Ghosts of saltmarsh

Good Morning! 

I recently purchased Princes of the apocalypse because I thought at some point I'd like to run it.   I believe that module came out in like 2014 or 2015.  And I'd often thought if I buy one 5e module that would be the one.  I know silly right?  I read thru the first like 10 pages, and just realized it's totally not my thing.  It just seems like a bunch of dungeon crawls with a sorta story, and once you finish killing off one cult it's onto the next one.   I didn't find it that inspiring.  Obviously this was at the start of fifth edition, and the system has evolved a lot in the last few years.  I find it quite funny that I'm now purchasing modules for a system that is being re-written.  It's very typical me.  It's also very typical me to think about something for a very long time before purchasing it.  

The good news is, if I feel like running Elemental evil, I have the reprint of the original.  

Alright, so I go down to the local hobby shop (if you are in Winnipeg, MB you gotta check it out) https://gameknight.ca/

I switcheroo princes for Saltmarsh.  I was originally going to grab Queen of the dragon hoard, as it's a good tie in with Lost Mines.  Unfortunately they did not have a copy.  Which was a blessing in disguise. 

I grabbed Saltmarsh, not having read much up on it.  

Holy was I pleasantly surprised.  It's actually set I Greyhawk! Not retconned into the Forgotten Realms.  Nice.  

side note:  This makes me excited, the wizards have basically put out almost all the world's in brief in the adventures to date.  Leaving just a few left Dark Sun, Al-Quadim (which technically could be FR) and Mystara!  They did paint a brief picture of Mystars in the PHB or DMG, and this gives me some hope that it would happen.  If you want to run 5e mystara here is an unofficial guide https://www.rpgmp3.com/files/pdf/Mystara_Players_Guide_5e.pdf

As is typical I know have super gamer A.D.D. and want to run Saltmarsh.  I made the old man mistake of having a nap yesterday afternoon, which made me not sleep well.  In turn I was up half the night thinking about building a gazateer for the players.  Which is exactly what I'm going to do when I complete this blog post. 

I will in all likely hood complete the Starter set adventure with a few of the essential adventures thrown in for good measure, and then we will move on to Saltmarsh and a new campaign.   

One thing I noticed on the Keoland map was the Tower of Zenupus, and that reminded me of this conversion. https://www.dmsguild.com/product/301308/The-Ruined-Tower-of-Zenopus 

Once you exhaust the possibilities of the saltmarsh book you can always throw in some homemade dungeons, Tales from the yawning portal, even TOEE if you feel up to it. 

As far as the gazateer is concerned, I'm going to lay out basically everything that the players will need in one pdf.  Races & Classes allowed, actual modifications to the classes (only up to level 12) using copy and paste from https://www.5esrd.com/ and Gods etc.  And of course the backgrounds from Saltmarsh.

Super nifty! 

Right that was an obvious ramble.  

Take me down to ramble city, where the dice roll 20s and the...... GAMER ADD POST

My new job is going so well. It's a lot of fun. The other day was a Monday and it didn't feel like a typical Monday. Sold a guitar to a kid, and he skipped out of the store super happy.

As soon as I learn the job better I'll probably try and get back to gaming. I am hoping to get back into the isle of dread sessions.  I intend on setting up a game for hopefully next week sometime.  Although I'm having the "Maybe I should run this adventure or system" A.D.D. thing that I typically get.  Trying to run a long term campaign is not easy!  Mostly because some new shiny thing shows up and I'm like "YAAS!!!!"

Looks like I'll be getting Wednesdays off for the foreseeable future.  Which is going to be writing day for me.  I have a crimhuck adventure I want to finish, and an old one that I need to layout (and do a wholesale rewrite).  As well I have to finish my layout work on "Mythical Journey's", which is going to be pretty cool!

I just created a Mewe group for people looking for games.  It came about for a few reasons.

There used to be a great group on facebook called "OSG - One Shot Group", where lots of people would post games and get them going.

In the regular OSR group on mewe, there's so much promo that a lot of things like "wanting to run a game posts" get lost.

There's a lot of cats out there that want to game, but can't find players for their specific time zones.  I am hoping that people can meet new people and play games!

