parallels the Kyuss plotline.
That's it, lemme know if I've overlooked some glaring contradictions or if you just have feedback. Thanx again to everyone for their help (so far...)
I've pretty much made up my mind that I'll go with Ur-flan. They are so cool and creepy and I've always wanted to somehow fit them...I really like the idea of seriously redoing the "Library of last resort", and the Ur-mystics sound just right. They are far creepier than the druids, and Veralos is a cool location.
If you like the idea of the Ur-Flan quite a bit, then you may want to consider retooling the Library of Last Resort as the Isle of Lost Souls (see Ivid the Undying): it could easily be made into a suitably vile demiplane (perhaps it's even an Isle of Woe that exists simultaneoulsy in the Nyr Dyv and off the shores of North Province...).
If you can track down a copy, I also recommend reading Vecna: Hand of the Revenant by Modi Thorsson (published by Iron Hammer, IIRC?), which makes some interesting Ur-Flan connections between Vecna and Acererak, among others....
Allan.
Those are some cool ideas, Allan. Thanks for the suggestions, especially the Isle of Lost Souls. I just sent you an email regarding the Rary module, and I'll definately look for the Vecna book you mentioned, I've never heard of it before.
|
Age of Worms Spoilers
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
I think Rary and the Bright Desert would make great additions to the Age of Worms, especially since Kyuss was originally from Sulm. More backstory on Kyuss' days as a mortal in Sulm and why he left Sulm to establish a colony in the Amedio Jungle would add missing bits of history to the Age of Worms timeline. Instead of sending PC's directly to the Spire of Long Shadows, have them take a detour through some ruins in the Bright Desert.