Let’s Make a Hexcrawl Setting

[chutup]

I like the no horses thing as well. It kind of fits with the assumption that there will be (potentially, at least) a notable feature in every six-mile hex. With a horse, you could cross something like eight hexes in a single day. Also, the secret conspiracy of mules? Awesome. I really like the idea that the PCs might get caught up in some epic, apocalyptic quest, and at some point they're at a loss for what to do next. Then their mule, whom they have owned for many sessions without giving much thought to it, suddenly says: "I preferred not to speak, but now I have no choice. All is not yet lost, but we have precious little time. Come, quickly."

I'd figured that the names of the planes were covered by the OGL, but it shouldn't be difficult to change them. When you add it to the collection, can you change the sentence to: "There were processions of Nephilium from the Holy Mountain, mighty Galloons from the Forest of Fancy, and ashen-skinned voidsailors from the no-place, which is no place at all." Also, the last sentence can be: "In time it drifted out of memory that the name 'City of Many Windows' was originally only an epithet, and that the first and true name of the city was something different altogether." I think that should scrub out anything that's copyright-infringing.

 

[Sanglorian]

-Why didn't these horses go off in exile to the Golden Realm? Why did the unseelie elves to THERE? There have been hibts that that land is the stronghold of the Lion Priests.

Ah, I realise my mistake: I meant Alacoda rather than the Golden Realm. Someone could try to resolve this inconsistency if they wanted to, but I'm also happy to just change my entry to refer to Alacoda.

EDIT: PS I really like the idea of warhorses as almost undead, their bones sought out by knights and historians. The passing of a warhorse—unless it can be retrieved—would be a greater loss than the knight riding it!

 

[chutup]

The Bone Heap (50.03)

Far out into the nightmare jungles of the World's Edge, there lies an enormous pile of reeking detritus - offal, feces and bones. This is the ancestral defecating-ground of the hoarlephants, which are among the most vile and terrible of all the World's Edge monsters.

The hoarlephant resembles a mundane elephant, but is much larger, with jet-black skin and a bloated belly. Though they are carnivores, their predations upon travellers in the jungle are often nothing short of malicious. They use their long trunks to pick up their victims and impale them on their tusks for later consumption. Though they do not speak, they seem to posess a great deal of animal cunning, and will sometimes cover themselves in rotting vegetation to lie in ambush.

The hoarlephant suffers from a continous and exaggerated case of constipation. Everything it eats is stored in its stomach and digested. That which cannot be digested, including bones and armour, remains in the gut, giving a distinctive clanking sound to the creature's movements. Roughly once every three months each hoarlephant will return to the bone heap in order to void its bowels. Immediately after this, it will be unusually lean, quick and hungry.

More than a hundred years ago now, the Thringish paladin Sir Hyfres descended the World's Edge on the back of the famed charger Garendar. Before he could complete his quest, both he and the horse were devoured by a particularly noxious bull hoarlephant, and their bones were subsequently left in the bone heap. So, to this day, it is sometimes possible to see treasure hunters and knights climbing over mountains of filthy bone and stinking garbage, in search of the bones of Garendar the Brave.

Hooks:
- What weird ecosystem has developed around the bone heap?
- What other treasures might be found here?
- Why was Sir Hyfres travelling so far from Thring?
- Even considering that horses are such a precious commodity, there must have been something really special about Garendar the Brave that people will brave the World's Edge to try and retrieve his bones. What was it?

 

[chutup]

[FONT=&quot]So I decided to use this generator to create two feuding families for the City of Shuttered Windows. I kind of didn't expect how much detail it would provide. I'll post my 'workings out' here in case anyone is interested (it was a lot of fun rolling up all those characters), but then at the bottom I'll try to condense them into a reasonably sized entry. (note that 'Venturer' in Blood & Treasure appears to be an all-round swashbuckler sort of class.)

