Postfest XV: All Dried Out

"In the great peaceful theocracy of Veluna, lies a small town named Shandalanar.
A land who has known peace almost from its simple beginnings. This resurrected old miners town sports fertile soil and a peace loving people. When one of the farmers sons is arrested for stealing drinks at the local tavern its big news. Unfortunately for the people of Shandalanar things are about to get much more grim."

Continuing with Canonfire's latest postfest of articles is a sidetrek adventure written by someone who is not a stranger to postfests, Argon. His entry is entitled All Dried Out and it's such a fully realized mini-adventure that it required two separate postings! This sidetrek set in the peaceful land of Veluna is a perfect setting for this twisted horror-story. Argon spares no detail with his colorfully descriptive text, full creature stat blocks and even a couple utility maps! This two-part article is perfect for any DM wanting to inject a little creepy low-level (4-6 characters of 1st to 2nd level) horror into their new campaign. Check it out!

READ PART ONE OF ALL DRIED OUT

READ PART TWO OF ALL DRIED OUT

Sea Princes Campaign #6: Who Nabbed Who?

Welcome back to the continuing voyages of the Bird of Prey and its eccentric crew from the Hold of the Sea Princes. Last we saw, fresh off a crocodile hunting expedition on the Amedio Coast, they had finally landed at their destination of Narisban in the Olman Isles to trade goods. At the Last Respite tavern, Captain Rennaud "The Blackguard" encountered an old family friend among the serving girls, named Anna. Unfortunately he wasn't the only one making eyes at her....here is the dramatis personae for this session:

Victor Emmitt Hammond (fighter, teeth-breaker)

Araxo Tydan (rogue, deal-maker)
Cuahtehmoc aka "Cuahto" (ranger, leg-staker)
Brother "Pickles" (cleric, man-shaker)

 

Some scurrilous crewman of the trade-ship Bluesprite recognized poor Anna (whose hair was dyed deep black) as a runaway from Sasserine wanted by a wealthy family. Captain Rennaud tried to stand them down with an intimidating show of his allies. Vic, ever the gallant, then jumped upon the bar and kicked in the teeth of one who dared to lay a hand on Anna. On the verge of a barfight, the crew of the Hideous (Crimson Fleet enemies of the Bird of Prey) ducked out. Fortunately the Bluespriters weren't brave enough to fight back and they left (sans several teeth).

 

Captain Rennaud explained to the PCs that their ship would be changing course, now going on a side trip to Sasserine before returning to Port Torvin. He intended to take Anna home. It turned out she is of the Taskerhill noble family (know for their jungle lumbering company) and had fled to parts unknown with a couple friends to avoid an arranged marriage with a rival house, the Bevenins. The Bevenin family, is known in Sasserine for their prosperous business, the Amedio Trading Concern. With all that money an outstanding reward has been out for her return for some time. In the few years Anna Taskerhill had been hiding out in the hinterlands of civilization (where she managed to learn the Olman tongue), her two friends had met untimely deaths, leaving her unprotected and alone. With encouragement from Cpt. Rennaud she decided it was time to go home and face the music.

 

The captain had to leave and prepare the ship for departure, and he left the PCs behind at the bar, to guard her and escort her to the ship after it closed (for he didn't want the owner to know she was skipping out). Not surprisingly the crew of the Bluesprite were waiting in the shadows to grab her too. Figuring something like this would happen Mr. Hammon went with her to her room upstairs to pack (no time for love though) and sneak out the side exit. The others left out the front to cause a distraction and spotted the would be abductors, including one with missing teeth. That's when things got real ugly.

 

Brother Pickles always reckless and unafraid of pain charged in to tie up one of the four sailors. Cuahto in a flash was at his side and axed one down with his deadly obsidian edged weapon. This prompted the rest to draw their cutlasses in a panic. That's when first-mate Araxo, guarding the rear, yelled for them to press gang the louts and bring them back to their ship! (a quite original idea in my opinion) Victor and Anna took off in a sprint away from the fight to get to the docks, but one of the four saw them. This forced Araxo to jump in and try and head him off.

 

Pickles and his opponent, the man with missing teeth, slapped and tussled for position in a grapple, while Cuahto turned his weapon sideways like a cricket bat to subdue his foe. The guy fended off the brutal blows and inexpertly swung his cutlass back at the assailing Olman. Araxo wasn't faring much better, and after a couple failed swings of his rapier, the sailor dodged past him and ran off in the direction Victor and Anna had fled. Then in a twist of heroism, Mr. Tydan gave chase to the chaser!

 

Victor looking back could see someone gaining on them, so in his usual swashbuckling manner, he decided to scoop up the young woman and carry her on down the street. Araxo managed to gain on the thug and they stopped for breath to resume their fencing match. While Brother Pickles continued to roll on the ground trading elbows and choke-out moves, Cuahto finally batted his opponent unconscious. Things were going bad for Araxo then, his good shirt had a slice through it and he was wearing down, that's when he tried to bluff his way into getting the man to surrender. He didn't buy the intimidating threat of an archer in the shadows. That's when Cuahto switched to his bow and sent an arrow past the man's ear from 200 feet out.

