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: The Campaign Arc of Mavarasha...

Good Afternoon, All:

As a further exploration of the adventure potential for the Isles of the Saharan Sea campaign, I'm going to explore the concept of applying the Nine Act Structure to a campaign arc focused on one of the major villains of the setting. If the setting is strong enough, enough basic concepts should exist to create a possible Plot Point-style campaign arc. Consider this to be a "proof of concept," as it were.

First things first, we should choose which one of the major villains we should use from the Hall of Infamy: Mavarasha, Priest of War; Peleon Nightshade, Ninja Master; or Warlord Tal-kash, Gorllia-man Emperor. Mavarasha is actually intended to be the ultimate Big Evil Bad Guy for the setting, so let's start with him. As a reminder, here's his blurb:

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.

And here's the blurb for his "base camp":

Lukrada, Ruins of: Once an ancient city under the patronage of Thanatos, the Flame Lord, Lukrada has long since fallen into crumbling ruins. These ruins are located atop a mesa overlooking the Burning Bay, and is very difficult to reach on foot, save for a narrow winding road leading from the beach to the flat mesa top. Necromancers and priests of Thanatos populate a few of the ruins, all in service to the Vanaran known as Mavarasha, Light Upon the Throne Triumphant, a High Priest of Thanatos.

With these details in mind, here's a very quick "off the cuff" plot arc:

Act Zero
Thanatos is a god of death, fire and war. The city of Lukrada once stood as a shining beacon of flame, resplendent even in this realm of eternal day. When it fell to the unified forces of those who would oppose his priesthood's conquest, such was a glorious day for Thanatos, and the souls of his faithful who had fallen in battle made for a grand sacrifice. Recently, with the Wrath of Serpentis and the disappearance of the snake goddess from the pantheon, the Flame Lord has noted a new opportunity to spread war, death and fire. Calling one of his greatest priests to the former site of his greatest temple among the Isles of the Saharan Sea, Thanatos bade his priest to lead a Crusade to take the lands once controlled by the followers of Serpentis. Since then, Mavarasha has become the Light Upon the Throne Triumphant, and is ready to lead his legions into war.

Act One
The ship upon which the PCs travel is attacked by pirates as it rounds a small island, introducing the characters to one another and to another passenger with a desperate mission. He has a map to a hidden treasure, and has to get there before his rival does. He'll split it with the party if they save him and help him find it. This leads to a wild chase across a tropical island as the party is pursued by pirates and the map owner's rival. In the end, they find the treasure and a few mysterious items.

Act Two
When the party or their partner attempts to sell a particular item (or are seen with it in their possession), they come to the attention of Mavarasha's followers. The party are pursued by cultists of the Flame Lord, who are after the item, and may stumble onto the preparations for a secret assault on a nearby port. Depending on their actions, they could become heroes or scarred by apathy here.

Act Three
Mavarasha and his retinue of major NPCs are intrigued by the news of the special item, as well as perturbed by the thwarting of their plans (if such has happened due to non-apathetic heroes). Mavarasha arrives with his Man-O-War and demands the party as tribute, I mean "honored guests". After meeting the mastermind and his flunkies, they learn that the special item they possess will lead him to the equivalent of the Ark of the Covenant. Before they can decide to hand it over, though, a freedom fighter breaks them out, and they are able to escape, although at the cost of the capture of their new-found ally. (Upon review, this sounds like a lot of exposition. I should come back to this one and rewrite it at some point into a more action-oriented adventure. But this is an "off the cuff" description. Perhaps this can be expanded on a "Well of Souls" scenario that shows the location of the Ark, and the PCs escape with knowledge of the Ark's location, although they know that Mavarasha possesses that knowledge as well. Yeah, that's the ticket!)

Act Four
Knowing the location of the Ark of the Covenant item, the party is in a race against Mavarasha to get to the site first. Now's the time to introduce a nice jungle temple dungeon adventure, with lots of deadly traps, nasty critters and even a puzzle room or two. Of course, the players have seen "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark", so they are expecting to be caught when they step out of the main entrance, so they need a back way out, so they can escape and feel good about outsmarting Mavarasha. (I'm beginning to feel a theme emerging here. Time to consider changing it up because the players will sense it, too.)

Act Five
Shortly after their escape from the temple, the party begins to hear of Mavarasha's successful crusade, launched without the Ark of the Covenant item. All of their enemies to this point, as well as backstory elements, should come to the fore here. This should be filled with major stumbling blocks, and they should really grow to hate Mavarasha's success. This storyline has to become personal for them, even if it means taking a well-loved NPC and torturing or killing him at the hands of the Light Upon the Throne Triumphant. It is with this final sacrifice story-wise that the players find out that Mavarasha's power stems, not from the Ark of the Covenant item, but from a sacred figure from within the jungle temple. (Maybe they see it on the prow of the ship as a new figurehead or something.)

Act Six
Some research reveals that the idol of the Flame Lord was forged in sacred flames from a volcano, and in order to be destroyed, the idol must be returned to that same volcano. They must find a way to capture the figure (easy enough to do while Mavarasha's men are raiding a great port), but they are then chased with a fierce determination. The final scene culminating in the destruction of the idol should be one of the most memorable of the entire campaign. (Holy Shades of Mount Doom, Batman!)

Act Seven
Without his source of power, Mavarasha is still powerful in terms of numbers. However, the forces of his enemies gather as well, leading to some potential for mass battles leading to the ultimate mass battle for the War of Mavarasha. Some element needs to be worked in here for the last fight where the party must lead Mavarasha away so the two armadas can fight without major PCs involved, leading to greater losses among the NPCs while the party and Mavarasha battle it out. Alternately, one of the PCs could challenge Mavarasha to a duel, seeking to end the battle with one fight rather than massive forces. It should be harsh, and either through victory or treachery and flight, Mavarasha leaves the fight alive.

Act Eight
The final adventure sees the party chasing Mavarasha back to his lair on Lukrada. Here's where they get to face off against all of Mavarasha's lieutenants and such (those who haven't been killed) as part of the final confrontation with the Priest of War. Thanatos should honor this battle with his presence, in some form or fashion, and deny Mavarasha's call for aid with his dying breath, taking the soul of the slain priest as a sacrifice when the party wins. (That is, if they win. It's the last fight of the story arc, so it's no holds barred.)

So, what do you think? There will be a number of other adventures in-between each of these, of course. That is the nature of a Plot Point-style campaign story arc. However, is there enough material available to create a good set of adventures to scatter over the breadth of a character's career? I think so, but it's always good to hear the thoughts of others.

With Regards,
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