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Radotha: A Short Campaign

Page history last edited by Gillian 3 years, 9 months ago

This is to be a 3.5 E6 campaing for Tod, Mom, Tara and Jeff.

 

It is set in a campaign world all its own, completely separate from any other.

 

So far, we have had a brainstorming session and come up with the following ideas

 

Things we want:

City-states at war

A long-running empire

A single set of gods

The Party has a common purpose or goal

There are a few scattered outposts of civilization

 

Don't Want:

Feudalism - traditional kings and knights and such

Mighty, unkillable dragons

Unbalanced PCs

Lots of magic items

 

 Map Key:

Distance from Greyhurst to Vashemar is roughly 80 miles/5 days travel by foot or horse. The road is good, but has some steep places near the mountains, and is mostly forest until about 25-30 miles from Greyhurst, where the paler areas of the map indicate farms/crops and a river valley. 

 

There is a fairly substantial keep on the road on the west (mountain) side at the border. Otherwise, there are only scattered forestry villages north of Vashemar, and a few huntsmen/forestry villages on the Greyhurst side of the border, which is more lightly forested. 

 

(Map is from Quadrant A of "A Map of the Realm" by Chubby Funster, purchased from Drivethrurpg)

 

Summary of the world based on statements with and/but modifiers:

The empire is ancient and large, but now dying, slowly crumbling away at the borders, fading into nothing. There is nothing else in the world; when areas slip out of the empire's control, they fall under the sway of chaos and become overrun with monsters. People call these lands many things, including "the mists", "the forgotton lands" and "the waste". It is fairly common knowledge that the world is failing, but most common folk believe that their gods will protect them, either refreshing the world or opening some way to a new world before this one fades completely. How this will happen is a matter of speculation and rumor, but since most believe the world has generations yet to endure, they don't worry about it much. There are a few doomsday cults, and some sages and scholars devote themselves to the problem, but few take it seriously. A few tales indicate that the Mists into which the rest of the World has Fallen are not impenetrable, and that some lost pockets of other civilizations still exist. Most presume that they know how to save the world, by dint of their ability to survive.

 

At one time, many thousands of years ago, dragons were mighty, unslayable forces for good and evil who dominated the world. Wars between them shook the earth, and every living thing feared them. Then the gods (or something) splintered the dragons apart. Each beast was literally reduced to hundreds, perhaps thousands of shards of themselves; they are now the drakes, wyrms, sea-serpents, and dozens of other similar creatures that haunt the world today. Some folk believe that the Sundering of the Dragons was the ultimate cause of the Fading of the World, and it is necessary to recreate the Great Dragons of Old before the world can be mended. Some human and elven lines, including that of the Emperor, are reputed to be descended from dragons. This may or may not be true, but it is a fact that some cults of dragon-menders seek out these supposed dragon-blooded people to recruit. It is also true that some folk who are born with magic (sorcerers) sport some dragonlike marks on their bodies, such as patches of scales, or slit-pupiled eyes. 

 

Religion in the Empire:

 

Technology: early renaissance - with steam engines, but without firearms - magictech - dwarves do the tech, elves do the magic. Mostly. There's some overlap, of course. Most of it is elementally-driven - steam mephits and fire elementals and water weirds, etc... Much of the origin and methodology of the magic has been lost - people now know how to operate it rotely, but cannot create anything except the simplest devices themselves. Only a few of the most brilliant dwarves and elves, working together, can create anything new.

 

Races and Classes: There are six "demihuman" races in the world - humans, half-elves, elves, dwarves, gnomes and halflings. There are no half-orcs. Each has a variant that is "dragon-touched". A dragon-touched PC gains the following: +2 Str, -2 to another stat. +1 to saves vs one of the following: fire, electricity, cold, poison. All sorcerers are dragon-touched. 

I am also permitting Warforged, which are commonly simply called "Forged" in Radotha. https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Warforged_General_(3.5e_Race)

 

For this campaign, I'm using the PH classes, without modification, except E6 limits on levels. There are no prestige classes nor multi-classing allowed. 

 

Politics in the City States:

One region of the empire, now on the fringes of the Waste, is an area of warring city-states known as Vanarest. There are seven cities, including Vashemar, the Provincial Capitol, which is ruled by the third eldest son of the Emperor. Prince Kador is married, has three young sons of his own, and is also raising his niece, Princess Danielle, the orphan daughter of his eldest sister, who is just 17 and quite wild.

While they are technically all part of the Province of Vanarest, each city is semi-independently ruled by a Warlord. They spend more time feuding or outright warring than co-existing peacefully.  Vashemar is the provincial Capitol, the largest city, but it is landlocked. It boasts rich forests, broad fields and many herds and orchards. The city states often war with each other, and constantly feud over borders, trade rights, political causes and other seemingly vital issues. These wars are typically fought by small groups of highly trained soldiers, often laying siege to forts and castles that guard disputed border regions, but rarely burst out into larger conflagrations that harm the general populace. One reason for this is that the city-states are each required to send a member of their immediate ruler's family to Vashemar. In theory, these young people are companions to the Vashemaran royal family's children, but they are actually hostages for the good behavior of their respective cities. 

 

The City States

 

Vashemar

Greyhurst

 

 

PCs in the world:

The PCs are all part of the entourage of Princess Kessia. She was sent to the city of Greyhurst because she is wild and unpredictable, and Prince Kador hoped that she would, if given a chance to socialize and spread her wings, grow up to some degree. Greyhurst and Vashemar are sometime allies who dispute over trade rights to the rich lumber to be found in the forests north-east of the mountain range. For the past several years, a fairly good truce has been in effect, and it was considered safe for the Princess to travel there. The PCs are probably either junior members of Kessia's bodyguard, her foster-siblings and thus secondary or tertiary heirs of other city-states, or younger sons and daughters of other important families of the Cities. It is also possible that they are servants in the employ of the Prince, and are assigned to the Princess. 

 

The Beginning of the Campaign:

Two days ago, Princess Kessia and a trio of her closest friends played a nasty trick on her escort; during a riding party and picnic, the Princess gave her bodyguard the slip, and vanished. She left a note behind, declaring that she was perfectly safe - she had decided to travel south, to a town in the direction of Delland, to track down a fortune-teller who is reputed to travel the roads in that region, and "find out her future". The PCs are all members of the group Princess Kessia has run away from. While they are not senior-enough members of her entourage to be held directly responsible for her escape, they probably do blame themselves in some way, and certainly know that whoever can manage to "rescue" the runaway princess, and return her to safety, will be well-rewarded, with respect and honor if nothing else.

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