New Edom Campaign, Introduction
â,¬Å"Children, this is the story of how our country came to be. You must remember what you are told because many people died to bring us to a place where we could live in freedom. In my fatherâ,¬,,¢s time many of us were slaves to sorcerers and fell creatures across the great mountain escarpment that lies to our East. You must understand that those who ruled over us were able to do magic the likes of which you could scarcely imagine, without let or hindrance, because they obtained their power through blood sacrifice. The lives of slaves were cheap, and many of those who live in our country now are the descendants of such slaves.
During a great war there was a slave revolt, which was helped by some people of the upper classes who were disgusted by the treatment of the slaves and the poor. Among these was Lord Aholibamah, a wizard of some repute, who enabled a number of slaves to escape from a Princeâ,¬,,¢s dungeon where they were being slowly sapped of life and will to power his magic. Another was Sif Finnhald, who had been a woman warrior slave forced to fight in the arenas. They realized that they were not likely to win their freedom in their own land once the warring factions began to band together to put down the slave revolt, and decided to lead those who would go with them across the forbidden mountains which in that land lay to the West. Aholibamah told the people that once they had crossed beyond a certain point that a magical barrier would form and that no magic could penetrate it on either side, that this would save them from the vengeance of their masters.
This is the greatest mountain chain known in the world, and is so large that it took nearly a full year to cross it. Snows, avalanches, monsters lay in their path, but they persevered; their leaders were brave and resolute, and those who had not the stomach or strength did not survive.
When they came onto the other side many were weak from hunger and fatigue, and most of the people were in rags added to by furs and hides, and very savage they had become indeed. Savage they had become and wandered into what seemed a savage land, of vast forests, swamps, uncrossable rivers and goblin tribes which were eager to feast upon human flesh. It seemed that they had wandered from the frying pan in to the fire!
Sif Finnhald and several other heroic warriors along with Lord Aholibamah left the people to recover in a fortified camp and had frail hope of bringing good news to themâ,¬Â¦only to find that as they forded the river on a raft made by Aholibamahâ,¬,,¢s magic that there were friendly but strange folk awaiting them.
The old country had always taught them that the ancient races, of Dwarves, Elves and Gnomes were evil fae creatures that stole human children and were wicked of intent. This they found was just revealing of their former mastersâ,¬,,¢ own evil nature, for the first people they met, the Gnomes of the Kingdom of Nibelheim were kindly, embarking in small boats across the river and bringing a caravan of food and clothing to the refugees. The Wood Elves of Carnmag and the High Elves of Raith Immel, learning of their arrival, brought them healing magics and helped escort them across the river to a land that was not so heavily populated with dangerous humanoids, and the Dwarves of Svartaheim helped them with arms and armor, and the three ancient races between them helped them settle their new land.
The people decided to name themselves after a decisive moment when they crossed a river in the old country to begin their trek across the mountains, and called their country â,¬Å"New Edomâ,¬Â Though they initially elected a King from among their number this resulted in an attempted tyranny, and overthrowing that king they declared themselves a free people. With a new world to explore and a new home to build, they settled down at last and began to tame the wild land that they had come to.
So, children, learn the history of our country, and the other tales that I shall tell you later, remember to be friendly to the ancient races who were kind to us, and do your duty to your land, for your land is our safe haven, our miraculous dwelling place to which we came from many hardships.â,¬Â
Overview:
New Edom is a small country, perhaps fifty miles across, located near three demi-human kingdoms to the north and to the northeast and southeast a great swamp, a forbiddingly large river and a wild country across both that is largely inhabited by humanoids and dangerous monsters. Beyond that is an almost impassible mountain range.
To the west lie largely human lands, divided into three great civilizations: the Olgothians of the Far West, the Keltic Kingdoms of the northwest, and the Yasg Empire of the southwest. These are mostly involved in internal conflicts and apart from far ranging traders have little time for the small republic of ex-slaves to their East. Some runaway slaves and refugees however have heard tales of the strange little country and have made their way there if they could; if not they dream of it, a place where the laws are fair to all and no one is slave to any.
