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View Full Version : DM Help Five events to represent Sword coast/Faerun lore



Pinjata
2016-08-23, 06:24 AM
My next campaign will start about 200 miles east of Baldur's Gate. First half of party will travel to Baldurs' Gate, then to Waterdeep and finally to Neverwinter, where they will meet the second part of party and be off to adventure. I'm starting at mentioned point because its partly player group that ended previous campaign in mentioned region, and I want to "warm them up" with this journey.

Now, I'm reading Sword coast lore, but have sort of hard time coming up with five events or pitches, that would each represent:
- rural/wild lands around Baldur's Gate
- Baldurs' gate
- Sea journey (no krakens/shipwrecks please) What I could give them to flesh out world a bit?
- Waterdeep (It's ROME of Sword coast)
- and finally Neverwinter

As I've read, Neverwinter had this volcano erupt nearby and is not in sort of post-apoc/rebuilding phase. And Baldur's Gate has major immigration problem. I guess I could make something with Zhentarim/Order of Gauntlet/Cult of the Dragon

So guys ... got any ideas to help me? :)

Yora
2016-08-23, 11:57 AM
What time period are you playing in? The whole setting got reshuffled several times. (Though the Sword Coast always came out mostly intact.)

Pinjata
2016-08-23, 12:03 PM
What time period are you playing in? The whole setting got reshuffled several times. (Though the Sword Coast always came out mostly intact.)
I'm playing in 5e edition ... so ... current time? :smalleek:

Yora
2016-08-23, 12:29 PM
Which I don't really know anything about. But what little I've seen seems to look like a return to the 3rd edition setting.

So what you want to do is get the party from Cormyr to Neverwinter and have some adventures on their way? That would be a journey of three legs: Cormyr to Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate to Waterdeep, and Waterdeep to Neverwinter. The most sensible way to travel is to get to Baldur's Gate and take a ship to Neverwinter with a stop in Waterdeep.
In Baldur's Gate they would have to find a ship. That could easily be expanded to a small adventure. For Waterdeep it could be fun to have the captain or some passengers get kidnapped and the player have to save them before the journey can continue.

The unfortunate thing about this whole setup is that Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep are very much identical in character. It will be difficult to make the two places feel distinctivly different, especially when both adventure are focusing on the harbor. Neither city had a thieves guild, as far as I knew, and both have very similar politics.
The one thing that Baldur's Gate had and Waterdeep didn't are the Flaming Fist mercenaries working as city guard. Not sure if they still exist, though.

What Waterdeep has is Undermountain, the big megadungeon of Forgotten Realms. The party might poke around in some of the upper levels before continuing their journey. It's iconic, but for this campaign it would be only teasing it before moving on and leaving the place behind. Not sure if that's the best way to go about it.

However, Waterdeep is clearly the Gate to the North. If you want to focus on that with the adventures than you might use the city to have the players have encounters with various things that will be major elements for the rest of the campaign. There are the Uthgard barbarians, the viking-sailors from Luskan, large populations of elves and dwarves, and some gods are more popular than in the rest of the continent. Play these down in Baldur's Gate and go very heavy of them in Waterdeep and you might get some contrast and hopefully some sense that the players have reached a new land.

LibraryOgre
2016-08-23, 02:32 PM
My next campaign will start about 200 miles east of Baldur's Gate. First half of party will travel to Baldurs' Gate, then to Waterdeep and finally to Neverwinter, where they will meet the second part of party and be off to adventure. I'm starting at mentioned point because its partly player group that ended previous campaign in mentioned region, and I want to "warm them up" with this journey.

Now, I'm reading Sword coast lore, but have sort of hard time coming up with five events or pitches, that would each represent:
- rural/wild lands around Baldur's Gate
- Baldurs' gate
- Sea journey (no krakens/shipwrecks please) What I could give them to flesh out world a bit?
- Waterdeep (It's ROME of Sword coast)
- and finally Neverwinter

As I've read, Neverwinter had this volcano erupt nearby and is not in sort of post-apoc/rebuilding phase. And Baldur's Gate has major immigration problem. I guess I could make something with Zhentarim/Order of Gauntlet/Cult of the Dragon

So guys ... got any ideas to help me? :)

Not up on the current timeline, but here's some suggestions:

