Starter Set Sandbox 19 - The City of Neverwinter

For some strange reason, the city of Neverwinter was never properly mapped in an RPG product until 4E's Neverwinter Campaign Setting, and it was really only described in Volo's Guide to the North and then The North boxed set (the latter product was essentially a copy-and-paste version of the former).

It was, however, subsequently mapped and described in the original Neverwinter Nights and the CRPG's strategy guide(s). That means that there is not a lot of canon material - and in my version of the Realms, I avoid the CRPGs, in the main, as a source of canon - to draw upon but Volo's Guide, in particular, gives a few great ideas from the pre-Spellplague era that can complement the great job WotC did with the Neverwinter Campaign Setting.

This is the final post in my Starter Set sandbox series and is, clearly, long overdue. At first the delay was caused by my desire to finish my first Neverwinter campaign but then the combination of Third World internet and a new baby kept me from returning to blogging... especially when I also knew that this was going to be an extremely long post. I suspect I will also have to go back and edit this post because most of it was typed in 2015 so some of the links and whatnot may no longer work.

   

If you haven't read any of the other posts in this series, the <table of contents can be found here>. The 5E Starter Set tag will also pull up a list of all the posts, but not as conveniently as the ToC. And if this post is too long, just buy Volo's Guide to the North and steal all your Neverwinter adventure ideas from that book. :)

Neverwinter: Ruins of Adventure

While TSR may have been horribly managed, one thing it was able to do that WotC doesn't look it's ever going to be able to do is to find good partners to produce CRPGs. Of course, that was back in the days when computer games were relatively small time, and not part of an industry that (apparently?) exceeds studio films with respect to revenues (although the Marvel films may have changed that).

The first of the so-called Gold Box games was Pool of Radiance which also had a related D&D adventure published called FRC1 Ruins of Adventure. I had intended to post a link to the PDF on dndclassics.com but, for some strange reasons, it isn't there. Odd. That said, as with all of the TSR adventures and thanks to WotC's stupidity in pulling PDFs from sale for about five years, it's only a Google search away. The link is to the Wikipedia page instead. Also, the Wikipedia article notes that the CRPG was based on the tabletop adventure and not the other way around. Interesting.

The adventure's structure is simple: the city of Phlan and the surrounding region are divided up into regions/districts/locations/what have you and each of those regions/districts/locations/what have you includes one or more threats. The end of the adventure sees you fighting the final boss monster: a bronze dragon possessed by what might be referred to in 4E and 5E terms as an evil primordial.

Neverwinter

I find that this basic structure works really well with Neverwinter and you can see echoes of it in the Neverwinter Campaign Setting.  And this really long-winded introduction is basically my way of saying: this post turns Neverwinter into Ruins of Adventure with your PCs accepting quests (or motivating themselves) to clear various zones of the assorted riff-raff that make those zones unsafe for rebuilding by the new ruler of Neverwinter, whoever that may be.

Who Rules Neverwinter?

The Neverwinter Campaign Setting has Dagult Neverember, the Open Lord of Neverwinter, ruling Neverwinter as the Lord Protector and claiming some sort of blood-related link to the last (and maybe only) king of Neverwinter, Nasher Alagondar. That's definitely an option.

With my current Neverwinter campaign, I used Dagult but I made him a cultist of Graz'zt whose fortune was tied to his membership of the heretical cult of Graz'zt at the heart of the church of Waukeen. (In other words, in my version of the Realms, Waukeen remained Graz'zt's prisoner after the 2E era and the adventure For Duty & Deity never happened.)

If either the official Dagult Neverember or my cultist Dagult Neverember are not to your taste, you could also have Neverwinter ruled by a governor on behalf of the Lords' Alliance. This could work really well in the 5E era if you are using factions. (I hope to be starting another Neverwinter/Twilit Land campaign with a new group this year and I am planning to use this for that campaign... although I am actually thinking of having a council of five or so governors, not all of whom share the same objectives....)

If you're setting your campaign in the 5E era, which seems to be about a decade after the 4E era, another option is that the rightful Alagondar heir has been found and is now seeking to rebuild his or her city... and is likely also needing protections from assassins or whatnot.

On the subject of factions, I have been a fan of the Zhentarim since the OGB. A city like Neverwinter with coastal access and roads leading to Waterdeep and the Dessarin Valley would be attractive from the perspective of their trade interests: what if a Zhentarim pawn is Neverwinter's lord instead?

I suppose I could keep posting ideas - and I may edit some more in later - but I think it's important point to decide who is ruling Neverwinter and what his or her real motivations may be. Ideally, those motivations should also tie into elements of the background of one or more of the PCs.

If you're looking for inspiration about how to include politics in any campaign, I strongly recommend <this video> and <this video> by Matt Colville.

Who is the End Boss?

In the spirit of Ruins of Adventure, the idea of an end boss who is ultimately responsible for many of the threats that the city is facing is an attractive one. IMC, it was Graz'zt, or at least an aspect of Graz'zt, and that has worked out well so far in terms of inspiring various encounters and providing a link between various events that otherwise seem unrelated.

Do you want the same in your game?

The Zhentarim can, of course, fulfil such a role and I have already mentioned them in the previous section about who rules Neverwinter. If your game is going to draw on material from the Neverwinter MMORPG, then the ex-Arcane Brotherhood-and-now-Thayan lich Valindra Shadowmantle might prove to be suitable. My next campaign is likely to be focussed on the threat posted by the aboleth of The Chasm (see my notes below) which means it's going to feel a lot like 2E's Night Below and the aboleth are going to be the final boss monsters, plural.

What about the MMORPG?

I have never played games online so I don't know much about the Neverwinter MMORPG, per se; I have, however, used some of the YouTube videos, screenshots, and (most of all) concept art to provide visual cues for my Neverwinter campaign. I can recommend those and a couple of the concept art pieces are used in this post (including the one at the top).

I also imagine there are adventure/quest ideas that can be stolen from the Neverwinter walkthrough guides or wikias. (I remember strategy guides for the pre-online Blizzard games: does Neverwinter have one?)

What are the Zones?

Based on the map I posted above, these are the adventuring zones I have divided the city into:

• Blacklake District
• Castle Never
• The Chasm
• The Docks (not marked on the map but this is where you can see the Beached Leviathan and Driftwood Tavern)
• Fisher's Float
• Neverdeath
• Pirates' Skyhold
• Protector's Enclave
• River District (this is known as the Tower District in the MMORPG)
• Upland Rise

The rest of this post will provide some notes on opportunities and threats in each of these zones. I should also mention that the rest of this post will make more sense if you have access to 4E's Neverwinter Campaign Setting and 2E's Volo's Guide to the North but I will try and include enough material so you can make sense of my suggestions even if you have only one or neither.

Blacklake District

I may be tackling the zones in alphabetical order, but this is definitely a great place to start. Why? It has sewers and wererats, two staples of any urban D&D campaign or adventure.

Dealing with the wererats, of course, can easily become the primary focus of adventures in Blacklake District, but rival thieves' guilds can also play a part. IMC, I had a band of halflings down by the docks that was able to survive against the wererats in large part because their leader was a halfling vampire. (These were the Kneecappers. The vampire's attack involved knocking someone prone and then feeding from the femoral artery.)

