Tag: One Sheet

  • Age of Myths, the Uncoupling: Campaign One Sheet

    Age of Myths, the Uncoupling: Campaign One Sheet

    For the first time I’m going to be playing a character in my world. One of my players in the last two campaigns is going to DM and together we set up the one-sheet so as to not change too much lore. One of the ideas I came up with early, was by playing in the Age of Myths, because any lore changes can just be referenced as legend when we play in the current era.

    The Road to the Uncoupling

    Your story begins in a prosperous world of togetherness and mutual can-do spirit.  Before the battle for the heart of Kirtin on the Lake (KotL) or the sacking of Kirtin in the Sky (KotS), before the Proctors spread death and misery in Sas Rurulit, and before the unprecedented events of the Awakening and the finding of Lorebooks, there was The Uncoupling.  The apocalypse that destroyed the weave of magic for the Kin and Kon, leaving Ken and the 5 coloured dragons of the Chromatic Convocation in complete possession of magik. 

    Players are part of a select group that were born with innate magical ability (you’ve been everflow touched) that is prized even in this magic-rich world.  Possibly you inherited your trait from a bloodline trait or ancestral ties to deeper magik of the Everflow.  It has shaped your early years, possibly enrolled at a young age by family in the scholarly studies to become part of the magik ruling core of society or you hid your talent and nurtured it on your own. 

    However, recently there have been rumblings, rumors about a shadow organization unhappy with the status quo, who seek to eliminate the existing ruling council and rule not by consensus but by force.  You’ve each been selected by the bronze Dragonborn Artok, tasked with this mission by his patron, the adult Bronze Dragon (Othimbane) who sits on the council, to identify and either infiltrate or forcefully break these fools of their notions and ensure that no other plots are forthcoming. 

    A global map of the world centered on the spaces where play in the campaign has occurred to this point.

    The following is written by the DM for this campaign.

    Premise 

    • This campaign takes at least three millennia before the Born Generation and the return of magic to the Lands of the Everflow.
    • Gain information about “The Shadows”, a secretive organization bent on wiping out the Ruling Council of Aur.
      • Artok has the rough information about several potential members that could lead you to a hideout or meeting place. 
    • Infiltrate or brute force your way into the group. 
    • Identify other members and find potential leads about who is the power behind “The Shadows”.
      • Keep (human council) and (gnome council) members apprised of your investigation. 
    • Possibly assist the council with additional tasks at your discretion.  

    Factions  (NPC names to come soon)

    • The Ruling Council of Aur (RCoA) – A group of 9 members, three of each Ken, Kin, and Kon, and 4 dragons, two each of metallic and chromatic. 
      • The RCoA is the “federational government” of Aur, with different cultures/regions governing in their own way and answering to the RCoA.
      • Kin: Human (F), Goliath (they), Halfling (M)
      • Ken: Elf (F), Elf (M), Dwarf (M)
      • Kon: Goblin (M), Bugbear (They), Hobgoblin (They)
      • Dragons:
        • Elder Metallic (Silver) – Tanargnyvur
        • Adult Metallic (Bronze) – Othimbane
        • Elder Chromatic (White) – Dwargauth
        • Adult Chromatic (Blue) – Nymaryxon
    • In occurrence with the rise of The Dragon moon (the fourth moon of the Aurian system), the dragons withdraw from the council for a year (draakmoeten) and meet at an undisclosed location with the world dragon (a deep time dragon) named Andarawus Del-mos. 
    • The Metallic Dragons
    • The Chromatic Dragons 
    • The Shining Order of Dreki – Holy dragonborn order who serve the Draconic races as paladins, clerics, and religious personages located across the world. Some that choose a more individual path travel and assist as Priests and Mortuary persons in smaller towns and villages.
      • Necromantic magic is thought to primarily flow through the draconic race). 
    • The Shadows – A heretofore unknown organization/cult/religion(?) focused on the overthrow of the RCoA, and to rule through force and oppression rather than through consensus. 

