The Haunted Highlands - TLG, Mage Scream

I normally try to mix things up a little better unless I run a series of products together like I did with the Drow series a couple of moths ago. It seems that I am stuck on campaign settings right now. I will try and break the chain tomorrow. For today though I will talk briefly on "The Haunted Highlands"

"The Haunted Highlands" is the first in a series of modules released by Troll Lord Games for Castles & Crusades. They all center around the same specific area and this one lays out the area in some detail. There are a total of six modules that were released in the series so far.

As stated earlier the module was released by Troll Lord Games for the Castle & Crusades system. The module is twenty four pages long and was released in 2006. The parchment cover is the first printing. It was later printed with a green colored cover to match the later printings of C&C.

The module packs a lot of information into its twenty four pages and it perhaps tries to do too much. In addition to being able to download a pay copy PDF of the module online you can actually see a six page sample and then another section were the deities are presented as well. This gives you a look at half the module. I wish they had either broken it up into two expanded products or made the current product either half again or double the size.

Even being as small as it is the information it presents is well done. This product gives the DM more wiggle room that Westbrook did if they want to put their own stamp on it. In my mind neither is better they are just geared towards different audiences. Either can serve as the start of a campaign area or be dropped into an existing product or creation as well.

From the Troll Lord Games site....

Upon the bloody northern marches lies a curious Roadhouse. Here are gathered the flotsam of the world: miscreants, mercenaries, soldiers of fortune, adventurers. Dirty Bowbe's they call it and its as rough and safe a sanctuary as any will find in those dark and bloody grounds! For once, long ago, a Kingdom thrived here and the wealth of its coffers flowed across the lands as honey from a jar. But those days are long past and nothing but memories remain . . . memories and the shadows of yesterday.

To the northeast of Dirty Bowbe's lie the ruins of Bortenski and the hazardous wastes known as the Witch Moor. To the north lies the village of the Ugashtan and further still lie the broken crags of the Mythnoc Cairns where the proud barbarian people once buried their cherished dead. To the Northwest stand the tall trees of the Grove of the Green Man, where the druids who worship the old ways still rule.

Four short adventures, plus a stand alone fantasy RPG setting! Welcome to the Haunted Highlands, an adventure setting for the Castles & Crusades fantasy role playing game. In the haunted highlands, players face dangerous foes as they attempt to collect bounties and challenge foes as they carve a name for themselves in a land fraught with peril.

Included here are three developed areas of adventure, two fully detailed and distinct Karboskian cultures and of course the infamous and always rowdy Roadhouse. The Roadhouse serves as a unique gathering place for adventurers and scoundrels where stories may be swapped, bounties collected and adventurers recruited, should they be brave enough to face the challenges which the highlands have in store.

The Haunted Highlands includes four short adventures for varying character levels and offers a stand alone fantasy role playing setting ready to be dropped into any campaign.. Extensive random encounter tables allow for continuing wilderness adventure. Details on a brand new pantheon featuring over a dozen new deities and one new monster help bring life to your new Castles and Crusades campaign.


Spell:

Mage Scream

Level: Second
Range: None
Duration: 2 Rounds + 1 Round/Level
Ares of Effect: 9" Sphere
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 Segment
Saving Throw: None

When this spell is cast the magic user emits a scream that will  exist on the entire range of the audible spectrum of sound. The  scream is such that any hearing it will be affected. The only  people exempt from the initial affect will be those that are  actually deaf or have no sense of hearing. Even the deaf could be  affected by the secondary effect.

The scream will have the effect that it was initially researched  for. It will cause all who hear it to be stunned for the  remainder of the round it is first heard and the entirety of the  following round, unable to take any actions. This will include  all who are in the range of the effect which centers off the  caster. This will include the caster and their party.

The secondary effect was found to exist once the spell is cast.  In addition to the audible effect the scream affects the bounds  in the mind of any spell caster that allow them to store and cast  spells. For a number of rounds equal to the caster's level, after  the first two, all casters will be required to make a saving  throw to cast spells. The save will be made at a -4 for anyone  other than the caster. The caster will only be at a -2 as they  were the epicenter of the scream and slightly less affected. The  spell affects the bonds of magic and will also affect creatures  using innate magical abilities.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the  write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the  80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other  than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be  slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of  spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :)  Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on  me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please  let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.