Player Primer - Age of Worms

“The joys of the rich man are nothing, as they who hang around with sinners, scoffing at the simple paths of righteousness. Their delights are a pittance compared to eternity, and their rewards shall be devoured by the wriggling powers of darkness. They seem as trees along a riverbank bearing luscious fruits, but I tell you: they are plagued from within by blind, consuming things that eat without mercy and leave nothing behind. Not a one of them will be safe on the day of final judgment, when the slithering darkness feasts upon them. We tread toward a red day, full of writing doom and a dread feast of bloated, ravenous hunger. Dark times is coming. Slithering times, when the clouds snuff the sky and the austerity of flesh is the path of salvation. Be ready, and prepare your body for the coming Age . . . an Age of Worms . . .”

- Jierian Weirus, Priest of Ottar

Since the beginning of history, humanity has measured time in ages, Ages of Glory, of Dreams even of Great Sorrow mark the human tally of years, giving a sense of order to the events of past centuries. But one age has yet to occur-An age of darkness, of decay, of writhing doom. Witty bards and Wrathful preachers know it as the Age of Worms, weaving it into the peripheries of their passion plays as a mythic era of destruction that could begin at anytime. Astrologers, diviners and the servants of fate know more. The canniest among them fear that the Age of Worms has already begun.
A (Very) Short History of Cragmire Cragmire has seen better days. Once, it was a prosperous mining boom-town. Iron, Silver, and even more precious metals seemed to pour out of the ground. The glittering water of Cragmire Lake (from which the town derives its name) was full of fish, the farmlands in the hills were fertile and abundant, and the town became one of the most prosperous in the region. When the first tomb was discovered in the hills outside town, it was an oddity, but as more and more ruins were found, word spread. Explorers of these sites faced terrible danger but gained fabulous wealth, and before long it was said that there were as many treasure hunters as miners in town. No one knows for sure, but it is suspected that one of those reckless glory seekers broke into the wrong tomb and brought the plague known as the Red Death to Cragmire.
In the cramped confines of the mines, the disease spread like wildfire. Two out of every three died, and the survivors were often left in crippling agony as the disease warped their bones into unnatural shapes. Cragmire only recovered after a contingent of soldiers from Cloudbreach instituted a brutally effective quarantine of the entire region, burning huge swaths of countryside to eradicate any trace of the plague. After years of pollution, the once sparkling waters of Cragmire Lake have become a poisonous sludge, and with most of the arable land burnt to cinders, the town had neither the means nor will to resist when Cloudbreach officially annexed it in 720 NE. Some, in fact, welcomed the change, as even a corrupt government is better than anarchy. Cloudbreach appointed a series of Mayors to oversee the town’s recovery and ensure a steady supply of metals for the resource-hungry Cloudbreach during the Civil War of Broken Laws. After decades of pain, it is now possible- though only just- to make a decent life for yourself in Cragmire. The town may not be the happiest of places, but it does reward hard work and luck, and it is where your characters now dwell.

How to Get There

Most people arrive at Cragmire by carriage or by accident. The Able Carter Coaching Company possesses a fleet of horse-drawn coaches, and inns positioned at various points in its paths. It has direct connections between Cragmire and Cloudbreach(10 days south-east), the city of Oakenview (5.5 days west), the town of Beliard (6.5 days north), and Blackwall Keep (1 day south).
Another sure-fire way to get into town is to commit a crime in Cloudbreach, especially one involving debts. A lot of criminals are offered extended stays in one of Cragmire, it would be the only life you have ever known. But you have dreams of leaving the town and seeing what the world has to offer.

