D&D 5E (2014) 5th Edition and Cormyr: Flexing My Idea Muscle and Thinking Out Loud

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

If I had control of Ed Greenwood’s brain, I would…

1. Write a sourcebook series that focuses entirely on waystops in Cormyr.
2. Each waystop book would cover one of the main roads/trails through Cormyr.
3. So, one book for the Way of the Manticore, one for Calantar’s Way, one for the unnamed trail running from the Bridge of Fallen Men past Valkur’s Roar to Suzail (which I’ve unofficially named The Merewash Trail, and which a smart redditor named The Dragon’s Tail), one for the Moonsea Ride from Arabel to Tilver’s Gap, and so on.
4. Waystops in Cormyr aren’t simply places to pull over. There’s usually a cleared space off the road for horses and wagons. Likewise a well. Sometimes there are garrison keeps filled with Purple Dragons and a Wizard of War or two.
5. A waystop is about the best place I can think of short of a true inn to hear the latest news (“clack” in local Realms parlance) coming from the opposite direction you’re traveling in Cormyr.
6. I think DMs running sandbox games should teach players early on to seek out the latest clack whenever they get the chance. Each waystop would be filled with news, rumors, and gossip that’s available to characters willing to interact with NPCs—including clack about the characters, if word their exploits have had time to travel ahead of them.
7. So, if I were Ed I would detail at least one full caravan of wagons from top to bottom; who's running the caravan, who’s guarding it, what the wagons are filled with and what’s towing them (Oxen? Horses? Tamed trolls?), who owns what in the wagons and where the contents are destined for, what news they have to share and what they’re eager to hear about that a group of characters might be able to provide news of, etc.
8. Sometimes spies for various Cormyrean factions operate in and around waystops, both to watch who’s arriving and with what cargo and to keep tabs on the doings of adventurers and agents of the Crown. That, and larger factions like the Harpers, the Zhentarim, the Cult of the Dragon, and more have their spies, too. And of course Sembia (not just the government, but each of its scheming noble houses) has its spies in Cormyr.
9. Put another way, chances are good that if you throw a rock into a busy waystop you’re going to hit someone who’s posing as a merchant or traveler but in truth answers to a paymaster, a deity, or cause which they’d prefer remain secret.
10. So I’d have Ed give us some examples of these spies. Who are they? Whom do they serve? And how might they recruit (or undercut) a group of adventurers in service to their cause?
11. BONUS: Waystops don't operate in a vacuum. Many of them border (or are located close to) property owned by crofters, nobles, or other people. Once again I'd plumb Ed's brain for the names of as yet unheard of properties, abandoned mansions, mines, wizard's homes, temples, or farmhouses, and the names of any nearby settlements that have sprung up by the year 1501 DR (particularly those that inevitably form around each noble house's "home" mansion outside of Suzail and require the services of many folk in the form of housekeepers, equerries, groundskeepers, and so on, as well as all the shops needed to supply those folk with clothes, shoes, and food, as well as places to house their families).

I would LOVE a series of books like this.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Could a campaign where the players only make characters that are (palace) courtiers or servants, Purple Dragons, War Wizards, or Royal foresters be any fun?

Let’s explore the idea.

