Re: Re: Greytalk Cooperative Project

Re: [greytalk] Re: Greytalk Cooperative Project
Tuesday, November 28, 2006 6:55 PM
From: "Marc-Tizoc González"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com

Great to see the list alive!

While I appreciate Joseph Bloch’s comment (and am excited to see him post!), one of Dungeon’s new ideas, the “Campaign Arc,” seems useful for the proposed project and much more viable than a GreyTalk Adventure Path. The Campaign Arc is basically a trilogy of adventures, much like the old modules’ series.

In addition to three adventures being more manageable than twelve, the smaller number of proposed adventures may encourage participation from people interested in different regions of the Flanaess. We could form one or more working groups, perhaps even inspiring each group by providing updates via the list.

As I count ‘em, six ideas have been contributed:

1. Basiliv’s list of locations, characters, and monsters;
2. Gerall Kahla’s suggestions re investigating UnderOerth or the Sea of Dust;
3. David Argall’s suggestion to start in Keoland before venturing west;
4. Aeolius’s suggestion re hags;
5. Scott Casper’s ordered list of locations; and
6. Scott’s ideas about old school monsters and specification re Furyondy and the Cold Marshes

Because I presently campaign in Sterich, I am generally more interested in the western Campaign Arc idea (starting in Keoland, venturing to the Yeomanry, and then into Slerotin’s Tunnel and the Sea of Dust). However, I’d prefer not to design an adventure into the Crystalmist-Hellfurances UnderOerth or the Sea of Dust, since they’ve already been explored in published modules, LGJ or OJ articles, or Randy Richards.

I propose adapting and integrating the ideas into the following:

Adventure 1: The PCs are raided by worg-riding goblins while traveling on a road in Bissel. The PCs best the goblins, but some NPC traveling companions are taken captive as the goblins flee. Following their trail, the PCs enter the nearby hills and find the goblins’ lair, which is based in old (Oeridian or Flan) ruins. The dungeon beneath the ruins is controlled by lamia(s) (noble?), which dominate the goblins.

If successful, the PCs recover their traveling companions, learn that one of them is a nobles’ scion, and return her/him to her/his ancestral keep, thus gaining a noble patron. The PCs may also find signs that indicate the involvement of the Horned Society

Adventure 2: The noble asks the PCs to investigate the ruins further. While doing so, they are meet a small expedition commissioned by Evard the Black (a fact initially unknown to the PCs) to investigate the ruins. If the PCs are hostile, the NPC party responds in kind. If the PCs cooperate, the NPC party repays the PCs by asking their further help with a nearby fort (in the Bramblewood?). Along the way, the parties encounter kech, giant spiders, and ettercap. If the PCs defeat these monsters, they attract the attention of the hag covey that oversees this part of the woods.

At the fort, the PCs learn that kobolds are assembling significant warbands, apparently intending to raid into the Highvale. Skirmishing with or scouting them, the PCs are separated from the remaining NPCs. Should the PCs return to their noble patron in Bissel, she or he sends them back, as scouts for a larger force. Should the PCs act otherwise, eventually they should enter the Highvale and help defeat the kobold raiders, reuniting with the remaining NPCs, and meeting an elven sage in Highfolk, who informs them about the hag covey in the Bramblewood, discusses what the PCs have learned about the Horned Society, and attempts to recruit the PCs to investigate the hag covey.

Adventure 3: The PCs attempt to locate the Bramblewood hag covey, whether they were persuaded by the Highfolk sage or so instructed by their noble patron (who has unknown to the PCs become dominated by a lamia noble that is antagonistic to the covey).

Their discovery of the covey’s apparent cave domicile leads them beneath the mountains, where they encounter at least one roper and unwittingly enter a conflict between illithids, githzerai (or githyanki), and cloakers. The PCs may tip the balance or be smashed on the scales. Additionally, they may find the remaining hags (who have fled the surface due to the lamia noble’s machinations) to be implacable enemies or wary allies.

After significant conflict, the PCs fight their way to the surface and find themselves in Perrenland, near Lake Quag.

***

I’ve run out of time to produce ideas for how to connect this part of the adventure to the Cold Marshes and to incorporate further ancient Flan or Baklunish cultures.

I really like Scott’s suggestions regarding the conflict between the Blackwater hag covey and Iuz!

MTG


Scott wrote:

Hi all,

Public interest in the new cooperative project seems to have died off already, or at least publicly. Still...

"Aeolius" wrote:
>In BPAA, I devised the Covyn; three hag coveys, one epic-level
covey, and one leader - 13 hags in all.

>As far as other hags go I've been working on a few, starting with
the squalus. Much as a winter hag is the offspring of a greenhag and
ice troll and the dune hag is born of the union between wasteland
troll and greenhag, the shoal hag or squalus is parented by a
greenhag and scrag.

>I'm also revamping my Blackwater (new domain from Stormwrack)
hags. Envision the remains of a slain sea hag covey, animated into a
single undead creature by Blackwater. I got my inspiration for the
three-made-one from this: http://www.designtoscano.com/images/us/
local/products/viewlarger/DB51037_vl.jpg Considering how many hags I
am likely to unleash upon Turucambi, I think the Blackwater Hag will
be [expletive deleted]-bent upon slaying her living sisters.<

Perhaps one of these coven of hags has come to Furyondy to kidnap someone important (the Viscount of the March? his wife?) and take him deep into Iuz's territory. Everyone will assume this is Iuz's plot, but Iuz's forces are after the hags too to get their hands on their prisoner. The hags are actually delivering a sacrifice to a blackwater hag in the Cold Marshes. In exchange for the sacrifice, the blackwater hag will stop trying to kill the other hags.

