Horrors of Averoigne
Contents
Campaign Overview
This is the campaign Wiki for adventures in Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne, run on a fork of the Cthulhu Eternal SRD, and set around the 1350s.
I've been a huge fan of the Cthulhu Eternal project since its inception. I've enjoyed Apocthulhu enormously, and I completely endorse the principle of a Cthulhu Mythos SRD based on the huge legacy of material developed since the first editions of Call of Cthulhu in the 1980s. In my opinion, it comprises one of the simplest and most elegant rulesets in the d100/BRP tradition, as well as one with a huge corpus of applicable material. I've worked on developing this for various other time periods and settings, including Dark Ages.
Essential Resources
These are the pages for creating characters, following the campaign, and generally working out specifics in the rules.
- IC Thread
- OOC Thread
- Recruitment Thread
- Cthulhu Eternal: Medieval SRD
- Apocthulhu SRD
- Complete online archive of Clark Ashton Smith's stories - starting with Averoigne
- Another excellent guide to the Averoigne stories
- Blank character sheet for Cthulhu Eternal Medieval - please copy the code to create a fresh page, but be careful not to change or erase this one!
Characters
The player-characters
| Player | Character | HP | WP | SAN | BP | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| robhthedm | Robert de Chalisse | 14 | 10 | 50 | 30 | 5: 5/0/0, [] |
| Archer | Brother Gregoire | 11 | 12 | 48 | 36 | 2: 5/0/0, [] |
| Airk | Ana Elora Foret | 13 | 12 | 48 | 36 | 4: 4/0/0, [] |
| btranwrites | Lucien Reynard | 12 | 10 | 40 | 30 | 12: 6/6/0, [] [] |
Important Information and Materials
"Vyones was the principal town of the province of Averoigne. On two sides the great, shadow-haunted forest, a place of equivocal legends, of loups-garous and phantoms, approached to the very walls and flung its umbrage upon them at early forenoon and evening. On the other sides there lay cultivated fields, and gentle streams that meandered among willows or poplars, and roads that ran through an open plain to the high chateaux of noble lords and to regions beyond Averoigne." - Clark Ashton Smith, "The Maker of Gargoyles"
Averoigne is a fairly isolated upland area of southeast central France, with many volcanic mountains, cut off from easy access to the rest of France by a more or less circular range round its fringes, and shielded internally and externally by thick primeval forest. Therefore, the province is spared from much of the warfare and marauding that defiles the rest of mid-14th century France, but is also rather backward, superstitious and haunted by dark presences.
Currency and prices in medieval France - a handy guide to typical prices and incomes for common occupations and goods. (Can't link because of the bloody spam filter, but Google Les Leftovers Comparing Prices in Medieval France.)
Important People
Azédarac - Bishop of Ximes, with a rather dark reputation
Clement - Archbishop of Averoigne, based in Vyones
Joan I, Countess of Averoigne - nominal sovereign of Averoigne, but in practice too occupied with her husband John the Good's wars to assert her authority
Raoul, Comte de la Frenaie - most powerful actual noble in Averoigne, effective ruler of northern regions
Theophile - Benedictine Abbot of Perigon, controlling much of southern Averoigne
Local Acquaintances / Bonds
- Etienne de Chalisse - elder brother of Robert and heir to the family fortunes
- Charlotte, barkeep at the ostel de la Corne de serf
- Michelle - Ana's crippled father and former gamekeeper
- Philo - cobbler's son and Ana's former sweetheart
Important Groups and Places
Map of the province of Averoigne
https://wiki.rpg.net/images/e/ea/X2-averoigne-12.png
Smaller Averoigne map:
Travel times: 2 hexes / day forced march on roads, 1 hex per day usual speed. 1 mph in forests/hills.
Chalisse - small fief and village by the road east of Fausseflammes
Fausseflammes - ruined castle with dark and sinister reputation
Inn of Bonne Jouissance - principal inn on main road between Vyones and Ximes
Isoile - main river of Averoigne, running roughly north/south through province
La Frenaie - castle of the Comtes de la Frenaie, famous wine district
Les Hiboux - marshy wilderness in southern Averoigne
Malinbois - location of the haunted double tomb of the Sieur Hugh du Malinbois and his chatelaine
Moulins - town in north-west Averoigne
l'ostel de la Corne de serf - inn on the road hard by Chalisse
Perigon - seat of Benedictine Abbey of Perigon
Sainte Zenobie - village near Perigon
Sylaire - enchanted tower in eastern Averoigne
Vyones - provincial capital of Averoigne, northern centre of province
Ximes - main southern town of Averoigne
Ylourgne - sinister ruin and nearby Cistercian monastery in northern hills of Averoigne
House Rules and Quirks
- Weapons - to flesh out the basic weapons list and make it more fun and diverse, here's the link to Chaosium's free BRP SRD from way back, including a detailed weapons list. Weapon types and base damages can be used in this campaign.
- Equipment - here's a big equipment list. Any time you need an item, you can always check it here, and we can discuss actual price/Resources difficulty/availability.
- Mounted lance - a mounted attacker wielding a lance gets the usual 4.10.4 Fighting on Horseback advantages. BUT, if they charge with a couched lance, they can inflict the horse's damage bonus on their target. Furthermore, the lance is armor-piercing. Max chance is the attacker's Ride skill, and this attack needs space to build up momentum for a charge. It cannot be inflicted with a normal long spear: only a cavalry lance: DAM 2D6+horse db, Lethality 10%, Armor Piercing 5.