Character Race Story Suggestions

• Dwarf: No dwarves are really HAPPY to live in Cragmire, but those that do usually are connected to Greysmere Covenant in some fashion- maybe a guard, adviser, or negotiator. You might even be a criminal from Cloudbreach working off your sentence in the mines.
• Elf: Similar to dwarves, elves don’t really like Cragmire, as it represents the worst aspects of human civilization: it’s dirty, boorish, and proud of it! Only Ellival Moonmeadow and their house guard seem to spend much time here. You might be affiliated with them in some fashion, or maybe you’re connected with The Bronzewood Lodge or the distant Elven nation of Hodo Empire in some way.
• Gnomes: Gnomes could be lodgers at Tidwoad's or work for any of the Mine Managers as technicians. A few gnomes find steady work as clerical staff and advisors for the Mayor and the Mine Managers, and they are also common sights at Lazare's House and The Spinning Giant. Most have some connection to Grossetgrottel.
• Halfling: Halfling caravans are the backbone of Cragmire’s supply chain, and typically gather at The Cragmire Able Carter Coaching Inn and Manager Chaum Gansworth estate. Halflings in town often find roles in hospitality as clerks, cooks, and servers. It’s rumored that a group of Halflings has begun carving a niche for themselves in Cragmire’s criminal world, but you wouldn’t be involved in that, would you?
• Half-Elf: Half-elves could conceivably fit in anywhere in Cragmire. Maybe you’ve got connections with the Bronzewood Lodge, or perhaps you work for Manager Moonmeadow as someone who’s almost- but not quite- good enough to be worthy company. Many half-elves end up at Jalek's Flophouse, as Cragmire isn’t well known for its warmth and kindness towards them.
• Human: Humans are the majority in Cragmire, and fill every role from the humblest of miners to the most prominent citizens.
• Infernals: Infernals aren’t completely unknown in Cragmire, but almost all of them are either prisoners or indentured servants toiling in the mines or staff at The Emporium, The Midnight Salute, and Lazare's House, where they provide a bit of a dangerous, exotic flare. The Cragmire Smelting House also seems to have some sort of connection with Infernals, but no one is quite sure what it is.
• Dragonborn: A rare sort within Cragmire, any who pass through are mostly traveling incognito. You might be there to right the wrongs found within the mines, or looking for work to refill you travelling expenses. The two local churches to The Seven although are legitimate there are rumors they are acting more as doom cults then legitimate organized religion of your dieties.
• Goliath: You were treated as servants and muscle by the mine managers, you did not have as many rights as the other ancestries, but through toiling in the mines, or maybe acting as extra muscle you have won enough of your freedom you now have managed to get some basic rights. You might still have a debt to pay off however. You have heard the local ruins might still hold treasure. True freedom might yet await you.
• Orcs/Half-Orcs: You left your tribe to travel, or maybe your tribe is nearby. Either way you have found yourself within Cragmire looking to make gold to continue your travels. Or maybe you are wanting to explore human society more. After all it is crazy to think they live in one place year round. Almost scandalous!

Keep in mind the above are just a suggestion to get you thinking about WHY you are in Cragmire, and WHY you want to probably leave.

How to Get Out

Depending on your situation, you might have a hard time leaving the town. Hiring a coach from Able Carter costs 5 sp per day of travel involved (so traveling by coach to Oakenview would cost 2.5 gp). Horses are available for sale at the Lakeside Stables, but the ostler Lanch Faraday is known for rather vicious mood-swings; be sure to check any mounts you buy for odd bruises.
Passage is available across Cragmire Lake, but with the lake’s excessive pollution (the result of mining run-off and extensive smelting), there are no longer any other towns on the lake’s shores. The retired marine Durskin will gladly take passengers across the lake, assuming they can deal with the smell of urine and the constant flea-bites. The Cult of the Green Lady has a sailboat and will gladly ferry passengers, as long as they’ll listen to a Timeshare presen...Uh sermon along the way.

