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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
 Posted - 11 Jun 2010 : 20:53:45
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Okay, so two topics ...
1) WTF is with the timing for Ruins of Adventure? 1E comes out with the books centered in 1357 and the first adventure takes place in 1340?
2) So, I ran Ruins of Adventure beause, with the exception of How the Mighty are Fallen, it seems to be the earliest Realms adventure I could find. I'm taking the long view approach, if I start with the earliest adventure and run PCs through them in chronological order, I should have everything more or less covered for the next 50some years.
Well, we're up against the end, the PCs narrowly escaped the Zhents and are enroute back with nothing but Big T left in Phlan to deal with. I did my best to fix the adventure with elements from the novel (converted ioun stones to ioun spheres so that there could be a limited number of them and make them special enough to play into creating power for the Pool of Radiance). Right now the PCs have 3 ioun spheres and T has the other three. When the ioun spheres get close enough to the pool, they'll align over it and power it up. Then all mayhem can break loose.
My PCs are on the cusp of 9th-10th level. Since their presence supersedes Shal, Ren, and Tarl - my intention is to create an adventure that is an homage to Pools of Darkness. This is the event where Bane sucks Moonsea cities up into some far realm in order to bump his power. It takes place in 1350.
There are no adventures after Phlan any earlier than 1350 (it looks like Castle Spulzeer is in 1353 and there's not another adventure until 1357).
So, first I need to take the PCs into 1350 from 1340 without too much delay. The sad part is 2-3 PCs will not be on this part of the adventure. The player behind one of them had to move temporarily and we don't know when he'll be back.
My current thought it to have when T jumps into the Pool of Radiance and uses its power to move it that there will be both a blast of magical energy and a burst of concussive force. The PCs, being living creatures will be turned to some sort of metal (perhaps even mithral) and then castle valjevo will collapse on top of them. They're in a very deep cavern. I have them turning to somehting other than stone so they won't end up broken and they can't be fixed with stone to flesh.
Now one of the PCs, Kalhanan, is romantically tied to one of the PCs who will not be present. She is a drow wizard and one of the 5 remaining members of the council of ten, so there needs to be 10 years of obstacles to prevent her from gaining too many levels (I can toss her some, since the player's been gone for awhile and the group surpassed him) and from rescuing the group.
So, how bad of an idea is all that? What considerations should I take? They're currently a little weighed down with treasure, but this is not a problem, as Pools of Darkness is going to zap a bunch of their magic items (ce sera).
I can have El bringing them back and turning them to flesh with Heiratess (the drow wizard, if the player is back) assisting when Pools starts (El holds the connection between Toril and wherever Bane sent the cities partially open in the computer game).
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Thauramarth
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
729 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jun 2010 : 08:43:04
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My two grains of salt would have been to ignore the adventure being set in 1340 DR. Just put it in the current timeframe (late 1350s). The reason why it needed to be set in 1340 DR is linked only to the novel trilogy - Pool of Radiance, when it was published, was never clearly set in the chronology; however, because of the whole Shal pregnancy thing, Pool of Darkness had to be set ten years after the first novel, and in order to let Shal's and Tarl's son grow up enough, Pool of Twilight had to be set around twenty years after the previous novel. So TSR started working back from a moment when the son as of age. They also had to set Pools of Darkness prior to the "current day" of the Grey Box - after all, several Moonsea Cities vanishing into thing air, and no mention of it?
In the early days of the published Realms, TSR was trying to push anything they had in the pipeline into the Realms. For instance, FR2-Moonshae was set around 1340 also, before the events of the first Moonshae trilogy (Tristan and Robyn are still children), and that trilogy took place in 1345-1346 DR. The reason for that, if I remember correctly, was that Doug Niles had already written the first book (or was close to completing it), with the intention of setting it in Dragonlance, but was asked/told to switch it to the Realms, which resulted in his Moonshaes replacing the original archipelago of Big Ed's original Realms campaign.
But changing dates for your campaign seems a bit too late now, so on to the next question.
The idea of heroes being kept in a form of stasis is a good one, but it's not one that I am fond of. I do not know if you also plan on running Desert of Desolation? If you do, here's a cop-out - the adventures, as re-written to be inserted into the Realms, basically have the PCs are under attack from very powerful monsters, and find a gizmo that teleports them, lock, stock, and barrel, to northern Durpar. At the end, anothe gizmo brings them back to wherever they wanted to go. I've run that module a couple of times. In one case, I made it so that the gizmo at the end was also a time travel device, that brought them back to the place they started, but one second after they left. (For the players, who had fully rested, gained levels, and a considerable amount of treasure, magic, and firepower), it was quite nice to get the drop on the monsters that thought they "almost had" the characters.
