The Isles of Gold Session One Part I

Chapter One: The Passage

With the rising of the sun on the third day, the crew of the Venture looks to the horizon with heavy hearts. With five of the crew lost to the hunger of Vasha, Lady of the Deep, and the ship ruined by the fury of her storm, the crew's dreams of glory and wonder exploring far off lands have been brought crashing back to cold reality. But a new dawn brings a new wind, or so it is said.

Being one with a strong appreciation for tradition, I elected to begin the campaign in a tavern: the Wren's Rest in the East Mark, a place frequented by out-of-work sailors and those looking to hire them. I mentioned that the Isles were experiencing a massive labour shortage - not because of a disaster or war, but because of the rapidly booming economy throughout the known world. We decided that the characters had already run into one another and decided to seek work as something of a group, so as to skip over the awkward part of the campaign where the characters have to, often against all reason, become fast friends. One of my favorite parts of a campaign is watching the characters naturally grow to like and trust one another (or hate and despise one another, in some cases), and so I dislike having them already be old travelling companions - but the bit where they all choose to travel together is often hard to create.

Looking around the room, they see five groups of people obviously looking to hire sailors. A merchant hands out fat gold purses to all and sundry, seeking hands to make the Gold Run, the most lucrative trade route in the isles. A beautiful girl sits absolutely silent, with a list of names on the table in front of her - in conversation, they learn that she is an explorer, looking to mount an expedition into the frozen northlands. A group of diplomats mention troubles with the drakes of Mount Caern: shipping has been going missing in the region, and they require sailors and speakers to go to the drakes and find the source of the problem. A sobbing noblewoman begs compassion for the starving peoples of a nearby island, who have been the victim of a fish-blight - she has food and a vessel, but no one to sail it for her. And lastly, a cleric of Vasha offers hte blessings of the Sea Queen to any who will help to spread her word.

I had prepared this as a sort of introduction to being in character: by making them make a decision, I intended to get the players talking to NPCs and amongst each other. They responded admirably, trying to figure out their characters' motivations for going with each of the different ships. Though Alric, a champion of good, was most in favour of the mission of mercy, the other three found the explorer most to their liking: Tarin because she was pretty and the only one of the quests to depart that day, Constance because exploration fit most with her goal of discovery and interest in power, and Tahitoa because he naturally defered to Constance on such decisions.

Tarin, however, managed to snag one of the purses the merchant was handing out by pretending to sign up for his trade venture. For carrying this off, and for getting into character so quickly (Patrick's play was interesting and well-developed throughout this scene), I awarded him fifty bonus experience.

It turned out that the woman they had signed up with was captain Lissa of the Venture, and that she intended to depart as soon as they made their way to the docks. On the way, Tarin, wary of being chased by his former captor, checked to make sure they weren't being followed - and they were. A leather-clad figure in a long cloak and hood shadowed the party all the way to the pier, upon which it made its way down a side-street and disappeared into shadow. An odd and unsettling event, to be sure.

The Venture is a wonderful ship, two-masted, three-decked, of the variety often used by the military and wealthy nobles in the Gold Isles. How captain Lissa came by such a vessel is unexplained, although Alric is mostly satisfied through careful questioning that she is hiding nothing sinister - but is nevertheless hiding something.

Sailing on the Venture is mostly uneventful for the first day, although the characters do notice a flight of drakes far out of their normal territory. Some kind of trouble is clearly brewing to the south. I describe the unnatural clarity of the water, into which they can see perhaps a thousand feet deep, which causes the players to exclaim in surprise. The first mate of the ship, Jeffreys, seems to notice Constance's air elemental Aeolus despite her efforts to keep him hidden. There is something unsettling about the man, but she is not quite sure what.

In the morning of the second day, the crew notices a looming thundercloud ahead, and begin to make preparations: they must secure the vessel against the fury of the storm, lest they be lost forever in the depths of the waves.

Stay tuned for Part II!

The Isles of Gold Character Creation

Normally, when asking people to create characters for a campaign, I ask them to make something a little over the top in terms of power. I like to keep my players on their toes, or ideally, missing a few.

For The Isles of Gold I asked them to do something a little different. I wanted a character concept that was bitchin' awesome. Basically, if the player thought it was totally sweet, I promised to find a way to make it over the top in terms of power, so as to let them run wild with character creation.

