My Black Watch RPG Campaign
Black Watch is a gritty, ‘low magic’ setting by D&D standards (think GoT and Gemmell’s Dreani books). All player characters must be human.
This campaign will run in the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition system. Only the 3 core books will be used from the system: The PHB, DMG, and MM. There will also be extensive modifications provided by the DM.
House Rules
All PCs must be currently living in the kingdom of Vainer, but can be from other places. Languages in the game are regional, save for the Elder Tongue (a dead language known to scholars and priests).
Before play begins, PCs need to develop a backstory. The DM is happy to help! It should include at a minimum
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- Where you grew up
- Why do you support the Vainer cause
- How you came to know the skills you have
- How you became friendly with at least 1 PC
- Why you are willing to take on the dangers of adventuring
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Since this is a low magic world, spell casters need to be carefully constructed working with the DM. Mages [arcane casters] don’t really exist. Most magic is priestly or elemental. Character classes with an arcane ability will be severely curtailed. You’ll need to get with the DM to determine how arcane spells/abilities work. Mystical character types will want to review the information on the Spirit Veil.
All PCs should be of good alignment, loosely applied in play. Don’t be evil.
The pantheon is primarily binary, with a neutral good deity followed by most. Don’t choose PHB gods as these don’t fit the campaign world. See The Supernatural topic for more backstory.
Generate your stats by placing the following scores where you want them: 16, 15, 14, 13, 11, 9
As a Human, you get a +1 to ALL stats, or 1 skill proficiency and 1 feat of your choice and only 2 ability score increases of +1
Backstories will be important, so be able to explain how you came by your skillset and experience.
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- Fighters will most likely be veterans.
- Priests will likely be associated with a temple.
- Rangers will likely be military scouts or self-sufficient woodsmen.
- Rogues will likely be self-made or aligned with a pirate captain, depending on skills/back story. Assassins exist but aren’t prevalent enough to have guilds and the like.
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Arcane caster classes are generally not allowed. A few subclasses with spell abilities have/will be modified to have spell-like abilities that suit the world. I’ve worked up version 1.0 of a paladin subclass called the Order of Sevak. This hasn’t been playtested yet, so if you decide to play one of these, changes will likely be coming.
There are good and bad officials/nobles, but it may help to think of the overall political system as Lawful Neutral. Justice is swift and brutal if you aren’t nobility. PCs can’t be nobility in good standing.
Ancient place names come from Sanskrit, as do “old” names for people in the Southlands. In Vishodan, both place names and the names of people are Sanskrit (what we’ll call the “Elder Tongue” in gameplay). Modern names for people in Vainer come from Saxon. You can search by origin and by gender at: https://www.sheknows.com/
The World
Get the crappy map here: Black-Watch-Map-V2.0
Kingdom of Vainer
[All Player Characters begin the game here.]
Vanier occupies the central west coast of the continent.
Nishan Federation
The Nishan Federation is a loose joining of city-states.
Vishodan Empire
The immense Vishodan Empire stretches from east to west across the entire north of the continent.
Kingdom of Chandan
Chandan lies east of Durshan and forms the southeastern coast of the continent.
Kingdom of Durshan
Durshan is situated on the extreme Southwestern end of the continent.
Kingdom of Hanan
Hanan Shares a long border with Vainer to the West, and Krian to the East. Its southern border is shared with Darshan.
Kingdom of Kiran
Kiran is situated East of Hanan, with Chandan to the South. The Nishan Federation lies to the east, as does the sea.
Kingdom of Zara
Zara is an island kingdom to the Northwest of Vainer. Little is known about this exotic place as the people do not welcome outsiders. Legend has it that the inhabitants of the island are formidable warriors and powerful mystics.
Legend and Lore