Table of Contents
Backbone Campaign Overview
The Game
This campaign will be run using 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons – with the following caveats:
- Ability Score options
- Standard set (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8)
- Point-based purchase (8-15)
- Roll dice and live with the consequences
- Races
- No Dragonborn, Tieflings, or Drow; All others OK
- Note: The “Draconic Bloodline” origin for Sorcerers is acceptable
- Non-human races must choose:
- Did you come from one of your racial homelands?
- Did you live among the humans?
- Human (and those who lived among them) must choose:
- Backbone
- Lowland
- Other
- Half-Orcs: Your mother was likely a rape victim
- Classes
- All Classes are allowed; Comments about select classes below:
- Cleric/Paladin
- Backbone = Egyptian deities (p.299)
- Lowland = Greek deities (p.298)
- Resh = Sumerian deities (dead; not an option)
- Celtic and Norse are also valid options
- Druid: Grove relocated to Spindrift during the wars
- Fighter: Did you serve someone? Where are they now?
- Ranger: Orc hunter during resettlement?
- Wizard: How did the magic change affect you (17 years ago)
- Backgrounds
- No restrictions on Backgrounds; Comments below:
- Acolyte – see Cleric note from earlier
- Noble – choose which royal family affiliation
- Backbone: Pre-war Ruling family (King Scardore VI, deceased)
- Backbone: Non-ruling noble families
- Lowland: Coalition of powerful families (Senators)
- Many other options available (including non-human)
- Outlander – see me for details
- Sage – member of the Guild of Arcane Lore (aka “Wizards' Guild”)
- Soldier – from Backbone or Lowland?
- Both sides loved and hated by different segments of society
- Miscellaneous
- Languages: Each character who speaks “Common” also speaks his or her “native” tongue. For Humans, this is a regional language such as “Backbone” or “Lowland”. For non-humans, this may be either one of the Human languages or a dialect of their racial tongue (which may or may not be understandable by others of their race).
- Long-rang teleportation is not possible (see portals)
- Note: This does not prohibit extra-planar travel
- (more caveats as I think them up)
The Maps
The campaign will take place in what was originally called the Kingdom of Backbone. Now, it consists of a series of independent city-states with semi-lawless areas in between. Road travel between the City of Edric and Hookridge is quite safe and well-patrolled, but continuing to Marsvan runs the risk of being attacked by orcs, bandits, or worse. The campaign starting point (and perhaps base of operations) will be in Hookridge.
The main map: (click to see more detail)
More maps: (click on each to see more detail)
Travel distance
Roads allow convenient travel at the typical rate of 24 miles per day (PHB, p.182). Here is a table for the various locations around Hookridge. (“Fork” refers to the fork in the road just upriver from Hookridge).
| (miles) | Edric | Hookridge | Fork | Anpu | Marsvan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edric | – | 21 | 45 | 62 | 99 |
| Hookridge | 21 | – | 15 | 32 | 69 |
| Fork | 45 | 15 | – | 17 | 54 |
| Anpu | 62 | 32 | 17 | – | 71 |
| Marsvan | 99 | 69 | 54 | 71 | – |
In addition, it is 11 miles from Hookridge to the Portal; and 18 miles from the Portal to Edric.
Recent History
Note: This is an abbreviated version of the Recent History page.
Lines in Bold indicate events that had an immediate and noticeable impact on the entire region (or, in some cases, the world).
