A stench of decay comes off the sea, though the tradesfolk of islands are too thankful for the parting of the storms to pay it mind. The monsoon has ended, and ships sail again along the archipelago. From Ketebris in the north and Mienti to the south, traders rush to complete their business before their nations return to war again. Merchants of the vast 'empire' of Lyssan arrive with holds overflowing with raw materials for the industries of the islands. Crimelords tip their hats to each other, their feuds in check so long as visitors fill the inns and gambling halls of the island. When the storm season comes again and the mainlanders are gone, the streets will run with blood.
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The plan: A short campaign, ending around level 12. We start off on a heavily modified version of the Savage Tide rewritten to take the party to Strahd's domain rather than the Isle of Dread. After Ravenloft, a few more sessions to wrap up plot threads particular to each of the PCs, and the campaign ends, hopefully with my group of four new players starting to wonder at some of the mysteries woven in from my homebrew campaign world of Kaeth.
Major modifications:
We agreed we wanted a grittier, more realistic game with strong story development. So I'm cutting out a great many of the more fantastic creatures, especially from the early sessions, and replacing them with more NPCs and animals. Undead in the adventures stay, but get used to foreshadow the long reach of Stahd before the party encounters him directly. The society of adventurers that the Vanderhoren elders belonged to gets replaced with another of the rival crimanal gangs of the Four Lighthouses region where Sassarine will be situated in this campaign.
What's happened so far:
Very little. The players have made their major decisions for character creation: race, class, point buy, starting skills and feats. They're starting to feel out the backstories they want for their characters. This is what they've told me, as of the end of the character creation session. We've got:
A human rogue of dubious parentage, built with the classic dexterity prime stat and thieving skill selections. Native to the island.
A young elf, his parents murdered by gnollish assassins for their political meddling. He fled into the wilderness and learned to fend for himself. (Ranger, dex/archery build, favored enemy gnolls. How he got to the Four Lighthouses region remains to be solved.)
A human from the woodland region of Orvanich on the mainland. Driven out of his village due to the magic he barely controlled, he travelled north to Ulgareth, where he hoped the Mage's Guild might help him understand his chaotic gifts. As a first service to earn admission to the guild, he was sent to the Four Lighthouses region to retrieve the rare tradegoods and material components gathered there. (Sorcerer, dragon heritage feats.)
A dwarven galley slave, escaped from the navy of Ketebris and hiding out on the island until his fleet sets sail again. (Classic fighter, cleave sequence build.)
I'm pleased that no one in the party has any magical healing. This is going to aid tremendously in keeping the game gritty. Diseases, festering wounds, hunger, and slow healing will actually be concerns for my party.
Cool. Looking forward to reading your journal, Baudot. Will the players be posting anything or is this going to be solely your account? What was your inspiration for your homebrew setting?
Will the players be posting anything or is this going to be solely your account? What was your inspiration for your homebrew setting?
Arg... wrote a protracted response to this and the boards ate it. As I'm now on a NyQuil countdown for slumber, I'll re-answer in brief:
a) If any of my players do read this, they should stop here. Spoilers to follow.
b) The world is an attempt to blend my favorite fantasy styles with the things the D&D 3.5 system handles best. That's a short answer that begs a great deal of explanation, but I'm afraid I don't have the time to say it all again right now.
Plot Knitting
This entry is more of a brain dump of how I intend to modify the written scenarios to fit Ravenloft to the Savage Tide more appropriately, and weave my characters' plots into the adventures.
I am also losing a war with the common cold and expect my sinuses to be declared a national snot preservation area before much longer. My thoughts are not fully lucid just now.
You have been warned.
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Preludes:
Other than one last minute addition, none of my players have touched a 20 sided die since before 3rd ed. I'm going to run a shared prelude session detailing how the characters meet, and how they come to the attention of Lavinia Vanderhoren. The session is going to be run in quick cutscenes, jumping between the different characters such that each gets a few moments in the limelight to establish their personality independent of the party, and no one has a chance to get bored. Each cutscene should involve one or two rolls to catch the players up on the mechanics of the game.
Some of the planned scenes, and what they're meant to establish:
For the Dragonblooded Sorcerer:
Our young outcast is stooped over delicate work, lacquering cockatrice eggshells back together to be filled with spices and sent back to the guildmages in far Ulgareth to earn their favor. (Craft:Alchemy check) His concentration is shattered by moaning and calls from above. The master of the Ulgarethi embassy, his overseer for this period of trial apprenticeship, is waking with a wretched hangover from abuse of the wizard's drug Mule. Mule is a powder which has the game mechanical effect of Feebleminding the user, and is praised for its 'healing' and 'relaxing' effects after magical exertions. The sick and abusive mage (no coincidence his guild sent him to their farthest post - they couldn't stand him either) demands the sorcerer prepare a decoction of Red Arvain (a soporific) as a hangover cure. (Craft:Alchemy, check #2)
Cut to:
The escapees. Our elf ranger (PC#2) stowed away on a Ketebrite naval ship to escape the gnolls who assassinated his parents. There he was discovered by the dwarven galley slave(PC#3), who demanded help in escaping in return for not ratting the stowaway out. The two are pondering their seemingly linked fate as they hide on the upper floor of a dockside warehouse, waiting for the Ketebrite naval patrols hunting them to pass. Luck isn't with them, as a pair of the elven sailors enter and start to search the warehouse. As the searchers grow closer, the fugitives see that they have few choices for how to escape. They can try to shimmy down the pillars supporting their floor once the sailors start to search the second floor. (Climb) They can try to cat and mouse past the sailors through the piles of boxes in the warehouse. (Move Silently) If they fail, a fight ensues. The city guard arrive quickly (2 or 3 rounds) and arrest both sides, sending them to seperate cells. If they pass their checks and avoid the fight, they make it to their next hiding place and manage to get some much needed sleep before being woken up by gang members whose turf they've intruded on. Again, the resulting fight is broken up by the city guard and both sides are sent to seperate cells.
