Playing Dice with the Universe

Overview Back when I started playing D&D this was the " Known World " described in the Expert Set and what we used for our early games.  Later it became known as Mystara.  I have made a few adjustments to make it my setting for a traditional Tolkienesque world. History Legends tell of the great Dragon Empire of the High Elves that stretched from coast to coast and the rise of the Orcs, and the empires own infighting that brought about its doom.  No one knows where the Orcs came from some say the vainest of the Elves compared themselves to the Gods and were cursed.  From the empires ashes rose the feudal kingdoms of man.  These are the lands of the Known World that battle for survival. Races Common: Human (Variant & Standard), Sylvan Elves, Dwarves Uncommon: High Elves, Hin (Halflings) Half-breads: Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Dragonborn (children of dragons), Tiefling/Genasi (Half Djinn), Gnome (Half-dwarf) Grand Duchy of Karameikos Government: ...

Welcome to Saltmarsh Our story begins in Saltmarsh, a nondescript fishing village tucked away on the southern coast of the Grand Dutchy of Karameikos that sits on the precipice of destruction.  Here smugglers guide their ships to hidden coves, willing to slit the throat of any who cross their path.  Cruel monsters gather plotting beneath the waves.  The cult of a forbidden god extends its reach hungry for fresh victims.  Drowned sailors stir to unnatural life, animated by the cults dark magic.  While Saltmarsh slumbers, the evils that seek to plunder it grow stronger.  Heroes must arise to keep the waves safe! A Brief History of Saltmarsh Years ago Karameikos campaigned to the north leaving the southern Baronies open to plunder. Pirates and smugglers slowly took over the south building a loose confederacy of Merchant Princes in the Minrothad islands. Saltmarsh suffered as the village succumbed to piracy and slavery under the cru...

Campaign Log: Lost Mine of Phandelver Our Heroes Character Description Myandir Silveroak An Elven Wizard and Acolyte of Selune, Goddess of the Moon Rance Raddish A folk hero Warrior-Thief armed with a pair of rapiers and Breast plate armour Bjorn 'Bearkiller' Katho-Olavi An 8' tall Goliath Great Weapon Battle Master in shiny Split mail. Raymondo Angigua Debonair and roguish storyteller who (thinks) he can talk his way out of any situation. Nessa May Half-Elven Charlatan making her way through life using her wit, musical ability and summoning undead minions! The final Chapter: Thunder tree Following Gundrun's rescue and the reopening of the mine we were able to purchase the ruined manor house from the town and use our new found wealth to restore it to a livable state.  Nessa and Raymondo saw there was a gap in the local market with more miners coming into t...

The Story We had a full month of recovering in Icehaven.  Spending our loot getting new armour from the blacksmith and horses (since the penny-pinching mayor was unlikely to lend us any again).  As our funds were getting low Petros, another bard, came to the Holy Day Inn where we were staying.  We swapped a few tales and then he told us the Ballard of Black Biana. " Do not anger the Warlock they call Black Biana, This poor child who was cursed from birth.   Her own mother said she was a changeling. All she did was talk with beasts! Biana saw this fabled child as her true-sister. Thus she make pacts to enter Fairyland to seek her.   The evil fay-lord now holds Biana's soul. Every time she goes more bargains must be struck. Biana's rage knows no bound for her sister is still to be found! " After listening to this story Kara gave him a couple of coins and he rewarded her with a sealed letter which turned out to be from our myster...

Campaign Log: Lost Mine of Phandelver Our Heroes Character Description Myandir Silveroak An Elven Wizard and Acolyte of Selune, Goddess of the Moon Rance Raddish A folk hero Warrior-Thief armed with a pair of rapiers and Breast plate armour Bjorn 'Bearkiller' Katho-Olavi An 8' tall Goliath Great Weapon Battle Master in shiny Split mail. Raymondo Angigua Debonair and roguish storyteller who (thinks) he can talk his way out of any situation. Nessa May Half-Elven Charlatan making her way through life using her wit and musical ability. Chapter Nine: Entering the Cave Following Gundrun's direction we got to the secret location of Wave Echo cave.  At the end of a short passage way we found a dead dwarf, who we assume was one of Gundrun's brothers.  Heading east we were attacked by a swarm of blood sucking Stirgi.  After that we moved south finding many bodies ...

The Party Arden De Vere, Bard of Apollo ~ Half Elven Noble Magrim Axetooth ~ A hulking half Orc Barbarian with a fetish for Axes. Kara ~ Human Scout and sharpshooter with her longbow. Ghesh ~ A Dragonborn Battle Wizard with paired swords and heavy armour. Sparkeye ~ Dragonborn Sorcerer who likes illusions. Alysaia ~ Tiefling wild Sorcerer The Story Watching our herbalist fly away we had some time to explore the area before returning to the city of Icehaven.  Trecking east across the moor we kept our eyes open for more monsters.  All we saw though was a old stooped man walking slowly.  His name was Willoby. Having given him a lift to a small cottage where he and his wife, Raynar, lived a stranger appeared as we were building our camp fire and told us the couple were cursed.   They had to try and recover the Crown of the Wanderer from a barrow that only appeared each autumn as the veil between worlds grew thin.  We agreed to try and find...

