Echoes of the Harp

Echoes of the Harp:  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 or Neutral alignment. This sort of thing does not work well with evil characters.

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. You just have to work with me on a background as to why they would have been spending the winter in Essembra or Battledale, or somewhere nearby. The Dales are rich in lore and I have some custom and personal background information we can use to work in most character types.

* I do NOT use the Psionics Handbook. Most of the character kits as well as Warrior & Priests of the Realms, and other source books are permitted. 

* I prefer NO Monstrous types, but there may be a few exceptions depending upon what the race would be and we could make a viable reason for them to be included. However, this campaign will probably go into a few cities and that needs to be taken into account.

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.

Character backgrounds are somewhat important to the set up of this campaign. I like to use character background for further adventure hooks when possible. I am as much on role-playing as we are adventuring and combat.

The Campaign will begin with the characters being recruited to help a former member of the Harp & Sword team try to track down a leak in the organization and why their operations are being compromised. Since the contact is on a short window of opportunity, he has to take what he can get for help, so it does open up more ideas for Player Character selection.

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. Players can earn more XP through good role-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 4-6 players to start. 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.

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!

To see how my play style on Myth Weavers is working out, feel free to check in on my current game By Harp & By Sword, where this campaign idea stems off from.