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Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted November 22. 2012 Some overview information on Elves in the World of Beru. All Elves have a quasi-latin-like approach to their language, but it is not the vulgar Latin of the Arthurian humans calling themselves the "Latiniatus".   Sylvan/Wood Elves, "Sylvantiatus" Tribal. Fights between other wood Elf tribes. Usually one tribe per major forest, but sometimes fights between 2 or more tribes for control of one forest do occur. Just because you are wood elf in one forest, does not mean you are liked by other wood elves of another forest. Other than fights over resources and woodlands, sylvan elves keep to themselves. They protect their borders, but usually allow established multi-cultural roads to pass through unmolested, as long as those passing through are respectful of the woods they pass through. Even if from an opposing tribe,unless an opposing military force, will be left alone as long as those passing through “behave”. This is an unwritten rule of most wood elves. Sylvan elves are very tribal and live off the land. This means they are rarely in very large groups. One tribe can span many villages, but are usually contained within a single forest body.   High Elves, the “Ascentiatus” High Elves have a richly developed society. With incredible architecture, inventions, magics, and well developed cities. There are several Ascentiatus kingdoms throughout the World of Beru. They are largely a feudal system within each kingdom. Some kingdoms may have a treaty with others, but they are not united in general. Though large in numbers and land, they are not warmongering, nor generally expansionist. If they have recurring troubles on one of their borders, they will eventually become “fed up” with the annoyance, gather an overwhelming military force (and magic), and then drive out the trouble makers from that surrounding area, creating a buffer zone, and claiming the lands in victory, to be settled by military outposts. All the borders of the Ascentiatus are well guarded by military units. No civilian settlements are every found outside of the militarized borders. High Elves are welcome to freely come and go through these borders, but non-High-Elves must endure lengthy bureaucratic procedures for admittance within the kingdom. This includes other elves, though there is preference given to other elves, even from rival kingdoms.   Sea Elves, "Aquariatus" The Sea Elves, or “Aquariatus”, are the “gypsies” of the Elven race. They can be found anywhere that large or flowing bodies of water can be found. Oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, if it can be sailed or swum, then it is their homeland. In general, they are solitary or in small family groups. They have no established kingdom (now, long ago they, did, but were destroyed), and are not tribal. If you are Sea Elf, you are welcomed by all Sea Elves. They are a friendly and mischievous lot. They are very self-sufficient and talented in many areas. They make excellent rogues and bards, in addition to seamen of course. Though all Elves despise the Drow, none hate them more than the Sea Elves. It was though the machinations and contributions of the Drow that the Sea Elves' glorious undersea kingdoms were destroyed Aeons ago. The Sea Elves continue their traditions through song and story, and have excellent memories.     Dark/Drow Elves, Despised by all the “good” races, especially other non-Drow Elves, the Drow were not always “evil”. They have a complex history that most do not know. Though most elves now are under pressure to take acts that others consider “evil”, there are the rare few that rebel against the teachings of Lolth and the priestesses. Usually just rare individuals, sometimes they slowly cluster in hidden underground towns, or above ground. Unfortunately, these rarely last more than a few decades before Lolth finds out and orders their complete annihilation of their kind. Some Drow take the chance of going abroad among other races. Unfortunately most of the ”good” races will generally attempt to capture and kill a Drow on sight.

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted November 22. 2012 Humans are one of the most diverse species on the planet, but also one of the most pitiable. Though there are pockets of advanced humans scattered throughout the World of Beru, most are primitive small tribes, many just cave men or other very primitive groups. Generally it has taken the influence of the more ancient races to bring some clusters of the humans up to a more comparable level. This has plagued some parts of the world as the humans test the limits of their new-found technologies and abilities. Some humans have become very expansionist, and have goals that include attempting to conquer the world, drive out non-humans, and other outrageous goals. Human lands tend to have almost as much trouble with war as some of the ruined lands of the Orcs, and other "evil" species. There are a few human bastions of peace however. One group of humans calling themselves in their own "Latin" tongue "Sapiens" for their own classification of "Homo Sapiens" (wise or knowing man), has established a peaceful kingdom after many centuries of war, calling the kingdom "Sapientium" or more completely "Regnum Sapientium" "The Kingdom of the Wise".

