Welcome to Alder

It’s been 80 years since the end of the Great War. 80 years since the Five Nations used runemagics to smite the sky and turn the seas to blank ink, since armies of constructs and terrible war machines billowing black smoke wrought death upon everything in their path. The tenuous peace was forged by the destruction of the worldrunes, and with their destruction, the magic of the world has faded. The study of the high arcane is all but outlawed, but this has lent rise to artifice - the fusion of science, engineering, and magic. Powered by Aether harvested from the great leviathans in the Darkened Sea, new technology has risen from the embers of the war. Lighting rails and great iron airships brave the wastes of the Mournlands, linking crowded cities together by trade once more. The docks of every major port are brimming with giant steel ships which sail into the inky sea to harvest the fuel that powers the Nations. Across the dirty streets under the looming clockwork spires of the crushed cities, countless scoundrels scurry about, scraping together existence under the heel of the great houses.

Creating a Character

First things first: read the World Meta

Race

The following races exist within Alder:

• Human
• Elf
• Half-Elf
• Orc
• Half-Orc
• Dwarf
• Gnome
• Tiefling - Children of the Endless
• Warforged

Class

All classes are available with the exception of Sorcerer - magic has faded in this world, and it is not innate in anyone any longer. Some subclasses won't make sense in this world (ie Horizon Walker), but we can talk through the details.

Background

Backgrounds are going to play an important part of this world - you should have 2 people who you are friends with and 1 person who is a particular rival/enemy/problem for you. Note that you will begin this adventure while living a life in the world that is NOT adventuring, so factor in what your profession is - are you a craftsman or a shopkeep trying to eek out an existence in the lower district of Rooksport? Or perhaps you're a cutthroat running jobs for a criminal organization? Whatever the choice, you haven't settled into the adventuring lifestyle.... yet.

Stressors and Vices

Write down something about your character that is a particular stressor. Perhaps a fear of the supernatural, or PTSD from a a battle. The sky is the limit about what can be a particular stressor. Furthermore, your character should have a vice - something they are obsessed with and can't seem to wrench themselves loose. This could be something classic like booze, gambling, or drugs or it could be something more abstract like studying the occult, engaging in the macabre, or thrillseeking. You should have in mind a purveyor of this vice - your contact to help you get your fix. Along with your character’s profession and background, their vice tells us what kind of person they are. This obsession impacts their motivations, goals, and behavior. When you ponder what your character might do or say next, you can always consider their vice to help you think of something. The world is full of stressors and ways to relieve that stress. Pick an interesting combo.

Lifestyle

This determines how well your character lives, and how much that costs. Lifestyle expenses cover your accommodations, food and drink, and all your other necessities. Furthermore, expenses cover the cost of maintaining your equipment so you can be ready when adventure next calls. At the start of each week , choose a lifestyle from the Expenses table and pay the price to sustain that lifestyle. The prices listed are per day, so if you wish to calculate the cost of your chosen lifestyle over a thirty-day period, multiply the listed price by 30. Your lifestyle might change from one period to the next, based on the funds you have at your disposal, or you might maintain the same lifestyle throughout your character's career.
Your lifestyle choice can have consequences. Maintaining a wealthy lifestyle might help you make contacts with the rich and powerful, though you run the risk of attracting thieves. Likewise, living frugally might help you avoid criminals, but you are unlikely to make powerful connections.

Lifestyle	Price/Tenday
Wretched	0
Squalid	1gp
Poor	2gp
Modest	10gp
Comfortable	25gp
Wealthy	100gp

