So if you were wanting to start a level one campaign in Greyhawk with a bunch of level 1 hicks from out in the VERY RURAL areas that will eventually get to the Free City of Greyhawk, where would you put it?
I'm looking for some of the old 1st edition adventure feel, where there's a local shrine that might have cleric or priest training, Ranger and druid training is natural, maybe a hedge wizard to get you started, and Bards occasionally pass through to give stories.
The characters (and hopefully, the players) wouldn't even know much about the world at large at first, and would only know as they run into it.
Is there a traditional location that untutored yokels keep falling out of to shake the foundations of Oerth?
Diamond Lake
Hommlet (from T1)
Orlane (from N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God)
Saltmarsh
Oakhurst (from The Sunless Citadel, though its placement on Oerth is ambiguous)
The Keep on the Borderlands
I've used Lakofka's Lendore Isle "L" modules (Restenford and Farmin Lake) as starters, even though they're really designed for 2nd or 3rd level. The PCs just need to be careful.
My simple campaign that I am still developing:
T 1-4 gets the characters to about 7-8th level (generous amounts of hirelings and henchmen to help, but also dilute XPs)
Then WGA 1-3 Falconmaster series, as it is best played by characters not familiar with the city.
T1 assumes the characters came from the City of Greyhawk, but that doesn't mean anything really. Aside from that, it has everything you asked for.
1st Edition--check
church (Cuthbert)--check
grove for druid worship with a druid--check
"introductory to novice level" of which 1st is--check
rural--check
ranger help [Otis]--check
magic-user to help (Burne for a price)--check
no bard, but you can add your own to stop by the inn.
knowledge about the world [information may be
gleaned, piece by piece, through conversation
with the villagers of Hommlet. Old
timers know far more of the tale than
newcomers, and certain special individuals
(notably those on the Town Council) could
relate the whole story as found here, given
sufficient provocation and trust in those
inquiring.]--check
So if you were wanting to start a level one campaign in Greyhawk with a bunch of level 1 hicks from out in the VERY RURAL areas that will eventually get to the Free City of Greyhawk, where would you put it?
I'm looking for some of the old 1st edition adventure feel, where there's a local shrine that might have cleric or priest training, Ranger and druid training is natural, maybe a hedge wizard to get you started, and Bards occasionally pass through to give stories.
The characters (and hopefully, the players) wouldn't even know much about the world at large at first, and would only know as they run into it.
Is there a traditional location that untutored yokels keep falling out of to shake the foundations of Oerth?
With the exception of the hedge wizard bit, it sounds like Hommlet would fit the bill for you almost too perfectly (T1: The Village of Hommlet is the first part of the super module T1-4: The Temple of Elemental Evil, and is included in that book). There is a wizard, but he lives in a large fortified tower with guards, and is the central figure of the village. There is a temple, a local druid, a nearby herb monger, and various warrior types in the area. There is a well established inn, as the village sits at a rural crossroads, and travelers of all kinds pass through. Many days travel away is the city of Verbobonc, which offers further resources. If you do need a certain type of character who is not present in Hommlet, it would be easy enough to justify them being there, so long as they are not too exotic.
As to characters, it would be simple enough to insert them into the community in various ways. For example, when I ran T1-4, there were a couple character deaths early on, and one of them was the party's cleric. The replacement character conveniently ended up being the young grave digger from the local temple, who just so happened to also be an acolyte of the faith. The local Druid could have an aspirant helper, and the local wizard could have an apprentice. Almost any warrior type can just be a local "country strong" kid, though a barbarian won't really fit the locale, unless it were to be some sort of feral kid form the nearby Gnarley Forest (i.e. "He was raised by werebears in the Gnarley Forest, and so has all the manners and social graces of a four-year old, but he has a good heart." ). Rogues could be from anywhere, whether it is a local kid that most people know is up to no good, somebody who is so skilled that nobody even suspects what their capabilities are, a local prankster, or somebody who is just passing through who hooks up with the other PCs at the inn. There is really only one large public place in the village, which is the inn, so everyone goes there. Perfect place for everyone to meet.
And so you can have PCs who are locals and have known each other forever, while also having the option to add in any sort of travelers passing through. T1-4 should take the PCs from 1st level up to 8th or 9th level, and if the PCs are ever not quite powerful enough for the next section of any part of the adventure, the rural locale makes it very convenient to insert some side treks to get them the extra experience they need to be ready. Also, as T1-4 is a 1E adventure, it very specifically makes mention of character training, and provides options as to how to make more specialized training available to PCs (you might even say it is facilitated to a great degree). Lastly, as T1-4 is a 1e adventure, it converts very easily to any other game edition/system. The only thing to keep an eye on is that, in later game editions, some monsters are quite a bit more powerful than in earlier editions, so if you are converting to a later edition then be careful to not set up your heroes for a TPK whoopin'. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
Rasgon nailed all my top picks. I fully concur with his choices, but I can speak from personal experience that my own PCs were indoctrinated into 'Village of Hommlet" lo those many years (decades) ago...including my elven bladesinger (at that time merely an unkitted fighter/mage b/c this was before the Elven Handbook was released) whose moniker I have adopted as my Avatar pseudonym.
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