Post/Author/DateTime	Post
cypherdragon 08-12-04, 06:56 PM	Has anyone converted the Adventure path out of Dungeon mag to FR yet, where did you put it? I was thinking of North of Rasheman but still not sure, maybe to close to Hordelands. Any thoughts, Thanx in advance!
naturaltwenty 08-12-04, 08:55 PM	I put Cauldron smack dab on the Golden Way. This way (pun intended) I could get Shou, Rashemen, and just about any other country in on the action. My group is just about done with the first adventure and we are having a blast. Later, Natural Twenty
Lashan 08-13-04, 12:44 PM	I've been thinking of putting it in the Lake of Steam.
Gallameed 08-13-04, 01:57 PM	I put Cauldron in the Lake of Steam, the border kindoms to be exact, right next to the northeast portion of the Jundarwood, this way the city is on volcanic ground, near a southern forest. I like this area because its not to far away form different cultures, so it give players lots of different options for class/races etc. The border kngdome is made up of independant city states and political change is often, also in the FRCS it says powerful adventuers some times run cities/carve out places to rule they way they want etc... And the region has had trouble in its history with Beholders and other stuff.. I made a few chages to fit in with the realms gods etc: st Cuthberts church = Red Knight Kord = Tempus Pelor =Lathander I start playing very soon, one of my adventurers is playing a half orc fighter who grew up in the lantern street orphanage, one is a wildelf druid of Rillifane who has dedicated himself to stopping the Chult dinosaur trade and has a velosoraptor companion, next is a lightfoot halfling rogue with a big mouth and lastly we have an moonelf rogue who intends to be the Indiana jones of the Realms! :D I cant wait!
Halornn_Kaala 08-13-04, 03:15 PM	I began running the Shackled City campaign in FR just recently. My PCs are about halfway through Life's Bazaar (the first adventure). I've placed Cauldron in the Forest of Mir, which is between the Lake of Steam and Calimshan. Specifically, it is near the narrow dogleg in the forest, as if it the volcano was the easternmost peak in the Marching Mountains. Most people seem to be gravitating toward this general region, or Chult to the south. I made deity changes like Gallameed did, but I changed St. Cuthbert to Helm, and Fharlanghn to Shaundakul. I'm still trying to decide about what to change the Church of Wee Jas to, but I'm leaning toward Azuth (albeit a group that has moved away from Azuth's central dogma). One of the later adventures heavily involves the church so I want to make sure it can be adapted without too much hassle. The PCs have nice backstories that give me plenty of time to bring in side-plots with personal relevance (e.g., a ranger who's a new initiate to the Striders, a sorcerer whose mentor is rumored to be involved in the kidnappings (though untrue, he has begun working with the church or Azuth), a barbarian whose parents were killed in Calimport). It seems as though there are plenty of opportunities to make tie-ins, such as making a friend or relative of the PCs one of the Shackleborn. It'd be great to have those of us running this campaign in the Realms continue to share our experiences with each other. Actually, it'd make a nice short article in Dungeon magazine - "The Shackled Campaign Adventure Path in the Forgotten Realms" Halornn.
Gallameed 08-13-04, 03:32 PM	I also changed Fharlanghn to Shaundakul :) Im thinking of just making the church of Weejas into a church of Kelemvor but making one of the head priests an ancient old man who is also a ex-Myrkul follower who is trying to steer the church to the old old god of deaths ways and philosophies... In the FRCS (or maybe F&P) it says that alot of kelemvors churches and temples are those that at one time belonged to Myrkul (former god of the dead), that way you can expect something like the above to happen in some places... Any ideas?
cypherdragon 08-13-04, 08:23 PM	Thanks for the ideas, I had already switched the Cuthbert churcjh to Helm, and was thinking of Oghma for the Strifders but now I think I'm changing my tune. I plan to start mine in about a month or so. I'm giving out character creation handouts tonite!
