5th Edition Skaljard Campaign Tips

[ToxicBiohazard]

Hey everyone,

I'm going to be running some friends through a 5th edition campaign based on Skal. Is there anything you can help me with to get this rolling? Which characters would you deem important? What sorts of threats to Skal would you suggest? How would -you- describe Skal and it's villagers? Major exports? If any. How does the village support itself?

I'm going to use Skal as their home base essentially.

Many of these players are first time players, so i'm making it a low magic campaign.

Just looking for anything to supplement what i've got so far. Thanks gang

[Huschpfusch]

What sorts of threats to Skal would you suggest? How would -you- describe Skal and it's villagers?

Skal is that Norse-style starting location, right? So you could alwas draw inspiration (for encounters, plotlines, decoration, music soundbites...) from Scandinavian stuff.

Dropping Midgard snake kind of monster in the waters blocking fishermen and tradeships because Umberlee etc have been annoyed by someone in village. Party has to find out who. And quickly because there is some crazy type cultist who demand there be made living sacrifices to appease the watersnake. And surprise surprise it was the cultist himself who summoned the beast to establish his religion.
You can have upcoming Lucia style festival be sabotaged by Shar agents.
You can drop Fenrisstyle monsterwolf: old person in tavern talking a story of a beast that wakes every x period of time after sleeping or go classic Fenris (beast has been tied up by Tyr, but surprise now with every more wolfs and more dire wolves and winter wolves running around it seems the beast has broken free!). Then Party has to crafting ingredients from all different locations to make a thing to capture and/or kill beast. >make dwarf craft it, trick a troll to give party one part of material etc.
Or you could drop a UD attack on Skal (or maybe just a smugglar smuggling exotic animals dropped a few of his "trade goods") with ice spider infestation begging to block the waters (making reference to iceroadspider writ of game).

And you could take the existing NPCs from in game and flesh out their lives with new NPCs.
Oh and you can include areas that are not enter-able in game. e.g. those stairs leading upwards in writ-giver-mayor's house. Where do they lead to? Is he hiding something there Ravenloft style?
Or maybe there is a different mayor. And people only vaguely remember there was. Party investigates upstairs and finds a trapped golden magic fish in bowl (like that fairtalye of the fisherman and the magic carp). And by releasing the magic fish into the ocean everything reverts back to normal and true mayor is mayor in his house again. And fisherman is fisherman again.
Or that windmill next to the ratinvested storageouse. Always wondered what could be hiding in there...
And who and why did someone put a treasure chest in basement of that rat filled house?

[Apothys]

I find the best campaigns are those that have something small that links them all, until finally you discover that everything has been leading you to that one final discovery or boss that was controlling everything in some crazy scheme to destroy or take over Skal. So with all the cool ideas above maybe try to put in something in that links them all for the players to discover.

Im also quite fond of the idea that your adventurers could be thrust into a leadership position, as they gradually achieve more and more fame they gain more and more respect and thus this brings with it many of its own challenges. This then leads to more and more NPCs starting to expect help or for them to make decisions, then throw in some morally dubious situations were they are forced to think outside of there comfort zone of there alignment, endless entertainment...

[Ork]

Skal

Skaljard was founded by Moonshaean explorers one hundred years ago, however the budding settlement is in steady decline. Despite the lush resources of Skal, the harsh climate, implacable beasts, and numerous monsters continually assail this poorly defended harbor. The Skaljardr live off the land, and are determined farmers and cultivators. The major exports of Skaljard include exotic furs, iron, tin, and copper. Skaljard attracts the would-be adventurer through promise of wealth. While Skaljard is a bitter, undeveloped settlement - fabled mithril and long-lost relics of power lure many to berth at Skaljard's harbor. And, for each of these adventurers that come for wealth, there are ten-fold more that become trapped by Skal's sea-ice during the colder months.

