TSR 3142 King of the Giantdowns.pdf

owns

table ofAontents

Introduction .................

Part I: An Overview of the Giantdo

es of Interest. ............... 30

Ancient History of the Downs .........

The Coming of Men. ................

The Giantdowns Today. ..............

Provinces of the Giantdowns ........

Neighbors of the Giantdowns ......

Part 11: Denizens of the Giantdown

Downs ..................... 43

the Giantdowns. .... 58

.................. 58

Rjurik Settlers ..................

The Emerald Spiral

Bandits and Reneg

The Army of the White Witch. ......

Other Peoples ....................

a ................. 59

en ................ 59

e .................. 61

of the Giant-King .............. 62

.................

....................

uiddar .................

ead ..................

Written I:.;F,i: Stark

Edited by C:+ie A. Bebris

Proofread by Sue Weinlein Cook

Creative Direction by Karen S. Boomgarden

Cover and Interior Art by Tony Szczudlo

Cartography by David C. Sutherland 111

Art Direction by Bob Galica

Page Backgrounds by Starr Mahoney

Graphic Design by Don Danowski

Typography by Nancy J. Kerkstra

Electronic Prepress Coordination by Dave Conant

Playtesting by Carrie A. Bebris, Anne Brown, Steven Brown, Miranda Homer, Duane Maxwell

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MONSTROUS

& DRAGONS,DUNGEONMASTER,BIRTHRIGHT,

every hill, ready to slit the thma

Lars knew bettel: %e goods he

and ancient battlefields, disputing

s would make him enough money to wtnter tn co

name for himself

ing all right, old man?"

heaving, wounded man.

m but tossed the ivatersk

etting. In addition

he AD&Dmgame

MASTER* Guide,

and BIRTHRIGHT

e! What happened?"

gee shook his head

'ttribe! They attacke

ed-the Downs have

n a Dungeon Master (DM)needs to con

several adventures, or even a small cam

, in the Giantdowns. It includes description

provinces, people, and important places o

owns. The DM has plenty of room to fill i

is own details and create his own adventures, bu

t be mad. Besides,

employ of a blooded nonplayer character (NPC).

How can the PCs win the Giantdowns for them-

Lars knelt down and grabbed the man's arm. '

ing of the Giantdowns provides all t

and the mounds

C0.m f? g9-7-n

7 ight from the start, the DM should be

:> ??3~9

and harrows of the land are

filled with the rotting corpses of

armies that fell fighting amid the Downs. Ohv-

, thinking ahout a series of adventures

ously, the independent Rjurik, not to mention the

various hnmano;d ,ind giant hands of the region,

would resisi: an invasion.

The Giantdowns. thereforc, must be conquered

frrim within Any PCs interested in huilding a realm

0u.t of the \r~ildDowns must come to the region and

provc tliemselves to he hcrocs worthy oCregency.

They must impress the existing leaders of the Rjurik .

and win over or defeat those who might oppose them.

King of t,ie Giantdoww contains adventures and

background material the DM can use to construct a .

campaign directing the PCs toward rulership. The

sections of this hook detail the inhabitants of the .,

Downs, relevant sites and adventure locales, and

.rather than one adventure at a time.

Ex!? adventure should do something to move the

PCs closer to their goal of rulership (or farther

awas if they fail in their quests). The following

appyoach could he used as a model for a Giant-

downs campaign:

Introduce the PCs. The first adventure or two

shotr!d introduce the PCs to the Giantdowns. Even

if thc PCs are actually from the Downs, they proha-

hly xen'twell-knnxvn among the settlers and need

to establish themselves as heroes.

Good introductory adventurcs must he geared

some suggested adventures a DM can use to get a

toward the level of the adventuring party (usually

campaign started.

Each time the PCs undertake an adventure in the

Giantdowns, they should be thinking, "How can this

action make me a more impressive candidate for

regency of the Downs?"Even the purest adventurer.

one who quests only to fight evil and defend the

weak, should consider this an overall, obtainable goal.

The DM, likewise, has to think in these terms.

