Hemlock Campaign

3E D&D House Rules

Role-Playing Games             thandoria@aol.com

When you play a fantasy role-playing game you create a unique fictional character that lives in your imagination and in the imaginations of your fellow players.  The Dungeon Master (DM) controls the monsters and people that live in the fantasy world while you and your companions face dangers and explore mysteries that the DM has set before you.  Together you all create a unique interactive story.  It’s like writing a fantasy novel together where the characters really do have lives of their own.  The story is inevitably shaped as you role-play your character’s ambitions, attitudes, personalities, dreams, and actions.

In the course of the game your character might explore ancient ruins guarded by devious traps, defeat loathsome monsters, loot the tomb of a long-forgotten wizard, research and cast mighty magical spells, solve diabolical mysteries, discover enchanted items, travel to strange foreign lands over the sea, act as a diplomat between warring tribes or nations, sneak into an enemy castle as a spy, travel to other dimensions, and become a legendary hero who the bards tell stories about.

The action of the game takes place in your imaginations.  Like actors in a play, players usually speak as if they were their characters or as if their fellow players were their characters at the game table.  This is called speaking in character.  All questions pertaining to the rules are handled in your own voice.  The DM will strive to role-play the various creatures and people you encounter in the world.  The ability to immerse yourself into your character and imagine the fantasy world is the key to skillful role-playing.  At first, not everyone is good at acting in character.  Most people are afraid to speak in front of groups!  The more you stay “in-character” the more you will encourage others playing the game to role-play.  In a compelling battle scene, when it comes to your turn to act, you might say to the DM, “I attack the goblin on the left with my sword,” and just roll the attack die to see if you hit.  “I hit the goblin.”  The DM says, “Okay roll for damage.”  That kind of play is referred to as “roll-playing”, because you’re just rolling the dice and not acting out the scenes.  In true role-playing the DM turns to you and says what is Brothgar doing, and you respond, “With braided locks of dwarven hair flying behind me, I charge into the melee screaming my clan name Zarkan!  After rolling the die and scoring a hit you might follow up with, “And cleave my mighty axe into that smelly goblin’s hide.”  The DM says, “And what’s the damage?”  You roll a high number on your damage die and say, “With 8 grievous points of damage!”  The other players around the table cheer in delight as the vile goblin hits the dust.  The more you practice role-playing your character, the better you will become and the more exciting the game will be.  We’ve all seen movies with “bad” acting.  Try with each session to improve your performance, but don’t stress out about it either.  Some people are born to perform and act.  Most of us have to work hard at it!

Creating a character background allows you to become familiar with the nature, history, and personality of your character.  Character creation is like becoming familiar with the character you will be acting-out in a movie script.  This first session will focus on character creation with some role-playing.  As your character gains experience and you learn to sink into the character better, you will be able to take on harder quests and do more things.  As the game progresses I encourage you to flesh out the details of your character’s history, present life situation and goals for the future.  These efforts will bring experience bonuses!  One primary benefit of role-playing is the acceleration of your creative imagination.  The more you put into your character, the more you will enjoy the game.  The game exists for the enjoyment of its participants!

As the Dungeon Master (DM) my job is to provide the fantasy world and adventures within that world, teach and referee the game, propel the story forward, maintain the game balance, and run game sessions.  If you’re not enjoying the game then something has gone wrong.  Feel free to address any concerns, issues, problems, or questions before or after any session, in front of the group or in private.  It is meant to be a fun, interactive hobby.  Try to avoid “metagame” thinking at the table.  Any time you base your character’s actions on logic that depends on the fact that you’re playing a game, you’re engaging in metagame thinking.  Always try to see the fantasy world and what’s happening through your character’s eyes and through his or her experience.  Always feel free to email me between sessions with questions.  You can even email me in-character if you like!