As for me and my schedule, I am really hoping to try and get something going on a Wednesday if possible.  Maybe the afternoon, if some peoples are up for it.  I know that's a total shot in the dark.  Currently I'm playing in Tim's monday night game (sounds like we are going to be kicking ass and taking names next week).  Unfortunately I really can only set aside nights once a week for games, other than the ones that my wife isn't home.  With the new job/schedule time is at a premium.  That and I have band practice on thursdays, so that eats up a bunch of the week. 

I suppose I'm trying to do too many things at once.  But hey you only live once right!

After receiving an awesome package from Steve in the mail, I'm devling back into 2nd edition and loving it! He sent me the "city of greyhawk" boxed set and Legends and lore.  So as usual I'm so friggin torn! 

Here's the silliness that has pervaded my head in the last few months:

Mystara campaign with b/x, lots of Basic fantasy adventures.  Starting in the small town of Luln.

Greyhawk with 2nd Ed, in the duchy of geoff and the vale of the mage (or whatever it's called). 

Now a campaign set in the city of Greyhawk.

Despite the fact that I'm not a Forgotten Realms fan, I started looking at the 2nd Ed FR campaign setting, and fell in love with the adventure and the Dales again.  Ugh. 

Alternatively I've been considering fleshing out my 10 Monster Setting and running a game there.

oh and a whole bunch of other random ideas.

GAMER ADD!

I think I should just write a random table, and then roll on it and that'll be the campaign I'll run.  It might just be easier!

So obviously I'm leaning towards second ed and some Epic fantasy.

Part of the problem is there's always something new that catches my eye.  I question how some people can just stick with one thing and go.  I remember when I was a kid looking at the 2nd Ed books and I started building this world (because of course I didn't have any actual campaign book and no one to bounce ideas off of).  I hate to say I long for those days, but sometimes..... hahah.

Part of the problem is I want to have fun creating and I want to make sure the players are always having fun.  If that means jumping ship from a scenario to another one, so be it. 

So many ideas, and so little time. 

GREYHAWK! MYSTARA! BLACK MARSH! IRON FALCON! AFF! - a.d.d. gamer confession

I admit it.  I'm an A.D.D. Gamer. 
What does that mean?
Well what it means is OOOOH SHINY!

I get a great idea for a campaign, and I start working on it.  Then I get a great idea for a new campaign, and I start working on it, THEN I get another great idea for a campaign, and I start working on it.

I've been slowly working on a AFF adventure set in and around Darkwood forest.

THEN I listened to this:
https://anchor.fm/gothridgemanor/episodes/Working-on-the-Campaign-e3ck6l

And right around the time I was listening to Tim's podcast, I was also talking with Chris Gonnerman about Iron Falcon.  BTW there's a new iron falcon group on mewe, check it out.

Not to mention the ever entertaining google hangouts thread that I'm a part of with Matt and the crew.

So more inspiration has struck me.

I've toyed with running mystara, greyhawk (recently) and a pile of other campaigns in the last few years.

Here's the problem.  Well 1.  I have a.d.d.  2.  (the most important) I'm not currently running any games.  So instead of focusing on my current game, I keep thinking of new and fun ideas to try.

The latest thing that's on my mind is to finally run Black Marsh.  I even have a starting point.  And of course I'm thinking using iron falcon would be fun.  Even though I've stated often that Whitebox would be handy especially when running a game online.

So I'm off to write a players campaign notes for black marsh.

Maybe I'll get my shit together and run a one shot soon.

That's my friday thoughts!

Valley of the mage

When I got the greyhawk boxed set, one of the first places I looked at was the Duchy Of Geoff.   As I had heard a lot of things have happened there over the years.  Looking at the map, the place that intrigued me the most was "the valley of the mage".

After doing a bit of reasearch I found out that there was a second edition module that detailed the valley, it was called "the vale of the mage".   (I'm wondering if something was lost in transition at some point?) 

Note:  This module is currently on sale "GM's day sale".  .

I did a quick google search and found some highlights regarding the region.

