Blackgrass Raiders
This is a Low Fantasydark campaign set in the realm known as Durkin (Map #5).
The starting location will be the southern Dark Hills near where the Wildwood meets the Ozgarn Mountains.
Character Creation
From Fantasy book:
In low fantasy, and in fantasy based on folklore and fairy tales, point values below 100 often work well. An ordinary man thrown into adventure can be a 50-point character. In higher fantasy, characters built on 100-200 points work better; the added points can represent the Rank, Status, and Wealth of aristocrats, or the skills of veteran adventurers such as the heroes of sword and sorcery. In a dark fantasy setting, PCs may need the added points just for survival!
Characters in this session will likely all be Orcs of the Dark Hills, likely from the Blackgrass tribe, although other tribal tie-ins can be entertained. If you wish to be something other than an Orc in this session, you will have to have a good back-story and a -15 pt Unusual Background.
Blackgrass orcs are nomadic and range throughout the Dark Hills, often raiding caravans striking north from Raal or skirmishing with the elves of the Wildwood. That said, characters should have diverse but believable skill sets. Likely characters will be beast-riders, archers, scouts, shield-baring warriors, shaman in training (animal or elemental magics) or mutate brutes. It is likely members of this tribe have a mild addiction to black grass, which has mild hallucinogenic and numbing effects.
Characters will have 120 points to start with and up to -40 points in disadvantages beyond those in the racial template, but these must be a tangible part of your back story and your character during role-play.
If you chose to play a magically mutated brute, you will only be allowed up to -25 points in disadvantages beyond that template as it has many built-in.
You are likely a novice raider or perhaps elder tribesman who've never risen to heroics previous, or perhaps a veteran whose career is in decline. At 120 points you are not likely complete rookies. It's possible you are not an experienced adventurer, but then it would be unlikely that you have a 15 riding skill and a 18 broadsword skill. You must have some value to a raiding party being sent on a mission.
Characters will be illiterate by default. Being semi-literate (B p24) in the Common tongue will cost 5 pts, literate 10 pts.
Equipment
- Characters will start with the TL3 starting wealth of $300.00 which in Gurth recently has been three-hundred silver pieces. This can be modified by choosing the Wealth advantage or disadvantage with story backing accordingly. Clothing, weapons, armor and gear should be purchased at base cost in the Characters book from starting wealth. If you have $300.00, you have nothing and are naked walking the harsh stones of the hills. A gold piece is ten silver pieces.
Specialized adventure gear and magical items from Dungeon Fantasy - Adventurers are fine. Magic items must be purchased with character points, at a cost of 1 point per $1000 cost.
* You may buy power stone(s) by spending 3 character points per power level, with a maximum of 10 power level total in all stones/items. Spending 30 points gets you a single 10 point powerstone, or two 5-point stones, etc.
Noteworthy Orcs from the Dark Hills:
- Khazka Stoneblood (half-orc)
- Gruul (beast-rider scout)
Party
- Zorgrah, a hunchback shaman played by John
- Snogger, son of an allied chief, played by Brant
- Kag the brute, played by Antony
- T'Handi, Melissa's wandering healer
- Mumble, Christian's .... mumbler. And scout.
What Happened
The scene opens on the orc camp, deep in the Dark Hills, Zorgrah is helping to tame some recently worgs.
A venerated elder of the tribe has had a vision, a vision of a soft man and a hard man carrying a great power on the road not far away. A raiding group is assembled and sent to seize the power.
Two days worgback ride through arid canyons and brushy hills, the party arrives at the road, crosses into the dangerous Wildwood, and makes their way through the forest parallel to the road until woodsmoke is detected.
Mumble offers to scout ahead, which he does, getting out of sight and stopping once he hears human voices. He hatches a plan to set some traps and then lead the humans to them, and goes to work.
After a few minutes of silent waiting, Snogger hypothesizes that Mumble must be dead or captured, and so the rest of the party charges ahead. They soon encounter Mumble and his various mantraps, one of which Kag steps into.
worg attack Knight charge horse possessed elf arrow knight crotch impalement
pursuit of survivors Kag destroying everything with his mace Zorgrah sends his crow into the face of a treed archer
finally, victory, and return to chief with a wooden case containing a black sword....