Ongoing Interest Checks: Warehouse of Kesperex DND Ideas

Riverport has experienced decades of stability-- the alliance between the Lich of Riverport and the Archdruid Seymour Gilp Andreas Villandrean, Esq. proved remarkably durable- since the challenge 30 years ago during the Uprising there has not been another contest for the twelve District Chairs.

But in recent years, the relationship between the two is frayed. The Lich is rarely seen, even more rarely than before-- even the yearly Sakura Festival no longer draws him from his tower. The Arch Druid, meanwhile departed on business of the Church of the Four months ago and has not returned.

No one would think of challenging their districts, or the Tower, of course. . . but there are nine other districts which are not considered as secure.

A Challenge has been called, the first Challenge in who can even remember how long?

Ten days remain until the start of the Challenge, and there's been an influx of bodies into Riverport. What used to be a ritual is born anew as current District Chairs and would be challengers scramble to hire and retain fighters, followers, guards, and assassins. It's a wild rush, and there are any number of patrons offering jink and other rewards for a loyalty that need only last one month-- forty days of intense urban warfare.

You've arrived just in time to sign on with one of the contestants-- will you seek to defend a precarious position, or sign up with an up and comer?

The Dark Brothers were once the most feared Condottieri in the Old Empire, but after they fought against the man who would be crowned Emperor, then were split with half the Brothers following the Giant in Bones never to return they Dark Brothers have fallen on hard times. Worse, contracts have been harder and harder to come by since the Emperor's Peace.

Dark Eye Ma'Gore has done what he could, but he's slowed across the years, now an old man goblin in a very young man's goblin's game. Can you help guide the remnants of the Dark Brothers to glory again? Or will the Old Empire's goblin band fade away?

It’s been three months since Cloud Dwarf King Dak Nimbus led the Skycaptains and Spiryth’s Horde of Glorious Thunder into what looked to be final and lasting victory against the forces of Fire Giant King Lamar Nechezzar, however, the hero of the Gold Peak Dwarves met with disaster.

Outflanked by Necezzar’s wiley treachery, King Nimbus found himself opposed by a fractious and temporary, yet powerful alliance. The fire giants forged a pact with the neighboring frost dwarves of the Dunkare Mine, the hill giants of the Rondan Pass, the orcs of the Hidden Plateau, and even three of the four dragons who roost in the region, and the Thundering Horde was defeated, scattered, and King Nimbus captured.

Now, Gale Festivus, Last of the Skycaptains, must organize a motley crew of trainees, conscripts, and even mercenaries (perish the thought) in a desperate defense of Gold Peak.

Can you answer the call, defend the dwarven citadel, rally the forces of the sky, and free the Dwarf King?

It was supposed to be a simple passage across the Great Western Ocean into the rising sun to join the colonies in the New World. You'd bought your passage, packed your belongings, and set off for new lives and adventure. But Therpious, the God of the Sea and Pacifa the Lord of All To Come had other plans. A terrible storm blew your ship off course, pushing you far to the south, and worse sunk.

Now, a small group of survivors, marooned hundreds of miles to the south of any civilization must follow the Path of Recifer, God of Choices, and choose their own fate-- will you set out on a perilous overland journey to the north to find the Colonies? Or take what Pacifa has brought, and build your own here?

Either way, dangerous natives- the mysterious Jungle Dwarves, the aggressive Ash Dwarves, and who knows what else await in the jungles and lands of this new continent. . .

At the end of the Riverport: The First Challenge scenario, two of the factions unite and strike out to found a new Kingdom south of the Burned Lands.

Can you help to tame the jungles of the south, or will the dangers of the little explored area get the better of you?

The Emperor, acting with the authority of the Primate of the Church of the Three has Called the Crusade! The gnolls of the Black Water Tribe have been left to fester in the Burned Lands for too long, and their territories keep spreading. Join up, band together all ye faithful and condottieri alike. Build your force, sail to the Burned Lands, and carve your own Kingdom from the lands of the Worshippers of the Nemesis, Vieragon!

