The PCs have been away for a year in the Hepmonaland and now they've returning to the Flanaess.
Any creative ideas what should've happened while they've been gone? I'd like to surprise them with something, but I'd like it to be something very fitting with Greyhawk.
They accidentally step into an alternate Oerth wherein the Ur-Flan have killed all the gods and have established a reign of terror that has lasted 1,000 years.
Have the ruler of their old haunt be overthrown somehow. (Mayor Nerof Gasgul of Greyhawk could be 'simply outvoted' at election; the King of Keoland might have been assassinated and his son is too young to rule on his own...)
Then the PCs get to discover:
a) was the changeover in rulership legit?
b) are the current rulers legit?
c) do the new rulers reflect the will of the people/gods/whoever determines such things?
Yeah, the answer depends a lot on where the PCs were and who they knew before they left. If they never visited Blackmoor, then even a major change in Blackmoor won't mean much to them.
Officially the Age of Worms adventure path took place in 595-596 CY (and resulted in a change in rulership in Alhaster, among other things). The Savage Tide adventure path took place in 596-597 CY. But neither of these things will necessarily create changes the PCs will notice or care about.
So yeah, like Vulcan said, who ruled the realms they were most familiar with? It doesn't have to be a change on the national scale to be meaningful to them, either. Who were their advisors, their mentors, their antagonists, their friends and lovers? Maybe their parents are dead and their younger siblings abducted by Iuz. Maybe the person who taught your party's bard how to read music has gone blind. Maybe the temple where the party cleric trained is abandoned. Only you know what kinds of changes will be best for your party.
-
Oh, it doesn't have to be anything that involves the PCs. If it's a major change, the PCs might hear about it, no matter where they are. The idea is merely to bring some life onto the campaign world (in this case the lifelessness is my fault, not GH's fault!), not to involve the PCs in some adventure. I already have that angle covered more than well.
Last edited by Sutemi on Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:52 pm; edited 2 times in total
I believe in the Living Greyhawk campaign, thereabouts was the CY that Iuz ascended to lesser godhood, leaving Oerth behind and letting his realm devolve into chaos . . .
That was 598 and I don't think it's official that he succeeded. See other posts of mine on this topic.
There's a Living Greyhawk Bandit Kingdoms timeline of major events in my book, BDKR1: The Unofficial Living Greyhawk Bandit Kingdoms Summary. Maybe some good ideas in there but they might be too BK specific for your needs.
- The Urnst states unite into a single nation.
- The Pale completes its annexation of the Duchy of Tenh.
- Sterich is conquered by githyanki and its citizens and resources directed into a war with the illithids of the depths below.
- The Bakhoury Coast rebels against Zeif.
- Belvor IV of Furyondy dies and his succeeded by his kinsman Damen Tyneman of the Reach, also known as Warduke.
- Canon Hazen of Veluna acquires the deathless creature type, being an undying creature empowered by positive energy. This is kept a secret by his inner circle.
- Hardby rebels against Greyhawk, allying itself with Rary's Bright Empire.
- Philidor the Blue declares himself the new Mage of the Vale after a duel on the Plane of Shadow with Jaran Krimeeah.
- Dullstrand is incorporated into Sunndi on the condition that the nation begin a war against the pirates of the Lordship of the Isles.
- King Ingemar of the Schnai accepts the Pelorian knighthood, the Soldiers of the Sun, back into his service.
- The port of Herechel in Furyondy begins assigning ruinous tariffs against shipping upstream, cutting the Shield Lands off from the Nyr Dyv. War looms, with nobles in the Shield Lands determined to annex Herechel.
- Iuz has a new ambassador, a tall, gaunt being in a mask whose face has never been seen by mortals. He seems suspiciously eager to make generous deals with every other land for trade concessions and peace.
- The Hold of the Sea Princes falls to the Olmans.
- The Sea Barons form an alliance with the cities of the Solnor Compact and begin founding colonies across the ocean.
- One of the Olman Islands is conquered by chuuls ruled by a terrible hybrid queen.
- The city of Stoink vanishes overnight; rumors say it now exists in the lower planes.
- Turrosh Mak is succeeded by a new ruler, a female orog calling herself Bershra Mak. Elredd, Fax, and Highport declare themselves independent of her empire.