[/FONT] First family:
Adult (age 35) patriarch, Choleric, Level 6 Venturer; four siblings; unmarried, CHA 16
Sibling 1: Adult, Merchant, Male, Phlegmatic, Married to Adult, 3 children, CHA 10
Spouse 1: Adult, Venturer, Female, Phlegmatic, CHA 10
Child 1.1: Young, Merchant, Female, Melancholy, married to Young, 1 child, CHA 12
Spouse 1.1: Young, Fighter, Male, Melancholy, CHA 13
Child 1.2: Young, Trader, Male, Melancholy, married to Young, 1 child, CHA 10
Spouse 1.2: Young, Merchant, Female, Sanguine, CHA 8
Child 1.3: Young, Trader, Male, Choleric, unmarried, CHA 9
Sibling 2: Adult, Level 5 Venturer, Male, Sanguine, married to Young, 3 children, CHA 11
Spouse 2: Young, Merchant, Female, Melancholy, CHA 11
Children: Too young to have distinguishing features; two girls, one boy.
Sibling 3: Adult, Level 4 Cleric (worships Deity of Wealth), Female, Sanguine, married to Adult, 1 child, CHA 11
Spouse 3: Adult, Trader, Male, Phlegmatic, CHA 6
Child 3.1: Young, Sage, Male, Phlegmatic, unmarried, CHA 12
Sibling 4: Adult, Artisan, Female, Sanguine, married to Adult, no children, CHA 14
Spouse 4: Adult, Trader, Male, Phlegmatic, CHA 11

Assets: 5 town houses
Fine mansion (14 rooms)
Merchant galley to Blindpool
Villa in the country (10 rooms)
Hired duellist (level 2)
Fine manse (7 rooms)
Gold:
Patriarch: 60
Sibling 1: 110
Sibling 2: 10
Sibling 3: 30
Sibling 4: 40

Baltherio is the patriarch of the Tenzerlin family, an ambitious and charismatic man who eliminated all his elders in the family to become the head at the age of 32. He has never married because he is still waiting to use his hand to make an alliance with an even greater house.

His brother Mercio and his wife Amanita are both calm and gentle merchants, though Amanita travelled much in her younger days. They are by far the richest wing of the family, and are charged with the upkeep of the family’s galley, the Jewel of the North. They have three adult children: pretty Pina and the twin brothers Gadolfo and Rodolfo. Pina has scandalised the family by marrying a low-born swordsman named Jast, but none can deny that their personalities are well-matched.

Gadolfo and Rodolfo were thick as thieves in their childhood, but they have now been separated by jealousy. Gadolfo is married to the merchantwoman Sara, for which the unattached Rodolfo envies him. For his part, Gadolfo despises his unpleasant wife and thus envies his brother Rodolfo. Rodolfo spends most of his time apart from his branch of the family, instead working with Baltherio who is thinking of grooming the boy for succession.

Next in line is brother Sapaldi, once a wild ruffian of a youth, who has squandered most of his fortune. He was an epicurean dilettante, and eventually married the much younger merchant’s daughter Nina, who for her part is moody and introspective. They have three young children, and also in their household is the hired duellist Pranza, who fought a public duel with Jast over the honour of his master’s niece.

The first of the Tenzerlin sisters is Tatiana, who became a Priestess of Alberon. She joined the wild adventures with her brother Sapaldi when they were younger, but to her eternal chagrin she was forced by Baltherio to marry the hideous but politically important trader Remus Poldunce. Their son, Polius, is quiet like his father and shuns marriage in favour of scholarly pursuits.


The youngest of the siblings is the beautiful Nimuette, who is loved by all for her features, her charm and her sculptures. She is married to the rather dull trader Andrario Salteri, who as of yet has given her no children. If he proves to be sterile it is possible that Balthario will arrange for him to suffer an ‘accident’.

