Fornoar

[JavaApp]

So I am considering a number of options for my upcoming RQG campaign. Most of them are previously published material. But one interesting option occured to me as I was idly paging through the GtG. 

I could use the Seshnelan (sic) province of Fornoar and have the elements of a good old-school rubble-crawl campaign. The area has no major settlements, only a couple of ruined cities. Another ruined fortress nearby is Arkhome.

It lies at the nexus of Troll, Dwarf, human, and Elf lands. The Nida river washes a bunch of Dwarf Junk downstream for adventuring types to try to find. I have already gotten some good advice from Joerg and David Scott about this place - they suggest delving into the Hunschen history to place tombs and other ruins. 

So on a practical level, I want to think about all the consequences of running such a campaign. I am no stranger to improvisation, But I do want:

 

a) to write my own homeland previous history tables. (Seshnela/Safelster/Orlanthi tribes, Castle Coast Hrestoli.)

b) come up with tables for searching for Dwarf junk in the river.

c) map out the ruined cities using the Point-Crawl technique used in several OSR modules. 

d) treat Arkhome a bit like a mega-dungeon ala Castle Greyhawk.

e) come up with random encounter tables for all the nearby forces that might launch raids into the territory. (Elf, Troll, Dwarf, Arkati cultists, Seshnelan knights).

F) use the existing map of the territory and map out the locations of some of this stuff, a bit like Griffin Mountain. 

I also need to figure out what to use as homeland tables, occupations, and Malkioni 'cult' write-ups, like in the core rules for the various deities. That is the largest chunk of work, really, and I can't improvise that stuff - I have to write it. 

On a practical level, can anyone see what else I would have to do? I am willing to do the work, but I need to have a really good idea of waht I am getting into before i embark on such a venture. Not plot, not characters, but the stuff I need to have prepared to do this well. 

I would welcome virtually any advice or wisdom you could provide. Thanks!

[Mankcam]

Sounds great. I think all of The West has great playing opportunities, however I really want to see an official version of Malkioni before I start fleshing out these areas myself.

(I find it hard to get a grasp on the current interpretation of Malkioni, perhaps Etruscan meets Early Byzantine Empire meets Vedic perhaps?)

Anyway, I like the ideas you are kicking out here

Edited October 20, 2018 by Mankcam

[The God Learner]

Before the random encounters, I'd loosely develop three or four factions that can be friends and foes. Perhaps based on (e). Those can drive random encounters and backstory, should you want one. 

For convenience also provide a fort/location for resupply and recovery, perhaps also with a Lhankor Mhy library. 

Lightly sketch odd destroyed cults, divine magic and heroquests to be used. And of course some artifacts related to that.

 

[jajagappa]

First, I'd just say go for it!  Sounds like it could be a really fun area to run a campaign.

7 hours ago, JavaApp said:

a) to write my own homeland previous history tables.

Between the Kings of Seshnela (GtG p.412), Seshnela events (GtG p.415), the Hero Wars Begin (GtG p.424), possibly the voyages of Dormal, and whatever other dates you can glean from the Seshnela chapter, you should be able to get a good basis for this.

7 hours ago, JavaApp said:

homeland tables

Keep it simple at the start:  Fornoar, maybe Rindland, maybe some Orlanthi area in Ralios (where you can use the Sartar or Old Tarsh homeland as a model).

7 hours ago, JavaApp said:

On a practical level, can anyone see what else I would have to do?

Sorcery spells for your Malkioni cults (or even for sorcerous 'schools' that characters might get magic from).

[Joerg]

Fornoar offers quite similar encounters as do the Elder Wilds, only the dragonewts and dinosaurs have a much longer journey to get here. Instead of Greatway in the south, you get the (way more orthodox) Nida in the north. Aldryami are plentiful in Erontree and Ballid, and uz come from Guhan. Quite a few of the Griffin Mountain encounters can be lifted to Fornoar.

Arolanit makes a weird neighbor, almost as inhuman as the dwarves.

 

Recent history is a bit hard to write. Rindland and Tanisor are the core lands of Guilmarn and Theoblanc, and their re-conquest of Ralian neighbors has been the major news in the region. The conflict between the Chariot of Lightning and the Galvosti and the Safelstran bigger stuff in the Tinaros backstory may come to bear, too.

Rather than Praxians, you can throw a few Hsunchen into the mix of playable characters - Pralori and Telmori might be the most likely (and interesting), possibly a few others.

For many of those out of area refugees, you'll need a "reason to have left their home" portion, not necessarily in the generation of the player character - playing second or third generation refugees could be more interesting than playing newcomers.