| Years Ago | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | 1090 | Orcs under the leadership of Sardul attack the kingdom of Backbone and deliver a serious blow to that nation's power. |
| The Good Party campaign begins | ||
| 34 | 1091 | Sardul's orcs march on Backbone, but fail. The kingdom, however, is terribly weakened. |
| Controlled by Pelham, the generals in Lowland stage a military coup and send their navy to attack Backbone, but fail. | ||
| 33 | 1092 | After losing the war with Backbone, Lowland is torn by civil unrest. The remaining orcs from Sardul's armies strike, taking over what is left of the republic. |
| 32 | 1093 | The orcs east of Larinday invade, but are unsuccesful. |
| Pelham draws forth the storm cloud and plants it over the city of Lowland. | ||
| An epic intervention by Hades (among other things) leads to the destruction of The Chosen | ||
| 31 | 1094 | The orcs push the druids out of their grove west of Lowland. They migrate north to the island of Marshard. |
| 30 | 1095 | Pelham begins building the Storm Towers |
| The Dark Mage is reborn | ||
| 29 | 1096 | The Demonwraiths are revived. |
| 28 | 1097 | Queen Carina II of Rota is killed by The Dark Mage. |
| 27 | 1098 | Pelham expands the storm cloud to engulf Backbone |
| Elsa is killed by the Dark Mage. | ||
| The dwarves of Blanan are sealed in their mines. | ||
| The orcs, strengthened by the storm cloud, attack Backbone. | ||
| Nov 1098 | Backbone finally succumbs to the orc armies. King Scardore and his champion, Lamar, are both killed. | |
| 26 | 1099 | The orcs conquer Pleven, but the elves somehow vanish from the world. |
| 25 | 1100 | Uith kills the king in Spindrift and appoints himself the new monarch. Years of rebellion begins. |
| 23 | 1102 | The natives in the Southlands overthrow the imperialist government. |
| 21 | May 1104 | Rathwyn succeeds in freeing Sorgul, leading to the revival of The Chosen. |
| 21 | June 1104 | A massive psychic attack of unknown origin kills every living creature in the kingdom of Resh. |
| Aug 1104 | The Chosen encounter the Dark Mage for the first time. | |
| Dec 1104 | Uith (secretly a half-orc) allows the orcs to take over Lendore. | |
| A fleet of warships manned by undead attacks the Southlands. | ||
| The Dark Mage makes a telepathic broadcast to the entire population of Rota. | ||
| 20 | 1 Jan 1105 | The Dark Mage's fleet sets sail North, along the coast of the main continent. |
| 20 | 4 Jan 1105 | The storm cloud suddenly expands to engulf Rota and most of the rest of the world. |
| 20 | 5 Jan 1105 | The Chosen find the weakness in the storm cloud and it collapses worldwide. |
| The Chosen locate the Good Trio of Might. | ||
| The Dark Mage's fleet takes a sudden turn west along the northern coast of the main continent. | ||
| The Dark Mage and his armies are defeated by The Chosen and the armies of Rota. | ||
| Lord Norwood casts out the corrupt leadership in the Spindrift Isles and declares himself King. | ||
| 20 | Mar 1105 | Rathwyn, funded by the King of Rota, leads the first of several assaults to retake the orc-held city of Backbone. |
| May 1105 | Norwood, unable to hold the Islands together politically, reluctantly agrees to a de-centralization of power. The independent states of Midore and Aldore are created. | |
| Jun 1105 | Rathwyn declares herself Queen and renames the newly-liberated city of “Backbone” to “Edric”. | |
| Aug 1105 | Rathwyn institutes a bounty of one silver piece for each orc killed in the kingdom. | |
| 19 | Spring 1106 | The dwarves in Blanan are released from their 8-year magical hibernation. |
| Katrina, under the authority of Queen Rathwyn, establishes an outpost on the King's Island. | ||
| 18 | 1107 | The King's Island adventurers are active. |
| 17 | 30 Jan 1108 | The Magic Changes! |
| The Voyager campaign begins. | ||
| 16 | Mar 1109 | Kevin Arcana reveals that he has taken control over the portals, but will allow their use for anybody willing to cough up a sizable fee. |
| 14 | 1111 | The V2 campaign begins. |
| 6 | 1119 | The V3 campaign begins. |
| 0 | 1125 | Present Day |
The last digit of the real year matches the last digit of the current campaign year. Thus, 2015 is 1125.