Durnic
Knight
Hello everyone! As we said during the closing of our November 2018 event, we were going to be posting up information about our new low level campaign, The Broken Shards! Here it is!
What is The Broken Shards?
The Broken Shards will be our twice-yearly low-level campaign taking place in a location completely outside of the lands of Aer’Astria. The game will have a strict level cap and the ruleset will be 2.0. We will not be allowing in any LCO items or Restricted items that are not made within the campaign itself. The primary site (but not the site for the first event) will be Brooks Memorial State Park. The first event will be hosted at Camp Kiwanilong on February 22-24th 2019 and will have a level cap of level 2 with 25 XP/Build.
That sounds awesome, what’re the next steps?
Well, first, we ask that anyone making a character for this event read up on the town you will all be starting in. The town is named “Wagonslist” and is a town plopped down right on a major trade route between several large cities and the nation’s capital of Rahlaen. There are a large number of travelers moving in and through the town throughout the year, making for a very metropolitan community. The local town council is fairly well respected and there is a quite diverse population of different races living in Wagonslist. You can find some additional specifics here.
Wow, is that it for the starting town?
Well, yes. At least to start. We actually want to work with you all, the players, to flesh out the town. We didn’t tell you that there is a blacksmith in town because we want you all to let us know. As people send in backgrounds, we will add that information to a document that will be publicly visible for people to see what is already in town.
We want to be clear here: you will be in charge of creating this town. We ask, of course, that you be respectful and follow some ground rules:
Certainly! Remember that these can just be in your background, you do not have to take a Craftsman skill to represent your skill in these professions, though we certainly wouldn’t stop you from doing so if you wanted.
I don’t see anything on that list that sounds interesting. I want to be a High Orc from a nearby clan or I want to be a student studying under a local wizard!
Awesome. All of that is fantastically awesome. Get in touch with Plot via our email address below and we will work with you to bring your ideas to life. We do not want to pigeon hole anyone and we trust our players to come up with a living, breathing, vibrant world that they want to be a part of. All we ask is that you understand we are building a world that everyone can play in, so you might have to make some concessions. Plot has the final authority on all backgrounds.
Okay I have an idea of what I want to play. What is the Plot email so I can send this sucker in for approval?
You can reach out to us at brokenshardsplot@allianceoregon.com.
Who are the fiendishly clever people on the Plot team anyway?
The Plot team is made up of some people who have never been Plot at any LARP before as well as some that are old hands at the position. Those people are:
Are you sure? One of the goals of this campaign is to make it easy for existing players to play new characters and stretch their wings a little bit. We promise we won’t judge you if your costuming and props aren’t as nice as your main PCs, or you reuse your main PCs sword or armor. We’d love to see the Wagonslister you’ll build!
However, under the “squishing” proposal that was approved by the owners a little while back, in 2.0, any character can “cut down” their card to fit under an XP cap. This means that you can play your existing Alliance character if you’d like to, you’ll just have to reduce the skills available on their sheet to 25 build, and you won’t be able to use any of your magic items (since neither LCO nor Restricted items cast outside this campaign will be allowed). We also, as a plot team, ask that you bring as little production as possible into the game. We’d love you to come play as whatever character you’d like to play, but an influx of production into the game will disrupt the mood and feeling we’re aiming for. Bringing in only as much production as you would get as a starting character would be ideal.
If you do want to bring in an existing character and have more questions about “squishing” or the guidelines we’d like you to follow, send an email to brokenshardsplot@allianceoregon.com.
Do you need people to NPC? What about NPC Guild?
We would love to have people volunteer to be NPCs in this new campaign, of course! You don’t even have to prepare anything, just make sure to pre-reg like you always do and tell us you want to NPC. We will put you to work, we promise.
If you want to be NPC Guild, please drop an email off to brokenshardsplot@allianceoregon.com with a description of what you think you can bring to the table to help. Considering this is a twice a year campaign, we ask that anyone who is applying for Guild try their absolute best to attend every single event. We all know things come up and we understand that, but people within our NPC Guild will have roles and responsibilities that we will rely on them to be able to carry out consistently.
