My Wilderlands Campaign - Starting Place

[catsclaw227]

Hello All!

I am gathering all the goods to start my campaign in the Wilderlands (judges guild, necromancer games) and will be doing some homebrew ideas before sending them into Tomb of Abysthor.

Like enworlder der kluge, I plan on placing in the northern part of the Forbidden Forest, Map 1 and using Norwood as the starting village.

I would like to hear some suggestions about 1st level starting adventure seeds for the wilderlands (if anyone has some), and some thoughts about magic in the wilderlands. I plan on making magic items special, where everything is made from the essence of the creator and the creation rituals require the use of special materials, components, etc. Items will all be unique, i.e. there won't be a slew of +1 rings of protection. They won't be rare, per se, but all will be special in some way. An arcane mark, a unique "magical signature" or something greater.

I understand it's a wilder campaign world, high-magic, but without ton's of magic items laying around. What would a 1st leveler from a small-medium village know about magic and magic use? What would they know about spells, magic use, items, etc?

 

[der_kluge]

Wow, I can't believe you remembered where I started my game. It's a great place. Lots of flavorful surrounding villages.

IMC, Wenglor has a Beholder who has enslaved the dwarven leaders. They have to constantly provide it slaves to eat, while also mining the silver mines below. The miners discovered the beholder years ago, who quickly over-powered them, and demands retribution.

I don't know I added that. Other than to say to take careful note of the alignment of a given city. I think Wenglor was something like LE, when it seemed like a pretty normal, peaceful place. There's an elven village terrorized by werewolves that was listed as LG. The mind boggles.

So, take some of it with a grain of salt.

The first adventure I ran was from an old DUNGEON magazine. A merchant was heading through town late one night, and crashed his wagon. An ash rat (MM II), a rust monster, and an ankheg were freed in the process. The wagon was essentially a large cage built for the ankheg on wheels. The ankheg bulldozed his way to the stables, and proceeded to eat all the food, and the horses all fled. The rust monster began dissolving all the locks off everyone's doors, and the ash rat headed to the nearby inn to bask in the warm glow of the stove. It was how I got the party together.

The second adventure I ran was from MEG's "Beyond the Gates", and featured a haunted Keep still guarded by the ghost of a fallen Paladin. They still use the keep as a waypoint between Norgood and the Forbidden Forests. They keep their horses there, and the ghost is a paladin of a forgotten god, so they utilize him as a source of information.

 

[catsclaw227]

The first adventure I ran was from an old DUNGEON magazine...(snip)

What was the Dungeon adventure?

The second adventure I ran was from MEG's "Beyond the Gates"...(snip)

I like these supplements. I have all three of the Foul Locales series. Good stuff. I may do the same thing.

How did you handle magic? What did the low level PCs know about it and were minor items relatively common (not like cheese or milk, but you know what I mean. )

 

[der_kluge]

I'd have to look for that issue. It was in the 30s, I think.

Oh, ok here's an "addendum" I made for it. The module is called "Wild in the Streets"

Wild in the Streets addendum

Jegard Stanton, human rog3/Sor1, CR 4 NE; HP: 18; Init: +8
AC: 15 (+4 Dex, +1 rin); BAB +3 (+1 Str), Fort +2 (+1 Con), Ref +7 (+4 Dex), Will +2 (+1 Wis)
Str 12, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 17
Sneak Attack: +2d6, Evasion, trapfinding, trap sense +1

Skills:
 
Bluff +10 (+7 ranks, +2 Persuasive, +3 Cha)
Concentration +3 (+2 ranks, +1 Con)
Diplomacy +10 (+7 ranks, +2 synergy, +3 Cha)
Escape Artist +11 (+5 ranks, +2 synergy, +4 Dex)
Gather Information +8 (+6 ranks, +3 Cha)
Hide +9 (+5 ranks, +4 Dex)
Intimidate +12 (+5 ranks, +2 Persuasive, +2 synergy, +3 Cha)
Listen +8 (+6 ranks, +2 Alertness, +1 Wis)
Move Silently +9 (+5 ranks, +4 Dex)
Sense Motive +6 (+5 ranks, +1 Wis)
Spot +8 (+6 ranks, +2 Alertness, +1 Wis)
Use Rope +9 (+5 ranks, +4 Dex)
 