Wretched. You live in inhumane conditions. With no place to call home, you shelter wherever you can, sneaking into barns, huddling in old crates, and relying on the good graces of people better off than you. A wretched lifestyle presents abundant dangers. Violence, disease, and hunger follow you wherever you go. Other wretched people covet your armor, weapons, and adventuring gear, which represent a fortune by their standards. You are beneath the notice of most people. If you cannot afford the week's upkeep, you default to Wretched.
Squalid. You live in a leaky stable, a mud-floored hut just outside town, or a vermin-infested boarding house in the worst part of town. You have shelter from the elements, but you live in a desperate and often violent environment, in places rife with disease, hunger, and misfortune. You are beneath the notice of most people, and you have few legal protections. Most people at this lifestyle level have suffered some terrible setback. They might be disturbed, marked as exiles, or suffer from disease.
Poor. A poor lifestyle means going without the comforts available in a stable community. Simple food and lodgings, threadbare clothing, and unpredictable conditions result in a sufficient, though probably unpleasant, experience. Your accommodations might be a room in a flophouse or in the common room above a tavern. You benefit from some legal protections, but you still have to contend with violence, crime, and disease. People at this lifestyle level tend to be unskilled laborers, costermongers, peddlers, thieves, mercenaries, and other disreputable types.
Modest. A modest lifestyle keeps you out of the slums and ensures that you can maintain your equipment. You live in an older part of town, renting a room in a boarding house, inn, or temple. You don't go hungry or thirsty, and your living conditions are clean, if simple. Ordinary people living modest lifestyles include soldiers with families, laborers, students, priests, hedge wizards, and the like.
Comfortable. Choosing a comfortable lifestyle means that you can afford nicer clothing and can easily maintain your equipment. You live in a small cottage in a middle-class neighborhood or in a private room at a fine inn. You associate with merchants, skilled tradespeople, and military officers.
Wealthy. Choosing a wealthy lifestyle means living a life of luxury, though you might not have achieved the social status associated with the old money of nobility or royalty. You live a lifestyle comparable to that of a highly successful merchant, a favored servant of the ruling class, or the owner of a few small businesses. You have respectable lodgings, usually a spacious home in a good part of town or a comfortable suite at a fine inn. You likely have a small staff of servants.

Ability Points and Proficiencies

Alder is different than a high fantasy world, so there are going to be a few changes to the way that proficiencies are done. For starters, there are some additional proficiencies that are available:

• Land Vehicles - The ability to pilot contraptions that move quickly over land. This could be something as simple as a carriage to a steam-powered tank.
• Sea Vehicles - Sometimes the fastest way from point A to point B is on the water. This skill represents your ability to captain and pilot a ship should the need arise
• Airships - Take to the skies and captain an airship. These are complex machines and take a great deal of work and knowledge to operate properly.
• Tinkering - This is a skill check representing your ability to fix/repair/build something that needs mechanical work. You will need appropriate tools for this!
• Firearms - Guns. Lots of guns. Weapons in the world are still somewhat rudimentary, but certainly can pack a wallop.
• Heavy Weaponry - Artillery, siege weaponry, and mounted weapons take special skills to operate. With a Heavy Weaponry

Stress

We're going to be introducing a new mechanic of stress. Life can be particularly difficult and adventuring is a hard go of it Stress represents not only the physical impact of fighting, but also the mental impact of it. Magic can be unstable, and missing foes can be frustrating. Furthermore, in difficult times, you can choose to push yourself, taking on an extra risk in a critical time.

The Stress Resource

Stress is a resource akin to hit points or spell slots. When bad things happen around you - you see a friend die, luck turns against you at an inopportune time, or you get a brutal knock across the head, you may take stress. In cases where the environment or situation provokes an emotional response—standing before a dragon, entering a decrepit tomb, hearing a terrifying sound—you may be asked to pass a Stress check to avoid gaining some Stress. Additionally, you can choose to take on stress to help yourself or the group. Group checks require a leader, and while all the members of the group will roll with the group leader's modifier, the number of people who fail each add 1 stress to the leader. Additionally, at any time, you can choose to have a flashback - a moment during preparation or earlier in a particular event when you would have done something. The amount of stress this generates is variable depending on how complex and out-of-the-normal-course-of-events the action is. The DM determines the size of the dice to roll and the player rolls that amount of stress.
Examples of stressful situations:

• Being critically hit by an attack
• Hearing an unearthly roar from the dark
• Embarrassing yourself in front of someone
• Drawing on magic without necessary components
• Being disarmed or disabled
• Critically failing an attack or skill check
• Seeing a heap of mutilated corpses
• Facing a huge or formidable enemy
• Being caught lying
• Being surrounded, outnumbered, or out-flanked
• Seeing an ally die
• Accidentally hurting a friend
• Breaking an oath
• Being betrayed by an ally

While you have more than 10 stress, you cannot fully benefit from a long rest. With a long rest, you will have the option of attempting to reduce your stress through meditation or self-care, but this comes at a cost - your long rest features will not reset, and recovery of hitpoints will require use of hit dice.

