Campaign Primer

The Story So Far...

The kingdom is abuzz with the upcoming, First Annual Grand Tournament of Vessel, a prestigious event that's a continuation of the old, Decennial Ancian Games. It's to celebrate the welcoming of the Novaterian Nations into the Treaties officially! Attracting heroes, adventurers, and scholars from all over Vessel to come compete, learn, and commune around the Grand Tournament. Meanwhile, rumors are swirling about strange occurrences and the disappearance of ancient artifacts from various corners of the realm. Currently, Professor Sothvikh, Chairman of the Ancient Magical Secrets Club, has tasked some students with making sure nothing on campus goes too far sideways.

That's where all of you come in! Professor Sothvikh has asked you to help keep an eye on a new collection of artifacts recently borrowed from a Novaterian group for study. Whether you're an upperclassman who's just recently returned from your pracical adventure, an member of staff here at the school, or just visiting for the tournament, the Professor has asked for you along with a list of others. According to him, the relics to be guarded are ancient, belonging to an unknown deity that predates the modern Pantheon. The Novaterian Historical Society has entrusted him and his assistants (that's you!) to help uncover why similar artifacts have been stolen before, and what could come out of it. Whether you're helping uncover the secrets within or stop whatever's taking them, here you all are!

What now?

The campaign's going to be in Pathfinder 2e, which is honestly just easier than 5e in terms of getting a character together exactly how you want! It'll be mostly intrigue, trying to uncover a heist plot while also learning the ancient history of the world. I'm planning for the game to run closer to 70% roleplay, 10-20% puzzles, 10-20% combat, using a weird modified milestone system for leveling.

We'll use Pathbuilder to make and manage our characters until I can get the VTT up and running and import em from there! As far as what options to click when making a new character, choose "Outdated Feats, Heritages, and other Choices" and hit create. Then you'll want to open the menu, and find the "Character Options" thingy. Under Advanced Options, tick "Free Archetype," "Automatic Bonus Progression," and, "Gradual Ability Boost rules".

As far as what's allowed, pretty much anything! Whether you want your character to be a student at the school, a professor, general staff assistant, or just a famous outsider! You'll be a somewhat experienced character, we're starting at level 8, so have something in mind for how they got there!

If your character is a...

Student

You're likely a third or fourth year, and either just got back from a practical adventure where you went out and did something in the field or you've at least done that in the past! You've also more than likely got a group of friends, a favored professor, and maybe some rivals. I'd love to get from you just a brief little list of...

• The general gist of your practical!
• Important peoples in your life (existing party, rivals, mentors)
• Why'd you come here to the school?

Staff

Either Professor, Administrative Assistant, or Teaching Assistant, you're likely experienced in a more technical sense. You use your talents to help train and grow the generation of heroes! That, or, you're here for the boundless resources of study, sitting on the cutting edge of research in whatever field you might aim to master. Either way, you're a valued memeber of the staff! From you I'd like...

• What's your job and why?
• Important peoples in your life (coworkers, rivals, mentors)
• Why do you work on the staff side instead of going out in the world?

Stranger

Not student, nor staff? Well, Professor Sothvikh asked you to participate for a reason! You must have storied adventures, gone and done amazing things, or discovered something revolutionary! Experience with the eldritch occult, perhaps? Regardless, you've been summoned! There's easily a reason for you to be here!

• What was your last escapade?
• Important peoples in your life (contacts, other party members, enemies)
• How does Sothvikh know about you? (Doesn't have to be a personal thing, just a reason Sothvikh would thing to call on you.

Everyone, now!

While that's some character primers for your place in the setting before the game, based on who and what you are, there's still some other things too!! The way I'm handling leveling is through the "plot hooks" system, which is a little homebrew I've cooked up to really enhance that narrative experience. Once you've thought about and come up with your character idea, I'd like you to write 1-3 "Plot Hooks," or narrative goals you as a player would like your character to experience. Here's a few examples:

• [Hook 1:] a local spirit approaches Eris to help find peace after hearing of a great fortune teller, they want ask about someone the spirit cares for
• [Hook 2:] A merchant from his past runs into Eris again, and wants his help with a business deal, that'd somehow lead to betray the party
• [Hook 3:] Another fortune teller calls out Eris as a con, and Eris has to deal with either convincing them to shoosh or stop the claim from reaching farther out

For more information, see Dramatic Hooks. From there, we'll all move forward as a party, and as we "resolve" a plot hooks, we'll gain XP, at around 200-400 xp per plot hook, based on the complexity of everything that happened (Lots of smaller ones add up quicker than crazy long plots ;D Think like, half a session to a session in length). (Note! In PF2e, you level up every 1000 xp, instead of that weird scaling that 5e does!) Once a player resolves a plot hook, they get to pick a new one! I highly highly recommend tying them together~

Check out Sapient Species for more info on all the ancestries available!

Also click here to go to the world codex for more of the world info!