Old as creation itself, Elemental Evil has arisen in a thousand different worlds across the ages of the multiverse. Princes of the Apocalypse describes the rise of Elemental Evil in the world of the Forgotten Realms setting. However, there is no reason you couldn’t adjust this adventure to fit in almost any world that is part of the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse. In this appendix, we take a look at how you can adapt this adventure to some of the well-known settings for the D&D game, or to your own campaign world.
Dark Sun
The dying planet of Athas is a world that is already deeply scarred by elemental power. Long ago the gods of Athas fought a terrible war against the mighty primordial powers of the elemental planes—and they lost. The gods were slain or driven into exile, leaving Athas under the dominion of elemental beings who took little interest in the affairs of mortals. In the grim age that followed the defeat of the gods, mighty sorcerer-kings came to power and nearly destroyed the world with their reckless use of defiling magic. They made Athas into a desert where terrible monsters roam and only the strongest survive.
One of the hallmarks of the Dark Sun setting is that the heroes don’t need to seek out forgotten dungeons to find adventure—mere survival is adventure enough. But there is no reason you can’t successfully adapt Princes of the Apocalypse to your Dark Sun campaign.
Setting
A fertile agricultural region like the Dessarin Valley does not exist in Athas, but there are several frontier areas containing small, out-of-the-way villages separated by several days' travel through the wilderness. One good example is the Great Alluvial Sand Wastes. The long-lost dwarven citadel of Tyar-Besil lies beneath the rocky badlands about 30 to 40 miles northwest of the village of Kled. The buried city does not have to change much at all; a 5,000-year old dwarven stronghold forgotten beneath the desert sands might easily date back to the Green Age, a time when the world of Athas would have looked much like the Forgotten Realms.
The four Haunted Keeps described in chapter 3 of this adventure are lonely outposts or ruins scattered throughout the badlands under which Tyar-Besil lies. Rivergard Keep is admittedly a little problematic in a desert world, but the solution is simple: It lies on the dusty banks of a river long dried up. The Crushing Wave cultists occupying the old keep aren’t smugglers and pirates; they’re slave traders.
Settlements nearby the area where the elemental cults are establishing themselves include the slave village of Freedom, the dwarven mining village of Kled, and Silver Spring oasis. Kled is a good base for explorations, and can serve as the “Red Larch” of a Dark Sun Elemental Evil campaign. Freedom is a good counterpart for Beliard, and Silver Spring works well in the role of Bargewright Inn and Womford. You can invent another small village or two—perhaps a merchant house outpost—to serve as Westbridge, and provide a location that can be threatened or destroyed by cult reprisals as the adventure unfolds.
Background
Instead of the delegation from Mirabar, the missing caravan that drives the heroes' initial involvement in the adventure consists of envoys from the halfling village of Ogo, bound for the recently freed city of Tyr. The city’s new leaders hope to forge an alliance with the halflings of the Forest Ridge, and sent envoys bearing gifts and trade goods to the village of Ogo; a party of important halflings is returning to Tyr with the city’s envoys, bringing reciprocal gifts of their own. After stopping in the village of Freedom, the delegation headed south to Kled, where they intended to turn toward Tyr. However, they disappeared in the badlands between Kled and Freedom.
The Athasian Cult
Elemental cults are widespread in Athas. In a world without gods, people instead worship the powers they see in the world around them: air, earth, fire, and water. Elemental priests hold a social position similar to that of religious hermits or tribal shamans of other worlds. Common Athasians, especially those who live outside the walls of the city-states, revere elemental priests and listen carefully when they speak. The chief difference between cultists dedicated to Elemental Evil and the elemental priests normally found in the tribes and villages of Athas is the cult’s dedication to evil. An elemental priest protects and guides the common people, using elemental magic to better their lives. An elemental cultist demands abasement, sacrifice, and obedience. The element is no longer a tool of survival; it is a force for destruction and the power to dominate others.
Because elemental priests hold such an important place in Athasian society, the appearance of cultists serving Elemental Evil is not likely to seem out of the ordinary at first. In small desert villages, a cult could easily take shape and even attract popular support from a local community or tribe—at least until the cruelty and madness of its adherents make its true nature obvious to all.
