Campaign Setting - Shaping Icons

Worlds Are Theoretical; Campaigns Are Alive

I love game world settings that come with compelling pillars and features, but leave an overwhelming majority of the map under a shroud of ambiguity. It gives me a lot of room to work with as a Dungeon Master. I don't have to run the same world the same way for different groups of players. I can fill out a massive campaign bible for various places ahead of time, and leave other places in a quantum sort of state - only finalizing their states once the players go to observe them. It's also great for encouraging players to build the world with / for me as we go. In this regard I've always preferred running my games in settings like the Nentir Vale setting from D&D 4th Edition or the Dragon Empire from 13th Age. I also love how games like World of Darkness turn well-known cities and towns into a completely uncharted wilderness full of horrors.

So we have a campaign game going now, and as Arturo and Vinto venture out into the world we have to start solving for some of these variables - in particular it means hashing out the Icons with whom they interact. When the players came up with their backgrounds they deliberately supplied their own hook into the adventure. Their idea is that the two "brothers" have been coerced into some sort of dangerous quest due to running afoul of the law. Arturo has been something of a malcontent in his social station and fell in with what the player's described as a some sort of shadowy syndicate. But when his associations caused Vinto to wind up imprisoned he took rash action and engineered an unsuccessful escape attempt, compounding the issue. Benefactors in the syndicate managed to expunge the offenses from the official record - but such things do not come without a price.

An organized crime syndicate in the Roman Empire? This Sounds like a job for the Gray Weaver icon. Mobsters from Sicily, nobody will ever see that one coming .... In particular, though, this forced me to consider what kind of interests this Icon had, and his relationship with the Empire itself. So the skeleton needs to be a bit more fleshed out. We already have an historical character for the Emperor (Justinian the Great) and there's a major historical event tied to smuggling and shady mercantile affairs in this era - the smuggling of silk worms from China into the Empire. So now an idea took shape - one I've been familiar with from many years with the Legend of the Five Rings franchise - an Icon who works as the Underhand of the Emperor. Of course, an organization like that needs mysteries and motives - so I did a little more digging and spun up just the right person (more on that another time).

So the Gray Weaver is ultimately working for the increased prosperity and security of the Empire as a whole, but is happy to use nefarious means and odious men to accomplish his goals. He'll obviously be concerned with the looming crisis of succession (Justinian is in his late 70s with no son and unable or unwilling to favor any of his nephews) and has his fingers in many pies. If the PCs distinguish themselves he'll start to take a personal interest. If he finds common cause with them, he may fold them further and further into the heart of his grand conspiracy. On the other hand, if he fails to see redeeming qualities in their character he won't hesitate to play his pawns ruthlessly ... even crime bosses have their standards.

 

World Setting - Icones

Icons make the world ago ‘round …

One of the best things about the use of Icons from the Archmage Engine is that they were implemented from the outset to be pillars that define the game setting. So in this Byzantine Age setting it was important to set those proverbial stakes in the ground before letting the players make camp in the world. Icons fall into 3 general categories with some bleed over here and there: Romans, Neighbors, and Barbarians. 

The Roman Icons define the public aspects of the Empire itself. The Emperor in Constantinople is the main force of law and culture within the Imperial borders. The Praefectus in Antioch represents the military influence and interests of Rome. The Archemagos concerns himself with those who use arcane magic to serve or threaten the Empire. The Pope’s main spheres are those of religious practices and moral philosophy among the people of the Empire and beyond. The Grey Weaver, on the other hand, is a mysterious figure whose main interest is the flow (licit or otherwise) of wealth and information across the Empire, a shadowy hand that’s influence could be felt anywhere. Depending on the time period and theme of the individual campaign, these roles could be filled by different characters (and some of their loci might even change) but their core functions in defining the Empire are largely the same.

Neighboring Icons obviously define zones immediately outside Imperial dominion. These relationships can be a lot more flexible campaign-to-campaign, but they presume a civilized power with diplomatic relations between themselves and Constantinople. The Rose Prince and High Thane represent the relevant Elven and Dwarven civilizations. The Sassanid Persians are lead by their own emperor. While these people may technically be “barbarians” in the strictest Roman sense of the word, no well-educated Roman would want to make a fool of himself to dismiss their civilizations so casually.