Second family:
Head: Mature, Male, Level 8 Venturer, 3 siblings, married to Old, 3 children, CHA 11, P; 850gp
Head Spouse:Old, Level 8 Magic-User, CHA 9, P
Child H.1: Adult, Male, Merchant, married to Mature, 1 child, CHA 7, S
Spouse H.1: Mature, Female, Trader, CHA 11, P
Child H.1.1: Young, Female, Trader, unmarried, CHA 11, P
Child H.2: Adult, Female, Merchant, married to Adult, 1 child, CHA 9, M
Spouse H.2: Adult, Male, Merchant, CHA 12, M
Child H.2.1: Young, Female, Druid, unmarried, CHA 12, S
Child H.3: Adult, Female, Sage, married to Adult, no children, CHA 11, P
Spouse H.3: Adult, Male, Merchant, CHA 12, P
Sibling 1: Mature, Female, Artisan, married to Old, 2 children, CHA 13, C; 450gp
Spouse 1: Old, Male, Trader, CHA 8, M
Child 1.1: Adult, Female, Sage, married to Mature, no children, CHA 11, P
Spouse 1.1: Adult, Male, Sage, CHA 11, P
Child 1.2: Adult, Male, Trader, unmarried, CHA 7, M
Sibling 2: Mature, Male, Level 7 Venturer, married to Old, no children, CHA 14, P; 300gp
Spouse 2: Old, Female, Merchant, CHA 12, S
Sibling 3: Mature, Male, Level 8 Venturer, married to Mature, 1 child, CHA 15, P; 650gp
Spouse 3: Mature, Female, Trader, CHA 14, M
Child 3.1: Adult, Male, Merchant, unmarried, CHA 9, M.

Assets:
Caravan of 8 wagons to Thring
Fabled wine cellar (1800gp)
Merchant cog to Blindpool

The Ghosta family began its rise to power nearly sixty years ago. There were four siblings: the three brothers, Canetz, Tyrfin and Riza, all accomplished warriors and explorers. Canetz was the most canny, while Tyrfin and Riza were the more charismatic. Their sister Wenle stayed at home crafting ceramics. Despite this, the brothers were generally the more lazy ones, wandering about from place to place, while Wenle worked hard behind the scenes to better them.

After stealing the Wines of Everfall, Canetz grew rich. Wenle arranged for him to be wed to a mighty sorceress named Zenobia of the Eye. From there their fortunes only increased, and the other siblings also married into powerful families. Wenle was wedded to the ugly and dull-witted trader Tironu Blackshaft. Meanwhile Tyrfin and Riza hitched themselves to a pair of merchant sisters, Brevia and Barnita. Of the two, Brevia is known for staging wild parties while Barnita took up a life of insipid piety. Most of these marriages were organised by Wenle, who remained the true power behind Canetz’s throne.

The continuation of the line proved a problem. Though Brevia has taken many lovers, she has never born a child. Barnita gave Riza one son, the sickly and unappealing Tabit, who has still not found a wife.
Wenle bore a daughter, Viera, who sadly fell under the influence of her aunt Barnita and took up scholarly pursuits rather than entering into society. She has married a fellow student of dusty tomes, Yildiz, and they have no children. Viera also has a brother, the stuttering cripple Volus. He is a close friend of Tabit, as they are both in the same unenviable situation.

The only branch of the family that has truly flourished is the children of the virile Canetz. First came the boorish twins Tartanus and Blestia (both named after swords that Canetz possessed during his adventuring career). Each is as unlikable as the other, Tartanus being a drunkard and Blestia a shrew. But with their father’s riches they both caught good dependable merchant spouses: Girina for Tartanus and Thuydes Crake for Blestia. There is also another daughter of Canetz, a studious woman named Coraline who spends all her time collating poetry and avoiding her husband, the bland usurer Entherio Harpus. Coraline has had two still births and it is unlikely that she will ever produce a living heir, which makes Entherio deeply distressed.

Last of all there is the third generation, consisting of the two nieces Zenobia and Esmen. Though they are from different parents, they grew up together and are considered by the ageing Canetz to be the last great hope of the family. Despite her namesake, Zenobia was not the one to show magical aptitude, although she is a competent businesswoman. Esmen disappeared into the wilderness when she was twelve years old; Zenobia the Elder prevented the family from mounting a search, predicting that all would be well. Sure enough, ten years later Esmen returned a druidess.

[FONT=&quot]Despite the potential of these two nieces, overall the Ghosta family is a guttering flame. Unless the older generation can produce some male heirs, the line will come to an end when Zenobia and Esmen marry. The Tenzerlins are constantly seeking to pick apart the Ghosta corpse before they are even dead. The fact is that everyone in the family, even the nieces, is lacking in ambition, save for the aging Wenle.

