Cult of Undeath

Page for the Cult of Undeath campaign, starting with the campaign brief, then a bit more of what I have planned.

Professor Alpon von Lechfeld, and academic and reasonably wealthy widower and old comrade, mentor, or otherwise helpful and friendly acquaintance of yours has invited you to his country estate, to stay in his manor with his daughter. It is not, as it turns out, simply a friendly invitation, however—the Professor is concerned about goings on in the nearby town of Cockrill's Hill, and those shadowy goings-on quickly turn deadly. Cockrill's Hill is located near to several infamous haunted places, and the Professor's specialty—and possibly why someone like a player character may have interacted with him before—is cultic activity, and he's concerned that there's a doozy of one poking around in places that they should be near his adopted retirement home.

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The game can be played using either the Shadow of Old Night system (preferred) or the heavily modified "3rd Era" system. For Old Night, custom races will not be allowed. For either system, no additional house rules will be used. Players may pick any race or class listed in the rules (whichever of the two we're using) and we will create level 1 characters at the first session together and then jump right in! If you don't know the rules, they're not that hard and I can walk you through it as we play.

It is expected that the first leg of the game will take place solely in the western Hill Country region of the setting, in the part known as northern Southumbria. This is a frontier area like the Old West if it had been settled by Robin Hood era British. Professor Lechfeld lives on a country estate far from any major urban settlement, but the mining and farming community of Cockrill's Hill is near his estate, and a network of connected towns and villages all within a fairly easy ride from Cockrill's Hill makes for a small island of settled country surrounded by wild and trackless wilderness, filled with dangerous wildlife and worse.

Farther afield is the nation of Timischburg, where Professor Lechfeld used to teach before retiring recently. This nation has a dark reputation, and while never confirmed nor denied, persistent rumors that the aristocracy is ruled by a caste of vampires continue to circulate like a conspiracy theory that just won't die…

Before play, you should pick or invent a background for your character that gives him a connection to Professor Lechfeld. Here are a few samples that you can choose from, or consult with me and invent your own!

• Former Student: While the nature of some of his work was classified and considered dangerous, he also had a stellar reputation as a scholar for the academy in Mittermarkt in far-away Timischburg. Many aspiring scholars schemed to find a way to work with him on one of his many academic projects, and maybe you were one of them.
• Former Hireling: Professor Lechfeld had a cadre of trusted useful people who traveled in and out of Mittermarkt and other nearby places, who used to run errands for him, dropping off suspicious packages with shady characters, or picking them up and delivering them to him. Perhaps you were one such trusted associate who helped with this sketchier side of his research.
• Relative of a Former Protege: When the Professor was younger, he had a promising academic protégé who worked closely with him, and whom he treated more like a son (or daughter) than a student. For some unknown reason, they had a falling out and have been out of touch for some years. Perhaps you are the son or other close relative of this protégé, contacted to come as part of a reconciliation of some sort.
• Local Friend: While not a gregarious or overly friendly person, the Professor had made a handful of friendships with young and promising locals whom he thought had the potential to be more than rural miners or farmers. Perhaps you are one of these.
• Estranged In-Laws: When the Professor's wife died, he had a falling out with his in-laws, and they have not spoken since. Perhaps you are a niece or nephew on his wife's side, come to reconcile with your uncle and get to know your cousin Revecca better.
• Exotic Contact: While it is not impossible for there to be members of any of the standard races in Cockrill’s Hill or nearabouts, the Professor maintained contacts with other academics throughout the land. Perhaps you come from a more exotic location to meet a colleague and correspondent who you never met in person previously but thought you knew relatively well.

The themes of this campaign will include horror, mystery, investigation, swashbuckling adventure, and dark fantasy. Imagine a combination of supernatural horror and fantasy, with no doubt a fair bit of dry gallows humor, not unlike the Brendan Frasier Mummy movie combined with a fantasy James Bond movie in tone. This is not a pre-written campaign, so your choices will drive the direction that it goes, and elements of your character design and background are expected to play an important role.

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If you are a player, don't scroll beyond this point!!!

Very briefly, the 5x5 Front matrix includes the following—with some minor spoilers:

1. The Murder of Professor von Lechfeld: Don't get too used to the professor... He'll be murdered in the first or second session, depending on how fast the PCs move! As details of his investigation into dark and sinister cults starts to become clear to the PCs, they'll have to travel to Mittermarkt, the Professor's old hometown where he taught at the Academy, and finally to the dark little town of Eltdown to confront necromancers, vampires and more. And what lurks in the Fens that draws all of this evil, anyway?
2. The Shadow Over Eltdown: Necromancers and swamp vampires aren't the only things in the Eltdown Fens that gives the region its ominous reputation. The Reptile-Godess Heqet, a blinded medusa who can't turn you to stone, but who can instead turn you into an obedient worshipper with no free will just as easily has been menacing the area for some time, and her dangerous reptile cult has grown large enough to start spilling out of the Fens.
3. Bitter Wood of the Bitterwood: Or something like that. The town of Gaskarfells, in the nearby Bitterwood on the eastern edge of Timischburg bordering the Eltdown region, is a destination for those looking to combat the evil. However, once there, they quickly find that the town is under siege from ghouls and proto-vampires in the dark forest, and leaving again may be more challenging than they expected.
4. I Want to Believe: Strange things are happening in the countryside. Cattle mutilations. Crop circles. People reporting missing time, and returning from being missing for a time listless, strange, subject to weird nosebleeds, and with unexplained scars, etc. What is happening, and by what agent are these people being subjected to this?
5. Stand and Deliver: With all of these supernatural threats, the final column in the 5x5 matrix will be a mundane one; bandits and highwaymen from the Sabertooth Mountains are accosting travelers on the road. Any travel between Cockrill's Hill and the rest of the Southumbrian region and the eastern part of Timischburg where Mittrmarkt and Gaskarfells are located will likely bring this danger on the heads of the PCs, who are, after all, a relatively small group. The bandits do tend to avoid Eltdown itself and the Fens, but that's no respite given the danger there... plus, you need to get there by passing on the roads nearby, which will make you vulnerable.