Mad God's Key and Faerun

[BluWolf]

Our fledgling gaming group is going to have a go at stright up none-house ruled D&D to get a feel for what we are ll looking for and to build a concensus as to where we want the game to go. So for now we are going to skip my homebrew.

I am going to run "Mad God's Key" from Dungeon magazine but thye would all prefer I use the Realms rather than Greyhawk. Not a problem, but I have not gamed in the Realms in about 5 years and I was wondering if anyone here could point me in the direction of good lcoation for that adventure that is NOT Waterdeep AND what deities I should replace Boccob (Oghma ??), Vecna & WeeJas with. I was going to set this prior to the time of troubles so Cyric and the like are not about.

Additionally, anyone here run "Mad God's Key" yet?? Impressions? Experiences??

Much gratitude in advance.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Good module, fine choice.

I would recommend, however, Whispering Cairn, part 1 of AoW for a non-house ruled game. Or use Mad God's Key as a link to the Cairn.

Age of Worms will have your players smilin; there are conversion notes for FR for it too.

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

Let's see...

Set before the time of troubles:

Boccob = Mystra (the pre-Time of Troubles Mystra was very much like Boccob) or perhaps Azuth.
Wee Jas = Hmm, hard one. Maybe Kiaransalee (drow goddess)?
Vecna = Keep as Vecna. He's everywhere.

 

[Asmo]

I guess you need a pretty big city with a river or a port ( you want to run the Barge End chase in a wharf area ). I`ve only played in Greyhawk so I can´t help you with any locations in Faerun, sorry.
I´m currently running Mad God´s Key, but it´s on hold at the moment..
(taken from another thread)

"Well, wasn´t that a disaster!!
Irontusk managed to get away in a boat - this scenario is a wild chase at the wharf-area in Shack Town outside Greyhawk.
Two of the characters persuaded old Bill with his rowingboat to follow Irontusk out on Selintan River. After a while they found the discarded boat that Irontusk left behind on the other side of the river.
The cleric and the wizard jumps off the boat and starts to search for signs of Irontusk, meanwhile Bill leaves the shore,taking Irontusk boat with him back to Shack Town. The wizard notices this and kills old Bill with an arrow straight through his throat.....

At this moment the cleric realises that they have crossed a line.
The female wizard want to dump the body in the river but the cleric refuses, so she fills the boat with stones and sinks it with old Bill.
The next day the cleric turns himself in and tells the guard where the killer is.
She´s swiftly brought to justice and awaits the death penality. I wonder what I should do with the cleric... any suggestions?
I´ve just come home from the session, this was the absolute worst case scenario ever.."

My suggestion is that you carefully decides how to run the Barge End Chase - Irontusk is quite powerful, and if you play it by the book there´s a good chance that he will escape from the party - specially if they don´t plan it carefully.

Well, I still have 2 players and the cleric will make a new character - the wizard player will move, so we are seeking a 4th player.
The rogue and the fighter had a long chat with Solnia and 5 golds later they have a location where Irontusk might be hiding...
I hope we can get the game going someday.

Asmo

 

[devilbat]

I'm currently running the Mad God's Key in Waterdeep, and the players seem to be enjoying it. The chase scene with Irontusk also went the way of the "worst case scenerio".

The characters search the docks for the half-orc, finally finding him after four hours. They hit the pier closest to him and start to approach. He spots them, and the chase begins, and crazyness ensues. Irontusk falls into the water, thanks to a natural 1 on a jump roll, climbs back on to a boat, only to get tripped and trapped in fishing nets. He escapes that and gets to his boat, only to find that one of the PC's had pre scouted his ship, and rowed off two rounds earlier. As he stands watching his skiff drift off, two of the PC's attack him from behind, both scoring criticals, and takes him out. Meanwhile, the local fighter is stuck fighting off three guard dogs on another boat, three of the PC's were fatigued, and couldn't handle the jump rolls to get form boat to boat and one ends up in the water with chum getting dumped on his head.

Bystander dock workers promptly call for the local constables to report a murder and theft of a boat. The PC's pile on to the stolen skiff to get away, but not before the swashbuckler offers a bribe to ONE worker, for not envolving the police.

Sigh.

Anyway, as for answering the original question, In a pre Time of Troubles campaign, I'd replace Boccob, WeeJas and Vecna with Oghma, Talona and Myrkul.

As for other locations in the Realms, how about Suzail? It's a large city with a dock ward. I don't have my book with me, so I can't check for other locations, but off the top of my head, I'd say it would work.

 

[Imruphel]

I'm also thinking about running this adventure in FR at some point.

Uthmere in the Great Dale of the Unapproachable East (love that book!) is my choice for the city. The past few weeks has seen WotC posts a series of articles on the website that should give you a good feel for the city (and the map is available on the website as well in the gallery for Unapproachable East). Telflamm is another option in the same region.

As for replacement deities:

- Boccob- Mystra, Azuth or Savras;
- Wee Jas- Myrkul, Azuth, Savras or Bhaal; and
- Vecna- Shar or Mask.

Although, if you're going to run the game in Uthmere or another city of the Unapproachable East, you should probably utilise Talona so you can tie the adventure into the Blightlords/Rotting Man metaplot.

 

[BluWolf]

Devilbat I like your suggestion of Oghma, Talona & Mykul.

I think I am going to use Marsember,

Anyone know where I can get a good printable map for Marsember??

 

[Steel_Wind]

I think I am going to use Marsember,

Anyone know where I can get a good printable map for Marsember??

Yup.

Volo's Guide to Cormyr page 42.

There is also a newer (and better) one in Dungeon #113 at page 37.

Ideally you want the descriptions and map key in Volo's Guide using the new map in Dungeon #113.

You can find some additional info on Candlekeep as well.

 

[Sunderstone]

I would recommend Westgate as the city, it's easier to have the shady elements there. Baldur's Gate could work with minor modifications as well.
Suzail and Waterdeep arent too good for thieves (at least above ground) in the open.

Great module btw. I ran it myself ( briefly in Greyhawk) awhile back and the group loved it.

Boccob = Mystra
Vecna = Shar (or Velsharoon, IMO Shar is a perfect fit)
Wee Jas = Kelemvor

 

[devilbat]

Suzail and Waterdeep arent too good for thieves (at least above ground) in the open.

I used the Green daggers as a fledgling street gang, that is trying to impress the Shadow Thieves, who have returned to Waterdeep (according to the latest Waterdeep sourcebook). If I was running it in Cormyr, I'd probably go with the street gang scenerio again. It allows the group to be low level without the resources of a guild.