Realmscrawl Campaign Map 05: Tilverton is the first in what
is hoped to be a series of maps and gazetteers detailing the Eastern Heartlands
of the Forgotten Realms at a six mile per hex scale.
Click to embiggen this snippet of the map.
Continued support for this line depends primarily if it is
worth my time to continue to develop this campaign setting as a product line,
rather than merely for my own campaign use. This depends entirely on how well
these products sell. If this map doesn’t generate enough interest, then I’ll
know there is no interest in the gazetteer, the hex-based encounter and event generator,
or other expansions of the product line.
Thus, your donations through the Pay What You Want system
will decide if I publish further support materials. In fact, your payments will
also guide what products are published after the gazetteer for this map is
published (if it is published). As I cannot use Patreon to make this work, here
is the way this will be done:
When you make a payment for the map, send an e-mail to jamesmishler@gmail.com,
letting me know what you paid and when. Also include your vote as to which of
the following items should be published after the Region 05 Gazetteer:
1) Region
05 Hex Encounter and Event Generator; or
2) Map
and Gazetteer of the Underdark of Region 05; or
3) Map
and Gazetteer of another region.
Regarding option #3, these are the nine regions of the
Eastern Heartlands that I am developing. As my campaign has pretty well stuck
to Tilverton so far, I am not attached to any of the other regions
specifically.
Region 01: Old Arkhosia (includes the Kingdom of Takhasia)
Region 02: Northern Dales (include Palandria, Daggerdale,
Teshendale, and Shadowdale)
Region 03: Western Moonsea (includes Zhentil Keep, Phlan,
Thar, Hillsfar, and northern Cormanthor)
Region 04: Goblin Marches (includes northern Cormyr,
southeastern Anauroch, and western Stonelands)
Region 05: Tilverton (this map)
Region 06: Eastern Dales (includes southern Cormanthor,
Battledale, Scardale, Featherdale, Tasseldale, Harrowdale, northern Sembia, and
the Dragon Reach)
Region 07: Heart of Cormyr (includes western Cormyr, the
Tunlands, the Dragonmere, and the Dragon Coast)
Region 08: Way of the Manticore (includes eastern Cormyr, western
Sembia, Highdale, Archendale, and Westgate)
Region 09: Sembia (includes central Sembia and the
northwestern Sea of Fallen Stars)
If I reach my goal for sales for this map and the gazetteer,
I will tally the total votes by dollars to decide which product will be next.
NOTE: Reaching the goal for the sales on the map and the
subsequent gazetteer is NO GUARANTEE that I will necessarily publish further
products. So pay ONLY what you want for the CURRENT product, with the HOPE that
further products will be forthcoming. There is NO guarantee of further products
AT ANY STAGE of this process.
ALSO: Do NOT send me any payments for these products in any
way EXCEPT through the Pay What You Want system on DM’s Guild. I CANNOT accept
payments or donations for these products in any other way.
My sales goal for Campaign Map 05, which will determine whether
I even go on to publish the gazetteer, is net $100 (total sales on this map
thus being $200). Running total sales and vote totals will be posted every
Friday on my blog at jamesmishlergames.blogspot.com (more often if developments
warrant it).
I plan, at the same time, to publish notes on the history,
races, cultures, events, and other broader elements of the Realmscrawl
Campaign, which differs in ways from the core Forgotten Realms campaign, as
outlined below. All these notes will also be Pay What You Want, and any
payments made for these items will count toward the overall goal of the current
product and votes for the next product… so email me with your votes when you
purchase them as well.
Note that the entire background of the Realmscrawl Campaign
and all elements thereof are entirely optional; use whatever bits you want
however you want in your own campaign. And of course, under the terms of the
use of the Dungeon Master’s Guild, you are free to re-use, alter, and expand
upon any of these materials for your own products. The maps, of course, remain
copyright © 2016 James Mishler, however, if you want to license them for your
own products, my terms are simple and relatively cheap.
NOTES ON THE REALMSCRAWL CAMPAIGN
The year is 1287 DR, the Year of the Smoky Moon, near the
end of one era and the beginning of a new. The Eastern Heartlands are in chaos,
as Cormyr and Sembia are wracked with civil war and the Dalelands and
Cormanthor are under siege by dark elves, humanoids, and other monsters.
