Inaugural Campaign Prep Document

Originally, I had planned to exclude this document from the blog, but further review of the matter necessitates its inclusion. In fact, this single page is the source of many of the overarching story lines of the entire Wildlanders campaign. Furthermore, the page contains an array of "hidden gem" notes along with some astounding surprises.

Looking at the various sections on the document, you can see the roots of the campaign. The top right corner contains a list of the major (MAJ) and minor (MIN) races in the northeast region of the game world. Most of the racial groups were encountered by the Wildlanders. Some of them were eliminated from the story line. Still others play a major role in the region, but since they dwell south of the great fey forest (south of Ras Dashen) they were never encountered.

The most obvious of these is the Formians. When I initially drew the game world map, the group was still playing the 2E campaign. So, the Formians were initially conceived of as Thri-Keen, which terrorize the great plains south of the Fey Forest. Those insect-people still roam those plains, if any adventurers dare tread them.

Many of the ideas listed in the "Regional Hooks" section fell by the wayside, giving preeminence to the major story lines. Three stand out as significant in the Wildlanders campaign. The necromancer plot threatening water and civilization is present on this page, as are the existence of Beholders and Yuan Ti, and the evil creatures and barbarians of the Wasteland. Those who played in the campaign know how long I must have sat on all those secrets.

The "Local Adventure Hooks" column includes many different options for story ideas. Many of these did not come into play, but some were very important in the earliest phases of the story. For example, Bugbears are plotting with local bandits, and a Blackguard is organizing local monsters. There's also an entire column on the document devoted to "Thrym (being) sent to (the) halfling commonwealth as a messenger," along with the goings-on of the Commonwealth Council. Clearly, Thrym and Dreyka had been created at this point in time, although Thrym's backstory was extremely underdeveloped.

The bottom of the page contains other, more well developed story ideas, including a plot by "The Blackguard" to run slaves to the Yuan-Ti. "The Blackguard," who later became Dafoe Kiln, is evidently the most well-developed villaiin at this stage of the story's creation. Strangely, this page also contains two notes regarding the character who would evolve into Hugh Poomphower: the "Thrym" column denotes that merchants are arguing over whether to clear the land of monsters or uproot the Commonwealth. At the first council of Stoneborough, Poomphower advocated uprooting the Commonwealth. And, at the bottom of the page, one note says that, "The Blackguard's wizard transforms himself into a seditious halfling merchant." Initially, that merchant was Poomphower, but it never came to pass. Those two notes are the genesis of Poomphower, who became a much different minor character.

Two aspects of this fantastic page rank as my favorite:

1.) The second-to-last line on the page contains a note, "Barbarians neutral - may opt not to take sides/give aid." The entire storyline of Krebb, Barzan, Ulbor, et. al, hinged upon Thrym and Dreyka's initial encounter/reaction to Krebb's bizarre behavior. It could have swung in a variety of directions.

2.) The very top left corner of the campaign contains notes from a phase of the "Curse of the Songblade" campaign, featuring Jadot. In addition to a few lines containing a description of an Illithid vessel (among other things), there's also a Jadot-penned Haiku here! Alas, many of Jadot's Haiku's have not be preserved, making any that survive quite special. This poem obviously marks the rescue off the ancient Dwarf Invidar from the clutches of the Illithids:

"Calm down, Dwarven Lord
I and my liege are your friends
Drink the milk, and live."

He drank the milk, and he lived.