Barbaric Icons obviously do not represent everyone that the Romans would consider barbarians in the world, but they are the four who pose the greatest threat in the current era. Ironscales and his fellow draconic disciples hold sway beyond the Rhine and Danube in Germania - a land where many past foes and invasions of the Empire have begun. The Brazen Khan is whatever horse-lord has managed to consolidate the loyalty of those marauding bands in the wild plains north of the Black Sea. The Winter King is no man at all, but the fearsome Lord of the Giants in the Frozen Wastes beyond Germania. The Eternal Pharaoh was once a man, but has returned as an unliving mockery ranging from the Upper Nile to plague the rich province of Aegyptus.


While the inhuman monsters are solidly in the Barbaric Villains category and the Praefectus and Imperator are at the heart of the Roman Empire -  it is very easy to shift the other Icons up or down depending on the historical period, individual character, and minor historical adjustments we want to have in our campaign. Go back a couple of Emperors in real world history and Rome herself (and the Pontifex Maximus) aren’t even a part of the Empire anymore. It’s very easy to conceive of Dwarves and Elves that are openly hostile to Rome due to Caesar trying to conquer Gaulia Hyboria or Caligula sending wave after wave of men to die in a vain attempt to seize some “impudent” Thane under the Alpine Mountains. Likewise the Bronze Horde or the Draconic Order could have reached some manner of truly civilized accord with Rome as a client-state or trading partner years earlier. Each campaign can be drastically different due to modifying the relationships between Icons.

World Setting - Alterna Historia I

Campaign World: Custom Terra with fantasy fictionalize history

Campaign Setting: The Province of Sicily, Roman Empire; 33rd year of the Glorious reign of Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus Augustus in Constantinople; 560 A.D.

Campaign Mechanics:

    Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition is the primary mechanical base for the campaign. The character attributes, class features, ability checks, and combat mechanics are played directly out of the Player’s Handbook. Pretty much everything else is taken from the Archmage Engine system or the 13th Age Rulebook. Instead of selecting a background from the PHB each player invents a single Background in the 13th Age style. when one would normally interject their background points into a check under the Archmage Engine, instead the character gets to add their proficiency bonus to the check. The Escalation Die mechanic is used in combat. The Montage Technique is used for travel and non-combat group challenges as appropriate. Stunts are also handled under the 13th Age style. Icon Points are introduced to player characters over their first 3 levels, one at each level - preferably over the course of play.

Setting Icons:

    Each Icon is represented not only be a figurehead, but also by a particular organization. The icon relationship represent any relationship that would have sway over the greater part of an organization. Each organization is also associated with a powerful Locus - a physical area where they hold the greatest sway and the fortunes of which are directly reflected upon the organization. Many of these have obvious analogs to familiar faces in the default 13th Age setting - and rightly so. The Icons of the 13th Age were crafted to fill some of the most common, yet flexible NPC pillars the commonly occur in fantasy game settings and literature. There’s no reason to discard an old trope out of hand.

ICON LIST:

Imperator - Constantinople

Praefectus Oriens - Antioch

Archemagos - Alexandria

Pontifex Maximus - Rome

Grey Weaver - Syracuse

High Thane - Khazad

Rose Prince - Hyboria

Ironscales - Germania

Sassanid Emperor - Ctesiphon

Brazen Khan - Sarmatia

Winter King - Utgard

Eternal Pharaoh - Thebes

Ludus Siciliae - II

Tonight we completed our second session of play, continuing down the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure. When we last left off Arturo and Vinto had made their way to a cave. There they expected to find the bulk of the band that had waylaid their employer, Gundren Rockseeker.

The two rangers were still traveling overland attempting to avoid detection, and the goblin lookouts near the cave were inattentive as noted in the adventure guide. The party's stealth checks were more than adequate to go unobserved until they were nearly inside the cave, where upon they spied the ambush blind and surprised the goblins. A well-placed arrow and a pair of swords made quick work of the lookouts.

The entered the cave cautiously. The explored the first room, a kennel with a pair of wolves. An initial attempt at casting Animal Friendship failed, and I think it might indicate a problem with making charm spells against dumb animals (it had an Intelligence limit) save against Wisdom (which D&D animals tend to get bumped up to enhance their perception scores). However, a bit of animal handling and some food managed to placate the animals adequately and let the two search the area and discover the chimney-like shaft leading to the upper area. This would come in handy when their keen eyes spotted the goblin sentry on the bridge further along the stream. Their lantern gave away their position, and rather than walk into an ambush the two quickly doubled-back to the kennel - neatly evading the flood trap the goblin triggered.