It is a time of war, a time of heroes, and a time of
villains. It is a time of change, a time of opportunity, for good and for evil.
The old traditions of feudal kings and the sacred bonds of barons and knights
are giving way to the customs of mercantile princes and the profane contracts
of guildmasters and adventurers.
The old world, however, does not give over gracefully to the
new, and the fading lords of chivalry cleave desperately to their waning
treasure and power, even as the rising masters of trade seek to claim the
wealth and authority they feel more fit to wield…
INTRODUCTION
As can be seen from the above scrawl, the Forgotten Realms
(hereafter simply referred to as the Realms or the FRC) of the Realmscrawl
Campaign (henceforth abbreviated as the RCC) isn’t quite the same as the
standard Realms. It is an alternate version of the Realms, with several major
and numerous minor changes in history and geography. The reasons for this are
several:
First, the origin of this version of the Realms is in my own
campaigns and campaign styles. I generally prefer a campaign setting that is
more Dark Ages to High Middle Ages than Renaissance, and so my campaigns focus
more on knights and chivalry than merchants and trade, though both are a
factor.
Second, when 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons was
released, and I thought of re-launching my Realms campaign, I decided to make
it even more of a “What If?” by positing a whole new beginning for the Realms.
That is, rather than adopting all the changes that had occurred over the years,
all the great events in the “past” that were caused, in our reality, by new
editions of the system, I decided to simply re-present the campaign as though
it had originally been developed with 5th Edition races, classes, and concepts
from the get-go… though informed by the themes and ideas from the Old School
Renaissance movement that is near and dear to my heart.
Third, I decided to set the campaign at a time of great
strife, to drop the characters in the midst of world-changing events, though
close enough to the original timeline that, if the players chose, they could
still be “at home” in the familiar Realms. Thus, I chose to set the campaign at
a slightly earlier date than the Realms had been set before (save, of course,
for the Age of Netheril mini-campaign). And so the campaign opens in 1287 DR,
71 years before the Year of Shadows (1358 DR), which was the suggested starting
date in the original FRC.
The grand struggle between feudalism and mercantilism makes
for an excellent backdrop to the campaign. It is a time when players could
choose to make a quick buck as mercenaries for either (or both) sides in the
broader struggle; righteously defend the rights and prerogatives of feudal
society; honorably embrace the new way to the mercantile princes; support one
faction or many among above others in the overall anarchy; defend their homes
or explore the growing wilderness amidst the sputtering points of light of
civilization; or, if they were of the mind, to even carve out an empire of
their own.
Unlike the grand events of previous editions, there is no
“right” way for a Realmscrawl campaign to end… the future of the Realms, for
better and worse, is entirely in the hands of the player characters, should
they so choose…
PERTINENT HISTORICAL CHANGES
There are only a few pertinent changes between the core FRC
and the RCC that need be mentioned in this gazetteer:
The dragonborn Empire of Arkhosia once stood where now can
be found the wastelands of Anauroch. It was from the fading remnants of this empire,
not the elves, that the Netherese first learned the ways of civilization and
magic. Dragonborn are still found in great numbers in Anauroch, particularly
the powerful realms of Palandria and Takhasia, which follow Bahamut and Tiamat,
respectively.
The descendents of the Old Netherese, known today as
Anaurians, are the dominant culture of the city-states and wild tribes of the
wastelands found between the dragonborn realms. The wandering Bedine are found
in the Shaar; there are no Zakharan-based cultures in Anauroch.
Thauglorimorgorus, the Purple Dragon of Cormyr, wasn’t a
black dragon; he was a purple dragon, born of a union of Dragorgonos (the
Dragon-Demon, three-headed son of Tiamat and Demogorgon (with red, purple, and
blue heads)), and Khyrexandretha, herself a purple dragon born of the union of
a red and blue.
Rauthauvyr “The Raven,” who founded Sembia in 913 DR after
unifying the major city-states and most of the regional towns under his banner,
kept the new realm as his own, crowned himself king, and founded the Ravencrown
Dynasty. Following last year’s untimely death of King Rauthauvyr IV, with no
less than seven pretenders to the throne, Sembia has fallen into anarchy. Each
pretender is backed by a mix of factions of Traditionalists (feudalists) and
Modernists (mercantilists).