- The Mahdi of the Steppes is captured by Iuz.
- Lady Astra Callistor of Nyrond returns, her skin and eyes now a strange metallic hue, and begins spreading the worship of an alien deity in the court of Rel Mord.
- A mysterious abandoned city supported by titanic columns has been discovered in the waters beyond Lendore Isle.
- Queen Yolande disappears through the Moonarch of Sehanine. Prince Brightflame, "Melf," succeeds her as King of Celene and begins a new more activist policy toward the evils of other lands.
- The new Lord Mayor of Greyhawk is Turin Deathstalker.
Aurdraco (aka Casey Brown, I assume) I love your Bandit Kingdoms Summary, by the way. I wish every region in LG had done the same. Is there any chance your second and third volumes will see the light of day?
(There's so much great Living Greyhawk stuff--adventures, campaign material--that's impossible to find and use for home campaigns, it's a real shame . . .)
Oh and, if I make it into the event, I'll be playing your new adventure A Page of Scrolls, which is being run at Xenocon in Davenport, IA, Saturday morning. I shall be mentally translating all generic names and references back into Greyhawk terms as I play (Riverton=Rookroost, etc.)
Aurdraco (aka Casey Brown, I assume) I love your Bandit Kingdoms Summary, by the way. I wish every region in LG had done the same. Is there any chance your second and third volumes will see the light of day?
Yes, I absolutely agree!
Quote:
Oh and, if I make it into the event, I'll be playing your new adventure A Page of Scrolls, which is being run at Xenocon in Davenport, IA, Saturday morning. I shall be mentally translating all generic names and references back into Greyhawk terms as I play (Riverton=Rookroost, etc.)
That is great news! Chris Zank is GMing it, I believe. You'll have a blast.
Okay, here's some brainstorming, then:
- The city of Stoink vanishes overnight; rumors say it now exists in the lower planes.
Pandemonium would be a fun fit for that city. I always thought of Boss Renfus the Mottled as some sort of unique slaad. Ran out of time to make that LG canon though.
Aurdraco (aka Casey Brown, I assume) I love your Bandit Kingdoms Summary, by the way. I wish every region in LG had done the same. Is there any chance your second and third volumes will see the light of day?
Thanks! Yeah, I thought I was going to be able to do parts 2 and 3 legally but, after dealing with the DMCA Notice, I've decided it's not worth the hassle. The projects are probably legal, if done right. However, I no longer have access to a roommate with a law degree. But, I have reached out to a friend who works for Hasbro to find a channel for me to approach WotC about acquiring some rights. We'll see if that goes anywhere. I'm sick of my day job...
edmundscott wrote:
(There's so much great Living Greyhawk stuff--adventures, campaign material--that's impossible to find and use for home campaigns, it's a real shame . . .)
Yeah and, with every year, it's harder to find stuff or track former Triad members down. I have a vision in my head for a great LG BK project called The Best of Living Greyhawk series: it would essentially be an adventure path composed of the best BK/IUZ mods, edited to fix a few things that bug me. Could include some rules crunch specific to the region, much like current Pathfinder APs do. Most regions could probably do this but each would need a clone of me specific to their region to oversee each project (I couldn't tell you what the best mods in Highfolk were, etc.). To get WotC on board, it would have to be in 5th edition, which I would have to learn (probably not too hard, I'd just begin playing it). I think it could have decent sales as there has been almost a whole generation of gamers born since LG first launched.
edmundscott wrote:
Oh and, if I make it into the event, I'll be playing your new adventure A Page of Scrolls, which is being run at Xenocon in Davenport, IA, Saturday morning. I shall be mentally translating all generic names and references back into Greyhawk terms as I play (Riverton=Rookroost, etc.)
Awesome! I hope you can make it and that you have a good time if you get to play it. As Sir_Xaris said, Chris Zank is going to run it. He had some great feedback for it during his review on DriveThruRPG, which was nice to read.
- The Urnst states unite into a single nation.
- The Pale completes its annexation of the Duchy of Tenh.
- Sterich is conquered by githyanki and its citizens and resources directed into a war with the illithids of the depths below.
- The Bakhoury Coast rebels against Zeif.
- Belvor IV of Furyondy dies and his succeeded by his kinsman Damen Tyneman of the Reach, also known as Warduke.