*Rural/Wilds around Baldur's Gate: Human bandits attacking a merchant caravan (perhaps the one the players are traveling with, if they choose to go with a caravan). It's a good, simple, combat shakedown, letting them get the feel for how their characters work, perhaps with some razzle-dazzle from bandit spellcasters or classed characters to get them thinking about how they're going to use their combat abilities.
*Baldur's Gate: Negotiating passage north to Waterdeep. Looking for reliable captains and ships, getting a good deal. It lets them try out the skill system a bit, and you can interject rumors related to what you have in store for them as the campaign progresses.
*At sea: So many options. You might try a major storm that washes crew over and requires them to act to save the ship. Or an attack by pirates, that might inspire some more creative combat, ESPECIALLY if you're getting some fighters out of their armor for the fight. Or, if they weren't too choosy about captains, maybe realizing they're making an unscheduled stop for some smuggling, and how do they react to being party to that?
*Waterdeep: I've always been fond of "attack from Undermountain", but you might also go with some degree of intrigue... Harpers v. Zhentarim or Iron Throne, perhaps? Or even a simple one... thief gets noticed and called to halt, and as he runs past, he chucks the very full and obvious purse at one of the PCs. The PC are thereby carrying a heavy purse when the guards round the corner, and maybe something valuable is missing from it, requiring the PCs to clear their name.
*Neverwinter: Since you're angling towards there, I'd have something major happen towards the end. Like, the city is digging out from under the volcanic ash, and find that an empire of hobgoblins has moved in off the marches. Oh, they recognize the sovereignty of Neverwinter, no problem, but several outlying villages are under their "protection" now, and the hobgoblins are extracting labor from their new "citizens" to build extensive fortifications.

Jonagel
2016-08-23, 03:06 PM
Just some random ideas, not related to the modern Sword Coast (I know nothing about modern, sorry!)

- rural/wild lands around Baldur's Gate
Any random encounter would do, you want to see how the party fights/works together, so you can scale future encounters better. Maybe something to do with lycanthropes? The Wood of Sharp teeth was renamed to Werewoods apparently, due to some noble's failed coup in Baldur's Gate, and his people being werewolves. If there is still a political connection between this and BG, coming back with werewolf pelts or intel on the woods may provide bonuses as they try to get info/stuff from BG. Maybe allow them a better ship, coin from a noble that is trying to bring down the werewolves, etc.

- Baldurs' gate
Less encounter heavy, more role playing probably. Obtain a ship -- give options of stowaway, buying passage, joining as conscripts/gaurds for a merchant, or even signing up with the royal navy as they have a ship heading north.
Repercussions of leaving the royal navy can bite them in the ass later, but means no pirate fight, or at least an easy one.
Gaurds for merchants = get paid but have to fight pirates. Also, maybe be part of smuggling, or some captain's unannounced agenda (detour for a treasure map on an abandoned island)
Buying passage = costs a lot, and inevitably attacked
Stowaway = who knows, sneak checks, silent checks, enough rations, avoid being exhausted from poor sleep, etc.

- Sea journey (no krakens/shipwrecks please) What I could give them to flesh out world a bit?
See above. I like the idea of simple water combat. A pit stop at a possible treasure island (magic guardians or a tomb perhaps), put stop to smuggle,

- Waterdeep (It's ROME of Sword coast)
If there goal is Neverwinter, you have to come up with a few goods hooks to keep them in Waterdeep, otherwise, who cares?
By now you should have their menality and style in mind. Are they motivated by doing right, money, mysteries, all three? Whatever it is, create a few hooks. Maybe they start out with being pick pocketed, or sold a cursed magical item. PCs I know would buy a magical item in heart beat for a good deal. Throw it in as a bonus to something, buy 1 get 1 free deal. My favorite is = A Hat that gives a charisma bonus. Except it actually gives nothing. But if you take it off, a smaller uglier hat appears which gives -1 CHA. Each time you take it off it gets worse and worse, spawning infinite hats of infinite ugliness. Track down the magic dealer, black market activities, etc.

