Darkness Encroaching
Homebrew Setting
Standard Point Buy: 22
Starting Level is One
Core Rules and PHB2 Available for use
The game is serious, set in a dusky setting. The game may feature some adult themes. Any race or class from the resources is permitted, but there are some caveats noted in the main campaign description.
Please include at least two additional character specific plot hooks when you write your character biography.
Wheaton's Law is Strongly Enforced.
The Campaign: It has been two years since the fall of the Iron Empire, the ruling government of the continent for the past two thousand years.
Fifteen years ago a secret society known as the Ironsmiths formed to combat what they saw as the growing threat of magic to the stability of the nation. Their goal was to crush out magic from the world, and impose the laws of logic, and science in its stead. They wore black hoods, and black robes, and recognized each other by the Iron Chains they wore around their necks. In secret they began to seek out beings of magic such as the Eladrin, the Goblins, and the Dragons and exterminate them. They began to speak out publicly against the users of magic, the Wizards, Sorcerers, and even the Clerics and Paladins. Even the Elves and the Dwarves found themselves targets of the Ironsmiths, who fought for Humanity's dominance.
Secretly they enforced their will by burning the homes of these "Unnatural Creatures" and destroying the places where such foes congregated. These attacks prompted retaliations, but the identities of the Ironsmiths were unknown, and as the Magical Beings counter attacked more terrified people flocked to the safety that the Ironsmiths offered.
Unfortunately what the Ironsmiths did not realize is that by driving magic out of the cities, they were driving it into the wild, where it grew powerful, and it grew angry. Six years after the Ironsmiths became active, attacks by magical creatures in the wild caused travel between cities to become impossible, even for the Emperor's armies, which themselves were overwhelmed by the terrible monsters in the wild. This caused an economic and military collapse, as the Empire could no longer maintain contact with its cities. Small towns on the edge of the wilds were overrun, and now the former Empire only exists as a land of separate city states, protected by the strength and minds of the Ironsmiths.
You live in one such State, overseen by the Ironsmiths and their secret police, protected by stone walls and iron gates. This day your leaders have asked you to venture out into the wilds, to hunt down an kill a den of monsters.
Some things to remember: The races are now segregated. It would not be safe to be an Elf or a Dwarf wandering openly in a city ruled over by the Ironsmiths.
Magic is apostate. If they find out you are using magic of any sort, you could be burned at the stake.
Most magic items and artifacts have been collected by the Ironsmiths and sealed in vaults hidden in the wilds.
Travel and communication between states is all but impossible for the average citizen, as is trade. Therefore all of the cities are self-sufficient but with a limited variety of resources.
The non-human races have their own enclaves and city states in the wild. If you choose to play a non-human character, you have the option of coming from one of these.
