Campaignlet framework: Bronze and Sand

Quarantaine has weirdly increased the amount of D&D I'm getting. Once we figured out that rpg-via-skype is vastly better than no rpg at all, the choice was easy. There's even interest in forming a small extra group for a couple of oneshots. And so, I thought to quickly hash out a setting for a couple of dungeon crawls. You know, 3-4 lines as backdrop. Of course that went as well as you'd expect.

Just 3-4 lines of backdrop, I said to myself.

I hereby present to you: 

BRONZE AND SAND

[ also available as a Google Doc ]

IT IS A TIME OF FADING EMPIRES. Proud city states fight for freedom from the five great kingdoms of Iskander. Merchant caravans and sailors from across the known world bring priceless glass and silks to market. But the dusty roads are beset by sandaled raiders gripping bronze or bloodthirsting iron. Sorcerors drown entire triremes in demon-conjured storms.  In the wilds, the sphinx and lamia have woken to nibble at the corners of empire.

SETTING. This world is like ours in the times of Hellenistic Egypt and Greece. Sandals and short swords of bronze or dread Iron. City states war, trade and build Wonders to their glory. The world is wide and untamed. There are strange beasts and ancient treasures beyond the oil lamp's light.

Iskander was the great general whose two decade conquest heralded the start of the modern world. He famously conquered the entire civilized world and bound the tribes of Gog and Magog behind the half-mythical Iron Gates. When spent Iskander returned from this last task, his five generals rose up and divided his domain into five kingdoms.

ICONIC CREATURES. Androsphinx, Basilisk, Catoplebas, Centaur, Chimera, Cockatrice, Cyclops, Dao, Djinni, Dryad, Efreeti, Empyrean, Gorgon, Griffon, Guardian Naga, Gynosphinx, Harpy, Hydra, Lamassu, Lamia, Leucrotta, Manticore, Marid, Medusa, Minotaur, Mummy, Nereid, Pegasus, Roc, Salamander, Satyr, Serpopard, Spirit Naga

INSPIRATION

• Goblin Punch's OSR funnel Lair of the Lamb: screamed out to me as THE thing to play as a oneshot. Of course then I needed a setting to hold it...
• I Don't Remember That Move's Harpyshaft adventure: I read it immediately after Lair of the Lamb and it connected with the bronze age-y Alexandrian vibe. Also check out Whose Measure's Harpyshaft notes
• Coins & Scrolls' Iron Gates series: provided the framework I needed, specifically the idea of a mythical mediterranean sandbox, ruins everywhere, Iron as a powerful but soul-deadening metal. My take will be much less pre-apocalyptic than Skerples'.
• Dungeon of Signs' Along the Road of Tombs: decadent empires, ruin-squatting robbers and culties. Chock-full of atmosphere.
• Against the Wicked City's Cities of the Great Road: endless stretches of road with proud, strange cities you've never heard of before. For when my beloved chaos worshipers inevitably decide the map is too small and they want to head to the Wicked City. FML.

PEOPLES AND ORIGINS

Niceans - crafty traders and spies, prosperous kingdom [Byzantium; ruins of Troy]

• Cities: Basileia of the Golden Domes, Zenopolis of the wondrous Clock Tower
• Ruins: fallen Illion with its Cyclopean skeletons, underground Kaymakli, the shunned Corpse-City of Kar Hadash, the flying mountain Exile
• Encounters: merchants, spies and assassins; star-mad mages and priests, bound angels and devils; rakshasa, vampires, Vanir barbarians, ghouls

Aeneans - 1000 isles of fiercely independent city states. Fishers, hoplites and schools for oratory and invention. [Greek/Roman; ruins of Mycenae]

• Cities: Rhen of the Wolf Coliseum, Pyrgos and Gythion with its Colossos
• Ruins: Cyclopean, like those at Hagar Qim, Ta' Hagrat or Illion. Rumors abound that the Aeneans have dark appetites like the ones who lived in this land before them.
• Encounters: Roving philosophers, questing kinglets, trader-pirates, river and wood spirits, a horde of cryptids and god-children tasked to complete bat-shit-crazy tasks

