Rekin's Refuge

Daggerheart maps available as a free download at the Daggerheart website

Setting Details

Nature and the "civilised world" have often been at odds, vying for territory and resources. Almost a century ago the nobleman-druid Rekin Rainwalker thwarted tradition by letting his lands go back to the wilderness. On his death he left those lands to the creatures that occupied them, instead of his heirs. Rekin's Refuge was born.

Tended by a guild of caretakers known as Wildwardens, Rekin's Refuge is a sanctuary for wild creatures that live in the untamed places. The Wildwardens guard against trespassers, treat sickness and blight, and keep their charges from straying into the territory of the local towns. They guide visiting academics and travellers, and liaise with the few small communities that still live in the Refuge.

However, sanctuary does not mean safety. Politics reaches even here. The towns of Cadun to the north and Frewich to the south are ever-expanding, their merchants wanting to send ever more trade caravans through Rekin's Refuge instead of by sea or the longer mountain route. Many nature lovers believe even the Wildwarden's intervention is too much. Poachers and trophy-hunters are an ever-present threat, as are Rekin's heirs who seek even now to reclaim what they see as the birthright that was stolen from them.

Player Characters

Player	Character	Ancestry	Class	Community	Hope
Leliel	Ezekien "Black Zeke" Forester	Variant Katari (Therianthropic Human)	Nightwalker Rogue	Seaborne	2
Garyfury	Persephone Lapis	Faerie	School of Knowledge Wizard	Wildborne	3
Unka Josh	Rube Vambrace	Hybrid Clank Human	Stalwart Guardian	Wanderborne	2
GM	strange behaviour			Fear	6

Retired/On hiatus

Player	Character	Ancestry	Class	Community	Hope
Seandemonium	Cambrian	Clank	Warden of the Elements Druid	Wildborne	2
Talisman	Éfthymos	Faun	Divine Wielder Seraph	Wildborne	2
Civil Savage	Zynvarvolnes (Zyn)	Infernis	Wayfinder Ranger	Ridgeborne	2

Notable NPCs

• Archivist Shay - record-keeper of Rekin's Refuge
• Luke Vatten - a baron's son and Zeke's former best friend, last seen studying to be a Seraph at Clearharbor. His sister was accidentally infected with therianthropy by Zeke, and Luke believes he can make a cure from Zeke's person.
• Rekin Rainwalker (deceased) - a druid of noble birth, who founded Rekin's Refuge to protect the wilderness from the encroachment of civilisation.
• Ren Trefaran - a highly placed academic and sorcerer among the Clearharbor faculty. He has a wide range of contacts among the commercial interests that threaten Rekin's Refuge and has a number of projects in the works for ways to domesticate and exploit the Refuge, reshaping or destroying the natural habitats of many creatures in order to harvest them. Rival of Persephone Lapis.
• Stannic Greenleaf - foreman of Frewich Lumber

Notable Locations

• Cadun - a large port city to the north of Rekin's Refuge
• Clearharbor - a town dominated by a center of higher learning, located across the mountains to the southeast of Rekin's Refuge.
• Cormorant's Point - a village in the mountains just outside Rekin's Refuge, near an old wizard's tower now known as the House of Magpies. In the past there was a magical accident which now means the fae are drawn there. The area is the source of a plague of therianthropy, which the fae use to manage the threat of rabies.
• Frewich - an expanding town to the south of Rekin's Refuge, known for its trade in carpentry and lumber from the forest at the Refuge's borders.
• The House of Magpies - formerly the wizard's tower on the outskirts of Cormorant's Point. When the magical accident blew the top of the mountain the tower became a place of strange attraction to otherplanar energies. It's now a nesting ground for an unusual number of corvids.
• The Lapis Swarm Hive - Persephone's home swarm, located to the northeast of Rekin's Refuge and encircles and nurtures another Progenitor Tree.
• Skett - a small village in the mountains on the outskirts of Rekin's Refuge.
• Sky-Root - a huge tree at the north-west point of Rekin's Refuge. It goes up as far as anyone can see and no-one has ever reached the top. It stands between the forest of Rekin's Refuge and a sheer drop into the ocean and is the home of the Great Golden Moth.

