Introduction
It was August of 2018 when the Conjunction of Planes campaign kicked off, and to date we have played over 100 sessions. During that time, we lost a player, gained a player, went from playing face-to-face to playing online due to a pandemic and because two of our players moved countries.
The campaign is one of heroic fantasy and is set in a homebrewed world, but takes a lot of inspiration from other popular games and media. This hopefully provides a lot of recognisable elements and tropes. There is yet to be developed, which leaves room for collaborative, emergent storytelling and worldbuilding. The goal is to provide a living world sandbox in which the players can engage with any number of storylines, and ignore the ones they are not interested in. The world evolves as the players complete quests, as the players ignore quests, and as the players make decisions during quests.
Character backgrounds are woven into the story, and there is an overarching narrative, which by this point is relatively well established, which the characters get to influence and engage with.
Conjunction of Planes
Synopsis
The story takes place on the continent of the Verdant Kingdoms, primarily in the queendom of Lyria.
After aeons of a low tide of magic, known as the Great Waning, the tide of magic is turning and its potency is swelling. With the increasing flow of magic, the fabric between the material planes of the Ethereal Mist, and the other planes – the outer planes that drift in the Astral Sea and the inner planes that exist in the Elemental Chaos – becomes thin.
The armies that wage the eternal Blood War, those of Order and Chaos, spill over into the material planes. The demonic armies of Chaos seek to devour and destroy anything they can find, while the celestial and infernal armies of Order seek to stop them. The celestials demand obedience, while the infernals seek to recruit through corruption. And the people of the Verdant Kingdoms are caught between these three forces.
When the Blood War comes to the Verdant Kingdoms, it is known as an Age of Fear. The last one was aeons ago, and the next one seems to be coming faster than expected. Whether the continent, and the queendom of Lyria, is ready to fend for itself remains to be seen.
The heroes have discovered that the tide of magic has turned and that the first incursions from beyond are being prepared. They are piecing together information on what can be expected, and how the Verdant Kingdoms survived the previous Age of Fear. The Silver Crusade, a collaboration of knightly orders, guided by the mysterious Senhadrim, was instrumental to the survival of man and the elder races. They left behind knowledge locked away in hidden libraries, and powerful artefacts in secret armouries, and the heroes are trying to secure them before the agents of the opposition do.
The Verdant Kingdoms, in the meantime, seem concerned with politics and commerce, and the heroes are desperate to find a way to galvanise them into preparing for the next Age of Fear. Or better yet, find a way to prevent an Age of Fear by collecting a set of artefacts which will help to restore the Seal of Divine Animus, which protects the planes in the Ethereal Mist from the onslaught of the Astral Sea and Elemental Chaos.
More information can be found here:
Characters
Central to the campaign has been a company of characters who have gone from naïve beginners to experienced adventurers. They started out being hired be a local nobleman to investigate a blocked, underground water supply, but have since gone on many adventures. They found a missing wizard, liberated ancient crusaders who were cursed to relive the same defeat over and over again, helped cure the queen of a mysterious ailment by travelling deep into the swamps of Eastmarsh, bargaining with three ancient crones and confronting a dragon. At the time of writing, they are set to confront a mysterious creature, living deep within the ancient waterways of Kingsport, who has been deviously manipulating people and events for a very long time.
In that time the heroes have become known as the Heroes of the White Eye, and the Champions of the Lyrian Throne. These are your adventurers:
Astrid
A fierce warrior from Hellmark whose goals seem fairly straight forward; she wants to buy a ship. It’s not entirely clear what she will use that ship for, since she doesn’t really talk about her thoughts, feelings or ambitions, and for now her companions have decided to give her the space.
Emma
A thoughtful and observant priestess of Sedna, the Lady of Lakes, who grew up in isolation, making her a little world weary, but also taught her how to observe people. Over time, faced with the revelations of the Conjunction, she felt she should return to leading her flock. She has remained a valuable ally to the adventurers.
Emrys
A young, half-elf sorcerer hailing from a small tribe of aen adhar, or moon elves, in the Riverlands, Emrys grew up in a magi-religious cult. That, coupled with his unpredictable and often tempestuous magic, lead to some incidents that made him escape out into the wide world. He has adopted a frivolous and good natured attitude, and he likes to play music to entertain people.
James
A young, half-elf who grew up on the streets of Kingsport learning the tricks of the trade from ruffians, pickpockets and con-artists, James had a difficult childhood being raised among whores and ruffians as the bastard son to an immigrant who sold her body for silver stags. Possessing a quick wit and even quicker hands, he brings a sense of practicality and a strong desire to protect the people he cares for.
Luca
Coming from a humble beginning as the son of pig farmers, Luca’s been gifted with an incredibly strong intellect which started him off craving knowledge from a really early age. Touched by a mysterious patron who guided the young warlock on his quest for knowledge and understanding, Luca is now coming to terms with the existential horror that the Conjunction will unleash upon the Verdant Kingdoms.
Quentin
The only member of the group who was born into a noble family, Quentin tends to have a different outlook on things than the others. He can be naïve to the hardships of life, but also have a better understanding of the politics of nobility. He grew up in Beauclair, a neighbouring kingdom to Lyria, and strongly believes in the chivalric virtues. He is trying to find out where he fits in the world.
More information can be found here:
Theme
The theme of the campaign is that unity and collaboration, altruism and generosity, friendship and love, win out against the overwhelming existential horror that lays behind the Ethereal Mist. Acts of self-interest – anyone prioritising their benefit over the benefit of another, be that a person, organisation or kingdom – lead to discord, which in turn leads to discontent, which in turn leads to fractured loyalties and corruption. United we stand, divided we fall.
Inspiration
This campaign has been heavily inspired by many things;
- Nobility and politics: Game of Thrones
- Cosmology: 3rd and 4th editions of D&D
- Knightly orders: Dragonlance
- The three moons and their mechanics: Dragonlance
- Modernity of cities vs superstition of the countryside: The Witcher
- The Conjunction of Planes: The Witcher
- The Blood War: Diablo, D&D, In Nomine, Warhammer
(There are more things that I have taken inspiration from, but these are elements that have not been unveiled yet.)
Etiquette and Expectations
I have drafted a Role-playing Manifesto when we first started this campaign. I think it is still a reasonably accurate document that represents the agreement we made when we started. Having said that, it was something we agreed to while we had already been playing with one another for a long time, and so we had a good understanding on what to expect.
We tend to take our games seriously and we don’t shy away from difficult topics. There is space for levity and comedy, and we try not to over-indulge too much in some of the darker narrative elements that might come up. If there is anything that is off-limits for a player, we expect them to indicate that themselves, and do it in a timely fashion so that we don’t stumble upon something unpleasant. The goal is to enjoy ourselves and engage in collaborative storytelling that is rewarding for everyone.
It is also expected that you develop your character to be a believable character, bound and driven by a consistent internal logic. That character is expected to want things that go beyond kicking down doors, defeating the monster and getting the treasure. And as time goes by, your character is also expected to evolve, learn and understand themselves, their place in the world, and their relationships to the other players, better.
None of these things have to be immediately clear from day one, but leaving it to develop for too long and a character tends to be unmoored, aloof and has a hard time engaging with the world and with others.