In an Athasian version of the Elemental Evil campaign, the prophets first appear as especially charismatic and powerful elemental priests promising their followers a “better” way. The elemental weapons are heirlooms or lost treasures created long ago during an earlier incarnation of the cult. When the Elder Elemental Eye begins to stir beneath the dark sun and seeks new servants, the ancient weapons awake from their slumber and find their way into ready hands.
Factions in Athas
The city-states and nomadic tribes of Athas have a set of factions and alliances shaped by that world’s harsh history. Here are suggestions for converting the adventure’s faction references for Athas.
The Harpers
The Veiled Alliance
The Veiled Alliance is a secret society dedicated to the overthrow of the evil sorcerer-kings who dominate the Tyr Region. Like the Harpers, its ranks include a number of rogues, spellcasters, and spies. Few organizations or movements in Athas operate across multiple city-states, but the Veiled Alliance is one of them. Heroes who give their allegiance to the Veiled Alliance would primarily be interested in stopping the defilers who serve the elemental cults and making sure the sorcerer-kings do not get their hands on the secrets of elemental power.
The Order of the Gauntlet
The Free
The desert wilds are dotted with the hidden camps and strongholds of Athas’s slave tribes—bands of people who have managed to escape from slavery in one or another of the city-states. The Free is a tenuous, disorganized society or fellowship of the slave tribes of the Tyr Region. Even though the tribes do not cooperate with each other, they share important common values and work toward the same end: the destruction of slavery. They fulfill something like the role of the Order of the Gauntlet in Athas.
The Free are not directly concerned with fighting threats such as Elemental Evil, but they hate slaveholders and do everything they can to punish those who enslave others. The elemental cults take captives and force them to work on their mad projects, so the Free get involved to stop this practice and punish the perpetrators for their crimes.
The Emerald Enclave
Druid circles
Athasian druids see themselves as guardians of the land and enemies to all who employ defiling magic. No great druid organizations span the entire Tyr Region, but a number of smaller, localized druid circles are concerned with the disturbances and disasters triggered by the cult’s activities. One such circle roams the area between the Dragon’s Bowl and the Valley of Tyr. Characters who want to fight for the forces of natural balance could be allies (or members) of the druids.
The Lords' Alliance
Templar bureaucracy
The sorcerer-kings of the Tyr Region are bitter enemies of each other, so nothing like the Lords' Alliance is possible. However, the templar bureaucracy of a specific city-state can serve a similar role in a Dark Sun conversion of this adventure. The city-state most immediately concerned with the rise of a dangerous magical cult in the Great Alluvial Sand Wastes is Tyr, struggling to find its way after the death of King Kalak. The templars of Tyr can’t allow a new threat to grow on their doorstep—or allow the templars of a rival city such as Urik to gain control of the cult’s elemental magic.
The Zhentarim
House Tsalaxa
The great merchant houses of the Tyr Region maintain warehouses and emporiums in all the major city-states. All are fiercely competitive and seek out any advantage to use against their rivals, but House Tsalaxa of Draj is widely regarded as the most ruthless of them all. Agents of House Tsalaxa do not hesitate to engage in assassination, bribery, or even sponsoring raids against the caravans of rival houses. For the Tsalaxa, the Cult of Elemental Evil represents a threat to the existing order; widespread destruction is bad for business, even by House Tsalaxa’s standards. If the house’s agents can seize the cult’s secrets in the process of eliminating the threat, so much the better.
Dragonlance
Home to the Dragonlance saga, the world of Krynn has been a favorite of many over the years. With some minor adjustments, you can adapt Princes of the Apocalypse to your Dragonlance campaign. The story of Elemental Evil can be recast as the forces of Chaos seeking another way to destroy the world of Krynn.
Setting
Both time and place must be considered when converting this adventure for use in a Dragonlance campaign. Each era of Krynn’s history provides its own challenges. Does the adventure take place during the pre-Cataclysm Age of Might? Before or during the War of Lance? Where on Krynn will Elemental Evil arise: the hills and mountains of Solamnia? Ergoth? Or the soon-to-be destroyed Istar? We suggest setting the campaign when and where the Dragonlance saga began: in the lands of Abanasinia, near Solace and Haven, at the end of the Time of Darkness in the year or two preceding the War of the Lance.
