Can anyone tell me of the major changes that happened to the general Chessenta region for 4e D&D? I'd also like to know of the current status of Tchazzar, i.e. is he alive, what's his current position, what happened to his demigod status, etc.
I've volunteered for the 2-year active military service in the ROK Army(which is actually mandatory for Korean male citizens, but I wanted to be an interpretion soldier, so I became one), and for the last 8 months or so I've been prohibited from using internet. I've been cut off from news for some while, and I'd appreciate the efforts of anyone who'd like to fill me in.
PS: I tried the character builder only to find out some meteors(or something else?) struck Chessenta to blow it to smithereens. Nice to know that Chessenta is finally united under one flag, but I don't know which flag that is, and who waves it...
Caught between all three, not a lot survived in Chessenta.
There are the Ruins of Cimbar, and Drowned Soorenar. Airspur is now a genasi city, but it seems to be an entirely new one. Mordulkin is ruined too. No mention of Akanax or others. But Luthcheq is still there, of all things. It was saved by a Karanok hero, who changed the wizard-burning for wizard-branding and segregation instead, though the Cult Of Entropy remains. Luthcheq's the only place mentioned in the sourcebooks. Now Chessenta = Luthcheq.
Of the dragons, Tchazzar went missing (again), Alasklerbanbastos isn't even mentioned, while Jaxanaedegor is living it up. He's now able to fly around during the day due to volcanic dust clouds. (Chessenta is now Mordor.)
In other news, Saestra Karanok, the vampiress, wound up in Erkalzar, and turned it into vampire-land.
(Insert generic rant about how 4e ruined everything in FR.
)That's it. I'm not using 4e FR settings. Viva houserules!
How did your Tchazzar as Ceasar campaign fare?
I read the part of Chessenta in the FRPG and man ... Luthcheq being saved, sucked something awful. The wizard-hating maniacs of the Karanok family was great.
Generally I loved the entire region and it's people.
Now they are basically gone, just so there could be home territories for genasi and dragonborn
If I ever play D&D again (I'm more of a world builder and mathematician) in FR (I use Tesar (see my sig)), it will be a somewhat houseruled 2e campaign using only the 1987 gray box for the FR material (and the original boxed sets for each of the campaign areas).
In other words, it's still 1357 DR in my Realms. And it's 353 AC in Ansalon, FY-1 in Athas (Kalak is still alive), 735 BC in Ravenloft, 998 YK in Eberron, 576 CY in Oerth, and 1000 AC in Mystara, and it always will be when I start campaigns there.
In the ToT, Tiamat had her big showdown against Gilgeam - and lost, and died. But her divine essence was spread amongst her three favourite dragons in the Old Empires area, Tchazzar, Gestaniius and Skuthosiin. He went on a "there can be only one" kick, and killed and ate the other two. Except, each time, he sprouted a new head. By the end, he became a brand new avatar of Tiamat. Who then went and whooped Gilgeam's arse. Tchazzar and the other dragons were dead.
Much later, during the Rage Of Dragons on 1373, Tiamat brought Tchazzar back to life and he returned triumphant to Chessenta (detailed in Dragons Of Faerun. Curiously, the other two dragons Gestaniius and Skuthosiin had returned to life in previous years without any fanfare.
This came about because the FRCS 3e included Gestaniius and Skuthosiin as alive, without any change, completely missing their deaths in P&P and elsewhere (an easy mistake to make, I think), and made no mention of what happened to Tchazzar (he was still missing). Eric L Boyd and/or Eytan Bernstein decided to solve this problem in DoF.
It's a pretty nice example of how one can shake up a realm and add differences to a real-world analogue, by working from the existing lore, and still impress the fans.
By the way, I almost forgot: The Grand History Of The Realms added that in 1379, Tchazzar cemented his hold on the rest of Chessenta, while Threskel was consolidated under Alasklerbanbastos, as Mulhorand finished conquering Unther.
Gee, a land ruled by a dragon-god-kings, populated by their dragon-spawn would have fit well in a 4e Points-Of-Light model, wouldn't it? (Plural: I speak of Tchazzar, Alasklerbanbastos and Maldraedior and possibly Jaxanaedegor as well.)
