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[UPDATED] RAGE OF DEMONS! New D&D Storyline Features Drizzt, Underdark, & Demon Lords!
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<blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 7670681" data-attributes="member: 5100"><p>Considerably more generic. Not quite so much as Phandelver, but I'm ascribing that to it simply being bigger and that a "campaign in a box" needs a bit of flavor. After reading through the whole thing once, and the "home base" a few times, I haven't found anything that can't be separated.</p><p></p><p>Several Realms-specific organizations (Harpers, Zhentarim, Order of the Gauntlet, etc.) are called out and have agents in the area. So far, I see no reason why any of them couldn't be either ignored or converted to "local thieves' guild", "random order of knights errant", etc. That's the big concern, though, isn't it? Missing a single sentence somewhere that the key to moving forward depends on some sort of tie between two NPCs or the PCs having to belong to any of the groups or something similar. </p><p></p><p>Over all, though, it seems like you could just pull it out and use it as a starting place for a brand new campaign setting, like most of us did way back when. The biggest-scale map measures about 250 x 370 miles. If my math and Wikipedia are correct, is just shy of the size of the UK (92,500 sq. mi. vs 94,060 sq. mi). That's pretty darn big, but it's a frontier with the population density (and governance) of South Dakota, circa 1870. Actually, the area is only a little bigger than SD. If you annexed about 50 miles of N. Dakota and turned the whole thing 90 degrees, it'd be about right, including climate and terrain. The spacing of the towns is probably about right, too. </p><p></p><p>That size, of course, may be a negative to inserting it into an existing setting. Even Eberron, which is generally considered pretty vast and underpopulated, struggles to fit it in the suggested locations, while retaining scale. For a Greyhawk reference, it's roughly the size of the entire kingdom of Veluna. I'm actually looking at redrawing the map, entirely, and combining a couple of the outlying towns that have little info about them. I've heard there may be a misprint on the map scale, but I have nothing to confirm it against.</p><p></p><p>While both Waterdeep and Neverwinter are mentioned, it's vague enough that they may as well have said "There're a couple of big cities within a seriously inconvenient, but not-absurd ride." That's about the level of intrusion of most things. I'm not entirely sure what to do with the "Stone Bridge", which is a fairly unique landmark that I wouldn't want to export to another setting. It's not directly important to the adventure, but it does impact travel in the area and makes some of the back-road discovery unlikely. Maybe just replacing it with a washed out bridge or treacherous fjord would be enough, though.</p><p></p><p>Short form: It's reasonably easy to scrub. The two biggest issues are 1) double-checking whether the specific organizations are important and 2) the shear size of the map, even though specific places aren't important. Hope that helps. Who knows; maybe that even helps some of the folks saying "the Realms <u>are</u> generic" to see why it isn't so simple.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mercule, post: 7670681, member: 5100"] Considerably more generic. Not quite so much as Phandelver, but I'm ascribing that to it simply being bigger and that a "campaign in a box" needs a bit of flavor. After reading through the whole thing once, and the "home base" a few times, I haven't found anything that can't be separated. Several Realms-specific organizations (Harpers, Zhentarim, Order of the Gauntlet, etc.) are called out and have agents in the area. So far, I see no reason why any of them couldn't be either ignored or converted to "local thieves' guild", "random order of knights errant", etc. That's the big concern, though, isn't it? Missing a single sentence somewhere that the key to moving forward depends on some sort of tie between two NPCs or the PCs having to belong to any of the groups or something similar. Over all, though, it seems like you could just pull it out and use it as a starting place for a brand new campaign setting, like most of us did way back when. The biggest-scale map measures about 250 x 370 miles. If my math and Wikipedia are correct, is just shy of the size of the UK (92,500 sq. mi. vs 94,060 sq. mi). That's pretty darn big, but it's a frontier with the population density (and governance) of South Dakota, circa 1870. Actually, the area is only a little bigger than SD. If you annexed about 50 miles of N. Dakota and turned the whole thing 90 degrees, it'd be about right, including climate and terrain. The spacing of the towns is probably about right, too. That size, of course, may be a negative to inserting it into an existing setting. Even Eberron, which is generally considered pretty vast and underpopulated, struggles to fit it in the suggested locations, while retaining scale. For a Greyhawk reference, it's roughly the size of the entire kingdom of Veluna. I'm actually looking at redrawing the map, entirely, and combining a couple of the outlying towns that have little info about them. I've heard there may be a misprint on the map scale, but I have nothing to confirm it against. While both Waterdeep and Neverwinter are mentioned, it's vague enough that they may as well have said "There're a couple of big cities within a seriously inconvenient, but not-absurd ride." That's about the level of intrusion of most things. I'm not entirely sure what to do with the "Stone Bridge", which is a fairly unique landmark that I wouldn't want to export to another setting. It's not directly important to the adventure, but it does impact travel in the area and makes some of the back-road discovery unlikely. Maybe just replacing it with a washed out bridge or treacherous fjord would be enough, though. Short form: It's reasonably easy to scrub. The two biggest issues are 1) double-checking whether the specific organizations are important and 2) the shear size of the map, even though specific places aren't important. Hope that helps. Who knows; maybe that even helps some of the folks saying "the Realms [U]are[/U] generic" to see why it isn't so simple. [/QUOTE]
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