Adventuring in the Twilight Age

Welcome to the Twilight Age

Ever since the Empire-That-Was receded, no human endeavor under the fading red sun has reached its heights. Some say humankind no longer possesses the know-how to reach such grandeur. Others claim that confronting daily a sun that could fail them at any moment has filled folks with a spirit of defeat. Regardless of the reasons, it is in the face of such apocalyptic ennui that we find the peoples of Ur-Dun. Just south of the fallen Imperial capital city, this series of towns have become petty city-states just as embroiled in squabbles as they are in desperate dependencies fundamental to their survival.

These human-led settlements are not the only civilized peoples in Ur-Dun. The mortal regents possess delicate treaties with distant Elfin Courts. The Gloaming Hills below the Slumbering Mountains are populate with small pastoral settlements of the hill dwarf (re: gnome) descendants of the folk that built the Imperial-era structures that litter the region. Sourwood Marsh is home to vibrant halfling families who for as long as memory have worked its pipe weed fields and hunted its game.

Our eye will turn specifically to Orm, seated where the Gloaming Hills meet the Cerulean Sea. A fortnight ago, strange rainbow-hued lights appeared in the sky stretching towards Sourwood Marsh. While much of the townfolk have been over taken by potential prophetic properties of the phenomenon and strange sightings out in the marsh since, a different story has dominated the back corners of the town's taverns.

Instead, oh yes, instead the settlement's ramblers, wretches, and thieves talk of the halfling Tobi Bitterleaf.  Found the morning after in the harbor at low tide and drenched in a tidal pool and clutching a strange, bejeweled rod; Tobi incoherently muttered tales of following the the rainbow spectacle to where it met the seaside cliffs. A new cavernous tunnel had appeared in the cliff face and inside the young halfling found wonderment, danger, and wealth. None have seen Tobi since but his relatives will guide interested parties to the new cave mouth for 10gp a head. No questions asked.

What the Heck Are We Even Doing?

We will be running several different sets of adventuring groups, each centered around a different tavern in which, in real life, are each run regularly at different times and in different locales. We will play sessions lasting 2 to 3 hours initially focused on the settlement of and what lies beyond the recently created opening in the cliff-face. The campaign will expand in scope as the player's interest and DM's capacity allows.

But, Like, What Are The Rules?

The campaign will be run using a house-ruled version of the classic B/X edition of D&D (the Old-School Editions reference material works just as well).

 

Check out the rules here.

Here are some of the house-rules:

• We will be using the Ascending Armor Class (Option Rule) in Old-School Essentials.
• A natural 20 on an attack roll results in a critical hit and either a roll on a critical hit chart or a player request for a cool effect. Similarly, a natural 1 results in a critical failure and a roll on a fumble chart.
• Characters reduced to 0 or less HP have a round equal to their level to receive some type of healing or else they parish.
• Attribute checks will be resolved by rolling handful of d6s, adding them up, and then comparing them to the attribute score. A success is reached by rolling under or meeting your attribute score while rolling over results in a failure. The number of dice rolled is determined by the difficulty of the test.
• Checks based more on chance will be resolved by rolling a dice (more often than not a d6) and trying to meet or roll under a target number.
• Encumbrance: player characters can carry a number of items equal to ten (10) + their strength attribute score. Sets of like items like a pack of 7 days rations or a quiver of arrows counts as one (1) item) while clothing or armor only as heavy as chainmail or plate count as an item. Exceed that number and the character can no longer move.
• Sessions not ended outside of a "dungeon" result in a roll on a table to see what trouble befalls your character who has not returned to safety.
• Time between sessions with be one week passed in our world is equal to one week passed in the game world.
• During this time, a variety of downtime actions can be taken.

How Do I Create A Player Character?

1. Here is an overview of character creation by the book. Follow the list below, keeping an eye out for changes in creation as you go.
2. Rolled 3d6 for each ability score in order on your character sheet.
3. Make any ability score adjustments based on the core rules
4. Select a class. At the start of the campaign, we will be using the standard B/X classes along with the following changes:
1. We will be using a modified version of this thief class. Retain the hit dice (d4) and XP progression in the standard B/X rules.
2. The Bard, Druid, Gnome, and Half-Elf classes form the Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy will be available as standard classes. Versions of the Acrobat and Assassin classes from the same book, modified to be in line with the Thief class, will be available soon.
3. In the original spirit of the game, if you want to play something else, talk to the me and we'll see how we can make it happen. A couple of players are playing Vat-Spawn and another is a Gothic Villain.
5. Starting Hit Points are Class Hit Die Max + Constitution Bonus (example: Fighters have a hit die of a d8. So a fighter with a Constition of 13 granting +1 to HP would start with 8+1=9 hit points).
6. Select Languages from this list: (1) dwarfish, (2) elfish, (3) halfling, (4) gnomic, (5) ogrish, (6) goblinese, (7) celestial tongue, (8) abyssal tongue, (9) sylian, (10) dragon, (11) harpy, (12) kobold, (13) gnole, (14) mirror tongue ,(15) beast man,(16) amazonian, (17) Holy Modern Imperialish, (18) Old Imperialish , (19) Middle Imperialish, (20) One of the myriad of human dead dialects.
7. Roll 3d6x10 for starting gold. Peruse adventuring gear and weapons and armor to kit out your character.

One Last Thing! How Do I Get Experience Points?

The main source of experience points (xp) will be from treasure retrieved from unsafe places where 1 gold piece (gp) = 1 experience point.

Additionally:

• 100 xp x level will be gained for writings or images made by a player recapping the last session played.
• 100 xp x dungeon level will be rewarded for being the first party to discover a new dungeon level or sublevel.
• Using a downtime activity of carousing