Hommund 99- Session 1

It is winter in Mesa city, in the desert south of the valley of Hommund. The year is 99 after the Great War.

Day 1:It all started when Adam, out hunting, saw a man stumbling through the desert on the brink of death. He came to the stranger's aid and led him back to Mesa.
Clause, returning to the fort from his guard shift, saw his friend and the stranger arrive, and helped take the newcomer in to the guard house. The man, Roderick, reported that he was in town to collect a debt. The guards offered help, but would not allow vigilante justice.
The debtor, Dieter, arrived about a week ago, and the guards' records show that two men have arrived in town in that time, the shop owner Alphonse Gerber, and a guard by the name of Aldous Stark.
Clause, Adam, and Roderick decide to investigate the guard first. Not in his quarters, Stark is said to be out at the market. The group finds him there, and when he is recognized by Roderick, Stark runs but is tackled to the ground and injured. The party takes him in to custody.
Captain of the Guard Cassidy, orders Roderick and Stark jailed for assault and suspected debt evasion respectively.
Roderick gives a description of the debt, though he can give no physical evidence. 120gp was stolen from Roderick's uncle. Stark says he arrived with 80gp, bought his starting equipment to join the guards, and has just made up the cost working at a brewery. Clause sends a guard to the brewery to confirm the story while he himself decides to search Stark's room at the barracks. He finds 80gp in a bag, as said, but when checking under the bed finds spots of dried blood. He lifts up the mattress to find a severed human hand, that of a woman, wearing a ring, and with bite marks.
A late night investigation unearths rumors of women disappearing at night in the town square, Stark's midnight watch. A formerly convicted drug dealer mentions that Maria, an alleged prostitute, has not been seen on her usual block.
Clause finds her address and knocks, but the men who share the dilapidated building are less than cooperative.
Day 2: Clause talks to Cassidy and decides to bring in the men who share Maria's building for questioning. Two men are brought in, addicts and not fans of the local law enforcement, but hearing that their room mate is in danger reluctantly cooperate. Clause asks about the ring, and whether Maria wore one. The first roommate does not know, but the second, Heller, and former romantic interest of Maria's, is able to give a description of the heirloom that matches the ring on the severed hand.
Shown the hand, Heller is able to confirm that it is the ring Maria wore.
Presented with the evidence, Cassidy decides to court martial Stark that evening.
In the trial, evidence weighs heavily against Stark, who is discharged from the guards, and it is proposed that he be kept in jail for two more days to see whether the disappearances continue.
Roderick, too, is kept in jail until the conclusion of Stark's case.
Day 3: Roderick and the imprisoned bum "Shanky" attempt a sly escape, but are unsuccessful. Luckily the guard does not fully realize the plan, and no suspicion is raised against the outsider.
Day 4: No more disappearances have occurred, and it is deemed that Stark will be executed for murder. Adam visits Roderick to talk about the outside world. Roderick agrees that he can show them the valley, but he must return with his uncle's money.
Stark vows to come back in the next life to kill Roderick, and he is executed at sunset. Roderick is released from jail.
Clause proposes that the group leave Mesa for a month or so, to see the outside world, and Adam eagerly agrees.


The New Cast:
Adam Rohanson

 Human Fighter. Employed as a hunter at Mesa. Son of Rohan/Locke, doesn't know it. The eldest of the party at 31.

Roderick Booker

 Human Thief from Marsheville. Came to Mesa to collect a debt, still needs to collect it from somewhere.

Clause Struben

 Adopted bugbear child. Fighter. Intense sense of duty due to natural difficulties of growing up a monster in a racist human civilization. Incredibly strong.

Ulrich Von Leland

Crazed cleric. Jailed for breaking into a pub to buy wine for a communion service. ("But I left money on the counter!")

Leah

 Half-fey druid. Gardener at Mesa. Supernatural beauty. Daughter of Locke and the mute nymph Nymphadora.

Inigo Jaeger Alvaron

 Son of the illusionist Ienzo (doesn't know it) and Emily, raised by Emily and the former Captain of the Guard of Halfhill, Alvaro. Aspiring wizard. Frail in body, strong in magic.

