Kardagin Keep & Player Information

[captaincrumbcake]

Anyone wishing to use the maps or setting of The Lost Lands  will likely do so running the rules system of their preference; I would hope this to be OD&D74 and perhaps the supplements; maybe some Holmes or even BX. But as I am laying down information regarding this as a campaign, I will also provide my notes and thoughts for consideration.

I PLAYERS & CHARACTERS

1. CLASSES: Fighting Man(including the Paladin, but heavily modified/and ranger), Dwarf, Elf, Hobbit, Healer*, Thief
a. HD are heavily modified for this campaign, as I will(would) use the "Dun Mark Supplement" document.
b. Alignment allowed is Lawful or Neutral.
2. MAGIC
a. The idea of a magic item is totally unknown at present. At least, by the common populations; only a few of the most senior or ruler types could possibly be in possession of 1 or 2 "things"...that they don't fully understand nor know how to employ.
b. Spell use/power has been removed from The Lands for over 2 millennium. Though clerical orders exist, they function far differently in The Lands than players will expect (this is explained below). Arcane magic-use (sorcery) has been banished for 2 millennium!!

* CONCERNING SPELLS & THEIR USE

Clergy in the Lost Lands are more alike to medieval priests during the time of the plague throughout western Europe. They have no actual spell powers, though they may still Turn undead(Note: this affects only undead with working minds--not zombies/skeletons.) The highest ranking clergy (per race) usually possesses clerical relics of the past; items found by expeditions, these empower them, thus allowing them to control all the monastic orders in their jurisprudence. Generally, clerics and their Orders maintain a low profile among the population, since the deities abandoned the peoples of the land two millennium ago. And while they themselves are not disrespected individually for the actions of their ancestor-predecessors, in social standing they rank just above magic-users, and beneath thieves!  

  Magic use and magic-users have been forbidden since the cataclysm. Anyone caught studying or practicing the black arts is punished by incarceration and often physical maiming to prevent future attempts to use the arcane powers. Those still practicing the dark arts do so in secret, and have created covens where they can meet and congregate to exchange knowledge among them-selves.

Healers are individuals knowledgeable in the medicinal means of repairing physical damage, restoring strength and vitality, vanquishing ailments (colds, coughs, fits, etc.) lancing boils, removing fevers, calming hysteria, cauterizing severed limbs, etc. More about them will following in future posts.

KARDAGIN KEEP (Just some thoughts)

Kardagin Keep is located in the northwestern reaches of the barony of Dun Mark. It stands as the first line of defense against invaders from the north and west. Originally nothing more than an outpost, in the years following the great cataclysm it was the first refuge for humans fleeing south to escape humanoid-monsters scouring the lands for food. Manned by former soldiers of the Great Kingdom, it has stood for two millennium under the command of an elected steward from among the military body residing within.
A bastion of Law, the citizenry accepts and swears fealty to the Baron of Dun Mark; currently, this is Lord Dunhill. And from the Keep, expeditions into the old-world lands for the purpose of retrieving/regaining lost artifacts and family heirlooms report all that is found/discovered to the baron-seat; keeping only a finder's fee in cases where family claims are upheld in court.
The Keep residents are fully self reliant, needing no outside assistance regarding basic needs. Certain families are more skilled in some areas (leather working, hunting, mining, cloth making, animal husbandry, etc.) but everyone has at least an apprentice level skill with repairing one's own foot wear, clothes, tools, weapons, etc.
The nearby hills to the west provide ample populations of animals for hunting; resulting also in the byproducts of successful kills. And several locations within the hills themselves are the source of mineral ores that are mined; from which the various metal tools, weapons and armor can be forged.

Milo Turin, Captain of Kardagin Keep. FM8 50 hp, plate armor + shield (AC2), sword (d6), move 60'/T Lawful
Nolan Styles, Lt. FM7 43 hp, plate armor + shield (AC2), sword (d6), move 60'/T Lawful
Lyman Camp, Jr. Lt. FM6 31 hp, plate armor + shield (AC2), hand-axe (d6), move 60'/T Lawful
Lars Bick, Sgt. Major FM5 24 hp, chain mail armor + shield (AC4), mace (d6), move 90'/T Lawful
Stone Giants x2, 9HD 46/40 hp, AC4, stone club (2d6), move 120'/T Neutral
Griffons x3, 7HD 36/34/32 hp, AC3, claw-claw/bite (d4-d4/2d8), move 120'(300' flying)/T Neutral
Men-at-arms x110 1HD 1-8 hp ea., leather armor + shield (AC6), Lt. Crossbow & hand-axe(d6 ea.), move 120'/T Neutral-Lawful
Armorer x3
Engineer
Healer*
Smith x3

[captaincrumbcake]

Healers are individuals with skills in treating those suffering from some type of physical damage. Since the OD&D rules employ the abstract concept of damage & life force represented as hit points, most of a Healer's skills revolve around this paradigm. It is a complex matter to determine how one's skills can actually do this, so the following class description keeps a simple approach.

