New Campaign

[jayouzts]

St. Solaris. A city of 32,000 people. The main harbor on the Canal of Sorrows - the only waterway linking the Tefnutian Ocean and the Kurier Sea. It is the final resting place of Saint Solaris, the hero chosen by Sancras, the one true god, to lead his worshippers’ rebellion against the oppressive Hutakaan Empire. It is the capital of the Holy See of Sancras, and the center of the Holy Sancrasian Church. Devout Sancrasians brave the heat (and Fire Newt raiders) to make pilgrimages to pray at the Tomb of Saint Solaris and to hear a homily from the Grand Bishop – an event that is becoming more infrequent with his advanced age. Ambassadors and nobles from across the continent descend upon the city seeking the Church’s blessing for their diplomatic initiatives. St. Solaris is Jerusalem, the Vatican, and the Panama Canal in one city.

Kenku “spies” prowl the streets. Dwarven merchants ply their wares in hopes of padding their wealth. Thri-kreen mercenaries seek work as bodyguards, caravan guards, and soldiers. Phanaton messengers hop from roof-top to roof-top to keep Church officials abreast of developments in the city. Even the scheming Hutakaans, xenophobic Elves, and belligerent Yak-folk make their presence known.

All of this occurs on a normal day in the city.

This is no normal time.

The eight-year war against the heretic King Stven III of Lowenherz is coming to end. Forced to sue for peace by the Yak-folk invasion from the north, Stven has agreed to recognize the Holy Sancrasian Church as a co-official religion of his realm – sharing the status with the Asgardian Gods. Royalty from all of the warring nations will descend upon St. Solaris in the coming weeks to negotiate the terms of peace. No doubt they will lay the foundation for the next war while they are “in the neighborhood”. The Yak-folk have also sent dignitaries to plead their case for war and, perhaps, to undermine the peace process.

With all these dignitaries, potentates, and other assorted “rich-folk” coming to town, there has got to be work for adventurers somewhere.


I am looking to begin an on-line campaign set in St. Solaris. I am a long-time player and DM but this will be my first on-line game. I started this campaign because I wanted to try some things that were new and different. Some of the house rules include:

1. Use of action points and spell points
2. No alignment. This does not mean that your character’s actions won’t have consequences – only that the consequences will be reflected within the context of the storyline and not through game mechanics.
3. Gnomes, Halflings, and Half-breeds do not exist. Thri-Kreen, Kenku, Firenewts, Phanatons, Hutakkans, and Yak-folk are options as PC races. Dwarves and Elves have been modified. The Dwarven and Elven subtypes – including Drow – do not exist.
4. Racial paragon classes and monster-level advancement is an option.
5. No psionics
6. Clerics swap for domain spells not healing spells.
7. The Holy Warrior replaces the Paladin. All other PH classes are acceptable.

I strive to balance role-playing and combat. My NPC’s have depth and are more than just stat-blocks. I prefer PC decisions to be made as a result of in-character motivations rather than metagaming or min-maxing; this includes prestige and multi-classing. However, I do not intend to role-play every trip to the general store to buy rope. Combat occurs when it makes sense in the story. When combat occurs I use miniatures (I think cinematic combat just results in the game becoming nothing but a dice-fest). Combat requires thinking and smart tactics. Players who think 100 hp and a 30 AC are all they need to survive combat usually die quickly. “Hack-and-slashers” would probably be bored.

Characters are encouraged to make their way in the world however they wish. I do not want players to feel railroaded into any course of action. I actively seek player input in the direction and feel of the storyline and am looking for players who enjoy that level of participation.

Game times and dates are TBA, although I expect it will be either on a weekend or in the evening hours. I live in the Central (US) time zone (-6 GMT). I will be using version 1.05f of Fantasy Grounds. I will not be using voice at first but may consider using it later if all players agree. I have an XML Ruleset with all the houserules and changes to the core rules you will need.

Interested players can sign-up here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=110.

[jayouzts]

I have created a second session of this campaign. This session will run Sunday afternoons (-6 GMT).

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/?id=111

The first session will run Monday evenings.