One thing I found interesting in reading the description about the Valley was Gygax's comments regarding it:

The Vale of the Mage was never an important element in Gary Gygax's Greyhawk campaign. As he said, "None of the players ever cared to investigate the Valley of the Mage. It was their decision, and I didn't prevent interaction." However, Gygax did write about the Vale early on, in The World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting.

Here's the product description: 

There's only one way to get there - through the Barrier Peaks. Once you're there, you are confronted with armed guards, traps both magical and mechanical, and legendary beasts?not to mention the wandering necromancers.

Why go in there?

Because rulers of neighboring countries have asked you to persuade the Black One to help rout that group of expatriate necromancers. They tried a coup, failed, and came to the Vale of the Mage to hide - and, presumably, to regroup and ally with the Black One. They may have gained the help of the Tree People, as well; you won't know until (perhaps) it'll be too late to turn back.

It's a jungle in there?

For 4-6 characters level 7-9.

So here's the thing, in considering my greyhawk campaign, I had intended (or hoped the players would eventually wind up in the valley).  The first adventure I was going to run was an idea I got from a random adventure generator. 

The players are hired to escort a nobleman (from Gorna) to his new manor he bought!  It is on the edge of the Dim forest near where the mountains meet the forest.  When the players get there they find that the entire place is over run with monsters (or some kind of evil).  Along the way they meet the Elven (Olven) people's of the Dim forest and learn of the rumours of the Valley.  Somewhere in the mansion maybe a few clues to the valley as well.  

My intention's with the valley were similar to what the module sounds like, (even though I didn't know that it existed).  I was really basing it off of the information in the boxed set.  

Long ago a mighty wizard secluded himself in the lush valley at the headwaters of the Javan River amidst the Barrier Peaks. His servants posted the approaches to the area, warning all alike that entrance to the domain thus established was forbidden except by express invitation from its laird. What has transpired since the valley was claimed many decades ago is simply a matter of conjecture, for no one goes there. (The Grand Duke does not care, and an expedition from Gran March never returned.) There are, of course, tales of bold adventurers returning loaded with platinum and gems which are said to litter stream beds as pebbles do elsewhere, but even these stories are insufficient to cause much interest, as the area is positively known to be inhabited by horrible monsters. What is known for certain is that bodies of troops are sometimes seen near the verges of Dim Forest, and that mysterious groups sometimes journey in the direction of this place.  source

Links: 

https://nightshade.obsidianportal.com/wiki_pages/valley-of-the-mage

http://www.greyhawkonline.com/duicarthan/valeofthemage.html

http://greyhawkery.blogspot.com/2018/05/map-valley-of-mage-and-dim-forest.html

I feel like the idea of using the valley as a sandbox with an overarching threat might be a lot of fun.  Quite possibly the manor house could be a home base per se (or possibly a small elven village on the outskirts of the forest). 

I had also intended to have a bit of Barrier Peaks thrown in, and possibly against the giants.  Although not the actual modules per se, just some of the ideas. 

Update on Greyhawk campaign ideas.

I spent a bunch of time reviewing the pantheon for Greyhawk last night.  Comparing the Fifth edition PHB Gods to the original Greyhawk (well the reddish box), there are a few subtle differences.  A few of the quasigods, or demigods have been raised to greater god status in the phb.  My guess is that they were raised to god status somewhere around the whole 3rd edition? "living greyhawk" setting. 

Anyways, what I did was take the basic "greater gods" from the greyhawk setting and then copied all of the domains and stuff from 5e.  There were a few that were missing, however I managed to create appropriate domains for them. 

I intend to have some kind of a confrontation between St. Cuthbert and Iuz (who are both demigods in my version of the campaign).  As the greater gods, are just well that.  They don't have any real world implications other than the specific domain for clerics. 

Going thru the boxed set, I've made some notes on regions around the Grand Duchy Of Geoff for the players.  Things that they are aware of. 