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted November 22. 2012 The group of humans in a currently peaceful human-lead kingdom, call themselves "Sapiens", show for "Homo Sapiens" meaning in their tongue they call "Latin", "wise or knowing man". Their call their kingdom "Regnum Sapientium", "The Kingdom of the Wise", since they have now  known decades of peace, and live peacefully, though warilly, with their neighboring non-humans. Most generally shorten the name to just "Sapientium". They are surrounded on all sides of the kingdom with non-human lands. This is pretty much a directly Arthurian setting in this area. All Elves have a quasi-latin-like approach to language. The Arthurian Human kingdom was greatly influenced by the High Elves, and thus also takes that on, but as actual Latin. The humans in this area were originally tribal (Celtic/Gaelic). All the humans in this area, initially learned the lower “vulgar” tongue of the High Elves during this occupation of hundreds of years. Most of the humans respected but feared this much more advanced people. Until the High Elves came along and “civilized them”. Later the Elves lost interest, and pull back some of the borders, leaving the humans to fend for themselves. It has been hundreds of years since the Elves left the humans to their own rule in this area. There was war and chaos for centuries, until Uther Pendragon began to unite the kingdoms. Over time, the language of the humans in this area drifted to their own variant of the Elven tongue, that the humans now call “Latin”. The humans that do not hold on to their old Celtic/Gaelic roots, call themselves the “Latiniatus” after the structure of the Elven tongue. After the fall of Uther Pendragon, war spread anew, until the rise of Arthur Pendragon. Arthur has brought peace and prosperity to the human lands of the Latiniatus (as the Elves call them) for many years. But trouble is brewing, that will directly affect all the surrounding lands and people, human, elf, and otherwise. Those of Arthur's lands call themselves the Sapiens, from Homo Sapiens “wise or knowing man”. Their land others simply call "Sapientium". This only applies to the humans from this “Arthurian Age” part of the world of Beru.

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted November 22. 2012   Most of the humans from the World of Beru are pretty much considered "barbarians". There are a few pockets of "civilized" humans here and there,but they are by far the minority. There are many different styles of human barbarians. The barbarians still living in the civilized human lands of Sapientium, are pretty much Celtic/Gaelic types, with some Norse-like in the far North lands of that kingdom. There are jungle-style barbarians, Polynesian-style, African-tribal-style, Mongolian style, Native American style, and just about any other culture that "more civilized" type cultures would call "barbarian", though that is too over broad an example. The Sapientium barbarians have resisted learning the Latin tongue, and fought the centuries of Elven occupation. They hide in caves and small woods (they can't hide in larger woods because the wood elves generally control those). They have a tentative peace with King Arthur's reign, he won't sent troops to hunt them down, if they won't raid the villagers.

Posted by Hawke at March 15. 2013 I will post scheduling discussions here. We are tentatively scheduled for session #7 for World of Beru campaign, Sunday, March 24th, 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm. Lots of updates from previous adventures, to be posted soon, or view the unedited video on the youtube channel.

t May 24. 2013 Some sketches from the previous session....  

