Campaign Notes

Mission Statement The Age of Worms campaign seeks to immerse the players in an exciting return to the "old school" way of playing Dungeons & Dragons. Emphasis on role-playing and story will drive the campaign while still maintaining a continuous opportunity for danger, combat and adversity. Character development, from the beginning of their careers, is vital, and the goal is to form a collective team with its own identity and desire to succeed. A complete shift in style of game play was chosen to bring new excitement to the game and shake off any "same ole' same ole'" feel. This campaign is an opportunity to learn the game in a new way while still using the rules each player has already grown accustomed to. Finally, by the end of this campaign, each player will receive a complete copy of the entire adventure, including the adventure itself, expansion notes, artwork, tokens, and all other custom material. This provides every player with a complete campaign, with which he is now intimately familiar, and all the tools necessary to run the whole thing as a Dungeon Master. The hope is for any player who leaves our group to take a love of the game with him and have the ability to found his own group wherever he goes and continue in the Dungeons & Dragons tradition. Adventure Path Age of Worms — This campaign will incorporate the entire Age of Worms series from Paizo Publishing. This series includes twelve separate adventures designed to function together. Each works as an Act in a grand uber-adventure that tells an epic story once completed. Forgotten Realms — The Age of Worms is not natively designed for Forgotten Realms but can be converted. The converted Age of Worms will be similar to, but not identical to the standard Age of Worms campaign. The game will take place entirely in the Realms, with lands and landmarks to which the players are accustomed. Surprises — Because the Age of Worms is a published adventure series, it is somewhat readily available to players in this campaign if they seek it out. However, because the adventure is being converted to the Realms and our number of players is greater than the number for which the adventure was written, there will be numerous necessary changes. Characters Non-Gestalt — This campaign will use the normal rules of one class level per character level. 1st-Level — All character will begin as 1st-level characters with one class level of their choice. Ability Scores — There are seven ability scores Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Luck. Players will roll 4d6 (discard the lowest of the four) seven times and arrange the results in any desired order among the seven ability scores. Players may choose to take the modified standard array of 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. Alignment — All alignments, except Evil, are allowed. Note that players selecting a Lawful Neutral or Neutral or Chaotic Neutral alignment are expected to play "neutral" intelligently, not mutually party- and self-destructive. Classes — The following classes are prohibited in this campaign: paladin of slaughter and paladin of tyranny. Hit Points — Characters receive maximum hit points per level; no dice are rolled. Homeland — With a well written character history, most any homeland can be selected; however, at least some characters should select Western Heartlands, The Sword Coast North, or Waterdeep, and Knowledge (local) in those areas could be helpful. Races — Because characters begin at 1st-level, there are no "expensive" races in this campaign initially. At the start of the campaign, only the following races are allowed: changeling, half-dwarf, half-elf, half-orc, hu-charad giant, human, illumian, lightfoot halfling, litorian, loresong faen, mojh, moon elf, quickling faen, rock gnome, shield dwarf, sibeccai, simian, strongheart halfling, verrik, whisper gnome, and wood elf. Daggerford — Regardless of where the characters are originally from, they are currently residents (and have been for at least some time) of the small town of Daggerford. Players are strongly encouraged to build characters who grew up in this town, or in this region at the very least (see Homeland above). Story and Continuity Character History — No character is considered complete until his character history is written. No incomplete characters can be played. Identity — The party will choose a name for itself, an emblem or standard, as well as a calling card. New Characters — New characters can only be introduced to replace slain or long-term removed characters, when a new player joins the group, or at the beginning of one of the twelve adventures. Choose your race, classes, feats, and other abilities very carefully! Progression No Experience Points — Unlike any Dungeons & Dragons game we've ever played, characters will not earn experience points! Each of the Age of Worms adventures is divided into separate parts. All characters will advance a level as these parts are completed. It does not matter how long it takes or how many encounters, character progression is tied directly to the story progression. GEMs — Because there are no experience points in this campaign, GEMs cannot be used to buy experience. GEMs do have other uses but will not allow a player to advance his character beyond current party level. Game Play Timed Rounds — In a real effort to allow every player more opportunities for action each game session, you will have a 2 minute time limit to initiate actions each round. If, at the end of two minutes, you have not committed to an action, you forfeit your action that round, and your character does nothing. If you delay, your 2 minutes are paused (not reset), and your timer picks up again when you end your delay. Pause — A huge portion of the Dungeons & Dragons experience is planning, timing, and finding a good way to recuperate. In this campaign, character "states" will not reset every game session. Gaming time will be continuous, with injuries, cast spells, and other "issues" carrying over from game to game. Resting, camping, and fleeing will be a vital portion of this campaign, and the party can no longer be saved by the bell. Of course, the same applies to opponents. With this new ruling, the party (and their enemies) can truly engage in wars of attrition.