Castle Caldwell and Beyond: (A 5e Campaign) - The Wrecking Crew (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Welcome to the Discussion Thread for the Castle Caldwell and beyond, 5e Adventure

Below are some mildly interesting facts about the setting

The game begins in the City of Pawkatukit, on the Deer Creek Falls River, which is 12 miles from the coastal town of Seaport, which is reached by the taking the River Road east to where it meets Gillian Road, then taking Gillian Road southeast to Seaport. The nearest other town is Gaderston, five miles to the northeast. To the west of Pawkatukit are many small farming villages.

In the City of Pawkatukit there are four taverns, and three Inns (and each Inn includes a tavern of its own). The city has a population of 3,500. I wouldn’t mind if players felt free to begin naming the Inns and Taverns of Pawkatukit

The city should have a Southern New England feel to its naming conventions, for streets, taverns, Inns, and business.

The city has many guilds and organizations. One of these, the Solution Society, has a large building, on West Main Street, near Chapel Hill (a hill with several denominational houses of worship, including Druidic, that is sort of like a combination training hall, and low rate Inn. The rooms are small, but comfortable. Members pay annual dues to be able to take advantage of the camaraderie and a dry warm bed.

Here's Magnus:

A tall, wide-shouldered man with pale eyes and a forked beard, Magnus Ravenson strikes an imposing figure. Fair of skin like the Alodoans, his blond hair marks him as a foreigner as much as the strange, runic tattoos that covers his arms.

Born at sea to Vangar raiders, Magnus was raised among the veteran warriors and shield-maidens who stayed in Harrispania as sellswords. Sworn to the service of the blind Crow God, Vodhan, at an early age, he was a soldier in the Harrispanian army briefly but clashed with the native soldiers over his strange religious practices, which included leaving the fallen to be feasted on by crows after a battle.

Ah, yes another "soldier." Would you look at the spoiler I listed for DeWay and Lijan, in the recruitment thread. I think I will want to work you into the same history there, the same battle, fighting alongside the Alodoans

Perry is a minor noble, heir-apparent to a well-established family. He's been strong, healthy, and talented ever since he was born; nearly everything he's tried has not only been successful, but downright easy. He excelled in swordsmanship classes, mastered all manner of social graces, and took to magic like a fish to water; he even managed to master spells from more than one discipline! Comfortable in his talent and achievement, Perry grew fond of excitement and adventure, knowing he would always be able to handle whatever he encountered.

Then he ventured out into the real world.

Perry joined the Solution Society for no other reason than it sounded fun. However, his overconfidence was his downfall: he didn't take his first assignment seriously, and it was a disaster. For the first time in his life, he was scolded, reprimanded, and considered a failure. This served as a massive reality check for Perry; though he still knows his own capabilities, he nevertheless struggles with worries that he will let his house down. His ego has shrunk dramatically, and he now wishes to do whatever it takes to redeem himself and prove that (as long as he truly applies himself) he is indeed a talented and capable heir to House Lalomaundriale.

I will read all of this and update my profile later buried at work and have to leave in an hour to get to the gym.

Ah, yes another "soldier." Would you look at the spoiler I listed for DeWay and Lijan, in the recruitment thread. I think I will want to work you into the same history there, the same battle, fighting alongside the Alodoans

Sounds good. I'll get it added into my background.

First to Dance is the meaning of Ayita's name in her elven language.

Ayita is a beautiful young female wood elf. She has the copper-brown skin common to her race and long dark hair braided down her back. Her eyes are a striking blue-grey color. Her elders explain it symbolizes water is her dominant element. Ayita typically wears little more than a blue-dyed doe-skin tunic. She has little sense of modesty and values a closeness to nature.

Ayita was raised in a sheltered Iarishean wood elf community on the outskirts of Harispania. Her people are a simple folk who live off the land through farming and hunting. There, under the tutelage of the high shaman, she learned the ways of her people. Although Ayita is not very bright, she is very enthusiastic about things that interest her. These include nature; religion; and the legends of Rowtag, a local folk hero of her clan. She eagerly recites from holy texts or bardic tales if given the opportunity to do so.

