The Halls of Knowledge and the Azure Havens

 So I have been giving more thought to my Post-Apocalyptic Alfheim campaign and my megadungeon now has a name- The Halls of Knowledge. Or possibly Halls of Divine Knowledge. Also, I have decided that I will be saving the creation of this adventure for later and for now will be focusing on a simpler scenario to start the game. Here is some of the background I have been developing

The campaign will start off in the Azure Havens, a series of elven nations along the eastern coast of the continent. Specifically, one of their cities has been greatly expanded to accommodate traffic from the continent to the east, one more similar to medieval Europe. This is where many of the elves emigrated long, long ago due to a second, less destructive schism with those who wanted to follow the leader of the Great War as their Overking and those that did not. Essentially those that followed the Overking were high elves and those that did not are wood elves, though I am uncertain as to whether I will have a mechanical difference between the two.

 This city is a mix between the old elven city and newer, largely human architecture. There are large sections devoted to the armies coming from the lands of men. Much of this is devoted to kinds of entertainment that the elves would eschew... Not far from this city is a citadel that has been destroyed by the goblinoid horde and has yet to be reclaimed... partly because the ruins have been occupied by fell creatures, including some remaining goblinoids. To clear out this citadel will be an early goal of the campaign. I am considering even having a portal to the Halls of Knowledge in the ruins of the citadel.

 I have given some thought to the other races. The dwarves are also generally split into hill and mountain dwarves...  with "hill dwarves" being those on the outskirts of the dwarven hegemonies (there are seven, one for each of the dwarven forefathers, though some are more centralized/intact than others) and the "mountain dwarves" are those in the metropolitan heartland, including the subterranean homelands, each centralized aground a great "manor," that may or may not be still inhabited by its original denizens. Except on the elven continent are the duergar, who dug too greedily and too deep and disturbed eldritch beings which altered them. Part of the drow have been corrupted by these same eldritch creatures after being driven into the depths of the world by their goblinoid former servants (though some remain under the drow's aegis).

Post-Apocalyptic Alfheim

 Well while I do want to continue that campaign, my Fate of the Realms campaign is facing difficulties. Therefore I have given some thought into future campaigns I would like to run. In particular, one I call "Post-Apocalyptic Alfheim" seems most promising. Basically its a setting that is many, many years after the war between the elves and drow, except in this world it took on apocalyptic levels due to the presence of advanced technology. 

The advanced technology the elves had came directly from their gods, which is kind of meant to have taught them and other gods not to do that sort of thing. Possibly even having led them to curtail the advancements of other settings. Now the goblins and orcs have used leftover advanced technology to conquer much of the elven continent, leading to the elves importing adventurers and mercenaries from other lands to defeat the goblinoid hordes.

 I am giving some thought to a megadungeon to go with the setting, but am considering delaying that due to the sheer scale of building a megadungeon along with the complications added by the atypical setting. One idea I had was an elven arcology. Another was a large science facility like Half-Life's Black Mesa or Fallout's Big MT. One complication with this is a difficulty in deciding where to begin with this project. So I am considering starting off with some smaller adventures. I still could use some help with deciding what that smaller adventure should be like.

Fate of the Realms: Session Four

Well, we've had some... chaos. Some players have left, others have joined. So last session we had the group start off back at the beginning of the dungeon. They decided to explore the north, where the goblins of the Sluggard tribe inhabit. They explored the regions around their lair. They discovered a group of goblins that, unbeknownst to them where spying on the Sluggards. They still managed to pass them by peaceably. Then they encountered some ghouls, that they quickly dispatched, though the Dagger of Savras, our mage-hunting ranger was exposed to ghoul fever.

After that they discovered a long corridor filled with statues of warriors. In this corridor they encountered orcs that they decided to allow to pass uncontested. They found a large room with a bejeweled statue of bones. They decided to leave it alone. They then discovered more barricades of the Greyhawk Construction Company, so decided to go south.  However, they soon found a room that had a trapped door. They did trigger the trap, avoiding being hit with a clever maneuver, but then managed to disable it. In the room they found a chest of gold and silver. Then they did a little more exploring of some confusing corridors, but heard some fighting to the south. At about that point we decided to wrap up for the night.

 I find the players to be very cautious. At first they didn't want to open doors at all. They are also very task oriented. They want to find that runestone and are less interest in incidental treasure. 

Fate of the Realms: Sessions One and Two

 So, we started the campaign and the first session was a bit chaotic. I must admit that "roleplay" isn't my forte, but I was perhaps anxious that day. So I decided to play that up with the NPC patron- a wizard named Qia Lien, secretly a chronomancer from the time of 5e. I didn't describe her as being from Kara Tur, but perhaps I should with that name. I had to cut the session short, but before that we got the initial meeting and objective of the adventure down. The PCs have to seek out a Runestone that Halaster was using to try to forestall an upcoming disaster. One character was able to get a bit of an indication of the secrets surrounding the wizard.

 So in the second session they descended into Undermountain.  They almost immediately encountered a lesser caryatid column (actually a modified animated object) in a antimagic field in a hall full of pillars. This... was a slog. It was a slog the first time even without the antimagic field (I forgot about that in the first attempt at this campaign). I'm not running it a third time, but if I did, then it would not include this encounter. The encounter as written in the module (Expedition to Undermountain), would have probably been even worse, with an actual caryatid column. Honestly, if you ever want to run Undermountain in 3e other modules featuring the megadungeon may be better.

