A Return to the One

Nearly a year ago, I left the country on sabbatical leave. It was a wonderful experience, but it did mean that I had to leave my D&D group behind.

Last month I was happy to learn that everyone wants to get back to the campaign we were running. 

I decided to put a recap together for everyone. It starts off fast, zipping past the details of early-level play. It gets a bit more detailed as we get closer to where we will pick back up. 

Thought it would be fun to share it here. 

Early Adventures

The initial party was formed in the city of Ames when Bam’ Pit, the head of The Silver Fern Thieving Guild, invited a group of Nyaran diaspora to join in a fight against the State Ozquo.

The party’s heroics helped many in the region: the thieving guild, a farming village that specializes in magic potatoes (at which point the party added another member), some Chuul herding Bullywugs, a nomadic tribe of scavenging Lizardfolk, and a settlement of Kuo-Toa who had become enthralled by a cult of a godlike entity named Vie-Nell.

The defeat of the cult of Vie-Nell earned the party many treasures, among which was a legendary Nyaran sword, the Flaa Shla Eet.

A Mission from Gods

This acquisition caught the attention of the funky gods who sent them on a mission to obtain the Flaa Shla Eet’s counterpart, a magical halberd called the Baa’Pagunn. A prophecy stated that when the weapons are both wielded by holy Nyaran warriors, those warriors will become the leaders of the Children of Production, magical warriors trained for years in solitude within their 36 enchanted chambers.  

From Dangerous Minds

The Baa’Pagunn had been held by monks of the Order of Doctofunkunstin, but it was stolen by corrupted soldiers from the nearby Kingdom of Mayfield. The kingdom had come under the control of Gore Tipper, a demon who was mining the material realm for souls and precious metals to fight a demonic war on another plane.

The party defeated Gore Tipper (adding another adventurer to their ranks) and earned the right to command the Children of Production.

However, when Gore Tipper left the material plane, Mayfield was left unprotected from the State Ozquo. The party ordered the Children of Production to set up a defense of the kingdom.

Building an Alliance

Based on a tip from Ames’ spies, the party ambushed and defeated Michael Bolton, an Ozquo officer sent to Mayfield to prep for a larger invasion.  Ozquo intended to take Mayfiled and then move on to invade the Northern Kingdoms of Hazell, Worrell, Wesley, Dameters, and Gappand.  

The party traveled to Gappand to share this intelligence in hopes of building a military alliance. Once there, the party was sent on an odd quest to restore a huge stone sickle to its place in the shrine of Ancalljam. When the party succeeded, an alliance was formed between Ames, Mayfield, and the Northern Kingdoms.

The alliance developed a plan to protect Mayfield and push the State Ozquo back to the Kingdom of Buurkrat – and perhaps even take Buurkrat back (thieving guilds had been sowing discord within that kingdom for months).

What’s Next

Members of the new alliance were trying to advise the party on what their role should be in the next stage of the struggle against the State Ozquo. A leader from Gappand named Ronnie suggested the party should try to infiltrate Untun, the capitol of the State Ozquo. He believes they can undermine the leadership from within while the armies fight for Mayfield and Buurkrat.

He was just about to tell the party more about the nature of Ozquo leadership when the evil wizard Constaap Aidid teleported into the shrine along with five horrible aberrations. As fighting broke out, Constaap grabbed Fig, the party’s paladin and wielder of the Baa’Pagunn. They both disappeared.

The party went on to defeat the aberrations without Fig.

What’s Up

We start tonight after that battle. The party is standing in the Shrine of Ancalljam with the following familiar characters nearby:

• Ronnie, a high elf Cleric who is a member of Gappand’s Motion Cast that sent them on the mission to reclaim the sickle and now thinks they should go to Untun
• Macio, the half-elf member of Gappand’s Conductor class
• Winwood, the neutral wizard who helped the party and just negotiated for membership in a thieving guild - but who also has a dodgy history
• Eartha, the tabaxi rouge from the Silver Fern who provided intel on Bolton
• A familiar half-orc from Ra’Burband who warned them about the deadly fogs – now revealed to secretly be a prominent member of the Blue Orchid. Her name is Baeslyne
• Jarmusch the head of the King’s Guard in Mayfield

Questions about cultural appropriation

 Before I ever started this campaign, I had questions about what it means to use ideas from other artists, particularly artists who are black.

