About the Project

The Daggerdale Project is an attempt to create an exhaustive list of resources available for DMs who wish to run a campaign in the Daggerdale area of the Forgotten Realms. In addition to the official resources published by TSR, we've included fan-created material located on other web sites, and new material created especially for the project.

Please report any broken links, typographical errors, or other mistakes to mailto:admin@wandering-dwarf.com. I also welcome suggestions for new material to include in the project.

Background:

Daggerdale is located in the Dalelands region of Eastern Faerūn in the Forgotten Realms. Dagger Falls is the only town of any size in the dale, and it lies northwest of Shadowdale and due west of Zhentil Keep. The Zhentarim have long had an interest in Dagger Falls as a caravan stop on their route through the Anauroch Desert. For that reason they've subverted the legal government, replaced the ruling Morn family with their own stooges and sent troops to occupy the town. Randal Morn and his sister Silver are the last members of the ruling family. Silver married a Cormyrean nobleman and now resides in Cormyr. Randal conducted a 30-year guerilla campaign against the Zhentish forces occupying Dagger Falls that culminated in the retaking of that town in 1369 DR. More information about the Geography and History of Daggerdale can be found below, as well as a map of the area. I hope you enjoy the page…

Official Resources:

  1. Box Sets:

    1. The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 1st-Edition by Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb and Karen S. Martin
    2. The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 2nd-Edition by Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb with Don Dingle

  2. Supplements:

    1. The Dalelands by L. Richard Baker III
    2. Volo's Guide to the Dalelands by Ed Greenwood

  3. Novels:

    1. All Shadows Fled, by Ed Greenwood. Book no. 3 in the Shadows of the Avatar Trilogy.
    2. Finder's Bane, by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak. Book no. 15 in The Harpers series.

  4. Adventures:

    1. The Doom of Daggerdale - Wolfgang Baur (DoD)
    2. The Sword of the Dales Trilogy - Jim Butler
      1. The Sword of the Dales (SotD)
      2. The Secret of Spiderhaunt (SoS)
      3. The Return of Randal Morn (RoRM)

Onsite Resources:

  1. Expansions:

    1. The Daggerdale Campaign Expansion - A comprehensive campaign expansion written by Trevor Cooke and Mark Oliva for the Northern Journeys Adventure Project. This page includes the following items:
      1. Adventure Ideas - A few ideas for adventuring in Daggerdale
      2. Daggerdale Map - An expanded map of Daggerdale showing numerous villages (both official and unofficial), castles, dungeons and other features. The mapkey gives brief descriptions of the locations.
      3. Village Maps - maps in CC2 and GIF formats with detailed descriptions and map keys.
      4. Dungeon Maps - maps in CC2 and GIF formats with detailed descriptions and map keys.
      5. History - a detailed alternative history for the dale that incorporates and expands on the official history. The history is centered on an NPC created for the NJ project who has been a behind-the-scenes mover and shaker in Daggerdale, thus providing a powerful adversary for DMs to use in their Daggerdale campaign.
    2. The Freedom Riders - A description of the Freedom Riders who overthrew the Zhentarim tyrants in Dagger Falls and reinstalled Randal Morn as the rightful ruler of Daggerdale. Written by Francis Navarro for the Daggerdale Project.

  2. Adventures:

    1. Trouble in Castle Dunbarton by Christof Wuttke - A work in progress. Read over the adventure description, Dunbarton from Eric Boyd's Realmspeak Teasers above, or for Castle Raghansburg in the NJ module. Christof is submitting this adventure to both the Daggerdale Project and the FR Adventures Databaseand download the maps of Castle Dunbarton. The adventure is being designed so that the DM can set it in either Castle .

  3. Adventure Summaries: [SPOILERS]

    1. A Summary of the Doom of Daggerdale Adventure Module by Erskine Fincher - A brief outline of the important historical events that are given in the adventure.

  4. Errata:

    1. Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
    2. The Dalelands
    3. Volo's Guide to the Dalelands

A Map of Daggerdale:

Map of Daggerdale

This map was created by the Northern Journeys project group. Click on the map to view the full size image.

Geography of Daggerdale:

Official sources describe Daggerdale as a land of broken hills and valleys. The soil is rocky, but fertile and there is ample vegetation. Trees grow thick in the rich soil of the valleys and ravines while the hill tops tend to be rocky and grassy. Many small streams cut through the hills and run down to flow into the two rivers which flow through the dale, the River Tesh and the Dagger River. One thing which can be deduced from studying a map of the area is that there is a ridge separating the two river valleys that has its highest point in approximately the area of Castle Enneth. This ridge extends northeast from that point to separate the headwaters of the Cold Rush from the valley of the River Tesh and join with the Dagger Hills. The largest town in the dale, Dagger Falls, gets its name from the falls where the River Tesh flows over a sudden drop in this ridge line north of where it joins the Dagger Hills.

History of Daggerdale:

The following is a timeline for the Daggerdale area with both official and unofficial dates. All dates are in Dale Reckoning.

796/Year of the Gray Mists

  • --Merrydale becomes Daggerdale following vampiric infestation.

