Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Given the weird nature of Kem House, it could be either one.
Ptolus: Midwood - "The Dark Waters of Moss Pond"
- Thread starter Whizbang Dustyboots
- Start date
Renraw Kem
First Post
This chapter is really kind of confusing. I'm not sure outside readers will understand, given that it threw the actual players for a loop.
Heath Leach is the apothecary for the town of Maidensbridge and the father of PC Katydid Leach. Kem House is the ancestral home of fugitive PC Renraw Kem. I haven't detailed who most of the current residents are to anyone but Trench. They are relatives of Renraw's, though. I have a whole family tree with something like two dozen Kems on it.
Maybe it's better if I DON'T say who they all are if we're planning to go back there someday. I'm glad it piqued some interest.
Heath Leach is the apothecary for the town of Maidensbridge and the father of PC Katydid Leach. Kem House is the ancestral home of fugitive PC Renraw Kem. I haven't detailed who most of the current residents are to anyone but Trench. They are relatives of Renraw's, though. I have a whole family tree with something like two dozen Kems on it.
Maybe it's better if I DON'T say who they all are if we're planning to go back there someday. I'm glad it piqued some interest.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I like the murky nature of the family and the goings-on. It's very Gothic fiction.
It'll all change gears in a moment, anyway.
It'll all change gears in a moment, anyway.
Renraw Kem
First Post
Ha...I think that was some of the most fun I've had playing with you guys since this whole thing started. The back and forth we got going there was really great.
Big thanks to Whizbang for indulging us on that one.
Big thanks to Whizbang for indulging us on that one.
Emus Graymullet
Explorer
Bufer's rant makes a lot more sense the second time around.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
The whole notion of the song, "The Town Where Heroes are Born," came to me after the campaign began, but it's a nice way -- in my opinion -- of making the events happening in Maidensbridge seem both more mythic and also unexceptional to the ordinary residents. Of course there's danger facing Maidensbridge: They all know the song!
The only hitch is that I have yet to find a poet or a lyricist help me come up with a chorus and some verses. I have some ideas and samples kicking around, but I need to get cracking soon.
"The Song" becomes more important in a later adventure.
Oh, and this was the last piece of "The Shadows of Kem House." We're back to more traditional adventures next time.
The only hitch is that I have yet to find a poet or a lyricist help me come up with a chorus and some verses. I have some ideas and samples kicking around, but I need to get cracking soon.
"The Song" becomes more important in a later adventure.
Oh, and this was the last piece of "The Shadows of Kem House." We're back to more traditional adventures next time.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
"The Dark Waters of Moss Pond" is an adventure that I've wanted to run before the Midwood campaign even was a glimmer in my eye, although of course it mutated along the way. There's a bit of fairy tale, a bit of campaign lore, a bit of seeding in future sandbox stuff, and a bit of mythic ass-kicking.
It was one of my favorites so far.
And Pentagruel and Rutiger are my punishment for not naming the children straight off the bat. Tucker's player stuck me with them the first time someone asked for their names.
It was one of my favorites so far.
And Pentagruel and Rutiger are my punishment for not naming the children straight off the bat. Tucker's player stuck me with them the first time someone asked for their names.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Bufer's trip to Baraj Al-Aswad, the Black Tower, was my first chance to give more meaty details to where the kobolds live, what Glangirn is like (inspired by the description of 0one Games' dwarven fortress maps) and how Gax conquered the dwarves.
When I sketched out the idea for the campaign, I knew that one of my favorite fantasy stories of all time was The Hobbit (my first memory of my father is him reading me the opening of the book, in fact), and I liked the whole "dwarves in exile" thing. But I didn't want Midwood to be a Hobbit retread, so I've had to chart a parallel but separate course. A dragon swimming into an undefended dwarf fortress while the armies rage outside seems like a good variant and also highlights that Gax was, in many ways, way smarter than the dwarves who trusted that a glacier lake would be enough to protect them.
I also wanted to make it clear that the kobolds are a real threat. There's a tendency in old school gamers to treat them like a joke (a high level NPC later in the campaign embodies this attitude, much to Tucker's exasperation) and more recent gamers tend to think they're just adorable cuties. (I find myself in both camps, to be frank, thanks to the great picture of Ceatitle fireballing kobolds in the 1E Rogues Gallery.)
And yes, I've got a fetish about including classic D&D name references. Most of my players are newer, so I don't know if they catch all of them. Hopefully, even if they did, they would enjoy this sort of Ultimate D&D Universe approach to things instead of finding it lame.
When I sketched out the idea for the campaign, I knew that one of my favorite fantasy stories of all time was The Hobbit (my first memory of my father is him reading me the opening of the book, in fact), and I liked the whole "dwarves in exile" thing. But I didn't want Midwood to be a Hobbit retread, so I've had to chart a parallel but separate course. A dragon swimming into an undefended dwarf fortress while the armies rage outside seems like a good variant and also highlights that Gax was, in many ways, way smarter than the dwarves who trusted that a glacier lake would be enough to protect them.
I also wanted to make it clear that the kobolds are a real threat. There's a tendency in old school gamers to treat them like a joke (a high level NPC later in the campaign embodies this attitude, much to Tucker's exasperation) and more recent gamers tend to think they're just adorable cuties. (I find myself in both camps, to be frank, thanks to the great picture of Ceatitle fireballing kobolds in the 1E Rogues Gallery.)
And yes, I've got a fetish about including classic D&D name references. Most of my players are newer, so I don't know if they catch all of them. Hopefully, even if they did, they would enjoy this sort of Ultimate D&D Universe approach to things instead of finding it lame.
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