D&D 4E Campaign brainstorming 4e point of light setting

Spoiler alert: don't read this if you are going to play as a player in Reavers of Harkenworld or Madness at Gardmore abbey:

I am planning to run a campaign, using two premade modules as inspiration: Reavers of Harkenworld (level 2-4) and Madness at Gardmore abbey (level 6-8). The setting will be 4e's point of light setting with Fallcrest at the center, with the Dwarven city of Hammerfest to the east, Harkenworld to the south-east and Winterhaven to the North-west.


I want the characters to get attached to the area and take partial control of it. The main cast so far is a paladin-sorcerer of noble blood who is going to try to get either Winterhaven, Fallcrest or maybe Harkenworld under his control. There is also the half-orc ruffian (Rogue) who wants to take over the underworld. In addition there's a Bard and Druid who have less personal ambition, but especially the Bard might try to set himself up as someone with the real power, behind a puppet NPC or another PC.

I do feel that with so much of the campaign being centred on one area it does need a bit more details than your typical go-fight-the-kobolds campaign. One thing is the important NPC's, but here the two modules actually have some interesting characters and motivations. What I do feel is missing is what are these towns living of. What are they eating, whom are they trading with and what are they trading?

Here is my take on it, what I am hoping for is for some more ideas:
Harkenworld is relatively easy - it's a farming community. Lots of fields growing stuff. The typical trade is for some luxury items and maybe some imports of weapons and armor from the dwarves at Hammerfast.

I am not so sure what to do with Fallcrest. It was once a trading hub, but it's now just a shadow of it's former glory, but still, some trading would still be done? I think that trading with some larger cities down the river would be logical, but except for food, what could they trade? Timber?

Winterhaven is probably a farming community, but with some mines? It's probably less well off than Harkenworld when it comes to food, but might do ok due to the mining.

The dwarves at Hammerfast are probably doing more mining and less growing than the Winterhaven, and probably imports quite a lot of grain and such from Harkenworld.

There are some tribes of elves (and goblins) in the Harken Forrest and several barbarian tribes in the Winterbole forrest. These mostly live of the animals they hunt and kill, trading furs at Fallcrest or in Winterhaven.

The story
The first module, Reavers of Harkenworld, has the Iron Circle mercenaries from the city of Sarthel taking over and trying to subdue Harkenworld. Why are they doing this? I am thinking they want to have some hold over the Dwarves of Hammerfast, something they get if they cut of part of their food supply. Maybe they get better prices for weapons and armor? Maybe they weaken them for a direct take over?

The second module, Reavers of Gardmoore Abbey, has a bunch of Orcs taking control of the ruins at Gardmoore Abbey. It's nearly directly on the road between Winterhaven and Fallcrest. Now, the module doesn't mention anything about what they are living of, and doesn't say anything about them taking control of the road and plundering the travelers on it. I do find that a bit weird. In addition, the place has a Red Dragon. How does this fit into the picture? I am a bit stuck here, so any suggestions to what the Orc's are doing here and why the dragon isn't terrorizing the area, eating whatever's around beats me.

I am also wondering a bit about the Orc hords that once came out of Stonemarch about a hundred years ago, wiping out most of Nentir Valley. What are they living of up in the Stonemarch? From the description of the terrain, it sounds like only goats would thrive up there, but you need a lot of goats for an Orc horde.

Summary
... I could probably just have ran the modules as-is and not bothered about how the society works, but it gets a bit easier to create a long-term story for the area if what happens makes a bit more sense than a Red Dragon just slacking 30 miles from a large town. I do think the Reavers of Harkenworld part works pretty well, but the Madness at Gardmoore Abbey has so far stretched my imagination to see how this works out.

There is a great overview here which really helped me put thoughts together: http://rpg.wikia.com/wiki/Nentir_Vale and http://rpg.wikia.com/wiki/Fallcrest

I can’t speak for your personal preference, but I think you definitely need strong NPCs and obvious political, economic, and military motivators. I believe this information might be of great use. I actually have a few ideas of my own I’ll post up later.

