Fixing Mass Combat in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

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There's a lot of very cool content in the 5e Dragonlance offering from WOTC. But there's also a lot missing. I will be actively running the adventure for one of my groups, and will provide some of my thoughts and modifications to change up the book to make the mass combat better

First, sorry fans of the books. I never read them. I don't have any of the setting material or adventures from the previous editions. This book is all I've got. The book does not give you enough information to run a real campaign in an authentic Dragonlance setting. We'd need a book on par with Eberron: Rising From the Last War in order to actually do that. So my Krynn may kill some sacred cows. I will remain blissfully unaware, but apologies in advance if it bothers you. My Krynn is different from your Krynn.

One thing I dislike from the book is the need to try and boost sales of a board game. Maybe instead actually attempt to introduce real mass combat or warfare rules (an abstract example are the victory points used in the Ghosts of Saltmarsh adventure The Final Enemy, which are similar to rules provided in 3e). There are some good ideas worth stealing though. The concept of the fray around the area that the characters are on a map to simulate being in a larger battle is valuable. It creates a more cinematic moment in the combat, and real constraints on maneuvers. Next positive idea is battlefield events, such as those included in the battle for High Hill in chapter three. This simple random table has you roll for a random event at initiative count zero, adding random complications to the battle like an arrow flowing out of the fray and sticking someone, or new enemies emerging. This is a great way to simulate the chaotic, violent, and random nature of combat. 

But we still want mass combat. So what do you do? Take a leaf out of MCDM's book that they wrote to solve this problem, Kingdoms & Warfare. The system outlined in that title provides flexibility and an actual opportunity for your players to feel like they are influencing a wider battle.  The intrigue system even helps you set up situations in which their is a climatic fight between the leaders of opposing domains during battles. Grabbing an organization like the Military Squadron specialization of the Martial Regiment heroic domain sets up the situation of exploring the Northern Wastes and adds a layer of diplomacy and intrigue that is distinctly lacking. Taken together all of these things give your players something shocking that the adventure as written seems to want to deny them...player agency and ability to impact the story!

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Avengers of the Crossing

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Spoilers follow for the adventure...

After the council of Kalaman had deliberated for far too long for their liking, the adventurers were ushered back into the meeting chamber.

"We have considered your words and the plight of your people," said governor Miat. "We will provide aid and shelter for the refugees of Vogler, but it comes with conditions. Our own resources are stretched in these troubled times, and we will need assistance protecting our own and now your people. Marshall Vendri, would you explain your idea?"

The marshall stood, leaning toward on the oak table.

"Your account of the battle for Vogler was impressive and compelling. You are formidable warriors. We ask that you form a martial company of those able-bodied survivors of Vogler, along with any others you can recruit, to assist us with the defense of Kalaman. We need every sword we can muster to defeat this threat."

The adventurers considered the offer, then nodded in assent. Marshall Vendri's hard eyes crinkled as she gave a thin smile.

"This is welcome news. We also ask that at least one of you take an oath of allegiance to Kalaman, becoming an officer of our military and gaining the title Esquire of Kalaman. Not all of you need take it, and those who do are of course able to undertake other personal business during your time at liberty not engaged in our defense. You will be released from your oath when the conflict is over. Who of you will take the oath?"

Gringle stepped forward, chuckling to himself.

"Well, I will take your oath!"

Asterius watched the small goblin for a moment.

"As will I."

Marshall Vendri then directed them to raise their right hand while resting their left upon their weapon, and repeat her words.

"By the strength to wield this weapon gifted by Kiri-Jolith, I swear to uphold the defense of Kalaman and protection of her people above any personal endeavor or desire, even until death or the wardens of Kalaman release me from my bond."

They both repeated the oath. The marshall nodded in witness of their words.

"Now, we will provide you as many resources as we can spare to aid you in mustering your troops, and will provide you lodging within Castle Kalaman. Additionally we will provide a small weekly allowance to you as officers of Kalaman that you can use to defray the costs of some of your efforts."

She then called one of the guards and directed them to guide the adventurers to their quarters.

As they walked through the large castle, Davgin and Asterius noted the Solamnic motifs in the architecture, along with the art, showing the fortress to be an ancient hold of the Solamnic knights.

Soon they arrived at their quarters in a large disused ballroom on the fourth floor of the castle. Several rooms that were onc3 likely parlours adjoined the large room. Cots, tables, and some crates sat in the once opulent room, hastily placed there based on the resent disturbance of the layer of dust and crumbling plaster than coated the floor. The ceiling displayed a faded painting of Solamnic knight marching onto a field of green in battle array. Intricate crown molding outlined this and the three grand chandeliers of gleaming crystal. A large fireplace that looked long disused took up a large portion of the long interior wall and bright windows stretching from floor to ceiling let in the dazzling sunlight.

The adventurers immediately began arranging their equipment and settling into the space. Soon they were seated at the table, surveying a map of Kalaman and the surrounding region along with some reports furnished by Marshall Vendri's aid. They also began drawing up the charter for their company. Davgin suggested that the company be named "Avengers of the Crossing," to which the others arged after some short debate. Gringle idly drew an emblem as they discussed plans, and when lunch arrived from the castle kitchens everyone agreed that they would use Gringle's picture as their symbol and on their battle standards.

Their plans and discussion went long into the night...

GM Reflections

This is where I have chosen to depart fairly significantly from the adventure as written. I felt as I've mentioned before that the characters really need to be able to make meaningfully choices, and the best way I saw to do that was to put them in command. Most of the session was spent making decisions about their martial organization following the rules of Kingdoms & Warfare. We’ll see how my experience implementing the system for the first time goes. Moving through intrigue and trying to explain it to players is a bit difficult, and there’s a lot that isn’t necessarily intuitive about that system. But I would like them to be able to make a tangible impact on the Red Dragon Army’s operations throughout the adventure.

The Opening Move

Ghosts of Saltmarsh Review

Ghosts of Saltmarsh is the first campaign I ever ran, so it'll always hold a special place in my memory and on my shelf. But is this adventure any good? What kind of fantasy does it give you and does it do a good job of it? How much work does a GM need to do in order to use it? We'll examine all those things.

Keep a wary eye out for spoilers from here forward!