In this scenario, the Sumber Hills are replaced by the hills and mountains between Solace and Haven. Instead of Red Larch, the starting town of the adventure is Gateway, some distance south of Solace. The forks of the White-Rage River replace the Dessarin River, and many of the adventure locations can be located north and south of Gateway along the river or in the mountains to the west. The biggest city of the region is Haven, which can serve the same role as Yartar.
The background information regarding the ancient dwarven nation of Besilmer can survive by incorporating it into the history of Thorbardin, predating the Kinslayer Wars.
Background
Before recorded history, the god known as Chaos was trapped by Reorx in the Graygem, but echoes of Chaos remained in the world. These took the form of nodes buried deep in the earth, where they should have been forgotten for all time.
Thousands of years before the Cataclysm, a group of dwarf settlers established an enclave in the mountains north of Thorbardin, which they called Tyar-Besil. Unbeknown to the dwarves, the settlement was built less than a mile from the location of one such Chaos node. After the Kinslayer Wars, the dwarves retreated south of Pax Tharkas and into Thorbardin, abandoning the underground city, but only after sealing it against any intrusion. In the Elemental Evil campaign, this city becomes the location of the four elemental temples.
The four Haunted Keeps are abandoned outposts that predate the Cataclysm. They once guarded the entrances to the ancient dwarven enclave. Rivergard Keep lies along the White-Rage River, north of Haven.
The calamitous forces of the Cataclysm destroyed and buried countless cities, but also unearthed ancient ruins and places of power. In the wake of this destruction, the perceived absence of Krynn’s gods led humans to seek out other sources of magic that could rival the divine. Four of these seekers found their way into the lost city of Tyar-Besil and discovered newly opened tunnels that led to the Fane of the Eye, the ancient Chaos echo buried deep beneath the mountains of Abanasinia. These four seekers became the elemental prophets. Wielding the power of the elemental weapons, the four prophets recruited their cultist followers and began to work to further the mysterious designs of the Elder Elemental Eye.
The campaign starts off with an investigation into a missing delegation. In the Dragonlance setting, the Mirabar expedition could be replaced by a group of diplomats traveling from Haven along the Haven Road through Solace.
Factions of Krynn
Close equivalents to the factions of the Forgotten Realms don’t exist in the Dragonlance setting, and so must be replaced with more suitable groups from Krynn.
The Harpers
Benevolent locals
There is no clear match for this world-spanning organization in Krynn. Instead of an established faction, treat the various Harper contacts in the adventure as friendly NPCs who are willing to help the characters along, so long as they appear to be working for the forces of good.
The Order of the Gauntlet
The Knights of Solamnia
Replace the Order of the Gauntlet with the Knights of Solamnia, who are dedicated to upholding the cause of good. Although the Knights don’t exercise political power in the region, it is not unreasonable for the player characters to be their agents, on the lookout for unrest as the threat of war looms.
The Emerald Enclave
Allies of the Forestmaster
As a replacement for the Emerald Enclave, consider a cabal of Qualinesti elves, plainsfolk shamans, and regional rangers dedicated to preserving the land. These groups work together at the behest of the unicorn of the Darken Wood, a powerful creature known as the Forestmaster.
The Lords' Alliance
Community leaders in Abanasinia
What would be the Lords' Alliance instead represents the local rulers of the scattered towns of Abanasinia that are not controlled by the Seekers. These settlements mostly lie along the coastline of the Straits of Schallsea, since the inland towns are either under Seeker sway or are villages of the plainsfolk. Some nobles among Seeker-controlled towns might also be part of this alliance, working against the Theocrats politically.
The Zhentarim
The Seekers
In the Abanasinia region, the role of organized crime is mostly filled by the Seeker theocracy. While some Seekers truly do search for evidence of the gods, many are more concerned with establishing and controlling local rule, and do not shy away from using coercion and threats to get their way.
Regarding Dragons
Even with the suggested changes to the factions and locations, a key component of the Dragonlance setting is still missing: dragons! If you want to add a draconic influence to the campaign, consider the following changes and additions.
Draconic Influence
In this variant, the Dragon Highlords are also interested in the power that the elemental nodes represent. They dispatch forces to help the cultists defend themselves, but also to secure the elemental nodes when the time is right.
