Email 6-8-2006
Hi,
First of all sorry for the number and size of the attachments.
Luckily I got very positive reactions from most of you, so I consider this as a go on Midnight.
First of all a request, I know it is very tempting to go out on the web and try to find stuff about Midnight. However, for now I ask you not to do this. Midnight itself is for a large part based on a constant threat of the unknown, a bit of paranoia and ignorance. I have created from the official campaign guide something I call a player handbook which I edited to contain more or less the information the average human would know of this world and what you need for character creation. Keep your information with the stuff I get you. Depending on your character class and background I might offer more specific info the other players don't know. When we have become more familiar with the setting and played some adventures you can of course have a look at the other stuff.
Secondly about a party and character backgrounds. As you might understand the world of Midnight is not a meet-in-tavern-and-go-out-dungeon-delving type of world. Any band of travellers, especially insurgents/rebels/opposers-to-the-darklord, would have reason to be where they are and confidence, if not trust, in each other. This means your backgrounds would need to be in line with a party concept/background. Play will start at the capitol of Erenland, Alvedara, or it's surroundings. This is a really big city which draws in crowds (read slaves/orcs/legates) from all the conquered lands. If you are not native to the city (Sarcosans or the Erenlander) you are most likely to serve there as a slave.
Besides the background it is also advisable to have a balanced party, and to know in advance the risks you are going to take. A defender is less at risk than a fighter (the defender can go around unarmed and thus doesn't break the law of the shadow). A fighter on the other hand is less at risk than a chaneler, since carrying weapons is "only" punishable by enslavement while the casting of magic means death (usually without a mock trial). So it is important to consult with each other for a certain amount of "risk management". Midnight offers some unique possibilities which used in combination with other players offer a real advantage. Thijs mentioned the Spellsoul heroic path which offers a player spellpower to magic users without being a magic user himself. Equally the Tactician can offer assistance in combat to other players etc. I included a character sheet I found on the web designed for use with Midnight.
Third, I created the blog you are currently reading. As soon as you create an account send me an email and I will add you to the member list. Only members can add comments and posts. The blog itself is open to the public so be careful not to post emailaddresses and personal information. I asked Leendert to keep a diary at this blog so we can keep our act together and discuss the ongoing campaign
Fourth, about a date. Leendert, Magdalena and I were planning for next weekend anyways since last week was Leenderts birthday. Thijs wants to come too but has an appointment either on saturday or sunday. Since I have no plans for the entire weekend I don't care to do character creation either sunday or saturday. I would like to have a bit of time so maybe agreeing on the early afternoon would be best so we could continue into the evening. It is a bit up to you people when and at what time we'll play. Location is always at Leendert and Magdalena's place since they have a kid :).
So far I have not heard anything of Alex, please let me know if you want to join or not. I will try to call you again sometime next week.
Fifth, besides a first level character I'd like you to create an "npc" version of yourself based on the DMG rules for NPC classes. Depending on your background you may belong to the aristocrat, commoner or warrior NPC class. Slaves and peasants also belong to the commoner class. You get only 1 NPC classlevel. I'd like the first one or two sessions to play as average citizens just to experience what life in Midnight is like for the weak. During those sessions we can tune out differences in backgrounds to become a party. We could end up for example as an aristocratic household, a band of peasants from the outlying hamlets, a group of slaves brought together in servitude of a master or any combination. Depending on the background the party chooses next weekend, I will write the first one or two sessions.
Sixth, important in Midnight is the fact that there is no working economy. There is very little use for gold pieces (you can't eat them) and everything works around barter trade. Weapons, armour, arrowheads and the like are illegal to posses and create and other equipment like lampoil or food is simply very hard to get. In other campaigns I have always assumed you automatically restock on torches, oil, arrows/ammo, food and stuff. Not so in Midnight, I truly want you to keep good track of your possessions and the state of maintenance of your equipment. It might be wise to look for ways to produce/create barter goods in order to replenish you stock.
Finally, Leendert I have attached the highest resolution midnight campaign map (which is not really a high resolution file to begin with). Could you have a try at work to plot this thing at a reasonable scale? If not, nevermind, I just thought it would be cool to have anything like a map.
