Welcome to Thay & My First Evil Campaign

Disclaimer: This page discusses one view of Thay, an infamously evil, slave-keeping, magocratic country in the Forgotten Realms. This vision is offered for entertainment purposes for adults only. I do not condone anything described; quite the opposite. Please read with discretion, and feel free to stop anytime. Before you use any ideas herein, please gain your group's full consent to engage the material.

Conan Hyborian Adventures, fantasyartdesign.com

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.

Table of Contents
Advice on Running an Evil Campaign Things I learned throughout my first evil campaign	A Thayan Timeline Events that greatly affected Thay and House Valgon
Slavery in D&D If you use slavery in an evil campaign, consider these aspects	Thayan Enclaves A review of known embassies, with a timeline and new additions
My Setup What I considered at the start of my first evil campaign	Religion in Thay Religions and holidays common in Thay
Thay Character Creation A guide to common character races, classes, and more	The Goddess Samora An evil deity I created for use in our game
Thayan Character Names A thematic list of names for Thayan characters	Thayan Noble Houses The 91 noble houses I created for our Thayan campaign
Thayan Name Generator A random name generator comprised of thematic sounds	House Valgon in Eltabbar The family tree of the player characters based in Eltabbar
Thay By Region Demographics of the tharchs of Thay	House Valgon in Tyraturos The family tree of the player characters based in Tyraturos
The City of Eltabbar An organized breakdown of Thay's capital city	Kismet's Guide to Thay A blog dedicated to exploring the everyday details of Thay
The City of Tyraturos A breakdown of Thay's crossroads metropolis

Table of Contents

Advice on Running an Evil Campaign

Things I learned throughout my first evil campaign

A Thayan Timeline

Events that greatly affected Thay and House Valgon

Slavery in D&D

If you use slavery in an evil campaign, consider these aspects

Thayan Enclaves

A review of known embassies, with a timeline and new additions

My Setup

What I considered at the start of my first evil campaign

Religion in Thay