Draconians
These corrupted offspring of good dragons are tainted by elemental power in the Dragonlance setting. Draconians could be found in elemental temples, especially near the prophets. They should not be the first enemies the characters face when they encounter the elemental cults, but an attack by a draconian squad can replace one of the cultist responses when one of the dungeons is cleared.
There isn’t space in this book to provide stat blocks for draconians, but you can make your own by adding the half-dragon template (see the Monster Manual) to hobgoblins or lizardfolk. Add a Death Throes trait to complete the transition: for example, baaz draconians turn to stone when killed, and kapak draconians dissolve into pools of acid.
Dragons
The power of Elemental Evil attracts dragons. You can place a young dragon or a couple of wyrmlings in or near each of the elemental temples. Good examples include a pair of blue dragon wyrmlings in the air temple, a young black dragon near the water temple, or even a corrupted copper dragon somewhere near the earth node. (The Weeping Colossus already contains a red dragon.) These dragons might be part of the dragonarmies, or might instead be drawn to the elemental power of the Chaos node. They can be integrated within the elemental cults, or might be as much a threat to the cultists as they are to the adventurers.
Greyhawk
Many long-time D&D players regard Oerth, the world of the Greyhawk campaign setting, as the natural and proper home for the Elemental Evil campaign. The Temple of Elemental Evil, the classic adventure, is set in the world of Greyhawk. Princes of the Apocalypse draws many inspirations from the original adventure, but this is not the same adventure in a new edition. New story elements such as the elemental prophets, the cults' use of devastation orbs, and the search for the missing delegation make this a much more far-reaching and event-driven adventure than the original site-based campaign.
Setting
The classic home of the Temple of Elemental Evil is in the Kron Hills, a lightly populated frontier between the small state of Verbobonc and the elven kingdom of Celene. The Sumber Hills are replaced by the eastern portion of the Kron Hills and the western border of the Gnarley Forest. Instead of Red Larch, the starting town of the adventure is Hommlet. The adventure content described in chapter 6 of this book is a good parallel to the classic adventure, The Village of Hommlet, and the various sites in and around Red Larch can easily be relocated to the surrounding Kron Hills to introduce the player characters to the region and its people.
Combine the settlements of Womford and nearby Bargewright Inn into the corrupt town of Nulb. The small river known as Imeryds Run serves as the Dessarin River, carrying the barge traffic (and river piracy) that interests the Cult of the Crushing Wave. The gnome town of Tulvar replaces Westbridge, while the Etterboek takes the place of Beliard. The city of Verbobonc can easily serve as both Yartar and Waterdeep. It’s the most important city anywhere in the area, and the events described in the “Dark Dealings in Yartar” side trek could easily be set along Verbobonc’s river wharves. You can add Summit Hall and the Haunted Keeps as they stand to the area around Hommlet; there is no reason places such as these couldn’t be located in this corner of the Flanaess.
In the classic Greyhawk adventure, the temple wasn’t built on top of dwarven ruins. Omit any mention of the ancient realm of Besilmer and the underground ruins of Tyar-Besil. Instead, the huge underground stronghold the player characters explore in chapter 4 is the subterranean fortress constructed by an older incarnation of the Cult of Elemental Evil, which has now been reoccupied by the current group of elemental prophets and their followers.
Background
Elemental Evil is not a new threat in the world of Greyhawk. The Temple of Elemental Evil was built long ago and spawned hordes of bloodthirsty monsters that ravaged the lands between Celene and Veluna on several occasions in the past. As far as anyone in the area knows, the temple is currently abandoned and has not posed a threat for several generations. In the last year or so, the dark force known as the Elder Elemental Eye secretly called a new group of elemental prophets to its ancient stronghold. These four individuals found their way down to the Fane of the Eye and took up the elemental weapons, beginning the work of establishing their cults.
The Haunted Keeps described in chapter 3 of this adventure are old castles or strongholds that lie nearby. They were raised by the adventurers of an earlier century who dealt with one of the previous manifestations of Elemental Evil in this spot, but fell into ruin over time. They guard hidden accesses to the dungeons beneath the sprawling surface ruins of the temple. Rivergard Keep lies on the bank of the nearby Imeryds Run.
The missing delegation that serves as the adventure’s initial spur to action instead hails from the Principality of Ulek, bound for the city of Dyvers or perhaps Chendl, capital of the nearby kingdom of Furyondy.
