SCAP set in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy - What are the basics to tell my players?

[Olaf the Stout]

I've just started a Shackled City AP campaign set in the Judge's Guild Wilderlands of High Fantasy setting.

We've only had one session so far and I haven't really told the players much about the setting as a whole. I've just told them about the area immediately surrounding the city of Cauldron (i.e. lots of jungle set on some mountains, what creatures they might come across).

However, one of my players wants a rough overview of the campaign world. So what exactly do I tell my players? I could give them the Player's Guide to the Wilderlands to look through but that's probably a bit too detailed. I'm thinking of giving them a 2-3 page hand-out giving them a rough idea of the campaign setting. I'm not using most of the race and deity information though. I plan to stick with the default PHB gods and races for the most part.

Has anyone come up with this sort of document for their Wilderlands campaign? If you haven't, what sort of things would you put in a brief hand-out on the campaign world?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Mystaros]

Well, that would depend on where you have placed Cauldron.

If you are using the rules from the Player's Guide to the Wilderlands, the player's knowledge of the wider world can be quite restricted. If they have Knowledge: Local Region, they would know in which direction the other cities of the region can be found, the generalities of the races that can be found there, and the most recent history of how said cities have interacted with Cauldron. They would probably also know a bit about the nearest most prominent geographical feature and how it relates to Cauldron (i.e., "The Dearthwood is home to orcs, elves, and rangers, and a couple years back a tribe of orcs attacked outlying hamlets of Cauldron from the forest"). They probably know the names and some very basic information about neighboring towns and larger villages, i.e., "Tain and Byrny are ruled by governors beholden to the Invincible Overlord, Tain is a local market while Byrny is known for its chain mail hauberks."

And that would be it. Unless they have the World Traveler feat, they would know next to nothing about any other parts of the world. If within one region of the CSWE, they will certainly have heard of Viridistan, and know that it is ruled by the World Emperor, that its people have a greenish tinge to their skin, and that it is a wicked city steeped in evil, but that's about it.

If they do not have Knowledge: Local Area, they don't know anything about the wider world, save the folks on their local streets of Cauldron or their hometown hamlet. Knowledge about the wider world is very hard to come by in the Wilderlands; generally you have to gain it by harsh experience or by consulting an expensive sage. Most folks know nothing more than the lives of their neighors and maybe some family history ("Your grampaw was run out of the City State of the Invincible Overlord for slitting an orc's throat." "City State maw, what's that?" "A real big village, Bili, a real big village with stone walls" "Stone walls maw, you're joshin' me!") And so forth...

 

[Ant]

Olaf, slightly OT but how'd the session go?

 

[sinecure]

Just ask them where they want to have come from in the world and drop those into the world. That way they know their home land, it is exactly what they want, and you don't have to create that part of the world.

And if they are looking for very specific things to be in the world at large, for instance, they want an empire based on roman heritage or something, just ask for a list of what they really like, and tell them you'll do your best to put those in the gameworld. It's not like they are asking for every adventure to be revealed to them beforehand. I think they just want assurance that their wants are in the world. Since Wilderlands sounds like it is PoL, use only what you want. I mean, include what you want from anywhere and allow the players the opportunity to tell you what's in the world too, either through things their character would know or just stuff they'd like to have in to adventure in. Published adventures are most of what my players like, but they can get pretty creative too once they figure out their own ideas can be added to the world. At my own discretion, of course. I have my own stuff already made I need to fit it into or onto.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Olaf, slightly OT but how'd the session go?

It went quite well. Character generation took up most of the session so we only got through the short prologue I had come up with. The prologue involved the party travelling from Donnington (a little village I made up that's about 2 day's travel from the Lucky Monkey along the road to Sasserine) to Cauldron.

The prologue basically involved the party fighting some Hill Baboons, staying overnight at the Lucky Monkey and then encountering the Stormblades fighting some kobolds in the lava tubes just outside Cauldron. The prologue was good as it let me introduce quite a few thing into the campaign nice and early.

- They party met Shensen at the Lucky Monkey with almost everyone intrigued as to why a half-drow was walking freely around the place and what exactly she was doing there. They will definitely remember her when the revisit the Lucky Monkey during Flood Season.

- Almost all the party hate the Stormblades already. The Stormblades (Todd and Cora in particular) were rude, arrogant and agressive to them when the party encountered them just outside of Cauldron. Todd called them commoners and accused the party of letting the kobolds get away. This will set the rivalry between the 2 groups into place nice and early in the campaign.

- The Hill Baboons they encountered along the road were acting strangely agressive. They also heard reports from others travelling along the road about other animals being a lot more agressive than normal at the moment. This is the madness of Adimarchus already impacting the area. I'm going to try and foreshadow this more as the campaign progresses.

The next session is this Wednesday night. Last session ended with the party just entering Cauldron. I'm hoping to run the Ruphus encounter almost straight away this week and go from there. Once we've got a few sessions under our belt I think I'll start a story hour about it. Since we only play once a fortnight I imagine it will be a while before we finish though!

Olaf the Stout

 

[Whimsical]

Things to work out before running the Rufus encounter.

Are the surrounding buildings one story, two stories, or what?
What is the DC to climb up the wall of the building? What about the side of the building with windows and other footholds?
What about jumping up and grabbing the bottom edge of the roof, then pulling oneself up?
What are the movement limitations of moving up and down a rooftop? How about side to side? What are the Balance checks involved?

I recommend selecting DCs that are difficult but achievable by 1st level characters.

 

[Jhaelen]

[snip]
Once we've got a few sessions under our belt I think I'll start a story hour about it. Since we only play once a fortnight I imagine it will be a while before we finish though!

Sounds great! I'm looking forward to your story hours

I'd also love to play SCAP after my current campaign, but since we only meet every three to four weeks, it'll take ages. Chances are, 4E will get me excited long before our current campaign is over...

 

[Ant]

Once we've got a few sessions under our belt I think I'll start a story hour about it.

I look forward to it!

Although I'm not putting my players through SCAP proper I lifted the entire of The Test of the Smoking Eye and fitted it into my current campaign. Only an hour ago the players completed the first part of the test. A lot of fun so far and a very good adventure to boot.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I look forward to it!

Although I'm not putting my players through SCAP proper I lifted the entire of The Test of the Smoking Eye and fitted it into my current campaign. Only an hour ago the players completed the first part of the test. A lot of fun so far and a very good adventure to boot.

It's funny that you did that. I think the Test of the Smoking Eye seems to be the part most people find "off" about the SCAP. I know of several posters on the Paizo boards that have skipped or heavily modified that chapter because it seemed really jarring and out of place with the adventures that had come before it. I plan to foreshadow the TotSE a fair bit with dreams that the PC's have. That way when the get to that part of the AP it will seem strangely familiar.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Sounds great! I'm looking forward to your story hours

I'd also love to play SCAP after my current campaign, but since we only meet every three to four weeks, it'll take ages. Chances are, 4E will get me excited long before our current campaign is over...

I know what you mean. We only play once a fortnight with one or two full day sessions added in during the summer. This makes for slow going sometimes. I'm not sure how quickly we'll get through the SCAP but I'm guessing it will be over 2 years (and probably longer than that) before we get to the end of this behemoth. It should be a lot of fun though.

Olaf the Stout