Sadrik
First Post
This is a start of a campaign that I am throwing together. I am looking for help and critique so please reply with your thoughts!
Dreary Star March
4e campaign guide-
Dreary Star March is a desolate inhospitable planet. It is an ancient world with small settlements that barely survive the chaos around them.
The annals of ancient times speak of a magnificent empire that arose ten thousand years ago. Ruled by Dragon Exarches, they triumphed over the chaos of their own world and lead it into a bright and prosperous age. During their millennium of rule, all races lived together in understanding of one another’s differences. The Exarches linked the planet into their system of interconnected transit diodes linking it with many other worlds and places the Dragon Exarches had influence.
After countless generations the dragons revealed that they had been in conflict with unknown forces from before the histories of time itself. Those forces surfaced and set siege to their world destroying much of what the dragons created. Many people escaped using the transit diodes to other worlds but the forces of the Dragon Exarches fought on. Eventually, the conflict between the dragons and the demons came to fruition, with the demons sacking Tyrrik their capital. The dragons then, themselves disappeared through their magical diodes destroying them in the process, cutting off all of the remaining people and demons from following them.
Once the dragons left, the demons bent and twisted the land to their desires causing indescribable suffering to those who remained. The world became known as Dreary Star March forevermore. Abandoned and blighted the demons ultimately grew tired of Dreary Star March and left the empty desolate world to the few humanoid survivors.
Hundreds of years have passed and those whose ancestors survived it all still live in fear of what is outside their settlements. Few, venture further than their village or their farmstead for fear of reprisal from the monsters and denizens that still exist beyond their safe towns. It is a time of heroes, a time for explorers and a time for new histories to be written on the desolate and lost Dreary Star March.
Campaign Starting Location
Shiv’s Hammer is a village of about five hundred souls. It is a crossroads for many travelers who dare the dangers of the wilderness. It is nestled in the sloping foothills of the Verrik Mountains and looks out over the dangerous Yefya Plains. To the west is the city of Odina and to the south beyond the Verrik Mountains is the Sea of Tears and far to the north past the Yefya Plains is the Ki Jungle. The eastern road from Shiv’s Hammer follows the foothills all the way to Tyrrik. Crazed Yefya Plains raiders, occasionally attack from the north, other than that the village is in a fairly protected location and left alone.
The people of Shiv’s Hammer are hard working and survive mostly through trade. They farm rice in the ancient rice steps, built nearby which provide their mainstay of sustenance. The Heart Wrencher, is the premiere tavern within Shiv’s Hammer’s walls, it often has many strange people spinning even stranger tales about the world outside and it’s tortured past. This is where the adventurers have gathered, either by growing up and hearing the many tales told by travelers or by happenstance finding Shiv’s Hammer and deciding to make a life there.
Places
Azer is a rippled war torn land dotted with ancient battlefield sites and ruined fortresses. Clans of raiders, bandits and other villains dot this area.
Odina is a place of wisdom and contemplation one of the largest cities to remain. It still is a center of culture and it professes a large standing army to defend itself.
Ppol is lost and desolate place separated by a vast ocean. Originally the home of the Masters it is now a desert wasteland with black oil bubbling up from the ground beneath.
Ki is a vast jungle far to the north where few humanoids live. It holds an uninhabited and forgotten empire from countless eons ago its ziggurats and pyramids still pushing out from the jungle floor.
Yefeya is a flat immense plain whose wind swept land is prone to electrical storms, tornados and raw storms of chaos itself. The sheer sight of one can cause madness.
Tyrrik is home to what were the ancients. For miles around the only thing that can be seen are ruins upon ruins. It is said that only horrors live now within the endless city of the ancients.
Races
The people of Dreary Star March regardless of race all work together for survival. So there are no “orc tribes”, there are bandit tribes which have orcs in them but none that are solely orcs themselves. The races work together towards their common goal of survival. So with that concept in mind, there are many other races that the PC’s can choose from as well. Listed below are some of the most common races:
Ancients – A breed of human (Half-elf)
Dragonborn – Descendants of the dragons
Drow – Descendants of the fey (underground) (as the monster)
Dwarf – Descendants of the titans
Eladrin – Descendants of the fey (forest)
Elf – Descendants of the fey (jungle)
Goblin – A breed of goblinoid (Halflings and the monster goblin are merged here)
Masters – A breed of human (Human)
Orc – A breed of goblinoid (as the monster)
Tiefling- Descendants of the demons
Languages
There are ten major languages spoken around the world of Dreary Star March. Nearly everyone on the planet speaks Neo-Draconic (Common) and they also may speak their native tongue as well.
Abberant (aberrations)
Ancient’s Tongue (ancients)
Gob (goblins, hobgoblins, orcs)
Infernal (demons, tieflings)
Master’s Tongue (masters)
Neo-Draconic (Common tongue)
Sylvan (elves, eladrin, drow, fey)
Titan (dwarves, giants)
True Draconic (dragonborn, kobolds, dragon exarches)
Religion
Many believed the dragon exarches were actual avatars of the gods themselves. The Exarches abandoned them and so while seen in a positive light still they themselves are not venerated anymore. Instead, emotional mindsets are the way they see themselves and the world around them. These mindsets have been given names.
