Scheduling: Redux

There is never a worse time to kick off a campaign than the holidays. This year, especially, seems to be designed to be as annoying as possible. Here's why.

Saturdays in December
12/3: Too soon, but possibly a good night for character creation/discussion.
12/10: There is an XMas party/company meeting for our Civil War unit on the 10th; I can't guarantee we'll be out of there and home by 7pm, but we can try.
12/17: Amy's company party.
12/24: Christmas Eve. Plans have been set in stone for months.
12/31: New Year's Eve. I don't mind gaming on New Year's Eve if the players don't mind, but I won't necessarily rely on anyone to forgo boozing it up if they prefer that to geeking out.

This means that we have potential gaming nights on 12/10 (depending on how soon we can get home from the unit shindig) and 12/31 (if folks don't mind). 12/3 is an option, as well, but I won't have anything ready to run this weekend. It is best used as a time to work out character concepts.

There is also the option of playing on Friday nights, at least until the Holiday madness subsides. Though running a game after 9 hours at the office isn't really my first choice, it beats waiting until next year.

Please, folks, drop me a line with your comments and suggestions. Once I get definite yes or no answers from all of my potential players, I'll send a group email out and we can nail things down a bit more.

The current roster of interested parties includes my wife, Amy; her brother, Adam; our friend Alex; JD; and Keri.

I'm still waiting for confirmation from Stan! and Mike. If all parties decide to play, it will be a seven player group...which is a bit large for me, but with the increase in play time, I don't see it as being a horrible thing. Plus, if someone is unable to attend, then it won't be so bad on the rest of the group.

Concerning characters, Amy and Adam will probably be importing their characters from the last Midnight game I ran. Amy's character is a human (Erenlander) fighter, and Adam's is a human (Dorn) Wildlander. They're both 4th level, which will set the starting character level of the game to 4th. They also have an NPC sidekick, a Dorn warrior, who is great in the role of a red shirt.

As an aside (though I don't really need to say this), I'm starting this game as a new one. Though there are plot lines specific to these pre-existing characters, they are plots that are tied to the characters' backgrounds. With luck, all of the new characters will have similar balls and chains to lug around, too.

So that's that. For now. Questions, comments, complaints? Drop me a line.

Scheduling

Edit: The 17th is off! I'd forgotten about a company Christmas party that we are attending that evening. Our other option is 12/10. It seems to me that Saturdays are going to be at a premium this December...

One of the greatest challenges for role-players to overcome lies not in the rules of the game itself, but in the scheduling of game sessions. We all lead busy lives, so it's not always possible for everyone to set aside the same block of time each week (or, in our case, every two weeks) to play.

As far as the first session of the game, this really depends on when we have characters done. I'd like to take as much time as necessary with each player in order to create characters that are appropriate, and which reflect the desires and vision of the individual. If you think you've got an idea that suits you fine, then by all means, run it past me. If you want a little help from me in deciding what path to take, I'm always available to discuss it.

Once characters are done -- either as part of a group session, or individually -- we should schedule the first game.

The largest obstacle to scheduling, especially at this time of year, is the Christmas holiday. I would like to get the majority of character creation done sometime after December 3rd, and would like to slate the first session itself for the evening of December 17th.

The only potential stumbling block is that the following session would normally be scheduled for December 31st -- New Year's Eve. If this poses an issue for everyone involved, we can kick it back a week to January 7th. We can always burn that bridge when we come to it.

So, for now, that's the tentative plan...

Player Options in Midnight

Creating a character can be difficult, but it can be especially challenging if you're creating it for a setting that you aren't familiar with. In this post, I plan to give you a brief lay-out of the basics of character creation in the Midnight campaign setting; namely, available character races and classes.

CLASSES
As Midnight uses many of the standard rules present in D&D 3.5, a few of the classes are going to be downright familiar to any player. Of course, several of the available classes are unique to the setting itself, while many of the standard 3.5 classes (those that use magic, specifically) are not available.

What follows is a list of the classes available to PCs in the Midnight campaign setting, as well as brief descriptions of each (where applicable).

Barbarian
Members of the barbarian class in Midnight remain largely unchanged from standard 3.5, though the class skills available are slightly different.

