"For a thousand years Grenzburg Castle has been a bastion against tribes of goblinoids and giantkin from the Trollstone Hills and beyond. Long has it been a holding of House Kampfbach, but the last Lord Kampfback of Grenzburg has died childless, and his wayward uncle went missing long ago. Now the hordes are stirring, and the king cannot wait for an heir to be found. Whatever else might be said about you, you are a warrior of acknowledged prowess and your compatriots show a certain ruthless efficiency. Moreover your common birth leaves you free of court entanglements (and avoids upsetting the delicate balance of power among courtiers and aristocrats).
"Will you accept the king’s offer of lands and title, and hold the line for the good of the Realm? Grenzburg is ancient with many secrets, and has not always been kind to its purported rulers. It is said that Grenzburg chooses it lords, and those who are unworthy have met a bad end. But to those Houses that have earned its favour it grants strength and riches, and reveals the secrets that hold it unconquered, hidden deep in the recesses of the castle’s dungeons. For the castle’s roots run deep and spread throughout the surrounding lands…"
Hey, remember when I hijacked the "Adventures you'd like to see" thread on, like,
post #12 with a long discussion about domain play? Well at some point in there I was inspired to spend a couple of hours playing with the idea, and came up with this concept that I will never use. So if anyone wants to take it and run with it, go nuts.
With apologies for the pseudo-German linguistic appropriation, courtesy of Google (mis)Translate...
Anyway, the castle sits adjacent to a village which runs right up to the walls on one of the castle, with a river moat running along the other side of the castle. There is a low wall around the village, so that the village is effectively in a large outer bailey.
Ivy grows up the castle walls on the village side, and the villagers have left flowers and other offerings in an impromptu shrine against the wall of the castle. It is not clear what the shrine is for; this is because the shrine is for the castle itself.
When the adventurers take ownership of the castle, they find it behaves much like a dungeon. Doors must be forced open, and various non-lethal security measures (i.e. traps) make themselves a nuisance. The doors open easily for the household staff, although there are some that can still be difficult if the staff are in the presence of party members - particularly doors associated with ownership of the castle, like to the Lord's chambers, for example. Except for one maid in particular, who the other servants will summon if a door proves particularly stubborn. (She is very pretty, and in love with one of the young guardsmen. Don't get any ideas.)
There is also a dungeon below the castle, which is more fey perilous than grimdark dangerous. Within the dungeon is a door that cannot be opened, even by the maid. The party is told it is where the Lord and his companions used to hold council.
If the Lord rules well and treats his people kindly, and the land prospers, the castle will gradually accept those of the party is deems worthy, starting with rangers and druids. At that point the doors will start opening easily, and traps will no longer be an issue. Eventually the door to the council chamber will open without forcing, to reveal a low chamber with a large round table in the centre.
The walls and ceiling of the chamber are covered in twisting roots; it is said that all the trees in Grenzburg have roots that lead back to that chamber, and when the Lord or a companion trusted by the castle, or a druid or ranger with druid spells, touches one of the roots, they can sense the general distance, direction and condition of the tree is attaches to. The Lords and companions can travel to the tree, regardless of the distance, as though they had used a
pass plant spell; and may return by touching any tree in the barony; a druid may do the same using a
pass plant spell, but may not return unless invited.
If the Lord does not rule well or treat his people kindly, or if he starts damaging the castle (hacking through or burning stuck doors, for example), then the frequency of the traps will increase and they will become more dangerous, and eventually lethal. As they are for any invaders.
Within the castle, village, and the other villages in the barony are people and creatures who may, if befriended, become followers to one of more of the PCs. Basically, I was thinking of pre-rolling followers, and giving the more interesting ones (characters with levels and monsters from the ranger list) personalities and roles in the barony. So the followers don't just show up, they have to decide they like the PC. I was also thinking that there should be a forest which may only be exploited with the agreement of its druid.
I had thoughts about the other nobility in the area, as well as a nearby town, but I don't remember most of them (this if the first time I have written most of this down). I remember that the baron to the northeast was covetous of the Grenzburg lands, and inclined to undermine Grenzburg in not particularly subtle ways (staging raids with his troops disguised as bandits, for instance) in hopes that he would step in and take control of them, or annex parts of them (the "Raider"). One of the other barons was interested in increasing his position at court by embarassing the new Lord of Grenzburg (the "Courtier"). If the party had a cleric or paladin, the local church was going to either try to control them or discredit them, depending on whether they were or were not of the same faith; and in any event wants to push out the druidism that is prevalent in Grenzburg. And the commander of the King's fortress resents Grenzburg's military position, believing the military can handle it.
The humanoids in the hills, which Grenzburg is supposed to be protecting the kingdom against, can be treated with. They do not like the humans, and are prone to raiding, but they also want to not be slaughtered on a regular basis. However, they are suspicious because of unprovoked (as well as provoked) attacks by the military, raids and various sorts of oppressions by the Raider, and subtle incitement by the Courtier. And there are different tribes and factions among them, and they are unwilling to control the various trolls in the area (who cannot be treated with), but also resent incursions into their lands to deal with the trolls.
I made a few maps of the area, which is set out in a single 30 mile hex. I tried to group things so that most of the elements can be contained within a 24 mile hex, if that if your jam. The overview (if I can figure out how to post images) is below:
The whole thing is also mapped at the 1 mile and .25 mile hex level. Here is a low-rez version of the 1 mile map, and a closeup of Grenzburg at the 0.25 mile level:
I only bothered adding rivers and villages in the Grenzburg area. If anyone wants to take this and run with it, I also have the original Worldographer file and can send a link to anyone who PMs me.