Once Ayita reached adulthood, she sought out adventures of her own. She left her people despite the elders' warnings about the ways of humans. Pawkatukit was the nearest city to her clan and so she headed there. Lacking knowledge of human cities or any real direction, she took to street performances, showing off her martial arts skills, and helping the needy when she came across them. Ayita was naive to human ways and was frequently taken advantage of during her first few days in Pawkatukit even though she didn't realize it. Eventually one of her performances caught Branhilde’s attention and she was offered an introductory assignment for the Solution Society. Ayita saw this as her big break to finally get a chance at adventure.

Unfortunately for Ayita, her fighting skills, although impressive to watch, were untested in a real world situation. Her first mission ended in disaster. Undaunted, Ayita readily awaits the chance correct her initial errors and to prove herself again.

So far - the introductions are fantastic, and I think I do not need to send out personal messages to help get us started, so...

I am opening the game thread now. You can post there (if you are one of the nine I selected)

I describe the situation at the bottom of the opening post, but basically, it is early morning, Clifton Caldwell and Branhilde have gathered you all to the main hall of the Chapel Hill Lodge of the Solution Society, where Clifton is explaining his situation.

Once you have satisfied all of your questions, and gotten to know each other better, you can plan on an approach to the Castle.

Maps are being created, but it will probably be the weekend before I get them linked at the top of each thread (I use a dropbox link to share maps, hope that works for everyone). I try to save my maps in bitmap files so I hope everyone has a computer that can look at those files.

Yes I should not have trouble viewing those files

So were we all on the same first mission that failed and thus know each other from that? Or were we each given separate missions that all failed and are meeting for the first time now?

Yes, the second assumption is correct, each of you failed (independently) or if you and another player are interested in creating a back story where you worked together, that would be alright as well.

Now, you have one year to earn your reputation with the Society, by being part of the
Wrecking Crew

Question: Do the trait/ideal/bond/flaw have to be taken verbatim from the book? Some of my options are better fits than others...

Well, I like the choices you've made, and I think they will work, but

I didn't want to be accused of introducing "house rules," but the Player's Handbook does suggest that players can create their own backgrounds.

So I think you can keep what you've got

House Ruled Backgrounds are ok with me :-)

Victor is the son of a Nobleman who squandered the family fortune. Through sheer perseverance, Victor was able to overcome the failings of his father and win his fortune back.

Just as Victor was seeking to restore his family's honor, his enemies began plotting ways to bring him low. No doubt jealousy played a part in the scheme against his return to Iarishea.

Perhaps it was the lousy Bard Cornelius Milus jealous of Victor's success where his own was dwindling or perhaps it was the Crime Lords of Urandoma come to claim the fortune his father never paid, regardless, Victor's very house was usurped by a clan of pretenders!

They claimed to own the rights to his Keep, stating they were kidnapped by some sort of vague raiding tribe from who know where. Vangar, I mean really, does that even sound like a real place?

Before Victor could clear up the misunderstanding his enemies had him sold like a common slave to a Dwarven slavemaster.

Oh, don't tell Branhilde I said that! One could only dream what she would do to me.

Really what I need is a band of adventurers who are willing to set me back i my rightful place.

A, I see, another chance. Well why not, the first group failed me, er the quest. Now, let's see if this next group wants to be true heroes...

Niall's features favour his elven mother. Fair skin, light brown hair and green eyes.

Niall is used to disappointing people, a failure at Wizardry he disappointed his parents by cutting deals with the Fey in return for magic. Sick with shame when his parents found out, he left home seeking to make things right, prove that the deal he made was not a mistake. He's off to a rocky start with the Solution society but ever the optimist he's confident he can complete the year in the Wrecking crew and become a success.

Hi My character likes to be called Histoff

His appearance his that of a common half-elf, he has a pointed ears.
His eyes are green his a little bit short at 5.57 foot but that helps him sneak away.
He has a black jacket he likes to wear.

Background
Grew up at the less Colonial side of the empire, to a mixed parents.
He joined the army and quit after a year.
His reason to quite the army was because he had a friend who was lost in battle and he had to flee to survive, also he despises the army now because he likes freedom.
After quitting the army he went to the Solution Society, wanting to do something a little bit different, he was in a mission go bad and now he is here.

He is a rogue as he likes to be in a less front-type job and he wanted to change direction in life, to more subtle and deadly and useful.

