Welcome back to the game boys, thank you all for your patience.
We are about to begin the YEAR FIVE (AKA Actually Year Four).
Please read on for a recap, some updates and important changes!
*** CURRENT STATE OF PLAY ***
[This doesn't cover everything that's going on, only the most recent 'action items' of the last few sessions.]
Group 1 - Current Date: Thistleburn 12
Currently: Robert the Swift, Daqqa-Jin, Gorr, Xenos, Uriah, Young Joe Spruce and Lord Fesgate.
- The group is planning a return to the Night Wolf Inn to clear the gnolls occupying Fort Behringer.
- You have finally rescued Reymund the Pale, master bowyer. Gorr is about to spend a ton of his money to get a legendary item, and the rest of you should take notice. Chris took the initiative to make this happen in his first session, and has worked towards it since. His dedication is about to pay off in a big way!
- Guild Service for Robert the Swift is coming up soon (from Harvestime 1 - Goodgrove 11). You will have to RSVP to James Everbleed about your plans. You have the choice of Room IV or somewhere brand new. I estimate this taking about 3 sessions but could easily go longer. Remember that this counts as yearly guild service for any members who come along, and it's mandatory if Robert wishes to retain guild member status!
- You spoke and I listened! There is lots of adventure to be had in Room I - The Forest of Dreams. The lair of the 3rd demon Varthatov awaits you and LOTS more!
Group 2 - Current Date: Thistleburn 14
Currently: Clif, Finrod, Salzige, Cassia, Black Phalaros, Owen and Gaddock.
- Clif needs to rest until Thistleburn 19. Many of you will need to train (see below).
- Review the play report for Session 40, then see the latest Downtime Thread in Discord for costs of living. (Who is paying to identify all your items?) I know many people wanted to ask questions or look for clues, so refresh your memories about that if you can. All of this must be declared before play resumes with this group, or you will miss the boat!
- You have found the Oil of Revelations which grants the ability to see hidden streets and paths through the city. This will surely help you in your mission for the necromancer Zalán to find the Shadow Market. You have enough for six people. Who is going to use it?
- You have raided the sorcerer Rogat's home. Where is he? Clues point to a criminal entanglement of some kind, and there is the path down to the Undercity...
- Clif has a mission from his elementalist mentor Unazhon: entering the astral fortress of the legendary Shodredh Dachod! You haven't made any progress in this direction yet, but perhaps upcoming events will provide clues.
- Going forward, you will find lower-level adventures in Viridistan. You can be confident that an adventure will be roughly level-appropriate for the character who hears about it, but may provide paths onward to more difficult things.
Everyone
- If you want to swap members between groups, you'll just have to wait 2 days for Group 2 to catch up. Otherwise we can proceed with the current composition.
- The Night Wolf Inn Midsummer's Day garden party is coming up in less than 2 weeks (Harvestime 2) and is open to Guild members and visitors alike. This will be a valuable chance to join the Guild, connect with NPCs (everyone's favourite elf waifu Rain will be there), make new friends, compete for cash & prizes, or play Evocation. Don't miss it!
- There is now a PLAYER'S CALENDAR page on Discord so you guys can see what day it is and when things are happening so you can plan accordingly.
*** RULES CHANGES ***
We're dropping some 'house rules' I added at the beginning of the campaign that didn't really contribute anything, and bringing the rules more in line with AD&D 1st edition (the way God and Gary intended).
I hope that our long hiatus makes these changes less jarring!
Complex Alignment
To add some more depth, we are moving up to 9-point alignment! This might result in a few awkward moments but we will smooth them over. Other than a few class restrictions, you will be free to choose any alignment that you feel reflects your existing characters the way you've been playing them.
Please remember D&D is a game of cooperation.
I would assume by this time that everyone is familiar with classic D&D alignment but if you aren't, the following may provide guidance, along with the blurbs I've posted in the discord.
If you have any questions please DM me or ask in the discord.
With some exceptions, aligned & intelligent items that your character has been using for a while will be set to a compatible alignment so you don't get robbed.
Training
Characters will now have to train with a higher-level mentor to gain levels. This will cost both time (from 1-4 weeks) and money (based on training time multiplied by level).
