War of Four Nations

Summary

A game wiki using Peril Planet’s Freeform Universal. This Wiki page is for storage and journaling of game material for part three of The Serpent Wars — War of Four Nations campaign set in the Vilhon Reach area of the Forgotten Realms.

Map of the Vilhon Reach area found here. Wiki article on the Reach here.

Players

• Phantom Grunweasel playing Anton de Mathesio, a dashing Amnish swordsman
• roryb, the GM

Sources

The campaign will draw upon very few setting sources, allowing for growth and the possibility to change canon. These include:

• TSR 1031, The Forgotten Realms Campaign Set
• TSR 9510, The Vilhon Reach
• Forgotten Realms Wiki: useful for quick glances, hooks, and seeds; much of this goes beyond the "canon" of our first two sources and much is set into the time period of 3e and 4e editions of the setting
• Fate Accelerated SRD, our ruleset, for quick reference

Options from the author’s own rules clarifications and enhancements are found here.

Old game materials to original campaign:

• Wiki
• IC thread
• OOC thread

Player Characters

Anton de Mathesio

Background Trademark: Disgraced Amnian Noble (Code of Honour, Etiquette, Wanderer)

Physical/Mental Traits: Swift (Impulsive, Graceful, Ingenious, Dashing)

Affiliation: Glisena's Champion (Divided Heart, Signet Ring (the ring he gave Glisena as a token of his loyalty), Morganatic Pairing (Anton's an aristocrat, but one in exile, and hardly a suitable match for the daughter of one of the Reach's sovereign rulers)

Training/Abilities: Mystic Swordsman (Swashbuckling Swordsmanship, Swordseek, Charm of Opening)

Gear:

• Family Sabre (Master-Forged, Heirloom)
• Home-made Spellbook (Rituals)
• Emm (Spying)

Description. House de Mathesio was a rising mercantile house in Amn, owning interests in the shipping trade to Maztica as well as various forests and mines in the country’s interior. However, the scion of the family, Anton, was something of a disappointment to his hardheaded parents. From his earliest years, he was fascinated by stories of magic and enchantment –even though, in magic-fearing Amn, these cautionary stories inevitably ended in tragedy for any who dared to dabble in the forbidden arts.

Anton was always far too wild and restless to learn anything at all of bookkeeping. He had enough natural talent to make a capable swordsman, and his parents were considering sending him to the army on strength of that, when disaster struck. Anton, it was discovered, had been paying a local hedge-witch for lessons in magic and alchemy. The superstitious old woman knew little of the greater arts, and the authorities had more or less turned a blind eye to her practises, but a member of the nobility learning from her was a different matter. Anton’s parents planned to ruin themselves bribing the correct magistrates to allow their son to go free, but Anton had other ideas. He simply slipped away from the family castle one night, planning to make his way to lands further east, where he could finally study magic at will.

Anton is a charming but impractical individual. Besides his passion for magic, he has a generally romantic view of the world, a boundless passion for poetry, and various chivalrous impulses. The truth is that his qualities are not at all suited to the slow and steady study of magic and most potential mentors would reject him out of hand -but perhaps he'll find a way to learn all the same.

Drive. To learn magic and become a wizard.

Activated Powers: Swordseek, Mystra's Messenger, Charm of Opening

Hero Point Refresh. 2

Rules

Here are the refinements for improved FU, and comments on particular dials:

Setting Stakes.

Just as described here. Analyze “No” before rolling to ensure a negative still pushes the narrative. If not, state the Beat the Odds question with a statement of what’s at stake. “Can Anton leap the chasm without falling?” rather than “Can Anton leap the chasm?”

Character Advancement & Experience Points.

See article. Below is a list of triggers. Triggers award XP. XP can be converted to FU points during play at a 1:1 ratio. At the end of a “session” (5 scenes or so), remaining FU points can be converted back to XP at 2:1.

• Conflicts with drives producing complications
• Significant character growth
• Fulfilling a character drive
• Fulfilling a significant scenario
• Negative tag or trademark used to create a significant complication

The following triggers cover awards of FU points only:

• Acting heroically despite overwhelming odds
• Taking a hit (and automatically declaring a result of “No, and...” without rolling)
• Defeating a notable villain

A new advance is triggered at the end of a session when spending 5 XP:

• Add a new descriptor
• Unlock a single meta-tag for a pre-existing trademark (if using trademarks)
• A new item of gear
• An additional drive
• Some other significant new feature of the character

Additional Uses of FU Points.

The normal way, plus the following:

• Power (momentarily unlock) a tag justified through story details in which a trademark has not yet been added
• Switch an active piece of gear (if the PC has more than 2)

Trademarks & Tags.

Exactly as described here.

Starting Characters.

• Begin with 2 FU points
• Begin with Trademarks: Background, Physical/Mental Traits, Affiliations, Training/Abilities, 2 Gear
• Begin with 1-4 tags attached to each trademark or gear
• Unlock 2 tags

Scene Journal

Prologue

Begins post #2.

• Recap of previous campaign

1. Booking Passage on the Sea Sprite

Begins post #3.

• Anton & Glisena book a ship to Mimph
• Ansalde is present to ensure that journey is no threat to peace
• Glisena has a secret plan; gives valuable bracelet to sell