Feats: Persuasive, improved initiative, alertness
Spells known: 4/2; Spells per day: 5/4
0 – acid splash, detect magic, daze, ray of frost
1 – charm person, fool’s gold

Equipment: Dagger +1, potion of cure light wounds, ring of protection +1

Captain Bulrick offers them 100gp to split evenly for each creature caught. Jegard offers an additional 50gp for leaving the beasts unharmed, for each beast. Jegard’s first wagon crashes – the rust monster was in a bamboo cage, which is broken now. The ankylosaurus was in a huge metal pen with very large metal bars, but after the crash, the rust monster ate most of it, and it is now worthless. The Ash Rat was in a small canary cage, which is intact. Basically, Jegard’s wagon was a large cage for the ankylosaurus with wheels. The rust monster was suspended over that cage up high, and was pulled by 4 horses, which have now run off, and are grazing on the south side of town. Jegard’s men will be busy rounding them up during the night, and will work to hitch them up to their other wagon.

Jegard has two wagons – other wagon contains a cloaker and a baby displacer beast, and a chest with some personal items, including foodstuffs and other things (see below).

Thugs (3) War1; CR 1; Al: NE; HP 9, 7, 16
Russell, Corey and Jack. 

Feats: Power Attack, improved initiative
Dodge, lightning reflexes
Toughness x2

Equipment: Leather armor, leather armor, wooden shield, MW light mace, short sword, short sword, small silvered dagger, Masterwork Morter and Pestle (+2 tool bonus to Profession Herbalist or Craft Alchemy), a Wizard’s spell book (magic missile, web, detect magic, tenser’s floating disk), a silk robe (dark blue hue), fur-lined boots, lockpicks.  137gp, 115sp, 87cp

As for magic, I'm running Tomb of Abysthor. It's got tons of magic and loot in it. My characters are practically swimming in wealth. Granted, most of it is fairly low level stuff, and not many wondrous items. They have a lot of scrolls and potions, and things with charges. And they've used up some things. The dwarf finally acquired a +3 greatsword, and +2 full plate, but those were sort of quest-related, and special. No one else really has much beyond +1.

Norgood has a seasonal trade fair IMC. I rolled randomly on the calendar and started them out in ~late May~ (its equivalent). In July, the market came to town, so they were able to find a "magic item dealer" who was able to make some trades and purchase a lot of the items they didn't need. But he's gone now, so they're working with a priest in Norgood who happens to be fairly high level (10th) who just traded them an Orb of Storms for a whole crapload of spell books they found in the dungeon which they couldn't use (no wizard). She advised them to NEVER use it or even allow it to be seen anywhere near Valon, otherwise the penalties would be harsh.

For flavor, I'm using my very own Artificer's Handbook to roll potion flavors and colors, and I occasionally give quirks to the magic items. So, one of the magic flails they acquired had a quirk that made the wearer lose all tolerance for alcohol. A +2 dagger they found had a quirk that "somewhere, someone began worshipping the wielder as a god", but they weren't aware of that quirk - just that it had "a quirk of some kind".

 

[catsclaw227]

I use the Artificer's Handbook -- thanks for penning such a useful resource!

I know that ToA is magic rich, but potions, scrolls and charge items will be more common than permanent effect items. I just don't want it to become the FR.

This should be an amazingly fun campaign. I'll keep you posted on how it goes, though it won't start until I get back from a Malaysia business trip at the end of June.

 

[der_kluge]

I use the Artificer's Handbook -- thanks for penning such a useful resource!

I know that ToA is magic rich, but potions, scrolls and charge items will be more common than permanent effect items. I just don't want it to become the FR.

This should be an amazingly fun campaign. I'll keep you posted on how it goes, though it won't start until I get back from a Malaysia business trip at the end of June.

What modules are you intending on using? Or are you just trying to wing it based on events in the Wilderlands?

I'm using ToA, and then that's going to lead into the Rod of Seven Parts. I stuck the first piece of the rod into the Tomb. My players have it now. They're still looting the tomb, though. It's been very good to them.

