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Who likes Keoland?
Not the Sea Princes! |
A funny thing happened on the way to starting my weekly
Mutants & Masterminds game: a
Greyhawk campaign broke out. Sure, my long-running super-hero campaign was winding down and we had already discussed what our next M&M campaign would be after that, but in no way was I expecting such a change in direction for the Wednesday game. Some how, some way my friends spontaneously started
agreeing with one another on an idea for a new Greyhawk campaign. I had got burnt out with running
D&D entirely after
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk and the
Age of Worms Adventure Path. Before that I had ran
Maure Castle plus a bit of
Epic Level stuff and played in the
Savage Tide AP. So when
4th edition came out, I stubbornly held out and took it as an opportunity to go into semi-retirement from DMing. Since then I have started
playing 4th edition and I've even toyed with running D&D with M&M rules (It's not the same). Truthfully, beyond writing and drawing about Greyhawk, I had a gut feeling I wouldn't get much call for running Greyhawk ever again. Gladly I was wrong. After this week I am stoked and ready to get back on the Greyhawk horse.
The deliberations were quite good. The guys were more focused than they've been in months in fact, and in the end we decided to go with core
3.5 edition. They asked me which region of the
World of Greyhawk I've never ran a campaign in and the first thing that popped in my head was
Keoland and the
Hold of the Sea Princes. A coastal based game in the Hold has something for everyone because its located near every imaginable type of terrain, it's a launching off point for so many other ports of call including the unexplored south seas, plus there is ample chance for courtly intrigue. Oh yes, and everyone loves pirates. No mega-dungeons here.
The added incentive for the players of this "Sea Prince campaign" is that I am going to try and document their exploits in this blog. I'm not positive it'll work, but after reading
Joe Bloch's campaign reports at
Greyhawk Grognard, I think having readers comment on the game will give my players a new reason to take pride in the development of their characters and the story. It's still early though. Nothing is set in stone. Once I have more details I'll report on it, for now I still have a super-hero campaign to finish up...
Update 4/8/2021: I had to remove a broken link to Bloch's old blog site which I couldn't find on his new one. It doesn't affect the post however.
You are, as usual, too kind. I'm just glad you're reading the campaign journals!
ReplyDeleteI wish you nothing but the best in your new Sea Princes campaign! I once did a campaign there, for much the same reasons you site. Although as far as megadungeons go, don't forget that just to the northwest, in the Hellfurnaces, lie a few hundred miles of tunnels leading from a certain Fire Giant's lair...
I for one find these sorts of 'campaign journals' very compelling, and would greatly look forward to reading yours. I have been 'retired' from active play now for almost 15 years, but still enjoy the discussion, both online and with my kids (who I infected over the years). I wish there had been this sort of community sharing available when I was more actively creating for the genre than now. I can't imagine it not being helpful in creating a more fun experience for my players and I. As far as a Sea Princes / Keoland setting goes; it seems intriguing to me, but I've always thought the setting was at BEST a help in creating a fun and thoughtful game, the burden does still primarily lie on your shoulders (which from reading your work seem fit to bear such a burden), so I say go for it!
ReplyDeleteMort, I'm glad to say I played a part in recharging your GH batteries. Aside from a bump or two on game night and not one actual minute of M&M playing time, I'm glad we could get something done and actually agree on something. I'm still amazed that EVERYONE agreed to roll 3d6 straight down the line AND keep what they rolled.
ReplyDeleteI am also stoked. I look forward to claiming the throne of Keoland. ;)
Yeah, 3d6 down the line after years of high point buy characters... These are going to be some motley characters indeed. Good thing they're pirates.
ReplyDeleteNot so much motley (as I recall, charisma was the highest rolled stat for most of us), but surly... that's more like it.
ReplyDeleteP.S. This was an attempt at coercing Mort into revisiting the epic level campaign. I threatened him... saying that I would stop running 4ed if he would start running Greyhawk again and if he didn't, I would tell everyone who read this blog that he chose 4ed over Greyhawk.
I guess I'm going to have to start looking into another game for out Monday nights.
I'm intrigued and curious to see what you do with the Sea Princes... the cool thing about campaign journals (for me at least) is seeing what I can plunder from another person's game for my own.
ReplyDeleteBring on the Greyhawkian pirates.
It's about time! Whew! Glad to hear it Mort! Sounds like you guys are going to have a great time!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should move? Mwahahaha!
Looking forward to reading your posts on the campaign. It's going to be great!
Mystic Scholar