Regular readers will have noticed that I have started to pay attention to Norwold, setting of various Companion level modules such as CM1: Test of the Warlords and CM2: Death's Ride. My idea is that Norwold need not be just for high-level characters but could accommodate PCs and adventures right from 1st level.
So what sort of adventures am I thinking of? Part of me really likes the epic campaign arcs first introduced in the AD&D GDQ series starting with fighting hill giants in G1: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, progressing through the larger giants (G2 & G3), going underground in D1-3 and eventually confronting the demon queen Lolth herself in Q1: Queeen of the Demonweb Pits.
The Dragonlance series also had a go at this, with the original DL1-14 series taking the PCs all over the Dragonlance continent of Ansalon in an epic war against the evil Dragonarmies. However, this did highlight a problem with these long storylines - railroading. You know you are railroaded when characters are not even allowed to die if the almighty storyline requires them to live.
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| art by Caldwell, Parkinson & Easley, source |
Paizo took up the baton in the 2000's with their adventure paths - although written for their own Pathfinder game, they were compatible with D&D 3.x. And they produced a lot of them - according to the Paizo website, 24 Adventure Paths, each with 6 parts that could be considered adventures. That's 144 adventures.
5E has had a go at the epic campaign story, with pairs of hardback adventure books, such as Hoard of the Dragon Queen + Rise of Tiamat. However, I do get the feeling that the PCs' level gains are artificially accelerated to keep up with the increased threats in the story. My personal feeling is that PCs should gain levels through regularly earned experience points, not because the story says so. And I do recognise that gaining levels in B/X is slower than in more recent editions, plus less equal among the PCs of the party because of different progressions for each class.
The big question of these epic story lines is "Will the players and PCs stay interested or will they want to do something else after a while?" I cannot answer that, but I will assume that they stay interested. I suspect it will require a better adventure-writer than myself to keep players interested in a single story line over 20 levels and months (possibly years) of game-play.
So can it be done in Norwold? Should it be done or is it a bad idea? I think it can be done, though I won't try to produce anything of either the size or quality of the previously mentioned published campaigns. This is an amateur blog after all.
The main bad guys will be the Arvorians, in a way not that different from the drow of the GDQ series. Intelligent and manipulative, I expect they will start off only behind the scenes, encouraging attacks against civilized towns in Norwold by chaotic humanoids and human chaos cultists. Their end goal is to open up the dimensional prisons and unleash their alien masters (the Scions of the Outer Dark) onto Mystara. Therefore the PCs may well end up trying to save the world - That's pretty epic.
Things to be considered as part of this campaign (The exact order may change but this is my rough outline):
- The PCs arriving in the Great Bay of Norwold, possibly Alpha the capital.
- Initial, seemingly mundane adventures that hint at the bigger picture
- Investigating clues to the Arvorians' existence
- Finding the Arvorians' hands behind various attacks against civilized settlements and projects
- Exploring the ruins of the Arvorian cities and the dungeons beneath them
- Encountering the Arvorians in combat
- Finding out about their quest to undo ancient magics
- Learning about the Arvorians' chaotic and alien masters
- Realising that the Arvorians are trying to set their masters (Scions of the Outer Darkness) free
- Preventing this from happening and thus saving the world
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| source |
Another thing I am considering is Eldritch Crystals. These are fragments of magical monoliths shattered when the Blackmoorians attacked the Arvorians and scattered when Blackmoor was destroyed in the Great Rain of Fire. They are still full of magical power and could be used to fuel mighty rituals that could either open the dimensional prisons that hold the Scions, or else permanently shut them. Eldritch crystals appear as green, blue or cyan glowing gems, usually of rough and uncut form. Although they look nice as ornamental stones in broaches or other jewelry, any mage casting Detect Magic will realize they are no ordinary mineral, though the exact nature of their magic is not clear. They are sought after by Arvorians, particularly those who are eager to free their alien masters. However, human mages and elves would love to get their hands on them, as eldritch crystals can be used to power certain magic items.
Something else I should bear in mind is that not every adventure or session needs to be an integral part of this story about the Arvorians. There can be side-treks, subplots and other agendas. I believe this is one of the reasons the 5E adventure hardbacks force the PCs to level up quicker than they would do so simply with awarded XP - the books, hefty though they might be, simply cannot contain the side-treks and episodic adventures that would allow normal leveling by XP. The political intrigues of the various new dominions in Norwold, particularly those sponsored by either Thyatis or Alphatia could be a steady source of adventures. Similarly there may be non-human forces quite separate from the Arvorians who may make their presence felt - the dragons of the Icereach range of mountains may have formed a loose coalition and pressed the humanoid tribes into service. Trade, commerce and acquiring new resources is an important part of rulership, and the PCs may be asked to assist in developing these in the new baronies and duchies of Norwold. Rather than a tightly controlled railroad, this could be a sandbox campaign but with a suggested path heading towards the cities of the Arvorians.
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