Brave New World

Okay, I admit it. Trying to advance the campaign from 7th level to 16th level in one night wasn't one of my best ideas. However, before I could do too much damage one of my players was called away to work and we stopped the adventure.

The remaining two players and I, along with a visiting friend, talked about the campaign. I was pretty disgruntled with the erratic attendance. We worked on the problem some and talked about it more the next day.

Good things have come of the experience. Tredis the cleric/paladin returned from the dead to make a better team for adventuring. Incarnum is mostly being replaced by psionics now.

In addition, I made the decision official that if at least four players didn't show, we'd play a board game. I took the decision to get enough guys together to game out of my hands and into the players'.

No player characters were harmed in the filming of this game night.

( What Has Happened So Far? )

The PCs are all 9th level. How we ended up at that level is a long story, but at least we have a common starting point.

I've never really recapped the campaign so far here in my column. So here's a quick overview of what the PCs have done in the world we've been creating.

We have played in the Darkness Falls campaign for six months now and had twelve nights of gaming. We plan to start our seventh month and thirteenth night of gaming on April 14, 2006. We've seen the Chosen of Terra complete three years of in-game adventuring. I thought I'd recap where they've been and what they've accomplished so far.

On Inspring 1, 1005 the Chosen of Terra arrived in the town of Twilight on the shores of Mere Lake. They protected the poor of the city from slavers, took over an abandoned lighthouse, and traveled to the raptoran town of Darkness Falls. Those same slavers, which included aberrations and their humanoid lackeys, carried a strange symbol, an amulet with Terra displayed as a globe with a dark black hole through it. They overcame a misunderstanding with the shadar kai of the nearby Lok Wood.

On Inspring 1, 1006 the Chosen began hunting the slavers in earnest. They learned of a greater threat in the Black Forest south of Twilight. They kept the elven magic keeping powerful undead intact as they looked for answers on how to repair the damage it had taken from the drow. All hell broke loose as the tarrasque surfaced, aspects of demons stalked the land, and evil grew in power.

On Inspring 1, 1007 Chosen joined the Shining Crusade and took over Far Keep Nine, near the raptoran town of Darkness Falls. The Chosen had to clear the keep of an aspect of Demogorgon before taking over.

Horse Lord Tredis was chosen by the Shining Crusade to command Far Keep Nine. Ambassador Skafloc represented the elves who wanted to return to the Lok Wood. Cerebrum worked closely with the raptoran militia.

Finding the Portal to the world of Ender allowed the Chosen to find ancient magic to seal the elven magic in the Black Forest. They also met Cerebrum's dangerous brethren, the warforged.

The Chosen used the elemental binding magic from Ender to seal the undead of the Black Forest away, defeated the slavers and those who sponsored them, and convinced the skarn not to aid the sahuagin to attack the towns of Mere Lake. Like the slavers, the undead had a symbol of Terra as a globe with a dark black hole in the middle, hinting at a possible terrible alliance between aberrations and undead. Meanwhile, the raptorans expelled the Great Kingdom from Darkness Falls.

On Inspring 1, 1008 hobgoblins and dragons attacked the Great Kingdom. A terrible war ensued with the Chosen becoming the generals of the Shining Crusade standing against her foes. They took the fight to the Fane of Tiamat and slew the aspect of Tiamat whose heads controlled the war machine of the hobgoblins.

The raptorans welcomed the Great Kingdom back to Darkness Falls. The Chosen returned, helped the elves return to the Lok Wood for the first time in centuries, and made peace with the shadar kai.

On Inspring 1, 1009, the Chosen had resumed command of Far Keep Nine above the town of Darkness Falls. When a cleric of Orcus and henchdemons tried to take the green comet dust away from Charnaset, the catfolk scout, the Chosen realized that had a new foe on their hands.

They traveled to an ancient elven observatory built around a tree and began hunting for the creature known as the Dread Wraith.

( So What's Next? )

What's next is a more in depth exploration of the Lok Wood and a nearby Overdark island as well as a return to the world of Ender. I have some design work to do on all three locations that I'll go over now.

The Lok Wood has a new settlement of elves that I need to flesh out. In addition, the shadar kai are more prevalent now and will factor in to future adventures.

The Overdark island will be the home of a lich. This being has a powerful magic item the Chosen will need.

I'm going to work up an alliance of dromites, maenids, and xephs in the world of Ender who want to join the Great Kingdom. If the Great Kingdom accepts, they'll have to protect the new races. But if they reject them, will those races turn to the warforged?

( Next Month )

I'm off for the summer (June through August). During that time, I'll work on finishing a freelance writing project for Dog Soul. The work I've done so far has been really enjoyable and working with the company and the other freelance writers has been great. Without giving too much away, the setting I helped work on uses D20 Modern and the future supplement. It is sci-fi set in a location that is home to a variety of human and not-quite-so-human anymore cultures.

I'll return to column writing in September with my Gen Con report. Also, around that time please keep your eyes out for the Bulldogs! supplement I've written which should be coming out as a PDF from Silven Publishing. I'm particularly proud of the alien artifact section.