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shades of eternity
Learned Scribe
288 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Mar 2020 : 18:19:51
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One of my earliest memories is the pools trilogy. Has it been updated for 5e as an adventure. If not how would you update it?
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4429 Posts |
Posted - 19 Mar 2020 : 19:40:37
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If you mean revisited by taking the adventure as a whole, changing out the mechanics for 5e, then reprinting the adventure then no it hasn't. Now there were quite a few Adventure League quests and adventures made detailing Phlan and about what's going on now in the city. The pools series (the first two anyways) started around 1350's DR. 1352 Kern Desanea is born. In 1369 DR the pool of radiance returns to Phlan, fueled by magic from a stronger pool in Myth Drannor (the plot for Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor novel and game). In 1372 Phlan is assaulted by the forces of a half-demon from a Pool of Twilight in the nearby mountains and the Hammer Seeker (Kern Desanea) starts. This is finished in a few days (a 10-day probably) and Phlan is saved.
3 years later, in 1375 DR, Phlan is assaulted by Zhentarim forces led by Hatemaster Cvaal Daoran. He overruns the city and assumes control of it and it's council. Years pass as he continues to reign and eventually he disbands the remaining aspects of city council. While he is a follower of Bane and the church of Bane is prominent in the city, not all religions are exiled. There's a group of Kelemvorites that take care of the Valjevo graveyard and any undead that might try to be summoned from it. Further, the citizens of Phlan enter a relatively peaceful time, helped by Cvaal's treaties with the local fey creatures of the nearby woods.
Things get worse as time passes though as Cvaal's son Talaric, in 1456 DR, decided to send loggers into the Quivering Forest, voiding his father's agreement with the fey. Talaric mysteriously disappeared that night, never to be seen again. Again in 1480 the city of Phlan is threatened by marauding barbarians, sent by the coming of Maram (Monument to the Ancients adventure for 4E) but it's officially thwarted by adventurers.
In 1488 DR Talaric's son Anivar Daoran died in an apparent accident while overseeing renovations on Valjevo Castle. Ector Brahms, the Knight Commander of Phlan's Banite military, the Knights of the Black Fist, was declared Lord Regent because Anivar had sired no heirs. Ector's grasp on power was weak and he quickly established martial law to enforce his willa deeply unpopular move. There were riots, which involved the looting and destruction of the Lyceum of the Black Lord, the city's temple to Bane, and traders began avoiding the city. So things are really bad, crime is really high, there's virtually no trading within the city and only the Black Market keeps things going.
There's also a lot going on with the Tyranny of Dragons and quite a few adventures created in Phlan from that. It keeps all of the above Canon in tact and puts the player characters in the thick of things as the city falls to ruin.
What makes me sort of mad is that none of the chief characters from the Pools Series are really ever mentioned again. Shal Bal and her husband Tarl Desanea, nor their son the paladin Kern or Shal Bal's apprentice the elf wizard Listle have any footnotes during the fall of Phlan to Cvaal's Zhentarim army. Did they flee? Did they fight and die? Were they captured? It has to be assumed that the Temple of Tyr (once the Lyceum of the Black Lord) fell, desecrated and replaced by followers of Bane. One of the adventure's for 5E talks about trying to open Denlor's Tower, currently magically sealed by the previous occupants. One might assume that Shal Bal and Listle left in a hurry, sealing the whole thing off so the Zhent's couldn't access their magic items or spells.
To keep up with current events in the city, I'd have a sect of Triadic Knights (worshipers of Tyr, Torm, and Ilmater) use underground tunnels to undermine Bane's hold on the city, fuel the struggle for power among the city's corrupt and cruel organizations and work as a sort of 14th century Templar knights in trying to regain their honor and strength within the city. Also have them help the poor and down trodden, gain some respect among the lower citizenry and start their rise to power again. |
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Seravin
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1266 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2020 : 09:11:22
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It kind of sucks that no one in charge of editing in WotC saw fit to mention the fate of characters that are from a series that was a lot of people's entry into Forgotten Realm (through Pool of Radiance gold box). We have to make assumptions, because even though they saved the city 3 times, apparently it was all for nothing and they shouldn't have bothered cause the Zhents just overran it and they were captured/killed/exiled (pick your poison).
Nice respect, WotC. |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4429 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2020 : 13:37:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Seravin
It kind of sucks that no one in charge of editing in WotC saw fit to mention the fate of characters that are from a series that was a lot of people's entry into Forgotten Realm (through Pool of Radiance gold box). We have to make assumptions, because even though they saved the city 3 times, apparently it was all for nothing and they shouldn't have bothered cause the Zhents just overran it and they were captured/killed/exiled (pick your poison).
Nice respect, WotC.
After TSR, WotC had relatively little to do with the Moonsea Region. One supplment, Mysteries of the Moonsea was made but that really just dealt with the four major regional cities therein: Melvaunt, Zhentil Keep, Mulmaster, and Hillsfar. Any mention of Phlan (and the trials those people went through) or Glister or Hulburg or any other smaller towns were simply a footnote in the book.
Further, nothing else save a Dragon article (a good short story) and the Sons of Gruumsh adventure was created during 3e or 3.5's run for that region. So I'm not overly surprised it wasn't touched upon much. Similar to the way in which the town Immersea is pretty much ignored despite the Finder's Stone trilogy centered around that area.
Now maybe Matt or Brian James can speak on how they came upon or the method of creating the history of Phlan during the Spellplague when they did the Monument of the Ancients adventure, which details pretty much everything we know about Phlan from the end of The Pool of Twilight novel to now? I don't want to suggest that either of these two Realmslore guys would ignore or disregard the legacy of the city or the history of what happened.
As for the adventures made for the Adventure League games, I know they're pretty much divorced from previous era's canon, even from more recent stuff such as that created in 4th Edition. For example, some of the AL adventures take place along the Moonsea in the town of Hulburg. This town was the location for the trilogy Blades of the Moonsea and one of my favorite Realms series. Yes, it takes place in the post-Spellplague Realms but the story was really exciting, the characters interesting, and they do a great job of traveling all over Faerūn - yet still keep it's roots grounded in the Moonsea region. Yet the AL adventures no only pretty much ignore the town's current political elements, it ignores the towns leadership of the time in addition to pretty much ignoring all the events that occurred in the novels.
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cpthero2
Great Reader
USA
2285 Posts |
Posted - 21 Mar 2020 : 16:03:05
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Master Seravin,
They never will as the point from one the Dragon magazine article that spells out why they did the Spellplague, included a reason of separating the lore intensive Realms and to start anew.
Those people are just gone. WotC tossed them out like used toilet paper, sadly.
Best regards,
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Higher Atlar
Spirit Soaring |
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Redoing the pools trilogy the
