Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jonny Reload 01-13-04, 02:30 AM	Obviously I'm new to Forgotten Realms (And yet I've been in playing Ravenloft and Planescape for like 10+ years now). ANYWAY, I was planning on starting up an evil campaign with a set and familiar campaign. In Ravenloft unfortunately it ISN'T "Evil Friendly" since your PC's get turned into NPC's REALLY quickly and in Planescape your bound to get smacked down by a bajillion entities and dieties known to the planes if you become to powerful (Which goes without saying in every setting but is many times more likely in the Planes). I was curious to know if there any areas in Forgotten Realms that are plagued with the undead or have a certain Silent Hill/Cthulu'esque feel to them? I really don't wanna play Ravenloft while dumping the Dark Powers checks but unfortunately thats the first main choice for playing in a dark and sinister setting. Any recommendations or help at all would be greatly appreciated.
Fredegar The White 01-13-04, 02:49 AM	Well i can't think of a place like Darkon in the realms but the Waterdavian cemetary is filled with undead thingies for everyone. As for Cthullu like things there is my personal favorite city of Cormyr. Marsember is a city full of mists and is built like Venice on islands. I once did an adventure there with Sahuagin that was pretty good. p.s. Sahuagin are great as Cthullu's children in the realms! p.s.2 Harkon Lukas rules no... all of Kartakas rules no... Death Of A Darklord is the second best Ravenloft book i ever read!
Herr Doktor 01-13-04, 03:00 AM	I believe that you're looking for a specific sort of thematic, rather than a specific locale. Shambling corpses, animated skeletons; creatures that are relatively common occurrences in ones adventures would probably in all actuality be quite horrifying and repulsive to people witnessing them. I'd say you could obtain the effect easily enough as long as low-level PCs are involved. The more vivid and grotesque you make your undead horrors, the more horrific they will actually be. In your descriptions greatly exaggerate the ghastly and the grotesque. If you're looking for a generally grim environment, then you'll have to look beyond canon. The realms are filled to the brim with evil, but this evil has never been presented in a grim and grizzly fashion. Westgate is a city ruled by secretive vampire lords, perhaps that would be a good place to start. Most of the heads of the merchant houses there are evil in alignment and intrigue runs high. You'll want to transform your Westgate to better suit your needs. Things as simple as gothic architecture and a grim atmosphere (unpleasant weather patterns from the Inner Sea). Throw a plague into the midst of things (or war, or something else to dampen the spirits of the commoners) and you should get your desired setting. I'd employ The Book of Vile Darkness to help flesh out the grim and frightening atmosphere which you wish to create. More locales with lots of undead include: Thay (Undead thralls) Places where the Cult of the Dragon holds much influence Haunted sites of battle and shadowy vales Crypts, tombs, ruins
Capn Charlie 01-13-04, 05:43 AM	If you wnat to give your campaign a more horror feel, just read the Book of Vile Darkness. The inspiration alone will change your game. The way I always explained it to my players was that certain towns looked like beregost in BG1, and some looked like Tristram from Diablo. After That book, well some towns now look like Tristram from Diablo2. If you have played those games, you know what I mean.
Dargoth 01-13-04, 05:55 AM	Use Warlock Keep Larloch's so powerful he could be considered the equivelant of one of the Lords of Ravensloft. Hes got a heap of undead serving him including Vampires and hes also a Netherese Archanist
Jonny Reload 01-13-04, 11:34 AM	According to these posts so far, it seems alot of people all run Forgotten Realms in different themes/styles. Is this true? (That Forgotten Realms is big enough for DM's to emphisise on whatever theme they wish?)
Fredegar The White 01-13-04, 12:37 PM	It is the most detailed world TSR (nostalgic 2ed fan!) made and Wizards continued.
Jonny Reload 01-13-04, 01:59 PM	But doesn't detailed mean less room for improvising and creation from your imagination? (Ex. Lets say you have a hard core Forgotten Realms dork in your group and you decide to cut out some crap ya don't like in the world or change some stuff, you won't hear the end of it since the game is so detailed, other aspects might rely on the thing that you are changing). I mean, I heard one of my friends talking about Zhentil Keep and about how of it was closed off like a section of the city was just baren and undead and the city walled itself off from that area. I mean any specific areas in Forgotten Realms that would resemble a town out of Diablo? (God I wish they updated that game for 3rd edition instead of making it a hackfest campaign).
Fredegar The White 01-13-04, 02:08 PM	Well of course you can change everything you like. It is your game and you change evertyhing you like (but you know that already). Detail doesn't restrict my imagination for adventures. Man i once destroyed a whole city with a reptilian gargantua! it was fun! And for your question i can only think of Daggerdale during the vampire plague. You have read about it right? In Vampire of The Mists? Jander Sunstar helped clean the city! Also ask Kuje31 official sexpert of Faerun IMO.
