SETTING THE GAME TABLE - Wizards and Their Ways

 

A Wizard's Work Bench

In the environs of Firefly Holler, those who pursue the wizardly arts do not compile spellbooks, as legend says the great mages of old were wont to do.  instead, a wizard infuses each of his spells into a singular fetish.  Such trinkets can take nearly any form, although all are peculiar in some way.

Three iron nails wrapped in a copper wire  A handful of beads strung on a leather cord.  An eagle's feather tucked into the brim of a cap.  Only the imagination of the wizard themself is the limit.

In game terms, each spell known to a wizard must be "written" into a singular fetish item.  If the fetish is lost or destroyed, use the rules on page 114 of the PHB for how o handle.  The same for "copying" spells into your own system of magical trinkets.

As an additional aside, included below are house rules for The Occult skill and how translocational magics are adjudicated:

DARK TIDES HOUSE RULES 

THE OCCULT (Int Skill Check)

You are educated in the field of occult study and can use your Intelligence to answer both simple and complex questions related to such topics as possession and haunting, psychic mysteries and traditions, ley lines, occult rituals and symbols, and aberrations.

CONJURATION

Teleportation and Other Translocation Spells: A teleportation spell transports one or more creatures or objects a great distance. The most powerful of these spells can cross planar boundaries. Unlike summoning spells, the transportation is (unless otherwise noted) one-way and not dispellable. Teleportation is instantaneous travel through the Astral Plane. Anything that blocks astral travel also blocks teleportation.

In Primordia the path through the Astral Plane passes dangerously close to Outer Realms whose names mortals dare not speak.  As a result, powerful Teleportation magic (spells of 5th level or higher, or spell-like abilities of comparable effect) requires lengthy rituals that both focus the caster's concentration and draw up powerful psychic defenses.  Such rituals can take an hour or more to perform, require significant resources, and are still not guaranteed of success.

Traveling so close to alien planes far removed from your home plane creates a risk that you will incur a decrease in Intelligence and Charisma due to your brain being overwhelmed.  You must succeed on an Intelligence check against DC16 to avoid a decrease in Intelligence and Charisma. If the check fails, your Intelligence and Charisma scores each fall to 8 for 5 weeks, and you become unable to cast arcane spells. No magic short of a wish is known to overcome such a blight.  You cannot take 10 on this check. If you lose Intelligence and Charisma, the effect strikes as soon as the spell is completed.

The success of casting Teleportation in Primordia cannot exceed the threshold of "seen casually," i.e. the chance of success can never be greater than: On target 01-88%, Off target 89-94%, Similar area 95-98%, Mishap 99-100%.

SETTING THE GAME TABLE - The Old Ways

 

The Path of the Green

In Firefly Holler, faith in the Old Ways runs as deep as the roots of the mountains.  In the broadest sense the Old Ways recognize the eternal struggle between the Green and the Black, between light and life and hope, and the the yawning, despairing, devouring darkness.  One cannot exist without the other, and yet the folk of Firefly Holler also know that the Old Ways are the ways of the righteous, and not the ways of the wicked.

Lessons of the Old Ways are often transmitted through the songs of the deeds of the mighty Cu Chulainn, and he is the great exemplar of the people's faith.  The Old Ways say that Cu Chulainn strode the earth an age ago or more, in a land far away.  A land where the ancestors of the folk of Firefly Holler had once travelled from, in a time lost to memory.

Cu Chulainn was the implacable foe of the Black and the Chosen of the Green.  Wherever evil manifested in his domain, he met it with action and courage.  Cu Chulainn advocated the cause of men before the courts of the fey and was counted as friend in the deep halls of the dwarves.  His name is known to and respected by all good folk.  Many great deeds of heroism did he accomplish, and it is said that though he be mortal, yet still his line endures.

Even today, the folk of the Holler sing his songs and tell his tales, knowing that the blood of the Hound of the Splinters runs through their veins, as well, and when the Black rises, the Old Ways promise that the Green will answer.

*          *          *          *          *

In game terms, the faith of the Old Ways is expressed through the seven Divine Domains found beginning on page 58 of the PHB, which are:

Guardian

Knowledge

Life

Light

Nature

Tempest

Trickery

These are the tools that the faithful array against the Black in all its forms.  As noted elsewhere, the domain of War is recognized instead as the Guardian domain in this world.  The Black and its adherents wield their own powers, through traditions and practices too foul for good folk to contemplate.

Players are free to explore the contours and intricacies of the Old Ways in any way they see fit that keeps to the spirit of the campaign, whether it be through the lore of Cu Chulainn and his deeds, the various divine domains, or any other aspect of the Green that wards the good folk of the Splinters against the darkness.

