Frostburn campaign freewrite

[SpiderMonkey]

I just finished a campaign with my semi-regular players, and while one of them is running a one-(or maybe two-)shot, I'm working on the next one. I'd like to use the Frostburn rules and take them away from the largely Urban/nearby wilderness paradigm established by my previous campaigns.

What I'm asking is if you'd look at the Player's Intro, and the following freewrite and add any ideas you think would be good, or suggestions on what you'd like to see as a player.

The Players Intro (Part One):

The Long Winter

It has always been thought that the Nornan peoples came to Brevor on longboats from far to the north and east, from a place of unending cold and wilderness called the Everfrost. After over a thousand years, it was all but forgotten. Most have been content to live in their newfound home in the warmth and relative comfort of the temperate continent of Ilmyrria. And yet others wondered…

A hundred years ago the first Brevan longboat to reach the mythical shores of the Everfrost returned. And bore gold. The Crown began to sponsor further expeditions. Exploration of mines and the ancient ruins of Nornan civilization yielded even more of the precious metal, and still others; mithril, adamantine, and veins of gemstones awaited those willing to risk the harsh conditions and even more dangerous residents…

For though men abandoned the Everfrost, it is not without its native denizens. Many of them see the Brevan newcomers as threats and competitors for the precious few places where crops can be sown. In the wake of the Old Nornans, their primitive predecessors, the Angril (Ice Barbarians) migrated to the southern tip of the Everfrost and have raided the newly arrived Brevans. Likewise, the strange Uldras (Ice Fey) have taken exception to the invasion of their sacred woods. Even worse, the alien horrors from the Doom still haunt the icy depths, and it is said that something primeval and best-left forgotten stirs in the North…

Still, the settlers have worked too hard to abandon their new homes. Three generations of Brevans have passed since the first boats touched the shores of the Everfrost, and a fierce pride has risen among them. Their steadfastness in fending off the elements and their attackers; their willingness to toil long hours in cold, dark mines; their dedication to each other and to ensuring their safety: these traits make the settlers even more determined to hold fast to what they have worked so hard to achieve.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Player's Intro (Part Two):

Player Characters in the Everfrost

The characters begin among the newest generation of Everfrost settlers. They have grown up in Brevor’s Hope, a mining town that has grown up around one of the first gold mines founded in the Everfrost. Hope (as residents call it) is one of the larger human settlements in the region (the largest being Southport, the first settlement). In addition to mining, the biggest industries in the town are fur-trading, logging, and hunting. It is on the edge of a vast forest which provides precious resources that are exported to other, more remote settlements.

The population is overwhelmingly human, though a small community of dwarves was brought from Brevor to supervise the excavation and running of the mines. The occasional group of Turetai elves will tour the Everfrost, but none have settled.

Due to the dangerous nature of the exploration of the region, nearly all of the core classes are represented in the Everfrost (perhaps even more so than in more civilized regions). Clerics are usually of the Nornan pantheon, with Ashtarthe being the most popular of the gods. Wizards and Sorcerers are typically affiliated with the Eldwin Clan. These wizards typically specialize in magic involving fire, but have begun to incorporate the study of the supernatural cold and ice of the Everfrost into their magic. Druids are particularly valued, not only for their nature magic, but for their attempts at making peace with the wild Uldras. Likewise, Rangers have often been in the forefront of the exploration of the vast northern wilderness.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Initial Freewrite

The Long Winter Free Write

Conflicts

• with uldras
• with anglir (Neanderthal)
• with outerbeasts (psuedonatural template/aberrations)
• with mysterious force in the north

Who is the “force in the north?”
• When the Nornans left for Ilmyrria, not all of them went.
• What compelled them to leave?
o A Long Winter
o Perhaps some kind of magical happening…think later
o Those who refused to leave were claimed and turned into some kind of
ice wights or something?
 Bleakborn: Libris Mortis, p. 86
o Others went to seek out the source of the Winter…and became
something else.
o What have they become? What are their objectives?
 Perhaps the return of the Nornans has stirred them.
 They see that the flight from the Frostfell was not in vain…there
are humans to feed on and warmer lands to consume.
 So…they seek heat? Living heat? What?

All over the place are the Barrows of the Wytch Lords (Deathloks, LM, p. 94)

Early in the game, one or more of the PCs sees an uncle off as he leaves for a relatively new settlement. Later, they will need to bring something to him or to his village. When they arrive, the village has been abandoned. Where are they?

 

[Desdichado]

Hey, cool ideas!

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Hey, cool ideas!

Thanks!

