Broken Kingdoms

Last Updated 9/06/2007
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Kiped from http://www.masterpiece.com.au/gallery/glover-j.htm

History as the Bards tell it:

Two men walked on the beach in the sun.
One left footprints, the other left none.
One was a man who no man obeys;
The other a god from the ancient days.

"Look," said the man, "how my kind make war.
I summonned you here to ask what for."
" For wealth or land," the god replies,
" For life, or freedom, or some king's lies."

CHORUS:
" The sun is also a warrior.
Knowledge can also destroy.
Nor can the kindest will,
Preserve you from the kill.
Not all of wisdom brings joy."

"Four of those five," the first one said,
Are not enough to appease the dead.
To save my world all this strife must cease,
So now I bid you to conjure peace."

The god said "Yes. Though it grieves me sore,
For I was also a god of war,
And I remember what you forget,
Four of those five you may still regret."

CHORUS

He raised his voice and he raised his hand.
All strife stopped at the god's command.
No voice ventured an angry word,
No hand struck and no weapon stirred.

In time, the man called the old god back.
" Look," he cried, "what my people lack!
One lord rules over all the earth,
And we're all his slaves from the hour of birth."

CHORUS

"Look, he owns all wealth, and he owns all land,
We starve and die under his command.
He speaks the truth and he gives us peace,
But all that I hope for is our release."

The old god said, "This is what you willed.
For only thus is your wish fulfilled.
War's five sources I took away,
Yet I will give four of them back today."

CHORUS

He raised his hand and his voice once more,
And all the world overturned in war.
And when the last of those fires let fall,
There was no lord in the world at all.

"Go rebuild now," the old god said,
" Feed the living and bury the dead,
And remember this when you speak of war,
And think upon what is worth fighting for."

CHORUS
(© Leslie Fish 1986)

The first Broken Kingdoms game ran over 2006. It was one of the most sucessful games I have had the priviledge of DMingand I intend to run more campaigns in this setting.

Once, a man bargained with a god. The result was mankind bound into an Empire of slavery.

Another bargain was struck, and this time the result was a divinely wrought war which not only shattered the empire, but the very land itself.

Generations later civilisation is beginning to reappear. Surviving settlements have grown large enough to be called towns, separated by a hostile wilderness which has grown over the ruins and battlefields of the Broken Kingdoms.

It is a time for exploration and discovery. Some brave the wilderness to chart new trade routes or delve into ancient ruins in search of lost knowledge and wealth. Others look to carve new kingdoms from the remnants of the old, or act to prevent the same. Many are just concerned with protecting what they already have.

But hopefully no-one is going to strike another divine bargain anytime soon…

A humans-only campaign of sword and sorcery set among the ruins of a fallen empire.

Using Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed rules, in conjunction with D&D3.5

Playing Thursday evenings at SAGA Inc.

Broken Kingdoms Primer (v.1.0, pdf, 423kb)
Khe-Rhisan Primer (v.1.0, pdf, 155kb)
Smokey Ridge Primer (v.1.0, pdf, 147kb)

email marsden@mailpuppy.com

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In the beginning - Broken Kingdoms Character Creation

To start the campaign the players will, as a group, select one or a few plot hooks that they are interested in following up from the source material. They will then create characters who have a defined interest in those plot hooks, and select a settlement in which to start the game. This mutual interest will be used to bring the group together and provide the background for the first few sessions.

Characters will preferably be from the immediate area, and each character will be required to have previous connections to at least two of the other characters, for example being family, neighbours, rivals or having a mutual employer. These need not be completely friendly, but should be such that they will add to the game rather than disrupting it. When creating their characters, players should also think about the character’s ties to the wider community and possibly come up with a few possible contacts, issues, rivals etc that the GM can use to liven things up, provide useful services, and otherwise flesh out the setting relative to the characters.

Character attributes may be generated by the 4d6 drop one method, with one set of rerolls allowed if you turn up truely atrocious stats the first time, or by the 3 odd, 3 even, total bonuses no more than +8 method. It is suggested that you decide what sort of character you wish to play first and worry about the stats later.