Greyhawk (Keoland) campaign brainstorming (my players keep out!)

[shilsen]

[Edit] This thread started as a question about a specific aspect of my campaign (see below), but I later decided to use it as a place to post and brainstorm ideas for the campaign and hopefully benefit from all the RBDM minds that frequent this board. So here goes. Current campaign info is a few posts down the page.[/Edit]

Original question:

I'm running a campaign in the Greyhawk setting, and want the players to have the impression of the rest of the world going about its business around them. I don't have any problems doing that on a micro level, but on a larger scale, I was wondering exactly how to implement it.

Something I considered doing was making a list of the various kingdoms (or at least the ones neighbouring the PCs' current location of Keoland) and just jotting down a couple of events in each every month. While the PCs are currently pretty small fry (5th lvl) right now and are unlikely to directly affect large political affairs, they'll hear at various intervals about trade treaties being declared between different states, a border skirmish, etc. Some of these may affect them too, such as the economic and political fallout of a local war, for example. And by the time they're among the movers and shakers, they'll have some idea of the larger landscape around them as well as the manner in which it shifts and changes over time.

Suggestions or comments?

 

[randomling]

Sounds like a really good idea. How are you planning on "delivering" it to the players? Are there local newspapers? Word of mouth? In Britain in the 5th century there was something called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in which monks wrote accounts of historical and current events. Maybe their home town, and the towns they visit, have local journals in a similar vein? (Seems to me like this is just the kind of record-keeping a church of Boccob or other deity of knowledge would do as a matter of course.)

Remember though, news events don't necessarily happen regularly. While the "two events a month" idea sounds great on paper, what tends to happen in real life is a whole lot of nothing for months followed by lots of things going on at once.

What I might do is a have a vague idea of what's going on in the world around the PCs in my head, and what's likely to happen in the future. For example: Relations between Country X and Country Y are starting to fall apart over breaches of an old trade agreement. April: the PCs hear that merchants from Country Y are refusing to pay customs tax to Country X. July: Country X closes its borders to merchants from Country Y. August: Country X is still pursuing unpaid tax from Country Y. The king of Country Y is supporting his merchants. Country X begins to close its borders to increasing numbers of citizens from Country Y (difficult for the PCs if they want to enter Country Y at this point). Etc...

Hope that's of some help...

 

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

This *is* my gaming style, or the next best thing to it

I run a very free-will game where my players are welcome to do whatever the h*ll they want to do, the world does not revolve around them. Pros: Players discover they have a whole world to play in and do as they will in. Cons: The encounters they run into may NOT be suitable for their level (an APL of 4 with 4 players is NOT a good party to go and try to kill a dragon! crazy paladin!), and unless or until they learn to retreat, TPK or near TPK can occur.


To create this world, here's what I do. I maintain a timeline in which I record the actions of the players, and world events. I track about 6 different major political regions around the players in some detail (X sends diplomatic envoy to y, z is increasing army vs raiding threat from A, A is dealing with a poor economy creating more bandits, etc.) where I essentially am touching the highlights of each area as they happen. The players almost never hear of these details, but they do hear about the fallouts from them later. And of course, their own actions cause ripples that spread out into the larger arena.

Beyond those 6 local regions, I handle about 4 major regions worldwide - there I don't hit the details so much, just enough to know where they are going in the short run, in case something happens (monarch assassinated, etc.) that the players might hear of.

Again - it's just a constant maintenance of a timeline where no matter what the players do (I teleport to the other side of the world - can I recruit mercenaries here?) I have a good idea of the socio-political and economic environment and field almost anything the players do.

Typically, I keep a running calendar of events that goes to about 2-4 weeks ahead of where the players are. Any further, and i find myself re-writing too much. Any shorter, and I'm having to wing too many things.


Hope that helps! It's a great gaming style and I haven't run into players that don't enjoy it a lot - though some of the ones used to GM's leading them by the hand grumble in the beginning. Provided I keep it consistent and constant, the grumbling fades and some truly memorable games come about

 

[shilsen]

Sounds like a really good idea. How are you planning on "delivering" it to the players? Are there local newspapers? Word of mouth? In Britain in the 5th century there was something called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in which monks wrote accounts of historical and current events. Maybe their home town, and the towns they visit, have local journals in a similar vein? (Seems to me like this is just the kind of record-keeping a church of Boccob or other deity of knowledge would do as a matter of course.)

