I have recently returned to play D&D after a long break 7 years
And im writing up an large adventure to bring my players into the Campaign. Ive decided to use The hold of the sea princes as my first setting and involve the players from an early lvl in the political strife between the Scarlet brotherhood and the few barons and towns that they dont control. the basic plot is something like this a small border town near the hooch marshes is threatened by a Brotherhood plot to use goblinoids from the marshes to take over the town an the players discovering the plot,
the second part is the pcs seeking aid from the only noble in the area with a sizable army who they then find to have been assassinated and his wife blamed for the crime the pcs must solve the murdercase and find the real assassin and thereby gaining their help for the threatened town.
The third part would be a series of battles in defense of the town followed by a daring raid against the secret lair of the goblinoids king.
having defeated the horde the baroness (or countess havent decided) asks the pcs to help her secure an alliance with her western neighbour and the pcs get involve in helping that baron find an ancient magic item that will allow him to keep the soldiers of the brotherhood out of his lands.
the last part will be a quest by the pcs to find a lost legend of the holds First king who would rize to lead his country in its time of greatest need.
Aka The german legend of Frederick the Great.
I have been trying to find some bits of "canon" concerning the hold and while i have found some material describing the pre brotherhood government all i have discovered of current matters is vague more or less only that the brotherhood still controls most of the land and that parts of it are in rebellion, so i was wondering if anyone has other tidbits or could tell me how they are handling the hold in the own campaigns.
Wow, Ramid. You have a pretty ambitious idea developing here. I am far from an expert on Greyhawk, let alone The Hold of the Sea Princes. But I can offer what I know to "staunch the bleeding" until more info for you is posted by a veteran.
Before the Scarlet Brotherhood slew almost all of the Hold's leading, decision making nobles, the Hold simply raided the coasts of the Amedio Jungle. The Keolandish navy, once it grew in experience and size, held the Sea Princes from pillaging the greater Azure Sea and its coastlines.
The Sea Princes annexed the Valley south of the Hool Marshes when Keolandish defenses were thinned by troop movement east to control the Ulek region. That's when the Hold extended its control further inland.
It looks like your key will be to establish one of the few remaining Sea Prince Noble families. Or, maybe combining the few left to offer a plausible and substantial force to resist the Brotherhood. This "resistance" should be somewhere on the Hold's perimeter, where that family will be able to stave off covert Brotherhood infiltration and open assault by Brotherhood minions.
I don't think Keoland will be willing or able to offer aid to the Hold - look how they treated Geoff and Sterich, et al.
As far as a first king of the Sea Princes, I am hard pressed for such a personality. This is where I defer to our other Canonfire! patrons.
P.S. Let me know if you want an assistant DM, this sounds like a fun project _________________ -------- Don (Storm) --------
"Besides, I think Carthage must be destroyed."
Hey, good thread. The first source was the most useful for me. I'd either forgotten or never read Iquander's old entry. Thanks for that.
The other set of places to look is in the first few LGJs -- the stand alone issues. The Campaign Updates were stringing together a set of adventure hooks for that region and should have resulted in a LGJ article...
In order to investigate the mystery further, one should consult a set of old modules, Sentinel and Gauntlet. They're of the UK series.
that data on the politcs in the hold will help me allot storm.
As for gming that might be a bit problematic, since i live in Iceland.
But i plan to post my writeups on this campaign as i get them ready so feel free to comment on any changes and or use them for yourself.
I had totaly forgotten about the gauntlet and the sentinel i gm'ed both when i was starting out, actualy those two would work very well into my basic theme as the magic items the players must seek out to help the eastern noble.. ill have to dig in my boxes and see if i still have those modules.
Cool, it sounds like you are off and running, Ramid. Good luck.
Regrettably, I've never heard of the Gauntlet or Sentinel modules. Probably, because they are a U.K. series. The only module I've seen regarding any place near the Hold is Needle, which I own. And I guess that's actually in Keoland, but still in the Hool Marshes.
Anyway, let us know how it goes. And thanks to Mr. Mona for that old Iquander write-up. I think those old bits are still very useful. _________________ -------- Don (Storm) --------
"Besides, I think Carthage must be destroyed."
Well heres a short recap of the changes ive made to my basic plot synopsis based on this new information .
