Introduction:
Burgeoning hopes travel as fast as the bow can divide the waves. Discovery of a new chain of Islands little more than 100 years ago have created a fantastic new world for adventuring. Travelers and settlers have resided on the northern points of the Archipeligo long enough to establish infrastructure, trade and cities, however, the land masses to the south remain largely untouched.
New worlds, strange secrets, and developing powers are all converging on the same point as many nations and warriors stake claim to their own slice of land. There’s always a job to do in the Archipeligo.
The Archipeligo:
A string of islands stretching about 500 miles across, the Archipeligo has established itself as a haven for commerce and industry, yet troubling for grander powers. The nature of many small to medium sized islands with various resources lends itself to a booming free trade market. Everyone can find their niche quickly, and have many options from which to select customers or intermediaries.
The distance and size of the islands also makes it very difficult for imperial forces to maintain any governance over the islands due to the needs to stretch forces so thinly. In fact, in the 100 years since the chain’s discovery, 3 nations have attempted and subsequently conceded to staking claim.
This can’t entirely be the blame of the landscape, however. Merchants and Pirates alike are highly skeptical of what a national force might mean to their new lands. Nations mean taxes, tariffs, and restrictions. Some forces can be conceived to be actively resisting any sort of occupation.
The islands themselves are various in their contents. Since they all rose from the sea independently, wildlife and plant life between the islands cannot be entirely identical, thus controlling any single one nets the tenant sole access for anything unique that island may offer. This also brings the challenges of islands that are uninhabitable due to their uniqueness, which can mean terrain as equally as it means living opposition.
The Forces at Work:
o THRENDAR, an empirical nation to the east that has begun scaling large shipments of troops and goods to the islands. The environment is somewhat familiar to them, coming from a smaller continent. Their navy is fantastic, but their ability to conquer land is questionable, leaving them to think that cutting their teeth on easier targets like unaligned islands could lead to success and conquest. However, a disjointed and hidden front is hard to assault. They have gained the biggest island, now dubbed New Thrain, and established three large cities: Coastal trade city Portsden, fortress Wallsden, and farming keep Fieldsden.
o THE BLACK SAILS are a group of merchants that have decided to take their destinies in their own hands. As the name might imply, the ships under this banner will often drop a lead and tail set of black sails upon approaching a ship they mean to assault. They do no assault other merchants, however, they are not in the fight for spoils and riches. They specifically assault ships of the empire, or friendly to it. Soldiers often suffer the blade, whereas merchants who are simply couriers of goods are forced to join or drown. Most crewman are, however, mercenaries hired by other merchants.
o The COLLEGE OF PHTHALO is a small retreat that doubles as a college of history and the arcane. They mostly stay out of the way of political happenings, more content to remain silent within their walls in study and discovery. They have recently uncovered evidence of an extinct race of dwarves and are slowly curating their lore and artifacts. Newcomers with the gift of spell often come here seeking refuge from the merchants and mercenaries.
o The BANDED SHIELD are a group of guerilla mercenaries. They are descendants of the first discoverers and visitors of the Archipeligo, and believe foremost and utmost that the right to rule over these new lands belongs with them by the Laws of Honor. This set of laws is very much from the Illuskan descent, and is hardly recognized by many other newcomers. They are few in number and remain as far south as is discovered. They actively war against the Empire when they can, but their tactics are mostly hit-and-run. Many believe they’ll soon be extinct.
o The SKINWALKERS. Mostly tales, there are campfire stories of beasts that come from the south in the night and kidnap children and kill their parents. No one has ever been believed when they see one, as they say that they take on the visages of men with canine features and heads of undead elk. The story often changes depending on who’s telling. They are a popular tale in the region. However, some believe it, they use it as a reason to never travel further south than is already settled.
Ships and their Crews:
Full sized Galleons are rare anywhere outside of Portsden. The waters around the islands are often unpredictably shallow, making smaller frigates and schooners much more popular choices. Boats that are swift are valued above all else. The reason for this is that ships that can approach the shallow bays of most islands are not big enough to carry canons.
Nor would they try. Due to the popularity of ship in the area, black powder is completely ignored and not even imported. Ships rely on swinging across decks and boarding to overtake. For this reason, avoiding conflict means being faster than it. Many ships are retrofitted with odd angular masts on the sides and aft to catch as much wind as possible.
Trying to control the flow of merchant help, the Threndar Nation has declared any boat without an official deed be declared a Pirate Vessel and will be subsequently conquered and sunk. The only way to gain a deed is to have bought the boat from their Shipyard in Portsden. In this way, they are trying to control all shipping economy. This means chartered rides between islands as ferries are quite popular.
If you do fight off a pirate ship, however, you are eligible for reward. You may sail it to Portsden for a bounty, depending on the ship size. The boat is then reregistered to the Empire for use or resell.
Since the ships are smaller, the crews generally tend to be a skeleton staff. The area isn’t yet very populated, but with rich resources that means that the many jobs that need doing are rather handsomely in their reward. This news is bringing many workers and adventures as of late. Seafaring is hard work, but very lucrative.
DM Info:
This will be a 5e adventure! I’m rather open to many materials, just read the Materials Allowed section below.
As a DM I like to be a storyteller and facilitator more than a conductor. By that, I mean that the narrative is not on tracks by any means and you will not be railroaded into doing one thing or another. This world is a Sandbox, you can choose to do any number of things you want. The story does start you with a bit of a “beginning mission,” but you can abandon it at any time to pursue other interests you have found. The PC’s have absolute control over the direction of the party.
I will keep track of time, I will probably post it in some sort of OOC or Important Info thread so that way you guys will have up to date information in which to make decisions upon.
XP is granted for all encounters, whether combat or roleplay. If you successfully talk your way out of a fight, you can get as much XP as you would have for winning. If you successfully stealth and navigate around an ambush, you’ll get as much XP as if you had slayed them all, etc.
I have been guilty of overlooking small rule infractions in order to make a good narrative. If something bothers you, please, bring it to my attention. Generally I’ll rule in favor of the rules unless there’s a unanimous agreement that whatever infraction occurred was heavily outweighed by the nature of badass event.
That said, don't worry about tracking your XP, I will. Basically this will work on the milestone system.
Characters:
I’m open to all alignments, all classes, all backgrounds.
Please use the Stat Array. It absolutely scales the best in my environment.
Materials Allowed:
All Class options, Archetypes, and Backgrounds from any published material by WotC is allowed, including all the Unearthed Arcana. My rule with the UA, however, is that there can be no mix/matching. For example, you cannot take the 2D6 Hit Die and Ambuscade from the Variant Ranger, then choose the Hunter Archetype from the PHB.
I am open to homebrews, but they are subject to my approval first. There are many ‘established’ ones out there, feel free to send them my way. I enjoy games with a great balance, so please don’t be offended if I think your class is too powerful for the world we’re in.
Off Limts:
We’re all adults, yes, but let’s keep a limit on some of the more provocative stuff. If you want to seduce a bar patron to get information, go for it. If you want me to roll D20’s to see how your bedroom performance was, I’ll ask you to grow up.
Direct insults of another person, made IC or OCC will get you kicked out of the game. There’s nothing that will arise that can’t be handled. I can act as an arbiter.
Godmodding is something that happens by accident, but please, still try to avoid it. I don’t know if the term is big on this board, but it’s basically writing someone else’s reaction or actions for them during your post. If you walk into a room, don’t assume another PC is surprised or glad to see you, let them post their reaction.
Jan 11th, 2016, 05:22 PM