Remember though, news events don't necessarily happen regularly. While the "two events a month" idea sounds great on paper, what tends to happen in real life is a whole lot of nothing for months followed by lots of things going on at once.

What I might do is a have a vague idea of what's going on in the world around the PCs in my head, and what's likely to happen in the future. For example: Relations between Country X and Country Y are starting to fall apart over breaches of an old trade agreement. April: the PCs hear that merchants from Country Y are refusing to pay customs tax to Country X. July: Country X closes its borders to merchants from Country Y. August: Country X is still pursuing unpaid tax from Country Y. The king of Country Y is supporting his merchants. Country X begins to close its borders to increasing numbers of citizens from Country Y (difficult for the PCs if they want to enter Country Y at this point). Etc...

Hope that's of some help...

Yes, that helps. There will be no actual newspapers in existence, so I'll probably have them hear about things from all sorts of sources. Other adventurers, overheard gossip, specific information from their employer (a high-ranking cleric with links to the nobility), someone at the market explaining why an item is suddenly costlier, etc.

 

[shilsen]

This *is* my gaming style, or the next best thing to it

I run a very free-will game where my players are welcome to do whatever the h*ll they want to do, the world does not revolve around them. Pros: Players discover they have a whole world to play in and do as they will in. Cons: The encounters they run into may NOT be suitable for their level (an APL of 4 with 4 players is NOT a good party to go and try to kill a dragon! crazy paladin!), and unless or until they learn to retreat, TPK or near TPK can occur.

Sounds just like my approach. I've warned my players that I use status quo encounters and they know I don't pull my punches. If they want to find a great wyrm red dragon and take it out at 5th level, they're welcome - to try, that is

Hope that helps! It's a great gaming style and I haven't run into players that don't enjoy it a lot - though some of the ones used to GM's leading them by the hand grumble in the beginning. Provided I keep it consistent and constant, the grumbling fades and some truly memorable games come about

I hate hand-holding by DMs and we just wrapped up a campaign (where I wasn't DM-ing) which involved a lot of railroading and hack and slash due to the module used (RttToEE), so I think the other players will be looking forward to getting away from that too. Anyway, I'll drop a boatload of options on them and see where they decide to go with them. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Hunter]

Kingdom of Keoland.

 

[Hunter]

Ah yes I have a similar problem in the Caliphate Ekbir. I wanted some political intrigue between kingdoms so I said ‘ok Ekbir and the Sultanate of Zeif are at war’. Well I didn’t really flesh out the kingdoms yet or whos and whys of the situation and so the plot has just floundered. Its still a problem in my game right now but at the moment of gametime the party have left the kingdom and are now located in the Northern Yatil Mountain range just South of Perrenland.

Hmmm….. The Kingdom of Keoland……(lighting pipe) Puff, puff ah yes here it is
in a very old tome I possess describing it in general. I hope this will help as a brief background for those DMs not running a game in the World of Greyhawk. For more DM brains for ideas/suggestions the better:

Keoland
Ruled by his Peerless Majesty, the King of Keoland, Kimbertos Skotti; Lord of Gran March, Plar of Sterich; Protector of the South; etc etc.
Capital: Niole Dra (population-21,600)
Population: 300,000 (excluding dependencies)
Demi-humans: Sylvan Elves, Gnomes, Halflings
Humanoids: Doubtful
Resources: foodstuffs,cloth, gold, gems

Keoland was the first major kingdom to be established in the Flanaess, the Oeridians and Suloise tribes mingling and joining to build a tolerant and prosperous realm which nominally included many and varied demi-human groups as well. After several centuries of benigh leadrship, a line of monarchs upon the Keoish Throne became ambitious and embarked upon a policy of conquest. At the peak of this imperialism, Keoland held sway from the Pomarj, to the Crystalmist Mountains, while her armies pushed into Ket and threatened Verbobonc and Veluna City (common year 350-360) –(My present common year is 581-2). The Ketite expedition came to grief in successive battles (Molvar, Lopolla), while an alliance between Veluna and Furyondy ended the Keoish threat in that quarter (Short War).

Coincidentally, the Olvenfolk within the boundaries of Keoland objected to the warlike policies of the King and began expelling royal garrisons in the Ulek Provinces and Celene. In the ensuing struggle, the freemen of the western portion sided with the demi-humans. Raiders in the far south took advantage of the these conditions to harry the Keoish coast from Gradsul to Gryrax.

