Session #0

Attendance

• Christaan
• Sir Erdan Varathon
• Flott-Lyn
• Maeni Grandbridge
• Mirius Zrey

Log

Freeday 1 Harvester 579

• The party departed Ostverk three days ago on Waterday 26 Goodmonth 579 traveling north towards Hommlet.
• The party came across an apparently injured man in the road. When attempting render aid, the man and his hidden compatriots ambushed the party.
• The party slew or drove off several of the bandits and captured the man that had led the ambush.
• The party arrived at the Inn of the Welcome Wench in Hommlet.
• The party learned of several recent events and troubles afflicting the town ultimately deciding to help Old man Hroth with this predator problem.

Experience Earned

Treasures Acquired

• N/A

Notes

Character Connections

Our adventuring party didn't just spring into existence out of thin air. How did the characters meet? What connections do they share?

Christaan had heard about a wizard that had been expelled from Academia Arcana for pushing the bounds of acceptable research. As she herself seeks forbidden knowledge, she sought out this mage. She caught up to Flott-Lyn in Ostverk.

As she was new the Verbobonc-Gnarly Forest region, Christaan sought out a local guide. She meet up with Maeni, a local ranger, and they quickly became friends as they traveled north together.

South of Ostverk, two figures met on a lonely road. They both recognized the great power to warp reality contained within each other and were immediately suspicious. A great conflagration of arcane energies erupted as Mirius Zrey and Flott-Lyn threw themselves into mortal combat but they were evenly matched! Exhausted they turned to each other and started talking. They realized they shared much and became fast friends. Not since Gigamesh and Enkidu at Uruk had such a friendship been formed!

As Knight of Furyondy, Sir Erdan Varathon, was departing for the Verbobonc region to investigate rumors of a growing evil, his lord commander suggested that he seek out a master of the arcane arts to aid his mission. The lord commander had heard of Flott-Lyn and bid Erdan to find him. Erdan caught up to Flott-Lyn in Ostverk and offered the mage his sword-arm in exchange for the wizard's arcane knowledge. Seeing the value of a mountain of steel of muscle standing between himself and hostile creatures, Flott-Lyn readily agreed.

The final night before departing Ostverk, all five adventurers found themselves in their inn's common room. That night the room was crowded and the adventurers were forced to share tables with other travelers at meal time. Erdan found himself sitting across from Maeni and their conversation quickly turned to their rough childhoods and the difficulties of living in Human lands as nonhumans. By the end of the evening they had become friends and made an agreement to try convincing their wards to travel together. Unbeknownst to the demihumans, across the common room, Christaan had serendipitously found herself sitting across from the Yellow Mage, Flott-Lyn, and his new friend, Mirius. After a deep discussion of the occult, Flott-Lyn and Mirius had decided to group up with Christaan.

Game Safety

GM's Note: This is my first stab at including these modern day safety rules in one of my games. I feel like as a group we've been on the same page and this isn't really necessary but it also can't hurt.

If any of the topics and their ratings exceed your comfort level I expect you to reach out to me privately. I do not need, nor want, details on why a particular topic makes you uncomfortable but I do need information on where to "draw the line."

Ratings descriptions:

• No mention: This topic will not be mentioned during the campaign.
• Off-screen: This topic may be mentioned taking place "off-screen". For example, if the topic was "dice": "A man rolled a handful of dice in Nevada."
• Mild: This topic is going to be part of the game. It will be described in enough detail to create a mental picture of what is going on.
• Explicit: This topic may be described in excrutiating detail. The only limits will be our vocabulary and imagination.

Horror

Horror Notes:

• Harm to animals: Sometimes animals will be eaten or attacked. The means of the attack may be described, such as "The cow was bitten by the monster." The animal may react by yelping or crying out in pain. No torturing or extended suffering of animals will be described.
• Harm to children: Probably won't come up in this campaign, however if it does, the detail will be on par with the "harm to animals" note above.

Relationships

Relationships Notes:

• Romance in this case refers to flirting, seduction, or courtship of a romantic interest.
• We'll take a cue from old Hollywood and the "camera" will pan to the fireplace when things get spicy.

Social & Cultural Issues

Social & Cultural Notes:

• Racism: While not a focal point of the campaign, racism will exist in the campaign setting. As in real life, racism is based on generalizations and stereotypes that may not be objectively true. Unlike the real world, racism in game is not based off the color of humans' skin but rather two aspects:
• Species: like actual different species. For example, Elves and Orcs will hate each other.
• Cultural: The Good people of Geoff will have some hafeful opinions of the Evil people in Dorakaa. In this example, it is because generally the Evil people of Iuz will be trying to murder the Good people of Geoff.
• Real-world Religion: This topic will be mentioned from time to time to help describe or explain things in game. For example, the architecture of a building may look like Catholic cathedral or a particular fictional religion may turn towards a fictional Ka'bah when they pray.
• Slavery: will not be based on racism as seen in pre-Civil War United States but more akin to that seen in the Roman Empire. Egalitarian slavery if you will.

Mental & Physical Health

Mental & Physical Health Notes:

• Mental illness: The game will include the concept of "madness" or "insanity". These are not intended to reflet real-world mental illnesses but are instead supernaturally-induced conditions that afflict imaginary people in play. They are included strictly for thematic purposes, as the descent into madness is an inescapable part of Lovecraftian Mythos, a primary inspiration of the game master.
• More mental illness: Sometimes there may be monsters that have traits that could be considered real-world mental illnesses. For example, a vampire's compulsion to count things could be a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder.
• Mind control: charm and domination spells and spell-like effects will be present in the game. This will result in the loss of a player's direct control over their character during the duration of the effect. The characters will be made to do things that the player will not want them to do.
• Self-harm: this would only come up in conjuction with either Mind Control situations or in the case of religiously devout individuals self-flagellating.

Other

This list of topics came from a random webpage. If you're seriously troubled by any other topic not mentioned above, it is your responsiblity to notify the game master.

Monsters & Alignment

For some reason over the past 40 years of the hobby, the concept of alignment has shifted from the manifestation of an alliegnce to a real, tangible cosmic force to "how a character behaves." This campaign intrepets alignment in the traditional manner.

If someone is Evil, they are allied to the cosmic forces of Evil. They might be really nice and occasionally do "good" things. But ultimately, they serve a greater power that is diametrically opposed to the forces of Good. When called upon by their masters, they will do bad things and not even blink an eye.

Further, if a monster type is Evil, then it is the Bad Guy™. You don't need to worry about goblin babies or concern yourself with the rich cultural background of the Drow. Unless they're otherwise incentivized, they will gleefully murder your characters because, to beat a dead pegasus, they're Evil.

This is not to say you cannot negotiate with Evil creatures or that you must slay them all. You are encouraged to gain the upper hand over them or even bypass them whenever it makes sense for the party to do so.

Game Master's Note: Setting aside the implications of time-travel and the related paradoxes, I would not hesitate to violently murder Hitler. I would hope you take a similar mindset when considering the denizens of Evil your characters will encounter during the campaign.