let me introduce myself really quick. I am new to D&D and have only a little of RPG experience from like 10 years ago. I setupt a nice group of 5 PCs and we play 4ed.
We started with the RedBox and are playing now the Reavers of the Harkenwold adventure from the DM Kit which is set in the generic Nentir Vale.
I also read some FR Novels starting with Orc, Pirate, Ghost King and now Gauntlegrym from Salvatore. Therefore I got a nice feel on the north west areas of Faerun.
Right now I am not sure if after the Adventure I should move on to the lvl 4 Adventure that comes with the Essentials Monster Vault or move the group out of the "Nentir Vale".
My main challenge is that I would like something like the "Pathfinder Adventure Paths - in Golarion". A complete set of an adventure campaign - but for D&D 4 and FR.
As far as I can tell there is only one FR Adventure for 4th ED and several "generic ones" that can be converted.
We will not have the time to develop a complete campaign on our own and therefore I ask you for suggestions to continue this campaign around Waterdeep, Neverwinter, Luskan and the Sivler Marches?
I am looking forward to your suggestions!
Markus
While it is 'living' and therfore set up to be run in a larger community (with tables set up at comvenytions and game days, where players and DMs tend to change), you can also use the adventures for home based campaigns. Right now you need to be a member of the RPGA to download the adventures, but membership is free.
The campaign has over a hundred adventures written, set in FR.
Most adventures are set in a slecetion of 'player' regions. Amongf these regions are Luruar and Waterdeep, whoa ccount for about 20 adventures. Note that these are adventure spread over 20 levels of play, so you will need to add some yourself for a campaign if you want to stick to the region (though my suggestion is to include the Moonsheas and perhaps Baldur's Gate in the mix).
If you spread the area a bit you can also include a few 'Core' adventures (adventures not set in a player region) that are set at the Sword coast (including some set in Amn and an adventure near former Lanthan).
More info can be found at:
community.wizards.com/lfr
Gomez
Most adventures are set in a slecetion of 'player' regions. Amongf these regions are Luruar and Waterdeep, whoa ccount for about 20 adventures. Note that these are adventure spread over 20 levels of play, so you will need to add some yourself for a campaign if you want to stick to the region (though my suggestion is to include the Moonsheas and perhaps Baldur's Gate in the mix).
If you spread the area a bit you can also include a few 'Core' adventures (adventures not set in a player region) that are set at the Sword coast (including some set in Amn and an adventure near former Lanthan).
Just to correct something: every region has a full set of adventures for every range of levels up to 14; a list from the official wiki can be found here (this page has a better organization).
Core adventure happen in several regions, so you may want to check those as well.
Starting in 2011, the LFR will leave the Regional format (unfortunately, IMHO) and move to Adventure Paths, spanning several ranges.
One of these regions will be Waterdeep. However, most story areas except for Calmishan and Elturgard seem to be paragon level adventures.
Gomez
Are there within those Adventures any Adventures - or Mini Campaigns that you would suggest formy lvl 4 group that i would like to move out of the Nentir vale?
This is a difficult question because the "Nentir Vale" isn't a part of the Forgotten Realms. It's part of the new Core D&D world.
You could, of course, import it into the Realms. But finding a place for it in the neighborhood of Waterdeep or the northern Realms would be... difficult. The Nentir Vale is quite large, and has some history relating to a prior empire that would clash somewhat with the known history of the Forgotten Realms.
Markus
Sadly, cannot give any objective advice, since my group hasnt reach lv4 yet; will be interested in what you choose, and the results.
1. Thunderspire Labyrinth (Levels 4-6)
There is an area in the North of Faerun that was an ancient minotaur kingdom. The area is known simply as the Labyrinth. Google can help you a fair bit but the main thing is you have a nice logical reason for starting the party on the Thunderspire Labyrinth adventure which, while having some faults, is still quite good and certainly better than most of the adventures in the H1-3/P1-3/E1-3 trainwreck.
Use Waterdeep as a place to hook the PCs into heading north to the Labyrinth. I would also consider using DDi's Remains of the Empire and/or Stormcrow Tor on the way there (it might throw the levels out a bit but it might be more fun).
2. The Tyrant's Oath (Levels 6-7)
It's a generic adventure but very good and easy to set in the North.
3. Head in the Clouds (Levels 7-8)
If you can, try and tie the minotaur wizards back to Thunderspire Labyrinth.
