Campaign Setting Drama... aka Should I move my campaign to the FR?

Ace32 · Jun 1, 2007

Howdy ENWorld,

So I'm DMing with a new group (well, the salvaged remains of my old group along with at least half new players) and we've decided to start up a new campaign that isnt meant to be too complex. At first, I started to cobble together a homebrew setting that featured some astrological stuff and had a somewhat celtic/norse feel to it (nothing specific) - the campaign guide I wrote left things vague (nonhumans claimed to have descended from spirits, gods were thought of as just 'big spirits', faeries & elementals play a slightly more prominent role than in standard D&D compared to the alignment outsiders, etc). However, I haven't really clicked with the setting yet and I just don't know if I can motivate myself to make it feel unique without totally ripping something off...

As a result, I'm thinking of moving the campaign to another world. This shouldn't be hard as the general storyline is simple: a man is attempting to resurrect a lost evil human empire that he can claim ancestry to - and so far all he has done is stir up the descendents of orc tribes once loyal to said empire. With that said, I figure the Realms is a safe place because some of the players (about half) have experience with them.

What should I do?

Also, if I do go with the Realms, where should I put the campaign that might evoke some of those familiar themes (I was thinking the North)?

**Edit** Forgot to mention: It needs to be temperate and have nearby mountains (as those have already been introduced as the source of the orcs).

The party includes: Human Favored Soul, Human Wizard (Star Mage from Encyclopaedia Arcana - Star Magic), Dwarf Fighter, Dwarf Sorcerer (Earth Bloodline from Dragon 311), Half-Orc Barbarian (plus two undecideds that have yet to be introduced). They currently have no particular attachment to their 'home' as it hasn't come up in the course of adventure (they've fought orcs and drank in a tavern).

mhacdebhandia · Jun 1, 2007

If you're not clicking with the homebrew, there's absolutely no shame in using a published setting. The Forgotten Realms is pretty useful for throwing in storylines like the one you have in mind!

AFGNCAAP · Jun 1, 2007

Ace32 said:
As a result, I'm thinking of moving the campaign to another world. This shouldn't be hard as the general storyline is simple: a man is attempting to resurrect a lost evil human empire that he can claim ancestry to - and so far all he has done is stir up the descendents of orc tribes once loyal to said empire. With that said, I figure the Realms is a safe place because some of the players (about half) have experience with them.

What should I do?

Also, if I do go with the Realms, where should I put the campaign that might evoke some of those familiar themes (I was thinking the North)?

With the climate you were talking about, I'm not too sure. Now, if you want the human to bring back a new, non-canon "evil human empire," then that's no problem. If you want to tie it to something existing in FR, then that's a bit harder.

Area-wise, I'd guess someplace like Cormyr may be viable (esp. with the turmoil since the death of the King and ascendence of his daughter as Regent). Nearby Sembia may also work (I think most places along the Sea of Fallen Stars may work). Waterdeep has sorta-nearby mountains, but I think it may be too far north for what you're looking for.

Beregost and Nashkel (as featured in the 1st Baldur's Gate CRPG) also have sorta-nearby mountains. Nashkel's closer to the mountains overall, though Beregost isn't too far away from a northern stretch of the same range. They're both close to Amn, too (another possibility).

The Moonshae Isles are another possibility, and IIRC they have a Celto-Norse feel to them.

And, there's the Chessenta/Unther area. The "evil human empire" could be a rebirth/reestablishment of the Untheric nation under a god-king.

IIRC, the orcs in the North are all about following Obould Many-Arrows (or quite a few of them are anyways).

FYI, here's an online map of Faerun.

Also, if you do use FR, which deity will the Favored Soul be linked to?

questing gm · Jun 1, 2007

Out of the top of my head,

I can see a native Netheril descendant coming to revive the Netheril Empire (which is already revived with the Return of Shade) and have gained the loyalty of the ancient orc slaves that have evolved into Orogs (so that no one has ever heard of them) to fulfill his goal.

The Netheril descendant could have been shown visions of glory by the Shadovar of Netheril's great past and such passion can be easily twisted for their own greater and higher agendas (which i believe the Shade are highly capable of).

If the descendant fails, the Shade are able to cut any ties easily since he is not a shade afterall. But if he succeeds, the fruition of restoring Netheril's former glory may come more easily than expected.

Also as a Human Netherese, it opens up some other channels of communication that would be barred from the Netheril shades. The descendant could make contacts with the Red Wizards and other organizations that are less wary of a human than a shadovar.

Lost Empires of Faerun is going to be a definitive resource that allows you to pick which empire your little would-be BBEG is trying to revive and you can work on from there. The book should provide some ideas as to the legacies, remnants and survivors of each lost civilization (with magic item to boot, woohoo!).

AFAIK, this idea was based on the criteria that you wanted orcs and mountains (which the North provides aplenty) but if you're flexible with those then i suggest looking for another civilization but keep the plot.

:heh:

Kae'Yoss · Jun 1, 2007

If you don't want to create your own campaign setting, it should not be too hard to find something in the Realms that fits your plans (even if you invent your own empire).

I second Lost Empires of Faerûn as a good source for old empires. Faerûn had its share of old human empires someone would want to raise again, and mountains are there, too (and every mountain can contain orcs, even if you have to plant them. As we all know, Orcs breed worse than rabbits, because they're always plentiful even though countless parties hunt them ceaselessly).

On the other hand, if you don't need most of the game world - only the part that contains your orcs and heroes and old empires waiting to return, you might not need a campaign setting at all. If your players are content with lots of white spaces on a map, you could go ahead and play in your own CS, just telling them that you won't make anything up beyond the stuff you need.

So I think you could run this either way. Maybe the newbloods would like to see that there's a world beyond the part they slay enemies in, and that they can visit them if they want (unlike other places in computer games, where the areas might appear as text, but could only be visited if they made an expension of it). But they could also be intimidated by a big big world. Just find out how they think and act accordingly.

questing gm · Jun 1, 2007

Another place to look at for orcs would be the Eastern regions (Thay, Mulhorand,Narfell) where the orcs were sent in through Imaskari magic.

Having some determined enough to try and replicate the feat that can summon another Orcgate War is going to spell a whole lot of doom in modern Faerun and is an epic quest for PCs to stop indeed.

Already you can have a handful of factions in this that wants to stop or support the revival of the Imaskari empire.

Ace32 · Jun 4, 2007

Hmm... These are some pretty solid ideas, thanks! I believe I've been thoroughly convinced to run an FR game, hopefully playing off the long history (and my own fond memories of Baldur's Gate) to run some convincing sub-plots and help the player's feel immersed.

After some pondering, the Netheril revival campaign might be fun. It looks like Cormyr is going to be our starting location - the feudal monarchy setting would make for an easy transition into the current adventure and easy access to the rest of Faerun is only a bonus.

My group is making the transition easily enough - except for our wizard. There doesn't seem to be too much astrology or star magic foundation to work off of in FR (shocking, considering everything else under the sun is there). We're thinking some kind of companion organization to the church of Selune along with some of the material from Dragon (#340 I think?) that touched on a zodiac and astrological feats. Any ideas?

Kae'Yoss · Jun 4, 2007

Selune sounds okay, she's the mystic one. Savras could also work, he's the deity of seers, and would probably welcome stargazers. Finally, there's Oghma, god of knowledge. One of his favoured ones (probably even his chosen) had the blessing/cures that he could predict everything with numbers. He had all the equations and all the variables. A sect of astrologers isn't that far off.

In fact, the FRCS talks about sages that look to the stars and write down what they see (it's in the "beyond Faerûn" part, and it talks briefly about the other planets in Toril's solar system).