From the History of the Bastion, Year One

As Told by Zarvelis the Endless

I have always been a collector. Some gather gold, others hoard knowledge. I take fragments of time itself, moments unspoiled by fate’s careless hand. But of all my collections, the most peculiar are my friends.

I saw what was coming, but only when it was too late to stop: a calamity that would neither spare nor reason. The old kingdoms, the mighty war bands, even the unseen shadows - all swallowed in a spreading decay and undeath that few would survive.

Escape was necessary, but not simple. There are rules to moving between the threads of time, and dragging too many through the wrong moment unravels more than it saves. The safest path was one that did not break the order, but wove a new thread entirely.

So I told them - bring your families, your comrades, any who wished to live. And they came.

Beings of the dark, driven temporarily into the light. Brigands and exiles, the remnants of a broken army. Pieces of the wild and minor agents of chaos. They did not belong together, yet here they stood, bound by necessity.

And so we escaped the blight together, an unfinished sentence in the book of history, waiting to be written.

Setting Overview

The campaign is set in a wild, sparsely populated frontier recently entered by monstrous refugees escaping a region destroyed by reckless human magic that drained life from the land, leaving undeath in its wake. Home is in, and above, the cliffs of the dry mountain pass that led them to a rugged land of hope.  Roughly 100 miles to the north there are Swamps, marshes, and bogs that separate this region from the distant farmland, towns, and adventurer guilds of the Civilized Folk (a catch-all term for traditional non-monstrous D&D races like humans, elves, dwarves, etc.).

• Magic is present but dangerous and unpredictable when wielded by the Civilized Folk.
• Magic items the players receive early on are single use or often malfunctioning or inert and may require investigation by specialists in the refugee settlement. (magic items are expected to be rare in early game; and, this is likely to change as the players gain levels))
• Hostile encounters are often with adventuring parties from the Civilized Folk.
• Encounters with monstrous folk may range from friendly to hostile depending on context.
• Monster encounter context should always consider D&D lore regarding monster alignment as flexible - unless the creature is extra-planar or influenced by extra-planar forces (e.g., demons).
  • See: Monstrous Alignment: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Du4Z6oP4gdgYI8rKQ6a3Nr9NG1wyqU4gcMgp5-trKC0
  • All intelligent, non-planar, beings are capable of free will; and, not necessarily bound by their historical cultural norms.
• Technology is equivalent to generic D&D 5e medieval fantasy (no firearms or high-tech artificer inventions).

Playable Races

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/176VetrgxoUxQJqxZ2RpU3C5KVtsmKt29

• Bugbear
• Duergar
• Goblin
• Hobgoblin
• Kobold
• Lizardfolk
• Minotaur
• Orc
• Quaggoth
• Satyr

Documentation

Documentation in Drive and NotebookLM. Campaign Logs in NotebookLM, and now here.

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11HtcOW3W9U3TMQX_thIt98rWyKutATZR

NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/18b6c08d-6e59-4f03-a69a-0b3bafc8f48c

Discord: [Invite Only]

See setting Handout @ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RBJPrTK0471foafPPaFg9bcM7NG5Pzd0jL1xidBRpnU

Inspirations

1. The web comic "Goblins" by Ellipsis Stephens
   1. https://www.goblinscomic.com/comic/06252005
2. Secondary Influences (campaign setting is not isekei)
   1. Isekei anime that features monstrous characters:
      1. That time I got reincarnated as a Slime
      2. So I'm a Spider, So What?
      3. Skeleton Knight in Another World
3. D&D5e (2014) rules and lore are used, and we do often homebrew updates to bring ancient AD&D content into 5e compatibility.

VTT: TRPGE

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1818180/The_RPG_Engine/