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Okay, long ago in my childhood, I loved the game Shadow Over Mystara. A fe months back I stubled across a site that had a complete walkthrough of the game, as well as a bunch of other cool stuf and I though, "how cool would it be to run a Pathfinder game based on the old console game." So flash forward a few monthes and here we are. I am working on the idea as a whole AP type game that will eventually take the characters from level 1 up the climax at level 15. Anyway, here are my notes on the first chapter. I have decided to write them out episodically so that they string together like a tv series.
Summary: Goblins have been attacking the trade route through the Broken Lands between Glantri and Darokin. The PCs are contracted to stop the goblin attacks and prevent them from threatening trade ever again.
Long Synopsis
Several merchants in Darokin have been losing caravans to Glantri because of goblin attacks. Rather than simply pay for more guards to protect the caravans they decide to take a more permenant approach. The goblins must be wiped out for the good of everyone. They set the PCs up with a phony caravan and send them on their way.
Of course the goblins fall for the trap hook, line, and sinker. The fight should be difficult, but not overly so. The raiding party is entirely standard goblins and the PCs should have a fairly easy time defeating them. If they are smart they will keep one or two alive to interrogate. With a CD 12 Intimidate check or a DC 17 Diplomacy check they will be able to get the location of the goblin camp from them fairly easily. Goblins are inheritly distrustful of people who are nice to them. They always want something. Otherwise a DC 12 Survival check will allow the PCs to pick up the goblins's trail fairly easily.
The PCs will eventually find the goblins's lair in the mountains. A random encounter or two maybe approriate here, such as a hippogriff or a griffin attack. Remember that the PCs are still first level, so nothing to dangerous. The goblins should be divided up into a couple of groups throughout the caves that they lair in. Sprinkle in a few goblin rangers, fighters, and a domesticated giant spider or two. Finally they will meet the leaders of the goblins, a goblin druid who is in the process of praying to a dragon's skull when the PCs find him, and the chief (use these stats) who has a group of goblin fighters with him.
This battle should be harder, but not enough that it actually threatens a TPK (save that for later :) ). The PCs will also find some human slaves, survivors of the last caravan, and be told that the goblins have been selling their victims to slavers. From there the PCs should either find a note instructing the goblins where to send the slaves or else one of the slaves overheard the goblins talking about the village of Trintan.
I have Nagpa stats for GURPS somewhere. I think its time to write it down for PF...
*thumbs up mc bump*
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Well it's been awhile, but I am finally done with the second chapter of this adventure path. Here you guys go.
Episode 2: The Village of Trintan
Summery: The PCs cross the Broken Lands and find themselves at the village of Trintan where they have to deal with a band of slavers who have taken control of the village and discover that the slavers are just part of a larger plot.
Long Synopsis: Upon discovering that the note in the goblin's lair, the PCs head across the Broken Lands toward the village of Trintan. This is a good place to include a few more random encounters, both to drive home that the Broken Lands and to help them build experience. (By my estimation, the characters should be near or at 14th to 15th level by the time they encounter Synn.) Again this is not the time to throw anything too live threatening at them; something like a couple of bugbears, orcs, or even an ogre would work good in this case.
Once the PCs arrive at Trintan, what happens next is really up to them. Although there are not many slavers in the village, only about thirty, there are more than enough to wipe the PCs out if they decide to launch a frontal assault. However, if the PCs engage in a guerrilla campaign against the slavers or find some way to infiltrate their group by posing as merchants or mercenaries they will likely be able to get into the village unmolested.
The slaver band consists of 10 gnolls armed with greataxes, five gnoll archers, and a dozen goblins . They are led by a shadow elf necromancer named Verganis, his Ethengari bodyguard, and several undead guards led by a Skeletal Champion named Grathrix. Together these three keep the rest of the slavers in line. Verganis has also desecrated the local shrine and has a few skeletal minions hidden away there as well. The PCs don't need to kill all of the slavers to liberate the town; once they kill off the leaders the gnolls and the goblins will start fighting among themselves and pretty well destroy each other. Those that do survive will quickly run back to the hills of the Broken Lands. However, the PCs will quickly realize that they have bigger problems. Among Verganis's stuff they find several scrolls outlining an upcoming shadow elf invasion of Glantri.
I never got to play these video games but they sound fun. Mystara is one of my favorite settings and this sounds like a good foundation for an adventure path. Are you kind of assuming the adventure takes place around 1000 A.C. at the time the Gazetteer series is set? I look forward to hearing more about the campaign.
L
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I never got to play these video games but they sound fun. Mystara is one of my favorite settings and this sounds like a good foundation for an adventure path. Are you kind of assuming the adventure takes place around 1000 A.C. at the time the Gazetteer series is set?
Actually, I would pin the date at somewhere between 1007 and 1008 A.C. for a couple of reasons. In the game itself, the characters travel to Angemor which means that it has to take place after 1005 A.C. There is no mention of the sinking of Alphatia that occurs in 1009 A.C. which is most likely because it is a video game and not tied into any larger continuity but the best in story explanation is that the war just has not happened yet.Finally, the timeline in Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure mentions some sort of plague that strikes the lands north of Karameikos but doesn't bother the kingdom itself. However, Glantri: Kingdom of Magic mentions the plague in the context of a greater humanoid invasion of Darokin and Glantri using the Great Crater as a staging ground which runs from 1007 A.C. to 1008 A.C. It also mentions that this is the point where Glantri lifts it's ban on clerics and as a cleric is instrumental in defeating Synn and her schemes for the region, it would make sense to set the campaign right in that time period.
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One thing to remember though is that Shadow Over Mystara does contradict established canon in a number of places. For example Synn is portrayed as being a Red Dragon with a fireball breath weapon instead of being a night dragon/black dragon as she is in the rest of the setting materials. Also Glantri is treated as a unified kingdom with a single ruler rather than a confederation of semi-independent principalities. However, both of these are easy to overcome with a little handwaving.