Hi there! I have been silent for long but I’m still around.

My D&D5 campaign has been over for months; since I last posted, the PCs finally confronted the Dead Priest, defeated him and destroyed the old mine. They spent the winter in Daggerford and went to Waterdeep in early spring, each for reasons of his/her own; we were just starting this new campaign arc when a player left (he was changing jobs and had to move away), and his thread was important enough that continuing the campaign without him was not an option at this point. Too bad, but things like this happen.

I am not GMing anything at the moment, but the Pathfinder campaign I am playing in should end in a couple of months, so I will be able to start a new game. I am leaning heavily toward a West Marches-style campaign ; I have a few ideas for the setting and premise, and I don’t think this kind of campaign requires much else.

So what does the setting look like? Basically, the PCs are from a small barony in the south of an important kingdom. South of the barony is the Lordship of Lurne, with a mountain range in between. The home base will be a keep in the Pass of the Giant, the only passable way through the mountains.

30-something years ago, the kingdom tried to conquer Lurne. The war ended in a disaster, and since then the Lord of Lurne has been taking a tribute from the barony every year: a few thousands gold pieces and twelve young slaves every year, six boys and six girls, each in their twelfth year. This is the second year in a row the Lord does not come to collect his tribute; why doesn’t he come any more? Is he dead?