 

[catsclaw227]

What modules are you intending on using? Or are you just trying to wing it based on events in the Wilderlands?

I'm using ToA, and then that's going to lead into the Rod of Seven Parts. I stuck the first piece of the rod into the Tomb. My players have it now. They're still looting the tomb, though. It's been very good to them.

I will do some smaller mini-adventures to get them started, using some of the events and regions of wilderlands, then ToA. I'll eventualy take them into RA Reloaded. Though they may visit the CSIO here and there. It seems like ToA can be a go in, go out, come back later, go in, go out, etc kind of module. The players like a combination of wilderness, dungeon crawl and urban adventure, so I need to mix it up.

I might not use CSIO directly, though. I will likely use elements, slave trade, Black Lotus, etc. I need to get a print version of the PGtW. I have the PDF, but I need some sofa reading and PDFs suck for that. My wife hates it when I sit in front of the PC, since I am at it all day at work (like now. )

What level is your group? How far along are they? Where are you placing Ro7P?

 

[der_kluge]

I will do some smaller mini-adventures to get them started, using some of the events and regions of wilderlands, then ToA. I'll eventualy take them into RA Reloaded. Though they may visit the CSIO here and there. It seems like ToA can be a go in, go out, come back later, go in, go out, etc kind of module. The players like a combination of wilderness, dungeon crawl and urban adventure, so I need to mix it up.

I might not use CSIO directly, though. I will likely use elements, slave trade, Black Lotus, etc. I need to get a print version of the PGtW. I have the PDF, but I need some sofa reading and PDFs suck for that. My wife hates it when I sit in front of the PC, since I am at it all day at work (like now. )

What level is your group? How far along are they? Where are you placing Ro7P?

I found the player's guide to be of marginal value, actually. YMMV. I love the CSIO, but I don't have any direct plans (as of yet) to take the party there.

So far, they got the first piece of the rod in Abysthor's tomb. (spoiler)

Spoiler

I substituted the stone for the first segment of the rod.

I'm placing the second segment in the plain of skulls (I think that's the name) in map #3. They'll have to hitch a ride somewhere from the coast across the sea and maybe up the river to Tarsh. At least that's my tentative thinking. The second piece, if you're familiar with that module

Spoiler

is in a cave guarded by an aboleth

. I haven't worried about pieces 3-7 yet. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Actually, with my job situation as it is, I might end up moving soon, so I may not be able to finish this current campaign, but I intend to run it again sometime down the road...


The group just made 6th. They have pretty much cleared levels 1 and 2, and some areas of 3. I replaced

Spoiler

the beholder with a green dragon which they may tackle at some point

I expect them to

Spoiler

face Natasha soon. They killed Balcoth last session. It was very nearly a TPK. I replaced some of his spells, and made him much, much more effective. It doesn't make any sense to me why a wizard would walk around with rune spells memorized.

 

[catsclaw227]

Actually, with my job situation as it is, I might end up moving soon, so I may not be able to finish this current campaign, but I intend to run it again sometime down the road...

I glanced at your blog. Good luck with all of that. I am in IT as well. But in SoCal, even WITH a good job you can be underwater financially.

 

[der_kluge]

I glanced at your blog. Good luck with all of that. I am in IT as well. But in SoCal, even WITH a good job you can be underwater financially.

Thanks. Looks like I might end up moving back to KC, unless a position in Dallas comes through. Gamers live in both places. Of this, I am certain. So, I'll game again.


BTW, how much of the Wilderlands canon are you using? For example, in Norgood, I tossed out the Amazon women listed in the description. I've sort of "toned" down the "Thundarr the Barbarian" aspects of the city to be a bit more on the vanilla side. I also replaced all the deities with the Forgotten Realms' deities (with a few modifications, and a slightly reduced set). The Wilderlands deities are just a grab bag of deities anyway, so it lacked cohesion, I think.

For me, I'm sort of glossing over the history and politics (to a certain degree) and mostly using the maps and locations. I'm less interested in the political rivalriies and all the various factions and subraces of humans, et al.

What about you?