Campaign Info

The Age of Worms campaign is a series of 12 independent yet connected adventures released across 12 issues of Dragon Magazine in July '05 - June '06. This adventure path was written by Paizo before they released their Pathfinder system, and is considered a top contender for one of the best RPGs ever written (A couple of Call of Cthulu adventures top it, as well as the legendary Pendragon campaign). Although originally written for 3e. I plan on running this in Savage Worlds Adventure Edition using the Fantasy Companion as the supplement of choice to expand your options for fantasy characters. (I might also steal a few things out of Gold&Glory an Old School DnD clone using the Savage Worlds rules system. I will only pull things that will help for dungeon crawling so no gold=xp shenanigans that come with those oldschool systems) This game will be heavy in old school dungeon crawl but with the SWADE twist. (Read that as throwing out fights that are just there to drain recources). Lots of cool and interesting puzzles. (I may change some of them after reading them. I noticed some of them were unnecessarily difficult.) And tons of opportunity to collect sweet loot. The style of play here will be on the older school of things as well. Where the wilderness and the dungeon are on the dangerous side while towns generally will be more safer. (I still will have town quests, dangerous encounters, and all the other fun stuff.) Because of this many of the dungeons you face will allow you to leave and reenter as you see fit. (How Gygax originally intended). The story itself has tons of intrigue, tons of tense story, and lots of exploration. In the Age of Worms you will be fighting a lot of undead, it will not always be the enemy you are facing. (Read that as not putting all your eggs in one basket. There is an entire chapter of not running into a single undead! Just saying!)
Age of Worms explores some adult content as such this game is marked for a mature audience. Some triggering topics can include war, animal cruelty, torture, murder, famine, slavery, body horror, horror(in general) and racism. Many of these topics are for the most part unavoidable and are deeply entwined into the lore of the world as such I will be unable to remove these topics if you are uncomfortable with them. I will fade to black when it comes to anything akin to torture and sexual intercourse. (I don’t ERP sorry y’all).
I am looking for 4-6 players to run this campaign for. I welcome all players of any experience level, no matter race, gender, religion, political leaning ect. I just ask that you do not bring any of that to the table. I will only give 1 warning before booting someone from the table for any of that behavior. Expect the campaign to take about a year playing weekly games of 2-3 hours each, as you go from Novice to Legendary rank. The game itself will see tactical battlemaps mixed with some theater of the mind to augment some encounters or locations that really don’t need a full battle map. I will be placing the following rules/restrictions in effect for character creation.

1. No overly edgy social outcasts that do not want to work with a party. This is a team storytelling game. It gets tiring dealing with the archetype after hour 8.
2. No stealing from fellow party members.
3. No rolling dice against other party members.
4. No characters that give off blatant red flags.
5. Characters will be expected to have a backstory that must be approved by me. You did not just materialize out of nothing after all! Your characters have lived a life up to the point they became adventurers. You will also need to have your age, birthdate, weight, and height figured out (some traps trigger depending on weight ect.)
6. No Homebrew
7. No blatant murderhobos.
8. No evil characters. This is not the easiest to define sometimes but check with me if you are unsure. I don't mind grey but keep it within reason.

We will be playing the game on a program called Foundry VTT. The program is 100% free to the player. World Anvil will be used to organize session notes.

Character Creation

1. Starting Gold: 200 gold, spend it or lose it. You will begin play with 25 silver. (I know its very little but your all suppose to be poor and dungeon diving so you can afford to leave town!)
2. For items choose one of the packs to take on pg. 49 of the Fantasy Companion. Any left over gold can then be used for weapons, armor, and any other gear you think you want.
3. Starting Rank: Novice 0
4. Check discord #important-info under age of worms for setting rules.
5. SWADE Core and Fantasy Companion are allowed for character creation.
6. Note that Family Heirloom edge will require my approval on the item taken.
7. Arcane Backgrounds allowed: All in Fantasy Companion, Psionics and Gifted from SWADE Core.
8. NO BLOOD MAGIC, it specifically states for an evil dispostion. I do not run evil campaigns sorry.

