Introduction to Setting and Quest Background
The Setting: Welcome to my world.
Czarn is a land made of several immortal conflicts, stained relationships, intense adversity, and immense beauty. It was crafted out of the dreams, sacrifices, and bodies of several dead 'Yaevre' gods, originally made for the purpose of worship of their progenitor and propelling the advancement of beauty and life. However, it all went wrong.
The story of its origins can be found in the Campaign Info Tab.
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Story Background: The Age of Long Night
Now, it is the 6th Age of this warring world. Since its creation, the interplay of racial wars and religious vendettas have only swollen. In this 6th Age, 'The Age of Apostasy', much of the lands have been cursed by the yaevre Ba'Elzub, and many civil wars and inner conflicts of nations have taken place, some political, some religious. Within these civil wars, many temples have been razed to the ground, their esoteric documents lost.
This has truly been the darkest age Czarn has yet seen. In a sort of cruel irony, the spiritual truth of this has become manifest physically. For some reason, the Yaevre of the Winds have become silent, or lost, and the rotation of the earth, after a long travail of long days and longer nights, has completely stopped moving. Both Sun and Czarn stand still, and almost all of the world is now covered in shadow; the only light above now being the faint malevolent glow of the Skycurse and the dancing Gorb moons.
However, a silver lining to this dark age; the once thought dead race, the angelic Khime Sebak have been seen throughout the whole of the lands for the first time in a long century. To darken this silver lining, however, they came as the bearers of dreadful news: They have witnessed the vexing of the sun by the Gray Elves, and claim that they even now are mobilizing their merciless forces to be unleashed upon the whole face of Czarn, to overshadow Man in their feats, and complete the Adwar Mael Khama in their favor.
Now, this news has spread all over the world, through mainly the gossip of the mercantile state of the Conglomeration, whose ships have touched almost every society they trade with the news from the West.
Your ship, the Defiant Heron, has recently been given orders from the Union to do a reconnaissance job- 'The Chressidan Job' -as the sailing community has called it, to travel round to the cape of the Southeast, to go to the human nation of Chressida and see if it is still alive. It used to be the greatest trading partner of the Conglomeration, and for the past seven years has been all but silent, no word or news comes from there. Your seasoned captain, Jez Ovgrins, has taken the job in stride, and in her fearlessness has lead the crew to where they lay now, the trading port of Nil Karsusha.
Then it all happened...
Character Submission
We are playing 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons.
This is a homebrew world with heavy amounts of lore. All of the available documents can be found and read HERE. It provides all the information for character options and the lore available to players.
The files that say README are required for submissions, and the rest are only there for perusal, exploration and enrichment. Most of the information there is more common knowledge about the plane, but it shouldn't be assumed that your character would know every detail contained.
Take a look at the maps so you have an idea of everything.
Beware, there are class restrictions. It's not negotiable, but it's not gridlocked either.
All of the information regarding Character Creation should be in the documents, save these details:
- Races presented inside of the Google Docs are the options available. They are the Gray Elves, the White Elves, the Ennim, the Khime Sebak, the Golems, the Homunculi, the Hudorians, the Orcs, the Humans, the Dwarves, the Goblins, and the Centaur.
- Starting level is 3
- Stats are 4d6 drop lowest
- HP is full at first, then either rolled HD or half+1 as is written in the PHB
- Standard Equipment from first level (rolled)+50 GP
- Menial equipment is free as long as it makes sense (you can use stuff from PF concerning small things in addition to 5e's books) Tell me all that you take as 'free menial equipment' so I know
- I will give out different items to the party after Character Creation is over, you'll receive them via PM.
- Dwarven=Common
- Evil alignments are okay as long as they are contextualized; think Iago or Gollum, not Morgoth. As it stands the common enemy of all within this scenario is Zophnia.
- Every character must be able to work inside of a group regardless of alignment; however, interpersonal conflict inside of the party can add to roleplay.
I'm looking for depth of background and personality, and an understanding of the world. Fantastic things being in your background are not out of question, but provide a good explanation of why. If you want to show me things you've done roleplaying or writing feel free, I love giving feedback and it will help me gauge your ability.
Provide these on your Profile Pages:
- Crunch
- Appearance: Face, Frame, and Garb
- Background: At least 1 NPC contact who is ALIVE who has influenced your life, and how you came to work on the Defiant Heron merchant ship.
- Personality
- Equipment
The best way to make this work is through conversation. If you have any questions about the setting AFTER you've read the stuff, shoot a PM my way and I will be extremely happy to help you.
I will choose the two best submissions on January 14th.
This deadline might be pushed back depending on circumstance.
I plan on beginning shortly after.
I will continue to update the Campaign Info Tab with tidbits until then.
Campaign Purpose, Gameplay Expectation, DM Standards, and More!
This is not just my first 5e campaign as a DM, but also my first PbP campaign as a DM.
I mean to use this campaign for a few things:
- To fuel my writings inside of this world
- To hone my skills as an immersive DM
- To try out 5e
- To playtest the massive 5e homebrew content inside this setting
- To play with my friend who lives on the other side of the world
- To put my hat into the PbP DM'ing ring
- To provide a memorable experience to my players
I promise you that even though the exposition is top-heavy now, once we get into the campaign everything will be streamlined and immersive. It's just the work of getting everyone on the same page that takes a little time and effort.
I will be taking 2 players from the forums, as 2 other slots have been taken by my friends whom this campaign was originally crafted for. I will only take 2, because I want to provide the best experience for all those involved.
Player Expectations:
- Post once a day; if life gets in the way, please let me know. Healthy Communication is everything, in all parts of life.
- Participate in roleplaying; Yes.
- Pay attention to the setting. I don't expect you to know everything inside of it, just a general understanding, and I will provide all of the points to connect those dots.
- Use your race and class profile fields to show your basic crunch stats
- In battle, post a header for your turns like this: {b}{bigger}Round X: Init: XX{/b}{/bigger}
- When you have advantage or disadvantage, post an extra {dice} underneath the roll in question and have it say {dice=Advantage/Disadvantage} for clarity
What I promise to strive for as DM:
- I will post at the very least once a day. If life gets in the way for me to do so, I will let you all know. If we are communally experiencing life at a fast pace, we can put a pause on the game as is appropriate.
- Provide a good story that will seep into your very soul
- Not get lost inside of my own verbose
- Do good combats
- Make time for you
- Post Initiative at the start of each round
- To Finish What I Start
About me as a DM:
I am a dedicated student to the art of immersive roleplaying. While not a master, I strive to become one as a means to become a better storyteller. I also strive to have excellent combats, cinematically and tactically.
I do not use grids or maps.
I am also of the persuasion that the DM is not against the party, that their job is to put their players in the spotlights of their story, and CHALLENGE THEM.
I'm not talking about throwing AC 34 Spell Immune Medusas at the party, but rather to challenge the players to expand as players holistically, and to have hindrances, losses, and wrenches happen to their characters that they will have to overcome. I will also reward good roleplaying and tactical thinking. I am the benevolent force of antagonism.
I also am against railroading, but am all for contextualizing. If something doesn't work in context, it can't be taken very seriously. I want to make your choices matter as players.
I expect to play the campaign to play out at least until the mystery concerning the long night is resolved, however that may play out. At the very least 2 levels of advancement.
The link again to the Docs
Sorry about the length of this post, I SWEAR I will never post anything near anything this long ever again.
