Our break from playing X1 The Isle of Dread has been extended by the holiday doldrums. That's my term for the part of the year where gaming plans are disrupted by late year holidays and associated family obligations. But there is a bright side - this extended break gives me more time to prepare for next year's games.
The first post in this series features commentary on converting the module to Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy and an overview of the sessions we're played thus far: Lost World Island Life, Part 1 - Running (Some of) X1 The Isle of Dread in OSE.
This post covers the ongoing process of addressing the issues I found while running the module. Or, to put it another way, changing the stuff that didn't land well with me or our group.
Gaps in the Module
There aren't many ruins on the Isle. Given its long history and the lost world vibe of the module, I feel that there should be more signs of prior habitation littering the place.
The "Lair of the Lizard Men" (encounter key #11) seems small for a self-sustaining community. The lair in question has 14 inhabitants. This makes the number that can be encountered randomly (2-8) represents a significant portion of the Isle's lizardfolk population. I've decided to expand this encounter and place it within a set of overgrown ruins.
Black, green, and red dragons are all listed on the random encounter tables. No detailed information about their lairs is presented in the module. Any adventuring party encountering a dragon would take a keen interest in tracking down its lair to loot its hoard. I'm making a set of simple dragon lairs appropriate to each type's preferred terrain. Along with that, I'm also rolling up a treasure for each dragon encounter ahead of time.
Indigenous humans and zombies can be encountered randomly on the Isle. The southern villages are explicitly described as isolated from and unaware of happenings on the rest of the Isle. This suggests the existence of other tribes with their own zombie masters in the wild central and northern areas of the Isle.
Finally, the boss monsters of the module - the Kopru - come out of nowhere from the players perspective. In fact, the module instructs the GM: "the players should not be told who or what the Kopru were; this is part of the taboo - for more details, see page 20" (X1 The Isle of Dread, page 23). Page 20, by the way, is a map of the Phanaton Platforms. Not very useful for details on why the GM should keep the Kopru a secret from the players. This may result in the Kopru being nothing more than a weird monster encounter at the bottom of the Isle's one dungeon as published. I've decided to go against the module's advice and drop hints of the Kopru throughout the Isle's ruins.
Examining Other D&D Material for Inspiration
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
I briefly pondered dropping The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan somewhere on the Isle, but decided that it would be overkill. Using the Shrine would certainly solve the whole lack of ruins issue. Unfortunately, it would also put an extensive dungeon complex in a hexcrawl that's already dragging for our group. This kind of adventure module inception is the kind of thing that kills off campaigns. Besides, we previously played through B4 The Lost City and I don't want to do another pyramid/ziggurat adventure so soon. Best to let The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan breathe on its own by running it some other time.
Manual of the Planes (2008, 4e)
This version of the Manual of the Planes presents the ideas that the Isle of Dread originates from the Feywild and moves across worlds and planes from time to time. Of particular interest is the stirring description of the place:
"The Isle of Dread is a vast tropical island of volcanic origin set amid stormy seas. Jagged reefs guard the approach to black sand beaches. If a boat does somehow make it to the shore in one piece, its passengers then face a solid, lush green wall of tropical vines and trees. Great knifelike peaks of obsidian rise beyond the treeline. Travelers venture into that jungle at their peril. Of all the savage and secret places of the Feywild, the Isle of Dread is the most mysterious."
So I'll be stealing bit of that description. Moving on:
"The entire Isle of Dread worldfalls constantly and unpredictably from the Feywild to the mortal realm - and it shifts to even stranger planes at times. Some sages argue it is everywhere at once, and some argue it is nowhere at all times. As a result of its constant travel, the Isle is populated by all manner of savage beasts.
This does explain where some of the weirder folks and critters came from.
"It also hosts several tiny camps of shipwrecked sentient beings."
Oh, I'll be making use of this.
"The Isle is steaming hot. Reptilian beings fare better at exploring its secrets due to the climate."
The one Dragonborn in the party: "I don't know why the rest of y'all keep complaining. I love the climate here."
The description varies from the module here:
"Those secrets appear to be endless. An ancient yuan-ti temple is at the center of the jungle. North of the temple, several primitive races live in splendid stone ziggurats of unknown origin. Eagle-eyed explorers can just barely make out a thin tower, a needle of phosphorescent crystal, rising from the peak of one of the central mountains. On the southern coast several bands of stranded mortals have found each other - and discovered, to their shock, they all originate from wildly different moments in history. Some have reported sighting giant, terrible lizards racing on two legs through the jungle."
As previously stated, our group ran through B4 The Lost City. I'm not eager to wander back into another ziggurat. I'm also not shoving yuan-ti onto the Isle. While they are thematic to the lost world jungle island theme, the Isle doesn't lack for monsters calling the place home.
The crystal tower has possibilities, though.
The Isle's History - A Working Model
Ancient Lore
The Isle is not a natural part of the Prime Material Plane, but a piece of the Feywild that has become detached from time and space. The Isle appears on multiple worlds and planes at once. It also returns to the Feywild on occasion. Any pattern to its movements and how it began its journeys is unknown to any but the gods.
