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.

What's New:

January 23, 2016 - Added two new links to Internet Resources provided by neuronphaser, who has written some good articles on running a Fifth Edition sandbox campaign in Daggerdale.

January 20, 2009 - Updated the Daggerdale Timeline to include information gleaned from the Ed Greenwood's replies on the Candlekeep website. Also used the information to create a family tree for Randal Morn's family.

January 15, 2009 - Added a description of Castle Daggerdale to the Daggerdale Project, complete with maps in both CC2 and JPG format. The castle has no official description in Realms canon, but I have tried to incorporate what little information there is into the description. Hope you find it useful.

December 22, 2008 - Wrote a synopsis and a review for the Sword of the Dales Trilogy. Enjoy!

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.
    3. Castle Daggerdale - A set of maps that detail the layout of Castle Daggerdale. There are three maps, which show the surrounding area, the castle grounds, and a floorplan of the keep. Click the link for a more complete description of the maps.
    4. Randal Morn's Family Tree - A genealogical table showing the ancestors of Randal Morn going back to Colderan Morn. The table is based on comments by Ed Greenwood posted to the Candlekeep forum. Read the original text here. (Scroll down to June 7.)

  2. Adventures:

    1. Trouble in Castle Dunbarton by Christof Wuttke - The Purple Dragons of Cormyr have moved troops into Daggerdale to counter the Zhentarim presence. Is Cormyr trying to annex Daggerdale? On behalf of Randal Morn, Daggerdale's rightful ruler, the PCs must convince the Purple Dragons to leave. Yet, at the same time they must battle a rogue drider, and Zhentish forces.

      This was a work in progress when it was submitted to the Daggerdale Project, and is not complete as presented here. There is, however, sufficient information for a DM to build a very challenging adventure that could be inserted just before, or just after, the events in the Sword of the Dales Trilogy.

  3. Adventure Summaries: [SPOILER ALERT]

    4. These summaries are intended for DMs who want to run a campaign in Daggerdale, but who do not have access to these adventure modules. They contain brief outlines of the historical events that occur in the adventures. Players in these adventures are advised not to read them.

    1. The Doom of Daggerdale by Erskine Fincher
    2. The Sword of the Dales by Erskine Fincher
    3. The Secret of Spiderhaunt by Erskine Fincher
    4. The Return of Randal Morn by Erskine Fincher

  4. Adventure Reviews: [SPOILER ALERT]

    5. This review is intended for DMs who want to run a campaign in Daggerdale, and are considering whether to use these adventure modules. It contains information about character levels, rule systems, playability, running the adventure, and conversion issues. Players are advised not to read.

    1. The Sword of the Dales Trilogy by Erskine Fincher

  5. Errata:

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

Internet Resources

  1. The Northern Dalelands Campaign: This website contains a mix of official and fan-created details on Daggerdale. (The page links that take you further down into a topic are at the bottom of the page.)
  2. Dungeons & Dragons 5E: The Daggerdale Campaign Sandbox: A good off-site resource for DMs running campaigns in the Daggerdale area. Written by neuronphaser as a companion to the article below, "this article provides some of the sandboxy elements, including magic item and spell conversions, a few dungeons, and tons of random encounter tables."
  3. Dungeons & Dragons 5E: The Daggerdale Campaign Threats: A companion article to the one above, "this article provides an overview of the state of Daggerdale and the threats that face it in a more sandboxy manner [...] providing the context of many active factions and their roster, and providing monster and NPC references straight from the D&D 5th edition rules."

    4. 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.

    1234/Year of the the Full Flagon

    • --Birth of Colderan Morn.1

    1265/Year of Flowers

    • --Birth of Belard Morn.2

    1267/Year of the Groaning Cart

    • --A bountiful harvest year.
    • --Colderan Morn rules in Daggerdale. His wife Belasaria becomes embroiled in a dispute with the dwarves of Clan Brightblade. Colderan threatens to bring down a curse on the dwarves, who decide to abandon their delvings at Eagles' Eyrie. They leave behind two champions, Elshar Kurl and Dorn the Grim, to do battle with the Mage-Lord. The dwarves forge a short sword of cold iron that is enchanted to kill arcane spellcasters. The blade is not enough, however; Colderan slays them. He leaves the sword where it lies, though, unable to touch it because of the enchantment.3

    1268/Year of Daystars

    • --Belasaria Morn is poisoned. Colderan suspects the dwarves of Clan Brightblade, but it was actually done by his allies, the drow. The drow also kidnap his son Belard, but the boy is promptly rescued by Harpers who spirit him away to Waterdeep in order to keep him away from the influence of his tyrannical father. Colderan is unable to magically trace the boy, and assumes that he was slain by the dwarves. Belard is fostered out to the Crownthorn family and grows up in the Silver Marches. He serves with the Harpers and marries fellow Harper Danathra Ilkwood.