New Edom has formed very close ties with the Dwarvish and Gnome Kingdoms in particular, and in part their trade with the other human kingdoms comes from their acting as brokers for these otherwise reclusive nations, which produce extraordinary metalwork, jewelry, weaponry and agricultural goods (in the case of the Gnomes) that are of wonderful richness. The Elvish lands tend to be somewhat more aloof, rather kindly and condescending with it.
Because of their origins in part and in part also because the heroic leaders, tended to be good and humanistic the society is as well; it is not perfect but overall the legal system is fair, the privileged are not too privileged and everyone does some form of national service, since there is still a sense of the need to band together to avoid being destroyed by enemies.
Character Generation:
Since the inhabitants come from a variety of different countries it is possible to play nearly any cultural type, though the largest communities are of the following types: Celtic, Norse, Med/S. European. Others might form smaller communities or stand out as individuals.
Sexual discrimination is frowned upon in New Edom, so sex has no bearing upon character class. The following character types would be likely: Warrior, Ranger, Mage, Priest, Druid, Bard, Rogue (Scout, Spy, Buccaneer being most common)
Social class is not entirely relevant; the Patrician class for the most part is made up of nobles who own no serfs, have no true hereditary authority beyond the right to sit in local councils; they still must obtain education and training in war and other character skills. Government authority is mostly determined by examinations regarding ability.
One of the main sources of adventure is exploration; the land is young, and trails need to be blazed, strange ruins explored, the swamp cleared of monsters, the other human lands properly traded with and diplomatic ties established with them.
For at least the first five levels of character life the service must be to the nation. This is compensated by free food and lodgings while in New Edom. The characters may find themselves in command of a military unit or as part of a shipâ,¬,,¢s complement during this time, but because of their special training and abilities will often being doing special kinds of missions. Once they are past their mandatory service they can choose to continue or become free agents.
Because of their strong association with Dwarves and Gnomes, and their crossing of the mysterious magical barrier, New Edomites gain a 5% bonus of resistance to magic, which increases by 5% per point above a wisdom of 15.
Battle System
Because there is a certain amount of militarism in this game I have a battle system in place. It is fairly simplistic but is good for keeping the action going.
Unit Size: This only has one real effect in my system: how many troops are available.
Unit Skill: Scale of one to five; one is a mob; two are pressed peasants in effect, three are militia, four is trained regulars, five is elite.
Unit Arms: This indicates how much damage they do.
Unit Type: Light Infantry, Archers, Heavy Infantry, etc.
Unit Leadership: Scale of one to five. One is incompetent, two is poor, three is average, four is competent, five is extraordinary.
Unit Health: Scale of one to five. This can mean, incidentally, incapacitated due to disease or spell, cold or heat.
Unit Armor: This is also a one to five and indicates how much damage a unit can absorb. Note: magic and monstrosity can be factored in here and should be done on a case by case basis.
How it works:
The Unit Skill, Arms, Leadership, Health are all added up, and -1 are the roll required on a D20. The armor rating is used to subtract from an opponents roll; the skill is also the initiative bonus.
For actually doing damage the average of skill, arms, leadership, health, armor is added up and a percentage statistic is noted. This is the percentage of soldiers who actually effectively fight per turn.
The skill plus leadership plus health is also averaged and turned into a percentage to indicate morale. A percentage of damage equal to morale indicates a retreat; a roll versus the unitâ,¬,,¢s ability plus leadership (no higher than 19) must be made to halt a retreat. During this time a failure to halt a retreat gives the opponent an unchallenged attack.
A 20 is an automatic failure; resulting in the opponent automatically getting initiative in the next turn as well.
A 1 is an automatic success; the attacker does double damage if it is an attack, a maneuver automatically succeeds as well.
Maneuvers:
Advance means that the unit is moved by most direct route possible towards the opponent. When the units coincide in space it is an attack, and rolls for damage are made on either side, with the unit with highest initiative going first.
