eastern_frontier

The Kingdom is prosperous, peaceful, pleasant, and BORING. When King Osric The Reasonably Just decreed the wild and dangerous Eastern Frontier open to exploration none abandoned their fat and easy lives to risk almost certain death. But when the good king also known as The Relatively Generous later added there would be no taxes, tariffs, excises, or royal shares levied on treasure recovered from the Eastern Frontier a few desperate adventurers took notice and headed East. Those that did not come to their senses and turn back found themselves in the newly established Barony of Brink, last outpost of civilization and gateway to the Eastern Frontier.

Tomb robbers, out of work mercenaries, professional scoundrels, holy men looking to save or be saved, seekers of forbidden knowledge, naive farm boys with dreams of glory, assorted ne’er-do-wells, and foreigners from near to far all congregate at the Goat & Wizard Inn. Drinking down the last of their coin, eying the competition, chasing up rumors and bar wenches. Eventually, a group gathers round a large table to plan their first foray in search of Gold and Glory.

Campaign Mechanics: Players need nothing other than paper, pencil, and a desire to have fun. Although, most will want to have their own dice and possibly a miniature figure to represent their character.

This campaign is designed for any number of players to be able to play whenever they have time. So, there might be 15 players in the campaign.

4 get together almost every tues, 6 play every three weeks or so, and 4 pop in and out of games whenever it fits their schedules, and the last one is a freak :) playing in almost every one of those games.

Players are responsible for deciding when, where, and what they want to do. There is an email forum http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/eastern_frontier/ for just this purpose. For example someone might post “Hey I’d like to play next thur at BattleForge. There’s something going on in the Grey Marsh, anyone want to check it out?” Other players would respond perhaps suggesting a diffrent time or goal.

Caveats include: - There must be at least three players committed to a game day for it to happen - DM must be available and must have time to prepare, so schedule about 1 week in advance. - DM may veto any plan that is lame such as traveling west into the BORING Kingdom.

To get the ball rolling there will be character creation sessions this Thursday, January the 17th 6-9pm and next Thursday, January 24th 6-9pm at my house. Email njharman@knoggin.com for directions.

The campaign will also use a simple house rule “Fame”. Characters will earn Fame for killing known monsters, returning from a dungeon delve laden with treasure, saving the damsel, etc. In addition to minor in game perks there will be a “leader board” of characters with the most fame. Hopefully a little friendly competition to become the most famous will liven things up.

Campaign World: This is a sandbox game http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_game There is a large detailed world to explore. Unlike some campaigns where players are reacting to a plot this game is all about player choice. If you spend all you time puttering around the Goat & Wizard nothing much will happen. Characters need to go exploring, track down danger and squash it like a bug.

The Eastern Frontier is dangerous. Encounter difficulty is loosely based on distance from civilization. Players have the freedom to go anywhere including into areas that will wipe them out. No punches will be pulled, if somehow a low level group manages to travel all the way to Dragon’s Peak they will meet EL16+ dragons.

On the other hand know that every bit of hard won success was earned and deserved. If you are a bit cautious and recognize the “patterns”, the most obvious of which is “the farther from Fort Brinks the more dangerous it is”, your adventures will be fun, challenging and rewarding.

So, are you brave or foolish enough to roam the Eastern Frontier in search of fame and fortune? More to the point are you strong enough to survive its challenges and return body, mind, and soul intact? Adventure beckons, will you answer the call?