I’ve been running a weekly campaign of this game with a few friends. I intend to start writing a postmortem post after each session, but first I need to go over how we started and what’s happened since.
At the very beginning, I didn’t have most of the rules written. I had enough for character creation (though many things would change later) and a rough outline of the rest.
The background story I gave them is as follows: The Empire colonized and dominated this land for a couple hundred years, until the people of the Land united in rebellion. Twenty years ago, the Empire retreated, leaving behind outposts, fortresses and settlements, many of which are still unexplored. The people of the Land are rebuilding. Your characters are all desperate enough to seek your fortune exploring perilous old Imperial ruins.
Below is a brief overview of each player character and some of the basic options they selected. One thing you’ll notice is that each one has a Goal. This is something I had each player come up with as the reason they got into “adventuring”. They had to pick a specific thing they need money for and a specific amount of money they need. Because the game is meant to be played in a “sandbox-style”, they each need something to motivate them, to push them toward adventure. In concept, once they have that much money, they can retire and accomplish their goal.
The best part about the Goal, to me, is that because money also serves as the currency for character advancement, the characters will find themselves getting a bunch of treasure that they could save for their goal, then instead spending that money on gear and training, so that they can maybe score even more treasure later. I like that little bit of tension in their decision-making. Most importantly, though, it ensures that every character has a concrete, in-fiction reason to be involved in these frankly reckless endeavors.
Here’s the cast of characters:
Forram: Species: Ettin / Culture: The Tribes / Class: Magician / Goal: Build a farm: 2500 gold.
Forram is from an animistic tribe on the outer edges of the Land. He is a magician who studies Travel (movement and teleportation) and Medicine (healing). He’s an 8-foot tall troll who fights with his fists when he needs to.
(Note: I’m not really satisfied with the concept that I originally wrote up for the culture of the Tribes. I will either rewrite it substantially or replace it with something else. Currently, the Tribes are just shamanistic cliches. Forram’s player does not play him as a “native tribesman” stereotype, thankfully.)
Agorak: Species: Orc / Culture: The Hordes / Class: Pilgrim / Goal: Acquire supplies for ritual to empower his chieftain: 7000 gold.
Agorak is from a nomadic, communalist warrior clan. He is a pilgrim, a person who gains power from their mystical and religious practices. He is a holy person with the power bless others (Sanctifier skill), and he can protect people by creating mystic shields (Protector skill). He is a shaman who believes his power comes from the favor of powerful spirits. He is not very strong, but keenly intelligent and wise.
(Note: His player chose to play an orc from a barbarian horde, which is a totally valid choice, but it is by no means expected of orc characters. All of the cultures in the game contain members of all species, and the characters encounter orcs from all sorts of backgrounds. All of the sapient species in this world — the “folks” — have free will. None of them are inherently evil or driven to violence.)
Lendel: Species: Gnome / Culture: The Spire / Class: Magician / Goal: Create a cure to his curse: 3000 gold.
Lendel is a gnome — a 3-foot tall troll made of stone — from the nearby wealthy, metropolitan nation of the Spire. He was a very bright student at a Spire academy studying magical sciences, when an alchemy accident cursed him by draining his intellect and enhancing his strength. He is now very strong, but dim-witted. He has lost much of his mastery of magic outside of alchemy.
Anthony “Tony” Rockbone: Species: Dwarf / Culture: The Ancients / Class: Vagabond / Goal: Re-establish the Rockbone “family business”: 4000 gold.
Tony is a dwarf — a 5-foot tall fairy who can see and speak to ghosts, and see in the dark — from an Ancient settlement. The Ancients live among the old ruins of their culture, fixating on the past and striving not to change things, for fear of losing history. Tony, on the other hand, wants to rebuild his family’s business empire, which fell centuries ago. He is a vagabond — a wanderer with great survival skills. Tony doesn’t pay for food. He can always stir something up with a little bit of hunting and foraging.