Due to a twist of fate, my Post-Rusthenge party has decided that they want to go and bring word of
They stopped by Sandpoint due to its history and all the heroes who have come through there, and now I am in the very interesting position of Re-Tracing the Rise of the Runelords pathway up to Xin-Shalast. However, obviously, things are different these days. I'm not SUPER aware of what Shalast looks like under Sorshen's rule; anyone have any fun ideas for adventures on the road? Keeping things level-appropriate but also hopefully getting them enough side adventures and things that they'll gain a couple of levels on the trek.
I'm planning on potentially scaling Feast of Ravenmoor to their level and porting it to 2e, but I'm hoping some other people may have some more knowledge about some interesting places of interest along the way that could make for some fun adventures? Jorgenfist comes to mind, although I'm not sure how the Stone Giants are doing these days.
This would be... just pre-Godsrain, too. I have plans for that. :)
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Shalast is much safer these days under Sorshen's rule. She's making the transition to calling it Xin-Eurythnia slowly but surely, as Karzoug's legacy wanes and her new rule continues. There's certainly overland trade routes going to and from the city across the Storval Plateau, but those routes remain lengthy and pretty dangerous.
Scaling Feast of Ravenmoor to give them a few more levels is not a bad idea.
You could also check out the first volume of "Stolen Fate," because...
So... if you adjust Feast of Ravenmoor into an adventure that'll get them to, say, 7th level, then shenanigans at that spoilered location get them to 8th level, and then some other overland stuff of your design for 9th level... getting to Xin-Eurythnia (AKA Xin-Shalast) at somewhere in the 10th to 12th range would be, in my opinion, level appropriate.
Is Jorgenfist still relatively friendly after the death of Mokmurian and his minions? I imagine the heroes from Rise probably have good relations with Conna if she's still alive (unless I'm forgetting something from Return which is very possible) so maybe one of them could be asked to write a letter of introduction.
Also, is the region commonly known now as Xin-Eurythnia? I wasn't sure if she'd changed it... I like to imagine she's sandblasted a certain wizards sculpture off the side of Mhar Massif. On that note, is she holding court as it were from inside the former Pinnacle of Avarice?
Sorry for all the questions, I feel like I ask a lot. Pathfinder lore is sort of my special interest and I get a bit hyperfixated.
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Feel free to do what makes sense for your group with Jorgenfist. I suspect in most plays of Runelords, the place was scoured out and emptied so whoever or whatever lives there now, if anything, is an open question.
The region is called New Thassilon. She's gearing up to change the name of city from Xin-Shalast to Xin-Eurythnia as her comfort levels on the political stage grow, but Karzoug's face is still on the side of the mountain. As a reminder, if nothing else, but also because there's reasons not to antagonize the top of the tallest volcano on the continent and perhaps the entire world with explosions and sandblasting...
The Spires, as well as the Pinnacle of Avarice, are abandoned and left to the death zone. Sorshen now holds court and has claimed as her home the old military/indoctrination academy called Shahlaria (the set of buildings on the mountainside in the "crook" of the upper curve of the city.
No worries about the questions! This is all stuff I've done a lot of thinking about even if it's been longer than I anticipated before we got around to spending time talking about New Thassilon.
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Shalast is much safer these days under Sorshen's rule. She's making the transition to calling it Xin-Eurythnia slowly but surely, as Karzoug's legacy wanes and her new rule continues. There's certainly overland trade routes going to and from the city across the Storval Plateau, but those routes remain lengthy and pretty dangerous.
How does most of the city’s (Shalast’s) imports and exports enter and leave?
Magic?
I imagine there’d be base camp settlements. I would also think there’d be more people settling the mountain’s valleys and foothills post-resettlement to sell and buy goods.
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I appreciate it!
I wasn't sure if she'd have wanted to clearly delineate her region from Belimarius'; makes sense though.
Would Sorshen be aware of Mhar the entity? Extremely unlikely to come up, more of a curiosity.
I do hope we get a New Thassilon book eventually! I'm a sucker for Varisia/Thassilon/et al.
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Shalast is much safer these days under Sorshen's rule. She's making the transition to calling it Xin-Eurythnia slowly but surely, as Karzoug's legacy wanes and her new rule continues. There's certainly overland trade routes going to and from the city across the Storval Plateau, but those routes remain lengthy and pretty dangerous.
How does most of the city’s (Shalast’s) imports and exports enter and leave?
Magic?
I imagine there’d be base camp settlements. I would also think there’d be more people settling the mountain’s valleys and foothills post-resettlement to sell and buy goods.