King Tavish III was slain in battle against the Sea Princes (Seige of Westkeep, 453 Common Year) and his son Tavish IV immediately changed the policies of the kingdom upon ascending to the throne. After protracted negotiations, the independent state of the Yeomanry was recognized, the Ulek states were granted autonomy, and Keoland returned to its former state of tolerance and prosperity thereafter. The semi-independent Gran March and Earldom of Sterich are loyal to the crown and furnish strong contingents to the royal army. The Keolanders are well known for their light cavalry employing javelins, crossbows and lances. The bulk of the army consists of footmen armed with pole arms and long spears, while the nobility comprises the heavy cavalry portion of the force. There are typically small companies of elves, gnomes, halflings and /or dwarves included in muster. The fleet is battleworthy but small, and the conflict with the Sea Princes continues to plague the realm.

Hmmm….almost 3/4 of its borders are buffered by allies/dependants. That can work to a kingdoms advantage in the case of invasions but it can also work in its disfavor in the case of growth and expansion. Though prosperous I see Keoland slowly withdrawing into itself. Once you give other kingdoms its independence it is very hard to expand, re-colonize and succeed. I see Sterich and Gran March on their way to independence (if not already occurred in your campaign world).
Taking into account that it is one of the earliest established kingdoms after the Great Migration one could assume a high level of medieval technology, say 15th Century technology (minus guns or whatever).
That would mean a kingdom with a fairly workable printing industry. Maybe not newspapers but maybe pamphlets are distributed. Maybe then town criers would take printed pamphlets of current events and read them in various town squares. Also news travels with caravans and merchants. They could be a good source of news. Say a character party befriends a well traveled merchant who visits their area often with tidbits of current rumors or what not.

(Puff, Puff, blowing smoke ring….)
Also art and metallurgy are probably quite advanced. Field Plate being available to the rich nobility knights. Armor/weapon smithing learned to perfection from dwarven teachers and them mass produced by a human cottage industry. Exported to the various allied kingdoms. Spears and glaives, spetums, halberds Pole arms in general would be very quick and easy to make and the smaller demi humans would be very needy for such weapons on open field campaign battles. A great source of export income.
Heraldry of the finest on shield horse, tunic, tabard, pavilion whatever.
Vineyards of the most delicious wine covering the landscape. All for the export to foreign lands and cities.
Hobbit tobacco and farm goods of the highest quality. (Especially the pipeweed).
Elven flechers making exquisite bows and arrows superior to human manufacture (and more expensive).
Cloaks, mantles, tunics, hauberks, jerkins, boots, gloves, belts, girdles, chastity belts, all made of the most richest material and finest quality.
Cattle, and horse ranches doting the great plains of Keoland. Bread to the finest breed and traded to other kingdoms for other goods.
Ranches for the raising of strong warhorses must dot the landscape.

(Puff, blowing smoke ring, Puff, Puff)
All in all quite a old and prosperous peaceful kingdom. Making it ripe and desirous for conquest by the more evil organizations/kingdoms/races that favor raiding to growing/creating.
I see The Pomarj, humanoinds from the mountains to the West and whatever humanoids are left in the Lortmils to be likely candidates. However they are almost completely blocked by Keoland’s allied kingdoms.


One idea for kingdom events would be through the frequent sea battles. Such a small Navy would need to be constantly re-supplied with equipment/weapons/supplies and sailors. Its economic cost to support even a small navy during a constant war (maybe it’s a seasonal war when the waters are calmer and there are less storms for the trade ships to travel) is still expensive.
(Hmmm…Puff..Puff…Puff….)
Take for example the cutlass.
Basic cost 15 gold pieces. Maybe the weapon smiths cut the cost because it is for the crown and sold in bulk to 10 gold pieces per cutlass. So equipping 500 sailors with a cutlass would be 5,000 gold pieces.(Puff… a rough at best estimate-don’t know the currency of your world).
Lets say they are fed a meal that costs 1 sp per day. At 1/10 the value of a gold that’s about 50 gold pieces per day. A ninety-day voyage would cost about 4500 gold pieces for food costs for 500 sailors.
If you have 100 archers/crossbowmen in that intial 500. Fighting a sea battle they would fire 20 arrows per archer ten minutes-(rough estimate the 3 e fire rate escapes me). That’s 2000 arrows in ten minutes. At 3sp/12 arrows that’s 666 silver or 66 gold for 2000 arrows (or ten minutes of ammunition for 100 men). Say you stock enough arrows to last 1 hour of ship fighting: 12,000 arrows at 400 gold.
Plus sailor pay say 2 gold per month-(is that too much?..Puff…Puff…) plus a percentage of spoils of war-(say a captured ship).
That’s 3000 gold for 500 sailors for a 90 day voyage.
So its all adding up here and I just scratched the surface but by calculating roughly what the Navy needs/ possesses/ is equipped I get a picture of the day-to-day business sea economy of Keoland.

I picture vast workshops located in ports like Gradsul with all kinds of artisans/ craftsmen/ smiths and sea trainers not for the manufacture of a brand new armada but just for the upkeep of the small navy currently in service. Their navy would have to be extremely organized and efficient in order to compete against the Sea Princes’ massive fleet. Since it is an old kingdom I easily see each ship equipped with some kind of wizard/sorceror/priest as a kind of Weather Key or protector. This will of course be very costly.

tap,tap,tap…(knocking out ashes of tobacco…)

Finally I read that the Sea Princes have been exploiting the natural resources of the Amedio Jungle. One resource they found was gold. I could easily see a more organized efficient kingdom like Keoland making exploratory expeditions into the Southern Jungle lands. A gold rush!!!
It would be logical to think that Keoland would advance its sea power due to its dwindling real estate. Even dwindling it’s still a prosperous kingdom and that means more families, more babies, more people. Sooner or later Keoland must expand or fragment into smaller states due to civil disputes/war due to primogeniture.. A greater sea power would allow it to expand via the Southern jungles along the lines of exploitation of natural resources. Like fruits, sugarcane, gold, coal, clay, timber, spices, ivory, wild beasts to domesticate, transport to become a herd beast like cattle, poultry, swine, sheep. I don’t see them taking slaves at all of course but I do see them attempting to educate the primitive tribes bringing them into their culture as possible allies like they did with the deimi-human nations. My friend DM ed a game like the movie THE MISSION: Starring Robet De Niro. After I heard about the game I always wanted to run a scenario like that. With a few changes to the Mission storyline, Keoland might make a good candidate as new explorers into this uncharted region.

And that’s just one angle/perspective to this region that is filled with story ideas…
I would like to hear what plotlines your running.

 

[shilsen]

Events so far

I would like to hear what plotlines your running.

The campaign is set in 591 CY, 8 years after the Greyhawk Wars ended. The party is only at 5th level, and have so far been involved with one primary plotline. Here’s the “Events so far” writeup I gave my players a week ago, to remind them where we’d ended.:

The party members all work for the temple of Pholtus in Flen, which is only two years old. Some are members of the temple or affiliated to it, others owe the priests a very hefty favor. The high priest Marius tells them that he plans to make the service of Pholtus rise in popularity, by sponsoring adventurers to go out and help the populace, thus garnering support and hopefully new worshippers. He wishes to use the party for this purpose. They will be allowed to keep whatever treasure and wealth they gather, and provided with magical help and healing by the church of Pholtus, in exchange for a minor tithe and spreading the news that they are sponsored by Pholtus whenever they meet with or help people. Luckily, an opportunity has recently arisen for the party.

The local temple of Pelor had heard of some trouble in a small town in the Good Hills called Oakhurst, where they had a local cleric. A party of local and out-of-town adventurers had been investigating whatever the problem was, and have disappeared. If the party were to go down and help out, before the Peloran temple sent more help, not only would they make a name in the area, but then the Pelorans would owe the temple of Pholtus. The party leaves for Oakhurst.

The party (joined near Oakhurst by the half-elf druid Druscilla and her wolf companion Banshere) enter the Sunless Citadel, ally with a group of kobolds, destroy a hobgoblin-led goblin tribe, fight and kill the mad druid Belak, and destroy the Gulthias Tree, unintentionally releasing the ancient vampire Gulthias. Returning to Flen, they discover that a millenia ago, Gulthias was the high priest of Ashardalon, a great red wyrm that aspired to godhood by using an artifact - the Crown of the Gods. Gulthias, and then Ashardalon, were defeated by a band of heroes, including the half-elf archdruid Gwydion, the dwarven fighter Durgeddin, and an anonymous elven mage from the ancient elf kingdom that is now Celene. Only the latter pair survived, with the mage returning to Celene and writing a book about these events called The Desolation of the Dragon. Research indicates that Durgeddin hid the Crown before leaving for the Joten mountains. Marius says that Gulthias will be searching for the Crown, and send a party of experienced adventurers to search for him in the Darkwood (where it is believed that Gulthias' old citadel was), as well as sending the party to the Jotens, in search of Khundrukar, the fabled dwarf hold built by Durgeddin's son.

The party travels to Fort Godakin, finds a guide called Nathaniel, and travels into the Jotens. They find Khundrukar, a now-deserted and destroyed fortress. Fighting many enemies, they lose Xandar, the half-orc warrior to a troglodyte cleric. They encounter Durgeddin's spirit and learn that the Crown lies in the tomb of Gwydion, in Wilderland. Luckily, they also find an ancient book that provides information about Wilderland. They fight and barely defeat a young black dragon called Nightscale in the depths of Khundrukar, but she escapes. [To be continued]

As you can see, I started the campaign using WotC's "The Sunless Citadel" and "Forge of Fury" (both modified for my purposes), but will be running primarily my own material from now on. Now what the players/PCs don't know, however, is that...

 

[shilsen]

Behind the scenes

Marius (then 47) was already an important cleric in the Pholtic heirarchy when the Greyhawk Wars broke out in 582. He led the Pholtic forces during the war and served as a beacon of inspiration to the warriors in the cause, saving countless lives through his actions. Although he emerged as an important war hero, he suffered personal tragedy during the campaign, losing his only son and daughter to the enemies. This loss partially unhinged his mind. After the liberation of Sterich (588), the Pholtic forces were asked to disband and return to their respective countries. As a reward for his services and in consideration of his advancing age, Marius was made a Prelate and put in charge of a new church in Flen. Marius, not completely wrongly, took this as a sign that he was being put out to pasture. Furthermore, he was disgusted at the corruption he saw around him in his new urban setting, so different from the clean black-&-white morality of the campaign against the giants. The relative unimportance of religion in Keoland (including the worship of Pholtus) further apalled him. Alone and aware of his increasing age, Marius came up with a radical idea to simultaneously give himself a goal, uplift the church of Pholtus in the Sheldomar Valley, and cleanse the land of the corruption he saw in it.

When in Flen many years ago, Marius had spent time with a Pholtic priest called Langton who was obsessed with finding the fabled Crown of the Gods, a major artifact (lost nearly a millenia ago) that was supposed to grant almost godlike powers, including the ability to grant spells to worshippers. Marius began to believe that if he could find the Crown, he could use its to achieve tremendous power, enabling him to achieve his chosen (and to his own mind, benevolent) ends. Divination magic seemed singularly unhelpful about the subject. Though Langton died during the campaign in Geoff, Marius had some of his personal effects and notes on the subject. Finding information about some sites that had been linked to the Crown, Marius thought of a way he could obtain information about them without arousing suspicion. He hired a group of novice adventurers and sent them to one of the areas. The adventurers succeeded both better and worse than Marius had hoped. They discovered a text (The Desolation of the Dragon) with important information about the Crown's last known appearance, but apparently also released a centuries-old vampire that had worshipped its user, the dragon Ashardalon. Furthermore, it seems that one of the adventurers, Korven, is the son of a former leader in the Flen Thieves Guild, which Langton helped to destroy (in 578) in order to obtain information contained within. Korven confronted Marius, and although the latter told him the truth about Langton attacking the guild and his own uninvolvement, he did not mention the current connection. Marius decided that it may be expedient to kill off Korven at some point. Viewing his search as a holy crusade for the upliftment of the worship of Pholtus, Marius now believes that any measures are appropriate to achieve his goal.

Now the adventurers are off searching for a dwarf-hold which may contain more information about the Crown, and Marius has also sent a more powerful party to find (and hopefully, destroy) Gulthias in the Dreadwood Forest. Marius has been scrying on each party on a daily basis, and trying to decide what to do with each when they return.

 

[shilsen]

Current campaign situation:

The PCs are on their way back from Khundrukar and will shortly reach Flen, where Marius will try to fob them off with various tasks while he searches for Gwydion’s tomb. Korvne is probably going to tell the others about his suspicions. Whether this leads to a confrontation with Marius (most likely) or something else is left to be seen. I’m betting on the party confronting him and then having to be on the run. What they decide to do at that point will be up to them, and I plan to plant a number of potential hooks and directions to go and let them choose. So right now even I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, which is quite interesting.

P.S. My options have become much more limited since the players of the druid Druscilla and the fighter/rogue Korven have both had to leave the group, and those were two of the characters many of my plot hooks were connected with. Pity, but nobody said DM-ing is easy.

Thoughts and comments?