Let's get things on the road again
Gertjan
First of all sorry for the number and size of the attachments.
Luckily I got very positive reactions from most of you, so I consider this as a go on Midnight.
First of all a request, I know it is very tempting to go out on the web and try to find stuff about Midnight. However, for now I ask you not to do this. Midnight itself is for a large part based on a constant threat of the unknown, a bit of paranoia and ignorance. I have created from the official campaign guide something I call a player handbook which I edited to contain more or less the information the average human would know of this world and what you need for character creation. Keep your information with the stuff I get you. Depending on your character class and background I might offer more specific info the other players don't know. When we have become more familiar with the setting and played some adventures you can of course have a look at the other stuff.
Secondly about a party and character backgrounds. As you might understand the world of Midnight is not a meet-in-tavern-and-go-out-dungeon-delving type of world. Any band of travellers, especially insurgents/rebels/opposers-to-the-darklord, would have reason to be where they are and confidence, if not trust, in each other. This means your backgrounds would need to be in line with a party concept/background. Play will start at the capitol of Erenland, Alvedara, or it's surroundings. This is a really big city which draws in crowds (read slaves/orcs/legates) from all the conquered lands. If you are not native to the city (Sarcosans or the Erenlander) you are most likely to serve there as a slave.
Besides the background it is also advisable to have a balanced party, and to know in advance the risks you are going to take. A defender is less at risk than a fighter (the defender can go around unarmed and thus doesn't break the law of the shadow). A fighter on the other hand is less at risk than a chaneler, since carrying weapons is "only" punishable by enslavement while the casting of magic means death (usually without a mock trial). So it is important to consult with each other for a certain amount of "risk management". Midnight offers some unique possibilities which used in combination with other players offer a real advantage. Thijs mentioned the Spellsoul heroic path which offers a player spellpower to magic users without being a magic user himself. Equally the Tactician can offer assistance in combat to other players etc. I included a character sheet I found on the web designed for use with Midnight.
Third, I created the blog you are currently reading. As soon as you create an account send me an email and I will add you to the member list. Only members can add comments and posts. The blog itself is open to the public so be careful not to post emailaddresses and personal information. I asked Leendert to keep a diary at this blog so we can keep our act together and discuss the ongoing campaign
Fourth, about a date. Leendert, Magdalena and I were planning for next weekend anyways since last week was Leenderts birthday. Thijs wants to come too but has an appointment either on saturday or sunday. Since I have no plans for the entire weekend I don't care to do character creation either sunday or saturday. I would like to have a bit of time so maybe agreeing on the early afternoon would be best so we could continue into the evening. It is a bit up to you people when and at what time we'll play. Location is always at Leendert and Magdalena's place since they have a kid :).
So far I have not heard anything of Alex, please let me know if you want to join or not. I will try to call you again sometime next week.
Fifth, besides a first level character I'd like you to create an "npc" version of yourself based on the DMG rules for NPC classes. Depending on your background you may belong to the aristocrat, commoner or warrior NPC class. Slaves and peasants also belong to the commoner class. You get only 1 NPC classlevel. I'd like the first one or two sessions to play as average citizens just to experience what life in Midnight is like for the weak. During those sessions we can tune out differences in backgrounds to become a party. We could end up for example as an aristocratic household, a band of peasants from the outlying hamlets, a group of slaves brought together in servitude of a master or any combination. Depending on the background the party chooses next weekend, I will write the first one or two sessions.
Sixth, important in Midnight is the fact that there is no working economy. There is very little use for gold pieces (you can't eat them) and everything works around barter trade. Weapons, armour, arrowheads and the like are illegal to posses and create and other equipment like lampoil or food is simply very hard to get. In other campaigns I have always assumed you automatically restock on torches, oil, arrows/ammo, food and stuff. Not so in Midnight, I truly want you to keep good track of your possessions and the state of maintenance of your equipment. It might be wise to look for ways to produce/create barter goods in order to replenish you stock.
Finally, Leendert I have attached the highest resolution midnight campaign map (which is not really a high resolution file to begin with). Could you have a try at work to plot this thing at a reasonable scale? If not, nevermind, I just thought it would be cool to have anything like a map.
Let's get things on the road again
Gertjan
posted by Gertjan at 4:01 PM
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