Insight's "Isle of Dread" Conversion - OOC

For writing up character backgrounds, the following key points need to be included (these are REQUIRED):

1. You have all adventured together before. Not necessarily as all nine of you at once, but everyone has met everyone and gone through some sort of adventuring. You all know each other enough to trust one another once the proverbial bullets start flying.

2. You must end your background at Specularum, port city and capital of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. That's where "The Isle of Dread" begins.

3. You are are known as heroes to whatever locality you call home or wherever you have adventured. Your character is at least somewhat respected by those who know him or her. None of you are "anti-heroes" or "lone wolves".

The IC Thread is up, but it's not 100% finished. In fact, an important piece is missing. So please, at this time, do not post in the IC thread yet. Feel free to read what's there, though!

Walking Dad said:

[MENTION=54810]renau1g[/MENTION] , [MENTION=4936]Shayuri[/MENTION] :
Shall we link character backgrounds?
You play an elf/half-elf and my character was raised by elves.

If Shay goes beastmaster ranger, we are also the three character who come with a companion (I'm not sure if the arcane others will get Familiars).

When we add some summons, maps could get pretty crowded quickly.

[MENTION=11437]Insight[/MENTION] :
1.) Riding my character is effectively a large creature. Will his defender aura will be 1 sq around the tiger, right?
2.) Non-magic equipment (armor, weapons, adventurer's kit, ...) is free, right?

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Arr, and my character is an elf. I've decided not to go Beastmaster though. As you say, it would crowd things a bit. So sure, linking backgrounds sounds good. I've got my mechanics more or less worked out. Just working on background now.

Insight said:

RHUN'S HALF-ORC ROGUE

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Sweet. I'll be working on my PC tonight and/or this weekend.

Insight said:

For writing up character backgrounds, the following key points need to be included (these are REQUIRED):

1. You have all adventured together before. Not necessarily as all nine of you at once, but everyone has met everyone and gone through some sort of adventuring. You all know each other enough to trust one another once the proverbial bullets start flying.

Click to expand...

Okay. I don't know how this would interact with what everyone else is thinking, but I'm figuring on three main periods in Cassi's adventuring career.

10-13 years ago: Cassi is a young artificer from Darokin; the enchanter mage Mikel Ashonson is her frequent companion; their adventures (possibly with any PCs that were free adults at the time; as the adventure starts, Cassi is in her mid-30s) gave them the start-up capital for their magic item business

1-10 years ago: Cassi marries Mikel, sets up a magic item business with him, lives in Darokin full-time, and has two children (age 7 and 9 as this adventure opens). Any adventures in this period are in the city or very nearby.

less than a year ago: Mikel is murdered, presumably by someone who also stole a magic blade Cassi crafted; Cassi leaves her children with her brother's family and resumes adventuring full-time, both to get away from memories and with some vague notion of finding his killer. This ends with her in Specularum looking for the Isle of Dread.

drothgery said:

10-13 years ago: Cassi is a young artificer from Darokin; the enchanter mage Mikel Ashonson is her frequent companion; their adventures (possibly with any PCs that were free adults at the time; as the adventure starts, Cassi is in her mid-30s) gave them the start-up capital for their magic item business.

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Vrashek spent some time adventuring in Darokin before travelling to Karameikos. Vrashek and his companions at the time could have done some adventuring with Cassi & Mikel at that point.

RESOURCES FOR MYSTARA

I found the following sites with information on the "Known World":

The Vaults of Pandius

and

Cyclopedia Mystara

A few important things to note about the extant material for Mystara:

1. The "Known World" aka Mystara is an intentionally generic setting. DMs are intended to sculpt Mystara to their own campaigns.
2. Do not expect EVERYTHING you read on these sites to be canonical to the game I'm running. Assume it is, but ask if something seems wrong or if there's a contradiction.
3. Don't dwell too much on the setting; your characters will away from civilization soon and none of it will matter much anyway.

Here is the quick background I wrote up for my PC Vrashek yesterday. It can certainly be modified to fit in better with some of the other PCs:

[sblock=Background](Early Life) Vrashek's early life was hard...with half-orcs being fairly rare within the Known Lands, even in the Orcland, Vrashek had to deal with much in the way of discrimination and hatred in his life. Not accepted by either orcs or humans, Vrashek made the decision early in life to leave the Orclands, and headed to Darokin to seek fame and fortune, and perhaps acceptance.

