Necromancer Q&A: Let's ask Orcus some questions!

[Orcus]

I think I have hit on a solution for the Tome Revised. We are going to relay it out with the v3.5 changes and all the errata and include some new art that was done. And make it available as a watermarked PDF. I am talking with Mike Chaney about laying it out now. So hopefully we will have that done soon.

As for the Boxed Set, it is all based on the old JG gazetteers, with updates. It also incorporates info from the various City State installments from Pegasus magazine and the various modules (Mines of Custalcon, Spies of Lightelf, Shield Maidens of Sea Rune, Witches Court Marshes, Viridistan, Tarantis, etc). But each and every entry has been expanded by the Necro/JG design team that has at all points had input from Bob Bledsaw himself and others working with/for him.

Clark

 

[Orcus]

Here is an example:

In the old JG Wilderlands books, you just got the hex and the ruler name and stuff like that. Here is a silly throw away village from the Lenap campaign map:

Hex
Location Village Name Pop. Type Civ. Align Ruler Name LVL Align Class Type Resources

2503 Forsaken 119 Men 0 N Dyrsh the Many Tongues 4 N FTR Man Market

Here is our entry:

2503 FORSAKEN (Hamlet): Non-Standard; AL N; TL 2; 100 gp Limit; Assets 1,490 gp; Population 476 (Able bodied 119); Mixed (human 60% [mixed, some Dorin], dwarf 15%, gnome 10%, half-elf 10%, elf 3%, halfling 2%); Resources: Market. Authority Figure: Dyrsh the Many Tongues, male Dorin N Ftr4. Important Characters: Durkle Dinhouser, male gnome N Ill3 (merchant and magician); Silver-Eyed Sorn, male dwarf N Rog2 (merchant).

Wanderers and the lost find some refuge at Forsaken, its market filled with the flotsam and jetsam of broken and forgotten lives. It is rumored that the tomb of a long-dead and forgotten deity lies nearby, emanating hopelessness.

Now that is just an entry for a relatively unimportant hamlet in a pretty remote part of the Wilderlands. And that is what you get (and normally even more!!!) from our product.

Notice that the old info is all there (though a few of the Civ levels have been tweaked in our port over to Tech Level). But what we have added is the d20 v3.5 stuff as well as some story seeds. We can't detail everything, but we tried to be "detailed, yet open ended" and "evocative," meaning that we should give you the starting point to inspire you to go further in your own way.

 

[Orcus]

Each map chapter also lists all the geographic features with text descriptions for each as well as their descriptors from the DMG and the general EL of the location.

Here are some examples. This one is from Lenap too:

Dangerous Jungle (Dense Forest; EL 16): Fed by the dark salty water of the Bay of Danger, the Dangerous Jungle is a sweltering woodland of twisted vines and thick undergrowth. Dangerous plants abound here, strange woodland ropers of fantastic size and jungle treants have attacked explorers. Giant insects and carnivorous dire apes are often caught by sticky rope-like tentacles reaching down from the canopy above.

Note that this jungle is predominantly considered "dense forest" as detailed in the DMG and, unlike the standard EL for a dense jungle (which we define), this jungle is EL 16. Nasty!

Here is another, also from the Lenap map:

Churning Sea (Rough Aquatic, Hot, Perilous; EL 14): A dangerous stretch of ocean running south and west of the Ament Horn, this area of sea contains whirlpools and great waves that arise without warning as well as stretches of water that seem to roll and boil, said to be caused by the curse of a god placed on a now sunken civilization that once existed in this area. The treacherous whirlpools and currents make travel here highly hazardous, and there is very little sea traffic in the Churning Sea. The water temperature of the sea is near 100 degrees and vision is made difficult by the steam from the water itself. Despite the inhospitable nature of the seas, it is inhabited by a large number of giant aquatic dinosaurs such as dinichtys, elasmosaurus, mosasaurus and, most frighteningly, plesiosaurus which have been known to attach those few ships that brave these waters. What is not commonly known, is that miles of ruins populated by many mutated undersea races litter the floor of the sea, filled with ancient treasure. Map note: the waters of the Churning Sea begin slightly south and west of the Ament Horn at hex 2724 and extend south to hex 2731 and west to the Isles of Flame.

Suggestion: don't go there.

Note that this entry has some new descriptors for aquatic locales that we created: Rough Aquatic and Perilous. These are defined in our book.

Here is another fun one, from the Valon map, the ruins of the Orichalan city of Sotur. (I am being evil and including some of the nastier places):

0814 Ruins of Sotur (EL 9 to 20+): Sotur was once the northernmost city of the Dragon Empire of the Orichalans, the companion city to Satúr (which is now named Greenwax, located on the southern tip of the Pazidan Peninsula; Blest, 0313). The city has fallen to ruin since the majority of its structures were destroyed in a duel between two Orichalan wizards prior to the fall of the empire. Its stone walls can be seen by passing ships. The crumbling stones to this day bear strange scars and markings from arcane blasts. The ruins are filled with conjured monsters and demons, but they appear to be restrained to the limits of the city ruins and do not wander from it. The city has not been repopulated due to these creatures and due to the fact that the ruins are covered with a curse and plague — anyone remaining in the city for more than 8 hours is afflicted with a rotting disease that withers the limbs and turns the organs of the body to a greenish paste. Anyone afflicted must make a Fort save (DC 20) every 2 hours or suffer 1d2 permanent Constitution damage as their limbs and internal organs wither. This damage cannot be restored by any means short of a miracle. As a result, the ruins are filled with treasure. Several great artifacts are rumored to be there, including the helm of Ka’ar, the mystic library of E’elim, the bell of truth, the devilish machine of the Braz-Undren the Mad and the famed gem-sword of Learnak the ancient Dragon Lord, not to mention the da’aktor stone itself — a legendary multi-faceted gem of wondrous power rumored to be the size of a large melon. The ruins themselves are filled with obscure arcane traps and wards. It seems that there is an endless supply of monsters in the ruins, perhaps the work of a moving gate which continues to bring evil creatures randomly into the ruins.

