THE MOD ACCOUNT (noexitsmod) wrote in noexits, @ 2022-02-28 18:45:00 |
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On the seventh day at precisely 1:32 AM, the campus once more resets. Everyone trapped in the experiment falls unconscious (if not sleeping already) only to wake up sometime afterward in their assigned bed, in their assigned room, in a new dorm (!!) as…
An adventuring party? What is this knock off Lord of the Rings bullshit?
That’s right. This week you’re all waking up as elves, dwarves, gnomes, whatever this is, humans, half-humans-- dressed in fantasy garb with fantasy skills/powers, armor and weapons that will replace your old clothing, weapon and skills/powers.
Stay with me folks, I know you’re gunna have a lot of questions…
(But also have a pinterest board of D&D character designs.)
SETTING
THE FREE CITY OF IRKALLAIrkalla, the Ringed City of Treasure, grew slowly from the first adventurers who discovered the ruins at its center. Merchants appeared to sell supplies and food to those who had traveled there great distances. Holy men came to bless those on their way into the cursed place, bringing their temples with them. Naturally the brothels came next to profit off the treasure surviving adventurers brought out with them. And so on, and so on, until over generations a bustling metropolis had built itself around the ruins.
Irkalla is, essentially, the D&D version of a gold rush city.
DETAILS
- The western side of the city is generally poorer (but more affordable) than the eastern side of the city. Some of the districts can be quite dangerous at night.
- Outside the city is mostly prairie and farmlands. The farms can be easy targets for bandits and hungry beasts outside the protection of the city.
- Thieves Guild Territory: while the rest of the city is run by local government, thieves guild territory is like a small kingdom unto itself. Tread carefully on their turf. There’s an active black market here.
- Harbour District: is where the city meets the Okranos River, is a surprisingly inland port and hub of trade. Best place to find fresh produce and mundane supplies.
- Kitchen Sink: A mix of just about everything and everyone. Looking for something weird? If they don’t have it in Kitchen Sink, someone will know where to get it… for a price.
- Temple District: you’ll find temples and shrines to just about every god imaginable, as well as street preachers and witch doctors. No money? You can find a free meal and bed here, it probably won’t be the nicest.
- University District: is home to one of the greatest schools of arcane knowledge on the continent, Der Leth. It’s extremely exclusive. Also home to an excellent book store.
- Snob Nob: where the richest of rich live. There are lovely, well guarded estates as well as an exclusive gentleman’s club.
- Alchemy Row: Really not as exciting as the name suggests, but there’s a pretty decent Inn & Tavern head called “The Adjective Noun” run by a snarky former adventurer.
- Pearl District: If there were overpriced hipsters in D&D, this is where they’d shop, eat and live. It does have a nice arts scene and lively theater.
- The Wall: most walls exist outside a city or castle to protect it, this one is massive and protects the city from the ruins or anything that might come out from it. You must get a permit from the city to be granted permission to explore the ruins, and they take a cut of your findings assuming you come back alive. Or you find a guard to pay off and enter under the cover of darkness.
- The Barrens: It’s really more of a buffer zone between the city and the ruins, but nothing seems to grow or live here.
- The Labyrinth: Can be tricky to get through for a first timer. There are maps you can buy for a price, but most of them are bullshit. It’s like the Fire Swamp from The Princess Bride, dangerous but once you figure out the Labyrinth's tricks you can get through.
- The Ruins: Once a mighty Drow Empire, something befell the great kingdom and turned it to ruin. Details such as the kingdom’s name and its leaders have been wiped off the face of the Earth. The deeper down you go, the more dangerous it gets. The surface and safer levels of the ruins have been pretty cleanly picked over, however, so if you’re looking for treasure you’re going to have to take some risk.
WHERE IS THE CAMPUS?Let’s Howl’s Moving Castle this shit.
