Vegvisir
2019-06-21, 01:25 PM
I'm looking at what I need to do to convert the small town Phandalin, from The Lost Mines of Phandelver, to the small town of Skullreave in northern Darguun of the Eberron setting. This is for a new campaign of criminals hiding out in Darguun.
Backstory: The PCs stole the schema recently recovered from The Forgotten Forge (by an NPC adventuring party) in a daring heist at the Black Anvil in Sharn. During the robbery, the Black Anvil was set on fire and Lady Elaydren's bodyguard was subsequently killed in the fire saving his charge and other patrons. This bodyguard was the son of a noted commander of the Knights Arcane of Anduril, who takes up pursuit of the PCs alongside the forces of House Cannith, including the original NPC party. The 5 robbers hopped a lightning rail under false papers and headed for the end of the line at Starilaskur. Then, on horeseback, they slip over the border into Darguun avoiding the fort of Kennrun.
The overall theme for this campaign is to be more heist motivated than dungeon crawling and exploring. Darguun works well for the setting since it is noted as a haven for criminals from the Five Nations, and the party is likely wanted at least in Breland and Anduril. It's also good because another theme of the game is the continued interaction with the NPC party that will be following the original Schema adventure path for Eberron. The NPCs will be heading to Darguun as they begin The Shadows of the Last War and they are bound to run into the PC party again. The PCs are following a lead from one of the player's contacts, a goblin, who promises them a place where they can lie low in Darguun.
This is going to be a pretty sand box adventure with the players strongly dictating the direction. I'm already going to be mining the Eberron campaigns; The Shadows of the Last War, Grasp of the Emerald Claw, etc. I might grab a few things from The Lost Mines of Phandelver but we're more likely to incorporate things from the new Acquisitions Incorporated book, which uses Phandalin in the 2nd chapter of its adventure. It remains to be seen if the party will become an AI franchise, though that seems right up their alley. I might even lift some from Waterdeep: Dragon Heist as we go on, though the party is more in the creating heists than stopping them business.
Long story short, I'm looking for feedback and suggestions on the conversion not only to Eberron, but to a country that is over 80% goblinoids. The main points as I see it are:
Converting most of the NPC races to goblinoids
Converting the factions and businesses to Eberron and/or AI appropriate ones
Updating some of the enemies from the sources to Eberron or AI
For Eberron it'd be important to include the Dragonmarked Houses. House Deneith and House Tharashk would be the biggest influence here. House Cannith is a party villain and party members have previous connections to House Sivis and House Thurlanni, though they would have little presence in Darguun. I've also made one of the NPC party they are interacting with a member of House Lyrandar. Another of the NPCs has connections to the Boromar Clan.
For Acquisitions Incorporated, the adventure in that book has notes on updating Phandalin post Lost Mines to include the franchise with some notes on competitors like Dran and The Six. Eberron does have some non-Dragonmarked businesses that contract, like the Blackwheel Company. It might be best to just assume that the Blackwheel Company IS the local head branch of Acquisitions Incorporated. They both even have Airship headquarters.
Most of the races in Skullreave/Phandalin will probably be tweaked to have more goblinoids, but AI has included a few already. The NPC party will probably join Dran. Some of the Forgotten Realms specific mentions in the AI book would be swapped to Eberron ones such as The Order of the Emerald Claw taking the place of the Zhentarim or The Library of Korranberg taking the place of The Harpers, etc..
The first couple encounters I'm planning on doing similar to The Lost Mines of Phandelver / Acquisitions Incorporated.
The goblin friend of the party is leading them to the Cragmaw Hideout and I'm going to run an ambush. I'm still on the fence if it is going to be similar to the original FF goblin ambush or the redux AI one in the 2nd chapter of that adventure where the goblins are scarecrows and the undead horses attack. I'm leaning to the latter, since it's in a goblinoid nation and I'd want to paint that race in a less monstrous light whenever I can. I do want to keep the Cragmaw Hideout populated, but I think it'll be more of an RP encounter. How do they deal with a bunch of refugee goblins lead by a Marguul Bugbear taking the hideout they were expecting to use? They could still take it from them but it expands the RP options. Instead of the goblins having a kidnapped guard, the lead from them might point back to Skullreave and the necromancer, employed by Dran, that setup the ambush. That would point the PCs at Skullreave and lead into an AI franchise there.
Warforged (juggernaut) Fighter, former soldier of Breland
Shifter (swiftstride) Rogue, House Sivis agent and former scout and courier for Breland
Gnome (forest) Artificer, disgraced engineer for the Library of Korranberg
Changeling Cleric of Knowledge, House Thuranni agent working undercover with House Sivis
Kalashtar Monk, refugee from the Last War
Human Sorcerer (dragon - black), member of an influential family and bears an aberrant dragonmark
Half-Elf Rogue (swashbuckler), member of house Lyrandar and part of the secret society in that house
Halfling Ranger (beastmaster), part of the Boromar clan but trying to cut ties. Rides a clawfoot.
