“Listen here lad, Hillsfar, the City of Trade, is a great place to make your way, as long as you’re not an elf… or a dwarf… or a halfling or well pretty much anything but human. But if you’re human, there is no better opportunity!”
-Isthana Ro, Guildmaster of Rogues
Read up on Hillsfar, the next port of call for D&D Expeditions during the Rage of Demons storyline season.
Yeah this going to be a very interesting season for sure! Can't wait to here the complaining!
I wonder what the DC is for an Arcane Trickster (or Warlock or ...) to cast Disguise Self and get past the guards' inspection?
On a FB post, they insinuated that they are looking for that kind of thing. It would be an easy thing to check for. Maybe a higher level illusion.
I imagine that once you get inside, you could probably use Disguise self to move around...
"The bodies of nonhumans who die in the Arena are blessed by clerics of Tempus and then ground into fertilizer for the surrounding farms."
Tal
mrpopstar wrote:
Demihuman. Everything that is not a Human. 
I'll follow up: Can we please keep using interesting settings for the Adventurers League and not succom to the nicely ordered white picket fence goody two shoes no moral dillema 50 shades of pristine pink harlequin novel boredom? No dafodils, no rainbows, but please also no strong virtuous one-sided paladins, special snowflake lost heirs to a family fortune that they want to use to start a soup kitchen for the poor, etc....
I enjoy a healthy dose of grey, or even utter darkness. It makes the light stand out that much more.
That said, I figure for the next setting some pink may be in order..
pink as in rivers of innocent blood mixed with mares milk.. the cocktail of choice...
Too much?
edit: its not that I do not see the potential issues, but up to now AL has always succeeded in creating a way to make an essentially horrible setting work by providing ways and reasons for people to care. Maybe not about the bad people, but about the points of light that shine amidst the refuse. I have no reason to believe that will be different this time around. People get way to hung up on the basic settings and seem to have trouble looking beyond the big smoking volcano in the front of the scene. Which is a shame, because there is a totally awesome waterfall just a few mental steps beyond the slag filled wasteland.
SteveMND wrote:
I agree with the assertion that we could use a little more reason to care about the settings. At the end of Season 1 I had a hard time wrapping my head around 'good' Black Fists. So there are a few good eggs among the brutish enforcers of this nasty place? Really? And then, at the end of the Season, to have one berate you for not committing suicide with them in the name of Phlan after you had just freed them at risk of life and liberty? Really? And don't even get me started on Mulmaster.
That said, I liked playing in both locations. They have character and patina. But it is a challenge to actually care about what happens to them because they're such scummy places.
With Hillsfar I'm looking forward to finding excuses to put elven arrows between the shoulders of Red Plumes whenever I get the chance. Grind my people into fertilizer, will you? Ethnic cleansing does little to bring out the best in people and don't be surprised if PCs react in a less than staid manner to outrages against their folk.
SteveMND wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
Sorry, Zhentil Keep has already started the rebuild (its mentioned in Season 1). Its not all ruins anymore.
Skerrit wrote:
Coredump00 wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
I don't have any real information on Hulburg (which is smaller than most of the other Moonsea cities, except maybe Phlan which we only went to because of the tradition) and the Swordmage novels cover a time period that is roughly a decade previous to the campaign, so who knows what's up there. That said, WOTC tends to like us to avoid areas with novels so I wouldn't expect to go there any time soon.
THere is also Melvaunt as a possibly location. Its relatively close to Phlan, can defend itself and is very industrial. City of Smog!
Skerrit wrote:
No entirely correct there. THere is also THentia (however its not a commonly known city). Size wise it was bigger than Phlan and was widely known as both a Democracy and its large marble temple to Selune. It also had a powerful Mages Guild.
THentai was/is ? (its hard to talk about this region without a cornerstone to back up my information RE: the FRCS) one of the most open cities in the Moonsea. Its more chaotic and independent than most of the Southern Moonsea cities and its also Militarily one of the weakest... bar of course a disproportionately large number of Mages that live there (A lot of ex Cloaks and like minded Mages)
Just be thankful we arnt being based outta Sulasspryn. It fell into a big hole.
Ainulindalion wrote:
Coredump00 wrote:
Tyranthraxus wrote:
Tyranthraxus wrote:
Sorsohka wrote:
Then Hulburg was the only good city in the region and by what you said will be off limits due to it being in Richard Bakers series.... That sucks! It would have been nice to see the city and Sir Geran Hulmaster at Griffonwatch.
I think one of the ways of phrasing the issue is that my Half-Elf Warlock really doesn't have an organic reason to want to be in Mulmaster or Hillsfar. So why am I there? I think this would be an excellent use of factions to have say 3 possible general missions that your PC happens to be on for a particular year grouped into say Defend, Infiltrate, Research.
"You are aware that region is under threat. You must remain ready to be called upon by your faction to intercede in any fighting that might occur."
"You are on a mission to blunt the power of Hillsfar in the region. Look for opportunities to infiltrate organizations with the resources to do so."
"You are aware that there are rumors of a coming calamity. You should try to comb every library, every temple, every bookseller that you gain access to, seeking scraps of information. Our faction must be the first to obtain them should they appear."
All of these are straightforward reasons for PCs to be where they are, independent of mod. And if each mod lightly calls on them in some way, each player should feel more attached to the setting.