Tell me about your character

For my current players:

Despite numerous distractions (prepping for vacation, busy at work, and a wife toying with the idea of us buying a new house), I’ve been busy seeding the map with sandbox hooks and seeds.

However, I realized that at the beginning of our first game I, in typical “old school” fashion didn’t really get too much detail about your PCs. In fact we jumped into the adventure feet first.

I have deliberately kept alot about our game generic. The Southlands are so called since that was the name of the map from Points of Light. The names of pantheon, the Twelve, are more eponymous due to their tarot inspiration and too many readings of The Black Company and its collection of noms de guerre.

The Southlands are a new land for the adventuring party. There’s alot about the wilderness that is currently a mystery. But knowing about the party can help me in crafting adventures and hooks. So I’d like to know what motivates the party. Their weaknesses, fears. A little of their history back in civilization.

So tell me about your character…..

A Quick Question….

…..For my players, actually.

What was the fate of the pile of parchments found in the room with the rug? Did the party keep it or sell/donate? My memory is hazy; my notes unclear.

Updates

In the wake of last weeks inaugural session, Ive added a few new pages. My intention for this blog is to be an info dump/wiki for the campaign, so while it may not be pretty it will hopefully do its job.

I’ve added an NPC page, a page listing the members of the party, as well as a page dedicated to session logs. Each of these will currently vary in content or quality.

I also added a slight change to the Ale and Wenches houserule. I added a save v poison requirement before rolling on the corousing mishap table. My recent purchase of the Miscellaneum of Cinder cemented that change.

(My apologies for the lack of links in this post, but its Saturday and too hot for html)

Prologue

For days you and your new comrades have traveled down the Golden Pass, the trade route over the Westwall Mountains from the Grand Kingdom to the frontier.

With each step, you come closer and closer to your new lives. You’ve each endured the hardships of life on the road, eager to shape your destinies in the Southlands, ready to begin your pursuit of fortune and glory.

On this bright, early summer afternoon, you find yourself at the gates of the village of Hawksleigh. A small island of civilization on the edge of the frontier, Hawksleigh appears to be the abode of a few hundred citizens.

Surrounded by a six foot high stockade fence, the village is a collection of simple wood and stone houses. There is, you note, a small stone chapel dedicated to the Twelve near the center of the village. In almost direct opposition (geographically and perhaps philosophically) there is also a small tavern here, whose garish red and gold sign proclaims it to be “The Shady Dragon Inn”.

On this day at least, Hawksleigh is a bustle of rustic activity: farmers leading herd animals, lumber wrights cutting large trunks of elm into planks; hunters bearing venison. Children play in the square; a few bored youths bearing pikes man the stockade walls; and in the distance the distinctive clang of a blacksmith’s hammer on iron can be heard.

The villagers, all human it seems, pass and take note of you newcomers. They warmly greet you as you stand there planning your immediate futures.

(Hawksleigh is located in hex 2406 in the Points of Light player’s map. PDF download here. )

A New House Rule

With a new game on the horizon, Ive decided to implement a new house rule. It won’t have an immediate impact, but I’ve always liked it. The new rule harkens back to the gold as xp rule of original D&D and is cooly fun.

Idea stolen from Jeff Rients of Jeff’s Gameblog.

14. Ale and Wenches! Players can opt to earn some extra XPs by carousing. At the beginning of a session ( or under certain circumstances online between sessions) if a PC is hanging around Ye Olde Village Inne with nothing better to do, they can roll 1d6 and spend 100gp times the roll on liquor and/or lechery. The character gains experience equal to the gold spent. The d6 x 100 standard applies to villages only. A PC could travel to a town or city and debauch much more efficiently. Towns are worth d8 x 150 gp/xp and cities d10 x 200. Carousing occurs at the beginning of a session and normally only characters that ended their last adventure in a town or city can take advantage of the bigger dice and higher standard of living sinfully. Thieves who are members of the local guild can spend 50gp more per pip if they so desire, while their friends can spend 25gp extra. Being mobbed up gets you first crack at the really good lotus powder, etc.