Withdrawal is different from a retreat in that it is organized and if successful damage to the unit is avoided.
Outflank is a maneuver that gives the unit in question two attacks and means that they have attacked their opponent on a vulnerable front.
Fortify means that the unit has either used natural means (rocks, trees, etc) to fortify and therefore add Ã,½ of the current rating (round up) to their armor or else that they have used one of the following: village (add 2) town (add 4) city (add 5) small castle (add 4) large castle (add 5).
Siege: a unit made up of combat engineers, especially with siege engines, can attack a fortified position instead of having an infantry or cavalry unit attack. The defensive rating of the fortifications should be listed along with the number of units. Maneuvers with scaling ladders, towers and the like should could if successful as attempts to penetrate the fortification.
Charge: if done with infantry this will double damage if successful; if with cavalry it will triple the effect. However a turn is lost after regardless of success or failure.
Brace for charge: a formation with pole arms or shields or what have you is prepared in anticipation of a charge. Failure to do this maneuver results in the unit having failed to form up properly and loss of initiative. Against infantry success means that both units attack normally; against cavalry means that double damage is done to the attacking cavalry.
Concealment: the unit has managed to hide itself and waits in ambush for the enemy. This can be defeated by enemy scouts and therefore terrain and a skill roll meet to determine success, the bonus being an addition to the required roll for maneuver success. Open country. (no bonus; scouts on the other hand as below have a bonus) Tall grass (+1) Brush, Rolling country (+2) Forest, Buildings (+4)
Scout: this requires the unit to move around looking for the enemy. The pluses become minuses but the scouts get a bonus for open country of +4.
Geography
New Edomâ,¬,,¢s capital, near the Dwarvish border, is called Touchstone, after one of the great heroes of the trek over the mountains. Touchstone was an engineer and was very important to the survival of a number of people during the crossing. He learned many things from the Dwarves and designed the small city with their help. It has about 12,000 people in it. Most mined goods are produced in Touchstone.
The central town is called Glasstower, because of the mysterious tower of glass at itâ,¬,,¢s center. No one knows its origins, but it seems to be a mysterious relic rather than a place of menace, and is actually quite pretty, made of a green colored glass that catches the light beautifully. It also acted as a place of refuge for the local population during an attack of goblins, and appears to be invulnerable to both magical and physical attack. (though obviously during a siege the inhabitants could still be starved out). It is a large square tower but of curious angles and crenellations. The local demihumans have no idea who built it, though the Elves allude to the idea that it was ancient even when they came. About 19,000 people live there, mostly tradespeople and those who produce goods from the farms and pasturelands.
Lookhaven is a small town to the West, perched upon a cliff, and is a fortress town that is devoted to the learning of military and other disciplines that help keep the land safe. Lord Dunsinaine, one the landâ,¬,,¢s greatest living heroes, who defeated the goblins of the East in two great battles, has his seat of authority here. People wishing to become military officers and who will give more years of their service (in gamespeak up to 10th level) will receive bonus proficiencies dependant upon their class due to their schooling here. The Mage Ravel also makes her home here and has a small school for teaching the arts of magic. There are about 8,000 living here.
Harbourtown is to the South and is the only good natural harbour in a country that is mostly cliffs on the Western half and marshlands to the East. It would normally just be a small muddy fishing and whaling town but for the fact that it has a foreign enclave in it. Since many of the human societies to the West practice slavery they conduct trade from this walled off area, as the New Edomites have had a tendency to free any slaves and thus irritate their owners. The population is about 7,000 New Edomites and about 1,000 foreigners.
Fineberg is the Easternmost town, and is powerfully fortified both against the strange creatures of the Swamp and the goblinoids across the river. It has about 11,000 people and is protecting a fairly populous area of fisherfolk, farmers and herdsmen.