Alright, it's GMs only from this point on, right? (you have been warned). So what do you get with Ghosts of Saltmarsh? First off, this book is an anthology, not a continuous adventure, like Candlekeep Mysteries or Tales From the Yawning Portal. It shares more in common with the latter due to it being primarily a collection of modules from previous editions updated for 5e. This means that there really isn’t a unifying overall narrative pulling it together, and those adventures that are linked do not necessarily provide all the meat you need to create a full campaign. That said, that work is generally pretty fun work and I found the setting and themes to be fairly open for me to inject my own ideas. It was a good sandbox for a new GM to spread their wings (mostly).

The sub modules in this book are generally pretty good, but as I mentioned, do require some modification to either make sense or tie together. Only three of them follow an over-arching arc, which does leave flexibility to incorporate the other chapters into nautical campaigns as independent quests or side quests to the main Ghosts of Saltmarsh narrative. The introduction to the town introduces many themes and ideas that are not developed or followed through in the rest of the adventure. You can choose to incorporate the factions that exist in Saltmarsh, but your campaign also won’t miss anything if you completely ignore it.

Chapter One: Saltmarsh

Chapter one details Saltmarsh and the surrounding region (which is the closest to official 5e support for Greyhawk that we’ll ever get apparently). This is a really well put together chapter. There are plenty of evocative descriptions of the surrounding areas along with potential adventure hooks. This section really turns the Saltmarsh region into a sandbox you can base a whole campaign independently of the nautical themed adventures contained in the book. I particularly enjoyed the section on the hag in the Dreadwood, Granny Nightshade. I featured her briefly in my campaign as she collected the phylactery after my players fought a dracolich (my own addition to the campaign--see below for details on the dragon cult I added in). Details like that showed the characters that there really is a wider world around Saltmarsh. I think this is a great area to start a Greyhawk campaign and I may use it for that one day.

Chapter Two: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

This chapter is based on the original U1: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh from TSR, and designed for first level characters that will likely advance to third level by the end of the adventure.

Chapter two is as close to the titular ghosts as the book will get (spoilers: it’s actually bandits—kinda like the Scooby-Doo meme…) 

The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh  basically features a “haunted” house inhabited by wildlife and a den of bandits in a hidden cave hideout in the basement. The map is a bit cramped for combats, so consider doubling the size if you play on a VTT or grid. This adventure also allows the players to explore and seize a ship from the bandits who are part of a smuggling ring. I don’t think it works well with the quest chain that sets up Sahuagin as the real major antagonists threatening Saltmarsh and the region. But it works well as a stand alone first level adventure that could be dropped into almost any setting or homebrew campaign, especially one in which you want your players to get a ship early on. There are several fan made guides to Greyhawk available online and this adventure could be a good way to inject the players into politics in Keoland and related to the Sea Princes (pirate lords that get basically no development or involvement in the adventures in the book—yes, this was a major missed opportunity).

Chapter Three: Danger at Dunwater

Danger at Dunwater is based on the original U2: Danger at Dunwater module, and designed for third level characters.

I found Danger at Dunwater a problematic module, mostly due to setting out a massive dungeon and then laying out a story in which the characters need to kind of investigate or engage in diplomacy with the Lizardfolk inhabitants instead of engaging in a dungeon crawl. In fact if they clear the dungeon they have actually borked up the narrative. So changing up the story or swapping out the monsters in the dungeon in order to maintain the narrative line was the best way for me to run it. It just seems hard as written to get the players not to go in and merc everyone in the cave, particularly because there are lizardfolk as potential adversaries in Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh which precedes it in the anthology that provide the hook for the character to investigate the lizardfolks’ lair. But, if you can figure out how to provide a good hook this adventure is laden with opportunities for roleplay and chances to interact with interesting sentient aquatic creatures for a potential alliance. 

I addressed the above issues in my own campaign by removing the lizardfolk from the lair and putting them in a camp in the marshes nearby. The characters didn’t fight the lizardfolk in the previous adventure because I made sure they approached them in a non-hostile manner, so they guided them to the camp. The lizardfolk advisor asked them to hunt for a monster threatening the marshes before they met the queen, allowing me to pull in the “croc hunt” portion from the adventure as written (but I even modified that, using a souped up version of the Cipactli demon from the Creature Codex. Then the party were told by the lizardfolk that a dragon worshiping cult had driven them from their lair and requested that the adventurers clear out the dungeon and rescue the hatchlings that were being held by the traitors. They thoroughly enjoyed it—at least that’s what they told me! 

Chapter Four: Salvage Operations

Illustration from Ghosts of Saltmarsh by Julian Kok

Salvage Operations is based on the 2005 adventure of the same name by Mike Mearls. I find the full page art piece at the beginning of this adventure beautiful and evocative. The adventure is written such that you could drop it into any city or town on a coast. It might be an interesting addition to a Waterdeep or Ptolus campaign, but even works for a smaller seaside town. Merric’s Musings also does a great rundown of this chapter as well if you’re looking for another perspective.

The backstory is complex (but I do appreciate that it's provided). Basically a ship carrying a box full of expensive stock and bond type IOUs from a merchant was captured by an island of Lolth-worshipers, who held the vessel for awhile (the exact length of time is not stated, but probably years). The cultists then all killed eachother off except for a few that fled on the ship. The the ship was attacked by a giant octopus, killing most of the living denizens. The players need to find the missing notes for the merchant, along with any treasure (they get a ten percent cut, or 10,000 go). There's some great dynamic elements in this adventure with a giant octopus attack at the end (which you could absolutely swipe the mechanics for and use in other adventures set on a boat or ship) but at it's core it's a good old-fashioned and easy to use dungeon crawl.

I really like the adventure set up, and how easily it's incorporated in almost any campaign as a one-off quest. I may toss it in my Dragonlance campaign as a side quest while the party is in Kalaman. I wish I'd worked it into my own campaign using the book, but I felt that it took away from the urgency of the sahaugin threat.

Chapter Five: Isle of the Abbey

This adventure again reads as a stand alone one, however the location is helpfully included on the Saltmarsh regional map. The section on the contact for the quest gives up a substantial portion of its word count to an explanation of how the local mariners guild will retaliate should the party attack them (I feel like there's an untold story about the designer's game here). 