I asked those questions here: https://hoganhayes.blogspot.com/2018/02/an-unresolved-argument-on-cultural.html?m=1

Messy Problems

One wonderful aspect of gameplay in D&D is the ability to create a problem with no clear solution and then throw it at players to see what happens. Sometimes the results are amazing. For example, in this game I’m DMing…

Some Backstory 

The party of heroes was called to adventure on The One Continent where gods like Dahc-Torf Unkenstein and Rumpov Steelskin rule over realms shaped by the powers of the funky, the staid, the tight, and the loose. 

The State Ozquo is a powerful staid empire to the south. Years ago, the empire’s forces flooded a valley that was the childhood home of the heroes. The Drowning killed thousands and seeded the heroes' need for revenge. 

When they were old enough to make a name for themselves, the party began to earn some renown just outside of The State Ozquo through a series of adventures... and some misadventures. Locals gave them the tongue-in-cheek nickname of “The Uncaged,” a reference to their capture and eventual escape from the forces of the State Ozquo. Over time, they gained a reputation as a bold, if sometimes rash, force for the funk.

The Challenge 

Stone Giant by Anders Johanson

On this day, the Uncaged were presenting evidence of The State Ozquo’s planned invasion of the Northern Kingdoms. They brought the evidence to the leaders of Gappand, a kingdom divided into three districts: Greenwood, Archer, and Pine. The people of this kingdom, who were descended from giants, were troubled by the evidence the heroes shared. They agreed to support a military response, but only if the Uncaged could prove themselves worthy. 

A Stone Giant Dreamwalker had made her home in a massive sea cave north of the kingdom. The dreamwalker was working constantly on an otherworldly sculpture for which she would wander about collecting large objects from the region to add to her work of art. The dreamwalker took what she pleased, a tree, a granary rooftop, a hedge, an out-of-use siege engine – anything. 

A few days before the Uncaged arrived in Gappand, the dreamwalker had entered the heart of the kingdom. She went to the Temple of Ancalljam – the god the kingdom worshipped above all others. She took a massive stone sickle out of the hand of the temple’s statue and brought it back to her sea cave. 

If the Uncaged could bring the sickle back to Gappand, the Kingdom would not only agree to send its troops to support an offensive against The State Ozquo, they would call on other Northern Kingdoms to do the same. 

The Players' Solution 

The Uncaged climbed down the sheer face of the sea cliff to find the dreamwalker in her cave hard at work on her sculpture. 

They could have attacked the giant. But they decided to try something else first.

The bard strummed a chord on a magic lute and started playing a song praising the sculpture’s beauty. The cleric monk cast a spell that gently shook the earth beneath everyone’s feet. The druid filled the cave with a light fog. The wizard crept forward and tried to help, but delivered a clumsy compliment that might have been mistaken for something else – so she turned herself invisible, hoping she hadn’t ruined the vibe. Meanwhile, the paladin and the rouge waited to see if things were going to devolve into violence. 

The dreamwalker was moved. She lifted up the bard in the palm of her hand and listened. Together they beheld the sculpture, and that’s when the song suggested a small change. The dreamwalker did not object. The bard cast a spell that magically lifted the sickle from the sculpture and moved it weightless to the floor where the invisible wizard could push it towards the mouth of the cave. The paladin took hold of it and prepared to climb with it back to the top of the sea cliff. As this happened, the bard caused all of the plants on the sculpture to grow flowers. Blossoms covered the work of art and filled the cave with the fragrance of spring. The druid transformed into an owl and screeched as it flew out of the cave. The dreamwalker, overcome by the power of what had just happened, wept and thanked the heroes for their inspiration. 

Roll Up

Rolling Up Characters

For characters rolling abilities, roll 4d6, drop the lowest die.

Players can assign the scores to the abilities they'd like in order to suit a specific class, or input them in the order they come out and pick a class based on that.

Background

All of the heroes are survivors of the Drowning of Nyara - an act of mass murder carried out by the State Ozquo.

One core motivation all the heroes share is a love for their former homeland. That love may be messy, but it drives many of the choices the heroes make.

Nyara was a multicultural kingdom with citizens of all races (not true of most other kingdoms). It was wealthy and egalitarian, an important trading partner, supportive of arts and culture from all the kingdoms, and famous for its cuisine and wine. The destruction of the kingdom was a harsh blow to most across the continent. The Drowning is viewed by many, even some within Ozquo, as an unforgivable atrocity.

Nyara supported a wide variety of professional classes. So, a player's class background may have started its development before the cataclysm.

It has been 10 years since the Drowning. In those ten years, the heroes have worked to become 1st level heroes in their classes.

There is some need for characters to hide their Nyarian roots. The Ozquo military are under orders to capture or kill survivors. There are, however, sympathetic people almost everywhere.