Beyond combat, there is the problem of the Blacklake itself. It's a toxic mess and resettling the district really requires that the lake itself get a clean-up but how to do that? There's a relatively obscure nature deity in FR responsible for, inter alia, pure waters named Eldath. There's an even more obscure reference to a temple of hers in 2E's Prayers from the Faithful which places the Fastness of Green Shadows in the Neverwinter Wood.

What if the PCs are given a quest to cleanse Blacklake and told to seek out the Chaunteans of Upland Rise (see below) to ask their assistance in cleaning up the mess? The Chaunteans cannot help but point the PCs in the directions of the Eldathyn of the Fastness of Green Shadows. The Eldathyn are willing to help but, as committed pacifists, they are unable to deal with a problem that their temple is facing. If the PCs deal with that on behalf of the Eldathyn, they give/loan the PCs an Eldathyn relic which will clean Blacklake. (IMC, I would probably also require a ritual... and then have foul horrors hiding in Blacklake attack while the ritual is being performed. YMMV.)

Castle Never

Despite its prominence on the city map and in the art I showed my players on my laptop - oh, and the fact that it is also on the cover of the Neverwinter Campaign Setting - in 20+ sessions of our Neverwinter campaign they have never once asked a question about it or tried to explore it or even noticed that it was there.

Odd

They were greatly surprised when I used that as part of the campaign's story: basically, Castle Never became the focus of the ritual that Graz'zt was preparing and part of that ritual had the side-effect of causing people to essentially forget about the tower. It seems an in-game ritual had an out-of-game effect....

Megadungeon

As it is highly unlikely that other players would do the same thing, I won't recommend that idea for anyone else. 

Concept Art for Castle Never

What I would recommend, especially for anyone running 5E or (other) old school D&D/AD&D rules is that you turn it into a megadungeon. Assume the Red Wizards of Thay unleashed some evil magic there and go a bit wild in the traditions of, inter alia, Castle Greyhawk and The Ruins of Undermountain.

Such a megadungeon would be fairly undead-heavy in terms of encounters, but you could also have living Thayans conducting experiments, constructs they use as a guardians, weird magical effects that are the side-effects of Thayan experiments, summoned creatures that guard certain areas, and even orcs and gnolls that the Thayans have here as living guards.

Also, the Neverwinter Nine - Nasher Alagondar's legendary bodyguards - are entombed beneath Castle Never. Both the Neverwinter Campaign Setting and the MMORPG turn them into undead as a result of Thayan necromancy: go a step further and make them into death knights! Make the crypts of Castle Never a place to be really feared... but match the danger of the encounters with the best loot in true megadungeon style. <Link to Neverwinter Nine concept art.>

While my own campaigns are focussed on story and much small adventure locations, I still like the idea of Castle Never as a megadungeon in the tradition of, particularly, The Ruins of Undermountain because it offers players a chance to do "normal" D&D adventures even if only for a session or two. My own players sometimes need a break from plots and simply need to explore and fight for a session or so. 

(This actually motivated one of the best sessions of our Neverwinter campaign where they fought a large orc war band and balor in a canyon filled with tar pits. While I tied it in to an important plot point, it really was something they did because they just wanted to fight some orcs for a change. I even avoided orc spellcasters of any sort just to make it simpler... but I also threw in the balor because that's what evil DMs do.)

Similarly, after the smaller adventure locations of Lost Mine of Phandelver, in the main, perhaps your players might also be ready for an old school megadungeon?

The Chasm

It's fair to say that I love The Chasm: the idea of this rift leading down to the Underdark in the middle of a city is simply rife with adventure possibilities.

There is, of course, the challenge of simply getting to the bottom. What does that mean in your Neverwinter? In mine it meant using climbing harnesses and going down an earthmote then crossing the earthmote and repeating the process with the climbing harnesses. (This super-cautious approach was driven by the desire of the players to simply avoid any possibility of falling... but at the cost of time.)

If you choose the same set-up in your Neverwinter, are any of the earthmotes or similar horizontal platforms inhabited? An adventure like 3E's The Sunless Citadel would make sense in a place like The Chasm: perhaps the PCs spy the entrance on the way down or are attacked by the kobolds or goblins that lair in that place?

The primary question to answer, though, is this: What's at the bottom of The Chasm? In the Neverwinter Campaign Setting the answer was plaguechanged creatures including plaguechanged aboleth but I imagine a lot of 5E and other DMs don't want to touch the Spellplague.

I also went with plaguechanged creatures but the highlight for my group was The Sinister Spire. The Sinister Spire was one of the good 3.5E adventures published by WotC toward the end of that edition and, thus, sadly often overlooked.

Assuming I do run another Neverwinter campaign, I suspect I will actually use the Seven-Pillared Hall from 4E's H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth as I suspect I won't be using plaguechanged creatures again.

Anyway, aside from some sort of Underdark trading post, The Chasm is an easy introduction to the Underdark with a safe city only a short climb away. My players encountered troglodytes, aboleth, a gelatinous cube, giant bats, skum, and even dwarven guardian golems plus the drow-flavoured encounters of The Sinister Spire (drow, duergar, spiders, quaggoths etc...). I also threw in some more interesting areas - slaadi vs githzerai where the Elemental Chaos was "leaking" into Toril, hook horror nest, winged sword-armed thing hives etc... - but the PCs stayed with their primary mission and chose not to explore. Hopefully your players and my group will be more adventurous because The Chasm has the potential to be one of the major adventure locations in Neverwinter.

The Chasm V2

In the campaign that I ran in Neverwinter, my players inadvertently - and, to this day - unknowingly broke the elemental bindings that were holding a city of aboleth in the petrified state known as the Long Dreaming and described in 3.5E's Lords of Madness.

(The entire set-up - including the city's name of Golismorga - was stolen from an adventure in the Savage Tide adventure path from the pages of the physical Dungeon magazine. Credit where credit is due, and all that.)

The consequences of this mistake were never explored in that campaign but, if I ever return to Neverwinter, it's definitely going to be a major story arc.

To that end, I used my kindergarten-level Paint skills to fill the Chasm with water: Yes, I was going to make it very easy for the aboleth to have access to Neverwinter. I thought that I might run an adaptation the 3E adventure The Speaker in Dreams and replace the illithid BBEG with one or more aboleth from the now flooded city of Golismorga. I suspect 2E's Night Below boxed set could provide further inspiration for a major aboleth plot as well.

The Docks

So, you're new in Neverwinter and you need a place to stay. Where will that be? If money is tight, chances are you're going to start at the Docks as my PCs did. And the Beached Leviathan - see the picture to the left - is perfect for that because 1. there's a really good picture of it, 2. there are really good maps for it, and 3. there was a DDi article published for it describing it in detail. (And, yes, you do need to be a DDi subscriber to legally download that article... or you can just use Google and grab it anyway. And, no, I am not advocating piracy: I've actually grabbed DDi articles this way by mistake when I have forgotten to include the WotC site in my Google search.)

The Docks are a great place to start because they're a bit lawless. Press-gangs and pirates roam here, and it's the ideal place for an essentially consequence-free tavern brawl. Further, if sahuagin attack the city - always a good idea for a city on a coast if you're a DM - then they will naturally target the Docks.

I had a halfling gang led by a halfling wererat vampire terrorising the docks and I can heartily recommend something similar to any other DMs. The Dead Rats of Blacklake District (see above) may also have increased their influence in this area so wererats could be another threat.