Cut to:
The rogue. Actually, I'm still waiting on the rogue's backstory, so I haven't planned her scenes yet.
Cut to:
The sorcerer. Depending on the results of the last alchemy check, his master tells him in agravated or placated tones that there's a shipment of "material components" coming in today, and that he must head down to the docks to retrieve them. Arriving at the designated ship, the sorcerer finds that he's there to pick up a flat of cockatrice eggs. However, the eggs were fertile! They hatched on the last day sailing in to port and the sailors won't even go in the room with them, much less deliver them. A single sleep spell will put all the escaped chicks to sleep, allowing them to be collected safely, but the waves are rough that day, and it takes a concentration check to cast on the barge.
Cut to:
The prison, where the refugees await judgement. The guards open the door to let in a noblewoman. Lavinia Vanderhoren introduces herself, and explains that it was her building they were trespassing in when the guards picked them up for fighting. She comments favorably on the stories she's heard of how they acquitted themselves in the fight, especially if the fight was versus the gang, who had been muscling in on her territory. She offers the two warriors a deal - having the charges against them dropped, gear, and a good salary if they'll work for her.
Cut to: The rogue's scene. Again, not yet established.
Cut to: The sorcerer, returning to the Ulgarethi embassy with the chicks and egg fragments. His master has already awoken from the slumber brought on by the mug of Red Arvain and is dashing about his lab with manic intensity. He barely looks up to tell the sorcerer that his time collecting material components for the guild is complete, and that he should report to Vanderhoren manor for his next assignment; a favor to Lady Vanderhoren, whose parents were friends of the guild.
-- End Preludes, Begin "There Is No Honor" --
Plot Knitting: There Is No Honor
Scene 1(A Noble In Need): Unchanged, other than that the Vanderhoren family will have made their wealth as local gang bosses rather than adventurers, a fact which the currently naive Lavinia has managed to avoid acknowledging since taking over their estate.
Scene 2(Trouble on the Blue Nixie): Almost unchanged. The clue in handout #2 will be less fantastical, though I have yet to decide what will replace the various mythical creatures.
Scene 3(The Vanderhoren Vault): Replace the construct with a more low-tech trap - perhaps a poison doorknob coated with zombi powder. (per The Serpent and the Rainbow)
Scene 4(Peril Under Parrot Island): Veldimar Krund and his crew's backstory changes, as does Vanthus' relationship to them. In this version of the story, Vanthus is a willing recruit of the circle of Hags from Ravenloft side plot option "Brook No Rival". Veldimar and his crew were sent to the island already undead, in search of the Shadow Pearl. Veldimar carries fragments of the Book of Strahd and quotes passages from it as he stumbles about the rotting prison where Vanthus trapped him. ("I am the ancient. I am the land.")
Scene 5(The Lotus and the Dragon): Cut down on the magic flying around this scene: Replace some monsters with hungry animals. Consider making Rowyn a non-caster.
Plot Knitting: The Bullywug Gambit
Part 1 (To Kraken's Cove) - Unchanged, except that Kraken's Cove will be on another island. (In this campaign setting the players are starting on an archipelago, not a continental coastline.)
Part 2 (Kraken's Cove) - Unchanged? (Note: In the campaign backstory, there's an active arena in Ketebris, and trade in fighting beasts to be shown there often flows through these islands, hence the demand for the exotic creatures found here and in the earlier scenarios.)
Part 3 (The Wormfall Festival) - Wormfall is replaced with "Devil's Night", which passes for Halloween in this campaign setting. According to legend, on a night 183 years back, the sky was streaked with fire on this night as angels and demons fought overhead. Skeptics consider this a faerie tale, as no living human on Kaeth has ever seen either angels or demons, but among the old races (elves, dwarves) the holiday is celebrated also, and those alive on that day tell the same story. According to legend, the demons were winning the fight handily all night long. At daybreak, they were driven away, though regional versions of the story disagree as to why, and gloss over the fact that the angels disappeared at the same time. Devil's Night is a celebration of the demon's defeat. Devil's Night plays no further role in this adventure cycle, but should prelude future campaigns in the players want to explore Kaeth more after this plot cycle is done.
Regardless, this scene is much the same. Players who run into the tavern to warn patrons there of the runaway float will catch a brief glimpse of a theater performance there before evacuating the people there. (In fact, they have to struggle for the attention of the audience with the theater troupe, who have the audience's rapt attention with a play that echoes the story of Strahd's loss of Irena.
Part Four (Frogs in the House)
I may cut a few encounters out of this scene if experience in the previous adventure demonstates my players are as disinterested in dungeon crawls as they've suggested they are. Treasure around the house is less fantastic and more classically opulent in nature, in keeping with the family's history.