Currently I'm running a LoF campaign and was planning on going to Serpent's Skull next however, I'd much rather start that campaign after all 6 books are out (plus equally importantly the map folio). However, it looks like my group might be done with the this campaign by the end of this year, so I've decided to run my own campaign instead. I love the APs and so I am trying to put together my own sort of adventure path campaign and I'm looking for some additional information.
I'm starting the campaign in the southern reaches of the Lands of the Linnorn Kings. I am placing a remote village fort near the border of Varisia. Early levels will focus on some sort of invasion and dealing with evil fey. They will discover a weakness to Baba Yaga, or at least her daughters. My thought is that the goal of the campaign will be preventing Baba Yaga from placing her next daughter on the Irrisen throne and giving the Ulfen people 100 years of freedom.
The main focus of the campaign is going to be putting together a special weapon to fight the witches. So, the majority of the campaign is a sort of globe trotting campaign as they retrieve special components to build this weapon. I know two of the components. I want them to have to retrieve a large fragment of Numerian steel to use as the haft of the weapon and I want them to retrieve one of the final blades from Galt to use as the blade.
I plan on purchasing both the Witchwar Legacy module and the Winter Witch book. Plus, by the time the party is ready to start traveling the world, the new campaign book should be out and that'll be a lot of help.
Here's some questions I have:
* I want the fort to be placed on the southern border due to raids from Shaonti barbarians. Which of the Shaonti tribes would be nearest to the Lands of the Linnorn Kings? And I have the player's guide to RotRLs, but is there an entry in one of the RotRL books on the Shaonti?
* Any suggestions on what other components I could use for the party to gather and use? I like my idea to gather the components but I don't like that I only have 2 components! ha
I'm looking for things that a very specific to the campaign world.
I don't believe there are any more modules or other material that has information on either the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, or Galt, or Numeria, but if there is, please let me know. Thanks
|
On Shoanti raids:
While it may, and will, be different in your Golarion as you run it, in canon Shoanti don't really do much raiding of other lands, except maybe orcish Belkzen.
Generally they're busy fighting off people intruding on their homeland. Around the borders of Varisia and the Linnorm lands, the horsemen clan(can't recall the name offhand) actually fights an ongoing war off and on against barbarians from teh Nolands, the wild badlands that lie between the two lands.
The barbarians of the Nolands are noted as being particularly savege, unsavory sorts, who actually raid both Shoanti lands and other settlers in Varisia AND raid northward into Linnorm territory. As far as raiders coming from the south, those guys are your most likely candidates. Even past that, Linnormers are more likely to raid Shoanti than vice-versa(I THINK this was stated as the case, but I'm not certain).
That's "as written" at least. If you want tensions with the Shoanti, some charismatic leader could easily get some tribes good and riled up about the idea of moving northward to claim new land for themselves to replace that which they've already lost.
The Shoanti are expanded upon in Pathfinder #10, in the Curse of hte Crimson Throne AP.
As for components....
Kind of going back to the Shoanti....but the Cinderlands are $%^@ing hot. There has to be some powerful fire magic-oriented items scattered about the place. Some source of eternal flame or somesuch could be usefulk as a weapon against frigid Irrisen.
Ah, excellent! Thanks for the first reply! Myself and one of my players who DM's for another group (including 2 of my other players) are just getting into Pathfinder and the APs this year. I definitely want to keep things by the book as possible so that both he and I at the least can learn more about this campaign world.
Where is this information about the Nolands, is that in #10 (and thanks, I assumed all the Shoanti stuff was in the first AP!)
Mostly I thought of Shoanti raiders because of the area (didn't know about this Nolands) but also, one of my other goals of this campaign is to drop a little bit of background information to the players. I wanted Rise of the Runelords to have already happened, I know the basic plot of that AP and thought that maybe with everything else riled up in the area, it would have pushed some of the Shoanti up north. But I like this info on these savages between them. Thanks
|
|
Just going off memory here, and I'm not entirely awake at the moment so I could be off!
I think the Nolands are covered in the Varisian Gazetteer in one of the first few RotRL volumes. I want to say 2, but it could have been 1. Product info for them should show which has it, I think.