In the ancient past, Cloud and Storm Dwarves ruled the skies-- four Cloud Kingdoms are said to have existed, ruled by the Dwarven Kings of Old. But for centuries the Cloud Kingdoms were lost to dwarvenkind. Recently, however, the Entrance to the Clouds has been found! The Kingdoms lay before you- but they aren't uninhabited. Venture first on one of the first dwarven expeditions to explore the Cloud Kingdoms, battling angry giants and other mysterious inhabitants of the sky.

You didn't think much of it when your uncle left you his worldly possessions. After all, the crazy old coot couldn't have owned much. But when the chest is delivered, you are shocked to find it stocked with treasure- a tidy sum of gold, a marvelous sword, and the deed to a Castle!
Of course, the castle is abandoned, in the wilds of the interior of the Fair Lands, possibly overrun by goblins, or sprites, or who knows what. But it is yours, and once you take it back, you'd be, well, a King, right?

Now, its just a matter of using that gold to hire a group of brave souls willing to help you make that a reality.

The five nations of the Northern Fair Lands have lived together in relative peace for nearly a decade now. After the last war between them was settled by a marriage, the elven Kingdom Fathamar, the gnomish hold of Crenspear, the human Kingdoms of Hunbar and Tenneth, and the halfling settlement at the Greenfields have traded, and prospered, despite not trusting one another further than you could spit.
But when an advance scout long ship, full of storm dwarf viking is spotted in the channel, the Kingdoms must decide what to do to respond to the threat, before they all find themselves crushed beneath the mysterious Storm Lord's Wrath!

The name Deneton used to mean something in there parts. King Finn Deneton was a great hero, uniting the lands around Caer Lindar, and beating back invasions of dwarves, elves, men, and orcs. But King Finn has been dead for a hundred years, and Finn's sons split his lands, and his grandson's split those lands, and his great granddaughter married, and dieing without an heir the very possession of Caer Lindar passed out of the Deneton family altogether to King Hrind, her husband.
But the Deneton name could mean something again, if the cousins can gather together, and decide on someone to begin reuniting King Finn's ancestral lands..

Founded in the Second Age, the Empire of Oceana sat on an island midway between the the major trading routes. The legends say a cataclysm sank the city beneath the waves near the very end of the Second Age. Since then, the City has thrived beneath the ocean- ruled by a Gilman Emperor, peopled with Gilmen, Merfolk, and stranger creatures of the sea, Oceana has lived up to its name.
But, ten years ago, a mysterious group of spellcasters known as the Absolute Order rose up, killing the Emperor and Empress. Allied with dark powers, the Absolute Orders now rule the land beneath the waves. . .

But there is hope- the 8 year old son, now the rightful Emperor of Oceana was smuggled outside the city, escaping to the surface world. Now, surrounded by a small group of loyalists and mercenaries, the Prince sets out to gather resources, forge alliances, raise a navy, and reclaim his birthright.

Will you answer the call for the Crown of Oceana?

This campaign features fleet building, trade routes, and diplomatic alliances subsystems. Character races are limited to specific races depending on a campaign trait-- mostly sea faring related races.

On the world of Kesperex, the Gods have forbidden their direct involvement in the affairs of the world, agreeing to act only through their agents- priests, paladins, druids, chosen, champions, and catspaws. And interfere they do- a tangled web of siblings, lovers, and foes make up the pantheon of the major deities of Kesperex, and among these battles the Gods of Law, born to the Father and the Mystic Mother stand against the forces of chaos and neutrality.

Of these Gods, the eldest brother Hapi guards the doors of life and death. The God of Death, or some would say The God of Natural Death teaches that all men (and women, and orcs, and dragons, and goblins, and everything) must die, and should do so at its natural time. The use of magic to circumvent this - extending one's lifespan, aging in reverse, resurrection, and using necromancy to raise the undead are all strictly forbidden.

Well, strictly forbidden unless one makes use of a loophole, of course, and the most common loophole is also the simplest- an indulgance can be had for anything from a few years extra, to resurrections, to an army of zombies- if the price is right, and the Church of Hapi has made a good business dealing in these indulgences.

