Origins of the Cult of the Frog

[aldarron]

I thought you all might find this interesting.

So, as some might recall, my campaign is set during the Mage wars (860's). Maybe, you will also remember the thread where we talked about fleshing out the ancient, forgotten civilization in the Great Dismal swamp, that in the MMRPG built ziggurats and worshiped frog gods. I came up with the notion that they were a froglin people called the Groda and had been responsible for creating the gatormen and saraigu through sorcery, but had themselves become extinct.

Currently my players have roughly 4th level characters, and I was looking for a good adventure for them. Long story short, I ran Beyond the Towers by W. Jason Peck, which adapted easily to Blackmoor. I scrapped the whole "Archeology professor needs guides" story line and simply gave the players a mysterious treasure map leading to the Ziggurat in the swamp. The adventure has "sheshak" bandits (convert to saraigu) with "sevren" minions (call 'em Marsh Goblins), some more standard monsters, and a slithering abomination for which I substituted a classic Black Pudding.

Anyway Hidden away in the ziggurat is a secret room of a "Hetepkan" (called them Groda) evil high priestess, who, as her civilization faced disaster, trapped herself in a special Mirror of Life Trapping. I gave the priestess a teleporter ring, so when the PC's got to the room and released her from the mirror, she could (and did) teleport to safety.

Of course, it is only a few years later according to DA2:9 (875 ish) that frog cultist start turning up in Vestfold........

[Shesheyan]

I thought you all might find this interesting.

So, as some might recall, my campaign is set during the Mage wars (860's). Maybe, you will also remember the thread where we talked about fleshing out the ancient, forgotten civilization in the Great Dismal swamp, that in the MMRPG built ziggurats and worshiped frog gods. I came up with the notion that they were a froglin people called the Groda and had been responsible for creating the gatormen and saraigu through sorcery, but had themselves become extinct.

Currently my players have roughly 4th level characters, and I was looking for a good adventure for them. Long story short, I ran Beyond the Towers by W. Jason Peck, which adapted easily to Blackmoor. I scrapped the whole "Archeology professor needs guides" story line and simply gave the players a mysterious treasure map leading to the Ziggurat in the swamp. The adventure has "sheshak" bandits (convert to saraigu) with "sevren" minions (call 'em Marsh Goblins), some more standard monsters, and a slithering abomination for which I substituted a classic Black Pudding.

Anyway Hidden away in the ziggurat is a secret room of a "Hetepkan" (called them Groda) evil high priestess, who, as her civilization faced disaster, trapped herself in a special Mirror of Life Trapping. I gave the priestess a teleporter ring, so when the PC's got to the room and released her from the mirror, she could (and did) teleport to safety.

Of course, it is only a few years later according to DA2:9 (875 ish) that frog cultist start turning up in Vestfold........

Great idea!
I'm currently running DA2. To reenforce the frog theme I wanted to put a short side quest in a one level dungeon near South Rim. A ziggurat and ancient fallen frog adorating civilisation fits in very well.

[Rafael]

A bit late to the party, but - the origins of the Frog cult were the reason I got so into Jennell Jacquays' (all possible spelling mistakes, I made with that one) "Caverns of Thracia". The d20 version contains an optional boss that IIRC goes by the name of "The Immortal King", and that supposedly created the civilization that in turn built the lower levels of the dungeon. (The subterranean caves, IIRC.)

IMC, the Caverns of Thracia were located in the Duchy of Ten - and they were basically the next stop after the TotF dungeon, which we played, IIRC, as per Supplement II, not as per DA2. I never fleshed the story out much, but because, for campaigning purposes, it's such an easy pair, with two fairly big modules laying things out in a pre-prepped fashion, maybe going back there someday - for somebody else than me - might be worth a thought.

I also like the idea of bringing Henry-Rider-Haggard-ish primordial beings into BM is something that I like, because Castle BM always suffered from the "Grayskull Paradox" - like "Castle Grayskull" from "Masters of the Universe", it's the center of the setting's narrative, but we never learn quite why. So, supplementing the pre-history/"founding era" of the present-day setting this way is something that pays off on the long run, because it gives you a background to work with beyond what the setting is already supplied with - which is not much, IIRC. (Now, I never really got into Mystara's version of BM, and I think the *why* of the setting is explained way better than just in Arneson's version.)

[Yaztromo]

I ran Beyond the Towers by W. Jason Peck, which adapted easily to Blackmoor. I scrapped the whole "Archeology professor needs guides" story line and simply gave the players a mysterious treasure map leading to the Ziggurat in the swamp. The adventure has "sheshak" bandits (convert to saraigu) with "sevren" minions (call 'em Marsh Goblins), some more standard monsters, and a slithering abomination for which I substituted a classic Black Pudding.

Anyway Hidden away in the ziggurat is a secret room of a "Hetepkan" (called them Groda) evil high priestess, who, as her civilization faced disaster, trapped herself in a special Mirror of Life Trapping. I gave the priestess a teleporter ring, so when the PC's got to the room and released her from the mirror, she could (and did) teleport to safety.

I think I will steal this...

[aldarron]

Yeah , the ziggurat adventure itself is pretty cool - my guys had a lot of fun with it and are still talking about some of the antics they pulled.

[Havard]

Great stuff!

I love the ancient civilizaions hinted at in the swamp. It creates a very interesting atmosphere for adventurers to explore.

-Havard