Setting

Theme

Fame & Fortune: is it all it's cracked up to be?
Family: How far would you go to gain/keep one?

Style

Generic medieval fantasy. "Silly-side of average" tone.

Central Tension

Selfish squabbling over land and power vs creeping outside threat (Ref: GoT).

Inciting Incident

Loss of Jon Jr was the first domino to fall, making the dynasty appear weak, and forcing the king to start deal-making for a wife. The second domino was the "retirement" of Glyb Baylor, who was the glue that held the country together, and prevented the king from making bad decisions.

Expectations

• Expect social interactions with nobility and royalty
• Expect tournament combat where one PC participates while the others "support"
• Expect to get caught up in political intrigues well above your pay-grade
• Expect to stay mostly within Generican borders (for now)

Intended Features

• Episodic format
• D&D 4e Skill Challenges
• Mostly-handwaved travel & logistics
• No extended dungeon-crawling
• No mass combat (probably, for now)
• Special-purpose Plot Points (tactics, preparation, etc.), but not "general-purpose"
• Many test-runs of the Action Challenge System (ACS)

Tropes

Colour-Coded for Your Convenience, Genre Savvy: PCs (at least), Heroic Fantasy, Meaningful Name, Medieval European Fantasy, Medieval Stasis

Reference

• Reference Language: Generic
• Reference Culture: Imperial

Campaign Languages

Nearly all realms that fall within the Imperia region are diglossic: speaking the common tongue for official purposes, or for foreigners, and their local tongue for casual or private conversation (and sometimes when cursing). In the realms of the non-human races, the population tends to speak its own language for all purposes, but are usually capable of also speaking Generic to foreigners. Non-human languages also tend to be more homogenous.

• Common (AKA Generic)
• Imperial (=Latin)
• Elvish (=Tolkien)
• Dwarvish (=Tolkien)
• Darktongue (=Tolkien "Black Speech")
• National Languages (Alsandi, Antagonese, Marinese, Naborish, Poorish, Vesterish, Raideric, etc.)
• Others TBD…

Campaign Cultures

• Imperial (covers most human realms)
• [Muslim] (covers Alsandia, Turbanistan)
• Raideric (covers Northraiderland, Southraiderland)
• Non-human (Elvish, Dwarvish, Gnomish, etc.)

Common Measurements

Time

Hours

Sunrise Bell (~06); Midmorning Bell (~09); Noon Bell (~12); Midafternoon Bell (~15); Sunset Bell (~18); Midevening Bell (~21); Midnight Bell (~00); Last Bell (~03)

Days of the Week

Ripped from Traveller

Wonday; Tuday; Thirday; Forday; Fiday; Sixday; Senday

Months

Each month is 30 days long, except NewYear, which makes up the difference (typically, 5 days)

Earlispring; Midspring; Latespring; Earlisummer; Midsummer; Latesummer; Earliharvest; Midharvest; Lateharvest; Earliwinter; Midwinter; Latewinter; Newyear. Regular "Feast Day" per month on the 15th.

Years

Usually the Imperial calendar is used, counting the years since the collapse of the Old Empire; currently 1000 AE (AE=After Empire). On some formal occasions, regnal dating is used; in Generica, currently the 12th year of King Jon XVII

Other

• Fortnight (2-weeks)

Distance

Rod

The rod is a historical unit of length equal to 5½ yards. It may have originated from the typical length of a mediaeval ox-goad.

Chain

4 rods (66 feet or 22 yards).

Furlong

(meaning furrow length) the distance a team of oxen could plough without resting. This was standardised to be exactly 40 rods or 10 chains.

Acre

four by 40 rods. An acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind one ox in one day. Traditional acres were long and narrow due to the difficulty in turning the plough and the value of river front access.

Mile

8 furlongs

League

the distance a person could walk in an hour, most commonly defined as three miles.

Currency

See DF2:14

• Farthing (copper(c)) = $1 ($62.50/lb.)
• Penny (silver(s)) = $4 ($1,000/lb.)
• Crown (gold(g)) = $80 ($20,000/lb.)

Miscellaneous

• Previous FGLE campaigns didn’t occur, but characters may be re-used
• Early-Renaissance tech, minus guns (Ref: Assassin's Creed 2 series)