Gaia Saga: The War of Ten Nations

[Sir Not Appearing on Forum]

Talked to a few of you last time we gamed and heard the desire to play an old school fantasy game for the next campaign.

I'm going to run two games, my Call of Cthulhu one for those interested in it (probably play it if not everyone can make it for Gaia Saga) and this game which I'm going to put together and plan on running in the summer.

Here's the layout of the campaign so far and what to expect.

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Campaign: The War of Ten Nations
Character Alignment: Any (with some restrictions as described below)
Technology Level: Think mid-1500's Europe, but with a lot less emphasis on firearms. There will be Dwarven black powder weaponry but those will be rare and not very efficient (powerful as far as damage is concerned but dangerous to use).
Races Allowed: Humans, Elves (High, Dark, Wood as they were the ones most involved in the conflict), Dwarves, Drakul, Neko, Lupine

Classes Allowed: Begin the game with one job, with another one unlocked once character reaches a x2 mastery level in relevant skill for desired second job (Example: x2 swordsmanship for a Swordsman for second job). Jobs allowed are anything within the official Gaia Saga manual although some jobs are limited by race (discussed below). Mage is not allowed or any job class that allows a character to purchase from every spell school at once. Enchanter character have an option of purchasing from three schools of magic if chosen as a job.

Magic Schools Allowed: All as listed within the main book with no additional spell schools allowed (Arcane, Chaotic, etc.). White and Shadow restricted to priests of their respective schools.

Race Specific Jobs: Dwarves (Clockwork Engineer), Drakul (Dragon Knight), Samurai/Ninja (Enerian Humans), Knight (Bretoonian Human)

Character Creation Information: Here is some knowledge to come in to the game with that is relevant to every player. Your character is involved in the conflict, which can be considered the first world war. Every kingdom in Dalros is warring with each other in one way or another, either politically or militarily. There is also the huge conflict between traditionalism and technology and either a great love for the Dwarves as a result of this or a great hatred towards them. Traditionalists refuse to get involved with the inclusion of steam work and clock work technology and have chosen to try and remove them completely from their lives. They are bitter towards such devices and their use and try their best to exclude themselves from their operation whenever possible. Those that embrace the new technology often times butt heads with those that do not and this usually ends in skirmishes and issues throughout the land. Traditionalists find themselves to be fairly poor during this time, but more common people tend to trust them and look up to them. Those that go along with the technological changes seem to be looked down upon by common people but tend to have more monetary wealth and resources then those that do not.

Any form of character alignment is allowed in this game, but be careful in what you choose. An evil aligned character is going to have a lot of problems mainly due to how those types of characters are ran within Gaia Saga by players. Murder, rape and the like are a very quick way to get your character killed, so think before you decide to go with something. Also consider the other players in the group and try and find a way to create a character that can be evil aligned but can also mesh well with whatever is already out there. There are ways to make a villain without making a psychopath.

I will work on actual story a bit later on and let you guys know with a written summary. Until then you can design characters, get some ideas or ask me any questions you might have. ;D

[Sir Not Appearing on Forum]

Summary: The Kingdom of Bretoon has been hit fairly hard by the sudden change in technology. As the dwarf merchants continue to bring more and more clock work and steam innovations into the country more and more citizens begin to take a modern approach or a traditionalist approach. The many feudal lords who rule over the individual provinces of Bretoon have either chosen to continue to serve the royal family or have decided to split from the kingdom as a whole and try their hand at independence. This has caused the large kingdom to divide into twelve smaller, self-contained countries who either war with one another or form short term alliances in order to ward off danger from a neighbor. As the newly formed civil war turns bloody within Bretoon the rest of Dalros is beginning to suffer similar problems as the War of Ten Nations starts its horrible beginning.

NOTE: This is the first campaign for The War of Ten Nations and will take place within the warring provinces of Bretoon. Characters can either be involved in one of hundreds of mercenary bands or as retainers in the royal army.

[gendaru]

I'm thinking Ninja traditionalist this time, Bill

[Sir Not Appearing on Forum]

Sounds good Jacob.

Note on Battle System:
We will exclusively use the miniature rules for combat, as mentioned in the Cogs of War source book. Why: Because I like it and its fairly strategic.

You have a few options:
1.) Get a miniature yourself to represent your character after you make him/her
2.) Make a paper miniature, print it out and bring it with you when we start playing.

Paper Minis are easy to find online or you can easily use one as a template and make your own in a paint program.