A new strange door appears just outside of the new Butler Hall between the dorm and The Green. The door is clearly magical, free standing and large enough to move a horse through, though seemingly attached to nothing. On the door is a dial, and the dial has eight symbols. Turn the dial to a specific symbol, and after a moment it will open up into an alley in one of the eight districts of town.
Be careful. If someone at Derleth changes the dial, the door will disappear from its current location, and reappear in another district corresponding to the symbol on the dial. So if you’re looking to make a fast getaway, better hope someone on campus can change the dial on the door for you!
On campus, it looks weird. It's clear you’re not in The Void, but the campus is in a magical extra dimensional space within Irkalla. When you look up at the sky, you see Irkalla’s sky. When you look past the campus grounds, however, there is a shimmering magical barrier, and on the other side of the barrier you can see the metropolis of Irkalla. Irkalla cannot see past the barrier and see or detect the campus. You’re in a protected space. (For now. This place has magic. Maybe don’t push the locals too far?)
Because your mod is super fucking extra, let’s say what the eight symbols are and what district they lead to.
🦪 = Pearl District | 🧪= Alchemy Row | 👃 = Snob Nob | 📙 = University District | 🙏 = Temple District | 🧮 = Kitchen Sink | ⚓️ = Harbour District | 🦝 = Thieves Guild Territory
MAGIC ITEMSIn addition to getting to play the race/class you want, your character can also pick up some magic items. During the week, have whatever magic items you want, it’s a temporary plot, I’m not super concerned. Your characters are all considered the same power level/skill level regardless. You may want to RP your character getting some of these items rather than just starting with them? I leave that up to you and what you think will be more fun.However, if you’d like your character to keep some of those cool magic items after the plot is over, you can spend up to 6 AC for a maximum of 3 magic items, one of each level or lower*. See this list of magic items here.
Again, this is per character, not per player. You do not have to pick up the max magic items, you can totally go with none! That’s totally up to you.
Common and uncommon items cost 1 AC**. Rare and very rare items cost 2 AC. Legendary and artifact items cost 3 AC. You must get your magic items approved and if they are too OP the mod reserves the right to tell you no.
If you want, you can also pitch or make up a magic item. The mod will get to approve of the item or tone it down, and also determine how much AC it costs.
(Please don’t make the mod cry or regret this.)
*One of each level or lower means you can have 1 low level item, 1 mid level, 1 high level item OR… 3 low level items… OR 1 low level item and 2 mid level items … You cannot spend 6 AC to get 2 high level items or three mid level items. Make sense?
**Included in common and uncommon items? Spells/spellbooks. If you want your magically inclined character to pick up or learn a few D&D spells after this plot, you need to spend AC on it.
WHAT TO DO THIS PLOTSlice of Life: Look, just because there are monsters and quests and magic doesn’t mean you have to go off on wild adventures. Maybe you just want to get a job tending bar for the week, take things easy, pretend life is normal for a hot minute, even if you’re a dwarf now. Derleth is weird enough.Mistaken Identity: your character can totally be mistaken for a local and dragged into a fight, politics, tending a shop, whatever your imagination comes up with. If you want to be mistaken for something like “the mayor” please talk to the mod first. Random local or renowned adventurer? You’re good to go.
Helping Hand: There are jobs out there for those willing to help. Bandits attacking those living outside the city, a constant recruitment of more city guard to protect Irkalla from the dangers of the ruins, strange monsters roving outside the city walls attracted to the power of the ruins? Ask around, there’s plenty of work.
Form An Adventuring Party: Anywhere from 3 - 9 of you can form a group to go explore the ruins. The mod will not be running a dozen D&D adventures this plot, but feel free to treat it like the quest for The White Lady during the Fillory Plot and run your own adventures as a group.
Der Leth University???: I’m going to be honest, I didn’t plan anything beyond “yep, there’s an AU Derleth on this world”. If you would like to pitch me a plot with this magic based Der Leth, hit me up!