But I think slavers and press-gangs are the way to go. That and a sahuagin attack at some point.

Fisher's Float

The fisherfolk can make a fun diversion which is certainly the way I ran this location in my campaign. Most fishermen I have ever met have been a little bit crazy – and that is not an insult! – largely because their job involves risking their lives in a way that few, even soldiers, would ever understand.

So I made it something of a party place with wagon races, gambling, and whatnot. But it was also a source of information about things on the Sword Coast.

I’m hoping to run another campaign in Neverwinter this year and I plan to reuse the crazed one-eyed dwarven fisherman I used in my last game but, this time, have him talk about the dwarven dungeons behind the cliff that faces Fisher’s Float. With a successful Perception check, the PCs will be able to see the last weathered remnants of dwarven carvings on the cliff which will hopefully lead them to investigate further. Sea level changes in the thousands of years since Haunghdannar was a living kingdom will mean that the entrance is now underwater. (I’ve wanted to include an underwater entrance to a dungeon for decades and I honestly don’t know why I haven’t done it yet!) My version of Haunghdannar makes it a dwarven realm focussed on the elements – based on some references to Madbeards in FR5 The Savage Frontier – so I would have the dungeon reflect that, possibly something inspired by the Temple of Elemental Evil but smaller in scale and with an actual elemental theme running through the dungeon.

As a fairly large earthmote, it would also make sense for Fisher’s Float to include a classic dungeon or two (or more). This might even be linked by portal to the dwarven dungeon behind the cliff face opposite the ‘Float thus providing another means of accessing that location. Perhaps this could be the starter adventure for a new campaign where the PCs are hired by the fisherfolk to come to the ‘Float and end the threat being posed by some creatures that have now found a way to the surface. Basic stuff, but it could be a nice starter adventure that can conclude with a wild wagon-racing party on the earthmote. The party is likely to be more memorable than the bog standard dungeon!

(I’m actually glad I returned to finishing this blog post because I think this idea of building a dwarven dungeon with an elemental theme between the mainland behind the cliff face and in the centre of the ‘Float, with the two parts linked by portal, is just the sort of starter adventure I am personally looking for. If I ever write it up, I may just have to link it here.)

Neverdeath

While Castle Never can be the site for high-level undead-flavoured adventures, the graveyards of Neverdeath should be suitable for low- and mid-level PCs to give them their first taste of fighting zombies, ghouls, and similar undead.

So, a graveyard in a D&D world is expected to have undead but the question becomes: Who or what is responsible for the undead?

Personally, I like the idea of a cult of Orcus setting up shop. This is not simply because of the link between Orcus and the undead, but because I have already mentioned my use of a cult of Graz’zt at the heart of the church of Waukeen with that cult controlling both the Waukeenar and Lord Neverember. Orcus is opposed to Graz’zt so his cult is here to also oppose the schemes of the Dark Prince. That could even lead to the foul necromantic cult in the middle of the graveyard becoming a key ally and source of information should the PCs decide to take on the cult of Graz’zt. I could even imagine a situation where the thralls of Orcus seek to parley in the middle of combat offering to trade the knowledge of the true source of Neverember’s power for the right to continue unhindered in the cemetery for a certain period of time. There’s nothing quite like a bit of abyssal intrigue to keep the players on their toes….

Of course, the cult is not only trying to thwart the schemes of Graz’zt but also buy time so they can complete their rituals to summon an aspect of Orcus who would lead their undead forces to conquer Neverwinter. Or something like that. It’s basic stuff but it still works.

I had an extensive maze of ghoul-dug tunnels beneath Neverdeath in my last campaign which I found made for an interesting, claustrophobic adventuring environment. It’s not something you would want to visit session after session but it made for a good “one off” adventure. It might be even more “interesting” if you include, say, a vampire’s tomb in the centre of the tunnels with said vampire not only wanting fresh blood but wanting to convert one or more PCs into vampire spawn.

Pirates' Skyhold

This became one of my favourite locations in the last campaign because it ended up being the party’s safe refuge. They met an eladrin cleric of Selûne, Lady Moonsilver, whom they never discovered was a dragon in disguise. Lady Moonsilver became their confidant and quest-giver motivated by her status as a follower of Selûne wanting to restore hope to Neverwinter and thus defeat the nihilistic goals of the followers of Shar. (While the Selûne vs Shar rivalry didn’t affect that campaign much, it was there in my background notes in case the PCs ended up investigating the lost flying city of Xinlenal in the Neverwinter Wood.)

Riffing off the “pirates” part of the location’s name, I also included a flying ship in the ruins on the earthmote. Unfortunately, the players forgot about it so it never became an actual part of the campaign but it’s definitely something I would use again making the titular pirates into sky pirates.

It’s also an obvious lair for any sort of flying creatures. I like the idea of harpies – aka sirens – because of their mythological roots as threats to sailors but wyverns – and just call them sea wyverns with a swim speed – would also work.

Another option that might work, depending on how high magic your game is, is that the Skyhold is a broken piece of the flying city of Xinlenal that crashed in the Neverwinter Wood. Somehow, this fragment was made to fly again and, somewhere in the ruins on the Skyhold’s surface, is a wizard’s tower where the controls to the Skyhold can be found. Of course, doing this would radically change your game when you have your PCs flying around the countryside on their own flying earthmote. (And just wait until they get the idea to send it crashing into the campaign’s biggest threat…!)

Protector's Enclave

At the beginning of this post I posed two fundamental questions for your Neverwinter campaign: Who rules Neverwinter? Who is the BBEG? These may inform how you approach Protector’s Enclave.

Of course, if you simply have Lord Neverember as the Lord Protector trying to do his best for “his” city, possibly with the support of the Lords’ Alliance, Protector’s Enclave becomes a largely safe place with higher end shops, well-policed by the Neverwinter Watch (I would model this on the Waterdeep Watch – source material is a Google search away or comment below), and dominated by one or more important temples. Pre-Spellplague Neverwinter’s Hall of Justice was a temple of Tyr. If you’re running this in the Spellplague era this might be Torm instead while the Sundering era can see it revert to being a temple of Tyr.

But if you like evil cults like I do, the Protector’s Enclave becomes a sinister place. Ostensibly safe and wealthy, there is a darkness hidden behind the scenes. Because I had a cult of Graz’zt at the heart of the dominant Waukeenar faith – and the Hall of Justice had become the Counting House, an apt name for a Waukeenar temple but also the name of a temple of Graz’zt in his abyssal realm of Azzagrat – Protector’s Enclave simply didn’t feel right. Shadows were longer than they had any legitimate right to be and sometimes could be seen moving in the corner of the PC’s eye. Abyssal glyphs appeared in stone throughout the district, as did six-fingered black hands seemingly burnt into the bricks on different buildings. All of these pointed to something sinister at work. (Frankly, my players were too scared to investigate until much later in the campaign!)

I have almost mentioned the aboleth of The Chasm. If Neverember is in their thrall, then strange things should be afoot in the enclave. Dreams should be weird due to the influence of the Far Realm and perhaps aberrant cults have been formed, much like Eberron’s Cults of the Dragon Below, among some of the rich merchants of the district.

