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Lee
01-31-2012, 03:40 AM
My group has rotating DMs, running long campaigns/APs. I'm up next, planning to do the Kingmaker AP from Paizo. Of course, I am going to bend it to fit into Cerilia. My plan is to start the PCs from Rovninodensk, heading into the Mistmoor to tame it.

Two of my players are already planning characters (hurrah! player buy-in, months before the game!). Obviously, the key event in that country's recent past is its civil war, the last one putting the nona on top.

Has anyone seen/read/made up the date for that? I can infer that it happened within the last ten years, but I don't see anything hard and fast. Suggestions? If no one has anything, I'll just pull out a d6+4 and be done with it.

Sorontar
01-31-2012, 04:25 AM
I gather that since the timeline on the wiki (http://www.birthright.net/forums/showwiki.php?title=Timeline) doesn't mention many Vosgaard events, there isn't an official date. The wiki page (http://www.birthright.net/forums/showwiki.php?title=Rovninodensk) says that civil wars are commonplace, "once or twice every generation", so I think you can pick your own date. If need be, build up the main NPCs, work out their ages and when you think the latest dispute arose. Then fit the NPCs into the dispute and work out how the Nona Vos "won" it. That should give the political background and the date you need.

Sorontar

Lee
01-31-2012, 09:29 PM
I'll go with the die roll: 6! So, it ended in 1518HC, probably only lasted a year or two.

AndrewTall
01-31-2012, 09:50 PM
I'll go with the die roll: 6! So, it ended in 1518HC, probably only lasted a year or two.

Last a year or two? Man your Vos are wimps, in the Vosgaard I dream off blood fueds never end as the priestesses let no warrior forget a slight or defeat by a rival lest such forgetfulness tolerate weakness in the clan...

The Count of Muden
02-01-2012, 07:37 PM
I would tend to agree with Andrew on this. The Vos, like the Russians who in part inspired them, never..ever forget wrongs done to them. So I could see feuds lasting centuries with the priesthood egging on each new generation to never forget and never forgive.

AndrewTall
02-01-2012, 09:57 PM
Of course, some times feuds are active and sometimes not - sloth and weakness are the true enemies of the Vos for they squander the strength of the warrior and the wit of the wise and so lead the tribe into ruin, etc, etc.

But I can see lots of small scale continual raiding, challenges, attempts to out-do, etc - with the 'proper civil war' then being the rare time that enough warriors band together to force their enemies to do likewise and for something that an Anuirean might recognise as a war taking place. The peace however, would always in my opinion be wary - and it would be foolhardy warrior who who walked alone by starlight in his enemy's lands.

Rey
02-03-2012, 03:19 PM
6 years ago? That's like an eternity. ;)

I'd put it perhaps max 3 years ago, with a constant pressure north-south, between former ruler Danica and nona leader, Andrei. Danica now uses gerilla warfare and covert actions to undermine Andrei's rule while struggling to keep her remaining two provinces.

Yes, it seems to be peaceful these days, but you never know when the opportunity will present itself to make the power turn the balance. Don't forget goblins to the south, they are not a trustworthy bunch. And of course, the abandoned mines to the south have sprung many folk tales about the treasures and monsters.
Wizardess Petra keeps the eastern border safe, leans to the nona, but who knows if she can really hold her power.

Adventures in the Mistoor could be fun, never mind those elves of Tuar Annwn.. and the undead... and the ice monsters... and the weather... and the cannibal goblins.

I didn't yet get to Rovninodensk, I'm still more to the east, Melyy, Velenoye, Lutkhovsky...

Lee
04-27-2012, 03:19 AM
Ooops, looks like I let this thread go without some responses.

The game still hasn't happened yet, our group is still mired in the last campaign.

As regards 6 years being a long time, I suspect you-all are right. Let me put it this way-- there may be feuds a-plenty, but no one's challenging Tsar Andrei with anything resembling an army since then. I figure on small-scale stuff going on, in fact I plan on *featuring* some time.

An element of Danica Vorac's guerrillas/bitter-enders are going to be among the first challenge for the PCs to put down, and she's going to be a major opponent down the road. Those elves up north/in the Shadow World are going to be the closing players, I think.

One player's background already features 2 dead/missing brothers, lost to the torva. I'm still puzzling where & when to introduce evidence of their demises. Another player's got a sorceror mother who disappeared in the Mistmoors years ago, I think I already know what she'll find out someday....

Rey
04-27-2012, 07:00 AM
Have fun with it, and share your ideas if you want to. I'd be happy to see it a part of some Rovninodensk PS.

As I've read, rumor has it that the elves of Tuar Annwn are trying to help Danica, to stir things a bit, so Rovninodensk doesn't get strong enough to turn on its neighbors.
Mistmoor is always a nice place for hunting ghosts, some people have sworn to go back and avenge their families, brothers, trading partners,... And there's this halfling character Morris One-hand, that leads adventuring parties to the Battle Fens. He supposedly knows some places there, but it's funny how he always comes back alone.

I've toyed with a province called Urgtau. The idea was that its name comes from Brecht. After battle at Lake Ladan, 50 or so survived Brecht soldiers have fled in the wrong direction. They thought they were going home, but they went the opposite way. There is a story behind this, but I don't want to write it here, now.

Lee
06-18-2012, 04:53 AM
A little more progress to report: our current game is on its home stretch, so I am on deck to run in fall or winter.

One player wants to play someone with a winter-wolf familiar/companion, which I might stretch for a Karesha priestess with a 2 HD puppy. Another we almost talked into a Belinik warpriest, and a third "just wants to hit things"-- should be fine in a Vos game, right?

I went through some old Dragon mags to think about adding some monsters to the mix. #324 had the "steaming soldier" an undead that covers itself in a cold mist-- oh, look, one of the sources of the Mistman legend. There was another issue (# now lost to me) that had Slavic-style monsters, such as vila, vodyanoi, domovoi, and rusalka. I'd like to work these in, to enhance the Slavic flavor of my Vos lands.

I'm currently thinking of swapping the vodyanoi in for some boggards, a rusalka for at least one of the nereids or dryads, and a vila for another fey. Domovoi should just appear in houses, or I may ignore them entirely.

Opinions?

Rey
06-19-2012, 10:32 AM
That sounds interesting.

As a child, I have read stories about some benevolent creatures that appear in the legends. It's a collection of stories by our domestic author. Her book is known to every child in my country.

In there she had some of the creatures you mention. Vila is translated as fairy and domovoi could be the ones she calls domaci (domestic ones, dom = home). They are supposed to be a size of an imp. For vodyanoi and rusalka, I don't know what are they supposed to be, if there is any reference to them in that book. But voda means water, so vodyanoi is some sort of watery creature.

Some of the names from the book I cannot translate and I don't know what they are supposed to be. Maybe one giant, but the rest I'll have to research.

EDIT: Ah, rusalka. "In Slavic mythology, a rusalka (plural: rusalki or rusalky) was a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwelled in a waterway."

Lee
06-20-2012, 02:12 AM
Yes, vodyanoi are classed as an aquatic Medium fey. Villagers near their lakes/ponds/streams are careful to give them gifts of food, etc., or else the moody creatures might cause floods or lower the water levels or scare away the fish.

Domovoi are supposed to be domestic ancestor spirits of a household, kinda like the Roman lares.