    Campaign Facets 

    • 2nd & 3rd tier drop in/out campaign play, starting at 5th level 
    • All PCs start at lv.5 with the added feat “Everflow Touched”, adding a +1 to spell attack modifier and adding one free 1st level spells (from any school except necromancy, unless your PC is dragonborn) to your spell list which can be cast once per long rest.
      • Material components will not be needed.
      • at lv. 9 this will increase to +2 and an additional spell (2nd lv.) can be learned.
    • Rules used are core 2014 WotC D&D, plus most player facing options from WotC
      • Check with the DM about using setting-specific feats, subclasses and spells
    • Allowed races are Kin (human, halfling, goliath), Kon (goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear), Ken (elf, dwarf, non-rock gnomes) and dragonborn/kobold as shining order of Dreki
    • Divine magic is thought to come from the forces of nature and the philosophies, there is no active pantheon of faith, beyond those who worship the dragons.
    • Potential for multiple pathways to quest completion
    • Player driven story creation in a sandbox setting
    • Wide regional/worldwide settings with airship and/or teleportation travel 
    • Actions may become legend
    • Milestone leveling – several sessions per level gain; saves time when we all don’t have to track XP
  • Proctors of the Everflow: Campaign one sheet

    Proctors of the Everflow: Campaign one sheet

    This is an introduction to the seventh campaign set in the World of the Everflow. The most significant difference between these and the previous campaigns are that the player characters are all members of the Proctors, a group that once completely restricted magic from entering the Land of the Six Kingdoms.

    The campaign will start in the city of Ras Rurulit in Daoud shortly after the PCs were dropped off there. They have a safe house. Operating in the city either in hiding or in open defiance of convention will be up to the party.

    The ground floor of a small house. The entry space has a tower-stair that goes to the second floor. There is hall that connects a living room and a kitchen.
    Home builder from Oleg Dolya
    Second floor of the small house. There is an entry loft that connects to a library and a bedroom.
    A small circular neighborhood with light woods in the north. The west and south are mostly barren. The east has a few trees. In the center is a courtyard, large tree and a few government buildings.
    Far Band is a town circle in Sas Rurulit, produced by the Neighborhood Generator
    Map of the Akamnasulun Turalagh Coast. There's a peninsula that stretches from southeast to north. Cities mostly line the coastal areas with few in the interior.
    Perilous Shores providing the Akamnasulun Turalagh Coast

    Campaign Premise

    Your group of Proctors are working together to capture and contain the Book of the Word and the Book of Dance, two groups of Scholars active in southern Daoud. You are authorized to use any measures necessary to control this group. They have been teaching well beyond just a Scholar and two Students – end them.

    Background

    In the last passing of the Dragon, the fourth moon, the World of Everflow experienced the return of magic, the introduction of goblins with smog teknologies, and empowerment of animal companions. Native to the Lands of the Everflow, the Kin all have animal companions, some learning minor magics. Rarer are those whose companions are empowered.

    The fey Ken object to these souls casting spells. Their Proctors crush the spread of magic and seek the Lorebooks from the seventeen schools where spellcraft was trapped. As the Ken invade from the west and the Six Kingdoms’ borders are rewritten, a forgotten peoples float on airxips from the north. The Kon are a smog-punk society with klackety, noisy tek coming from an island of guilds and invention.

    Heroes rise with their animal companions joining their journey. From humble beginnings these heroes show the power of fellowship and share knowledge with the greater world.

    In this case, the PCs are not heroes. They are not antiheroes. They are the Ken, people of knowledge, hoarding and limiting magic from the common people in the Six Kingdoms.

    This map is what the initial intelligence of the Ken thought the Six Kingdoms looked like. It’s quite wrong. Your group of Proctors are in the far south of Daoud, a rough land similar to the non-desert coastal Maghreb.

    Grand Conflicts

    • Proctors versus Scholars
    • Proctors versus the rare Gobkon in the south
    • Do the Elder Dragons really know best?

