Campaign Idea Discussion

[GM / Malinous]

Long lived characters. Long Campaign. 1-4 circle there probably won't be giant breaks, but after that I'm thinking. Things like:

"50 years pass". During that time the character can still do interesting things, it's just up to the player to describe it, or it gets resolved in a more cooperative story form with the gm, with a minimum number of tests. For example, you could found a school, work as a ranger, sail as a pirate, any of those! With an eye towards nothing so substantial it over shadows the campaign ["I burned thera!"], basically stuff roughly no-greater-than the campaign!

Which is an eyeball thing. Sneaking into Thera probably shouldn't happen, and exploration would have to be pre-gm approved. (Exploring some mountains not bad as long as the gM doesn't plan to use it. Exploring the Rosewood? PRoably not.). Administering a city in politics, setting up a fighter school,, that kind of thing.

I figure the time periods would increase as the campaign goes on (What is significant/character defining for a 5th circle character is much different than what is significant for a 1st circle character).

Kind of like most stories with truly old characters. sure, Duncan McCleod's day to day of his first 5 years is significant, but there are 50 year stretches where he doesn't really need to make a die roll even if he did some fighting. Heck, wars are often just a backdrop for meeting some NPC once. Not something fought for.

Which also allows for a lot of forum-discussion at-your-own-schedule, as opposed to strict in-game stuff with everyone present at the same time.

[GM / Malinous]

Starting point:

Something along the lines of:
Characters are maybe elven brothers if they want, or else they know they're half brothers, or they're close friends and don't realize it. There are probably more than just you three dragon kin, but the patriarch has done a good job seeing that the traits are disguised, and it's a racially diverse Cear (maybe even unusually so, such as having an attached life rock or giant lake with a very small T'Skrang population). I'd probably start with some dramatic event - like the walls get breached by a horror and the cear's store of maps lost, so the characters have to explore with no real idea of where they are or what's out there. IT may end up being earlier in the timeline than the actual game, so the players can be involved in founding outside- outposts and towns. [Something like "you receive a mysterious note suggesting you gather in the square at dawn. Soon after dawn everything falls apart, and the patriarch, a powerful identifiable horror, and the town capital (with repository/library/patriarch's hoard) disappears. leaving the populace to deal with other threats that accompanied the horror. Something along those lines. Maybe he left behind a drake with very complicated and specific instructions - a bit of foresight, who has alrady prepared/nominated your characters to be the first sent out!

[GM / Malinous]

My vision of the world is that a lot of smaller villages/towns/rich clans sold everything they had of value to maek their own protection, rather than all joining major cities, so small underground fortresses/manors may prove more common than the main book may imply to some. I.e., populations in the hundreds, rather than in the thousands.

[GM / Malinous]

Rethinking the start a little. We may be starting in roughly 1395 TC, if I remember the calendar right. Maybe 1405. Not sure. I think Thera may have opened in 1392, but the magic may not have stabilized until 1415? I have to double check the calendars. It may be that Throal opened in 1415, but the magic stabilized earlier, I forget.

I have thoughts, but I think the first adventure will be relatively mundane, taking place in a still safe and secure Kaer! For a given value of safe and secure.

Some thoughts:
Very multi-ethnic Kaer- all races represented.
Due to a few horrors sneaking in, and one occasionally revealing itself every 10-20 years, it is not unusual for the population to walk around armed and in light armor. Although it may be approaching 30-50 years since the last sighting . . .

You may question how they snuck in with _____ (Dragon Sire) watching over things. He pretends he doesn't hear the question if asked. Still, you can't help but feel that the Kaer as a whole is better prepared for danger than they would have been if they'd had 250+ years of safety. Although if there were even whispers of rumours that ______ might have let horrors in intentionally, you'd all probably be executed. The dozens of murdered families from horrors that weren't discovered for decades or in a couple cases, centuries, left some emotional scars and grudges. Dragons are cold, calculating bastards.

[As a side effect, well-armed criminals are not uncommon either!]

No one knows that _____ is a dragon. Except perhaps a few key people. I'm guessing the PCs know, and the PCs mother, who insisted that the PCs be told. She's hitting older age for an elf, but is probably a mid to high level adept with a will of iron.

