Isles of the Saharan Sea: Thoughts on the First Adventure...

Good Afternoon, All:

Now that the old house is almost ready to be put on the market, and I've moved into a new place, I feel like I can start to focus on my writing once again. Most of my gaming collection should be going on eBay with the next few weeks, and I'll be sure to post info here once it's up and running.

I could resume the Isles of the Saharan Sea campaign setting development, but I'm almost done with it, at least at this point. I think I have enough to get started with a campaign, between the work I've posted and some work I've done at home. Well, almost enough. I probably could use a "First Adventure" to kick things off, just to make it easier.

So, what should be in a "First Adventure" for such a setting? I'd likely want to introduce the main antagonist of the setting, and make allusions to the two other major villains. I'd want to explore the concept of a hollow earth setting, and I'd want to make that integral to the entire adventure, if I could figure out a way. I'd want to introduce the concept that all non-perishable magic items are non-standard and unique. And I'd want the adventure to end with the players having their own ship, so that they could travel around the setting of their own accord.

So that first adventure should have ninjas, a gorilla-man naval patrol, some pilgrims seeking Mavarasha, an issue where perpetual daylight is either the cause of the problem or the solution to one, one permanent magic item and someone to introduce the concept of unique items, and a small sailing ship capable of piracy, should the mood take the party after the adventure is said and done.

Hmmm, how about this? A merchant, a recent survivor of one of Mavarasha's attacks, approaches the party, asking them to strike against some pirates that have captured one of his ships and stolen a magic item. He explains the rarity of such, introducing the concept of unique weapons, and offers them a small ship from his merchant fleet if they can retrieve the item. (That's how rare these items are, or how bad off the ship is.) The problem: they can't approach the island where the ship is moored without being seen, because of the perpetual daylight and the concave nature of the surface of the World Within. The merchant mentions that he tried to hire the Black Rose to fetch it, but they wouldn't accept his payment. The party encounters a gorilla-men naval patrol en route to the island. The party will have to find a way to get past the patrol, and either negotiate with the pirates or overcome them (hehehe, yeah, right) to get the item and save the day. The pirates do have some slaves, including pilgrims of Thanatos seeking out Mavarasha to join his crusade. (If the merchant finds out the party helped the pilgrims, he may be sorely upset, given his previous encounter with Mavarasha.)

Well, it's rough, but in a sandbox campaign, sometimes rough is okay. I'm sure more ideas will come to me over the course of the next few months. Of course, the guys may simply change their minds and go with something akin to Odyssey Prime, a cross-genre romp through gates to visit worlds of fantasy, sci-fi, pulp and horror in a quest to save humanity from an impending apocalypse. Players can be a fickle bunch at times, but either way, I feel I'm up for the challenge.

More Later,
Flynn

Isles of the Saharan Sea: Hall of Infamy, Part 2...

Good Afternoon, All:

After I'd posted my initial entry for my Hall of Infamy, I started to work on the second half for today's post. Today's goal is to define four "mid-level" regional villains for the setting. I'll post the basic capsules of information for your consideration:

Lord Barabos, Admiral of the Unliving Armada
When warriors die a particularly gruesome death, some have been known to return to this world as an unliving revenant driven to complete their unfinished personal business. In the case of the pirate known as Lord Barabos, this task is more prolonged than most. Unknown to the public at large, Barabos is the eldest son of an island sovereign, exiled by a corrupt uncle who enjoyed the power of his regency during Lord Barabos's age of minority. Driven by vengeance, Lord Barabos means to take back his homeland with an invincible armada of undead, march into the palace and take his rightful place as sovereign, now that his father has past. Until then, Lord Barabos continues to gather an unliving armada of animated corpses and unliving sailors under his tattered banner.

