My ideas about Norwold

Norwold was introduced in CM1: Test of the Warlords, the first adventure module written with the Companion Rules in mind. Being further north than the "classic" Known World, it has a cooler, subarctic climate and borders on true arctic wastelands to the north. Since one important aspect introduced in the Companion Rules was PCs building and managing dominions, there was a certain expectation (and indeed encouragement) that PCs should try to set up their own strongholds and fiefdoms in this region. This was complicated by the two great empires of Mystara, Thyatis and Alphatia, who both wanted to rule this region and its resources. PCs could ally themselves and their dominions to one of these great nations. 

Illustration by Clyde Caldwell, source

My ideas about Norwold

As my basic map, I am starting with this magnificent piece of cartography by Robin (6inchnails on Deviant Art) though I expect I will add my own stuff to it. 

Map by Robin/6inchnails: source

The wildlife in this region is dominated by iconic creatures of the Ice Ages, including woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos, sabertooth tigers, cave bears and dire wolves. Mammoth steppe and tundra make up wide stretches of the wilderness. As this is D&D, there are quite a few magical monsters as well as natural animals, including white dragons, frost giants, winter wolves and arctic variants of established monsters including the all-white arctic griffon and the dread arctic chimera (with the heads of a white dragon, musk ox and polar bear instead of the usual red dragon, lion and goat). Random wilderness encounters are found in this post.

So my ideas include this region being not just for characters of Companion level (15th-25th)  but also Basic and Expert (1st-14th). I reckon if the DM is sensible about what encounters the PCs run into, the Norwold region could be the setting for an entire campaign. There are plenty of humanoid and human tribes to keep low level characters occupied, including familiar goblins, ogres, bugbears and the less common quaggoths and taer. Neanderthals have made parts of Norwold their hunting territory. 

The competition between the Thyatians and the Alphatians brings its own adventures, particularly if the PCs take sides, even if they don't yet have their own dominions or strongholds. Direct warfare, trade disputes, diplomacy towards native allies and espionage all benefit from the skills that adventurers can bring. The Alphatians are primarily based in Alpha, on a peninsula jutting into the Great Bay of Norwold. Oceansend used to be a Thyatian possession but is now independent, with only cultural ties to Thyatis. Landfall has experienced both Thyatian and Alphatian influence but is now in the grip of the criminal gangs. 

The Heldannic Knights are another national faction that can make its presence felt in the south of Norwold. Aggressive, territorial and capable of both great nobility and terrible brutality, I envision them as similar to the Teutonic Knights of northeastern medieval Europe, launching their own crusades against what they consider the inferior pagan tribes. Although they might be cautious where the two great empires of Alphatia and Thyatis are concerned, they are certainly not cowed into submission.  

Although in the normal course of wilderness adventures the weather is usually not serious enough to count as a threat, in Norwold the weather and seasons can be deadly, particularly winter and blizzards. I have included some of these in my random encounters for Norwold. Rules for frostbite, hypothermia and similar cold-weather effects should be considered by the DM and any sensible PC. Starvation and the ability to start camp fires become serious issues. Norwold is no place for the weak or unprepared. 

Finally there are the Arvorians, a truly ancient race not that different from elves. Their civilization was  contemporary of ancient Blackmoor. But while Blackmoor dabbled with science, the Arvorians turned to darker, more malevolent powers from other planes of existence. If the Blackmoor civilization was D&D meets Star Trek, the Arvorians were D&D meets Call of Cthulhu. And despite the cataclysm that destroyed Blackmoor and changed the globe, they have not entirely died out. Deep beneath their shattered ruins scattered across the north of Norwold there are surviving Arvorians and they still follow their evil and chaotic powers of darkness. Even worse, they seek to summon and unleash their alien patrons on an unsuspecting Mystara. The Arvorians have also lured various chaotic humans including Chaos cultists into their plans, with the promise of destroying the forces of Law and Order. Just as chaotic cultists can use orcs and goblins as pawns to further their games, so to the Arvorians manipulate and encourage the human forces of Chaos to act on their behalf, and thus on behalf of powerful beings that seek to inflict damnation and destruction across the whole of Mystara.