I think they were touched on in the Varisia entry(and maybe the Linnorm entry as well) in the original Campaign Setting. IIRC, the horsemen Quah(Shoanti clan) is covered only at a glance in the Shoanti article in PF#10, since they're a fringe clan, even though they do cover a lot of territory and I think they're on friendly terms with the other Varisian peoples in that area. I don't think the Nolanders get much more than a sentence mention in that, if at all.
I don't believe the Nolanders have been explored in any great detail except that:
They're troublemakers for both their neighbors to the north and south.
They're made up mostly of people exiled from the Linnorm Lands for generally being bad news. I think it's where they send their worst of the worst, and once they're there they congregate in some sort of Mad Max-ish barbaric culture, in terms of their power structure and culture.
Just going off memory though. I want to say cannibalism came up in their description, but I could be remembering wrong. Anyone else a bit more lucid on it?
|
|
Just looked it up, editing this with details
Varisian Gazetteer is actually in Pathfinder #3, on of the RotRL volumes.
They have a small entry on the Nolands, and I think that's the largest source of info on that area available anywhere.
Confirms some things:
It's where the Linnormers banish their most despicable criminals.
The Shoanti sometimes exile their own there, but it is seen as a grave dishonor to the one sent, a clean death would almost always be preferable.
That area really is full of criminals falling into savagery, preying on each other when they're not preying on someone else.
Cannibalism confirmed, as are berserkers. They seem to be treading close to Reaver territory.
Horsemen Shoanti live in the Velashu uplands just south of that area, they're the ones that hold the line against the Nolanders as far as Varisia is concerned. Couldn't find its equivalent for the Linnorm Lands, but they have to have something if that's where they dump their trash. Could be another reason for that fort!
Cool, I'm definitely using this info in setting the campaign, Thanks! I believe my friend has all of the RotRL books so I'll have to borrow them.
Anyone know what year the Lands of the Linnorm Kings were founded?
The campaign book says that
1975 Ulfen longships raid heavily along the west coast of Avistan and in the region now known as Cheliax
3313 The nation of Irrisen is born when the Witch Queen Baba Yaga conquers the eastern reach of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings.
It also mentions that the Ulfen have been raiding since the beginning of the Age of Enthronement, which is Year 1.
Anyone know a specific date the lands were recognized though?
Horsemen clan are the Shriikirri-Quah, of the Shoanti :)
|
Anyone know what year the Lands of the Linnorm Kings were founded?
The campaign book says that
1975 Ulfen longships raid heavily along the west coast of Avistan and in the region now known as Cheliax
3313 The nation of Irrisen is born when the Witch Queen Baba Yaga conquers the eastern reach of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings.
It also mentions that the Ulfen have been raiding since the beginning of the Age of Enthronement, which is Year 1.
Anyone know a specific date the lands were recognized though?
I don't think it matters much. I imagine the Ulfen have been living in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings for a very long time, probably before even Taldor was founded. You're going about it all the wrong way by thinking the Lands of the Linnorm Kings is a country. It's not. It's just a region populated by the Ulfen. It doesn't need to be recognized.
Dwarves of Golarion has some information on the Lands of the linnorm Kings as they mention the Dwarves from there. And they have some traits for the Dwarves from there :)
In the Rise of the Runelords ther is and entry about the Kodar Mountains that deals with the high altitude cold and what it does to characters and what kinds of monsters can be found there etc. Good ideas for Mountains and the great Northern conditions for the Land of the Linnorm Kings. The Ulfen are Based on the Vikings and there is a lot of info on them in the Old Pathfinder Campaign Setting wich they are doing over with more info...
The Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting has 4 pages on the subject of the Ulfen/Land of the Linnorm Kings. 2 on the Ulfen People and 2 on the Land of the Linnorm People.
For the Noland Barbarians - have you ever seen the 13th Warrior ?
