Since I got no replies ... might as well add some info about the game ...
Based on previous gaming experience, there will likely be a great deal of combat in the game, though I take direction from player actions quite well …
I appreciate it when players come up with their own schemes for power plays, so if you get some ideas, get the others to come along and feel free to run with them.
The setting will be a custom realm, set in a high magic world. Best way to tell you about it would be to set up the storyline … so here goes …
Imagine two large islands separated by a huge sea. One island, set with rolling hills, majestic forests and wide grassy plains ruled primarily by
Humans, elves, dwarves and an assortment of other demi-human creatures. While the dwarves dug into the hills and elves protected the forests,
The Humans of the realm spread out among the island, creating numerous semi-independent towns and villages ruled from a single coastal city.
The towns enjoyed great prosperity from gathering resources from the land, building commodities and bearing extensive trade routes.
Aside from conflicts with neighboring towns, the Humans did not have much in the way of any great strife against supernatural creatures.
The second island, accursed with broken lands, lava flows and poisoned plains was a complete anathema to the humans across the sea.
That island is inhabited primarily by evil humanoids and goblinoids who were in near constant war with each other for the scarce resources that
the poisoned island provided for them to sustain their existence. The strong dominate the weak and evil is a way of life because it works.
Since that island was all but devoid of large wooden plant life, the creatures inhabiting the island developed no technology for boats or ship travel.
As of one year ago, that all changed. A great volcanic cataclysm forced the two great islands to suddenly shift and collide.
A massive mountain chain rose as one island subsumed the other and in a matter of months, the peaks exceeded the topmost cloud cover.
The mountain ranges continue to rise, causing earthquakes to be routinely felt across the entire island on a nearly routine basis.
Since then, only a small mountain pass near the middle of the great mountain range allows travel between the two islands.
The humans with the assistance of the dwarves quickly created a walled fort town at the end of the mountain pass to prevent further intrusion.
Since then, battles at the fort town’s looming stone wall occur nearly daily, as the weaker monsters are being driven to their doom.
Few men are able to guard the wall for long before sustaining injury or death and replacements from the ranks are culled to the front.
Since the mountains block the flow of the prevailing winds, the fort town has become enshrouded in a veritable monsoon climate.
The moisture rich winds which flowed from the oceans of the west are now being all but entirely blocked by the massive mountains.
The area to the south of the fort town has become a newfound marshland while snowfall is common to the north near the great wizard tower.
Because the water in the air is being blocked, the poisoned island on the other side of the mountains is enduring a drought.
The drought has lasted long enough that parts of the island have become desert, which has forced the inhabiting creatures to migrate.
As the creatures of the poisoned island fight to survive, they are forced to look at the human’s island as a paradise and want to claim it.
Such is the reason that more and more attacks upon the fort town have become so commonplace that the pass is reddened with blood.
For the monsters, getting around the mountains is very difficult as few of them can swim the distance required to get around the mountains which extend into the sea ...
Going over the mountains is an equally difficult task, as the air thins and cools as peak elevations increase beyond range of sight ...
Tunneling under the mountain range is all but impossible, due to the crushing weight of the mountains combined with the volcanic heat ...
That leaves the monsters, desperate to get across the mountain chain, few avenues in which tread a course - often forcing apparently suicidal decisions.
At first, when the two islands collided, a large portion of the monstrous population of that island forced its way onto the peaceful island.
Those creatures, while numbering surprisingly few in comparison to the bulk of the island’s true force gave the humans a handful of problems.
Over the course of a year, the monsters have been forced primarily into three areas where they are thought to be able to do the least damage.
The dark forest in the north central of the island, the newfound swamp in the south east and the tundra of the island’s far north.
The humans, tired of the battles, have taken a defensive posture. Protecting their towns is more important than excising every last monster.
While adventurers and knights are welcome in most towns as protectors, but are still seen as outsiders and rarely perfectly fit in.
Those that exploit their positions are seen with jealousy and silent disgust by the hard working farmers and laborers of the villages.
Recently as of two days ago, a bright light was seen in the night sky. Flying rocky fragments of shiny lights illuminated the sky.
No one knows who or what was responsible for the explosion of lights that night, though several rumors abound at local taverns.
Ever since the lights lit up the sky, several reports of monsters attacking villages have been reported across the island.
The monsters, normally weak and manageable by the knights and adventurers, have attained new powers and are becoming dangerous.
The threat has become great enough that the Paladin King of the coastal city has offered rewards on the heads of the monsters.
The rumor that you heard which was most popular was that an artifact jewel has been shattered, its parts scattered across the realm.
This is where your characters join into the fray … and I’ll let you create your own fate from here on in …
