Zero Level Campaign

The Premise of the game was based entirely on the world created by Tad Williams in his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy (The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, To Green Angel Tower). The players called it the "Zero-Level" campaign because each of them started out as a 12-15 year old apprentice of some sort of merchant. They remained at that zero level status until each of them had earned 500 experience points. Eventually each of them would role play and develop their backgrounds until they naturally were drawn the character class best suited for them. The game used primarily modified 1st and 2nd edition D&D rules with some major changes by me. The game was much more skill driven than anything else I saw at the time. All characters had access to all learning all skills, but the charcter's Class and Stats determined what skills they could learn the quickest.

Classes:
There were 9 Character classes--
Warrior: A standard fighter who had sworn fealty to one of the NPC Lords in the game.

Mercenary: A standard fighter who had not sworn fealty, and was in to battle-for-profit.

Rogue: Like a thief, but with moral and ethical limits. Also this character class shared some of the skills of a spy.

Pathfinder: Like a ranger, but with fewer druidic style skills and more woodsman type skills.

Priest: A weaker version of a cleric. Much fewer holy spells, but more healing and lore skills.



		The Premise of the game was based entirely on the world created by Tad Williams in his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy (The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, To Green Angel Tower). The players called it the "Zero-Level" campaign because each of them started out as a 12-15 year old apprentice of some sort of merchant. They remained at that zero level status until each of them had earned 500 experience points. Eventually each of them would role play and develop their backgrounds until they naturally were drawn the character class best suited for them. The game used primarily modified 1st and 2nd edition D&D rules with some major changes by me. The game was much more skill driven than anything else I saw at the time. All characters had access to all learning all skills, but the charcter's Class and Stats determined what skills they could learn the quickest. Classes: There were 9 Character classes-- Warrior: A standard fighter who had sworn fealty to one of the NPC Lords in the game. Mercenary: A standard fighter who had not sworn fealty, and was in to battle-for-profit. Rogue: Like a thief, but with moral and ethical limits. Also this character class shared some of the skills of a spy. Pathfinder: Like a ranger, but with fewer druidic style skills and more woodsman type skills. Priest: A weaker version of a cleric. Much fewer holy spells, but more healing and lore skills.
		Adept: Like a Druid but with skills and spells based in the world designed by Williams. Future dreaming and visions for these characters were common. Necromancer: A character class like a mage, but based on the powers of reanimating the dead by force of will, and a clairvoyant possession. Loremaster: Like a mix between a mage and an alchemist. Lots of alchemy and legend lore, but very little in the way of spells. Bard: Like a standard bard class, but ALL skills and spell effects derive from music and Legend Lore. Extra Rules: There were some strong limiting rules for this campaign All characters must be one of the races of human: 1. Erkynlander - Like the medieval English 2. Nabbani - Like a mix of the medieval French and Italian 3. Rimmersmen -Like the medieval Norse 4. Hernystri - Like the medieval Celts 5. Thrithing Folk - Like a mix of the early medieval Spanish/Andalusia's and the Mongols 6. Wrannamen - Like a mix of the early medieval Mediterranean and African cultures. They are VERY few magic items. All magic items are very old. Most of what is perceived of as magic is done buy chemistry and alchemy. The only truly "Magical" race was the Sithi. The Sithi are like elves but more feline in grace and motion. The all have an bronzey-golden complexion, and white hair which they dye various colors. Characters start out with 0-100% chance of reading and writing. Characters are issued starting funds based on their Social Class and Birth Order. Characters have several new attributes: 1. Religion: The religion of their culture or the religion of Aedon. 2. Piety: Their piousness level. This stat determined a character's reaction when performing Faith- based magic. 3. Belief in Magic: This stat determined how well a character could learn and deal with magic and alchemy. 4. Tolerance: Their level of tolerance of other cultures and ideas. 5. Superstition: This stat determined how a character might react when faced with situations that were out of the ordinary (omens, signs, etc.) Characters had a list of learned skills. Similar to the skills and Feats that came out later in D&D 3rd edition, but with a lot of aadaptation by me. Characters had Bogeys and Idiosyncrasies: EXAMPLES: Allergies, fears and phobias, mental problems, social deviancies, innate magical powers, super skills, Dream Road Travel, Witness Sight, Gift of Tongues, etc. For the game I developed an entire skill set and rule set for Loremasters which included herbal medicine, alchemy, mathmatics, legend lore, historical studies, dead languages, etc.




"Dragonbone Chair" Cover Art By Michael Whelan:
"The Stone of Farewell" Cover Art By Michael Whelan:
"To Green Angel Tower" Cover Art By Michael Whelan:
"Dragonbone Chair" Cover Art By Chris McQuistin: