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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gambler1650" data-source="post: 846860" data-attributes="member: 11033">While still working my way through... I'm into the "Gazetteer" stage of the book.. all very well written.  One of the key marks of a good Campaign Setting is how many ideas come to mind for adventures or campaigns.  As stated before, folks who've browsed the book but not read it fully (and even some who have done the latter) had concerns about how the Campaign setting would work for a long term game with the "Well, you can never really defeat the big evil" feel.  There was also a concern over always having to be on the run.I'll address the latter "problem" first.  I think this is caused because people are still looking at this through the "Glasses of Traditional AD&D" a powerful artifact indeed...  I also think this may be caused by not having read the whole setting through.  There are certainly places where a standard AD&D group could live and return to over and over again, where they'd even be welcomed.  There are pockets of strong resistance even in the most firmly controlled Shadow's lands, like the pirates on the Pellurian Sea and their cove or island that has yet to be discovered.  Since they're really only an annoyance and in an area that the orcs just don't like, they're probably a pretty safe haven for PCs over the long term... assuming the PCs are smart about covering their tracks at least.  There are also whole campaigns that could be done in Erethor (the great elven forest) that would provide safe, strong havens to return to and even some areas that are not under direct attack.  The islands off of the western coast which is for the time being not even threatened by Izrador is fertile ground for a more or less standard AD&D campaign since they contain ancient ruins. This is particularly the case because the coastal region is at least relatively cosmopoliton, allowing for numerous races to be found there to be drawn from for PCs.   There's also Baden's Bluff, a city on the southern edge of The Sea of Pelluria that's relatively untouched by the orcs and where even  the Fey can walk without too much trouble.  Hmmm.. could some of the most immediately obvious safe havens being areas dominated by water be because of FFGs "Seafarer's Handbook"? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  Naaah. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Now.. as far as the "Well, you can't defeat the big, bad evil"... Well, no.  The PCs can't do that themselves.  What they _could_ do is find a way to tilt the balance so that Izrador could eventually be defeated by the people of Eredane.  Ideas immediately popped into mind:1. From the Yahoo group, one of the elements that didn't make the book was described.. A Fane that has rumored powers that would allow the veil that separates the Gods from Aryth to be destroyed.  That of course is the most helpful, but what if the Fane only did something subtler.. like allowed the spirits of the dead through.  It's because they aren't allowed through that the Fell (think ghouls that always need to eat living - or at least recently living - flesh) are rising, and helping tip the balance even more.2. The City of the Sea (conveniently located in one of  those islands off the western coast of Erethor and the ancient towers on the islands are highly dangerous adventuring sites, but what if the reason that the City was destroyed by the gods was because the Elder Fey had discovered a way to make one of their own a god?  This ritual would have caused the wrath of the gods to descend and destroy the city as an example... But now, when things are most desperate, what could tilt the balance better than to turn the most shining example of light against the dark, the elven Witch Queen who already seems immortal, into a god?  The mention of the rite could be discovered by accident in a relatively 'mundane' AD&D campaign of looking through the towers for items that could help the resistance and then the journey into the sunken city's ruins to find the components and rites necessary to complete the task.. Wouldn't a final stroke of fate be if Izrador himself had been the god that was created by the Elder Fey? (We aren't given enough of the cosmology to say he couldn't be...)  Again, the players haven't defeated Izrador in one fell blow, but they've evened up the odds and given the world hope once again.So... In my mind, this world can supply a great number of campaigns, from relatively standard AD&D campaigns if done in select areas, to the "on the run" style that I think could work if done right, to massive world changing events... If you want to think inside the box, just look for a spot relatively untouched by the war... but for those who want to think outside the box... well, there are possibilities not easily found in most other campaigns.</blockquote>

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