Weapon and Armor Deterioration

Houserule for weapon and armor deterioration:

Simple:
After each dungeon, your armor is damaged and grants 1 point less to your total AC. Pay 10% of the armor's cost, per point, to repair.
After each dungeon mark one point of deterioration on your weapon. When the number of points exceeds the max damage of your weapon, it breaks. Magic weapons don't deteriorate.

I figured this requires minimal tracking, but still some element of realism, a small limiting factor on money, and motivation to head into the cities, where I have some nice encounter tables and quest hooks.

Much to my surprise, however, my players opted to keep track of more things in favor of greater realism, thus:

Realistic:
Whenever you take more damage in a single hit than your armor bonus+dex (dex because of the assumption that you are able to deflect blows enough to less severely damage your armor), you lose one point of your armor bonus.
Ex: A fighter with a dex bonus of +2 and leather armor (+2 AC) is cut with a short sword for 6 damage, which reduces his leather armor to +1 AC. But a knife stabbing him for 2 damage is not enough to deteriorate his armor.

Whenever you critically fail (natural roll of 1 to hit) with a weapon, mark one point of deterioration on your weapon. When this exceeds your weapon's maximum damage, it will break.
I.e.: After 6 critical fails (avg.: 120 swings) a short sword (1d6 damage) will break. It is assumed that larger weapons are sturdier.

Factions of the Valley of Hommund in the Year 99 [Update: Pictures]

So I recently typed this up for my players and I'll do it again here because why not and it'll help me memorize it all. The following illustrations are my own. Please give credit if used, and let me know.

Emperor Rohan

The Empire 
Leader: The Empire of Hommund is ruled over by the Emperor Locke Nosc Rohan (who was a PC and is now a secret vampire), commonly referred to as Emperor Rohan.
Goals: Expansion and control. Rohan is spearheading the first expeditions out from the valley since the Great War against the magical races 100 years ago. The Empire maintains control through fear, parading the Battle Mages through the streets to keep the citizenry in check.
Alignment: Lawful Evil. Rohan gained his power through a deal with the evil goddess Vessa, and though his intentions may not have begun that way, the deal draws to him corrupt and twisted followers who cheat taxation, pursue personal wealth, and bend the system in their favor.
Appearance: Agents of the Empire are vastly more wealthy than the average Hommunder, and can often be spotted by their noblemen's attire and lavish style.

Excuse the quality, I just took these with my phone.

The Battle Mages
The Emperor's personal legions. Raised up in a civilization where magic has been illegal for one hundred years, the valley was simply not ready when the Battle Mages appeared. The populace has no suitable way to combat the Mages, and magic is still illegal for non-members. The Emperor uses the Mages to strike fear into the masses and hold control.
Leader: Headmaster Thomas Whiteskies (former PC, deal with Vessa, supernatural charisma), formerly of the Bard's College, oversees the conduct secret training center, more as a carry-over ever since wizards were found illegally practicing magic in the Bard's College and the whole school was converted. He remains now like a relic in the place where he once had use.
Goals: Subservient to the Emperor.
Alignment: Lawful Evil.
Appearance: The uniform of the Battle Mages is a long cloak of dark blue. These are often stitched with obscure white markings, presumed denote rank. Battle Mages also wear baldrics to which they affix large spellbooks with a metal chain. Helmets hide the faces of these troops, only adding to the appearance of inhumanity.

The Explorers' Corps
The Emperor's para-military organization for the exploration of new territory and settlement in the name of the Empire of Hommund. The Explorers set up outposts for colonization, and claim the surrounding area for the Emperor.
Leader: Captain Michael Cunningham (former PC, rides undead black dragon, also made a deal with Vessa)
Goals: Exploration. Subservient to the Emperor.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Appearance: The uniform of the Explorers' Corps includes loose beige trousers, robust boots, and occasionally light armor. Most carry a large knife. They are most easily recognized by their trademark yellow cloak or sash.

