Culture Guide, part 1

I took the advice of the DMG, and it hasn't served me as well as I would have liked. It suggests coming up with the general theme of the campaign first, then immediately focus on the local details of where the party starts. The argument is that players are impatient and ignore the broader world until they get a lot deeper into the campaign, so it's best not to waste time making detailed maps of the world until later, when you need them.

The problem is, of course, that you guys are better than average players, with more refined tastes. Almost all of you responded that you liked the fact that my campaigns seemed to have integrated and believable settings and characters. This requires a lot of work up front, and has been my standard operating procedure for most of my other campaigns.

But not this one. And I'm regretting it. I'm playing catch-up. Which is a bad thing while trying to run two separate campaigns. But I digress.

I have the broad map of the world, and the general theme of the campaign mapped out through the mid-20's (character level). I have a lot of history laid out, and background information, and racial concepts. And I have broad generalizations of the cultures in various regions.

To the north of the Whiteback range, the religion of Dravatadatman dominates all others. Their style of dress is generally middle-ages European, and their foods are mostly the same. Their naming conventions, however, are Indian. Their primary social structure is either theocratic, tribal, or both.

To the south of the Whiteback range, there is a diversity of religion. Both elemental gods and humanistic gods are worshipped. Their dress is Indian or middle-eastern for the most part (light linens, cotton, or silk). Their food is spicy and diverse. But their naming conventions are Celtic, Germanic, or British. There are many, many kingdoms in the south. The rulers are Rajas, Dukes, Barons, Kings, Regents, Shieks, Sherrifs, and any other form of dictatorship you could probably think of.

In the power vacuum left by the absence of the Empire, wizards have been popping up in a lot of places as a civil authority. They call themselves Magisters. Many were prominent in the rebellion.

We'll go with that for now.

Pronunciation Guide, part 1

Linitheriva (lin-ith-er-EE-va)
Start with the name Lilith, you know, like from Cheers. Then make it Linith instead. Add the -er on the end to get Linither, with the same cadence as sinister. Then add the Eva on the end, like Eva Longoria. Or more accurately, like the -iva at the end of Shiva, the destroyer. Linither-Eva, except spelled Linitheriva.

Caelebhan (ky-leh-vhon)
This is a tough one, since I used a combination of Irish gaelic and Welsh pronunciations. The ae in Welsh is an 'eye' sound, and the bh in Irish is a 'v' sound. And the final vowel sound is a short 'ah' sound. The celtic letter C is always a hard consonant, so the end result sounds like ky-leh-vhon.

Allynwy (al-uh-noo-ee)
Mostly Welsh, the letter Y is pronounced 'uh' in a lot of places when it's in the middle of words, and 'ee' when at the end, and especially when paired with the W. The W in Welsh is most often pronounced 'oo'. So wy sounds like 'oo-ee'. I'm sure Welsh speakers are shaking their heads right now and calling me an arse.

Shandrapur (shon-dra-purr)
This is from Indian pronunciation, as in the subcontinent of India, not Native Americans.

The Taxman Cometh - 9/24 session recap

Lars Allynwy hired the PCs for fourteen days of caravan duty, at 2gp per day, per person. His caravan consisted of two wagons drawn by two mules each. Lars drove one wagon, and his partner Willhelm drove the other. The wagons were laden with corn meal, furs, and a few crates of spices.

For about a week and a half, nothing much happened. Ander talked so much to Willhelm that Willhelm started ignoring him. This allowed Ander to nap on the wagon during the morning without being asked to keep a lookout.

On the 11th day, as they were driving into the setting sun, they were accosted by a man in the road who claimed to be collecting taxes. He asked the party to please step away from the wagons so that their goods could be appraised. They noticed men armed with maces to the side of the road, and decided it was highway banditry. Thoric and Ander approached the men on one side while Xacoraki approached the ones on the other side. Boreas just sat in the cart.

Ander was the first to attack with a thrown shuriken. At this provocation, the highwaymen charged forward. They used a well-practiced head strike to daze Thoric, Ander, and Xac, then danced just out of range. The leader loosed an arrow that dazed Boreas with the force of its impact. This didn't keep him from unleashing multiple rays of frost, which started turning the bandits into fragile ice sculptures.

Another bowman popped up from hiding and sunk an arrow into Ander. Ander responded with a crippling shuriken of his own, plus one for good measure. That bandit dropped down behind a boulder to get out of the line of fire. Xacoraki and Boreas slew the four that were attacking her, and Xac started moving toward the bowman in the road. After failing twice with a lance of faith, Thoric resorted to his warhammer. This didn't help much either, but eventually all of his foes were down as well. He closed with the bowman that Ander was engaging. As Ander stepped in close to stab the bandit, he jumped back and unleashed a quick arrow. Ander fell, unconscious and dying. Thoric struck him the bowman a great blow, and Boreas finished him off with a ray of frost.