I would also mention the 3E adventure The Speaker in Dreams at this point. This is nearly perfect for Neverwinter. The principal villain is an illithid but this is easily changed to the aboleth of The Chasm should you choose that as a theme of your campaign (otherwise, keep the illithid). There’s also a diabolic cult that unleashes a pillar hellfire in the temple of Pelor and this could work in the Hall of Justice with the cult of Graz’zt taking the place of the hellish cult. It even has wererats which makes a good fit with Blacklake and the Docks.

It’s definitely worth a read for some inspiration if not outright plagiarism.

River District (aka Tower District)

In some of the earlier posts in this series (I will edit in the links here later), I suggested increasing the threat of the orcs in Lost Mine of Phandelver and a big part of that is wanting to make the orcs of the River District that much more important to a larger campaign.

The Neverwinter Campaign Setting has orcs infesting the River District (this is known as the Tower District in the MMORPG which, frankly, I think is a better name) without giving much of an explanation as to what they are doing there.

Fortunately, Volo’s Guide to the North has some good ideas which can not only help explain why they are there but make it important for the PCs to end the threat that they pose before they find the orc macguffin and threaten the entire region.

Firstly, here’s a bit of backstory about one of the major power groups in this district pre-Spellplague: The Covenant. The Covenant was a group of mages, led by four mages of note, that sought to protect civilisation in the North from, inter alia, the depredations of the orcs. A really solid explanation of them can be found <here in the George Krashos quote>.

The Covenant also ran a School of Wizardry (capitalisation deliberate: that is what it was called) in the River District from where they trained the next generations of mages but also schemed to minimise the orc threat. Part of that scheming including manipulating the Uthgardt barbarians to launch pogroms against the orcs. (Yeah, The Covenant was a ruthless bunch.)

The Covenant had some effect against the orc kingdom of Uruth Ukrypt in the Sword Mountains. The strength of this kingdom was a magic throne – the Bone Throne of Uruth Ukrypt – which allowed a worthy orc to exercise rule over the normally chaotic orcs. My idea was simple: What if the orcs of the River District are here simply because they are looking for this throne so that their leader, a spellscarred female (anathema!), can become ruler of the orcs of the North? It’s a simple idea but it explains why the orcs are here and it means that they could even negotiate with the PCs – “We will let you live if you tell us where the ruins of the School of Wizardry might be.”

In my game, the throne was indeed hidden in the School of Wizardry where the mages of The Covenant had several difficult-to-access extradimensional spaces or demiplanes. The orcs stand no chance of opening or evening finding these spaces but they might trick the PCs into doing it for them.

If you’re going to use orcs here I would make one other suggestion: Don’t make them completely violent. I ran the orcs as really bored so that when the bard PC offered to play ancient orc war songs the PCs ended up spending a drunken night with them rather than simply fighting their way through a mini-horde. Also, if they are completely violent, why aren’t they constantly attacking the rest of the city?

Upland Rise

The Upland Rise used to be a small forest outside the walls of Neverwinter. Now it has been clear-felled to provide Neverwinter with building materials leaving land suitable for farming.

As a result, I not only had farmers here, I had Chauntean farmers led by Chauntean clerics migrate here from Goldenfields. This was also meant to be a safe haven for the PCs but also a place where they could be paid to fight ankhegs and bulettes… and then explore the dungeons revealed by the tunnels of these burrowing creatures.

As a counterpoint to the relatively peaceful Chaunteans, some angry druids could also make an appearance. Perhaps a druid’s grove was destroyed by the logging operations and the druid killed. Now that druid has returned as an undead creature and the farmers definitely need help.

Conclusion

So, this is well-overdue as I have mentioned but it has also become a really long post. Now that I have finished it, I’m looking at bits that could be expanded or made more clear. Depending on the feedback I get, and how quickly I return to Neverwinter for my own game, I may end up writing a few more posts to try and make this a bit more coherent and thus more useful.

I've been running D&D for 35+ years and, for me, running a campaign in Neverwinter has been one of the absolute highlights. I am definitely looking forward to another campaign there ASAP. It really works. You have civilised areas where your players can have their characters feel relatively safe - barring assassins, wererats etc... - and where Bluff and Diplomacy are king and queen, and then you have, inter alia, the wererat-filled sewers of Blacklake, the Far Realm-tainted weirdness of The Chasm, ghoul packs in the Neverdeath graveyard, and the orc-ravaged River District... and it all basically makes sense.

Of course, the purpose of this series of posts has been to expand on the 5E starter set adventure Lost Mine of Phandelver and I hope this post, in particular, has shown how easy it is to expand on LMoP by simply going to Neverwinter and continuing the campaign there.

Ritual: Raise Blog

I suppose 14 days into the New Year is possibly too late for this to be considered a New Year's Resolution but, after more than a year has passed since I last posted any content, I'm determined to make sure this blog is restored to active status in 2017.

Firstly, I want to finish the Lost Mine of Phandelver series with a post based on adventuring in the city of Neverwinter. Most of it was actually written back in 2015 but never posted: I think I need to rectify that.

Secondly, I've been running a 4E campaign set in Daggerdale that should provide fodder both for "Hey, here are some ideas about running campaigns in Daggerdale"-type posts as well as session reports. We're six sessions in already and I have decent notes so it's just a matter of turning them into blog posts ASAP.

Finally, if I get really motivated, I am thinking that the recent announcement of Tales of the Yawning Portal, a new 5E product that converts some classic and not-so-classic adventures to 5E and the Realms, might inspire a series of posts about where and how I would set those adventures in the Realms. The challenge, though, will be completing the posts BEFORE Tales is released.

Also, thanks for the emails and PMs encouraging me to bring this blog back to life. It still astonishes me that people actually read the stuff I write - OK, not a lot of people! - and take the time to contact me about it. Cheers!

A Hi-Res Copy of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide Map

Thanks to Extra Life, this hi-res version of the map from SCAG has been posted online and I thought I might share it here for convenience. While I like the artistry of it, it is disappointing that so few locations are actually labelled. In that respect it does remind me of the 4E campaign map... but you cannot compare Mike Schley's eye for detail and artistry with the smudged baby faeces look of the appalling 4E map.

And it looks like we're getting a Forgotten Realms movie...

... because <this article> confirms that the lawsuit between Sweetpea - holders of the rights to make D&D movies - and Hasbro has been settled while <this article> adds in some names and confirms it will be a Forgotten Realms movie:

The upcoming Warner Bros motion picture will be based on a script by David Leslie Johnson (Wrath of the Titans) and produced by Roy Lee (The Lego Movie, How To Train Your Dragon) with the involvement of Hasbro chief executive Brian Goldner and chief content officer Stephen Davis. It will take place in the popular D&D campaign setting of the Forgotten Realms.

"We are so excited about bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life on the big screen," said Greg Silverman, president of creative development and worldwide production at Warner Bros Pictures. "This is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings. D&D has endless creative possibilities, giving our filmmakers immense opportunities to delight and thrill both fans and moviegoers new to the property."

And here's a <third article> which makes a very good point that Warner Bros, who will be backing the new movie(s) was also behind both the Harry Potter films and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I suppose that's a nice way of hinting that we may actually see a D&D movie that does not suck.  

