Lately I've been thinking about how well some classic adventures might adapted to real world settings. By real world, I mean historical fantasy--I'm not thinking of throwing out magic. Some monsters or at least, their abundance might be sacrificed, though. Harryhausen fil-esque beasts would be fine; tribes of orcs or goblins would likely be reskinned.
There are, of course, a number of dungeoncrawls which could take place pretty much anywhere with a little work. Here are a few that I recall with more distinct locations:
The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh: Given that we're told the setting of this one is meant to evoke a south-coast English town, the obvious placement for me (inspired by Captain Clegg) would be the set on the southeast coast of England in the area of Romney Marsh. Of course, that's not the only option. The Low Country would work, too. The significant presence of lizard men in the area might need to be reskinned as something else, but maybe having this have to do with Deep Ones off the coast would work?
Beyond the Crystal Cave: This one reminds me of The Tempest (though it's probably the similarity of the name Porpherio to Prospero and the island location that does that) so I would place it on Prospero's Island in the Mediterranean, which could be Pantelleria as some have suggested or a completely fictional Mediterranean isle.
Aerie of the Slave Lords: My initial thought on this one was the Barbary Pirates, but that name is usual reserve for pirates that are a bit later era than might be the sweet spot. Fortunately (in this context only!), slave trading in the Mediterranean was quite common in the Middle Ages. You don't have to go to an "evil" nation like a Pomarj, you just have to go to Venice. Some Mediterranean port could be a stand-in for Highport, and a fictional mediterranean volcanic island in the Companian volcanic arc would be the sight of the slaver's secret base.
Anyway, you get the idea.
This is awesome . . . some games might hint at a kind of multiversal parallelism so as the players move across time they can seek out other realities in order to gather information in lower-pressure (low magic) training exercises. Thinking of Adept's Gambit taking the boys out of Nehwon for a few dozen pages. If someone has already established the equivalent of a Ningauble's cave or a Tsojcanth style dimensional nexus then you're set.
ReplyDeleteOr you can simply play these scenarios out in a grittier and more historical environment like Chivalry & Sorcery, like you open up here. In the '90s we just trivialized it. Every big Vegas hotel at the time contained one major ADD module inside it. I want to say the Luxor was the tomb of horrors, Mandalay Bay was the hidden shrine Tamoachan etc.
Ha! That's great. I've certainly done some TSR modules in more modern/variant settings like Weird Adventures or Azurth, too.
ReplyDeleteSurely the obvious answer is placing Ravenloft somewhere in the Carpathians.
ReplyDeleteIsle of Dread could work in either the Caribbean or Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteGood ideas!
ReplyDelete