To continue:

As I like to establish a feeling of continuity between campaigns in the same setting, I think I have an idea for the BBEG.

In my game's history, A Pantheon Crusade occured in which different cultures started encountering each other and didn't like the idea that someone else's gods had the same portfolios as theirs. During this, the Gods mated with mortals to produce the generals in the war: the Nephiline. The Pantheon Crusades ended in a stalemate and truce due to the sheer havoc these beings wrought. The few surviving ones were banished from the PM plane or put into magical slumber.

The PCs in my last major campaign accidentally awakened one of these beings (through an admittedly convoluted series of events). Because so much else was going on toward the end of that campaign, the implications of the event weren't really touched upon. So here's what I'm thinking:

"For Oruhlguhl, son of Lokun, the war never truly ended. Bound by adamantine chains and cast down Ordulun's well, the Eldest bid his time. Finally his time of bondage ended, and he fled to the North, beyond the Emersea, to the lands of perpetual winter. The Old Peoples, those who were still true to his gods, still slept in icy tombs, waiting. During the Doom (when the Outerbeasts poured into the world), he almost perished there in the frost, and lie in slumber for hundreds of years. His sleep was yet again interupted by men. The descendents of the Old Peoples returned. Those who found him provided him enough heat and power with their lives for him to resume his quest. The first tombs have been found, and old memories now stir..."

 

[SpiderMonkey]

I'm trying to think of what daily life would be like in such a setting.

Each settlement would be "ruled" by a noble from Brevor...new settlements would either be the domain of 3rd sons or something from the mainland. In practice, the daily affairs might be handled by some sort of mayor.

Food would be more scarce than in a traditional setting. How much more important, then, are clerics?

I'm thinking of using some of the "aurora polaris" stuff in the FB book, and making different colors omens for different things. I'll have to come back to this.

It's tempting for me to include some analogues of America being settled by Europeans. I'll have to think more on it.

What role does the "Eldwin Clan" of mages (mentioned above) play?

I'd like a little more inner conflict within the human communities. How to inject a bit more intrigue? Maybe between Eldwin Clan, Clerics, Nobles, and Common folk?

Finally, I think that because of the frontier-nature of the setting, some Old West tropes might be appropriate. Maybe the supposed authorities are only so in name only, bowing to more powerful (and amoral) adventurer types.

 

[NarlethDrider]

I definately like what you have so far & the 'free write' you have gives me the 'path' to write down my own ideas that are in my jumbled brain

 

[SpiderMonkey]

I definately like what you have so far & the 'free write' you have gives me the 'path' to write down my own ideas that are in my jumbled brain

Thanks! It's a technique I teach to my freshman, who often complain that the hardest part of writing an essay is starting. I have them shotgun a bunch of ideas, link them together in a sort of web diagram (if they're linked). Then I have them start over by choosing a couple of the items and asking questions about what they've shotgunned. They don't need to feel compelled to have an answer right away, but by asking questions they start to give definition to their ideas. For me, it's the ONLY way I can get campaigns out there.

More brainstorming later tonight.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Going off of the "Europeans colonizing America" idea...

I'm thinking that one of the settling nobles has grown tired of the taxes of the home country: Brevor. Also, so many of the resources from the Everfrost are being shipped back home to fund a nascent war against a neighboring humanoid/orcish nation. This noble will act as a demagogue and stir up popular sentiment towards separatism. I'd like to think he will also get support from the Eldwin Clan...perhaps the local guy in charge of the Eldwin Clan sees this as an opportunity to advance his own power. Perhaps he is manipulating the local lord?

Eventually, soldiers from Brevor will arrive to put the populace back in line; this will only heighten tension. The war back home is a just one, and the resources from the Everfrost could make the difference. However, residents will just be eking out a living. I'd like to emphasize the moral ambiguity. This could start factions and intrigues pretty readily.

In the background, of course, will be the true threat: Oruhlguhl and his minions trying to bring back the "Long Winter." I still need to flesh this out, as well as the "middle level" threats: the Uldras, the Anglir (Neanderthals), and other external threats.

 

[iwatt]

If you want to step away from the North American causes for Independence, you can look at what the Revolutionary Juntas did in South America. When Napoleon named his brother King of Spain, the juntas decided to rebel until the real King returned. Of course, for most of the juntas, this was just an excuse for escaping the Crown's shackles*. It was an excuse to get the more conservative aristocracy to participate in the rebellion as well. Of course you then have to deal with the counter revolution when the loyalist realize you have no intention of returning power, but by that tme you alerady should have secured the army on your side.


* It is of course more complex than this, but this makes for an inetretsting departure.