Essentially the story here is that the characters need to drive off some evil cultists (whose deity is never named, but pretty heavily signaled to be Orcus). There's a hefty reward, along with a ton of treasure available for salvaging. Another easy one to drop into a campaign at the appropriate level, or easily swap out monsters or upscale them to tailor to the level of your characters.

The overview map of the island is beautifully depicted in an old school style by DysonLogos. The relatively small size and isolation of the island really lends itself to dropping into any campaign, and the adventure is designed for fifth level characters. It is a fairly straightforward dungeoncrawl, but leaves open some interesting roleplay opportunities with the cultists should they choose to opt for less violent options.

Chapter Six: The Final Enemy

This chapter concludes the arc related to the sahaugin threat to Saltmarsh that began with the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and Danger at Dunwater. It focuses essentially on an infiltration mission of the sahaugin lair (which formerly belonged to the lizardfolk in the region) and is designed for seventh level characters. The states goal is reconnaissance of the lair. Which I think makes the adventure a bit difficult for some parties that are simply geared towards clearing dungeons. 

In my playthrough the characters were scared off by the guards on the first level and chose to leave the dungeon instead of providing further reconnaissance. So I had the sahaugin and demonic cultists complete a ritual summoning an island under which the demon prince Dagon was imprisoned and they had to go fight their way through and defeat the cultists as they freed the demon. That is a long-winded way to say, I never really got to playtest this dungeon. Which is unfortunate because it seems really well put together. 

The dungeon does seem to lend itself well to being a drop in Sahaugin dungeon if you have a game set in a coastal region and need some baddies and a dungeoncrawl. I could also see it working well in a campaign focused on heists where an important item could be inside. Or perhaps the characters are tasked to assassinate the sahaugin leader in his box as his people watch blood sports (yes there's an entire arena in the bottom of the dungeon too). 

The major omission from the main campaign and this chapter as provided is a lack of fleshing out the Sahuagin threat. Their leaderships’ motivations and ultimate goals were not provided... Other than evil shark people like to destroy things…so I made them demon worshipping cultists of Dagon and Umberlee (the latter because the tempest cleric was an unwilling follower of Umberlee and it created some interesting character development).

All in all, very cool location. Not my favorite hook or mission for most characters, and like the other chapters in the arc a bit clunky and underdeveloped with very tenuous ties between the adventures. So would recommend ripping out and using for your own purposes instead of running with the given hook.

Chapter Seven: Tammeraut's Fate

This chapter is based on an original adventure that appeared in Dungeon magazine by Greg Vaughn, and in this iteration is designed for characters of ninth level.

I remember when I first read through Ghosts of Saltmarsh I was very confused by this adventure occuring in Uskarn, a town that is not on the Saltmarsh regional map from chapter one, and that a lot of detail is provided, including an entire different city council from Saltmarsh. While it still seems like a disconnect to me, now I definitely see it as a great additional drop-in location if you are creating your own world, or would like to add a small coastal town to an existing one (after having this thought I started drawing a world map for fun and I placed Uskarn North of where I placed Rappan Athuk, meaning that it could be tied into the story of the followers of Orcus in that adventure).

The adventure plays out as a fairly some dungeoncrawl and a bit of mystery about the events that occured in the island hermitage that is the adventure focus. But once the players have moved through the dungeon it also flips into a defend the dungeon scenario, in which the players much resist the undead that previously attacked the island. This is a cool scenario, and if you are using the adventure it could definitely benefit from integrating the similar mechanics feom the Falkovia section of Von Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. (Another cool idea might be to use the survivors stat blocks from that same book and replay the original fall of the hermitage when the undead attacked the island garrison that previously occupied the structure). 

Finally there is an interesting and optional scenario where the adventurers can uncover the origin of the undead at the wreck of the Tammeraut and the Pit of Hatred that is the true source of the necrotic energy animating them. Following this is a great discussion of ways to use the adventure and its themes to create a larger campaign focused on Orcus and his followers threatening the region. Or on how to draw the characters back to deal with the rift if they miss that portion of the adventure. (This section confirms my own ideas about placing Uskarn near Rappan Athuk in a future campaign that will focus on the threat from Orcus).

This is a really cool adventure and I wish I'd been more talented at adapting adventures as a new GM and able to use this one more effectively. It provides a great dungeoncrawl with elements of horror and mystery that provide great roleplaying situations.

Chapter Eight: The Styes

This adventure is designed for eleventh level characters. It was originally also written for Dungeon in 2005 by Richard Pett. This adventure leans in further on themes of Lovecraftian horror already present in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, depicting a mystery about an aprehended serial killer that ultimately was unwittingly controlled by an aboleth and a cult of Tharzidun. There's also a less powerful version of a kraken thrown in for good measure.

Once again, the asthetic and information provided in this adventure explicitly do not relate to Saltmarsh or the surrounding region at all. Instead this adventure works better in the seedy and decaying dock district of a city of your choice or one of your own creation for your campaign. Some suggested locations in various official WOTC settings are provided in a sidebar. With a few tweaks, Baldurs Gate might be a better fit than the city in Faerun recommended. After all, there's always room for another murder mystery in Baldurs Gate. But the provided map certainly is sufficient to make it a standalone settlement in decline.

The hooks provided by the adventure aren't bad, but I think the adventure becomes more interesting if you use all of the hooks in a node-based structure, and add some additional nodes with the same information or clues as provided by Master Refrum, who constitutes the critical and only connecting node as currently set up in the adventure intro.

The primer on the district and it's neighborhoods is evocative, if a bit light on real details. If I were to actually run this adventure I would almost certainly lean into the themes of corruption and integrate the council members that are in charge of the Styes. Each of the encounters provided for the district in a random tables provide plenty of detail that could be used to add to the adventure, and they all reinforce the atmosphere very well. I like the Styes very much, and I think for the right kind of campaign it has enough atmosphere to contain an entire small city-based campaign, or be on if the central towns and adventure locations in a larger regional campaign.

The adventure itself is beautifully written, I think largely due to Richard Pett as the text is largely unchanged from the original except for some mechanical content. If I were to revise it in any way it would simply be to add further clues, and additional nodes to the investigation, integrating the other council members and locations into the story. As is the adventure includes multiple nodes and interesting paths for your characters.

