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    Canonfire :: View topic - new campaign
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    new campaign
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    Journeyman Greytalker

    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 157
    From: luseland, sask

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    Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:13 pm  
    new campaign

    A year has hopefully eased the pain of demise at the eyes of the beholder and in about a month we will be starting the U series. I have been working on the town of saltmarsh and am looking for a few ideas. First off there are 5 temples in the town. What level cleric do you think will be looking after things?
    Second there are two inns and a tavern. Any ideas for who is staying in the inns or drinking in the taverns. I am gonna stock with a number of npcs that will join the party but i am looking for a little more exotic and interesting characters.

    The year is 576 CY of course. 1st edition AD&D.

    Also thanks to canonfire for the awsome map of saltmarsh.
    GreySage

    Joined: Jul 26, 2010
    Posts: 2695
    From: LG Dyvers

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    Sun Oct 11, 2015 10:50 pm  

    I suggest that the NPCs be kept to 3rd level or lower - maybe a single, extremely exceptional individual as high as 5th.

    Since your campaign is beginning in 576, Saltmarsh isn't anything more than a backwater thorpe. It won't expand until after the Greyhawk Wars when Keoland takes notice. So, there really isn't much of a reason for any high-level NPCs to be there (unless you really want a 15th level retired adventurer to be hiding there under an alias to live out the rest of his life in peaceful obscurity).

    To make it interesting, I will suggest that you make one of the temples to a sea deity be staffed by a cleric of an aquatic race: Merman, Aquatic Elf, Locatha, Triton, or even one of the more esoteric races from Stormwrack or those from Golarion, if you are using the Pathfinder rules.

    SirXaris
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    Journeyman Greytalker

    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 157
    From: luseland, sask

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    Mon Oct 12, 2015 5:00 am  

    the npcs will all be first level from the back of the u1 module. As for the size of saltmarsh the module suggests using a village of 2000 people which is more than a thorpe i think. Thats another reason the cononfire map is so good with its five temples.
    The azure harbor is a temple of ospreum and could be staffed by a cleric of an aquatic race. Thanks for the suggestion.

    Not sure i will have any high level npcs. I thought maybe a couple 5-7 level with the mayor being one of them. Do you think most clerics in charge of a temple to their god are at least fifth level?
    GreySage

    Joined: Jul 26, 2010
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    From: LG Dyvers

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    Mon Oct 12, 2015 7:28 am  

    mcneilk wrote:
    the npcs will all be first level from the back of the u1 module. As for the size of saltmarsh the module suggests using a village of 2000 people which is more than a thorpe i think. Thats another reason the cononfire map is so good with its five temples.


    I stand corrected on that point. I mis-remembered it.

    Quote:
    Do you think most clerics in charge of a temple to their god are at least fifth level?


    It depends on the size of the temple, the size of the local population, the amount of pilgrims that come to that particular temple every year, the specifics of your campaign, etc.

    Personally, I'd keep the number of higher level PCs to a minimum - else your PCs aren't all that special, they're just small fish in a small pond with plenty of bigger fish, not just in the larger ponds (like the City of Greyhawk), but in every small pond, too. Your players will also be more impressed upon meeting a higher level PC if they are few and far between. Wink

    SirXaris
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    Grandmaster Greytalker

    Joined: Jul 09, 2003
    Posts: 1358
    From: Tennessee, between Ft. Campbell & APSU

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    Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:03 am  
    Re: new campaign

    mcneilk wrote:
    ... I have been working on the town of saltmarsh and am looking for a few ideas.

    The year is 576 CY of course. 1st edition AD&D...


    FWIW, I'm setting it in 579. I'm taking the layout in the D&D 3.5 PHB II (which you might not have access to) and backdating it to account for changes since 579.

    SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT...................
    In 579, Ned Shakeshaft is assumed to have survived, and has moved up a little since his appearance in Sinister Sceret of Saltmarsh...
    I just found a slightly different take on his destiny: http://www.canonfire.com/cfnew/modules.php?name=News&file=article&thold=-1&mode=flat&order=0&sid=512
    END SPOILER ALERT.........................
    Grandmaster Greytalker

    Joined: Nov 07, 2004
    Posts: 1846
    From: Mt. Smolderac

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    Mon Oct 12, 2015 10:56 am  

    I'm with SirXaris as far as keeping the levels of NPCs down to about 3rd with an exceptional 5th here and there. Sounds like you have the temples covered. As far as the inns, my assumption is that despite Keoland's official foreign policy toward the Sea Princes, Saltmarsh has some ties with some of the shadier elements that operate out of that state with the possibility of spies and other intriguers representing the Sea Prince's interests in the village. That's alongside all the local shady characters. Those could be possible NPC's in the inns. I play Saltmarsh in 576 as being a bit bigger than what canon indicates though, so this may not work with your conception of it.
    GreySage

    Joined: Sep 09, 2009
    Posts: 2470
    From: SW WA state (Highvale)

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    Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:13 pm  

    Dude, I wanna play! Happy I have fond memories of the U series, at least from a DM's perspective...don't remember if I ever played it as a PC, but it is one of those classic 'old school' adventures. And if you can't play 2e, 1e is my next fave edition. Cool It does my heart good to see people are still dusting off the adventures from the good old days when WoG was still developing in its burgeoning infancy.