I'm really pleased about this news because this has the potential to be a door opener for my plans to introduce D&D to people where I live now who, contrary to the assertions in these articles that D&D is the best known brand in fantasy (um, no, that would be Warcraft), have absolutely no idea what it is.

Let's hope this brings in the next generation of tabletop roleplayers!

The Great Dale: Dungeons of the Demonlands 0 - (Revised) Introduction & Table of Contents

Some months ago, I made a vain effort to put start a new series of posts based on turning the Great Dale into a fairly old school sandbox with several large dungeons just sitting there waiting to be explored. This was largely based on trying to answer the question: "What would happen if you tried to set adventures by Necromancer Games in the Forgotten Realms?"

I also had some other motivations:

1. My Neverwinter: Year of the Ageless One campaign was (and still is) coming to an end and I wanted to be able to offer my players something less plot-driven and more location-driven, per some of our games of decades ago. (It turns out that's not what they want! :) )
2. I live in hope of converting some of my wife's family and friends to tabletop gamers. We live in the Philippines where the real unemployment rate is around 60% (the government numbers are wrong) and a lot of people play the World of Warcraft clone/offshoot DotA. You would think those two data point would combine into a pool of players for D&D but it doesn't. I will probably end up bribing some of them to try....
3. Clearly 5E is very popular and I want to make sure I have something on this blog that 5E fans can use, particularly seeing how (surprisingly) popular my expansion of the Lost Mine of Phandelver turned out to be. So, while I am running 4E, there is nothing here that is going to be 4E-specific: it's all just D&D. (I was hoping to fill the 5E void on this blog by expanding on Princes of the Apocalypse but I just cannot get excited about it.)

So, consider this a revision of <this post> and an attempt to outline a Great Dale-based campaign that is less sandbox but still not quite a railroad.

Warning: This is a long post. In view of my previous botched start to a Great Dale-based series of post, I want to make sure this first post had enough content to help someone get off to a flying start with a Great Dale-based campaign even if I never post on the subject again. So, if Demons & Dragons in the Realms interests you, please keep reading!

Introduction

The Great Dale is described in the 4E Forgotten Realms Player's Guide (from which the map to the left is taken) as follows:

The Great Dale is the vast, windswept vale that divides two enormous forests, the Dunwood to the north and the Forest of Lethyr to the south. The druids and other folk who inhabit the great rocky tor of Yeshelmaar are all that stand between the sparsely settled, wild southern woodlands and the festering evils of the northern forest.

Trade has collapsed along the Great Road, leaving the defenders of Yeshelmaar as the last bastion of civilisation in the Great Dale. Demons that were bound beneath the Dunwood by the long-fallen Empire of Narfell now stalk the northern forest and threaten to overwhelm the wild reaches of the Forest of Lethyr. The southern woods are home to hidden wood elf villages and a handful of human settlements along the border with Thesk.

Three major dungeons are noted on the map: Val-Murthag, Clymph, and Dun-Tharos. These are the three dungeons I am referring to in the campaign's title of Dungeons of the Demonlands. And the order that I have just used to list them is also the order in which I think they are best played. More on that shortly.

The Demonlands

For those unfamiliar with the term "Demonlands" in the context of the Forgotten Realms, these are the lands that were once part of the demon-summoning and -worshipping ancient empire of Narfell. The 4E Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide describes the Demonlands as follows:

This region consists of isolated territories of tough folk, hardened by decades of conflict with demonic beasts and fell magic. It includes Impiltur, Damara, Vaasa, Narfell, and the Great Dale. The region saw a glimmer of hope when King Gareth Dragonsbane united Damara and Vaasa into the unified kingdom of Bloodstone, and when young King Imbrar II of Impiltur dissolved the council of paladins (the Lords of Imphras II) and began ruling unfettered by the dynastic machinations of the past. This prosperity was not to last. The assassination of Dragonsbane’s heir twenty years ago led to civil war throughout Bloodstone, allowing the patient Warlock Knights to seize control of windswept Vaasa. King Imbrar’s death and the retreat of the Inner Sea in the Year of Blue Fire ended Impiltur’s hopes. The kingdom is now firmly in the grip of the Fraternity of Tharos, a fanatical cult of demon-worshipers. Demons freely menace the Dunwood and terrorize the villages of the Great Dale and frigid Narfell.

If I do end up running this campaign and the players which to continue further, I would expect to add adventures in both Narfell and Impiltur possibly with a goal to permanently removing some of the evil which makes the Demonlands such an apt name for these lands.

The Dungeons

While the <3.xE-era map> of the Great Dale shows several other dungeons - including Fortress Narder, the Great Barrow, and Tower Threespires - I'm just going to focus on Val-Murthag, Clymph, and Dun-Tharos, at least for now.

My plan is to give each of the locations a fairly distinctive theme to both aid in shaping my design of the dungeon and also so that the PCs can prepare accordingly. 

(Each of these locations will eventually get their own blog post but I also wanted to make sure this [revised] introductory post had some meat and not just bones.)

Val-Murthag

The FRCG says this about Val-Murthag:

This sprawling city was leveled by the Raumathari long ago. Its cyclopean walls and shattered towers lie in a wild and lonely corner of the Great Dale. Little is left on the surface, but deep vaults filled with imprisoned demons and restless Nar ghosts lie beneath the city’s numerous keeps.

3.xE's Unapproachable East describes it as follows:

North and east of Bezentil lies the wreckage of the old fortress of Val-Murthag, one of the largest Nar ruins not covered by forest. This great castle stood watch over the eastern approaches of the Dale, a formidable rampart in the path of any attack from Raumathar to the east. Val-Murthag was a place of madness and horror, the spiritual center of the demonic cult that dominated the dark empire's final days, and Raumathari battlemages visited untold destruction on the place in the final battle of the two realms. Little of Val-Murthag remains to be seen, except for sprawling old walls of weathered black stone that run for miles across the cold downs and the shattered stumps of watchtowers amid heaps of battered stone.

The ghosts of Nar demonpriests are said to haunt the ruins, and most of the Dalesfolk give the place a wide berth.

My version of Val-Murthag is going to be undead-heavy, consistent with the mention of restless Nar ghosts (4E) and ghosts of Nar demonpriests are said to haunt the ruins (3.xE). I would also expect to see cultists of Orcus here and maybe even an adventure inspired by Keep on the Shadowfell. (While I hate that adventure and consider it to have played a major role in the failure of 3E, the basic idea of a cultist of Orcus trying to open a portal to the Shadowfell would suit this location really well.)

Beyond that, the nature of the ruins suggests a collection of mini-adventures - aka dungeon delves, aka five-room dungeons - with most having an undead and/or Orcus-related theme. There may also be room for gnoll cultists of Doresain the Ghoul-King.

Clymph

While the map simply shows the name Clymph, the FRCG gives this location a longer name: 

Oracle of Fortress Clymph: The rocks and bricks of these ruins glow red with heat, and the crackling of massive flames emanates from a central fortress. The stones of the keep are imbued with powerful protection magic, transforming the perimeter of the building into a massive magic circle. Before the Spellplague, the magic barrier contained a portal that opened to the Abyss. Though that gate has been closed for nearly a hundred years now, and most of the demonic hordes within have succumbed, fiendish presences yet linger here.