The Adventurers' Guild
Travelers, fighters, and treasure-hunters, often for hire, or otherwise bound together for protection. The guild is notorious for its flagrant disregard for the Emperors' laws, which require an Imperial Ambassador in every official guild to oversee conduct, and that a tax be paid on any found treasure, and new cites reported, as well as mandatory sale of magical items to the government. As such, the Guild frequently falls under assault by Imperial guards or the Explorers' Corps.
Leader: It is unknown whether the Guild acts under the command of a single person or simply acts as an amalgam of like-minded individuals.
Goals: The exploration and claim of unexplored lands and treasures despite/before such things are taken or forbidden by the Empire.
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Appearance: Members of the Guild are marked by their trademark red sash, and members for hire will often loiter on street corners or in taverns waiting for employers.

An old Illo I did of Marissa Leon. She will be older in this campaign.

The Weisekirk and the Order of Clerics
The Church of Weirdunn in Hommund. Since the rise of the Empire, little has changed in the church. The Order of Clerics is no longer a secret, as they necessarily emerged to protect the Temple of Weirdunn's Children from seizure by the Empire. They still keep to themselves, collecting magical artifacts in secret, and while some clerics are seen as freedom fighters, it is clear that they are not officially backed by the Weisekirk.
Leader: Marissa Leon, formerly in charge of the training of the Clerics, was promoted to Arch Priest of the Weisekirk after the death of the previous Arch Priest.
Goals: The collection of magical artifacts for preservation until such a time that the Valley is deemed ready for their existence in the world.
Alignment: Neutral inactive.
Appearance: Members of the church dress in white robes, and Clerics often wear white tabards or the colors of their patron deity.

The Grunkleid
The Grunkleid are the wandering ascetics of Hommund. These strange vagrants travel from one place to another through the wilds, living off the land. Reception ranges from fear to outright hostility, but the Grunkleid have never known to speak, even in the face of verbal and physical abuse.
Leader and Goals: Very little is known about the rank and motivations of the Grunkleid.
Alignment: True Neutral
Appearance: The Grunkleid can easily be rcognized by their green cloaks, ratty and tattered and often worn to the exclusion of other clothing.

The Diebenstadt
The Diebenstadt is the collective name of the many crime syndicates centered largely in Riverstadt.
Leader: The Diebenstadt, despite common misconception, is in fact a catch-all for many individual gangs and crime families, each with their own ranks and leaders.
Goals: Various individual groups work towards different goals. A common motivation has become the smuggling of new technologies out of Halfhill. The collective Diebenstadt exists for the assembly of new groups, finding of specialists, mutual employment opportunities, and the fencing of stolen goods. A community of thieves is held together by a shared knowledge that any member could betray any other, and face the consequences at the hands of the greater group.
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Appearance: Most of the Diebenstadt attempts to go unnoticed, though specific gangs might be recognized by their own signs.

The Hexenshard
The remains, after a century, of the ancient Circle of Sorcerers, the Hexencranz. This illegal organization operates secret apothecaries and sorcerer training.
Goals: The Hexenshard facilitates the learning of magic illegally, and trade between magic users in scrolls, spells, potions, and the like.
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Halfhill
Halfhill has been closed off from the rest of the valley since Lord Ferdinand's seizure of power. Few know what goes on besides Ferdinand's strict regulation of everything. Word spreads of two things: the strange new technologies being developed and smuggled, and the Resistance.
The Resistance is, as it sounds, a group of halflings working to take down Lord Ferdinand's government and open Halfhill once again.

One of the things I most look forward to is the interplay of these various factions, which should hopefully make world events more dynamic and interesting.

Ye Olde Career Paths

The campaign I am prepping at the moment revolves around characters who grew up together, so certain elements of background have become more important than usual.
After some research and multiple other efforts that served only to prove Occam's Razor, I came across a system which serves my purposes for determining an element of background, as well as starting money for the characters.

In the starting town, education is available but not free. The families of the PCs are in decent enough standing that they can provide a basic education for them.

Basic Education: Reading, Writing, Mathematics, some History. Age 7-12. Affordable to average families, but not the poor.

Advanced Education: Philosophy, Rhetoric, Politics, Music, Literature. Age 13-16. An advanced education adds +1 to two mental stats, and +2 to one (your specialization). Costs 600gp, making it prohibitively expensive for non-noble families.