WizO_BigSister 01-14-04, 01:05 PM	In the novels at least the swamps of Fearun are plagued with undead. Specific examples include all the swamps in Halruua and the coast just to the north of Waterdeep.
Everach 01-14-04, 02:13 PM	Originally posted by Jonny Reload I was curious to know if there any areas in Forgotten Realms that are plagued with the undead Depends on the kind of undead. Everyone - I'm doing this by memory, correct me if I err. Western Heartlands - Field of the dead and the battle of bones are plagued with skeletons and zombies. The high moor is known for its share of ghouls. See FRCS, Elminster's Ecologies, Curse of the Shadow King and Curse of the Shadow Mage for details. Aglarond - Always under threat of invasion by shambling mounds of the nearby swamp and undead armies of Thay. See Unapproachable East for details. Great Dale - The Blightlords run a pseudo-undead and really creepy plague everything and corrupt it scenario. See Unapproachable East for details. Silver MArches - there's a forest north of Silverymoon, east of the moon wood and west of the cold wood that has a similar dark druid, creepiness to it. See the Silver Marches for details. Westgate or Calimshan, I forget - The Fire Knives is ruled by a Manshoon clone vampire. Creepy vampire assassins being the result. See Lords of Darkness (new version) for details. Waterdeep - The Ruins of Undermountain are rife with undead. Its more of a dungeon crawl than a role-playing story-driven campaign though. See the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set for details. Jungle of Chult - One of the local god's chosen runs an undead mining company. Which is more practical business than creepiness. See the Ring of Winter for details. Underdark - there's an entire city of over 100,000 skeletons somewhere east of Zhentil Keep. See Underdark for details. or have a certain Silent Hill/Cthulu'esque feel to them? Western Heartlands is the easiest to adapt here. Imagine small, sleepy farming and trading towns. Frequent caravans and out of town strangers passing through. Small nonhuman communities nearby (elves, dwarves, lizard folk and wemics). The Zhentarim are nearby in Darkhold. The Yuan-ti are nearby in the Serpeant Hills. Ancient ruins. Fields of undead. Orcs and Phaerim to the east. Harpers are ever present with Berdusk nearby, but that's just a good plot hook for the DM. Be sure to read Curse of the Shadow King and Curse of the Shadow Mage. Both a little creepy (for a Realms book anyhow), and both in the Western Heartlands. I really don't wanna play Ravenloft while dumping the Dark Powers checks Not sure what that is. Hope its not something you need to parallel. first main choice for playing in a dark and sinister setting. Again, Western Heartlands offers you the most flexability, while already having some pre-fabricated power groups, monsters and allies. Hope that helps.
Jonny Reload 01-15-04, 01:01 AM	Everach, MOST HELPFUL! Thankyou a 1,000 fold! :D
Lashan 01-15-04, 04:45 PM	To be honest, you can really use anywhere. One thing that I have found about horror games....is that it is all about the mood. You can really have a scary adventure set about anywhere in FR. As long as you set the tone right, you will have a scary game. Oh, and it helps if you give your players large amounts of caffiene to get them on edge.
Yokinobu 01-15-04, 07:41 PM	And such is the beauty of it all. FRCS is there to give you a start. To create something one imagination would take years to detail, and it does it's job well. It's not there, however, to guide you through your campaign and give all your events to you. That's the flexibility aspect of it. If you want to have the undead denizens in the subterranean city of The Boneyard to spill forth onto the face of Faerun like one of its inhabitants had dreamed of, feel free. Originally posted by Everach Westgate or Calimshan, I forget - The Fire Knives is ruled by a Manshoon clone vampire. Creepy vampire assassins being the result. See Lords of Darkness (new version) for details. Just for your info, it is Westgate, and the Night Masks is the guild of vampires led by the Manshoon clone, though the group does have relations to the Fire Knives.
Everach 01-15-04, 11:23 PM	Originally posted by Yokinobu Westgate or Calimshan, I forget - The Fire Knives is ruled by a Manshoon clone vampire. Creepy vampire assassins being the result. See Lords of Darkness (new version) for details. Just for your info, it is Westgate, and the Night Masks is the guild of vampires led by the Manshoon clone, though the group does have relations to the Fire Knives. Well, I had the vampire manshoon part right. That's worth one of three points, right?
Yokinobu 01-15-04, 11:46 PM	Indeed! Three points to you, sir.
Alac Luin 01-17-04, 07:40 PM	There is also Myth Drannor. Leave the Phlarn(SP?) and sharn out. Focus on the demons, devils, and undead. Bad guys use the "Mythal Ghost" powers. Heck, even most of the good guys there are undead.