Dwarven Clerics in Fifth Edition D&D. Another D&D Character concept I like is the Hill Dwarf Battle Priest.  While Clerics have a lot of healing they also get heavy armour (at least the ones I play) and a good selection of combat spells.  Divine Strike feature makes them want to be weapon users but melee attacks can often be less effective than cantrips even with Clerics lacking a direct attack roll cantrip spell. Redvus ~ Devotion to the Forge Forge Clerics get nine none-cleric spells from their ten domain spells as well as +2 AC, without magic items, by sixth level. While half these spells may be more thematic than generally useful they do get a couple of my favourite Wizard spells with Animate Objects and Wall of Fire. Build Plan I originally built this character with rolled stats and a free feat. I got 15, 15, 15, 14, 11, 10.  I have since played them in some one shots and recreated them with Point Buy on the D&D Friends server wh...

D&D Quest 2: The Forest of Doom The Party Arden De Vere, Bard of Apollo ~ Half Elven Noble Magrim Axetooth ~ A hulking half Orc Barbarian with a fetish for Axes. Kara ~ Human Scout and sharpshooter with her longbow. New recruits Ghesh ~ A Dragonborn Battle Wizard with paired swords and heavy armour. Sparkeye ~ Dragonborn Sorcerer who likes illusions. Alysaia ~ Tiefling Sorcerer The Story The mayor of Icehaven summoned our trio of heroes to his office and offered us another job.  He wanted us to accompany Karamuntia the Ghomish healer to a hidden valley and gather some herbs that would help to cure the ice blight plague that had broken out.  We of course accepted. He also said the town guard had rounded up a few reprobates found wandering near the city and we could take any of them that would be useful with us.  Having been taken to the cells we found a pair of Dragonborn and the half-fiend Tiefling in the cells.  After a short discussion we...

Campaign Log: Lost Mine of Phandelver Our Heroes Character Description Myandir Silveroak An Elven Wizard and Acolyte of Selune, Goddess of the Moon Rance Raddish A folk hero Thief armed with a pair of Short Sword Bjorn 'Bearkiller' Katho-Olavi An 8' tall Goliath Great Weapon Battle Master in shiny Split mail. Raymondo Angigua Debonair and roguish storyteller who (thinks) he can talk his way out of any situation. Chapter Eight: Rescuing Gundrun Thinking our element of surprise was done after all the shouting and screams we hurried through the eastern door in the northern turret and found ourselves in the castle chapel.  Before the Goblins here could act Raymondo flicked an enchanted cricket across the room and they all fell to the floor sleeping. Myandir pulled the curtain to the south open to check for more Goblins and was perceptive enough to see the the giant worm like body ...

Campaign Log: Lost Mine of Phandelver Our Heroes Character Description Myandir Silveroak An Elven Wizard and Acolyte of Selune, Goddess of the Moon Rance Raddish A folk hero Thief armed with a pair of Short Sword Bjorn 'Bearkiller' Katho-Olavi An 8' tall Goliath Great Weapon Battle Master in shiny Split mail. Raymondo Angigua Debonair and roguish storyteller who (thinks) he can talk his way out of any situation. Nessa May Half-Elven Charlatan making her way through life using her wit and musical ability. Chapter Six: Wyvern Tor With Bjorn and Nessa searching other parts of the hills the remaining three heroes found there way to the Orcs den on the Tor.  A stealthy approach failed and the watch-orc let out a yell bringing more Orcs running down the small passageway out of the den.  Behind the orcs came stomping an ogre! Using the entrance as a choke point Myandir qui...

Campaign Log: Lost Mine of Phandelver Our Heroes Character Description Myandir Silveroak An Elven Wizard and Acolyte of Selune, Goddess of the Moon Rance Raddish A folk hero Thief armed with a pair of Short Swords (one of them magical) Bjorn 'Bearkiller' Katho-Olavi An 8' tall Goliath Great Weapon Battle Master in shiny Split mail. Nessa May Half-Elven Charlatan making her way through life using her wit and musical ability. Chapter Five: Wilderness Having scoured the village for clues our heroes sat in the inn deciding on where to travel.  A final decision was made to clear out the troubling zombies from the Old Well; then the Orcs from the Tor and head home after visiting Agatha at Conberry. We loaded up with supplies from Lionshield and purchased a mule to help carry the supplies.  Myandir also picked up a new cloak which Rance was able to afford a glowing Sword.  Setting off...