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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 4759805" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p>So, we've just passed the last big index, and the last adventures we'll see in the magazine. This seems like a good time for me to actively start trying to build a world out of the various ingredients I've seen so far. After all, for the moment, I have a good, fairly complete tool for browsing them. So let's do some thinking. </p><p></p><p>Obviously, I want to test out as much as possible of the material from the magazine, and that includes the modules. On the other hand, I have no desire to just run a railroad from one to another. In this campaign, I'd like to roughly approximate the evolution of the game, going from dungeoncrawls, and then gradually evolving into a richer world, with proper characterizations and recurring NPC's. I think the best way to do this would be to take the modules, and use them to construct a larger sandbox map, with low level modules close to the start point, and then higher level ones arranged in a rough concentric circle. That way, the players have pretty free reign to wander in any direction, and may face stuff both stronger and weaker than them in a fairly organic manner, but won't run into challenges way beyond their league unless they actively try and skip ahead. So let's look at what we have, and try and organize them into a roughly coherent larger map, based on themes, climate, and the like. </p><p></p><p>Adventures: (intended level) </p><p></p><p>Asassins run (any, but preferably low level.) </p><p></p><p>Cavern quest (Not really D&D, plus solo, plus horrible railroad. Not really suitable for insertion into campaign. )</p><p></p><p>Gypsy train (any. Easily insertable as a random encounter whenever. If the players don't slaughter them, they may become recurring NPC's) </p><p></p><p>Pit of the oracle (unknown, but fairly high level. Monsters vary widely in power, but many are rather scary. Put somewhere out of the way, but not too far out of the map.)</p><p></p><p>Mansion of professor ludlow (weird. Not really suitable for a regular campaign. I intend to run this as a halloween one-shot, as it is designed to be used. ) </p><p></p><p>Sword of justice (1-2. A prime one for a first adventure, so it should be easily accessible, probably set it in the starting town. ) </p><p></p><p>Citadel by the sea (1-3. Another good startup one. Flip round and put on western edge of map, not far from start point, so it can be easily accessed. ) </p><p></p><p>Creature of rhyl (1-3. Awkward one. Put somewhere near the start point, but well hidden, so you have to really look if you want the big treasures this offers. )</p><p></p><p>Chagmat (1-4. Quite decent, Put as one of the routes out from starting point, heading towards a major city, so pretty good chance players will pass through and deal with ambush, but can avoid actual dungeon if they want.) </p><p></p><p>Barnacus (1-5. Another coastal one, probably flip round and set just south of CbtS, so you can get from one to the other in just a few days travel along the coast.) </p><p></p><p>Chapel of silence (2-3. Not a very good one. I'll plonk it somewhere obscure, so you'll only come across it if unlucky, or rather higher level than intended, so you actually have a decent chance of surviving. )</p><p></p><p>Betrayed (3-5. Flip round, put moderately south of start point.)</p><p></p><p>Valley of the earth mother (4-6. Probably north and slightly west, as is appropriate for celtic stuff.)</p><p></p><p>Can seapoint be saved (4-7. Flip round and put on western coast, somewhat north of CbtS. ) </p><p></p><p>Forest of doom (4-7. Mideast somewhere. ) </p><p></p><p>Mehica (4-7. Not sure if I should have this one on the same continent or not. Probably to the southeast if I do. ) </p><p></p><p>House in the frozen lands (4-8. Far north, of course. Keep going, and you'll get there soon enough. )</p><p></p><p>Fell pass (4-8? no level given, but the encounters are in around this HD range. As this is a brutal old skool one, probably best suited to upper end. Should be put on the path to somewhere else they want to get too.) </p><p></p><p>Into the forgotten realms (5-8. Not sure I want to use this one, as it belongs in another game world. If I do, somewhere to the northwest. ) </p><p></p><p>Twofold talisman (6-7. A nasty one, I'll probably skip this.) </p><p></p><p>The wandering trees (6-9. Put somewhere to the east and slightly south. )</p><p></p><p>Doomkeep (7-10. Another brutal old skool dungeon to put somewhere on the outskirts of the map.) </p><p></p><p>Garden of nefaron (7-10. A cool one. Put somewhere in the east, a bit beyond the wandering trees, where it's not too hard to stumble across if you venture that far. )</p><p></p><p>Hall of mystery (7+ Not really a full dungeon. Insert into another one if short of ideas.)