Skaljard was constructed atop the only accessible berth on the entire island. The remainder of Skal's coast are sharp, craggy cliffs and massive, immovable glaciers. 3/4ths of the island is covered in a dense layer of perma-frost as glacial flow carves massive furrows into the rock inch by inch and year by year. There is evidence that the ice ebbs and flows after eons of time to which some great cataclysm might reveal hidden sites of power or ancient ruins.

Massive dragon corpses dot the Tundra plains, and the former bones of these legendary beasts leave massive cathedrals of icy spires where the beasts' chests use to be. White wrymlings sired by these former masters of Skal flutter around the Tundra hoping to survive off the flesh of mountainous elk and hapless adventurers. Lesser draconic stock, drakes and wyverns, are prominent occupants of the icy crags and tundra-scape.

Fey-kind hold a grip on much of the island. Grigs and sprites play among the ice-melt within the Weald, and more wicked foe hold dominion over Skal's more ancient wood. Satyrs claim a good many adventurers and Skaljardr alike with promises of lavish food and drink only for their victims to succumb to Skal's bitter cold. Beneath Skal in deep, dark caverns lurk grimalkin seeking their next prey and rusalkas who lure weak-willed men to a watery death.

Hill giants claim the mountainous crags untouched by the massive glaciers dominating Skal's landscape, and remnants of some older, ancient Giant Kingdom dot the mountainside. Lesser giants, ogres and trolls, stir and gather propelled by some unseen force. The war drum's din echoes in these winding, maze-like caverns that run within Skal's exposed mountains. These ogre have subjugated weaker bugbear and goblin that are found frequently alongside the deep rivers of glacial melt. To what end have these tribes gathered? It is any man's guess.

An unseen hand moves beneath the scenes, and the imposing tower of the artificers stands evidence of their work. Some dark mage has made Skal home, and his mindless servants make his will known to the people of Skal in the form of monstrous golems. These golems are terrible foe, and are unrelenting against the Master's enemies.

Alongside the golems, a terrible beast and his progeny claim another cavern on Skal's mountain - the minotaur. Legend of Krakh spread far and wide Skaljard as a most terrible foe, and he is violently possessive of his territory. Woe to any who might challenge his dominion.

These are just a few locations and creatures on Skal. What lurks beneath the permafrost? Evidence of a more ancient and sleeping evil can be seen all around the island. Pray to the gods that the next terrible cataclysm does not unseal them.

[Huschpfusch]

Spawn a few Kossuth-ians on a holy crusade to save Skal from Auril's grip of ice, melting the permafrost and unleashing said dormant evil (Orc's post lastish paragraph), which needs to be some mind-bending evil since it brainwashed the Kossuth clerics (among others) into freeing it.
And parallel to the build-up quests of the party (Apothy's post) run the Kossuthians story- e.g. Kossuthian clerics arrive on same ship as characters, while characters are doing their first few quests - the Kossuthians settle down etc., party may buy supplies from the new Kossuth templeoutlet; make that cleric a memorable likeable NPC, could even make him joinable on one or the other quest or give miniquest, but as the story progresses the talk and behavior of the cleric becomes more and more fanatic. Then ultimately the Kossuth background story and the party story merge.
The big evil should probably have to do with fire imagery so it can be confused some with Kossuth. Maybe some ancient forgotten deity of trickery and desctruction or some minor prince of hell.

And lighting effects could be used for setting the mood at points. You could get one of those old miner's lanterns and put an electric light in it then switch out light. To simulate tavern with its chimney fire while outside storm is raging OR final scene when confronting the ancient flame evil in its lair (that would require some sort of lava-lamp deco).
oooohm lavaaa laaaamp ooooooohm *stares into fire crazy cleric style*

[ToxicBiohazard]

Thank you so much for your amazing answers. I've been using all of these ideas and my group is super interested in Skal. Maybe one day i'll be able to convince them to join in on Arelith One of them does play, my girlfriend, but never played on Skal. Thanks again for your awesome answers. I have always loved this community

[MissEvelyn]

If it's not too much to ask for, will you let us know how the campaign goes? =)