Primer & Character Creation

3rd March 2025 #1

Step into a world

Where the rugged terrain teems with monsters and ne'er-do-wells, where ancient magic and the power of gods entwine with dark secrets. All eyes search for a mystical map, told to point to unimaginable treasure and knowledge! Leaving you tied up in a struggle for power, will you bring order or chaos?

Join the game if you want to...

...seek out ancient secrets and hidden treasure!
...explore a rugged highland region full of monsters and evil!
...Join a power struggle and leave your mark on the land!
...delve into dungeons in a old school style form of play!

    Expectations

  • Combat: 5 of 10
  • Social: 4 of 10
  • Puzzels: 7 of 10
  • Lethality: 10 of 10

The Truths of the Campaign

  • Rugged Terrain and Chaos: You find yourself in a world teeming with monsters and chaotic banditry.
  • Ancient Magic and Secrets: Dark secrets lurk beneath the surface, intertwined with ancient magic.
  • The Hidden Secret: A map is hidden somewhere here and leads to a grand treasure, guarded by forces of darkness. This mystery attracts many parties and treasure hunters alike.
  • Outlawed Magics: The Church of Terragnis enforces a strict anti magic policy within the land, those who are accused are burnt in the hold.
  • Assassination Attempt: The day before you arrived there was an assassinate attempt on the Castellan, the hold is on lock down.

Truths Uncovered Since

Potential Patrons or Foes

  • The Order are a coordinated group of men-at-arms and knight's tasked with keeping the hold secure from threats within and without. They are lead directly by the holds castellan, Count Blyarion, a former knight turned noble. Currently the order is faced with monster raids through out the hills and the assassination attempt on the count has put them on high alert.
  • Three Headed Coven are group of witches and druids hidden in the woods and hills lead by two sisters and one brother, Molent, Linelott, and Camar. They feel the growth of the hold and raiding of the sacred sites here must be punished. There only goal is to protect the secrets of the past so that history doesn't repeat.
  • Memon's Hand a cult of fanatic's who worship the evil god of chaos, Memnon, lead by a dark wizard called Tocoir who believes that a old relic is hidden here, a relic that can rend the laws of magic apart and allow Memnon to bring chaos to the land. Fanatically driven he works with monsters and the undead believing Memnon will award him for his work.
  • Church of Terragnis faith of the people, protector of law, lead locally by father Godain, a proud and stubborn man who demands all must follow the hashes of rules set out by the saints. The orders of the church have outlawed magic and Blyarion has supported them judicially. Now acolytes and clerics scour the land looking for mages to bring them to justice, burning them in a spectacle of fire in the center of the Hold.

Why your Here...

You have traveled far after hearing rumors that a ancient map leading the unimaginable treasure is hidden in the hills here. Locating it won't be a simple task and you'll need to work with and make friends along the way to ensure your success.

Charcter Creation Steps

The system we use is called ShadowDark, an OSR adjacent game, you can get the free quick start guide here. You will all start as level-one characters following the steps bellow:

  1. Page 14: Roll or pick background.
  2. Page 15: Attributes, roll 3d6 down-the-line.
  3. Page 16: Pick, or roll, an ancestry.
  4. Page 17 to 25: Pick, or roll, a class.
         Roll your first talent, as a human roll two.
         Roll hit points, Class Hit die + Con modifier, minimum result of 1.
  5. Pages 26 to 27: Title/station.
  6. Page 28: Alignment, pick or roll.
  7. Page 30: Deities, pick if wanted.
         A priest character must pick one.
  8. Page 33: Gear, start with 2d6 X 5 gold pieces and buy gear.
         All characters must have a backpack, and some rations.

Session Format & House Rules

  • At the Gates: Start each session at the "dungeon entrance."
  • Lost to the dark: All lights die at the end of the session, characters that fail to escape by the end of the session make a flat check DC11+1 for each dungeon zone/floor;
         On a failure they are lost forever, make a new character.
         On a success they escape, returning back to town.
  • Out of Time: Shopping and downtime done out of game through Discord.
  • Grinder Mode: Resting only recovers 1 point of stat damage and 1 hit dice worth of HP.
         Haven: Resting in the haven, in this adventure the Hold, recovers everything.
  • Combat Chaos Mode: Initiative is re-rolled each round.
  • Hunter Mode: Defeating monsters award XP equal to 1/4th of their level, rounded down.
  • Elective Path: At the end of the session the players vote what site or dungeon to go to next!