 

Pickles finally completed the sleeper hold on "toothless" and by then Vic and their charge were home free for the Bird of Prey. Convinced of the archer's presence, the last standing sailor tried to make a run for it. Araxo called again for his capture, so Cuahto aimed for the leg, and hit! Too bad for the man, the arrow critically hit a major vein and he died. With two surviving NPCs in their hands, the bodies were pilfered of odds and ends and then taken back to the Bird of Prey to be pressed into an oath of service to the Blackguard. It seems the would-be abductors will get to go with Anna to Sasserine after all!

 

Campaign notes: I have a map I've been working on for the "south-seas" setting I'm running. When it's done, I think you'll all be blown away. It might be my masterpiece. Also, I broke out one of my favorite 1st edition articles for the pilfering of the sailor's bodies: "Was it Worth the Risk" by Bruce Barber in Dragon Mag #104. I may write about that one someday, it is still the best system to use for pick pocketing and such.

Update 4/12/2021: No real update, just a comment that the South Seas map mentioned does end up being my most well-known map. Good times. 

GH Comic #307: The Graz'zt Show

There isn't much good on T.V. during the summer season, so you have to flip around on the channels a bit more. Eventually, if you search far enough down the hundreds of listings you'll find....

CLICK HERE TO TUNE IN!

Postfest XV: Pyert

"An unassuming shop in a quiet town. A pleasant young man. A less than noble lord. A personal hurt that must be salved."

As noted a week ago, the Greyhawk fansite, Canonfire held a "postfest" on the theme of Greyhawk Lairs and Sidetreks. This week's sidetrek, Pyert is by Ragr, who also wrote the fiction piece, The Knot for Canonfire not long ago. Pyert is a cleverly written bit of drama for players to get involved with. The intrigue and agenda behind the humble character of Pyert brings to my mind the gritty, realistic-fantasy of the Game of Thrones series on HBO. Ragr makes good use of his Greyhawk material, including the 2nd edition sourcebook the Marklands, yet this easy to insert sidetrek could work for virtually any medieval domain a DM uses. Enjoy!

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

New Prediction For Future Greyhawk

A few weeks ago I was pointed out to the map for Wizards' upcoming boardgame, Conquest of Nerath. Set in the new "D&D Core World", this game contains some board spaces named after classic Greyhawk modules, such as the Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain and Vault of the Drow. I didn't pay much heed to it at first, since these modules have been rehashed to the point where they are now generic enough to work in any world, not just the World of Greyhawk. So this game got no rise out of me, but weeks later, I stumbled upon this editorial by Bill Slavicsek in the recent eDragon #399 (wow one away from 400, sigh!) that talked about Conquest of Nerath and it got the gears in my head turning. For good or ill, this could very well be a sneak peek at the future of Greyhawk (and the past in a twisted way).

Conquest of Nerath is part of Wizards "Adventure System" boardgame line that includes Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon and the soon to come Legend of Drizzt. Nerath is essentially a world war strategy game akin to Risk or Axis & Allies:

"Muster armies of footsoldiers, siege engines, monsters, and dragons to attack your enemies. Fight across the waves with fleets of warships and raging elementals. Plunder ancient dungeons with bands of mighty heroes, searching for magical artifacts and awesome treasures that might tip the scales of battle in your favor. The fate of empires is in your hands!"

I like a good wargame, no big deal there. Here's a big deal to Slaviscek as he writes in his article:

"In addition to the traditional trappings of a strategic war game, Conquest of Nerath includes a new element that makes it a uniquely D&D experience. As you can see from the above illustration, the board contains dungeon spaces scattered across the world. These add an exciting option that changes every time you play. As you build armies and send them out to crush your opponents, the dungeons make possible another kind of strategy. You can recruit heroes and send them into the dungeons to find treasure and magic items to help you win the game—provided you can defeat the monsters waiting there."

Sounds decent right? Well sorry Bill, the system may be new, but this element was done before in another world war strategy boardgame called....Greyhawk Wars! That's the blast from the past, now back to the present:

"...in addition to our ongoing efforts to provide the best RPG products we can, D&D R&D is hard at work looking for new, fun experiences to engage fans everywhere. Conquest of Nerath and the Adventure System games are just the beginning. We’re experimenting with games for younger fans, Euro-style board games, and other fun ideas that take the D&D brand to places it’s never been before."

FYI, Euro-style boardgames (or Eurogames) such as The Settlers of Catan are very popular and Wizards apparently wants to emulate that. For example at Gencon 2010, Catan had booth space in the exhibition hall that rivalled or probably exceeded that of Wizards. This my friends, may be Greyhawk's direction in the coming years. Since 4th edition's launch, fans have speculated endlessly on when Greyhawk might get its turn at a new setting update and how it might be undertaken (such as Forgotten Realm's world-shattering changes). All the while, Wizards has slowly been ramping up its collectable card game and boardgame lines, which puts the brand more in line with what parent company, Hasbro is familiar with. Ravenloft has already been passed over for an RPG setting book in favor of the boardgame treatment, and now R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt is going to give the Realms a big boardgame presence in October. In my opinion, a rich setting such as Greyhawk can easily derive enough content to spawn a complex boardgame akin to Settlers of Catan (plus expansions) and Wizards R&D knows it.

