THRANCONIA CAMPAIGN 2 GOES LIVE

THRANCONIA SECOND CAMPAIGN:   OFFICIAL OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT AND PITCH

 

The original Thranconia campaign was run in the first half of 2019 in 11 sessions.   It was memorable, if plagued with an excessively high body-count.    I’ve done a revision of some of the rules to reduce, hopefully, the body-count and am beginning a 2^nd campaign right about now.

This will be a virtual campaign, meeting frequently but on an irregular basis, as individual players feel the urge and have the time.    Because of the virtual nature, I’m especially encouraging former players who are at a physical distance to rejoin us for this campaign. 

 

The Campaign Structure

·       True Sandbox:  we’ve tried Sandboxes before, but it always seems to default to, we show up to the table, whoever DM’s has something specific prepared, and we go with that.  There’s nothing wrong with that method, but used to do sandboxes decades ago and they have their own virtues, fun and charm and would like to see one happen again.

·       No fixed Game Day:   this will not be our regular every-other-Sunday game, but rather a side game.  When someone wants to do something, contact me, or eventually other willing Judges, and do it when it can be fit in.   I see a lot of Saturday evenings, and maybe alternate Sunday evenings being common, but nothing happens unless some reaches out to a Judge or pal.

·       Players Pick adventure:  on the wiki I have a series of Pathways to Adventure which players can pursue.  The status of each at any moment will be described as best as possible, it’s up to the players to pick one OR COME UP WITH SOMETHING THEY JUST WANT TO DO.

·       Multiple Parties: even before the games, beyond one solo one I’ve done, have begun, there are three parties at the ready, and I have at least 1 character in each.  Some parties might be solo parties, some might have characters only from 1-2 players.  Some might start at first level, some at higher level.  I envision various parties acting virtually simultaneously in different places doing different things.

·       Many DM-less games: some sessions will be traditional Judge and players games, some will be Judge-less using various random methods of resolving things, some will be solo games where the single player runs all the characters and the monsters.  As the over-Judge of the campaign, I want some sort of limited say over magic item, gold and XP distribution, so we keep everything in a certain moderate range of might and magic, but if you want to solo, go ahead and we can add your results to the logs and calendar.

·       No overarching story:  Thranconia is a place, not a tale.   Each player or group of players create their own story by their choices and actions.   There’s no meta-plot at all driving the action.

Game System:

·       The game will be played using the Blueholme Journeymanne Rules as its base architecture.  This is available at Drive-Thru.   These are essentially a clone of Eric Holmes 1977 Basic D&D extended to level 20, with a bunch of spells taken from Original D&D and AD&1e.  T

·       I have added a series of house rules, especially for weapons, combat maneuvers and general combat procedures, because the Fighters in Journeymanne are under served.   Likewise I changed how Thief Skills work (ripping off a Gangbusters B/X idea), because otherwise, thieves just toad the wet sprocket.  Look at this page on the wiki:  House Rules 2nd campaign

 

How to Join In:

·       Most games will be done virtually (unless after Eldritch Earth suffers a TPK and Thranconia becomes the Sunday game in a post-vaccine world) using Discord for talking  and Owlbear Rodeo for battle maps.  Contact me for details.

·       Parties will appear on the Our Heroes page of the wiki and email announcements sent out when players are needed.  If you want to make a character for any party let me know and we’ll get it done.

THE BEGINNING:

The following parties have already been formed or are forming:

Up to Gnome Good:  if you are a Neutrally-Aligned Gnome Thief, Fighter/Thief, or Magic-User/Thief, join the expert treasure hunters on expeditions from the Town of Crossroads Tavern out into the ruins of the wilderness about.

Gordon’s Alive:   Squire Gordon of Boarswood is taking up adventuring with some of his friends and relations in order to rectify his crushing debt problem.

The Cat’s Back:  Mrow, a hero of the first campaign, is back in action after a 1-1/2 year research sabbatical.   Who will join this feline sorcerer?