Factions in Greyhawk
Instead of the Forgotten Realms factions, the Flanaess has its own set of knightly orders, mage guilds, and elite societies that serve as power groups the player characters can ally themselves with.
The Harpers
The Circle of Eight
The closest equivalent to the Harpers is the Circle of Eight. Although membership in the circle itself is restricted to the most powerful wizards, the group employs many agents and spies to look after its interests. The Circle of Eight is much less benevolent than the Harpers; its wizards are not particularly concerned about tyranny and are more interested in preserving a balance of power throughout the Flanaess. However, major magical threats (such as the rise of Elemental Evil) are very much within the circle’s purview.
The Order of the Gauntlet
The Church of Saint Cuthbert
Greyhawk is home to several different paladin orders that could serve as a substitute for this faction, but the best fit is the Church of Saint Cuthbert. The Church includes clerics, paladins, and fighters who stand for law and order and generally oppose evil, and it is found in many different lands throughout the Flanaess.
The Emerald Enclave
The Old Faith
The druids of the Flanaess belong to a great order known as the Old Faith. Each region of the continent falls under the purview of a Great Druid, who in turn oversees a hierarchy of lower-ranking druids scattered throughout the lands under his or her dominion. Among their other concerns, the Druids of the Old Faith are staunch enemies of the followers of Elemental Evil and root out its worshipers wherever they arise. Player characters who are not members of the druid class could belong to one of the societies or groups affiliated with the servants of the Old Faith; for example, the Gnarley Forest is home to the Gnarley Rangers, a fellowship that cooperates closely with the druids.
The Lords' Alliance
The Knights of the Hart
The time for a close association between good kingdoms and city-states has not yet come to pass in the Flanaess; nothing like the Lords' Alliance can be found in the lands near the Kron Hills. The closest analogue in the world of Greyhawk is the Knights of the Order of the Hart (usually referred to as the Knights of the Hart). This society of human and elf nobles has branches in Furyondy, Veluna, and the Vesve Forest. Though principally concerned with the danger posed by Iuz, the half-demon tyrant, the order seeks to defend its constituent lands against all sorts of monstrous threats.
The Zhentarim
The Thieves' Guild of Greyhawk
The Thieves' Guild of Greyhawk is a good conversion for the Zhentarim. Based in the Free City of Greyhawk, the Thieves' Guild seeks to control trade and influence events in many lands throughout the Flanaess. Like the Zhentarim, its members have a reputation as troublemakers but often are forced to meet the threat posed by truly abhorrent villains and monsters, and the cults of Elemental Evil certainly qualify.
Other Elements
Replace any mention of deities specific to the Forgotten Realms setting with appropriate Greyhawk deities. For example, the knights based in Summit Hall should be followers of Heironeous instead of Helm or Tyr. (They could be followers of Saint Cuthbert, but that would mean that one of the player character factions has an important stronghold in the region; better if they are potential allies for a character who belongs to the right faction.) In addition, the Elder Elemental Eye might be an aspect of the imprisoned god Tharizdun, a dark power of destruction, entropy, and eternal darkness. Whether the elemental prophets see themselves as worshipers of Tharizdun or only as servants of the Elder Elemental Eye is not relevant to the adventure; madness is madness, after all.
Eberron
With its emphasis on mystery and exploration, the Eberron campaign setting is a natural fit for Princes of the Apocalypse. Most of the work in adaptation involves changing place names to fit into Eberron. As you do, consider ways you can use the specifics of the Eberron setting to heighten certain adventure motifs.
Eberron is a place of mystery, and there’s already plenty of that in Princes of the Apocalypse. The first part of the adventure is largely about uncovering the hidden evil that lurks in the region’s small towns and frontier strongholds. You have ample ways to play up the sense of mystery. Chapter 3 starts with a missing-persons investigation, for example, and the “Cure of the Fire Witch,” “Dark Dealings in Yartar,” and “Halls of the Hunting Axe” side treks all involve hidden evil and betrayal.
If you make additions of your own to the adventure, you can build on the noir aspects of hidden evil. Make more of the ostensibly friendly NPCs secretly work for one of the four cults. Have the cults lean harder on the leadership of the communities scattered across the region, threatening, blackmailing, and corrupting them so they do the cults' bidding.
