Weirdlands (Fan-Created Adventure Path)

[jdrakeh]

My Patchwork World (see the wiki link in my .sig) is in a somewhat playable stage now. Inspired partly by Mark's (Creative Mountain Games) earlier thread about free adventure paths, I downloaded and assimilated a load of free adventures from WotC and Dragonsfoot, as well as culled my collection of OOP adventures. The result was Weirdlands.

While the adventure path itself hasn't been outlined yet on the wiki, you can easily pick out the first 3 steps in the journey on the Western Coast (in order - Barnacus: City in Peril, The Secret of the Windswept Wall, and the Bad Light). This (as yet incomplete) path in and of itself will take a character up to 5th or 6th level. After this, the focus will shift to the 2nd leg of the journey which will largely take place in The Wildwood and, finally, to the 3rd phase of the journey in the Northlands.

Now, unlike the 1-20 adventure paths that Paizo publishes, the Weirdlands path will take characters up to around 12th level (possibly a wee bit higher owing to some lower level 'side treks' inserted into the setting to 'break up' the adventure path into manageable - and less obvious - chunks) with an open end that may very well lead into a follow-up effort (Return to the Mainland). Now.. here's the rub... the Weirdlands adventure path is built on material, not only from different editions of D&D, but also from different systems.

I'm compiling (not designing) a kind of transition system similar to the one that appeared way back when in Shadis (I forget what they called theirs). While it will be capable of standing on its own, its primary purpose is to present an easy environment that other systems can easily be converted to and from, allowing you to [more] easily utilize supplements from System X with System Y.

Now... this whole thing is extremely experimental. The chance that it will be a complete washout does exist. Now, that said, I've had a few people express an interest in sending me free modules of their own to incorporate into the Weirdlands campaign environment. If you want to do so, feel free - there's no guarantee that I'll use everything submitted, but if I do (and the project is a success), it might be some good, free, publicity for you

 

[dvvega]

This kind of world will not flop per se unless you have to really mangle what has been done to fit something new.

An old 2ed DM of mine did the same thing but with Dungeon Adventures, his own adventures, and the few modules he owned.

Strangely enough, remembering that campaign world, it was one of the most coherent I'd played back then - patchworks and all. I also remember that he had magic powered boats/frigates, secret societies, and so forth - very Eberron like, but with a definite slant towards James Bond.

D

 

[jdrakeh]

This kind of world will not flop per se unless you have to really mangle what has been done to fit something new.

Thanks for the encouragement. I actually have a very clear mental image of what I want the Weirdlands to look like when it's 'finished' so I've been careful only to use those modules that fit neatly (or very nearly neatly) into the cosmology that I have in my mind's eye. Assuming that you've read the wiki, you can see how I'm using the modules (i.e., mostly as written with very tiny, primarily cosmetic, alterations).

I also remember that he had magic powered boats/frigates, secret societies, and so forth - very Eberron like, but with a definite slant towards James Bond.

Oooo... that sounds like a lot of fun