Island adventure recommendations

[Jeff]

I find myself in a place where I need a decent island adventure in the North for character levels 6-8, so many of the jungle adventures that happen on islands are (without some modification) out.

So, I find myself in a place where I need an island adventure, or, in the very least, a plot-line for an island adventure.


Do any of you fine gentlemen know of any good island adventures that aren't tropical in nature (like X1). I looked at N4, but, it doesn't really jive with me for some reason. I'm looking more towards something you might find in AS&SH.

Any suggestions or ideas for something already published or even just a decent plotline would be super helpful.

Thank you all in advance.

[JasonZavoda]

I find myself in a place where I need a decent island adventure in the North for character levels 6-8, so many of the jungle adventures that happen on islands are (without some modification) out.

So, I find myself in a place where I need an island adventure, or, in the very least, a plot-line for an island adventure.


Do any of you fine gentlemen know of any good island adventures that aren't tropical in nature (like X1). I looked at N4, but, it doesn't really jive with me for some reason. I'm looking more towards something you might find in AS&SH.

Any suggestions or ideas for something already published or even just a decent plotline would be super helpful.

Thank you all in advance.

The l modules are on an island I believe. I love x8 but it is jungle. I think the Poul Anderson story about Cappen Vara had some great ideas. It's called 'The Valor of Cappen Varra' and there is a .99c copy on kindle (used to be free)

[Guy Fullerton]

"In the North" made me think of Ursined, Sealed, & Delivered, which might not cover an island (I don't recall), but would work just fine on one. The module has an arctic setting, with icy caves and an a fortress.

I haven't run it, but considered running it, which puts it ahead of most modules.

More details here:
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewt ... 38&t=48368

[Guy Fullerton]

Most of Melan's island modules (like the Islands on an Emerald Sea series) have flexible settings / climates.

I don't have a list of just those modules, but you can fin them among these:
http://unvisiblecitadel.blogspot.com/20 ... y-and.html

[Steve]

The Sunken Land by Fritz Leiber, in his book Swords Against Death, has a pretty good plot for a long lost "sunken" island...

[Landifarne]

My number one choice, based upon what you've said:
THE WINTER TAPESTRY (ADD5-8) Journey to northern isle, battle yeti, white dragon and a clan of frost giants. Not bad, could be used leading up to G2. (Dungeon #78)

Island:
Isle of the Abbey (Dungeon #34)
The Lady of the Mists (Dungeon #42)
The House on the Edge of Midnight (#76) like Island of Dr. Moreau...

Northern:
Blood on the snow (Dungeon #3)
Ancient Blood (Dungeon #20)
The Whale (Dungeon #35)
The Urlich Monastery (Dungeon #39)
Jacob's Well (Dungeon #43)
The Ice Tyrant (Dungeon #65)
Mertylmane's Road (Dungeon #76)

Water:
After the Storm (Dungeon #6)
The Wreck of the Shining Star (Dungeon #15)
Back to the Beach (Dungeon #50)
The Sunken Shadow (Dungeon #66)
The Maze of the Morkoth (Dungeon #70)

Pirates:
The Draven Deep's Menace (Dungeon #40) I'd use it after U1...
The Oracle at Sumbar (Dungeon #48)
North of Narborel (Dungeon #49)
The Scourge of Scalabar (Dungeon #74)

If you need a way to get a hold on Dungeon Mags just PM...

[grodog]

I find myself in a place where I need a decent island adventure in the North for character levels 6-8, so many of the jungle adventures that happen on islands are (without some modification) out. [snip]

Do any of you fine gentlemen know of any good island adventures that aren't tropical in nature (like X1). I looked at N4, but, it doesn't really jive with me for some reason. I'm looking more towards something you might find in AS&SH.

If you haven't looked at ASSH's Beneath the Comet or Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes, you could easily relocate them to a northern clime. Taken from Dunwich was explicitly set in the north, IIRC, too.

Some other island/boreal adventure recommendations to consider:

- James Boney's Ice Tower of the Salka
- Wee Warriors' Misty Isles can be located in any climate, IIRC
- Rob Kuntz's Ice Grave
- the quest-themed Necromancer Games d20 modules included some island-based sites, too, I think: see L1 Demons & Devils and L2 Vampires & Liches; however, in addition to d20 converting these, you'd need to reduce them in power since most are higher level than what you're seeking
- A few adventures from Dungeon were set in Blackmoor or the Land of Black Ice that could also be converted, too, but I don't have the data at my fingertips
- Dragon 68 included an article on ice age adventuring that might offer useful inspiration, too.

Most of Melan's island modules (like the Islands on an Emerald Sea series) have flexible settings / climates.

I don't have a list of just those modules, but you can fin them among these:
http://unvisiblecitadel.blogspot.com/20 ... y-and.html

Nice! I didn't remember you had compiled Gabor's works, Guy!