Anyway, use this to send the party back to a coastal city so you can run:
4. The Last Breaths of Ashenport (Levels 8-9)
Or, if they really want to go to Waterdeep, use it as an opportunity to run:
4. Poisoned Shadows/Return of the Poisoned Shadows (Levels 8-9)
Poisoned Shadows is from Dungeon Delve; Return of... is from DDi.
OK, now do a bit of homebrewing and get the party to 10th level so that you can run the Tears of Ioun trilogy:
5. Touch of Madness
6. Depths of Madness
7. Brink of Madness
You will, of course, need to FR-ify the adventures as Ioun doesn't exist in the Realms (Oghma is a good replacement).
Anyway, that should bring the group to about 14th level but will give you a good start with adventures that are published and still available.
If you choose to go this route and want some help adding FR flavour then just start a thread and post your questions. I'm sure several of us would be happy to help.
I would need to sign up for RPGA Number but then I need to host events?
Yes, you need a RPGA number to download at the moment. You can download the adventures for private play (iow your home group). You were originally expected to report results but I don't think that is required any more.
As for a level 4+ group, there is s short string of adventures that deals with that but it is set in the Dalelands. This would be:
DALE1-2 Blades for Daggerdale
DALE1-4 The Lady in Flames
DALE2-1 Forever
DALE2-3 words From Ploughsares
with a few adventures at level 7+:
DALE1-5 Hunters' Down
and level 11+:
DALE2-4 Illsyldra
There are other adventures you can run to bridge the gaps (and to , likely, get your PCs to the Dalelands, unless you place the Vale close to it - such as in Vesperin).
Gomez
This is a difficult question because the "Nentir Vale" isn't a part of the Forgotten Realms. It's part of the new Core D&D world.
You could, of course, import it into the Realms. But finding a place for it in the neighborhood of Waterdeep or the northern Realms would be... difficult. The Nentir Vale is quite large, and has some history relating to a prior empire that would clash somewhat with the known history of the Forgotten Realms.
NOPE.
It fits almost perfectly into the Delimbyr Vale - I only had to slightly modify ONE location on the official FR map (the Thosuand Maws).
Nentir Vale is TINY compared to FR.
BTW, I am hoping to post this map soon...
This is a difficult question because the "Nentir Vale" isn't a part of the Forgotten Realms. It's part of the new Core D&D world.
You could, of course, import it into the Realms. But finding a place for it in the neighborhood of Waterdeep or the northern Realms would be... difficult. The Nentir Vale is quite large, and has some history relating to a prior empire that would clash somewhat with the known history of the Forgotten Realms.
NOPE.
It fits almost perfectly into the Delimbyr Vale - I only had to slightly modify ONE location on the official FR map (the Thosuand Maws).
Nentir Vale is TINY compared to FR.
BTW, I am hoping to post this map soon...
If you think 100x150 miles is a "tiny" region, that's fine. And I didn't say that you couldn't hammer it in somewhere into the Realms, I said you could... just that you'd have to do some revision writing considering the past history that makes the Nentir Vale what it is (e.g. accounting for the invasions from the northwest and the effects of the Nerath Empire).
Just say it was a piece of Abeir, and your good to go.
If you are playing in the earlier era, then there is a bit of a problem, but it still all works - 3 of the 5 roads actually lead directly to FR settlements when it is inserted (which was pretty damn cool when I realized how well everything fit).
I also had to tweak the eastern Nether Mountains as well, but not anything that is overly noticeable (had to fit a forest beneath them).
I'm not all that familiar with 4e core lore - couldn't Netheril substitute for Nerath? Or were those invasions more recent? I'll have to look into that - part of the conversion I am doing will also blend the fluff together.
NOPE
Just say it was a piece of Abeir, and your good to go.
If you are playing in the earlier era, then there is a bit of a problem, but it still all works - 3 of the 5 roads actually lead directly to FR settlements when it is inserted (which was pretty damn cool when I realized how well everything fit).
I also had to tweak the eastern Nether Mountains as well, but not anything that is overly noticeable (had to fit a forest beneath them).
I'm not all that familiar with 4e core lore - couldn't Netheril substitute for Nerath? Or were those invasions more recent? I'll have to look into that - part of the conversion I am doing will also blend the fluff together.
Welcome to 4E, where anyone can drive by and shout "NOPE, just kludge it with Abeir!"
