Campaigns in the Young Uther Era

[Havard]

Years ago, Rafe and I were talking about how a core problem with both the DA series and the D20 line is that placing the campaign after Uther is in control of Blackmoor means that the idea of the adventuring in the Blackmoor Dungeon becomes a bit absurd. If the Dungeon is so full of danger, why would the king keep his residency right above it? And, if the King has the dungeon under control, why bother do venture down there?

OTOH, I never felt too comfortable running games directly during the Original Campaign either as I felt like I was stepping on the toes of the original players. The time immediately following the First Fantasy Campaign could be quite interesting. It is possible that Dave Arneson ran games set in this era, but at least these adventures are less documented. I think a campaign revolving around helping Uther to gain control over Blackmoor while fighting off enemies both from within and from without could be alot of fun, and certainly a challenge!

What do the rest of you think? Ideas for an Adventure Path involving Uther's Ascent to the Throne?

-Havard

[Rafael]

Heh. Way to bring me back from the forests of Meleon, my dear viking. I am kind of doing that - running "young Uther" adventures, that is - since 2012:

When I returned to Germany, people who knew about my involvement with Blackmoor asked me to run a few classic scenarios. My approach was to reverse-engineer those scenarios, taking the classic frame, and filling the gaps with stuff from the LFC.

Not sure how much in detail I explained the Firewater and Glendower adventures in that regard, but they were just that: Uther is a bastard relative of Baron Fant, and a squire of Willem of the Heath, and later of the Great Svenny. Robilar and Svenny become his greatest teachers, and when Fant becomes a vampire, Uther is the one who slays him.

Very in sync with T. H. White, very similar to the German Warringham novels.


Firewater ended, in all three instances we played the scario, with the party meeting a young farmer turned lancer, with the name of Sven Svenson, FWIW.

[RobJN]

I have some notes about the early years of Uther which could probably be crafted into adventures. I still like the idea that braving the dungeons beneath the castle would have to be a requirement of anyone wanting to take the baronial seat, and possibly later, to prove their worth for ascending the throne. (This sounds an awful lot like TCX-1 "First Queen of Blackmoor." Which, now that I thnk about it, could easily be "rewound" to be part of Uther's trials to take a baronial seat, or first crown of a fledgling kingdom.....