Rise of Civilization on the Isle
An indigenous human culture came to dominate much of the Isle before falling into stasis. Much of their history is preserved only in carvings. They had a wide range of accomplishments, including advanced necromancy and the creation of living statues.
Conquest
The Kopru arrive and use mind control to take over the human leaders. Much of human civilization is altered or destroyed to suit the Kopru. Human come to worship the Kopru and follow dark practices at their command. The Kopru and their human slaves chronicle their achievements in stone. These statues and carvings also extend the range of Kopru mind control powers.
Revolution
Humans rebels use a combination of living statues and zombies - both immune to mind control - to destroy most of the Kopru statues and carvings. With Kopru mind control over most of the Isle broken, much of the human population rises up in revolt.
Most Kopru flee the Isle as the capitol - now transformed into something more suitable for the Kopru - burns. Some use portals to escape to alien realms. Others simply hurled themselves into the sea. The capitol on the central plateau is completely razed except for a hidden temple. The last of Kopru on the Isle shelter there with the last of their human worshippers and slaves.
Rebuilding and Retreat
Human civilization flowers again after a period of rebuilding, but much knowledge has been lost. Wildlife and intruders push the indigenous humans south. They leave their cities and towns behind. Their last great project is the construction of the wall separating the southern peninsula from the rest of the Isle. Protected by the wall, the surviving humans settle into a tribal existence sustained by the lands they still control.
Human settlements survive in the north and central areas of the Isle. Some are indigenous in origin. These are reliant on their zombie masters to maintain a defense against the dangers of the Isle. Others are shipwreck survivors or lost explorers.
Isle Politics
Aranea
A handful of explorers searching the Isle's ruins for arcane knowledge. Their current lair is directly over the remains of an indigenous human city once ruled by the Kopru.
Indigenous Humans - Northern and Central Isle
A few villages in defensible positions are scattered throughout the Isle. They have their own matriarchal governments and zombie masters, but each has diverged compared with the southern villages in various ways. Their reactions to outsiders range from wary to hostile.
Indigenous Humans - Seven Southern Villages
Long isolated by the great wall built by their ancestors, their only contact with the rest of the Isle are their forays to the tar pits. They seek trade with the mainland and are friendly to outsiders.
Indigenous Humans - Taboo Island
The last remaining worshippers of the Kopru on the Isle. Their main concerns are survival and expanding their numbers. They occasionally conduct raids on the Village of Mantru.
Indigenous Humans - Village of Mantru
Descended from survivors of the capitol's destruction. Long isolated from the rest of the Isle, their culture has diverged from the other indigenous humans. Their primary concern is defending themselves against the Kopru worshippers.
Kopru
The last survivors of the fall of their civilization on the Isle. Currently hiding in their final redoubt with their few human worshippers. They dream of summoning more of their kind and reconquering the Isle, but that is far beyond their current capabilities. At present, they seek to expand the number of humans under their control. Once they command a significant human population, they plan to send them to recover lost Kopru artifacts and knowledge scatter around the Isle.
Lizardfolk
A small self-supporting population of hunter-gatherers. They are isolationist except for small parties that wander the Isle in search of prey. They are not inclined to provoke groups large or powerful enough to pose an existential threat.
Non-Indigenous Individuals and Parties
These range from shipwreck survivors to rival adventuring parties who are exploring the Isle for their own reasons.
Phanaton
Originally a small party sent to hunt the Aranea. Since expanded into a self-sufficient population due to mission creep. They have an interest in finding allies and trade partners.
Rakasta
A small party of warriors and their retinue seeking glory and trade opportunities. Sort of like a Viking expedition, but with more fur and a Middle Eastern flair. They raid weaker groups for loot while offering to trade with stronger or wealthier groups.
Gap Filling Plans and Customized Encounters
Base more encounters, including random encounters, in and around overgrown ruins with hints of the Isle's history. In some cases, this will simply be an effort maintain the module's lost world flavor. "You encounter (random monster) in some overgrown ruins."
To present hints about the Isle, the party can find the corpse (maybe zombified) of an explorer. Examination of the body reveals several documents protected from the elements. The explorer's journal chronicles the events of their expedition and records the locations of nearby ruins. The other documents are notes on the Isle's history from various scholarly sources.
Add a ruin infested by reptiles and dinosaurs for more a lost world vibe. This area hosts significant clues to the Isle's history. The ruins are partly overgrown by jungle and partly sinking into a swamp.
Expand the lizardfolk settlement and detail the randomly encountered dragon's lairs.
Place indigenous human villages in the northern and central Isle.
Add the tower described in the Manual of the Planes to a mountain on the northern-central part of the Isle. It can serve as an additional challenge after dealing with the Kopru.
Add a castaway camp near a shore location.
Add a group of Cynidiceans from the Lost City. They belong to the Cult of Zargon and were sent to prevent the destruction of his horn. Since they already failed that mission, they now seek the destruction of the player characters. They may end up running afoul of one of the many other groups on the Isle.
Add a rival adventuring party. They're led by a necromancer after the arcane secrets held by the zombie masters and in the Isle's ruins. This group was hired by the Cult of Zargon, but that agreement didn't survive the storm that swamped the ship they were all sailing on and resulting struggle to survive. The two groups split apart and are now hostile to each other.
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