    Factions

    • The Book of the Word – book based spellcasters
    • The Book of the Song – music based spellcasters
    • Fleet of the Silent Knight – Daoud’s force responsible for maintaining control of the bay.
    • Isarnalijik and Isamamimir’s Squadron – the remnants of land forces who insist they are the rightful heir to the desert lands.

    Rumors

    • There are many colleges and universities in the land.
    • Magistrate Sas Rurulit is the greatest singer in Daoud’s history.
    • Ishurrumukuf has been taken over by one of the trade guilds of Qin
    • A great storm is coming from the West.

    Facets

    • The group are a collection of secret agents or special operators. They may act undercover or violently during the mission.
    • They have one ally to start, Sabrinigha. She runs the safehouse and is a halfling of the born generation slowly discovering spell craft.
    • The lack of animal companions will be obvious. They’ll need a cover story.
    • In traditional D&D this mission would be Lawful Evil.

    Variant Rules

    • Ken start with a Feat that grants a 1st level spell such as Magic Initiate.
    • Short rests are 8 hours. Long rests need sanctuary and 12 hours. This leads to a pace more similar to a novel.
    • Find Familiar and similar spells are banned from PC knowledge at the start of the game.
    • 50% of Enchantment spells no longer exist. This will not impact your spell choice.
    • Use point buy or standard array for starting attributes. If you want something random, the redrick roller gives random point buy valid stats.
    • Start at 7th level because the Proctors are powerful.
    • There are several custom backgrounds and tools available. We will use cultures, not languages. Each character will start with “Daoud (Common to the area) and Ken” for their cultures. If your PC would have more languages discuss that with the DM.
    • Each character will start with 500+1d10*25 gold to spend on mundane items or to put in a pouch and use as spending money.
    • Each character will start with TWO COMMON magic items, plus an Oriq Mask (see Strixhaven) and one RARE item based on the character’s Background and role within the Proctors. That Rare item will have story elements to it, may get stolen. May level up. We’ll see.
    • Each character must be be a spellcaster, but no Druids or Clerics or Rangers. Proctors serve the Elder Dragons, not gods or nature.
    • Every character must represent one of the Proctor factions – Seeker, Defender, Striker. The chart below shows a few examples.
    SeekerDefenderStriker
    Wizard
    EvokerX
    DivinerX
    AbjurerX
    Warlock (dragons)
    ArchfeyX
    FiendX
    Great Old OneX
    Sorcerer
    DraconicX
    WildX
    Rogue
    Arcane TricksterX
    Paladin
    AncientsX
    Devotion
    Monk
    Four ElementsX
    Fighter
    Eldritch KnightXX
    Bard
    LoreXX
    ValorXX
    Artificer
    ArmorerXXX
    ArtilleristXX
    AlchemistXX
    Battle SmithX
    Subclasses in other 5e Wizards of the Coast and Kobold Press books may be used as well.
  • Gendarmes of Sheljar Campaign: One Sheet

    Gendarmes of Sheljar Campaign: One Sheet

    This campaign is set seven years after the Lorebook Hunters returned magic to the World of the Everflow. It is set in the Free City of Sheljar, and is centered on clearing portions of the bog-city from the return of undead and tunneling nightmares. Combat and exploration will be heavier than social play at the beginnnig. Every character is united in keeping residents of Sheljar safe and mostly unified in the ideals of Free Shejlar (all thinking peoples have value), but may have differing concepts about how to do so.

    The bog-city of Sheljar sits in a lowland below a waterfall. The climate is cool and wet, think the lowlands of the upper Salish, the moors of Scotland with a boggy multi-island brackish lake similar to New Orleans.

    Campaign Premise

    The party is a group of guards that volunteered and is paid to help the Lorebook Hunters keep the people of Sheljar safe from skeletons, zombies, wights and other undead. Tunneling Nightmares may have returned to isles in the bog-city as well. They will start in the old neighborhood of Jherr as recent migrants have noticed a cavern with odd noises and smells.