- and finally Neverwinter
No clue, I know nothing about this! Maybe have them get hired to take out the other party? Bad guys hire them saying this other party is awful and messed up their plans, paying good money to take them out. That'd be fun =P

Darth Ultron
2016-08-23, 06:37 PM
Now, I'm reading Sword coast lore, but have sort of hard time coming up with five events or pitches, that would each represent:
- rural/wild lands around Baldur's Gate
- Baldurs' gate
- Sea journey (no krakens/shipwrecks please) What I could give them to flesh out world a bit?
- Waterdeep (It's ROME of Sword coast)
- and finally Neverwinter


1.Baldurs Gate had a were creature problem in the recent past, so having an encounter of some ''crazy semi hiding like werecreatures'' fits in very well. Even more so by tossing in some cultists of Malar and/or people of the Black Blood.

2.Baldur's Gate is peaceful enough, but you can have any ''generic'' city encounter. If you keep with the werecreatures, you could have some Fang Shields(good were people) in the city and a ''sleeper'' were person in the city.

3.Pirates work well, they would go after trade ships. Northmen from the Moonshae work well, making them a bit more ''noble pirates'' . A shaugan attack works well too.

4.Waterdeep is much more ''London'' then ''Rome'' , but again any generic urban thing works. Any bad guys from anywhere in the Realms could be here and up to no good. The cult of the dragon, clerics of Bane, Red Wizards, anyone. The Gray Guard, the secret ''anti cops'' could be fun too.

5.Neverwinter was destroyed (A couple times?) and rebuilt so someone looking for loot in an old basement works, and again it could be anyone looking. Classic Neverwinter had plenty of ''clockwork'' stuff, but modern Neverwinter just forgets all that.

Pinjata
2016-08-24, 04:27 AM
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it. Here is what I have so far:

- Baldurs' gate: Mob trying to lynch a man for "being a werewolf". PCs need to hold out untill Flaming Fists pop up.

- Waterdeep: A short stay in the city. Some of the monsters have fled Undrmountain and PCs need to hold of a few rounds, before "monster hunters" get them. May also need to save a few people from death. (monster suggestions would be great)

- Neverwinter - Frost giants, Uthgard barbarians, viking-sailors from Luskan are awesome ideas. Which gods would be venerated there? How would removal of ash look? City reconstruction?

Jonagel
2016-08-25, 07:41 PM
For monster ideas to be helpful, we kinda need to know what level range your PCs will be, any idea?

Waterdeep monster ideas:
According to 2nd edition materials, the following monsters lived in undermountain, hopefully that helps! Otherwise, let me know the levels and maybe I'll have some other ideas

Monsters described in Ruins of Undermountain [1060] include baneguard, battlebat, battle horror, blacksnake, bonebat, crawling claw, curst, darkenbeast, death shark, death tyrant, dung crawler, dung snake, the fallen, flying fingers, flying spider, grell, guardian skeleton, helmed horror, hook horror, ice viper, necrophidius, greater otyugh, pack lizard, peltast, greater peltast, silver horror, skeletal stirge, tentamort, vampyre, watchspider, and wizshade.

Pinjata
2016-08-26, 09:05 AM
For monster ideas to be helpful, we kinda need to know what level range your PCs will be, any idea?

Waterdeep monster ideas:
According to 2nd edition materials, the following monsters lived in undermountain, hopefully that helps! Otherwise, let me know the levels and maybe I'll have some other ideas

Monsters described in Ruins of Undermountain [1060] include baneguard, battlebat, battle horror, blacksnake, bonebat, crawling claw, curst, darkenbeast, death shark, death tyrant, dung crawler, dung snake, the fallen, flying fingers, flying spider, grell, guardian skeleton, helmed horror, hook horror, ice viper, necrophidius, greater otyugh, pack lizard, peltast, greater peltast, silver horror, skeletal stirge, tentamort, vampyre, watchspider, and wizshade.

Thanks for the effort. :) Party will be level 3, but I am really not aiming for MUCH combat. I just want to show them "there is a massive dungeon under Waterdeep", "Baldurs Gate has massive immigration problem and repressive city guards"(thats what I've read from Tyranny of the Dragons) and "Nevervinter is still dealing with consequences of a volcano eruption"(any ideas where I can read on that?). Or some more detailed stuff ... I like your contribution, but at this point I really do not need/want to think in ter of monster CR. Rather tell me about a famous Inn in Baldur's Gate or something. Things that you found interesting in lore. Or even in PC games.