Magic is some of it; it's a high level location and there's several spellcasters capable of doing teleport and the like. The imports are mostly food and basic supplies (wood, cloth, etc.) and the exports are mostly luxuries (art, magic items, jewelry), and the majority of those are transported overland along basically the same route that PCs took to reach Xin-Shalast once upon a time in Rise of the Runelords. That route is pretty dangerous, both from the terrain/climate and the monsters/bandits, so it's a place where higher level folks are doing the guard duty things you'd normally see 1st level PCs helping out with down on the Lost Coast of Varisia, say. There's a growing number of towns popping up here and there as well, although not that many yet. Once into the Storval Plateau, it's mostly a trade route south to Kaer Maga or west to the Storval Plateau and eventually Riddleport. The volume of this overland trade is not super large though.
It's all still getting started, and a LOT of the well-being for those who have come to the city to live is provided by magic.
That all said, I suspect Sorshen and other folks are working on some sort of solution to this to make up for the fact that they live in such a remote area.
All that's off the top of my head, of course. Again, hopefully some day, we'll be able to explore New Thassilon a bit more in print, so for the moment, take all of what I'm posting on this thread as my headcanon and not "stealth canon".
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-I appreciate it!
I wasn't sure if she'd have wanted to clearly delineate her region from Belimarius'; makes sense though.
Would Sorshen be aware of Mhar the entity? Extremely unlikely to come up, more of a curiosity.
I do hope we get a New Thassilon book eventually! I'm a sucker for Varisia/Thassilon/et al.
Again... I'm not talking about the entire region—just the city of Xin-Shalast. (Remember, Shalast was the name of Karzoug's nation, and Xin-Shalast was the capital city.) The region is indeed still called New Thassilon, all the way from the east border near this area to the west out in the sea.
Sorshen 100% knows of Mhar, which is part of why she's handling the mountain with the kid gloves.
If folks want more published stuff on Thassilon/Varisia/etc... make sure to let us know. We've largely turned our attention to other parts of the world for the past several years since Varisia and the like got a LOT of attention in the early days and after that in 1st edition, but the region remains my favorite, personally, and as you've seen we've gone back there a few times recently in the Advneture Paths and standalone adventures, which is the team I'm the creative director for.
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Thx James! This might be helpful for my Rusthenge campaign if it doesn’t fork into another AP.
I’m torn as I really would like another book on New Thassilon but not at the expense of a few more books on other regions like Iblydos, Crown of the world and Vudra. I’m more curious about New Thassilon as a modern state and how it’s reconstructing itself politically, culturally and economically than the now-well-established history. Same for Xin Edasseril, as the Rusthenge adventure encourages players to (re)visit these locations, yet we’re mostly left in the dark as to how they’re managed currently.
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If folks want more published stuff on Thassilon/Varisia/etc... make sure to let us know. We've largely turned our attention to other parts of the world for the past several years since Varisia and the like got a LOT of attention in the early days and after that in 1st edition, but the region remains my favorite, personally, and as you've seen we've gone back there a few times recently in the Advneture Paths and standalone adventures, which is the team I'm the creative director for.
I am SUPER interested in anything Sorshen and Belimarius.
Their lands, how they interact with their neighbors, any tensions between the two and how they react to any provocations or other problems that might arise between them is all fertile ground I'd like to see explored.
I expect Sorshen attempts to move away from all out war (even though she could personally wipe the floor with the old lady) via liberal use of diplomacy, but I'd really want lore on how Belimarius thinks she could best Sorshen? I suspect she'll have the opportunity to gain Mythic power via the Godsrain which would make any possible conflict between the two potentially very interesting.
Sorshen employing an experienced diplomat (maybe a PC from the Return of the Runelords AP?) to deal with Edasseril could make all the difference in whether there's peace or war in NW Avistan.
Right, right, I did forget the difference between the Region and the City name (Xin-Shalast vs Shalast, etc).
I'll keep making sure to be annoying about wanting more Varisia and Thassilon; I'm ESPECIALLY excited about how Paizo decides to do the Runelords mechanically given the new wizard schools plus the Necromancer becoming its own class.
Obviously you can't say anything specific, but do you think the Runelords will all still be wizards specifically, or is the branching out of necromancy perhaps a sign that Runelord may be something not simply tied to wizards exclusively? In theory, I could see Xanderghul and Sorshen being a Bard or Sorcerer instead for example.
Sorshen employing an experienced diplomat (maybe a PC from the Return of the Runelords AP?) to deal with Edasseril could make all the difference in whether there's peace or war in NW Avistan.