Gee, a land ruled by a dragon-god-kings, populated by their dragon-spawn would have fit well in a 4e Points-Of-Light model, wouldn't it? (Plural: I speak of Tchazzar, Alasklerbanbastos and Maldraedior and possibly Jaxanaedegor as well.)
That's so dumb.
it's ****ed up what happened in Chessenta
it's obvious that they wanted to get rid of historical analogies, Chessenta was already quite different than Greece, just a few new unique concepts would've done it
if two genasi realms was really necessary, Lake of Steam area had plenty of room
Now, picture 'Dragon Kings' as a dead horse....
You get the idea. ;)
Its obvious someone in charge had a hard-on for the Council of Wyrms setting.
As for Chessenta and Tchazzar, I picture them looking over at the Mazticans these days, and both of them looking puzzled and just shrugging their shoulders.
You made me look at CP's blog!
I think I'm blind!
Edit: However, I'm glad you did bring it to everyone's attention that the man doesn't like FR, even though he's in charge of it.
I would think the guy in charge should at least be willing to run the setting he is in charge of.
...tried to incorporate as many of the core D&D conceits as possible...
Did anyone else notice this horrifically appropriate choice of word?
Did anyone else notice this horrifically appropriate choice of word?
-I've noticed it from day one. It's a marketing thing, I guess. If you look, every WotC designer uses the term, in lieu of better terms, like, say 'concept'.
Long time no see, MarkusTay, and others. I'm faring well, thank you.
The Army of the Korean Republic lives up to its traditional image, the extremly rigid rank structure of Korean soldiers surviving this much into the 21st century. No one is your equal in ROKA - they are either above you or below you. Above you means you are forced to worship them; below you means you are forced to scorn and terrorize them. Well, that's too much of an exaggeration, but that's the basic concept
Anyway, this is how the Tchazzar as Caesar campaign went.
One player who dropped in in the middle of the campaign played a Dragonborn Warlord - he asked me if he could use the "Tchazzarian Legionnaire" background feat I was using for the NPCs; I said yes, and he basically created a very real-feeling Centurion. That centurion then persuaded the rest of the heroes into joining up for the Legions - and a month later they're leading Legions upon Legions in a Rampage, conquering Unther and opening war on Thay.
I did all I could to make my campaign flexible; If my players wanted to play commanders on a battlefield, I adopted Warhammer rules for small battles and Axis&Allies rules for large campaigns. This meant that character levels became less important, but I did what my heroes wanted of me; I thought that was the right thing to do. The fighter/samurai guy wanted to play a hero unit, so I gave him control of a single unit in the battlefield.
But in the end I found that the campaign was evolving into a wargame and not an RPG; so I told my players that I would like to play DM once in a while. So my heroes went on a insertion mission deep into Thayan territory looking for ways to sabotage Thayan war factories forging magical items for use by Thayan battlemages.
Then, the mage player dropped out of the campaign to study for a big examination. The other players refused to play on without him (the mage was basically the heroes' artillery unit...) and so the game halted. Voila! a month later I'm entering military service, and the game is in pause since then.
Nobody in the campaign except me knows of the 4e changes yet... Maybe I should recommend them not to find out...
Ah, once again I express my pleasure of seeing all of you again. I wish you a good and happy year, and even better and happier dungeoneering.
Salut!
PVC Yang Seungho,
Interpreter Soldier
ROKA HQs (Gyeryong Ops Support Grp.)
My own Chessenta campaign was more focused on the citizens perspective of the arrival of Tchazzar. The players (under in the hierachry of the local mercenary guild) experienced the precusor to the dragonkings arrival, the dragonfall, firsthand and managed to secure some dragon eggs for a fugitive Untheric wyrmprinces of Tiamat. Tchazzar was slowly reformed in a massive sandstorm in the sky above the Akanul plains. The arrival of Tchazzar in his human form was experienced by the party in the massive crowd, but the fiendish dragon took his true shape on the stairs of the Palace as he asurped the power of the sceptanar in a single gargantuan bite.