As players develop a background for their characters, they should address their reaction to the Drowning. Did it motivate their pursuit of a class specialization? Who do they hold responsible? Have they sworn revenge? Do they want to reestablish a Nyarian kingdom? Did they lose loved ones? Did they escape with anyone? Are they proud or ashamed of their roots? You get the idea.

Also, players should describe where/how they've been training during the last 10 years. Players can make up the people they trained with, and we'll work together to find a location for those people somewhere on the continent.

Before the Beginning

The One

Before there was nothing, there was The One, and it was nasty.

Star Child and Rumpov Steelskin swung down with The One. They brought with them the Funk and the Staid.

Funk pushes change and growth on all that inhabit The One.

The Staid holds change back and prevents the roof of The One from being torn off.

Dahc-Torf Unkenstein and Searnooz Deevoid soon followed. Both were of the Funk and favored by Star Child -- until Searnooz saw wisdom in the ways of Rumpov.

A revolution and a war of gods followed.

The battle gave rise to the other two forces that hold The One together. A force for those who sought a Tight order and a force for those who embraced a Loose coexistence.

This is how The One began, and everything is on The One.

The World as Our Adventure Begins

The State Ozquo

In the mountains to the south, a large empire has taken shape, The Imperial Lands of The State Ozquo. The capital of Ozquo is Morgauge, a port city controlled by a powerful religious group worshiping the Tight and Staid god Daprez.

The State Ozquo’s empire, run as a fundamentalist military regime devoted to order enforced through violence, has enveloped six kingdoms over the course of three generations. Despite the prevalence of magic in the world, Ozquo has put strict regulations in place on the use of magic and magic items.

The Drowning of Nyara

Ozquo’s military is responsible for the horrifying Drowning of Nyara.

Nyara was the kingdom that was once home to all of the heroes in this campaign.

Before the Drowning, Nyara was an ancient and powerful kingdom that was the seat of resistance to the empire’s growth. The Drowning of Nyara occurred after a long siege. A high ranking wizard from Ozquo broke an ancient enchantment, destroying a dam crafted with forgotten magic and burying the valley kingdom under fifty feet of water. Hundreds of thousands died and the most ancient and respected kingdom in the known world was lost.

The heroes in this campaign all escaped Nyara with their lives and little else.

Ames – The City of Theives

North of the Empire, the climate turns tropical. Swamps have slowed Ozquo’s expansion somewhat, but the effort was truly stalled by the empire’s attempts to bring the city of Ames into the fold.

Ames is the headquarters of the five Thieves Guilds. The city was cobbled together over the centuries because no other kingdom cared for the land where it sits. The city has no military and no central government. Guild leaders have made no effort to reject the Ozquo garrisons built outside of the city. For years, the soldiers posted there have attempted to collect taxes and enforce The State Ozquo’s laws. These efforts have been stymied, however, by near-nightly raids on the garrisons and stealthy ambushes on Ozquo patrols. Guild leaders have told a number of emissaries that this could be avoided if Ozquo officials would agree to pay one of the guilds the appropriate protection fees. The officials have responded by calling for more support and better weapons – many of which are stolen in route.

The six city states to the north, while reluctant to ally themselves with the City of Theives, have each expressed their gratitude for the way Ames has gone about slowing the expansion of the empire. This gratitude comes in a number of forms, but never in the form of military aid.

The Guilds and an Invitation 

The five Thieves Guilds each specialize in a different type of work.

• The Silver Fern is the newest. They steal from military outposts and convoys.
• The Red Lilly is the oldest. They work confidence schemes.
• The White Ivy is the wealthiest. They collect well-protected enchanted items and arcane secrets.
• The Yellow Rose is the most feared. They work robbery and muggings.
• The Blue Orchid is the largest. They work sleight of hand and pick pocket rings.

The adventure begins when the players respond to a summons from Baam Pit, the head of the Silver Fern guild. Each hero received a sealed personal invitation to be a guest of honor at a remembrance on the ten-year anniversary of The Drowning of Nyara. The Silver Fern is a young but influential guild, and the invitation from Pit is an unexpected honor.

The Gods of The One

The Gods of Loose Funk 

Star Child – The Mothership Connection

Domain: The Nasty

                Portfolio: Groove, Nasty, Nature

Star Child is the beginning of all things funky. More ancient than time, Star Child arrived in a world without groove. She set the world in motion with her hips, bringing groove to bear on all that was. The result is the world and its nasty ways.

Sirrlaal-Eepop – Keeper of Bimini Ro

Domain: Where the water meets the land

                Portfolio: Groove, Tricky

Known for his long hair and an ability to improve faults and shortcomings simply by the laying on of his funk, Sirrlaal teaches that the groove is life. Sirrlaal also serves as the Herald of Star Child.