Eberron is also about exploration, which is natural fit for a sandbox adventure such as Princes of the Apocalypse. If you want to enhance the players' feeling of being pioneers, stretch out the distances between communities (the Eberron map is huge, so you should have plenty of room). Have the NPCs know less about goings-on beyond their backyards, and consider giving the players a more limited map of the area with key locations missing. Just finding the Haunted Keeps should feel like an accomplishment. The players (and maybe the characters as well) can gain a sense of accomplishment if they have a more-or-less complete map of the region by the time the adventure draws to a close.
Setting
Khorvaire is a sprawling continent with plenty of thinly settled frontiers, so it’s relatively easy to find a good place to set Princes of the Apocalypse. Here are a few examples:
- In western Aundair, the wilderness around the town of Wyr is a good choice; the Eldeen Reaches function as the High Forest does in this adventure.
- In Breland, the small city of Xandrar on the northern border can take the place of Red Larch, with the Haunted Keeps existing as abandoned fortresses from the Last War and the monsters of Droaam being an ongoing threat.
- Northern and eastern Karrnath has vast tracts of frontier—plenty of room for a region the size and scope of the Dessarin Valley. Halfling barbarians from the Talenta Plains can replace the Uthgardt barbarians in the adventure.
- The border between Zilargo and Darguun is another frontier region with plenty of isolated settlements and marauding monsters.
There are enough blank spaces on the map in Eberron that you should be able to translocate the Dessarin Valley wholesale; such remapping just needs a few location name changes. To get an Eberron feel, it’s more important that you come with campaign-specific equivalents for the following:
- A hilly region with a river running through it, though the Dessarin Valley is small enough that it might not show up on conventional Eberron campaign maps. Ideally, there should be analogues of the Uthgardt barbarians nearby, and the equivalent of a menacing orc horde that’s more distant.
- A big city that’s at least a few days' travel away, preferably reachable by both river and road. There shouldn’t be airship or lightning rail access to the campaign area, though—the rural location is key to the adventure background.
- An untamed forest or other wilderness that can substitute for the High Forest, with an equivalent to the elves who live within it.
The biggest change you’ll have to make is to the adventure’s assumed cosmology. Eberron lacks the traditional elemental planes, so you’ll have to replace them with the following (with the understanding that they aren’t perfect matches):
- Syrania, the Azure Sky (air)
- Kythri, the Churning Chaos (earth)
- Fernia, the Sea of Fire (fire)
- Lamannia, the Twilight Forest (water)
Background
As the adventure begins, Eberron’s sages note with interest that four planes will become coterminous with Eberron within the next several months—a rare occurrence even in the annals of astronomers and diviners. For them, it’s a matter of academic interest. But for Imix, Ogrémoch, Olhydra, and Yan-C-Bin, it’s the chance they’ve been waiting for.
Under direction of the nameless entity known as the Elder Elemental Eye (perhaps the Dragon Below, the Dreaming Dark, or the Lords of Dust), the four Elemental Princes assemble their cults as described in the adventure. Their goal isn’t just to bring the region under the control of Elemental Evil, but to freeze the progression of all the planes of existence so that their four planes remain coterminous with Eberron. Then they will march vast armies from their extraplanar homes and bring all of Khorvaire—and eventually all of Eberron—under their control.
Factions in Eberron
It’s not hard to find Eberron equivalents for the factions of the Forgotten Realms.
The Harpers
The Library of Korranberg or Morgrave University
It’s a bit of a stretch, but consider using one of Eberron’s academic organizations—the Library of Korranberg or Morgrave University—as the equivalent of the Harpers. Their purpose is less political, but they’re still altruistic and stand largely outside existing power structures. And with so many mysteries of Eberron waiting to be discovered, those organizations are out in the dangerous places of the world quite a bit—just like the Harpers.
The Order of the Gauntlet
The Church of the Silver Flame
The Church of the Silver Flame is more narrowly religious than the Order of the Gauntlet, but its overall tone is similar. Because the Silver Flame is Thrane’s state religion, characters of any class from that nation might work toward the Silver Flame’s ends.
