Godsgrave Introduction and Lore

Welcome to Godsgrave

We'll be going over most of this in Session 0, but some players will be coming later/ want to read a bit now/ will probably appreciate this being available.

The world of Scala Somnis is venerable and vibrant. Its gods are plentiful, and were thought powerful, until the last decade.

Mortals have been left to wonder, were the gods too lazy, greedy, blind or cowardly to prevent the slow, creeping apocalypse that has blighted the land.

Ten years ago, most of the gods stopped answering prayers and divinations. Secular magic quickly uncovered the reason why. The world, and the outer planes, were surrounded. A strange, sucking grey murk now encompassed the outer reaches of our reality.

No mortal who touched it survived. No god who touched it remained sane or healthy. Several pantheons had already ridden valiantly off to defeat this new threat to the realm, to return twisted, and warped.

Different cultures have reacted differently to this menace, some attempting escape, some still try to fight it, some accept it as retribution for imagined slights, some seek ways to control it, others ignore it, you will see in your travels the various ways that different empires have reacted.

You and your lifelong friends decided something different. The old gods let this happen, and are proving useless to stop it. It's time for someone else to have a go.

You have spent the last 10 years apart, scouring the lands for the Godswell, as legendary artifact that grants deification to the user. And one of you has just found it.

Before you parted ways with your friends, you all pooled your gold and bought each of you an expensive magical item, an Amulet of Calling and Answering.

You reach down and break the amulet, calling your friends to your location. It's up to you to save the world.

Scala Somnis, 10 years ago

Scala Somnis, Now

House Rules and Mechanic Tweaks for Godsgrave

House Rules and Mechanic Tweaks for Godsgrave

1) You are demigods. If you want to play a Golden-skinned, Rhinocerous-headed beefcake, that's fine. Pick the race that fits most closely mechanically (e.g Minotaur) and then describe yourself however you like. I will help you pick the race.

1A) No sexy catfolk. I've seen enough of them to last a lifetime

2) Players have requested we roll stats. I don't like rolled stats, but i've come up with a compromise: Rolled Array: Everyone rolls their stats, then everyone can pick from the rolled stats to use as an array. E.g: Bob rolls 18, 16, 15, 12, 10 and 8, while Fred rolls 5, 3, 5, 8, 12 and 14. Fred decides he's going to use Bob's rolls for his wizard. Bob also decides to use his rolls. Everyone has a great time.

3) You start with one free resurrection, as a bonus of being a demigod.

4) No flanking rules.

Table Rules for the Godsgrave Campaign

Table Rules for the Godsgrave Campaign

I am not a smart goblin. If I was, I wouldn't be attempting to run a game for 10 people. My problem is, all of these people are awesome and I found it very difficult to turn anyone away.

Since you're joining me in this mad science experiment, we're gonna be making some houserules to hopefully make the game run a bit quicker and smoother.

TABLE RULES

1) We will be going over ground rules of what's ok and what's not ok at the start of the game (I for example, will not be Roleplaying torture or sex scenes with any of you weirdos).

Having said that, if at any point in the game, some subject matter or behaviour is making you uncomfortable, you can privately or publicly ask for a break, no questions asked, and we can go over what the issue was either as a group or privately.

2) Being on your phone is fine, as long as I don't have to re-describe the whole situation to you (none of you are guilty of this, just a bugbear from a past player)

3) Don't talk over other players.

4) Side-chat is fine, just make sure you're not too loud. Because we're a big group, we're going to have to be aware of the amount of noise we're making.

5) I've noticed I've become a bit of a rules lawyer at the table I play at. This is due to another past player. If we're in the middle of play I might make a quick ruling and we'll move on, later we can look up the actual rule.

COMBAT RULES

1) Roll attack and damage dice at the same time. If you miss, don't worry about the damage dice. If you hit, it saves a bit of time.

2) When it comes to your turn, you must tell me immediately what you do. Otherwise you take the dodge action. This seems rough at first but it keeps the combat moving. Plan your move on someone else's turn. Look up spells on someone else's turn. If you're worried about it, come up with a "go-to" attack you can spam without thinking.

NOTE: If you are uncertain about something because I made a shoddy description, you can ask me that without worrying about losing your turn. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask me.

3) If you rolled a 15 last turn and it hit, and this time you roll a 17, just tell me you hit. We don't need to know the exact number.

4) If you forget a bonus, we are not rewinding to apply it. Similarly if I forget a bonus or penalty for my monsters. 

ROLEPLAY RULES

1) Act in character, but make a character that works with a group. This is an ensemble show, and " it's what my character would do" is not an excuse for disruptive behaviour. You control your character, not the other way around.

2) Whenever there is contentious decision, I will set a half hour timer. Everyone in the group will get a chance to speak, then at the end of the timer, a group vote is held. Majority rules, and sometimes you will have to go along with the group even if you really don't want to. Just channel your attitude last time you helped a friend move, or got dragged out to an event you didn't want to go to. Sometimes we act against our nature for the sake of our friends.

This is where I'm going to leave it for now, but if we discover more issues, we may make more rules to deal with them.

A final note: These may seem intimidating, just remember we're here to have fun, that is the only goal. I've handpicked this group to avoid problem players, so apart from the speeding up combat rules, the others can probably be ignored as you're all lovely people.