Channeler
The sole magic-using class available to PCs in Midnight is the channeler. The channeler class is actually three in one, depending on which tradition the character chooses at first level: spiritual, hermetic, or charismatic. Spiritual channelers are similar in most respects to clerics and druids; hermetic channelers are more like mages, with an emphasis on scholarly pursuits; and charismatic channelers are able to affect the actions, thoughts, and emotions of those around them.

Defender
The closest approximation to the defender class in 3.5 is the monk, but the two classes are very different. In Midnight, the Shadow does not allow its subjects to own or use weapons. To be caught with a weapon by the authorities will surely lead to your painful death. Defenders take the law and apply it to their fighting style, which is based solely on their own bodies and upon items that are not normally viewed as weapons. Defender character have access to a wide range of ability choices that make each one unique, depending on the abilities he gains as he advances.

Fighter
Members of the fighter class in Midnight remain largely unchanged from standard 3.5, though the class skills available are slightly different. At 4th level, a fighter character must choose a "warrior's way," which serves to define what sort of fighter he is. This selection grants additional abilities at later levels.

Rogue
Members of the rogue class in Midnight remain largely unchanged from standard 3.5, though the class skills available are slightly different.

Wildlander
Wildlanders are the rangers of the Midnight setting. Unlike standard rangers, they do not have access to spells at higher levels. In addition, they gain access to wildlander traits, which make them very configurable; no two wildlanders need be the same.

RACES
The standard races that one comes to expect in fantasy role-playing are also present in Midnight: dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, humans, and orcs all exist in the setting. Outside of the names, though, they are far from your standard fare.

What follows is a list of races available to PCs in the Midnight campaign setting. This list has been tailored specifically to Shadows of the Past, so races that might be available in another GM's game (such as orcs) aren't necessarily available in mine.

As a note: non-human races (dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, etc.) are referred to as fey races. The fey races all descend from a common ancestry that has diverged over the millenia since Aryth came into being. In many cases, these races can breed with one another, creating half-breeds. The fey races are not able to cross-breed with humanity; as such, there are no half-elf/half-human or half-orc/half-human combinations available in the setting.

Humans
Of the human races, there are three distinct lines: Dorns, Erenlanders, and Sarcosans.

The Dorns are descended from the houses of the Old Kings, and are known commonly as the Northmen. They dwell in the lands north of the Sea of Pelluria. They are large, pale-skinned, with green or blue eyes, and with hair ranging in color from gold to red. A close earthly approximation would be Scottish highlanders.

The Sarcosan people make their homes in southern Erenland. They are descended from colonists who invaded the continent many centuries ago, but who joined with the Dorns of the north to throw off the shackles of their masters from across the sea. They are smaller and leaner than Dorns, with dark brown skin and black, shiny hair. Their eyes are deep brown. They are known for their skill in the saddle.

Lastly, the people of Erenland dwell in the lands between those of the Sarcosans and the Dorns. They are the product of the intermingling of the Dorn and Sarcosan cultures, and thus, they share some of the traits of both cultures.

Dwarves
The dwarves have long fought a losing war of attrition against the orcs from their mountain holdfasts. They are largely isolationist, relying only upon themselves to defeat their enemies or die trying. The majority of dwarves are known as Clan Dwarves, and live deep beneath the mountains. There is a small subgroup, known as the Kurgun Dwarves, who live above ground. Dwarves have most of the abilities and proficiencies that you would expect, as well as a few other abilities that are unique to the setting.

Elves
Elves are powerful users of magic, and in the modern times they are restricted to their forests, which remain beseiged by the forces of the Shadow. All elves share certain racial traits. As well, there are four distinct cultural groups amongst the elvish people: Caransil (Wood Elves), Danisil (Jungle Elves), Erunsil (Snow Elves), and Miransil (Sea Elves). Each culture is distinct, with its own unique abilities and talents, but all swear fealty to the Witch Queen of the elves, Aradil.

Gnomes
The gnomes of Midnight are people of the rivers, many of them merchants who ply their trade on Eredane's extensive waterways. They are also adept at trade and negotiation, and are one of the only fey races that is allowed to live relatively undisturbed so long as they suit the needs of Izrador's minions. Many act as smugglers.

Halflings
The halflings of Eredane live in nomadic tribes that dwell on the open plains. There were once communities of halflings that subsisted on agriculture, but most of these have been wiped out by the minions of the Shadow. These are not the fat, soft halflings of other settings, though they are far from the savages of settings like Dark Sun.