- Canon Hazen of Veluna acquires the deathless creature type, being an undying creature empowered by positive energy. This is kept a secret by his inner circle.
- Hardby rebels against Greyhawk, allying itself with Rary's Bright Empire.
- Philidor the Blue declares himself the new Mage of the Vale after a duel on the Plane of Shadow with Jaran Krimeeah.
- Dullstrand is incorporated into Sunndi on the condition that the nation begin a war against the pirates of the Lordship of the Isles.
- King Ingemar of the Schnai accepts the Pelorian knighthood, the Soldiers of the Sun, back into his service.
- The port of Herechel in Furyondy begins assigning ruinous tariffs against shipping upstream, cutting the Shield Lands off from the Nyr Dyv. War looms, with nobles in the Shield Lands determined to annex Herechel.
- Iuz has a new ambassador, a tall, gaunt being in a mask whose face has never been seen by mortals. He seems suspiciously eager to make generous deals with every other land for trade concessions and peace.
- The Hold of the Sea Princes falls to the Olmans.
- The Sea Barons form an alliance with the cities of the Solnor Compact and begin founding colonies across the ocean.
- One of the Olman Islands is conquered by chuuls ruled by a terrible hybrid queen.
- The city of Stoink vanishes overnight; rumors say it now exists in the lower planes.
- Turrosh Mak is succeeded by a new ruler, a female orog calling herself Bershra Mak. Elredd, Fax, and Highport declare themselves independent of her empire.
- The Mahdi of the Steppes is captured by Iuz.
- Lady Astra Callistor of Nyrond returns, her skin and eyes now a strange metallic hue, and begins spreading the worship of an alien deity in the court of Rel Mord.
- A mysterious abandoned city supported by titanic columns has been discovered in the waters beyond Lendore Isle.
- Queen Yolande disappears through the Moonarch of Sehanine. Prince Brightflame, "Melf," succeeds her as King of Celene and begins a new more activist policy toward the evils of other lands.
- The new Lord Mayor of Greyhawk is Turin Deathstalker.
Ah Rasgon old buddy those are some epic changes there. Some are quite eye popping like Stoink, Warduke and Iuz capturing the Mahdi. The one that makes my heart saddest is the Hold of the Sea Princes falling to the Olman. First the Brotherhood, then the natives? Tsk!
- The Urnst states unite into a single nation.
- The Pale completes its annexation of the Duchy of Tenh.
- Sterich is conquered by githyanki and its citizens and resources directed into a war with the illithids of the depths below.
- The Bakhoury Coast rebels against Zeif.
- Belvor IV of Furyondy dies and his succeeded by his kinsman Damen Tyneman of the Reach, also known as Warduke.
- Canon Hazen of Veluna acquires the deathless creature type, being an undying creature empowered by positive energy. This is kept a secret by his inner circle.
- Hardby rebels against Greyhawk, allying itself with Rary's Bright Empire.
- Philidor the Blue declares himself the new Mage of the Vale after a duel on the Plane of Shadow with Jaran Krimeeah.
- Dullstrand is incorporated into Sunndi on the condition that the nation begin a war against the pirates of the Lordship of the Isles.
- King Ingemar of the Schnai accepts the Pelorian knighthood, the Soldiers of the Sun, back into his service.
- The port of Herechel in Furyondy begins assigning ruinous tariffs against shipping upstream, cutting the Shield Lands off from the Nyr Dyv. War looms, with nobles in the Shield Lands determined to annex Herechel.
- Iuz has a new ambassador, a tall, gaunt being in a mask whose face has never been seen by mortals. He seems suspiciously eager to make generous deals with every other land for trade concessions and peace.
- The Hold of the Sea Princes falls to the Olmans.
- The Sea Barons form an alliance with the cities of the Solnor Compact and begin founding colonies across the ocean.
- One of the Olman Islands is conquered by chuuls ruled by a terrible hybrid queen.
- The city of Stoink vanishes overnight; rumors say it now exists in the lower planes.
- Turrosh Mak is succeeded by a new ruler, a female orog calling herself Bershra Mak. Elredd, Fax, and Highport declare themselves independent of her empire.
- The Mahdi of the Steppes is captured by Iuz.
