Roger
SS
I'm running another campaign world with these adventures instead of using Mystara.
BLASPHEMY!
once I stop laughing I'll grab my torch - honest!Dasdevania,
Roger
After doing a once over, I think when/if I get around to doing these (individual) modules again, i'll use the suggested flowchart, with 2 modifications...
1- Start with Castle Mistamere from the Basic DMG,
and 2-Save B3 for last, using that as a tool to get the party from specularum back to kelven, to run B10 before moving to the X series...
Roger
(P.S. I don't have a pitchfork or a torch, but an M-16/A2 works just as well :D )
But in my own defense, GH enthusiants cried foul when Ed Greenwood first used drow in his setting back in '87
And we still do to this day! :fight!:
The basic story is that the ruins north of town (assumed to be Threshold) is a hideout for the NPC Bargle, and the town's leader's have put a bounty on Bargle's head saying "the death of Aleena was the last straw". The reference to Aleena (retconned to be Aleena Halaran) stems from the "teach you how to play" sample adventure in the Player's Book of the same set.
Gaz 1 makes reference to this adventure, Aleena is still alive (most assume she was raised after the events described in the Basic set), Bargle is still a principal villan, and the "ruins" north of town are mentioned in the description of Threshold, but doesn't add any new material.
IMC, the ruins are actually the reamains of a hutaakan city, and I changed the "kobold statues" described in that adventure to read "doglike humanoids"... which the players later learn are the Hutaakans (when running B-10).
But I just never had a good connecting-story to go from Mistamere to B10, without having the episodic feel of a melodrama, which I wanted to avoid. Which is why I asked about the plotline from B1-9.
Roger
I've tried a number of ways, but ultimately, due to later retcons of module settings, haven't yet come up with a really good way to do it.
The major problems are that several of the modules have been set in the past (X2, in 979 AC; X11 which should be in the early 900s AC; X13 which, by PWA 1010 takes place c.975 AC- by extension, X3 should take place in the past also, since both modules feature Duke Stefan Rhoona; X9 has also been sort of retconned into the past).
On the other end of the spectrum, you have X12, which is set in 1000 AC or thereabouts (the ages of NPCs there are identical to their ages in Gaz1), and X4/5/10 which have been retroactively placed in and around 1004-1006 AC.
Most of the others aren't really problematic- even X6: Quagmire! can be easily done in modern day times, since the region it takes place in is kind of on the outskirts of modern Yavdlom.
The ideal, IMO, would be to finish the adventure with module X10: Red Arrow, Black Shield- with all the other modules sort of building to it. Heading back from that module, then, I would do something like this:
Exploration: I figure the "exploration" modules would tie together (thus, X1, X6, X9), as would other "Sea of Dread" adventures (thus X1 could lead to X7 and X8).
Northlands: The following modules would tie together (X3 and X13), and possibly with the Wendar module (X13).
Nobles: Several of the modules feature assisting nobles- X2, X3, X7, X11, X12, and X13. Any of these could easily tie together, as after assisting one noble, they are "recommended" to others.
The War: X4 could be arrived at by just about any of the modules- the PCs hear tales of war brewing, and go enlist in the Republic army. X5, of course, leads directly from X4. Optionally, PCs might possibly go directly to X5 from the "Exploration" arc (X6 and/or X9).
In any case, they are very easy to tie together based solely on the module contents, but when tying them to Mystara's history as developed in the Gazzes, it's much tougher. My best solution, at the moment, is to use some sort of time travel effect to tie them together- either using the Blackmoor Comeback Inn from DA1 (which would then allow you to also use the DA series at some point), or else using Moriamis, the woman who makes potions of time travel from Glantri, as the central catalyst (in which case, X2 would probably be the starting module).
Anyone else have any suggestions?
In general, X2 can be done in the modern era since the strange mist that characters go through initially can be a time-warp/planar shift device. When the adventure is completed, Chateau d'Amberville is flung back into the past.
X11, Saga of the Shadow Lord, is now fully playable in whole or part in the modern era as something going on at the close of WOTI.
While we are on this topic of chaining modules into a larger framework, let's not forget the already related CM and M series of modules. Tree of Life, Endless Stair and Legacy of Blood excepted, and the M-module Five Coins for a Kingdom too, these two series combine for a metamodule for Norwold amid the conflict between Thyatis and Alphatia.
