Stuff to Do In Falkovnia?

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

So... What exactly are players supposed to do in Falkovnia?
I get the themes the domain is about. We need that one domain that's about real-life evils (war, sexism, fascism etc.) rather than fictional ones, Drakov is an excellent villain, and the conflicts between it and other domains create imteresting dynamics.
But what plots are supposed to happen inside the domain? What can adventurers actually do against this all-encompassing, static, collective suffering?


Note: The 5e version of the domain gives it a very clear plot - fight an army of zombies - but one that turns it into an exclusively 'Weekend in Hell' domain, as Lekar wouldn't logically survive very long in this situation. It has it place IMHO, and I'm *not* starting another edition debate, but that's not what I'm looking for here. I want to know what the heck is the expectation from a plain old 2e/3e Falkovnia campaign.

[Speedwagon]

When I think of how to run Falkovnia of old, I think of my experience playing World of Warcraft. In it, when going against another faction, you (the adventurer) get lots of tasks to help the war effort. Kill this sergeant or corporal here; infiltrate this base and grab those enemy war plans; disrupt supply lines; recruit allies or villagers and make them into soldiers; raid this base here; kill animals to get more food and rations for your faction; bomb a siege weapon or siege warehouse; and so on.

I think the same carries over really well to Falkovnia. Your party isn’t going to try and kill Drakov right away—you’ve got to work up to it. You start with allying yourself with Gondegal’s group, or the Spawn of the Lizard, or any other resistance group to the regime, and you help them accrue resources and power—financial, political, and social—to help them survive the regime’s onslaught. You start with backwater forts and territories, and work your way up to swathes of the domain being implicitly or explicitly controlled by your faction, building up to a march on or siege of Lekar.

Another great way to be inspired is to look at old [Captain America or Justice Society of America stories about fighting pulpy super-powered Nazis. Your party, in the former case, is the Howling Commandos—a group of expert special operatives that can do the job regular troopers can’t, and you need to stop Red Skull (let’s say Vjorn Horstmann or Vigo Drakov) from using the supernatural artifact to turn the tide of the war! For my Falkovnia, I like to lean into those pulp fiction stories a la Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

All that being said, the above presupposes that your party are outsiders to the regime. If your party are Falkovnians born-and-bred, you can have them run adventures helping the regime, with the dawning moral realization of “oh, we’re the bad guys and the cogs in the fascist machine helping oppress others, are we ok with that?” I would also recommend NeoTiamat’s revision of Falkovnia (“Die Kaiserreich”) from QtR 22 for more on that. And for more on Falkovnia, there’s a few other QtR issues to check out—18 has a cool adventure and a cool tar mummy NPC (GonzoRon and Joël’s work respectively, iirc), and 28 has a bunch of material written by Mephisto, and Mistmaster did his own take on Falkovnia inspired by NeoTiamat’s work recently.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

The Tar Mummy was Joel, not me. (fantastic, by the way).

I agree that Falkovnia is easier to use from afar in many ways. It's been a major player in my campaign due to its influence on the surrounding domains, and my players very much got the feeling that that did NOT want to ever actually go there. When they did have to go, it was a very covert, let's get in and get out and not get caught sort of thing. That said, there's plenty of adventure to be had there, and Gazetteer II provides plenty of hooks. The one that spoke to me was The Gears in Stangengrad. I took that one or two line idea and made a whole session out of it, with the help of the forum, here: viewtopic.php?t=1740

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Possible reasons to go to Falkovnia:
* It's the breadbox of the Core. What if the lid to the breadbox suddenly snaps shut? Is Drakov trying to starve his enemies out in preparation for another attack? Is there some massive blight? Is someone poisoning the crops? Are undead draining its lifeforce?
- Adventurers might be forced to work with the Falkovnian authorities in the latter case... even if they have to hold their nose.

* Someone wants to set up an underground railroad to start ferrying slaves out of Falkovnia. The adventurers could be asked to help make it happen.
- From prepwork to learn patrol schedules to swashbuckling escapades freeing people, smuggling them across the border, dueling Falkovnian troops, this could be the start of something big as the Falkovnians grow increasingly desperate to thwart the railroad.

[The Dark]

* Someone wants to set up an underground railroad to start ferrying slaves out of Falkovnia. The adventurers could be asked to help make it happen.

This one could especially happen after one of Drakov's campaigns. The smarter soldiers would be enslaving civilians and shipping them back to Falkovnia instead of just killing everything, especially during the Darkon campaigns that will encounter more non-humans, given 2e's Falkovnian racism.

Another option is for Isolde or one of the other leaders of Carnival to send PCs to rescue members who didn't escape when she brought them out of Falkovnia after the Grand Conjunction.

Short trips through Faklovnia might be needed to go elsewhere if you're trying to get from the west coast of the Core anywhere to the east. Lamordia only has road connections to Falkovnia and Darkon, so unless you're going to Tepest or Nova Vaasa there's a decent chance you're going through Falkovnia. Dementlieu only has roads to Falkovnia and Mordent, and Mordent only leads to Valachan (which leads to Verbrek or Sithicus).

