Sat Apr 06, 2024 7:05 pm  
TUNLUK

TUNLUK


TUNLUK is a mini starting campaign composed of L1-2, N1, T1, U1-3, and UK2-3. With some minor work, this group of adventures becomes a campaign for characters to level 4, possibly up to level 5 or 6 depending on the number of PCs. It provides two hamlets and two villages for the PCs to interact with, six major adventure sites and over a dozen minor adventure sites to be investigate. This fills in material for some adventures, providing more developed settlements for U and UK, and providing more side quests for N, T, and U. While not everything is immediately level appropriate, players should have the opportunity to run from such encounters and return another time. Naturally, the location and background of most of the selected adventures will need to be changed. For the most part, this is extremely simple. The biggest problem is getting past altering the canon locations of the modules. That really should not be an issue. People routinely import non-Greyhawk adventures. Moving adventures around should be minor compared to that. I will look at using the campaign to expand the modules used, and then consider other locations for the campaign.

Expanding Restenford
This is almost certainly the easiest to expand. Set on the coast, with a mountain on the map, and a trail through wild hills, the only thing not already on the maps of L1 and L2 is a swamp, and you can insert one easily enough.
Minor changes include switching Merikka to Phyton in N1, switching Cuthbert to Lendor in T1, having the smugglers of U1 work for the Sea Barons or Lordship of the Isles, and noting that Adlerweg Keep guards against the Duke of Kroten.

Expanding Orlane
This is probably the most difficult one to expand with the other modules.
Hommlet and the moat house from T1 fit in easily as other stops along the trail that Orlane sits on. I suggest trading Cuthbert for Pholtus, as Pholtus has a presence in Geoff. Also, alter the background of the moat house to an event from the last time the Ketites invaded Bissel.
L1-2 and U1-3 need the most alterations. You could have the fishermen just working in the Rushmoors though that works quite differently. Certainly, there are no large fishing boats around. If you can get past that, the other elements of Restenford and Garotten manage rather easily, except for the presence of Osprem and Xerbo in Garotten. I would suggest replacing them with Zilchus and Obad-Hai, possibly with a connection to the Old Faith in Hommlet and changing Merikka to Phyton in Orlane. The mountains would have to become hills and more forest, but that is not too significant. The lizard man lair of U2 can still remain, but the sahuagin of U3 have to be replaced. Troglodytes tied to Orlane could work, or depending on rules, a heavily reduced number of merrow and scrags (aquatic ogres and trolls respectively), or skum would serve. You could also refluff the sahuagin as bigger and more vicious lizard men, and add a lizard king to lead them.
The ordinary villages of UK2-3 become more locations on the trail easily enough, but a keep in a pass is hard to fit along the trail. If the area of the adventure is expanded across the Javan River and into the Stark Mounds it becomes functional, although I would replace the fire giant with a frost giant, hill giant, or mountain giant. While a keep would not block the area as it would in the original location, it would still be relevant.

Expanding Hommlet
Most of the issues relevant to Orlane apply to Hommlet, namely the lack of an ocean and a mountain. To some degree, the river pirates of Nulb can serve to keep the feel as long as you relocate Restenford and Saltmarsh to the Velverdyva River. Although there are no marshes on the large map, small marshy areas appear on the moat house map and the Nulb map from T1-4, allowing the marshy places from N1 and U1 to be reasonable. The sahuagin problem remains, and would have to be resolved as with expanding Orlane. For Adlerweg Keep, an additional fortress in the region is not out of the question, though who exactly it would protect against is a puzzler. It could be a remnant from when Furyondy fought the Great Kingdom, or from when Keoland invaded, but you need to remove the strategic elements of it blocking a critical pass. The boss giant would become to a mere hill giant, which is nowhere near as significant a threat. I would likely borrow one of the spellcaster bosses from the Temple instead. There are not many traces of Suloise in Verbobonc, so you should change Phaulkon, Xerbo, and Osprem. Cuthbert, Geshtai or Ehlonna, and Zilchus are reasonable alternatives.