</p><p> </p><p>Fedifensor (7+ Not sure if I want to use standard D&D cosmology, so I may have to leave this one out due to incompatibility. May recycle map anyway even so. ) </p><p></p><p>Death of an arch-mage (8-9. Steal for parts, as waay to spoiler sensitive. ) </p><p></p><p>Ruins of andril (8-11 Deserty one. Far southeast seems appropriate. One of the farthest to travel too. ) </p><p></p><p>Halls of beoll-dur (8+ Put in mountains on southern end of map. ) </p><p></p><p>Quest for the midas orb (about 9. Somewhere fairly distant in the southwest.) </p><p></p><p>Temple of poseidon (at least 70 total levels. Set somewhere off the western coast, near one of the previous watery modules' cities, so they can face a new challenge sometime after being saved once.) </p><p></p><p>Baba Yaga's hut (9+ Could show up anywhere, anytime. Likely to be linked to big metaplot events. Be very wary if you hear the rumours. ) </p><p></p><p>City beyond the gate (9+ Rather wary about using this one. Might be a bit too 4th wall breaking for an established campaign. On the other hand, as another big event, it could be used to introduce new stuff if the game is getting boring. ) </p><p></p><p>Aesirhammar 9+ (peh. Not on your nelly, even if the game does get that far. I have no desire to subject you to this crap railroad. ) </p><p></p><p></p><p>So we have 33 of them, taking us all the way from starting level, to low teens. (If the game makes it that far, then hopefully I'll have built the campaign up enough that it'll have evolved into emergent plot based adventures rather than site based ones anyway.) Of these, I definitely intend to incorporate 24 of them, and am still undecided about several more. This gives me plenty of points to join up into a rough sketch. If I also add some B series and various other low level AD&D modules, I should be able to fill out a small continent sized map with adventures whichever way you go. It'll also help me fill out some of the settlements, but I'll need to do more on that to create coherent countries and cultures. Still, there are plenty of articles on that subject to draw from as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to deliver something on that front in a week or two. In the meantime, keep tuning in to the usual daily installments.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 4759805, member: 27780"] So, we've just passed the last big index, and the last adventures we'll see in the magazine. This seems like a good time for me to actively start trying to build a world out of the various ingredients I've seen so far. After all, for the moment, I have a good, fairly complete tool for browsing them. So let's do some thinking. Obviously, I want to test out as much as possible of the material from the magazine, and that includes the modules. On the other hand, I have no desire to just run a railroad from one to another. In this campaign, I'd like to roughly approximate the evolution of the game, going from dungeoncrawls, and then gradually evolving into a richer world, with proper characterizations and recurring NPC's. I think the best way to do this would be to take the modules, and use them to construct a larger sandbox map, with low level modules close to the start point, and then higher level ones arranged in a rough concentric circle. That way, the players have pretty free reign to wander in any direction, and may face stuff both stronger and weaker than them in a fairly organic manner, but won't run into challenges way beyond their league unless they actively try and skip ahead. So let's look at what we have, and try and organize them into a roughly coherent larger map, based on themes, climate, and the like. Adventures: (intended level) Asassins run (any, but preferably low level.) Cavern quest (Not really D&D, plus solo, plus horrible railroad. Not really suitable for insertion into campaign. ) Gypsy train (any. Easily insertable as a random encounter whenever. If the players don't slaughter them, they may become recurring NPC's) Pit of the oracle (unknown, but fairly high level. Monsters vary widely in power, but many are rather scary. Put somewhere out of the way, but not too far out of the map.) Mansion of professor ludlow (weird. Not really suitable for a regular campaign. I intend to run this as a halloween one-shot, as it is