This is actually exactly what I'm doing with my post-Rusthenge campaign! One of our Return players used the Sorshen Clone background, and we've furthered that by her taking the Reflection heritage when we swapped the campaign to 2e midway through. So, it simply makes sense that the high level Sorshen lookalike works fantastically as a mouthpiece for her.
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If folks want more published stuff on Thassilon/Varisia/etc... make sure to let us know. We've largely turned our attention to other parts of the world for the past several years since Varisia and the like got a LOT of attention in the early days and after that in 1st edition, but the region remains my favorite, personally, and as you've seen we've gone back there a few times recently in the Advneture Paths and standalone adventures, which is the team I'm the creative director for.
I am SUPER interested in anything Sorshen and Belimarius.
Their lands, how they interact with their neighbors, any tensions between the two and how they react to any provocations or other problems that might arise between them is all fertile ground I'd like to see explored.
I expect Sorshen attempts to move away from all out war (even though she could personally wipe the floor with the old lady) via liberal use of diplomacy, but I'd really want lore on how Belimarius thinks she could best Sorshen? I suspect she'll have the opportunity to gain Mythic power via the Godsrain which would make any possible conflict between the two potentially very interesting.
Sorshen employing an experienced diplomat (maybe a PC from the Return of the Runelords AP?) to deal with Edasseril could make all the difference in whether there's peace or war in NW Avistan.
Belimarius's warmongering helps Sorshen immeasurably. There is no scenario where Belimarius becomes sufficiently powerful through conquest to challenge Sorshen, but she does make herself and Edasseril a target to all of its neighbors and, perhaps more importantly, any adventurers swanning about.
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I foresee a mid to high level adventure/path stemming from this arc. Belimarius is too obvious an unresolved plot point to leave alone for long.
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Is it possible James , that we could we have a mid to high-level AP or adventure that picks up on the plot point of Sorshen and Belimarius’ delicate and quiet feud?
This is why I asked about any planned sequels to Rusthenge a few months back, as everything’s pointing to a confrontation there of some kind, and it would delineate nicely from Seven Dooms as a up-to-date Varisia series of adventures. The worldbuilding, updated maps and city profiles could then be put in the backmatter.
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I've already mentioned we have something in the works that'd be a great continuation for Seven Dooms for Sandpoint, but we haven't announced anything more about that yet... other than if your PCs play Seven Dooms, consider putting those characters in the vault for a bit so they're ready to go with this upcoming but unannounced thing, rather than continuing with them in another adventure.
There are no direct sequels planned for Rusthenge though. Seven Dooms for Sandpoint is it as far as that goes.
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I've already mentioned we have something in the works that'd be a great continuation for Seven Dooms for Sandpoint, but we haven't announced anything more about that yet... other than if your PCs play Seven Dooms, consider putting those characters in the vault for a bit so they're ready to go with this upcoming but unannounced thing, rather than continuing with them in another adventure.
There are no direct sequels planned for Rusthenge though. Seven Dooms for Sandpoint is it as far as that goes.
I am so excited about this new thing whatever it is. Part of me wishes I'd run Seven Dooms after Rusthenge now actually... I suppose it's not too late.
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To the north of Sandpoint is Windsong Abbey, a theological neutral zone where doctrines from across the world come to debate, discuss and critique each other without violence, even representatives of "evil" gods. I'm not aware of an adventure path about it you could rework, but I've thought that a murder-mystery set there, with clerics and religious officials from multiple sects coming together to solve it, would be a nice little self-contained adventure.
To the north of Sandpoint is Windsong Abbey, a theological neutral zone where doctrines from across the world come to debate, discuss and critique each other without violence, even representatives of "evil" gods. I'm not aware of an adventure path about it you could rework, but I've thought that a murder-mystery set there, with clerics and religious officials from multiple sects coming together to solve it, would be a nice little self-contained adventure.
I'd been wondering about a good way to use Windsong. I need to read up more on the place itself outside of the Testaments.
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To the north of Sandpoint is Windsong Abbey, a theological neutral zone where doctrines from across the world come to debate, discuss and critique each other without violence, even representatives of "evil" gods. I'm not aware of an adventure path about it you could rework, but I've thought that a murder-mystery set there, with clerics and religious officials from multiple sects coming together to solve it, would be a nice little self-contained adventure.I'd been wondering about a good way to use Windsong. I need to read up more on the place itself outside of the Testaments.
The fourth volume of Shattered Star, "Beyond the Doomsday Door", is the best place to go for that, since that whole adventure takes place at Windsong Abbey.