    OK, to the point of your post.

    I initially thought that Saltmarsh was set in the Hold of the Sea Princes, but that is not true. U1 states it is situated at the very far southeastern part of Keoland just below the Dreadwood, on the borders of the Hool Marshes. This will influence the culture and religious bent of your township (yes, at around 2000 inhabitants, a decent-sized place indeed). Not only do I own all three of the U series modules, but also the original boxed set, "From the Ashes," and "The Living Greyhawk Gazeteer." My suggestions are based off research from those sources.

    As to the Top 5 picks for your temples/churches (in no order), I would offer the following based on the location of Saltmarsh on the coast, and that it is found in Keoland:
    1) St Cuthbert: appeals to the lawful bent of Keoland, and to the common man...there are plenty of them in a 'small' sleepy fishing village; the module says that the people are law-abiding and just
    2) Osprem: fishermen, located on the coast, lawful society... 'nuff said?
    3) Xerbo: see above, but with a mercantile bent
    4) Norebo: why not a gambling hall for all those sailors???
    5) Zilchus? mainly for those who conduct trade to/from the ocean into the depths of the Kingdom

    I'd say it would be fine to have churches administered by clerics of 7th lvl (or slightly higher) if they are prominent and have a lot of financial, political, and local power. Smaller temples/churches could be administered by someone of lower level, of course.

    I wish you well and hope you and your players have a lot of fun! You have also placed yourself in a strategic area to launch future campaigns in any number of "close" modules, including "The Sentinel" and "The Gauntlet" (Yeomanry, I think), SirXaris' favorite module "The Keep on the Borderlands" (technically also set in the Yeomanry) or its updated version "Return to the Keep...", "Against the Cult of the Reptile God" is further inland (Keoland/Gran March border) or even one of my other favorites, the A series against the SlaveLords of the Pomarj.

    Great Stuff.

    -Lanthorn, Living Vicariously
    GreySage

    Joined: Jul 26, 2010
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    From: LG Dyvers

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    Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:26 am  

    Lanthorn wrote:
    You have also placed yourself in a strategic area to launch future campaigns in any number of "close" modules, including "The Sentinel" and "The Gauntlet" (Yeomanry, I think), SirXaris' favorite module "The Keep on the Borderlands" (technically also set in the Yeomanry) or its updated version "Return to the Keep...", "Against the Cult of the Reptile God" is further inland (Keoland/Gran March border) or even one of my other favorites, the A series against the SlaveLords of the Pomarj.

    Great Stuff.


    Note also, that Agnosco Adventum, a mid-level (8th - 12th) mostly undersea adventure from the Canonfire! Chronicles, Issue #1 is located on the tip of the Amedian Peninsula not too far south. Wink

    SirXaris
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    Journeyman Greytalker

    Joined: Sep 22, 2012
    Posts: 157
    From: luseland, sask

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    Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:04 pm  

    smillan_31 wrote:
    I As far as the inns, my assumption is that despite Keoland's official foreign policy toward the Sea Princes, Saltmarsh has some ties with some of the shadier elements that operate out of that state with the possibility of spies and other intriguers representing the Sea Prince's interests in the village.


    i like that description and being a relative newb to greyhawk and especially Keoland and area i read the '83 guide some more. The hold of the sea princes seemed pretty benign other than slavery and the prince of monmurg wanted to abolish it. Read on the Yeomanry which sounded like an interesting upstanding moral place. Started looking at some of the hills and marshes etc surrounding saltmarsh.
    Dreadwood had this "it is suspected that the sea princes are in collusion with certain bandits and humanoid bands that creep through the dreadwood on their way to raid Keoland and the Yeomanry." And there it was. The HOOK. Awsome thanks smillan.
    Black Hand of Oblivion

    Joined: Feb 16, 2003
    Posts: 3835
    From: So. Cal

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    Wed Oct 14, 2015 2:12 am  

    mcneilk wrote:
    The hold of the sea princes seemed pretty benign other than slavery and the prince of Monmurg wanted to abolish it.

    The Hold of the Sea Princes is a nation built by pirates, and though many of those former pirates have become merchants and explorers, they still remain a mostly immoral bunch. It is not so benign a place as to be finding sponges of oddly uniform shape wearing breeches and living in pineapples under the sea, or anything. Wink It isn't quite "The Bandit Kingdoms, but with ships" either, but it is still a relatively seedy place, having a main regional alignment of True Neutral/Chaotic Neutral. Though it may have been on track to become other than that, the chance to pursue that course was taken away by the Scarlet Brotherhood. Whether you play pre- or post-Greyhawk Wars, what that leaves a DM with is a place where anything might happen. PCs might run into evil, neutral, or even good people, though the good people will be very much in the minority in such a morally questionable place.
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    Grandmaster Greytalker

    Joined: Nov 07, 2004
    Posts: 1846
    From: Mt. Smolderac

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    Wed Oct 14, 2015 9:29 am  

    mcneilk wrote:
    Dreadwood had this "it is suspected that the sea princes are in collusion with certain bandits and humanoid bands that creep through the dreadwood on their way to raid Keoland and the Yeomanry." And there it was. The HOOK. Awsome thanks smillan.


    You're welcome! Also, ditto to Cebrion's response.
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