Hello CBGers! It's me, VLOX. I'm back. I've got much to say, so please bear with me.
I have an idea for a three part Iron Kingdoms campaign. In case you didn't know, IK is a Dungeons and Dragons setting made by Privateer Press that combines fantasy, steampunk, and war elements. They have a miniature game called Warmachine (and it's savage brother Hordes). If you didn't know, enlighten yourself my friend.
This campaign was inspired by a theater history class. I've decided to try a cast of characters and a backstory. NOTE: Ogrun=Ogre, Rhulic=Dwarf, Cygnar=British Empire, Khards=Russia, Cryx Empire=Undead Pirate Cyborgs, Gobber=Goblin, Bodger=Mechanic
******J. MADIGAN'S IK CAMPAIGN! DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE A PLAYER********
Backstory: 1700 years ago the Ogrun payed the Dwarves of Rhul to build them a massive stone city on the outskirts of the Khardic empire. The Khards demanded taxes from the Ogrun, who wouldn't pay; a bloody war ensued. Thousands died, and the Khards began calling it Hellspass. At first the dwarves stayed out and tryed to finish their work, but the humans fighting started to destroy their fine craftsmanship (and their investment), so the dwarves joined in the fight. The war was lost, but the dwarves saved the Ogrun, primarily so that the giants could repay their debt. The Ogrun believed the dwarves had saved them from annihilation. The clan swore an eternal oath of fealty to the dwarves. The two have been working side-by-side ever since. The debt, however, is still unpaid. The great Ogrun treasure, the spoils of 2,000 years of ancient barbarism, still lies somewhere beneath great Hellspass.
The Cast
The Professor: A cultured and extremely educated middle aged man. He is a wizard, a soldier, and a tutor at the Caspian Royal Academy. He gives long boring lectures to rich young noblemen; everyone is equally bored, and he hates his job. He learns a great secret from a dwarven professor, and together they piece together one of Immoren's greatest mysteries and treasures - the Ogrun riches of Hellspass. He decides to act on this knowledge and assembles a team.
The Inventor: The inventor is a born genius and a prodigy. He teaches at the Cygnaran Royal Academy along with the Prof., but he is far from bored. His great interest is steamjack technology and spends every free minute studying and working on automatons. He has great interests in the Cyriss Machine cult, and has great promise to one day be a Warcaster. He agrees to go along mainly for the money and a chance to field-test his works.
The Bodger: This is the happiest member of the group. This little gobber is a machine addict. He can't get enough grease, metal, steam, and kaboom. He obsesses over clockwork machinations and mechanical men, and his greatest aspiration is to one day build a mechanical person to be his best friend. He is essential in the Inventors studies, and is his loyal assistant and best friend. Together they share an intense love of machines, and the inventor is often surprised at how useful the bodger is and how much they can learn from each other. It's little known among his human companions, but the Bodger is quite famous; bloody famous, some might say. He has a reputation as a hero and genius among his fellow Gobbers, and are usually willing to help him in his adventures.
The Ogrun: This behemoth of muscle and bone is sliding into his twilight years. The Ogrun may be old, but he is wise, and has learned much in his time on Caen. In his youth the Orgun was a bokur, a masterless wanderer. His life was saved by the professor, and the Ogrun declared that he found his Korune, and would be bokur no longer. He has since served as groundskeeper and blacksmith at the Cygnaran Royal Academy. He hammers out nails and boiler plate for the academics he respects so much; to this giant, knowledge is truly power. He may be quite old, a bit out of shape, and still bears old wounds and scars, but he is able to summon incredible strength when the situation calls for it.
The Pistoleer: This young, brash youth is most likely headed for an early grave. While he may be one of the most skilled (and certainly the youngest) pistoleers in Cygnar, it is a hard life, which he is ill prepared to face. Maintaining childish dreams of heroism and glory, he generally ignores the dirty and grim nature of his chosen profession: duelist and killer. His task is to defend the honor of the Llaelese privaleged: very rich, very proud, and not very good with a pistol. He stands in thier place during a duel, and never fails to kill his opponent. He can make a fortune if he declared loyalty to a single master, but his wanderlust keeps him in poverty. The Professor has a fondness for this fiery young man, and takes it upon himself to impress a sense of reason and justice in the Pistoleer's mind.
First Act
The campaign starts in 603 AR, in the Cygnaran city of Caspia, the city of walls, one colossal castle, and the capital of Cygnar. It is a national holiday for Cygnar, and the king is reviewing the Royal Cygnaran University, where all the players have gathered for festivities and duties. The Prof., the Inventor, and the Bodger all have presentations they must give, in order to justify their salary at CGU, and to impress the King. During a historical debate, the Professor discovers that the great Ogrun treasure was guarded and entrusted to one Ogrun, a wise and powerful warlock. He knew the location and had the "key". He knows that the warlock's remains and belongings were entrusted to his Rhulic master's clan, which is now in Orven.