The Emerald Enclave
The Wardens of the Word or the Gatekeepers
The Wardens of the Wood are this faction’s logical equivalent in Eberron if you’re setting Princes of the Apocalypse anywhere near the Eldeen Reaches. Otherwise, the Gatekeepers are a good choice.
The Lords' Alliance
The Twelve or the Aurum
The Twelve serves as the defender of civilization much as the Lords' Alliance does, and its members are similarly vulnerable to occasional bouts of rivalry and infighting. The Aurum, while far less altruistic than the Lords' Alliance, fulfills a similar function in the world of Eberron, fighting to protect the status quo and ensure that those in power stay that way.
The Zhentarim
The Order of the Emerald Claw
Replace the Black Network with the Order of the Emerald Claw, though you should downplay the connection to Vol.
Dragonmarked Houses
As an alternative to the five factions, you can use Eberron’s dragonmarked houses. If you do so, remember that many members of the houses don’t possess dragonmarks, and that even houses dominated by one race (the half-elves of House Lyrandar, for example) include members of other races.
When you start the adventure, have every character choose a dragonmarked house in addition to a race, class, and background. House Deneith functions much like the Order of the Gauntlet, House Kundarak serves as the Lords' Alliance, House Lyrandar or House Tharashk is equivalent to the Harpers, House Phiarlan and House Thuranni are the Zhentarim, and House Vadalis fills in for the Emerald Enclave.
Other Elements
Once you’ve located the adventure in the world and figured out how you’re going to handle the factions, only a few tasks remain.
- Give some of the magic items in the adventure an Eberron spin by connecting them to the magic of dragonshards. The four elemental weapons wielded by the prophets, for example, might be powered by Khyber dragonshards.
- Connect the economy of the Dessarin Valley to the dragonmarked houses. Kaylessa runs Red Larch’s inn, the Swinging Sword, on behalf of House Ghallanda, and many of the town’s wagonwrights are affiliated with House Lyrandar. The missing delegation that kicks off the adventure in chapter 3 might be organized by House Kundarak.
- Include some NPCs of Eberron-specific races. Grund in Red Larch (described in chapter 6) can be a warforged; much of the town looks down on him anyway. The doppelganger in the “Halls of the Hunting Axe” side trek could be a changeling, and it’s not difficult to imagine the prophet Vanifer being one too. Some of the lycanthropes and druids at Scarlet Moon Hall (described in chapter 3) might be shifters.
- Tweak the adventure’s background to connect it to the Last War. Perhaps the four prophets are war refugees—or war criminals. And they found themselves picking up their elemental weapons for the first time on the Day of Mourning.
Your Own World
If you’ve created a fantasy world of your own to serve as the setting for your Dungeons & Dragons game, it will work just fine for the Elemental Evil campaign. The servants of the Elder Elemental Eye might operate under different names or present themselves in new guises, but elemental corruption can strike any world at any time. Heroes are always be needed to drive back the forces of darkness and destruction.
The events of Princes of the Apocalypse take place in a thinly settled frontier, far from any kind of central authority. There are no power groups that can easily contest the rise of the elemental prophets—that’s why the burden of action falls to the player characters. The easiest conversion is to take the whole Dessarin Valley and drop it into the map of your world. Locations such as Red Larch or the Sumber Hills are generic enough that they would fit in most D&D settings. You may want to rename deities or factions to the pantheon or power groups present in your campaign, but otherwise you can incorporate the adventure as written into a part of the world your player characters have not yet explored.
Alternatively, you can find a suitable place in your world where you can arrange towns analogous to Red Larch, Womford, Beliard, and Westbridge in the vicinity of a desolate wilderness like the Sumber Hills. In this adventure, these towns are as much as 70 or 80 miles apart, but there is no reason you couldn’t fit them in a much smaller area. As long as the towns are at least a day’s travel from each other, you have enough wilderness to make moving from town to town a serious decision point for the players.
The Sumber Hills are presented as an area of dry badlands, but they don’t have to be hills in your campaign. A region of uninhabited moorland, a wide marsh or swamp, or even a dark and haunted forest would serve just as well as a setting for the cult outposts and the events described in the search for the missing delegation from Mirabar. Naturally, you should select a setting where old castles are likely to be reoccupied by sinister newcomers, and a huge old subterranean complex could underlie the mysterious ruins.