    Made using Perilous Shores, this is the neighborhood of Jherr, to the north and east of the core of Sheljar. The southeast corner is less brackish than most of the bog-city, almost an internal fresh water space.

    Background

    The Flag of the Free City of Sheljar features the moon Feylf in crescent, a white triangle entering a field of the sea and Boo, in his skeletal form.

    Once upon a time, the Empire of Sheljar ruled all of the Western Wildes, from the Cliffs of Galinor to Mira to Qin. Then, the Born Generation of magically imbued teens (27 years ago) caused chaos and disruption, upending the old ways. One of the Born Generation, the Necromancer, thought he was doing good, keeping dying peoples and animals with their families, but these horrifying undead monstrosities were often rejected. As he raised more and more, people fled Sheljar, emptying it out, leaving the bog-city nearly abandoned to the Necromancer and his unliving nightmares. A misty stench then started to control the city and more people fled.

    It was not until after the eruption of the volcano, the battle of Cortez and Chorl, and the Lorebook Hunters eventually slaying the Necromancer that Sheljar felt free again. Now, six years later the Free City of Sheljar welcomes all thinking peoples. Those that return to their former homes have their property back. Those without homes are granted plots and space with the promise of aid. Few ships dock at Sheljar, but that number increases every month.

    Sheljar has several dozen gobkon, a few dozen Ken with no known dragons, but most of its 2,000 generally agrarian peoples are various Kin with their animal companions. The Gendarmes and the Lorebook Hunters are the only standing ‘army.’ Most of the residents are frontier peoples ready to defend their cottages but only have clubs and other utensils as weapons.

    A map of the former Empire of Sheljar, now a series of independent city-states and free towns.

    Grand Conflicts

    At the start this is a simple island of the week adventure, where the Gendarmes are responsible for discovering and clearing pockets of undead.

    Factions

    • Lorebook Hunters – this is the leadership of Sheljar.
    • Cult of Nak – these are the remnants of Chrol’s transformations.
    • Fort Ooshar is under control of the Fox and Crow, a gang that sees opportunity to raid the migrants heading to Sheljar
    • A death cult has taken over the lands west of Telse.

    Rumors

    • The Folio of Necromancy may be missing. Saffron had held it prior to rising to part of the leadership council.
    • What is that stench out east? Tunneling Nightmares?
    • The Volcano of the Glass Tower is glowing.

    Facets

    • Exploring the zero-to-hero tropes, friendship with animals, and who gets to control knowledge.
    • Sandbox play.
    • Player agency creates history.
    • Drop in/drop out, whatever. This is an episodic campaign.
    • Sessions are 60-90 minutes. Adventures are 1-3 sessions.

    Variant Rules

    • Playable races are Human, Hin(what they call themselves)/Halfling, Goliath/Firbolg, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome (wood only), Goblin, Hobgoblin, Bugbear.
      • Only the Kon (goblinoids) may be Artificers.
      • Kin start with a Bonded Companion.
      • Ken start with a Feat that grants a 1st level spell such as Magic Initiate.
      • Kon start with Tek.
    • There are a few custom subclasses available (Way of Frayed Knot, Society of Veil and Shadows, Conscript, Propagandist, Circle of Sewers).
    • There are several custom backgrounds and tools available. We will use cultures, not languages.
    • Use point buy or standard array for starting attributes. If you want something random, the redrick roller gives random point buy valid stats.
    • Start at 1st level because several are new to the game, let’s learn together.
    • The Gendarmes start with a small sailing boat (Crew:4 for rudder, sails, a repeating heavy crossbow, and a fire sling).
    • Long rests require 24 hours within sanctuary. This creates a pace of play more similar to novels than video games.

    Practicum

    Sessions will be on Wednesdays right after work, played over Meet with shared screen used to help set the scene. Theater of the Mind will be the most common form of combat, ideally using cinematic descriptions which will grant Inspiration. There is a campaign on DnDBeyond, used only by the participants rather than open to public.

    Every character is assumed to have Common Knowledge in the Six Kingdoms.