Meanwhile, an experimental Cyrisscist Electro-jack is stolen from the University workshop! The Inventor and Bodger search in vain, only to have it turn up during a rival professor's demonstation. He beleives to have repaired and gained control of the jack; he's dead wrong! The Electro Jack bursts through the classroom wall right into the lecture hall where the professor is debating! The heros must defeat the rampaging jack.
The adventure continues with a day gathering adventuring supplies (guns, nets, rope, a canary, maps, underwater breathing equipment, explosives, arctic gear) and follows with a train ride from Caspia to Steelwater Flats to Ironhead station to Orven. It's a sort of tour of Cygnar, with lots of english accents, industrialization, and eventually a long diplomatic (or larcenous) encounter with the Dwarven clan in Orven. Orven is a unique social experiment with a dwarven village alongside a human one. They exist peacefully, but it is essentially an embassy under dwarven laws, which are quite harsh. The group will be hard pressed to convince the dwarves to give up the remains and possessions of the ogrun warlock. The climax occurs when the players (and the antagonists) discover that the remains of the warlock are not in fact in Orven; he was enslaved by the pirates of Cryx, the Nightmare Empire!
The antagonists of this adventure (and perhaps the others) are a rival adventuring group, led by a Rhulic outcast, criminal, and extremist. He is part of a Rhulic isolationist sect who believe that outsiders are trying to rob Rhul of it's wealth and culture. He has murdered hundreds with his companions (a warcaster and a few other rogues), mainly in search of riches or in Rhulic vendetta. He has recently escaped Bloodshore Island (Cygnars "Alcatraz"), and was present during the Professors lecture where he discovered the secret of Hellspass. He intends to capture the Professor and get the treasures for himself. They will be on board the same train as them, ending in a cinematic train battle - in the cars and on top of them!
Second Act
Coming Soon! Seedy Ports, Pirates, Necromancers, and the Island Empire of Cryx! Divening the location of the treasure out of the warlocks 1700 year old corpse! Horrors, slavery, the Undead, and the Demonic father of all Dragons!
Third Act
Coming Soon, too! WAR!!! Corvis, the city of ghosts! A long trip up the Black River, through Khador Occupied Lael! The Horrors of Full-Scale-WAR! Ending with a climactic, historic battle at Hellspass; the group finds the treasure and fights the Army of Khador!
PLEASE STAY TUNED
So I've been gone a long, long, long time - and with good reason. First I completely lost interest in DnD and only played Shadowrun and Savage Worlds (which I highly recommend). Then school loomed, and I have been quite a scholar (but a poor gamer). I am, however, back; and I'm back for Dungeons and Dragons. Specifically, for Iron Kingdoms and Warmachine. Oh how I love Privateer Press. They have allowed me to enjoy fantasy settings once again. I talk alot about "Darkstone" back in the day, a steampunk-world war setting I made. Well, it's on the back burners. It's time for Iron Kingdoms!
Well, I will certainly look forward to more of this. It flies ion the face of much of what I read, but in a good way. Lord knows, that were I ever to make another seting, it would either be based on ancient Greece or 17th century europe, so this looks to be a good read. Looking forward to more of the underpinnings.
Yes, this definitely looks very interesting. I look forward to seeing more.
Greetings and Salutations friends. I'm back with an Iron Kingdoms update which is, I'm sorry to say, way overdue. If you can get past the odd timing of these posts, please keep reading! Read to enjoy and read to reflect. If you have any comments suggestions or criticisms, I would be willing to barter some of my own time for them. If you review my campaign I will return the favor. Moving along, I've made some important modifications to my previous post, which merit a new post of their own.
NOTE: Llael=frenchy aristocrats, Khadoran/Khardic=of or relating to Khador, Khador=Soviet Russia, Cyriss=the machine cult, star worshippers, crazy but ingenius, far advanced technology
The Cast
The Professor: A cultured and extremely educated middle aged man. He is a wizard, a soldier, and a tutor at the Caspian Royal Academy. He gives long boring lectures to rich young noblemen; everyone is equally bored, and he hates his job. He learns a great secret from a dwarven professor, and together they piece together one of Immoren's greatest mysteries and treasures - the Ogrun riches of Hellspass. He decides to act on this knowledge and assembles a team.
The Inventor: The inventor is a born genius and a prodigy. He teaches at the Cygnaran Royal Academy along with the Prof., but he is far from bored. His great interest is steamjack technology and spends every free minute studying and working on automatons. He has great interests in the Cyriss Machine cult, and has great promise to one day be a Warcaster. He agrees to go along mainly for the money and a chance to field-test his works.
The Bodger: This is the happiest member of the group. This little gobber is a machine addict. He can't get enough grease, metal, steam, and kaboom. He obsesses over clockwork machinations and mechanical men, and his greatest aspiration is to one day build a mechanical person to be his best friend. He is essential in the Inventors studies, and is his loyal assistant and best friend. Together they share an intense love of machines, and the inventor is often surprised at how useful the bodger is and how much they can learn from each other. It's little known among his human companions, but the Bodger is quite famous; bloody famous, some might say. He has a reputation as a hero and genius among his fellow Gobbers, and are usually willing to help him in his adventures.
