Age of Anarchy: War of the Roses Campaign.

After a few hiccups getting started, the War of the Roses campaign begins tomorrow. Using the OSRIC rules, the adventurers will attempt to acquire fame, plunder and status in the wild-lands left ungoverned by the deaths of mighty lords and now-plagued by creatures of the Wild-wood.

"It's dark. Damp air envelops you like a cloak, old, stagnant water soaks your ragged, torn clothing. Your ears hear the faint rustle of rats moving through the rank straw and the not-infrequent screams of your fellow prisoners. For what purpose are you held here? Indeed, how did you come here? Of how your present state of being came to pass, you know nothing. Not even the identity of your captors...."

OSRIC: Religion, Morality and Alignment

One thing's for certain, I really need to find a new name for my War of the Roses OSRIC campaign. Something a little catchier. OSRIC: Age of Anarchy, perhaps. What do you guys think?

Anyway, one of the (slightly) different things about this campaign is the way I'm treating alignment. Rather than doing away with the concept altogether, except for extremes of good and evil (as I often do) alignment with be replaced by moral codes and religions. This is still a work in progress at the moment, but the options at present are:





Religious Alignment Choices:

• Medieval Catholicism
• Medieval Islam
• Medieval Druidism/Paganism
• Medieval Judaism
• Medieval Orthodox
• Servant of the Dark One (NPC Only)

 The religion based alignments are the most nebulous of all in a very real sense. For example, most of the major religions have a variant on "though shall not kill". As mentioned in a previous post though, Catholics believe that only humans have souls, so this rule only counts towards killing humans. That being said, for a Catholic it's perfectly acceptable to kill a human if he (or she) is a non-christian, or if you're a member of the knightly and noble caste (because god has ordained that you are born into a role that requires killing) and have a fairly good reason for doing so.

So, these five choices aren't quite the straight-jacket they might first appear to be.

Then we have the (sometimes) more restrictive, properly fixed moral codes:

Rashi, perhaps the best known medieval Rabbi and Scholar

Moral Alignment Choices:

• Athiest/Agnostic
• Chivalric Code
• Humanist
•  Irreligious
• Secular Devotion

The Humanist and Chivalric moral codes are perhaps the most tightly restrictive in a sense that they have fairly well defined limits. Like everything else, of course, there are loopholes to exploit, but the Chivalric code especially is fairly well defined. The irreligious and atheist/agnostic alignments give the greatest freedom of action of all, perhaps equivalent to true-neutral in the traditional D&D alignment spectrum. Basically, such people are limited in their actions only by the actions and the beliefs of the authorities around them.

Lastly, we have Secular Devotion, which implies an utter adherence to an NPC secular authority such as the King, a Duke or Earl or even simply a friend or loved one. The limitation here is that the character won't do anything to act against the interests of the object of his devotion, but at the same time the character would be reluctant to disobey any instructions from this same NPC, regardless of how abhorrent. Most of the lower-end bad-guy NPC's in this game will have this alignment, which is very similar to lawful neutral in many respects.

Finally, we have good and evil

Salahadin: A great example for Islamic Paladin characters

Good and Evil:
Good and Evil, Law and Chaos no longer exist in an alignment sense, but they do still have a place in the game world. Generally, for a creature of being to be affected by such as a spell, they must have a history of routinely acting in a certain way. For example, angels and demons are always affected by spells that affect good and evil creatures respectively. A knightly character who consistently acts to uphold the law and maintain stability in the land (regardless of his actual alignment) would be affected by spells such as Protection from Law. A robber-knight on the other hand (or one notorious for changing sides during the Wars) would be affected by Protection from Chaos and so on.

Alignment and Clerics:

Clerics, strictly speaking, can be of any alignment, not just the alignment of their religion. However, if they wish to retain their spell casting abilities, they had better ensure that their actions remain consistent with the tenants of the religion they represent. Thus, a Catholic cleric might have the Secular Devotion alignment, and be devoted to the service of his brother, an NPC Lord. He might politic and preach on his brothers behalf without effect, but if he arranges the assassination of his brother's enemies, he can kiss those clerical abilities of his good-bye.