(10+ Years Ago) Joining a green band of adventurers, proudly named The Swords of Darokin, Vrashek became close friends with several other adventurers: the human warrior Radgath of Almarand, the dwarven cleric Korug Breakshield, and the elf wizard Turthain of the Emerald Cloak. Their first adventures involved aiding the beautiful elf maid Rahasia by rescuing several elven woman held captive beneath an old elven temple by the dark preist Rahib. Though the task was dauting, The Swords of Darokin managed to defeat the evil Rahib and rescue to elves. This gained them some recognition on a local level, and with their appetites wetted by their success (and some hard coin in their pockets), they traveled to Karameikos to seek further fame.

(1-10 Years Ago) In Karameikos, the company found further adventure in the Altan Tepe Mountains, operating out of Borderlands Keep. They executed several raids against the humanoids dwelling in the nearby caverns, and helping the local lord secure the area for safer and more profitable trading. Their profit and fame grew, and after several years The Swords of Darokin moved on from the region to further explore Karameikos and its environs.

(Within the last couple of months) The company eventually made their way to Specularum, but there success turned into failure. The Swords ran afoul of the feared Veiled Society...Radgath and Korug were slain by the Society's operatives, and Turthain cast some magic that allowed him to escape. Faced with either certain death or fleeing the city, Vrashek made his choice to survive and fight another day, using his skill at stealth to escape.

Now, Vrashek is alone, and worried that the Society's operatives are still after him. Thus, he has begun looking new allies and work that will take him far away from Specularum...[/sblock]

ON RELIGIONS AND THE IMMORTALS
The information about religion, like a lot else in the "Known World", is sketchy and incomplete. For the purposes of this game, here's all you need to know about religion in Mystara.

The Immortals are the main focus of religious worship. In the Grand Duchy, where the adventure starts, there is a Church of Karameikos that accomodates worship of the major Immortals and does not cater to one Immortal in particular. Most people you meet on the continent are members of one Church or another or are at least familiar with the Church and probably some of the major Immortals.

Who are these Immortals? That's a good question. From what I read, there seems to be an awful lot of them. This Page from the Vaults of Pandius gives a lot more information than you probably need, but use it if you wish. This Page lists all of the known Immortals.

The Church of Karameikos reveres the following major Immortals:
Asterius - Trade, money, communication, travel, messengers
Chardastes - Healing, purification, health, medicine, life cycle, eternal life
Ilsundal - Nature, wisdom, learning, tradition, serenity and peace
Kagyar - Crafts, metallurgy, miners
Patura - Women, families, babies, maternity and fertility
Tarastia - Law, order, truth, justice and just vengeance
Vanya - War, conquest, victory, glory, honour

It is important to note that the Church of Karameikos is only 30 years old (founded in 970), so it does not yet have a strong hold on the populace.

The other faith found in Karameikos is the Church of Traladara. It reveres the following major Immortals:
Halav - War, strategy & tactics, strength & determination, weapons & armour, sacrifice, combating humanoids
Petra - Patriotism, protection, courage, resistance, virtue, loyalty, fighting clerics, besieged cities, Traladarans
Zirchev - Hunting, survival, tolerance, magic, sylvan races, nature, animals, outcasts

Because the Church of Traladara has a longer history than does the Church of Karameikos, it has many more followers. Older characters will more likely follow the Church of Traladara than that of the newer Karameikos.

Also somewhat popular in Karameikos is the Church of Darokin. Characters from Darokin are likely to be members of this faith. The Church of Darokin reveres the following Immortals:
Asterius - Trade, communication, money, cleverness
Khoronus - Wisdom, history, philosophy, good government, loyalty, patience
Koryis - Peace, prosperity, diplomacy
Twelve Watchers - Arts and crafts

The Church of Darokin has somewhat of a following in the Grand Duchy, especially in immigrants from the Republic of Darokin, of course.

Demihumans and others not from the Karameikos region have their own faiths, of course. Reading through the links I've provided should give you ideas about what faiths your own character might follow.

I realized that I should point out that the adventure starts in the spring of 1005. That should help people coordinate dates in their backgrounds.