RCI The Great Flanaess River Adventure (“Greyhawk or Bust”) By The Oliver Brothers A CAMPAIGN ADVENTURE TAKING CHARACTERS FROM LEVELS 1-10+ This campaign is the ultimate hex crawl, taking the newly formed adventuring party by canoe from the northern reaches of Blackmoor to the “Gem of the Flanaess” - Greyhawk– via the Velverdyva River , a journey consisting of 94 hexes and 2,820 miles! The journey of a lifetime awaits your new characters in this river campaign. Organized in 15 chapters, consisting of over 500 pages, and a dozen major adventures, the ultimate goal of this campaign is very simple: Greyhawk or bust! Get ready to return to the greatest world in the history of role playing games for some old school, classic, first edition, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Dedicated to Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson For bringing us together as “brothers-in-arms” Where'er thou sail'st who sailed with me, Though now thou climbest loftier mounts, And fairer rivers dost ascend, Be thou my Muse, my Brother. I am bound, I am bound, for a distant shore, By a lonely isle, by a far Azore, There it is, there it is, the treasure I seek, On the barren sands of a desolate creek. I sailed [down] a river with a pleasant wind, New lands, new people, and new thoughts to find; Many fair reaches and headlands appeared, And many dangers were there to be feared. -Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers Table of Contents Title RC (River Campaign) Module # Introduction RCI Chapter 1: Blackmoor RC1 Chapter 2: Burneal Forest RC2 Chapter 3: Tiger & Wolf Nomads RC3 Chapter 4: Lake Quag RC4 Chapter 5: Clatspur Range RC5 Chapter 6: Yatil Mountains RC6 Chapter 7: Highfolk RC7 Chapter 8: Veluna RC8 Chapter 9: Dapple Wood RC9 Chapter 10: Iron Wood RC10 Chapter 11: Verbobonc RC11 Chapter 12: Gnarley Forest RC12 Chapter 13: Dyvers RC13 Chapter 14: Nyr Dyv RC14 Chapter 15: Greyhawk! RC15 Preface enough to journey by canoe to the Gem of the Flanaess, they will soon find out. “Where ever there is a channel for water -there is a road for the canoe.” Introduction -Henry David Thoreau, “Water is a pioneer which the settler follows.” Canoeing in the Wilderness -Henry David Thoreau, Canoeing in the Wilderness. It has been written that one of the greatest rivers in all of the Flanaess is the Velverdyva River. It stretches from at least the Yatil Mountains to the Nyr Welcome to the new first edition Advanced Dyv, the Lake of Unknown Depths. Some have Dungeons & Dragons adventure, The Great Flanaess argued that the Fler River is in reality nothing more River Adventure, subtitled “Greyhawk or Bust,” a than the upper Velverdyva, originating in campaign that will be played in 15 Chapters. This Blackmoor, flowing south through the Burneal adventure is a journey style campaign that takes Forest, then arriving at Lake Quag before following the player characters from the headwaters of the a course through the canyons of the Yatil Velverdyva River (at that point actually the Fler), by Mountains. Whether they are two rivers or one, canoe, all the way to the City of Greyhawk. While it physically or named, is of no import, for the river is largely a Wilderness Campaign, there will be time itself cares not. for some good old fashion dungeon crawling and traditional role playing in the cities and towns along As the Master himself has described it, “Velverdyva: the way. This adventure is intended as the type of The natural flow of the river is eastward, from the journey so often found in some of the greatest lower Yatil Mountains and the Clatspur range literature ever written, including Homer’s The southward through Veluna, past Verbobonc and Odyssey, C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, and quite near Nulb (fed by the Imeryds Run), and J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, as continuing through the Gnarley Forest into the well as the real life journeys of such people as Lewis great Nyr Dyv, Lake of the Unknown Depths. One & Clark (The Journals), Francis Parkman (The of its sources is in the far northern Burneal Forest, in Oregon Trail), and John Wesley Powell (The the land of Blackmoor itself! And where the water Exploration of the Colorado River). Like all journeys, flows, creatures follow.”1 however, it must be remembered that while the destination (Greyhawk!) is the goal of this And so does man. campaign, in the famed words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” The fascination of the river, the lure of adventure, and man’s need for excitement affects everyone Player’s Background the same. To know where the river flows to, the wonder of what encounters lie along its course, and The player characters are from the upper northern the discovery