What is The Broken Shards?
The Broken Shards will be our twice-yearly low-level campaign taking place in a location completely outside of the lands of Aer’Astria. The game will have a strict level cap and the ruleset will be 2.0. We will not be allowing in any LCO items or Restricted items that are not made within the campaign itself. The primary site (but not the site for the first event) will be Brooks Memorial State Park. The first event will be hosted at Camp Kiwanilong on February 22-24th 2019 and will have a level cap of level 2 with 25 XP/Build.
That sounds awesome, what’re the next steps?
Well, first, we ask that anyone making a character for this event read up on the town you will all be starting in. The town is named “Wagonslist” and is a town plopped down right on a major trade route between several large cities and the nation’s capital of Rahlaen. There are a large number of travelers moving in and through the town throughout the year, making for a very metropolitan community. The local town council is fairly well respected and there is a quite diverse population of different races living in Wagonslist. You can find some additional specifics here.
Wow, is that it for the starting town?
Well, yes. At least to start. We actually want to work with you all, the players, to flesh out the town. We didn’t tell you that there is a blacksmith in town because we want you all to let us know. As people send in backgrounds, we will add that information to a document that will be publicly visible for people to see what is already in town.
We want to be clear here: you will be in charge of creating this town. We ask, of course, that you be respectful and follow some ground rules:
- We will not allow any players to come into game as nobility.
- We ask that you all try to really stretch and make a living, varied town. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean that we don’t need everyone to be from the town guard. Another example is that the town probably wouldn’t have more than a couple of families of blacksmiths. Does that mean that if there are already two blacksmiths coming that you can’t play one? No, but we will want to come up with a reason for why. Maybe you are traveling through the town on the first event or an apprentice, as an example.
- We will need PCs to fill at least two leadership positions which is the Reeve and the Reeve’s Assistant. In both of these positions, we will want to talk with you first and make sure that you are aware of the leadership responsibilities that you will have and what is expected from you during the events. If you are interested in either of these positions, please let us know when you send in your character idea.
Certainly! Remember that these can just be in your background, you do not have to take a Craftsman skill to represent your skill in these professions, though we certainly wouldn’t stop you from doing so if you wanted.
- Hawker, someone who travels around selling goods.
- Woodworker including:
- Cooper, a maker or repairer of casks and barrels.
- Wheelwright, someone who makes wheels for carts and wagons.
- Thatcher, someone who knows the intricate art of making roofs for buildings using thatching.
- Hostler, an animal handler including:
- Stablehand, someone who works in the town stables taking care of horses, donkeys, oxen and other livestock.
- Houndmaster, someone who is adept at training and working with hounds.
- Shepherd, someone who raises and takes care of a flocks of sheep to sell for meat and wool.
- Blacksmith, someone who forges items and equipment like weapons and armor but also much more mundane stuff like tongs and horseshoes. In game these people will use the Blacksmith skill.
- Jewelry makers, including:
- Gemcutter, someone who takes precious stones and cuts them into shapes necessary for adornment.
- Goldsmith / Silversmith, someone who specializes in the tooling of precious metals for use in jewelry but also things like plates, goblets and leaf for decoration.
- Bookbinder, someone who creates and binds empty books.
- Tax collector, someone who collects taxes for the local nobility. Probably not very well liked, but it's part of the job.
- Tavernkeep / Innkeep, someone who works at or owns the local tavern or inn.
- Brewer, someone who produces beer.
- Vinter, someone who produces wine.
- Farmer, someone who grows crops that are turned into food or
- Rancher, someone who raises animals on large parcels of land in town to be sold for food and other goods like leather.
- Inscriptionist, someone who makes battle scrolls using the Create Scroll skill.
- Alchemist / Apothecary, someone who makes poison and medicine using the Alchemy skill in game.