So instead, Arturo climbed slowly up the narrow shaft to the upper chamber, quietly observing some goblins in the dim glow around cooking coals. Pressed flat among the rubble, he lowered his rope and helped Vinto up to the top as well. Revealing their light source finally got the attention of the bugbear Klarg and his two goblin servants who were less than pleased about their dinner being ruined. Klarg's bluster didn't cow the humans, and neither did his wolf. Arturo met its charge and turned it aside, lancing it two quick stabs in the haunches. He also deftly evaded the Bugbear's nasty spiked club and one goblin's butchering knife. However, the goblin with the red-shot fire poker managed to catch the brave swordsman on the hip (with a critical hit). Lastly, Vinto put an arrow into the back of the distracted canine's head.

Klarg bellowed with rage and brought his spiked club around in huge, sweeping arc - crashing flat into Arturo's back as he unsucessfully attempted to dodge. The swordsman was laid low on the cold stone floor with that single, devastating blow and did not stir. Vinto took distance into the cave before feathering the bugbear oaf with an arrow that suddenly sprouted ensnaring vines! Klarg howled madly and tore at the vines while his cook helped by cutting them away with his knife. The fire-tender scurried across the cavern floor and hit the archer with his fire-poker. The uncommon display of goblin valor was immediately rewarded by an arrow in the face.

The ranger ducked away behind Klarg's treasure 'hoard' - a pile of stolen goods crates mostly, and the burly brute charged across the cavern and smashed into the pile, sending boxes and bails flying back on the human. The last little goblin gamboled over the debris but could not get into grips with the ranger before he loosed another deadly shaft. This one caught Klarg square in the shoulder, causing him to lose his grip on his weapon. Shocked from his rage, Klarg ordered his minion to attack while he himself made for an escape down the chute. On his way he kicked the party's lantern down the hole too, eliminating the human's light-source, save for the dim embers in the cooking pit. Realized Klarg was making a break for it, the last goblin followed suit. Vinto could still hear them arguing in goblin in the cramped descent as he quickly worked to drag Arturo away from death's door. While the two adventurers were recovering, they heard the sound of booming water rushing out and a couple of gurgling shrieks.

Klarg's little treasure hoard was a nice find and Arturo had to spend his last hit die and his last spell slot to cast cure wounds, but they were able to press on after a short rest. The goblins in the next chamber had no idea what hit them. While not taken unawares, they were dismayed to see the humans that were supposedly flushed down-river suddenly coming out of Klarg's sanctum. Their swords were sharp, but Arturo's blades were more so. Taking two glancing blows, he returned each one in kind with a mortal strike. The third fled to the bridge, cursing out the sentry before his neck erupted with Vinto's next arrow. The bridge sentry fled screaming down the hall.

Arturo applied the healing balms (potion) to his lacerations before the two continued on into the goblins' den. The goblin under-boss, Yeemik, met Arturo's bold demands of surrender with an offer to trade them his hostage (Sildaro, Gungren's traveling companion) if they would kill Klarg so that Yeemik can be the new boss. Arturo, at this point covered in quite a bit of goblin blood and gore, informed Yeemik flippantly that Klarg's already been chopped up and drowned in the flood. Yeemik interrogated the goblin bridge sentry:

"You flushed the boss?"
"Me? NO! No ... um ... maybe ... er ... I mean ... sorta ... yes ... very yes ..."

At any rate, Yeemik conducts a wary trade that ends hostilities. The two rangers manage to patch Sildaro up and get into Phandalin village at around midnight. The wagon they'd sent on ahead arrived safely, so they weren't completely unexpected by the watchman on the road and they manage to wake up the innkeeper and clean off the blood and gore before going to sleep, exhausted.

P.S.: Klarg and his minion both managed to barely survive the flood (2HP remaining each). If the PCs don't double-back to the Cragmaw cave, Klarg will lick his wounds for a couple of days and return when he things the coast is clear. Yeemik will be very unhappy. Yeemik and the Bridge Sentry (who I've taken to calling, "that little bastard") will flee before someone rats on them to Klarg. Then I'll be looking for an opportunity to reintroduce Yeemik and his sidekick as well as Klarg and his minion. It might happen as soon as the PCs deciding to steal back the lost supplies for their rightful owner in Phandalin. One or the other could show up at Cragmaw Castle as an extra mini-boss fight. Whatever happens I've got to plan out a way to make it loud and entertainingly campy.

