Disclaimer
This primer makes certain assumptions about the conclusion of the Ode to the Dead campaign, some of which may constitute spoilers. Spoiler tags will be used for sections that I am less confident about or may contain spoilers for the current game, obscuring text unless you specifically choose to view it. Open these at your own discretion.
Overview
The date is January 21st 739, and tales of an apocalypse have been largely exaggerated. Ever since
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the residents of the
Prime Material Plane have been preparing for disaster. Fortunately for everyone involved, however, the disaster never quite came.
There was signifcant damage of course, with a great many gods turned into mortal beings, and yet life as a whole has managed to carry on. The churches and religious nations were hit the hardest, with many populations having to completely redefine themselves in light of the new world order. Despite these setbacks, however, the world surges onwards, reaching greater technological heights than any known age.
The magical items used by adventurers are still outrageously expensive for the common man, but many simpler enchantments are becoming more widely available thanks to the recent discovery of
Ley Lines, previously undetectable rivers and currents of magical energy that permeate all existence. In a few select places these lines reach near enough to the surface for artificers to tap into them, dramatically simplifying the construction of some kinds of magical goods.
Most people of means can now own arcane lanterns that fuel themselves on magical energy instead of burning oil. Major towns have sending stations capable of transmitting messages to distant regions much faster than traditional messengers. Arcane fertilizers can provide significantly higher crop yields than were previously possible. In short,
Prima is in the early stages of a technological revolution.
Campaign Pitch: Mad Scientist Murdoch
The nation of
Durhambia, located just west of
Esma, is the centerpiece of this revolution, creating a massive railway network and a modest fleet of airships. The nation is filled with both scientific and magical academics, but the most famous among these is
Murdoch, a tabaxi with a fascination for transportation technology. He made considerable improvements in the manufacture and operation of airships and also invented the arcane locomotive as a means to transport large quantities of goods far more efficiently than a wagon.
Neither of these accomplishments hold any interest for him anymore, however. Instead,
Murdoch is setting his sights somewhere that not even the greatest of wizards has been able to go before: the moon. He has been recruiting able bodied adventurers to aid him in his research and retrieving the artifacts necessary to achieve his dreams.
| Starting Level |
3 |
| Background |
the party works for Murdoch, performing whatever duties he deems necessary. Players have a familiar working relationship before the campaign, but need not be close friends |
| Inspiration |
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Campaign Pitch: The Moon Plague
Esma by and large continues to follow in Bahamut's teachings, even though the platinum dragon himself is no longer alive to guide them. This provides an important stability for the people as they deal with the ongoing crisis: the rise of the so-called "
Moon Plague".
Technically the
Moon Plague is neither a singular condition nor even a plague. What it actually refers to is various forms of therianthrophy, which have all taken hold in
Esma. Werewolves, werebears, wererats, werehogs, and even a few more exotic creatures have been spotted in the wild. The
Esman Government has locked down the nations borders and frequently stops travelers to test them for the plague. Mandatory curfews are enacted on nights when the moon looms bright in the sky, exerting its influence on the cursed inhabitants.
The victims of this plague have gathered in a village called
Moonbrook. Nestled deep within the mountains and surrounded by a thick forest, the region is very difficult to reach unnoticed by its inhabitants. It is an extremely tight-knit community, and its residents look after each other as if they were family. The pack mostly keeps to themselves, but outsiders do occasionally wander in to gawk or seek assistance of some form or other.
| Starting Level |
3 |
| Background |
The pack has recently taken in a small child that was found wandering the woods. When the moon is full in a few days they will find out if the child has been infected. If the youth is infected they will raise it as their own. If not, then someone will have them to a nearby town in search of the parents. |
| Character Requirements |
All members of the party must either live in Moonbrook or be well-known to at least one of the other party members and have a reason to visit. Therianthropy is not required to live within Moonbrook, but is highly recommended. |
| Inspiration |
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Campaign Pitch: Sky Admiral Izar
The neighboring nation of
Milcia also lost its patron deity
Corellon Larethian, and is now in disarray. Their only land border is with
Esma, so the country finds itself isolated from the outside world and has been facing economic hardship for several months. Recently however they began to place large orders for various goods from distant lands. These items range from everyday essentials such as food and water to luxury items such as furniture, fine art, and gemstones. This is because the residents have recently become exceedingly wealthy despite their isolation.
The nation's newfound wealth is thanks to the arrival of a new trading firm known as
Fresh Start Soul Traders. They are at the cutting edge of shady business transactions. Gone are the days of selling your entire soul for some vaguely defined favor. Instead, customers can sell only a fraction of their sould and in return receive cold, hard cash up front at fixed prices. The firm will also offer loans using a fraction of the borrower's soul as collateral.
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Sky Admiral
Izar runs a small merchant fleet that has been making runs to and from
Milcia. He flies on the strangely-named
Barry the Airship with a small crew of trained adventurers. He and his companions know each other very well, but
Izar himself has not been forthcoming regarding his intentions. He is in desperate need of money, but will not say for what purpose.
| Starting Level |
3 |
| Background |
The party serves as the crew on Izar's vessel, starting from Durhambia. They are carrying a heavy load of high end furniture through the plague-infested Esma and into Milcia. |
| Inspiration |
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Campaign Pitch: The Astral Sea
Across
The multiverse, no plane has changed more than the
Astral Plane. Now referred to as the Astral Sea, the once empty voids have been replaced with an infinite ocean. With the passing of the
The Raven Queen a year ago, her duties as overseer of death have been taken over by
Olidammara. The new ruler quickly set about flooding the plane so that travelers could "have something more interesting to look at than an endless empty void". The water swirls and churns with extremely powerful divine energy, causing extreme harm to most creatures who come into contact with it, akin to lava.