Society
New Edom is led by a High Lord, who is elected from the ruling council of the land. The council actually regulates the day to day business and elects a Lord for each quarter of the country and a High Lord as well. These are actually really more like champions and decision makers during time of emergency than absolute rulers. They act as judges, as leaders of the regional militias and as chief diplomats to any foreign legations. In order to become a Lord a person must be recognized as having public virtue, public service beyond the norm, and should be a Lawful person in alignment.
Religion is a fairly free affair; only religions practicing such things as human sacrifice and hatred of demi-humans are frowned upon. The main effective religions are Druidism (there is a Druid of rank in New Edom currently) the worship of minor craft deities and of the Elemental Lord of Water as the god of the sea, practiced by sailors, fishermen and whalers.
Military Forces
The whole adult population is in the militia, technically. In practice this means that the average person spends a few weeks out of the year practicing with likely a single weapon (spear, bow, etc) and maintaining such a weapon per household. There is also a Select Militia which practices once a week and forms the functions of local watch and patrol. There is also a regular army, made up of about 5,000 troops. The main body of these are 800 strong infantry regiments, numbered one through four. There are also a 1,000 strong cavalry corps, a unit of 300 combat engineers, and 500 soldiers called the Light Troops.
The Light Troops were founded by one of Lord Dunsinaineâ,¬,,¢s subordinates, a woman called General Carmel, who is a Ranger and learned a great deal of woodcraft and the arts of fighting certain kinds of monsters from the Wood Elves. The Light Troops are made up of various sorts of people, many of them scouts, the few half elves in New Edom, and foreigners who came from the more wild and barbarous countries, seeking through enlistment to become accepted as citizens. This unit is divided into five companies, each of which is made up of a good mixture of tough fighters, canny scouts and a few spellcasters here and there. It is the Light Troop companies which player characters are most likely to gravitate to.
A paramilitary organization, the Council Police, exist to maintain internal security, keep an eye on any foreigners, and act as intelligence operatives. They number roughly 150 and among these 50 of them are empowered with special powers of investigation and arrest. Most of them are warriors, assassins and spies, but they also have some spellcasters as they report directly to the one wizard in the council, Lord Magdiel. Lord Magdiel is a very lawful justice minded person, but some fear what would happen if someone unscrupulous became in control of such folk.
Magic
Magic in my campaign world is somewhat moderate; a spellcaster while known to exist is something of a rare person. There might be perhaps 5 students at Ravel's school in Lookhaven at a given time, for instance. Not all would likely succeed. The average person does not have a magical item nor would be likely to have seen one; there are many charlatans and people disguising science as magic.
Elvish and Dwarvish weapons and armor have a special quality to them, which makes them unbreakable and unable to lose their edge. If anyone is likely to have regular D&D amounts of magic is it either of these two races, but only the more powerful members of them.
Truly magical permanent items, such as magic swords or flying carpets are rare and marvellous; people might regard the posesser with superstitious awe or wanton greed.
Levels
The average high level person is around 9th-10th level, and they are relatively few. In this campaign world the safe ways of the past are falling by the wayside and adventurers are only in recent years treading the earth in search of troubled places for fun and profit. New Edom is a fairly young country, it's heroes are either older people or are just starting out--the middle ranking people who are the players' parents' generation and then the low level people like the players themselves.
I was a bit confused by the battle system. Maybe you could write out a quick example of how it works.
QuoteWarrior, ... Mage, Priest,
Are you just using different names for d20 standard classes, or have you created your own?
Yes, I perhaps should have said cleric, fighter, magic user.
The battlesystem would work like this:
First of all, let's say that you have a hundred troops forming a company of heavy infantry armed with glaives and armored with chain mail. They are led by a commander that has successfully led them for some time. The unit has been in garrison till recently but is also recently exercised, is well fed and it is autumn. They are all trained soldiers in a mercenary company.