Halfbreeds
As mentioned, humans and members of the fey races cannot breed true. It is possible for members of the fey races themselves to interbreed, and the following distinct bloodlines are a result of such unions: dwarrow, dworgs, and elflings.

Dwarrow are the offsring of dwarves and gnomes. Such pairings were once commonplace, but in the modern times have become rare. They tend to appear as stout, uncommonly strong gnomes, but they tend to lack the even temper and social graces of their gnomish kin.

Dworgs are the sad product of orcs and dwarves, often the result of orc warriors who rape dwarven women during raids. They are very rare, and are persecuted by both their dwarven and orcish parents. They are tragic characters, and for good reason. Do not choose this path lightly, if you choose it at all.

Last of all, elflings are a mixture of Danisil (Jungle) elves and halflings. They appear to be smaller versions of the Danisil, and their uniqueness is celebrated by both their halfling and elven kin.

OTHER FACTORS
Aside from character class and race, Midnight characters are each gifted with a heroic path. A heroic path, once chosen, never changes. Each grants unique abilities to a character as that character rises in level. Only PCs have heroic paths; without them, they would very well fall before the Shadow's minions with hardly a struggle.

Though I won't list or detail the heroic paths here, I did want to mention them. Heroic paths are often intrinsic to a character's concept, though they can also be used to maximize a character's abilities in one fashion or another.

ALL FOR NOW
So, for the time being, that's it. This information should give you some idea of what is and isn't available to PCs in the world of Midnight. If you have specific questions, let me know.

In the meantime, I suggest that you take the time to read the information that is available here. It is a bit of fiction which will introduce you to the world, and give you some idea of what you're getting yourself into.

The Books of Midnight

This is probably pretty silly, but I reckon I may as well do it anyway. I suppose it's possible that one or more of you might grow to like the Midnight setting and want to pick up some of the books in the series.


Midnight 2nd Edition (MN11)
This is the edition of Midnight that we're using. It differs in many respects from the original release, which was a D&D 3.0 product. The 2nd edition has been updated in several ways, and it incorporates a lot of new material (including feats and heroic paths that were originally presented in Against the Shadow). All in all, it's a pretty good stand-alone product. The support materials aren't strictly necessary. The down side is the high price tag: the book retails for $49.95. Still, you can pick it up on Amazon.com for $32.97.


Midnight 1st Edition (MN01)
For the sake of being complete, as well as to let everyone know what the cover looks like so that they don't pick this version up on accident, this is the 1st edition of the Midnight campaign setting. It has a lot of the critical setting information, but it's out of date as far as the rules are concerned.

If you've got the 2nd edition, then having the 1st edition on hand doesn't provide you much benefit.


Against the Shadow (MN02)
When this book was released, it was the Midnight player's guide. While some of the information in this release (notably, most of the heroic paths, feats, and setting-specific weapons) were incorporated into Midnight second edition, there are some bits that, for whatever reason, didn't survive the transition.

Overall, it's a good book, but not strictly necessary if you've got Midnight second edition on hand.


Crown of Shadow (MN03)
In the tradition of FFG's major campaign settings (or at least in regards to Midnight and Dawnforge), the company releases both a jumbo-sized "player's guide" (in this case, Against the Shadow, above) and a jumbo-sized adventure. Crown of Shadow is that adventure. Aside from some of the locations, it's not a scenario that I would run, but it does a good job of giving novice GMs and players who are new to the setting a series of games that introduces them to the lay of the land and the ways of its inhabitants.

It's certainly not a necessity for anyone to own Crown of Shadow, unless they're planning to collect the whole series.


Minions of the Shadow (MN04)
The monster book for the Midnight setting. It's not a bad book, but like most of the releases, it's not necessary for players to own it. While some of the monsters (and, indeed, some of the detailed NPCs) are interesting, I'm not entirely sure I'll be using much, if any, of the beasts that are included with the book.

I would've preferred more in the way of setting-specific fauna, myself. Supernatural critters and demons are all well and good, but they're not the only critters on the planet that are worthy of mention.


City of Shadow (MN05)
This is the visitor's guide to Theros Obsidia, which is Izrador's high temple on Aryth and the setting's version of Barad-Dur. This is probably the one place that player characters will never want to go, either willingly or in chains. They'd be better off cutting their own throats.

Overall, it's a good city sourcebook. I've seen some folks complain about it, since the city is heavily-garrisoned and will likely never be successfully attacked by a party of PCs. So what? I wouldn't mind seeing a group of characters go to the city in an attempt to perform some covert act at great peril. Hmmm...maybe you will...


