Tales of Argosa is the ruleset I landed on in creating my next campaign and world. The journey to finding the right rules took a bit of research, and it also helped me find the perfect companion for world building: Cairn Warden’s Guide Second Edition.
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Introduction to the Players
This is the introduction I sent to the players based on the initial world building I started using the tables and procedures from Cairn. I will circle back to the process of creating the Tenements after looking at the rules in Tales of Argosa. I took the idea of the Mythic Underworld from adventures written for Old-School Essentials.
The Tenements are the remnants of a Mighty City that fell in a Great War against the Skorn. The Tenements were so poor and its people so dangerous even the Skorn left their decaying flats and flophouses alone. You are “ruled” by a Network of spies hellbent on finding a lost trade route and rebuilding and returning the Mighty City to power.
The Tenements are surrounded by the Ruins on one side and the Weird Wood on the other. Two faces of the same coin: dangerous urban decay and dangerous wild decay. Whatever the Network claims and no matter how popular they seem because of the Navy they somehow still keep afloat as a symbol of power and prestige, the Ruins are no Mighty City. Beyond the burnt and blasted Hollowed Harbor of the Ruins is the Unfolding Ocean with its Sea Serpents and lost Spice Routes.
You have also heard of the Mythic Underworld, underground passages and caves stuffed with treasure and guarded by monsters. Monsters are less of a threat you think than starvation or murder or being a pawn of the Network. If only you could get some coin and friends together to find an entrance. You could make a new life and make your own way in the world. Maybe even turn the Network and its schemes to your advantage….
Then came the Inheritance of Gold and “ownership” of the far away magical, haunted, wonderous Sky Tower of Belk Xos. Everything changed. And the Adventures began.
Street criers have been calling out a list of names all weekend: “Falker! Gorath! Hothra! Zaxxis! Reynar! You are invited to appear outside the Crooked House Tavern at midnight for a Reading of the Will, an Investing of the Inheritance of Gold, and the Quest to Retrieve the Hammer of Night, possession of which is Required to Open the Double Doors of the Sky Tower of Belk Xos, an evil Sorcerer of the Second Age. The Will says the Sky Tower is yours now if you can open the Double Doors and lay claim.”
Finding the Rules
I spend a lot of time looking at new RPGs and I’ve run dozens of systems over the last few decades. When I’m looking for a new set of rules for the next campaign and for world building I know what I’m looking for. Not just what I enjoy, but also what the group of players will want to play.
For me, I prefer character growth that allows for customization but doesn’t require planning out a future build as that greatly interferes with actually playing the game and reacting to what is actually happening in world. Decent combat rules matter as well and initiative can be especially annoying if it involves a lot of time, dice rolling, and/or tracking. I also need GM support with both world building support like random tables and ready-made adventures to draw from.
The group of players I’m running for this time around are all RPG veterans with years and years of experience. They want rules that make sense, decent character progression, and play that lasts more than just a few sessions.
I started out looking at Liminal Horror which then led me to Cairn, the fantasy RPG on which it is based. I really like Liminal Horror, but it is too dark for what I want to run right now, especially with a newly reformed group of players. Cairn Player’s Guide Second Edition is fantasy based, but there isn’t enough rule support for character growth for my tastes; the GM and players have to do the heavy lifting with some provided guidelines.
I wanted to stick with fantasy and after looking at various systems like Dragonbane, I finally settled on Tales of Argosa. It has the mechanical support I want, supports a GM building his own world, and has both adventure and setting support. Tales of Argosa is also d20 fantasy, which I really enjoy, but has reduced complexity and has narrowed the range of levels to keep adventures challenging and exciting.
The World of the Tenements
I did use Cairn’s world building rules to start creating the setting. I will flesh out the world more using the procedures and provided tables but to start I just needed a starting location.
Cairn walks through creating a starting settlement and nearby sandbox step by step including government, ongoing local challenges and rivalries, and possible future conflicts with other neighboring settlements and realms.
What really worked well is that the provided options sparked new ideas I hadn’t thought of, planted the seeds for possible future conflicts and adventures, and combined concepts that seemed contradictory at first but worked out in interesting ways.
For example, the spy network ended up having a powerful navy which seemed odd to me at first (although the Obsidian Order in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had the same advantage). However, that navy is key to the spies trying to find lost trade routes and returning to greater power and glory. I don’t even know yet if the PCs will be interested in looking for these trade routes, but the seed is there and something exciting will happen because of the Network whether the PCs get directly involved or not.
Next Steps
The first adventure I am running, Caverns of Shennog, is a cavern crawl and it is far deadlier than I imaged with one character fatality already when Hothra the halfing was devoured by a spiked snail. The seeds for future adventures need to be planted, such as a visit to the Sky Tower of Belk Xos along with some connection to the sea and those lost trade routes.
I plan to do more world building as well, using Cairn. I need to flesh out the starting location more and start building surrounding settlements and realms. Much more to follow.
Picture credit: Pixabay