Appendix A: Of Ships and the Sea

This chapter has perhaps the most utility to most GMs, providing rules for managing a ship and sea travel, along with sample stat blocks for vessels and combat rules. Additionally there are a number of random tables to create encounters, ships and crews, and islands for your characters to find on the high seas.

There are also detailed locations provided in this section are really outstanding, giving a map and keyed adventure location that can easily by dropped into the campaign, or any nautical themed campaign. Some of these locations and simple hooks are as effective as the long adventure chapters. 

This chapter gives the most reusability, providing lots of inspiration and ability to randomly generate details for seafaring adventures of your own creation. The combat and ship rules can also be used for Spelljammer adventures, and the islands and crews could easily be ported into Wildspace of the Astral Sea.

Final Thoughts

Ghosts of Saltmarsh contains some great gems and a few adventures that will take significant changes to use for most GMs. I think this stems largely from the title not having much significant revision from the original adventure texts, so the quality remains that of the original, rather than being uniformly updated with new material.

Some may be turned off by the fact that the dungeon maps are not full color art-type illustrations but instead white, blueprint-type maps. Perhaps it’s true to some of the original modules and earlier editions’ tradition, but not very helpful if you want to use cool maps either physically or in a VTT. In some cases this is even stranger because the original version of the adventure included full color cartography that wasn't reproduced (The Styes in particular has full color maps reproduced in the blueprint style. The revision of the city map in particular introduces some errors in location names probably because the text underwent a few small revisions while the cartographer's brief probably was based off the original adventure and cartography).

All in all, I really enjoy this book and the adventures it contains. The better adventures in my view are Tammeraut's Fate, The Styes, and perhaps Salvage Operations. These all offer great unique adventure locales. The Saltmarsh regional primer itself is also extremely strong and offers some great adventure hooks to develop a homebrew campaign with.

Slumbering Tsar & Rappan Athuk: System Conversions

 

Lately, in addition to my musings about a Northlands campaign, I've been thinking a lot about a playthrough of the desolate temple city of Slumbering Tsar and the Dungeon of Graves, Rappan Athuk, both from Frog God Games. 

Watch out for spoilers for either in this article and perhaps stop reading if you plan on potentially playing them. Any of my own players should stop here because you never know if you will find yourselves here in my games....

While I have a copy of Rappan Athuk for 5e, Slumbering Tsar is only available for Pathfinder 1e. So reading through the latter I've been thinking a lot about how I would convert the adventure into either 5e or Shadowdark RPG (eventually I'd like to try PF 2e, but I'm not all that interested in trying 1e). I think it's a good brain exercise for anyone to try out, because looking through a Pathfinder 1e stat block and even simply making the decision to sub in the same monster (if it's derived from the SRD originally) forces you to think creatively and consider how the encounter might play differently. Looking at custom spells created for that product and considering how one might change them to 5e forced me to think in new ways, which is one of the reasons I enjoy GMing so much.

For now I'm going to enjoy my read-through of Slumbering Tsar, and later Rappan Athuk. My current campaigns certainly aren't ending anytime soon, but I am definitely interested in trying out both these adventures in both 5e and Shadowdark, just to see how different they feel and see what occurs during the campaign. While I've never really played Old School RPGs I hope that Shadowdark can deliver something akin to what others felt earlier in the hobby. 5e is just a comfortable space for me since it is my first experience, so I definitely want to try them in it at some point too.

There's a lot of good adventures to run and enjoy in the meantime though, and when I do run these title I would like to have created a world of my own that fits their tone in which I can drop them in. I think this will help provide some plot and motivations to the characters that are missing in some ways (although the XP advancement tied to treasure by Shadowdark certainly works as it's own motivator). 

I have lots of other projects and ideas, but I'll post as I have further thoughts or insights as I read through. Currently I'm loving the inclusion of a lich as a moneylender in the Camp in Slumbering Tsar. I can absolutely see how I could create a sort of mystery about this NPC, potentially leading the characters to his treasure, or a party wipe as a hugely underleveled party gets Power Word Kill and more raining down on them. Or an overzealous Shadowdark party being TPK'd by an absolutely terrifying lich! (I promise I'm fairly nice GM...but if you're going to play an old school style adventure with eight pages in the back for dozens of player character obituaries then there are deadly consequences for your choices).

The chapel in the camp provides tons of flavor too--needing to get your healing help and spell scrolls from a patient priest of an ancient and forgotten god of death that will always win when you die in the end? It's almost poetic. I definitely feel like other books like The Dark Tower certainly influenced this location. It feels very forsaken in an old western or frontier region sort of way, something which I haven't seen for all the talk in the Forgotten Realms about the "Savage North." Faerun is just too densely populated and there's too much stuff for my Phandelver campaign to really feel like the frontier.

All in all, there's a lot to enjoy with these titles, and I would recommend them (although I have well over a thousand pages of them left to read). 

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Addendum:

Also just remembered that Level Up: Advanced 5e is also a great option for a playthrough of either of these adventures. More to consider...

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Fall of Vogler

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Spoilers for Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen…

As the draconians of the Red Dragon Army descended upon Vogler, the adventurers attempted to hold off the invaders where possible. They fought alongside two surviving Vogler militiamen, saving one from baaz draconians. Gratefully he handed them a potion of healing and hobbled towards the wharf.

Next a wing draconian descended upon them. This one was large and bulker than those they had previously faced. They swiftly slew him, but Thalis was greviously wounded. They sent him ahead to the boats. Now the village was in flames, and a cat leapt from a nearby rooftop, clutching Davgin's cloak with it's claws and refusing to let go.

The adventurers neared the wharf, moving through the wreaths of smoke as the day died, the sunlight extinguished like Vogler. As they guarded the villagers boarding the boats they heard a voice ring out: "Dragon!"

Fr the smoke emerged a clanking, metallic, shiny dragon-shape on the ground, flanked by the foul draconians. Fire blazed within the metal beast. The draconians swung it, seeming to point it at the Wharfinger's building, then unleashed a massive spurt of flames, igniting the building in an instant. Asterius closed and began to fight the draconians hand-to-hand, and Davgin also closed, holding out his hands and hurling flames of his own. The creatures managed to load the metal monster once more, blasting Fallon and Gringle with flames, and knocking Gringle unconscious. Davgin felled each of the monsters weakened by Asterius' mighty blows, stopping them from burning their friends further.