Notable Creatures

The following are creatures that may be sighted within Rekin's Refuge:

• Great Golden Moth - a large species of moth, with wings that give off a faint golden light. Rare because not only does it only eat the leaves of Sky-Root, but it also only emerges from its cocoon in years with a Blue Moon (13 full moons in the calendar year, so every 2-3 years). No one knows how or why the moth tracks this.
• Log Crab - Large crabs analogous to hermit crabs. They live in fallen logs, often hollowing them out to use as shells. Can use their big claws to cut down trees to ensure that they have a new home if no fallen trees are available.
• Shimmerwolf - a largely solitary wolflike creature that creates small illusions to lure prey. Due to a largely placid nature they are easily tameable making the cubs a particular target for poachers looking to sell them on as pets, as owning one is a sign of status among the elite of Cadun.
• Vulpix - Tiny tree-dwelling foxlike creatures that are both exceedingly cute and extremely deadly. Think a fennec fox with tiny antlers that hunts in packs and can take down an owlbear.

Character Generation

The Daggerheart Core Rulebook and hybrid rules.

Playtest resources from The Void are off limits.

House-ruling is open to discussion.

House Rules

Inititative System

We'll be using a modified version of the spotlight tracker on page 89 of the rulebook. Players pass the spotlight between them as they wish, but can only make two actions before the whole group has acted. Once everyone has been, the actions refresh.

Additionally, if a player fails an action roll, or roll with Fear, action pauses briefly so the I can take the spotlight. If I don't I'll post an OOC note to that effect, and the spotlight stays with the players. Additionally, I can spend Fear to take the spotlight at any point.

Session Length

For the purposes of resources that refresh per session, session length will be 3-5 scenes at the GM's discretion.

Therianthropes

The setting includes humanoids infected with Therianthropy, a condition which gives them animal features (eg cat people, dog people, etc). Although not were-creatures their animal side is heightened during the full moon which gives access to new skills and effects.

Therianthropes tend to model after predator animals, although not all do, while other humanoids with animal features (such as fauns) are separate species.

Therianthrope - Cat
Animal Instinct: When under the influence of the full moon, you can mark a Stress to add +2 to an Instinct or Agility roll.
Flight, Flight, Freeze: When under the influence of the full moon, if you gain the Vulnerable condition or mark a Hit Point while Vulnerable, your animal instincts perceive everything as a threat. You gain the temporary condition Skittish, can attack only in self-defence and must flee in search of a place of safety.

Table Etiquette

Post Frequency

This will be a slow game, potentially 1-2 posts a week, as all parties including the GM are new to the system.

PVP

Any PVP requires consent from all parties involved. It's up to the player being acted against to decide if they're going to let it stand, act it out IC, or make the other player roll for it. If they say no to PVP, no PVP.

Post Header

Players should post with a post header to keep track of resources:

Name || HP marked/max || Armour marked/max || Stress marked/max || Hope 2

Then a line for tokens/dice, eg Unstoppabble 1/4 or Know the Tides 0/1

This can include anything else that would be helpful, such as keeping track of Damage Thresholds or Evasion in the same place.

The GM's Fear tracker will similarly be posted at the top of posts.

Absences

Please keep an eye on the Absences Thread, as I'll post there if I'm not going to be able to update the game (even if I don't get to it on the OOC). If you won't be able to post please post in the Absences Thread if you can.

Alerts

Invoking other players (@forumhandle) doesn't work. Additionally, if you get an alert and don't check the thread you won't get another one for new posts until you next check in with the thread. Please keep an eye on the threads either by checking them manually every so often, or via the Watched Threads page.

Any issues, please feel free to bring them up on the OOC thread, or DM me.

Game Threads and Resources

Threads

Recruitment/Development Thread

OOC Thread

IC Thread

Resources

The Daggerheart website - includes free downloadable resources including the SRD.

Orokos - Online Dice Roller.

Absences Thread