Nightingale 7 08-13-04, 09:42 PM	Well,there IS a secretive society of heroes by some,meddlers by others in the Realms that could take the Striders' place.Harpers anyone?:D
cypherdragon 08-14-04, 05:47 PM	Excellent idea!!! You rock, I hadn't even thought of the Harpers.
Lashan 08-17-04, 07:06 AM	I think St. Cuthbert could translate to Selune easily enough, too.
Omya 08-17-04, 11:29 AM	after the shackled city adventure path is over what are dungeon planning next? something simular to cauldron?:confused:
cypherdragon 08-17-04, 11:56 AM	I heard rumors that they are planning another "Adventure Path" Can't confirm that though.
Gallameed 08-17-04, 12:56 PM	Well, things are a ch, ch, ch, changing in my Shackled City campaign now! I was due to start playing this Sunday afternoon but one of my players has decided to change his Halforc fighter character into something else (most likely a Psionic character). Another player flies out to Florida soon (for a few weeks holiday) so the campaign is gonna brew for a further month before it kicks off. Another thing thats happened is I got a brand new player who wants to join in, shes never before played any rgp's but shes a huge fantasy and Lord of the rings fan, she's looking forward to living out a fantasy life for the first time! :D She's going to play a blonde haired, blue eyed, female human fighter with a elven bastard sword thats been passed down through her family line for generations and lives for battle, hates gnolls and has an elven grandparent that lives with her family in Caudron. Also... Ive been unable to find much information on the Red Knight, :( and it turns out the goddess might be a little too young for some of the idea's i had in mind, so I might be changing the church of St Cuthbert into Asuth also now. Almost everyone else here has switched St Cuth into Helm, why was that? any particular reasons? I picked Azuth because it seemed more appropriate for the region I've picked... Because Ive put Cauldron in the Borderkingdoms I might have a nearby monastry of monks of the Red Kight instead, the order of the Crimson Fist (working name only) a creation of my own, they train with the longsword and use the feat from the Ebberon book that allows flurry of blows with a longsword. I've been thinking about the way people in the city of Cauldron donate coin to the churches in order to fund all the water purifying that goes on to stop the lake getting too stinky, do you think it would be a proper tax? I think it would be seeing as the sewage all runs into it... thoughts? And..., are folks allowed to swim in the water, fishing, boats etc?
Lashan 08-17-04, 02:18 PM	If you are looking for a good translation from St. Cuthbert into FR, I would not choose Azuth. St. Cuthbert grew up a farmer-commoner type and weilded a cudgle. Cuthbert became the god of common sense and defence against evil. Azuth is not at all that type of god. Of course, if you don't care about what to translate it into, Azuth can work for you. If you want to keep it in the same flavor, then there are a few choices. Helm is one as he protects and guards, but doesn't have the goodness that St. Cuthbert does. Selune could work in a pinch, even though St. Cuthbert is LG, while Selune is more chaotic. This match could still work if you wanted it to. Chauntea could even be a chooce if you wanted to. Deal more with the common folk and farmers then with growing and the animal aspect. Oghma might work, if you wanted it to. As for people of Cauldron using the lake, I am pretty sure they do. I recall in one of the recent modules that mentions something about a fisherman that gets swept off his boat. That means that it is common for men to fish in the lake. I don't see why not, either. If you want to get into the details of the city paying a tax to the temples to keep the waters clean, I don't see why you don't put it in. You could say that the water clears itself out due to underwater currents. I say if there is a reason why you want it to be there, then put it in!
ClobberinTime 08-17-04, 03:58 PM	I thought the Red Knight was a pretty good choice for Cuthbert especially if you set the module in the lake of steam kind of area. Otherwise honestly I'd go with Tyr, justice, Retribution- fits pretty well with the Cudgel.