- Lady Astra Callistor of Nyrond returns, her skin and eyes now a strange metallic hue, and begins spreading the worship of an alien deity in the court of Rel Mord.
- A mysterious abandoned city supported by titanic columns has been discovered in the waters beyond Lendore Isle.
- Queen Yolande disappears through the Moonarch of Sehanine. Prince Brightflame, "Melf," succeeds her as King of Celene and begins a new more activist policy toward the evils of other lands.
- The new Lord Mayor of Greyhawk is Turin Deathstalker.
Wow! Just wow. I've been trying to respond for a few days now, but I've been speechless.
I'm going divide those events to happen over a span of 10 years or so. What I most liked was the bit about Warduke. That's just outrageous. When the PCs got to a very high level, King Belvor IV will die and the PCs will have to hunt down Damen, convince him to swear under lie-detecting divinations to be a good king or die. Brilliant.
About Githtanki invasion. I'm planning that the Efreeti from the sun will build a flying castle, bring to Keoland and start an invasion with fiendish mercenaries. How does that sound?
I'm planning that the Efreeti from the sun will build a flying castle, bring to Keoland and start an invasion with fiendish mercenaries. How does that sound?
According to Greyspace, there's an efreet named Amir Mamhout, the captain of a spelljamming ship called the Peacock, whose goals are purely motivated by the love of discovery. It says that he'd be conflicted between loyalty to his ruler, the Malik, and his own more peaceful goals if he learned the Malik's true intentions, so the PCs might be able to use him as an ally.
It's worth asking what the efreet ultimately want to do. Do they just want to set up a permanent colony in Keoland or use it as a springboard for an invasion into other lands? Keoland could be seen as a gateway for conquest of Bissel, Ket, and the Baklunish lands beyond; they could even disguise themselves as humans so that the Baklunish lands, which might have ancient pacts protecting them from direct genie invasions, don't know the true nature of the threat. Like, maybe the sha'irs of old created pacts that prevent genies from invading their lands on their own, but they can use human armies as intermediaries. Maybe even the Keoish believe their new rulers to be the legitimate heirs of a Keoish noble house, and the PCs uncover the truth only slowly.
If the efreeti were going to secretly take control of a Keoish noble house for a plot like this, it's probably be best to pick the Rhola, who have a history of being aggressors against the Baklunish. They might start by conquering Gradsul, the traditional seat of House Rhola, then maneuvering to seize control of the Black Lion Throne from Kimbertos Skotti and his family.
It's also possible that the real plan of the efreet is to grow powerful enough to challenge the Sultan of the City of Brass and conquer their homelands.
Devils are a traditional ally of the efreet, but this group may be allied with an exiled archdevil (like Moloch) who sees them as a way of increasing his own power and regaining his former domain in the Nine Hells.
My plan about the Efreeti invasion is not yet complete, but it might go something like this:
1. The Efreeti make a giant flying castle to cross the galaxy.
2. They enter the Oerth and leave hovering above the clouds.
3. At night, on a bad weather, 4 flying ships are launched from the castle. They are filled with devils with a mission to simply raid, kill and retreat to the mountains (if any).
4. During the raid, a bunch of Efreeti infiltrate the kingdom. Their mission is to destroy the Kingdom within.
5. Once everything is ready, the actual invading force comes and the surviving raiders join them.
6. The flying ships are single use and they get damaged while landing so it's not much of a deal that the Kingdom of Keoland gets a hold of them.
Aurdraco (aka Casey Brown, I assume) I love your Bandit Kingdoms Summary, by the way. I wish every region in LG had done the same. Is there any chance your second and third volumes will see the light of day?
Thanks! Yeah, I thought I was going to be able to do parts 2 and 3 legally but, after dealing with the DMCA Notice, I've decided it's not worth the hassle...
-Hmmm... I'm doing the Sage's Tower in Rookroost, Harvester 576, so I've been looking over all the BK stuff. I guess there's no one better to ask...
1) I assume that Peiper's Ferry is the ferry crossing the Artonsamay south of Rookroost. Is Artonsbueck collocated, or further up or down stream?
2) What was the original name of Wriathkeep (ca. 576)? I assume that it's in Duchy of Artonsamay turf.