-Settlements of Note-
Harkenwold: Half a dozen small villages lie along the upper vales of the White River. Together, they make up the Barony of Harkenwold—a tiny realm whose total population is not much greater than Fallcrest’s. The people of Harkenwold are farmers, woodcutters, and woodworkers; little trade comes up or down the old King’s Road. The ruler of Harkenwold is Baron Stockmer, an elderly man who was known for his strong sword arm in his youth. He is a just and compassionate ruler.

Fallcrest: Fallcrest stands amid the Moon Hills at the falls of the Nentir River. Here travelers and traders using the old King’s Road that runs north and south, the dwarven Trade Road from the east, and the river all meet. The surrounding ridges shelter several small valleys where farmers and woodsfolk live; few are more than six or seven miles from the town. In general the people outside Fallcrest’s walls earn their living by farming or keeping livestock, and the people inside the walls are artisans, laborers, or merchants. People with no other prospects can make a hard living as porters, carrying cargo from the Lower Quays to the Upper Quays (or vice versa).

Fallcrest imports finished goods from the larger cities downriver and ironwork from the dwarf town of Hammerfast, and exports timber, leather, fruit, and grain. It also trades with the nearby town of Winterhaven. The surrounding hills hold several marble quarries that once produced a good deal of stone, but the area has little demand for ornamental stone these days, and only a few stonecutters still practice their trade.

Winterhaven: Most residents of Winterhaven have never traveled beyond the village vale. The majority of villagers are farmers, through the walled heart of Winterhaven employs various craftspeople as well. Wagons occasionally head east down old King's Road from Winterhaven to find trade with the next village, which lies five days away. Sometimes wagons come into Winterhaven, causing the villages to excitedly gather int he Market Square to hear news of the outside world and to buy new and exotic goods.

Hammerfast: A dwarven hold cut from the rock of a deep vale in the Dawnforge Mountains, Hammerfast is the largest and wealthiest town in the region. The Trade Road runs through the citadel gates and continues eastward beyond the Dawnforge Mountains. Hammerfast is governed by a council of masters, each the leaders of one of the town’s powerful guilds. The current High Master is the leader of the merchant guild, a dwarf named Marsinda Goldspinner. The dwarves of Hammerfast look to their own first and don’t give away anything for free, but they are honest and industrious. Hammerfast was built from an ancient dwarven tomb, and interactions and sightings of dwarven and orc ghosts are not uncommon.

Nenlast: This tiny human village lies at the east end of Lake Nen. The folk here make a meager living by trading smoked fish to the dwarves of Hammerfast. They also deal with the Tigerclaw barbarians of the Winterbole Forest. When the wild folk choose to trade, they come to Nenlast to barter their pelts and amber for good dwarven metalwork.

- Criminal Underworld -
Fiveleague House: More properly known as the Fiveleague Inn, it’s a strongly built innhouse surrounded by a wooden palisade. Fiveleague House caters to travelers and merchants coming or going from Hammerfast, a day’s journey (five leagues) farther east. The proprietor is a big, bearlike human named Barton, who secretly passes on information about wealthy travelers to the bandits of Raven Roost.

Raven Roost: This small keep stands at the southern end of the Old Hills. Once it was the seat of a small manor, but it fell into ruin long ago. It has now been taken over by a group of bandits in secret league with Barton of Fivelague House. The group is led by a trio of Shadar-Kai named Ezroun, Samminel, and Geriesh.

- Wilds (goblins, orcs, elves) -
Harken Forest: A strong goblin keep called Daggerburg lies somewhere in the southwest reaches, not too far from Kalton Manor; the goblins sometimes raid the river-traffic moving along the Nentir, or send small parties of marauders to Harkenwold’s borders.

An elf tribe known as the Woodsinger Clan roams the eastern portions of the forest. They occasionally trade with the humans of Harkenwold and keep an eye on travelers along the old King’s Road. They have a long-standing feud with the Daggerburg goblins, and the goblins keep to the western parts of the forest to avoid swift and deadly elven arrows. However, the goblins are growing more numerous and have become bolder in recent months.