I made one slightly non-standard rule: I disallowed races with a swim speed or which could breathe underwater, and I will be vetoing class abilities, spells, and items that produce those effects before about fifth level (When druids get wild shape, and clerics and wizards hit 3rd level spells). This may seem odd for a game which will take place primarily at sea, but the reasoning is simple: the sea should be scary. For sea travel to be thrilling and an adventure in and of itself, the sea should be a terrifying, awe-inspiring, hostile environment - and playing creatures that ignore its dangers ruins that effect.

I had characters begin at level 1, which I think is the place to start for most campaigns, especially those involving players who have not played very much previously. There's something exciting, to me anyways, about watching a nobody turn into a colossus - after all, that is one of the main points of roleplaying. I gave them the following numbers to arrange as ability scores, and told them they could subtract 2 from one number and add 2 to another number if they desired to do so, although they could not decrease the 10 or increase the 18: 18, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10. High-powered, but it's more fun that way - and it helps balance meleers and casters at low levels. I gave them 50 gold, plus whatever equipment they felt like having, subject to my approval, because I think it's ridiculous that Dungeons and Dragons assumes you spontaneously appear, stark naked and clutching a giant pile of gold coins, in Ye Olde Adventurer's Supplie Shoppe.

I allowed characters to take a single flaw, and to use any books they felt like using, though I discouraged them from taking humanoid races other than human, as such beings are very rare in the Isles of Gold. Also, I gave each character an extra 2 skill points per level (8 at 1st) because I like skills, and made Swim and Profession: Sailor class skills for every class, to reflect the realities of life in a chain of islands.

And so, without further ado, the characters and players:

Alric Diefield, Male Human Paladin

Player: Ian

Ian has done a lot of roleplaying, but has only, so far as I know, played Dungeons and Dragons once, in a previous (and short-lived) campaign of mine. In that, he played a fighter, and decided to stick close to his roots for this game, choosing not only a similarly melee-focused class, but the same name as his previous character. Ian is the most into roleplaying as a form of artistic expression, and will frequently come up with innovative or interesting in-character plot hooks and solutions to problems. Alric is, so far, a fairly standard paladin build, with Nymph's kiss, Good Devotion, and Power Attack, looking to move into charging smite and divine power at later levels. Because I find the alignment rules somewhat restrictive, and have opted to remove such things in favour of a more relativistic treatment of good and evil, I have ruled that his smite ability works on anyone whose motives and methods he finds incredibly abhorrent, as (mostly) determined by me.

Alric's backstory is mostly unfinished, as the character was essentially created in twenty minutes before session one. He is a champion of order and justice, and maintains a relationship with a sea nymph, which I am interested to see play out, as I am curious as to whether we can actually handle such things in-character in a roleplaying group of five guys, or if we will be obliged to skip over them for the sake of our sanity.

Constance, Female Human Druid

Player: Tom

I had encouraged Tom to try a caster, as he is the member of the group with the most experience playing D&D, and also the most likely to optimize successfully, and so he would provide the party's backbone of power through the mid and high levels. In the end, he elected to play a druid, with the Elemental Companion alternate class feature from Complete Mage, choosing an air elemental names Aelous. Though elemental companion is normally considered weak, it has considerably more application at sea: the ability to create gusts of wind will be fantastically useful should the party ever be becalmed, and the whirlwind power of the elemental will make a potent weapon against enemy ships. I was a little surprised, though, because I had assumed that a water elemental would make the natural choice - but of course the air elemental has more versatility.

Constance seeks power, and is exploring the world to find the source of it. Her magic comes from the spirits (and the player is slowly working out an entire animist religion for her background), and so she spends her days trying to find concentrations of spirits or energy to learn more about her gift. The tribe that she and Tahitoa come from was wiped out in an unspecified war or disaster, and so they must preserve her knowledge, lest it be lost forever.

Taran, Male Human Rogue

Player: Patrick

Patrick, so far as I know, has never roleplayed in a serious campaign before now. However, his experience in various forms of theatre makes getting in character come more naturally to him than to many starting players. Of the four players, he takes roleplaying the least seriously, which I see as an asset more than a hindrance: we forget, sometimes, that the goal of roleplaying is, first and foremost, to have fun, and so a little goofiness is a wonderful trait to have in a session. Taran is built more for social and non-combat encounters than for combat mastery, although the rogue is more effective in combat in a world where undead are incredibly rare, and most battles take place in the close confines of a ship, making flanking much easier.