Just think of the Enemy the Vikings had to fight. The dirty uncivilized tribe... They are made up of evil Barbarians and Rangers, and Warriors and lead by a nasty Tribal chief. For spiritual leadership their Shaman was a earth mother worshiper... so for PF just change that to a Druid and some accolytes... and make them Devotees of the Green. The Old Faith - Laws of Nature/Law of the Land,
Survival of the Fittest, The Wild Hunt, Hunting and Fighting like Annimals, using spears, tooth and claw, sneaking and surprise attacks,
and cannibalism sure. To eat the flesh of the enemy is to gain his strength. They would be a great mix of Shoanti and Ulfen Barbarians with even a few lycanthropes...
Oh and the Rus are a Viking tribe from Sweeden and the Russian folk tails are much wierder and nastier than the Viking Myths...
The Linnorm Kings area was founded thousands of years ago... the first mention I can find is in the Age of Destiny - 473 the Linnorm King Ulvass discovers Arcadia, establishes the colony of Valenhall as an earthly paradise...
Then later... in the Age of Enthronement 3313 Baba Yaga (the quasi Deitie) conquers the eastern reach of the land of the Linnorm kings and created Irrisen.
Now for the fort...
pg. 199 of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting. There is a name that goes back to antiquity, its orrigins buried to the mists of time... The Odeber family. Spread throughout Avistan. The Family Odeber traces its name back hundreds of generations back to Arn Odeber father of the first recorded Paladin of Shelyn, Saint Marcus Odeber.
And from seing the Odeber family in other areas it seems that they have wherebear in the family line :) Immagine a wherebear Paladin of Shelyn running the fort with groups of Rangers, Clerics and Paladins of Shelyn and Erastil holding back the Hord of the Noland Barbarians :)
And the Ulfen of the Linnorm Kings have lots of Wherewolves, Wherebears, Wherefoxes, and Wherewolverienes and they are accepted as normal :)
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Shoanti
For the Shoanti :)
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Ulfen
For the Ulfen :)
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Lands_of_the_Linnorm_Kings
For the Land of the Linnorm Kings :)
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Nolands
For the Nolands :)
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Rift_of_Niltak
This lies in the Red mountains at the edge of the Nolands
Since we're giving out links to the wiki and a lot of your ideas seem to revolve around Baba Yaga and/or her daughters, you might want to also check Irrisen and its capital Whitethrone.
Yeah, I'm def planning on reading the book before the campaign start.
Thanks for all the info so far everyone!
I already told my players that they should think "The 13th Warrior/Eaters of the Dead" as a good idea of the campaign, so I'm very excited about the Nolands that I previously had no idea about, haha.
Right now I'm looking at this:
The PCs at this lonely fort help repel a Nolands reaver uprising. They will need to enter the Nolands to put an end to this threat. Before entering, a shady NPC will ask the PCs to keep an eye out for something (a book, a scroll, some weapon or something else that will be important later).
This event will make them heroes which brings notice to one of the Kings.
The PCs are asked to strike a powerful blow against Irrisen. The premise: Baba Yaga and her daughters are vulnerable while bringing the next witch daughter to install as queen. Using the info that they retrieved from the Nolands, they will be asked to travel the world looking for components to build a powerful weapon (and possible ancient magic spells etc) to use against the witches.
The PCs return, enter Irrisen (may tie this into the Witchwar Legacy module) and end the campaign by defeating the next queen before she has a chance to rule Irrisen.
Awesome, Just remember Baba Yaga is an Immortal Godling and is eppic
well beyond 20th level :)
I created a grand-daughter of Baba Yaga as a PC a while back. Haven't got to play her yet.
Why do you want to hurt an old babushka and her charming extended family, anyway? :)
If you're stressed for names or concepts or ideas or general questions about Vikings, here's a decent internet resource:
Viking Answer Lady
If you're going for a globetrotting experience, a cool place to visit would be the troglodyte-dominated darklands area underneath the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. Fight dinosaurs, free cavemen, battle super-intelligent lizard kings, topple them, take off. Land of the Lost stuff.
Awesome, Just remember Baba Yaga is an Immortal Godling and is eppic
well beyond 20th level :)
Yeah, I plan on scaring them into thinking that they have to fight her but in truth she'll just be part of the background, and of course, probably have reasons why she actually wants her newest daughter defeated