Jeff: Gabor's also written about a bunch of island-based campaigning on his blog @ http://beyondfomalhaut.blogspot.com/sea ... %20journal (that's the campaign journal entries).

The Sunken Land by Fritz Leiber, in his book Swords Against Death, has a pretty good plot for a long lost "sunken" island...

If you're looking for that Atlantis/sunken islands theme to play with, you could dig into Greyhawk's Isles of Woe, but there's not much that's been written about them in detail.

Allan.

[foxroe]

Well, you could use X1, just change the window dressing to suit your campaign.

• Island lies due north, not due south
  Ice hazards instead of whirlpools
  Local natives = Eskimo
  Pirates = "Viking" sea raiders (or just pirates of the non-Caribbean variety)
  Rock baboons = white apes
  Dinosaurs = similar Pleistocene giant mammals (mammoths, smilodons, gigantopithecus, etc.)
  Green dragon = white dragon
  Rakasta = "snowy" rakastae (is that how you pluralize that?)
  etc.

I wouldn't even change the stat blocks.

[Melan]

Most of Melan's island modules (like the Islands on an Emerald Sea series) have flexible settings / climates.

I don't have a list of just those modules, but you can fin them among these:
http://unvisiblecitadel.blogspot.com/20 ... y-and.html

Unfortunately, they are pretty heavily tied to a Mediterranean environment, so as nice as it feels to see them mentioned here, I'd recommend picking something else. The only one that could fit IMO is The Isles of the Ur-Stones (KS#6), about an island chain locked into a genocidal civil war among cavemen, orchestrated by a high-level evil wizard.

For what it's worth, I own a recently published module where the setting fits, but it is for lower levels (and I can't vouch for the quality before reading it in detail): The Temple on Drowah Rock.

[Chainsaw]

Lot of good ideas here! I'll be snagging more than few for later use.

Also, I have run/played these and agree they can be easily converted to a northern island.

AS&SH - Beneath the Comet (Ball)
AS&SH - Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes (Talanian)
AS&SH - Taken from Dunwich (Talanian), mountains
OSRIC - Ice Tower of the Salka (Boney)

[gizmomathboy]

Lot of good ideas here! I'll be snagging more than few for later use.

Also, I have run/played these and agree they can be easily converted to a northern island.

AS&SH - Beneath the Comet (Ball)
AS&SH - Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes (Talanian)
AS&SH - Taken from Dunwich (Talanian), mountains
OSRIC - Ice Tower of the Salka (Boney)

Hopefully Crystal Point will be on that list some day.

[Chainsaw]

Lot of good ideas here! I'll be snagging more than few for later use.

Also, I have run/played these and agree they can be easily converted to a northern island.

AS&SH - Beneath the Comet (Ball)
AS&SH - Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes (Talanian)
AS&SH - Taken from Dunwich (Talanian), mountains
OSRIC - Ice Tower of the Salka (Boney)

Hopefully Crystal Point will be on that list some day.

We'll see!

[garhkal]

Would LOVE to know which one you finally decide on using and how it goes.

[francisca]

Well, I don't know if Jeff is getting what he wants out of this, but I appreciate all the pointers.

[Jeff]

Would LOVE to know which one you finally decide on using and how it goes.

Well, I don't know if Jeff is getting what he wants out of this, but I appreciate all the pointers.

Landifarne's recommendation of the Winter Tapestry fits the most towards the current adventure that my players are on. I'm running Storm King's Thunder using 5E because that's what my players enjoy right now. Since it has Frost Giants, it fits the whole story nicely.

BTW, I would NOT recommend running STK as written. I don't consider it a "good" adventure (or series of adventures, if you consider it at such). I think it's a great grab if you need some quick and dirty giant lairs and a hearty dousing of locations in the modern Forgotten Realms Sword Coast (I'm not running in FR at the moment, I'm in Mystara, Norwold, though I think this will be my last campaign in that world). There's a lot of stuff in there that people could use for their own game, and if you like the realms, then I could see it being considered, but as an overall adventure, it's frustrating. I wanted to tie my players into a larger campaign arc (they were getting frustrated in the Caverns of Thracia), and STK seemed like it was promising when I quickly scanned through it at the bookstore, but in retrospect, there's a lot left to be desired.

I've also gotten a PM about another adventure that I'm looking at and strongly considering. It's a bit longer and more challenging, but from quickly scanning it (full read-through tonight), it may be something right up my alley. It would probably encompass several play sessions, but I'll recap if I decide to go down that route.

Normally we play on Friday nights, but I may have to postpone this week. Hurricane Irma came through and one of my players lost a significant portion of his house and my wife and I as well as one of my other players are on volunteer cleanup crews. You never know, though. Sometimes when people have tragic things happen, they like to zone out for a few hours and play games and if that's what my friend needs this week, then we'll accommodate him!

Thank you all for your suggestions so far!