Afflictions

When your stress gets too high, it will start to affect your performance - most of the time it causes simple things to become difficult, but sometimes it can focus the mind and hone the senses. Afflictions last until the next long rest.

d100	Affliction	Modifier
01-06	Fearful	Disadvantage on WIS checks & saves
07-12	Lethargic	+1 Exhaustion
13-18	Masochistic	Disadvantage on CON checks & saves
19-24	Irrational	Disadvantage on INT checks & saves
25-30	Paranoid	Speed is halved
31-36	Selfish	Disadvantage on CHA checks & saves
27-42	Panicked	Disadvantage on DEX checks & saves
43-48	Hopeless	Disadvantage on STR checks & saves
49-58	Anxious	Disadvantage on attack rolls
59-62	Stressed	Disadvantage on stress checks
63-72	Manic	Hit point maximum is halved
73-79	Narcissistic	Disadvantage to all ability checks
80-83	Powerful	+2 to all damage rolls
84-87	Focused	+2 to all attack rolls
88-91	Stalwart	+2 AC
92-94	Acute	Advantage to INT checks & saves
95-97	Perceptive	Advantage on WIS checks & saves
98-00	Courageous	Advantage on CHA checks & saves

Breaking Point

When you hits 20 points of stress, you hit a breaking point. In this state, you are reckless, dangerous, and extremely vulnerable. If you are hit by a damaging attack while at breaking point, it is a crushing blow. You fall to 0 hit points immediately and will fail all death saving throws.

Trauma

When stress is left untreated, it can lead to more permanent trauma. Trauma is a permanent condition that affects your personality and your ability to function.

• Cold - You're not moved by emotional appeals or social bonds
• Haunted - You're often lost in reverie, reliving past horrors, or seeing things
• Obsessed - You're enthralled by one thing: an activity, a person, or an ideology
• Paranoid - You imagine danger everywhere; you can't trust others
• Reckless - You have little regard for your own safety or best interests
• Soft - You lose your edge; you become sentimental, passive, gentle
• Unstable - Your emotional state is volatile. You can instantly rage, or fall into despair, act impulsively, or freeze up
• Vicious - You seek out opportunities to hurt people, even for no good reason

Reducing Stress

Stress doesn't just go away on a long rest, although it can be reduced in the case of a character focusing on reducing it. The most common way of reducing stress is by indulging in a vice.
When you indulge your vice, you clear some stress from your character’s stress track. Say how your character indulges their vice, including which purveyor of vice they use to satisfy their needs. You roll to find out how much stress relief your character receives. The effectiveness of your indulgence depends upon your character’s worst attribute rating. It’s their weakest quality that is most in thrall to vice, after all.
Roll a check with the lowest attribute of your character and that is how much stress is cleared by your vice. If your vice roll clears more stress than you have, you overindulge. A vice is not a reliable, controllable habit - it's a risk and one that can drive your character to act against their own best interests. When you overindulge, you make a bad call because of your vice—in acquiring it or while under its influence. To bring the effect of this bad decision into the game, one of the following occurs:

• Attract trouble - Did you say a little too much? Did you pick a fight that you shouldn't have?
• Injured - You made the wrong person angry and they took it out on you.  You suffer a grievous wound.
• Lost - Your character vanishes for a few weeks. Play a different character until this one returns from their bender
• Tapped - Your current purveyor cuts you off.

Final Thoughts

The fun of this campaign is going to how to function when the odds are stacked against you. There's no world-ending catastrophe you have to prevent, no galavanting off to the high heavens to kill a god. This is all about keeping one step ahead and figuring out how to scrape by. Your characters should be mirrors of the broken world they reside in - full of flaws and unrealized hopes that the world may hold more for them. Embrace the imperfections, I promise it will be fun.