Whether he uses an adventure from this supple-

ment or creates one of his own using the NPCs,

low-level challenges) and toward interaction with

prominent NPCs. The 1'Cs should do something

important and dangerous, but thc most useful

thing ahout an introductory adventure is that it

puts the PCs in contact with a few of the area's

prominent people.

A good example of an introductory adventure is

"The Fall of Bjorlangen" (see "Part 11': Adventures

in the Giantdowns"). It contains enough action and

danger to keep the PCs' attention, while allowing

monsters, adventure sites. and situations presented

them to interact with some important peoplc and

,. ..,

in this hook, the DM has to allow the players to

huild their kingdom themselves.

make a few friends among the Rjurik settlers and

the Watch (an alliance of rangers and scouts that

tried-

S*fknC*3.T;RV

.- ._

patrols the settled areas). The DM can easily mod-

ify the difficulty of this adventure to make it easy

enough for 1st-level PCs or challenging enough for

higher-level adventurers.

introduce the environment. The players should

be allowed to read all or some of "Part 1: An

Overview of the Giantdowns" either hefore or just

after their first few adventures. (Natives of the

Downs should get more information earlier than

non-natives.) 0; t!ie DM can present the informa-

tion from the ovemiew as he sees fit. I-lowever,the

PCs won't. truly know anything ahout the Downs

environment until they start moving around and

getting into trouble.

The DM should plan an adventure or two

designed to give the PCs a "feel" for the area. The

introductory adventure (see above) wil: do so to

some extcnt, of course, .but more adventures meant

to estahlish the environment could prove helpful.

"The Lore of thc Lencrotta" adventure allows the

PCs to explore the Downs and exposes them to a

few of the dangers they hold. Characters will learn

that the Downs are a beautiful place, full of rolling

hills and heather-covered fields, but that they hide

many dangers. Canny monsters and dangerous

traps lie in the Downs. and supernatural foes wait

not far away.

Establish the heroes. By the time the PCs

have gone on several adventures in the Downs,

they have probably met many of the important

people of the area, made friends with some com-

moners. and established a ''feel" for the region

without knowing everything ahout it. At this

point, they should actively start promoting them-

selves as heroes in the Downs.

To do this, they need more challenges. Charac-

ters who began their activities in the Downs region

are probably at or approaching mid-levcl by now

and can face some more impressive dangers. The

DW should try to challcnge them and set up some

setting up external and inter-

nal threats (a few of the prominent

Rjurik may not have the Giantdowns' best

interests at heart) and by placing the PCs squarely

on the bull's cye of any incoming trouble.

"The Raid on Rhuiddar" is an adventure that may

not profit the PCs personally, but they could under-

take it fnt the good of the Rjurik living in the Giant-

downs. "The Barrow of the Giant-King" adventure

does not involve a particular threat, hut gives the

PCs an opportunity to estahlish for themselves a

power ha5e in the r)owns region.

Continue adventures and plotlines. The DM

must work to estahlish continuing characters. sub-

plots, and overall goals for the PC party. While all

the adventures in the Downs can be encapsulated,

they should have effects that spill over into future

adventures, either presenting problems or yielding

benefits. The DM can use the large numher of

NPCs and detaile?. adventure sites to establish this

continuity, and {he scan exrloit .the PCs' own needs

and desires to this cnd.

Crown the kin?:. The road to regency will wind

and bend differently for each adventuring party.

The PCs (with the DM) must figure out for them-

selves how to estahlish onc of their number as

"King of the Giantmdowns" (and the others, if they

so choose, as vassals nr rulers of landless domains

within the Downs). But ideally, at some point the

PCs will have dealt with enough threats, performed

enough acts of heroism, and established enough

supporters and friends throughout the Downs to

make a bid for rulership.

e advenmre

7T deally, you as the DM will read through this

whole book and plan a long-term story arc for

your players. If, however, you don't have time

to i-ead everything beforehand, read through this

introduction. skim the overview in Part I, then skip

to the adventures in Part IV and choose one of the

early ones. "The Fall of Bjorlangen" and "The Lure

of thc Leucrotta" irr : ,-titular can he read in a few

minutes, and each re

parts of the hook yr.'

Later, when you .av: i ''2 :

' '-

of the liooli and pvi ':e4

the defexze of the

Rjorik settlers. He

can do this hy

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