So, perhaps, you could run a similar scam - a teleportation gizmo also happens to be a time travelling gizmo. If you run Desert of Desolation, they get out, and get back, but just in time for the next adventure you have planned, ten years objective time later.
Variants on this theme could be: the Pool of Radiance explodes, causes a planar vortex that lands the PCs in a chaotic outer plane, where they can have some additional adventures, and return to Faerūn, only to find that ten years have passed...
P.S. Castle Spulzeer, the module, is set in 1367 DR. |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2010 : 17:55:21
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Thank you for the correction on Spulzeer. I see where 1353 is mentioned and it might've got labeled wrong because I was skimming for dates. I have a chronology file that is a little better than the only one I could find, but I could certainly use help with it and/or use a good timeline for adventures/novels.
I'm trying to use the grand history timeline as the truest canon. So, I'm limited to keeping it in 1340. The advantage of this is similar to that of retro need they did to date the adventure. I would like, once I am running games in the 1360s-1370s for there to be PCs who are closely related to the Phlan ones.
Is Desert of Desolation set in the 1340-1350 gap? |
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Alisttair
Great Reader
Canada
3054 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2010 : 18:04:33
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| I don't know about timeline, but the adventure Curse of the Azure Bonds follows up Ruins of Adventure directly, with big T involved in that and all (it says it in the book near the beginning that it is a follow up to that adventure)....check it out!!! |
Karsite Arcanar (Most Holy Servant of Karsus)
Anauria - Survivor State of Netheril as penned by me:
http://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/172023 |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2010 : 18:14:32
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Oh, I have. But ... it doesn't really follow up Ruins of Adventure. Based on the info I have, it doesn't truly happen until 1357 and its necesarily by design after the novel Azure Bonds.
Which I know has something to do with having to re-date some of those adventures. But, in general that makes sense, since the antagonists plan in Azure Bonds would require ... about 17 years of set up. Actually, it would probably take 17 years to fit the number of crocodile riding sewer trolls into the one room they're all crammed into in the sewers under Tilverton. |
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Thauramarth
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
729 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2010 : 18:46:11
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quote:
Originally posted by Rhewtani
Thank you for the correction on Spulzeer. I see where 1353 is mentioned and it might've got labeled wrong because I was skimming for dates. I have a chronology file that is a little better than the only one I could find, but I could certainly use help with it and/or use a good timeline for adventures/novels.
You're welcome.
quote:
Originally posted by Rhewtani
I'm trying to use the grand history timeline as the truest canon. So, I'm limited to keeping it in 1340. The advantage of this is similar to that of retro need they did to date the adventure. I would like, once I am running games in the 1360s-1370s for there to be PCs who are closely related to the Phlan ones.
If it works for you, then it works. I just consider that the timeline (especially with Ruins of Adventure) is based on the novels anyway. Sticking to the timeline is fine, but your PCs are already changing the timeline, so... .
quote:
Originally posted by Rhewtani
Is Desert of Desolation set in the 1340-1350 gap?
There's no official time stamp on it, so the 1340-1350 gap is as good as any. |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2010 : 18:54:46
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You're making a fair point in regards to the timeline. My exact philsophy is for them to be the only ones capable of changing the timeline with the exeception of the initial impetus, which is that the Tyranthraxus in their campaign is an alternate Tyranthraxus who had the foreknowledge enough to eliminate Shal, Tarl, and Ren.
Tarl was made a target in the graveyard because of discussions between T and the vampire. As a result, he was turned and Anton escaped unharmed. Anton is one of the PCs. He is, in fact, Anton Cormaeril.
The vampires were forced to abandon the graveyard and holed up in what was once a secret cult lair for Moander. Tarl was corrupted by Moander and now exists as a bizarre vampire/plant creature hybrid which the party believes they have destroyed (twice). Though not before he bit the dhampyr fighter in the group.
Ren's body (though the PCs didn't know that's who it was) was found in Kuto's Well. The daggers ended up in the hands of the PC rogue.
Shal has had no presence other than that one of the PCs is also a former apprentice of Ranthor. He had been casually looking for her (he was also being paid by the Cormaerils to both keep tabs on and tutor Anton). That player had to move temporarily and thus Burias has acted as a background NPC.