Ludus Siciliae - I

Tonight we played the first game of my Byzantine Age campaign setting. R and D sat down to formal character design with their character concepts from earlier and the week and settled on a pair of rangers.

Arturo is the son of a family with significant mercantile interests, supervising shipments east and west around the island province. He's a quick hand with paired spatha, a style considered barbaric due to its unsuitability for fighting in proper Imperial military formations. It's a pity considering he's the best Latrunculi player in the province - a skill usually found in those gifted in military tactics. However, his disreputable combat style complements both his attitude problem with authority and his predilection for risk-taking. Such traits are those that Res Monetae are happy to utilize. He's been making a solid margin off the book by combining his shipping activities with basic courier work.

Vinto has a different story for every day of the week for anything, including his own life. Arturo's heard most of them by now, but still could only vouch for things since they day they met when they were 7 years old. Vinto wandered into town, a strange, slightly feral orphan from the backwoods - interesting and amusing. Arturo's father took the boy in as a free servant after Arturo's drastic tantrum when he discovered some unscrupulous men had tried to pass his new friend off as a barbarian slave. In addition to his gift for story-telling Vinto is a dead-eye shot with a bow and good with animals. Both boys spent countless hours in the wilderness around the family villa, sometimes disappearing for days at a time hunting or exploring.

R and D had come up with the premise that they were sent on a dangerous adventure to avoid a severe legal punishment. Vinto had been jailed due to a small riot breaking out over a matter of gambling. Arturo had impulsively engineered a jail-break that didn't end cleanly. Miraculously, no one died in the struggle and there wasn't any significant property damage, but the damnum (fines) levied against both were potentially damaging to the Familia Maretia. That also assumed that Arturo's family bothered to bail him out in the first place. Being sold into servitude was the other option on the table, but the officer in charge of the jail happened to be a member of the Res Monetae himself and proposed an alternate arrangement. So Arturo and Vinto were shipped around to the other side of the island to the port of Parnormus, where they were to take positions working for the Rockbreaker brothers in their expedition to restore an ancient dwarven mine. Their fates will be tied to ensuring the success of the venture and giving the Concern enough information and leverage to gain a controlling interest in the business.

Between Arturo's fluency in Dwarven and their skillfulness in the local environs the "brothers" had no problem convincing Gundren Rockseeker to acquire their services delivering his supplies to Pandelvarus, two days ride into the highland back-woods of Sicilia. They took a fraction of their own pay and hired a wagon-driver and then used their talents to simply ghost his route along the road from alongside. In the middle of the second day they came across the dead horses of Gundren and his human companion Silvaro blocking the road. They noticed a poorly concealed Goblin ambush (Gobs rolled a natural "1") and made the first initiative roll of the world. Vinto rolled the first miss as his arrow hit a tree. Two goblins rushed out of the thicket and attacked Arturo, rolling the first critical hit and the first normal hit, and left him a nick away from dropping. Arturo's blades failed to find their mark and then the third goblin sniper in the other thicket tried to shoot the wagon driver, panicking the horses.

Naturally the PC's continued flailing hopelessly with 8's, 4's, and 1's - but thankfully the goblins' dice go cold as well. Arturo wisely disengaged when he saw the panicked horses charging down the track. The horses cleared the corpses but the wagon damaged a wheel coming over the bodies, threw off the driver, and crashed into the two goblins on the track. One failed his save and died horribly. The other ducked into the thicket only to emerge and clamber over the damaged wagon to try and get sight of his prey. Arturo obliged by bursting from the foliage and making his first successful attack rolls. The goblin archer took one more parting shot before ducking over the high ridge alongside the road. Vinto calmly let an arrow fly in an arc over the hillside, largely out of spite, but his Disadvantaged attack rolls came up with a pair of crits. A pained scream came from the other side of the ridge and Arturo shook his head in disbelief as he tended to the wagon driver. Given the unlikely critical hit I ruled the goblin pinned to the ground by his shoulder, helpless and compliant to interrogation. Once they had everything they could use from the goblin, they put him out of his misery and headed to the Cragmaw hideout. The primitive traps along the trail were no match for seasoned hunters in their natural environs and they arrive at their destination without further complications.

We finished the session by leveling Arturo and Vinto to level 2. With their fighting styles, spells, and second hit die they aren't made of glass anymore so the encounters going forward should involve less rocket tag. While 5E is very well suited, in general, for smaller parties in general, a short-handed party at 1st level is very challenging due to the high variance (few actions) and low tolerance (HP) in combat.