SHADOWLANDS: Church of the Lights of Heaven

Our first sneak peak of our upcoming Fantasy Craft campaign is a look at the official religion of the Seven Realms of Men, The Church of the Lights of Heaven.

Sanctuary in Darkovia
Sanctuary in Darkovia

Church of the Lights of Heaven (organized human religion)

  • Portfolio: Community; Faith; Light; Order; Purity
  • Primary Deities: The Divines; Solonus, God of the Sun, Lunara, Goddess of the Moon, and Leviath, Goddess of Night.
  • Secondary Deities: The twelve Celestials of the Zodiac are considered the Exarchs of the Divines.

Official Church teachings emphasize the following ethics, morals, beliefs, and ideals.

  • The Divines of Light, Solonus and Lunara guide and protect humanity from the evil of their sister Leviath, Queen of the Night and her corrupt Primarch, the Hydra.
  • Embrace the radiant principles of the light; Faith, Order, and Community. These qualities manifest through loyalty, honor, devotion, humility, truth, purity, and discipline.
  • Reject the corrupting forces of darkness; Iniquity, Chaos, and Selfishness. Avoid the temptations of betrayal, cowardice, impiety, arrogance, deception, corruption, and decadence.
  • Venerate the light of the sun, moon, and stars; although different forms of illumination; all three push back the darkness of evil and illuminate the path of righteousness.

The Church is perhaps the most visible of all human institutions. Virtually everyone considers themselves one of the Favored and at least attends High Sacrament every month (held as the sun rises and the full moon sets on the 15th day of each month). In addition to High Sacrament various rites are performed throughout the month and every day at sunrise, moonrise, midday, midnight, sunset, and moonset. At any given time most Sanctuaries (temples) are abuzz with activity. In addition to space dedicated for worship most Sanctuaries feature meditation chambers, private quarters for the Cherished, a celestial observatory, a library, underground vaults and an armory for warriors, as well as a hospital where the sick and injured can be tended to.

The Church is organized as a feudal theocracy with a strict hierarchy. The organization is headed by two Celestines, a Lord of the Sun and a Lady of the Moon. These two individuals are the supreme representatives of the Divines and leaders of the entire Church of the Lights of Heaven. The overall hierarchy is structured in the following manner.

  • Celestine: Both the Lord and Lady are addressed as “Your Radiance”.
  • Cardinal: Seven Cardinals (one per realm) make up the Circle of Cardinals.
  • Bishop: Each Sanctuary is headed by a Bishop (most realms have four to six).
  • Deacon: Fully ordained priests within the Church.
  • Radiant: Employees and lay-priests of the Church.
  • Favored: Members of the congregation (most humans).

There are several other important titles and positions within the Church that are not part of the governing hierarchy.

  • Acolyte: Anyone training in the Seminary for a position within the Church.
  • Arbitrator: Civil judges serving the realm.
  • Conservator: Teachers at Church ran Conservatories.
  • Exalted: Living constructs in service to the Church.
  • Hallowed: Construct servants and bodyguards serving the Celestines and the Cardinals.
  • Inquisitor: Investigators for the Church tasked with rooting out threats to humanity.
  • Luminary: Monk-like aesthetics able to perform miracles (spell-casters).
  • Templar: Holy knights tasked with protecting the Church.
  • Warden: Scouts tasked with patrolling the roads between realms.

The Church teaches the following history of the religion.

Three Divine siblings created the world and the cosmos. Solonus, Lunara, and Leviath fashioned the many species of the world but men and dragons were their favored creations. Three Primarchs, elder dragons of immense power, were sent by the Divines to speak for them, teaching and guiding humanity. Absu, the Radiant Drake was sent by Solonus and taught men the warrior arts and gave them the gifts of order and law. Ishtar, the Luminous Serpent was sent by Lunara and taught men the creative arts and gave them the gifts of faith and devotion. And Tiamat, the Prismatic Hydra was sent by Leviath and taught men the social arts and gave them the gifts of community and cooperation.

For centuries dragons and men lived in harmony building the greatest empire the world had ever seen. Men praised the sun and the moon but feared the night and the dark places of the world. Leviath grew increasingly jealous of her siblings’ adoration and power and plotted against them. The Goddess of Night began sowing seeds of corruption throughout humanity and whispered lies to her Primarch, turning her against the others. Eventually Tiamat and her draconic followers betrayed humanity. The Hydra and her cult killed the other Primarchs, destroyed the Eternal City of Imperious, and turned the provinces against one another. Tiamat and her inhuman allies descended on the old empire like a plague of locusts, slaughtering all those before them. The old empire was lost and humanity nearly destroyed.

