THE FALL OF SWORDAINE CAMPAIGN
The Fall of Swordaine is a level 7-11 campaign (you can have up to 15,000 BP) for players in the Swordaine Arena game. It follows a group of gladiators who will explore the world of the Arena in more detail and come to realize just how fragile even the most powerful magic and economic systems in the world are. The apocalypse scenario presented here will challenge players to find ways not only to survive, but perhaps give hope for survival to others.
Arena vs. Campaign
Players should be wary that anything occurring in the campaign won't necessarily rob you of any rewards you have in the arena. Dying in the campaign is unfortunate but it doesn't cause you to lose any arena awards. You need downtime in an appropriate place in order to buy/sell/craft/repair equipment or retrain feats, features, or spells and you don't get free healing. Otherwise, things function just like in the arena.
What you already know about the arena...
The Grand Colosseum was founded nearly a century ago by the infamous warrior known as the Gladiator King. Arenas had become popular in his day and age but he rose up from a slave and earned his freedom as a gladiator and then proceeded to go into the military, rise through the ranks, marry into noble blood, go into politics and eventually earn the title of emperor. However, he is known as the Gladiator King because he founded the Grand Colosseum, the largest most sophisticated arena the world has ever known. He used it to create an unstoppable army and police force that whipped the Empire back into shape from declining ruin. Now, the Empire is thriving with an economic boom centered around the colosseum in Swordaine, more commonly known as the City of Swords or Colosseum City.
The colosseum may be the largest and most sophisticated arena ever seen, but not all gladiators here are criminals who've been enslaved for their crimes. Many have come to compete willingly to test their mettle, earn coin, prove their worth, train and study warfare, or just come to satisfy their own bloodlust...legally. Freely participating gladiators are often found hanging out in one of the taverns and inns that surround the area when not training or competing. One of the most infamous taverns is the Hungry Dragon, a tourist spot renowned for its bar fights, security team and the fact that it is the only tavern known to have hosted a barfight that the Gladiator King himself participated in.
The Grand Colosseum is not purely a place for competitive matches in the arena, but also serves as a military barracks and school for training in the many martial arts. Even mage academies and religious temples send their spellcasters and monks to train here for every purpose from medic to commander. Many areas of the colosseum are split up into various training schools, each with a different art of war to be taught. Some students enroll in multiple schools at a time and oddly enough this is encouraged by most instructors who are just as eager to learn new ways of war as they are to teach them. Many instructors were once gladiators in the arena, although most have retired their gladiatorial days in favor of teaching.
Public violence is not illegal if all involved in it consented (although proving this is difficult and controversial) and all damages are paid for. However, locals are warned not to disrupt tourism and to ensure that they personally know who they're beating senseless before they risk getting themselves arrested (the irony of this matter is not lost on the guards or the local riffraff but it is still enforced). Only the most brutal and sadistic crimes get someone enslaved in the arena, though the arena loves an excuse to take in more gladiators. They even accept prisoners from neighboring cities and countries, offering to take the cost of feeding and housing them off their hands. The people of Swordaine (aka Colosseum City) rarely pay more than menial taxes because the revenue from the arenas, training schools, free trade and confiscated possessions from slaves keeps the entire city wealthy.
HOUSE RULES FOR THE CAMPAIGN
To simplify gear, a few house ruled items are being included that will make it relatively easy to track non-combat gear.
Profession Kit
A profession kit is designed for a specific character class or profession that includes all the day-to-day tools of their trade. The kit itself is a box or duffel bag can include any item costing 3 gp or less and weighing 1 pound or less that is normally associated with the class or profession. It can be used only 25 times before it's expended. Whenever you need an item that fits these parameters, you simply reach into the kit and pull it out if it's appropriate for the profession. If the item's appropriateness for your profession is questionable, the GM can impose a 50% chance it's not in the kit when you do this. Ultimately, a GM decides if an item is appropriate, questionable, or inappropriate.
An advanced kit functions the same way but 15 gp and 3 lbs. and it grants you the benefits of a Masterwork tool.
A mobile station functions as an advanced kit but 50 gp and 10 lbs. You can spend 10 minutes setting up a mobile station allowing multiple people to use it at once and still only expending one charge for up to 5 using it simultaneously.
A magic box functions as a mobile station and a
bag of holding type I as well as a mobile station with unlimited uses. It doesn't require 10 minutes to set up if an item is being withdrawn, only if used for a group project or other projects that require time.
And instant tool allows you to perform any unopposed skill check (not targeting an unwilling creature) that would normally take more than one round but less than 10 minutes to do as a standard action. It also allows you to do any activity that would normally take 10 minutes or longer in half the time.
Bandoleers are kits that contain only 10 uses instead of 25. However, they weight half as much and are worn as a belt or bandoleer, allowing you to draw items out of it as quickly as unsheathing a weapon. Once per round, you can pull an item out of it as a swift action. If you store weapons in there, Quickdraw can apply. A magic box turned into a bandoleer does not adjust its weight.
| item name | gp cost | weight |
|---|
| class kit | 30 | 10.00 |
| advanced | 150 | 30.00 |
| mobile station | 500 | 100.00 |
| magic box | 5,000 | 30.00 |
| instant | +2,000 | +0 |
| bandoleer | +50 | 1/2 |
Examples:
Advanced Barbarian Kit: Contains a whetstone, chalk, survival knife, rope, grappling hook, bedroll, and other basic camping supplies.
Mobile Alchemist Station: Contains chalk, empty formula books, ink well, ink pen, and other writing supplies and alchemical items.
Mobile Wizard Station: Contains chalk, empty spellbooks, ink well, ink pen, and other writing supplies and cheap scrolls.
Skills, Everyone gets +4 more skill ranks per level than normal. You must spend 2 of these 4 ranks on Appraise, Craft, Handle Animal, Knowledge (engineering), Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (history)
Knowledge (nobility), Linguistics, Perform, Profession, and/or Sleight of Hand.
PROLOGUE
No one knows for certain how or why we're all here. Everyone has their own creation myths. Even the staunch scientists of the Iron Halls have theories which could easily fall in line with any creation myth. Fish rising from mud, turning into apes, and then into the many races of the world? It sounds even more silly than the gods weaving the world into being with threads. But who really knows? All we know is that the world came into being somehow. And somewhere, deep in the back of the mind of every living creature capable of rational thought, is the knowledge that this world, nay, every world, had a beginning and an origin somewhere, somehow, some way. And everything with a beginning...has an end...
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:17, Tue 05 Dec 2023.
