Campaign Chronicles

New Orleans, founded in 1718 by French colonists, has long been a melting pot of diverse cultures. Steeped in mystery and tales of the supernatural, the city has long been tolerant of the beliefs and practices of the people who live within its borders. Save for one family whose rumored dark deeds were beyond that of which even the most understanding and accepting populace would allow... the Grunches. This family, known widely for its predisposition for albinism and dwarfism, were said to carry out occult practices and dark rites so heinous that they were driven into the swamps outside of the city. Feared and persecuted by their neighbors, the Grunch family more often than not found themselves accused of crimes they had nothing to do with and hunted by those who judged them based on their appearance. After decades of persecution, the Clan patriarch embraced the dark arts his family had been so long rumored to command. Blood sacrifices and pledges of service to diabolical creatures gra...

I am thinking  about a prequel for the Western campaign I am going to run. It would be based on my own world but use concepts from the Colonial Gothic setting and 3.5e rules for compatibility with my other campaigns . Magic would exist but practitioners stay mostly hidden because of the Salem Witch Trials, the Inquisition, etc . The party would be mostly spies, saboteurs, and troubleshooters in the employ of the Continental Army or the Sons of Liberty. There would be some Steampunk-esque inventions running around but these would be one-of-a-kind items and only rarely encountered.  One example of this technology would be Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Musket . This weapon is made of stout red oak and reinforced with brass fittings. When the trigger is pulled a forked bolt of lightning erupts from the weapons twin barrels. The bolt has a range of 150' but is wildly inaccurate, incurring a -4 penalty to attack rolls. The weapon is powered by a battery that sits on top of th...

Real life adventures are often a rich source of inspiration for fictional ones at the gaming table.   With that in mind, I present the following scenarios for your reading pleasure. My primary idea was to locate the mountain somewhere along the eastern seaboard of the United States , preferably during the War for Independence .   The group of player characters would be scouts for the Continental Army sent to survey the area for possible troop movements for an attack on a British held city.   The chief cartographer fell from one of the high cliffs when his muddy boots failed to find purchase on an expanse of exposed rock.   The rest of his group needs to retrieve his body and maps before they are discovered by Loyalist forces, alerting them to the rebels’ interest in the area. In a D&D-style campaign, we would take the same geographic features but we’d have to tweak the history some to prevent a wizard from simply casting Fly, Levitate, or Spider C...

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans out there today!  I thought I would take a few minutes and share some of the American Revolution adventure seeds I have been working on for my campaign  that could be adapted to historical fantasy settings in general or to Colonial Gothic in particular. It is the time of the American War for Independence on Earth-218 .  The party, in addition to serving as couriers, soldiers, spies, and saboteurs, come to discover that supernatural creatures and magic still exist. • First Continental Congress 05 Sep – 26 Oct 1774 The First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia. Peyton Randolph, the Congress President falls ill and is replaced by Henry Middleton.   Foul play is suspected and the group is asked to investigate.   They learn that Randolph has been poisoned (or cursed) by a British sympathizer who seeks to keep the Colonies divided. • Werewolf in Boston The siege of Boston in wel...

(No.  Not that kind) I have been toying with an idea of late.  Last summer, I wrote out a Western campaign (that I am still waiting to run) based on a combination of the old Boot Hill Modules with some Deadlands and Fistful of Zombies thrown in.  I had also planned another set of adventures using the Gangbusters boxed set and modules mixed with Cthulhu by Gaslamp.  And then I said, "what if the characters in the 20's are the grandchildren of the characters from the Western?" How far could I take that idea?  What if the characters from the Western were the great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren of another group from the American Revolution?  And what if the children from the 20's characters were involved in the fighting during World War II?  What if there was an overarching story that combined elements of each of these campaigns? The players begin the campaign during the American Revolution.   Everything seems all f...