The added benefit for Wizards going this route is people don't grumble about boardgames like they do RPG settings (unless those boardgames affect the RPG like Greyhawk Wars did). So by turning Greyhawk into a self-contained complex boardgame like Castle Ravenloft, you draw in board game enthusiasts (many of which may know little GH at all), and you'll snare the long time Greyhawk community from all the varied edition crowds, because to put it bluntly, we are suckers for new Greyhawk stuff.

Does this mean the Greyhawk setting may never see any RPG update if it goes the boardgame route? Not necessarily. The core world of D&D seen in Conquest of Nerath is the same place they'll continue to use for 4th edition splat books, articles and future D&D Encounters events. A self-contained Greyhawk boardgame could very well run along with an RPG treatment the same way Greyhawk Wars was meant to complement From the Ashes back in 2nd edition. Anything could happen at that point. Mind you, this isn't how I hope things turn out, it's just my newest prediction before Wizards announces their 2012 products in August.

Update 4/11/2021: I had to remove the broken link to the articles and products described in this old post because Wizards is not proud enough of 4E to archive that stuff. Except the Nerath boardgame is still available on Wizards. Odd.  Or maybe the boardgame line didn't do so well, so they don't sell them anymore? I dunno.

Postfest XV: Sanctigaard and the Demesne of Sir Xaris

Every so often the Greyhawk fansite, Canonfire does a "postfest" where contributors old and new alike can submit an original article based on a posted theme. This winter's theme was Greyhawk Lairs and Sidetreks. The first article of this postfest is now up on the frontpage, entitled Sanctigaard and the Demesne of Sir Xaris ab Yustin. This is the second article by Sir Xaris, building on his namesake character from last year's postfest, the paladin Sir Xaris the Unabashed, Proclaimer of Truth, Defender of Right, Bane of the Wicked.

Sir Xaris writes: "Ever needed a higher level base of operations for your characters than the Keep on the Borderlands?  Welcome to Sanctigaard, Eastboro, and the Demesne of Sir Xaris!  If your campaign is pre-Greyhawk Wars, your heroes can use this village as a base from which to make assaults upon the humanoids and other mysteries of the Pomarj.  If you wish to incorporate the Greyhawk Wars into your campaign, Castle Sanctigaard is a great place for your characters to make their last stand in an Alamo-like finish.  If you simply need a new and exciting NPC benefactor for your PCs, this is the place."

When Sir Xaris says high level base of operations he isn't kidding (Sir Xaris' warhorse Gonfalon is mighty in his own right). Give this postfest article a look, because it follows through on all the promises in the blurb and more.

Read the Article Here.

The End is Nigh!

I'm sure I don't need to tell any one this news, and by now it may be too late, but there are some who predict that today will usher in the end of the world....of Greyhawk! Yes, there is no better time than now, to "enrapture" you by looking back on one of the worst executed ideas in the history of Greyhawk canon. The Doomgrinder by Steve Miller, is part three of the Lost Tombs series. Published in 1998, this module followed up on hooks originated in From the Ashes, about an apocalyptic stone windmill near Greyhawk City. What was once a quirky, mysterious place with potential, became a ridiculous campaign-altering blemish on the setting. Those who have read or played the Doomgrinder, you have my sympathies, for those who know little about it, I won't spoil it in case you want to wreck your Greyhawk campaign yourself someday. Until then I'm willing to share some common knowledge and rumors about the Doomgrinder with you. Enjoy!

"What Everyone Knows About the Doomgrinder"

• Doomgrinder stands in an exceptionally fertile valley east of the Cairn Hills. The structure looks like a windmill made entirely of black stone. Even its sails are stone.
• No one knows who built the structure or why.
• On an irregular basis- every few years or so- the stone sails move. When they do, there's always a massive lightning storm. sometimes the ground moves.
• Lots of people think that Doomgrinder indicates the approach of the world's end. When one of the sails reaches its zenith, the world will end.
• Doomgrinder's sails only have to move one more time before one reaches the zenith.

"Doomgrinder Rumors" (my favorite picks)

• Doomgrinder is home to fairy folk, who steal children and teach them foul magic.
• The Circle of Eight knows how to stop the Doomgrinder, but they are going to let Oerth be destroyed so they can gain more power!
• When Doomgrinder reaches its zenith, Vecna will rise again and take dominion over Oerth!
• Doomgrinder was built by Zagig the Mad Archmage...when it's done, the entire world will be shifted into his dimension of madness.
•  Iggwilv has returned to Oerth, and reclaimed her old seat of power - Doomgrinder!
• Doomgrinder was built by invaders from another world.
• Rary knows the truth about Doomgrinder. That's why he turned against the Circle of Eight years ago.

Those all sound pretty cool, yeah? Well my advice to DMs then is to take this information from the module above and make it your own. As Greyhawk publications go, the Doomgrinder is best "left behind."