Xacoraki faced off against the leader, and they traded cuts briefly before the man surrendered. Seeing that he was completely outnumbered and wounded, he dropped his weapons and said that all he possessed was theirs. When questioned, he said that his name was Brian O'Connor, and that he was a taxman for Baron Oslic.

Thoric revived Ander with a whispered prayer to Linitheriva, and the three living bandits were tied up with pieces of their own silk rope. Ander cut marks into each one's cheek, and they were strung up behind the wagon for the three day march into town.

Once in town, Thoric escorted the bandits to the local sheriff, who threw them into a dungeon. Thoric then asked whether he could do a public carving somewhere in town. The Sheriff said that anything left in the middle of town was prone to being stolen, and that Thoric might want to take his sculpting outside of town just a little bit if he wanted it to remain public.

Ander, Xac, and Boreas found the tavern with the most activity for travelers - The Lichen Top Tavern. While ordering a drink, Ander found that the hard liquor had been stolen about a week ago, and that someone claimed that kobolds were to blame. The barkeep said he'd be willing to pay 20gp for each of the two barrels of rice liquor, and 30gp for the barrel of imported whiskey from up north. Ander then circulated through the crowd casting disparaging remarks about dragonkin in an attempt to either start a bar fight with his party, or else get a lead on Orvalion. Meanwhile, Xac and Boreas just sat and watched the crowd together.

Help Wanted - 9/17/08 Session Recap

We started with our four heroes in the river port of Shandrapur, nestled deep in the Genga river valley that cuts between the western and eastern Whiteback mountain ranges. Our intrepid adventurers are:

Boreas Aquilo, a high-elven wizard with well-developed storm magics and a sense of justice.

Ander, a halfling rogue who was rescued on the road by the rest of the party when he was attacked by bandits.

Thoric Gravenstone, an unusually well-spoken and well-trimmed dwarven cleric of Linitheriva.

Xakoraki, a dragonborn warlord in search of ancient heirlooms that were plundered by the dragonlords during their reign.

The party was heading north from provinces in the south, and stopped in Shandrapur to look for opportunities. Even though they were moderately wealthy, they knew their money would run out sooner or later and they needed something lucrative to keep them occupied. They looked in the town square, and saw many employment opportunities as caravan guards or porters. But the largest parchment read, "WANTED ALIVE! Orvalion 5000gp" and contained a small sketch of a dragonborn male.

Xak recalled that Orvalion was of the Parthanak line, the first and oldest line of nobility among the dragonlords. Orvalion was also known for the razing of an entire village, women and children included, during the rebellion. This intrigued and worried the party, so they sought the best purveyor of fine alcoholic beverages to help them mull things over. They found Johan's Spirit House, a respectable establishment with a wide variety of drinks and a lot of serious-looking bouncers. Johan opined that business was good, but that it was dangerous outside of protected cities. Trade was booming, which only made banditry more lucrative.

After fortifying themselves with some quality mead and date wine (and river water), the party ventured up the hill to the nicer part of town where Caelebhan's (pron. ky-le-von) keep stood. Guards stepped up to ask their business, and allowed them up to the keep.

Xak and Ander peeled away to explore the upper city, but were approached by guards again and told that these were private residences. They went back to the keep where Ander asked the guards to tell his friends that he and Xak had gone down to the docks. The guard resented being taken for a messenger, but Ander walked away without even tipping him.

Inside the keep, Thoric and Boreas were granted an audience with Magister Caelebhan, a middle-aged man who looked like he was prematurely aging or sickly. He asked if they knew of Orvalion, and when he found they did not, he explained that he was willing to pay 200gp each for confirmation on rumors that he had been in Tregynon at some point. He offered a further 300gp on top of that for proof of where Orvalion had gone next. And of course, he offered the standard reward of 5000gp for bringing him in alive. Thoric said that they were not bounty hunters, and wanted to know why Caelebhan wanted Orvalion. Caelebhan said that he merely wanted to speak to him about a matter that was his own private business. When asked about Orvalion's war crimes, the Magister said that he wished to speak to him about those as well, but that they were not his primary concern. They parted cordially and left the keep.

The guard mentioned that their halfling friend had gone down into the town, but it was only after Thoric asked very nicely that he vaguely remembered he had said something about going to the docks. The party was reunited, and they discussed options. Very quickly they decided to hire on with a caravan, and spent the afternoon finding a good-paying contact that was headed towards Tregynon. They were offered 2gp per person per day for a 14-day trip.

Ander/Sean wanted to know if they would have some time to explore the town before the caravan left, but when the GM told him sure, it would be a couple of days, he immediately got bored and wanted to know how soon they could leave. Whereupon the GM wanted to smack him, and said that it could leave the next day.