This unit has the following ratings:
Number: 100
Skill:4
Arms: Glaive (damage 1-8)
Type: Heavy Infantry
Leadership: 4
Armor: 4
Health: 4
The potential highest score of the addition of skill, leadership, armor and health is 20; you subtract 1 from the total score regardless. In this case it is 16, so you subtract 1. 15 is the general number this unit rolls against for a maneuver success. 16 is 80% of 20, which means that 80% of this unit will actually fight effectively. (In retrospect I should add this statistic: damage rating, which in this case equals 80 x weapon damage on a given attack)
So in action this means the following:
Number: There are 100 troops available; 80 of them roll damage in a given action. (Note: less troops could also be committed if desired)
Unit Skill: Already been calculated, not relevant after unit generation.
Unit Arms: This indicates how much damage they do. (roll 1-8 times the number of troops attacking)
Unit Type: Light Infantry, Archers, Heavy Infantry, etc. (this I should have explained will affect movement and also number of attacks per turn)
Unit Leadership: Scale of one to five. One is incompetent, two is poor, three is average, four is competent, five is extraordinary. (Again, not really relevant after initial makeup)
Unit Health: Scale of one to five. This can mean, incidentally, incapacitated due to disease or spell, cold or heat.
Unit Armor: The unit's armor rating is 4 and 4 is subtracted from the opposing unit's target number. Let's say that this is ten; this particular unit due to its armor rating makes that required number a six.
grab (or look at) a copy of the LotR RPG. It has a battle system similar to yours in great full-chapter detail. It could be a great reference for your campaign.
Keep up the good work it looks great!
Mmmm, I like... :)
Thank you very much for the suggestion about the LOTR thing.
Conflicts and Borders
The Silver River to the East is the main border between New Edom and Goblinland, so called because many humanoid tribes are known to reside there. Some of these were driven there by the New Edomites and their demi-human allies, and there is a cold hatred between the border folk and these monsters. The goblins, orcs and other humanoids have been known to stage raids across the river. It is huge and strong, and navigable up to where it reaches the Elvish lands. The fortress city of Fineberg as well as fortifications built along the river up to the Great Swamp are very necessary. Counter raids at times take place. Lord Dunsinaine intends to build up a larger army eventually so that he can send an expedition across the river to utterly crush the humanoid tribes living nearby.
To the northeast, Lizardmen and strange monsters sometimes leave the Great Swamp and enter New Edom, looking for livestock (or people) to kill and eat. Patrols in this area are common and action is as well. The Dwarves and Gnomes also maintain patrols in this area and sometimes there are joint forays. Strange places of magics from long ago exist in the Great Swamp.
To the south, there is a problem with pirates. New Edomites have very few ships of any size, and these are mostly trade ships. There is no navy proper as yet, since the country cannot quit afford one and has at any rate no real sea navigators. Instead there are small coastal patrol craft which keep an eye out for pirates. Lookhaven and Harbourtown both have high watchtowers as well for this purpose. There are reports from foreign merchants of piracy becoming a serious problem on the sea lanes as well, and there is talk of aligning with some of the other human nations to deal with piracy.
To the west there is no immediate conflict, but New Edom borders three different Keltic kingdoms there. One, largely made up of islands to the southwest, is called Surcal and is generally friendly, made up largely of fisherfolk and traders. Another to the immediate west is made up of a people called Hulda, which are not so much a kingdom as a confederacy of different clans led by elders, a friendly but somewhat anarchic people. They themselves are rather plagued by a people to their west called the kingdom of Laighin, a much more warlike group of clans united under one of their chiefs elected as their battle king. To the northwest of New Edom is the southernmost fortress of the northern Kelts, the Kingdom of Llandovere. This fortified town is called Dothra, and is the home of a Count. This Count is wary of the nation of slaves to his southeast, but is more open minded than some human rulers, since his neighbors include the Dwarves of Svartaheim.
Culture in New Edom
New Edomites for the most part are agrarian people, with much of life centered around the producing of crops and of the products of animals such as goats, pigs, sheep and cattle. During the planting and harvest seasons whole communities go to work, with experts lending what expert assistance they have, with even people of what passes for upper classes in New Edom hoisting bales and wielding scythes. Recently the Dwarves of Svartaheim have made a gift of a number of powerful new ploughs that can be drawn with oxen and horses, which has enabled the New Edomites to do amazing things with farming.