No tax willing tithe to the coffers of an appreciative god would be complete, however, without its enforcers, and that is where you come in. The Reapers are feared throughout all Kesperex. Armed with their signature scythes the Reapers collect and enforce the indulgance system- taxing those willing to pay and ending those unable or unwilling to do so- reaping they call it.

In the city of Narport, for well over a hundred years High Reaper Dominity ruled with an iron fist- and without much in the way of input from those above him in the Church or the Reapers. In fact, he'd made Narport effectively a sanctuary, a private fiefdom within the Church that all others staid out of, that is until his recent death. Even the favored of the God of Death must die. His passing has left a blank spot for the Reapers- a city where tithe payment once had regularly flowed outward and upward where now even information is sparse at best.

You've been assembled into an elite squad of junior Reapers and given a simple task- go into Narport, take control of the situation, man such churches as exist, make sense of Reaper Dominity's paperwork, get the indulgence payments flowing again, and deal with anyone not in compliance with the laws of the Church and nature.

Long ago an ancient Halfling Empire covered the area now known as the Burned Lands (and more). Gone more than a thousand years, the halflings exiled into human lands, and the desert swallowing what were once grand cities many things lay buried in the sands of the Burned Lands.

You've been selected by the Archeological Society to take part on an expedition to discover some of the treasures of the ancient past buried there-- battle the desert, the long dead, and dangers unanticipated while you search for relics of the forgotten age-- including the fabled Relic Weapons!

The origin of the Halflings of Kesperex has long been a mystery, even to the Halflings themselves. But halfling historian Ric Gladiolas believes he has a clue to the answer. Halfling nobleman Marrucio Darkstar has agreed to fund an expedition to investigate this lead. You've been hired to guard and assist Ric in this rollicking adventure that trots across the world of Kesperex- from ruins of the Halfling Empire in the Burned Lands, to a mysterious peak in the Tall Mountains, to strange jungles in the Plateau Lands, track the true history of the Halflings in this Expedition Extraordinaire.

Five hundred off years ago, the Grand Reaper Marinon went to challenge a Lich Lord. Marinon never returned, dying in the underground tomb complex the lich inhabited.

A custom of the Reaper's organization is that when a Reaper passes close enough to the location that a fellow Reaper died, he is honorbound to try to retrieve the fallen Reaper's silver scythe. Over the years, dozens, perhaps hundreds of Reapers have met their fate in the Grand Reaper's Tomb- and if the few tales from the survivors who fled before meeting their own fates are to be believed, each that fell has only strengthened the horde of undead that inhabit the site.

New Provincia has prospered since its founding in the early days of the Emperor's reign. North of the Wall that used to mark the limits of the Old Empire, the colony is a place where many have come to make their fortunes, and prospered. Where once virgin forests grew, now prosperous vineyards and plantations have sprouted.

But a series of fires has been scorching fields and barns in recent months. The land owners of New Provincia fear there is a malicious purpose in this spat of fires- arson. They've hired a group of investigators to look into the fires- and end them.

Sandwalkers no more! The Seawalker Tribe has taken to the sea- abandoning their ancestral caravan routes to ply their trade as merchants on the waters. Pushed out of the depths of the desert by the Black Water Tribe, the Sea Walkers struggle to maintain their coastal territories. But the drums of war haven't stopped-- the Black Water Tribe continues to push, and the coastal delta of the Burned Lands is crowded with too many tribes already-- now, counting the Seawalkers and the Black Waters there are twelve total tribes fighting for the same territory. Can you head off all out war? Or will you be forced to fight for your tribe's right to sand and sea?

In the Old Empire status and rank come in many forms, and information comes at a premium. You've set your eyes on one form of status-- to become a Spymaster, a Spider. You're current master doesn't know it yet, but you know you are talented and willing to do what it takes to build a spy network, gather rumors and secrets, and climb the ladder of the courts-- perhaps a new patron, perhaps a title of your own-- who knows, some day you may serve the Emperor himself? from the shadows, of course. . .