If you go ahead and create a mini using either method to go along with your character in this way and have one at the beginning of the game I will award your character an additional 5K EXP at the start of the game. Lack of mini at beginning equals lack of the 5K.

I think it would be a fun and interesting activity.

[Sir Not Appearing on Forum]

CHARACTERS (Updated sessionally)

Kendar (Troy):
A strong Elven mercenary with an unknown past who has no known home and no real goals in life save to make money and simply survive. He seems to lean towards a more traditional view on the world and has skills in a host of melee weapons. While a powerful fighter Kendar's true abilities lie in his charisma and his ability to lead others into battle.

Hideo (Jacob):
A low ranking samurai retainer for a Daimyo in Eneria. Hideo accompanied his master and entourage to Durem in order to complete an illegal arms deal, only to watch his master and his fellow retainers murdered before his eyes. He now seeks vengeance as a Ronin in a land he knows little to nothing about.

Alruna (Chris):
A lone female rogue seeking to find her place in the world. Alruna is attempting to become a member of a secretive house of assassins whose roots are a complete mystery and whose power is just as mysterious. Horribly disfigured from an encounter in her past, Alruna is seeking a way to better herself, even at the expense of others.

Danaerys (Shannon):
A blind paladin and devout worshiper of Avodent, Danaerys is an Astronark Drakul and was born with her disability and has never known the joys of normal sight. With her blindness, however, she has managed to develop interesting abilities to make up for it, including the ability to see life energies instead. A self sacrificing and peaceful woman she still has a tendency to fall into her racial roots and become violent when the need arises for it (but only against the wicked).

Boden (Jason):
A kind Bretoonian psionicist who has chosen to live the life of a wandering healer in order to better humanity by healing the people. He seeks to touch and re-align the "chakra" energies of those who may be ailing, who seek an end to their sadness and despair, and to those who need a new reason to continue to live. He joins the other adventurers in hopes that they will accompany him to places of dense population.

Tallis (NPC):
The self-proclaimed ruler over the principalities of Durem. Tallis is a Dark Elf whose skill in combat has allowed him to increase his status over the years from apparent nobody to ego-maniacal tyranny. His devotion to the dark gods is not a secret to those that know anything about him, and he rules his subjects through fear and the promise of vast riches and pleasures.

Vergen (NPC):
A sell-sword sorceress from northern Bretoon. Not much is know about her yet, but she is rather high up in the ranks among Tallus' soldiers and has powerful etherical control within the elemental spheres of water and ice. She is quite pretty and is apparently a high elf.

Simon (NPC):
A ghostly apparition that appears within Kendar's dreams after he gains possession of an extremely powerful cursed sword. Simon appears to Kendar as an old man and supposedly is someone from Kendar's past that he no longer remembers. Cunning, persuasive and extremely dangerous, this entity seeks to consume mortal souls in order to empower itself and to continue to exist between worlds.

[Sir Not Appearing on Forum]

Session 1 Overview: In Regards to Castles, Mercenaries and Silver Knights

The episode opens with Alruna (Chris) attempting to assasinate the heir to a locak throne in a Duremation Principality. The governing lord, an unskilled yet very rich man named Lord Henry, is spending time in his summer keep and has brought his only son with him for the trip. Alruna see's this as the perfect opportunity to be initiated into the Assassins guild, and stealthily moves to the keep in order to carry the vile deed out. Unfortunately for her though Alruna meets with some extremely bad luck and ends up having to flee the keep without succeeding in her goal. While being chased by hounds and armed guards she comes across a stranger moving through the forest, a mercenary looking for work by the name of Kendar (Troy).

Kendar offers to assist the injured rogue and after escaping the pursuing dogs the two enter the nearby town of Sungrad, where they plan on drinking their worries away in the local pub. Upon entering the town they stumble across a hapless Enerian Ronin who has lost his way after his lord and master had been slain the day earlier. The name of this samurai warrior is Hideo (Jacob), and he seeks those responsible for his lord's death in order to exact revenge.

The new group of acquaintances sit back in the Hungry Ogre Tavern and have a few drinks. Kendar learns more of the keep within the forest, Alruna's plan to kill the young heir, and the fact that Lord Henry is a very wealthy man. Instead of planning to offer his services to Henry. Kendar decides to try and loot his summer home instead. He talks some drunk mercenaries looking for work into joining him, Hideo and Alruna and after a quick trip to the local junk store gather at the town square and make their way to the keep in order to plunder it.