Session 0 Topics

Advancements: An advancement will be handed out every second session as long as those sessions had something meaningful happen in game. I.E Combat, Roleplay, ect.
Player, Behaviour, Game Behaviour & DM Expectations

• Alcohol - Please come to the session sober. I don’t mind if you have a drink or two but I am not willing to DM for someone intoxicated.
• Narcotics - Again please come to session sober.
• Player Attention - If a player is constantly distracted without reason I will ask you in private if you need to step away. Constant disruption will result in asking you to leave the table for the night.
• Disruptive Topics - have already touched on this already. However please do not bring it to the table. I will only give 1 warning before kicking a player.
• Unannounced Dice Rolls - I do not accept unannounced dice rolls. I will pretend it never existed. I will ask you to roll dice. You are free to negotiate a different skill check however if I have put my foot down that is the roll I need.
• Dice rolls against one another - I do not use dice rolls to settle player arguments. If you disagree you must roleplay the encounter out to convince the other person. If it starts to become an OOC matter I will step in as needed.
• Player vs Player - I am ok with tension between players however you still have to work together as a group. You are not to steal from one another. I do not condone PvP however if there are any cases that it might come up. At this point it gets rolled just like any other combat encounter.
• PC Secrets - Try to keep the secrets to a minimum. It stresses me out as a DM trying to keep up with everything! I don’t mind one or two though.
• Player Expectations, Types, Goals & Diversity - This campaign will be RP, and combat heavy with a large amount of exploration. Keep in mind not all players will have a min/maxed character. And in fact you don’t have to have one as I will be trying to balance stuff to work with a non min/maxed character.
• Player Discomfort - As discussed earlier: war, animal cruelty, torture, murder, famine, and racism as well as other topics may appear within the campaign.
• Player Agency - I am a strong supporter of Player Agency. However there may be certain situations where you can lose control of your character. This is hard to give examples for.
• Game Balance & Fairness - The encounters at times will be very deadly if players make certain decisions or take certain actions they can become unwinnable. I as a DM will not hold back in either case. Expect to have to think on your feet and play smart.
• Rules Debates - I facilitate rules discussion at the table however in many cases I will make a ruling on the fly to keep the game moving. We can always revisit the rule after the game to discuss further on the rule. When I have made a call I expect everyone to run with it as is.
• Spotlight Sharing - Players should try to share the spotlight where they can. As DM I will try to shine the spotlight on as many players as I can. Please try not to trample over another player's spotlight during a scene. That is just bad practice.
• Meta-knowledge - try to separate your characters from yourself. Just cause you know the troll doesn’t regen from fire damage doesn’t mean your character would know. I treat knowledge checks as a free action. Use them as needed. I as well will try to enforce limited discussion while already in an encounter. You should spend the time outside these encounters discussing strategy and tactics then.
• MinMaxing - I welcome both optimized and unoptimized characters and will try to facilitate both.
• Character Party Fit - You players will be required to create a character that is willing to at least be a part of the group. Do not create a social outcast that refuses to work with the party.
• Murderhobos - just no… it really becomes a boring game for everyone involved when you go and just start killing random civilians. Your characters do not know the concept of Advancements! It is a player mechanic to track your character's growth through quantifiable numbers.
• Other behavior Rules - always be respectful of one another

The DM

• Player Absences - I will run a game as long as 4 players are present. The missing players will be controlled by someone in the party or by the DM. Or fade into the background. When they return it is as if they were always there. The missing player still receives their cut of any advancements, treasure and loot even if they miss a session. Working adults have things that come up, that is life. There won't be any punishment for missing sessions.

Ethic Concerns & Topics

• Gender - players can play any gender they wish and you will not be judged at my table by me or any of the players.
• Attraction & Sexual Orientation - same as gender you can play however you see fit and you will not be judged by me or other players.
• Rape, Sexual Assault - NO, players trying to do this at my table will receive 1 warning. Next time it happens they are booted from the campaign. I won’t be an outlet for any sick fantasies sorry.
• Racism, Prejudice - When creating your characters try to shy away from this topic as much as you can.
• Slavery - Players will not be able to own slaves