1267/Year of the Groaning Cart

  • --A bountiful harvest year.
  • --Colderan Morn rules in Daggerdale. He drives the dwarves of Clan Bladebright from the dale.*

1316/Year of the Gulagoar

  • --The Zhentarim take control of Teshendale. Refugees pour into Daggerdale and Dagger Falls including Zhent agents who incite a rebellion against the Morn family and install Malyk, a Zhentarim agent as ruler.*

1323/Year of Dreamwebs

  • --Birth of Randal Morn.**

1353/Year of the Arch

  • --Randal Morn kills the Zhent ruler Malyk, and frees much of Daggerdale (but not Dagger Falls) from the Zhents.
  • --Doust Sulwood retires to Arabel.
  • --Mourngrym Amcathra becomes Lord of Shadowdale.

1356/Year of the Worm

  • --Tarsakh - Cormyr sends troops to Tilver's Gap to combat orcs and goblins who have overrun Daggerdale and are threatening Tilver's Gap, Shadowdale and Mistledale. Meanwhile, Shadowdale turns back an invading army from Zhentil Keep. The small force of defending dalesmen were outnumbered five to one
  • --Kythorn - A small army of Cormyr now holds Tilver's gap after having slaughtered "many thousands" of orcs. The siege of Tilverton has been lifted, and Cormyr offers to annex the town. Priest Gharri of Gond, the town Elder, has not yet decided to accept or reject the offer.
  • --Flamerule - Gharri announces the formal annexation of Tilverton by Cormyr. Gharri is to remain at the temple of Gond as "Lord Regent of Tilverton," and Cormyr will maintain a standing garrison in the town.

1357/Year of the Prince

  • --Flamerule - A caravan out of Zhentil Keep was destroyed in the ruined town of Teshwave by allies and warriors of Cormyr. Cormyr and Zhentil keep have already clashed over the troubled lands around Daggerdale. Meanwhile, Mourngrym and Randal Morn, with their own men and a few mercenary additions and loaned troops from Cormyr's garrison in Tilverton have been fighting steadily to hold the overland road from Shadowdale and Mistledale through Tilver's Gap to Cormyr clear for safe passage by caravan. To lose this route means eventual economic ruin for both dales, and the acceptance of Daggerdale's extinction. They have largely succeeded: the devils seem to be fewer these days, and trolls and hobgoblins seem to have moved northward, leaving only orcs and norkers (?) in the Daggerdale area.
  • --Eleasias - Forces of Cormyr under Duke Bhereu have advanced from Tilverton to Shadowdale, where they have joined forces with Mourngrym in an attack on a dark elven caravan, and also aided Randal Morn in his fight to regain Daggerdale from the orcs of the Desertsedge Mts. The garrison at the fortress of Castle Crag has been doubled in size to repulse any attacks from the north, or from bandits taking advantage of the strife. Soldiers of Cormyr have met and battled the armies of Zhentil Keep in ruined Teshwave and in Daggerdale.

1360/ Year of the Turret

  • --The Temple of Lathander in Dagger Falls burns to the ground and eight priests die in their beds. Arson is suspected.***

1368/Year of the Banner

1369/Year of the Gauntlet

  • --Events of The Sword of the Dales Trilogy take place in this year.
  • --Randal Morn and his Freedom Riders reconquer Dagger Falls from the Zhentarim.

1371/Year of the Unstrung Harp

  • --The events of the Northern Jouneys Adventure Module 4, Daggerdale take place.

Notes on the Timeline:

*These two dates were taken from the Complete Forgotten Realms Timeline. They appear to me to be calculated from statements in DoD that place the overthrow of the Morn family 50 yrs prior to DoD, and the rule of Colderan Morn 100 yrs prior to DoD. This means they are based on how one dates DoD. Although the two dates don't jibe exactly with how I date DoD, I have left them as is. There is no reason to take the round figures of 50 and 100 literally and both dates are possible. Return to Timeline

**The date of Randal Morn's birth is based on the following sentence in Volo's Guide to the Dalelands: "After battling the Zhents for 30 winters, Randal Morn is once again Lord of Daggerdale." Randal Morn took control of Daggerdale in 1369 DR, so based on that statement he has been battling the Zhents since 1339 DR. If he began fighting them at the age of 16, then he was born in 1323 DR, and he is 46 when he achieves their final defeat. This line of reasoning involves a lot of assumptions, but it gives a good ballpark figure for those who would like to know how old Randal is. Return to Timeline.

***These dates are based on inference. The Doom of Daggerdale takes place sometime between the Time of Troubles (1358 DR) and the Year of the Guantlet (1369 DR). In the text of DoD the burning of the temple of Lathander is said to have taken place eight years earlier. The temple fire is unlikely to have occurred prior to or during the Time of Troubles since the ToT is not mentioned and the arsonist was a priest of Cyric. This means that the most likely dates for DoD are 1367 and 1368 DR. The events do not appear in the calendar for 1367 DR in the revised campaign setting, which makes that year unlikely. I've therefore chosen 1368 DR as the most likely date, but that is unofficial and other DMs might move the date back as far as 1366 DR and be within reason. Return to Timeline.

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