Midnight Essentials

[Land Outcast]

Its a possibility that I'll be running Midnight for my group, this will be their absolute first contact with it, and my first contact with actually playing/running the setting.

So, aside from the basics of a grim world overcome by ignorance, corruption, and despair, which are essentials of Midnight? Better even, what can I introduce in the first adventure to bring in the flavor?

(Sister thread at againsttheshadow.org)


EDIT: Oh, and should anyone know of any Midnight story hours (aside from "Of Fey and Shadow", "Shadow of a lost Faith", "Dark Tower's Shadow", and those at againsttheshadow.org), post the link please

 

[Khairn]

My first game will center around the players saving a group of captured elves who had been fighting against Izrador's minions but had been captured and were being brought to a Legate.

The heinous nature of the orcs and their occupation will be illustrated as the party tracks them down by the battered towns they leave in their wake. The timely rescue of the elves, and avoiding the retaliation sent out to get them, will show that even though they cannot fight face - face ... they can make a difference if they stay smart.

Fighting the good fight ... noble resistance despite the odds ... and being smarter than their enemies will be themes tat will crop up again and again.

 

[Nikroecyst]

I wished I lived in your aread, that sounds like a killer game . . . .

 

[darkbard]

Hate to hijack, but if you need additional Midnight material I'm selling my sourcebooks (excellent condition) real cheap. Link in my sig if you're interested....

 

[Land Outcast]

Thanks for the offer darkbard, but I've got the 2nd ed sourcebook... and me living in Uruguay, mail fees wouldn't be... convenient

 

[Land Outcast]

so... that's it?

 

[ShadowDenizen]

So, aside from the basics of a grim world overcome by ignorance, corruption, and despair, which are essentials of Midnight? Better even, what can I introduce in the first adventure to bring in the flavor?

There's alot of varaitions in Midnight as opposed to "Standard" D+D.

It's more than the tone, the mechanics have shifted, too, so it may take some getting used to on the part of both DM + players.

Some things to bring into the first adventure to illustrate?
1) Channeling. Midnight is, essentially, a low-magic world with a twist. Not only is magic-using discouraged, channellersa are actively hunted down! And the spell lists are RADICALLY different from standard D+D. (A channeler cannot get "Magic Missile" until they are mid-level, for instance.)

2) Legates: Antoher major component of the setting. Legates don't have to be all-powerful, but they should be omnipresent. Even a low-level Legate could be a MAJOR thorn in the partys side for many levels. (And if they have an Astirax? Fuhgeddabout it!)

3) The new demi-human races. Antoher cool aspect to bring into the series to illustrate the differences between "Core" D+D and Midnight.

4) Heroic Paths: IMO, one of the coolest things. mechanicswise, to come out of the Midnight setting. (Yes, some are better than others, and some are over-powered in general, but still they're a cool concept!!) And they've flavorful, too- they really should help shape a character right from character generation onward!

Do you have a general story idea, so that we can give more specific comments and advice?

 

[Land Outcast]

Do you have a general story idea, so that we can give more specific comments and advice?

Actually I was thinking on building something up from the replies here (probably combined with the short "introductory adventure" strongly modified), so any and all suggestions are welcome.

 

[boredgremlin]

I was building up a midnight game for a while. I was going to base it out of the gnome city where there are all those smuggling tunnels for the elves and resistance. One of the first adventures was going to involve the players stealing a wagon full of spear heads and axeheads. After which they had to hide the stuff in an old series of tunnels that had been discovered by orcs years ago and sealed off. The tunnels are regularly patrolled but still better then leaving the gear out in the open. That part of the adventure was going to involve the stealthier characters hiding the goods as well as possible and maybe silencing a few gaurds or sentries in the tunnels.

The next adventure or two were going to involve running the goods up the Eren river by varius gnome boats and some overland movement around choke points to eventually reach the pirate fleet of humans on the inner sea.

Oh and stealing the goods in the first place likely involved murdering the weapon smith who was a willing collaborator. He was hoping to impress the legates enough to make him a sherriff in his home town. He didnt care about the resistance, believing the war was long over and people should strive to be the best servants of Izradore they could be so that one day they might be granted freedom as full servants of his, just like the orcs. He also believed all the rumors and horrible stories about the fey spread by the legates. He was travelling with the gear because he had asked to be part of the war against the elves and was going to serve the orc army more directly... along with a few men of his village who felt the same way he did.

I figured the players would try thier best to save the guy in thier initial attack on the small caravan along with his fellows. Then after the orcs are dead the guy will try to convince them to hide the bodies (orcs arent really worthy servants of Izradore and he didnt like them) and come with him to deliver the gear and repent for thier evil deeds against Lord Izradore by joining the fight against the wicked elves.

Any attempt to take the weapons anywhere but the elvish front lead to him and his fellows fighting to defend the supplies. I was going to punctuate any conversation with him with memories (liberally described in detail) the players had of traitors who had told on people they knew, and the death and suffering perpetrated and assisted by various people who were either too cowardly to fight or who had outright betrayed people to the Legates and Orcs.

I figured these first few adventures would do a good job of illustrating the unique and grim feel of Midnight.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

And one of the sourcebooks deals with Baden's Bluff, which would be a great setting for a game. Very politically oriented, lots of murky grey areas, very "Midnight".

Though some of the ideas in it seem appropriate for higher level characters as opposed to lower-level ones.