Then the back wall of the Brass Crab was shattered, sending flinders out into the street. An ogre clad in chain mail strode into the street, clutching a bucket full of fish under her arm, and crunching them inher teeth. 

"Kill these ones!" The ogre ordered two draconians flanking her. 

They charged the adventurers, the ogre hurling a javelin that speared Fallon, knocking her unconscious. Asterius lifted his greataxe, invoking the power of the divine, and reawakening his friends.

Together the adventurers defeated the ogre and its minions. Fallon cast suggestion, ordering one to gather the dishes dropped by the ogre. Asterius struck the ogre, taking out its knee, then splitting its skull open.

They rushed to the final boat, scrambling aboard. Through the smoke a voice rang out: "Hold the boat!"

From the flames stumbled Jayev, falling into the boat, clutching a horned Solamnic helm. "They drove our forces from the field...I found Becklin's helmet, but didn't see what happened to her. The entire army is coming to Vogler."

With that dark news, the last boat pushed off from the wharf, carrying the adventurers down the river toward Kalaman, away from the ruin of Vogler.

The night was dark and cold. The morning turned grey and gloomy, with a drizzle that got into everything, soaking everyone through. Finally the adventurers' boat reached the mouth of the river into the bay on which Kalaman rested. The city's far off towers glinted in the first morning light, and the light of the harbor beacons cut through the fog, guiding white sailed ships into the port

They pulled their boat up a rocky shore on a point about two miles north of the city. Other villagers were already ashore, setting up a camp for the sick and wounded from the long night. Vogler was no more. Its people now refugees.

The adventurers helped several villagers, pulling some youths' boat ashore, helping light fires in the incessant rain, and stopping some young men from robbing another villager.

Moving through the camp they also eventually found Darrett, and gave him the box from Becklin. It contained Solamnic armor. He grateful accepted it, but then asked: "Who will train me as a knight now?"

Asterius considered this for a moment.

"I will take you as a squire and train you as a Solamnic knight." Darrett knelt and swore himself as a squire to Asterius, then rose to continue helping the villagers set up camp.

After a few hours the adventurers realized that Lord Bakaris and his son were missing from the camp. A drawn and tired looking woman near the edge of camp told them "They left a few hours ago. Said they were going to meet the rulers of Kalaman to represent the village."

The adventurers did not believe this, and quickly checked with Mayor Raven, who confirmed she had not dispatched Bakaris. The adventurers hastened towards Kalaman then, to attempt to prevent the pompous noble from doing any great damage to the interests of the villagers.

The adventurers made their way through the city gates and to Castle Kalaman. As the gate guard led them to the council chambers though, they were accosted by Bakaris the Younger.

“Lord Bakaris, my father, has this well in hand. There is no need for common folk and hired help like you to council with your betters!”

“Perhaps child you ought to think before you speak to a Solamnic knight in that tone,” said Asterius, narrowing his eyes like a blood-crazed bull in the ring.

“We are sent by Mayor Raven,” said Fallon. “To represent the true interests of Vogler.”

The guard nods at their words, and pushes Bakaris aside to clear the way to the council chamber. 

With that, they met the governor, Calof Miat, the council members, and Marshall Nestra Vendri.

“Your liege-lord, Bakaris Uth Estide, was just relating to us know he led the Valiant defense and retreat from Vogler, saving the lives of so many. You are lucky to have one such as he to lead you."

"This snake speaks lies, my Lord Governor. The leader of Vogler is Mayor Raven Uth Vogler, who even now ministers to the sick and wounded dying on the banks of the Vingaard to your North. She sends us to implore your help and aid for the people and their children that have fled the catastrophic attack on Vogler," said Asterius.

"This minotaur corsair speaks lies my good governor. When did you ever even hear of one of his kind bringing good tidings or the truth?"

The governor surveyed the two sides, seeming to consider their words.

"Indeed. We shall have to investigate how we can assist the refugees of Vogler. Similar attacks have occurred on settlements in Estwilde and to the South, but this is the largest attack we have seen. Perhaps Marshall Vendri has some questions for you about the enemy forces?"

GM Reflections

This session essentially followed the book for the most part. The invasion and fall of Vogler have some good random encounters and description. My players are over leveled, but they really needed it to beat the draconians and the ogre in the final fight. I've been surprised at how tough the draconians can be. The battlefield actions on initiative count zero really make scenes set in a larger battle very dynamic and compelling. I think creating tables like them for various battle situations could be a helpful resource, and I may do that to support future warfare campaigns. 

Kalaman strikes me as a bit of a missed opportunity. The gazetter of the city doesn't have much meat at all, nor are there many points of interest, leaving the GM to flesh out things to "help the characters care about it" as the adventure says to do. 

I've also excised the annoying "make Darrett the party patron and remove them from meaningful decisions to railroad them the rest of the campaign. Next session we'll be developing their martial regiment (from Kingdoms & Warfare) to place the characters firmly in the driver's seat for the rest of this campaign. Darrett is a Solamnic squire to the knight in the party as he should have been all along.

Avengers of the Crossing

Northlands Campaign: Kolvik

 

I’ve read and heard a lot about “spiral campaign development” from folks like Sly Flourish and Matt Colville over my short time GMing, but I haven’t ever really done it. So I thought I’d go through the process by creating a town for my Northlands campaign idea, then building off that to further develop a sandbox campaign.

This article may include potential spoilers, so players should stay away…

Design Considerations 

After looking at a list of names of cities and towns in Norway, I created a name with bits of names I liked. The players’ village is named Kolvik. According to the setting information in the Northlands chapter of the Midgard Worldbook, there seems to be plenty of room to drop in a small village wherever you choose on the map, along with adding neighboring settlements and minor towns. This is one of the things that really draws me to Midgard. While the Forgotten Realms have a great history of canon and adventures, you can really make Midgard your own.

This town needs to accomplish a few different goals for my campaign vision. First, it needs to have patrons for the party at low levels, but not powerful enough that they could just do the things they’re asking of the characters. Second, it will be a community of multiple ancestries, and these will reflect the choices the players make during character creation. It needs to be large enough to support raiding parties and later on warfare, but small enough that the characters can become very important figures.