For his part, however,
Olidammara has neither the time nor inclination to take as direct control over proceedings as his predecessor. Instead he employs teams of "tour guides" who roam the sea in divine vessels. These guides are charged with locating the recently departed, determining their ideal destination, and then escorting them to a portal leading to the appropriate afterlife. This task is difficult, as the portals are constantly shifting around. Even the few islands that can be found scattered across the sea move, floating, swaying, or even orbiting each other. These islands house their own indigenous populations of people who have either chosen to remain in the astral sea for their own reasons or who the guides could not assign anywhere else.
| Starting Level |
8 |
| Background |
The party serves as a team of tour guides working for Olidammara |
| Character Requirements |
All characters work in service to Olidammara. It is not required to play a divine character class, however any characters with a divine power source must use Olidammara as their patron. |
| Inspiration |
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Ragnarok was over, and a deal had been met. Now it was time for
Penguin to make good on his promises. He stood in front of
The Window, next to a particularly large door, cursing with a vigor that could only come from decades of experience. Beside him stood
Pixo, leader of
The Window, high priest of the
Church of the Broken Wing, and newly elected governor of
Sigil. His old friend was getting understandably anxious. A little impatient too,
Penguin thought, but he chose to let that go. After all, he was getting impatient too.
He had spent the last three weeks trying to create a stable portal from this door. Technically speaking creating the portal was easy, but it never seemed to go where he told it to. It would also close on its own after some time, usually 24-36 hours. This was not the only oddity, of course. Time had ceased to flow in the traditional manner here in
The Outlands. In the entire time
Penguin had spent on the plane he had yet to see a single sunrise. According to the locals it has been over two months since the last time they saw the sun, and over twice as long since the doors began closing. Now the last door was closed, and it was up to
Penguin to give these people a portal. His own feelings for the residents aside, he faced possible prosecution from
The Bronze Prince if he could not get a portal working.
The Traveler, currently in the form of a human wizard with a beard approximately four feet in length, stands on the other side of the door looking contemplative. In truth he had known what the problem was several hours ago, but he was debating how to say it. He needed to dumb the explanation down enough that the youngest duke of
The nine hells would understand his words, but not so much as to cause offense to the man. Eventually he settled on something and began to speak.
Well, the problem we have is that everything is moving. The doors are opening to where they are supposed to, based on the runes, but the plane we're after isn't actually at that spot anymore. That by itself wouldn't be too bad on its own, but as planes shift and slide against each other sometimes the destination isnt a place at all. After that your portal gets unstable and collapses. Even if you make another with the same coordinates you could just end up in The Void. Frankly, there is no way to make a stable portal under these conditions.
This was bad news for
Penguin, but not entirely unexpected. Impossible or no, he still had to make his best effort. If a stable portal could not be created, he would just have to settle for an unstable one. He and
The Traveler quietly started making the necessary adjustments, and a day later they had finished their work. It wasn't stable in the slightest, but whenever it closed it would start randomly trying different coordinates until it was able to open a doorway. It wasn't an ideal solution at all, but at least it was something. He tasked
Izzik to stay behind and do any maintenance work the spell might require and then returned to
Avernus.
That was over seventeen years ago, and though it is far from ideal it has been enough.
Sigil still stands, and its people still live and breathe.
The Window now governs the city, and is therefore responsible for keeping its 8,720 residents alive and healthy. From time to time squads are sent out through the gate, but they do not always return.
| Starting Level |
5 |
| Background |
The party does not serve as explorers. Instead, the party are all members of The Window tasked with keeping order in the city. We will create a map of the city together and use it as the set of the campaign. |
| Inspiration |
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Campaign Pitch: Einherjar
After the events of
Ragnarok, some mortals chose to remain in
Vigrid. Not just chose, in fact, bbut demanded they be allowed to stay and hold vigil over
Dénouement for all eternity. These warriors, dubbed
Einherjar in honor of a clan of warriors from an earlier age, are constantly training against each other in
Training Games, though the old tradition of granting wishes to the victors has been discontinued in favor of gold.
These warriors spend their days in relative comfort, despite fighting each other to the death on a weekly basis. They have learned how to love and hate with all of their might, and are truly a force to be reckoned with. It is said that A sizeable squad of
Einherjar could bring down a god even without the aid of
Dénouement, though none are eager to test that theory.
Now, however, the world is changing. A new
Form has arrived, and but its exact nature is unknown. A squad of
Einherjar are summoned to investigate, however they find that travel throughout the planes is considerably more difficult than it once was.
| Starting Level |
11 |
| Background |
The party serves as a squad of Einherjar investigating the new form. Note that this begins roughly six months later than the other campaign pitches on this page, so many events will have transpired without a chance for player intervention. This one begins in an apocalypse |
| Inspiration |
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