I set out with one goal: to make my purchase of the Rules Cyclopedia and the entire gazeteer/mystara boxed sets series worthwhile.
Well, really that and one other goal: To see if it was viable in this day and age to run a playable fun campaign of OD&D that follows the D&D rules to the LETTER, and would be played from level 1 to level 36 (and immortality).
Thus far, this is what happened, in very brief:
The group is an adventuring party (mostly Karameikan, plus one Darokinian) called the "Razors", led by a halfling named Garafilo.
Besides the Halfling there's a Fighter, an Elf (who's very chaotic), a female Cleric and a male Cleric (the sole Darokinian I mentioned). The female cleric is of Halav, the male of Asterius.
They went on a series of adventures (during which a few older characters not mentioned died) to get through the "basic" levels (1-3) including "keep on the borderlands", did the Isle of Dread as their intro to the "expert" levels (4-14), and shortly after their return to the Known World after visiting the Isle of dread they slew their first dragon, a green dragon, who happened to have a very powerful immortal artifact as part of its horde.
Unfortunately, none of the PCs realized this item was an immortal artifact.
They went through several more adventures in Karameikos and the Five Shires, fighting some giants, another dragon, and a particularly tough horde of orcs, until they started hitting "Name" level. What they didn't get was why several very large dragons (too tough for them to fight at this level) and a few other terrible beings (demons, etc) were apparently chasing them.. they thought it might be because of an intelligent metal-seeking sword one of them carried, they had no idea it was because of the artifact.
When the fighter reached name level, he became an Avenger of Vanya. Vanya contacts him in a dream and tells him about the artifact. Unfortunately, by that time they have lost the artifact, having given what they thought was a low-value gem away to an NPC cleric of Faunus they last saw around the five shires.
So back they go, chasing the missing artifact, being followed increasing numbers of powerful beings to whom they need to explain that they don't actually have the ultra-powerful artifact.
As of this last adventure they fought two large red dragons who killed half the party, luckily the halfling survived and nearly took down the surviving dragon (and managed to drive it away) using just throwing axes. He resurrected the others but basically had to bankrupt the party in doing so. They've gotten to the shireseat of Heartshire and plan to travel north to Darokin, having lost all trace of the cleric of faunus and the artifact.
At this point, the Halfling is level 8 (att class B) and thus a sheriff. He's planning to build a stronghold for his family (poor karameikan halflings) and move them all to Heartshire (he's also having an affair with the beautiful Delune, high sheriff of Heartshire).
The Fighter is a lv. 9 Avenger of Vanya, who's main goal is to find some way to increase his wisdom to be able to cast clerical spells. He also happens to be a distant cousin of Duke Stephan of Karameikos (and the Black Baron too), though his family has disowned him for becoming an avenger rather than a paladin.
The male cleric, a relative newcomer, is lv.5, and just happy to be there.
The Elf is lv. 8, and seems mostly interested in causing serious trouble for everyone around him.
The female cleric is lv. 7, and has become pregnant by the elf. She's mostly concerned with being able to give birth and survive, as human-elf interbreeding is notoriously fatal to the mother, especially when its a human mother carrying an elven child, which this is (a note: there are no mystaran half-elves, children of elves and humans will be either full humans or full elves).
I will keep on periodically updating this thread, to let you know how they progress, what interesting things might happen, and whether or not they make 36th.
One thing I can mention is that several of my players have stated this is their favourite current campaign, one of the best they've played in years, and I would have to agree as a DM. The system is so simple it basically plays itself, and the setting is full and fun, a perfect mix (to me) of seriousness and amusement.
Nisarg
Well, really that and one other goal: To see if it was viable in this day and age to run a playable fun campaign of OD&D that follows the D&D rules to the LETTER, and would be played from level 1 to level 36 (and immortality).
Thus far, this is what happened, in very brief:
The group is an adventuring party (mostly Karameikan, plus one Darokinian) called the "Razors", led by a halfling named Garafilo.
Besides the Halfling there's a Fighter, an Elf (who's very chaotic), a female Cleric and a male Cleric (the sole Darokinian I mentioned). The female cleric is of Halav, the male of Asterius.
They went on a series of adventures (during which a few older characters not mentioned died) to get through the "basic" levels (1-3) including "keep on the borderlands", did the Isle of Dread as their intro to the "expert" levels (4-14), and shortly after their return to the Known World after visiting the Isle of dread they slew their first dragon, a green dragon, who happened to have a very powerful immortal artifact as part of its horde.
Unfortunately, none of the PCs realized this item was an immortal artifact.
They went through several more adventures in Karameikos and the Five Shires, fighting some giants, another dragon, and a particularly tough horde of orcs, until they started hitting "Name" level. What they didn't get was why several very large dragons (too tough for them to fight at this level) and a few other terrible beings (demons, etc) were apparently chasing them.. they thought it might be because of an intelligent metal-seeking sword one of them carried, they had no idea it was because of the artifact.
When the fighter reached name level, he became an Avenger of Vanya. Vanya contacts him in a dream and tells him about the artifact. Unfortunately, by that time they have lost the artifact, having given what they thought was a low-value gem away to an NPC cleric of Faunus they last saw around the five shires.
So back they go, chasing the missing artifact, being followed increasing numbers of powerful beings to whom they need to explain that they don't actually have the ultra-powerful artifact.
As of this last adventure they fought two large red dragons who killed half the party, luckily the halfling survived and nearly took down the surviving dragon (and managed to drive it away) using just throwing axes. He resurrected the others but basically had to bankrupt the party in doing so. They've gotten to the shireseat of Heartshire and plan to travel north to Darokin, having lost all trace of the cleric of faunus and the artifact.
At this point, the Halfling is level 8 (att class B) and thus a sheriff. He's planning to build a stronghold for his family (poor karameikan halflings) and move them all to Heartshire (he's also having an affair with the beautiful Delune, high sheriff of Heartshire).
The Fighter is a lv. 9 Avenger of Vanya, who's main goal is to find some way to increase his wisdom to be able to cast clerical spells. He also happens to be a distant cousin of Duke Stephan of Karameikos (and the Black Baron too), though his family has disowned him for becoming an avenger rather than a paladin.
The male cleric, a relative newcomer, is lv.5, and just happy to be there.
The Elf is lv. 8, and seems mostly interested in causing serious trouble for everyone around him.
The female cleric is lv. 7, and has become pregnant by the elf. She's mostly concerned with being able to give birth and survive, as human-elf interbreeding is notoriously fatal to the mother, especially when its a human mother carrying an elven child, which this is (a note: there are no mystaran half-elves, children of elves and humans will be either full humans or full elves).
I will keep on periodically updating this thread, to let you know how they progress, what interesting things might happen, and whether or not they make 36th.
One thing I can mention is that several of my players have stated this is their favourite current campaign, one of the best they've played in years, and I would have to agree as a DM. The system is so simple it basically plays itself, and the setting is full and fun, a perfect mix (to me) of seriousness and amusement.
Nisarg
