Tides of Revolution, an introduction

This page is meant as an introduction for new players in my ongoing Dungeons & Dragons 5e campaign "Tides of Revolution, 61 PB". The information on this page decribes meta material and may not all be factual to the setting as a whole.

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Welcome, fellow fellow, amids the merry adventure that is Tides of Revolution. On this page I, your DM, will explain some of the basic lore of the campaign and some gametechnical thingies so that you can go on and create your character.

Campaign Lore

Welcome to Bočechnia

For more on Bočechnia, see Grand Duchy of Bočechnia

Eight Duchies, one Grand Duke, such is the nation of Bočechnia, a nation in the North-Eastern part of West-Argo loosely based upon Eastern Europe in the late 16th and early 17th century. It is a nation that is plagued by wars ever since their independence from the dwarves of the Grand Knyzate of Unrunkhar to the south-east about 6 years before the start of the campaign.

A brief political background

Bočechnia used to be a vassal state to the enourmous landlocked dwarven empire of Urunkhar to the south, until a brief independance war fought the nations of Bočechnia free. To guarantee their independance, the Duke of Bočopolta, the most central and richest state of the Bočechnian people, bestowed the title of "Grand-Duke" upon himself, reigning over all the other duchies. Officialy only in militairy matters, but in practice under a call of "emergency powers until a constitution has been written" the title of Grand-Duke has been inviting greed and power-abuse to everyone that held it since. In 6 years, 5 people have held the title of various duchies across Bočechnia, all 4 before the current one murdered by an oposing faction, all 4 becoming more tyrannical and iron-fisted then the last one, driving the nation in one form or another in a seemingly eternal carousel of tensions, raids and war, combine this with deep rooted regional tribalism and racism against the "lesser races" (basically anyone who is no human, dwarf or eldar) and the result is one of the most politically unstable entities on the continent.

The campaign focuses in particular on the area of Nikeldaria. An thickly forested area on in the East of the country. The area has historically been inhabited by mostly Eldar, the last remainders of the old Elven civilisation that ruled the world more then 4000 years ago, although bordering mostly humans and with the remainders of an old dwarven colonial power present, humans and dwarves are also prevelent natives to the region. Due to it's historic multiculturality, the region also "enjoys" the company of more of the "lesser races" then in the rest of Bočechnia. Goblins, Orcs and other rough folk seemingly feeling themselves more welcome in an area where the often oppressive humans are a minority themselves.

Religious unrest and the Tsorganist Uprising

Religion has mostly been a free matter in Bočechnia. Under the dwarves of Unrunkhar most of the country, especially the south, followed the Urunkharian Church of Cherbor, which is a polytheist religion heavily based upon classic slavic paganism.

To the east another polytheistic faith reigns suppreme over the minds of it's people. Where the mighty Kingdom of Vexan rules the land. It's pantheon is a huge mess at the moment, but it is one with numerous amounts of gods in independant hiararchies, connected only through the mediatary power of the Temple of Corellon, which serves as a sort of diplomatic office between the wants of the people and the internal struggles of divine politics.

Yet a new religion has been swept in, which is a major part of this campaign and the one many will have a lot to do with. The Tsorgan Faith, officially called the "Khoozon Ezen", are a religion that came together with an exodus from the far south a few years ago. This movement, led by a native Bočechnian called Apostle Karlovič has been sweeping the Duchy of Nikeldaria, quick religious revolution leading to the instatement of a functional theocracy in the area called the Apostolate of Nikeldar Khozargo, with Karlovič being proclaimed suppreme leader under the mysterious "Prophet Üneniizönch", someone who is assumed to still be in the south. The religion focuses on the belief that the supreme creator creatures, the Ezen. Are planning to unmake the world soon, only saving those who join their faith and become "Khoslim" before the world is destroyed in purifying light, returning the world to paradise. As they believe that this goal of reaching as many people is more inportant then the authority of the Bočechnian Church of Cherbor and the Grand-Duke, Nikeldaria is in open rebellion against the tyrant, with the result that many opponent of the Grand-Duke and his reign of terror unite under the flag of this strange Apostle to form a fist against tyranny.

Note that outside the larger religions, West-Argo is a place where fae creatures and minor deities fill the world, in such numbers even that if you have the idea for something unique, there is a large chance that something fitting the discription of what you have in mind already exists out there. If you have a unique idea, just notify me of it and we can work something out.

Houserules

I use some houserules, in game and for character creation, to take notice of before creating a character.

Items

When creating a character, I do allow using starting money to buy ones own equipment. Although I disallow buying magical items from start, as they are by definition rare in West-Argo, as the arcane knowledge to create them is scarce in not known to many.