I'd like to point out that I am really excited about the range of characters here, and for everyone's information we have a variety of players from long time participants on these boards to a couple of people who are new, so lets all try to be patient with each other.

There are many things about this edition that I might need to be reminded about, so don't hesitate to call me out if I make a mistake.

For the record, I started playing D&D in 1976, and Palace of the vampire Queen was the first Dungeon I ran as Dungeon Master (in 1977), so even though I've been doing this for a long time, I still have many things to learn.

Okay, let's try to have some fun

One last thing. This weekend is a Holiday (for those of us in the US) and many people like to go camping, so if we slow down over the weekend don't fret (too much anyway) and look for me to finally get at least one helpful map posted.

This is my first 5th edition game so I don't know the rules that well myself. I started playing when 3rd edition came out and switched to Pathfinder instead of 4th edition. Ugh. That's already like 15 years ago.
Among my friends, I'm currently playing a character in a Rise of the Runelords campaign and am GMing a Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign.

Camping? I stay indoors whenever possible. =)

Terquem: I notice you're including the day, time, and other information at the top of your Gameplay posts. Might I suggest instead putting that information in the "brief description" field of the Campaign Info tab? That way, it'll be visible at the top of every page for easy reference, without you having to re-post it over and over and over again; you only have to update it when something changes. I've been doing this in a game I'm running, and it's going well.

Just a thought, to save you some work. :)

EDIT: Here's a link to the Campaign Info tab of my campaign, for you to look at as an example of what I mean, in case I wasn't clear.

That's not a bad idea, but with turns changing frequently I'm not sure that I'd forget to update it, and throw things off kilter. I like to use the header of the Campaign Info tab for map links.

Also, the date, time, location stamp will drop off, occasionally, when I get to excited to post, or I'm posting from another machine or device.

I hope it's not annoying.

I'm going to try to get a game post up for all of my games today, and this one still has a few players checking in late

Four Characters have jumped into the game thread

Perry
Ayita
Victor
Magus

Can I get an update on when the rest of you might be ready, please?

That's not a bad idea, but with turns changing frequently I'm not sure that I'd forget to update it, and throw things off kilter. I like to use the header of the Campaign Info tab for map links.

Also, the date, time, location stamp will drop off, occasionally, when I get to excited to post, or I'm posting from another machine or device.

I hope it's not annoying.

I'm going to try to get a game post up for all of my games today, and this one still has a few players checking in late

In my Vamp game I do the same thing, allows me to more easily search later on when looking through the thread if I want to see what happened on what day.

Name is Klodd Rockhopper, but I like to be called Rockhopper. If you make fun of my name you'll make me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry.

Klodd is of average height for a Dwarf, but has narrow shoulders and wide hips, unlike the normal Square Dwarven build. He tends to trip a lot, and drop things that are breakable. Though he's spent most of his life in various military camps, he talks the talk, much better than he walks the walk. In fact if not for his connection to (Insert Dwarven God of War name here) he would probably have been sent deep into the dwarven holds, to wield a hammer at something that doesn't fight back... like iron, but his skills as a healer, blacksmith, and sometimes fighter have kept him on the fringe of employment.

He had worked with three different Mercenary companies over the past decade, and usually the commanders put up with his lack of physical dexterity, by putting him somewhere in a back-up or supporting role... there to patch soldiers up when the sprung a leak, more than fight himself. Unfortunately his last job with the "Sheer Panic" Mercenary group didn't turn out as he hoped. The commander of the troop put Klodd and some of the other marginal fighters to cover the rear of the band, during a raid upon some hill Gnolls. All went according to plan, until a small band of Gnolls appeared from an unexpected direction. Klodd, always more confident in his ability than warranted, left his post to engage them, and was of course summarily over ran, and left for dead. Finally the commander had a real reason to let him go, and gave him a small pittance of his salary, and sent him away.

So now here he is. One more chance to redeem himself, and prove himself worth of a career as an adventurer. Couldn't let this one pass.

Do we have a name for the Chaotic Good God of War among the Dwarven Pantheon yet?