Spectacular Settlements by Nord Games provides a great framework to randomize some details about settlements. Even if you don’t use what you roll up it can help you recognize what you actually want to make by providing examples.

Town Details 

Town: Kolvik

Location: After a lot of thought and research on the Northlands, I think the best location for this type of village is in Trollheim. It is built in a fjord, in the Western portion of Trollheim. (Design Note: This geographic placement provides the village a fairly central location for engagement with other communities in the Trollheim region, and also means you can use the threat of trollkin and dwarven reavers along the coasts, and giants from as far as Jotunheim. The other kingdoms nearby can also be reached fairly quickly).

Screenshot from the Midgard map of the Eastern portion of the Northlands

Age: Kolvik is an old settlement, with at least one hundred fifty years of history passed down by the skalds.

Hardships: The village was raided by marauders. The losses were crushing. This raid was conducted by a tribe of Thursir giants two years ago. The village calls this even the Dark Time or Myork Tid (Design note: This keeps any groups that might happen to be player ancestries from being major enemies and creating awkward situations for characters. Other reaver villages can also be antagonists, but this way the primary enemy in the low-level portion of the campaign will be evil giants and other monsters). Additionally, some of the village’s warriors disappeared alongside those of Jarl Asvaldr of the Havardr six years ago when he went on his great Southward raid.

Size: About 30 standing structures, but had almost double before the raid. They are all simple longhouses housing extended families while the roads are dirt and rutted, often turning to mud in the autumn and winter.

Environment: The village is built in a fjord. Access is difficult by land due to the rocky terrain, but that doesn’t always stop monsters like the Thursir giants. The other approach is via the shallow fjord, which can only be navigated by ships and boats with a shallow draft, like longships.

Specialty and Resources: The village is particularly known for its high quality woolen garments, sought after by many traders. It also has many sheep to support this industry, and also is known for selling its goat milk and cheese to nearby settlements. A few small fields and patches are used for vegetable and wheat farming, but much of the village’s grain must be imported. Many families also fish the fjord and streams to supplement their diet.

Population: There are several hundred souls in Kolvik, living in extended family groups. There are several ancestries represented (the specifics depend on the players’ choices about their ancestries and families).

Disposition: The villagers are as a rule unfriendly to outsider side to their past sufferings. They observe all the Northlands rules of hospitality, but do their best to discourage visitors. Only scalds bringing tidings of the wider Northlands are more welcome.

Defense: When crime occurs, the villagers generally form a disorganized group to apprehend the wrongdoer and bring them before the chieftain for judgement.

Wealth: Around half of the population is severely impoverished. No one in Kolvik is particularly wealthy, but some families do go hungry due to their losses in the past several years and when crops or trade is bad. Raiding would go a long way toward helping these people become more prosperous, and they are likely to be very open to joining raiding parties.

Crime: Theft is not unheard of in Kolvik. Generally criminals are seized by the community. They must face the judgment of the chieftain or face the one they have wronged in holmganga (dueling). Blood feuds can occur in this way when one family feels that they have been wronged by another or a holmganga triggers further challenges. Duels and blood feuds have been less common within the community the last several years due to collective hardships.

Religious Observance: The village is fervently devout, seeking to avoid the ire of the gods that many feel came upon them over the last several years. The traditional holidays are observed, and the pantheist village druid carries out rituals for each of the major Northern gods. Wotan is Kolvik”s patron deity. The dark gods are warily respected to avoid their wrath, but folk avoid invoking them and do not participate in their darker rituals. 

Important Features

Chieftain’s Longhouse

The chieftain’s longhouse is the center of the village culture and social life. Though it is not as large as some halls, it provides space for many of the village’s important members to feast together. The feasts are not as bounteous as they were many years past, but tales and drink still bring the people together and beat back the chill of winter and fear. It is a point of pride that although visitors are often met with suspicion, they are always invited to eat in the chieftain’s longhouse, maintaining the Northland tradition of bonding over food and story.

Asvard Grisson is the current village chieftain. He is wise and fair in his judgements, but perhaps overcautious since the Myork Tid. He seeks to protect the village at all costs, and worries that the gods are cursing the village for some sort of offense.

Village Bathhouse

A low, windowless building roofed with peat, the village bathhouse provides both a social gathering place and a place for hygiene. Part of the structure is filled with split dried logs for the fires. The bath room has wooden benches around the large stove. The stove in turn is covered in a wrought metal basket full of small round stones which absorb the heat. A bucket of water and a wooden ladle are brought into the bathhouse when in use to pour water on the stones, which heat it to steam and warm the entire room. 

Felt hats are worn during bathing to avoid steam burned hair or skin on the head. Bathers also use dried birch branches and leaves to swat themselves while bathing, releasing the plants oils onto their skin. The building is built not far from the waterfront so that villagers can exit and plunge themselves into the cool water of the fjord. A person might do this two or three times over the course of several hours, increasing the amount of time they spend in the heat of the bathhouse after each icy plunge.

Because the community shares the building a certain day each week is set aside for women and men to each bath separately, although in other communities in the Northlands both genders do bathe together. The people of the Northlands bath in these types of lodges all year round, and often sip herbal teas or other purified drinks to avoid dehydration during the bath sessions.

(Design Note: I spent a summer during university studying in the Baltics and got well acquainted with bathhouse traditions there. And in my version of the Northlands the people like their bathhouse visits—just like I did!)

Boathouse

The village has three boathouses, but only one remains in good repair and houses the single longship possessed by the village. In the spring and summer months it is used for trade with nearby villages. The other longboats in the dilapidated boathouses disappeared in the great raid across the Nieder Straits. 

The boathouse is often used as a large meeting and gathering hall when the longship is not stored in it during the cold months. In these times, the chieftain’s longhouse is the primary village gathering place.

With sufficient resources the players can construct their own longship and additional ships for the clan during downtime. With only the village longship they are also beholden to the community’s timeline for raiding. With their own ship so long as they marshal sufficient resources they can raid whenever they desire.

Burial Mounds

Set closer to the walls of the narrow and deep valley in Kolvik's fjord lie the burial mounds of its previous residents. Perhaps the characters have ancestors buried here, or if they pass on during the course of their adventures perhaps they will be laid to rest here alongside their treasures.

