Every single Dungeons and Dragons campaign is built around adventure. You can build all the setting you want, but if there is not a place for adventurers to gain loot and magic...you are just writing poor fiction.
I've got several adventure locations planned in The Old Realm campaign. Some are just in the bare bones beginning work stages; others (like the mega-dungeon I'm going to use) are already mapped out and only needing to be "stocked" for the looting to begin!
1 Hex = 1 Mile
Adventure Locations are:
Bluespires (Level 4-6) will be an “elven ruin” that the party can go to. I have in mind that Elf King Rhannoch may hire them to go here to recover something he feels was not taken by the dragon Tazar or the Gharkal Gnolls. I haven’t decided yet what I will make the item; but it will be something the King thinks will enable him to strengthen his people and possibly force out the dragon Tazar.
Burkswood (Level 2-4) is going to be an elven “ruin” as well; but it will have more active creatures living there (probably gnolls, ogres and such; as well as creepy crawlers like spiders and so on). I plan to make this one a “Kill the baddies and take their stuff” adventure instead of anything “big” plot wise. I always liked the feel of characters being able to establish their own strongholds in later levels; and Burkswood would be a nice place for any character to do that later on…so I may have to “re-use” this location at higher levels after the party sacks the place at low level.
Darkhold (Level 11-14+) is going to be a nasty dungeon. Where this place sits in our world rests the Bland County Corrections Facility, a Virginia State Prison. So I’m going to be be making Darkhold a prison of sorts too. Held by an evil wizard called “The Keeper” it is going to be composed of several areas of different “habitats” that the vile wizard (likely going to be pretty high level) keeps stocked with creatures that can’t escape. A sort of Monster Menagerie, I think this will make for a cool dungeon. People usually stay away from Darkhold, because The Keeper sometimes sends out his Hunters to capture anyone that comes too close (within 3 miles or so). I haven’t decided yet what these Hunters are; but I’m actually leaning toward Cambions and/or other Demons he has summoned from the Abyss. There will also be a Portal to the Abyss within Darkhold for further adventures.
The other intention I had for placing Darkhold here is that it makes a good “choke point” for keeping the party from going too far away from the center of action. It isn’t intended to keep them in the area, so much as hold their eyes on it and make them aspire to kill The Keeper and take his stuff. lol
The Dwarf King (Level 1+) is my “big dungeon” that nobody knows about until I let the party know that beneath the statue of the Dwarf King is an ancient dwarf hold that even the dwarves thought was much further north. With this, I’m going to be using a cool Mega-Dungeon created by “Dyson Logos” that you can look at here:
Originally I was going to create a module called “The Goblin King” with this mega-dungeon; but I think I will have a great deal more fun with my family if I put it here. I’ve got a cool list of baddies that will be living here; including for a higher level group (level 4+) an area ruled by an Ogre Magi. I’ll be replacing the “Harpy Tower” with the gigantic statue of “The Dwarf King” which none know goes down into the mountain. There are other entrances that I’m going to be working in too:
The Mushroom Cave will be in the valley below the Dwarf Road that goes over the mountain. It will be “known” to locals from Bastian and Walker’s Hold, but I’m going to make the entrances that go deeper a bit harder to find.
The Great Cave entrance will be known as well, but here the locals have shunned the place as haunted. Common folk wouldn’t want to go there surely, and even brave sorts aren’t necessarily adventurers wanting to go into a cave that is haunted! A recent sink-hole though has made some folk curious…
The “Giant Gates” I’m going to make hidden by an ancient rock fall I think. Literally cover them up with bolders that ancient dwarves intended to cover those entrances.
The only other “big entrance” is the The Necropolis of Bryn Mynnyd; which will be sitting VERY near to Bastian. The outlying area (the “abandoned” old buildings) are claimed by members of the Cult that front as simple farmers and herders. I’m going to place a couple of families here that are totally subsumed by the cult generation after generation. This particular cult, by the way, is not an “undead” death cult; but is where the assassins in my campaign are from! They WILL have clerics; but they are not lovers of undead at all.
As can be seen, this dungeon will be the centerpiece of my entire campaign! It can even take the party into the Underdark and so will be a rather dangerous place. I think that if the party does well here, my youngest son will want to claim the place; but the dwarves will probably be after it if it becomes known to them.
Gallows (Level 5-7) is where I plan to take my kids on an adventure they have never even heard about (I don’t think): I6 Ravenloft. I’m going to be modifying the area a bit; but the backstory (not GOING to Ravenloft the Demi-Plane) will be that the village has always been surrounded by “the fog” and they can’t escape until Strahd is defeated; though this makes the villagers come from a very narrow gene pool! The place was there some time ago when an early civilization of humans reached up the Lower Wolf Creek and Strahd’s family established the castle there to trade with the ancient Dwarf Kingdom now called the Old Realm. When Strahd “fell” that avenue to the area was cut. While goblins once ruled the area around Strahd’s castle, of late other undead horrors have crept out into the land; and so now the Gallowoods aren’t even safe for Goblins not in numbers. A small tweak of the map of the surrounding area and I’ll be able to plop Castle Ravenloft right into my home campaign.
If the party does really well, they may want to “claim” the castle, so I’ve prepared for this by planning for goblin incursions once the undead are dealt with. While the party may be able to handle the Black Wolf goblins, there are other stronger clans in the east to the north of the Kingdom of Vhir; so the party will probably have to come back later and clear goblins from Castle Ravenloft when the party is higher level…and if they want to claim the castle for themselves.
Oldcamp (Level 1-2) is intended to be a minor dungeon adventure for the group to establish good relations with Clan Arnar north of Rocky Gap. I’m thinking of making this their second adventure when Prince Baran hears “through the grapevine” (meaning his gnome spies) that the party has returned with wealth and an increase in fame from clearing Waddle Manor. He really only wants them to recover an old chest of items from the place (nothing even magical); but many of the items are of sentimental value since they belonged to his father. Prince Baran knows it is inhabited by remaining orcs and other critters; but was looted by the Bone Eaters some time ago. The chest is in a hidden location and it has to be returned to him, but anything else the party finds is theirs for the taking. Another early “kill them and take their stuff” adventure really.
Stonespires (Level 1+) is actually a Portal controlled by the Druid Rhuidach. It can lead to wherever I want it to lead…but the exits will always be other Standing Stones. My kids (all of them) are “instant gratification junkies” and so whenever things stall in the game, I’ll likely have word brought to them that “The Druid” needs their help “again”. The first time I send them through (perhaps right after Waddle Manor) I’ll be sending them to a simple dungeon near an old ruined henge to recover something for the Druid Rhuidach. Once the group learns that this henge “goes” somewhere, they may become interested in going on adventures in other lands “real quick” but it won’t be open to them just any time…more directly under my control when I come up with an idea.
Waddle Manor (Level 1) will be an introductory adventure to the setting. It is an old Manor that was constructed by dwarven masons long ago for a wealthy human lord from the lands now known as the County of Wythe. The place is of stone, and has several different buildings outside within the stone walls of the place. It has long been “abandoned” by civilized folk after being sacked by raiding ogres of the Korg Clan. Trees grow even in the courtyard and all around; so a great deal of the place will be “tumbled” in ruin; but since it is of dwarf construction it still mostly stands.
It is going to have minor undead in one area (skeletons for sure), large spiders & centipedes in the woods around, feral wild dogs, bandits in the place (a small group of orcs and half-orcs that has formed recently, led by the “boss” who is going to be a 2nd level orc fighter), a puny ogrillon “henchman” of the bandit boss, giant rats, and perhaps a rival party of “evil” adventurers from the Kingdom of Vhir.
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