wke at February 17. 2013 Session #5 adventure notes:   They have just arrived at “The Lady's” home after being confronted by her guardian, Sir Karn of the Golden Helm.   They walk into the house to meet The Lady for the first time. Dimly lit with candles.   She is very comely, with long raven black hair, and pale skin, but with a tint that indicates she would normally tan very well. She is of Middle-eastern descent. She keeps the bangs of her waist length hair covering the left side of her face. She is taller than average.   Her clothing is of quality workmanship, but very plain and unadorned. Speaks very softly,though not timidly.   She explains that the Mordredian forces destroyed her homeland and capital city a number of years ago. She explains to them that her father's seer told her she was going to play a role in The Great Tale. And the players were not to play their part. Far north at the borders of the Great Ice, is The Oracle in self exile. She reads the letter in the scroll. The letter mentions the far Eastern island nation, ruled by Toranago-sama, is so far the only country to repel the forces of Mordred to date. The scroll case has a puzzle that reveals a map that leads to the Oracle's hidden abode to the north. She is not the most important part, but an important small link in the chain. If the chain is broken, then all the world will fall under the rule of Modred's forces, and forever be enslaved. She is some small link in the chain that will find those that can stop the forces. The Oracle will finally tell her, the part she is now to play.   She uses her signant ring to unlock the spring loaded puzzle. Sir Karn does not believe she needs strangers to help, but she believes they are critical to her survival, as does the Lord that sent her the scroll.   They rest, and the following morning, the villages at the base of the hill, bring   The lady insinuated she can heal, and can take care of herself in combat and wilderness situations.   Will take several weeks to reach the border of the ice.   Initially the land is farm and rolling hills ,until the northern end of Sapientium. Gentle wavy fields, much of it farmland.   Has helped the crops and trade flourish. She speaks Sylvan. She is 6' tall. She is of royal line. Her entire family, as far as she knows, has been slaughtered by Mordred. She is the last of her line.   Sir Karn is 6'4" tall, muscular, white haired (close cropped) and clean shaven. He is 67 years old. Very well disciplined. He is not of the same ethnicity as Lady Drunara.   Unknown which side the Drow are allied with. As far as they know, the Mordredian forces have not attacked or allied with the Drow, but they don't really know. The lady has not seen a Drow I a long time. He ran into one in the wastes near the base of the Dragonspine mountains. Before Sir Karn finished him off, they did get information that they the Drow are slowly building their forces deep underground.   They noticed Sir Karn was tense when discussing Drow. Joe's character, illicited great prejudice against humans. Denies the existence of Drow as a Human lie, and claims all Elves that trade with Humans, are traitors.   This might be a problem. The Southern Elves have been open to trade. The Western Elves open to political negotiations, but not trade. The Northern Elves, she knows little of. They do not trade or deal politically. She had healed a wounded Northern Elf. But she does not know if they will welcome them with open arms, or if they should traverse the boundary.   Joe's character wants to cut through the Northern Elves Woods directly, he will deal with negotiations with the Elves if necessary.   Drake's character (NPC'd by hawke) “what's in it for us”, “I'm broke”.   “Lord Torschalan promised there would be something at the end”   She admits that Lord Torschalan has given her a small map of emergency cache of scrolls, weapons, treasure, and other wealth.   Only guarded by Wards, and The Lady knows the words to disable the Wards. The treasure is only a half day journey from The Oracle.   Desslock, “If you're not prepared to kill your way through this, then you should go home” to Andrew Gaunt.   After hitting the road, very well equipped by The Lady and the villagers. The villagers will look after the house. Specifically the farmer that Deslock and Andrew harrassed earlier.   Sir Karn and The Boy travel with Lady Drunara.   They saw one rider following them a few days into their journey. The rider galloped away when Desslock saw the rider.     It became colder each day, and actually snowed by the end of the first week?   Map of the encounter area.   They fought successfully against the 3 Mordredian horsemen. 1 swordsman (low rank), and 2 bowmen (low rank, but higher than the swordsman). A fourth turned back south before heading towards the ambush.   The party was gorily victorious. They killed the bowmen, and captured the swordsman. Lady Drunara healed him just enough as she ripped out the arrow from his lung, with flesh and bone still on the barbed tip, to keep him alive along enough to intorrogate. Desslock relished the human soldier's suffering.   Between gurgling blood, he indicated he was sent by Sergeant Harden.   Desslock -2 to Will check to resist killing the guy. Would normally be -4, but since already killed some, he had a little more self control, and for the reason of interrogating, otherwise would have been -4 to his will check to resist killing the guy. He threw a tantrum but didn't kill him.   Kol ended his Rage.   Kol did not recognize this guy as one of the three soldiers back at the tavern outside the South Pass Keep tavern at the edge of the cleared area.   His mission: The Sergeant said that some “hoity toity lady left the village, and to capture her and bring her back for questioning”.   Desslock accused the Lady's humans of selling her out (from the village). She disagreed that they did so willingly. The soldier indicated their troops razed the village to the ground. In anger, Joe then jammed the arrow into the soldier's eye into his brain.   Joe and Company loot the corpses.   And everyone gets XP. They took cloaks, and lots of other stuff as loot. Will make it easier for Mordredian wizards to track them.   They then quickly hit the road. This means it took them about 30 minutes from the end of the battle to loot everything and hit the road.     Kol's discussion with Sir Karn regarding Drow? I need to email him.   Lady Drunara thanks Deslock for killing the soldier after he confessed the village was cinders.   Everyone will be level 2 by next session.   1200 xp total.      