Cosmic Slop – Knower of Wefunk

Domain: The forest

                Portfolio: Nasty, Flash Light

A formless force of the nasty, Cosmic Slop flows through all things funky. Being touched by the Cosmic Slop is associated with enlightenment and a wisdom that touches the depths of the universe.

Mist Urwigals – Ruler of Atlantis

Domain: The Ocean

                Portfolio: Nature, Real Eyes

Typically in the form of a gigantic worm, Mist is the memory of what was or will be. Capable of providing a bump by bump rundown of the history of all things funky, Mist grants intelligence and insight into the workings of the natural world.

The Gods of Tight Funk

Dahc-Torf Unkenstein – Healer of Funkadelica

Domain: Fire

                Portfolio: Groove, Light, Real Eyes

When Star Child saw the world was grooving, she called forth Dahc-Torf Unkenstein. While Star Child was able to start the groove, it was Dahc-Torf who could control it. With the rhythm from within, Dahc-Torf shaped all living things into being.  

Kiddfa N’kadelic – Don of Taeknomes

Domain: The battlefield

                Portfolio: War, Nasty

The strong arm of the funk, Kiddfa enforces that which regulates the universe with an ability to move the forces that maintain order. Those who understand the value of strategy pray to Kiddfa.

Ancalljam – Knower of Deyfunk

Domain: The storm

                Portfolio: Tempest, War

The source of Funk is the rhythm of change and conflict, and it is always on the One. Ancalljam is the energy drawn from the contradiction of holding the rhythm of conflict on the One.

Cea Cee – Constable of Villecacao

Domain: The cities of men

                Portfolio: Real Eyes, Tricky

They say Star Child had to trick stillness to bring groove into the universe. The idea of a trick was so powerful that it spawned Cee Cee, the goddess of chaos, joy, Real Eyes, and tricky.

 

The Gods of the Loose and Staid

Searnooz Deevoid – Heir of Snootonia

Domain: The void

                Portfolio: Stagnation, Real Eyes, War

Formally of Funk, Searnooz was cast away by Star Child after a failed revolution. Searnooz sensed chaos where others felt the funk and he foresaw an uncontrolled groove that would one day tear the roof off the whole of the world. So Searnooz turned against the funk and vowed to bring stagnation to all he touched.

Plaa-See Bosind-Rome – Pusher of Syndrome

Domain: The ill and the sickly

                Portfolio: Stagnation, Nature

Plaa-See is the slow stench of decay and the drain that pulls life away from the world. While all who know her fear her touch, there remains something irresistible about Plaa-See’s power. Many have been drawn away from the groove by her promises of a slow painless end.

Dold Rumms – Trickster of Dulldroms

Domain: The forest

                Portfolio: Darkness, Tricky

In the darkest corners of the forest, worshipers of Dold tell tale of how their withered god stole away Star Child’s youth during the Groove Rebellion. It is told, Dold convinced the goddess that the path to wonders is only visible to those who forsake the funk for drudgery.

Noa Larms – Czar of Foggine

Domain: The forge

                Portfolio: Light, Real Eyes

Noa is the ceaseless sound of a hammer on the anvil. His power over Real Eyes comes not from wisdom, but from unending toil. His efforts have uncovered much of what holds the groove in check.

The Gods of the Tight and Staid

Rumpov Steelskin – Drain of Vallblassom

Domain: The plains

                Portfolio: Stagnation, Light, Tricky

Ageless and unbending, Rumpov is Star Child’s twin brother. He longs for the unmoving that was, and brings his steely grip to bear on all he can reach.

Daprez Endent – Enforcer of Rok

Domain: The mountains

                Portfolio: War, Real Eyes

Order is the way of Daprez. With an efficiency that is mechanical in nature, Daprez oversees the Techdrones in an effort to bring all existence into a state of clockwork efficiency.

Thajoans Ez – Sultan of Doost

Domain: The desert

                Portfolio: Tricky, Tempest

Thajoans Ez does not see chaos in the storm. She sees the force that will break down all that exists into nothingness, into the stillness that was before the funk. Thajoans is the temptation that pushes those of the funk to pursue their worst impulses.

Mae Gatbrane – Don in Maad

Domain: The swamp

                Portfolio: Real Eyes, Nasty

Devouring its own mind time and time again throughout eternity, Mae Gatbrane is self defeat and the knowing that all is fruitless. Let the world turn and its forces push and pull, in the end all will decay and be consumed by Mae.                