  After the exploration of some corridors north of the hall of pillars. They found a barricade with "Greyhawk Construction Company" on it. Bypassing it they encountered a recently constructed brick wall. Confounded by this they withdrew.

Soon afterwards they encountered some goblins. Seeing them to not be immediately hostile they parlayed. The goblins explained that this was their territory and that the PCs could obtain a token in exchange for gold. The PCs reacted by claiming that by destroying the lesser caryatid column. The goblins agreed and they got the token. They then returned to the hall of pillars to rest. 

Fate of the Realms A Forgotten Realms campaign

Fate of the Realms is my newest D&D campaign, using 3.5 with the Trailblazer rules. Trailblazer is something of an overhaul of the 3.5 system, but more compatible with it than Pathfinder. The basic premise of the campaign is that a Chronomancer travels back in time from about one century in the future and seeks to prevent the Spellplague from ever happening. She recruits our heroes for the task, actually knowing them from the future. Unfortunately, she doesn't actually know exactly what started the Spellplague, though she knows it was triggered by Mystra's death at the hands of Cyric.

Therefore she has our heroes enter Undermountain shortly after the death of Halaster Blackcloak,who also sought to avert the coming disaster though he did not know the exact nature of the threat. Their goal is a Runestone that may allow the Chronomancer to forestall or even outright prevent the Spellplague. Unfortunately, I experienced a mass defection of players so I've had to restart, with the first game of the restarted campaign being this Saturday.

Campaign concepts I'd love to play

Here are some campaign concepts I would like to play, but have not gotten a chance to. More may come later and I may elaborate on one if there is interest.

Alfheim Wasteland: The elves once had a highly advanced technological society, before war split their race and resulted in the use of weapons of mass destruction. The elves' civilization was destroyed and most of their lands ravaged. Now ten millennia later the remnants of ancient ruins dot the wastelands, guarded by mechanical and mystical guardians. Techno-barbarian orc tribes rule much of the continent, though the remnants of the ancient elven empire hold fiercely on to the territory they retain. They have reached out to the great elven diaspora and their allies for help, promising them territory in exchange for their military services.

American Fairyland: It's Earth, but not as we know it. Two planes have collided, resulting in a fusion between the two, which resembles the world outside your window, but with magic and mythical creatures. Few remember the world as it was, with an entire history of magic having overridden our own. The culture remains fairly similar, only altered by the presence of magic. Creatures like dwarves, elves and orcs all have a place in this new world.

Guardian's Realm: A more "gonzo" setting, with inspiration taken from anime, Final Fantasy, Pokemon, etc. A deity has created their own demiplane and filled it with bits and pieces from other worlds. This deity resides at the top of a great tower, surrounding which is the principal city of the planet.


Star Wars: Destiny of the Republic: The players follow Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn on "damn-fool idealistic crusades," as the Galaxy falls into the chaos of the Clone Wars in an alternate universe. The Mandalorian Clan Wars rage, but a possibility of peace exists in the young Satine of Clan Kryze.Out of the Arkanian Civil War a galactic threat emerges, the lifeform known as Atha Prime, as well as Clone Masters who desire to gain profit from their now unused skills.

Galactic Empire Table of Organization: Lines of Battle

I am working on a revised table of organization for the Imperial Navy. Particularly, in order to provide for the larger vessels of the Empire. This post will cover Lines of Battle.

Lines of Battle

Attack Line: An attack line will contain from three to six vessels, with lines of larger vessels, heavy cruisers and Star Destroyers, being smaller and lines of smaller vessels, frigates and cruisers being larger. Their role is to engage opponents of equal size and protect larger vessels.
Battle Lines: On rare occasions multiple battleships will make up a single line, found only in the highest-priority sectors. These battle lines will include three to four battleships, i.e. battlecruiser or larger vessels.
Bombard Lines: Bombard lines can include several assault ships equipped for planetary bombardment, or one or more battlestations or dedicated siege platforms. These lines are devoted to such tasks as orbital bombardment or disabling planetary shields.
Element: In some cases a single vessel is directly assigned to a Squadron as a line unto itself. This is most commonly an Imperator-class Star Destroyer, but also includes several of the Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts.
Heavy Attack Line: A heavy attack line contains four to eight vessels, each no smaller than a light cruiser. They can perform the same roles as attack lines, but are also considered capable of operating separate of the main fleet.
Pursuit Line: A pursuit line contains between four and ten starships, usually light cruisers, but sometimes smaller vessels, like corvettes. Their role is to maintain contact with fleeing vessels and attempt to calculate their jump coordinates. Carrack-class light cruisers or Velox-class Star Frigates tend to be assigned to these lines.
Recon Line: A recon line contains two to four vessels, usually recon variants on existing light cruiser hulls, or dedicated reconnaissance vessels. These lines do not participate in combat, but instead attempt to discover the enemy's position and then report back.
Specialist Line: Including such roles as carrier support and troop transport, these lines consist of one or more specialist vessels as well as two to four escorts of a type depending on the vessels they are supposed to escort.
Skirmish Line: Consisting of at least four vessels, but frequently at least three times that many. These are usually corvettes, but can also be smaller carriers such as the Quasar Fire-class or Ton-Falk-class as well as small gunships like the Skipray Blastboat.