The players eventually (at level 6) went performing bounty hunts in the name of Tchazzar, but they got too confident in Soorenar confronting a thiefguild on the way to gunning for Ningals bounty. They did find Ningal with help from a Sharran sect and neutralised her teleport abilities but got blasted by ice and lightning, getting killed or scattered in the Methwoods.
I fell in love with Chessenta and started a Chessenta-focused campaign, though the PCs got some ideas and decided to become an all-girl entertainment troupe: elf, halfling, half-drow, orc... but some new PCs came in as others went (this being play-by-post, player change-over is high), and now it's no longer all-girl, nor all entertainers. I decided to use DMG2 business rules, paying for their equipment with a debt to some gangsters, but I may abandon the rules.
They began the campaign touring the Akanul countryside, after burying their former centaur ringleader in the Chondalwood, and a run in with some Orcs (during which they picked up a wolf-riding female Orc Knight on the prowl for a man who could defeat her in combat, Red Sonja style, who later left).
They came to small town of Gal, run by the Great Mentos (who spends his time in meditation atop a pillar in the centre of town), and his students who go by the names of Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma (a guy, and not so easy to flirt with by the female halfling for a better deal) after Gygaxes' Ability Score Theorem, who ran out of town the previous tyrants Strength, Constitution and Dexterity (not the names they went by, they were Akanaxian governors who've pulled back to base following Tchazzar's return). There they ran a small fair, and entertained the people (whilst pirates raided the port during the distraction). More PCs came and left.
Oh, and there was a Tchazzaran agent in town to drum up support, all beefcake hoplite. He was quite popular amongst the girls until he asked the half-drow if the carpet was the same colour as the curtains. Oops. As villains go, he was wonderfully despised by all. His efforts at being the hero helped a lot. Favourite line: "Gather your weapons and fight hearty, because tonight we dine at the P*ssed Priest Taverna! Drinks are on me!" :D
The next morning a slave shepherd boy came running into town, yelling that he'd seen a monster near the sheep flocks. As one PC correctly guessed that the boy who called "monster!" was probably going to be the monster himself, they then found themselves pursuing bluespawn ambushers in the fields around town (bizarre crossbreeds between blue dragons and badgers), who turned out to be directed by a Untherite worshipper of Tiamat. The Tchazzaran stirred up the nest and led them back to Gal, half to let them be attacked by townsfolk, half to save his skin. They were chased away by the Beguiler's illusion of a gold dragon, who then went on to humiliate the Tchazzaran in a speechy debate at the city walls, and get him run out of town.
Later, a messenger came with the news that Tchazzar had announced a grand festival of arts and entertainment in Cimbar. I wanted to get to the city, really. Everything good in Chessenta is in the cities. So now the party is sailing the Akanamere.
Then they were attacked by drow pirates. They even have a parrot of sorts, a gargoyle who lurked on a derelict ship pretending to be a figurehead. The Beguiler (again), armed with glibness and major image tried to convince them to leave, with the tale that both Elminster and Khelben were on board, enjoying a mediterranean cruise. When the drow decided to attack anyway, he distracted them with an illusory sea monster - shaped a lot like Cthulhu. I decided to use the naval combat rules from Stormwrack, and thought about Heroes Of Battle massed-battle rules, extra rules just make things and tedious and I decided to wing it. The PCs are going on small missions while the crew and pirates battle eachother.
Currently, they're trying to free the drow oar slaves, though the drummer is quite a tough warrior, and the fattest drow anyone's ever seen. He wields a pair of iron drumstick maces. A former/new PC re-introduced, as an escaped slave, a former actor.
Later they'll get to Soorenar port, and learn just why throwing Elminster's name around willy-nilly isn't such a good idea (Karanok assassins! Red Wizards! Zhentarim! The man himself!) Then to Cimbar, and the arts festival. (Bards! Mimes! Artists! Philosophers!). And we''ll see where we go from there. I suspect the Beguiler intends to claim the throne with aid of lies and illusions. Tchazzar will have other ideas... :D
I won't go into full details, but in summary, the players tracked down Shurrupak, and convinced him to become Hoar's chosen. Shurrupak was still grieving for the loss of his diety, and jumped at the chance for vengeance. As the god of vengeance and poetic justice, Hoar proved to be a sympathetic patron. Next the party helped deal with the influx of Banites that had tried to gain a foothold once Gilgeam had perished. Then the they tried to topple Tchazzar, and it climaxed with Shurrupak and Tchazzar in a collossal battle royal that destroyed much of the royal palace. In the climax of the battle, Tchazzar seemed to get the upper hand and defeat Shurrupak, but with his last breath he used the power that Hoar had bestowed upon him, and destroyed them both in a powerfull retrobutive strike. Vengeance was his, and he died with a smile on his lips.