I have a bunch of thoughts on the politics of the Kaer. Including name and location. But I"m still refining those.

I see the PCs as being recent-adults who share a living space. [On the one hand ____ insists you be on your own, on the other hand, space in a Kaer is at an extreme premium, so no way we could each have our own place!]

For now I'm just referring to our home town and Kaer D.

[ehren]

So, just for clarification:
1) We're starting a couple of years before Throal opens? But, after magic has stabilized, and people are arguing about whether or not the magic level will fall further?

2) I was kinda hoping that we'd be part of one of the villages that eventually comes together to found Uropa. - We'd could be on the ground floor of something cool; gives us access to leave Barsiave if the plot drives it; Uropa doesn't have a significant power base, so a couple of adepts starting a fighting/healing school in a local suburb would be somewhat realistic.

[GM / Malinous]

Not familiar with Uropa. Although I did Order the GM book on Sunday. But 5-7 day shipping, my Amazon Prime trial ran out, and I'm already $100 into the game, too cheap to pay for faster shipping :-p.

OH, and all my old gaming books apparently got tossed . All my old gaming stuff apparently . . . /sigh . . . I really needed to go pick that stuff earlier! Those battletech plastic figurines are damn near impossible to replace :-(.

Ooh, it's on the GM timeline! Urupa! Aras Sea. I see.

[GM / Malinous]

Also, people apparently started exploring before the magic stabilized:
[You can get the first 15 pages of most books as a sample via the links on RedBrick. It's kind of neat, helps a lot in deciding whether or not to buy something.] That also gets you most of the timeline from the GMs guide for *FREE*. Helpful!

I seriously question the logic of building a city at the BASE of a cliff as a security measure. I mean. . . yeah. I guess it prevents *accurate* aerial bombardment . . . and rocks are heavy . . . that's honestly the only part of Urupa that bothers me!

And 1415 is when it stabilizes:

1057 TH The Horror Whisper manifests in Throal and is defeated through the efforts of several of the kingdom’s adepts.

1160 TH King Varulus I of Throal dies at age 270. He is succeeded by his son, Varulus II.

1262 TH
The wooden kaer of Wyrm Wood collapses. The desperate Ritual of Thorns turns the forest into Blood Wood.

1270 TH The Council Compact is completed after twenty years of work.

1373 TH King Varulus II of Throal dies at age 258. He is succeeded by his son Varulus III.

1399 TH Thera believed to have opened its citadel.

1409 TH First Throalic scouting party heads outside. It is destroyed within hours of emerging.

~1410 TH Crystal raiders emerge from their kaers in the Twilight Peaks.

1412 TH Vaare Longfang returns from first successful scouting mission outside Throal

1415 TH The magic level of the world stabilizes for some unknown reason. Elemental clocks cease to drop.

1416 TH The first voyage of the Earthdawn.

1418 TH During its second voyage, the Earthdawn disappears without a trace.

1420 TH Throal opens its gates and begins to resettle the mountains.

~1430 TH The city of Urupa is founded on the shores of the Aras Sea.

1442 TH The Therans reconquer Vivane.

1449 TH Theran vessels return to Barsaive, starting the First Theran War.
The t’skrang House K’tenshin awakens.

[GM / Malinous]

Ok, so the ARas Sea is the Caspian Sea. I don't know much about the area.

[GM / Malinous]

I was kind of thinking Daiche myself. A town with no built in history to speak of, but well situated to be the center of everything. If Barsaive eventually needs a provincial capital - what better place than 2 days from the old Theran capital, in the Center of everything! And that would give a strong incentive to explore each area of Barsaive in turn, as we'd be at risk of getting crushed in a war between Throal and Iopos. (Iopos may have assassinated the Dwarven King, afterall . . . ).

Urupa might work too. Although Urupa is much bigger/more established.

And I like the contrast of trying to build a respectable city in the shadow of Kratas. IT gives a great place for all the jealous rejects to go and build a grudge!

I figure if we ever feel like leaving Barsaive, where we start from won't matter too much. By Airship you can cross Barsaive in days I think. Looks like about 6 days end to end by Airship. So probably 3-4 times that riding/riverboat.