Gallameed 08-17-04, 05:24 PM	I must admit I dont really know much at all about the ''core D&D setting'' or about Greyhawk or the gods of Oerth and the history surrounding them, so thanks for the information on St Cuthbert it was good to know. ;) If Cuthbert was once mortal and so was the Red Knight then perhaps I should go with my first idea after all! What is the relationship like between Kord and St Cuthbert, is it neutral or are they allies? On the other subject about the water purifying tax, I just wanted to know what your thoughts were because three of my players characters actually live in Cauldron and own property there, so little things like local taxes and laws concerning swimming in the lake are fun to drop into the game for flavour, my players like stuff like that. :)
Brahzs M'ahnkei 08-17-04, 06:30 PM	Originally posted by cypherdragon ...where did you put [the Adventure path out of Dungeon mag]? We placed Cauldron in Chult. ;)
Gallameed 08-18-04, 08:04 PM	In the second installment of the Shackled City adventure path: ''Flood Season''. The characters leave Cauldron and go to the ''Lucky Monkey'' Road house that is along a road northwest of the city. While at the Lucky Monkey the pc's are attacked by a pair of Deinonychus Dinosaurs, now in my campaign the Lucky Monkey is just on the edge of the northern Jundarwood, would there be any of the above terrible lizards living there? I mean, just how far north is it normal to run into Dinosaurs? Apart from Chult, whereabouts in the realms do Dinosaurs live? It dosent really matter that much if Dino's arnt actually native to the Jundarwood, but because one of my players is a Wildelf druid who is trying to stop the Chult Dinosaur trade in my campaign, and he seeks out and punishes those who buy/sell dino's, you can see how I'm interested to find out. It makes for a pretty good plot hook, as the Wildelfs reason for been in Cauldron (in his background) is because he has heard a rumour someone in the region is buying Dinosaurs and intends to investigate this at some point. I was really quite delighted when I read about the two Dino's in Flood Season, fits in brilliantly! ;) Im toying with the idea that the chief of the Halforc Mercenary camp near Cauldron is buying Deinonychus to use as war mounts, and the two Dinos near the Lucky Monkey got free from the chiefs clutches. So is my Wildelf druid player gonna freak out and have to find out how those Dinos got near the Lucky Monkey or will I just have to explain its not unsual for them to roam the Jundarwood, Ive checked the FRCS but it just mentions giant spiders and things like that been in the forest. I suppose I could tell him these two dinos at the Lucky Monkey are a Chultan breed/have him roll take a simple Intellegnce check to realise this or something... Hmmm, what are your ideas, and hows your own version of the Shackled City going so far, I'd love to know! :)
Gallameed 08-18-04, 08:18 PM	Oh, I almost forgot, how long did/does it take your group to play through Lifes Bazaar? Normally in our main FR campaign, we play for about four to five hours in an average session, taking a break of half an hour to drink, eat etc. My group is quite roleplay heavy and we often get side-tracked from the main plotline of an adventure because in-game relationships and ''drama'' can make just about anything unexpected happen. My players usually have a few personal plotlines from their backgrounds and future goals to explore. So it would be interesting to find out roughly how long a module takes to play through with all your different groups/different playing styles etc. Thanks
cypherdragon 08-19-04, 07:56 PM	Well I haven't actually started the "Path" yet, but if it goes like are present campaign we might blow through "Life's Bazaar" in a night. Our sessions usually last about 7-8 hours. Right now we are in an Eberron game and we went through the "Forgotten Forge" in a night, and "Queen with the Burning Eyes"in a about 1 and a half. We are kind of combat heavy though. I'll post as soon as I run.
Gallameed 08-20-04, 03:17 AM	Cool, I was thinking it would be kind of fun and interesting if all of us DM's who are running the campaign maybe created a common, shared, NPC character/villian or plot hook to see how our different groups react to it? Even if it's just a minor character like a common bully, an old fisherman or something else?
Halornn_Kaala 08-20-04, 02:51 PM	My group is about 1/3rd through Jzadirune in "Life's Bazaar" after about 5-6 hours of gameplay. I expect they'll be done with the adventure after another 8-10 hours? Problem is, we only play ~ once a month. As for the shared NPC, there are so many NPCs worked into the path already that I'd just ask how people reacted to one of those. Halornn.