-OldDawg
In general, X2 can be done in the modern era since the strange mist that characters go through initially can be a time-warp/planar shift device. When the adventure is completed, Chateau d'Amberville is flung back into the past.
Yeah- and as I mentioned, the fact that there are potions of Time Travel in it pretty much make it playable anywhere/time as well.
In fact, I think X2 could easily be expanded into an entire campaign/Adventure Path, and have a bunch of notes to that effect that I was once going to try and do as a series of Neverwinter Nights modules (until I realized just how beyond my current C++ scripting abilities such an endeavor would be). You'd start out with the adventurers in Glantri, helping with adventures in Nouvelle Averoigne. They'd attract the attention of Moriamis, who recognizes them as the adventurers who lifted the curse of the Grey Mists, and she would then send them back in time to, essentially, module X2 (the beginning). The castle would be expanded and the plots of the eccentrically mad d'Ambrevilles would be elaborated upon. Then, they'd head into Old Averoigne (now in their mid-levels), where they would eventually encounter Moriamis- for her first time (time paradoxes are wonderful things). Then, by their higher levels, they would go to the tomb of Etienne and free him, returning to the present, where Moriamis enlightens them on the cyclical nature of time.
While we are on this topic of chaining modules into a larger framework, let's not forget the already related CM and M series of modules. Tree of Life, Endless Stair and Legacy of Blood excepted, and the M-module Five Coins for a Kingdom too, these two series combine for a metamodule for Norwold amid the conflict between Thyatis and Alphatia.
The CM series for sure- the Norwold modules all link, and you could keep CM8 (Endless Stair) and CM6 (Where Chaos Reigns) together, since both start in Glantri. I'd keep CM7 with them as well- those would just be the adventures for PCs who chose to remain in the Known World, rather than take Ericall up on his call for dominion rulers. I've always linked CM5 (Mystery of the Snow Pearls) with CM7- mainly because the main character is an elf in an elven land, and the map of CM5 doesn't really fit into the Known World. Frankly, though, CM5 would pretty much have to be left out of a "mega-module" if only because it would have to be substantially reworked to place it in there. Of course, CM9 would fit into the Known World arc well, and would have the added reward of getting the PCs a dominion at the end of it. (Come to think of it, CM7 gets elvish characters a dominion as well).
The only real problem with the CM Adventure Path, though, is that if you have these two arcs, you don't really have a good lead-in for the M AP (at least, for the Known Worlders). Obviously, you would have to set things up so that the Known Worlders are also drawn into the conflict that is the Masters AP, but it would require a bit more work.
Five Coins does play into the Norwold series, though- it expands upon Alphaks' revenge against those who foiled him early on. In any case, it fits at least as well as M3 does.
Actually, I guess that would be the way to tie them together. For the non-Norwolders, they would start out in M3 (which takes place initially in the Broken Lands), which draws them into Alphaks' plot. From there, Alphaks takes his revenge in M1? Not sure.
Regarding the Companion modules, it might not be necessary to split them into two paths, if you take into consideration the fact that each PC can potentially have their own dominion. At those levels, it should be quite possible to have some back and forth between each character's dominion; essentially the characters are all going to be busy with their own dominion (or at least their own agenda), and adventuring is the thing that brings them back together periodically.
Of course if you do things this way you'll end up with PC dominions scattered all over the continent, but that doesn't have to be a problem. It seems to me that it evokes the idea of advancement in level, society and age quite well - after all, Companion level characters shouldn't always be out adventuring together like they were in Basic and Expert times.
I think I'll keep trying for the individual modules that I'm missing, but they don't sell for cheap either.
If only I wasn't a completist I wouldn't have to worry about all this. ;) Anyway, I said all that because our group started a new (modified) 3.5E campaign last night and one of the things I'd like to do is play through all these modules that I've never done before.
Vern
Have u tried to find them in pdf format. granted u cant hold it in your hands but u can print it out and it is much cheaper
Vern
I'm an old schooler when it comes to reading material. I had some of the gazes as pdfs but still had to get the real thing (even after printing them out). Thanks though.