Druid’s Grove

Under the sun, moon, and stars the people of Kolvik observe religious rites at outdoor altars in the grove. Her there are small altars to the gods of the North. The more popular ones are more well kept, like those of Thor and Wotan. Others are worn and dark, avoided except when necessary like the altars of Chernobog and the White goddess. 

Otkel Alfsson is the aged ravenfolk (pantheist) Druid who tends the grove alongside Thorfrithr Kalfdottir. He has a wealth of spiritual knowledge and is a good resource to request assistance in religious or spiritual matters. He can perform low level healing magic and has some powers of divination, but will recommend traveling to larger communities for more powerful clerical magic.

Thorfrithr Kalfdottir is a middle-aged human Druid taking over duties from Otkel Alfsson. She is a devotee of the goddess Sif, and is working to ensure many of the village youth are trained as spear maiden of the goddess. She has similar healing capabilities as Otkel.

Fallen Shrine

The modest shrine to the gods that village had was destroyed by fire in the raid by the Thursir giants and their goblin thralls. Now the village uses the Druid’s Grove for worship, lacking resources to rebuild the shrine.

The Saga of Hurkaz the Mighty (Part I)

This is the tale of a mighty hero of the Northlands. Hurkaz the Mighty, born in Thursrike. A powerful hunter from his youth. This tale is of his journey to save the trollkin village of Jarastril from the dragon Nymatarothimlothtor, laired high on the mountain Jorofjell, in the land of Trollheim.

While journeying in the wilderness, Hurkaz came upon a trollkin village suffering the predations of a young white dragon. He saw the destruction wrought by the monster, of collapsed longhouses and building wreathed in ice from its cold breath. A youth implored him to visit the village elder.

He approached the elder’s humble longhouse, crowded with family and villagers close to the fire. An ancient trollkin woman she was. She asked his name and his land. She told how the fighters of her village had perished fighting the dragon and how cold winter approached. Would Hurkaz slay the dragon and free the village from this doom that encroached upon them?

“Yes,” he said. “I will venture out to kill the creature and gain the glory of its fall.”

Hurkaz set off into the hills, trekking through the snow and ice until he reached the thick pine trees, standing tall over the snow. He walked with care to not slip into the hollows around their skirts, least he die ignobly trapped in the cold snow.

At last he drew upon a large clearing, with trees scorched and burned by a great heat. The snow was churned like the face of the waters. A strange stream emerged from a steaming hole in the snowpack at the lowermost portion of the clearing, running down the hill. This was not the dragon’s lair, but something else it must be. He studied the clearing, then hefted a large boulder that protruded from the snow, hurling it through the air like the great balls of iron the reavers and jotuns throw in their games. 

It landed in the snow with a thud. Then a long thin creature burst from the snow in a gout of steam. It was like a centipede of fire and ice, sharp spines outlining its face full of teeth. It was a remorhaz! That most strange of creatures that lurk under the snow and ice of the North.

With mighty blows he hacked at the creature, swinging his great axe with the strength of Thor. Finally he parted its head from the foul, long body, leaving it fallen and still burning in the clearing. 

And Hurkaz marched still on. In the woods he heard a sinister laughter, and turned searching for the source in vain. A creature or creatures at the edge of vision, flitting back and forth between the trees. 

“Who is it?” He called.

“Who is it!” Mimicked a voice that was cold and sharp like the frost. “Silly trollkin lost in the snow,” the voice chanted.

“Come out and face me! I mean no harm if you are friend.”

“Ah, but we mean harm! You walk in the realm of snow and ice where the fey rule! And we shall kill you when the time is right.”

Hurkaz continued and came upon a frozen stream, several feet wide. The ice looked thin, but a fallen tree spanned the gap. He began to cross when a small figure with blue skin and sharp features like ice appeared and bounded in front of him on the log.

“We will freeze you and eat you for the Queen now!”

Hurkaz slew it with a single axe swing, knocking the body into a tree on the far side of the log with the force. The body exploded in a shower of ice crystals and snow as it struck the tree. Four more creatures appeared, surrounding him on the log, biting and stabbing at him with their cold knives of ice. He spun in a circle like a whirlwind, and all four fell to his great axe.

Then he sat down to rest, but not long after a fell breeze blew over him, and a creature of ice and wind wrapped itself around him, holding him in place. Its swirling ice shards bit into him, sapping his strength as he swung ineffectually at the air. Finally he fell unconscious, not knowing if he would ever awake.

When Hurkaz came to he was in a dark cavern with his arms and legs bound. He looked into the eyes of four creatures with elven features, purple skin, and white hair.

“Who are you troll creature?”

“I am Hurkaz. Who are you and how did I come here.”

“We snatched you away from the frostveil before it killed you. We have need of a strong warrior. We have been driven into these holes in the far North by the flesh eaters that drive us from our cities. A knight of bone follows us and is in a nearby cavern. Destroy it and we will aid you and set you free.”

“I accept your quest. I am a hunter and a slayer. I will put these bones to rest.”

Hurkaz managed to slay the strange monster, trading mighty blows with it in the dark cavern. How will the Drow reward him? Will he survive his journey to the cave of the dragon at the mountain’s peak?

We tested out the Heroic Champions heroic warrior class from MCDM’s Arcadia 22 with this one-on-one game. It’s been a very long time since I’ve tried one-on-one D&D, but the heroic class made it much easier. Cinematic abilities that help keep the character alive made it interesting. I wasn’t exactly sure how to balance the encounters either and since it was pretty relaxed I threw some really strong monsters (none of which I’ve used previously) at Hurkaz. 

Hurkaz started at level 3 to make things interesting. His first fight was the CR 5 Young Remorhaz. He rolled really well and the AC 14 remorhaz was also just not much of a challenge. I did like the fire damage whenever a melee attack hit it though. I think I’ll try the Monsterous Menagerie Remorhaz Spawn next time I use one though. It has a constrict ability that is interesting and adds more combat options. 

The Fraughashar were an easy fight as I expected, but let Hurkaz test out the area attack given to the heroic warrior. I like the Fraughashar, and will definitely use them in the future in a Northlands campaign.

The CR 4 frostveil from Tome of Beasts was a very powerful creature, probably acting above its CR. Perhaps multiple characters would have an easier time, but it’s reoccurring damage once it restrains a target is very strong. I’d use it again with caution.

