The Vise
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General Description & Goals
A group of motley adventurers seek fortune, fight evil, and unearth ancient secrets in a wilderness caught between three warring countries.
All the below goals are (largely) shared by the group and are theoretically achievable. Achieving all of these goals would make a satisfying end to the campaign, but there's no need for the campaign to end there.
- Establish the forgotten god Corunthir as a major deity in the country of Anir by learning more about his history, finding his artifacts, defeating his enemies, converting worshippers from the Holy Flame and other religions, and establishing a major temple.
- Defeat the Temple of Elemental Evil and prevent a Balor demon or worse from destroying the world. Interrogate and kill enemy priests and destroy evil artifacts. Explore enemy compounds and stop underground cult operations.
- Establish the young prince as the new king of Anir. Build support for him so that he can raise an army to take his rightful throne from the evil, incumbent monarch while avoiding capture and execution for treason.
- Stop the onslaught of the dwarven slavers and the steady procession of mysterious elven forest and prevent Anir from being crushed in the middle.
These goals are not exactly achievable (for reasons stated below).
- Aid Loren the Ranger in protecting his town against the wilderness, including the Bandit Town. Since new dangers can always present themselves, it's not possible to totally ensure safety. Vigilance is key.
Importance of the PCs
PCs are small players in the world, but they can earn power and influence and become very important. At this point (8th-11th level), they are significant forces in their local area. The only NPCs with more raw power are the archmage (Wiz18), the escaped Lord Kravik (Ftr12), and whatever lies in the Temple of Elemental Evil.
In the grand scheme of the campaign, the PCs are very important or all-important. That is, the fate of the world could rest in their hands alone.
Campaign Tone
The general tone of the campaign is serious with light moments. Life is generally difficult and the wilderness is harsh and unforgiving. The few towns that have sprung up in the wilderness are either full of tough but generous people, or tough but hateful people. Real cities are far away and are generally full of citizens who don't have a real clue about the nature of the world.
Moral choices are difficult and full of gray areas. Every choice can carry grave consequences. Often, players must choose between bad or worse. Choices are often difficult. The game is generally gritty and realistic, where magic doesn't confuse things with glimmer and flash. Character death occurs occasionally.
The campaign supports a large deal of continuity between adventures. Themes and villains recur, and old enemies come back to haunt players.
Physical World (Description)
The setting of the world is a small wilderness area full of dank swamps, overgrown briars, dark forests, and serpentine rivers stuck between three powerful nations. The dwarven nation pushes from the south, cutting down every tree to power their forges and enslaving everyone to add to their labor force. The elven forests grow steadily from the south, and no one who has entered it has returned. These two pinch in a triangle shape, squeezing everyone to the center, away from the west. To the east is the remains of old Anir, a dying human nation who live on the sea coast. The Anirians are largely blind to their doom, doing not enough to stop it.
Character Stats/Requirements
In general, the bulk of the core rule books (including the class supplements) are permitted for characters, who start at the same level as the lowest member of the party (with the minimum XP for that level).
Attributes can be rolled or determined in any reasonable manner.
Any class is permitted, though Eastern-style characters such as monks have a difficulty fitting in. Human characters are preferred though halflings and gnomes are okay. Half-elves and half-orcs are difficult to play due to extreme racial prejudice. Elves and dwarf characters require special DM permission due to the war going on in the game.
House Rules
We use the "staggered" rule from the DMG (if you take more damage than half your remaining hit points, you may only take a partial action for one full round).
Otherwise, we stick fairly closely to the rules as printed, with snap DM decisions made now and then to keep the game moving. All DM decisions are final.
Magic
Magic is not too uncommon but it is expensive and hoarded. Potions and scrolls can be purchased in any large town or any city. Wealthy merchants may purchase and sell magic items. Magic is feared by the commoner, and ranges in power from the most basic daily cantrip to the grandest epic-level earth-shattering doom spell.
Magic comes from mana, which permeates everything in the world.
State of Religion
There are two chief religions among the humans: the Holy Flame, and the Elder Gods. The Holy Flame is a chiefly male-run, monotheistic religion that worships the Holy Light, an abstract power that is said to be responsible for all of creation, for justice, and for vengeance. Dozens of minor powers (like saints) are given homage, but they are not considered true deities (and they are not a source of divine power for spells). The Elder Gods are worshipped mostly by the rural peasantry, though many are being converted to the Holy Flame as refugees from other places end up in Anir.
A new sect who worship Corunthir, one of the saints of the Holy Flame, is rising near a small town in the wilderness. An ancient temple was discovered and it has been dedicated to this old holy knight.
Civilization/Tech Level
The world is largely ignorant of things. Kings and the best scholars and mages have access to maps of the continent, but the world is mostly unexplored. Information on true cosmology is sketchy at best. Most of the works in a typical library are more or less catalogs or taxonomies: lists and descriptions of things, rather than anything truly insightful about their natures.
Gunpowder does not exist though some magical, explosive powders do exist. Metallurgy can create fine steel objects, including locks. Clear glass windows are the norm in cities but are rare in the country. Crop rotation and other agricultural advances are supplemented by the "deep wisdom" of druids to allow farming to produce enough food to support several large (100,000+) cities.
In general, cities are at a technology level equivalent to Venice or Oxford in about 1500 AD. Rural areas are equivalent to any European middle-age town, though castles tend to be more advanced.
