Running Florenelle 1: Adventure Design

So You’re Running a Florenelle Campaign...

It’s an honor you want to run the setting for your next DnD campaign. So how exactly do we design one? What is the process of making adventures in this Georgian Era setting? First and foremost, always take into account the setting. If you don’t implement elements from MrBauta or this Encyclopedia Universalis, then you’re just running a generic fantasy setting. Let me walk you through the prepping process.

Elements of a Traditional Florenelle Adventure

Occult Mystery

Opened ancient tomes and secrets of necromancy lost to the Necromantic War. Characters often wind up in these circumstances because of these forces bumping into their daily lives or have full on abducted them and into whatever secret society’s chambers. Typically, characters discover that death is not the end and their very souls are at stake. In order to keep themselves safe, characters often have to look deeper into a problem and soon descend into what truly is pulling the strings.

The Mundane World

In the clear sunlight, typical conflicts occur. The Calvoran powers of the Kingdom of Trinidad and the Triumvirate fight their unending Colonial War. Orc hordes from Ilshmar rampage around the Continent of Thracallia. This is a layer where more normal problems should hinder the characters, like banditry, raids, and whatnot.

Generations of Factions

There are three core eras and they’re defined by their origin. Because these eras have poked at each other historically, they’ll have a common tendency of interacting with each other, whether through war or negotiations.

Primordials are the first and involve Kordgelle, the Gathering and elementals because their history dates the furthest back. These squabbles often involve Kordgelle finding leaks from the Entropic Void that influence Florenelle.

The Precursors are factions that fought in the Necromantic War. Those would be the likes of the Arkonian Order, Feydom Confederacy, Vrexen, Dominion of Argatok, and Empire of Coatala. Their conflicts often involve whether or not to let the echoes of the Necromantic War die off. Whether it be by forgiving each other or a second Necrowar on the verge of flaring up, they may be old factions but they survived the Necrowar for a reason.

Derivatives are your modern day factions that emerged during the Restoration Era. The Kingdom of Trinidad and Triumvirate are prime examples. Their conflicts are very mundane and tame compared to their predecessors. It mainly consists of fighting the Colonial War, keeping trade flowing, exploring new lands, and more. Though they are the “youngest” age, that hasn’t stopped a Doge from the Empire of Venezia from eyeing territory in the Province of Regalia.

Designing Your Florenelle Adventure

Key Story Elements Involved

Think about what aspects you want to explore or develop. Maybe the Arkonian Order has crafted a super weapon and seeks to assault Florenelle to harvest souls for Arkengrath’s return. Perhaps a Calvoran faction is occupying a town and are straining the people’s patience, leading to a revolt.

For an example, we’ll say the iconic Arkonian Order is plotting to establish a new cult in the City of Regalia.

Consider the Characters and Factions Involved

So now that you have an idea of what you want to work with, consider which characters and factions would be involved. Clearly, if something strange and magical occurs, the Doctrine Society will want to investigate it swiftly, for example.

You’ll also want to ask the following questions:

• What allies does this character or faction have?
• What potential allies or enemies could this character or faction have as the adventure unfolds?
• What enemies are guaranteed for this character or faction?
• What likely enemies or allies are able to reach this faction or character?
• What approaches can this faction or character take to reach their goals? Can they risk being obvious or hide in the shadows?

So with our example, the Arkonian Order is working in the City of Regalia. Immediately, Heldoroth Windell is involved, as he is the Duke over the province and leads the city. It’s also owned by the Feydom Confederacy, one of their oldest rivals from the Necromantic War about 1700 years ago. This eladrin town is also a refugee sort of city because the elves are running from the Wilting Disease, so perhaps a factor to consider with an Arkonian presence in the city.

But who is leading our Arkonian cult? Is one of the dreadlords like Salazar Kiver involved, turning this into a major project because he’s involved? Or would an overseer, a simple community leader, be leading the project? Let’s have an overseer as the Dreadlords have major projects to tend to or are combating leskremoks, pretenders to Arkengrath’s position.

Goals and the Story

We’re designing an adventure after all, so we need to make our characters matter. In order to help them be awesome and level up, we need our threats to be vicious and mean. To make our threat feel real, they need a story as to why they’re after their objective and why outside factions are able or unable to provide aid.

Our Arkonian example, the overseer probably got ahold of Tesk Arkinith Vordt, the Arkonian holy text, and seeks to live forever like a fanatic, aiming to return Arkengrath. What greater insult than to turn their own people against them? So our overseer needs a hideout and demands his following to obtain sacrifices, souls, or whatever ritual components to bring forward Arkengrath’s return. The Folian Guard, the meager city watch, would easily be outmatched by the dark Arkonian magic if they were to ever engage. Perhaps as a symptom of the Arkonian cult’s goals completing, the Wilting Disease becomes more contagious.

Getting the Characters Involved

So how do we get our characters thrown into this spiderweb of a story we’ve been working on? Target what they care about, throw them into the fire, or have someone drag them into the mess. Whatever works for you. Another interesting method are slip ups on a faction or character’s end.

A very good trick is to look back at the factions involved from earlier. If you have a character that’s part of a rival to the Arkonians like the Feydom Confederacy or 29th "Rescue" Division, those are excellent ways to nudge them down the path.

For our Arkonian cult, they can easily overwhelm the Folian Guard with their dark magic and use of undead. So perhaps our cult is slowly getting too bold for their own good. Depending on their next move, maybe our cult made a sacrifice in the nearby woods and the nivallen or 29th "Rescue" Division are concerned about it and ask the characters for help. The characters could stumble on a cultist after they had killed someone sloppily and now the characters want to know more and chase after them.

Conclusion

With all of these strategies in mind, hopefully you have a sense of how to craft a Florenelle adventure, if not a refined one.