Finally, Hurkaz fought a Bone Knight from Eberron: Rising from the Last War. If I tried it again I would use a kobold Press Ghost Knight or Darakhul Captain. It turned into a slog as they alternated hit and missing one another with melee attacks. Hurkaz leveled up to four afterwards.

Overall, very fun. The class works to make the character much more powerful. I think it’s better suited to a kink of legendary hero, like how I intend to use Hurkaz as a mythic, Beowulf-type figure in future Northlands campaigns.

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen

 

To make it easier to find all articles about my Dragonlance adventure play through, I’m consolidating links to all the articles here in order.

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen Reactions

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Battle of High Hill

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Battle of High Hill (Part II)

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Defense of Vogler (Part I)

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Defense of Vogler (Part II)

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Fall of Vogler

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - Avengers of the Crossing

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Opening Move

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - Enemy Raids in the Countryside

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Emperor of the Waves (Part I)

Additional Thoughts 

Fixing Mass Combat in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

How to Implement Kingdoms & Warfare in Dragonlance

Northlands Campaign: Map Design

Looking into this campaign idea has also caused me to examine the history of real world Scandinavia, along with its architecture. Images of real buildings provide great inspiration for both art and cartography designs. 

I found stave churches particularly interesting as they are an example of the evolution of pagan motifs and architecture into later Skandinavian Christian styles. They are the only existing examples of how pre-Christian temples may have looked. For our purposes we can also imagine massive feasthalls for the giants of the North and for great jarls and kings. 

Photo by Micha L. Rieser

The image above is a great example of this, depicting the Heddal Stave Church in Notodden, Norway.

Gol stave church

The image above depicts floor plans and a sketch of a stave church. And you could probably just use it as is for a VTT battle map. 

I’ll be experimenting with drawing some maps depicting this type of structure over the next few weeks and I may post them as additional resources for a Northlands campaign.

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen - The Defense of Vogler (Part II)

Table of Contents

Spoilers for Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen...

Mayor Raven sat in counsel with the adventurers, considering the words of the fell messenger about the fate of Vogler.

“I think we must do as they ask to save the town, “ said Raven. 

Cudgel shook her head.

“No, I’ve seen what destruction even quartered troops can wreak upon an occupied town!”

Becklin nodded too at this.

“Cudgel speaks the truth my honored mayor. The counsel of Sir Asterius may be our best at this point. We must prepare the town to evacuate. To make toward Kalaman, down the river with all haste.”

The mayor seemed stunned.

“But to leave our home…how could it come to this? Only yesterday morning we were fishing off the wharf without a care.”

“Honored mayor, though our hearts may yearn for softer times, now we must fast our threats with cold steel,” said Fallon. The mayor paused, then nodded in silent agreement.

“Well put bard!” Said Cudgel, “Now I must find a way back out of this town to my regiment. We can attempt to draw away the enemy to give you time to flee,” she turned to Becklin, “Seeing a Solamnic knight among our ranks may give them some pause. Would you ride out to battle with me friend? As we did with Ispin in better and younger times?”

“Indeed I will, my old friend,” said Becklin. She turned to the adventurers. “Now by my reckoning it is at least a full day since you slept and there is still much to do. Rest for a while, then help us gather the townsfolk to tell them of the danger.”

The party rested and ate for perhaps an hour then, still drawn and tired, they went out to knock on doors and call the people to the village circle. Gringle went to the wharfs, turning fisherman back as some went to work for the day.

Asterius’ tongue slipped as some villagers asked about the purpose of the meeting and he mentioned the threat of the army. He managed to calm the people enough to go hear out the mayor.

Once all were assembled in the village circle, the mayor announced the impending danger to the town, and told them that all needed to prepare to flee Vogler. They would leave that evening, under the cover of night.

“And why should we believe this?” Asked a surly voice from the crowd. Pompous Lord Bakaris, who Asterius and Gringle had managed to shove into the water during the Kingfisher festival fishing contest the day prior, was the speaker. Asterius rolled his eyes and shook his horned head with annoyance.

“This army paid the traitors that slaughtered your folk at the battle yesterday. They have no scruples and will destroy this town if given the opportunity. Leaving is the only way. If you wish to stay behind to greet them Bakaris, then no one will oppose you,” Asterius said.

The Minotaur’s words calmed the crowd, and the townsfolk began to disperse and gather up what few possessions they could carry. The adventurers also noticed that some boats lay unused or in disrepair and helped townsfolk to press them into service to be able to transport the entire population at once.

Cudgel found them soon after.

“I need some help driving off those soldiers up on the cliffs overlooking the gate so I can get back to my camp and get ready for the holding action with Becklin.”

The adventurers immediately began to attempt to scale the wall, but even Gringle was unable to find purchase. Glancing up at Thornwall keep and the “gnomeflinger” above, Asterius had an idea. Shortly afterwards he was hurtling through the air. His horns speared one of the soldiers in the chest, killing him instantly and giving Asterius massive whiplash. Gringle and Fallon flew through the air close behind, popping the shoots on their narycrashes. They made quick work of the soldiers. 

Cudgel and Becklin rode off, but before they left Becklin asked Asterius to give her squire a box stored in Thornwall keep if she didn’t make it back. At this point, the adventurers had been awake for almost thirty hours, through the events of the Battle of High Hill, over the long night, and until midday and were exhausted. They went to Thornwall keep and all took a well deserved long nap.

When they awoke, they found the village loading into the boats in the fading light of the sun. The sunset was beautiful, lighting up the western horizon in purples and reds. 

Suddenly a messenger on horseback came galloping from the direction of the gate. 

“The dragon army has divided in two! They are upon us!” The rider was cut down by a creature, leaping from a nearby rooftop. The light of the sun began to fade faster as the dark silhouettes of winged creatures began to leap off the cliffs and glide down into Vogler…

This section I largely ran straight from the book. The major realization I had was how tight the timeline is. There really isn’t much time for the players to take a long rest from the beginning of the Kingfisher festival until even after the invasion of Vogler. This is fine by me, but they were definitely feeling squeezed for resources. But it’s very evocative of an actual battle, with the stress and mounting pressure building up. I don’t think they’d sit the upcoming fights if they hadn’t rested though.

The Fall of Vogler