Part one
Bringing the Adventures to The area. lvs 1-2
Originialy i had planned to have the adventurers start in the City of Gradsul in Keoland and journey to a town on the coast of the river running through the Hool marsh escorting a young herbalist after some rare plants in the swamps. Instead i think i will place the Town were the Hool and Javan rivers merge past the city of Westkeep which Keoland Now holds. Allowing me to keep it as a free port not connected to Keoland, the Brotherhood or the former Nobles of the Hold.
part 2 First adventure in the swamps. 1-3
During this time the pcs will be traveling in the swamps with the herbalist and getting involved in some problems between local swamp people and humanoids that are getting more numerous in the swamps.
part 3 Smugglers 2-4
During a stop over in the town or after they have finished the herbalist's quest they will meet a refugee from the wars in the west of the hold who will try to trade a gem he found in the sewers for a hot meal. He will tell them he found the gem after a shadowman dropped it in the sewers this leads the players to the smugglers using the sewers to ferry weapons to the goblinoids.
Part 4 following the weapon trail. 2-4
The pcs again go into the swamps and this time make their way to one of the camps were the weapons are ending up. After getting through the camp they discover some documents explaining the swamp lords plans for conquest. Bringing the information back to town starts the next leg of the adventure searching for allies.
Part 5 Murder plot 3-5.
Pcs seek help from the closest surviving Hold Noble Count Rand. Only to find the count murdered when they arrive, and the countess blamed for the deed. The countesses champion offers the pcs a deal their help in discovering the real culprit (brotherhood assassins ofcourse;) in return for him bringing their case to a grateful Countess Rand.
Part 6 To the rescue lvls 4-6
The pcs will journey with the soldiers of the now Countess Rand to defend the town only to find that the Goblinoids have started their attacks. A day off battles (a chance to allow the pcs to run around on a battlefield being heroic.) The goblinoids will be pushed from the gates of the Town but not defeated. A hasty council of war will be called there a Seer will describe having dreamt of a citadel deep within the swamp from were the horde is being guided, ofcourse the players being such heroes they are asked to go and stop whatever evil that is behind this (still havent worked out fully what happens here or what kind of evil the swamp lord is).
Part 7-8 i think i will try and find the gauntlet and the Sentinel and adapt them for this part :) expecialy after i read over some of the Material Storm supplied and found that the Duke of Berich is the same Duke as spoken of in those Modules.
Part 9 the Seer of the helfurnaces. 5-7
players go on a quest for the baroness to learn more of ancient legends of a great king ( since it seems that the hold has never had a king as such i think i will make this a great Flan or Suel cheftain that for a short period managed to hold a large part of the land before being slain by his own kin. The trip will be dangerous but in the end they will find the seer and learn of items of great power created by the ancient king to preserve him until such a time that the land needed him back.
Part 10 the quest for the king. 6-8
the pcs travel around hunting down leads to the 3 items a crown scepter and pendant that together will bring back the king. At the same time they must dodge Brotherhood assassins sent to stop this plot, and Potential Keolandish agents who dont want to see matters in the hold complicated anymore than they are....
As i had originaly written it 2 outcomes could have been gotten but both dealth with a massive battle in Westkeep. But since that is now in Keolandish hands i think i will move the battle further south To Hokar.
Outcome 1 Crowning a Queen
the players hand the scepter crown and pendant to the Countess who crowns herself queen of the Hold and gather some of the nobles to her side a great battle will be fought at Hokar devastating the city, unable to claim full victory the queen will still hold the lands South and East of Hokar and the hool river.
Outcome 2 The king returns.
The players use the scepter crown and pendant and bring the king to life while a barbaric warlord his charisma and generalship gathers many to his banner (including the countess). Again a Battle is fought at Hokar but through his leadership the Brotherhood soldiers are routed placing Hokar in the hands of the Rebels.
Either way i forsee a 3 way powertug between Keoland the Brotherhood and the former Hold nobles.
The players should be around lvls 8-9 when all this ends. And if things go well i plan to make them more pivotal in later plots concerning the hold.
please excuse the bad grammar but English is not my first language and i tend to write directly from my brain.
If you guys have any suggestions on how to make the plot better please chime in.
Storm i discovered that i no longer seem to have the old gauntlet and sentinel adventures
But i found that i could download them as well as a great deal of other old material in .pdf format from www.svgames.com they cost about 5 dollars each.
There is also a great deal of other D&D AD&D and 2nd ed material there.
I forgot about SVGames. I bought two AD&D 2nd Ed. adventure modules from them before. The scan quality is not always the best, but Sean V. maintains a pretty good library. And the prices are great for ESD. It's a goodplace to get earlier edition items. I'll have to check out the Sentinel and Gauntlet.
Your story looks great, so I am not going to add or detract from it. Have fun, and good luck once again. _________________ -------- Don (Storm) --------
"Besides, I think Carthage must be destroyed."
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since i live in Iceland.