The local villages have groves and shrines rather than temples, and most local clerics are actually just members of the community who have skills which are also appropriate to the deities they serve. For instance the smith would for instance be a cleric of the god Hephaestos while the midwife would be a priestess of Hera. There are only a couple of large temples in New Edom, and both of them serve multiple gods as opposed to many.
Every New Edomite community has the following areas in common: bakeries, bath houses, mills, and a storehouse.
The towns of New Edom are mostly trading centers, the capital city of Touchstone being an exception as it also exists for government. The townships and districts of New Edom send council members there.
The Government
New Edom is governed by the following:
The High Lord (Jethay)
The Lord of Lookinghaven (Tybalt)(responsible for diplomacy)
The Lord of Fineberg (Dunsinaine)(responsibile for defence)
The Lord of Harbourtown (Magdiel)(responsible for prophecy)
The Lord of the Eastmark (Aholibamah)(responsible for magical matters)
There are also 24 council members who represent the communities. Note that while a councillor might say come from Ironbeck which is in the region governed by Lord Dunsinaine they might not agree on political matters. The Lords have direct responsibilities while the councillors have general ones. They do not have more votes in council.
The Council decides all matters by an open general vote where there are not pre-existing laws. They declare any new taxes or ending of old ones (which actually happens in New Edom) They make decisions regarding ambassadorial missions, trade missions, war plans, public works, and so on.
They have the following services under their authority.
1. The Keeper of the Archives. (this is a sort of secretariat to the council which keeps all government records in a lot of scrolls in several rooms in the council building)
2. The Collector-General (this is the tax collection office, consisting of assessors, collectors and treasurers. These work with the assistance of the army and local authorities. Most taxes collected are not in the form of money initially, since what most have to give is in food and stuff like hides, wrought iron, etc. Some of it is sold and converted to money, while foodstuffs such as honey, rice, etc are kept in public storehouses against the possibility of hungry times.)
3. The Army (this consists of 4 armies per region of the nation. They are small perhaps by the standards of other countries. They are commanded from North, East, South, West by Generals Hagar, Abiathar, Carmel, Silverhelm respectively. Each army consists of a core of regularly serving troops who mostly man the garrisons of the borders and maintain patrols in the interior, with a larger number of local militias that can be added or raised up in time of need)
4. The Prefect of Education and Public Morality (this is a compulsory teaching all children must have and that makes public information available. There is still a strong anti-slavery/anti-monarchist tendency among those who serve in this government organ.)
5. The Guardians of Public Law (these may serve under the council but are in fact elected in separate elections altogether from among those thought wise and fair in the land. The system is not perfect but in effect these magistrates are then appointed to various local courts which are not the ones they were elected from, to keep things fair. It takes someone truly Machievellian to turn this system to advantage.)
6. The Nocturnal Council (this is usually called the Council Police; they are the protectors of the council, the enforcers of public laws, the intelligence operatives and if need be spies and assassins. They are considered somewhat sinister but are generally patriotic...at this stage of the country's history)
7. The Market-Warden-General (this is to keep the markets fair and honest; it is a position of enforcement and execution, not law making, and is entirely subject to the entire council on matters of enforcing trade, tariffs, duties and so on. Furthermore it is also a body that makes sure of fair business practices. It may make arrests and accusations but all actual decision regarding infractions must be brought before a Guardian's court.)
Nice idea about a society where casters become more powerful by sacrificing others. My necromancers can do that, but you take it to a whole new level. Actually, while I wouldn't have a society like that, the idea of a specific guy doing it is worth stealing if you are not opposed.
You mention magic being somewhat uncommon. Does this include divine magic? You mention a priest class, but all references to magic seem to refer to arcane magic? Or does your campaign have divine magic?