Firearms

Firearms are on the rise, becoming more and more prevelent. Currently the flintlock is prevalent, with caplock rifles being the newest generation of firearms commonly available. Although those still are expensive, ammunition is where the real pricetag is, with shots costing up to 5gp for each shot. I use completely homebrewed firearms for my campaigns, with much higher damage outputs, but also much longer reload times.

The Spear

Simple enough, the spear is underpowered in 5e. In honour of the most popular weapon in all of human history, I buffed it's damage to 1d8/1d10, making it finally a viable option to pick.

Other

As a rule of thumb, I allow all official WotC Material and MOST of all UA Material, but only if it was released at the time of Tasha's Cauldron or before. But if you wish to use any UA material, please run it past me beforehand.

Disunited Bočechnia

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The different ethnical regions of Bočechnia.

Making a Character

Motivation

The religious upheaval in Nikeldaria and their fight against the Grand-Duke tyrant and those loyal to him is the main plot point of the campaign, yet offcourse there can be many reasons why one would land in this situation. Maybe you are just a commoner in need of money, or you lost a loved one to the Grand-Duke's tyrannical rule. Or maybe you follow a patron fae, who just wishes for blood, not caring from whom it may be. As long as your motivation includes a reason why this revolutionairy movement might be of use to your character, you're good.

Playable Races

West-Argo is a continent with a unique lore and geography, therefore some races that might be very normal to see in other campaigns are not playable here, or only with certain conditions. Elves, Halfelves

High elves, in West-Argo just called Elves, are extinct ever since a great unholy plague struck them 3000 years ago, the few colonies of survivors over the thousands of years changed with increasing interminglement with humans into half-elves, in West-Argo called Eldar. It is not possible as such to play high elves, although it is possible to play half-elves. They hail from the local region of Nikeldaria as well as towards the icyflats of Xulde far away to the West, with minorities living in almost every nation on the continent.

Humans

Humans are the most prevalent of all the people in the region. Note that the people of the North, the Arteri Humans (that is 99.9% of all humans you will find here), use the Variant Human subrace. For standard humans are by definition Iroqli Humans, which come from the dense jungles of the deep, deep south and are very, very unlikely to be up here.

Gnomes

Gnomes are by far the most technically gifted people on the continent, hailing originally from the island nation of Gotkolh. Both Forest Gnomes as Rock Gnomes live here. Note that Gotkolh is a highly centralised modern capitalist state, although there is a strict ban on exporting products from Gotkolh, a lot of gnomes chose to live outside of their nation, working in all sorts of trading and scientifical jobs alike. They are a minority in every nation exept their own and are, unlike in most other settings, technically goblinoids. This makes them being looked down upon by some extremist groups in Bočechnia, but not nearly as much as actual Goblins.

Halflings

Halflings originally hail from the East-Bank, a region thousands of kilometres to the south, with a culture largely based on those of South-East Asia. They are quite rare all the way on the other end of the world, but halflings are adept traders, so the most likely way one might find their way here is as traveling merchants or as a child, or bastard, of one. Both Stout and Lightfoot halflings are common in the East-Bank, but Stouts are more likely to become traders.

Dwarves

Dwarves are split into two large ethnicities, the Abrazká (West-Folk) (Mountain Dwarves) of the Kingdom of Abrazâr and the Urunkharians (Hill Dwarves) of the Grand Knyzate of Urunkhar. Urunkhar is a bordering nation of Bočechnia as well as it's former colonial overlord, so logically it is more logically to see those here then the Abrazká, but they are still close enough to make it a possibility to play a Mountain Dwarf is one wishes to.

Goblins, Orcs

The Foul Races have been living in these parts as well for thousands of years, although their presence is largely overlooked as they have been known in the past to be at most murderous barbarians and at least nothing more then animals. Yet in recent times a lot of the goblins and orcs in the region have become more and more civilized. They are still not allowed within the city walls in most cities in Bočechnia (with exeption of those in Nikeldaria). Expect foul looks and systemic racism if you wish to play one of these races, but also the versitility of knowing your way throughout the rock bottom of this already rotten nation.

Playable Classes

There are a lot of different reasonings for every class to allow or disallow it. But in short, these are the allowed classes in this campaign:

• Artificer (Tasha's Cauldron)
• Barbarian (Basic Rules)
• Bard (Basic Rules)
• Blood Hunter (Critical Role)
• Cleric (Basic Rules)
• Druid (Basic Rules)
• Fighter (Basic Rules)
• Monk (Basic Rules)
• Paladin* (Basic Rules)
• Pugilist (Homebrew)
• Ranger (Basic Rules)
• Rogue (Basic Rules)
• Sorcerer (Basic Rules)
• Warlock (Basic Rules)
• Wizard (Basic Rules)

Note that if you are a Paladin, Cleric or Warlock, that you have to have a deity/patron which you serve. Without it's support, you don't regain spellslots.
*I allow a Paladin Khoslim alligned oath by my own design, ask for more info.