1. This seems like a campaign that would be better suited to either solo adventuring or to a party where everyone does the same job (all Purple Dragons, for example, or all War Wizards).
2. An all Purple Dragon party seems like it would be easiest for a DM to plan for.
3. Purple Dragons daily run head first into all the best and worst of Cormyr and the surrounding lands, from drunken nobles slaying innocents during tavern brawls and expecting to be treated lightly by Crown justice, to folk attempting to traffic illicit goods through Cormyr and avoid paying taxes, to mages and monsters doing nefarious things, etc.
4. There’s a big opening for roleplaying in situations like these, because nobles more than anyone remember how non-nobles treated them.
5. A DM could station a party of Purple Dragons (who of course need not all be Fighters) anywhere in Cormyr. That, and leveling up may well lead to the character advancing in military rank.
6. There could be situations where, if on game day only one or two players are available, that the DM has characters who’ve gained rank each run a patrol of Purple Dragons. And maybe the DM can throw in a couple imperious war wizard NPCs that tag along and give the players headaches.
7. An all Purple Dragon party would be amenable to character creation for players that love to dig into Cormyr lore and build characters with backgrounds rooted in the Forest Kingdom.
8. Purple Dragons hale from everywhere, so what makes a Purple Dragon born in Westgate different from one born in Suzail or Eveningstar or Skull Crag? And what affiliations do these characters have with their place of birth? Might this cause them trouble in the future? There’s potential for some good questions to be asked and answered during character creation that can lead to fun at the gaming table down the road.
9. Something else a DM can do is covertly test the characters individually and as a group during play. That is, this would be the Crown testing the characters to see if they’re worthy of additional rank (perhaps becoming officers) or even becoming Highknights.
10. A courtiers and servants campaign could be pretty fun, too. Imagine having the Royal Palace of the Purple Dragon and all of the Royal Court as the “play area” for a group of PCs just trying to do their jobs even as they deal with courtly drama, rumors, gossip, and rival NPCs looking to get them demoted or sacked.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Questions, questions, questions…

OK, as of 1501 DR:

1. Who are the top five persons residing in Cormyr regarded by most folk as the best duelists? (EDIT: I asked this of Ed on June 7, 20206. Hoping for a reply am I.)
2. What inter-temple disputes exist between the three temples of Tymora in Cormyr (Suzail: Towers of Good Fortune; Arabel, The Lady’s House; Waymoot, The Sheltering Hand)?
3. What are the names of the waystop-like temples to the east of Suzail that are dedicated to deities that have no proper temple or shrine in Suzail? (Ed Greenwood has thus far revealed their existence, but not their names.)
4. Have any new Holy Houses (temples) to deities been constructed in Cormyr?
5. Likewise shrines. And have any shrines been destroyed or moved?
6. The Cormaerils have been returned to nobility, but they’re on good behavior. So, who has taken their place as the most despicable and disloyal of noble houses in Cormyr?
7. Has the number of High Guilds in Suzail changed at all? And who among the High Guilds are the true movers and shakers of commerce, on par with powerful nobles?
8. And what of the numerous Craft Guilds that operate in wider Cormyr? Have their numbers changed? New ones formed? Old ones disbanded?
9. What are the newest stores of ghosts, haunts, and apparitions to make their way out of the King’s Forest into Suzail?
10. In the year 1500 DR and 1501 DR, has anyone in Cormyr been granted noble rank? And what service did they perform for the Crown that moved Queen Raedra to ennoble them?

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Questions, questions, questions…

About Tymora’s temples in Cormyr, as of 1501 DR:

1. Speaking generally, how do the folk of Cormyr regard the temples of Tymora and its followers located in Cormyr?
2. Of the three temples, have any of them recently picked up a bad reputation? Or suffered scandal, the news of which leapt beyond temple walls to become wider public knowledge?
3. Is there a clear favorite among active adventurers between the three temples?
4. How about for particular Luckbringers or influential laypersons involved with Tymora’s Cormyrean temples?
5. On the other side of the coin, are there any of the Fortunate Faithful that wise adventurers would do well to avoid?
6. Who is considered the ultimate curmudgeon among living Fortunates in Cormyr? (The kind of priest who thinks that to even consider playing a game of chance is to court sin in Tymora’s eyes.)
7. When Shieldmeet arrived in 1500 DR, how did the three temples handle business?
8. Is Shieldmeet the kind of day that requires folk to schedule appointments/time in the temple(s) in advance to receive blessings or to have an allotted time to pray to the goddess?
9. Were there marked differences in how the temples operated during Shieldmeet?
10. If a group of novice adventurers went to any of the three temples in Cormyr to seek advice on where to find a patron, who might the Luckbringers in attendance point the adventurers to?
11. BONUS: Do any of Tymora’s devout lay followers--particularly the elderly and infirm--donate to the temples or cut deals with certain willing Fortunates in advance so that adventurers seeking patrons will be directed their way?