600 AD - Session Zero

This series will be following, as best I can recall, the events that took place during a D&D campaign that I very much enjoyed. It has been on hiatus for a while now due to various real-life events that have kept the group from continuing, but we all have a decent amount of hope for the future, and in the meantime I should at least be able to piece together the events that happened so far. In this post I'll be going over the basic layout of information from the start of the campaign, as well as the information regarding the character that I played.

The year is 600 AD. The setting? The ancient Meditarranean, focusing initially on a fantasy version of the Roman Empire, by this point controlled by its Byzantine successor state. The primary plotline/goal of the campaign? Basically, it's a massive escort mission to get an Ent and the pixie/faerie village that is attached to him back to their place in the New World. And, yes, I do mean the Americas. Oh yeah, it was intended on going well beyond Roman territory, but for the moment that was where we were starting. The Ent's name is Donny, and as a character he was a Cleric - though I admit, at this point, I don't quite recall what Domain. I WANT to say he was a Life Cleric, but considering events, he may have been a War Cleric... You'll see what I mean.

His Guardian was a pixie named Puma, capable of all kinds of astounding feats given his size. Think of him as a superhero. We all pretty much did, though he only really came into play in times where something was going catastrophically wrong, someone wanted to RP with him, or if our DM felt like having a laugh - Puma was perfect for that given his characterization. As far as starting NPCs, that was it. Next came the actual player characters.

First up was an Aarakocra Ranger by the name of Goldfinch - on the small side, mostly a hunter, I want to say he had the Outlander background, but I honestly don't remember at this point. I don't recall ever hearing where he came from in terms of nation. Second we had a little Lizardfolk who was also on the small side, and was (if I recall correctly) a Wizard of Egyptian origin, and totally obsessed with gathering knowledge - unfortunately I don't remember his name, though if anyone from my party reads this and remembers, I'll be able to bring it up in a future part of the series. Out of character we ended up calling them Pidgey and Totodile because not only did they share similar size, but like a couple of pokemon, they were always together any time we ended up in a settlement. ...And people often thought they were the party's pets, rather than members.

Third was a Warforged named Artie Robinson; unfortunately I don't remember what his class was at this point. Admittedly, we never quite understood why that was the name someone picked for a character from 600 AD, but we did learn a bit of backstory later that made things make sense regarding his origin. Artie's story was actually a pretty sad one. His wife had been taken by villains, and his journey was all about trying to find her again. I... don't remember the wife's name, though I know it was said multiple times. Something is telling me her name was Felicia, so I'll just run with that. Fourth, the first of our party's two tieflings, and another Ranger: Ariea Ceara MacBradiegh - with another sad tale. Of Celtic Irish origin, she was the daughter of one of the chieftains on the Emerald Isle, but her clan had been attacked and their lands conquered. During this, her girlfriend, Bridgette, had been killed. As her father's only potential remaining heir, Ariea had fled the area and wandered in Roman territory on the mainland, in many ways trying to forget what had happened and drown her sorrows in local liquor. She was a good friend, but definitely made... questionable... decisions.

Member number five was Turok, our party's human Barbarian. A Toltec warrior from the New World, by way of Central America, his was a tail of desire for revenge. His brother, a mage of some caliber (and a sorcerer, I believe), had betrayed their people, slain a great many of them, and set out across the world to wreak an untold amount of havoc. Turok had been charged by his elders to hunt him down, and in doing so, to bring him to justice - be that by way of dragging him home for judgement by the elders, or by way of sending him to the gods for their punishment, whatever method it may take to do so. In his travels, he would encounter our sixth party member, and they would being the first session as friends.

Now we get to member number six, the talented, diplomatic, and gorgeous Nahiri. A gorgeous red tiefling - what the next character in our lineup would even at times refer to as 'Roman Red' - from Japan, she was the party's "Way of Tranquility" Monk. Orphaned as a young child when her family was attacked by superstitious locals, and their home was torched, she still had the scars from that night - both mental, and indeed, physical as her back had been burned by a falling timber. She had been taken in by a traveler, and raised as a monk, trained in the martial arts. However, while she had been trained, it had been for defense only, and she had a strong pacifist nature. She greatly prefered diplomacy to combat, and as we would learn over time, she happened to have a way of befriending... well, almost everything and everyone we came across - as long as they weren't an absolute scumbag, anyway. When she finally came of age, her adoptive mother decided that she should journey west along the Silk Road, and learn what she could about the world before returning. Thus, she set out with this goal in mind. Shortly before she would meet Turok, she would find herself taken in by a Roman noble - at first, seemingly being generous... and then the wicked truth was learned: he wanted her as a slave. She managed to escape, but a bounty was placed on her as an 'escaped slave', and thus she ran. After meeting Turok and confiding in him her recent troubles, he decided that he would be her friend and protect her. When they heard of Donny the Ent and the escort job, it seemed like a good idea to join the group, as both their overall and short-term goals had the potential to be advanced in doing so.

Now, if you've been paying attention, you may have picked up on something quite strange. If you haven't, you're probably wondering what you missed, so I'll lay it out for you: None of these characters, up to this point, have actually been a Roman - for a campaign that will be set dominantly within Roman territory - and for that matter, only the Barbarian [in D&D class and every way the Romans would have meant the word] was a human. But, fret not dear reader, I was the person who would end up rectifying this. Well, admittedly I didn't even know it had fallen on me at the time to do so. I just felt like playing a Roman. I didn't realize until everyone laid out what their characters were after I was done that I was the only person that had actually made one. That said, it kind of worked out. I was also the only one in the group, at the time, that had actually taken a 'History of Ancient Rome' class. So... I was kind of the group expert for how things would be... or as close to one as a college student that had taken a single history class and done research on personal time could be, anyway.