Now for an entry that tries to make sense of all this:

The Houses of Tenzerlin and Ghosta
Additional information about hex 29.14

Among the many merchant houses of the Shuttered City, two of the most famous are the Tenzerlins and the Ghostas, known for their feud that has endured for almost 50 years. The Tenzerlins are an old and noble house, whose colour is red and whose sigil is a hawk in flight. The Ghostas are upstarts, who wear green clothes and follow the sign of a bunch of grapes.

The feud began when the three Ghosta brothers were little more than roaming thieves and treasure-hunters. They finally struck rich when they captured a caravan that was moving a great quantity of ancient shroomwine from the Shuttered City to the old Tenzerlin villa in the country. The eldest brother, Canetz Ghosta, subsequently used the shroomwine to woo a powerful wizardness named Zenobia of the Eye, who in those days was among the mightiest magic-users in the city. Thus was the house of Ghosta elevated to the society of the nouveau-riche. Yet few people know that all this was masterminded by the sister, Wenle Ghosta, who remains the true power and ambition behind Canetz's throne.

Today, though, the Ghostas are once again a waning house. Many of their number have proved infertile or unmarriagable, and it is rumoured that this is because of a curse placed upon them by the Tenzerlins. Meanwhile, a younger generation of Tenzerlins has risen up and destroyed the old guard; some were assassinated while others were exiled. Now Balthario Tenzerlin is head of the family and is planning to get revenge on the Ghostas once and for all. But before he does, he wishes to retrieve the stolen shroomwine which Canetz claims is kept in a magically concealed vault somewhere within the city.

The Tenzerlins have recently been scandalized by Pina, the niece of Balthario, who has fled the city to be married to a sword-wielding ruffian named Jast. The famed master swordsman Pranza, of whom the Tenzerlins are patrons, fought a public duel with Jast but was humiliatingly bested. He now pursues the lovers eastward.

The last great hope of the Ghosta family is young Esmen, who disappeared into the Kingswood at the age of twelve and returned at twenty-two an accomplished druidess. Her grandmother Zenobia is grooming her for great power, but she secretly wishes to abandon the city forever and return to her teacher.

Both families own a ship that sails the Keening Sea between Shuttered and Blind Midshotgatepool, though the Tenzerlins' galley is superior. Each year they race to be the first to reach the August City and acquire the pick of the seawig catch. So far the Tenzerlins have won three years in a row, carrying home the freshest wigs for sale to eligible young ladies in Shuttered.

Hooks:
- What kind of shroomwine is this, and why is it so valuable?
- Where is the villa of the Tenzerlins, and what's in it?
- How did the shroomwine help a lowly adventurer to woo Zenobia of the Eye?
- Where were the older Tenzerlins exiled to? Do they want to take the power back from Balthario?
- Is there really a curse on the longevity of the Ghostas, and if so how can it be broken?
- Where is the shroomwine vault? Is it somewhere in the Undercity?
- Where have Pina and Jast fled to?
- How did Esmen survive in the Kingswood, and who trained her to become a druidess?
- What is a seawig and why do eligible young ladies want it?


[/FONT]

 

[Daztur]

More detailed thoughts later but my 5ed playtest game finished a few hours ago and the players went through it (we had 6, two rogues) like a hot knife through butter. About 30 dead orcs including both chiefs, one PC went to negative one, another to zero, the rest never hit negatives. No subtlety was needed, the players mostly just kicked in the door and kicked ass (although lots of smart combat tactics such as good use of readied actions, masterful use of burning hands which did max damage and took out a crapload of orcs at once and careful use of chokepoints to keep the enemies from getting too many attacks in). The second orc chieftan never even got to make an attack roll. Sure 6 players is a bit and my bunch were smart and lucky but this is just too much for first level characters. First level characters who can cut through two whole tribes of orcs and send the survivors fleeting by just charging in (although doing so intelligently) just doesn't fit my image of what the Shrouded Land should be like at all. At one point when we ran into the centipedes the dwarf fighter didn't even both attacking since they were so obviously not a treat to such a powerful party

 

[Electric Wizard]

Gatherer-of-Bones (50.04)

A diligent servant of the late Yaegha Six-Kidneys toil in this underground catacomb. Called Gatherer-of-Bones, it is one consciousness that inhabits four identical bone golems. Each golem looks like a millipede of humanoid and mule bones. A multitude of arms on the golems' underbellies sift gingerly through the bones in the Bone Heap (50.03) and carry interesting specimens back to the catacomb. The bones are sorted into countless cubbyholes and nooks based on bizarre criteria. If left undisturbed, Gatherer-of-Bones will likely continue its work until the world ends.