Zarphan 08-20-04, 03:19 PM	cypherdragon - you mentioned in an earlier post that you were giving players character creation handouts? What do those consist of? Do you sum up some stuff about the city? Start rumors early? I'd love to incorporate something like that into my group. We are currently on the demonskar trying to save the paladin of St. Cuthbert right now. Didn't start at the beginning though. We started with Zenith Trajectory. I put Cauldron in the mountains somewhere between the great desert and Silverymoon. The only major change that I've made is that instead of jungle surrounding the area, its evergreen forest. That makes some creature encounters a little off, but its easy enough to substitute. (Ah, the power of being DM...) The whole adventure path idea is great. I hope dungeon does another one. It'll keep me buying the mags!
cypherdragon 08-20-04, 05:58 PM	Well first of all I decided to set up Cauldron in the area North of Thesk and Rasheman, there is mountain chain that looks almost just like the player map from Zenith Trajectory, it is even surrounded by a forest/jungle type area. As far as the player handout goes, I usually always start my homebrew campaigns with one, becuase without it you PC's would no absolutely nothing about your world. I start it with a little history of the area and current goings on. Then I break down the available races and classes with some specifac history on each, for Cauldron as an example I might drop alittle bit of info about Jzadirune in the Gnome section and Malachite Fortress in the Dwarven. But in this one since it was mainly a FR campaign, and I plan on NONE of the characters being from Cauldron, I just put in rules from UA I planned on using, background pointers, and house rules just to get the players thinking about the kinds of PC's they are going to play. When it gets closer to the time I plan on running I'm going to put the PC's intro story and a little background on Cauldron in one and hand it out about a week before the first game. If you would like I'll email you a copy, when I finish.
cypherdragon 08-20-04, 06:00 PM	As far as NPC's go I'm super curious as to who "Celeste" is, I just now actually really reading the adventures, before I had just scanned through them.
Gallameed 08-21-04, 01:08 PM	HELP! I cant find my Dungeon mag with part four of the adventure path in it (the one with the missing paladin, Demonskar Legacy). I've recently moved house and it may be gone for good, hopefully it will turn up! Pesky moving gremlins stole a few issues of my comicbook collection and a lamp too! I remember it slightly as I skimmed through it a couple of months ago but if someone can help me out with the details I will love them forever.:D Can some one please fill in the blanks for me? Is this adventure module greatly important? How will my game be affected without it, can I just skip to the next module?
Lashan 08-23-04, 11:56 AM	This module is pretty important. At the end of it, you are taken to another plane, which is the next module. Also, I think this is the first module that introduces the spell weavers (though I could be wrong). I say it is rather important.
Gallameed 08-24-04, 07:40 AM	Originally posted by Lashan This module is pretty important. At the end of it, you are taken to another plane, which is the next module. Also, I think this is the first module that introduces the spell weavers (though I could be wrong). I say it is rather important. Do you think you could please give me a brief run down of the plot for the missing module and tell me any of the important parts I might need in the future? What choices the players have etc? If someone wants to tell mr it in great detail, :D thats fine too! I heard that Wizards of the Coast might be releasing the Shackled City campaign as an all in one hard cover book with extra features, is this true? If it is then I could get that whenever it comes out. About length of gaming times etc: I just went through the first three modules of the Shackled City in fine detail and worked out how long it will take my group to get to the missing module, allowing for player plotlines to be explored and all the roleplaying we do, plus other stuff like breaks etc. It should take us four to five of our sessions to complete one module, so about three to four months before we get to the missing module! It gives me plenty of time to fill in the gaps, yay! :)
Lashan 09-03-04, 10:52 AM	Alright, I have some time to recap things a little bit. I may be wrong and I may miss major points, but I can tell you what I recall about it. =------------------SPOILERS-----------------------------------------= The whole thing starts off with a noble paladin goes missing. There is a situation in town that could really use his political assistance, but he is missing. The party is hired to go find him. The party has to talk to those that knew him. One of them is a halfling who owns an exotic shop who buys some of his adventuring trophies. One of them is a silver tray with a crude map drawn on the back. If the party follows the map, they go into the locale jungle to a ruined spellweaver dungeon. It is controlled by hags who have some giants as mercenaries. In the dungeon, there is an artifact mirror that the hags didn't know what to do with. They charmed the paladin to go in. The party has to go in after him. When they do, it is some sort of treasure vault. They can get the treasure, but they are trapped inside. The paladin couldn't get out, but the party as the way to get out (don't recall what it was). The paladin is insane and talks about something called "the Eye". Right when the party gets out of the mirror, a demon shows up and slaughters the now paladin. This is the end of the adventure. I think there is something else, but I don't recall if it is this adventure. There is a secret society called something like the Stonemasons. The live in an outlying township away from Cauldron. They are the ones that hire the PCs to look for the paladin. Now, this happens in one of the modules, but I can't recall if it is in this module or not. If the PCs join the secret society, then they gain access to a PrC. Hope that helps somewhat. I know it's very vague, but that's what I recall.