This helps to explain why so many priests in the historical time period (and setting) can act contrary to the interests of their religion and still remain priests. In a gaming sense, the ones that manage to obey the tenants of their religion can perform minor miracles. The ones who betray their religious beliefs in favour of more secular or personal concerns, lose their powers. Often very early in their clerical careers. The few who manage to exist in the secular world and remain true to their faith are essentially minor miracle workers, moving to become widely recognised as living saints (or prophets) at higher levels.

Pope John XXIII. A fine example of a priest who most definitely would have lost his cleric powers in this setting.

 All these concepts are just skeletons at the moment, in need of a great deal of fleshing out. But that's where the alignment system remains at the moment.

WoTR/ToEE Campaign: 17 Things You Need to Know

17 things my players will need to know before the start of the new campaign:

Choosing Sides: White Rose of York or Red of Lancaster?

Setting

Recent History:

• In 1455, under pressure from the Pope (who had threatened to excommunicate the whole of England), Richard, Duke of York, leads fully half of England's nobility in revolt against the Lancastrian King, Henry VI. A weak and insipid ruler, Henry had allowed himself to fall under the sway of dark magicians and demonologists.

• In 1471, the Yorkist faction finally put an end to the Wars. The Yorkists (fighting under the banner of the White Rose) defeat the Lancastrians and their demonic allies at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Following the battle, the Earl of Angstford and his family, stout Lancastrians and fearsome demonologists, have their lands and titles placed under attainder, (confiscated), by the Yorkist King Edward IV. They flee in various directions: to France, Burgundy and Ireland.

Henry VI, executed soon after Tewkesbury

 Current Situation:

• The current year is 1481. Edward IV still rules England.
• With the great mass of English chivalry dead on the Bloody Meadow of  Tewkesbury or in exile abroad, much of the country remains ungoverned and lawless. Many heirs are still too young to inherit their lands. Other lords and knights still retain their lands but live in Exile. Brigandage is common. The monstrous creatures forced into the Wildwoods by the campaigns of Arthur and St George are now once again venturing forth into the settled lands of England.
• The seat of the Earl of Angstford remains vacant, a tasty morsel dangled before the nose of several important noblemen of dubious loyalty as a means of ensuring their good behaviour. The few castles and manor houses within the limes (territory) of the Earldom which are not razed or ruined, are held by Flemish mercenaries in the service of the King.
• Women are expected to marry and raise children or take vows as a Nun. HOWEVER, female mercenaries and adventurers are actually quite common in this period, but are viewed as abominations by most "right-thinking" folk.
• Some new items not normally found in the OSRIC rules are available, but are well beyond the means of most starting players. These include: Arquebus/Hackbutts (primitive handguns), Field Plate Armour, Full Plate Armour (better versions of Plate Mail) and Brigandine Armour (actually quite common, I'll probably post the rules for these)

Religion:

• According to the Catholic church, only humans have souls (and possibly Half-Elves and Troll-bloods, but the church isn't sure about that).  Killing animals or members of any other race is NOT considered an act of murder by Catholics. Muslims and Jews believe that Dwarves also have souls. The Muslim and Jewish religions have not had sufficient contact with Elves, Half-Elves and Half-Orcs to have formed an opinion regarding the status of these beings one-way-or-another.

Geography:

• The campaign will be set in the fictional English Earldom of Angstford. Although there are road and other physical connections to the rest of England, the territory  of the Earldom represents the physical limits of the campaign sandbox. In theory, your characters can leave at any time. In practise, please don't.