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2010 : 18:55:43
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| I guess I'd been operating under the premise that if an adventure does not have a listed date that it existed in the "now" of the edition. That's not really a very good operating theory. |
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Alisttair
Great Reader
Canada
3054 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2010 : 19:15:54
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| I don't think they thought about the timeline when they wrote the novels or adventures anyways, which is likely what is causing all this confusion. |
Karsite Arcanar (Most Holy Servant of Karsus)
Anauria - Survivor State of Netheril as penned by me:
http://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/172023 |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2010 : 19:17:29
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| I agree. But the adventures were given dates, so I'm left trying to follow them and trying to fix the adventures as best I can as I go through them. |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2010 : 20:42:50
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| Was looking into desert of desolation adventure on my lunch break and it looks pretty cool. Found it on the FR Wikia and they dated it to 1357 (I guess, using the same logic I did, that if it comes out in an edition it's in the perpetual now). I don't see a reason why it couldn't be in the 1340s, though. Especially, if I wanted to add as a tangent to my FR world's being a Tyranthraxus sent here from a different reality that it could very well damage things like the bindings held on the efreet. Gives me something to think about, for sure. |
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woodwwad
Learned Scribe
USA
267 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jun 2010 : 06:15:59
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| I hate reading stuff like this, as it really makes me want to play in a realms game. The idea of running all the realms modules sounds really cool. As the guy in my group that runs most of the games, I'm starting to think I'm never going to get to play in a real realms game. |
Check out my reviews on youtube of Forgotten Realms and other rpg products. http://www.youtube.com/user/woodwwad?feature=mhum |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2010 : 19:24:31
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I know how you feel. :) But, thus, I DM. It works out for the best, I guess, as the interplay between PC actions and established canon is more important to me than it is to most people.
I see how desert of desolation could fit where I need it, I'm a little worried about level creep, but I think I can work that out.
So, I can have the pool of radiance blast send them to this adventure (with an unspecified amount of time passing) but I'm not sure how I could go from that back into Pools of Darkess. In fact, I think I need my Pools of Darkness solution to set that adventure up and then I guess go into Desert of Desolation before they get dropped into 1357.
As I said, I'm okay with 1340 as I have the same goal as the writers of Pools of Twilight. I do want to see characters who can trace back some element of history to the PCs from Phlan. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2010 : 21:40:19
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For a more-canon placement of DoD, this is the last updated version of My Hordelands Map.
I have newer, much more accurate version in the works - a lot of the terrain (Brightstar lake, Semphar, the Wildwood) needed to be resized - the official 3e map made the halves shown too large. Unfortunately I am yet to add any locales to that map. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jul 2010 : 15:53:38
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Just had another failed attempt by Tyranthraxus to seize ioun spheres from the party. For the first time they came up with the idea of just burying one of them (as opposed to how normally, they would walk into T's lair with the last 3 stones he needs.
I'm definitely, set, I think, on dealing with the tackiness of turning them all to mithril and collapsing the castle upon them. I will still probably use Deserts of Desolation for them after Pools of Twilight.
In the interim, the statues of the heroes will be found as they excavate the castle. Three council members are left, so for the most part most of the faces will be new when they wake up. Ok, I hadn't really thought about that too much until now. I have to figure out if Nat Wyler's died yet, who's rebuilding the Welcomers, etc.
The adventurers will consist primarily of 4-5 dungeons entered by moving through a pool of twilight (which flashes a disjunction spell at anyone as they enter). They have too much treasure (the sign of this is when they forget to assign magic items they've recovered, and no one cares), so this will return things, I hope, to a better playing field.
The weird thing in the book Pool of Darkness that I haven't sorted out yet is where Phlan is ... I'm thinking they're in the plane of shadow or the abyss, for the most part, but while a lot of the environs are odd, it seems like Phlan is just in a cave. What's going on there?
Thanks! |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jul 2010 : 16:18:37
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Just had another failed attempt by Tyranthraxus to seize ioun spheres from the party. For the first time they came up with the idea of just burying one of them (as opposed to how normally, they would walk into T's lair with the last 3 stones he needs.
I'm definitely, set, I think, on dealing with the tackiness of turning them all to mithril and collapsing the castle upon them. I will still probably use Deserts of Desolation for them after Pools of Twilight.
In the interim, the statues of the heroes will be found as they excavate the castle. Three council members are left, so for the most part most of the faces will be new when they wake up. Ok, I hadn't really thought about that too much until now. I have to figure out if Nat Wyler's died yet, who's rebuilding the Welcomers, etc.
The adventurers will consist primarily of 4-5 dungeons entered by moving through a pool of twilight (which flashes a disjunction spell at anyone as they enter). They have too much treasure (the sign of this is when they forget to assign magic items they've recovered, and no one cares), so this will return things, I hope, to a better playing field.
The weird thing in the book Pool of Darkness that I haven't sorted out yet is where Phlan is ... I'm thinking they're in the plane of shadow or the abyss, for the most part, but while a lot of the environs are odd, it seems like Phlan is just in a cave. What's going on there?
Thanks! |
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Time Jump 1340 to 1350
