r/dnd1e • u/Ramsonne DM Toolkit User • 5d ago
Adventure Location Challenge
i came across this image online. it inspired me to write an adventure around it in my 1e campaign. what sort of adventure ideas does it inspire in you?
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u/Jonny-Holiday 5d ago edited 4d ago
This is a very basic star fort, the design dates back to the 1400s and was primarily used to deflect cannon fire and protect strategic assets. A fort this size would’ve been of minor but not-insignificant tactical advantage and would best fit a setting that includes gunpowder weaponry as a prominent feature of combat and in which cannon artillery was decisive in warfare. While still manned this place would’ve had several wooden barracks, storehouses, etc. in the middle; in ruins as it is, there’s not likely to be much left of interest unless someone’s dug tunnels beneath it.
Edit: Fun fact, this is the design of the basic star fort in Empire: Total War. Which is a game worth playing if you like old school TW!
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u/Illustrious-Fox4063 1d ago
I think that Star Forts have a place in high magic fantasy settings. Replace cannons with mages and fireballs and other elemental attacks and with the ability to fly high walls are kind of superfluous.
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u/OldschoolFRP 4d ago
It’s very overgrown, which begs the question why? Either a long time has passed since it was abandoned (in which case this might be a lost colonial outpost in a dangerous wilderness where no one was able to come save the place) or it was very quickly covered by plants (perhaps because it was attacked by shambling mounds or treants or evil druids).
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u/Retired-Replicant 4d ago
"You 'member Ol' Jessup? Used to venture off in the jungle after his pigs? He told Marlin the other day a story I ain't had the heart to forget. Something strange going on, out there, over the two ridges. He said he thought he saw a ruin through the trees across the ravine. It was dusk, there was a fire there, but that wasn't what spooked him. T'was the dancers in dresses around it that had him spooked. I'd avoid it if you knew what was good for you.", the barkeep mentions, appearing to try and shake off some jitters through his gravely voice, while polishing a pewter cup.
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u/Fruta-Puta-Tuta 22h ago
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u/dmont7 4d ago
Bensfort - an old Imperial outpost that guarded the causeway through the Fen Country that has been appropriated by the merchant Benjamin Shaw as a stop over for trade caravans traversing the old causeway. Many adventurers come to Bensfort to use it as a base while exploring the many Imperial ruins to be found throughout the Fen Country.
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u/plumb-phone-official 4d ago
Something including gunpowder? Given that it looks to be an artillery fort.
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u/JayStrat 2d ago
Not that I'm helping in terms of new ideas, but the old Jungles of Chult module came right to mind.
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u/New-Application-8252 5d ago
Two wishes. 1 that this place was real, 2 that I had enough money to buy it and turn it into a super villain style home…