So, I've avoided talking about the D&D campaign I am running. Why? Well, because I have this notion that campaign logs are ... well ... usually boring to read. No offense to any blogger who is writing a campaign log as part of their blog's material - but I rarely enjoy reading the campaign logs. There are a few that do keep me interested, Blacktree Chronicles is an exception and one that I follow, but usually I click "next" in Google Reader when I see a post about someone's campaign. I'm probably missing lots of juicy tid bits and material for my own blog by skipping over them, but I can't read everything... Of course, this also implies that if I were you, I would not be reading what I'm writing right now. So, hats off to anyone who is still reading this! Thank you for your support! You are clearly better gamers than I! =D
The Kingship Chronicles: Introduction
Now a little about my campaign, The Kingship Chronicles, which will be blogged in 'chapters' corresponding to individual game sessions.
Game System & Setting
4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons set in 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms (The Great Dale currently). The campaign style is set to feature an epic story arc mixed with a sandbox campaign to fill in the gaps.
The Characters
Mina - female half-elf rogue
Von - male dragonborn warlord
Vashti - female eladrin wizard
E - female tiefling warlock
Crushington - male human fighter
The characters are played by four players and Crushington (aka 'Crush') is a floating character that is played by a different player each week. The campaign started with the characters all at L1 - we wanted to get a feel for 4E from the ground up.
The Backstory
The campaign is set in The Great Dale in the FRCS. My own conception of these lands is that they are a bit like the wind-swept highlands of Scotland, minus the majestic shorelines and mirror lakes. Its a sparsely populated, lawless land dotted with 'clan holds' and a few tiny villages. Actually quite a nice fit for the "points of light" model proposed in the 4th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide.
The central characters (E, Vasthi, and Von) represent all the new races in 4E - and the trope I used to make this work is that they are the foster children of two retired adventurers (Tharn and Zendra Griffenheld) who own a ranch and a whiskey distillery near the town of Benzentil. The three orphans were literally found on the doorstep in baskets as infants (I know, cheesy trope) and raised by the two ranchers. By the time the campaign starts, each of these characters is in their early twenties and who their biological parents are is still quite a mystery.
The Beginning
The hook that started the whole campaign went something like this: E, Vasthi and Von are hanging out on an ordanary saturday night at the ranch. heir friend Crush arrives on horseback with news that the town of Benzentil is being raided by some kind of aweful horde of living trees. Enter sub-plot #1: The Blightspawn Army. Their father, Tharn (a rogue), is currently out of town visiting the far away city of Uthermere (more about that later). Their mother Zendra, however, is an accomplished wizard and regular do-gooder type. She rides off to help defend the town without hesitation and orders her (less experienced) children to stay at the ranch in case of trouble. Of course, they disobey her and leave for the town about an hour later to 'help'.
Along the way they have their first battle (and our first 4E combat): the four of them vs. about 20 blightspawned skeleton minions. It was a precious moment becuase none of the players own the Monster Manual or the DMG - so they knew nothing about minions and their lovely 1 hp. Truely one of those rare "WTF!" moments. After rolling over them, the party moves into town only to get ambushed by three highway men looking to exploit the chaos brought to the region by The Blightspawn Army. After dealing with the highway and teaching them a lesson - the four characters finished the ride into town only to discover that a horrid curse had befallen their mother.
More on that in the next update.
I'll actually comment for once. As someone who used to game but is not anymore, I actually *do* like reading a little synopsis of other people's adventures. Kinda like gaming by proxy, I guess. Makes me want to play, too ;)
ReplyDeleteThe fact that other people may like to (or feel inclined to finally) post about the games they are running seems to me to be an indication of their excitement about what they are doing. And for me, anyway, that kind of excitement is infectious even through the lowly blogpost medium.
Yo, I feel like a celeb! Fun to read our story online like this. Not sure I trust my memory without consulting our "travel log"... maybe Von will be so inspired! Thanks for getting it started.
ReplyDelete@JamesI : A lurker had been revealed! Mwhahahaha! thanks for the comment! Your support will encourage me to make more posts about our game, and continue my long spiral down the road of unproductiveness.
ReplyDelete@ Leann : HEY! Your one of the players in my group! What the heck are you doing here??? =D j/k
You guessed at my nefarious plans to whittle away at your efficiency far too easily. >_>
ReplyDeleteHey Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI loved the hook for our adventure. I also loved being "found at the doorstep and raised by the retired adventurous" One thing though, Has my memory failed or were we found as the only survivors of a ransacked caravan? I also thought our mother ended up calling for reinforcements? Just trying to help refresh memories; its been a while since the beginning... I'm loving the adventure so far. I can't wait to learn where these orphans came from.