Shadows in the North Campaign

Shadows in the North? I figured I should call the current game something other than FRG’s FR Campaign but didn’t want to spend too much (actually any) time on coming up with a name…it is in the North and the Shadowfell and/or Netheril will be involved…so Shadows in the North (SitN).

This 4e campaign takes place up in the Luruar and Gray Vale regions of the Forgotten Realms and, with the exception of using Stalker0’s Obsidian Skill Challenge System, will probably be pretty much straight 4e. I’ll be making a few changes to the Forgotten Realms setting as well…to suit the overall campaign arc. For example, during the dark days of the Spellplague, a great sinkhole opened up beneath Sundabar and Sundabar Vale, plunging most of the area in the Underdark and leaving large rift in its place.

As I mentioned a bit ago, I’ll be cobbling together the campaign from various sources including some Living Forgotten Realms adventures, the Scales of War adventure path, various other published adventures, and, of course, stuff I come up with. Anyone playing in the campaign should definitely stay away from the published sources mentioned above.

Because all of the players in the game are a bit older (all but one are 30+) with steady jobs, some children, and the like, not everyone can make it to every session. In general, if a player is missing, his or her character will not be played at that session. From a story or immersive perspective, this is going to be a pain but how much better is it to have someone else play a missing player’s character in a half-ass manner anyways? If I can work the absence into the story somehow, I will; if not, oh well.

In general, the game will be more casual and encounter oriented than I typically prefer as that seems to be the best fit for the current group’s composition. I’ll still be providing lots of pure role-playing opportunities, back story, situations that drive plot, and the like, but I won’t be assuming that most of the players will be focusing on those things…especially the story and plot aspects. I hope that those that do focus on those things will still find it rewarding but, since many don’t seem interested in such, I can’t make them essential/non-ignorable elements of the game.