In recent years, Clymph has become known as an oracle site. Those brave or desperate enough can approach the fortress’s front gate, knock three times, and wait to be addressed by a booming voice from the earth. The petitioner is allowed one question, but the answer is whispered so quietly that an ear must be laid to the gate to hear the answer. Many supplicants leave unharmed, happy with what they have learned. Others are absorbed through the gate into the fortress’s interior, never to be seen again.

The portal to the Abyss was open during the era in which Unapproachable East was set:

Once a proud, walled keep, Clymph Tower has lain in ruins for as long as anyone can remember. A mighty sorcerer named Clymph built the place nearly five hundred years ago. Clymph is also believed to have constructed Tower Threespires, for the two sites have a similar architecture and were built around the same time. Clymph Tower has remained untouched for decades, though, and the locals believe it is cursed for some transgression of its fabled builder against the gods.

The best story - or at least the one that gets repeated the most - is that Clymph was a powerful demonbinder, a student of the forbidden arts of ancient Narfell. He dreamed of forging a kingdom in the Great Dale with his demonic armies. He constructed this keep as a pen for his foul servants and imbued its very stones with abjurative magic, transforming the perimeter of the building into a massive magic circle. He then created a permanent gate directly into the Abyss. Unfortunately, Clymph was unable to control the demonic hordes he summoned, and his fiendish minions destroyed him. However, he had crafted his demon-trap so well that the fiends could not escape except through one portal leading to Tower Threespires, and that door is sealed. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of demons are still trapped in the fell tower Clymph raised centuries ago.

Today, those few people who dare to approach the ruins report that its stones glow red with heat and that massive fire crackle from the depths. Even the most daring adventurers give the place a wide berth.

I wasn't a fan of the oracle idea on my first reading of the FRCG but it does offer an interesting adventure hook. But I suppose the more obvious adventure hook is to have someone trying to re-open the original portal to the Abyss.

The oracle idea makes me think that Clymph would be a great location to contain an imprisoned aspect of Fraz-Urb'luu, the demon prince of deception, but that doesn't quite match the description of the fiery heat of something in the tower. Of course, the two things don't have to be directly related... and Fraz-Urb'luu is known to have the ability to convince another demon that it has been summoned. What if the aspect summoned a fiery horde from the Abyss - or even a balor? - in an effort to fight off the bindings being placed upon it?

I was also thinking that this might be a good location to host a force of Red Wizards of Thay. At the end of the 3.5E era, Szass Tam slew Nevron the Zulkir of Conjuration who ended up in the Abyss as a mane. What if Nevron's descendants/loyal servants (there is a timeline issue with the latter option) are here to try and free him from the Abyss as part of a larger goal to see Szass Tam's rulership of Thay ended and the Zulkirs restored?

Beyond the Red Wizards, I imagine there are also Nar cultists of Fraz'Urb'luu present at Clymph Tower possibly trying to find a way to free the Prince of Deception.

However, it would make more sense in the context of the history of the Demonlands for Eltab to play a role in at least one of these dungeons and this one is arguably the most likely of the three. In such a case, it is Eltab - or an aspect of Eltab or one of his glabrezu or succubus servants - who provides the oracular services, so to speak. Actually, a succubus thrall of Eltab trapped in a demoncyst beneath the tower makes a lot of sense as the oracle. (And if you don't know what a demoncyst is, I explain it after Dun-Tharos.) 

And I even have a picture of a Red Wizard thrall of Eltab....

Dun-Tharos

The final dungeon arguably offers the most potential and maybe even deserves to be designed as a megadungeon akin to Rappan Athuk considering the role it plays in FR canon. The dumbed down version in the FRCG says this:

This half-buried ancient city sprawls for miles through the pines and bogs at the heart of the Dunwood. It was once the seat of a great and terrible realm of dark keeps and sinister lords. In a war between ancient Raumathar and Narfell, some mighty spell of unspeakable power leveled the entire area. So ended the demon-haunted kingdom of Narfell.
 

Nentyarchs of ages past raised a living fortress of magical trees over the ruins of Dun-Tharos, chasing off explorers lest they awaken the dire forces buried beneath. Treasures of Narfell’s baleful lords lie in deep storehouses and conjuring chambers under the old ruins. The Rotting Man drove out the Nentyarch and the Circle of Leth, disturbing those ancient secrets and, before his fall, unleashing an even worse power. 

Now demons of every shape move through the catacombs of Dun-Tharos and the forest above. Any creature that comes looking for ancient Nar treasuries risks much.

Actually, that's not too bad a description and there is also a sidebar noting the presence of petty demon lords:

Several powerful demons claim territory above and below Dunwood. Two of them are briefly described here.
Eschar: A powerful demon who commands others of its ilk in Dun-Tharos, Eschar is similar in form to a big, scaled ogre. A crown of horns protrudes from its head and glows with fiendish light. Evil pulses from Eschar like a heartbeat ringing up from the depths.
The Queen Abiding: Also claiming power in Dun-Tharos, the Queen Abiding is a blot of darkness a dozen yards across when she expands to her full diameter. The chill of coldest winter enshrouds her.

I could probably use Eschar if I need a big dumb brute and The Queen Abiding might make for an interesting sub-level of the dungeon-proper.

Unapproachable East provided a bit more detail:

Once the capital of the ancient Empire of Narfell, Dun-Tharos sprawls for miles through the pines and hogs at the heart of the Rawlinswood. From this place, the Nentyarchs (as the rulers of ancient Narfell were known) ruled a great and terrible realm of dark keeps and proud, sinister lords. Dun-Tharos was laid waste in the final cataclysmic war between Raumathar and Narfell, the entire city leveled by some mighty spell of unspeakable power. So ended the Nentyarchs and their demon-haunted kingdom.

Centuries passed, and the forest grew over the great black scar in its heart. A group of druids and rangers - the Circle of Leth - undertook the work of healing the wounded land, Their leader took the title of Nentyarch anew to signify that the druids of Leth ruled over the heart of ancient Narfell. In the ruins of Dun-Tharos, the new Nentyarchs raised a fortress to govern the great forest. The black keep of the old demonpriests was reborn as a castle of living trees, woven by druidic magic.

From this forest-castle the Nentyarchs ruled for nearly six hundred years, preserving the Forest of Lethyr and the Rawlinswood from encroachment by human kingdoms on all sides. The ruins of the old Nar capital reminded the druids of humanity's ability to harm nature, and the forest that had swallowed its black stones offered an example of what might be accomplished with patience and strength.

All things come to an end, though. Ten years ago, the Rotting Man, Chosen of Talona, began to gather a circle of dark druids in the western reaches of the Rawlinswood. The Circle of Leth fought against the rising power of the blightlords and contained the Rotting Man in the west, but two years ago the Rotting Man created a terrible new weapon to use against the Nentyarch - the blight of Talona. He corrupted a handful of captured Leth druids, changing them into blightlords who serve him. Through these tortured minions, he ensnared hundreds of volodnis and infected them with Talona's blight. At Midwinter in 1371 DR he hurled his blightspawned army at the Nentyarch's fortress and drove the Circle of Leth out of the Rawlinswood.

Dun-Tharos is still a castle of trees, but they are now dead, animated through the Rotting Man's foul sorcery. Hundreds of his minions lurk in the ruins of Narfell's old capital, ready to surge forth and slay at his command. His blightspawned warriors slaughtered the small community of Denderdale, north of the forest, only two months ago, and bands of evil volodnis harry the clanholds and farmsteads south of his forest. Dun-Tharos has become a place of death and madness once again.