designed to be used. ) Sword of justice (1-2. A prime one for a first adventure, so it should be easily accessible, probably set it in the starting town. ) Citadel by the sea (1-3. Another good startup one. Flip round and put on western edge of map, not far from start point, so it can be easily accessed. ) Creature of rhyl (1-3. Awkward one. Put somewhere near the start point, but well hidden, so you have to really look if you want the big treasures this offers. ) Chagmat (1-4. Quite decent, Put as one of the routes out from starting point, heading towards a major city, so pretty good chance players will pass through and deal with ambush, but can avoid actual dungeon if they want.) Barnacus (1-5. Another coastal one, probably flip round and set just south of CbtS, so you can get from one to the other in just a few days travel along the coast.) Chapel of silence (2-3. Not a very good one. I'll plonk it somewhere obscure, so you'll only come across it if unlucky, or rather higher level than intended, so you actually have a decent chance of surviving. ) Betrayed (3-5. Flip round, put moderately south of start point.) Valley of the earth mother (4-6. Probably north and slightly west, as is appropriate for celtic stuff.) Can seapoint be saved (4-7. Flip round and put on western coast, somewhat north of CbtS. ) Forest of doom (4-7. Mideast somewhere. ) Mehica (4-7. Not sure if I should have this one on the same continent or not. Probably to the southeast if I do. ) House in the frozen lands (4-8. Far north, of course. Keep going, and you'll get there soon enough. ) Fell pass (4-8? no level given, but the encounters are in around this HD range. As this is a brutal old skool one, probably best suited to upper end. Should be put on the path to somewhere else they want to get too.) Into the forgotten realms (5-8. Not sure I want to use this one, as it belongs in another game world. If I do, somewhere to the northwest. ) Twofold talisman (6-7. A nasty one, I'll probably skip this.) The wandering trees (6-9. Put somewhere to the east and slightly south. ) Doomkeep (7-10. Another brutal old skool dungeon to put somewhere on the outskirts of the map.) Garden of nefaron (7-10. A cool one. Put somewhere in the east, a bit beyond the wandering trees, where it's not too hard to stumble across if you venture that far. ) Hall of mystery (7+ Not really a full dungeon. Insert into another one if short of ideas.) Fedifensor (7+ Not sure if I want to use standard D&D cosmology, so I may have to leave this one out due to incompatibility. May recycle map anyway even so. ) Death of an arch-mage (8-9. Steal for parts, as waay to spoiler sensitive. ) Ruins of andril (8-11 Deserty one. Far southeast seems appropriate. One of the farthest to travel too. ) Halls of beoll-dur (8+ Put in mountains on southern end of map. ) Quest for the midas orb (about 9. Somewhere fairly distant in the southwest.) Temple of poseidon (at least 70 total levels. Set somewhere off the western coast, near one of the previous watery modules' cities, so they can face a new challenge sometime after being saved once.) Baba Yaga's hut (9+ Could show up anywhere, anytime. Likely to be linked to big metaplot events. Be very wary if you hear the rumours. ) City beyond the gate (9+ Rather wary about using this one. Might be a bit too 4th wall breaking for an established campaign. On the other hand, as another big event, it could be used to introduce new stuff if the game is getting boring. ) Aesirhammar 9+ (peh. Not on your nelly, even if the game does get that far. I have no desire to subject you to this crap railroad. ) So we have 33 of them, taking us all the way from starting level, to low teens. (If the game makes it that far, then hopefully I'll have built the campaign up enough that it'll have evolved into emergent plot based adventures rather than site based ones anyway.) Of these, I definitely intend to incorporate 24 of them, and am still undecided about several more. This gives me plenty of points to join up into a rough sketch. If I also add some B series and various other low level AD&D modules, I should be able to fill out a small continent sized map with adventures whichever way you go. It'll also help me fill out some of the settlements, but I'll need to do more on that to create coherent countries and cultures. Still, there are plenty of articles on that subject to draw from as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to deliver something on that front in a week or two. In the meantime, keep tuning in to the usual daily installments. 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