Sorcery and Shadow (MN06)
Sorcery and Shadow is the sourcebook for channeler characters. It's got new spells, some new heroic paths, a PrC or two, and (of course) feats. I'm thinking that a good bit of this tome has been included in Midnight second edition, though I could be wrong. Not having done a side-by-side comparison of the two products, I can't be certain. Still, I think it's a good supplement for any player who wants to delve into the magic of Midnight.


Under the Shadow (MN07)
Under the Shadow is a sourcebook for Baden's Bluff, a so-called sanctuary against the Shadow. This isn't strictly true, as it's an occupied city, but the book gives a pretty good overview of the Bluff and its inhabitants. I guess the insurgency is in full swing, and the weakest of the Shadow's legates are often sent to Baden's Bluff so that they can be culled.


Forge of Shadow (MN08)
One of Eredane's most interesting settlements, at least to me, is Steel Hill. It was one of the places I'd keyed on when I first picked up the first edition of Midnight; for some reason, the idea resonated. It was once a mining town, but it fell to the Shadow and now it is a place where slaves are forced to work the mines in order to keep Izrador's war machine in full swing. Fairly tragic, in my opinion.

Forge of Shadow is a really good sourcebook, all about Steel Hill and its environs. No Midnight collections is complete without it.


Fury of Shadow (MN09)
Fury of Shadow is a big old boxed set that was released at Gen Con Indy '04. It's got an impressive sourcebook included with it that focuses on Erethor and the war between the elves and the orcs. But wait, there's more: a full-color GM screen, a poster-sized map of Eredane, character sheets, and a map folio.

It's a good supplement, but the $49.95 price tag is steep. There isn't a lot that would appeal to players here, unless they want to know more about the elves and the forests of Erethor.



Steel and Shadow (MN10)
This is the warrior's sourcebook for Midnight. It's got a lot of crunch to it, unsurprisingly. Feats, prestige classes, covenant items, weapons, and rules on the different fighting styles that are used by the different races. It's a good book, with some solid content. Players who enjoy their roles as warriors will find a lot to drool over.

A bit of trivia: I was originally offered a place working on this book, but I had to turn it down due to the world I was doing on Thieves' World. I was bummed, having to turn down work, but I've since made up for it.


Heart of Shadow (MN12)
Travel to the great white north, eh!

Well, not exactly. Heart of Shadow details the frozen Northern Marches of Eredane, as well as the orc tribes that call the place home. It's not a nice place to visit, not at all. Kind of like Mordor, only much colder. The book includes new PrCs, as well as some creature templates and rules on the evil and corrupting taint of Izrador. Players, beware!


Star and Shadow (MN13)
For anyone who wants to play a Sarcosan character, this is the supplement for you. It covers the history of the Sarcosan invasion of Eredane, and the subsequent unification of the Sarcosans and the Dorns. The society of the Sarcosans is detailed, as is the present state of the occupied southern lands. An interesting new addition are background classes, single-level character classes that define a character's initial experiences and roles in Sarcosan society.

This was the first Midnight project I did work on; Chapter 1 is my baby.


Hammer and Shadow (MN14)
Though it hasn't been released (at least, I don't think it has), Hammer and Shadow is all about the dwarves of Midnight. It's going to have good amounts of crunch and fluff, detailing the history of the dwarves, their current situation, and the forces that oppose them on a daily basis, Hammer and Shadow is a must-have for dwarven PCs.

This was my second Midnight supplement. I wrote the bits on dwarf culture and history, as well as introducing a few crunchy bits here and there.


So, that's the line...so far! I know there will be more, because I'm currently working on a new book for FFG: Legends of Shadow, which has been discussed on the Against the Shadow forums. The book details the epic-level heavy-hitters of the Midnight world, namely the Night Kings and their arch-enemy, Aradil. Meaty stuff, indeed!

So that's that.

Here Is Where It Begins

This is a web log for posting game details and the like. More will be posted at a later date, once we've got a player roster together.

System: D&D 3.5.
Setting: Midnight 2E.
Campaign Style: Both epic and gritty, with an emphasis on gritty.
Characters: Between 3rd and 5th level.
Schedule: Every other Saturday, 7pm – Midnight, starting in December.
Where: Gary's apartment.