Yaegha learned of the great Bone Heap during her brief marriage to the Collector (2.22). His Tarrasque skull obsession made him implore Yaegha to seek the legendary place. She loved him then, so she did finally relent. She constructed Gatherer-of-Bones from Thringish knights and their mounts as she passed through their land. After nearly a year's journey, she discovered the heap and set her minion to work sifting through the bones. When it did not turn up any Tarrasque skulls, she turned her energy to creating an undead army with which she and the Collector could turn against any foe in the Shrouded Lands.

Yaegha returned to the Shrouded Lands leading a skeleton legion more grotesque than any before or since. The most horrible were sutured together from the remains of a dozen unknown beasts - ambling masses of spikes, teeth, limbs, claws. On her return march to the Gore Hills, she cut a path of terror across the south of Thring. The Duke's knights eventually cut through enough of the undead army to end the warpath, but she inflicted great damage on the land that has only begun to heal.

She arrived at her husband's castle with a still-formidable remnant of her skeletons. The Collector was aghast and sullen when he learned she had returned without a Tarrasque skull, and brushed off her ambitions without a second thought. She left the Collector after sheeding a single tear, and spent the rest of her life wandering the Shrouded Lands, gathering lore and followers.

Hooks
-Which bones here have special properties? Could some of them even belong to Garendar or his rider?
-Who else has discovered this place?
-Can Gatherer-of-Bones be "reprogrammed" somehow?
-How did Yaegha end up marrying the Collector? Did they have any children? Who else has married the Collector?
-Do any of Yaegha's most hellish creations still roam the lands? Do any have remarkable abilities?
-Any tragic stories about Yaegha's march through the south of Thring?

 

[chutup]

More detailed thoughts later but my 5ed playtest game finished a few hours ago and the players went through it (we had 6, two rogues) like a hot knife through butter. About 30 dead orcs including both chiefs, one PC went to negative one, another to zero, the rest never hit negatives. No subtlety was needed, the players mostly just kicked in the door and kicked ass (although lots of smart combat tactics such as good use of readied actions, masterful use of burning hands which did max damage and took out a crapload of orcs at once and careful use of chokepoints to keep the enemies from getting too many attacks in). The second orc chieftan never even got to make an attack roll. Sure 6 players is a bit and my bunch were smart and lucky but this is just too much for first level characters. First level characters who can cut through two whole tribes of orcs and send the survivors fleeting by just charging in (although doing so intelligently) just doesn't fit my image of what the Shrouded Land should be like at all. At one point when we ran into the centipedes the dwarf fighter didn't even both attacking since they were so obviously not a treat to such a powerful party

I guess the point of it being edition-neutral is that people can run it however they like. But yeah, that doesn't sound like the sort of system that I would want to use for it. A lot of the interesting cultural details (for humanoids and for human cultures) don't really mean much if it's easier to just kill everyone who opposes you.

 

[Daztur]

Let’s get this show on the road!

I’m going to be running the first Shrouded Lands adventure sometime in July (I can’t game more than once a month due to babies, hence this wonderful wonderful wonderful thread giving me my gaming fix) with the Adventurer Conqueror King System (B/X D&D hack). Like chutup says it being edition-neutral makes it possible to use the Shrouded Lands with any game, but I think ACKS comes the closest to the perfect D&D to me.

There’s no way in hell that my group is going to read enough background material to make an informed decision about what to do in the Shrouded Lands right off the bat so what I’m going to do is that instead of throwing information at them I’m going to make them work for the information. This means that the adventure starts on rails a bit but the tracks dead-end after introducing the PCs to the setting.