Bastian Falkenrath, a proud son of noble birth, of Roman and Germanic blood, the second son of his house. Born in Constantinople, his family was famed for their anti-piracy activities and had a business around that very activity, as well as fingers in a lot of economic pies - merchants, of course, came from vast distances and all directions, for the Walled City was an intersection unlike any other along the Silk Road. However, being the second son meant that his life was not so perfect as it would sound. His father was distant at the best of times, given that his elder brother was intended to be the heir of the family. In many ways he had hoped for their second child to be a daughter, to easily tie them to another noble house within the city. If his father wasn't doting over his brother Donovan, he was usually away on over-land business trips or pirate busting activities. His mother was doting, but stern, and quick to punish her boys if they stepped out of line - this of course was to be expected of a good Roman woman, though.

When he was small he was sheltered, and around the time he turned six he started being bullied. At the age of ten he had all but retreated into the family villa and spent most of his time minding his tutors, or with his mother. He had trouble sleeping, and while his mother tried to help him, his father simply became more annoyed with the child. His brother Donovan did his best to be there for his little brother, and to his credit he usually was the one that had fought bullies off, but there wasn't much he could do about their father's attitude. When Bastian turned thirteen, his father had had enough, and sent the boy to Athens to finish his education. For the next four years he hardly saw his family except for short trips. When he was seventeen, his education was completed, but in Roman society this meant that he was now expected to perform military service. Of course, he was in luck, so to speak. There were troubles in Dacia, what we know as the Balkans, and the Roman Army was being deployed along the border to try and quell unrest. He joined up, and found himself as one of a few young men being used to replenish the ranks of a unit that had just returned from the Persia.

Decimus, his Centurion, was a hard-bitten man that had seen his men through battle many times. The kindness he knew best was the sort that made men hate him until they finally understood it, and then they loved him like a father afterward. A career soldier, through and through, he molded the young recruits into archaic Legionnaires, and when the Legion was deployed to Dacia, saw to it that they did what was required of them. The system that the unit used, that of the Legion, had been phased out a long time ago, but the General in charge of these men prefered the older arrangement, and in this case it worked. However, four years on, and tragedy struck. Bastian's unit was deployed to recon ahead of the rest of the Legion, using a small contingent of cavalry as backup and communication. They were ambushed, and cut down nearly to a man. Bastian being the youngest of the unit had been sent away to get the cavalry, but by the time they managed to arrive and charge, it was too late. His duty then was to report back - the last surviving member of his unit.

The young Falkenrath was discharged after these events, and suffered from Battle Fatigue, most commonly in the form of night terrors - a problem he'd had since he was small, but made exponentially worse by what he had been through. His military service done, he returned to Constantinople, but was only there for a few days before he simply felt wrong about being there. It was at this time that the family took on a contract that was outside their norm: an overland escort mission. They did them at times, but not often. Stranger still was that it was for an Ent and a band of other assorted misfits and barbarians. They needed a Roman of noble blood to escort them through Roman territory so that they could move about unmolested. The contract was from the Emperor himself. Having nobody else available, and knowing his brother did not feel right at home, Donovan spoke to him, and Bastian took up the job.

Now for some of the technical stuff. We started this at level one. Max HP, which is common with my group, as we all like brawls and tend to have good sized encounters. We had a starting feat (I chose Keen Mind), and our DM decided that rather than picking between Ability Score Increases or Feats, we would get both when the ASI would come up for us. We also used the "Standard Array" - the example array in the Player's Handbook (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) for stats. There were a few things we had to iron out in terms of weapons - for instance, a Rapier would normally be available, but that pattern of sword didn't exist, so instead my DM allowed me to find a sword that would at least be 'close' - I chose a Spatha, which while technically a cavalry sword, was a one-handed weapon that could at least be argued to be a finesse weapon.

My group may also be a little bit odd, though, when it comes to how we work money. We all know that standard D&D has the coinage be a 10:1 - 10 Copper is 1 Silver, etc. However, we tend to run it as 100:1. Yes, I know it has its problems, but considering how often we bother with rations and the like, things that cost a silver or a copper rarely are things we end up actually keeping track of (outside of ammunition or components, anyway). We also tend to run multiclassing a bit differently: First, the minimum scores? Yeah, we don't bother. And when it comes to what you get from a class you go into, you basically just get everything you would at level 1, aside from gear - so the class's saves, skills, tools, etc.

Is it broken? Eh, a little, but not really. And given the kinds of things we send at our parties when we DM... it really doesn't hurt to do it that way. Can also make for some awesome builds, as you'll see through Bastian's development.

And finally, for those that are curious, Bastian's starting stats:

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 16

Constitution: 15

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 9

Charisma: 14

HP: 12

AC: 16

Skill Proficiencies: Persuasion, History, Perception, Insight (I believe, this was about... 5 years ago, now)

Languages: Common, Elvish, Dwarvish

Gear: Leather Armor, Handaxes, Shield, Spatha (Rapier), Longbow, Abacus (yes, he did actually want that), extra rope, grappling hook, healer's kit, and the typical kit that you get from the Noble background [minus the cost of the extra rope, grappling hook, and healer's kit].