I decided to take up the challenge devised by Penny Blake in celebration of Gypsy Roma & Traveller History Month (see: Why are your #ttrpg Travellers travelling?).
The challenge is simple: describe a group of Travellers, including the reason which made them choose a traveling lifestyle.
But first, a little bit of background.
A while ago, I had the idea to run a campaign with a permanent “base” and a strong element of base building. I went looking for a good place for my party’s base of operations. And I found Sundabar in the Forgotten Realms.
Sundabar is both an underground dwarven citadel in decline and a once-proud city, now in ruins. Will the adventurers manage to rebuild the latter and reopen the former?
Find out in the Sundabar Reforged campaign!
This is where my group of Travellers comes in – acting as the seed for the city’s new beginning, first quest-givers and hopefully friends of the party.
The Fordlyng Caravan is a small merchant caravan headed by the Fordlyng siblings, Alyssa and Gregor.
The group travels the lands of north-western Faerûn, trading in cloth, furs, ore, and occasionally some more exotic goods.
They usually winter in Neverwinter or Silverymoon.
While not exactly a family, the core of the caravan is close. Some of the current members inherited their roles in the venture from their parent, often after a childhood spent on the road with the group.
The caravan began its nomadic life in 1484 DR, when Sundabar was destroyed by orcs during the War of the Silver Marches.
Old Durius Fordlyng, father of Alyssa and Gregor, was traveling south when the city fell. Having no home to come back to, he gathered other survivors and orphans, crafting a safe haven made of horses and carts.
At the outset of the campaign, the Fordlyngs return to their father’s ruined city and start forging a new life there with help from the PCs.
I am not sure when I’ll be able to kick off my first Sundabar campaign and find out what happens with bright-eyed Alyssa and her much more down to earth older brother.
But now I’m one step closer, and I know I want to explore the difficulties some of their nomadic extended family may have with putting down roots.