The PCs will start at Olmsted Keep as the entourage of Sir Boros of Steadfast (the elder brother of Lady Steadfast a walrus-mustached blowhard 4th level fighter) being his squire, chaplain, porter or whatever. They’ll have some time to interact socially in Olmsted Keep for a bit and then one evening Sir Boros will set off with the PCs towards the Garden of Amelar. While part of the way there, Sir Boros will get himself by riding his water buffalo off a cliff or something. The PCs will be stuck in the Kingswood with dawn not too far away. In the supplies that Sir Boros has packed in the mule (who was far to smart to follow the buffalo off the cliff) are two pages that have been ripped out of the Weeper’s journal (by who?) and there are two more random pages packed in the saddlebags of the water buffalo (along with a lot of valuable personal belongings). The idea is that the PCs will look over these pages, get some clues about the Kingswood and get some ideas for future adventures.

Most of the actual content of the adventure will be a wilderness crawl across a few hexes of the Kingwood. I'll add in enough hexes to have important landmarks and then roll a bunch of random encounters (maybe make those interesting nested ones that say what the critters encountered are DOING not just what they are). I’m also going to be pillaging the two foresty hexcrawl mini-settings that I bought from John M. Starter’s website (the Land of Nod one). Or at least as much as I have time to do in the next month...

Sounds OK for an adventure to introduce players to this setting? What do you guys think?

OK, for ACKS the game splits the difference between race as race and race as class by having a few race-specific classes for each rare with all of the racial features baked into the racial classes. Here’re the classes that the core book comes with:
-Fighter (all classes are human-only unless noted otherwise)
-Mage (not Vancian in this game strangely enough, I was a bit leery about that but I think I’ll roll with it).
-Cleric (in ACKS clerics can cast spontaneously from their spell list and the game encourages you to make up new spells and lists for clerics of different gods, the default lawful cleric is your standard Templar god of healing and light, so the default lawful cleric will be for clerics of the King in Splendor, there’s also information about how chaotic clerics reverse the default spell list i.e. cast darkness instead of light etc. etc. so those will be the clerics of She Who Waits which sets up a nice duality with her husband)
-Thief (poor 1d4 hit dice of Basic D&D thieves…)
-Assassin (Smiling Men and whatnot)
-Bard (Thringish minstrels and whatnot)
-Bladedancer (human light infantry warrior priestesses put in as an example of how to change up the default cleric with a different sort of cleric for each god, now sure if these can be fit into the Shrouded Lands, they’re not sneaky enough to be the Temple Invisible, squinting at them a bit I think I could use them as Temple Indivisible priests, but what sort of spells should the priests of Alberson cast anyway? For their first level spells they have the basics but faerie fire instead of light, remove fear instead of purify and don't have sanctuary, sleep or ventriloquist. Wait, standard clerics have sleep? Badass...)
-Explorer (basically the B/X Halfling class converted over to a human rangerish class, I’ll just convert this back to being a Halfling)
-Dwarven Vaultguard (basically the B/X dwarf class, dwarf fighter more or less)
-Dwarven Craftpriest (basically the cleric with a few dwarven racial goodies and a few more XP to gain levels)
-Elven Spellsword (basically the B/ elf class, elf mage/fighter more of less)
-Elven Nightblade (elf thief/mages but more thief than mage)