Taran was abandoned into slavery as a child, and has just recently escaped. His primary motivation, therefore, is to put as much distance between himself and his former master as possible, that he might not be recaptured. He is very young, and, while not sinister or malevolent, has a somewhat loose attitude towards things like the laws of possession. He isn't a ridiculous kleptomaniac, as so many rogues are wont to be, but nevertheless is given to taking what is not his if the opportunity presents.

Tahitoa, Male Human Lion-Totem Barbarian

Player: Philip.

Philip is very enthusiastic and excitable, and so I will be looking to him to provide our group with the core of its energy (I believe that players fall into specific, well-defined roles within a group just as their characters do). However, he is also easily distracted - for instance, he spent nearly half an hour looking up Polynesian names for his character, before finally settling on one that means "First Warrior." And so, my job is to keep his energy focus on the game. He was interested in playing something that did something weird in combat, and so we worked up a homebrew set of weapons for him to use, that simulated the ritual combat of his and Constance's tribe. A fishing spear and net, used a tripping weapon and an entanglement, plus improved trip, means his character will be throwing opponents all over the place, dropping them prone, and then perhaps flinging them over the side of a ship or into a wall. I will suggest the dungeon-crasher fighter variant, with more house rules (or feats if I can find them. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be wonderful), to combine tripping and bull rushing, for the extra damage when he flings people against objects.

Tahitoa is Constance's companion and bodyguard (companion in a platonic sense - uncle or mentor being the sort of relationship they have developed). The players are coming up with a fascinating dynamic whereby Tahitoa's experience sometimes overrides Constance's wisdom and his awe of her powers, and sometimes gives way. He is sworn to protect her and keep her safe, and to safeguard the honour of their tribe.

The Isles of Gold Setting

No one has ever counted them - they seem to stretch forever. They are islands, islands of mystery, magic, and wonder, islands of adventure and terror and wealth beyond imagining - but, more importantly, they are our homes. The two great isles, the East and West Marks, hold the great cities of the world, but there are hundreds of towns and villages scattered across the endless archipelago.

The islands form a great chain, northwards and southwards, north into the limitless ice of the shadow sea, and south to the dazzling wonder of the Gold Sea - all the way to the endlessly boiling waste waters of the Dead Sea, which stretches further than any have dared travel. East and west, the islands end within a few days sail, and there are no stories in those places, only silence and the endless tossing of the waves.

The islands have their share of trouble, of course: war, and storm, and famine. But they are better, perhaps, than other lands, lands which have long since been consigned to myth or sucked below the seas. The Golden lands are peaceful and prosperous, on the whole - and happy to be so.

The Isles of Gold Campaign Log

The Isles of Gold is my current Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 project, a mostly casual campaign I am running for a group of four players of varying levels of experience. As such, it makes a nice start for the first campaign log I will keep here, as I can talk through things from the ground up.

The goal of the campaign is simple: to keep the world as free and open as possible, and to, insofar as such a thing can be done, leave the events of the campaign and its driving forces up to the players. Also, I am interested to test how coherent a world can be created with little to no preparation - in the past, campaigns I have run featured highly detailed, meticulously prepared worlds, which tended to lend themselves by nature of inbuilt campaign hooks to a single overarching storyline or set of storylines. With the Isles of Gold, I am attempting to avoid that, and leave the overall storyline and campaign goals up to the players, the characters, and the setting itself.

Inception!

Most of you will have found your way here from my other foray into the depths of the internet, Fog and Castles. If, however, you have reached this blog first, I highly suggest you go take a peek at the other one as well. Games, after all, are nothing more nor less than a window into the human mind - a subject which I tackle far more directly over there. That said, shit blows up a lot more here.

This is a project I've been working on in my mind for quite some time now. After all, a considerable portion of my life is dedicated to gaming and to thinking about games, and so it is only natural that I should want to write about them. And yet, the same people who are willing to listen to my ramblings on philosophy, politics, and dinosaurs, may not be terribly interested in my discourse on the best way to gib nOObs in a game of Team Fortress 2.

Not, however, that this blog will be particularly dedicated to that either. Rather, I would like to use this space to talk about the art of gaming, the strengths and weaknesses of the game as a genre, and to catalogue my travels through the world of games. Furthermore, given that I have begun to undertake a truly staggering quantity of roleplaying in the last year or so, I fully intend to post campaign logs and thoughts on various roleplaying adventures here as well.

And so, without further ado: Etarran brings you The Games of Castles. Over the next few days, expect this space to increase ridiculously in content, as my gaming habit spills over into text. You will tremble before it.