GungHo
2016-08-26, 12:17 PM
There are commonly breakouts from Undermountain. Whether Halaster is around or not (usually when not), his various experiments break loose and terrorize the city. Sometimes it's something simple like goblins. Sometimes it's something more complex like goblins with crab hands. Sometimes it's something very complex like smart, organized goblins with crab hands. Sometimes it's something extraordinarily complex like smart, organized goblins with crab hands that are led by drow princesses, demon lords, and psionic Steve Urkel.

Pinjata
2016-08-26, 06:35 PM
There are commonly breakouts from Undermountain. Whether Halaster is around or not (usually when not), his various experiments break loose and terrorize the city. Sometimes it's something simple like goblins. Sometimes it's something more complex like goblins with crab hands. Sometimes it's something very complex like smart, organized goblins with crab hands. Sometimes it's something extraordinarily complex like smart, organized goblins with crab hands that are led by drow princesses, demon lords, and psionic Steve Urkel.

This is so awesome only this pic can summarize my impressions:
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/degrassi/images/6/69/Aww-yiss.png/revision/latest?cb=20150212054604

illyahr
2016-08-27, 10:08 PM
Best part of the Forgotten Realms setting is that the world remained the same during each edition. It changed to second edition with the fall of the Netherese when Mystral destroyed the Weave and had to be reincarnated. Third edition started with the Time of Troubles, when Ao's Tablet's of Order were stolen and he decided all gods would walk the material plane without their power until they were returned. They were returned, but broken and Ao decided to leave them for a time to force gods to care for their worshipers. The next cataclysmic event that changed to fourth edition was the Spellplague, when the rules of magic became so convoluted that magic itself ran rampant and reshaped the world. The change to 5th edition was brought about when Ao, after seeing the chaos that had come to Abeir-Toril, decided to recreate the Tablets of Order, returning the worlds to a semblance of their former selves.

From what I can tell, 5th edition takes place as the realms are stabilizing. It is still suffering some of the effects of the Spellplague, and some areas are known as Plaguelands where life doesn't flourish, but the world is recovering. It's how they justified moving back to something that was more in line with 3rd edition after how poorly 4th edition fared.

Yora
2016-08-28, 08:23 AM
It changed to second edition with the fall of the Netherese when Mystral destroyed the Weave and had to be reincarnated. Third edition started with the Time of Troubles, when Ao's Tablet's of Order were stolen and he decided all gods would walk the material plane without their power until they were returned. They were returned, but broken and Ao decided to leave them for a time to force gods to care for their worshipers.

No, this is outright wrong. The first edition period was thousands of years after Netheril was long gone. Time of Troubles was at the start of second edition. Third edition had no big event at the start, only an internal reshuffle within the Zhentarim that included removing Xvim and bringing back Bane. But towards the end of the period they had the ancient Shades of Netheril show up to become a global power and also killed off most of the drow gods.
The Shades are still around I believe but the drow gods were returned to their former state.

illyahr
2016-08-28, 01:57 PM
No, this is outright wrong. The first edition period was thousands of years after Netheril was long gone. Time of Troubles was at the start of second edition. Third edition had no big event at the start, only an internal reshuffle within the Zhentarim that included removing Xvim and bringing back Bane. But towards the end of the period they had the ancient Shades of Netheril show up to become a global power and also killed off most of the drow gods.
The Shades are still around I believe but the drow gods were returned to their former state.

Ah, I was off by an event then. I wonder why they wouldn't have an event signaling the end of 2nd edition?

Yora
2016-08-29, 10:33 AM
I assume they understood that Time of Troubles was unnecessary since it was mostly the same game. No event for second edition and no event for third. Fourth edition was a substantially different game with different races and some new classes and so they remembered the idea from Time of Troubles and did Spellplague.
Then fifth edition rolled the game back to what it used to be and Forgotten Realms reverted back to its previous state.

LibraryOgre
2016-08-29, 03:07 PM
3rd edition did have events, but they were a bit more low-key... IIRC, it was the return of the Netherese Shadowmages and the destruction of Tilverton... not quite as Realms-shaking at the ToT or the Spellplague, but definitely major changes at the core.