With the annihilation of the empire the forces of darkness had won and humanity stood on the brink of extinction. Only seven settlements survived the destruction but were lost without Primarchs to speak for the Divines and guide them. For decades men struggled to survive, until one winter, on the darkest night of the year, during the most brutal storm seen in centuries, a miracle occurred. The storm stopped abruptly and the clouds cleared revealing a change in the heavens. Across the night sky were scattered points of light, signs that the Divines had not abandoned humanity. Written within these points of light were the teachings of the Divines manifested as the Celestials of the Zodiac. The stars in the heavens would ensure that men would never again suffer in the utter darkness of night.

SHADOWLANDS: Welcome to Darkovia

First glimpses of our upcoming campaign. The city-state of Darkovia lies high in the valley’s and dales of the Stormshield Mountains in eastern Tindarum. Nearly fifteen centuries ago Darkovia was home to the wealthy and elite of the old Golden Empire. The realm is where our campaign will begin, among the towering evergreens, deep gorges, and snow-capped peaks.

The Realm of Darkovia.
The Realm of Darkovia.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2013, although I’m not really sure what happened to 2012. The past couple months have simply flown by but things are looking good for regular posts in the new year here at Uncaring Dice Gods. This year I have several gaming related goals I want to accomplish so I thought I’d post them here to keep me on track.

  1. Wrap-up my current Warhammer campaign with a big, epic finish. Its sometimes difficult for me to end a campaign on a satisfying note and keep it from just fading off into obscurity. 
  2. Kick off our next campaign using Fantasy Craft. We’ve tried the game a couple of times and I have a good feeling that it will deliver what we’re looking for. Unlike our current campaign Shadowlands will focus on what it means to be heroic in a world that no longer needs heroes.
  3. My biggest project is actually a gaming-related construction project. This spring I will be converting an old detached garage into a game room for the group. Should be an awesome project and I was thinking about posting pics on my progress once I get going.

There you have it! Welcome to 2013, I hope you all have a good year; and may the dice gods be kind!

 

Roleplaying: How to Be a Player Any Gamemaster Would Kill To Have

There is a myriad of information on roleplaying websites on how to be the best gamemaster you can be. But there is only a small amount of information devoted on how to be a great player. I sometimes find this ironic due to the fact that there is typically only one gamemaster at the table, but many more players. As far as this advice goes, this isn’t your typical “… show up on time, remember your dice, have fun, blah, blah, blah…”

Here is the typical ‘how to be a better player information’ you’ll find:

• Show up on time
• Be prepared
• Know the rules
• Know the setting
• Forget winning
• Be flexible
• Pay attention
• Don’t cheat
• Have fun

Honestly, if you’re not already doing that stuff, you shouldn’t be playing, at least not in my game. This is in-your-face, no-holds barred, real advice. I fully expect a decent amount of people to read this, completely ignore it, and go back to their mediocre characters and the same old gaming habits. This advice is really for the few out there looking at raising the bar on their gaming.

BRING IT! – Don’t show up to the game with your character sheet, Cheetos, and Mountain Dew, simply ready for the gamemaster to pull you through an epic adventure like an anchor dragging along the bottom of the lake. F’ing BRING IT! Show up with a level of preparation and enthusiasm that tells the gamemaster and other players that you’ve been waiting for this moment ever since your last gaming session. Attitudes are contagious. If you are excited I guarantee the gamemaster will be excited and the other players will get more excited. Even if they don’t, I guarantee you will have more fun when you show up ready to rock.

Breaking The Habit – Habits… we all have them. Some are good, some are bad. Sometimes to reach the next level of something, you have to break those habits. If you’ve always been a player, it may be time for you to step into the gamemaster position for a few sessions. If you’ve always been the tank of the group, maybe now it’s time for you to become the social trickster that your friend always plays. If you always try to fight your way out of a bad situation, maybe now it’s time to think your way through it. Whatever you find yourself always doing, try switching it up. Flexing your gamer muscles may be painful in the beginning but they will help you grow in the end.

Develop Your Character – God forbid that you put some actual time into developing your character and its background. Your gamemaster put time into knowing the system, the rules, and designing an adventure and campaign. You should, at minimum, know everything there is to know about your character. Your gamemaster is responsible for every single non-player character in your gaming universe. You are responsible for one, yours. Know it inside and out. Use the internet and get a picture of your character. Get pictures of where your character is from or other characters that your character has interacted with. Know your character’s personality and what makes it tick. Is your character unique, or is it a carbon copy of ever character you play in every single game? Developing your character is a primary focal point for being a great player.

(Tip: Go to Google or Yahoo and search for images of your character. i.e.: fantasy elf thief, space marine art, wookie jedi, etc.)

Help Your Gamemaster – Help tie your character to the campaign. If appropriate, develop the relationship between your character and the characters of the other players. Build a background that has many open ends that your gamemaster can tie his campaign into. Maybe your character’s brother was killed, but you don’t know who killed him. You could leave that up to the gamemaster on who did and let him tie it in to his campaign. You still know how that will affect your character and what he is going to do about it. The more you develop your character, the more your gamemaster has to latch onto and move the game forward.

