I’m currently running two monthly campaigns: Empire of the Ghouls and Oracle of War, but have missed running a game for my Monday night group since finishing Starfinder a couple of years ago.
This October, I’m going to be running Scarlet Citadel by Steve Winter, Kobold Press’ deadly “Dungeon of Secrets” for 5e, online to start with, then hopefully in person so I can use the amazing Map Folio at the table.
The players are all new to Midgard, so as with Empire of the Ghouls, I have followed Sly Flourish’s recommendations in Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and put together a short campaign brief with some key truths about the setting which I’m sharing here in case it’s useful for others.
Guide to the Map Overlays Part 1 & Part 2
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Main image by David Auden Nash
Richard Green | Game Designer 
Very cool. I like your brief.
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Thank you!
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Cooee to youee, running this now as DM. Supported the kickstarter, but found I needed to purchase the VTT maps afterwards as the adventure relies heavily on overlays which aren’t in the book or pdf. Got the overlays and running them on Owlbear Rodeo (thanks Sly Flourish!). Disappointingly the overlays in the VTT aren’t complete, no boat, pink room or separate 3 overlays for final boss, these I find are only in the physical map pack…being in New Zealand postal costs are an issue. I’ve asked Kobold Press to provide them as a free pdf to kickstarter purchasers of the book and pdf but silence.
The Scarlet Citadel is grey rock in the map art: should be red. Art direction mistake big time.
Heroes have met the townfolk of Redtower and we’ve done the warlock Memoria sidequest, but being inquisitive I’ve found it difficult to know how much of the dungeon inhabitants to reveal. Thanks for your campaign primer I’ll be using it.
Also no clue as to how far away the Scarlet Citadel is from Redtower. I’m thinking 4-6 miles off the south road, through twisting changing paths (because leylines) to include the random encounters for interesting flora.One check to and from. Won’t do cursed bezoars as being unable to drink potions of healing is dangerous enough.
Hard also to know how the ecology of the town, the Scarlet Citadel and the ‘many’ adventuring groups sort of fit. Does the constable know of it as an historical bandit site? How do the trollkin raiders fit into all this? Does Cagoth-Ze send agents for supplies regularly? As a first time DM in 25 years there is much work to do. Why would people feel confident raiding a sorcerers stronghold?
I’ll be interested in following your journey.
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Thanks for your comments and glad you found the primer useful!
I’m still working my way through the overlays to make sense of which ones I’ve got in the Map Folio and what’s in the digital map pack. I’ve posted a guide to the overlays for the first four levels and will do levels 4-6 in the next few days once I’ve got my head around which goes where and what’s missing.
I’m looking forward to figuring out the answers to your questions and several of my own when I start my campaign on Monday week.
Good luck with your game!
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