Dungeons of Cloudtop Castle

robertthebald · 03-07-2016, 05:24 AM

Robert the Bald retired to Cloudtop to study artifacts that he had recovered earlier. It was these studies that pushed him up to a level that prompted the gods to welcome him to their ranks (that means that I reached the highest levels allowed in the rules). IIRC the last adventure for him was when John and Richard talked me into investigating some strange things happening in some caverns in the area. That ended badly, with us desperately trying to escape the colored mist. I did carry away some items that were part of my studies. I would suggest that you use those caverns as the basis for your adventures. They were not completely explored and could be something he would be interested in, perhaps to find things that would answer questions he would have about the artifacts he carried away. I seem to remember this as having something to do with the Valley of the Gods (that is, something from a space faring race). The mist might have been a defensive mechanism that was triggered, or perhaps a leak from a spacecraft of some type. You would have complete licence to set out any scenario you wished to do. You could even set it up as adventurers hearing about the strange happenings independently of Robert the Bald, but seeking this in the hopes of an award from him.
By the way, something that is rarely mentioned is that I had raised a fighting force when I had settled there that was patterned after the riders of Rohan. This force was used to put down a peasant revolt that overthrew a couple of the other players (I believe it was Dale and Chuck, but I do not really remember any more). That force was borrowed by the Great Svenny and used with the rest of the forces to create an army that smashed the invasion at the pass. They never returned to Cloudtop, but a group of elves came to my area and settled there, probably replacing the families of the soldiers who left to be with their men. You might want to account for them in your adventure.
Bob Meyer

***Havard*** · 03-07-2016, 03:29 PM

Bob! Welcome back! Smile

robertthebald Wrote:Robert the Bald retired to Cloudtop to study artifacts that he had recovered earlier. It was these studies that pushed him up to a level that prompted the gods to welcome him to their ranks (that means that I reached the highest levels allowed in the rules). IIRC the last adventure for him was when John and Richard talked me into investigating some strange things happening in some caverns in the area. That ended badly, with us desperately trying to escape the colored mist.

This is pure gold!
I remember your story about Robert the Bald's ascent to godhood. I think later published material sort of postponed that since they wanted to use Robert the Bald as an NPC. Or maybe he is already a God, just posing as a mortal? The colored mist thing I only know about because it is briefly mentioned in the FFC. Hearing about it from your point of view is extremely interesting though!

Quote:I did carry away some items that were part of my studies. I would suggest that you use those caverns as the basis for your adventures. They were not completely explored and could be something he would be interested in, perhaps to find things that would answer questions he would have about the artifacts he carried away. I seem to remember this as having something to do with the Valley of the Gods (that is, something from a space faring race). The mist might have been a defensive mechanism that was triggered, or perhaps a leak from a spacecraft of some type. You would have complete licence to set out any scenario you wished to do. You could even set it up as adventurers hearing about the strange happenings independently of Robert the Bald, but seeking this in the hopes of an award from him.

Love these ideas! I had never even considered the mists being of a technological origin, but that totally makes sense. I like the idea of the strange events being the hook for the adventure instead of Robert himself. Thanks for your approval of developing this by the way. That is greatly appreciated! Smile

Quote:By the way, something that is rarely mentioned is that I had raised a fighting force when I had settled there that was patterned after the riders of Rohan. This force was used to put down a peasant revolt that overthrew a couple of the other players (I believe it was Dale and Chuck, but I do not really remember any more). That force was borrowed by the Great Svenny and used with the rest of the forces to create an army that smashed the invasion at the pass. They never returned to Cloudtop, but a group of elves came to my area and settled there, probably replacing the families of the soldiers who left to be with their men. You might want to account for them in your adventure.

Okay, this is completely new to me. I love hearing about these things. I wonder how much of this fighting force was changed into parts of the Peshwa in published material. I think the FFC describes the peasant revolts so I can check who that was. Do you remember what invasion Svenny was fighting at the time? (or maybe Greg can pitch in?) I am definitely borrowing the elves bit as well. If the Horsemen are gone, I wonder if some kind of trace of them could be found?

-Havard

robertthebald · 03-13-2016, 11:41 PM

Hi Havard;
Good to be back. Just do not expect any quick replies as I have to fit this in when I have time.
The mist adventure was a hook that David dangled in front of the Sniders, and they recruited me as they were suspicious of the whole thing (not to mention they had hope of finding some useful items). We did not explore all of the caverns, which seemed to me to be very extensive. David probably came up with this as I do not remember any of our holdings there having dungeons. They were mostly just towers.
I do not know what happened to my fighting force after the battle at the pass. I have no idea if they were the inspiration for the Peshwa, but it does not seem right to me. Greg would be the one to ask about this.
I met the elves during an adventure, and they joined me. We just clicked, and I invited them to settle in my holdings. Other elves then migrated in to join them. They were very loyal to me, and would prevent any incursions without my permission. Access to Cloudtop is extremely difficult and unlikely, and anyone succeeding in entering the tower would almost certainly regret it. Note that I did not say they would live to regret it as the living part is unlikely.
-Bob

aldarron · 03-18-2016, 10:26 AM

Agreeing with Havard - Pure Gold.

So this is me going out on a limb, but Bob, why not give some thought to developing the adventure yourself? I mean writing something up using the old rules - even if it is just a pdf file. I'm sure Havard would be more than happy to host or any of us would love to help, if asked. I always think it is such a shame that you guys (original players) don't put out an adventure or two, even if it is only a barebones sort of thing.

Rafael · 03-19-2016, 10:04 AM

Havard Wrote:Bob! Welcome back!

robertthebald Wrote:Robert the Bald retired to Cloudtop to study artifacts that he had recovered earlier. It was these studies that pushed him up to a level that prompted the gods to welcome him to their ranks (that means that I reached the highest levels allowed in the rules). IIRC the last adventure for him was when John and Richard talked me into investigating some strange things happening in some caverns in the area. That ended badly, with us desperately trying to escape the colored mist.

This is pure gold!
I remember your story about Robert the Bald's ascent to godhood. I think later published material sort of postponed that since they wanted to use Robert the Bald as an NPC. Or maybe he is already a God, just posing as a mortal? The colored mist thing I only know about because it is briefly mentioned in the FFC. Hearing about it from your point of view is extremely interesting though!

LFC! LFC! :wink:

robertthebald · 03-27-2016, 10:10 PM

In reply to you Aldarron; I just have been more interested in playing the game than I have been interested in running an adventure. After so many years it would be that much more difficult for me to come up with anything. Ironically, I have been asked to host and run an adventure for Griff's documentary. I have no idea how to do this at this point in time. I will either have to just wing it, or see if one of the other guys would be interested in running this. When I ended up running the last official Blackmoor game in May 2009 (which was actually more of a tribute game), I wanted a very old school feel to the adventure, so I did wing it indeed. I had the players use six sided dice and came up with the creatures on the spot. This way the players could not know the specifics to any rules I was using. Being the veterans that they were, they had no problems and did enjoy themselves, so I considered the game to be a success.
Bob

finarvyn · 03-28-2016, 05:50 AM

robertthebald Wrote:I wanted a very old school feel to the adventure, so I did wing it indeed. I had the players use six sided dice and came up with the creatures on the spot. This way the players could not know the specifics to any rules I was using.

This is fantastic. I've run games in a similar manner and I agree that it's a lot of fun. There's something neat about putting veteran gamers in a state where they don't know what they are encountering. Brings back some of the feel of the novice for them, kind of like the first time they played. 8)