OK so especially considering that ACKS has racial classes, what classes are vital for the Shrouded lands (I can probably find a lot of these on the ACKS boards but haven't looked yet...)?
-ACKS has no monk class, I can convert the Rules Cyclopedia one over easily enough but what are D&D monks in the Shrouded Lands. Most of our monks don't seem Shaolin enough except maybe the Temple Invisible guys, but are they more monks or assassin/priests rule-wise in D&D? This is important since one of the players loves playing monks.
-Because this is a B/X hack first level clerics don't get any spells anyway so this can wait for a bit, but I'd like to write up spell lists for Thringis priests of the Green Lady (magisters?) and Alberon's priests. What kind of magic would be most fitting for them do you think? I'm thinking related to power and command for Alberon and perhaps just a tinge of the druidical for the Thringish priests but would like your ideas.
-Elves aren’t really PC material, so screw them. I’ll have elf stats still be elf stats for elf NPCs (who’ll be higher level than is standard in D&D, you won’t see many elf NPCs below third level, Shrouded Lands elves are scary…) there’s a Proficiency (kind of sort of a feat) that gives humans some “be a half-elf” bennies.
-I’m thinking of putting in a class called a Dwarven Shadow (I love you Fall from Heaven II!) or a Dwarven Enforcer. Basically take the Assassin class, bake in dwarven stuff and change the skills around a bit. They’d be guys like Hoard collection agents and whatnot, nasty bastards who are good at sniping with poisoned crossbow bolts.
-Halflings are OK with just one class unless there’s a second Halfling archetype that we really need.
-Gnomes need a class. Am thinking Illusionist/Thief (perhaps with more illusionist than thief) with some 1ed gnome racial stuff baked in.
-For orcs maybe an orc warrior. Is anything else needed?
-I don’t have enough time for goblins, hobgoblins and kobolds.
-For gnolls we need a gnoll bard. I’ll take the bard class, make them a bit punchier, have their singing be more screwing with the heads of enemies than inspiring allies (hyena sounds are freaky as hell), change the bardic knowledge stuff to knowing landmarks and critter knowledge (can you eat a cantoblepas? what bits of a dead owlbear are useful?) and nix non-gnoll historical knowledge. Not sure what to do with spell-casting. Will either keep it in and just make the gnolls require more XP to level up or nix or slow the spellcasting or keep it at full and replace most of it with curses with perhaps a side order of divination. Thoughts?
-For gnolls I’d love to have a class that captures the guys who eat animal hearts and get the power of the critters they’ve eaten but I have no clue how to do that in a way that makes for playable mechanics. Thoughts?
-Maybe just a vanilla gnollish warrior. Take the fighter class, bake in some gnollish racial stuff, give them a more limited weapon/armor selection and some wilderness skills and they should be good to go. This would, ironically, look the halfling class with the bonus to missile weapons traded in for some more toughness.

Anything else?

For house rules I’m going by the book but making it possible to shoot into combat (you can’t at all by RAW without a special ability WTF?) but have the target chosen randomly. I’m also going to start off with max first level HPs but have you roll all of your HPs each level thereafter. What I mean is that when you hit fourth level you reroll ALL your hit dice and take that or keep what you had at third level if the third level total was higher. The purpose of this houserule will be basically more random rolling because rolling dice is fun without having a low HP roll or two shaft your character forever. We’ll be using the standard roll 3d6 in order 5 times and choose your favorite of those five character, with the spare rolled characters being back-up PCs if one dies or being recycled for hireling stats.

Hmmmm, anything tips for me to give the first adventure a good strong Shrouded Lands feel? I don't want this to be a string of kick down the door combats like the 5ed playtest ended up being

 

[Daztur]

Wait a second, because I preordered the PDF (was too late for the kickstarter ) I get the rough draft version of the ACKS player's companion free. Bwaaahahaha!

Wow, there's a metric shitton of classes here. Most of my work is now done for me except for maybe some variant clerics and the gnoll classes.

 

[chutup]

I don't know if it fits your idea of a standard party, but the nordanbjorn of the Shrouded Lands were taken directly from Bailywolf's class writeup for ACKS: [Sapient Bears+] a Nordligbjörn class for Adventurer Conquer King so if a player ever wants to be a talking bear, you know where to direct them...

For Alberon cleric spell lists, I'm thinking they should be a bit less 'holy and pious' and more 'dogmatic and puritanical'. Sort of like the Lamentations of the Flame Princess cleric, who's closer to an inquisitor and has a special hatred for magic-users. After all these are the guys who got to be top dogs in the city after they wiped out every other form of religion. So maybe a focus on spells like Smite Evil, Detect Evil, Detect Lies, Geas, Flame Strike, Blade Barrier...

The Green Lady is more difficult. She's kind of a Nimue figure at the borderland where Arthurian Christianity meets the older pagan traditions.

If your campaign ever makes it to the City of Shuttered Windows, I really recommend picking up a copy of Vornheim. It has a lot of general advice for city adventures but also a bunch of tables that would fit the flavour of Shuttered with minimal modification.