Here is a map of the northern kingdom, made in the gimp. Nothing fancy.

teach

These are the major towns or areas of the Northern Kingdom, one of the twelve kingdoms of the Sundered World.

Winterhaven - see the Keep on the Shadowfell. This is the town we have been adventuring in.

Fallcrest - see the DMG

Staul's Old Monastary. Located just outside of Fallcrest, Dauven was training the adventurers here until he had gone to Winterhaven on word of relics having been found.

Nordheim - the seat of power in the northern kingdom. The king Alintyr rules from this fortified town. About 5,000 people live in this town or the surrounding area.

North of Nordheim lies the Northern Pines, within which is a large settlement of eladrin and elves known as Salfar.

Two forests lie south of Nordheim on either side of the kings road. These are known as Hognen Forest and Hrolfen Woods. Smaller settlements of eladrin and elves live there. To the east, past the Winterfell Mountains lies Osterheim, a coastal kingdom. Some trade occurs between these two countries. Adventurers can sometimes hire on as guards for caravans as they go through a pass in the barrier mountains. To the south lies the kingdom of Teifgard. The trade is fairly regular between Teifgard and The Northern Kingdom. The two have had a close alliance, with the son of Alintyr betrothed to the daughter of the king of Teifgard. To the north lies the Barrier Mountains and past those lie the frozen reaches, a land of cold winters and unknown beasts. To the west lies a northern tundra, sparsely populated, mostly by nomadic herders and barbarian tribes.

Throughout the kingdom, tiny farming settlements dot the landscape. Up and down Nentyr River small communities of river folk eke out a living. Nordheim lies on Lake Freya, named after an old goddess of the fey. It is the largest lake in the area. Some fishermen do make a living fishing for freshwater fish on it's waters.

teach

This was in an old book that was in the sages tower in Winterhaven that Auggie studied while studying the mirror.

Here's the way the nine planes are detailed out in the book they found. If this is actually the way the planes are oriented, it is unknown as few know of, or if there have been on the other planes. Also, there is only 8 planes listed in this book, even though it makes reference to nine planes in a number of places. However, this book does match the names used by worshippers of the old gods with the names used by the worshippers of the dragon gods (aka the 4e names).

The planes are all connected by the Tree Yggdrasil.

The upper planes are Asgard, home of the gods and connected to the other planes by Bifrost, the rainbow bridge, Alfheim (feywild), and muspell (the elemental chaos).

The middle planes are Midgard (earth), Jotenheim(land of the giants) and Svartalfheim (underdark).

Finally the two lower planes are nifthelm (frozen reaches of the elemental chaos) and hel (the shadowfell). The book implied that all three middle planes can actually be reached by walking. Recently though, the land of the giants has been forgotten by most, and no one has been to the home of the gods since the sundering. The book makes no mention of the astral sea.

teach

For lack of a better name, I've decided to call my campaign world the Sundered World. I thought I'd put up on my blog some of the information about the campaign world that my players have discovered so far. They are currently playing through the Keep on the Shadowfell.

Timeline:

Over 1000 years ago: The world nearly ends. A cataclysmic event occurs. The gods disappear. New continents appear. Dragons first appear.

300-200 years ago: The last Empire rises and falls. The House of Dragontyr from the southern kingdom of Roninitine launches an abititious campaign to update the infrastructure of the 12 kingdoms, but eventually the empire falls under stress from barbarians outside the empire and internal conflict and strife. This is when the keep was built.

Other than that, there isn't much known. I've left the timeline intentionally vague, to allow it grow organically as we play.

teach

To be perfectly honest, I never really liked D&D 3E mythology. MAybe I didn't read the right books or stories, but the gods presented in the Players Handbook had no real ring to me, which was annoying because I like the idea of playing a champion of a god.

Now in 4E I finally have had a chance to DM, and I knew that I wanted to run a campaign in a slightly different campaign world than the standard one presented. I had preordered the Keep on the Shadowfell, being pretty excited by everything I had read about 4E, and so when I had the chance to DM I knew I was going to use the adventure.

What is nice about Norse Mythology is that it does fit so easily into D&D, since many of D&D's roots are in myths and stories that derived from norse mythology.