The attack on the keep is quick yet bloody; with the majority of the hired mercenaries killed or fleeing, Kendar nearly dying, Hideo barely surviving himself and Alruna managing to murder Lord Henry and his child before disappearing into the shadows. With the guards all dead and no one left to say otherwise, the wounded Kendar and Hideo ransack the keep and decide to stay there for the night after decorating the area with the mutilated bodies of their deceased enemies. The townspeople aren't too keen on this though and show up in force to demand that Kendar give them all of the plunder held within. Kendar reacts by cutting one of the men in half and intimidating the others to return quickly to their homes in fear. Before they can return he and Hideo grab what they can and flee from Sungard to the south, discovering in this looting a journal from Lord Henry detailing some interesting information and a message on a scroll speaking of some possible political issues with the southern kingdom of Ladore near Bretoon.

After nearly being killed by a black hooded man in the forest and a hilarious magical divorce issue between an old Druid master and his ex-wife Kendar and Hideo meet and befriend Danaerys (Shannon), a blind paladin who has become lost in the wilderness of Durem. She joins the duo in their travels and follows them close behind until they all come across a skirmish between traditionalists and revolutionaries. The revolutionaries, armed with muskets and cannon are led by a mysterious knight in silver armor.

In order to try and help his mercenary brethren, Kendar charges the revolutionaries and gets into a deadly melee with the silver knight. While they battle the traditionalists flee, Danaerys is captured and Hideo is seemingly killed by gunfire.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT!?

[Sir Not Appearing on Forum]

Session 2: In Regards to Cursed Swords, Wandering Healers and Making Coin

Boden, a wandering healer of sorts, had just finished his most recent endeavor in a small village and was making his way north in an attempt to reach Durem City in order to try and spread his good will to the people there. It was during this trek that he saw in the distance pillars of smoke that warned him of a battlefield. Not wanting to get too involved with angry men with pointy objects, Boden opted to stop where he was and make camp within the woods; planning to return to traveling at night to help hide his presense.

During his encampment and horribly beaten and nearly dead Hideo, who was left for dead by the revolutionary army, stumbled blindly into his path. Boden healed Hideo and after some conversation with him came to find out about the battle, that Hideo had friends that were either captured or dead, and his reasons for being so far away from Eneria.

Meanwhile, Danaerys was being tortured for information in a makeshift dungeon within the revolutionary camp, only to find out that the entire ordeal was more of a game by the commander of the army, the dreaded Silver Knight himseld, Tallis. Tallis makes a deal with Danaerys that she literally could not refuse, and releases her to freedom. He does something similar to Kendar, who after their battle is horribly beaten and broken but quickly put back together thanks to the efforts of Tallis' head alchemist. Tallis quickly hires Kendar as a hired sword and sends him as babysitter for Danaerys, whose job is to peacefully force some peasants from their land before the revolutionaries take up camp in their village. The two head off but Kendar decides to go to the battlefield to reclaim his lost greatsword and to try and remember what happened during the battle since the entire ordeal is a blank to him.

After resting up Boden and Hideo make their way towards the battlefield to look for Kendar and Danaerys, only to be attacked by a horde of recently raised bog zombies. The cause of their undeath unknown, the zombies manage to injure Hideo and force both him and Boden to flee their great numbers. On the otherside of the battlefield Kendar and Danaerys arrive and manage to find the remains of Kendar's sword, which is horribly broken and covered in what appear to be claw marks. As Kendar reclaims the broken weapon and decides to keep it the duo are assaulted by zombies, who, after a short engagement, are completely destroyed when Danaerys blesses the bog water in the area with the white energies of Avodent. Hideo reunites with his lost friends and both Kendar and Danaerys are introduced to Boden, who they find they like quite well.

With the group reformed and ready to go, Kendar tells Hideo and Boden of the mission at the village and before they can leave magical energy is detected. Tracking the energy to a lone man dressed in leather armor and carrying a large sword, Kendar and Hideo charge the man headon thinking him to be a necromancer responsible for the raising of the zombies. Hideo takes a crossbow bolt to the head which ie eventually healed by Danaerys, and Kendar engages the lone warrior, who pleads with Kendar to flee before he is forced to kill Kendar and his friends. Not believing his boasting words, Kendar attacks the man and cuts off his right hand, only to see the hand quickly rebuild itself. The man attempts to flee rather than stay and kill the adventurers, and as he runs away Kendar strikes the bandolier holding the sword which then falls to the ground. After the weapon falls the man collapses, dies, and quickly falls to pieces. They loot the man, find a journal of sorts and some rather expensive items and Kendar, taken by a desire to own the sword the man was carrying, claims the mysterious weapon as his own.

(To be added)