With Tiamat's most powerful servant defeated, the party helped claim Chessentia in Hoar's name, and started striking back at the rest of Tiamat's clergy. All the while, the people of Unther began to experience minor miracles, allowing them to strike back and take vengeance upon those that have wronged them. Once Tiamats priests were driven out, Hoar finally made his appearance, and the people took him on as the Last of their God-Kings. With the parties aid, they helped to drive off the Mulholondi invaders, and started the long process of rebuilding the nation.
My campaign is currently at pause and, I guess, would probably end that way. My friends are graduating by the time I'm discharged from service, and so we won't have time for friendly game nights anymore...
So I decided I'll be designing campaigns and homebrew settings for the time being. I guess I have to read up on the 4e FRCG so I can set up campaigns for 4e DnD. I'll probably need Draconomicon as well; the metallic dragons book is coming out in november, right? I'll be posting my ideas in the Forum so that anyone with anything to say will be able to talk to me.
I'm some sort of a dragon maniac; as a DM I've sometimes been blamed for always including dragons in every single plot/quest. That's one of the reasons I play Chessentan campaigns; Tchazzar the dragon-king is there. The fact that Chessenta is Greek in nature also helps, me being a Roman Enthusiast.
Everyone, thanks for sharing your experiences. It's great to hear about DnD all the way here in ROK Army, cut away from the rest of the world as it is. No one in my unit knows DnD, so I've been blue
PS:
Suin Bahhar, It is absoulutely fabulous to hear about your campaign! I still remember the time when I checked every four hours to see if you had posted anew about your campaign. I'll be doing that again; I'll look forward to your new post.
PSS:
Thanks again to MarkusTay, the 4e maps he had posted has been a great help for me in understanding the current circumstances the Fatherland is in. Well, a little tweaking will fix the 'problem' as I see it; a few changes and my campaign is ready to start anew in the Chaos of 4e. I'll see what improvisions and adaptation I can think of...
Glad you enjoyed my updates at the time. You're own campaign ideas rubbed of on mine quite a bit, especially the image of a roman Ceasar-like Tchazzar. Sorry to say so, but my Chessenta campaign ended with Ningal TPK'ing my players, so I cant give anymore updates as its done.I had so many stories in the pipeline (a flight of raged dragons headed for Cimbar, Tchazzars siege on Lutcheq, a return of a mummyfied dragon, dragon rider lessons for the Blades of Tchazzar, an insidious divine coup planned by a child of Gargauth and more ), but the players moved at a sluggish pace through the clues I dropped for them, and eventually went for the attractively high bait laid down by Settites for capturing Ningal, the untheric freedom fighter.
Im currently playing the Cormyrian Tearing of the Weave campaign, and thoroughly enjoying switching DM'ing with playing again.
If you need help finding the right tone for a new campaign in the 15th century realms just post! I'll do my best in aiding you. Mind you I detest dragonborn though, so I might sound acidic regarding Thymanther and so.
Semphar and Murghom... and Sossal too...
Now, picture 'Dragon Kings' as a dead horse....
You get the idea. ;)
Its obvious someone in charge had a hard-on for the Council of Wyrms setting.
As for Chessenta and Tchazzar, I picture them looking over at the Mazticans these days, and both of them looking puzzled and just shrugging their shoulders.
Dragon Kings? Perhaps they're making Faerun more Athasian? :D
Dragon Kings? Perhaps they're making Faerun more Athasian? :D
-Draconic rulers can be found all throughout Faerûn's history. The most prevalent and powerful were probably Nagamat, and the various Dragon Barons that filled the void that his death in -29,500 DR left.