If the die roll is equal to or less than the character’s level, the result is a rousing good time and no harm done. Rolling above the character’s level indicates things got out of hand one way or another and the poor sucker must roll d20 and consult the chart below.

If a character cannot afford the carousing they have rolled, they also must consult the chart and they only gain XP equal to half their money (though all the money is spent). Fellow PCs can chip in to cover a character’s bar tab, but henchmen only do so to avoid the imprisonment of the PC and then only if a loyalty check is successful.

Carousing Mishaps

1 ) Make a fool of yourself in public. Gain no XP. Roll Charisma check or gain reputation in this town as a drunken lout.
2 ) Involved in random brawl. Roll Strength check or start adventure d3 hit points short.
3 ) Minor misunderstanding with local authorities. Roll Charisma check. Success indicates a fine of 2d6 x 25gp. Failure or (inability to pay fine) indicates d6 days in the pokey.
4) Romantic entanglement. Roll Wisdom check to avoid nuptials. Otherwise 1-3 scorned lover, 4-6 angered parents.
5 ) Gambling losses. Roll the dice as if you caroused again to see how much you lose. (No additional XP for the second carousing roll.)
6 ) Gain local reputation as the life of a party. Unless a Charisma check is failed, all future carousing in this burg costs double due to barflies and other parasites.
7 ) Insult local person of rank. A successful Charisma check indicates the personage is amenable to some sort of apology and reparations.
8 ) You couldn’t really see the rash in the candlelight. Roll Constitution check to avoid venereal disease.
9 ) New tattoo. 1-3 it’s actually pretty cool 4 it’s lame 5 it could have been badass, but something is goofed up or misspelled 6 it says something insulting, crude or stupid in an unknown language.
10 ) Beaten and robbed. Lose all your personal effects and reduced to half hit points.
11 ) Gambling binge. Lose all your gold, gems, jewelry. Roll Wisdom check for each magic item in your possession. Failure indicates it’s gone.
12 ) Hangover from hell. First day of adventuring is at -2 to-hit and saves. Casters must roll Int check with each spell to avoid mishap.
13 ) Target of lewd advances turns out to be a witch. Save versus polymorph or you’re literally a swine.
14 ) One of us! One of us! You’re not sure how it happened, but you’ve been initiated into some sort of secret society or weird cult. Did you really make out with an emu of was that just the drugs? Roll Int check to remember the signs and passes.
15 ) Invest all your spare cash (50% chance all gems and jewelry, too) in some smooth-tongued merchant’s scheme. 1-4 it’s bogus 5 it’s bogus and Johnny Law thinks you’re in on it 6 actual money making opportunity returns d% profits in 3d4 months.
16 ) Wake up stark naked in a random local temple. 1-3 the clerics are majorly pissed off 4-6 they smile and thank you for stopping by.
17 ) Major misunderstanding with local authorities. Imprisoned until fines and bribes totaling d6 x 1,000gp paid. All weapons, armor, and magic items confiscated.
18 ) Despite your best efforts, you fall head over heels for your latest dalliance. 75% chance your beloved is already married.
19) When in a drunken stupor you asked your god(s) to get you out of some stupid mess. Turns out they heard you! Now as repayment for saving your sorry ass, you’re under the effects of a quest spell.
20) The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire! Accidentally start a conflagration. Roll d6 twice. 1-2 burn down your favorite inn 3-4 some other den of ill repute is reduced to ash 5-6 a big chunk of town goes up in smoke. 1-2 no one knows it was you 3-4 your fellow carousers know you did it 5 someone else knows, perhaps a blackmailer 6 everybody knows.

Actual Gaming in the Tri-State!

First game of a possible new gaming group and campaign is scheduled for June 13, 5 PM.

Who woulda thunk it?