By Harp & By Sword
By Harp & By Sword: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition game set in the Forgotten Realms setting. Players will start out as fresh recruits with hopes of joining up to form a team linking the Harpers, a semi-secret organization that works for the good of the realms and preserving history along with a network in the Bloodstone lands called Spysong.
Characters must be of GOOD alignment by some sense of the word and have a reason and motive for wanting to join the team and work for the betterment of the realm. A common goal will help set direction for the campaign but will still allow some freedom to choose direction and missions once the team is fully established.
Your character's background and reason to want to join the team will be the main focus for this. I will assist you with further background story and connections to NPC's, as that could become relevant later in the campaign.
Format: We will be using AD&D 2nd edition rules and "most" of the expansion books. Some rules, character kits and races will not be used. Please communicate with me on this, as I am open to ideas and working with players. I want us all to have fun.
Most races and professions will be permitted. (Sorry no Drow or Firbolgs or anything too outstanding; really do not want Psionicists either). The game will start with players being recruited by their sponsors who are already members of either the Harpers or Spysong. They will have been selected for recruitment and go on a mission to take them through an arduous path into the dangerous lands of the Bloodstone Lands of Vassa and Damara. Players new to the Forgotten Realms need not worry, as it is a pretty expansive world with lots of opportunity.
Starting play will be at 1st level with some special upgrades. If a new player joins this game at a later date, that new character will start at 65% of the Experience Points of the lowest level character in the group. There will be some House Rules for character creation and they are very player-friendly. After all, we are looking for heroes aren't we?
Area & Time frame in the Realms: The time frame to start will be Spring of the year DR 1366, some years after the Time of Troubles. Some of the powers and deities have changed, some have died and some new ones took their place. Wild Magic Zones and Dead Magic Zones do exist. I will follow most of the cannon on the Forgotten Realms, but why I chose the Bloodstone Lands for the meat and potatoes of the campaign is that there is a lot of room for DM creation and I have some experience and a wealth of information from a previous campaign I ran there many years ago.
Characters will have a "Sponsor" who has recruited them to join this new team. Characters can be from nearly anywhere in the Forgotten Realms, within reason, so long as they have a good and justifiable reason for being recruited. I am looking for 1-2 (or more) of the characters to be local to the Cold Lands of Vassa or Damara or near by areas. The rest can be recruited from anywhere.
Character backgrounds are somewhat important to the set up of this campaign. I will gladly work with any players on helping develop their background and work out who will be their character's sponsor for the game.
The Campaign will begin with the characters being recruited to potentially join the Harpers and/or Spysong, and eventually the new team, Harp & Sword. The recruits will meet up at a location set in the Dalelands where their sponsors will introduce them to their team leader for now. This leader is more of a guide and will take the new recruits on a journey into the Cold Lands leading into Vassa and Damara. The goal is that the characters will gain some experience, prove their worth, bond with each other, and maybe learn or discover some secrets along the way. Once the characters reach their destination in Damara they may be invited to officially join the Organization and then start being sent on missions or even pursue leads on stories and rumors they may have discovered in their journey.
The goal is to create a reason, your WHY, if you would that is more than just grave robbing and hack & slash. This campaign is intended to be both immersive in role-playing and intrigue as well as danger and adventure. The plan is to have "good" characters chasing a common goal for the good of the realms, giving them a direction and a reason to do what they are doing, yet allow the freedom for choice in decisions and direction that the party takes. We can even fit in personal goals that you may have for a character along the way.
Experience points & Treasure: I will award XP at points along the campaign. Usually after a major event. Characters who are eligible for the 10% bonus for stats will gain that as well. However, i will give out Bonus XP awards based upon Role Playing, participation, ideas, and engagement, up to an additional 10%. This way a character who may not have that Big stat, can still earn more through good playing and posting. I think I am fair with treasure allotments. When it comes to magical and enchanted items, I may not tell you exactly what the item is and you may learn it though game play. A +1 sword that may be vanilla in another game may seem much more to you here. It may have a history and a mystery to hit. You may know that it has a minor enchantment but may not learn that until you have used it a few times and figure it out. Consider it attuning to the item.
Ground Rules: I expect players to be cordial and respectful to each other. Let's keep things rated PG on here. If your Bard wants to be extra-friendly with the barmaid, we can just assume that happens, no need to go into details. I am an experienced DM on the table top, but still new to learning the ways of Myth-Weavers, so keep that in mind as well. The more I learn the better my postings will be.
I am pretty active here on Myth-Weavers and plan to have this game move at a good yet comfortable pace. I expect players to be able to post at least 2 to 3 times a week. If you do not fell like you can keep up with that pace, please do not apply and let someone who can be more consistent play instead. If a player is slowed up for some reason or unable to post, messages will be sent, but then if we need to move forward, the game will keep moving. Of course things such as being away on vacation, work conferences, that all happens. I get it. I'm just not a fan of a game moving too slowly and becoming stagnant. I just want to get that out in the open awhile. If a player has to be be absent for a week or more, I have no problem running their character as an NPC for short stint.
Recruitment: I will be looking for 6-8 players to start. I prefer 8. There seem to always be a chance of a player or two dropping. I plan to keep a couple of players on back-up just in case that would happen. I plan to make this a long-term campaign, so there could be opportunities for further additions along the way. Honestly, if this goes well, there will be a good chance that I may run a second game on here.
The Dungeon Master: (SteelThunderMike) I have a lot of experience as a Dungeon Master on the table top from many years ago. AD&D 2nd edition was my main game system, though I have run a few others with very good success (Rolemaster, Star Wars d6 and a few others), as well as running our local table-top gaming club and hosting events for a large number of table-top miniature games.
I am based out of the Eastern Coast of the USA. Often times I am active online up until Midnight EST. I'm reaching a point in my career and life that I am starting to have a good amount of free time on my hands to manage a game like this. This will be my first Campaign being run on Myth-Weavers, though I have been playing in several games on here now for a number of months. There may be some learning curves for me along the way, but I plan to make this a fun experience for all of us. So Let's have some fun!
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