Character Creation

1. The first step in creating your unique character is to determine what race and class you want to play.  This campaign will begin in the Free City of Hemlock, a thriving trade city of 22500 located on the continent of Krindor in the Northern Spice Steppes.  The available races for this campaign are:

    Available Starting Races                              Racial Ability Adjustments                                

Half-Elf  (Krindorian)                                                       none
Human  (Korwynian)                                                       none
Moon-Elf  (Wood-elf)                                       +1 DEX       -1 CON
Star Elf  (High-Elf)                                             +2 DEX       -2 CON
Hill Dwarf  (Surface Dweller)                             +1 CON      -1 CHA
Mountain Dwarf  (Underworld-Dweller)            +2 CON      -2 CHA
Silver Gnome  (Hill-Gnome)                              +1 CON      -2 STR       +1 INT
Gold Gnome  (Tree-Gnome)                             +2 CON      -2 STR
Half-Orc                                                           +2 STR       -2 INT        -2 CHA
Halfling                                                             +2 DEX       -2 STR                                    

Starting Classes

Barbarian:  A ferocious warrior who uses fury and instinct to bring an opponent down.
Bard:  A performer whose music works magic.  A wanderer, storyteller, and jack-of-all-trades.
Oracle:  A master of divine magic and spiritual energy channeled from the heavens.  Also a capable warrior.
Druid:  On oracle who draws energy from the natural world to gain divine spells and mystical powers.
Fighter:  A warrior with exceptional combat capability and unequaled skill with weapons.
Monk:  A contemplative, mystical martial artist whose unarmed combat skills hit fast and hard. 
Paladin:  A champion of justice and destroyer of evil, protected and strengthened by divine powers.
Ranger:  A cunning, skilled warrior of the wilderness.
Rogue:  A tricky, skillful scout and spy who attains victory by stealth rather than brute force.
Sorcerer:  A spellcaster with inborn magic channeled from the heavens through crystallized chakras.
Wizard:  A potent spell-caster skilled in the arcane arts who draws magical energy from the heavens.

2.  Once you choose your race and class it’s time to roll for your ability scores.  Your six abilities are

Strength  (STR)
Dexterity  (DEX)
Constitution  (CON)
Intelligence  (INT)
Wisdom  (WIS)
Charisma  (CHA)

Roll four, six-sided dice (4D6) to create each attribute score.  With each roll, you add the highest three numbers and discard the lowest.  All 1’s are re-rolled.  If all four dice come up 6, then the ability is considered 19!  After creating six values, assign them to your character based on the character’s class.  For instance, wizards need high intelligence, while rogues need high dexterity.  Don’t forget that each race has racial modifiers that need to be added and subtracted after you assign your stats. 

3.        Choose your character’s alignment.  In the Dungeons & Dragons game there are nine alignments.  On the ethical axis there are lawful, neutral, and chaotic.  On the moral axis there are good, neutral and evil.  To choose your character’s alignment you must combine a moral and ethical component.  Players are not allowed to play evil characters.  If a character’s alignment drifts into evil then the character becomes a non-player character (NPC) in the game world under the DM’s control.  Alignment does not dictate what your character will do.  Even good folks can perform acts of evil and evil people have been known to do good in rare circumstances.  You alignment is the general compass of your social and spiritual direction and focus and helps to define your character’s overall personality.

Alignments

Lawful Good      Virtuous; upholding moral excellence, virtue, and righteousness

Neutral Good           Benevolent;  inclined towards acts of kindness, compassion, helpfulness, and love

Chaotic Good          Visionary;  concerned with great forsights/prophecies for creating a unique future

Lawful Neutral         Logical;  adhering to the principles of regulated society, logic, and authority

Neutral Neutral        True Neutral; uncommitted with respect to cultural ways but upholding balance               

Chaotic Neutral       loners and individualist tending toward total unpredictability and chaos

                           (no more than one Chaotic neutral character is allowed in any adventuring group)

Lawful Evil              Criminal;  working to undermine accepted principles of the social structure

Neutral Evil             Destructive;  constantly causing upheaval and destruction through abusive ways

Chaotic Evil             Malicious;  possessed of strong urges to see all life suffer and endure hardship and pain

4. Record all racial and class features and select a starting feat.  A feat is a natural talent that you’ve mastered.
5. Select skills.  Depending on your character’s class and Intelligence modifier, you get a certain number of skill points to spend on initial skills.  Skills are measured in ranks.  At 1^st level your character can buy up to 4 ranks in any class skill or up to 2 ranks in any cross-classes skill.  Each skill has a key ability associated with it.  When you fill in your skills ojn your character sheet make note of any ability modifiers.
6. Select starting equipment.
7. Record combat and skill numbers.
8. Flesh out character background