Subotai tells the PCs that he's worked with one of the adventurers that came into the tavern with the imposing noblewoman. After a quick tête-à-tête with his former comrade, the thief returns and says that the noblewoman is Baroness Trần. Apparently there was some kind of dust up in the provincial capital and the Baroness decided to visit the Borderlands. The PCs decide to meet the itinerant noblewoman.
[As the Baroness] I say, "It's so nice that you people saved the world. Good help is hard to find these days, you know."
[As Nausicaä] S says, "Of course."
[OOC] K says, "That's a pretty interesting symbol."
[As DM] I say, "Yeah, it's an actual real-life Cham religious symbol. I like it also because its stylistically so different from the Chinese-inspired Vietnamese art that I used for the Việt noble families' house sigils."
[As the Baroness] I say, "It's so nice that you people saved the world. Good help is hard to find these days, you know."
[As Nausicaä] S says, "Of course."
[As the Baroness] I say, "It's too bad, though, that you've got that disability, common blood. It's incurable, unfortunately."
[OOC] S says, "Okay, that's all I need to hear."
The PCs goto meet Capitaine Đào to brainstorm an honorable and face saving way to remove Colonel Thứ năm from the Borderlands. The Capitaine suggests that they try to arrange a sideways promotion for the Colonel to the War Ministry's Department of Strategic Planning. Since Gouverneur Trần of the Central Highlands province, also the mother of the Baroness, is the immediately former War Minister, they could probably arrange the transfer if the Gouverneur approved it.[OOC] S says, "Okay, that's all I need to hear."
Countess Trần was formerly War Minister until the Emperor decided to invade China. She thought the plan was ludicrous and resigned in protest. However, after the problems that the Countess predicted started to occur, the Emperor ordered her out of retirement to take command of the strategically critical Central Highlands.
Thus, the PCs ride off for Buôn Ma Thuột, the provincial capital.
Thus, the PCs ride off for Buôn Ma Thuột, the provincial capital.
This brings us to our next classic Olde School Dungeons & Dragons adventure, B6: The Veiled Society:
From a design point of view, The Veiled Society is a mixed bag: On one hand, the module is quite railroady, probably due to the fact that much of the module's page count is taken up by cardstock cutouts which you could fold together to form various city locations. The cutouts were a neat idea, but took away pages that could have been used to flesh out the adventure. On the other hand, B6 was the first basic D&D module set in a city, and might be the first urban adventure for any type of Dungeons & Dragons. It also had a Player v. Player scenario, which probably wouldn't work with many, if not most, groups without a lot of railroading. So, overall, the module was ambitious but flawed.
Of course, for my homebrew Olde School D&D campaign, I mined The Veiled Society for interesting ideas and kept the basic setting (frontier provincial capital that supports the Keep on the Borderlands) and set pieces (the three squabbling noble families), but also reskinned it into an urban sandbox.
From a design point of view, The Veiled Society is a mixed bag: On one hand, the module is quite railroady, probably due to the fact that much of the module's page count is taken up by cardstock cutouts which you could fold together to form various city locations. The cutouts were a neat idea, but took away pages that could have been used to flesh out the adventure. On the other hand, B6 was the first basic D&D module set in a city, and might be the first urban adventure for any type of Dungeons & Dragons. It also had a Player v. Player scenario, which probably wouldn't work with many, if not most, groups without a lot of railroading. So, overall, the module was ambitious but flawed.
Of course, for my homebrew Olde School D&D campaign, I mined The Veiled Society for interesting ideas and kept the basic setting (frontier provincial capital that supports the Keep on the Borderlands) and set pieces (the three squabbling noble families), but also reskinned it into an urban sandbox.
The three major noble families of the Central Highlands, simplified for convenience, are:
* House Builder
Oldest of the noble families and originally from the imperial capital of Huế, House Builder's fortunes were declining until they invested in a very successful gold mine on the Borderlands. However, someone has just stolen their gold. They are supported by the Romans.
* House Planter
The richest and most powerful of the noble families, House Planter owns most of the coffee and sugar plantations in the province. They are supported by the Persians.
* House Merchant
This family are Cham collaborators, who've made it big in hospitality, retail and entertainment. They are supported by the Aksumites and the Việt (who need collaborators to justify their occupation).
[OOC] K says, "That's a pretty interesting symbol."
[As DM] I say, "Yeah, it's an actual real-life Cham religious symbol. I like it also because its stylistically so different from the Chinese-inspired Vietnamese art that I used for the Việt noble families' house sigils."
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