The Ogrun: This behemoth of muscle and bone is sliding into his twilight years. The Ogrun may be old, but he is wise, and has learned much in his time on Caen. In his youth the Orgun was a bokur, a masterless wanderer. His life was saved by the professor, and the Ogrun declared that he found his Korune, and would be bokur no longer. He has since served as groundskeeper and blacksmith at the Cygnaran Royal Academy. He hammers out nails and boiler plate for the academics he respects so much; to this giant, knowledge is truly power. He may be quite old, a bit out of shape, and still bears old wounds and scars, but he is able to summon incredible strength when the situation calls for it.
The Pistoleer: This young, brash youth is most likely headed for an early grave. While he may be one of the most skilled (and certainly the youngest) pistoleers in Cygnar, it is a hard life, which he is ill prepared to face. Maintaining childish dreams of heroism and glory, he generally ignores the dirty and grim nature of his chosen profession: duelist and killer. His task is to defend the honor of the Llaelese privaleged: very rich, very proud, and not very good with a pistol. He stands in thier place during a duel, and never fails to kill his opponent. He can make a fortune if he declared loyalty to a single master, but his wanderlust keeps him in poverty. The Professor has a fondness for this fiery young man, and takes it upon himself to impress a sense of reason and justice in the Pistoleer's mind.
First Act
The campaign starts in 603 AR, in the Cygnaran city of Caspia, the city of walls, one colossal castle, and the capital of Cygnar. It is a national holiday for Cygnar, and the king is reviewing the Royal Cygnaran University, where all the players have gathered for festivities and duties. The Prof., the Inventor, and the Bodger all have presentations they must give, in order to justify their salary at CGU, and to impress the King. During a historical debate, the Professor discovers that the great Ogrun treasure was guarded and entrusted to one Ogrun, a wise and powerful warlock. He knew the location and had the "key". He knows that the warlock's remains and belongings were entrusted to his Rhulic master's clan, which is now in Orven.
Meanwhile, an experimental Cyrisscist Electro-jack is stolen from the University workshop! The Inventor and Bodger search in vain, only to have it turn up during a rival professor's demonstation. He beleives to have repaired and gained control of the jack; he's dead wrong! The Electro Jack bursts through the classroom wall right into the lecture hall where the professor is debating! The heros must defeat the rampaging jack.
The adventure continues with a day gathering adventuring supplies (guns, nets, rope, a canary, maps, underwater breathing equipment, explosives, arctic gear) and follows with a train ride from Caspia to Steelwater Flats to Ironhead station to Orven. It's a sort of tour of Cygnar, with lots of english accents, industrialization, and eventually a long diplomatic (or larcenous) encounter with the Dwarven clan in Orven. Along the way, the players have many discussions and interactions with one of the passengers, a Rhulic dilettante. He is the antagonist of this adventure (and perhaps the others). He is part of a Rhulic isolationist sect who believe that outsiders are trying to rob Rhul of it's wealth and culture. He has murdered hundreds with his companions (a Khadoran Mercenary warcaster and a few other rogues), mainly in search of riches or in Rhulic vendetta. He has recently escaped Bloodshore Island (Cygnars "Alcatraz"), and was present during the Professors lecture where he discovered the secret of Hellspass. He intends to capture the Professor and get the treasures for himself. This conflict of interests will end in a cinematic train battle - in the cars and on top of them! He sicks his Khadoran Mercenary Warcaster friend on them, complete with a Laborjack stolen from the train's coal shoveling compartment! The Heros fight a warcaster and a steamjack. If they suceed, they can steal the steamjacks cortex lock keys from the warcaster, and thus gain their very own steamjack.
The final location for the adventure is Orven. Orven is a unique social experiment with a dwarven village alongside a human one. They exist peacefully, but it is essentially an embassy under dwarven laws, which are quite harsh. The group will be hard pressed to convince the dwarves to give up the remains and possessions of the ogrun warlock. The climax occurs when the players (and the antagonists) discover that the remains of the warlock are not in fact in Orven; he was enslaved by the pirates of Cryx, the Nightmare Empire!
So there it is. I plan to maintain this convention of one "boss" fight with a warcaster and a warjack every adventure/act. D20 battles do take a very long time to complete, so to expedite the process and keep everyone interested, I plan on focusing on this one battle, making it interesting and dramatic, story related, and hopefully not too long. As an added bonus, they get to keep the 'jack they defeat, slowing increasing their own personal retinue.
What do you think? Have you tried this "boss fight" convention in the past?
What about their "day in the city" where they shop for adventuring gear? This could be fun! What other wacky steampunk/victorian adventuring gear would they buy?
What about the Pistoleer? He doesn't really feel fully developed. How did he meet the professor? Did he save his life? Why are they still friends?
btw, if you wanna know more about Iron Kingdoms or Warmachine, check out www.privateerpress.com. No I wasn't paid to say that.