However, the Spellplague was a very useful tool in that it allows you to shoe-horn anything into anywhere. I had assumed (wrongly, I suppose) that the posters here were of the pro-4e variety (one of the reasons why I left awhile back - the site was no longer condusive to the era I preferred to game in).
I'm planning a new campaign, and it will start in the Nentir Vale region I adapted to FR, and take place immediately following the Spellplague (around 1390DR or so). That way, I can use whatever I want from both eras and not really violate canon.
In my HB lore, the NV region appeared recently, but folks from there - and in the surrounding FR areas - have 'hazy' memories regarding the Vale (unlike many parts of of Abeir that were transposed, the NV region is somewhat unique in that people don't realize it has switched worlds, for some peculiar reason). I figure that just adds a another layer of mystery to the place, which works for a fantasy/heroic RPG. It could even be a region from a different world, or even 'another time' - leaving it vague allows every DM to create his own answer to the puzzle.
Also, canonicaly what happened during the Spellplague has happened at least twice before (Fall of Netheril and the ToT), and regions were swapped between worlds then as well. Ergo, if you prefer (due to the timeframe of your game), you could easily say that the trans-positioning took place during the ToT instead.
Seriously, I am not a big fan of the 4e setting, but Nentir Vale is a good-looking region - much better then the sparse Delimbyr it takes the place of - and makes a nice addition to the Realms. We lose nothing and gain quite a bit with it.
Cheers --- Mark
Nerath I would make the Kingdom of Man or some other Human Dominated Kingdom from the past 1000 years in the Realms. But yeah one could shoehorn anything into the Realms if they tried hard enough...
However, the Spellplague was a very useful tool in that it allows you to shoe-horn anything into anywhere. I had assumed (wrongly, I suppose) that the posters here were of the pro-4e variety (one of the reasons why I left awhile back - the site was no longer condusive to the era I preferred to game in).
I miss the lore and cannon from previous editions, but this was the selling point of 4E FR, at least for me. The changes give easy access to the Realms for new and old DM's alike. A new DM isn't constrained by the weight of the past, or by players who might be more knowledgeable about the setting than themselves. An old DM isn't constrained by cannon lawyers because 4E FR effectively was a suicide pill for cannon and lore. The entire FRCG is designed in such a way for a DM to modify the setting at will - nothing is sacred - the entire world is mutable in your hands. You're free to strip out entire nations, create new ones, kill off and create new gods on a whim... and the backstory provided by the lore gives you an easy excuse of how and why it happened. The Spellplague, if used properly, is the universal 'cure all' for any lore or cannon issue you encounter while gaming in the Realms.
I'm planning a new campaign, and it will start in the Nentir Vale region I adapted to FR, and take place immediately following the Spellplague (around 1390DR or so). That way, I can use whatever I want from both eras and not really violate canon.
In my HB lore, the NV region appeared recently, but folks from there - and in the surrounding FR areas - have 'hazy' memories regarding the Vale (unlike many parts of of Abeir that were transposed, the NV region is somewhat unique in that people don't realize it has switched worlds, for some peculiar reason). I figure that just adds a another layer of mystery to the place, which works for a fantasy/heroic RPG. It could even be a region from a different world, or even 'another time' - leaving it vague allows every DM to create his own answer to the puzzle.
This reminds me of the Domains from Ravenloft, but replace the Mist with the Spellplague - or perhaps more correctly - "Plaguelands".
BTW, welcome back to the forums Markus.
I had to get past all the... '4th edition madness'.. before I felt I was able to contribute in a positive manner again.
Good to see you posting in these parts Markus. Are you having difficulty getting into Candlekeep also?
Yup, but I'm glad in a way, because it made me check-back here - I kinda miss the old place.
Nerath I would make the Kingdom of Man or some other Human Dominated Kingdom from the past 1000 years in the Realms. But yeah one could shoehorn anything into the Realms if they tried hard enough...
Kingdom of Man doesn't sound right for an 'Ebil Empire'.. I suppose Netheril would be too far back, eh?
If the Nentir Vale was from 'elsewhere' (as it will be in my HBFR), the Empire doesn't really matter (since we have no idea what is/was in Abeir). However, I was planning a bit of HB lore to go along with the finished map (there are a couple of new locales that 'marry' the lore from both settings), so I will try to make it all work. I just learned of an Orc Kingdom in the vicinity of Delimbyr Vale in the not-so-distant past (very obscure reference, but canon), which could easily take its place.
Then again... Hmmmm... got Hellgate Keep directly to the SW... that could work...