HEALER, CLASS
LVL.     Exp. Points     d6 for HD     Abilities
1.                0                 1           Removes 1 day waiting period for 1 person/level; can cauterize-sew appendages*
2.          2500                 2            Doubles hp recovery for 1 person/level; reduce poison effects (see below)
3.          5000               3+1         Can cauterize-sew appendages**
4.        10000                 4           Minor Recovery possible.***
5.        20000               5+1         Triples hp recovery for 1 person/level.
6.        40000                 6           Recovery rate for 1 person/level is every day rather than every other!
7.        80000               7+1         Major Recovery possible.***
8.      160000                 8            Quadruples hp recovery for 1 person/level.
9.      320000               9+1         Quintuples hp recovery for 1 person/level

For each level above 9th, 1 hp is accrued for every 160,000 XP gained.

Healers are not restricted to or from the use of any particular type of armor or weapon. In some cases this makes the Healer a good 2nd line fighting man; for others that are more pacifistic, it allows them at least to defend themselves if necessary. Healers are Lawful by profession; though Healer characters can be Neutral. Both INT and WIS are Prime abilities, and scores above 12 net the Healer a combined % bonus to earned experience. While earning XP through treasure acquisition and monster slaying may seem un-connected, apply the following: in order for a Healer to advance upwards in his or her profession and skill the character must attend costly and time consuming studies. This instruction can only be received at a medical university, or from another Healer at least 4 levels above the character/candidate wishing to advance. The cost of such is equal to the XP accrued by the character to advance to the next level, and takes a # of months (3@ L1; 4@ L2; 5@ L3; 6@ L4; 7@ L8; 8@ L6; 9@ L7; 10@ L8; 11@ L9)cumulative to reach the top level of the profession (L10 Doctor) A total of 63 game months (5 and 1/4 years!)

Healing Wounds Volume 3 of the OD&D rules (The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures) describes this. Characters suffering from a loss of hit points must rest in order to restore them. Per the rules no hp are restored on the first day of complete rest; with but 1 being regained every other day thereafter! This is simply the healing process of one's own body. But the assistance of a Healer can accelerate this process as shown above. Note that wounds, in these cases, apply simply to hit points, which represent nothing more serious than minor cuts, bruises, small fractures and fatigue. Severed appendages cannot be regenerated, nor can destroyed organs. Broken bones (arm, leg, ribs) can be reset, but the healing process of these falls under "minor-major recovery".

Minor-Major Recovery/Broken Bones. Broken bones are those that can be reset/aligned and the victim's body treated with aid in the form of anti-toxins/bacterial elixirs to accelerate the repairing process. Pulverized bones are ones that have been essentially ground to dust within one's body by a tremendous force and are irreparable. Minor Recovery allows the victim of reset bones to lay-in-rest for 1 to 6 weeks in order for the bones to refuse and heal. During this time only limited physical action can be taken; and that only as long as it does not include the use of the recovering bone/s. Major Recovery takes 1 to 6 months.

Poison & Effects. With the correct medicines a Healer can reduce the effects of poison by diluting it within a victim's system. If treated immediately (within 1-3 rounds) this can occur at the bite location. If not done within this time, the Healer must concoct elixirs and broths laced with certain ingredients for the victim to imbibe. For each day spent resting (and doing nothing else!) the victim will regain 1 hp per day per hp lost due to poison, until all are fully recovered; stopping the process at any time will result in the victim never being able to recover those remaining hp lost due to poison, as the damage to internal structures has occurred.
Note: As volume 1 of the OD&D rules reveal, poison is an either-or effect: either the poison does full damage possible or half, if the character makes a Save throw against it. However, unless one is using the Greyhawk variable damage rules, the extent of this would be that poison does either 6 or 3 points of added damage. While this might be enough to result in the death of a beginning character, those above 3 hit dice worth of life will not be seriously threatened by such an attack, unless it occurs when the character is very low on hp at the time. Thus, to be added to the Re-imagined OED&D document is the following: a creature's poison attack is equal to its total HD(x6). Thus, a 1 HD monster would inject either 6 or 3 hp of poison damage with this attack, while a 5 HD monster would inject 30 or 15 hp of poison damage.

