The Splitting Dragon Empire

Goals

1. Allow for players to come-and-go as they wish on a session-by-session basis
2. Minimize GM work while still maintaining a regular play schedule
3. Enable players to run sessions as a sub-GM

Background

An ancient truce is on the verge of being broken. Windthorn, a legendary longbow made from the remains of an Elven Heart Tree, said to be imbued with the spirit of the dwarf fighter Abag, has been stolen from the Dwaven vaults. The Dwarf King has placed blame on the Elf Queen due to her long standing vocal hatred of the mistreatment of a Heart Tree. The Elf Queen insists on innocence. A dangerous game of diplomacy has ensued, with troops on both sides being shifted to newly created demilitarization zone along Oldwall, catching neutral towns like Nomad in the crossfire.

Can war be averted? If not, who will you lend your sword to?

The Splitting Dragon Empire

Goals

Background

How does this Campaign work?

Some Initial Rules and Guidelines

The types of Quests

Character and Item Management

Being a Sub-GM

How does this Campaign work?

This campaign will be “Quest based” - before each session, one or more potential quests will be posted in Discord. These quests will range in difficulty based on the active character roster. Players should sign up for Quests with a :thumbsup: reaction and let the GM know which character they plan on using.

Each Quest will be self-contained and planned to take 2 hours clock time, with roughly 1.5 hours of actual playtime to allow for late-arrivers and breaks.

Although each Quest is self-contained, it will still usually contribute towards the overarching Campaign story, benefiting or hindering the various factions at play. A “Happenings of the World” summary as well as a map of the current world + factions will be maintained to keep Players in the loop.

Each Quest will have a set Level requirement. Characters can’t be leveled up to this level, but they can be leveled down to it Guild Wars style. All abilities will be retained, but base stats will be reduced.

 Some Quests will have a faction alignment requirement - for instance, if your character is an open enemy of Faction A, that character can’t participate in a quest to train recruits, etc. Staying neutral as a mercenary-for-hire opens up more quests, but factions may provide additional loot and assistance to characters aligned to their faction, so loyalty to a cause should be considered.

Any character meeting the requirements can be signed up for each quest. Each player can only play one character per session, but can have as many characters in their roster as they prefer.

Some Initial Rules and Guidelines

1. Only named NPC’s can kill - If you lose to a group of bandits they can’t kill your character - but they can bring you to their leader for an execution! In general, Character death will be rare, but that doesn’t mean failure will be absent.
2. Metagaming - If you are playing multiple characters aligned with different factions, some amount of accidental metagaming is inevitable. Intentional and Campaign-altering metagaming (such as intentionally failing a mission with one Character to advance the goals of your other Character) may be retconned and / or punished.
3. The Game Shall Go On - If a player doesn’t show up / has to leave early,  a critical failure ruins a Quest, a Character dies, or other assorted unfortunates, the Quest / Campaign shall continue regardless. Roleplaying is more fun when you have to work around problems.
4. Fail Forward - Just because a check was failed doesn’t mean progress can’t be made. GM’s will lean towards advancing progress, albeit now with some complications. Don’t expect to just sit around rolling to punch a door until it breaks!
5. Rules are Guidelines - 13th Age is story-first and rules-light. GM’s will play accordingly.

The types of Quests

Quests will come in a variety of types, including:

1. Dungeon Crawls: Combat-heavy sessions with little impact on the Campaign. These will often be generated or reskinned versions of maps you’ve seen before, but tabletop is flexible so expect some variety even so.
2. Mysterious Happenings: RP-Combat mixed sessions with little impact on the Campaign. Investigate and Solve X. These will often be generated or reskinned versions of maps you’ve seen before, but tabletop is flexible so expect some variety even so.
3. Diplomatic Relations: RP-heavy sessions with medium impact on the Campaign. Dance with nobles, pacify local bandits, establish trade agreements with a town - these Quests will be on the shorter side, but can set up important benefits for your Character’s end goals.
4. Campaign Mission: Mixed sessions with heavy impact on the Campaign. These will be uniquely created in most cases, and will feature a faction restriction more often than other Quest types. Depending on where your Characters land on alignment, PvP may (rarely) ensue.

Character and Item Management

At any point a player may roll a new character at the current lowest global level of active characters.

The GM will provide pre-rolled characters at request - let the GM know ahead of time!

True Magic Items (pg 284) can be traded / sold to another character owned by either the player or another player. This trade can happen immediately with another character in the same party, or the next time the character enters a town the item can be sent to another character who has to pick it up in a town. Certain limitations apply, such as being trapped in another dimension.

Once a TMI is equipped, it is lifebound to that character and can only be sold to NPC’s.

Characters should be leveled and items purchased in between sessions in cooperation with the GM. In general, any character can usually visit a local shop, trainer, or town between sessions. Certain pivotal moments in character development may warrant a short session.

Being a Sub-GM

Feeling an itch to GM? Have an idea you think would be cool? Or maybe there’s just a timeslot people want to play in that the core GM can’t serve!

Any Player is welcome to be a sub-GM and post a Quest at any time with GM approval. These Quests can take place chronologically either in the past or in the present, but not in the future. More leeway will be given for Quests that have minimal Campaign impact, but Campaign impact is welcome so long as it’s worked out with the core GM. The core GM reserves the right to retconn any aspects of these Quests, including Lore, EXP, and Loot.

Examples of these quests and their impacts might include (but definitely aren’t limited to):

• Playing out a battle that took place 100 years ago that the present characters later find
• Escorting a caravan taking supplies to the frontline - losing might harm that faction!
• Helping a town on the battlefronts defend and build a wall around their town