Hi Folks,
I've been thinking of working out a way to incorporate The Emerald Spire adventure into a Kingmaker campaign, so I thought I'd post my initial ideas & see what others come up with as well.
**Possible spoiler warning ahead for non-GM's***
(Note that I haven't read TES yet. The PDF only appeared on my account this morning, so there could be things that don't work based on a lack of knowledge at this point in time.)
-My initial thoughts are to place the Spire & Fort Inevitable somewhere to the north of the Branthlend Mountains, south of the border with Numeria. It's out of the way of the main story line & leaves Fort Inevitable away from any problems with Pitax etc. Although Fort Inevitable could be a good thorn in the side for Pitax. Hmmm...
-Since it's an adventure of 1st-13th levels, the main characters for Kingmaker couldn't really play it as such, so I think it could work as some kind of sub-campaign for 1st level PC's that are from or based in the main kingdom. It would make sense that a newly formed kingdom of large enough size would begin to attract or spawn their own adventurers.
-It could be a good break away from Kingmaker for the players. Give them a chance to run some other PC's while the kingdom keeps rolling on in the background. It would feel better to run some games with other PC's to give the feeling of time passing in the main kingdom, rather than just saying "2 years have passed".
-Possible opportunity for another person to GM & give the Kingmaker GM a break from all the hard work.
-Would the kingdom try to annex Fort Inevitable, or leave it as an independent state, sitting on the border with Numeria (for instance)? Based on the stats for the town in TES, I'd say the kingdom could steam roll the Hellknights. But would they want to? It could be a good little buffer in case Numeria gets ideas of its own.
So there's some ideas / thoughts that come to mind. I'm interested to see what better minds than mine come up with!
Cheers,
Jim.
I haven't received my copy yet, but it sounds like it could go under Candlemere Isle nicely.
I haven't received my copy yet, but it sounds like it could go under Candlemere Isle nicely.
That's what I did with the PF version of Rappan Athuk. My players are about to discover that hell soon enough.
Bit of a side-track here...
On Saturday's game I planted the seeds for Fort Inevitable between Numeria & the Branthlend Mountains (south of Candlemere doesn't work for our game).
House Lebeda (quickly changed to House Livin Lebeda Loca by one of our esteemed players :) ) in Brevoy was originally getting trade via Lake Hooktongue / East Selen River, until certain events (creatures) there closed that trade route down.
So an alternate route was found around the Branthlend Mountains. That is until bandits began preying on the caravans.
The Hellknights then opened Fort Inevitable and stomped on the bandits, but it began causing problems with caravans that break the (strict) law.
When the PC's defeated Baron Drelev & liberated the town, a representative from House Lebeda made contact, asking them to clear the route through the lake so trade could reopen. He also explained that they're having problems with Fort Inevitable, so the sooner the lake is claimed, the better. The PC's reward is the financial benefit, plus opening embassies / trade routes etc.
We're already allied to House Medyved through marriage (Maegar Varn's daughters are married to 2 of the PC's (one is ruler)) and this will potentially ally us with House Lebeda as well now.
Not south of Candlemere, UNDER IT.
Ahhh... The penny's just dropped!
I was thinking of running with the elf gate ideas that have been bandied about & having Pitax trying to take that, but the ES would make an even better target.
My players have already been to the island (cultists of Shub-Niggurath kidnapped a PC for sacrifice to summon a Dark Young), but they never really explored it.
To get around the "how did we miss an entire fortress?", the top level of the ES could be hidden in an underground cavern under the island. It's not exposed until a small earth tremor or similar exposes a way in.
Why not put the elf gate in the ES?
And, unless your players were searching for secret doors the entire time, you don't need an earth tremor.