Baal – Fear, anxiety, apprehension, indecision
Gear – Sorrow, time, past, emptiness
Gol – Perseverance, focus, clarity, rumination
Key – Bliss, joy, opening
Shiv – Hate, mindlessness, closing
Roze – Survival, existence, sustenance
Rue – Anger, rage, chaos, madness
Tol – Affection, endorsement, caring, mastery
Wix – Pain, suffering, blight, death
Zazz – Mystery, arcane, technology, discovery
Power Sources
Arcane – As normal
Divine – The divine power source is slightly different, instead of generating their power from a god, instead they generate it through faith in a mindset (see religion). As such clerics and paladins are seen more as a mystics and occultists.
Martial – As normal
Psionic – Should be as normal
Primal – Chaos as in the chaos storms of the Yefya plains etc.
Shadow – Should be as normal
Cosmology
Should be mostly as normal (feywild, shadowfell, elemental chaos (emphasis on chaos here), the astral and outer plains may or may not exist though.
Skills
Religion skill is renamed Occult skill (change is for flavor only)
Dragontech skill is added (it is on no class list it must gained through a feat)
Classes
Cleric – Can be renamed Mystic or Occultist for flavor
Fighter – No change
Paladin – No change
Ranger – No change
Rogue – No change
Warlock – Infernal pact is with the Demons, Fey pact is the same, Star pact: I have no idea what it is so it may or may not work. I also had an idea: “Dragontech pact” a warlock pact that develops ancient tech its powers worked through ancient pistols and rifles instead of wands and rods. This concept might be better implemented as a paragon path.
Warlord – No change
Wizard – No change
The Overarching Campaign Story
The PC's have heard stories all their life about the Dragon Exarches that once rules their world before the demons came. Furthermore, the mystics and seers recount an ancient prophecy that they would one day return and lead Dreary Star March into a glorious new age. The PC’s will have to explore all over the planet and overcome:
• transit through the magical diodes whipping them around the world to even more dangerous locales after each transit
• demon cultists who are trying to summon the Demons back
• technical discoveries of the ancient times that encompasses lost lore, secrets, and truths
• plenty of monsters and natural hazards that inhabit Dreary Star March
• after a long journey, face the guardian of the final diode that was never destroyed by the Dragon Exarches, the one the Demons never did find
• go off world and face the Dragon Exarches themselves and the intrigue that exists there, who knows how that will resolve
Dreary Star March
4e campaign guide-
Dreary Star March is a desolate inhospitable planet. It is an ancient world with small settlements that barely survive the chaos around them.
The annals of ancient times speak of a magnificent empire that arose ten thousand years ago. Ruled by Dragon Exarches, they triumphed over the chaos of their own world and lead it into a bright and prosperous age. During their millennium of rule, all races lived together in understanding of one another’s differences. The Exarches linked the planet into their system of interconnected transit diodes linking it with many other worlds and places the Dragon Exarches had influence.
After countless generations the dragons revealed that they had been in conflict with unknown forces from before the histories of time itself. Those forces surfaced and set siege to their world destroying much of what the dragons created. Many people escaped using the transit diodes to other worlds but the forces of the Dragon Exarches fought on. Eventually, the conflict between the dragons and the demons came to fruition, with the demons sacking Tyrrik their capital. The dragons then, themselves disappeared through their magical diodes destroying them in the process, cutting off all of the remaining people and demons from following them.
Once the dragons left, the demons bent and twisted the land to their desires causing indescribable suffering to those who remained. The world became known as Dreary Star March forevermore. Abandoned and blighted the demons ultimately grew tired of Dreary Star March and left the empty desolate world to the few humanoid survivors.
Hundreds of years have passed and those whose ancestors survived it all still live in fear of what is outside their settlements. Few, venture further than their village or their farmstead for fear of reprisal from the monsters and denizens that still exist beyond their safe towns. It is a time of heroes, a time for explorers and a time for new histories to be written on the desolate and lost Dreary Star March.
Campaign Starting Location
Shiv’s Hammer is a village of about five hundred souls. It is a crossroads for many travelers who dare the dangers of the wilderness. It is nestled in the sloping foothills of the Verrik Mountains and looks out over the dangerous Yefya Plains. To the west is the city of Odina and to the south beyond the Verrik Mountains is the Sea of Tears and far to the north past the Yefya Plains is the Ki Jungle. The eastern road from Shiv’s Hammer follows the foothills all the way to Tyrrik. Crazed Yefya Plains raiders, occasionally attack from the north, other than that the village is in a fairly protected location and left alone.
The people of Shiv’s Hammer are hard working and survive mostly through trade. They farm rice in the ancient rice steps, built nearby which provide their mainstay of sustenance. The Heart Wrencher, is the premiere tavern within Shiv’s Hammer’s walls, it often has many strange people spinning even stranger tales about the world outside and it’s tortured past. This is where the adventurers have gathered, either by growing up and hearing the many tales told by travelers or by happenstance finding Shiv’s Hammer and deciding to make a life there.