Encounters Inside Sotur: Check for random encounters every hour PCs are inside Sotur, with the chance of encounter being 20% per hour. If an encounter occurs, roll 1d12+8. The result of the roll generates a number from 9 to 20, which reflects the level of the encounter. Then refer to the Random Dungeon Encounter tables in Chapter 3 of the v.3.5 DMG and roll the encounter on the appropriate level’s table, re-rolling any results that call for dragons as there are no dragons within the ruins. If an appropriate result is not generated, default to 2d6 wights, 1d3 ice devils, 1d4+1 bone devils, 2d4 vrocks, or a 12-headed cryo-hydra.

Outside Sotur: Lurking near the city’s borders...[sorry, not giving away all the secrets] .

Clark

 

[Orcus]

Or how about this.

The original gaz just listed castles and citadels like this:

Hex No. Class Level Align. Men
2913 Gas. MNK 7 N 135

That is a castle from the Lenap map at hex 2913.

Here is how we have expanded it:

2913 Castle Lonewood (Castle): Non-Standard; AL N; TL 5; 100 gp Limit; Asset: 1688 gp; Population 540 (50 skirmishers Ftr1-3 armed with slings; 40 medium infantry Ftr1-3 equipped with leather armor and short swords, 25 light cavalry Ftr2-4 equipped with studded leather armor, light lances and longswords and 20 heavy cavalry Ftr2-4 with chainmail, shields, heavy lances and longswords make up the core of Randur's mercenary company; the remaining 405 are Com1-3 peasants or Exp1-3 merchants and craftsmen); Mixed (human 40%, elf 20%, half-elf 20%, halfling 10%, gnome 10%). Authority Figure: Master Faifa, male human LN Mnk7. Important Characters: Yokar Milliwan, male halfling N Rog6 (military planner, scout); Randur Erwast, male Dorin N Ftr5 (mercenary captain); Ershabib the Glittering Hand, female gnome N Wiz5 (siege engineer).

Castle Lonewood is home to Randur Erwast's mercenary company. They currently are paid to help safeguard the villages and settlements nearby. The castle has been subjected recently to numerous attacks form the air, first by fiendish birds of all sorts, then by arrowhawks, and now by wyverns. It is unknown what has been prompting these attacks.

That is what we have done to EVERY SINGLE VILLAGE, TOWN, CASTLE, CITADEL, LAIR, RUIN, ISLAND AND GEOGRAPHIC FEATURE for the whole freaking setting! ALL 18 MAPS WORTH!!!! (yes, I am a little geeked about this )

Like I said, had I known how much work this was going to be I wouldnt have done it. But I am glad I did because there is absolutely nothing like it.

Clark

 

[Orcus]

Our goal, as I stated, was to be "detailed but open ended." Nothing we have written forces your hand. You can flesh it out as you see fit. But we have given you the starting point. And my goal was to put a story seed in each and every description and location and I think we have done that.

Clark

 

[loki44]

That is what we have done to EVERY SINGLE VILLAGE, TOWN, CASTLE, CITADEL, LAIR, RUIN, ISLAND AND GEOGRAPHIC FEATURE for the whole freaking setting! ALL 18 MAPS WORTH!!!! (yes, I am a little geeked about this )
Clark

Geeked and rightfully so! Thank you for the samples. Deadly. Now that you've whetted my appetite I'm a slavering fool. Maybe you should consider changing your moniker to "Captain Hook". There's enough of 'em just in this thread to last for months! Will the boxed set have 18 maps, or have you consolidated the originals into a fewer number? How large are the hexes? Did you stick with the original scale?

 

[Garnfellow]

I think I have hit on a solution for the Tome Revised. We are going to relay it out with the v3.5 changes and all the errata and include some new art that was done. And make it available as a watermarked PDF. I am talking with Mike Chaney about laying it out now. So hopefully we will have that done soon.

I will so buy this . . .

 

[Arnwyn]

Clark, your adding of ELs to specific regions is a great idea. It helps give a guideline to the DM of what kind of encounters can be found in the area, and maintains consistency for the setting as the PCs progress. Fantastic!

Your excitement about this set is really contagious. Your hard work will pay off and this will be a product for the ages.

 

[Treebore]

I agree. Plus I am happy about the ToH1 pdf. I just hope that everyone who bought ToH1 hears about it and is able to buy it if they want.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Mark me down in the "Happy" about ToH 1. Especially with the new art. Nothing worse than not learning from the mistakes of Creature Collection Revised, which had a lot of the bad art and it's own set of mechanical errors.