FR: Silver Marches, Orcus, & Orc Invasion

Rappan Athuk is an illogical and extremely unfun adventure module produced by necromancer games. Only RBDMs can enjoy it, and then only if they like their players rolling up new characters every ten minutes or so.
 

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Felon said:
Well, I guess I'd have to turn a blind eye to the SM sourcebook, as that requires some serious fudging. There are only a handful of major orc tribes, and they don't even have that big a horde.
Silver Marches is no where near an exhaustively detailed book.

No fudging required at all.
 

Nightfall said:
But Rappan Athuk would be the MOTHER of all Dungeons in the North, IMHO.
Oh, heavens no.

Places like Undermountain, Gauntlgrym, and others certainly make Rappan Athuk (which I dearly love) small potatoes.
 

Felon,

if you're still looking for ideas about an orc horde/orcus alliance...


The orcs already have an established Death God in their pantheon: Yurtrus. But perhaps Gruumsh is beginning to sense that Yurtrus does not instill the fear of death that he once did. Perhaps his northern tribes have seen an influx of Tanarukk (demon-orcs from hellgate keep) who whisper of a new lord of death more terrible than Yurtrus.

Perhaps Orcus seeks a place in the orcish pantheon, to draw yet more souls into his abyssal palace. He offers something to Gruumsh that Yurtrus can't... He promises that each orc who is slain gets a second chance to fight.

So a brutal inquisition begins within the orcish tribes. Followers of the old way are driven out, converted, or killed. Few cultures will welcome the exiled orcish death priests, so they are driven deep into the earth. Meanwhile, the Tanarukk shamans of Orcus have already whipped the tribes into a frenzy of bloodlust.

King Obould is the war chieftan chosen to drive these tribes out of the mountains. The horde has been building for some time, so the allied forces of human, elf, and dwarf are well-prepared. Heavy casualties are felt on both sides but the allied forces completely crush the first wave of the horde...

...until Orcus animates each orc warrior at sundown that day. Undead orcs slaughter the allied defenders and ravage the northern countryside.

Gruumsh, revelling in the complete and utter devastation, heaps favors upon Orcus even as the followers of Yurtrus shrink ever deeper into the shadows.

Perhaps, if your heroes are high enough level, this epic story arc could culminate with heroes sneaking a champion of Yurtrus into the Abyss to confront the demon lord on his home turf.


An orc horde should be terrifying to begin with. By adding the unknown mastermind (orcus) and the horror factor of undead, I think you've got the seeds for a really cool, very memorable campaign.


-eric
 

Gotter,

NICE idea. Althought not sure Orcus and Gruumsh are on that friendly of terms. Still, I'm sure Orcus could convince Gruumsh of his hatred of elves. (Hey it's not like Orcus has any mad love for the drow, much less their surface cousins.) That alone, combined with Orcus getting his claws into a few Cultists cells, MIGHT induce Gruumsh to allow Orcus to get the rest of the orc horde under his sway.

I also want to add Orcus, much like his fellow Demon Princes, struck me a kind of a loner and thus not wanting to be in a panethon. Independent Deity, sure, but not a panethon as such. Now if he's like Hoar or even Sharess, that's one thing. But Orcus is his own boss. He might play along with Gruumsh but I don't see him kowtowing to much, if any of One Eye's commands.

Sammel,

It's not THAT unfun! ;)

Arn,

Okay I'll GRANT you Undermountain. But Gauntlgrym and the rest? No. To me, the only one that can rival Rappan Athuk in FR is Undermountain. And that's because the body count is so darn high. Otherwise the rest are just kind of weak.
 

Whoa! I got the DMG II last night, and I"ll be damned if the section on Magical Events doesn't have one called "Avatar of the Horde". It details how a being can acquire the semi-divine ability to lead groups of disparate humanoids, monstrous humanoids, and giants (One creature type per point of Cha. bonus, IIRC). Perfect!
 

The DMG II book also details mob rules which could be used when those higher than normal level PC's are thinking "just orcs"... that is until the horde swarms around them.

Insert Evil Cackle.
 

Amen to that! I agree that the alliances within the Silver Marches are ripe for political intrigue and seeing just what happens when they actually need to band together or fall.

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
And if you've read "A Song of Ice and Fire" (which every DM should), you know that even an alliance united against an overwhelming threat is only one assassin away from turning against each other, at least in a passive-aggressive way that will make things easier for the enemy.
 

Swarms over them you mean, heh.

Seriously, I'm torn on the mob rules. In particular, a bunch of armed orcs aren't going to do 5d6 bludgeoning. Still don't know if I'm going to change that to slashing, or a random number of attack rolls.
 

Felon said:
Swarms over them you mean, heh.

Seriously, I'm torn on the mob rules. In particular, a bunch of armed orcs aren't going to do 5d6 bludgeoning. Still don't know if I'm going to change that to slashing, or a random number of attack rolls.

Personally, as for damage type. In a horde/mob scenario, I would mix up the types of damage according to the creatures/people involved.

Roll Damage normally. Equal parts of Piercing, Bludgeoning, Slashing, and possibly even fire or other damage types. (for the villagers armed with pitchforks and torches... ala chasing Frankenstein). Makes any one type of DR not very effective.
 

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