Thursday, January 19, 2017

Notes from the Nystul campaign

In pursuit of further knowledge of the Restenford realm, I was wandering around over at the Dragonsfoot Archives the other day and found this old issue of Footprints magazine from 2005 lying around in one of the stalls in the lavatory. What's intriguing about this issue to you and me is that it's got an article written up by the original Lord of Lendore, Mr. Lakofka himself. The article is a description of the "Nystul Campaign," during which he took several members of the Nystul family on a guided tour of Lendore Isle back in the late 70s-mid 80s. The bulk of the text is dedicated to house rules and meta-y stuff written with that tone of braggadocio you often hear when old timers talk about how things were back in the day. But around page 16 he starts to get into some of the historical details of the campaign. Here are the highlights:
  1. After clearing out the castle at Bone Hill, the Nystuls refurbished it, renamed it Voxbonder Abby, and dedicated it to the god Phaulkon.
  2. The Duke of Kroten was indeed evil, as one might have surmised by the existence of his malevolent spy occupying the bait shop in Restenford.
  3. The Nystuls deposed said duke and his henchmen at some point in the campaign.
  4. To the north of the city of Kroten was an evil town called Grellton which was named after the deity Grell.
  5. Grell had his name changed to "Llerg" when the Suel deities went public because there was already a monster called Grell in the Fiend Folio
  6. Presumably this Grell character is also the namesake of the dearly departed Grellus, Baron of Restenford.
  7. It's too bad that TSR didn't change Grellus's name to Llergus.
  8. Grellton was renamed as Dwarfhaven after the Nystuls were done with it.
  9. No mention is made in this history of Garrottenford or the assassination of Baron Grellus. 
  10. That's too bad because I would like to know what the Nystuls would have called Garrottenville after they were done with it.
  11. In a room under Voxbonder Abby There was a "teleporter" that transported you to Asmogorgon, a fortress occupied by devils, demons, and at least one stone golem.
  12. Lakofka promised to provide a history of Asmogorgon at a later date; it's not clear if that history ever came to be.
  13. It's not clear if the teleporter existed there when the place was part of the original Bone Hill Campaign or if it came into being only after the transformation to Voxbonder.
  14. There was a similar teleporter under temples or castles in each of the following locales: Kroten, Lo Reltarma (capital of Lendore Isles), the aforementioned Grellton/Dwarfhjaven, and a place called Manville--which is named for Manticores, so careful there.
  15. Though in dire need of a change, there is no indication that Manville was renamed by either the Nystul crew or TSR.



10 comments:

Dwayne said...

That was a great find. I wonder if there is more information out there still to be discovered?

blahh said...

Garrotten's name was changed to Lake Farmin in L-3 and L-4. I'm thinking after the guide was wiped out, the town was assimilated by the barony and renamed. Interesting thing is the name of the baroney is only used in the rumour table. Baron of Restenford is landless, etc.

Timrod said...

That's good to know. I've always been of the opinion that Garrotten was originally called Farmin, given that upstanding citizen and presumed Garrotten native Abraham the innkeeper's last name is d'Farmin, meaning, of course, "of Farmin."

No self-respecting founding father or mother would name a town Garrotten, presumably that name was applied as a pejorative by outsiders only after the rise of the Assassin's guild.

Pablo (yo) said...

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I also have a blog, and I'm trying to get visit from every country. I would really like to get a visit from American Samoa

If you can, please come back and visit mine:
http://albumdeestampillas.blogspot.com


Thanks,
Pablo from Argentina

Timrod said...

That's weird, I've been hoping to get a visit from Argentinian Samoa.

Lenard Lakofka. said...

Yes I ran it. Updating Restenford to 577 L1 was 575. Raid 576 L3 & L4
I didn’t read all of the above. I will later

Leomund said...

Dropbox link to Restenford 575, 6 & 7 plus spreadsheet for Restenford 577. Will have stats for characters missed in L1. Added graveyard.

Leomund said...

Lo Reltarma is wrong and in the wrong place. It’s Loreltatma And is on the northwest coast.

Leomund said...

The barony does not include Lake Farmin until the assassins guild is disposed of. Then the barony extends there and for a miles from each town. The “duke” didn’t gave a damn.

Leomund said...

Manville was not renamed by anyone. there was also a Lizarton beyond Manville i think. Yes, named after Lizard men.