Challenge Yourself – Always strive to become a better gamer. You will get more out of the hobby, I swear it. Whether it is playing a character type you have never played before, trying to roleplay a character with an accent, or developing your character to a level you have never done before, challenge yourself! If you wrote three background pages for your last character, write ten pages for this one. Play a character that has a French accent. Play a character that can’t speak. Play a character with only one leg! Do something to challenge yourself outside of what you’ve done in the past.

Challenge The Other Players – Invest time in more than just yourself, help the other players at your table too. If another player is having trouble developing motivation for his character, help him with it. If another player can’t find a good way to tie his character to the setting, help him with it. If you see that they appear to be stuck in a rut, help him with it. Helping out the other players at the table is going to benefit them, you, the gamemaster, and everyone else sitting at the table. If you see someone slacking, it is your job to kick them in the butt and light a fire in their imagination. And they should do the same for you.

If You’re Not Into It, Get Out Of It – Let’s face it, everything gets boring eventually. Even our favorite hobby, our favorite TV show, our favorite video game, can get boring and become more of a chore than fun. When this happens, you start showing up late, missing game sessions, or you’re just not into it. Do yourself and everyone else a favor, take a break! Your lack of enthusiasm weasels its way over to other players and the gamemaster. The game will take a hit overall. The best thing to do if you’re experiencing burnout is to step away from the table until you get that hunger and fire back. Bottom line, it will help you in the long-run.

Ponder these suggestions. Mull them over in your head. I don’t expect most players to implement them. Most people aren’t very good at taking advice. I understand it. It’s a lot easier to continue the course you’re on than veer off in a different direction. It’s harder and you don’t always know what is around the corner. Most of these exercises will require you to put more time into your game. But that is exactly what will make you better. ‘Time on task’ and getting out of your comfort zone is key to growing as a gamer and having a better gaming experience. Become a better player, you owe it to yourself.

Some Days the Muse Speaks Loudly

Mondays are our gaming groups’ normal night to play. We’re currently playing Warhammer Fantasy (3rd Edition) and enjoying it quite a bit. For this campaign I’ve been experimenting with a few new techniques and methods of gamemastering in an effort to expand my GM style.

One thing I’m currently doing is keeping my prep to a minimum. In order to do this I have a steno notebook with a couple of pages of important NPC’s, a one-page rough outline of events, and a couple of pages of unorganized ideas. During the week I put some thought into what the players may or may not do and what my NPC’s are likely to do in response. I also spend a few minutes coming up with a “hook” for next week’s scenario. To keep prep time down the only time I actually spend working on the campaign is whatever time it takes me to jot down a note or two on my pad. Otherwise I just let the idea simmer in my brain for the week. So far this technique has been working out pretty good. The heroes are on a specific quest to investigate 13 mysterious High Elf ruins. This has made it pretty easy to know where they are intending to go and allows me the opportunity to focus on this week’s location.

Going into the session I knew the following:

  • The characters were travelling through the moors of Albion to an ancient ruin along the coast.
  • This will be the second ruined site they have explored on their quest.
  • The previous session ended in a battle against a wyvern. The beast flew away when the summoning shaman was slain.

Over the course of the week I noted the following elements and decided on a few goals:

  • One of the players commented that the past few weeks haven’t been very deadly. (Big mistake!)
  • I wanted to give the characters some history of the ruins they are investigating. Thus far they only know these 13 hidden sites belong to a noble house of dubious reputation.
  • I was hoping to firm up a connection between the story-arc and the two High Elf characters.
  • I also wanted the players to come away with a sense of dread about these ruins and the events that lead to their destruction.

With these things in mind I set my brain on simmer and let things develop as they may, and this week my “loose” style paid off in spades. As we sat dawn to play things began to instantly fall into place.

  • Undead are fun and a good fit near Holloween. (Off to a good start.)
  • Since the ruins are elven, clearly the undead would be elves. (Coming together nicely.)
  •  A “big bad” would be in order; elven vampire cursed to dwell in the tower. (Things are looking good now, vampires are a classic choice.)
  • Since vampires are intelligent this guy clearly has memories and insight into the events of the tower’s past. (The perfect vehicle to introduce a little history and perspective to the heroes.)
  • Almost forgot about the wyvern. He still out their somewhere and since I’ve clearly been taking it easy on the players, it must be nesting in the top of the tower! (Not deadly enough, my ass!)
  • Because I havn’t yet named the ancient noble house involved their is no reason not to use the one that features prominately in one of the character’s backgrounds. (The reward for a 5-page background with illustrations.) 

Add to the mix a little doom and gloom, some inspired scenery, and a geographically hostile locale and, bam! All of the pieces fell right into place. So far, so good. The muse was with me and we had a great session. Here’s to keeping the momentum up!