Hello, and welcome to our first development blog for the Swamp of Souls
We are starting our next project called “The Swamp of Souls”. Its a mini campaign setting based around a sprawling swamp and all the factions and story arcs that are going on in there.. It could keep your players going for quite awhile, and be added into a corner of your own world..or as a base for WintersEdge as we continue to build that.
So lets start with a rough idea of the setting.
The swamp has been there for centuries, it was once a healthy sprawling landscape that supported a diverse and thriving ecosystem. That was until A Great Darkness fell from the heavens and crashed deep into the swamp. The druids gathered and sought to find a way to harness its radiating power. Unfortunately The Darkness corrupts all that it touches, and its touch has slowly twisted the swamp into a dark and malevolent setting.
Theres a number of factions and races all dealing with this corruption in their own way and we will go through them one development blog at a time
I’ll use these blog to go over the 2 key game mechanics I want to achieve with this adventure.
The first key mechanic is to provide the GM with “an unfolding world”, a living breathing campaign filled with a wide range of diverse biomes, each of them almost a oneshot setting in their own right as the adventurers push their way deeper to the swamps black heart. I don’t want players to feel that they are just moving through a generic swamp, but through ever changing areas all with their own challenges, encounters and stories. Stories that carry over into other areas they unlock. The GM can use this system to open areas randomly as the party explores the vastness of the swamp, or the GM can lay out the areas beforehand to create a shorter adventure with a specific storyline or quest.
The second key mechanic I wanted to introduce is a definite “risk and reward system”, where the party decides how far they wish to push their luck. One of the main story lines will introduce this mechanic with the party balancing their greed with the dangers found inside the deep swamp - the further they push, the more dangerous it gets , with less chance of rest and recovery and of course the harder it becomes to get out. As they lose health and run out of spells, it will be up to the players how much further they push. I want them to feel like the chance for a TPK is totally in their hands.
Thats the general overview. I’ll drill down into these mechanics as we continue our development.
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