Darians - strict and proud, worship many fiery beings under the Lawgiving Sun. oppressively large cities amidst vast plains [Persian; ruins of Ur, Babylon, Babel]

• Cities: Afshar and Chaldea with its Glass Wall, Sargon and Marduk, Meridia the City of Sorcerers
• Ruins: Shulgi, Ur-Nammu, Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser, Ziggurat of Tongues, Black Pyramid of Khalgorond
• Encounters: Fire cultists and tiger worshipers, bound fire demons, elementals and all djinns except marid, wereboars and -tigers, purple wyrms and rocs in the deep desert

Iskandrians - desert kingdom in decline on its long river. Named after the great general who bound the tribes of Gog and Magog behind Iron Gates. [Egypt, Alexandria]

• Wonders: Iskander's Library (also) and Iskander's Tomb are marvels of the known world, although dwarfed by the Pyramids of Hisarna.
• Encounters: riddling sphinxes, destitute heirs of Iskander, haggard caretakers of His Library and Tomb, nightly ceremonies to the old gods at sand-covered tombs and steles, undead ancestors wondering why the honour rites have stopped, ghouls, wraiths, giant scorpions, jackalwere

Sea Peoples - wide-ranging raiders and traders [Phoenician; ruins of Carthage]

• Cities: Byblos, Tyre and Sidon the Infinite City are the largest cities in this loose federation
• Ruins: jealous Rhen destroyed the great trade hub of Punicia, the trade hub of Punicia, destroyed by jealous Rhen; the Pillar of Fire
• Wonders: the dark-rumoured Vault of Moloch and Tyre's Lighthouse
• Encounters: traders from strange oceans; merchants tired of explaining the Sea People don't sacrifice children; ongoing feuds and displaced people of Punicia; child sacrifices; rhinoceros vanguard and elephant riders, Fish-headed sea dwellers; jackalwere and ogres and witch covens

MAP

Made with Inkarnate free edition, then a quick pass in Illustrator for roads and borders. Basically the med with serial numbers filed off.

WEIRD PLACES

The Black Pyramid of Khalgorond
The Pillar of Fire
The Abominable Island
The City of Infinite Ruin
The Blue Necropolis
Guilder, the City of Green Brass (good for a city with a great Pharos-style lighthouse)
The Invincible City of the Tusk People
So You've Been Kidnapped by a Giant Bird

ADVENTURE

Or: how the fuck do I make a character for this sandy hellhole?

GAME RULES
System: D&D 5e, all player handbook classes, races and backgrounds available
Stats: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, or 4d6-drop-lowest, or d18
Starting level: 0 (funnel) or 1 level below the rest of the party for a new character; when we level in between sessions, everyone rises to the same level
Faith: write up at least 5 words about your patron deity. You can be an atheist. The gods like that. Gives them something to aim for.


RACES
All the regular player handbook races are available as bloodlines of humanity. You are and look like and age as a regular human. No racial tongues, no darkvision. You can speak Common and the language of your origin region in addition to any extra tongues.

d20	race	description
1	Dragonborn	djinn-blooded, with elemental sign like wind-tossed hair
2-3	Dwarf	children of the smith god Talos
4	Elf	cryptic children of the Sphinx or dryad-blooded
5	Gnome	followers of the wise goddess Septet
6-7	Half-Elf	nymph-children
8-9	Halfling	small and sneaky humans
10	Half-Orc	satyr-children or rowdy humans
11	Tiefling	child of the Lilin or Iblis the deceiver
12-20	Human	the multitudes of humanity

CLASSES
All 5e PHB classes will be open to the players, but we start with a 0th level funnel. Characters have their starting stats, race and background, and that's it. No equipment, no class levels, 6+Con modifier hit points and proficiency with simple weapons.


