For those who don't have the books yet, here is...
The History of Fallcrest
Up until four centuries or so ago, the Moon Hills and
the surrounding Nentir Vale were thinly settled borderlands,
home to quarrelsome human hill-chieftains
and remote realms of nonhumans such as dwarves
and elves. Giants, minotaurs, orcs, ogres, and goblins
plagued the area. ruins such as those on the Gray
Downs or the ring-forts atop the Old Hills date back
to these days, as do stories of the hero Vendar and the
dragon of the Nentir.
With the rise of the empire of Nerath to the
south, human settlers began to move up the Nentir,
establishing towns such as Fastormel, Harkenwold,
and Winterhaven. A Nerathan hero named Aranda
Markelhay obtained a charter to build a keep at the
portage of the Nentir Falls. She raised a simple tower
at the site of Moonstone Keep three hundred ten years
ago, and under its protection the town of Fallcrest
began to grow.
Over the next two centuries, Fallcrest grew into a
small and prosperous city. It was a natural crossroads
for trade, and the Markelhays ruled it well. When
the empire of Nerath began to crumble about a century
ago, Fallcrest continued to flourish—for a time.
Ninety years ago, a fierce horde of orcs known as the
Bloodspears descended from the Stonemarch and
swept over the vale. Fallcrest’s army was defeated in a
rash attempt to halt the Bloodspears out on Gardbury
Downs. The Bloodspears burned and pillaged Fallcrest
and went on to wreak havoc all across the Nentir
Vale.
In the decades since the Bloodspear War, Fallcrest
has struggled to reestablish itself. The town is a
shadow of the former city; little trade passes up and
down the river these days. The countryside for scores
of miles around is dotted with abandoned homesteads
and manors from the days of Nerath. Once again the
Nentir Vale is a thinly settled borderland where few
folk live. This is a place in need of a few heroes.
I do, and will be including an AG that will serve as a respawn point in the event of a TPK, as well as providing goods and services to members. As PCs rise in guild rank, they get access to better stuff.
My experience with KotS is that it's friggin deadly. Seems more like a tourney module in places than an introductory module for a new game. That's not all bad - kind of surprising actually - as it can be a memorable challenge. All the same, I wanted an easier starting spot for a new party. So I made an EZ encounter chart for the Moon Hills, and PCs can spend their first level patrolling the outlying farms there if they choose to. I plan to have other activities available for starting characters as well, based on their contacts.
Kalarel will be returning. I'm not quite sure when, but I like the idea of him as a recurring villain.
Just a heads-up that there are a few more slaver related encounters in the Keep on the Shadowfell sidetreks (bottom of that page) that were released yesterday
Awesome! Thanks for the heads up, I can't believe I missed that!
Does anyone know where there is more transcribed stuff? Having to type from the book is a pain in the rear.
Scroll down past the background info here
The party right now consist of: Dragonborn Warlock (star), Halfling Paladin (Avandra), Half-Elf Warlord, Human Rogue, Human Cleric of Sehanine. I will be making an elf wizard when I run through shoring up all the weaknesses the party currently has.
I've got the descriptions on my campaign site. A couple descriptions have been altered to reflect my campaign world, but for the most part you can cut and paste like crazy. I added Talon Pass (from the free rpg day module) and put it in the cairngorm mountains.
Scroll down past the background info here
(emphasis mine) Speaking of the Free RPG day module - does anyone know if it is or will ever be made available for download anytime in the future?
I was, unfortunately not able to get out to Free RPG day (dangit :weep
and thus missed out on the WotC offereing and Goodman Games' "Punjar: The Tarnished Jewel"