Tales of Argosa: Islands and Unseasons

The West is a sea-based world built using the D20 fantasy RPG, Tales of Argosa, which combines fantasy with sword and sorcery, leavened with a touch of horror. The rules also cover naval combat, along with several references to peg legs. The setting is inspired by Lands of Mystery, a fold-out map created by Christopher West from Dungeon Magazine #91.

This month covers locations on the islands of Doomfang Peak and The Rainlands that are home to the adventures currently available for Tales of Argosa. While location maps are available for various locations, not all of them will be used for this round of world building. This month also provides a calendar with moon phases and unseasons.

Locations of Doomfang Peak

This island is a great starting location set in Guildport. Vault of the Deathlord (13) can be replaced with Adventure Framework 68: Caverns of Shennog. From there, the PCs can travel to Loathsome Pass for Adventure Framework 67: Sky Tower of Belk Xos. Finally, Adventure Framework 69: Crypt of Kursaba can be found in the location marked Underdark Caverns (15).

Crow’s Keep (The Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting page 43) can be placed in the location of Fengate. The nearby Trackless Moors are where the N’tarc lair in the Red Moon Harvest adventure and guard a major magical item called the rod of Mensicor. The Trackless Moors can easily be replaced by The Harrowfen.

Locations of The Rainlands

The mythical Serpentmen city of Koth-Zagash, from an adventure using that ruleset is rumored to have been swallowed by rising seas during the Second Age. A lost artifact is there that PCs may want. A perfect time to use the D20 version of the adventure Dead in the Water from H. P. Lovecraft’s Kingsport adapted to the jungle.

Additional sea-based adventures can be plundered for additional adventures. Shadow of the Demon Lord has the Freeport Companion, Beyond the World’s Edge, and The Queen of Gold: Tales of the Pirate Isles. For Old-School Essentials: The Isle of the Plangent Mage, Wind Wraith, and Secret of the Black Crag. Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG also has water-based adventures: Tower of the Black Pearl, The Sea Queen Escapes (includes Sunken Kingdom of Ru), Shadow Under Devil’s Reef, Enter the Dagon, and Moon-Slaves of the Cannibal Kingdom.

Moon-Slaves of the Cannibal Kingdom

This Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure is well-suited to this world. The adventure includes two islands: the Isle of the Moons and the Isle of the Sun, along with various ruins, sunken locales, and jungle encounters. PCs with a ship have many options while exploring.

The island chain has four major NPCs with conflicting goals and plans. Three sisters reign, each one supporting Law, Chaos, or Neutrality respectively. One has moon-slaves and a Moonbird and wants to murder the sister who likes plants, one experiments with monstrous plants and lives to party, and the last animates creepy dolls in an effort to make a perfect living doll. All are ruled by the appearances of the three moons: blue, green, and red.

The final NPC is a 20-foot-tall intelligent ape that dreams of being a warlord. He has amassed a war chest to raise an army and is seeking a way off the island. The PCs may want to work directly with him if they need an army. Of the four NPCs, the ape is the sanest and likely the easiest to ally with. But he doesn’t wield the power of the three sisters so the PCs may have to bargain with them as well.

Calendar and Unseasons

The calendar is meant to be easy to use in-game and draws from The Adventurers Almanac fused with the idea of unseasons from Dolmenwood. Unseasons are weird and otherworldly changes in nature, often magical, that happen randomly and for varying lengths of time. Here are two examples: The Unseasons of Autumnon EN World.

Standard time units apply up to an entire 24-hour day. To make rolling easy, weeks are eight days long, a month is four weeks, and a year is 12 months. Each time the last day of the month happens, there is a chance for an unseason.

The first week of every month is a first-quarter blue moon, the second a full moon (wererats and weresharks), the third the last quarter, and the darkness of a new moon ushers in the possibility of an unseason. The green moon follows a cycle one week later and influences werebears and wereboars. The red moon follows in the third week and when it is full it affects weretigers and werewolves.

The calendar is divided into four seasons starting with spring. Days of the week are Sunday, Moonday, Earthday, Windsday, Wavesday, Fireday, Skyday, and Starday. Months, drawn from The Adventurers Almanac, are: Galehome, The Bloom, Drawblade, Wealwind, The Blaze, Starfall, The Reap, Cofferfill, Ember Fade, The Rime, Hardfrost, and The Shroud.

Wereshark

Next Steps

An entire campaign can revolve around the Isle of the Sun and the Isles of the Moon. Several other DCC adventures can be placed on one of the islands or the surrounding water. The agendas of the three sisters are far-reaching, and their minions are spread throughout the area. If the PCs do want to stay and continue to explore, they might find a way to convince the ape to work with them, perhaps offering to help him carve a simian kingdom out of the jungle.

To keep the adventures exciting, other explorers may come to the islands in ships of their own. This may lead to further naval conflict or perhaps an alliance if competing navies arrive and the PCs decide to bargain. Plenty of adventure awaits.

Pixbay Picture credit: Fantasy Painted Ship.