All the Estwald NPCs from my Jaunt Through Innistrad Campaign
After getting so flustered at the end of last session, as I wasn’t expecting the party to arrive late enough to meet gate guards, and the fact that not being a sexist arse is more difficult than I initially thought, I have spent the last few days fleshing out and rolling up my NPCs for Estwald and finally have the whole town accounted for.
Not every single guard and farmer and fully fleshed out, but I want some room to make stuff up and every one of particularly or passing note is.
Most of these NPCs come from two one shots that I’m starting the game with after my intro session with session one with other I have added using old germanic name lists, rollign and amking stuff up.
For the campaign I am setting it before the events of the first Innistrad block and intending to play through the various stories and explore the wolrd by stringing various one shots together and rewoeking them to fit the setting and the overarching and evolving campaign narrative set by the Innistrad story, the goals and character of the characterrs, and things that come up on the journey.
Moon Over Graymoor by S. T. Mannell FREE
A dark curse settles over the town of Graymoor...
Moon over Graymoor is a short adventure written for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, for first level player characters. It is intended to be a good first adventure to run; something for new players, or even a new Dungeon Master to try.
The players are turned loose in a hamlet that has suffered a handful of vicious murders, and it’s up to them to investigate. Players will gather clues, canvass the villagers, and if they’re smart, pick up a few things along the way that might just give them enough bite to face off against the beast, and survive.
I have made Estwald the setting of this story, as this story works really well as a precussor and foreshadowing of the awful things things that will eventually happen to Estwald as the story of Innistrad unfolds. If they think one bad wolf is bad now...
Witch of Underwillow by Merric Blackman $1.50
The villagers fear the forest, and rightly so. When wolves drag a child into the forest, there is only one option: find brave adventurers to follow the wolves and save the child! However, are there things the villagers aren't telling the adventurers? What dark fate awaits them when they face the Witch of Underwillow?
The Witch of Underwillow is a short two-hour adventure for characters levels 1-3, suitable for use in Barovia or in a standard fantasy setting.
This is a really interesting one shot that I love for having more thoughtful ideas and puzzles behind it than being a classic hack and slash goblin hunt, though there is enough combat to keep the more martially minded entertained.
The thing I love about both of these one shots, which I will do full reviews of once we’ve finished them, is that they subvert expectations, which is always something wonderful in D&D and roleplay, as welll as being something that will be a strong them of this campaign.
On the surface Innistrad seems very black and white with the chruch and angels looking after humanity against the horros of the night, but much like the Warhammer 40K universe the ‘good’ side has a great deal of its own corruption and hypocrisy and those demed horrors and outcast are often victims or the lost themselves.
I really look forward to playing with this troughout the campaign as we have a very interesting party: a pair Inquisitors who work somewhat outsidethe church’s doctrine and jurisdiction, one of which somehow performed a miracle granted to her by an angel of curing the other of lycanthrope aftter a howlpack called him, as well as a Druid who was a demon-worshipping cultist that repented on his deathbed and was granted a new life by a spiritual heron, and finally, a snake oil Alchemist with a tragic past and questionalble morals.
I shall share more about each charcter and their backstories another time.
Good hunting and happy gaming :)