Places
Azer is a rippled war torn land dotted with ancient battlefield sites and ruined fortresses. Clans of raiders, bandits and other villains dot this area.
Odina is a place of wisdom and contemplation one of the largest cities to remain. It still is a center of culture and it professes a large standing army to defend itself.
Ppol is lost and desolate place separated by a vast ocean. Originally the home of the Masters it is now a desert wasteland with black oil bubbling up from the ground beneath.
Ki is a vast jungle far to the north where few humanoids live. It holds an uninhabited and forgotten empire from countless eons ago its ziggurats and pyramids still pushing out from the jungle floor.
Yefeya is a flat immense plain whose wind swept land is prone to electrical storms, tornados and raw storms of chaos itself. The sheer sight of one can cause madness.
Tyrrik is home to what were the ancients. For miles around the only thing that can be seen are ruins upon ruins. It is said that only horrors live now within the endless city of the ancients.
Races
The people of Dreary Star March regardless of race all work together for survival. So there are no “orc tribes”, there are bandit tribes which have orcs in them but none that are solely orcs themselves. The races work together towards their common goal of survival. So with that concept in mind, there are many other races that the PC’s can choose from as well. Listed below are some of the most common races:
Ancients – A breed of human (Half-elf)
Dragonborn – Descendants of the dragons
Drow – Descendants of the fey (underground) (as the monster)
Dwarf – Descendants of the titans
Eladrin – Descendants of the fey (forest)
Elf – Descendants of the fey (jungle)
Goblin – A breed of goblinoid (Halflings and the monster goblin are merged here)
Masters – A breed of human (Human)
Orc – A breed of goblinoid (as the monster)
Tiefling- Descendants of the demons
Languages
There are ten major languages spoken around the world of Dreary Star March. Nearly everyone on the planet speaks Neo-Draconic (Common) and they also may speak their native tongue as well.
Abberant (aberrations)
Ancient’s Tongue (ancients)
Gob (goblins, hobgoblins, orcs)
Infernal (demons, tieflings)
Master’s Tongue (masters)
Neo-Draconic (Common tongue)
Sylvan (elves, eladrin, drow, fey)
Titan (dwarves, giants)
True Draconic (dragonborn, kobolds, dragon exarches)
Religion
Many believed the dragon exarches were actual avatars of the gods themselves. The Exarches abandoned them and so while seen in a positive light still they themselves are not venerated anymore. Instead, emotional mindsets are the way they see themselves and the world around them. These mindsets have been given names.
Baal – Fear, anxiety, apprehension, indecision
Gear – Sorrow, time, past, emptiness
Gol – Perseverance, focus, clarity, rumination
Key – Bliss, joy, opening
Shiv – Hate, mindlessness, closing
Roze – Survival, existence, sustenance
Rue – Anger, rage, chaos, madness
Tol – Affection, endorsement, caring, mastery
Wix – Pain, suffering, blight, death
Zazz – Mystery, arcane, technology, discovery
Power Sources
Arcane – As normal
Divine – The divine power source is slightly different, instead of generating their power from a god, instead they generate it through faith in a mindset (see religion). As such clerics and paladins are seen more as a mystics and occultists.
Martial – As normal
Psionic – Should be as normal
Primal – Chaos as in the chaos storms of the Yefya plains etc.
Shadow – Should be as normal
Cosmology
Should be mostly as normal (feywild, shadowfell, elemental chaos (emphasis on chaos here), the astral and outer plains may or may not exist though.
Skills
Religion skill is renamed Occult skill (change is for flavor only)
Dragontech skill is added (it is on no class list it must gained through a feat)
Classes
Cleric – Can be renamed Mystic or Occultist for flavor
Fighter – No change
Paladin – No change
Ranger – No change
Rogue – No change
Warlock – Infernal pact is with the Demons, Fey pact is the same, Star pact: I have no idea what it is so it may or may not work. I also had an idea: “Dragontech pact” a warlock pact that develops ancient tech its powers worked through ancient pistols and rifles instead of wands and rods. This concept might be better implemented as a paragon path.
Warlord – No change
Wizard – No change
The Overarching Campaign Story
The PC's have heard stories all their life about the Dragon Exarches that once rules their world before the demons came. Furthermore, the mystics and seers recount an ancient prophecy that they would one day return and lead Dreary Star March into a glorious new age. The PC’s will have to explore all over the planet and overcome:
• transit through the magical diodes whipping them around the world to even more dangerous locales after each transit
• demon cultists who are trying to summon the Demons back
• technical discoveries of the ancient times that encompasses lost lore, secrets, and truths
• plenty of monsters and natural hazards that inhabit Dreary Star March
• after a long journey, face the guardian of the final diode that was never destroyed by the Dragon Exarches, the one the Demons never did find
• go off world and face the Dragon Exarches themselves and the intrigue that exists there, who knows how that will resolve
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