The North Woods Campaign

Getting Started

The North Woods originally started with a group of 1st level characters. The revisions and setup work means that the material would be suitable for characters in the 1st to 3rd level range. As is usually the case, you could nudge things a bit to make it more suitable for a higher level party. I would caution against going very far with this as the general sequence of events and forces in play would get a little silly for characters in the 5th to 7th level ranges.

Generally speaking a nature oriented character would be a good include and could provide some useful skills. A druid, ranger, or elf would be reasonable. While not required at first, a dwarf may be useful for some of the later portions as the players begin to explore the mountains in the pursuit of their goals.

Assembling the Players

The adventures are situated in a small town that serves as a trading post for the regional logging and mining that occurs in the area. The eponymous woodlands provide an ample supply of wood for merchants to ship and the nearby mountains are actively mined. Being a terminus for trade routes works to provide some reasonable circumstances for players with widely differing backgrounds to meet up and form an adventuring party. The town can provide many basic services and good, but clearly lacks the depth of a larger city or capital.

As many merchants arrive to haggle over lumber or ore, they bring a variety of trade goods from more southern regions as well as guards or general hangers-on. While the town itself wouldn’t have much use for rare goods, they are occasionally available.

The core of the town centers around a pair of taverns, a smithy, a wainwright, and a handful of buyers acting as agents for the various merchants. The taverns are actually owned by the same family, one caters to merchants and other wealthy travelers, while the other tavern handles everyone else.

Much of the trade is by barter, so getting rid of gems and art objects is a little challenging. Most of the original players simply found it easier to use coin for most purchases and keep the items as being higher value and more portable than lugging 1083 copper coins around.