No, we don't go ahead and see what you can come up with.

keep in mind that Baylor has a decidedly "Hollywood" idealization of the Black Forest of Germany, feel to it (Hansel and Gretel, type fairy tales are common) and that Dwarves on Baylor live above ground, not in deep mountain halls

There are deep mountain halls on Baylor, and most of them are vacant, suggesting something in the past, that dwarves do not like to talk about, must have changed the way they live. See this post for more information

Waglinde Tells a Story About the Dwarves

Just based on the character descriptions for our group, I do think that 5E does lend itself to players thinking a bit more about their characters idiosyncrasies versus other D&D systems.

Name is Klodd Rockhammer

*raises one eyebrow*

One of the players suggested keying each figure in the Pantheon to a type of rare earth mineral, so I am working that out now, but basically we have

Mevboll Golden Hand (Sharindlar) – The Goddess of Natural Beauty (Lust, Fertility, Spring, Renewal)

I've only made this much progress with the Dwarven pantheon

Klodd Rockhopper wrote:

Name is Klodd Rockhammer

*raises one eyebrow*

Whoops! Changed, thanks.

Fergus Mithril blood (Hanseath) Dwarven god of War, Carousing, and Alcohol. CN. (Chaos, Strength, Travel, War)

There is already an "Iron" dwarven god. Perhaps Steelblood or Bronzeblood? Although they aren't minerals. They are alloys. But you also don't want to use a soft metal to represent the god of war either.

I choose Mielikki as my goddess of nature. If that's not okay, I can change it.

I have a feeling this group is going to be hilarious.

I concur. :)

There is already an "Iron" dwarven god. Perhaps Steelblood or Bronzeblood? Although they aren't minerals. They are alloys. But you also don't want to use a soft metal to represent the god of war either.

I choose Mielikki as my goddess of nature. If that's not okay, I can change it.

The Pantheon(s) of the people of Alodoa, have not been developed

So for our first Deity we have

Mielikki- The Goddess of the natural world.

Sorry guys. This game has taken off while I've had a very busy day at work. I'll get a post into the gameplay ASAP.

Ayita is ready to kick in some heads.
You get a kick in the head: 1d20 ⇒ 11
And you get a kick in the head: 1d20 ⇒ 14
Everybody gets a kick in the head: 1d20 ⇒ 8

Your foot gets a headbutt: 1d20 ⇒ 5

First - I am a terrible artist, I have little to no talent. Having said that I am about to post Caldwell's hand drawn sketch of the outline of the castle with his brief notes - Please Don't Laugh

Second, I've purchased the DD module for my CC+ mapping software and I am trying to learn how to use it, so hopefully better maps of the castle are in the future, but for now I will be making basic maps using MapTools and posting them.

Still waiting for a couple of characters to join in.

Some extra funds will be given to the characters and then you will be sent to talk to Nickels before you leave for the castle.

At the top of each page in this game, below the title of the thread is a short description of the game, followed by a link to a dropBox png file

You could not be a worse artist than I am so don't sweat it :-)

Well the map is pretty much how I pictured it. Looks good enough to me. I like how it looks like it is on parchment.

Your map looks great!

Yes, well thank you. I bought a small pack of sheets of paper that look like scrolls, and I try to use it in table top games for hand written notes and crude maps. I didn't even think, until today, of scanning one into a file for an online game

We now have 6 out of 9 applicants responding in the game thread.

Perry
Ayita
Victor
Magus
Klodd
Nail

Can I get an update on when the rest of you might be ready, please?

DaWay - I will wait for you guys to get something ready before we go any further

Mittak

Lijan van Histoff

You guys should have posted something by now, is there something you are waiting on?

Sorry for my absence. I was travelling, got back to a mountain of work and am now very sick. I'll have everything written up by the weekend and catch up on this thread - I just haven't had any creative energy. Apologies to all - I'm still very keen..

No worries,

We will pause, for a little bit, while the last two characters get ready to jump in then I will describe the very boring walk eastward to Mackenzie bridge, where...maybe something interesting might happen.

I will shop for my gear tonight and post in I/C thread.

Did my shopping: just a couple of mundane odds and ends, plus a tent and more rations. Saving most of my cash for now. Ready to rock!

Victor's Shopping List

Donkey
Saddlebags
Tent (Two-Person)
Blanket
20 more days of Rations