Campaign Reference - The Far Isles

Langushur is known as "The Far Shore" for good reason. A mountainous coastline isolated from the rest of the civilized world by vast bayous and fens, the city states and towns of the region make a living from and on the sea. But always within sight of land. For as long as men have lived on the shores of Langushur, on the horizon lay a permanent bank of mist and fog. Ships that entered it never returned. Over many lifetimes of men it remained, a reminder that there were some places mortal men were not meant to travel.

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Until two months ago, when suddenly one morning, the peoples of Langushur awoke to find the horizon clear. The brave crew of one ship hoisted sail and headed east. And returned weeks later with an unbelievable tale to tell. They told of a previously unknown archipelago of hundreds of islands, stretching across the eastern sea. On some could be seen fantastic ruins of a unknown age and provenance. On others could be seen strange creatures, and strange men. And treasure, examples of which the sailors scattered on the docks as proof of their tale.

As word spread, ships from all over the Wesrae and Easrae began to arrive in the once backwater of Langushur. On board with the crews who sailed the ships were bands of hardened warriors, desperate cut-throats, questing acolytes and wizards in search of lost magics. To these lay the task of landing on and exploring these dangerous new shores ...


Style of Play

The campaign will start out with the player characters acting as the hired 'away crew' on board a vessel of their choosing. As such, the ship's captain will ultimately determine what and where the PCs explore in the Far Isles. They can of course try to influence the captain, or jump ship and sign on with another captain, but freedom off choice will be limited at first. However, at some point the party will likely end up with a vessel of their own; by purchase, mutiny, boarding action, whatever. At that point, the campaign will become a wide open sandbox (or saltbox to be precise). The PC's will be free to sail and explore wherever, whatever, and however they like. There will be no prescribed story line or course of action beyond what the players decide.

The setting is Late Medieval - Early Modern, with a vaguely Age of Discovery feel. Black powder guns and pikes, conquistadors and landsknecht, pirates and cutlass, Types of adventure depends on what the players want to do. Dungeons to loot, over-land and over-ocean exploration, intrigue among the ships' crews, colonization and kingdom building? Players choice.

Rules details, character creations, and more detailed information below the break.




RULES SUMMARY

The base rule-set is Labyrinth Lord, a free retroclone of the 1981 B/X Dungeons and Dragons rules


Some specific rules are drawn from other rule sets:

- The spell list for magic users and clerics is replaced with the more extensive list in the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion.
- encumbrance rules are replaced with those from Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
- a basic skill system is also ported from  Lamentations of the Flame Princess. See link under "Specialist/Thief" below for more details.


In addition to the published rules, a list of current house rules may be found here.

House rules for black powder weapons may be found here.

Other changes/houserules are noted under "Character Creation".


CHARACTER CREATION 

1) All character classes from Labyrinth Lord are available, with some modifications as noted below.

Fighter	No change
Cleric	Clerics as written are all part of the Church of the Three Virtues, a sect which is foreign to Langushur. Clerics of the local sects/gods may also be played. Mechanically they are the same as standard clerics, but with some added background flavour.
Magic User	All magic users (including specialty wizards noted below) can cast cantrips on demand. All magic users (including specialty wizards noted below)  may also memorize two spells for each spell slot; however, they can still only cast one spell per slot.
Specialist/Thief	Thief skills are replaced by those from the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Specialist class. A summary, including new campaign specific skills, is given here. Level progression, saving throws, ‘to hit’ rolls, and armor and weapon restrictions remain the same as the Labyrinth Lord Thief.
Dwarf	No change
Elf	No change
Halfling	No change

In addition, there are a number of campaign specific classes available:

Swashbuckler	The dashing swordsman
Musketeer	Have gun, will shoot
Vivimancer	The anti-druid
Aquamancer	The sea wizard
Calmonari	Admrial Ackbar meets Aquaman

2) Characters are rolled following the rules on p6-7 of the Labyrinth Lord rules:

a) Abilities are rolled on 3d6 in order.

b) If you want to play one of the classes with minimum ability score requirements but didn't roll  the minimum score(s), just take a score of 9 in the particular ability(s).

c) If the total of all ability score modifiers is less than zero, then you can discard the character and begin the process again.

d) Take maximum Hit Points at 1st level.

e) Unless otherwise instructed by the DM, new characters start at 1st level.

f) Any character that starts at higher than 1st level begins with zero experience points.

3) Equipping your character: 

a) Starting money is 3d8x10gp (Labyrinth Lord p6)

b) To simplify character creation new player characters can choose to take the “Standard Adventuring Pack”. For 10gp, this includes all the basic adventuring gear you need. Just add weapons, armor, and any other special items (holy symbol, thieves tools, etc) and you’re ready to go. c) Use the "Encumbrance and Consumables Sheet" to track your equipment and determine encumbrance and movement rates. There is an "Animal Encumbrance Sheet" as well if you need it.

4) Other character creation notes:

a) Don't worry about alignment; We'll just ignore it. 
b) Every character gets an extra skill point to allocate as described in "Skills and Specialist/Thieves". Except, Specialist/Thieves, who of course get more.