- Scribe, someone who takes notes and keeps records for the town as not everyone will have learned to read and write.
- Town guard, someone who protects the town from thieves and wild animals run amok.
- Caravan guard, someone who protects wagons moving from town to town.
- Hunter / Fisherman, someone who hunts wild game or fish to feed themselves. They also sell the meat to others for food and hides to tanners so they can make leather or fur goods.
- Tanner, someone who takes raw animal hide and turns them into leather and furs used in making thousands of daily use items including clothing, shoes, handle wraps for weapons, bow string, shoe laces, belts, etc.
- Spinner, someone who takes raw material like wool and makes cloth.
- Tailor, someone who takes cloth and makes clothing.
I don’t see anything on that list that sounds interesting. I want to be a High Orc from a nearby clan or I want to be a student studying under a local wizard!
Awesome. All of that is fantastically awesome. Get in touch with Plot via our email address below and we will work with you to bring your ideas to life. We do not want to pigeon hole anyone and we trust our players to come up with a living, breathing, vibrant world that they want to be a part of. All we ask is that you understand we are building a world that everyone can play in, so you might have to make some concessions. Plot has the final authority on all backgrounds.
Okay I have an idea of what I want to play. What is the Plot email so I can send this sucker in for approval?
You can reach out to us at brokenshardsplot@allianceoregon.com.
Who are the fiendishly clever people on the Plot team anyway?
The Plot team is made up of some people who have never been Plot at any LARP before as well as some that are old hands at the position. Those people are:
- Ben Thayer, Head of Plot. Ben is a glutton for punishment as the HoP for both this campaign and the Aer’Astrian campaign.
- Sean Graczyk. Sean has played, NPCed or Plotted for Oregon the last 8+ years.
- Luke Doyle. Your resident scary Oathsworn trap maker is likely going to be making lots of scary traps on your Plot team, too. If you listen closely you can hear his maniacal laughter even now. Luke has been LARPing for 4 years and is the current Assistant General Manager for Alliance Seattle.
- Brian Johnson. Brian is the current General Manager of the Alliance Oregon chapter and has been looking at joining a Plot team in earnest for a while now. He has been LARPing for 7 years, including roles on plot at Alliance Seattle and Spite.
- Rick Raddue. Rick is the owner of the Alliance Oregon chapter and has been LARPing for six years, but he has never served on a Plot team. Until now.
Are you sure? One of the goals of this campaign is to make it easy for existing players to play new characters and stretch their wings a little bit. We promise we won’t judge you if your costuming and props aren’t as nice as your main PCs, or you reuse your main PCs sword or armor. We’d love to see the Wagonslister you’ll build!
However, under the “squishing” proposal that was approved by the owners a little while back, in 2.0, any character can “cut down” their card to fit under an XP cap. This means that you can play your existing Alliance character if you’d like to, you’ll just have to reduce the skills available on their sheet to 25 build, and you won’t be able to use any of your magic items (since neither LCO nor Restricted items cast outside this campaign will be allowed). We also, as a plot team, ask that you bring as little production as possible into the game. We’d love you to come play as whatever character you’d like to play, but an influx of production into the game will disrupt the mood and feeling we’re aiming for. Bringing in only as much production as you would get as a starting character would be ideal.
If you do want to bring in an existing character and have more questions about “squishing” or the guidelines we’d like you to follow, send an email to brokenshardsplot@allianceoregon.com.
Do you need people to NPC? What about NPC Guild?
We would love to have people volunteer to be NPCs in this new campaign, of course! You don’t even have to prepare anything, just make sure to pre-reg like you always do and tell us you want to NPC. We will put you to work, we promise.
If you want to be NPC Guild, please drop an email off to brokenshardsplot@allianceoregon.com with a description of what you think you can bring to the table to help. Considering this is a twice a year campaign, we ask that anyone who is applying for Guild try their absolute best to attend every single event. We all know things come up and we understand that, but people within our NPC Guild will have roles and responsibilities that we will rely on them to be able to carry out consistently.