This Isn't Orden

While we're not gaming in Orden, we'll do our best to align with the rules as written. There will, however, be some departures because some of it doesn't fit with the campaign setting. For example, Ajax isn't a thing here, so War Dogs and Hawk Riders aren't a thing.

Aging & Lifespan

Members of all ancestries age at about the same pace - the pace of typical Humans.

Ancestries

The following ancestries are available to players: Human, City (High) Elf, Devil, Dwarf, Forest (Wode) Elf, Hakaan, Leonid, Memonek, Orc, Polder, Shadow Elf.

• Humans live in every habitable place, from cities to frontier wilderness. They occupy all jobs, and are pretty good at all of them, though maybe not the best at any. They typically excel at vocations that bring groups together like politics and trade. Humans are by far the most populous people in the world.

• City Elves make their homes in settlements, as their name implies. They are artists, merchants, artisans, performers, and, rarely, politicians.

• Devils usually hail from a small enclave of mostly their own kind on the outskirts of the wilderness (in a precise location TBD if a player chooses to play one), though some few are found in larger cities. Outside of their enclave, they are mostly performers and laborers. There are very few Devils in the world.

• Dwarves typically live under mountain ranges where ores and gems are plentiful. Their crafted items are legendary and sought after.

• Forest Elves make their homes in the woods, as their name implies. They look much like their City Elf counterparts (no huge eyes or ears). Their woodcraft is legendary.

• Hakaan usually live in settlements in the foothils of mountains, especially mountains with a high granite content. They are respected warriors in the armies fighting monsters. There are very few Hakaan in the world.

• Leonid are lion-people. Almost all of them live in the twin cities of Talhedu and Talmeru at the far southern tip of the Logathriad Sea, and they are rare anywhere else. Like Hakaan, they are respected for their combat prowess.

• Memonek primarily live in a small enclave in one of the major cities (TBD if a player chooses to play one). While they have established a reputation as predictable and trustworthy, their alien nature still gives some pause. They are usually artists, scouts, performers, and laborers.

• Orcs usually dwell in natural places, from plains to forests. They are well-regarded as warriors and laborers. After Humans, they are the most populous ancestry in the world. For culture, think indigenous American.

• Polder typically dwell in human settlements of any size. They are well-regarded for their hospitality and have come to be known as the most hospitable innkeepers and finest chefs. After Orcs, they are the third most populous ancestry in the world.

• Shadow Elves are exceedingly rare in the world, living in a small enclave that might be impossible to find for anyone but another Shadow Elf. They rarely interact with any other settlements, and often only at the highest level of politics.

Careers

The following Careers are not available: Mage's Apprentice.

Classes

We'll use the MCDM published classes that are implemented in Codex excluding Summoner. (Sorry, Summoner is a little OP compared to the others and has a long combat turn with little to no opportunity to include other players, which is anti-fun.) Beastheart is fine, but as a master class, please be sure you understand it well.

I will absolutely not consider 3rd-party Classes.

Combat

Unconscious

If you wake up from being Unconscious, and you are still in combat, you can not stand up from prone as a free maneuver. If you can’t do it while in the midst of adrenaline-fueled combat, you also cannot do it while groggily regaining consciousness from whatever bad thing happened to you.

Complications

The following Complications are not available: Advanced Studies, Amnesia, Artifact Bonded, Crash Landed, Curse of Immortality, Cursed Weapon, Dragon Dreams, Fallen Immortal, Famous Relative, Getting Too Old for This, Hawk Rider, Host Body, Infernal Contract (both), Lifebonded, Lost in Time, Lost Your Head, Medusa Blood, Preacher, Prisoner of the Synlirii, Shared Spirit, Strange Inheritance, Vampire Scion, Waking Dreams, War Dog Collar.

I will consider third-party and homebrew Complications that align with the power levels of those in the Heroes guide and the flavor of the campaign setting and world.

Downtime & Project Rolls

Recipes and materials are required to start crafting / downtime projects.

The Draw Steel crafting system is interesting so heroes will be granted one project roll per full day of non-adventuring activity in a place they could take a Respite if they wanted to. Taking a Respite - the game mechanics of a Respite - is not a requirement to earn or make a project roll.

Gods & Religion

Ignore the lore in RAW.

Society long ago figured out that praying, sacrificing, doing whatever for the gods produced exactly the same results as not doing those things and concluded that gods are mythological.

However, the abilities for religious-affiliated classes like Censor and Conduit still work... somehow.

If you want to worship a deity, feel free to collaborate with me to invent one or a pantheon.

Hex Crawls

The nature of this campaign will lead the heroes to explore places that are completely unmapped because they quickly kill anyone that's not a hero. That feels like a hex crawl to me.

Draw Steel doesn't have rules for hex crawls. It uses Montages. Those are good for what they're made for, and there is more on Montages later in this document, but I think hex crawls offer something more for this type of exploration.

So here's how we'll do it. I want to keep it relatively simple and this is my first draft so I'm happy to take feedback and discuss in Discord or during Session Zero.

1. You'll start from a known safe hex, where you can Respite for one day safely.

2. Taking a hex costs a day, no matter what's in it.

3. You can probably move through 2 maybe 3 taken hexes per day.

4. When you enter a new hex, I'll tell you a bit about what's there.

5. Taking that hex might require a Montage or combat or maybe just exploration.

6. You'll decide what you want to do: stay and deal with what's in the hex or bail out.

7. If you bail out of a hostile hex (requires Combat or Montage to take), it costs everyone in the party 1 Respite. If you don't have the Respites to pay, you can't bail out.

8. If you bail out into a hex you've already taken, then you can choose to immediately go into any other adjacent hex, previously taken or not.

9. If you bail out into a hex you haven't taken yet, you are stuck there and MUST deal with whatever is there.

10. Sometimes, if enough days have passed since the last time you entered a hex, or you linger in the same hex for too long, that hex might repopulate with a similar or vastly different challenge and you'll need to take it again.

Languages

Even though this isn't Orden, we'll use the Orden languages. Custom languages are too hard to manage, especially considering downtime project requirements.

Be aware when selecting your languages that monsters are not very communicative. If you take Szetch or Anjali, those will certainly help move your crafting projects along, but don't expect to have a conversation with a Goblin or Hobgoblin.

I'll need a Very Good Reason for any dead language taken in a slot granted during character creation.

Leveling

I'm leaning toward 16-20 victories per level.

I would like for all heroes to maintain the same number victories and to level up as a unit. This makes encounter balancing easier for me. It also means heroes won't fall behind if their players need to miss a session.

Montage Tests

We will sometimes use the Montage Threats & Opportunities alternative to RAW Montage rules.

Player vs Player

• There will be no non-consensual PvP in this game.

• This extends beyond combat into literally any action a Hero might take that is intended to have a meaningful adverse impact upon at least one other Hero.

• Consensual PvP must be approved by the Director in advance.

Skills

The following skills are permanently unavailable: Timescape.

Crafting Skills

For each crafting skill you take at character creation, you may also take one Echelon 1 Recipe that falls within that crafting skill for items that are not primarily designed for attacking / defending. Recipes taken this way are subject to Director approval.

You won't start with any crafting materials.

You may use Project Points awarded from character creation during your first Respite.

Titles

Titles offer excellent opportunities for precise character customization. If you're interested in creating custom titles that require effort to achieve, I'm eager to discuss your ideas. Let's aim to keep them balanced and on par with the Titles in the core rules.