Apprenticeship: Takes 6 + 1d4 years. No income, but you are housed, fed, etc.


A young person has three career paths:

Labor: Menial task. Requires no education or apprenticeship. You can start at age 12 (medieval children would have worked at a younger age, but often not for pay, and 12 was a not-uncommon age limit imposed by guilds). Starting gold: roll 1d6 for each year you worked.

Craft: You have learned to ply a trade. Requires basic schooling and apprenticeship. Starting gold: roll 2d6 for each year you worked,

Career: You have studied under a politician or something like that and begun to work your way into the jobs of Nobles. Requires advanced education and apprenticeship. Starting Gold: roll 3d6 for each year you work.


The idea with these was to provide the player a meaningful choice, as well as risk. A 28-year-old starting character can earn:
Labor: 16-96gp
Craft: 12-120gp
Career: 6-108gp
Such that a laborer can earn more than an unlucky craftsman, and is in fact guaranteed a greater minimum (he can skip the apprenticeship to avoid the risk of bottoming out even worse), but a craftsman has more earning potential. A PC with a great inheritance has the choice to spend it on education (higher stats), but will almost certainly start with less money, or he can take the cash and run, and begin a very affluent adventurer.

You'll notice average values are lower than the usual 3d6x10. Beginning as common townsfolk, I'm trying to convey how far removed the average adventurer is from the populace (you've had to save every penny of your net earnings all your life to be able to leave), and create a limited-resource situation which does two things:
1) makes it all the more significant when the PCs do earn some money; they'll appreciate it and finding treasure will be all the more exciting for a while;
2) encourages the players to stick around for a bit longer, to pick up some more cash to supply and head out. Since the starting city is on the edge of the campaign world, time there gives interesting plot opportunities: to characterize the Empire and what people think of it from afar, to explore the dilemma of leaving home (much more significant where the campaign deals with a shared childhood where PC backstories often ignore family), and to spend a bit of time with the NPCs everyone knows from the last campaign, since changes in them will be the most tangible for players, and can set the tone of the campaign.

The Gathering

So lately I've gotten into the horrible addictive wallet-cancer that is Magic the Gathering.

But, as with many things, this was one I was able to drag back to DnD and find: maybe Wizards has finally contributed something I could stand to use in my games.

So here's the rough draft:

The Summoner
The summoner is a special class of magic-user whose energies extend through the many planes, and whose magic-tendrily-things can call creatures from unknown worlds to assist them in combat and such.
Mechanically:

Picture from here: http://www.untoldindy.com/images/cardAnatomy.png

So the creature is roughly whatever it is, so here you get a mounted knight. Things like this with a separate mount and knight will be treated as a single creature, like they are bound by the energy which transported them or whatever, same with swarms and such.
The converted mana cost of a card is what level spell it is. At this stage I assume the Summoner uses MU spell tables.
Toughness is the number of hit dice a card has, probably in d6s, but up to DM discretion and dependent on what is reasonable in the rule set.
For power:

1. Summoned creature can hit for 1d4 of damage
2. 1d6 of damage
3. 1d8
4. 1d10
5. 1d12
6. 2d6
7. 3d4 or 2d8 or 3d6 or whatever you want, you get the idea

Abilities work like they seem like they would. First Strike creatures win initiative, Double Strike hits twice, Flyers fly,  Lifelink gains health for damage dealt, Defenders can't attack but maybe do some damage when hit if they still have power, and maybe Trample can knock people down. The DM needs to either write these out or improvise well. Not everything will convert.


This could be a new caster class, or you could replace your book's summon spell with this, and it might even scale better: you can slot the spell at any level and then you can summon a creature of appropriate level.

The DM could either have some cards set aside sorted by level for selection or random draw, or you could have players roll randomly for what creatures they are able to summon, or you could let a player use his/her own cards. My group often brings cards anyway, to play while waiting for players to show up, or in case a few characters die and can't come in for a few minutes, so this could be interesting, to have people see their own deck in a different light, and it makes each summoner different.

Obviously this is in the early stages, I just wanted to get the idea out there. It would be great to hear any suggestions, I'm sure other people have thought about this before.