Severed Appendages. Characters losing small appendages *(fingers, toes, ears, nose) must have such wounds cauterized or sewn to stop leakage. In addition, treatment must be applied to the wound to prevent infection. A Healer can perform this procedure within 1 to 3 Turns with simple tools of the trade( 1 round per digit cauterizing, or 3 rounds sewing, with the remainder for treatment.) There is no limit to the number of times per day or persons allowed, other than the time necessary to do the job. Characters suffering from lost appendages will also lose 1 hit point per day from leakage until the wound is treated. The more serious loss of an appendage (hand or foot) requires more time (2-3 rounds for cauterizing, 6-24 for sewing, and a Turn for treatment. Losing a foot or hand immediately results in the additional loss of 1 hp; an arm or leg, 2 hp.
Note: the stump of a lost appendage can be tightly wrapped/bound, and tourniquets applied to slow the loss of blood. On small appendages (fingers and toes) there is no serious leakage to worry about, but with larger ones (as in a foot, hand, arm or leg) there cannot be a total stopping, as such could possibly result in additional damage; thus occasional releasing of bindings is necessary, at which point 1 hp will be lost while bandages are removed and replaced and bindings reapplied.

[captaincrumbcake]

More Information

Table of Communities & Populations

Location                   Population/Type  ALGN.     Ruler/Leader           Type         Resources
DUNMARK
Dun Mark                    2250/Human     L           Lord Dunhill            PAL9          Mining, Pelts, Timber
High Port                      650/Human     N           Sir Morton              FM7           Crabs, Fish, Pearls
Mid Port                       450/Human      L           Squire Thane          FM5           Fish, Salt, Squid
East Port                      550/Human     N           Sir Gordon              FM7           Whale oil
South Port                    350/Human     L           Squire Leeds           FM4           Albacore, Whale oil
South Guard                 750/Human     L           Sir Tartan               FM7           Mining, Timber
Kardagin Keep              675/mixed*   L/N          Milo Turin               FM8           Mining, Pelts, Timber

*672 human/3 stone giants

MINOTIA
Easter Isle                 2250/human    L/N          Admiral Easton        FM8
Taruba                      2750/human    L/N          Admiral Weston       FM8
North Isle                 2550/human     L/N          Admiral North          FM8
South Isle                 2450/human     L/N          Admiral Souter        FM8

TRACKLESS
TUNDRA             1350/barbarians N/C

ERELAND
Galen Muir                5500/Elf            L/N          Lady Fallon             PAL15
Down-shire               1250/hobbits       L
Up-shire                   1450/hobbits       L
Lee-shire                  1150/hobbits       L

ORLAND
Meadow                   3750/gnome       L/N
Grove                      2750/gnome       L/N
Hillock                     3250/gnome       L/N

URLAND
Rock-Home               675/dwarves        L


HUMANOIDS                            CREATURES[/b]                                                        MONSTERS[/b]
Trolls 1200                                     All normal animals, insects                                             Fantastic creatures such as Basilisk, Dragons,
Gnolls 2000                                    birds and reptiles fall into this                                         Vampires, Ghouls, etc., come under this category.
Ogres 1800                                    category.The numbers of each                                        The numbers of any given type should not be
Goblins 4000                                  population varies.                                                          casually determined.
Orcs 3000
Hobgoblins 2000
Bugbear 2000
Fire Giants 800
Hill Giants 800
Cloud Giants 200
Stone Giants 400

[captaincrumbcake]

Small update

Recently I've posted in the House Rules and Monster folders in the subforum (above this one), and one should conclude that what I described there would apply to the Lost Lands campaign world.

It should be pointed out that my treatment of Titans varies somewhat from that of E.G.G. in his own Greyhawk supplement. Which is as it should be; his world is not mine, and Greyhawk is not The Lost Lands. That being said, my take--if you will--on Titans included the use of clerical spells; albeit, in a limited fashion. But how could they have access to clerical spells, if the gods have abandoned humanity and its allies?

Well, a glance-back at the "Background" information I posted only tells part of the story. It certainly makes clear that humans and demi-humans that were worshippers of certain deities, and had certain clerical powers bestowed upon them, had them taken away. But it doesn't say that evil or monstrous beings (or creatures) had abandoned their worshippers! In fact, now that the gods of men are "gone," the barrier preventing evil from flourishing has been removed, and those evil entities that were, once, prohibited from enslaving man and his allies, are now let loose on the world. The only thing preventing any one evil demon from succeeding is the competetion it has with the others, wishing to do the same thing. There is no cooperation among demons! Sharing is not within them.

So it is that humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes and hobbits find themselves in a world that they must take back. And in doing so, their actions might...just might... please the gods, and bring favor upon them once again.