Render-Lord Kytun Jandor, Tarthani Pirate Commodore
The Render-Lord Kytun Jandor is perhaps the most successful, or at least the most well-known, Tarthani pirate in the region. While Kytun Jandor is a rather greedy and vain pirate commander, bards frequently sing stories that hint at an honorable heart beating within his chest that yearns for redemption. Truth be told, though, Kytun Jandor understands the value of appearances. He often releases lyricists and singers he has captured if they swear to sing of Kytun's redeeming qualities. He will occasionally disguise himself and follow such prisoners into port upon release, to insure that their songs are flattering to him.

Sorcerers of the Sanguine Sea
While several benevalent orders of sea-mages exist on the Isles of the Saharan Sea, few compare to the martial prowess and nautical blood magic practiced by the Sorcerers of the Sanguine Sea. These vile spellcasters jealously guard their knowledge of sea magic, and have even launched raids and strikes against neighboring islands to slay other magical practitioners demonstrating knowledge of nautical magic (and steal their libraries, as well.)

Vax Zagros, Lord of the Kelshani Slaver House Obfaril
Even among the devil-men known as Kelshani, Vax Zagros is considered a bloodthirsty and sadistic slaver. Lord of House Obfaril, Vax Zagros loves to raid islands for potential slaves, with a particular fondness for both pleasure slaves and gladiators for the Arena of Souls in Devil's Cove. It is rumored that he keeps the most violent prisoners for his own personal hunting, a practice he occasionally opens to other nobles with similar tastes and coin to spare.

You may be able to catch a few of the inspirations for some of these lesser villains. For example, Lord Barabos is inspired by a combination of the first Pirates of the Carribean movie and the classic story of an exiled prince returning home to claim his birthright. Kytun Jandor is actually based on the concept of a villain with a car salesman attitude toward marketing and self-promotion. The Sorcerers of the Sanguine Sea were loosely inspired by the Crusades and the concept of a magical jihad, as well as a desire to find a place for the sword-mage concept within the context of the setting. The idea for Vax Zagros came from the events of a previous campaign, which in turn were inspired by The Most Dangerous Game. In all cases, of course, each character took on its own life as I started writing down details. I'm sure that they will continue to grow and evolve as I integrate them further into the Isles of the Saharan Sea setting.

With this selection of villains, I wanted to insure that I had a wide variety of experiences to offer up to the players. For example, if the players decide to pursue a more courtly or political game, the machinations of Master Peleon Nightshade and his rogue ninjas should be a lot of fun. Before I'm really done with these guys, I'll assign them two goals, one being short term and one being long term, and detail some of their resources, so that I know what they have to work with once the game begins. Oh, and I'll come up with some Sandbox Encounter write-ups for each faction, to make it easier to pull them out and present encounters on short notice. Chances are, you'll be seeing some of that work here as time moves forward.

Enjoy,
Flynn

Isles of the Saharan Sea: Hall of Infamy, Part 1...

Good Evening:

I've really enjoyed reading through Sine Nomine Publishing's An Echo Resounding: Lordship and War in Untamed Lands by Kevin Crawford. Like Red Tide before it, there's a ton of great sandbox advice. One of my favorite concepts, simply due to its sheer simplicity, is the concept of the Hall of Infamy. Briefly, the "Hall of Infamy" is a simple process of creating a short, manageable list of major villains that will help shape regional events over the course of a campaign. These villains aren't instruments of railroading; instead, these could be considered background material that becomes powerful NPCs who could be enemies, rivals, or more rarely contacts or even allies. These are the forces behind the more powerful changes that take place in the setting over time.

To build a Hall of Infamy, you will identify seven bad guys. You start at the top with the Supreme Bad Guy of the setting, then you choose two "Name" level Bad Guys. Finally, you choose four Significant "mid-level" villains. These constitute your regional Hall of Infamy. All other lairs and villains are likely local affairs, so you don't have to worry about why the PCs haven't heard about them from their early years of adventuring. (And if seven regional villains aren't enough for you, you can always repeat the exercise again and you'll have fourteen to work with.)

