Canonfire!

Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:41 pm Good one-off adventure?

Long-time lurker and wannabe Greyhawker here. This time I think I'm actually going to do it. I have some long-festering thoughts about a pre-Wars campaign beginning in Keoland, but I was thinking of lighter fare for starters and am looking for recommendations. I haven't played (or DM'd) in many years and most of my players are the same (except for those that have never played at all!). So I'm thinking about starting things off with a standalone adventure to hook people as well as get them comfortable with the basic rules. That means something that's short (two sessions max), not too tricky (for me or the players!), and that gives a good feel for pre-Wars Greyhawk. Maybe something in the 2nd-4th level range, so that the PC's aren't too fragile. I'm leaning towards using Castles and Crusades for the ruleset, so anything 1E or 2E would be an easy conversion and 3E would still be possible.

Any favorites that fit that description? And don't suggest Sinister Secret, because I've already got that slated for the potential campaign. :)

Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:08 am

Although it's not a one-off adventure: The Sunless Citadel. It was my first adventure as a DM and for my group. It was awesome, aftersix years we still talk about it. Furthermore a pdf should not be hard to find (paid or unpaid).

Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:29 am

Dungeon magazine springs to mind. Here's an index of Greyhawk adventures in Dungeon and a complete Dungeon index here.

I dimly remember a great website by Jason Verbitsky detailing a Saltmarsh campaign arc called Saga of Saltmarsh which iirc included the Sahuagin modules, but it seems to be gone.

Maybe one of the following sites is helpful too:
an old Saltmarsh site in the web archive
Saltmarsh map
Best of AOL GH 5 (includes an article on Starting in Saltmarsh by Iquander aka Erik Mona)

Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:49 am

welcome, friend!

have you thought about the year?

i started playing aroun 575-576, and loved that time.
maybe you can try look for something here:
http://www.afn.org/~afn09454/greyhawk/timeline/annotated_chronology.html#d56_578

Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:19 am

Thanks for the suggestions. The Dungeon index is helpful, though the adventures tend to run a little higher level than I'd like. Still, there are some good ideas there. The Sunless Citadel doesn't quite grab me judging by the reviews I read, but I'll keep it mind. I'm also considering (if I do decide to go C&C on the rules) starting off with an adventure or two from the C&C A series and then switching to Greyhawk thereafter, if anyone has any comment on those modules.

Year-wise, I'm planning on CY576 or thereabouts.

Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:42 pm

Allow me to sing the praises of the 1st Ed. UK Series. Here are three low-level mods that I would recommend to anyone that will listen:

When a Star Falls Levels 3-5
All That Glitters Levels 3-5
The Sentinel (leads into The Gauntlet) Levels 2-5

although if you were to choose The Sentinel, I’d have to recommend continuing with the story finale, The Gauntlet. Don’t know that The Sentinel could stand on its own, but the two together are fantastic.

When a Star Falls and All that Glitters have great stories, are low-level, and stand alone storywise.

While (I think) none of the UK mods were Greyhawk-specific, they’ve all been more or less placed there by consensus. In fact, I believe there is a table on this site for recommended placement within the Flanaess. I think it goes something like this:

The Sentinel/The Gauntlet – The Sea Princes
All That Glitters – The Amedio
When a Star Falls – don’t remember. Can somebody help me out?

-Jeminnab
_________________
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a wide-spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible. - Bertrand Russell

Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:46 pm

The Sentinel and the Gauntlet were Greyhawk-specific, being placed in the Hold of the Sea Princes in the modules themselves.

All That Glitters was generic, but its geography closely parallels the Amedio/Hellfurnaces/Sea of Dust. The names are different, is all (Indicara instead of Amedio, Hadarna Mountains instead of Hellfurnaces, Hepta instead of Suel, Ash Mire instead of Sea of Dust). However, some of the flavor text about the Hek nomads was used to describe Sea of Dust nomads in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (short and stocky, covered with wax to avoid losing water from sweat), so I suppose it's been canonized.

"When A Star Falls" is trickier to place. You need some moors, and then a mountain range. The Rushmoors seem a bit too distant from any convenient mountains. I'd suggest putting a bit of moorland southeast of the Rakers or the Barrier Peaks.

Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:55 pm

I'd highly recommend All That Glitters as well, but it is designed for levels 5-7. The cover says its levels 3-5 but I suspect that was an error as the back and inside state it is for levels 5-7. My group played this way back when at around 5th level and had a tough time with it, so I don't think lower level groups could handle it without some scaling.

Still, it is an excellent adventure and worth trying.[/i]

Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:29 pm

How could anybody start a Greyhawk campaign with anything other then "Keep on the Borderlands" (my very first D&D experience in 1980) or "In Search of the Unknown" (which was Maldin's first adventure in 1981)? ;-)

Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com

Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:37 am

Well the Greyhawk specific adventures from Dungeon are indeed all a bit higher than 1st level, but I'm sure you can find lots of beginner adventures in the complete Dungeon index and adapt the to Greyhawk.

If you indeed use Keep on the Borderlands, Russ Taylor's Repair to the Keep on the Borderlands is available in OJ11.

There are also a few adventures/adventure hooks in the old 2E Greyhawk Boxed Sets and the Greyhawk adventures hardcover.

Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:22 am

We really enjoyed 'Ghazal' from Dungeon. A nice mix of climbing, sneaking, fighting, lockpicking, and damsel-rescuing. If only our halfling hadn't propositioned the freed diplomat we might even have been hailed as heroes...

Might be a bit high level though.

Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:51 am

Russ' very good "Repair..." article was actually a repair to the not-quite-so-meticulously-researched 2E adventure "Return to the Keep on the Borderlands", bringing it more into line with Greyhawk canon, and the original 1E adventure.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com

Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:17 am

In our initial campaign we started with Keep on the Borderlands with regular/expert D&D and did not even finish that before my brother (DM) bought AD&D and we created new characters and played the Village of Hommlet. We then spring-boarded into the Temple of Elemental Evil, although at the time ToEE was still not released so my brother created his own. I lost some good characters there, but others survived and went on through various modules (Bone Hill, Slavers series, some more original adventures and then through the Giant modules).

Those early times learning and playing the game were some of the best RPG experiences. If you have players that have never played I recommend starting at first level.

The Village of Hommlet is not in Keoland, but if you decide to start elsewhere then move to Keoland, that might work.
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Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:00 pm

I agree with Maldin - Return to Keep on the Borderlands (and the Repair article is a must) is hard to go past, and can be easily be set in Keoland (i think in was originally in the Yeomanry)

A few of my players were old enough to have played the original, but with a little obfuscation on my part (changing the name from "the Keep" to "the Fort" etc in keeping with the Yeomanry setting) most of them didn't catch on until they were in the temple section of the caves, by which point it was of course much too late...

Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:23 am

Thanks again for all the suggestions. After browsing a few pdf's, I've decided to go with Return to the Keep, along with the Repair article. The adventure is a bit simplistic compared to some of the others, but that's pretty much what I'm looking for - there will be at least a couple players involved who have never played an RPG before. And the Return/Repair version is reasonably consistent and Greyhawk-y, at least compared to the original. I also like the geographic setting - if the players get attached to their characters and want to kick off a campaign from there, the Yeomanry is a good place to start. Or I may relocate it to Keoland, for which I have a number of ideas, though the independent keep doesn't quite fit with my vision there.

I do appreciate all the suggestions, though. There were a number of modules mentioned (like The Sentinel) that I wasn't familiar with. They look promising for the future.