Anyone interested in working on that?

~Scott "-enkainen" Casper

Savage Tide campaign -- session 1

[greytalk] Savage Tide campaign -- session 1
Monday, October 15, 2007 10:25 AM
From: "Scott"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com

While waiting for one friend to start his Expedition to Castle Greyhawk campaign, I have begun playing in another friend’s Savage Tide campaign. I will share my spoiler-ridden observations here.

SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!

The first session did not, from my perspective go well at all. Our DM had stressed how our live sessions were going to be strictly for adventuring and we were to do our role-playing on his messageboard. I understood from this that the campaign would then start with the standard dungeon crawl, so I brought my seven-year old son along to play, who always enjoys killing monsters, but few of the subtleties of gaming.

Instead, we were presented with a mystery to solve. All the guys loved seeing the handout, a hot portrait of our sponsor, Lady Vanderborne. The harbormaster, or rather, his right-hand man Vark, would not let her onto her own ship, the Blue Nixie, and she wanted to find out why. If it had been the ghost of Captain Redbeard keeping her off the ship, this could have been a Scooby-Doo mystery. We all split up to look for clues, with the plan of meeting back up two mornings later to compare notes. My character planned to pass himself off as one of Vanderborne’s creditors and interview the harbormaster about repossessing the ship, or at least touring it for an evaluation. To do this, my bard found employment with one of Sasserine’s moneylenders and gained a tabard and seal that identified himself as an employee, bought fancier clothes to complete a disguise, and filled out the required paperwork to see the harbormaster, but was dismissed with a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” comment. Meanwhile, my son was entertained with a barroom brawl where he got to kill someone. Almost more disturbing was how much he enjoyed having his character drink beer.

The real trouble for me started on the next player’s turn. Our DM was using home rules for social class, and one of the PCs was of unusually high birth. Where I had a long-term plan for getting on board the Blue Nixie, he just walked in with the other party members, bullied his way past the harbormaster, and got right onboard the ship. I had refused to come, believing their plan would fail and my plan would be needed as back-up. After all, our DM had given us an investigation. The direct approach seemed the wrong way to go about it. Turns out I was wrong – you really are meant to rush onto the ship and kill everyone aboard it as if the ship was a mini-dungeon. I missed out on everything. My son’s character hopped onboard a rowboat and made it out to the battle just in time to participate in the very end of it. The battles on the ship were laughably easy, with the one on deck against the crew taking five rounds and the one with the monster below deck taking only one round. My son and I had missed that the battle was over and were waiting for round two!

This is “Savage” Tide? More like Anemic Tide, I thought. We did not even stay for the last half-hour.

Re: Question to the List

Re: [greytalk] Re: Question to the List
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 12:59 AM
From: "basiliv@cablespeed.com"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com

Sorry, I also forgo about:

- Below the Tomb of Horrors (Dragon #249)


On Wed Nov 14 1:57 , sent:

Here are some other thoughts that you might have already considered:

- Any of the "Return To" series from '98
- House on Summoner's Court (either the Shadis or Oerth Journal versions)

...and here are few older Dungeon issues with adventures set in GH (just the ones I happen to have):
- The Wrath of Keraptis (Dungeon #77)
- Kingdom of the Ghouls (Dungeon #70)
- The Ruins of Nol-Daer (Dungeon #13)
- The Shrine of Ilsidahur (Dungeon #10)

On Tue Nov 13 21:19 , "Chris Anderson" sent:

I like the idea of the Maure Castle stuff. I especially like it, since my players ran through WG5 back in the day... I assume the Dungeon adventures build off of that, but do not duplicate it?

Hm, L3 is another possibility. I don't have it, but where there's a will, there's a way.

I don't have anything against FR, but I only bought sourcebooks rather than modules. Is there anything you're thinking of in particular?

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the advice.

-- Chris


On Nov 13, 2007 3:28 PM, Tim Mooney wrote:

In regard to: {Disarmed} Re: [greytalk] Re: Question to the List,...:

>Other folks on the list have mentioned that they were in the process of
>converting the Maure Castle adventures from Dungeon magazineback to 1E.
>Since I run 3.5 games, I didn't really follow that, but I got the
>impression it was an ongoing effort.
>
>Maybe you can use what they've already converted?

That's a great suggestion for the last parts of the campaign. There will need to be several modules before that, though, to get the characters high enough level to play them. The Maure modules are on the level of Tomb of Horrors as far as how deadly they are, but there are generally more monsters than there were in the original ToH.

One possibility for at least one low-level adventure is Len Lakofka's "Deep Dwarven Delve", if you can get your hands on it. It's original 1E, and very few people have played it because of its publishing history.

I'm not sure if the group of old-timers has much experience with any of the early Forgotten Realms modules, but it might be easier to convert the backstory of some of those to Greyhawk than it would be to retroconvert 3E/3.5E modules back to 1E.

Tim