Edward IV, Yorkist King of England

Game Information:

•  Races: Player Characters may be Shidhe (Elves), Changelings (Half-Elfs), Dwarves, Humans or Troll-Bloods (Half-Orcs descended from Fomorians). There will be no gnomes or halflings in this setting.
• Class and Level Limits: Unlike the previous game, humans will not be able to multi-class. Non humans may multi-class as normal but be aware that maximum levels for non-humans apply in this setting with the following exceptions: Dwarves and Trollbloods may advance to any level as a fighter or Barbarian. Elves may advance to any level as a Magic-User or Illusionist. Changelings may advance to any level as a Houri, Thief or Ranger.
• PC Clerics may follow one of three religions: Catholicism, Islam or Judaism and may be of any alignment. However, Clerics must always act within the bounds of their religion. Carrying out actions forbidden to their religion (for example: theft, sexual intercourse or murder for a   Catholic Cleric) will result in the character losing their spellcasting abilities. Only NPC Clerics may be followers of the evil deity known by various names such as the Dark One, Satan etc. PC Clerics ALWAYS turn undead (rather than control them) regardless of their alignment. Clerics of the Dark One always control undead.
• All Clerics are Priests of their religion. However, not all Priests are Clerics. Clerics are essentially proto-saints at low-levels and actual, living saints, prophets or the equivalent by higher levels. Spell-casting priests (i.e Clerics) are said to possess Grace, as in the "Grace of God". Perhaps one Priest in ten in so blessed.
• Druids are, well, druids or witches. They are often mistaken for servants of the Dark One and burned at the stake.
• Wizards and Illusionists are, likewise, often mistaken for servants of the Dark One and burned at the stake. Most pretend to be "astrologers", "sages," "natural philosphers" and the like.
• Elves may not be Clerics. They may be Druids instead.
• Paladins do not belong to an Order of Knighthood. They might not even be knights. They do not hold any official place in the hierarchy of their religion, but may eventually be recognised as "warrior-saints" by their faiths. Salahadin and Sir William Marshal are perhaps the best historical examples of individuals who behave in a Paladin-like manner.

Do You Want To Know More?

Click the link for a good grounding in recent events.

Temple of Elemental Evil: War of the Roses Style.

Now that I spend about 10-12 hours a day painting figures for a living, the Isle of the Earthshaker campaign has pretty much died. I was largely making up dungeons and encounter locations as I went, so prep time for each weekly game was fairly considerable. I just don't have the free-time anymore to put so much work into writing a campaign.

The solution is to re-start with a published campaign, fleshed out with a few extra adventure locations from published modules. I had an inkling to convert the WFRP 1e Doomstones campaign back to it's original format (AD&D) but that would be a fairly substantial task. Plus, the story driven nature of the game makes regular attendance by the same group of players pretty important. That isn't really compatible with my current group's"sit-in when you can" style of campaign play.

So, I'm thinking of running Temple of Elemental Evil. It has it's flaws, but it should do the trick. I'll take a look through my early module collection for an alternative, but I'm thinking Temple of Elemental Evil for the main dungeon, Stonehell Dungeon as an alternative location nearby and simply sticking other adventure locations from modules on the map as and when required. Not exactly a masterpiece of creativity but it'll do.

The twist is that I'll be setting it in an alternate-earth version of Real-World history during the War of the Roses.

I have a few ideas in mind that need fleshed out. For the moment, Clerics and Paladins can be Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Servants of the Dark One. Druids are, well, druids. Wizards use coin magic (spell preparation consists of enchanting small coins which unleash the magic contained within when thrown),  Elves come from the wildest, more remote parts of Wales, Ireland and Scotland and are more British-Fae elves than they are Tolkeinesque. Half-Elf's are called Changelings, Dwarves come from Scandinavia and can be found in parts of the British Isles settled by Vikings (yes, Dwarf Vikings!). Half-Orcs are humans with an ancient Fomorian bloodline, rather than being actual half-orcs.

All humanity knows that the legendary creatures of fire-side tales and dark, ancient myths still lurk in the wildwoods, driven from the lands of humanity by the likes of the Sainted George and King Arthur in the distant past. From time to time, a village is burned, crops or beasts are stolen and children vanish. All know this to be the work of creatures from the wildwood, and every house in Britain keeps an iron horse shoe above the door and ancient runes carved on their window-shutters.