The fateful meeting between King Salember and Prince
Rhigaerd, during which Jorunhast slew the Red Dragon King in the FRC, did not
happen. Thus today, after two years of small skirmishes and street fighting,
Cormyr is rent by civil war, with the Uncrowned King (already called the Purple
Dragon Prince) and the Red Dragon King each gathering their forces for major
battles…
EXAMPLE GAZETTEER ENTRIES
0814 CASTLE FALCONBRIDGE is a castle-bridge complex, with a
five-story square keep and walled bailey at each end and a fortified stone
bridge, complete with shops and upper level, crossing the Stonerun River. Built
by a consortium of merchants from Tilverton, Bloxham, and Ravensden,
Falconbridge is governed by Starjan Coelwren (LN male Cormyrian Human 3 HD
Trader) and guarded by a garrison of 60 Guards led by Captain Kharwyn Hastler
(NE male Cormyrian Human 5 HD Captain, secretly a Zhentarim agent).
Use of the bridge costs 1 sp per man and beast and per wheel
of cart or wagon. The castle-town, which is built on and above the bridge,
consists of 90 Commoners, including a Smith, a Wheelwright, a Tavern Keeper
(The Dragon & Eel) and an Innkeeper (The Falcon’s Nest).
1611 THE CITADEL OF VALDYR’S FORGE is a massive three-story
stone keep atop Mount Moeglidh (“Old Grumbly”), a (mostly) inactive volcano. It
is home to the eponymous Valdyr Ironforge (LN male Shield Dwarf 14th level
Artificer), one of the mightiest artificers in the Eastern Heartlands; he goes
about his forge wearing only an apron, bracers of defense, and a ring of fire
resistance. Young when Thunderdeep was overthrown, he has sworn not to rest
until the Beast of the Deeps is slain and his people return to their home; to
that end he perfects his arts, hoping to forge the blade that will be the Bane
of the Beast.
Valdyr is served by 60 dwarven men-at-arms led by his
nephew, Valkyr Ironforge (LN male Shield Dwarf 6th level Fighter (Battle
Master)), who wears a suit of magical +2 plate and wields a magical +1 battle
axe. He is served at the forge by eight 1st level, four 3rd level, and two 7th
level dwarf Artificers. His complex system of magma-based forges is maintained
by four stone giants. Six brown bears, allies of dwarven rangers among Valdyr’s
men, prowl the mountainside hunting any stray goblins from Duskdale or the
mountains to the east.
The seven major and three sub-levels of the dungeons beneath
the keep are home to many dwarves, half being the remnants of the Ironforge
clan, the rest from a mix of clans, including an additional 220 males, 177
females, and 88 children, plus seven 1st level, two 2nd level, one 3rd level,
and one 4th level Fighters, plus eight 1st level, four 2nd level, two 4th
level, and one a 9th level Clerics of Moradin. The 9th level cleric, Brynd
Shieldbreaker, wears a suit of magical +2 splint mail.
1711 THE RUINS OF DUSKVALE consist of the tumbledown
remnants of an un-walled village of 656 gnomes and dwarves; these were
slaughtered, every man, woman, and child, during the fall of Thunderdeep, when
a whole horde of goblins fell upon the village without warning. The bleached
bones of the victims are scattered amidst the fallen stones of their homes and
workshops.
The ruins consist of the remnants of 72 buildings, including
temples of Moradin and Garl, a village hall, a merchant hall, and a large keep.
There is a three-level dungeon beneath the ruined keep, home to a guard outpost
of 33 goblins, three goblin bullies, and a goblin boss; the bullies and boss
are worg-riders, with their worgs stabled in the 1st level of the dungeon. The
goblin boss also possesses a pair of boots of springing and striding. The
goblins are served by ten gnome slaves; these slaves are from the slave pits of
Thunderdeep, have been raised to slavery, are thoroughly broken, and will raise
the hue and cry if anyone attempts to rescue them.
Unbeknownst to the goblins, a hidden chamber on the 3rd
level of the dungeon (used as a midden, and occupied by vermin and slimes)
contains 1,187 sp, 280 gp, a jar of universal solvent, a jar of sovereign glue,
and eyes of minute seeing.
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