Expanding Saltmarsh
Despite having zero in the way of a mountain, everything works well here. Restenford and Garrotten fit easily along the coast, as does Orlane along the trail to Nume Eor. That leaves Adlerweg Keep. Fortunately, there are a number of defensive keeps mentioned as existing in the area in the LGG. Change the mountain core to a massive tree, and suggest the keep blocks the trail except for a causeway around it, and all that remains is finding a replacement for the fire giant. In this case, being on the coast makes a fog giant an excellent stand-in. You will have to alter the details of the siege for the terrain, but that is minor.

Expanding Adlerweg Keep
This is almost as easy as Lendore Isle. Restenford, Garotten, and Saltmarsh are across the mountains on Jeklea Bay. The marsh should become, but everything else remains. Hommlet joins Kusnir and the other towns around Lake Spendlowe. The biggest element of this set up is that PCs should wind up traveling Adlerweg Pass several times before the Gauntlet takes the keep and they have to recapture it. While it may mean they know the layout, it could also give them more than a few personal connections to the people inside.

An Aside on Era
While all of these adventures were written pre-wars, they serve well enough during and after the wars. Some minor changes needed:
Do not have the elves kick everyone off Lendore Island
Increase the importance of the Orlane trail to fighting the giants in Geoff
Highlight the backdrop of Iuz invading in the north and Turrosh Mak invading in the south for Hommlet
Have NPCs talk about the pending invasion by the Scarlet Brotherhood or the recent liberation of the area by Keoland for Saltmarsh
Set everything against the pending invasion or resistance against the Scarlet Brotherhood for Adlerweg.

Other Locations
The ocean element places very little limitation on the setting. The mountain pass quite a few more, though it can be somewhat lessened if reduced to a strategic hill. The following options seem most likely.

Dullstrand
Although the Glorioles are a bit away to the north, a keep controlling passage through the Hestmark Highlands is a perfect adaptation. Everything else fits in neatly along the coast or just inside Sunndi, with the same effect on PCs as for locating the campaign in Berghof. Scarlet Brotherhood agents, threats from Aerdy, and rumors of Acererak should abound.

Greyhawk
Right in the center of everything, the domain of Greyhawk has the elements needed. Although the coast between the Selintan River and Hardby is not very suitable for a lizard man lair, it is perfect for a sahuagin base. If that seems a bit forced, move it to the Abbor Alz, and alter the lizard man lair to be a side trek to the Mistmarsh. Adlerweg Keep can either be an outpost in the Cairn Hills, perhaps to Diamond Lake, or sit in the Abbor Alz between the Plains of Greyhawk and Urnst or the Bright Lands, whichever one you prefer. Orlane also becomes a settlement along one of the trails through the Cairn Hills.

Relpool
Near the mouth of the Nesser River, by the Gnatmarsh, and a short distance from the Abbor Alz and Bright Desert, this is another prime location with all of the relevant elements. You need to account for the big river, and use a fog giant, but otherwise everything fits.

Kildeer
Located on Dunhead Bay in Onnwal, only the marsh is missing, but you can easily insert. Adlerweg Keep becomes a pass in the Headlands, possibly along the road to Irongate. It is more difficult to justify a fog giant here, or the imprisoned two-headed giant. As a result, villains that are more mundane are called for. Likewise, you might want to use ordinary bandits for the humanoid armies.

Perrenland
Somewhat surprisingly, the adventures can fit here. There are supposed to be lizard men in Lake Quag, and Adlerweg Keep can fit in the pass to either Ket or Furyondy. You should definitely use a mountain giant as the boss. The smugglers work well enough on Lake Quag, though you will want to downgrade their ship. You can squeeze in small wetlands as needed. Only the sahuagin need full replacement or heavy alteration.