I must admit, I would not have updated that write-up for 4E and I might keep the Rotting Man... but I would make him a dark druid of Demogorgon.

Ahhh, yes, Demogorgon. It seems the Big D is going to be playing a major role in the Rage of Demons storyline for 5E judging from the art that has been commissioned/published, including this 10-second video to the left. Demogorgon seems like a good replacement for Talona as the Rotting Man's patron/sponsor.

In truth, the real reason I want to include Demogorgon is that I have a miniature aspect of Demogorgon that I have never been able to use and I don't want to waste it. (Yes, I am being completely honest.)

The Grand History of the Realms included this timeline entry that ties the drow to Dun-Tharos:

–10400 DR: Dark elves of Clan Sethomiir travel by magic to the Riildath (present-day Rawlinswood and Forest of Lethyr) from Ilythiir, guided by the hand of the balor Wendonai. They construct an underground fortress named Narathmault [–10000], “the Dark Pit,” at the site of present day Dun-Tharos, recognising it as a place of great evil.  

The nature of that "great evil" is not explained but I rather like the tie-in with the drow and with a named balor. I cannot help but think of this piece of art commissioned from the soon-to-be-released Sword Coast Legends CRPG and wonder if I might end up using it to depict a couple of significant NPCs in this campaign:

At the very least, I rather like the idea of including a dungeon level which I will call the Dark Pit of Narathmault where a band of drow wizards and/or sorcerers are seeking to increase their personal power. (And for campaigns where the Demon Weave storyline from 4E's Rise of the Underdark is going to happen, this is probably a logical place for the drow to perform some of the necessary rituals. It also provides an alternative starting location for the Rage of Demons storyline.)

I also really want to include a traditional, old school, fireball-throwing, Demogorgon-created death knight in Dun-Tharos. And if Demogorgon is going to be involved, I should also use troglodytes, some yuan-ti, and maybe some awakened apes (see The Lost Temple of Demogorgon from Dungeon 120 for some ideas relating to awakened apes).

Demoncysts

As I expect that demoncysts are going to play a significant role in the campaign, I thought I better address them in this post rather than later. And to do I will defer to George Krashos over at Candlekeep:

The Narfelli bound demons into magical prisons known as demoncysts. The demoncyst form of trapping demons commonly occurred on the outer fringes of Narfelli lands (i.e. as a type of border security) to be called upon by Demonbinders as needed and was the least sophisticated means of compelling demons to service used by the Narfelli. The demoncyst ritual involved summoning the demon in question to the Prime and then using their own unique variant of the 'Imprisonment' spell to entomb the demon (or 'drith' in the Narfelli tongue) at a particular location.

What the Narfelli realised early on in the process was that the extra-planar nature of drith made a normal 'Imprisonment' spell prone to collapsing over time, which of course led to much devastation and trouble when an unbound demon appeared 'out of no-where' and started to run amok. This led to the Narfelli working on a more demon-oriented variant of that spell which proved much more stable - but not completely so. As such it was common for only relatively minor drith to be bound in this fashion (usually nothing more powerful than a chasme, more often a handful of dretch or rutterkin) and for there to be safeguards put in place to prevent unleashed demons from doing their own things if unleashed incorrectly. Those safeguards usually took the form of spell-trigger magics to banish said unleashed demon(s) or other types of ward magics to prevent their freedom of movement. As with all dealing with extra-planar creatures, the efficacy of such spells varied wildly on circumstances and the unpredictability of the Art.

I note that there were more than a few Demonbinders who refused to 'play by the rules' and used demoncyst magic to build secret sentinels/armies in more populated areas (i.e. in and around Narfelli settlements) and also were lax in placing appropriate safeguards on their demoncysts - so essentially, anything goes in this regard.

Most 'sanctioned' demoncysts needed to be recognisable to Demonbinders - for it was intended that they be an intrinsic aspect of the defence of the realm and so required to be accessible to all 'army personnel as it were - and so the releasing of subject demon(s) was by way of command word and the touching of a particular item (usually a small brass engraved disc) located at the site of the cyst. Most Demonbinders used "permanency" on themselves to give them the power of a lower-level variant "arcane sight" spell that allowed them to see drith summoning magics (specifically for location of demoncysts and wards against demons) and so could readily observe and activate such sites.

With the passing of the centuries, the demoncyst magics have all degraded to a degree. They are far less stable and accordingly, sometimes simply touching the brass disc located at a demoncyst site without uttering the command word is enough to release the demon(s) in question. It must be noted that the demoncyst ritual was keyed specifically to humans, so the touching of a disc by wild animals, elves, dragons, dwarves etc would all (usually) have no effect. Similarly, disturbing the area of ground at or nearby to a demoncyst by digging, ploughing, etc. has been known to unleash the demons entombed there. Most denizens of the Great Dale do no digging at all if it can be avoided - experience having taught them that the simple act of digging a grave can lead to deadly consequences. Customs in the Great Dale are modified accordingly (they cremate their dead rather than bury; they use hammered in stakes with stout ropes to hold wooden dwellings in place rather than digging stone foundations; etc.).

The largest concentration of demoncysts is located on the southern edge of the Great Dale along the northern part of the Forest of Lethyr, around present-day Mistbridge and the Falls of Erech, near the Citadel of Conjurers in Impiltur and in and around the environs of Dun-Tharos. This is despite centuries of "clean up" by the druids of the region.

I also want to make a demoncyst the centrepiece for my introductory adventure for the campaign.

Kront: The Safe Haven

My original plan was to use Uthmere as a fairly logical starting point for a Great Dale-based campaign... but that would make Dun-Tharos the nearest of the three dungeons which doesn't make sense when it's the most dangerous. Kront, however, is the nearest settlement to the first dungeon of Val-Murthag and it's also on a major trade road leading to Narfell and places north and Thesk and places south. Also, Lake Ashane is close by offering easy access to Rashemen. I mention these places because these are all good places from which PCs might come, although the Great Dale itself is a really good origin point.

The FRCG says this about Kront:

Trade Village; Population 400
The first glimmer of civilisation along the Cold Road from N’Jast in Narfell, Kront stands on a crossroads that leads to Two Stars in Thesk. Despite raids from far-roaming Nars, the rough frontier village still stands. No lord higher than the current Lady Chinilvur, of an Impilturan noble line, claims dominion over Kront. The Chinilvurs would have built the town in the Ashanath on Lake Ashane, but that stretch of land is prone to unnaturally regular and severe tornadoes.

Unapproachable East provides (as is to be expected) a bit more information:

Kront is a neutral trading ground for the surrounding lands. The merchants who regularly pass through here appreciate the lack of politics, especially since this translates into no direct taxes or tolls. The people of Kront make their living trading goods and services with travellers. Kront concentrates on providing services to traders, but it's also a key point for folk from hundreds of miles around to purchase tools and other items they cannot fashion on their own. Many merchants who start out thinking of Kront as a rest stop on their way to other points have decided this is a fine place to trade as well. In particular, fisherfolk come here every day to hawk their catches from Lake Ashane, providing fresh fish for those staying in Kront and smoked meat for them to take on their way.