Gallameed 09-03-04, 07:08 PM	Alright, I have some time to recap things a little bit. I may be wrong and I may miss major points, but I can tell you what I recall about it. =------------------SPOILERS-----------------------------------------= The whole thing starts off with a noble paladin goes missing. There is a situation in town that could really use his political assistance, but he is missing. The party is hired to go find him. The party has to talk to those that knew him. One of them is a halfling who owns an exotic shop who buys some of his adventuring trophies. One of them is a silver tray with a crude map drawn on the back. If the party follows the map, they go into the locale jungle to a ruined spellweaver dungeon. It is controlled by hags who have some giants as mercenaries. In the dungeon, there is an artifact mirror that the hags didn't know what to do with. They charmed the paladin to go in. The party has to go in after him. When they do, it is some sort of treasure vault. They can get the treasure, but they are trapped inside. The paladin couldn't get out, but the party as the way to get out (don't recall what it was). The paladin is insane and talks about something called "the Eye". Right when the party gets out of the mirror, a demon shows up and slaughters the now paladin. This is the end of the adventure. I think there is something else, but I don't recall if it is this adventure. There is a secret society called something like the Stonemasons. The live in an outlying township away from Cauldron. They are the ones that hire the PCs to look for the paladin. Now, this happens in one of the modules, but I can't recall if it is in this module or not. If the PCs join the secret society, then they gain access to a PrC. Hope that helps somewhat. I know it's very vague, but that's what I recall. Thanks for the responce Lashan. :) I have found my missing Dungeon mag now so the crisis is over, I started the adventure path the other day and so far its been fun. We are nearly through Lifes Bazzar.
valeren 09-13-04, 10:53 PM	I did notice something though. If one was to place Cauldron in the area of Calimport, the Lake of Steam or Chult, wouldn't that make the natives of Cauldron of Cala$hite decent? However, based on the artwork and equipment found in the adventure, I would assume they would be of Chondathan majority. So wouldn't it be logical to place them in a region where the Chondathans are the primary population; like somewhere in the North Central area?
Halornn_Kaala 09-14-04, 08:32 AM	I did notice something though. If one was to place Cauldron in the area of Calimport, the Lake of Steam or Chult, wouldn't that make the natives of Cauldron of Cala$hite decent? However, based on the artwork and equipment found in the adventure, I would assume they would be of Chondathan majority. So wouldn't it be logical to place them in a region where the Chondathans are the primary population; like somewhere in the North Central area? I guess it depends on what aspect of the game you want to fit with FR. For example, geographically the North is not a good match because there are no volcanos that I know of, their winter wouldn't really be a rainy season, etc. Definitely no dinosaurs either. The Lake of Steam/Calimshan area has the appropriate climate and geography (or at least is much closer). Plus the history of beholder troubles. From a social/cultural perspective, the north might work better, as you suggest. I play Cauldron in the Forest of Mir. Anything in there is going to be pretty well isolated from Calimport and for the most part beyond its influence - this might also explain any differences in culture and the like.