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted January 09. 2013 Joe spotted dark figure in the night on horse. He kept shooting at it. then they fled. They left north overland, rather than the road. Cutting north, parallel to the King's Road. Then north east, trying to cut across land.

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted January 09. 2013 Here are the notes (public) from the campaign thus far. Technical setup for web-based RPG sessions. Google Plus Hangout for audio/video/text.   The group so far is as follows: Joe Koenen → Wood Elf Ranger Katy Koenen → Half Wood Elf Druid Brennan Robinson → Sea Elf Bard -> Brennan quit shortly afterward. Kesan H. → Human Barbarian Drake → Human Wizard   Joe's Character Summary Outer appearance:       Katy's Character Summary Outer appearance:     Kesan's Character Summary Outer appearance: "Dothraki style" human barbarian     Drake's Character Summary Outer appearance:       Campaign beginning   At the port city of Balcoth A heavy fog is rolling in.   Everyone is talking about threatening armada and forces building from Mordred across the seas. Recently a portion of the dread armada encircled the seas around the port, and have cut off all traffic in the past 2 days.     The players are meeting at the tavern. Numiens Inn & Tavern. By various means (background stories), they have each been told to come to this place, at this time to meet with a contact: Human arrogant, disgusted with those around him.   Torschalan.. Dressed in white on white, with fine blue filigree. Very effeminate highish voice.   This contact is a representative of “my Lord”. This is extra tricky in this particular part of the world for non-human characters. Folks in this town and the surrounding country side have a strong dislike of non-humans. So non-human PCs will have to be in disguise and/or hooded at all times. The mission is several-fold Get out of the country ASAP, avoiding the enemy units on the way, and avoid capture at all costs. Take this sealed ivory scroll case with them. Visit a small farming village to the northeast, Kesarnach, and check on the health and well-being of a Lady Dranara. (middle-eastern style woman). The village is at the feet (just west of) the Dragon Spine Mountains. Give her the ivory case. Follow her instructions after she opens the case. To go to a near mountain with her, there to speak with the Oracle. 6 through 9 not yet known by players.     The players hopped into (and some on) Torschalan's carriage, and fled the town. At the gates, they had to fight their way through. Then they fled north on the King's Road, with some final pursuit and battle at full speed. The killed and pushed off the final foes being dragged, and ran off into the night.   They then took a small side road to a cottage. They thought they would be safe there, but......

Posted by Hawke at February 13. 2013 Originally posted: November 24. 2012 Here I will announce when videos of the adventure sessions have been uploaded.   Uploaded the rough cut of the video from the first day of the campaign, for the character generation and such. http://youtu.be/8rSz_GpidWM 1 hour, 33 minutes, 33 seconds (edited down from 2.5 hours) Or you can skip to just the adventure segment here: http://youtu.be/JD3YV__dzL0 45 minutes