I'm definitely going to have to flesh that out a lot more if I'm going to use it as a home base (unlike Uthmere where there is a lot of canon info, particularly from the 3.5E era).

A Rough Campaign Synopsis

Obviously, this is going to develop further as I do further research and design on the campaign but here's my rough outline for what would be a campaign for the Heroic Tier in 4E covering levels 1-11 or so (and arguably the same in 5E):

Adventure One: Dungeon of the Demoncyst

Levels 1-2 

I cannot write a proper introductory adventure without knowing the characters but the basic idea combines a dungeon with a demoncyst. Essentially, the seals on a demoncyst have been degraded by a combination of time and the rituals of a Nar demonbinder thus freeing some fairly minor demons (manes, dretches etc...) which are now running about near Kront. The PCs are hired to put an end to this threat which involves delving a Narfelli-era dungeon, fighting Nar barbarians, before dealing with a Nar demonbinder and his minor demon "horde".

Adventure Two: Ghosts of Val-Murthag

Levels 2-5

Deciding to explore the ruins of Val-Murthag, the PCs find that Nar cultists of Orcus have disturbed many of the Nar ghosts. A Nar demonpriest of Orcus is trying to raise a great army of undead from the ruins by opening a portal to the Shadowfell in an ancient temple of Orcus and it's up to the PCs to stop him (or her).

Adventure Three: Prisoner of Clymph Tower

Levels 5-8

The Rashemmi PCs in the party have heard that Red Wizards of Thay have occupied Clymph Tower. It's up to them to determine if this poses a risk to Rashemen and to stop the Thayan schemes.

Or not.

After all, they may be trying to bring back the former Zulkir Nevron in an effort to end the rule of Szass Tam.

Adventure Four: Dark Pit of Dun-Tharos

Levels 8-11

The corruption of the Dunwood has been increasing and now Kront and other formerly (relatively) peaceful settlements of the Great Dale are threatened and all the signs point to Dun-Tharos being the origin of these troubles.

With support from the druids of Yeshelmaar, the PCs set out to end the threat only to discover a major Nar cult of Demogorgon that has summoned an aspect of the prince of demons to the Realms with the side-effect of corrupting everything around Dun-Tharos. 

Delving deeper into Dun-Tharos, the PCs eventually come to the great twin altar of Demogorgon and there seek to banish the aspect of Demogorgon from the Realms before its corruption and madness spreads further!

***

I've written the synopses as railroads to save time but, when I come to preparing the posts for each adventure, I will make sure to include a variety of hooks and also to provide better links between the adventures than what is apparent here.

 Table of Contents

Finally, here's the revised table of contents. I will edit in the links to the relevant posts as they are made.

Adventure Locations

From the 4E map:

Clymph Tower
Dun-Tharos
Val-Murthag


From the 3.xE map:
Fortress Narder
Great Barrow
Tower Threespires 

Other Locations & Features

Bezentil
Dunwood
Easting River
Forest of Lethyr
Giantspire Mountains
Great Road
Kront
Lake Ashane
The Mucklestones
Narfell
Tammar
Thesk
Uthmere
Yeshelmaar

Helpful Links

WotC posted the sections on the Great Dale from both the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide and Forgotten Realms Player's Guide <here> and <here> respectively.

All of the information from 3.xE's Unapproachable East - one of the best FR sourcebooks, IMO - can be found in four posts on another site: <overview>, <people>, <cities>, and <history>.

A Final Comment: Necromancer Games

As I have quickly re-read this post I realised that there is arguably enough content here and in the links to allow a DM to quickly put together a campaign set in the Great Dale particularly if he or she owns a few Necromancer Games products.

Start with Wizard's Amulet and Crucible of Freya as an introductory adventure and then segue into Rappan-Athuk but set in Val-Murthag. That's really all you need for a long-running campaign. And whatever bits of Rappan-Athuk aren't used in  Val-Murthag can be used in Clymph and/or Dun-Tharos instead. Slumbering Tsar could also provide source material for the same locations.

Add a bit of FR flavour by including Nar barbarians and demonbinders, Red Wizards of Thay, witches of Rashemen, and swapping out the deities for FR ones and it will still feel like FR but the work will have been done for you. After all, if you've paid for the products, you may as well use them! :)

Look what's coming in 5E for the Forgotten Realms...

... and, no, it is not a campaign setting but some form of regional guide book.

It's the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide which looks like it's going to follow the example of 4E's Neverwinter Campaign Setting and focus on a smaller area. And I mention the Neverwinter Campaign Setting because that seemed to be almost uniformly praised even by those whose natural reaction is to hate FR products.

But it's also interesting that, as expected, there's no campaign guide for FR. I don't think this is going to win the Candlekeepers (ie, diehard FR fans) back but I suspect it will, like the Neverwinter Campaign Setting, have fairly broad appeal especially if the CRPG Sword Coast Legends turns out to be a good product.

While I am not interested in 5E or the 5E Realms, I will still be grabbing this as the Sword Coast is a big part of why I am a fan of FR.

Stat Blocks - Orcs of the Crags

One of the most enjoyable 4E combats we have had involved a party of four level 10 PCs - half-elf bard, eladrin wizard, human barbarian, and dwarf fighter - leading a small army against a small orc horde. 

The best part, of course, was when the PCs had to fight their way through their section of the battlefield and take out three of the key orc leaders.

I only used three stat blocks which I am posting here. The most basic orc was this one to the left: it's the minion version of my bog-standard orc which is a level 1 brute. (I go back to AD&D and reduce monster levels to match their 1E hit dice. It suits my game better, particularly as we're not going to Epic.)

The critical damage may look high but I "bought" it by trading 1 point of damage from its normal attack and having a 20% chance that a critical would trigger dealing 5 extra damage (20% = 1/5; reciprocal of 1/5 is 5 and 5 x 1 = 5). I like my 4E brutes to have big swings in the damage they can potentially deal and this seemed to be the best way to model that with a minion.

I really liked the stat block in Monster Vault: Threats of the Nentir Vale for a swarm of orcs, albeit referred to as a throng. I stole it and made only a few changes to suit my tastes but this is essentially the Bloodspear savage throng from that book.

I found these swarms to be an interesting complement to the orc minion above, and fairly handy as a damage soak for the orc leaders.

And that's the last of these stat blocks: the orc battlethane. I admit that the choice of weapon - a broadsword - was odd for an orc, but I wanted to use some orc miniatures that I had - orc eye of Gruumsh - so went that rather non-orc-like weapon.  How I wish I had the orc with a double-axe instead....

OK, so battlethane sounds like one of those odd portmanteaus that 4E was famous for - the idea for which, I think, was stolen from Magic: the Gathering (I've never played MtG so I am only guessing) - but I wanted battle rather than war (such as warchief) to reflect the fact that these are not actually the leaders of their clans or tribes. These orcs are here in The Crags near Neverwinter for a reason that is explained in <this post> but they're not the true leaders of the orc horde which is no longer going to be formed thanks to the deeds of the PCs.

So, name aside, I like the way this stat block turned out. I've experimented with mechanics involving marks - one of my favourites is <this one> - but this one worked really well and seemed to reflect the nature of the orcs. The other challenge was to create an appropriate leader power and I thought Thane's Cry for Blood was, again, very orc-flavoured. And with so many monsters on the board, it seems I may have had a chance or two to use it....