When a character gains enough XP to level, they will be capped at that point and cannot gain any more experience until they train. However, they still take the same share of experience from the party if they continue to adventure (this extra XP is wasted). You will have to manage this yourselves.
Clif, Owen the Vitalizer, Gaddock the Inebriated and Cassia are the first to fall under this new rule, since they all leveled last session. They will need to train in order to gain the benefits of their new levels, and before they can gain any further experience. Clif needs to rest first before he can train.
Material Components
Some spells will now have expensive material component costs, to bring them in line with AD&D. We will handwave this in general. As long as a spellcaster has their "component pouch" with them, we can simply scratch the money off the character sheet and assume the components were bought previously, except in certain rare cases. There will be a list of affected spells in the player's document on Google Drive.
Heroic Points
A new bonus for you guys!
A simple and versatile house rule to replace other "survivability bonuses." They will balance out some of the lethality of classic D&D, are simple and flexible.
Heroic points can be used to save your ass in a pinch. The rules are simple:
- spend any number of points for a bonus to a roll before it's made (attacks, saving throws, whatever)
- spend a point to re-roll something once (no reroll chains)
- spells can be modified in some ways (saving throws, damage rolls, possibly others)
- you can hoard a maximum # of heroic points equal to your level, excess points are wasted
- points are NOT gained automatically but are awarded for good play, heroic actions, clever solutions, teamwork, playing your alignment, etc. by the DM
Each character will be granted a full stock of Heroic Points equal to their level to start with. Use them wisely, but don't be afraid to spend them when things get dicey - they're no good if you're dead!
Character Creation
Never let it be said that I am deaf to the entreaties of my dedicated players!
We will now be rolling ability scores using 4d6, drop the lowest, ARRANGE AS DESIRED.
This means a lot of specialty classes with high requirements will be much easier to play. Enjoy rangers, illusionists, paladins and other such cool stuff! There will be some slight tradeoffs for this though (see below).
Spellcasting & Other House Rules
> Previously, all spellcasters got bonus spells for high attributes. This was a house rule I included to give low level study-for-it casters a bit more power, but it is not by-the-book at all, so it's out the window!
From now on, only CLERICS and DRUIDS will get bonus spells for high WIS.
This means all Magic-Users, Necromancers, Elementalists, Incantrixes, & elves (Finrod) will be losing a fair number of spells per day! Sorry, guys. I hope you took advantage of this boon while it was yours, but it's gone now.
However, affected spellcasters may report to their magical mentors during downtime to get some limited-use magic items in order to smooth the transition into this new status quo. I will be correcting your character sheets for you.
> Another bone I'm throwing to spellcasters. Forget about Read Magic. What a waste of a spell!! There is already a secret language of wizards (called Grimscribe). So why cast read magic anyway? Stupid.
From now on if you find some magic runes, you will just be able to read them if you know the language!
So you can delete Read Magic from your spellbooks, you never have to memorize it. Instead, every spellcaster will automatically know the written language that applies to them:
Magic-User and Elf - Grimscribe
Illusionist - Secret Tongue
Incantrix - Warding Tongue
Elementalist - Oremouth
Necromancer - Eldritch
These languages are closely guarded secrets, and casters will never teach their languages to outsiders. (This makes the Incantrix class really good, because they can read M-U and Illusionist magic). When you create a new character, these will take up a language choice just like any other - but your existing characters get them for free.
Spellcasters can try to use scrolls from other classes, but there will be a significant chance of failure or miscastings!
> Fighters, Barbarians & other melee classes are losing CLEAVE. We never use it anyway!
> Clerics lose "spontaneous cures" - this was another house rule I added that never got much use anyway. Now you'll have to plan ahead!
*** WHAT'S NEXT ***
If you've made it this far, DM me the passphrase "None. None More Black" and include the following information in your message:
- All of your characters' new alignments
- Your Group 2 character's downtime activities, if any (including training, see above)
- Any questions you need answered in order to achieve these requirements, and
- When you can play next
Do all this to get 1000 bonus XP per character. [OFFER HAS BEEN FULFILLED]
Prepare for our first session to be a bit longer than usual, it will likely involve record-keeping, explaining new rules, refreshing our memories and updating before we get into playing.
Then get ready for the COMEBACK SPECIAL!!!