3) The BDK1 timeline has Zeech swearing fealty to Iuz at something called The Turning of the Shebbear Stone in Readyreat 583. Closest thing I can find is this:
-Hmmm... I'm doing the Sage's Tower in Rookroost, Harvester 576, so I've been looking over all the BK stuff. I guess there's no one better to ask...
1) I assume that Peiper's Ferry is the ferry crossing the Artonsamay south of Rookroost. Is Artonsbueck collocated, or further up or down stream?
2) What was the original name of Wriathkeep (ca. 576)? I assume that it's in Duchy of Artonsamay turf.
3) The BDK1 timeline has Zeech swearing fealty to Iuz at something called The Turning of the Shebbear Stone in Readyreat 583. Closest thing I can find is this:
...hmmm... any chance that was the 5th of Readyreat?
Glad to help!
1) Peiper's Ferry and Artonsbrueck are the same town, the former is just the nickname of the town due to the ferry owner's name. I think Anna gets the town's location wrong on her map, it should be very close to Rookroost. However, I think I advocated for putting Rookroost directly on the river as it doesn't make sense for me where it was originally placed (large cities tend to evolve on running sources of fresh water, imo). That may be why she moved Artonsbrueck.
2) Wraithkeep isn't really discussed in canon that much (unless I missed it in the Gord the Rogue novels). I figured it must have been an important part of the Duchy of the Artonsamay so, in my unfinished BK Gazateer, I decided to make it the former home of the Duchy's capital, Castle Artonsamay. Not sure if Duke Gellor's realm is described that much in the Gord books, I was planning on double checking for this project.
3) There's a reference to the Turning of the Shebbear Stone somewhere I found. I forget if it is mentioned anywhere else or not.
https://www.modeemi.fi/~fey/DD3/calendar_GH.html
It is indeed on the 5th per this calendar.
"5th= Turning of the Shebbear Stone. Commemorates the feats of Shebbear, a famous Oeridian hero of awesome strength; also a way of clearing the land. The largest stone on the property is rolled once toward the west. This holiday produces many injuries, just in time for..."
I'm continually amazed by the real world rituals that get appropriated for Greyhawk. I believe I tied this one in to Cranzer's surrender as the timing was right and it was nicely symbolic of Cranzer's might having rolled over the BK during the war. I was unaware of the real world ritual, very cool.
1) ...I think Anna gets the town's location wrong on her map, it should be very close to Rookroost. However, I think I advocated for putting Rookroost directly on the river as it doesn't make sense for me where it was originally placed (large cities tend to evolve on running sources of fresh water, imo). That may be why she moved Artonsbrueck...
-Arrgh! I didn't even think to check Anna's maps!
I agree that it's more likley to be near the Artonsamay, but Fate of Istsus already explained it by basing it on a hill fort that grew for some reason. I try not to contravene canon if I can avoid it.
But to illustrate how much I subconsciously agreed with you, I offer the following:
When creating his first Flanaess PC, one player wanted to start out from the "run-downriver district part" of Greyhawk City (probably either the Wharf, Shack Town, or maybe River Quarter). Due to the nature of the scenario, I wanted her (the PC) to start in the BK, with the possibility of moving to Greyhawk later. So I suggested that she come from river quarter of Rookroost... I had to go back and change it to Stoink. So much for my mastery of the Flanaess!
Have you told Anna about Artonsbrueck's mislocation? She's always happy to modify the map. Work in progress, and all that!
aurdraco wrote:
2) Wraithkeep isn't really discussed in canon that much (unless I missed it in the Gord the Rogue novels). I figured it must have been an important part of the Duchy of the Artonsamay so, in my unfinished BK Gazateer, I decided to make it the former home of the Duchy's capital, Castle Artonsamay...
-Thought so.
aurdraco wrote:
Not sure if Duke Gellor's realm is described that much in the Gord books, I was planning on double checking for this project...
-Not the first two books. Gellor is described as an officer in the security establishments of several countries (or maybe he just poses as one). I was thinking of making him one of the PC's instructor. (I assume that Gord's compadre is a closely named brother or cousin of the duke- the names are close enough to be the same, just written slightly differently, or they could be a family that sticks to name themes; I went with the latter).
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Canonfire! is a production of the Thursday Group in assocation with GREYtalk and Canonfire! Enterprises