LANGUAGES

Common tongues
Common - trade tongue
Aenean* - Aenea, Nicea
Darian / Eme gir* - Daria
Demotic* - Iskandria
Sea People / Rasna - Sea People

Arcane and esoteric
Abyssal (chaotic evil spirits) *#
Celestial (good spirits) *#
Deep Speech (aberrations)
Draconic *#
Druidic #
Giant (such as the ancient Cyclopes) *#
Infernal (lawful evil spirits) *#
Primordial (elementals) #
Sylvan (fey, nature) #
Undercommon (underdark)

* also exists in a separate Ancient / Noble form, no longer spoken and hard to read
# used to write or cast magic

EQUIPMENT
Most of the PHB equipment is available: lenses and waterclocks were available in ancient times, after all. Metals are a special case: almost everything is made out of bronze. Due to the limits of crafting bronze, there are no long- or greatswords, rapiers, chain armor or half and full plate. (You could make them out of iron, but no-one's invented those techniques yet.)

Materials
All items made out of iron and steel carry a bloodthirsting curse, but they are also stronger and more flexible than bronze. Items made from bronze, wood and bone are fragile and can break with abuse. A few hours in a smithy can repair them.

Weapons or armors made from bronze, wood or bone break on a critical fumble.

• 1 break: halve all damage dealt or halve the AC bonus
• 2 breaks: weapon or armor is damaged beyond repair

 

A THOUSAND GODS

Gods and their miracles are everywhere, and so are their temples. Some gods are known throughout the world, others only in one isolated hill village. Ancient power, anointed kinglet, river spirit or ascended hero? Who cares. They're the glitzy fucks who can call down lightning and turn into a vase of daisies to seduce your bae while you're out sifting the sand for gold.

• Moloch the Golden - Sea People god of fire and war, rumours of child sacrifice 
• Ankai - Darian god of gold, civilization and sunlight 
• Ennu - Water god of knowledge, storms, dreams and writing 
• Dagon - Ancient Darian / Sea People god of grain and prosperity
• Ammon the Ram - the Protector and Diviner
• Resheph - Ancient Iskandrian god of plague, war and thunder
• Nitan the Beast - unfettered god of iron, earth and blood, but also mathematics and invention

IRON MUST BE BATHED IN BLOOD

Directly lifted from Skerples' Iron Gates series; I mostly stole copied summarized his work, although some of the descriptions under Iron stats are mine.

Iron protects and iron corrupts. As each age draws to a close, iron sings a song of blood. Those who wield iron lose memories and restraint. They are honed to a killing edge. Not bestial or mindless, but simplified. Knights plot furious wars, perpetrate massacres and reach for their weapons at the slightest sign of dissent.

metal	effect	cost
steel	attack & damage or AC +1	regular x5
iron	regular item stats	regular x2
bronze	attack & damage or AC -1, min. 11	regular
wood, bone	attack & damage or AC -2, min. 11	half regular

Your Iron capacity to safely carry Iron is [Iron stat bonus], minimum 0.

• Iron daggers, swords, chain armour, and shields count as 1 Iron.
• 20 iron arrows count as 1 Iron.
• Giant hammers, giant shields, etc. count as 2 Iron.
• Iron-infused spells count as 1 Iron.
• Any number of non-violent Iron items count as 1 Iron, no matter how many you carry.

Iron stat: How you resist Iron's siren call of blood. Doesn't have to be your highest. Your Iron stat's ability bonus sets your Iron capacity. Roll under your Iron stat to successfully save against Iron's roar for blood.

• Strength: Fight yourself. Force your sword back into its scabbard. Your neck bulges, your teeth grind.
• Dexterity: Move, don't think. You twitch and endlessly repeat your gestures.
• Constitution: You overcome it by exhausting yourself in manic exercise.
• Intelligence: You lose yourself in intricate thought. You mutter and squint.
• Wisdom: You overcome it by centering yourself. You stop moving, close your eyes. Your breathing slows.
• Charisma: You overcome it by brushing aside the bloodlust with a wry smile.

capacity	effect	attack bonus
At or Below	No effect.	-
1 over	If you kill an enemy in a particularly bloody fashion, Save or recklessly attack the next adjacent enemy.	+1
2 over	You cannot write. If you kill an enemy, Save each round or recklessly attack the nearest target, friend or foe.	+2
3 over	You cannot read or write. You forget almost everything. If you kill an enemy, Save or attack the nearest target, friend or foe. You regain control when combat ends.	+3
4+ over	You become a mindless husk driven by bloodlust. This is irreversible. You gain +10 HP and reduce all incoming damage by 2.	+4