Dread Rings of Thay - Brainstorming

Dread Rings of Thay

Why?

Ever since I bought the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide and read about Szass Tam's dread rings I have wanted to put together a campaign based around it. In addition, the above picture - originally the cover of 3.5E's Unapproachable East - just screams out to be the cover art for a campaign.

Also, a few months ago I bought the Neverwinter Campaign Setting and saw how the authors used a dread ring to great effect there. I want to use that as inspiration for my own campaign but base it in Rashemen.

I should also add that this is more or less a placeholder: I'm waiting for a DDi article on Rashemen to be released later this year.

Brainstorming

Guidelines

1. The campaign will run for the Heroic tier.
2. I would like to include Szass Tam despite his Epic status. I am thinking of taking a lich vestige (a minion of about 26th-level) and turning that into a solo artillery of around 11th- or 12th-level.

Red Hand of Doom

My first thought is using 3.5E's Red Hand of Doom as a model. Of course, rather than goblins and their ilk there would be lots of undead. Nevertheless, the armies of Thay also include living troops such as gnolls and orcs.

The Fane of Tiamat section could be replaced by a dread ring directly controlled by a lich vestige of Szass Tam himself.

Other than those thoughts, I am waiting to see what the forthcoming DDi article on Rashemen might inspire to ensure that it feels like the campaign is taking place in that mysterious land.