SETTING THE GAME TABLE -- Introduction / The Crunch

 A Typical Guardian Fetish

    Tales of Primordia - Gathering Mysts (ToPGM) uses the 5th edition (5e) rules set of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).  Players may build their characters utilizing any official Wizards of the Coast (WotC) 5e D&D source book.  There are also certain house rules in effect for characters and character building, which are very close to those used in the prior Tales of Primordia -- Dark Tides (ToPDT) campaign, which are adapted from Pathfinder (PF) first edition (1e) to D&D 5e.  Those house rules are as follows:

        *    Characters select their ability scores using the Variant: Custom Ability Scores rule found on page 13 of the Players Handbook (PHB).

        *    Characters begin with maximum hit points for their hit die at first level as indicated on page 12 of the PHB (which affirms our usual house rule used in ToPDT).  Beyond first level, characters gain hit points at the fixed value shown in each class entry, which is the average die roll rounded up, as described on page 15 of the PHB (which also reflects prior house rules in ToPDT).

        *    Players start with maximum gold for their class as indicated on page 143 of the PHB.

        *    Evil characters are not allowed in ToPGM, just as in ToPDT.

        *    In Primordia, there are no "gods," at least not in the sense defined in various mythologies.  The people of Firefly Holler and its environs generally adhere to the Old Ways, a vaguely defined and intuitively understood worldview inspired by Appalachian folklore and Scotts-Irish legends inherited from the old world.  Divine Domains (see PHB pages 58-63) will be associated within the Old Ways in a manner explained in following Campaign Notes posts and will roughly approximate the pattern utilized in ToPDT (but here, instead of the Ten Pointed Star-- with the ten divine domains in PF-- the Old Ways have seven domains in 5e D&D).

    *    In Primordia, "magic" is a general term referring to the supernatural and supernatural powers.  Whether a character learns to wield these supernatural powers through faith (cleric or paladin), study (wizard), meditation (monk), nature (druid), pact (warlock), intuitively (sorceror or bard), or otherwise, the Old Ways acknowledge the magic all comes from the same place.

    *    As always, players should feel free to build their character any way they like, understanding that ToPGM has a certain flavor and context as described in prior, and in future, campaign posts.  Character concepts should not stray outside the core campaign concepts.  If anyone has any questions about their character concept and ToPGM, we can discuss it either at the Campaign Open Forum, or at any time before the campaign kicks off!

SETTING THE GAME TABLE -- Introduction / The Fluff

The Trail to Firefly Holler

The Hills Are All Hainted 

The Forests Go Hawing

The Mountains Grow Hungry

The Gathering Mysts Hum

    Welcome to the next installment of Tales of Primordia!

    This campaign takes place in our sandbox world of Primordia, which we have explored in the past, but we begin in a precise location and specific time that are not yet revealed.  We only know the lay of the land where we first arrive!

    We commence our story in an isolated little village called Firefly Hollow (our, more commonly Firefly Holler).  The village lies in a remote valley in the Splinters, an isolated segment of a very, very old mountain range.  And how do the folk of Firefly Holler know these mountains are so very old?  

    They know because the Old Ways tell them so.  Because it is whispered to them by the wind in the trees and painted for them in the the depths of the night sky.

    Tales of Primordia - Gathering Mysts is a tale of folk beliefs and spooky forests, of haints and hags and things that go bump in the night. It is a tale of remote settlements far from any civilized world, where honest folk do not wander too far into the hills, nor whistle into the woods, nor fail to heed the  wisdom of the Old Ways.

    There are many familiar, yet strange, elements in the lands around Firefly Holler.  The elves, or Sheehee as the locals call them, are rare, capricious creatures who dance under the moonlight and largely avoid the world of men.  Dwarves are cunning craftsmen who live in their natural, remote caves and grottoes and know many secrets.  The Splinters and the nearby Shambles are hainted by many spirits of the land who can bless or curse travelers at a whim, trolls, witches and even guardian spirits who protect the innocent and unwary.

    This campaign is inspired by a number of sources, some more loosely than others.  These sources include:

            *    Hillbilly.  A series of comics by Eric Powell set in an imaginary Appalachian / medieval world

            *    Old Gods of Appalachia.  A horror-anthology podcast by Steve Shell and Cam Collins

            *    Red Shadows and other tales of Solomon Kane, written by R.E. Howard and found primarily in the depression era anthology magazine Weird Tales

            *    Tales of Cu Chulainn: Irish Heroic Myths, a collection of Celtic legends collected by Penguin Books. (most common pronunciation:  koo-KULL-en)

            *    Everything That Rises Must Converge, and other works and short stories by Flannery O'Connor, along with themes and tropes found in the works of other southern gothic writers that utilize strange events, eccentric characters and local color to create a sometimes moody and unsettling depictions of life.  Things can appear normal on the surface, but reveal themselves to be strange, disturbing and sometimes horrific.