So the characters live a unnamed world. The major events in the world are as follows. An undetermined time ago a horrible event occurred, which sundered the world, changing the shape of some of the continents and ushering in dragons, which had never been in the world before then. With the dragons came the twin gods, Tiamet and Bahemnet(sp?). During the sundering, stories of the time say, the Gods who used to walk the earth, and protect their people disappeared. Few of their names are still remembered, although those still remembered are worshipped by some, mostly on the edge of civilization. two hundred or so years ago rose a great empire in the twelve kingdoms (the area of the world the pcs are from). Drasityr the great ruled over this empire for 20 years, building outkeeps throughout the north. This is when the Keep on the Shadowfell was built. After Drasityr passed away, the empire quickly fell apart, and the Keep fell into disrepair.

I've got more background that'll have to come later, but one of my favorite things to do as a DM is take a pre-existing module or adventure and make it work for my own story telling.

teach

A daemon is a small physical representation of a persons soul. The animal that the daemon assumes is determined at puberty, and does not change the rest of their life. Social custom does not allow daemons to touch other humans, and permission must be asked to allow a daemon to touch another daemon. It will usually only speak to its human.

Game stats:

A daemon is a familiar of a human. When a PC is created who will have a daemon, the type of animal must be chosen. Then choose any skill. The daemon grants a +2 bonus to all skill checks using that skill. Chose a skill and animal combination that makes sense (i.e. owl - perception, monkey - bluff or diplomacy, wolf - nature).

A daemon also has some use during a combat. Once an encounter, a daemon can grant a small bonus to the next attack roll by distracting the opponent or guiding the attack, or suggesting the best place to target. A daemon grants a +2 bonus to the next attack roll.

A daemon can move 5 squares away from its human without ill effect. Any farther causes the Daemon Condition Track to begin. See below.

As a minor action, the character can have the daemon move 6 squares. The character does not see through the daemons eyes, but can sense its emotional state. The daemon must return to the character to report what it had observed.

Once per encounter, the PC can take an addition minor action to allow the daemon to take an action.

A daemon cannot die without its human dying, unless a ritual is performed.

A daemon uses its humans skills and modifiers when necessary.

Combat:

A daemon cannot attack. It can only assist its human with it's attacks.

A daemon can share the same square as its human, and is assumed to be either on the human if it is small enough, or right beside it.

A daemon has the same defenses and ac as its human +2.

All damage that a daemon takes, its human also takes.

Its humans bloodied value is considered the daemons threshhold. Below the bloodied value the Daemon Condition Tracker sets in.

A daemon can be targetted by attacks, if it is not sharing the same square as it's human. A daemon who is affected by the same area attack as its human but not in the same square does not take damage.

Daemon Condition Tracker:

When the bloodied value is reached on the daemon, or the daemon has spent 1 round farther than 5 squares away from the daemon, the condition tracker begins.

A daemon is considered bloodied for the rest of the encounter. A healing surge spent outside of combat will heal all damage.

When the daemon returns to the PC's square, the PC has two options to move up to the condition tracker. As a standard action, its human may spend a healing surge to move up the condition tracker. A human may also roll a save at the end of its turn. If the daemon is in its square, the condition cannot get worse, only better on a save.

1st round - PC slowed
2nd round - PC immobilized
3rd round - PC immobilized and weakened, daemon slowed
4th round - PC dazed and weakened, daemon slowed
5th round - PC unconscious and helpless, daemon slowed

Daemon feats:

Heroic

Daemon Diversion:

Once per encounter, the daemon can attempt to create a diversion for its human. Make an attack using wis, int or cha against will. On a successful hit, its humans next attack has combat advantage. The daemon must be in a different square from its human until the end of the PC's current turn to use this ability.



Well, that's it for now. Thanks for looking, and I would love any advice you might have.

teach

So, one of the books I recently read and enjoyed was the golden compass / northern lights. I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the creatures and items presented in the book, and try and make them 4e.

Here's the list of things that I want to try and adapt. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

New Monsters:
Armoured Bears
Cliff-Ghasts
Witches
Angels
gallivespian

Magical Items:
Alethiometer
The subtle Knife
Amber Spyglass
Lodestone resonator

Other:
Daemon

I'm going to start with the Daemon and Alethiometer and then move on from there to some of the monsters.

teach