WELCOME TO THAY & MY FIRST EVIL CAMPAIGN

 

 

 

My first exposure to Thay was in the figure of Edwin, an arrogant character in the Baldur's Gate video game series. He was very far from his homeland, but he brought a distinctive accent and attitude with him. Edwin's portrait was serious, his lines were sarcastic and amusing, and he was the best damned arcane caster in the game. He made such a first impression that I quickly thought of Thay when the time came to run my first evil campaign. When I turned to the published materials, though, I couldn't find enough to satisfy my curiosity. For such a large and populous country, Thay seemed like a place meant to be visited, and I wanted the PCs to live there. So I fell back on an old motto: if you want something done right (read as: your way), do it yourself.

I want to encourage others to give Thay a chance as the setting for a whole campaign, and not just a one-shot raid into bad-guy territory. I also want to share the things that I've done to give Thay definition, in the hopes that someone else will be able to benefit from it. I started with the official supplements, which are very entertaining and useful, and worked outward from there. I didn't try to stay in line with the supplements or the novels, so please keep in mind that I depart from the canon. If you're looking for more details on the regions and peoples of Thay, or for an idea of how one DM set up an evil game, I hope you will find what you are looking for here.

	Advice on Running an Evil Campaign: Things I learned throughout my first evil campaign.
	My Setup: The thought process that took me through the early stages of my campaign.
	Thay Character Creation: A guide to common character races, classes, and cultural details.
	Thayan Character Names: A thematic list of first names and surnames for home-grown characters.
	Thayan Name Generator: A random name generator comprised of thematic sounds.
	Thay By Region: Details about religion, industries, population, and other aspects of the tharchs.
	The City of Eltabbar: An organized breakdown of Thay's capital city.
	The City of Tyraturos : A breakdown of Thay's crossroads metropolis.
	A Thayan Timeline: A breakdown of historical events that have greatly affected Thay and House Valgon.
	Thayan Enclaves: A review of the known embassies, with a timeline and some new additions
	Religion in Thay: A look at religion in Thay and a calendar of commonly celebrated holidays.
	The Goddess Samora: A new evil deity created for use in our game but suitable to Faerun at large.
	Thayan Noble Houses: A quick and dirty list of the 91 major noble houses I created for our Thayan campaign.
	House Valgon in Eltabbar: The family tree of the player characters based in Eltabbar.
	House Valgon in Tyraturos: The family tree of the player characters based in Tyraturos.
	Kismet's Guide to Thay: A blog dedicated to exploring the everyday details of Thay.