Warforged (envoy) Cleric of the Forge, support staff for the Brelish army
Elf (Valenar) Bard (College of Swords), has a patron ancestor that guides him to learn the sword
Backstory: The PCs stole the schema recently recovered from The Forgotten Forge (by an NPC adventuring party) in a daring heist at the Black Anvil in Sharn. During the robbery, the Black Anvil was set on fire and Lady Elaydren's bodyguard was subsequently killed in the fire saving his charge and other patrons. This bodyguard was the son of a noted commander of the Knights Arcane of Anduril, who takes up pursuit of the PCs alongside the forces of House Cannith, including the original NPC party. The 5 robbers hopped a lightning rail under false papers and headed for the end of the line at Starilaskur. Then, on horeseback, they slip over the border into Darguun avoiding the fort of Kennrun.
The overall theme for this campaign is to be more heist motivated than dungeon crawling and exploring. Darguun works well for the setting since it is noted as a haven for criminals from the Five Nations, and the party is likely wanted at least in Breland and Anduril. It's also good because another theme of the game is the continued interaction with the NPC party that will be following the original Schema adventure path for Eberron. The NPCs will be heading to Darguun as they begin The Shadows of the Last War and they are bound to run into the PC party again. The PCs are following a lead from one of the player's contacts, a goblin, who promises them a place where they can lie low in Darguun.
This is going to be a pretty sand box adventure with the players strongly dictating the direction. I'm already going to be mining the Eberron campaigns; The Shadows of the Last War, Grasp of the Emerald Claw, etc. I might grab a few things from The Lost Mines of Phandelver but we're more likely to incorporate things from the new Acquisitions Incorporated book, which uses Phandalin in the 2nd chapter of its adventure. It remains to be seen if the party will become an AI franchise, though that seems right up their alley. I might even lift some from Waterdeep: Dragon Heist as we go on, though the party is more in the creating heists than stopping them business.
Long story short, I'm looking for feedback and suggestions on the conversion not only to Eberron, but to a country that is over 80% goblinoids. The main points as I see it are:
Converting most of the NPC races to goblinoids
Converting the factions and businesses to Eberron and/or AI appropriate ones
Updating some of the enemies from the sources to Eberron or AI
For Eberron it'd be important to include the Dragonmarked Houses. House Deneith and House Tharashk would be the biggest influence here. House Cannith is a party villain and party members have previous connections to House Sivis and House Thurlanni, though they would have little presence in Darguun. I've also made one of the NPC party they are interacting with a member of House Lyrandar. Another of the NPCs has connections to the Boromar Clan.
For Acquisitions Incorporated, the adventure in that book has notes on updating Phandalin post Lost Mines to include the franchise with some notes on competitors like Dran and The Six. Eberron does have some non-Dragonmarked businesses that contract, like the Blackwheel Company. It might be best to just assume that the Blackwheel Company IS the local head branch of Acquisitions Incorporated. They both even have Airship headquarters.
Most of the races in Skullreave/Phandalin will probably be tweaked to have more goblinoids, but AI has included a few already. The NPC party will probably join Dran. Some of the Forgotten Realms specific mentions in the AI book would be swapped to Eberron ones such as The Order of the Emerald Claw taking the place of the Zhentarim or The Library of Korranberg taking the place of The Harpers, etc..
The first couple encounters I'm planning on doing similar to The Lost Mines of Phandelver / Acquisitions Incorporated.
The goblin friend of the party is leading them to the Cragmaw Hideout and I'm going to run an ambush. I'm still on the fence if it is going to be similar to the original FF goblin ambush or the redux AI one in the 2nd chapter of that adventure where the goblins are scarecrows and the undead horses attack. I'm leaning to the latter, since it's in a goblinoid nation and I'd want to paint that race in a less monstrous light whenever I can. I do want to keep the Cragmaw Hideout populated, but I think it'll be more of an RP encounter. How do they deal with a bunch of refugee goblins lead by a Marguul Bugbear taking the hideout they were expecting to use? They could still take it from them but it expands the RP options. Instead of the goblins having a kidnapped guard, the lead from them might point back to Skullreave and the necromancer, employed by Dran, that setup the ambush. That would point the PCs at Skullreave and lead into an AI franchise there.
Warforged (juggernaut) Fighter, former soldier of Breland
Shifter (swiftstride) Rogue, House Sivis agent and former scout and courier for Breland
Gnome (forest) Artificer, disgraced engineer for the Library of Korranberg
Changeling Cleric of Knowledge, House Thuranni agent working undercover with House Sivis
Kalashtar Monk, refugee from the Last War
Human Sorcerer (dragon - black), member of an influential family and bears an aberrant dragonmark
Half-Elf Rogue (swashbuckler), member of house Lyrandar and part of the secret society in that house
Halfling Ranger (beastmaster), part of the Boromar clan but trying to cut ties. Rides a clawfoot.
Warforged (envoy) Cleric of the Forge, support staff for the Brelish army
Elf (Valenar) Bard (College of Swords), has a patron ancestor that guides him to learn the sword