MISC STUFFStarting gold: How much money does your character start out with in game? I leave that up to you. It could be fun RPing them broke and having to take jobs for money. Or, maybe you think that’s a pain in the ass. There are too many characters and players for me to really police this and it’s a temporary plot. Have fun.Mundane Supplies & Equipment: Your character will get to keep their fancy ren faire clothes, mundane armor and weapons, and any supplies you buy in town. Now is a good time to stock up on alcohol for the campus.
Potions: You can purchase, or find in your adventures, up to 500 GP worth of potions as part of your supplies. Any potion worth more than 500 GP will be considered a magic item worth a 1 AC slot due to its temporary nature. Use this list here to look at available potions and prices.
FAQDoes my character know who they are? Is this another AU thing?
Your character knows who they are. They just happen to be an elf or whatever this plot. This week is just meant to be some silly high fantasy lolz where you can pick up some cool magic items.I know you said we have to spend AC to keep magic items, but what about regular weapons, supplies or our super cool ren faire outfits?You can keep normal supplies, clothing and armor, although some of that may or may not fit depending on what race/size your character was that week. This is a good week to stock up on alcohol for the campus!What about animal companions? How much AC to keep a new pet or rideable mount?Small mundane animals like a dog are 1 AC. Large mundane rideable animals like a horse are 3 AC. Magical animals will be considered part of your magic items limitation and cost between 1 - 3 AC depending on what they do.My character is already a D&D character……Can I keep them the same?What level are our characters?I guess? But can you also have fun with it and mix things up?…What if they’re a race/class not on the list?You’ll have to spend an AC to keep them their same race/class because the mod is a bastard like that.…Any of the same gods from other D&D settings?They’ll likely go by other names with slightly different religious traditions on this world. So yes/no.So if you’re not a D&D player, don’t worry about “level”. Just know your character is an experienced badass that can take down monsters if they have enough friends to help. For those of you that play, go to crazy town and assume around level 15. Pretty heroic high level, but not god-like.Can I multiclass?I mean… again, this answer is for the D&D players, but sure? You just have to pay AC for any class not listed and multiclassing does not make your character any more powerful than anyone else.Do we need to worry about D&D stats?No. Let’s not get too into the weeds on rules here. If you really want to make a character sheet for your person, have fun. But honestly, you really, really don’t need to.But I don’t know anything about D&D.It’s really just a generic fantasy setting. If you’ve watched The Lord of the Rings movies, you know enough. If you want to watch some movies, shows, youtube videos? The Legend of Vox Machina is on Amazon Prime right now.My character had magic before this plot. Can they use spells from their original canon?When it comes to the game itself my favorite gem is an extremely low budget indy movie called The Gamers, which you can watch on youtube-- the campy cheese is delicious. While you can always watch a session of one of the popular D&D streaming shows, like Dimension 20 or Critical Role, you hopefully won’t feel the need to. I want to stress you do not need to know the game to play this silly high fantasy plot.
No. They can only use spells that their class has access to, which does require a willingness to read up on D&D magic and spells. If that’s way too much work, I suggest making your character a fighter with no magic this week?Okay, but let’s say I wanted an idea of what they could do?You could google “level 15 class/subclass character sheet” and get a generic one that will give you an idea of the spells. However, a character sheet will have TMI and it might not have the information about the race you picked if it defaults to human. Don’t feel like you have to do this, however.Do we have memories of being a D&D person?I have had you guys come up with so many AU versions of your characters, plus you’re coming up with a new race and class, I don’t want to overwhelm you. Lol. This is mostly a fish out of water plot where your characters find yourself as D&D characters. Don’t worry about an AU background.Can I canon puncture D&D the game?No, but feel free to come up with a generic game name with similar tropes if your character is the type of person to make those kinds of references.Okay, so some of these races are pretty unusual. Are there any races which might draw negative attention to themselves?Goblins for sure. Goblins have a pretty terrible reputation, so if you're playing one of those, expect to be treated poorly. Tieflings also experience some prejudice due to their demonic lineage, though not nearly as bad as a goblin would.