Stonemarch Mountains: A rugged land of stony hills and deep gorges cut by white-rushing rivers, the Stonemarch is home to tribes of dangerous humanoids and giants. Orcs, ogres, giants, and trolls haunt the farther reaches of these barren lands. Fortunately for the residents of the vale, the monsters rarely come east over the Cairngorm Peaks. A great orc-warren known as the Fanged Jaws of Kulkoszar lies in the northern part of the wasteland; here the chief of the Bloodspear tribe rules over hundreds of the fierce warriors.

Thanks @Pour

I thought I might list some typical medieval trade goods: Spices, Linen, Paper, Perfume, Oil, Wax, Wine, Wool, Fur, Cotton, Salt, Cloth, Tapestries, Glass, Metals, Grain, Tallow, Leather, Hemp, Honey

I could see the region as a whole export: Wool, Fur, Metals, Glass, Metals (Copper, tin, lead, silver), Tallow, Leather, Honey
I could see the region being self-sufficient with: Linen, Wine, Grain.
I could see the region importing: Spices, Paper, Perfume, Oil, Wax, Wine, Cotton, Salt, Cloth, Tapestries, Hemp.

I think most of the imports and exports would happen through Fallcrest as roads in medieval times where notoriously bad - if not built by Romans (or the Nerath empire in this case). Maybe the road between Hammerfast and Fallcrest is one of those roads?

well I think your over thinking it. Are your players interested in this level of detail? How will you show it to them in the campaign?

with that out of the way, I think you have some reasonable ideas. The Orcs probably live is small clan groups, one group to each valley so they don't over eat their resources. Of course having too many orcs for the food supply provides a good reason for becoming more active raiders! have a few pens for captured animals, so that each spring they have to restock.

The dragon is easiest to explain as a recent arrival ie it shows up and drives the orcs to claim the abby.

Do you have the threats to the Neir Vale monster compendium? it has lots inhabitants and fills in alot of holes. I used the Iron Circle mercenaries in my own campaign. along with the fell court (the tiefling thievesguild) that controls much of the underworld in the NV.

My fell court spawned many adventures, and deep hatreds from my players. They fought them all the way through the heroic tier, dropped a floating tower on thier HQ and killed the last hold out in a brothel.

Evilhalfling said:

My fell court spawned many adventures, and deep hatreds from my players. They fought them all the way through the heroic tier, dropped a floating tower on thier HQ and killed the last hold out in a brothel.

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That sounds like it was an awesome campaign.

Evilhalfling said:

well I think your over thinking it. Are your players interested in this level of detail? How will you show it to them in the campaign?

with that out of the way, I think you have some reasonable ideas. The Orcs probably live is small clan groups, one group to each valley so they don't over eat their resources. Of course having too many orcs for the food supply provides a good reason for becoming more active raiders! have a few pens for captured animals, so that each spring they have to restock.

The dragon is easiest to explain as a recent arrival ie it shows up and drives the orcs to claim the abby.

Do you have the threats to the Neir Vale monster compendium? it has lots inhabitants and fills in alot of holes. I used the Iron Circle mercenaries in my own campaign. along with the fell court (the tiefling thievesguild) that controls much of the underworld in the NV.

My fell court spawned many adventures, and deep hatreds from my players. They fought them all the way through the heroic tier, dropped a floating tower on thier HQ and killed the last hold out in a brothel.

Click to expand...

I know I am over thinking it, but it makes it a bit easier for me to come up with NPC's that are believable if they have an actual living instead of just being a trader. Maybe a hard-knocks salt caravan beats back an Orc attack from Gardmoore abbey? You got this grizzly caravan master coming into fallcrest wounded and the PC's can see that it's important to the town to keep the road open - if they want to make a name for themselves.

Anyway, I think you got the right idea about the Orc's living in small clan groups. I like the idea of letting the orcs have pens for captured animals and such. It just adds so much more to the realism instead of just having them just sit in Gardmoore abbey.

The previous invasion probably happened because of lack of territory and a charismatic chieftain - or Dragon.

Is the fell court you mentioned detailed anywhere, or did you come up with that thieves guild? It would fit perfectly with the Half-orc rogue and the plan the player has for his character.

