Well, I’m happy to report that yesterday I received my copies of the three new D&D core rule books. It’s a thing of joy to see something you’ve worked on for well over a year in its final form. I can’t wait to share it with my group!
And speaking of that very thing, I’ve been steady working on my first 4e campaign. Titled the Days of Long Shadows, there are quite a few things I want to accomplish with it. Here’s the short list:
- First off, I want it to fully embrace the 4e rules and setting assumptions almost in its entirety. And because of that I made my own points of light setting that integrates the themes and cosmology of the 4e game.
- I want a campaign that I can run from levels 1 to 30 that has a definite start and end.
- I want to experiment with a dynamic plot matrix where player choice is more robust than picking which door they go through first. I want the players constantly affect the story rather than just interact with it.
- Starting with character creation, I want players to make choices that affect the story.
- It has a good mix of story and action.
- It’s gotta be hella fun (that’s right, baby, I said hella!)
The campaign is set (at least at its start) in the river valley of Eilthir, sometimes called Three Rivers Vale, a far-flung province of the once powerful but now declining Vold Empire. Eilthir is my starting point of light…although it may be more correct to say it’s a point of dim, as the region is filled with dangerous sites of its own, like the strange and savage, Earthscar, the Twilight Vale and the Mount of Mists, the Aog Marsh, and the elf-controlled Lyrsian Enclave (not a point of light unless you are an elf or a known friend of the Enclave). These shadowy locales that hover around Keir Treasa (the fortified capital settlement of the region) and the villages that surround it aren’t the only things that make this place a point of dim, strange things are afoot in Eilthir. The dwarves, as a people, have all but abandoned the region, quite suddenly, and for reasons they’re not sharing. Norkers—goblinoids once believed to be utterly eradicated by the armies of Vold—are raiding again from the Earthscar. And there’re reports that the three gods of a lost faith are walking the Aog.
Trouble is brewing in Eilthir, the kind of trouble foretold by prophecy, the kind of trouble that can’t be solved with one adventure, the kind of trouble that makes a campaign. 
So, the setting itself hints at bigger things on the horizon, but adventures (and adventurers) have to start somewhere. The campaign starts with an investigation. In true 4th Edition fashion, the PCs start as heroes; or, at the very least, skilled reprobates. They’re talented individuals know to the Compulsor (a Vold title, roughly equivalent to governor) of Eilthir. He recruits the PCs accompany him to the site of a caravan attack. The caravan, recently returning from the strange and savage northern steeps via the Passage of Dumathoin, lies destroyed and scattered across the rugged grassland of northern Eilthir and its remains are being picked over by a large pack of savaging blood wolves from the Earthscar. The wolves defeated, and the site investigated, questions abound, and the PCs have to decide which of the many threads they’ll pull on.
Before all that occurs, there’s character creation. I am putting the finishing touches on a brief campaign guide that introduces Eilthir, discusses character creation, expands on where the campaign and the setting strays from the points of light or even normal Dungeons & Dragons assumptions, gives a list of house rules, and presents a chest of toys.
A few objects in that toy chest are premade backgrounds for the campaign. Each background is something that the players can pick, if they so choose. The benefit is that it ties their character in closer to the themes of the campaign (or at least the beginning of the campaign) but they are loose enough to serve more as an inspiration than a straightjacket (or at least that’s the idea). Here is the list of backgrounds. It starts with title, followed by restrictions (usually racial) the background has. Then it gives a brief overview and some advice on why this background might be a good pick for your particular kicks and play style.
The Agent
Dwarf or halfling
Strange things are afoot in Eilthir. Your character is an agent of a dwarf or halfling power group from outside Three Rivers Vale; a group with its own agenda relating to its race’s plight in the region. Particulars depend on the race you choose.
Choose this background if you like to play dwarves or halflings, or if you like a character who has its own agenda and secrets that other characters can’t know.
The Ambassador
Dragonborn, eladrin, or human (not Vold or Eil)
Shunted to this edge of the Vold Empire—maybe for some slight against a powerful person in your own land—you are searching for a little excitement and maybe some way you could possibly advance your people’s influence or standing in Eilthir.
Choose this background if you want to play a character from an exotic culture with its own cultural norms, or you like characters that have to find their place in an alien culture.
The Explorer
Eladrin, elf, gnome, or half-elf
You’re an explorer looking for permanent overlaps between the Feywild and the World. You’ve heard stories about the Twilight Vale and the Mist Mage, but have yet to visit the mist-enshrouded valley or its strange eladrin master.
Choose this background if you like fey-connected characters, or you like characters driven to explore their environment.
The Hexed
Half-elf, human, or tiefling
You are cursed by a mysterious master, so mysterious that you don’t even know his identity. All you know is that his raspy voice occasionally compels you to do things, sometimes terrible things, but worse things happen when you refuse.
Choose this background if you like dark, tormented characters, or you like characters with conflicting motivations.
The Mercenary
Dragonblood, dwarf, elf, half-elf, halfling, human, or tiefling
An indentured mercenary bound to the Compulsor of Eilthir, your freedom is only two years away unless you can find a way to end it sooner.
Choose this background if you like playing a character with a strong and visceral (some might say selfish, or even mercenary) sense of purpose, or some form of exotic warrior.
The Orphan
Human (Eil)
You’re an orphan of the disappeared village of Fadail. A wandering oracle of Ioun prophesized that Fadail could only be found and reunited with Eilthir by its last scion. Presumably that last scion is you.
Choose this background if you want to play a character moved by (or struggling against) the weight of prophecy.
The Seeker
Human wizard
You’re on the trail of Rassallian of Quince, or, more precisely, the book of spells he secreted away from poor, doomed Karaius. According to the Lexicon of Nyms the Blackhanded, Rassallian was heading to Eilthir, the home of his ancestors when he escaped Karaius.
Choose this background if you want to play a scholar or a power-hungry character looking for long-lost power.
You’ll notice that even from the start, some of the backgrounds spur more questions than give answers. That’s on purpose. Right now we are in the beginning of the story. We are getting our footing. Everything is new, strange, and (hopefully) interesting. Things will get more defined, but while I am the architect of this monstrosity, I am not its only builder. My players will ask those questions, discuss the ideas they have, and I can shape the plot, the story, and the background in ways great or small based on their feedback. I can do it not only to respond to their desires, but also to create tension and conflict as they find out their assumptions are not always truths. This is because backgrounds aren’t just a tool for the players; they’re also a tool for me when it comes to outlining and writing adventures. I can come up with the skeleton of a story and brainstorm all sorts of ideas of how different adventures and storylines can be tweaked or expanded based on the backgrounds I’ve put out there. Once my player picks a background, my job get’s that much easier...or at least that’s the theory.
Anyhow, that’s the start. As we get closer to the campaign start, I’ll post more information, but I’ve also made another site just for the campaign, that will feature more information and hopefully reports from the players as this thing gets rolling. You can find the Days of Long Shadows site here. There is also a link in the sidebar.
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calm
getting tired of running Dark Heresy). So, below you’ll find the player’s information on races in Eilthir, and here is the semi-final cast of characters. 
devious
sad