    1293/Year of the Talking Skull

    • --Birth of a son to Belard and Danthra Crownthorn. They name him Flars.

    1300/Year of the Star Fall

    • --Birth of a daughter to Belard and Danthra Crownthorn. They name her Yethtrae.

    1301/Year of the Trumpet

    • --Death of Danthra Crownthorn from Winter Fever. Distraught, Belard seeks comfort in hunting wolves.

    1304/Year of the Stag

    • --Having become reckless in his despair, Belard is killed in the forests near Myth Drannor by something far more dangerous than a wolf. His children are taken by the Harpers. Yethtrae is fostered to the Elondar family in Waterdeep. She marries Deraun Delraven and they have two daughters, Elessa and Ilimbra. Flars is raised by Harpers in the area west of the High Forest.

    1312/Year of the Griffon

    • --Colderan Morn dies, leaving no known heir to the lordship of Daggerdale. The dale sees an increase in bandit and humanoid attacks.

    1313/Year of the Shattered Oak

    • --On a visit to Silverymoon, Flars meets and marries Maerinda Elproast. Harpers reveal to him that he is the rightful heir to Daggerdale, and offer to help him reclaim his title. He accepts.

    1314/Year of the Shadowtop

    • --Flars restores order to Daggerdale, and reclaims the lordship for the Morn family.

    1316/Year of the Gulagoar

    • --The Zhentarim take control of Teshendale. Refugees pour into Daggerdale and Dagger Falls, including Zhent agents who begin covert operations against Lord Flars. Incursions by humanoids and banditry run rampant. A rumor is spread that Flars is not a true descendant of Colderan Morn, but a Harper puppet.4

    1323/Year of Dreamwebs

    • --Birth of Randal Morn.5

    1327/Year of the Blue Flame

    • --The Morn family is forced to flee Dagger Falls. They take refuge in Castle Daggerdale. Dagger Falls and the northern area of the dale descends into anarchy. A man named Malyk appears, claiming to be the great-nephew of Colderan Morn, and rightful heir to the lordship of the dale.

    1335/Year of the Snow Winds

    • --Birth of Silver Morn. The situation in Daggerdale has become so treacherous, that Flars sends Maerinda south to Cormyr with both children as soon as she is able to travel.

    1336/Year of the Highmantle

    • --Aided by troops from Zhentil Keep, Malyk assaults Castle Daggerdale. Flars is killed in the fighting, and Malyk consolidates his control over the dale.

    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.6

    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:

    1. This date, and all others given for the births and deaths of Randal's ancestors are purely speculative on my part. They are part of my attempt to construct a more detailed timeline for the dale. I have done my best to choose dates that make sense given what we know about events, but DMs may find legitimate reasons to reject the dates. Return to Timeline
    2. Belard Morn appears in Ed Greenwood's Candlekeep reply of June 7, 2005, along with his wife, Danthra, his two children, Flars and Yethtrae, and their spouses. Return to Timeline
    3. This date was taken from the Complete Forgotten Realms Timeline. It appears to be calculated from statements in DoD that place the rule of Colderan Morn 100 yrs prior to DoD. This means they are based on how one dates DoD. Although the date doesn't jibe exactly with how I date DoD, I have left it as is. There is no reason to take the round figure of 100 literally and anything within that range is possible. Return to Timeline
    4. The second edition timeline gave this as the year in which Daggerdale was overrun by the Zhentarim, but the third edition FRCS gives it as 1336 DR. Ed Greenwood has stated that the second edition timeline was always too compressed, and that the takeover of the dale would have required more time. The timeline I have constructed above is based on his suggestion. Return to Timeline.
    5. 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.
    6. 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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