I'm on the fence about the ruler of Geoff, Owen I.  Rather than him be a typical Good Ruler, Godly king dude, I'm considering making him somewhat of a tyrant, that wants to keep the people of Geoff were they are.  A Tyrant, who is scared of loosing power.  Possibly the uprising of followers of St. Cuthbert may in fact freak him out.  He may possibly make a deal with Iuz (not sure).  Another thing I'm thinking about is the idea that Keoland may considering invading Geoff at some point.  Of course the only way to get there is thru the marshes. 

I'm slowly working on the City of Gorna, using this map maker, and fleshing out a neighborhood for the players.   Which would be the typical things (Armourer, Trader, excellent tavern, etc).

For player backgrounds, I intend to create a random table for each race.  Example

Elf

1.  Hornwood
2.  Dim Forest
3.  Village in Geoff
4.  Gorna

etc.

Another thing I've been slowly thinking about is factions, and religious orders.  I think the factions in my game may not be the world wide ones (like the harpers in FR), but smaller on a scale of basically factions within the Duchy.  My intention is to basically stick to Geoff for the time being (or at least to a specific level).  Still working on this.

First adventure, after the initial "You are here" session will be the following:

(I stole this from somewhere)

The basic gist is a local rich merchant is retiring and he has bought a old manor that need's to be fixed up.  The manor is located on the outskirts of the Dim forest, near the valley of the mage.  This will hopefully lead the players to the valley (as that's going to be the centre piece of the campaign).

The players will have to clear out the surrounding area of monsters and the like, make friends with some suspicious elves, and probably clear out the manor itself of some bandits that are holed up there.  A intend to drop a few clues about the valley. 

In the mean time I'm going to re-read the post I put up with links regarding point crawls, as that is my intention (and I've never really written one).

Ohkay that was a giant amount of typing diarrhea.

Greyhawk bound!

I think I've settled on the Grand Duchy Of Geoff for my initial setting in Greyhawk.  Probably the town or city? of Gorna.

The nice thing about the 1983 box set is that its vague.  Don't get me wrong, there's lots of great stuff in the book.

I initially thought that I would run either "Against The Giants" (the tale of the yawning portal version) and or "Expedition to the barrier peaks".  However after a brief conversation with Scott Charlton he reminded me of "Against the cult of the reptile god", which I've always wanted to run.  That might be a great starting point.  Rather than use it in its original location, I'll just plop it somewhere in Geoff.  Although the initial location isn't that far away from Geoff.

A few minor things I'm thinking of game wise: 

1.  Initially I decided that I might outlaw monks as a class (as it just doesnt' fit in my brain), However it was pointed out to me that there are ton of different kinds of monks other than the typical "Shoalin" ones I have in my brain.

2.  Whilst I'd love to say "Basic four classes only" I'll get spit on.  So all of them in the phb will be allowed, however no "unearthed arcana" and splat books stuff.

3.  side initiative.  I want to try it again, I really enjoyed it in my mutant future game.

4.  Only the races that are highlighted in the 1983 book will be allowed, (if I'm not mistaken that's humans, halflings, elves, half orcs, dwarves and possibly gnomes? gotta check that). As well everyone will roll on the "Where am i from tables"

5.  Obviously no feats.

6.  Toying with no cantrips however see #2 getting spit on.

7.  I want it gritty.  I'm going to hand out XP for gold and monsters.  (keeping the same XP charts from 5e however).  Healing will work like this:  Full Rest is a week of downtown, get up to maximum hit points.  Short rests you are allowed to expend hit dice.

8.  Considering upping the death save to 15.


The campaign is as follows: 
Against the cult of the reptile god
Expedition to the barrier peaks
Against the Giants  or alternatively "the liberation of geoff"

I may also insert "white plume mountain" in there somewhere.

Helpful Greyhawk Links
The most helpful site:  http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/
Nifty map link: https://atgiants.obsidianportal.com/wikis/grand-duchy-of-geoff

More maps:  http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/gaming/dnd/greyhawk/map/index.html

Even more maps: https://ghmaps.net/greyhawk-maps/online-map/

Flanaess Heraldry Collage:  https://ghmaps.net/flanaess-heraldry-collage/

City Map Generator:  http://inkwellideas.com/free-tools/random-city-map-generator/

and another: https://www.geeknative.com/59493/fantasy-city-map-generator/