The only full adventure I remember taking place in Falkovnia is "Horror's Harvest," the Invasion of the Body Snatchers expy from Dungeon #38.

[alhoon]

So... What exactly are players supposed to do in Falkovnia?
I get the themes the domain is about. We need that one domain that's about real-life evils (war, sexism, fascism etc.) rather than fictional ones, Drakov is an excellent villain, and the conflicts between it and other domains create imteresting dynamics.
But what plots are supposed to happen inside the domain? What can adventurers actually do against this all-encompassing, static, collective suffering?


Note: The 5e version of the domain gives it a very clear plot - fight an army of zombies - but one that turns it into an exclusively 'Weekend in Hell' domain, as Lekar wouldn't logically survive very long in this situation. It has it place IMHO, and I'm *not* starting another edition debate, but that's not what I'm looking for here. I want to know what the heck is the expectation from a plain old 2e/3e Falkovnia campaign.

It is not just about "State Evil". There are villages and towns and there are evils aplenty. The VRGttFiends had the Twins fight a fiend in there.

PS. Sexism? That's Gundar, I think. Not Falkovnia. I don't think Falkovnia has a sexism theme.

[Mistmaster]

In my write-up Falkovnian women have equal rights on paper. In practice they must work twice as hard in every field.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

So... What exactly are players supposed to do in Falkovnia?
I get the themes the domain is about. We need that one domain that's about real-life evils (war, sexism, fascism etc.) rather than fictional ones, Drakov is an excellent villain, and the conflicts between it and other domains create imteresting dynamics.
But what plots are supposed to happen inside the domain? What can adventurers actually do against this all-encompassing, static, collective suffering?


Note: The 5e version of the domain gives it a very clear plot - fight an army of zombies - but one that turns it into an exclusively 'Weekend in Hell' domain, as Lekar wouldn't logically survive very long in this situation. It has it place IMHO, and I'm *not* starting another edition debate, but that's not what I'm looking for here. I want to know what the heck is the expectation from a plain old 2e/3e Falkovnia campaign.

It is not just about "State Evil". There are villages and towns and there are evils aplenty. The VRGttFiends had the Twins fight a fiend in there.

PS. Sexism? That's Gundar, I think. Not Falkovnia. I don't think Falkovnia has a sexism theme.

The Drakov men can and do take any woman they want. Just look at the writeup for Drakov's illegitimate son in Legacy of the Blood. That kind of attitude trickles down in a military tyranny. Not to mention, Drakov gets all excited about having new sons; he's not as impressed by daughters.

[Mistmaster]

Yeah sexism is unavoidable in a militarist state.

[brothersale]

true to an extent, but it also is dependent as to which gender is in charge, i don't recall the stories involving the Amazons of greek mythos having favourable views of the male gender.

But Falkovnia always struck me as more of a case of favouring the male gender, but also allowing those females who pushed themselves above the males as having value, albeit with grudging attitude, more along what is seen in some theatrical versions of male dominated empires (think star war's Empire in the legend setting)

[Mistmaster]

Yes. If you read my Falkovnia article in last QtR it is exactly how things works in my Falkovnia too.

[alhoon]

The Drakov men can and do take any woman they want. Just look at the writeup for Drakov's illegitimate son in Legacy of the Blood. That kind of attitude trickles down in a military tyranny. Not to mention, Drakov gets all excited about having new sons; he's not as impressed by daughters.

Yes, but those are the horrors of such a state, not a Sexism theme like Gundar has. On THAT and hoping I won't deviate the discussion a lot, do we have a Darklord that is a woman that is cursed to be looked down on despite her achievements?


Back to Falkovnia, as others said, I don't think a powerful female warrior would be looked down upon as long as she is the right kind of follower of Drakov.
But as for Sexism... I do think that in one of the Guides the twins wrote there is a Falkovnian that is annoyingly macho.

[The Dark]

The Drakov men can and do take any woman they want. Just look at the writeup for Drakov's illegitimate son in Legacy of the Blood. That kind of attitude trickles down in a military tyranny. Not to mention, Drakov gets all excited about having new sons; he's not as impressed by daughters.

Yes, but those are the horrors of such a state, not a Sexism theme like Gundar has. On THAT and hoping I won't deviate the discussion a lot, do we have a Darklord that is a woman that is cursed to be looked down on despite her achievements?

It varies a bit by edition, but Ivana.

[doctornecrotic]

Honestly, Falkovnia feels more at home in Warhammer Fantasy. And for that reason, I'd dig up the WFRP books for all manner of dark fantasy inspiration. From some digging and extra eyes, Lietpold's former dominion feels right at home with Drakov's! In fact, that section of the Old World can drag and drop plot threads into Falkovnia quite easily.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Stuff to Do In Falkovnia?

Die