You realise you are overthinking, so I'll say no more about thet

Treating the exercise as a drawing of conclusions from medieval terran practice, therefore:

Blackbrrd said:

I could see the region as a whole export: Wool, Fur, Metals, Glass, Metals (Copper, tin, lead, silver), Tallow, Leather, Honey

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In an area as depopulated and "points of light-y" as the Nentir vale, I would be surprised if tallow (common as, well, dead animals - only if there was a major manufacturing location for, e.g., lamps or soap would I expect trade in this) or honey (typically quite widely made locally - only if there was, say, a mead making abbey or something would it be traded any distance) were traded in the region.

The rest, quite possibly. Metal mines would be noted, though, I think - the only real site noted would be Hammerfast.

Blackbrrd said:

I could see the region being self-sufficient with: Linen, Wine, Grain.

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Linen and grain - and ale - definitely. Also timber, firewood, charcoal, animal feed and stone. Wine I don't get the right vibe for - the Winterbole Forest is too close for a winemaking climate. Local drinks I would expect to be ale and cider; wine I would see as imported from the south.

Blackbrrd said:

I could see the region importing: Spices, Paper, Perfume, Oil, Wax, Wine, Cotton, Salt, Cloth, Tapestries, Hemp.

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Oil (and/or lard), (bees)wax and hemp (or a local substitute) I would expect to be locally sourced. Paper and cotton would likely be at best rare; cotton grows in totally dissimilar biomes and likewise paper - much cheaper local substitutes would likely be available (parchment and vellum from sheep and calf hides, respectively, and wool and linen cloth). Spices, perfume, wine and salt as well as certain metals would likely be imported.

On the subject of cloth: I would expect most rural settlements to be self-sufficient in homespun linen and wool. Fallcrest might very well have artisans making finer cloth and higher-status clothes. The very best might well be imported, though I'm not sure from where.

Metals were, in medieval europe at least, traded extensively, even when they were what we would see as the "same" metal. The reason was that the metal refining and recombination processes were not anywhere near so well developed as we have them today, so "iron that is good for ploughshares" and "iron that is good for swords" were effectively two different metals. Different impurities and smelting methods in local use led to them being quite different in their properties.

Which leads to one final comment: iron almost certainly can't be melted with "points of light" technology. It can be reduced, however, so iron can be made as "blooms" of metallic iron mixed with silica (ore rock) impurities. This would need to be heated red-hot and hammered to get the (molten) silica out - hence "wrought iron" originally looking as though it was being hammered, or "wrought", from the spongy grey blooms.

Blackbrrd said:

I think most of the imports and exports would happen through Fallcrest as roads in medieval times where notoriously bad - if not built by Romans (or the Nerath empire in this case). Maybe the road between Hammerfast and Fallcrest is one of those roads?

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I would expect the river to be the main trade artery. Fallcrest's importance comes, in part, from its place on the falls so that goods must be ported around from a "lower river boat" to an "upper river boat", or vice versa. Since the stuff has to be unloaded there anyway, it makes sense to distribute along the vale either side of the river from there, too.

Edit to P.S. the Fell Court is in MV: Threats to the Nentir Vale, as are the Iron Circle and other stuff mentioned. If you are running the Nentir Vale campaign, I would say it would be a very good source.

It's in Monster Vault: Threats to Nentir Vale (aka Monster Vault 2) I believe.

@Balesir thanks for your post, I found it most helpful. I think I have gotten some good inspiration from this thread already. Looking forward to reading about the Fell court and the Iron Circle. Especially the Fell Court. I hope they will give my Rogue-player a run for his money.

I am probably going to introduce some charcoal making areas - partially taken over by the swamps south of Fallcrest and add a nice sprinkle of hardboiled charcoal burners. Always fun to introduce some nasty industry to a medieval setting! Beside, I could add some iron making forges powered by the waterfall at Fallcrest. It would make perfect sense to put them there.

After [MENTION=27160]Balesir[/MENTION]'s excellent post I'm not sure I have much to add, except that it's no mystery what orcs eat - anything at all, including other orcs! In 4e, at least, orcs are an expression of unbridled chaos and destruction (and so quite different from, say, goblins and their ilk). They don't have ordinary economic motivations.