if one is brave enough to reach their reaches of the Flanaess in the Archbarony of destination. All of this leaves all of mankind -and Blackmoor. They were born and raised in the perhaps others - dreaming. Dreaming of village of Arneson, located at the headwaters of adventure; Dreaming of the journey. the Fler (or Velverdyva) River, located north of the Burneal Forest and south of the Land of Black Ice. Again, the Master himself provides both words of The small village of 120 souls backs up on the north wisdom and words of caution about this journey: “A side to a draw with the hill reaching upward behind simple boating jaunt, either upstream or down, can them. Cold water channels down the draw, forms a encounter river pirates and sundry random aquatic stream, and pours into a large natural pool that is encounters (fresh-water only of course!). Low level the central feature of the village. The pool is characters should be discouraged from such actually a natural hot spring and the clash of endeavors to some extent, but those of level 5 and waters causes a permanent veil of fog and mist up might perhaps find other arms of the powers of over the village, making for excellent camouflage. Chaos and Evil lurking in the waters nearby. And If the misty camouflage does not provide who knows what things – or even kingdoms – lurk in concealment from the monsters that teem in the the depths.”2 If player characters are brave winter wilderness, than the wooden stockade provides them the defensive cover they need. The i one area that is relatively unprotected, however, is Arneson, have decided it was time. They were now where the natural hot spring spills over the pool’s preparing to go on a journey; they were going on banks and works its way southward to the Burneal an adventure – The Great Flanaess River Adventure! Forest, becoming the Fler River. Course of the Adventure Despite being such a small community, Arneson is a collection of well-trained, former adventurers. They “Here was traveling of the old heroic kind over the count among themselves some of the finest fighters, unaltered face of nature.” thieves, monks, bards, clerics, and magic-users, and they are composed of all manner of races, mostly -Henry David Thoreau, human, dwarf, and halflings, with a few elves. This is Canoeing in the Wilderness a village that can take care of its own, and as a result, the player characters have grown up with excellent role models and mentors. They have This campaign is divided into fifteen chapters or learned to defend themselves, hunt for their own fifteen major challenges for the player characters. food, and live in the wilderness. If you have a map of the World of Greyhawk, follow along the journey with a short description of what The player characters, like all youth, long to seek will be taking place. out their own adventures. It is one thing to hear the tales of the elders, it is quite another to live them Chapter 1: Blackmoor – Now that the players have yourself. When the player characters were received the call to adventure and decided to go approximately 10 years old (at least by human on their journey to Greyhawk, they must prepare. standards), a strange man visited their village. He Their mentors will assist, but they must do all of the called himself Sormod and he told them tales of a work. There are then some basic considerations for secret tunnel leading to Rigodruok and of the great this journey. They will need a canoe, or two or dangers that lie there. But it was the stories of the three, which will necessitate a trip to the Burneal “Gem of the Flanaess,” that captured their Forest, a forest overrun with quaggoths. They will fantasies the most. He spoke of the strange need food, necessitating several hunting trips; and buildings, the diverse population that resides there, they will need items of value to barter for goods and all of the riches. Further, he spoke of the many downriver. One option may be the hide of the opportunities for wealth and adventures. And they winter wolf they saw while hunting elk, or, if they were especially fascinated with the stories of Lord figure out the secret of the monkeys that lounge in Robilar and the Green Dragon Inn. the pool all day, they may find the secret tunnel to Rigodruok which is full of diamonds, but also some For years they dreamed that Greyhawk truly was a very deadly spiders. giant gem, after all, why would they call it the “Gem of the Flanaess”? But as they grew older, Chapter 2: Burneal Forest – this portion of the they learned more of the City of Greyhawk from campaign will be the most dangerous as they will their elders, almost all of whom at one time or be of low level and the forest is filled with all types another had ventured to the city.