The Portfolios of the gods

Where the influence of the gods is most powerful on the material plane and its echoes.

Groove

Groove is what gives life to all things. To be blessed with the Groove is to have health and vitality. This is the domain of healers and life givers.

Nasty

The force that holds all things is nasty. It is not pretty binding together all of the differences between people, beasts, monsters, the land, the sea, and the great beyond.

Nature

Nature holds the forces that bring chaos and order into a dance. The forces of nature are neither funky nor staid. They are the growth and decay. They are the wild and subdued.

Tricky

Is it the world we see, or is it what the world wants us to see? In the space between those two questions, you'll find it’s tricky.

Flash Light

The day and the flame shine brightly to tell the truest tales. Truth cannot be recognized without a Flash Light. This is the domain of those who protect honor and honesty.

Real Eyes

To Real Eyes is to know a thing and to understand the world it inhabits.

War

Since the time of the One and Stillness, there have always been conflicts and violence. War is where the greatest of differences get settled.

Tempest

The storm brings winds of change and yet leaves a path of broken stillness in its wake. The Tempest is Funk and Staid whipping through the world together.

Stagnation

When the Groove fades, Stagnation remains. The draining of vitality is Stagnation.

Darkness

The secrets of the world hide in shadows, caves, forests, and moonless nights. All who hope to keep those secrets will find themselves seeking Darkness. 

 

Moral Alignment in The One

Funky

Those who are Funky seek to bring diversity, complexity, and dynamism to the world. They embrace variety and the excitement of the new and unfamiliar. They are revolutionaries and agents of change. They want to see all the elements of the world bouncing off of one and other.

The Funky like to see different races work together. They do not shy away from conflict, but rather see it as a path towards new understandings. At their best, the Funky build multicultural kingdoms where the spirit of innovation and excitement is woven into every activity. At their worst, Funky beings put their energies into an unintelligible mess of well-meaning but fruitless half-finished endeavors that often lead to mass starvation and the eventual crumbling of society.

Staid

The unfunky, or the Staid, are a reaction to the potential shortcomings of Funk. They see their protection of the status quo as a way to hold on to the things of value that already exist in the world. They protect homogeneity, simplicity, and continuity. They value the established order. The Staid are guards against the unraveling of the world. They see value in uniformity and conforming to an established authority.

The Staid tend to settle among those of their own race. Conflicts are avoided if possible, but when that is not possible, conflicts are to be settled with the decisive force of a strong authority - the clearest and most recognized such authority being destructive violence. At their best, the Staid build kingdoms rooted in the knowledge and values preserved over the course of generations. At their worst, the Staid create homogeneous military empires bent on genocide and total submission to authority.

Tight

Those with a Tight view of the world believe everyone should fall in line with their beliefs about the tension between the Funk and the Staid. They believe there is one correct way to move the world and everyone needs to recognize that way and contribute to the effort. Those who do not join in that effort are a nuisance, an obstacle, or an enemy.

Loose

The Loose view of the world understands that the tension and play between different forces is a necessary part of the world. While others’ views may not align or agree with the views of the Loose, this does not make others immoral or wrong. Those with a Loose take on the world are not any less enthusiastic or genuine in their beliefs about Funky or Staid ideologies; they simply don't think others must share their beliefs.

Prelude to a Campaign

“The world moves on a woman’s hips

The world moves and it swivels and bops.”

- Talking Heads

Prelude to a Campaign

A while back, I decided to build a D&D pantheon based on the characters described in the music of Parliament and Funkadelic. 

As gods, characters like Star Child and Sir Nose DeVoid of Funk are cosmic in scope and have an agenda for mortals. They fit D&D so well that they made the project easy – at first.

As I worked on this pantheon, however, I realized that the traditional alignment chart won't work. While neutral can hold its place, the battle between the funky and the unfunky described in Parliament’s music doesn't fall into the familiar D&D clash of Good versus Evil.

Unfunky beings don't want to destroy life or cause suffering; they want to remove the unpredictability from life. The followers of Funk, on the other hand, are not protectors of life; they are the bringers of groove and soulfulness.

That changed both Good and Evil, which in turn changed Lawful and Chaotic. 

I found myself drawn to alignments that are sympathetic in moderation but troublesome when pushed to extremes. 

I enjoy the Good/Evil dichotomy of traditional D&D, but it does tend to create stale moral dilemmas and cardboard cutout villains.

I kept on world building, and now I have a group of five players who are willing to let me take this world for a spin. 

I aim to keep track of the process here.

I'm listening to Parliament's album Motor Booty Affair as I work out the story and encounters. It is an album all of us should revisit.