[And Just ignore any mention of Daiche being a Kratas Colony city. They wish!

As for starting year:
Somewhere between 1399 and 1409.
Thera opened 1399.
Throal's first scouting party annihilated: 1409
Throal's first successful scouting party: 1412
Magic Stabilized 1415.
Year of the Information in Back of PHB: 1509.

It would also kind of be neat to establish splinter schools around Barsaive . . . after a primary school gets set up --->

And whether or not oen of the PCs plays a diplomatic type, it would be interesting to be working as part of a long-laid plan (knowingly/intentionally or unknowingly/inadvertantly depending on how much the characters want to be movers/shakers and how much they want to be "doers"/front line people) to unite Barsaive by spending a chunk of the campaign in each city state. [e.g., 5 years living in Iopos before moving on to a different area.

I do think it would be neat to also play a role in founding Urupa, admittedly. But Kear knocking is a 4th circle spell! So that might be a fun place to explore between 4th - 5th circle. And it could take a long time to earn enough social capital to get the place moving . . .

Actually, I like that campaign idea.

Goal: Unify Barsaive. Make Daiche the new capital (with no history, there are no political offiliations to get in the way, kind of like D.C.) but close enough to the old Theran capital of Kratas to make a powerful statement.

It would also be awesome to make your school, say, the center of a new Barsaivian Kingdom's unified military. (Because no allegiance to any city state - Throal, Iopos, Urupa, Trava all having their own major military/history traditions as serious City-States. But Daiche, being small, doesn't have a City-State identity, so doesn't ruffle feathers.

Just a thought.

So the goal would, roughly, be by 1509 to have political connections across barsaive that are significant, but don't necessarily dramatically alter the timelines. A Latent Force.

[ehren]

So, roughly 100yrs to get some political connections/favors? Sounds awesome.

[GM / Malinous]

No :-) roughly 100 years before the official publications start to be substantially ignored :-p. That's not the same as not having influence. But yes, no killing any great dragons or destroying any major Theran cities single handedly for 100 years. Given that all of those require characters of circle 14+, that's not a huge worry. The characters probably won't be able to initiate a war single handedly at 5th circle. I just don't think Throal would buy into it.

That sets a rough goal of 100 years for the first 8-10 circles. Of course, more likely 1->4 or 5 will take like 1-10 years, 5->6 will take like 20, and 6->10 will take like 60 :-p. That's not *too* long to wait to assassinate the Dwarven king and take over Throal! Well, circle 1->2 will probably take more like weeks. Depending.

All the *named* horrors are Circle 12+ threats. At least that I've found. Great Dragons are like Circle 14-15. Hitting Circle 10 requires getting 26 Talents to Circle 10. that's roughly 250 talent increases. Not counting skills and option talents. Which makes it more like 400. Even getting 2-10 skill ups a session, that's not a short campaign!

It also means that while the characters are helping to get Urupa set up, infiltrating the Denaisterous, saving whats-her-name the ork, or helping the Earthdawn before it finally disappears, I don't have to write the backstory continually for all the other nations. Making up 100 years of history when the characters aren't directly involved in all of it is a lot of work.

And it would take at least 100 years to reasonably build up the kind of influence we would be aiming for if we wanted to be major players. I don't want dragons to consider us good tools. I want them to *respect* us. That takes time.

Mostly though, I would like in 1509 to be poised to say 'The Denaisteras know us and want us dead. The rulers of Throal know us by name. The Council of Urupa will grant us an audience whenever we request it. We have, if not Icewing, then his apprentice Skybright, on speed dial. The Theran provincial governor has heard of us. We have an arrangement with One-Eye not to assassinate our civic leaders. The city of Landis will actively go to your school to ask for the help of your students in a planned March on Triumph or will recruit members as generals. That kind of thing.

[GM / Malinous]

Not that we can't change the source material, especially if we fail. I mean, I'm willing to have Throal destroyed because we failed on a mission. Don't think i won't do it!

But I think there's a rich history there to delve into, and it would be nice to be situated as players in 1509, but I really think it would take a *minimum* of 100 years to have that kind of influence as individuals.