For the Isles of the Saharan Sea, I thought I'd create a "Hall of Infamy," just to explore the concept and see how it works out for me. First, I started with the Supreme Bad Guy:

Mavarasha, Light Upon the Throne Triumphant
The Vanaran known as Mavarasha, Light Upon the Throne Triumphant, is a devoted priest of Thanatos, the Flame Lord. Conquest is a sacred responsibility to Thanatos, and the Light Upon the Throne Triumphant is no stranger to war and battle. He has conquered many of the Smoking Isles, and has set his sights on the islands closer to the mainland of Mediterranea. Mavarasha wears the Flamegold Warmask into battle, whether on land or see, as a sign of his devotion to the Flame Lord.

As you can see, I chose to follow a mystical path for the Supreme Bad Guy, and a priest of a war god seemed like a nice change of pace from a necromancer or a diabolist. Continuing on, I decided to create two "name" level Bad Guys, one based on a powerful warrior and the other on a powerful rogue.

Peleon Nightshade, Expatriated Grandmaster of the Brotherhood of the Black Rose
Master Peleon was once the Grandmaster of the Brotherhood of the Black Rose, a specially trained group of spies and mercenaries specialized in espionage, sabotage, infiltration and assassination (aka ninjas). He is a master of the unorthodox warfare and unarmed combat techniques employed by the Black Rose (i.e. ninja master). When internal strife led to the eviction of Master Peleon and his loyal followers from the Brotherhood, the former Grandmaster set up shop elsewhere and is now using his band's talents to infiltrate and manipulate foreign courts, seizing political control without direct confrontation. Because of the techniques used, attacks by Master Peleon's Black Rose Rogues are often blamed on the Black Rose proper. This is causing considerable friction between the Brotherhood and some of their clients, much to Master Peleon's personal delight.

Warlord Tal-kash, Zegoth General
When the serpentfolk mysteriously disappeared without warning or reason, many servitors of the "master race" panicked. One of the more competent and knowledgeable tacticians among the gorilla-men, Warlord Tal-kash quickly seized the opportunity to gain control of the zegoth warriors under his command. With an army and an armada under his command, Warlord Tal-kash has established a small empire from which he sends his demands for tribute from nearby islands. When someone stands up to the zegoth general, he raids and harangues his foes until he has conquered them and thus brought new subject lands under his control.

Tomorrow, I'll complete my "Hall of Infamy" with four significant "mid-level" regional villains. These should include a society of evil sword-mages, a Tarthani pirate Commodore, and two other interesting foes.

Enjoy,
Flynn

Isles of the Saharan Sea: Port Aljis...

Good Afternoon, All:

Today, I begin an exploration of some of the more famous ports of the Isles of the Saharan Sea setting. I present to you the port of Aljis:

Aljis
Location Name: Aljis the White, or The Isle of the Sons
Ambiance: The buildings of Aljis appear glistening white as seen rising up from the sea. As a trading hub, the streets of Aljis are crowded with merchants, pirates and other, less reputable sorts. Five gates breach the walls to give access when the port is not under attack.
History: Around ten human generations ago, the people of Aljis withstood a concentrated assault from a Zegoth armada with minimal losses. About three human generations ago, the city of Aljis divided in a civil dispute between the surviving sons of the fallen Aljisian king. Even though the youngest of them won through assassination and trickery and united the city once again, sailors took to calling it the Isle of the Sons.
Encounters: The people of Aljis are loose with their word, and are only interested in immediate gain. Frequent backstabbing and shady deals in back alleys are the norm. Those with a guilty conscience should be wary of the high presence of assassins and bounty hunters.
Treasures: A rich trading port, Aljis houses many mundane treasures captured from many of the surrounding islands. The Aljisian King is particularly proud of his collection of crowns and coronets belonging to neighboring sovereigns who have literally lost their head from pirates and the Zegoth armadas.
Hooks and Hotspots: It is rumored that the Brotherhood of the Black Rose, a particularly successful band of assassins, operates out of Aljis. Wishes made at the fountains of the Verdant Gardens of the palace are said to come true, but only if no one sees it being made.

What do you think?

With Regards,
Flynn